Sooo, I need some ideas.
I’ve been approached to run a Penny Dreadful inspired game. Initally I was thinking Monster of the week, but after some dutiful pondering, I believe that Monsterhearts is the better fit. The drama is personal and relationship based, with the ‘monster hunting’ an aside to the true interpersonal conflicts of the genre. The characters are after all Victorian monsters in an adult setting, despite acting like irreverent teens most of the time.
So I can barf forth Victoriana till the proverbial cows come home, but I’m struggling with starting the game. The chargen seems to slide over seamlessly, so long as one takes the milieu as a given. But what of the next step? A grabby ‘in media res’ situation? Follow the characters around a little?
Any suggestions or ideas on how to make the game a success would be greatly appreciated!
Both are good ideas. But I would strongly recommend spending the first session finding out who the characters are. Have a group discussion with the players during and after character gen to really establish who they are and how they fit into the town.
This makes my heart go all-a-flutter. Especially with my finally picking up The Difference Engine.
You need a place where they all go, where it all ties together. Monsterhearts has the school; you always have to go back the next day. What can you use to bring the PCs together over and over? Adults are more independent than teenagers are allowed to be.
One thought might be to create a different world order that constrains the PCs. Have you looked at the setting for the game Perfect? It might serve. Or put Cthulu-esque monstrosities in the driver seat and steal a page from Gaiman’s “A Study in Emerald”.
If you are able to figure out how to bring the PCs near each other with inevitability, you could start with, “Where are you when you wake up?” and “What does your morning look like?”
I like to cut between characters, asking questions, pulling out details, and establishing status relationships, leaping through the morning until you hit school and let the thing take off.
Great Ideas all! I was thinking of taking a leaf out of the series and having a central ‘house’ or refuge. Some sort of city ‘lair’. (Just like in the series. We are setting it in London, just as the series is, and I’ve taken screen shots from the Latest Assassin’s creed game for atmosphere.
I think your ideas of following the charactera around a la Apoc World, constrained by some group-generated Improv Monstrosity will serve enough juice for the first session. I have ample ephemera from the show, and Baddies aplenty to choose from, though I will be encouraging PvP as the primary source of antagonism of course!
Consider curating the skins offered and making sure The Chosen is available.
Have you considered using Urban Shadows instead?
I suggest urban shadows with specific playbooks to fit
Hmmmm. I’ve not yet splashed out into Urban shadows. I might just have a look see.
I’m not that familiar with Urban Shadows and even less so with Penny Dreadful, but Monsterhearts should work if the characters are all horrible people who make their lives difficult by being petty and cruel.
Start with a funeral. A colleague of the group died while they were resolving the last monster-of-the-week, details to be provided by the players in-character.
Who is happy they’re dead? Who has unresolved feelings? Is there blame? Guilt? Relief? Satisfaction?
The stress of losing someone (even an npc they never met) is a gut punch to get the ball rolling. Plus you have an npc for poignant flashbacks, if that’s your bag, or to reintroduce as no-longer-dead if it would advance the plot after a few sessions.
Monsterheart is about immature characters . The moves are about hurting and manipulating each other and “growing up” is the end-of-the-season goal. It could work if you do a “teenagers at modern school” version of the cast.
But Penny Dreadful is first and foremost a TV Series with TV tropes and a TV type of narration. So the first choice should be Primetime Adventures
(caveat: I am familiar with the second edition of PTA, the one from 2005, probably the same can be said about the new 3rd edition but I am not sure)
I think it depends on your players. If they’re active and willful and really know what they want to explore, or if they’re good at improvising and coming up with stuff on the spot and running with it, then it might be best to let them just start out with a “day in the life” section. That way you can sit and watch for a bit, then build the menaces and the story around the things they already seem interested in, instead of trying to get them interested in your plot hook.
If they’re more follow the leader types who prefer not to upset the apple cart and just follow along with the MC’s story, you might want to start with something more dramatic and aggressive; something that says “this is what’s happening, these are the stakes, do something or it all falls apart.”
If you’re not sure which they are, maybe start out with a day in the life, but have a big WHAM plot point waiting in the wings, so if things start to stall and they’re not generating enough trouble on their own, you can give them a jump start.
Thank you Kevin and Sydney, that is most helpful advice! Taken and I’ll probably use both of your ideas 🙂
OK, so I’ve bought and skim read Urban Shadows, but I still think MH will be a better fit, though I may steal a few ideas from Urban Shadows. I particularly like the advice on setting up a game.
Penny dreadful has multiple supernatural factions working their own subplots and joining forces for the main story… Urban Shadows likewise.
Monsterhearts is teenage monster angst. I know which one I’d plump for mood and setting wise. Your call I guess.
Weirdly, I just came up with something that might suit. What a shame you’ll have started by now!
Love to know your ideas Tony! We’ve played two sessions thus far and its been grand. What’s percolating in your thought?
Oh, just something small called “Victoria’s Secrets”, its been posted on here.
By basic idea is Monsterhearts is perfectly suited to young people struggling in an old fashioned time period; you just have to replace “sex” with “really want to but can’t so we’ll just have to work with each other and be polite instead” and make sure that race, gender, and class are constantly being weighed and brought into the conversation.
Its also a fantastic system to kill and be killed in, combat heavy systems are fun, but if you want dangerous fighting, Monsterhearts can kill quick!
I like it 🙂