I have a question and would like you to share some MC advice or good play experiences.
How do you make moves as the MC to take advantage of PCs’ Conditions?
Ideas, tips, and examples from actual games would all be great to hear.
Do you just use Conditions to inspire particular moves and actions on behalf of people around the PC? Or do you sometimes change the way you apply any of the mechanics, as well?
The original Monsterhearts suggested that taking advantage of Conditions could put an NPC at Advantage, but Monsterhearts 2 has removed that whole chapter, leaving it only for String use.
What’s your take? How do you best take advantage of PCs’ Conditions?
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I had this question as well. I’ve only played one session so far, so it hasn’t come up much, but my first thoughts are:
1. NPCs treat the PCs as their conditions dictate. Conditions are purely social now, and are essentially how that character is seen. If a PC is “outcast”, have people snub or shun them. Etc.
2. If it’s appropriate, set up and knock down a reaction in one swoop. Less sure on this one, but if I saw an opportunity, I’d do it. Make those humans seem monstrous! “Awkward” PC tries to turn on a cute boy and gets laughed at mercilessly. Etc.
I’d also appreciate thoughts on this though… I have a Hollow, so it’s gonna come up sooner rather than later.
My take on it is that they inform the narrative and inspire hard and soft moves for the MC. They may escalate a situation or make the consequences of failure harder.
Any examples, Todd? I’m finding it difficult in my current game.
One technique that comes to mind: when thinking about the next session, look through the PCs’ Conditions, and make a note to hit each one at least once. Whose opinion of them might change? Where might they stop being accepted?
Still, it’s not obvious, especially for Conditions that are specific to a PC-PC interaction (one PC feels “Guilty” about something they did to the other).
Well for MH, guilt is an easy one. It’s that all encompassing distraction. You’re not paying attention in class, you can’t stand to make eye contact with certain people, it’s that ticking time bomb that you blurt out to the wrong person. Use it to paint, taint, and color their perceptions.
In a PC-PC interaction, it’s a role playing leverage and perhaps a mechanical bonus to manipulate the guilty party.
Using guilt as a distraction sounds like good. I tend to be more “hands off” with PC feelings and actions, so it might come out of nowhere if I suddenly pulled that, but I’ll give it some thought.
Bring the PC in with you! “You see everything through a filter of intense guilt. What does that look like?”
Consider that Conditions are primarily meant to be social — they’re not internal, except to the degree that the PC has internalized them (if they’re a normal teenager, they internalize social labels like crazy). So ‘Guilty’ is not about how the PC feels, it’s about how everyone sees them — or how everyone assumes they should feel, or are feeling, because of something that is part of the high school’s social milieu.
Using Conditions for internal states can still work, of course, but it will definitely be harder than something with a straightforward/strong set of social expectations, like ‘Slut’ or ‘Loser’ or ‘Totally in love with Vanessa’ or whatever. Social conditions are pervasive — they will change how almost everyone treats the PC — so they tend to come up in play quite naturally. If they don’t, that might be a sign that the Condition is no longer relevant, and should be resolved/removed.
Interesting discussion, thanks, everyone. It doesn’t entirely address my concerns, though – or perhaps it would, but only if we were REALLY strict about the naming of our Conditions.
For example, we find that most Conditions aren’t things that everyone cares about. For example, one character has the Condition “Sinner”, which is fine, but irrelevant to most anyone but the Christian group which is trying to ostracize them. Another took a Condition after trying to Shut Down his father, and we decided that the father thinks he’s “out of control” (Condition taken from the Monsterhearts text, so it seemed like a good bet). I’m quite at a loss as to what to do with that as an MC, however, unless the father is in the scene.
Secondly, again, how does the MC leverage these?
Let’s say that a PC shows up at school:
1. As my move, I say that people are sneering at him, calling him a “wannabe dropout”.
2. People are sneering at the PC, and he actually has the Condition “wannabe dropout”.
Is there any meaningful difference (as far as I, as the MC, am concerned) between those two cases? How does it – or how should it – guide my behaviour?
(To the best of my knowledge, the best resource on all matters Monsterhearts is Richard Williams, so I’ll tag him in, just in case he has some wisdom to share!)