Hey there! I just wanted to make some noise about how cool the hack my friend Topher White is working on! It’s about doing high school drama in the vein of Pretty Little Liars and Gossip Girl, doing backstabbing drama and teen angst! If that sounds like Monsterhearts, you wouldn’t be wrong, but it’s doing some really cool stuff in it’s distinction. Stats are on sliding scales, and adjust regularly to reflect the constant emotional and personality turmoil of teenage-hood, and there’s more interesting extended Clique stuff that’s really exciting me! He’s not quite at the point where he’s confident to share it, but it’s got me so excited that I wanted to share some info about it and see if anyone else is as interested as I am in the idea!
Hey there!
Hey there!
Sounds cool – any chance of some kind of preview? I would love to take a look at it.
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Yeah, I can give you little tease at one of my favorite elements real quick. I don’t want to share too much – Topher trusted me with the current draft stuff and I don’t want to go exposing his work if he’s not ready for it, but this is a really cool piece to me, from the section on Cliques:
“Cliques have a leader and followers. Being the leader of a clique does not exclude you from being a member of another clique. Leaders can give orders to the followers of the clique. If the follower carries out those orders, they mark experience. (Note ‘School’ is a Clique where all the players are followers and the teachers are leaders.)”
Why I love this: Being in a clique gives you access to a lot of leverage fictionally, but the more you try to join the more obligations (potentially contradictory obligations) you’ll accrue (for context, Defy Order is a Basic Move right now). My favorite bit is that School is a Clique mechanically, making it both unignorable (as you need to roll to Defy Orders) but also a background thing, so players can drama at each other and when things move to a bit of lull, there’s always this background obligation that the MC can bring in to guarantee some drama. Additionally, the XP-for-compliance carrot will drive players to actively engage with the school, an element critical to the genre and one that falls away rapidly from Monsterhearts (the closest comparison for the game) in my play experience.
Hope that whets your appetite a bit and I’m hoping Topher will be ready to share more fully soon! It’s his first full design so I honestly think just seeing enthusiasm for even his draft work will help him feel more confident in what he’s got already, cuz I think it’s reveal-ready.
Max Hervieux I hope your friend posts soon, because what you’ve shown has piqued my interest. I don’t get as much opportunity to role-play as I would like. I am however something of a scholar of game design. So when new game ideas are pitched I am always eager to see how they work. Particularly ones that deal with genres outside the stereotypical purview of Tolkienesque Fantasy. Please let us know when your friend’s hack nears completion. I personally will be waiting with bated breath.
Wow, that hack sure got my attention! If there’s one thing I really love in MH is the picky teen atmosphere and casual life and routine obligations they have to deal with, like gossips, family, romances and the like.
If that remains the focus of this hack, be sure that I’ll have it a go.