Hello all!
I’m working on my MH campaign, and I wonder, if anyone ever made something like «The Teacher» Skin? I found only «The Parent» Skin, which is great, but it tells kinda different story. Did the teachers in your stories play any significant roles?
The teachers (and all adults for that matter) in the games I’ve run/played in are purely antagonists or background characters. They’re there to provide “mundane” opposition to the PCs; telling kids they can’t leave class, assigning homework that interferes with plans, that sort of thing.
I feel that the better Skins are ones that use the monster as a metaphor for some teenaged problem, mixing elements of both. Which isn’t to say that’s the only way to do it.
What kind of role do you see a Teacher Skin filling?
The neighbor?
The Neighbor could work here, or might at least provide some ideas.
As messed up as our games get, sexual/romantic relationships between adults and teenagers is not something I’m comfortable with. Which is why I don’t particularly like “adult” Skins. 😛
Teachers are NPCs. Play this: drivethrurpg.com – Pigsmoke: A Roleplaying Game of Sorcerous Academia
Seems off for the game as-written, but I guess it’s a direction you could go.
The game is almost entirely about exploring teenage identity and sexuality. An adult character misses all of that.
I tend to agree, Lex Permann.
But if you played a game with university students, you could introduce a student teacher side character. That means the students and teacher could be the same age.
Chris Stone-Bush
So, to clarify some things. By «The Teacher» I mean «The Young Teacher», so to say. Young adult, fresh from university, first year of teaching, this kind of stuff. This way age gap could be not so scary.
I see this Skin as the combination of, oh yes, «The Neighbor», may be «The Mortal» and «The Vampire», plus some of «Growing Up» moves. As the result I want to have Skin with enough administrative power to dumbledore other characters into something, but exposed to extreme storms of raging teenagery. For me, this is the way to make secrets deeper and darker, with more devastating drawbacks, something like that.
And I think, somewhere in the first book, there was example of play, where one of the characters had sex with the other character’s father, so the idea of teen/adult relationships isn’t new)
You’re right about the long example in the first book showing a sexual encounter between a teenaged PC and an adult NPC Сергей Бронников. I’m not saying that can’t happen, only that I find it uncomfortable and prefer not to include it in my games.
When you say you want to “Dumbledore other characters into something”, what do you mean exactly?
Yeah, sorry, any young teacher is going to have enough of an age difference over the other characters that you’re very quickly going to hit some supremely uncomfortable territory.
Now I want to play a character who’s pretending to be a teacher but is actually a teen.
LOL. How would that work, Benjamin Davis ? What about a student assistant?
I’m picturing like School of Rock, but they’re also pretending to be an adult.
Chris Stone-Bush
Well, let’s say it means using and abusing your power over your students. The Teacher can be powerful ally, creating some space for teens to act, by giving them answers for the oncoming tests, or by covering them in front of their parents or other teachers. They can distract bullies, or intervene in an act of violence and things like this. Or they can do the opposite of that. Or they can pretend to be friendly, while using teens to do the dirty work. Basicly, it’s more about power, than about sex.
Lex Permann
Yeah, maybe, but I’m going to play with people who like to create these type of border-line situations in games. I understand that it could be rather hardcore, but we used to have games with necrophilia, cannibalism, incest and even self-cest trigger warnings, so I think they can handle it
I’d still check with the players before springing this on them. Until you ask, you don’t really know what’s cool/not with them.
As for the Skin itself, have you looked at The Chosen? There’s a little bit of what you seem to be looking for in that one.
Chris Stone-Bush
Of course, we discuss all the warnings before the game season even starts.
And no, I haven’t looked at The Chosen, thank you for the suggestion
The Chosen is a monster hunter, like Buffy, and so not exactly what you’re looking for. But there are a few moves about leading other people or using them to your benefit. It might help spark ideas.
I wasn’t implying that you didn’t talk things over with your group first. It’s just that I’ve been surprised by some pretty strong emotional reactions in my own games. Even from stuff I thought I was OK with.