Say you’re starting a MotW campaign and every session will be a totally different monster with little or no repeating. How do you handle the Wronged since their selected monster won’t come up repeatedly? I have a couple thoughts but I’m wondering what other people have done.
Say you’re starting a MotW campaign and every session will be a totally different monster with little or no…
Say you’re starting a MotW campaign and every session will be a totally different monster with little or no…
Hmm… you have a problem, in my opinion. Often, if not always, the revenge of the Wronged is natural material for an Arc. In other words, if you have a Wronged, you should include that monster or that monster type (or that sect or “thing”) as a recurring problem: it’s a flag, no less than the Chosen’s fate or the Professional’s agency.
Thanks for the comment. I hear you. Not having the Wronged’s monster recur is like having a Chosen or Summoned and ignoring the end of the world prophecies.
To be clear, I haven’t started a campaign like this — I was just thinking about pitches, which lead to wondering if I would need to disallow a Wronged in this kind of setup.
Part of my concern is that the Wronged fills a niche that I wouldn’t want to lose. I should probably have worded my post differently and instead asked how you can tweak the Wronged playbook or else make a new one that has a similar vibe if you don’t have recurring monster types.
I think you do the ‘Buffy’ thing and have a super bad guy for your season finale and every few sessions make the monster a minion of your super baddie.
Respect the playbook! What Daniele said – if you as Keeper want to have a Wronged, then you simply shouldn’t have a totally random monster each week.
The same way it’s awkward to have a Chosen or a Wronged in a One-Shot – either it is all about their fates, or the central part of their playbook simply doesn’t matter. Not good.
Alternatively – talk to the player, and say, hey, how about your arc climaxes really really early and your Hunter switches to a different playbook after having their revenge in session 2? But that seems suboptimal.
So, errr, what Daniele said, I guess.
Hmm. I don’t have my book handy. Would having a specific villain or organization as the Wronged’s enemy and letting their relevant moves apply to their enemy’s minions (regardless of “monster type”) work both mechanically and thematically? Seems like it would, but it’s been awhile since I read the playbook.
But, yeah, what Daniele said. If it comes up I’ll either use recurring monsters if there’s a Wronged or else say up front that Wronged is a bad choice for that campaign. Thanks!
Yeah, the “sect/organization” opponent can work with the Wrongred.
It’s called “Supernatural’. 😉 (Actually, that show is a pretty good model of how to handle this.)
The book actually calls this out very specifically. You don’t have to feature the Wronged’s monster every week, but you should be tying the monster in every so often. But they don’t hunt the monster down week after week. They get respites in between. And you can also devote one arc to the Wronged’s quest for revenge, just as you might devote an arc to the Professional’s organization or the Initiate’s sect.
Note that the Wronged specifically gets an Advanced Move that’s like “Yo, you have to let me have a shot at the monster in the next mystery.”
I second everything Andy Hauge said. I’d also add that the Wronged’s advantages are not all tied to their chosen enemy. They can do many, many very important things with their other moves. It just happens that when they’re up against one specific kind of monster, they’re extra amazing at it.
I think it’s similar to an Expert’s Haven. Just because they have this really handy spot doesn’t mean you need to always have their story take place in one location. The Haven is great when you’ve got it, but if they can use it every single session, it won’t ever feel special when it comes up. The Playbooks don’t revolve around one single move, nor should they. Just because you don’t allow access to a bonus in every single session doesn’t mean it’s not worth having when appropriate. A player who makes a Wronged with no intention or ability to fight any creature other than their chosen enemy is going to have a very shallow and boring character.