Just started playing my first ever Monsterhearts game and so far I’m loving it! However, we’ve come across a lack of “investigation” or “perception” type move.
I’ve noticed other ApocWorld games (ApocWorld, Monster of the Week, Dungeonworld) have such a move, but why not MH? If it helps, I’m playing the Chosen, and it’s there’s a type of ghost/spirit haunting the school that we’re trying to track down. I know that the Chosen has the Hit the Books move, but nothing more general. Any idea why?
It sounds like you’re playing Monsterhearts more like Monster of the Week.
Monsterhearts isn’t about solving mysteries. It’s about being a teenager and also a monster at the same time. It’s about social pressures- hence the conditions and strings. It’s about being uncertain about your sexuality.
If I recall correctly, the read a sitch and read a person moves from Apocalypse World were removed for a reason- because as a teen, you do not have that kind of a handle on your surroundings. You’re young (well, mostly- not so much the Vampire, but you get the idea) and lack the ability to judge situations and people.
If I were MCing this situation, I’d feel it out whether or not it’s interesting to have you find the spirit right away, or maybe have you go talk to NPCs or something. There’s no mechanic for it in Monsterhearts because you keep the game feral- go with whatever sounds cool.
You could make up a custom move-
When you search for the spirit in darkened hallways, roll+dark. On a 10+ you find it, and it doesn’t see you coming. On a 7-9 chose one- it’s ready for you, someone is in the way, you find it’s home- but it’s empty. On a miss, it comes to you.
You also can still ask the GM all these questions. They will respond with a move of their own.
I have only played MH once at gencon (loved it), but I’ve been running an MoTW campaign. Remember that aside from MoTW, most world games do not have GM prep. The keeper or GM is following the players’ interests and reacting to their actions.
It is kind of difficult to have an unplanned mystery.
Wait what? You heard of Fronts/Menaces right?
Don’t forget about the Basic Move “Gaze into the Abyss”, Christopher Ruthenbeck. “GitA” is how people find stuff out or piece clues together in Monsterhearts. It’s been described by Joe Mcdaldno as “the Google montage scene.”
It’s when Bella uses Google to figure out Edward is a vampire in Twilight (hence the Google montage name). It’s when Needy pours through the occult section of the school library and figures out that Jennifer is a demon in Jennifer’s Body. I’m sure there’s a GitA scene in Ginger Snaps where Brigitte figures out what’s wrong with her sister, Ginger.
But as Jennifer Martin said, it sounds a little like you’re playing Monsterhearts as Monster of the Week.
Echoing Christopher here, in our MH campaign Gazing into the Abyss was sometimes used as a general ‘idea roll’ or sense roll. With the advantage that you sometimes end up with information very different from what you were expecting.
I agree with Tim Franzke. This has come up a few times, but following “to do it, do it”, the information the players want should be easy to get when it’s easy to get…and when it’s hard to get, it comes at a price. (The bully comes up behind you when you’re searching Huntr-Spidr, your ex-girlfriend and current boyfriend are taking up a private library study space…etc).
Yeah, as implied above in the “Google Montage” example, it seems that Gaze into the Abyss was never meant to be a “zone out for a second w/ some flavor description and magically gain knowledge” move, but rather a proactive “do research, commune with demons, something else pretty obvious and/or time-consuming, etc.” move. So it would be your go-to for active searching so long as you can say how you’re doing it and what you’re looking for specifically.
If you’re looking for the “avoid being taken by surprised” aspect like with a “perception” check in a lot of games, that’s where I think you’d go to Hold Steady unless you had a special Skin Move that did something similar(like Werewolf’s Heightened Senses, which could reasonably avoid surprise and give you some bonus info on top of that if you roll well enough). W/ Hold Steady, “it” might still sneak up on you, but a successful HS roll would represent you keeping your cool well enough to react in a timely manner instead of being caught too off-guard to do anything immediately.
It is rare that I have ever needed to investigate something, but it has typically been Gaze if it was mystical, through roleplay with its logical conclusions (Turn On/Manipulate, Shut Down, Hold Steady), or by spending a string on a PC to have them spill the beans.
Another move I just found out that is good for asking questions: Hold Steady! On a 7-9 I can ask a question but become terrified. On a 10+ I can ask and keep my cool!
Yes, though (and I suspect you know this), like every move in AW-based games, you can’t just Hold Steady for no reason. You have to be confronting something scary or acting in a tense or frightening situation.
Yeppers! In the game I’m playing in, my chosen is have a spooky scene with her mentor. He’s acting all sorts of crazy. Perfect time to Hold Steady!
Huh. I’m not saying you’re wrong, but I don’t think I’ve ever been in a game, either as an MC or as a player, where the player asked to Hold Steady. It’s always been the MC who has informed the player that they would have to Hold Steady to accomplish something.
Oh no, the MC totally asked for it! I’m just saying that asking a question of the MC is one of the options.
Gotcha. While there’s no reason it has to be, the question gained from a successful Hold Steady roll is usually about the situation at hand. You could ask about something else, but it’d seem a bit odd.
PC: So what was the deal with Jenna back in 3rd period?
MC: So… you don’t want to ask anything about the demon currently in front of you? OK…
It’s definitely context-specific for sure!
If you really want to be the sneaky type in order to get the info you shouldn’t have access to, try the Sasquatch move Hidden in the Scenery. Great for just overhearing stuff or for jumping in for an “Aha! Busted!” moment.
No way! What you do is sleep with the people you want to get the information from. Duh. 😛
As a player I’ve asked to Hold Steady and as an MC I’ve had a player ask to Hold Steady. IIRC in some convo about why Hold Steady is so positive (especially in regards the spend a string to make a pc hold steady) Joe Mcdaldno said that it was to make it attractive for players to choose as a move to make.
I rarely use HS proactively, but sometimes something happens that I think would matter enough to shake my character up and I’ll explain it to the GM and see if she agrees that HS is justified.