I come bearing more questions: one of my players want to go to the library and look something up.

I come bearing more questions: one of my players want to go to the library and look something up.

I come bearing more questions: one of my players want to go to the library and look something up. How should I handle this? Should I develop a custom move? Modify the Chosen’s book move? How would you handle this in your game?

17 thoughts on “I come bearing more questions: one of my players want to go to the library and look something up.”

  1. If they’re looking for the population of Peru, give it to them.

    If they’re delving into dark secrets man was not meant to know, there’s a move for that … Gaze Into The Abyss .

  2. I agree with Eric Duncan here. If it’s something the character should normally be able to find, say they find it and move on.

    Think of it in terms of a TV show or movie. What would be dramatically appropriate here? That the character easily finds the thing they are looking for and then has to deal with the drama this new information creates? Or is the drama caused by the character needing to find this thing and not being able to?

  3. There is no reason why you couldn’t do that David Ryan​​, but I feel that kind of goes against what Monsterhearts is. There specifically isn’t a move that provides concrete information so that players (and characters) are never really sure about anything. That’s intentional, as it helps create the unsteady social and emotional landscape of teenage life.

  4. Depends on what they’re looking up. If it’s information on something creepy and mysterious, run with it. Describe the confusing archaic language of the original texts, or the contradictory conspiracy theories, and what they ultimately “think” it all means.

    If the information is boring and mundane, I wouldn’t have them roll at all. Either just give it to them if it speeds up the plot or make them do something more interesting to get it (A certain hated NPC had the book checked out, the librarian is a demon, etc)

  5. http://www.story-games.com/forums/discussion/18010/monsterhearts-this-game-starts-at-11#Item_18

    Here, the game’s creator (McDaldno) seems to be saying that a research montage is totally covered by Gaze Into the Abyss as is. Modifying the move does seem to be overcomplicating things.

    I’d say that if the player chooses that the visions are “confusing and alarming,” maybe they find information that is incomplete or somewhat misleading. Maybe it’s outdated. Maybe the narrator is unreliable. Maybe they find a bunch of conspiracy theorists babbling about it on an online forum, and it’s difficult to discern the truth from the lies.

    Otherwise, as others have already said, if not having the info wouldn’t do anything for the plot, just hand it over.

  6. Ah ha! Thanks for that link Sarah B.. I remembered the “Google montage” discussion and clarification  the author put up a while back, but couldn’t remember where it was. As written, GitA does cover research.

    For me David Ryan, having a mystical vision is not providing concrete information as the character has no way of confirming the info they got. It’s a vision. Intuition. Feelings. How do you prove that to someone else?

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