Author: Sam Chupp

So I played Monsterhearts. Biggest problem I had were these:

So I played Monsterhearts. Biggest problem I had were these:

So I played Monsterhearts. Biggest problem I had were these:

There’s no mechanic that forces the Ghoul to satisfy hunger – there’s simply no penalty either way for the hunger going unfed.

There’s no explanation in the text for the physicality of a Ghost. For example, if a Ghost jumps off a building, does it break her ghostly legs? Can a ghost eat? 

I’m not really wanting answers to these questions per se. I know the answer is “if you have players that get Monsterhearts, they won’t cause these problems to come up” – but that doesn’t seem like very good “system matters” design, does it?

I realize you cannot legislate, in rules, against players who aren’t with the program and I’m not looking for a spot rule against every contigency. It would be good to have a little more information along these lines in the canon of the rules.

In trying to understand the fundamental structure behind Monsterhearts, etc, I have started some analysis from a…

In trying to understand the fundamental structure behind Monsterhearts, etc, I have started some analysis from a…

In trying to understand the fundamental structure behind Monsterhearts, etc, I have started some analysis from a purely mechanical level.

For example, I notice that some skins get three Moves and others only two. MH only has 4 stats and AW has more.  Has anyone else done a 30,000 foot analysis of the ApW-based  games?

I think that it could point to a basic “grammar,” whether intended or not. 

There are some interesting comparisons as well. Not much difference between the Vampire & the Queen skin, for example, from a numeric / mechanic point of view. Which is oddly appropriate to me. 

Seeing the underlying structure  is helping me when I make choices in my own ApW-powered game design process.