Category: Powered by the Apocalypse

I would prepared to answer “Yes” if someone said “Is there something wrong with you, that you just saw The Cabin in the  Woods and nearly your first thought, after ‘wow, now that’s an uncompromising little film’ and ‘I seem to have gotten well and truly hooked on David Julyan scores’, was ‘This would be so good as Monsterhearts fodder?” But, you know, there it is.

Premise: Dungeon delving and other D&D-style adventuring is a liminal experience. The heroes confront the limits of the real, knowable, and obtainable, and therefore inevitably confront their own definitions of self and the good as well.

Conclusion: Dungeon World is good fodder for a Monsterhearts hack.

Each playbook needs a Challenge Move, for when the character pushes their boundaries to succeed at a present moment of crisis, and a Deepest Self revealed when the press of the things beyond the threshold break down self-deception and conventional wisdom. Need to think some more about those. In the meantime:

Bard: Hot +1, Cold +1, Volatile -1, Dark -1

Cleric: Hot 0, Cold +1, Volatile 0, Dark -1

Druid: Hot -1, Cold -1, Volatile +1, Dark +1

Fighter: Hot 0, Cold -1, Volatile +1, Dark 0

Paladin: Hot -1, Cold +1, Volatile +1, Dark -1

Ranger: Hot -1, Cold -1, Volatile +1, Dark +1

Thief: Hot +1, Cold -1 OR Hot -1, Cold +1, Volatile +1, Dark 0

Wizard: Hot 0, Cold 0, Volatile -1, Dark +1  

Further noodling when I get around to it.

In my head, this is dungeon delving as something like a mashup of Andrei Tarkovsky and Clive Barker.

This is a question for those of you who’ve been running and/or playing Monsterhearts. About how long in terms of real-world play time do your characters generally spend as their Darkest Self?