Tag: Yanni Cooper

Control or How I was a terrible MC but got better!

So first off, I know a couple of my players check out this community, and to them I’d like to say Yes this does have to do with our current #Monsterhearts game. And basically I’m asking for MCing advice, so feel free to book mark this and come back to it (or read on or whatever) … I doubt there’ll actually be anything spoilery here, because I don’t really have a plan, but if someone posts a great idea in the comments I might steal it so … yeah, you’re adults. Make your own decisions.

Our Chosen has a nemesis of course, and we don’t know much about it. It’s called a Hiver, it can mind control people. And this is basically a terrible idea. So yeah, not so bad when it takes over an NPC … I’m running the NPCs anyways, it’s cool and spooky when someone goes foggy eyed and starts acting a little weird.

The problem is eventually the PCs are going to run into and it’s going to try and take control of them. We all know the tenets of AW … play to see what happens and all that, but it’s also to see an interesting story right? One of the biggest problems I have with traditional D&D is how often it ends up being a showcase for the awesome story the DM has come up with. And don’t get me started on DMs who have PCs.

Last session the Hiver was having some trouble with a couple of cops who were nosing around when most of the players and an NPC Scooby-Dooed up and put their nose in. In hindsight, I suppose I could have had the Hiver flee, and left the players to explain why they were carrying a crap ton of weapons into a crime scene … Instead the Hiver tried to take over the PCs, and I’ll be honest I was sitting there thinking to myself, “What do you get when you railroad in a story game? A train wreck.”

Fortunately the Hiver ended up taking over the Ghoul, who basically shoved her “hunger” in it’s face, and then took back over while it was using her body to try and eat the Chosen. Unfortunately I can’t rely on those exact circumstances being around to get the group out of the fire and back into the frying pan.

However, my petard is already kind of hoisted here. This is a major villain that’s been messing with the PCs and NPCs since second session and we’re around halfway in here. I’m sure some if/when the PCs do research or whatevs, they’ll come up with some interesting facts about the Hiver, but I’d love any suggestions on how I can maintain integrity in the fiction, without ruining anyone’s play experience.

In D&D “Domination” is a rarely used ability because it is almost universally unfun to have the DM take over control of your character. If I’d sat down and thought this through I wouldn’t be in this sitch, but of course, this isn’t D&D … I don’t have a plan … an idea here or there, but there ain’t no tracks and I feel like I’ve put the group into a situation which could be decidedly less then entertaining, especially if someone flubs all their rolls at every out.

What can I do to ameliorate the situation if nothing else? Any and all ideas are welcome, no matter how ludicrous. 

I feel kind of kind of bad. My friend has been running (or trying to run) an All Flesh Must Be Eaten Campaign. Couple of weeks in and a few of the more flaky members of the campaign dropped, and he asked me to run a one-shot while he got things together, and found replacements for them.

I figured I’d run a game of AW, drop advancement to 4XP and see what happens. Two players (including the new player) have both said they’re more interested in playing AW than going back to the Zombie Apocalypse game he was running. 

I’d be lying if I hadn’t kind of hoped people would like AW better than AFMBE as a system, but still I feel like a bit of a jerk. Plus, I’m already running a game ( #Monsterhearts ) on Fridays, so I’d kind of rather be playing on our Monday night sessions, not running them. Should I “force-lend” him my book, and maybe point him at one of the Zombie-Apocalypse hacks? Keep running the “better game”, hijacking his campaign?