Game Mechanics & Lore

[Thomas Shey]

It started off as an unofficial Supernatural RPG. Once you know that, those playbooks jump right out at you.

Yeah, when I bought the revised version not long ago (I thought if I was going to even passingly talk about PbtA games I should have something a bit less off in an odd corner than the first edition of Monsterhearts) it felt very Supernatural to me. Probably the reason so many of the playbooks have such overlap; most of the ongoing characters in show weren't that radically different after you plucked Castiel out of the mix.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

The updated corebook now has a carnival-based supernatural hunter which feels extremely niche to me, although maybe I'm just not watching the right TV shows.

Nah I've watched pretty much all of them, and that's just "not a thing" (not even in Carnivàle, which you might think it would be) as a protagonist or good guy, nor are a couple of the other playbooks. Several playbooks just seem to be either antagonists or whatever you call tricksters who humble the protagonists but don't actually try to stop them, rather inexplicably turned into protagonists.

Monster of the Week is explicitly about a later-season monster of the week procedural.

Ahhhh that makes more sense though also makes it a lot less interesting. Later seasons are often the least interesting ones in this genre (Supernatural fans will have a big fight about that lol).

The detective thing followed a similar trajectory, I think. ("Hey, why can't I play Kolchak?" someone's dad asked.)

Yes I immediately ID'd the Gumshoe as Kolchak specifically because of the bizarre Paladin-esque deal he has going on, which is like, totally un-gumshoe-ish generally, but very Kolchak-ish specifically.

And that's kind of representative of the need for revision imho, because it's like, every weirdo edge-case has an entire playbook with hyper-specific rules so you can play an exact character, but the more common and mainstream tropes of the genre don't have the same level of precision applied to them (though some do have more options).

it seems like they want to make this a franchise game, so I wouldn't be surprised if there's a bigger update coming in the future.

That'd be good, I think.

I don't know if they still do, but the Evil Hat website used to have all the core book playbooks available to download for free, as they're essentially player character sheets and players might reasonably need a bunch of them but not want to buy the hardcover.

Yeah that's what I've been looking at, the consolidated playbooks.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yeah, when I bought the revised version not long ago (I thought if I was going to even passingly talk about PbtA games I should have something a bit less off in an odd corner than the first edition of Monsterhearts) it felt very Supernatural to me. Probably the reason so many of the playbooks have such overlap; most of the ongoing characters in show weren't that radically different after you plucked Castiel out of the mix.

And Bobby Singer as the Veteran.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Ahhhh that makes more sense though also makes it a lot less interesting. Later seasons are often the least interesting ones in this genre (Supernatural fans will have a big fight about that lol).

Though honestly, if they were thinking in terms of Supernatural, the quality of the two main characters didn't change much; they'd been Hunters since they were teens at least, it wasn't a new experience. They had periodic temporary power boosts as a consequence of enemy action mostly, but other than that there was none of the development you'd see in some other monster-hunter shows.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Though honestly, if they were thinking in terms of Supernatural, the quality of the two main characters didn't change much; they'd been Hunters since they were teens at least, it wasn't a new experience. They had periodic temporary power boosts as a consequence of enemy action mostly, but other than that there was none of the development you'd see in some other monster-hunter shows.

Supernatural also models the "I'm too old for this crap/my luck is running out" system in MotW, where eventually, your character goes out in a blaze of glory (when the actor decides to go be on a better paying TV show or a Marvel movie) or retires before the bad guys catch up to them.

 

[Thomas Shey]

And Bobby Singer as the Veteran.

Yeah, but even Bobby overlapped with the others considerably; his most notable trait that was different, honestly, was he seemed to know everybody in the Hunter culture.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Supernatural also models the "I'm too old for this crap/my luck is running out" system in MotW, where eventually, your character goes out in a blaze of glory (when the actor decides to go be on a better paying TV show or a Marvel movie) or retires before the bad guys catch up to them.

Though darn few who try to do the latter get to make it stick.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yeah, but even Bobby overlapped with the others considerably; his most notable trait that was different, honestly, was he seemed to know everybody in the Hunter culture.

I don't have my book on hand, but I feel like the Veteran actually has an ability to call a guy, either for information or for favors.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Though darn few who try to do the latter get to make it stick.

Yeah, most actors' agents seem to be optimistic about leaving being a supporting character on a long-running show in favor of a bigger role on a new series. Coming back and getting a payday for dying after a Very Special Episode can be appealing in that case.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Supernatural also models the "I'm too old for this crap/my luck is running out" system in MotW, where eventually, your character goes out in a blaze of glory (when the actor decides to go be on a better paying TV show or a Marvel movie) or retires before the bad guys catch up to them.

Does it though? I watched it not that long ago and the only character I can honestly say that applied to is Bobby Singer, and he was "too old for this crap" the entire time he was on the show.

Sam and Dean both get killed repeatedly and never stop going. Their luck constantly runs out and one of them or the other pretty much "pushes things too far" just about every season, but they're always back after some new and ridiculous adventure. Castiel kinda likewise but less extremely.

The only other character I can think of who it felt like they "ran out of luck" was Rowena, I guess.