r/monsteroftheweek

Just finished my first session!

Just finished my first session! It went well (I think), what do you usually do for, debriefing after a session as a keeper (we already did the experience thing for the questions!) ( My next monster hunt they run will be a snow one so if anyone has any crazy ideas, let me know)

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u/whistlefoemw__ — 2 days ago

Hey guys, tommorow is my first session as a keeper, any last minute tips / sudgestions?

The first ses ideally consists of finalizing charcters, and jumping into the world, theyr going to fight a deer monster, with rotten apples hanging from its antlers

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u/whistlefoemw__ — 4 days ago

Can you use "The Council Has Made a Decision" on another hunter's rolls?

The Envoy's move "The Council Has Made a Decision" reads:

When you defy a direct command from the Overseers, hold 2. Spend this hold to turn a rolled move into a 10+, but the fallout gets worse each time you do.

What qualifies a "a rolled move"? Is it your rolls? Any roll a player makes? Do you have to be in the same scene as them?

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u/Xorianth — 3 days ago

Monster advice?

ATTENTION: if you are part of a group that includes a Searcher named Freya Green, a Wronged named Colin Auger, and a Pararomantic named Cat Olynn, please stop reading here!

Hi all! I'm looking for some advice for an upcoming mystery: I'm sending my players into a sort of magic forest area, and I'd like to introduce a few minions for them to encounter along the way. I want to have an Easy minion type, a Medium minion type, and a Hard minion type, with the understanding that they might encounter more than one each of the Easy and Medium minions but that they'll only encounter one Hard minion.

I've got some ideas for each, but I wanted to ask for some advice for proper scaling! I want to make sure that battling these minions one after another will be challenging but not impossible. I'm especially looking for suggestions for the monsters' HP and the amount of damage each attack does.

My minion ideas are:

Easy - Rabbit. 4 hp, no armor. Attacks: Bite (1 harm intimate), Scratch (1 harm hand).
Medium - Deer. 8 hp, no armor. Attacks: Impale (2 harm intimate), Trample (2 harm hand, also knocks down opponent).
Hard - Boar. 9 hp, 1 armor. Attacks: Gore (3 harm intimate), Shriek (1 harm close ignore armor, causes -1 forward).

I haven't thought of a weakness yet, but it'll likely be something that's not terribly difficult to acquire and use.

Some extra information:

-There will almost certainly be two player characters involved. One of them is a good fighter with a 3-harm weapon and 1 armor; one is less of a fighter (but is a magic user) and doesn't have armor IIRC. There's a chance the party will recruit at least one NPC to help as well.

-One party member has the DIY Surgery move from the Wronged playbook; that's about it in terms of healing capacity.

-Exactly how many of each minion the party encounters will depend on how they roll - they'll definitely encounter at least one Rabbit and at least one Deer, and failed rolls while navigating the forest/in the middle of fights might cause another Rabbit or a Deer to show up. (As mentioned, there will be only one Boar; it will be at the end of their journey, guarding a particular plant I'll be sending them to find.)

Let me know what you think, would definitely appreciate any and all feedback!

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u/childofjubal — 4 days ago

Miniature Monster Mayhem

I’m running this scenario next week, but instead of Movie monsters, I want the girl in the scenario to be into role playing. I want a little mini Cthulhu in the sub-basement of the hospital, trying to establish a miniature Rhyleh in the sewers. But what else could I include? Some stuff from D&D maybe, but my knowledge isn’t the best. A Beholder? Straahd? Tiamat? A horde of goblins (that could be treated as a single amorphous entity?
Any other good Mythos monsters that could be good?
I’d love your ideas! 😁

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u/Bellman276 — 6 days ago

How do you make it more cinematic?

Im running a game for a group of new*er* players. Ive been in the know about the game for a while but not ran one other game.

As a keeper, I want to make sure I can keep them engaged and thinking without giving too much away, so my question is:

How do you make it more cinematic for the players? Im talking cold starts or scenes before opening that show a hook. Ive given my players a hook in a few ways, but I'm not so good with the *off screen* stuff.

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u/BlackLegSanji654 — 7 days ago

Do you drop it all at once, or slowly work it in?

So, there are a lot of add ons for these books. While there are the simple hunters, there are hunter teams, and groups, and backers, and, well, jist a lot. So do you start it all at once, or do you drip feed the extra stuff in as people get comfy with the game?

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u/Justthisdudeyaknow — 8 days ago

What do you think it would be like if "monster of the week" was a system with criminals and a "villain of the week"?

Imagine if someone somehow modified the system to turn it into a "villain of the week" system with criminals, like in CSI, The Mentalist, and Law & Order, what would you think?

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u/Sr_Walten156 — 8 days ago

How strictly do you adhere to the rules?

I've been Keeper on a few different short campaigns and find myself rarely consulting the book for rules. I think there are two main rules that I've followed for my campaigns: the hunters can't defeat the monster without finding out its specific weakness, and I'll never tell a hunter to roll something unless they first say they're going to take an action (and then I'll interpret their action into a roll). Other than those two rules, I tend to just dive head first into storytelling with my players and leave the rulebook behind. I'm wondering how everyone else does it. MotW seems pretty light on the rules anyway, so it seems like the perfect system to just play it looseygoosey and focus on the story.

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u/pockypencils — 9 days ago

Ghost lore

What kind of ghost lore do you have? I want to avoid the "burn the remains ".

Right now my general idea is that if you burn / destroy the item binding them, it dehumanizes them and turns them from a troublesome, dangerous ghost into an enraged, murderous spectre.

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u/DMfortinyplayers — 9 days ago

How to know how much damage my monster will do?

How to know how much damage my monster will do?

I'm a first time keeper, and am going to be running a monster hunt for my friends! The first monster will be a rotten stag with rotten apples on its head, to kill the stag the players must clear the apples from its antlers and stab it in the tangled heart in its chest, now what I want to know is what damage he will deal, there's no monster sheets like in DND,

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u/whistlefoemw__ — 13 days ago