Dear student
We are very pleased to inform you the your application to Lone Oak Academy, class of 2021
Upon review of your application, and supporting documentation, we have decided that you are very well qualified, and exactly the kind of student we look for to continue the Lone Oak tradition of excellence.
attached to the letter is a full admissions packet, including how to accept this offer, which we ask you do withing 2 weeks of receiving this letter, our tuition, information about where to purchase uniforms, and the student handbook, which we ask you read thoroughly.
once again, congratulations, and we hope to see you on the 30th of August.
Elizabeth Sommers, Dean of admissions, Lone Oak Academy
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The game is Monsterhearts, the setting: a prestigious private boarding school in a sleepy New England town.
you all play teenagers, trying to hide the fact that you are't really human. it is a game about confusion, betrayal, messy sexuality and trying and failing to belong.
if you are interested, but unfamiliar with the system, I'll be happy to answer any questions (also, if you just have questions, I'm happy to answer them)
also, this game is going to be PG13-R rated. we won't go into explicit detail (like, at all), but the subject of sex and sexuality will come up a lot
So in. I think I’ll play a vampire again!
We doing Monsterhearts 1 or 2?
Dos
Very interested, but never heard of the system. Are the rules available somewhere?
Okay, I'll start with: it is Powered by the Apocalypse.
Stats will go from -2, to +3, and when you roll, your roll will fall into one of 3 categories: a success (10+), where you get what you wanted, and maybe a little more, a partial success (7-9) where you get what you want, but maybe not all of it, or maybe at a cost.
Both of these are classified as "Hits", so when a move says"on a hit..." read that as "on a 7+". then there are misses (6-),
these will introduce complication, and may or may not mean that you don't get what you want.
and the move comes into play, and you follow its directions (usually, you roll + a stat, and then make some choices, or I offer you choices). there are basic moves, which everyone has, and playbook moves, which are unique to certain characters.
A playbook is a collection of moves, choices, and advancements,
all within the confines of a central theme. everyone chooses a playbook (except The GM).
Hot is: attractive and socially adept
cold is: cool under pressure, coldhearted, capable of social violence.
Volatile is: fight or flight, movement , violence, using surges of emotion productively
Dark is: mysterious, introspective, in touch with the supernatural
in honesty, these aren't the best descriptions, but they give you an idea
Ive only played 1. I’ll review the moves and playbooks, but is there anything major I should know?
Hmm. Hesitant interest here. Can you tell me more about the campaign you want to run? Is it just going to be slice of life as a monster or what?
I'll need to look at the system, but the premise sounds interesting. Two questions so far:
- I take it the normal world is as our real world, but where does the worldbuilding for the moonlit world come from?
- Do I get the content restriction right - players can do whatever, they just should avoid providing detailed descriptions if 'whatever' happens to be NSFW?
In the past I’ve played it like “and then we have sex” and it cuts to after the sex. No need to hear who puts their what in the other person’s wherever.
Allow me to be the first to say I'd prefer this weren't a game with a Chosen. I'd like it if we were (for the most part) the most dangerous things around, and have the story focus more on struggling with having a 'normal' life.
I'm leaning toward either Ghoul or Hollow.
who puts their what in the other person’s wherever.
In the past I’ve played it like “and then we have sex” and it cuts to after the sex. No need to hear who puts their what in the other person’s wherever.
Well, the context can be significant in a game that revolves around relationships and social interactions, but it should be possible to omit any mechanical details of the process, at least =P
I'll second TPK's question about the overall shape of the campaign (though just starting from the themes you've listed I'm intrigued).
What are you looking for in a character submission?
After a quick flip through the playbooks Ghoul and Werewolf are calling to me, but obviously more details are to come ;)
Is this a normal school that has happened to accept a lot of monsters? Or do people know about us? Or do we know?
Is this an expensive school? An exclusive one? Do they give scholarships? Are we expected to be the kind of kids that are model students (or at least look that way on paper?)
I had previously done a ghoul for a MH1 game, but she's not prep school material.
Lone Oak Academy? I could have sworn that it was Twin Oaks Academy...
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Lone Oak Academy? I could have sworn that it was Twin Oaks Academy...
McFly!
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Lone Oak Academy? I could have sworn that it was Twin Oaks Academy...
Not since 1955 when that idiot knocked over the other oak.
Hmm. Hesitant interest here. Can you tell me more about the campaign you want to run? Is it just going to be slice of life as a monster or what?
More drama than Slice of Life, but the central coceit is "you're monsters, trying to be normal(ish), at a prestigious (ish) boarding school" We'll figure out more as we go
I'll need to look at the system, but the premise sounds interesting. Two questions so far:
- I take it the normal world is as our real world, but where does the worldbuilding for the moonlit world come from?
- Do I get the content restriction right - players can do whatever, they just should avoid providing detailed descriptions if 'whatever' happens to be NSFW?
Moonlit world....? it's the whole Buffy/Supernatural/twighlight (but no nearly as s#+~ty) thing of "it seems like the normal world, but the supernatural is real, but hidden.
and, basically, when it is clear a scene is going in a direction we've agreed to veil, we just draw the curtain, and skip to "after the fact" or another scene altogether.
Allow me to be the first to say I'd prefer this weren't a game with a Chosen. I'd like it if we were (for the most part) the most dangerous things around, and have the story focus more on struggling with having a 'normal' life.
I'm leaning toward either Ghoul or Hollow.
Done, and excellent choices.
I'll second TPK's question about the overall shape of the campaign (though just starting from the themes you've listed I'm intrigued).
What are you looking for in a character submission?
After a quick flip through the playbooks Ghoul and Werewolf are calling to me, but obviously more details are to come ;)
Ummm... I usually just wind up doing First Come First Serve, but if it comes up, I'd probably ask for a short IC writing sample
Is this a normal school that has happened to accept a lot of monsters? Or do people know about us? Or do we know?
Is this an expensive school? An exclusive one? Do they give scholarships? Are we expected to be the kind of kids that are model students (or at least look that way on paper?)
I had previously done a ghoul for a MH1 game, but she's not prep school material.
Lone Oak Academy? I could have sworn that it was Twin Oaks Academy...
Normal school that accepted a big crop O' monsters... might be other non-humans there, it is in Steven King country.
Yes to both, though they do offer scholarships to either particularly talented, or local unfortunates (when it benefits them, tax-wise
I don't get that reference.
Dot for interest... werewolf or witch probably
Fair enough, well jot me down as an interested Werewolf!
I'd be very interested. Played a bit with PbtA but not this system. Going to have to look through the playbooks.
I'm thinking a Queen. Still working out the specifics.
3 questions:
How many players are you taking?
Would you prefer a mix of playbooks or is more than 1 of one or more ok?
When does submission close?
*edit* one more... how old are the PCs?
Well I'm out. Not enough info for my taste
3 questions:
How many players are you taking?
Would you prefer a mix of playbooks or is more than 1 of one or more ok?
When does submission close?*edit* one more... how old are the PCs?
4 or 5
mixgiven the level of interest, 24 hours after it was posted
16
Meech: Vampire
DJ TPK: tentative interest, no declared playbook
Tavarokk: no declared playbook
BastianQuinn: Hollow or Ghoul
SodiumTelluride: Queen
Cwethan: werewolf
Philo Pharynx: no declared Playbook
KingHotTrash: no declared playbook
Hymenopterix: Werewolf or Witch
9 8 people, 4-5 slots. I'm gonna askprospective players to submit short writing samples. you needn't nail down anything about your charachters, but just show off your prose ability (sorry, this feels kinda judgy, just wanna see how everyone writes)
I’m interested in playing The Infernal!
I might be interested in playing a Mortal. I've enjoyed Masks, (Hi, Elsine!), so I'm interested in exploring more of the Powered by the Apocalypse games.
However, I may withdraw if I am selected in another game I'm waiting on. I don't know if I can handle adding two narrative-driven games at the same time.
So, consider this dotting for interest?
With the number of people applying and the list of games I'm already interested in, I'm going to bow out. I'll definitely be checking in to see how it goes though!
Okay, here's Carriekazi. Daredevil Ghoul. Philo Pharynx's application.
Oh, and the twin oak/lone oak thing is a Back to the Future reference. Marty meets Doc at the Twin Pines mall. When he goes back to 1955, he knocks down a tree. Back in 1985, he goes to save Doc. As he passes the sign, it now read "lone pine mall".
”Oh… me?” a fall of sable hair covers one eye as Yu looks down. “My ma and I moved here from Boston just for this dumb school. Now I guess my friend’s dad, Andrew Hussie won’t be showing me his notes for Homestuck 2. Now, I know what you're thinking, Hussie doesn't have kids... that the internet knows of. Anyway, this place sucks! Uniforms? More like prison uniforms, am I right? Who's got PUBG Mobil?”
The air fills with a pregnant silence.“Was that good? Can I go out now?” Yu searches the lens for a response. “O-or was that too immature? Too conspicuous? I can do another. I can do better. I promise.”
Yu tucks the stray hair and leans back. “Yes. I’m Yu, from before? I, uhm, I’m here for the school newspaper? I’m in AP English and Journalism II. I’d like to contribute a student highlight column. I already have four or five really diverse students I’d like to interview.”
“How was that? Smooth, right? Clever. I can think ahead. I can pass. Just… let me go out now. There’s only so much of life I can experience through fiber. I just want to go out there. I’m ready… please?”
Damn, these uniforms were boring. Beige and burgundy. If it wasn't for the nonrefundable deposit, she'd have burned the acceptance letter. She had picked up some of the girls' uniforms and was looking through the guys' stuff to mix in. The handbook implied you could only pick from your list, but didn't explicitly say so. That's when she heard it. Whispering from the giggling blondes over there.
She didn't hear everything, but a few words came through. "Greystone", "Crazy slut", "bet she's just like her." The last whisper was loud enough to be on purpose.
She moved over like a shot. The clothes rack wasn't on casters, but she pushed it anyway, trapping two of the girls behind it. The others didn't know what to do without their queen bees. Carrie said the next part low and slow, not loud enough to attract attention. "You should hear the truth. My mother did kill someone. She killed that b~~&+ for talking behind her back. Hit her with the truck, not hard enough to kill, but hard enough to get her stuck in the grill. She was alive for a couple of miles. When they finally got the body, everything below the knees was gone." She smiled at that, looking around at each of them. "Don't you ever forget that I'm just like her."
With that, she turned and walked back around the corner to the registers. One of the hangers-on looked around the corner, but squeaked and pulled back at seeing her eyes.
Kelly loved to see a player stand back up after a nasty tackle. She loved resilience. She loved grit. But she also loved watching someone run when they were just a little bit hurt, to see them favor one leg or run out of breath that little bit sooner, to know that in a real hunt they would fall behind.
Not that she went around hunting people!
No, she kept her wolf well caged. It was just that even a caged wolf could smell prey, and when her wolf got hungry it was much harder to keep in check.
So after a game like today, when her friend Janelle had finished out a hell of a quarter despite a twisted ankle, Kelly had to bail on the after-party. She definitely couldn't help wrap up Janelle's ankle.
No.
But if she wasn't going to hunt prey, she could at least give her wolf something to do.
It was twenty bucks to get into the gym for its "after hours training" whether you were getting in the ring or just watching. Just watching only revved her up worse when she was in this kind of mood though. The only thing that let her forget about hunting the weak, was struggling with the strong.
Her partner tonight seemed new to bare-knuckle, but they could both take a lot of punishment, and he had probably 50 pounds on her, so it was gonna come down to Will. And either way, once she got in the ring, got to fight someone who was a match for her, her wolf would go back to the cage. Win or lose, this was still a matter between predators. All the fight would do was show who'd end up on top.
@Elsine, 'moonlit world' is a fairly widespread euphemism for hidden side of the world in settings like this. Originally comes from Type-Moon franchise, I think? Or could be oWoD, not sure.
So what I was asking is things like 'what are vampires like (Stoker classics? Vampire the Masquerade? Dead Apostles? Twilight's glittering abominations?)?', 'are there supernatural communities?', 'what kind of magic is in use nowadays?', etc. In case any of that is supposed to be common knowledge or comes up in conversation or background.
I'm going for a fey. Will write up a snip in a bit.
Alexandra Wykes (witch)
Alex tucked an unruly strand of her hair behind her ear and pushed her wireless earbuds into her ears to drown out the sound of 'classic rock' that the chauffeur had chosen to put on the car's radio. Idly, she swiped through the pages of the book she'd scanned onto her iPad. She'd found the original, which was secreted beneath the clothes in her bag, beneath a loose floorboard her mother's brownstone six months earlier, and had been unable to resist reading through it many times a day since. OK, so she hadn't figured it all out yet, but at least she'd been able to figure out how to cast a minor hex on her mum to punish her for sending her away to this stupid f%*+ing school in the middle of nowhere. So what if her 'politics' were too liberal for a state senator's daughter? The rash her mother had come down with had been too perfect!..
"...but the engines are just rubbish. Slap some iron together until it works, need more power - just pump more gas. It's g%@%+~n 21st century out there, have they not heard efficiency is a thing yet?" Bill continues fervently condemning traditional American truck design as they follow a winding two-lane freeway taking them to a small town where Felicia's new school is located. "Ah, but I shouldn't bore you with my rambling. Doubt it's an interesting topic for you."
He glances at the girl next to him, visibly struggling to keep his eyes on her face.
"Not at all," Felicia smiles back, squirming in her seat to turn sideways, her grin widening a fraction when the older man's eyes momentarily shift towards the hem of her skirt. "I got the gist of it, I think? And I rather like how fired up you've gotten about this - a man needs to have a passion in life!"
"Ha! You're too kind, little miss, but thanks," William looks flattered by the praise. "In any case, that fence over there should be that school of yours, right? Looks like we're almost there."
"Oh, already? Thank you! I have no idea how long it would've taken me to get here otherwise!"
"It's nothing, I needed to head up the interstate anyway, so this is just a small detour," he waves away her gratitude.
"No-no," the driver looks at Felicia in surprise, startled by the abrupt seriousness of her tone, as she continues. "I could not possibly leave a favour not repaid. And I believe I have an idea what sort of compensation you'll enjoy the most."
Her voice turns sultry as she unbuckles the seatbelt and leans over, position doing interesting things to her cleavage. "Why don't we stop over there for a bit?"
***
Despite the gate being just around the corner, it'll be another twenty minutes and some before a new student will walk in, luggage in tow and, oddly enough, licking her fingers and lips with a playful smirk on her face.
Mindy "Minder" Caldecott stood in front of the school, her parasol shielding her from the rays of the sun ("I have a skin condition" she tells people when they ask), a look of disquiet barely crossing her implacable face. She hated this part. She hated starting over ever four years. ("Couldn't I just go to college?" she'd shout at her "parents" every time. "Why do I have to go to high school over and over again? I know everything there is to be taught in high school." The pleas fell on deaf ears every time.)
Wherever she went, Mindy drew attention. Her posture impeccably straight, her skin unblemished and white, her lips crimson, everyone wanted her...and she wanted none of them. They were children, livestock. But their devotion to her could get her what she wanted...the power to break free from her sire and start her own life.
Well..."Life."
More details...
Here's what she's noticed since she's been back.
Resting heart rate: 35-40
Active heart rate: 35-40
She's always had a high pain tolerance. But since she's come back, pain doesn't hurt. There's none of the suffering and fear part. Without the panic part of that, she actually has a better idea of what the damage is. She can feel it without issues.
Her appettite has increased. She's always hungry. She burns through calories endlessly. Where it goes is a mystery because much less comes out than goes in.
She's more flexible. She stretches and bends more than she could before. Part of it is that she doesn't have pain to stop her. It's like being a cat.
Auntie Flo hasn't appeared since she died. She will not be missed.
Mom - Maggie Broklawsky. Prisoner 3098659383859 at Greystone Prison for five years. Serving time for manslaughter. She killed the guy she was cheating with and his other lover. Carrie visits, but she tries to schedule it for good days. The drugs help, but not enough.
Dad - John Broklawsky. Runs Broklawsky Tow, Wrecking and Parts. It's a junkyard outside of town. Includes a small house, and an old RV that Carrie uses. Dad has never been the touchy-feely type. Losing his wife and becoming a sole parent was a bit much for him and he hasn't been good at it. Carrie always tried to make it easy on him, and he knows that. They don't do the traditional father/daughter thing, but it works for them.
Uncle Frank. Runs Broklawsky Auto Sales and Service. Uncle Frank sells used cars. He's less of a grump than Dad, but he's more flash than reliability.
Rufus. Rufus is the love of her life. He's big and black and she sleeps with him every night. He's her Rottweiler, the junkyard dog. He was a bit off for a couple days after she died, but he got used to the new version.
Last year, nobody on Earth would have expected Brody to end up here. He was an underachieving slacker from a lower-middle-class family.
And then, everything changed. Brody changed. Suddenly he was handsome, athletic and clever. His family inherited millions of dollars from a distant relative they'd never heard of. They moved to an upscale neighborhood and Brody transferred to a prestigious boarding school. He was on his way up.
And all it cost him was his soul.
***
Brody waved goodbye to the rest of the lacrosse team. As he turned away, a cruel grin spread over his face.
He unlocked his phone and tapped an unlabeled icon, a strange red symbol that couldn't be deleted (not that he would ever want to). The screen on his phone became filled with dark, smoky, undulating shapes shot through with brief flashes of multicolored lightning.
"So," Brody said softly. "What else do you need me to do?"
Serpentine!!!
Actually, is the charsheet itself needed for an application? Stats, moves, detailed char description as opposed to just concept, the works?
No serpentine, No chosen
no Charsheet needed, just a concept and sample.
To clarify the earlier post, my character is a young summer fey out to experience the mortal world under an alias of 'Felicia Greenwood', and like most of her kin she has a thing for having power over others by way of desire or favours owed.
Celeste lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Her three boys sat around the room, discussing who-knows-what. She'd stopped paying attention long ago. It was a Monday again already, and she had more important things on her mind.
She had always been popupar, mostly because Selene had been popular. Sometimes she missed her. It had been six months since the girl was found dead, and Celeste had suddenly found herself the popular one.
It wasn't all what she had imagined, though. Nobody else ever found out what had happened back then, but Celeste's status had changed. She could sense that mixed into her classmates' admiration and attention was a tinge of fear. Her friends stopped acting like friends, and acted more and more like subjects. She attracted new friends-- the three smartest boys in her year, who had always liked her but whose sudden devotion nobody could explain.
one of them asked. She looked up. It was Charlie, the good-looking one.
"You know the answer to that, Charlie," she said, lying back down. "It's Monday."
Alex, the strong-willed one. Celeste's hold on him was more tenuous, and she knew it.
Celeste bolted upright. "You'll do no such thing! I need you here, all of you. Remember what I'm capable of? Remember what happens? You're staying."
And since I neglected to say more than "Werewolf" for my basic concept, here're my bullet points for Kelly to go along with the earlier vignette:
*She's an afflicted werewolf who struggles to funnel her curse away from the hunt and into struggles for dominance.
*She hasn't hurt anyone as a wolf, yet.
*She doesn't know a lot about her curse, and how (or if) it will keep progressing, or even if she can pass it on.
*She's very physical, and tends towards a role as an Enforcer no matter what sport she's playing. Probably on some sort of athletic scholarship (which later in the campaign she might have trouble keeping if she gets ejected from too many games)
*She sees her wolf as different from herself, but when she transforms she's still at the wheel. She's just better at saying "No, I shouldn't" when she looks human.
Okay, Recruitment is closed
Kelly Granger, Yu Turing, Mindy Caldecott, Carrie Broklawsky, and Aexandra Wykes, please join us in the Discussion thread