Monster of the Week: Nexus Nixes

Game Master Darkfire142

In a world where the supernatural exists, there are lines of power that flow across the world, acting as a form of circultory system for planetry energy. However in specific places on earth there are convergances of Ley Lines, creating regions that attract powerful levels of supernatural actvitity. Some of these include Stonehenge, the Colosseum, the Parthenon, Angkor Wat, the Taj Mahal, The Bermuda Triangle and other locations. A few such places also exist in the west as well though, including one in the middle of North America, an area now occupied by the City of Yorkton.

Before the settlers came to the area the Assiniboine People performed various rites to draw upon the Convergance for power as well as control the flow of supernatural actvity in the area. White settlers were attracted to the land due to the fertile farming grounds which officially is from the commonly found black sand, although in truth the convergance provides very fertile lands for farming. An agreement was made that the settlers could live and work the land but the wooded areas would not be forested, although occasional wood could still be harvested. Unfortunately the coming of white diseaseses decimated the local Assiniboine population and in time the decendents began to forget their old traditions.

Without the proper rituals, eventually the magical wards began to strain and the power of the Convergance became more further known to the world at large. This in turn has attracted supernatural powers benign and sinister to this region over the years, seeking to use the power of the Convergance to further their own goals. Inevitably, innocents have gotten caught in the crossfire. But when trouble rises, there are heroes that rise to save the day. You are those heroes.

Game Concept:

Monster of the Week 2nd edition is a game based on the Appoclaypse World engine. It is ment simulate various supernatural media such as Buffy, Supernatural, Warehouse 13, The X-Files, Hellboy, Ghostbusters and Dresden Files among others. Its a sandbox style game that lets one build one's own mythology based on what the Keeper and the Players rather than any pre-established tropes, although real life mythology can me mixed and matched as appropiate. The player characters will be hunters/investigators seeking to unravel various mysteries that occur in the region of Yorkton Saskatchewan, a city of roughly 16,000 people in the midwest of Canada.

For this game I am leaving it open to what kind of hunter group you want to play. If you want teen drama, the players could all be associated with the local high School, Yorkton High. If you want to be a Winchester family style hunter group holding onto old traditions of monster hunting, that can work. Or you could be a motley crewe of random types working together for a common goal. One restriction is is that no one Playbook can be duplicated. This game will hopefully simulate the feel of a TV/Movie and thus everyone should have a unique role in the group. Unless the group wants to go all Monsterous and "Drak Pack", I'ed perfer a diverse group over one that follows a single trope. As for the Playbooks, they are as follows:

The Chosen: The chosen one, with a special destiny and power to back it up. Example: Buffy (BTVS)

The Expert: A scholar who much about monsters and magic and can be a skilled mentor. Example: Giles (BTVS)

The Flake: A conspiracy theorist, great at putting clues together. Example: Richard Langly from the Lone Gunmen.

The Initiate: Member of an ancient monster-slaying Sect, trained to fight and use magic/prayers. Example: Father Alexander Anderson from Hellsing.

The Monstrous: a monster fighting for the good guys. Example: Angel (BTVS)

The Mundane: you're just a normal regular person mixed up in all of this. Example: Xander (BTVS)

The Professional: You work for an agency that hunts monsters. Example: Riley (BTVS)

The Spooky: A person with magical/psycic powers but is either cursed with them or granted them by some powerful supernatual power. Example: Vanessa from Penny Dreadful.

The Wronged: A person that's lost everything and is revenge-driven and really tough. Example: Dean Winchester from Supernatural.

The Snoop: An intepid reporter/investigator deticated to getting the truth at what's out there. Example: Veronica Mars.

The Summoned: A powerful supernatural entity summoned from another plane who could end up the doom for the world. Example: Hellboy.

The Crooked: A criminal, delinquet or rabble rouser looking to make trouble. Example: Donnie Darko

The Spell Slinger: A practioner of the Arcane Arts that follows the tried and tested forms of wizadry. Example: Harry Dresden from the Dresden Files.

The Divine: You're an Angel, Divine Spirit, or other Celestial Being sent to earth to fight the forces of evil.* Example: Castiel from Supernatural.

* Note: I WILL NOT allow Smite to be taken as a move for the Divine. Having a magic bullet for every monster is a far to powerful an ability as a major part of fighting monsters is investigating and discovering their weakness and utilizing it.

Game Mechanics:

When you do something in the game you perform a move and add or subtract the relevant attributes to a 2d6 roll. On a 6+ you fail the roll or succeed at a hefty price and the Keeper can put a hard move on you to represent the consequences of your failure. On a 7-9, is often a success with conditions. Either you get a reduced effect related to a complete success or you have a complication that occurs in the attempt. A 10+ after modifiers is a qualified success and you get the result that is intended. There is a list of common moves but also playbooks have unique moves that only they can do.

You can get the playbooks and other downloaded material for free at the link below:

http://www.evilhat.com/home/monster-of-the-week-resources/

Dot. I've got the book, but I don't know what edition of the top of my head. I'd be down for a short campaign.

Well thankfully there is very few differences between 1st and 2nd edition for Monster of the Week. There are two major differences though.

I see is that in 1st ed, you marked 2 stats at the beginning of a session and you earned experience by using those stats during the game. The balance was that you could only earn XP using that attribute only once a scene. In 2nd edition they made the game more in line with other Apocalypse world games. You can earn experience on any roll but only if things go badly for you. In other words whenever you roll a 6 or less you earn an experience point. Of course there are other ways to earn experience in the game that are still active (Some moves grant experience, such as certain moves, role-playing, solving mysteries or defeating a noteworthy monster)

The second major change is that every move now has a 12+ mature effect but this requires taking an advance in order to be trigger-able so it does not come up to later in the game. I like to house rule though that Box Cars (Double 6's) which also are 12+ in result can trigger a mature move for PC's, even without taking the advance. This adds some "Critical Hit" system into the game allows for epic moments. NOTE this only triggers on a natural Box Cars, not if you spend a Luck Point.

Other that that, some moves have been changed, added or deleted and a few new playbooks such as the Crooked and the Spell-Slinger have been added. Other than these changes the game is basically the same.

So I find it odd that Dungeon World and Monsterhearts got a HUGE amount of players but this game barely has any applicants. In my opinion, Monster of the Week is WAY better than Monsterhearts!

I do like Monsterhearts though despite its flaws but I find the players are too squishy and the "Monster" part of it is rather pathetic. You can die from being hit by a dodge-ball in Monstehearts (Because even 1 harm brings you 1/4th of the way to death and most things inflict at least 1 harm. Believe me it DID happen in game, my Ghoul died because he had 3 harm already and got pegged by a dodge ball in Gym Class! Fortunately he came back to life a few hours later due to a move). When weapons come into play, you can instantly die in a single hit. Monster of the Week solves this problem by having most mundane non-lethal harm doing 0 harm but having some mechanical effect such as a penalty on rolls or some role-playing effect. Real Harm still is dangerous but you have a larger track. Still I do like the Monsterheart condition system though and might consider incorporating it into MOTW.

I'm a tentative dot here! Don't have the books myself but have been learning to love the PbtA systems.

So I find it odd that Dungeon World and Monsterhearts got a HUGE amount of players but this game barely has any applicants. In my opinion, Monster of the Week is WAY better than Monsterhearts!

I do like Monsterhearts though despite its flaws but I find the players are too squishy and the "Monster" part of it is rather pathetic. You can die from being hit by a dodge-ball in Monstehearts (Because even 1 harm brings you 1/4th of the way to death and most things inflict at least 1 harm. Believe me it DID happen in game, my Ghoul died because he had 3 harm already and got pegged by a dodge ball in Gym Class! Fortunately he came back to life a few hours later due to a move). When weapons come into play, you can instantly die in a single hit.

I don't want to derail your thread, but that's a Feature, not a Bug.

I admit that it's silly that your GM actually gave you harm for being hit by a dodgeball, because that's nonsense, but your characters are intended be weak - even as monsters. Monster of the Week and Monsterhearts have incredibly different goals as games, the latter focused far more on fears, relationships, and embracing who you are. The monster aspects are intended to be more of an "afterthought" and to be less of the focus than who your character is and what they're going through.

It emulates the feeling of being a teenager, and everything being life or death. As with growing up, even becoming a monster, it's about life not being what you thought it would be. And it's wonderful at that. I think the comparison to Monster of the Week as better/worse is pretty unfounded - both are great at achieving very different things.

Glad you've got a handle on Monsterhearts Yorick. I am interested to see what changes 2nd edition will have. One thing I've learned is that the Manipulate an NPC move is going bye-bye. Now you can't make anyone do things unless you got strings on them (or if the GM decides its narrative appropriate), forcing you to use a lot more Shut Downs/Turn on moves and making strings even more important. Don't know if there is any new basic moves that will be added though or if there is any large changes to the skins. The game seems almost identical in the new edition.

Still one way to curb death in Monsterhearts is to change basic harm for minor things to 0 Harm. So if you lash out physically you really only can inflict harm on a 10+ and chose "Cause Terrible Harm" or use a weapon or something obvious lethal (like a werewolf/vampire/ghoul claw/bite or some ability that lets you do extra harm). Also take out "Inflict 1 harm for free" as an option for a sting, unless there is a supernatural way of inflicting it. That is what I'ed do in the new edition to prevent the game from going into "One Punch Man" death spirals or death from things that shouldn't be lethal. Minor injuries should be covered by Strings/Conditions rather than harm.

Another tentative dot. I didn't find The Summoned in the link you gave. Is it in the book or somewhere else?

Edit: Never mind, found it in the Generic Game FAQ.

dotting for interest as well.

Ok I've created a campaign for monster of the week. I'll need an idea of what kind of Hunter Group your party is going to be and what playbooks you want to play. Please follow these guidelines.

1. No PC should have the same playbook unless the group as a whole agrees on a "Drak Pack" type group, where you could use a mix of Monstrous characters (With maybe one Summoned to spice it up).

2. Your characters will be starting out hunters so while you might have some minor history between characters and a little pre-knowledge on the setting, your characters will not start out as movers and shakers in the world at large although might build to such a level. The power level I am thinking is the point of Season 1, Episode 1, where you might have solved a few minor mysteries but you definitely have not become a big shot. For creatures that have immortal lifespans like Vampires, Demons and or Angels, this can be justified in several ways such as being young or low on the totem pole or perhaps you lost a good deal of your power and have to work your way back to prominence.

3. It is assumed PC's either know one another before the game begins or will be introduced soon enough. Your characters while they might not always get along, they should be willing to put things in perspective and work together towards a common goal. Once the PC's are created we will discuss Historical links between them.

4. I will leave things open for variant mythologies when it comes to supernatural PC's but as the Keeper I am the final arbiter of what works and what does not. For instance, in my game Werewolves are either hereditary or can only be inflicted by a powerful gift/curse and simply being bitten by a werewolf doesn't make you one (Thus eliminating the potential for a "Werewolf Plague" which would be impossible to contain in any reasonable world).

I'm down to play, and I'm good with whatever role the party needs (though I tend to lean toward Expert). I've been wanting to take a shot at Monster of the Week for a long time and my Impulse Drive game dried up.

An Expert is a good choice of character as they often have the brains and the knowledge to provide support to the party. They often take a mentor role for the group and usually work better as someone who of the older persuasion although there can be different sorts. What good Schick a Expert gets though is he/she has a haven which can give a useful base of operations for a hunter team as well as some useful features you can tap into. The weakness of the expert is that they aren't too combat oriented and only really have one combat related move available to them. Most of their other moves are for support or knowledge based actions.

I'm really leaning towards spell-slinger because Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden is a thing, but there are a couple of other ideas that I had (Namely a Nephilim built using the Monstrous template and a Initiate who is a holy warrior who follows in the tradition of Arjuna).

I'm considering the Summoned, I'm thinking maybe a Black Butler or something else. I just got done running tonight so my brain is fuzzy, I'll look more in detail later.

Might be interested

I'm thinking a Spooky, who made a deal with some supernatural force, Fae maybe.

Now you make me want to play my character from our local Dresden Files game, who used to shout to the heavens "Do not make deals with Fae!"

Yes, the Fae will exist in this game although will likely have a darker slant to them. More like the Fae of Grim Fairy Tales than a Mid Summer Nights Dream. Of course there is the Seelie and Unseelie fae but whatever the case may be one has to be careful with the fae due to their fickle natures and fascination with mortals.

You can be a Spooky who gets their power from the fae. For Dresden equivalent, a Spooky is an Emissary of Power, their gifts are from a powerful supernatural source and thus has a dark side. It is not the same kind of magic as the Spell-Slinger who uses tried and tested magical techniques but tapping into a wellspring of supernatural power. You will have to pick appropriate Dark Side tags to represent the cost, plus the forces granting you the power can make demands of you as well.

The Summoned is an interesting duck on its own. It literally is the "Hellboy" playbook. Your character will have some destiny that will bring about the Apocalypse. It might not be the end of the world, perhaps you're a herald for a horrible devastator to come or a pawn in a prophecy that will come to pass. Every time you spend luck, you get closer to the doom. Once you hit 0 luck, your Doom shall come to pass. Wether it can be prevented, is up to the players. Still much like Hellboy your character is freaky in some way. Even if you take the "Almost Human" appearance, people will instinctively sense some kind of "Wrongness" about you. You can probably use magic to disguise yourself but you still got to deal with the issues that you're not human in the slightest.

As for Vrog's choices well depends what you want to play that will be the most interesting to the story.

Dot.

Hmmm, it appears that the easy references don't have a link to the Summoned there on the page. I'll look through them all just a bit more.

I also noticed that when Luck runs out, you're basically boned. Is it a finite resource? Are you able to gain it back?

Most of the time its a Finite Resource and it requires spending an advance to get them back. Only the Mundane gets it as an optional improvement. For most other playbooks that have it, it costs an advanced improvement to get the luck point back. Luck is basically the fact that as heroes of the story you can accomplish great things and overcome overwhelming odds, but every time you defy the odds, you go one step closer to your fate. For the Summoned this is especially true as your luck is a count-down towards your role in the Appoclaypse. Its a feature of the Playbook.

Playbooks for easy reference.

Okay, I have a couple of characters that I have built, and I would like to get people's thoughts on which they think would fit better in the group:

The first is a Spell-Slinger, who has been sent to Yorkton to guard against mystical threats by his master. Sent is a bit of an overstatement, however; It's more like "Left in the middle of the night without explanation". He's been in town for about a year, posing as a psychic, of all things. Most people think he's kooky but harmless, and he's mostly left alone.

My other character would be a Chosen (which I keep wanting to call champion for some reason). He is the reincarnation of King Arthur.

The modern incarnation of this character would be a highschool senior who is the one of the most popular girls in the school. Unlike most high school popular kids, she treats everyone well, even if her friends don't.

She received excaliber, which appears to be a folding knife to most people, from a crazy old man who shoved it into her hands, mumbled something about her being the king, and then promptly died of heart failure. Not thinking about it, she put it into her purse and then forgot about it.

She discovered the truth about the supernatural about a year ago during a camping trip when she was separated from her friends and attacked by a werewolf. During the fight, she remembered the knife in her purse and drew it out, which when fully drawn showed itself to be a sword. She killed the creature and began doing research into the supernatural.

Let me know what you all think would work better and I'll get that character posted.

Vrog - Both sound interesting. However I like Spell Slinger more - just because it's Spell Slinger. And Dresden Files.

Zaitherin - I haven't given it enough thought yet, but for Dark Side tags I think Dark Bargain, Secrets and Hallucinations sound like Unseelie Fae.

I don't think the King Arthur would be involved in a place so far from the United Kingdom so it seems it is too odd for this setting. It would work better in the old country rather than in a place where the population is 23% English Descent but 37% Ukrainian descent. And I'ed say Excalibur would be an actual Sword if it were to show up. So the concept dosen't hold weight.

The Spell-Slinger would work very well in this campaign as there certainly is interest of some powerful spell-casters Ley Line Nexus either to keep things under control or to tap into its power to make use of its energies for good or ill. So I am thinking the Spell-Slinger would work best out of your two character choices.

Still there won't be a "Dresden Files" laws of magic in this game when it comes to magic. Unlike Dresden Files, Magic is not a fundamental force of good or evil so using magic to kill people is not the end all of your character, especially since the Spell-Slinger gets some powerful combat oriented spells. Of course the more powerful the magic, the more preparations are needed to perform. To do perform a world-altering spells you require a LOT of power, the proper ritual, and perhaps reagents, assistants, specific times of year or numerous other preparations. That is why no one has cast a "Conquer the World" as the more powerful the spell, the more is required to pull it off.

Not to say Magic doesn't have different flavors so to speak. There is magic that channels raw energy of the world through tried and tested techniques (Which is what the Spell-Slinger is good at). There are supernatural forces that can naturally generate and shape magic although often have limitations of what they can do. Various supernatural powers (Such as Gods, Demons, Angels, Fae, etc) can also grant a portion of their power to mortals but likewise have the limitations of the patron that provides such power. And then there is the Cthulhu type creatures who can corrupt the laws of physics and bend reality to their will. Magic is like Nature, it can be nurturing as a summer breeze or be more destructive than a rampaging Hurricane. In the end, its how the caster uses the power is what matters.

I haven't read any of the rules but this game so needs a Mundane. I would like to be that guy.

"So we are going to cross into hell to fight a demon with enough power to turn a Canadian city into a violent, post-apocalyptic hell-hole with nothing but a few squirt guns of holy water and a spear that may or not have belonged to a Norse god? I was going to do my taxes but this sounds easier."

Okay, I'll get my spellslinger posted shortly.

I think I have everything for him:

Name: Joe Arden
Playbook: Spellslinger

Charm -1
Cool +1
Sharp +1
Tough 0
Weird +2

Luck _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Harm _ _ _ | _ _ _ _
Experience _ _ _ _ _

Combat Magic: Blast, Lightning, Wind

Moves:
Tools and Techniques (Foci, Gestures, Incantations)
Advanced Arcane Training
Enchanted Clothing (Hoodie)
Shield Spell

Gear: (Foci: Lightning Rod), Heirloom Cavalry Sabre

Look: Man; Stylish Clothes; Fierce Eyes

Backstory: Joe is the apprentice to a Apache shaman named Speaks-with-Wind. Speaks-with-Wind found the boy wandering in the woods, the apparent survivor of some sort of supernatural attack (he was covered in slashes and wounds that were infected with evil spirits). Speaks-with-Wind viewed him with his third eye and quickly realized that he had the power to become a potent spellcaster.

Joe desired to learn to hone his magic into a weapon to strike out at the 'monsters' who had taken his childhood away from him. As he grew into a young man, his desire for vengeance tempered into a strong will to prevent what happened to him as a boy from happening to anyone else. When his master was consulted multiple times by people in the Yorkton area regarding supernatural attacks, he asked to be sent to help protect people. His master, however, told him to wait, as although he was powerful, his control was less than perfect. He did, for a while, but ultimately it was too much for him to take, and so he left without saying anything to the only person who had raised him as a father.

Arriving in town, he knew that he would draw attention, so he opened up a business posing as a psychic, which he uses as a cover to gather information regarding supernatural activity in the area, as well as offer people council and what wisdom he had learned from his master.

Joe has been in town for a little over a year, and most people don't pay him and his "hoodoo" any mind. He is making enough money to provide for himself, and he has helped several people with their supernatural problems.

Appearance: Joe is a man in his early 20', with light skin and purple eyes. he is 5'9" and weighs just shy of 175 lbs.

When he is working, he wears a white dress shirt and black slacks; when he is in his downtime, he tends to dress like someone from the pacific northwest: hoodies, shorts, and tennis shoes. When he fights supernatural evil, he wears a dark jacket that he has enchanted to protect him from harm, jeans, and steel-toe boots, with a cavalry sabre that his master gave him on one hip and his lightning rod (a slender 2' long steel bar) on his other.

Here's my Spooky.

The Mundane would fit pretty well in this game. The Mundane might not have the flashy powers of the Spell-Slinger and the Spooky's raw supernatural power but they make a good "Faceman" when it comes to dealing with people as well as a support character and foil for the power players. They also tend to have uncanny luck (or misfortune) but also means they advance faster than most hunters due to having a good number of experience moves.

As for Madcaster's spooky, lets work out a few details.

First you would be going to Parkland College, as that's the only post-secondary college in Yorkton.

As you chose the Unseelie Fae as your source of power putting on the ring has sealed you as an earthy agent of the Unseelie Court. The source of your power is Loht the Erlking, The King of Twilight, Lord of Shadows, Ruler of the Unseelie Court (and numerous other titles I shan't list here). Suffice to say the Unseelie Court values power, pleasure and violence so they aren't a nice group to be affiliated with. Weather you have met the Erkling himself, met one of his agents or kept in the dark is up to you Edgard. Still you should "Flavor" the magic you use to this concept. The Unseelie Fae also deal a lot with the dead and undead so that could fit into your ability to see and interact with ghosts.

The Mundane

Name: Kyle White
Playbook: Mundane

Charm +2
Cool +0
Sharp -1
Tough +1
Weird +1

Luck _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Harm _ _ _ | _ _ _ _
Experience _ _ _ _ _

Moves:
Oops!
The Power of Heart
Let's Get Out of Here

Gear: Baseball Bat, Nunchuks, Classic Car in Terrible Condition

Look: Man; Trustworthy Face; Casual Clothes;

Backstory: To be completely honest, Kyle isn't sure how he got to Parkland college. Obviously he drove his beat up Mustang there but how he got into the Study Abroad Program he wasn't sure. He was almost positive he hadn't signed up for it but orientation had been pretty confusing. He might have signed something that said Canada. Either way he was here now and rather enjoying the experience. Most Canadians were nicer but not anything like the stereotype. Actually, it was the government employees who were super nice. Even the their version of the DMV. Mind Blown. And some of them did say "aboot" but it was rare. Rare enough he giggled when he did hear it.

All in all the school was super accommodating despite Kyle not being prepared for it. They walked him through orientation at a slower pace, where there for questions when he was signing important papers, and showed him around the campus. A few of the students even showed him around the town and the places they liked to hang out. And he earned himself the title of Honorary Canadian when he finished off a plate of their most popular dish, poutine. Seriously, it was a heart attack worthy of any American stereotype about food. Cheese, gravy and cheese curds.

If it weren't for all the monsters the place would be great. Wait. What?

...

As for Madcaster's spooky, lets work out a few details.

First you would be going to Parkland College, as that's the only post-secondary college in Yorkton.

As you chose the Unseelie Fae as your source of power putting on the ring has sealed you as an earthy agent of the Unseelie Court. The source of your power is Loht the Erlking, The King of Twilight, Lord of Shadows, Ruler of the Unseelie Court (and numerous other titles I shan't list here). Suffice to say the Unseelie Court values power, pleasure and violence so they aren't a nice group to be affiliated with. Weather you have met the Erkling himself, met one of his agents or kept in the dark is up to you Edgard. Still you should "Flavor" the magic you use to this concept. The Unseelie Fae also deal a lot with the dead and undead so that could fit into your ability to see and interact with ghosts.

I don't think Edgard warrants attention of the Erlking himself. He probably met one of his agents.

His magic also sometimes does things slightly different. Or in an unpleasant way.

Sounds like Unseelie Fae?

Also, maybe we should move to the discussion?

Sounds good Madcaster. Sounds just like what the Unseelie Magic would function. Air, Darkness, Cold, Death, Entropy are among the elements that the Unseelie Court thrives in. Indeed there will be unpleasent side effects using Unseele Magic, especially if you fail or botch a casting roll. There is also the nightmares and hallucinations you have to deal with as well.

As for the Unseelie agent assigned to your case, you have a Teg by the name of Finch who acts as your go-between with yourself and the Unseelie Court. Finch is around 6 feet tall with long pointed tuffed ears and fox-like facial features. His hands and feet are large and tipped with bestial claws and has a trickster's grin that shows a row of sharp teeth not unlike a beast. He also has animal-like eyes with a predator gleam. He dresses in an earth toned outfit. He can at will take the form of a fox and is extremely stealthy so can often catch Edgard by surprise. He also has large glossier hunting knife on his belt as well. He definitely will show up in the game from time to time.

So is there any other people interested in this game? I would be willing to run with 3, but I want to give recruitment a bit more time as 4-5 would be a more ideal number. Looks like its going to be a potent magic using group as we have both a Spell-Slinger and a Spooky, but with a Mundane we also got a face who can deal with social aspects as well as act as the front line bruiser (Although the Mundane is the Zeppo so other than Social rolls then tend not to excel in any one area). Still with +1 Weird, he does have some mild magical potential, probably learning a few tricks of his own.

I am focusing on luck and reliability. I am hoping the +1 will allow him to use a powerful spell or magic item by accident to save the day or just make it really weird as the ability implies.

"What does LeviosA mean? Wait. What's going on? Why am I flying? Or floating? This feels weird. Please halp."

The way I see it having a 0 or -1 in Weird means you're either totally clueless and/or incapable of magic or are a mere dabbler who can use or take part in ritual magic but can't use magic on the fly. Note that the Expert had the potential of taking 0 in Weird. This is sort of measuring the difference between different kinds of Experts. Giles probably had a 2 in Weird due to his dark magic past and grasp of occult practices and rituals (and later able to disable Willow when she went all dark power). On the other hand the average Watcher is an Occult Scholar but probably shy away from using direct magic except in the most dire of circumstances.

Having a +1 Weird means you're a beginner or have minor potential. Sort of like Willow was at the start of the series (Although I see pre-magic Willow to be more of Flake than a Mundane as she was a nerd). Of course during play you are eventually allowed to take moves from other playbooks. So yes, looks like Kyle White might be using a bit of magic in the future it seems.

Of course there are exceptions to Weird being a measure of supernatural power. The Divine for instance can have a really low weird, but are clearly supernatural creatures with powers. This is made up for a good deal of their powers being innate abilities rather than outright magic but beyond what is granted by their playbook features they are rather narrowly focused and most wouldn't design to use witchcraft or other occult-based practices.

The Monstrous

Name: Marcus
Playbook: Monstrous

Charm -1
Cool +1
Sharp +1
Tough +0
Weird +3

Luck _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Harm _ _ _ | _ _ _ _
Experience _ _ _ _ _

Curse: Feed (blood; you need to act under pressure to resist feeding whenever a perfect oppor- tunity presents itself.)

Natural Attack:
Base: Life-Drain (1 harm, intimate, life-drain)
Extra: Add +1 harm to a base

Moves:
Immortal - You do not age or sicken, and whenever you suffer harm you suffer 1-harm less.
Unholy Strength - Roll +Weird instead of +Tough when you kick some ass.

Gear: Sword (2-harm hand messy)

Look: Man; Powerful Aura; Tailored Clothes;

Monster Breed: Vampire (if it wasn't obvious)

Marcus, once Marcus Vispanius Agrippa Postumus, was son to a Roman consul. Named Postumus due to his birth being after his father's death. After his older brothers both died Marcus was adopted by the Emperor of Rome Augustus. Marcus soon became a favorite of Augustus. In jealously for her own son Tiberius, Livia, Augustus' wife, enacted a plot to get Marcus exiled. The morning of his 21st birthday Marcus was hauled away and taken to a small island, Pianosa (just off the coast of Italy). There he remained in guarded exile for 5 years until he was supposed to be executed. The executioner, a guard who had gotten to know Marcus and his story, took pity on Marcus and gave him a boat to escape and reported the execution a success.

Marcus, floundered around a little while before beaching on another island with one building. Deciding to wait until nightfall for stealth purposes, Marcus then snuck into the building. It was tower-esk and looked to be the residence of some individual. Out of nowhere, a wiry man jumped atop Marcus and bit him. Marcus, having been trained well was a fighter, easily fended the intruder off and removed his head.

The next several days Marcus stayed in the tower seeing it as an opportunity not worth wasting. As the days passed, Marcus began to feel ill and took to laying in bed, hoping the fever should abate. Wishing the struggle to end, he gave in to his fever and sickness and passed out, dying or so he hoped.

When Macus awoke, he felt different. He no longer felt sick or tired, he only felt hungry. Marcus scrounged for food around the tower, but what little was there did not sate him. So he went to the boat and cast off. With ease and strength Marcus glided across the water and soon found himself heading for a city port. Taking darkness as his friend, for fear of being recognized, Marcus entered the city at night. Soon after he entered the city he happened across an unconscious man in an alleyway. Seeing this man, Marcus was filled with an uncontrollable urge to feast. He descended upon the unconscious man and the next thing he knew he was huddled over the man, blood everywhere, but his hunger was sated....

(Having chose such a far back origin in history, to which I regret now, my creativity has run out for now. To be continued.. I just wanted to assure a submission.)

Ok, interesting you want to play as a vampire. Well as for the origins of vampires, they were originally created as a result of a blood magic ritual by ancient mages seeking the secrets of immortality. The First Vampires are known the Ancients in occult lore. They achieved it of sorts although in a way that turned them into undead monsters who to survive had to fuel their existence with the blood of the living. They eventually learned that by feeding their blood to dying person they can spread their dark curse to others.

In addition to the original vampires, Vlad Dracula was transformed by one of the Ancients (and then later killed his sire to become an Ancient himself) while Elizabeth Bathory was able to become equivalent to Ancient through witchcraft and years of vile blood magic and hundreds of sacrifices which in turn duplicated the circumstances that the Ancients achieved their immortality

There are 4 stages of vampirism so to speak. A vampire can feed their blood to a living person thus creating a slave, often slangly called a "Reinfield". They gain some enhanced physical attributes and their vampire overlord has a great deal of control over them. If a Reinfield dies, they die a mortal death and don't become a vampire.

The second stage is a Transitional Vampire, this is when a person who is dying is fed the blood of a vampire. This transitions them into a state of between life and death, the blood keeps them from dying but they develop vampire-like features such as fangs, enhanced strength and limited supernatural powers. This state is brief though, a person must complete the transition within a week or die a mortal death. Still at this stage the subject will progressively become ravenously hungry for blood until it becomes uncontrollable. If they do drink blood but not kill their victim they can buy another week of existence. Transitional vampires can eat food and are technically alive. This form of vampirsm is reversible but only by killing the vampire sire. Once this is done the person will immediately revert to their dying state and thus will require medical attention and likely a blood transfusion to survive. Still those who survive the second stage often have some lingering effects of this such as improved senses and being cured of most debilitating illnesses and physical flaws.

The third stage is full vampire which can only be achieved by a Transitional Vampire taking a life, a human life. Such is the nature of the ritual that originally created them. Blood for Blood, Life for Life, to seal immortality you must take a life. Afterwards the vampire becomes fully undead with all the strengths and weaknesses of their kind.

The forth stage is a Master Vampire, this is only achieved by vampires who have existed for several centuries and have spent a good deal of time extending the mastery of their powers and have totally thrown off their shackles of humanity. This kind of vampire is outside the scope of player characters though as these are monsters without a shred of morality. While they might express strange passions and enduge themselves it is merely for their own self-interest. The Ancients are a step above this rank and the most potent Vampires in the world.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Vampires MUST feed on blood, preferably human blood but they can feed from other supernatural creatures, although feeding on supernatural blood tends to have odd effects on them. Animal blood might mute the cravings for a short time but provide no substance to a vampire. Vampires cannot eat normal food (Without throwing it up) although they can drink beverages although non-blood beverages eventually are expelled through urination. They cannot get drunk or high though unless they feed off someone who is suffering from those effects.

Vampires are Immortal and do not age. The transition from human to vampire undoes any mortal flaws of their previous selves. Poor eyesight, hearing or other physical disabilities vanish. As does any mortal diseases and aliments cure themselves upon transition. Scars and blemishes leave the skin and crippling injuries reset themselves so a vampire with crippled limbs, horrific wounds and/or a broken spine as a mortal are cured of these conditions. However any missing digits, limbs and the before the transformation remain. If removed as a vampire, these can be reattached or regrown through their natural regeneration. Being undead they are immune to a lot of things but are not invulnerable to weapons, although more difficult to kill than normal people. They have excellent night vision and enhanced senses as well.

Vampires are super-humanly strong and have powerful innate magical potential. All of them can Use Magic to do things outside of human limitations (Such as limited flight, supernatural charm, extreme physical prowess, enhanced senses, regeneration etc). Other abilities such as mind control and transformation are better taken as moves from the Monstrous. Vampires also have the potential to cast spells but much like other casters have to study occult sources and learn how to cast magic although those that do can be very potent spell-casters.

Vampires have a mix of different weaknesses. First of all, they are vulnerable to anything with the "Holy" tag. Such weapons inflict extra harm and can be used to permanently kill a vampire. They cannot enter areas with the "Holy" tag without taking harm as well. A vampire who loses all their harm from non-holy attacks are not killed unless they are decapitated, burned or have their heart removed, although are helpless until such a time they can heal themselves. Sunlight does not not kill vampires (Nor do they sparkle) but most don't like it and prefer to act during the nighttime hours. Stakes do no extra damage against vampires unless blessed although traditionally are a way of destroying the heart of a vampire and thus killing it. The Ancients are harder to permanently kill though and many can come back from complete destruction. Only Vlad Dracula was able to PK an Ancient but only by stealing his power for himself. Vampires also require rest, as for the reason, scholars believe that they need time to "Digest" their meals which requires a time of inactivity. This typically is 8 hours although this can vary depending on the potency of the vampire. Vampires who do not feed start to lose themselves to the hunger. If denied long enough their become more bestial and corpse-like and eventually wither into a desiccated husk and fall into a death slumber but can be awakened if given a large amount of fresh blood while in this state. Few vampires get this far though, usually only by being imprisoned with no means of getting blood, or volentarly starving themselves by self-imprisonment.

Vampires can feel emotions and desires often to a strong degree than most mortals. The progress of ages however often can drive them to lethargy and long slumbers unless they keep themselves active and find something to keep their minds, bodies and feeling active. Hence while a vampire might spend a good deal of time resting, eventually many are forced to interact with the world in some shape or form. Vampires have kept their numbers fairly small and those that embrace too many fledglings often are detected and taken down by hunters.

As for Marcus, the background might make you far too powerful for a starting character as you would likely be a Master Vampire in power level if you were active for that long and those are outside the scope of playable characters. So either you're a young fledgling vampire or a vampire that's been in slumber for a long time and only recently has woken up.

So much info, but really neat. If possible I would prefer the slumber things.

It would also require me to amend the background to have the previous vampire "adopt" Marcus for a time. Then Marcus gets realizses the terror he wrought and helped wreak and turns on his "creator" as it were. Then flees, being chased off everywhere he tries to stay and inevitably leads to some location where he vows not to take a life again and starves himself into a sleep maybe? Being found and woken for the duty of protection which he agrees to and thus becomes part of the group. Constantly wrestling with his dark urges.

Dot.
this sounds fun, make a scooby gang and go slay monsters. Perfect

I really love Dungeon World, so this is interesting to me.

What posting frequency are you looking for?

Also, if I play, I'm eyeballing the Professional with the Tactical Genius, Medic, and Unfazeable moves. Stats would thus be Charm 0, Cool +3, Sharp -1, Tough +2, Weird -1. I'd be using Cool for a lot of stuff, basically.

I'm thinking this character is a retired special operative, namely a Canadian soldier that was promoted to join an international anti-terrorist organization for a time. He retired, and he thought that was going to be that, but he started seeing... strange... things in the area he decided to settle down in (Yorkton). Moreover, an old friend from the organization he was in before got him connected with a rather secretive group that's been calling themselves the Bulwark.

The Bulwark is a secretive pseudo-military group funded by an unknown corporation whose official goal is the eradication of supernatural threats to human life. Its tags are Well-Armed, Good Intel, Dubious Motives and Secretive Hierarchy (though I AM considering replacing Dubious Motives with a take-no-prisoners policy). Basically, my character would actually know very little about the organization he's working for, and I would LOVE for this to be exploited.

I imagine this character as an old man, probably sixty or so years old, with a lot of experience fighting NORMAL threats under his belt. This, though, is... something new. Supernatural threats are just weird to him. Ergo, the reason he's level one despite his experience is he's an old dog picking up new tricks AND he hasn't actually be an active combatant in years.

EDIT: And... Honestly, I know pre-planning builds is a no-no for Apocalypse-powered games, but I WILL say that I'd be taking Precise Strike as per the Expert Ability on my first level up (taking a move from another playbook). +2 extra harm is just really good.

Sorry for triple posting, but a final note on this character and a sheet writeup:

I plan to make this guy a serious Fighty Dude for the group if I play. Eventually getting another point of Tough and turning Kick Some Ass and either Help Out or Act Under Pressure into Advanced moves is on the table.

How would you want the stat array I listed to be roleplayed? Is a Sharp of -1 a mentally slow character? Is a Charm of +0 okay as a gruff, serious, no-nonsense individual? How tough is Tough +2? Etc.

-------------------------------

The Professional

Name: Maxwell Silver
Playbook: Professional

Charm +0
Cool +3
Sharp -1
Tough +2
Weird -1

Luck _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Harm _ _ _ | _ _ _ _
Experience _ _ _ _ _

Moves:
Unfazeable (+1 Cool)
Tactical Genius (Use Cool instead of Sharp to read a bad situation)
Medic (When you do first aid, roll +Cool. On a 10+ the patient is stabilized and healed of 2 harm. On a 7-9 choose one: heal 2 harm or stabilize the injury. On a miss, you cause an extra 1 harm. This move takes the place of regular first aid.)

Gear:
Flak Vest (1 armor)
C7A2 Assault rifle (3-harm far area loud reload)
9mm (2-harm close loud)
Big knife (1-harm hand)

Look: Man; Old Face; Shabby Suit

Agency:
The Bulwark, a secretive paramilitary organization funded by an unknown corporation. They are dedicated to the defense of humanity against supernatural threats - at least, that's what Maxwell has been told.
Resources: Cover Identities, Good Intel
Red Tape: Dubious Motives, Secretive Hierarchy

Backstory:
Born in the province of Ontario on Oct 1, 1957, Maxwell is a Canadian citizen of Afro-Caribbean descent. Just like his father before him, Maxwell knew as a kid that he wanted to be a cop.

Maxwell was a good cop. He excelled in his training, climbing up the ranks of his local law enforcement agency rather quickly. He proved to have good leadership skills and a cool head, and he performed so well that he wound up being placed on a list of potential recruits for a UN anti-terrorist organization. Maxwell got in.

There's a lot that could be said about Maxwell's experience abroad. He traveled to a lot of countries, stopped a lot of bad guys, and genuinely felt he made a difference. It was good work. But it was also stressful work, and some the things he did gnawed at him: taking someone's life is never an easy task. Training can make a man cope with killing another human being for a while, but eventually it comes back to haunt them, and Maxwell was certainly haunted.

Maxwell retired from a life of fighting bad guys at the age of forty. He tried settling down in his home town, but everyone who knew him would talk about how much he'd changed, or ask him about where he had been, or what it was like fighting terrorism. These were questions Maxwell didn't want to answer, and so he eventually packed up and moved to Yorkton.

Yorkton was peaceful enough, though Maxwell never really found happiness. He married a beautiful woman, got divorced within three years, and unsuccessfully tried dating after that. Nobody ever could understand him - or was it the other way around? The haunting memories from his work countering terror got in the way of everything he did, it seemed. He wound up getting a job as a janitor in a public school; inglorious as it was, it paid the bills, and that was fine by Maxwell.

But when a couple of the kids from the middle school Maxwell worked at went missing, the old man put his old uniform back on and started investigating. His first encounter with the supernatural happened then: in a strange, tangled plot, he uncovered a witch who had been planning to eat and sacrifice the children to gain unholy powers, and he lit her the Hell up with his pistol. Needless to say, the experience traumatized the poor kids, but they were eternally grateful for Maxwell's intervention. But this revealed to Maxwell that there was magic in the world, it was real, and bad people were using it.

Maxwell began investigating more. Someone must have found out, because he was then contacted by an old colleague from his anti-terrorism days: apparently, there was this organization called the Bulwark that had the same goal Maxwell did, and they felt they could use someone with his expertise...

Maxwell took the job.

I was interested in the flake, he's your basic researcher which fell into the "real world" I thought a little like Butters from Dresden.

Eugene ‘Tin Man’ Caldwell

The Flake
Name: Eugene ‘Tin Man’ Caldwell
Playbook: The Flake
Charm +1
Cool -1
Sharp +2
Tough +1
Weird 0
Luck _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Harm _ _ _ | _ _ _ _
Experience _ _ _ _ _
Moves:
Connected the Dots (At the beginning of each mystery,
if you look for the wider patterns that current
events might be part of, roll +Sharp. On a 10+ hold
3, and on a 7-9 hold 1. Spend your hold during the
mystery to ask the Keeper any one of the following
questions:
• Is this person connected to current events more
than they are saying?
• When and where will the next critical event
occur?
• What does the monster want from this person?
• Is this connected to previous mysteries we have
investigated?
• How does this mystery connect to the bigger
picture?)
See, It All Fits Together (You can use Sharp instead of Charm when you manipulate someone. )
Net Friends (You know a lot of people on the Internet.
When you contact a net friend to help you with
a mystery, roll +Charm. On a 10+, they’re available
and helpful—they can fix something, break a code,
hack a computer, or get you some special information.
On a 7-9, they’re prepared to help, but it’s either
going to take some time or you’re going to have to do
part of it yourself. On a miss, you burn some bridges.)
Gear:
9mm (2-harm close loud)
Garrote (3-harm intimate)
Butterfly knife/folding knife (1-harm hand)
Look: Man; Focused Eyes; Comfortable Clothes

Backstory:
I’m 25 and far too well informed. I grew up the pasty white bullied kid but a normal childhood. It got better when I made it to college and fell in love with Cross Fit and Anthropology. I started my Blog “The Iron Man” to capture my interests in great workouts and new discoveries in the prevailing research on the cultures ranging from the Aztec the the Huns.
As fate would have it, I’m too good at my job. When you start looking at so many cultures, you start to find commonalities in their legends. For instance you have a fire breathing lizard in Chinese legend and Nordic poems next thing you know you find bizarre claw marks at Viking dig you are working in Denmark and the next thing you know you are being chased out of a cave by something that could only be described as a dragon, that’s where the Cross Fit saved my life. You have a few more run ins with wisps in the woods of Ireland, water demon signs in Japan and don’t get me started on what Big Foot probably is.
Turns out if you write enough of this stuff on you blog people start questioning your sanity you’ll be told you are wearing your ‘tin foil hat’ which eventually lead to me calling my blog “The Tin Man”. They can all for go to hell I knew the truth and they didn’t. It wasn’t all bad slowly my blog started getting some really great workouts --after all I could add a workout using ghosts to chase you-- and after all the deniers say their piece and leave your site you start attracting people who actually believe and contribute to the truth.
Sometimes people need a guy who can find the truth and tend to contact me on the web. When I can advise I do. When it’s interesting enough I join in. It’s a curse to be too well informed but it’s a wild ride.

Ok looks like we got a good group of players. However five will be my limit for this game so after some debating, I would have to let Saashaa's Monstrous go. It would be difficult to incorporate his background into the campaign considering his character is an vampire in long torpor from Italy, him ending up in Yorktown after waking up seems a bit of a stench. He'd also have a lot of trouble getting acceptance from a good deal of characters who woulden't trust a monster even if he

As for the lineup, it fits together well because we got two contrasting ideologies in the group. The straight-edge Spell-Slinger VS the engineer with a dark pact with the fey and the Company Man VS the Conspiracy theorist, with a Mundane in the middle to act as a mediator and the glue that holds the group together.

So the PC's in this game are:

Kyle White: The Mundane

Joe Arden: The Spellslinger

Edgard Falk: The Spooky

Maxwell Silver: The Professional

Eugene ‘Tin Man’ Caldwell: The Flake

Anyhow the next stage is to create character links. To do this each player has to ask one question to each of the other players (you can chose one of the questions in the playbook or invent your own) to create how your characters know one another. Monster of the Week assumes you all know one another and while you might not be a Hunter Team yet you will get mixed up in the mystery and have a reason to work together. We'll probably get this done in the Discussion session so we can keep track as these might put elements into play that could effect the story.