The MGG played through our third, and for now final, Monsterhearts session last night. I had fun, but I definitely think it is a good thing we are rotating games for a little bit because I really felt the momentum was winding down. Of course I fully admit that could be completely just my perspective, because I was so close to achieving the overall character arc goal for Silas; and therefore didn't have much more to drive towards in general.
The session started out with some recap and a little "Well what are you guys up to now?" Silas went off and tried to apologize to Rosa for his earlier behavior. Caroline went and found the girl she hooked up with at the party and used her ability to get some healing via closeness and intimacy. Dominique continued her weird three-way date with the other selkie Ann and Mr. Samwell (this caused a slight disconnect because it seemed both me and Emily said things that happened in the following day or two after our next session; but then Josh picked right back at the minute of leaving off. I had a little bit of "Well this didn't actually happen yet but we're referring to it as if it had.....huh.") by going to Baskin Robbins.
Dominique apparently got it into her head to try and steal Ann's pelt for some reason. She didn't know where it was though so she called Caroline, who Dominique knew was good at finding out secrets. Dominique described the situation to Caroline and piqued her interest (though the whole time during that conversation I was thinking "Wait, I didn't think Caroline knew you were a selkie.....huh") and Caroline called Silas, so she could use him for his car. :p
Silas and Caroline arrived at Baskin Robbins and joined the other three inside. Caroline squeezed in to the actual table the rest of them were at, Silas just perched on a counter stool nearby and kind of hovered. Silas also got an orange sherbet cone because orange sherbet is awesome. There was some awkward and ineffectual conversation at the table, and Caroline tried to find out the secret location of the pelt by asking her demon the Poisoner, but she backed off of following through on asking because the price the Poisoner demanded didn't appeal to her. Apparently Caroline cares whether or not Rosa ends up as a possible human sacrifice. Silas just made comments from the peanut gallery.
After a bit Ann and Mr. Samwell decided to leave. Dominique and Caroline decided to follow them, and Silas went along with it cause he was bored. They got outside and looked around, not seeing their quarry until, in a classic camera shot style, they turned and found her RIGHT THERE. She warned them to stay out of her business, using some sort of magical fear ability that Silas and Caroline resisted but Dominique failed her roll against and succumbed to. Silas being a smart ass told her off and blew smoke in her face. This caused her to lean in and whisper something in his ear, which resulted in an immediate unleashing of Silas' Darkest Self. Then things go fun *evil grin*
Silas immediately punched Ann right in the gut, causing 2 harm with a good roll. He then tried to hit her again but found that he couldn't do it, some sort of mental block was keeping him from swinging at her. So he turned and backhanded Dominique. Dominique turned and ran away from Silas, crying in terror. Silas then jumped on Caroline, bodily pinning her against the wall and biting into her neck like a drunk, sloppy vampire. He took a little bit of damage while attacking her (from my poor-ish roll) but held on and started lapping up her delicious hot blood. She tried to retaliate and failed, but her fighting back broke Silas' concentration on her neck and blood and caused him to switch the focus of his hunger by forcibly kissing her with his blood covered mouth and getting way too handsy. Silas was still a little pissed at being denied by her earlier. Caroline was even more freaked out by the fact that she was getting turned on by all this (huzzah successful Turn On roll meaning you get turned on whether you think you would or not).
While all this was happening Dominique made it over to Mr. Samwell's car and fought down her fear of Ann long enough to seek refuge and escape with them. Silas because aware of this peripherally and dropped Caroline in order to sprint over and leap on the hood of Mr. Samwell's car; punching his windshield and cause large spider-webbing cracks to spread across it. Silas continued to pound on the windshield until Samwell managed to get the car going and threw him off. Silas glanced over towards Caroline again; but was done with her for now as she fled into the Baskin Robbins. He decided to steal a car and go find more chaos to cause.
Meanwhile Caroline got Steve, the guy working the Baskin Robbins, to help her staunch the blood flow and call 911. While this was happening she used some of her blood to draw on a table and Gaze Into The Abyss to try and understand what was going on with Silas. She saw visions that revealed a lot about him, and found out that this was like what happened with the witches and that Silas' family had stopped him and calmed him down that time. So she quickly called Silas' house and talked to his grandfather, who was dismissive at first but then immediately took action when she told him Silas was out of control. She then got patched up and taken to the hospital.
Dominique escaped with the other two and they let her off at her place, though Ann tormented her the whole way apparently. Silas took his stolen car and crashed it into a liquor store; stealing some high proof bottles and making molotov cocktails out of them. He then proceeded to fire bomb a few things and run off to cause a bit more random chaos before his family caught up to him and brought him to heel once again.
That brought things to a close for the most part. Because of all the rolling and the craziness though I managed to get just enough out of the short session to get an advancement and chose a new Ghoul one that allowed me to choose a new Hunger. So I added the Hunger for Flesh and completed my desired character arc for Silas. At that point there was time for maybe one more scene; but no one really had a strong idea for what to do from there, except maybe fast forward to a climactic confrontation with Ann; which would have been more than one scene. So we stopped and just discussed things for awhile.
We all could see more game play happening at some point, but a break needed to be taken. The opinions on the game in general were quite varied. Josh was a fan of the setting and such but didn't really like the system, mostly because skills were more generic instead of specifically designed. Emily liked parts of the system a whole lot, but was slightly less taken with the theme. John really liked the system overall, but also wasn't as taken with the theme. Me I love them both. The system works real well for being improv and narrative, and really letting you drive towards a goal. The theme is just guilty pleasure fun.
Overall I had a TON of fun playing this game. I enjoyed my character and loved being able to just see something I want and go for it with no regard for consequences or other's perceptions. This is something I totally can not make myself do it real life; so the escapism was nice. I enjoy the directed flow and drive of the Apocalypse World engine behind the game. Also the fact that I got to tie in Lovecraftian mythos was a nice bonus.
Next week we'll be tackling Smallville character creation. We are basically coming into it with the thought that we'll see whether or not we actually play a session or two, based on how character creation goes; but we are leaning towards playing. I can't wait.
No comments:
Post a Comment