WickedCadrach

Is it too vague to say, "it's sex if your character believes it to be sex?" We might have moments where only one partner feels that way and we get one-sided Sex Moves, but I don't think that breaks anything?

Honestly, it looks 99% the same from what I'm seeing. It just looked like you stumbled on the one part that was obviously and distinctly different between editions, haha

That's it exactly. I backtracked it to the ref links on their website marked "What about the First Edition?"

Someone correct me if I'm off, but I don't see that. Are you in the Monsterhearts 2 book or the original? We've been using MH2 as the baseline, and that says you get XP from failing rolls (roll 6 or lower), accepting when someone pulls a String on your character, and some Skins may have Moves that give XP. Not sure if the MC wants to gives any clarity on how scenes will be marked. I'm not sure I'm seeing what the difference would be in play by post (inexperience on my end, I'm sure).

I'm sure we all missed stuff. The thread's been kinda busy today

We have one started. https://ecchidreams.com/community/topic/9447-monsterhearts-the-summer-folk-character-repository/

I like this. Robin may have helped Velvet during one of these low-tide moments where Mr. Ascars had spent his Strings and Velvet was acting more independent. Perhaps he had recently asked her to do something particularly awful (Robin wouldn't know about that) and was beckoning her back to the house. If Mr. Ascars values subtlety, then Velvet might be able to lie that she couldn't go back without it looking suspicious—a lie that only tenuously works because when he comes out looking for her, Robin intervenes (thinking Ascars is a creep). To flesh it out more, it might have happened in Playland. Velvet could have been there stealing a bit of time to do something 'normal', and the encounter happens as the amusement park is closing up and the streetlights are on, with Robin having just locked up the concession stand and making her way toward the exit. It could even have just happened the night before the game starts.

No obligation, but how do you feel about Robin having a String on Velvet from helping her evade Mr. Ascars? For instance, Robin might have seen Velvet distressed and walking away from the unsettlingly charming older man, and by reflex she approached her, started talking with her, and walked her away. In Robin's mind, she was helping a girl get away from creep, but in reality she was buying a little time for Velvet away from her Dark patron—something at least a part of Velvet may be grateful for. If that doesn't speak to you, it's cool. There's also good tension in starting the game with a lot of Dark Force strings and close to Darkest Self trigger the Infernal has. Totally cool if someone else has another idea here and wants this string, but how do you feel about Robin catching Selene going through her cousin Charlotte's things? Robin and Charlotte have a tense relationship (Robin's a 'good girl' and Charlotte's a punk. Charlotte's also younger and could be Selene's age - 18), so Robin might just not say anything to be a bit petty to Charlotte while also having seen this side of Selene.

As part of the Infernal's character creation (in the Backstory section), you get to put a free String on another character who thinks 'they can save you'. I think @WritesNaughtyStories was volunteering Dylan - The Hollow to be that person, and if you agree, where/how do you think they would have met?

If someone else has an idea for the other worker at the concession stand that can loop in a connection, I'll gladly adjust. Until then... Derek Evans is athletic and tall; he was voted MVP of the college football team last year, and he has a car—all of this glory has gone directly to his head and makes him feel above petty things like 'rules' or 'respect for others'. As long as he flashes that winning smile, he's noticed there's very little he can't get his way on. He's working because his dad wants him to learn about 'the real world'. Everyone will be adults 18+ and in a college town, either as students off for the summer or townies.

Sounds great to me! What's your order? It might stand out just because Robin see Selene so often, but is there a particular way Selene orders or set of items she orders that stands out to Robin? (Also dying to know who you're going to take your starting Sympathetic Tokens from. I don't think they have to necessarily be on player characters, either, if I've read that right)

The Mortal - Robin Graham Harm: 0 / 4 Experience: 2 / 5 Mortal's Lover: ??? Look/Eyes/Origin: Robin Graham is the new girl in town. She is quiet, modest, and has the sad eyes of someone who has lost something. Her wrist-length sleeves and long skirts stand out in the summer beach-town, and when she does speak, her soft midwestern accent pairs with her appearance to make it clear—if only to her—that she does not belong here. She works at the concession stand at the Playland amusement park, handing out corndogs and bags of popcorn. The word is that she moved to Potter's Neck at the start of summer with only a backpack and a small carboard box, and she and her mom are staying with her aunt Mari and cousin Charlotte (locals) in one of the cheap, southside apartments. Backstory: Declare your backstory last. Choose one person to be your Lover. Give them three Strings on you. Take one String on them. Hot 2 Cold -1 Volatile -1 Dark 1 Moves: True Love: You always have exactly one Lover. The first is chosen during Your Backstory. If you ever fall in love with someone else instead, give them a String and they become your new Lover. You always carry 1 forward to earning your Lover's heart or fancy. Sympathy is My Weapon: Every time you forgive someone for hurting you, and excuse their base nature, gain a String on them. Down the Rabbit Hole: When you go poking your nose in affairs not meant for your kind, someone involved in the situation gets a String on you, and you mark experience. Darkest Self: Nobody understands you. Nobody even tries. You do so much for the people you love, and they walk all over you. Enough is enough! Betray them. Show them what it's like to be uncared for. Reveal their monstrosity and yours. Only seeing the pain that you're causing your Lover will let you escape your Darkest Self. Sex Move: When you have sex with someone, it awakens something sinister within. The next time you take your eyes off them, they become their Darkest Self. Strings: 2x Dylan - I saw them sneaking out of an abandoned house. I don't think their parents are really on holiday in Greece... I think they live there—alone. How are they surviving? 1x Dylan - There's something about him. I have to know more. We've barely spoken, but I've watched him—at work, on my walks home, when I go to the shore. What's in that Marlboro box he carries? He seems to love the pier, too... I feel so connected to him. 1x Selene - I saw her going through my cousin Charlotte's belongings. I think she's a bit of a compulsive thief. I won't say anything. Charlotte would probably just get mad at me for saying something like that about her classmate. 1x Velvet - I saw an older man following Velvet. He creeped me out, so I stepped in and pretended like we were hanging out to help her get away from him, and she seemed relieved. I think maybe she needed time on her own. 1x Velvet - It looks like Velvet really appreciates how good Robin looks when she starts showing a little more skin. Or maybe she's more interested in appreciating what's underneath? Reference Portrait (SFW):

I think you're right. According to the Skin reference sheet, Infernal skin gets Soul Debt + one more Move, then two Bargains.

I think we're all good to teleport to Port Nyanzaru, yeah? Not trying to rush anyone, just clarifying if anyone had anything else they wanted to do in the scene before our DM rolls us on.

Oh my... That is compelling. So who thinks they can save Velvet's soul? The Hollow who may not even be sure they have a soul of their own? The Witch who wields her own power without being slave to another? Or the Mortal girl who thinks 'the devil's whisper' is what tempts her to touch herself at night, never grasping what real darkness is? (or someone yet to be named?)

Robin doesn't tell her boss that her coworker is stealing from the register because her coworker is someone she's going to be classmates with at the community college in the fall, and as the new girl Robin is desperate to make at least a single friend before then. She's willing to bend her moral compass there because she's told herself that she can be 'a good influence' on this person, but in reality, it's because she's attracted to them at some level. This could be a classic hotboy NPC or maybe a girl Robin sees as popular or connected with the popular crowd. Either way, the guilt is eviscerating her—maybe more than usual because the concession stand manager is her aunt? Robin's cousin Charlotte is a year younger than her and also going to the college in the fall. Charlotte does not want to share the already cramped apartment with her aunt (Robin's mom) and Robin, and unlike Robin's put-together church-girl personality, Charlotte is aggressive, volatile, and embraces a punk aesthetic and attitude. Their personalities clash on every front, but beyond that, Robin found Charlotte's weed pen and told her mom. Her aunt (Charlotte's mom) knew her daughter smoked and was ignoring it, but now that her sister (Robin's mom) knows, she feels obligated to take a stand and punish Charlotte—taking away her weed pen too. Their current argument boils down to Charlotte believing it's her home and Robin has no right to judge anything she does vs. Robin believing that she needs to intervene if she sees someone someone doing something harmful to them.

I think the 'gangs' element of the game actually allows some of this to be emergent in the base setting. It's may already be a crisis for your vegetarian friend to discover you're a werewolf (or for the neonate werewolf to have been vegan before turning), but then if a local pack is introduced that has expectations and norms on what it means to be a werewolf, you can definitely explore those lines. I hesitate to take the idea too far during setup though, because the monsters kind of stop being 'monstrous', and you end up with 'Zootopia but with horror monsters'. And that feels too tame for the type of stories and themes the base game leans on (isolation, identity confusion, individuality vs group acceptance, etc)

Yeah, I think, particularly for people like me who are just getting to grips with the game, this would be good for another time.

//That sounds good to me How do we feel about it being something like "+2 to a Notice roll, but I gain the Boost Exposed against me" (boosts being those one-time-use Aspects) Also, yes, I'll spend the Fate point for Sophisticated Sensor Array : (Notice +1) + (Sophisticated Sensor Array +2) + (Roll -1, -1, 0, +1) = 2 (or 4 if we do smash and grab as the stunt)// The lack of military response is unsettling, but the feeling is pushed far back—it's a concern she'll deal with once she dissects the scans. As Emily immerses herself in the sensation of Scylla's liquid grace, she releases a hot breath, closing her eyes fully and relaxing the muscles of her physical body—falling deeper into Scylla's embrace. As the BioFrame rushes back toward the sea, Emily's hands sink into the roil of black tendrils that make up the walls of her cockpit. She gives them a massaging stroke, fingers coming together as she caresses the sensitive flesh at their base. "That's it. Run wild, girl," she murmurs, the words transmitted by her voice and the pseudo-psychic link joining woman and mech. The warm slickness beneath her fingertips almost vibrates under Emily's touch, and she feels the glistening clear viscosity of Scylla's fluid secreting in response while the BioFrame's ebony tentacles coil up her thigh and across her shoulder to slip between her breasts. A curled tip of a thin tendril latches to her nipple, the wet heat of the neuro-transmissive fluid giving her a sharp image of Scylla's own pleasure—both at being cut loose to swim in the warming waters, but also at the surprisingly intimate stroking of Emily's fingers against the folded flesh between her cockpit tendrils. In response, Emily opens her mouth, tilting her chin to lift her face the roof of her cockpit where the wet pearl of a sensory nodule is embedded in the dark flesh. She knows its sensitive to warmth and pressure, and the node is how Syclla's BioFrame body regulates temperature and conditions in the cockpit. But Emily also knows its just as sensitive to other kinds of stimulation—and she takes it between her lips a slow, sucking kiss, urging Scylla on as they twist into the dark depths off the coast.

So, something I don't think we've said explicitly, but may be worth locking down... this is a setting a la Buffy the Vampire Slayer, that is to say, regular people don't know about or believe in the supernatural, right? Like no one in town believes in vampires until they encounter one; the devil is just a concept except for the Infernal and those who have been around them. Do I have that right?

I don't think we're too crowded MC: @roll to seduce The Hollow: @WritesNaughtyStories The Witch: @Chiyako The Mortal: me! I don't think I've missed anyone, and there's still plenty of unclaimed Skins (roles/classes) and niches to fit into the town's cast of teens. Relinking to Skins if you want to take a look https://buriedwithoutceremony.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/reference-sheets-and-core-skins1.pdf

They read as physically androgynous in fem clothing to me (mostly because of the top). So if that's in the general area of what you're aiming for, then you got it. Also, those eyes say they're going to be mean to me, but it's ok, because they're just hurting and maybe I can help them through whatever is making them lash out, except 'oh no', it turns out I'm enabling their bad behavior by being understanding without holding them accountable, and now they're using that to manipulate me, and before I know it I'm outside a gas station at one AM with no money because they took my wallet after I specifically asked them to stop stealing my things. So yeah... pretty, um, pretty good reference pic. For me.

So I'm thinking about what sort of young adult crisis my Mortal could carry into the opening (obviously there will be more crises and confusion that emerge in gameplay), but would it be a 'red card' or line for anyone if Robin was processing/grieving some religious trauma? Also ref pic (SFW)

If there's no protest, I'll go with the Mortal. Here's what I'm thinking: Robin Graham is the new girl in town. She is quiet, modest, and has the sad eyes of someone who has lost something. Her wrist-length sleeves and long skirts stand out in the summer beach-town, and when she does speak, her soft midwestern accent pairs with her appearance to make it clear (if only to her) that she does not belong here. She works at the concession stand at the Playland amusement park, handing out corndogs and bags of popcorn. The word is that she moved to Potter's Neck at the start of summer with only a backpack and a small carboard box, and she and her mom are staying with her aunt (a local) in one of the cheap, southside apartments. - Who stops by Robin's stand so often that she knows their order by heart (even if she doesn't really know them)? - Who knows that the bicycle she rides to work at Playland every day broke its chain more than a week ago or that she hasn't had it fixed or replaced? I think maybe Robin did? She's too hesitant to call them out on it, but she would notice and be troubled. Maybe troubled enough to come back... just to make sure she really saw what she saw.

They're brief enough that it should be ok to drop them in here while we're hashing things out. If we end up with a different thread to keep it neat, we can always copy them over. My first thought is that Dylan may be agender, but they feel the pressure to 'pick a lane' (particularly because they are Hollow) so they are very susceptible to prodding and other's perceptions. It resonates with the toy/doll backstory that they might simply think everyone is playing dress-up when it comes to gender since they don't feel a compelling pull to any point on a spectrum (a feeling they have to come to terms with). As for 'what's in their pants', you might not even need to have that figured out at the start. Ambiguous or intersex is valid, but I don't think it's essential for what it seems to me like you're trying to explore here.