Private School, Members Only | Monsterhearts | Beginner Level+
STARTING TOMORROW, Thurs 10th, Session 0: Last chance to get in at the start of a new campaign!
$20.00
/ Session
Details
Weekly / Thursday – 9:00 PM UTC
Jul 17 / Session 1
2.5–3 Hour Duration
4 / 5 Seats Filled
Schedule
About the adventure
The sign out front of campus still says Barrington Academy of New England for Boys. I guess that's not all that unreasonable given this is literally the first year we've integrated. It's not like they don't have the money, though... - Flirt with that really cute girl with the black hair. - Hide what you are inside. It isn't something you can exactly just tell someone. - Keep yourself out of the sights of the headmaster, especially if he thinks he's rewarding you. - Cry alone in your dorm room because Father isn't having you back home for Christmas because his new wife and he are going to Hawaii. In this Monsterhearts campaign you will play a student* at an expensive and prestigious residential private school that has traditionally been all male: Until this year. Your parents sent you here to get the best education and come up with the best peers to get you a leg up on everyone else. Of course you'll have your studies and classes, and even an extra-curricular or two but mingling among your peers is what takes up most of your focus. Especially with the new co-ed student body! *OH, YEAH; You're a monster. A literal monster; Not an allegorical "monster" without empathy. Half the students here fit that criteria. A monster, like from books or movies. A vampire, lycanthrope, ghost, witch, or something else that everyone would flip out about if they found out. Plus; Think about what it would do to your reputation! Think of your future! So, that's a secret you must keep. You look human enough that almost nobody can ever tell anything's wrong anyway. You just have to navigate what your parents and professors say is the most important time of your life, keep from stressing out too much, and don't let anyone know what you are deep down inside. It'd be way easier here to be gay, instead. All students at this facility are 18 years of age for safety and legal reasons.
Game style
Theater of the Mind
Roleplay Heavy
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
About me
Hello all, I'm Alebrelle! I am a queer trans autistic leftist who has been doing tabletop of various flavors and intensities for just around 30 years now. My *FIRST* first game was (very badly) running the AD&D Box Set for my sister in 7th grade. My first campaign as a player was Shadowrun 2e in 10th grade. TTRPGs has been one of my longest standing special interests, and so I have a very deep and broad experience, LARPs, horror, fantasy, wire-fu, comedy, romance, cyberpunk, I've seen a bit of it, or a lot. I love making, crafting, and if I were a trust fund baby I'd probably play tabletop games nearly continuously. There's enough out there to feed the habit. I have some small voice over experience, I have run games for long time friends, and at conventions tables up to 8 folks at once. I am a content creator on various platforms, and if you want to record our sessions and post them somewhere ask me about it. If you want *me* to produce, record, and edit them; we can do that too. Just ask, I'm sure we can work something out! My games list below is *far* from extensive, I kept it limited to meeting at least one of these criteria: 1) Played more than one session of, 2) GM'd a campaign, or 3) Read the sourcebook cover-to-cover in prep for GMing a game that never came together. While I have my favorite stuff to run (most anything Powered by the Apocalypse, thank you Vincent & Meguey Baker), I think I have a grasp on most any genre enough to run a game. If you have something niche or particular please reach out directly and we can talk about it and see if I can give you the game noone else has. Which, to be honest, tends to be my goal even with games you've played for years: Give you the best game possible.
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
Character creation will happen during Session 0, and players will have access to player "playbooks" (very similar to classes in most games) and are encouraged to get an idea ahead of this first meeting. You are requested to *not* decide firmly anything until we are all together; Playbooks are exclusive and only one player can play each at a time.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
-Monsterhearts is systemically deep, but mechanically simple. Rules will be taught and/or reviewed in Session 0 and reinforced during play until everyone's comfortable. -Play will take place in a Discord server that I will give you an invite to quickly after you join, please have the software downloaded on your hardware of choice. -A stable internet connection is expected. -Some way to generate 2d6, your own dice are fine, as is a digital tool. -A microphone of reasonable quality and without a *lot* of noise is expected. If you play in a room full of other people conversing or watching tv loudly (and that can be heard) you will be asked to remedy that, and if unable you will be requested to leave the table. -A webcam is preferred as this is a heavy RP game and human interaction is best face to face, but is not mandatory.
What Alebrelle brings to the table
I will be providing: -The Discord server we play on -Supplemental art of locations, a few maps, and NPCs. -All materials will be digital and players welcome to keep on their own. -Home studio quality sound and lighting. -Some small voice work and characterization for NPCs -A player-focused GM style -Professional and courteous interaction for in and out of game interactions (As human GM, *not* as in-game NPCs)
Equipment needed to play
Internet
Microphone
Platforms used
Safety
How Alebrelle creates a safe table
Hi! A review of safety tools: We'll be using Monty Cook's checklist to serve as our lines and veils, which is rather self explanatory but we can go over it if this is your first time with the concept. You can download that here: https://www.montecookgames.com/store/product/consent-in-gaming/# I will hand the file out directly if anyone is missing it by Session 0 (which we'll cover last in this section.) Instead of XNO cards we will be playing with the original X card: A safeword. "Red" is my default, but we'll discuss that and agree on that. It is more easily *immediately* reacted to and close to impossible to miss if someone says it a couple times. We will have a cooldown period of review and discussion after each session where we can discuss the high and low points of the game, decompress anything necessary, and especially give me as the GM feedback on where the game should head. Please do not be intimidated by the content warning tags. A majority of them are maybes, and only a few are pretty well mandatory. And several of those can be handled veiled. Monsterhearts is a system that deals with human interaction in a societal context, so is rather built from the ground up to be emotionally resonant and challenging. Here is the mandatory list, everything else is negotiable and changeable: * Monstrosity is used as an allegory for both puberty and queerness, that you are in a confusing and sometimes unwieldy, even frightening body that you are only beginning to understand. * The system is intentionally has themes of queerness baked into the core of it. You don't have to be explicitly any one thing or another -- but the game demands as the GM I poke and prod at those sorts of questions. You are not 100% in control of your body or mind. * The system has a sex move mechanic, so some degree of sexuality is necessary, but can be played offscreen in a fade to black. * There will be cursing. Monsterhearts is a system that demands the GM be responsive to character action. There is no "nothing happens" roll result in MH. There is certainly failure, but even in failure there will be mechanically significant impact. This is a roleplay heavy, character centered game. You are each the star and my job as the GM is to make it look and feel that way. The characters are not a power fantasy (mostly) -- everyone has flaws and I would hope you come to this table wanting to express those in play. MH has no combat, per se. You can attack people, but it is untrained, unfocused lashing out. This is the violence of children. I don't anticipate puzzles directly, but secrets and mystery are some of the core items present in MH. It's a game of interacting with others. No experience necessary to join, the system itself is on the lower end of complexity. All player materials (which is honestly just your character sheet and one or two pages of relevant rules) will be provided in PDF format. Bring your own 2d6, or a way to simulate that, there are many apps and webpages for that purpose. "Cheating" is not my concern. We're here to tell a story, not win a game, and if you want to win a game where you are powerful; I ask that you please find another GM. I will provide an invite to a game Discord and permission to your private campaign channel(s) on the server. Session 0 will involve a review of everyone's consent checklist, character creation, system overview, discussion of themes everyone wants to explore and those we wish to avoid, collaborative world building (which will be ongoing throughout play), and we will likely have a small amount of a play session to get everyone comfortable with the system and further develop character relationships.
Content warnings
Safety tools used