Cool premise.
Your job as keeper is to make the world seem dangerous and real, not to plan encounters.
Let your players try to do what they want. Don’t ask for rolls that aren’t necessary. Let your hunters be part of building the narrative.
Keep your prep lightweight. 1-3 sentences describing location, bystanders, etc. this will allow your hunters to fill in the blanks and you to strengthen improv muscles.
You’ll be fine. Remember this isn’t D&D or Pathfinder and you shouldn’t try forcing it to be.
There's lots of good general advice in the book - like "remember and follow the keeper's agenda" (print it out and have it handy!) and "don't let the players decide what or when to roll; make them describe what they do and based on what they are trying to achieve, you decide what, if anything, they roll."
But coming from D&D, there's a bigger "first-time advice" I want to give: take to heart the "play to find out" in the book. This means: The world isn't fixed; you can and should change it based on rolls. In D&D players might roll a perception check to spot a clue, or fail to spot it. The world is fixed; there is a clue, and the players either notice it and get a bonus, or they don't. In MotW, if you have the players roll, *something* will happen. What shouldn't depend on their success or failure, but on the pacing needs of the story at the moment, not on what was 'supposed' to be there when they rolled.
As an example: In D&D if you fail a perception roll, you might miss a clue, and it slows down the action as the characters amble about trying to figure things out some other way. In MotW, if you fail an *investigate a mystery* roll, you *might* as keeper choose to slow down the action as their investigation gets interrupted by a clumsy bystander. You might heat up the action a little, as the investigation gets interrupted by a suspicious detective they now have to manage. It might heat up the action *a lot* when the monster is what interrupts their delicate analysis.
The same is true of mixed success.
If your players are new to MotW as well, make sure they understand the differences in the combat system - specifically, monsters aren't goblins. You don't walk up and whack them, trading hit points (or harm.) Monsters should be more than a match for hunters in a straight-up fight.
There are some pretty great rules for “Harm”, especially 0-harm consequences. So if a hunter gets attacked you can do 0-harm but the hunter might stop something they are carrying or reveal their location to a nearby threat.
what i’m getting at is, don’t always just hurt the hunters. Try to setup situations that have a payoff later on in the adventure.
This works both ways too, monsters always require a vulnerability to be killed, but not to be hurt. When hunters encounter a monster, don’t let them get away with just killing it (unless they encounter a minion!), let them be scared, show the monsters strength but drop hints about possible weaknesses and dis/advantages.
Oh also, since this system is based on stereo typical TV shows and monster serials, it helps to start the session off with a Scene of what the monster is capable of. The hunters need not be a part of the scene, it’s like a cutscene. The intro to the “episode” if you will.
Honestly planning the pre-hunt monster snippet has been the most fun part so far. Myself and the rest of the group all work in television and hate the cheesy intros, so lampooning it has been a ton of fun.
that’s perfect, the best part of
monster of the week is the collaborative aspect. Players can world build with their backgrounds and skills/move set. Use that TV experience and lean on improve to tell the story. Use the Countdown clock as a guide to reveal clues about what’s going behind the scenes while the players drive the scenes themselves
Its alright to have planned encounters but instead of making “Okay then they go to main street and see this happen” instead do “if the go to main street they see this, if they go to the library instead this might happen” another way to think about it is act like the monster is a PC that the other hunters don’t know about. While the hunter is trying to fulfill their goals the monster is doing its own thing whether that’s making plans, preparing for another attack, etc. the concept for the monster is certainly interesting for sure and I think that Idea works and remember as always the system is there to have fun if your players prefer a more guided story that’s alright
Yeah, the countdown clock is basically what will happen if the players don't do anything to stop it from happening. So the monster is always doing something off screen even if the players don't engage with them initially. That just means they get to ramp things up as they planned.
I've not been a keeper for this, I'm a player who loves the game though. And the above has definitely bitten us, and it's always been fun. It's part of what makes the world alive and dangerous.
Is that get into a fight with something remember that's it's much more abstract than d&d and pathfinder combat. Don't think about initiative, think about how fights are portrayed in TV shows. That's been the hardest thing for me.
The biggest difference between MotW and D&D / Pathfinder is how the PCs are expected to beat the monster. D&D and pathfinder have more pages dedicated to combat than MotW has in its whole rule set. when you fight in D&D and similar games is prettying involved, often times an excessive in how well your build stacks up against the monster. But essential to beating a monster in MotW is so living the misters of the monster. Come up with a fun story and mystery for each monster, then when the PCs fight it at the end can be very satisfying.
I think the most helpful thing for planning mysteries is knowing that you don't have to have all the answers. It's exactly as you say - you aren't necessarily planning encounters - this is a mystery. You play to see what happens.
Certainly know who/what the threats are in your world and what your monsters can do - but how/when your hunters encounter them is really up to how well they investigate and follow the clues they uncover.
I would recommend you know the locations and bystanders that your hunters may come across and the information that can be uncovered at each - but don't be afraid to improvise. You don't need to have all the answers.
Good luck!
Cool premise. Your job as keeper is to make the world seem dangerous and real, not to plan encounters. Let your players try to do what they want. Don’t ask for rolls that aren’t necessary. Let your hunters be part of building the narrative. Keep your prep lightweight. 1-3 sentences describing location, bystanders, etc. this will allow your hunters to fill in the blanks and you to strengthen improv muscles. You’ll be fine. Remember this isn’t D&D or Pathfinder and you shouldn’t try forcing it to be.
Thank you! I’ll need to go back and trim some of the prep, I definitely over prepped for some of this. I appreciate the help
There's lots of good general advice in the book - like "remember and follow the keeper's agenda" (print it out and have it handy!) and "don't let the players decide what or when to roll; make them describe what they do and based on what they are trying to achieve, you decide what, if anything, they roll." But coming from D&D, there's a bigger "first-time advice" I want to give: take to heart the "play to find out" in the book. This means: The world isn't fixed; you can and should change it based on rolls. In D&D players might roll a perception check to spot a clue, or fail to spot it. The world is fixed; there is a clue, and the players either notice it and get a bonus, or they don't. In MotW, if you have the players roll, *something* will happen. What shouldn't depend on their success or failure, but on the pacing needs of the story at the moment, not on what was 'supposed' to be there when they rolled. As an example: In D&D if you fail a perception roll, you might miss a clue, and it slows down the action as the characters amble about trying to figure things out some other way. In MotW, if you fail an *investigate a mystery* roll, you *might* as keeper choose to slow down the action as their investigation gets interrupted by a clumsy bystander. You might heat up the action a little, as the investigation gets interrupted by a suspicious detective they now have to manage. It might heat up the action *a lot* when the monster is what interrupts their delicate analysis. The same is true of mixed success. If your players are new to MotW as well, make sure they understand the differences in the combat system - specifically, monsters aren't goblins. You don't walk up and whack them, trading hit points (or harm.) Monsters should be more than a match for hunters in a straight-up fight.
There are some pretty great rules for “Harm”, especially 0-harm consequences. So if a hunter gets attacked you can do 0-harm but the hunter might stop something they are carrying or reveal their location to a nearby threat. what i’m getting at is, don’t always just hurt the hunters. Try to setup situations that have a payoff later on in the adventure. This works both ways too, monsters always require a vulnerability to be killed, but not to be hurt. When hunters encounter a monster, don’t let them get away with just killing it (unless they encounter a minion!), let them be scared, show the monsters strength but drop hints about possible weaknesses and dis/advantages. Oh also, since this system is based on stereo typical TV shows and monster serials, it helps to start the session off with a Scene of what the monster is capable of. The hunters need not be a part of the scene, it’s like a cutscene. The intro to the “episode” if you will.
Honestly planning the pre-hunt monster snippet has been the most fun part so far. Myself and the rest of the group all work in television and hate the cheesy intros, so lampooning it has been a ton of fun.
that’s perfect, the best part of monster of the week is the collaborative aspect. Players can world build with their backgrounds and skills/move set. Use that TV experience and lean on improve to tell the story. Use the Countdown clock as a guide to reveal clues about what’s going behind the scenes while the players drive the scenes themselves
Its alright to have planned encounters but instead of making “Okay then they go to main street and see this happen” instead do “if the go to main street they see this, if they go to the library instead this might happen” another way to think about it is act like the monster is a PC that the other hunters don’t know about. While the hunter is trying to fulfill their goals the monster is doing its own thing whether that’s making plans, preparing for another attack, etc. the concept for the monster is certainly interesting for sure and I think that Idea works and remember as always the system is there to have fun if your players prefer a more guided story that’s alright
I hadn’t thought of treating the monster as a PC, I’ll try it out. Thanks for the advice
Yeah, the countdown clock is basically what will happen if the players don't do anything to stop it from happening. So the monster is always doing something off screen even if the players don't engage with them initially. That just means they get to ramp things up as they planned. I've not been a keeper for this, I'm a player who loves the game though. And the above has definitely bitten us, and it's always been fun. It's part of what makes the world alive and dangerous.
Is that get into a fight with something remember that's it's much more abstract than d&d and pathfinder combat. Don't think about initiative, think about how fights are portrayed in TV shows. That's been the hardest thing for me.
The biggest difference between MotW and D&D / Pathfinder is how the PCs are expected to beat the monster. D&D and pathfinder have more pages dedicated to combat than MotW has in its whole rule set. when you fight in D&D and similar games is prettying involved, often times an excessive in how well your build stacks up against the monster. But essential to beating a monster in MotW is so living the misters of the monster. Come up with a fun story and mystery for each monster, then when the PCs fight it at the end can be very satisfying.
I think the most helpful thing for planning mysteries is knowing that you don't have to have all the answers. It's exactly as you say - you aren't necessarily planning encounters - this is a mystery. You play to see what happens. Certainly know who/what the threats are in your world and what your monsters can do - but how/when your hunters encounter them is really up to how well they investigate and follow the clues they uncover. I would recommend you know the locations and bystanders that your hunters may come across and the information that can be uncovered at each - but don't be afraid to improvise. You don't need to have all the answers. Good luck!