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Post by kurtpotts on May 10, 2018 9:22:53 GMT -8
After finishing InterpolX I've decided to run a Monster of the Week oneshot. Big thanks to hoobuk and the crew for such an awesome show and inspiring me to pick up the game. Some Setup: My friends and I typically do a mini con where we rent a house and run games for three days. This year we're renting out a tiny Western Town we found on Airbnb. The common area is a saloon! As you might expect this is going to play heavily into the setting for my game. The Question: What are some issues or pitfalls with using MotW in a western? Are there any moves that need tweaked to work without a modern setting? What assumptions made by the game aren't obvious at first glance? Bonus: Lots of westerns focus on redemption/revenge for wrongs done. Usually manifest as a stranger or person in black. What are your favorite monsters that fit in a western setting or benefit from the typical western tropes?
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fredrix
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Post by fredrix on May 10, 2018 9:47:09 GMT -8
Tell you what I would like to do, in such a setting. Remember Anya, the Revenge daemon from Buffy? I want her in this western town, stirring up the townsfolk, and the PCs against each other.
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Post by uncommonman on May 10, 2018 9:49:59 GMT -8
What are the characters playbooks?
I think you need to start with that to get a good overhanging story.
If plan on doing shorter style games you could base the monsters on diffrent nationalities of the settlers.
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Post by kurtpotts on May 10, 2018 10:00:43 GMT -8
Not sure on playbooks yet. I have 5 players and I'm not sure if I should limit the playbooks or let them pick ahead of time.
A revenge demon summoned by one of the towns folk could be cool.
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Post by uncommonman on May 10, 2018 14:12:23 GMT -8
Not sure on playbooks yet. I have 5 players and I'm not sure if I should limit the playbooks or let them pick ahead of time. A revenge demon summoned by one of the towns folk could be cool. What about someone/thing that summon monsters from people's inner fear. That way you get some fun variation of monsters and maby they have to fight their inner fear in the last fight.
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Post by kurtpotts on May 10, 2018 14:26:44 GMT -8
Not sure on playbooks yet. I have 5 players and I'm not sure if I should limit the playbooks or let them pick ahead of time. A revenge demon summoned by one of the towns folk could be cool. What about someone/thing that summon monsters from people's inner fear. That way you get some fun variation of monsters and maby they have to fight their inner fear in the last fight. So I read this as inner "ear" and was struck by visions of bugs crawling out of their ears. *Shudders*I'm worried they won't have enough of a connection to their characters to be fully invested in their fears. That and if I just ask them what the character's fear is they'll be fighting this guy.
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Post by stork on May 10, 2018 16:47:42 GMT -8
Could this take place in Razor Ridge?
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HyveMynd
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Post by HyveMynd on May 10, 2018 17:02:03 GMT -8
MotW as a Western sounds awesome! đź’–
I don't think there are any mechanical tweaks you'd need to make to the rules or playbooks. As long as you narrate things appropriately, I think everything will work just fine. The only thing that might need looking over are gear options. You might find something that wouldn't be available in the Old West, but again, it should be very easy to reflavor it as something more appropriate.
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jedidroid
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Post by jedidroid on May 10, 2018 18:30:59 GMT -8
Having not played MOTW, take this advice with a spoonful of salt. I think your potential hiccups Boil down to two categories: Gear and organisations.
With Gear, you need to reflavour weapons, transportation, armour, light sources, and such so they are era appropriate. The 9mm becomes a .44 revolver. The assault rifle becomes a Winchester repeater. Armour become a leather vest for 1 or a jacket for 2. Transport becomes donkeys and horses. 7-9 on a shooting action could lead to a jam. It’s all pretty hand-waves for this issue, no big problems.
With Organisations, you first face the problem of delayed communications, travel time being much larger, and limited by the technology of the time. With the right mix of magic, you can circumvent this some of the time. But you also face a bigger problem with the genre of the setting. Westerns are set in the “Wild West”. Law enforcement options are sheriffs and marshals. In setting, they’re sparsely populated, with little back up. An Initate May face the same problem if the Sect is connected to a religious organisation, as it was rare for townships in a western setting to have more than a single pastor. Sure, you can get around that if the Sect is based off the Native American population nearby, but that has its own complications.
Beyond that, there’s the medical issue of healing harm without a hospital, but every town should have a barber that would suffice.
All said, I think you’re golden. I love the idea, and if I get a group together at a table, this will be in the possibilities I put down for what to run. Thanks for sharing.
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Post by kurtpotts on May 11, 2018 8:01:03 GMT -8
stork, I still haven't watched Razor Ridge. It takes me a while to get through the AP's and I haven't made it to that one yet. However I had thought about using a werewolf as the monster. It's one monster that I'm not sick of at this point. HyveMynd & jedidroid, I'll review the equipment lists thanks for the suggestions. As for organizations I'm still not sure how to do that one. I'm thinking the Masons/Templars as that could be represented by townsfolk, but some version of the pony express could also be cool. For the group type I'm thinking traveling family, Like if the magnificent 7 had lived and stuck together or the brothers from tombstone travelling around killing monsters.
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hoobuk
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Post by hoobuk on May 11, 2018 20:27:46 GMT -8
So cool that Interpol X was inspiring! HyveMynd and jedidroid covered the stuff I would also suggest. Gear and communication is the biggest thing. As for the organizations, there's the Pinkertons, the US Army, or some railroad company (or hey, even the Pony Express!) who could work for the Professional. And as you said the Masons or Templars for the Initiate. Or you could also just make stuff up. Now that I've said that, I totally want to play a game where the Pony Express has a secret branch of monster hunters in its employ! The only real problem with these organizational moves (and the Initiate's "Mentor" move) is communication speed, but that's okay. Magic it up, or just let it ride and it just takes weeks to get an answer. It also takes weeks to travel from one part of the state to another, so no biggie. Everything moves slower. The real problem is The Flake's internet-based move. If you have a Flake, you'll need to write some custom replacement. Gear... basically change all guns to revolvers or shotguns. (A massively heavy hitter might have a gatling gun on the back of a wagon, but you gotta have about 3 minions just to operate it.) Change all small vehicle options to horses (skateboards and bikes are just ponies, while a sports car might be a battle trained warhorse). An SUV or van might turn into a wagon or coach. The other thing I'd say is that since you're dealing with less damaging weapons, you could reduce everyone's harm boxes by one. Makes it more dangerous, as befits the Wild West. But this would be an optional thing and not really a big deal.
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jedidroid
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Post by jedidroid on May 11, 2018 20:37:56 GMT -8
I’ve just had an idea for an organisation that’s pretty ubiquitous to a western setting, that could run parallel to or at cross purposes to your pony express. The Railroad. Rail barons could be an interesting villain that causes or uses the monsters, or could be the support system for your heroes.
This opens up monsters from Native American tribes that are displeased with the treatment the environment is receiving and European and Far East monsters tagging onto the immigrant population working on the tracks. Even fae could be linked in.
Regarding the PC’s setup, I would leave that to the character generation to come up with, stealing some of the Masks ANG or The Sprawl questions to help build the world. I love those ideas in PbtA.
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Post by kurtpotts on May 14, 2018 13:12:44 GMT -8
So far I have a Monsterous, a Divine and high probability of a Spooky and a Spellslinger. I'm kind of hoping for a wronged as the 5th player then we don't really have to worry about the organizations for the oneshot. I have an idea for a monster in mind. If you are one of my players read no further. So I'm thinking of using a Werewolf building up a pack to run off a company that reopened the silver mine. The mine has been closed for X years thanks to the Were's spreading ghost stories about it being haunted/cursed and reinforcing that story when necessary.
I'd like to start them already in the mystery (oneshot). Maybe they've been going from town to town following the disappearances. Then when we do history we can flesh out some of the towns they moved through and minions they delt with.
Thoughts?
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jedidroid
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Post by jedidroid on May 15, 2018 0:08:09 GMT -8
I’m gonna give you the advice I’d give myself before I start any of the PbtA games. Having never run them, it’s theoretical based on my observations of the AP’s Happy Jacks have run.
I think you’ll need to massage the group connections as they come up in generation along the path you’ve described to get The story you have in mind out, but so long as the players buy in to the idea that you have a story in mind, that’s not too difficult.
However, don’t get locked in on a full plot line. Trying to word this so I don’t need a spoiler box. Keep the entities you’ve thought of and the location, but leave the actions blank. Be flexible to what they come up with. If there’s a wronged, there’s a plot point built in to that playbook that you should take advantage of. All of the playbooks have something to work in, so you need to hold of on the hard prep, and just get some broad ideas set.
In Justus4, Interpol X, and the assorted one shots, the MC’s often said the stories went to places they didn’t expect. That’s part of what has me itching to play a PbtA game.
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Post by kurtpotts on May 23, 2018 7:52:16 GMT -8
Wrote up my intro for the game. It makes a few assumptions about what happened up to this point, but as soon as the game starts it's in their hands.
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