Session Zero: Character & World Building [TEST]

Classes

The Chosen

The Crooked

The Divine

The Expert

The Flake

The Initiate

The Monstrous

The Mundane

menu_book How to Play Monster of the Week

Monster of the Week uses the game engine pioneered by Apocalypse World, in which players roll two six-sided dice and add a bonus from one of their character stats; a 10 or better is a full success, a 7-9 is a partial success or success with consequences, and a 6 or lower is a “miss”, not necessarily a failure, but certainly a bad outcome for the character. Characters trigger these rolls when they take specific actions in the game, like Investigating a Mystery or Kicking Some Ass. You’ll use these “moves” to solve mysteries and hunt monsters in a world not unlike our own! Each monster has a weakness that investigators will need to uncover; without exploiting a monster's weakness, it's virtually impossible to defeat. To that end, they'll need to use their wits, skills, gear, connections, and resources to figure out what's going on and put a stop to it. Monster of the Week characters only have so much luck (which they can spend to improve the results of rolls) and can only take so much harm before they're doomed, so they'll need to make a plan, and play smart! The game is narrative-focused, meaning that while the GM does prepare a monster to hunt and a mystery to solve, the game is really about playing to find out what happens, and everyone at the table will always be surprised. It's impossible to pre-plan the story of a Monster of the Week game! Before you make characters, decide with your group what kind of monster hunting team you'll be! Are you a family? An organization? A group of friends? This will help guide your choices as you go. To make a character in Monster of the Week, start by choosing a playbook, a monster hunter archetype that comes with a unique list of moves and skills to choose from. Name them and choose what they look like, then choose their ratings in the five stats, Charm, Cool, Sharp, Tough, and Weird. You'll make any choices unique to your playbook, plus get at least one (usually more) special move. Finally, kit your hunter out with gear. When you're finished, you'll introduce your characters to the rest of the table and create connections between them, so you start the game already having history and dynamic relationships among the team. The GM will introduce the mystery, and you're off!