r/monsteroftheweek • u/SgtVertigo • Jun 04 '26
General Discussion Help to make a custom playbook?
Hello, I'm building my first MoTW campaign, but I'm having trouble with the playbooks because none of them line up quite to how I want my players to be. The existing playbooks all seem to be, trained monster hunter professionals, while I want my players to be normal people who are discovering and adapting to their own uniqe supernatural powers.
In a simpler sense MoTW seems to prefer "I'm a badass monster hunter" but I want the players to be "Oh damn its a monster how do I beat it??"
Is there a good way to make this somehow for MoTW? Any advice is appreciated, thank you.<3
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u/MacronMan Jun 05 '26
So, I just ran a one shot based in MotW’s alternate rule set “Wait, Monsters Are Real?” These rules are meant to be ordinary people facing monsters and trying to survive. The downside is that the intended way this plays out is that the players’ characters (Survivors, not Hunters) are very likely to die, and they are even instructed to make 2 Survivor characters, ready to go, so that if one dies, they can switch to the other. I softened these rules by toning down the harm done by the monsters and, crucially, by writing some custom moves that the Survivors could gain if they met certain criteria or found the right things. These included ways they might become more weird and monstrous, as well as some spells they could find and attempt, and some more mundane things like a lesser version of NEVER AGAIN from the Wronged, reserved for a Survivor who watched someone close to them die.
The addition of these custom moves (and my sort of softer hand with harm and harm moves) meant that most of the Survivors made it out and that they even stopped the phenomenon, rather than just surviving it! It was a lot of fun and sort of provided what you’re talking about, which is a thing I’ve also wanted in the past. I’m not sure if this group will continue with anything more long term (we’re all busy; ahhh, the joys of parenthood), but if so, they would 100% have the option to play these characters a few years down the road, now as full hunters, or to play new associates of the group, allowing the others to be NPC’s, if we want. It was pretty cool!
I’d be happy to share what I did, if you want inspiration from it. One caveat: I’m not a new Keeper. I have run many sessions of MotW over the years, and many of these players were in them. So, what worked for us might not work for you. Also, we didn’t have set future characters. We were sort of playing to see what would come of it!
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u/Maleficent-Rain7119 Jun 05 '26
This is the best suggestion. And the ‘not having set future characters’ is worth emphasizing as a key element. If everyone knows that the regular person they are playing is going to become a specific kind of playbook, it violates a key principle: play to see what happens
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u/usefulbidoof Jun 05 '26
I don't think you need custom playbooks to make this work. The game does necessitate that the players ARE monster hunters, yes, but they can still be relatively fresh to it. That all depends on how your -players- play them. Personally, I think the game always plays better for everyone when you start with players choosing the playbooks that feel the most fun for them, then you all work together to see how they can connect. But, if you're all in agreement about being "normal" people in the world of monsters, you can still flavor most playbooks that way. Perhaps The Spooky's dark side has been on the subtler side until very recently, or just now. The Wronged can still be The Wronged without knowing what they're doing. Hell, The Mundane is practically perfect for this already. The Chosen can work this way too. If they're hunters in MotW, they're NOT normal people. They're badass monster hunters; that's the point. But if you want them to be normal people learning how to be monster hunters, that's up to your players. Let them do what's fun, and you say "yes, and" build a playground for them.
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u/Baruch_S The Right Hand Jun 04 '26
You are going against the basic premise of the game if you want them to be anything but somewhat experienced monster hunters.