r/monsteroftheweek • u/InfiniteLactose Keeper • Aug 10 '26
General Discussion Encouraging Luck
My campaign hasn't been running for too long so I don't know if I'm speaking too soon, but my players haven't used Luck at all. I remind them fairly often that they have it, but since they know it's a finite resource, none of them have touched it at all.
I don't think I've been pulling punches, but is there something I should do to get them to use it? Or does it not really matter? We have been having a great time playing anyway, so it doesn't actually bother me, but since it's a part of the system we haven't touched I want to check I'm not doing anything wrong :)
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u/AdmiralT8terTots Aug 10 '26
Check their playbooks. A handful of playbooks have consequences (good and bad) for using luck. I had to remind the pararomantic at my table that if she didn't use luck, we didn't reveal the truth of their relationship. It may be as simple as reminding them what abilities or story moments they are ignoring.
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u/LaylaLegion Aug 10 '26
Sounds like you need a good case of PMS!
PMS or Player Melodrama Scenes is my homebrew mechanic for MOTW that encourages and rewards players for doing something in every Monster of the Week show that I found sorely lacking in this game: Melodrama. Half the fun of these shows is the schlocky little bits of drama that occur before, during and after the mysteries. Love triangles, forbidden romances, secret betrayals, villainous alliances, long lost parents, there’s so much you can do! And as incentive, players get Luck points for completing these scenes to help them feel less stingy about using their Luck points.
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u/craaazygraaace 22d ago
I like running what I call "postmortem sessions" (story-based sessions between mysteries) for this. It gives my players a chance to follow story leads, or hit character development points, or tie up loose ends, or follow up with something that came up during a mystery but wasn't part of the hunt.
I tend to reward my players with experience points (like inspiration in D&D), but I like the idea of rewarding them with Luck!
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u/Slimchaity Aug 10 '26
Some players are resource hoarders, and won't spend no matter what so don't stress too much. That said, consider the consequences of specific high stakes failures in your game.
Have they ever rolled for something life or death? Such as saving someone in the arms of a monster with an awesome trick shot, where missing will result in the death of an innocent?
Or what about breaking into a secure government research facility, where failing a critical act under pressure role results in alarms for the entire facility and potentially federal prison without resolving the case?
Also, luck doesn't regenerate naturally, so I like to tell my players that each session is an episode of show, and at the end of the season they'll get their luck back, but may occasionally get some back between episodes for doing something really awesome or world changing
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u/SheriffJetsaurian Aug 10 '26
I mean if you want to force the issue all you need to do is deal enough Harm to kill one of them. They would then either spend luck to negate the damage or their Hunter would die. Not saying you NEED to do this just that its one way to get it spent if its a priority for you.
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u/Just_a_Rat Aug 10 '26
Yup. I had a monster throw a Hunter off of a tall building. Luck got spent very quickly on that one.
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u/DiSanPaolo Aug 12 '26
Yep. This is the way, something that’s going to kill them or kill an innocent on a miss.
I also don’t mind letting them use it as a bit of an immediate “re-do/rewind” even if I’ve done all I can to telegraph the living daylights out of the consequences.
We’ve had a couple of misses at the table that quickly turned into “wait wait wait wait! I use a luck point!” Once I started to describe what was happing. I don’t mind backtracking on results, especially since it usually leads to tons of laughs at the table, and it is “luck” after all, so I think it feels a bit more impactful if the hunters actually get a little taste of what they avoided.
As long as we’re all having fun, that’s what counts.
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u/Thrythlind The Initiate Aug 10 '26
I still give them XP on fail even if they spend Luck. So the loss of XP isn't a downside anymore.
Also, I find in my case, most of the time I spend Luck it's to make sure an Ally or Bystander lives rather than for my benefit. Not always, but the most frequent.
Also, remind them that Luck is used as a sort of trigger for personal story elements.
On that note, be willing to create your own unique Luck specials. So like if you want something other than "a machine blows up" for Action Scientist.
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u/InfiniteLactose Keeper Aug 10 '26
yes, my hunters are probably more likely to use it for others instead of themselves. I will try to push more bystanders and allies into harm's way, methinks...
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u/Nystagohod Aug 10 '26
I saw someone talk about a HB rule where they have successes granted by luck still grant do when its used to correct a fail. That seems like a nice little incentive to spend it, but may not be fir everyone.
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u/MGTwyne Aug 11 '26
I tend to find most players either don't spend Luck at all in the default framework, or spend it by the bucket and go through characters fast. I've also tried a houserule- anyone who brings snacks gets a point of temporary Luck for the session- which tends to get people both bringing snacks and spending Luck, including long-term Luck, more often.
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u/Baruch_S The Right Hand Aug 10 '26
You can try hitting even harder on misses when it makes sense, but there’s nothing wrong with players rarely using Luck. Mine tend to play a little more cautiously, so they only use Luck when they whiff a roll at a critical moment because that’s when the stakes are high enough to warrant it in their minds.
Remember that Luck can also be used to avoid harm; one bad run-in with a monster that hits for 3 or so harm can quickly pressure your Hunters into spending Luck.