Monsterhearts: Mercy Falls 06

Pocket-Sized Play

Mobile home (00:25)

Here’s a PbtA 101 note for folks who are new to running these games. In this scene, I use Margot’s missed roll to advance my Threat involving Big Man. I don’t actually say out loud that is what I’m doing, but rather just weave it into the fiction. My countdown clock said “Big Man is looking for one of the player characters.” I translate that into a scene where Margot’s father informs her that someone fitting Big Man’s description stopped by and asked about her.

Everyone loves Ben (05:26)

Feeding (10:34) Normally you’d pick your options from the move that fires off and then make the fiction conform to those choices. In this case, we talk about what is going on in the fiction and have that inform the choices Yoshi makes on his Feeding move. Both approaches can work.

Norma (14:36) This is one of my favorite techniques. Just straight up show the players something that is happening in another part of the world, as if they were the viewers of a TV show. I like to describe such moments in very cinematic terms. I wouldn’t suggest doing this all the time, but every now and then, it can be quite powerful.

And your little dog, too (16:25) ”How does that feel?” Always ask that question, particularly when the characters are engaged in something new and intense.

Mr. Thompson (20:15) Sometimes people get hung up on how to remove Conditions in MH. It’s not like D&D, where you can just go to the inn for a few days to heal up. There is a good example of how to do it in this scene.

Crime scene (24:04)