In this review we will delve deeper into Monsters, the roleplaying game created and written by Leonardo Lucci and Iacopo Frigerio, with Anðela Zubić‘s illustrations. As always, we thank the publishing house Grumpy Bear for sending us a digital copy of the product in order to be able to talk about it.
If you are interested in purchasing it, you can find it directly on the publisher’s website for 25 €.
The game is designed for groups of 3-6 people and deals with horror themes with a strong narrative system. In order to play, you need some sheets available in the manual (easily replaceable with white sheets), 4-sided and 6-sided dice, pencils, erasers and some tokens.
Adventure from Another Point of View
In the classic concept of roleplaying games, players play characters who are heroes in their world. A clear example of this is not only the most famous fantasy roleplaying game in the world, but also many other more or less famous titles.
Recently, however, game designers have begun to offer players something very different. I’m not referring to the possibility of playing characters with an evil alignment, but rather the opportunity to give life to protagonists on the edge of society.
This is what Monsters offers. Players take the role of the scum hated by everyone, the outcasts of the community in a town from the first half of the 18th century, isolated and lost in the middle of a vast European forest. The characters’ goal is to investigate to find and defeat a monster claiming victims among the population. Time is running out, and the characters must find the creature quickly before the population blames them for the crimes that are increasing.
Safety Tools at the Table
As we saw in the introduction to this review, Monsters is a tabletop RPG that tells intimate and social horror stories. The characters will often be faced with moral choices and violent events because they are useful for creating the atmospheres conceived by the authors. To best manage these situations, the game introduces numerous tools to help manage the sensitive issues that will emerge.
The basic assumption, in any case, is that the table signs a social contract called “I will not abandon you”. This technique, formulated by Meguey Baker in 2006, assumes that people are all interested in addressing difficult issues through play.
Review of the Setting and Narrative Creation of Monsters
The narrative premises of Monsters are decidedly interesting, as we saw at the beginning of this review. This game requires a strong component of shared creation, which is the reason why it is necessary to fill out some sheets as a group. They will act as guidelines for managing the game.
The first element to create is the town in which the characters live. The group must choose its name and how it is known. In the manual you can find some examples if the group doesn’t know where to start. All the main activities of the town and any economic and social problems that afflict it must then be indicated.
The second element to create is the places that will serve as the backdrop to the scenes played. Each place has a name and some descriptors associated with it. All these locations are built together, and each one will be created by passing authority to the entire table. Beginning with the first player, everyone will write the name of the first place on the appropriate place sheet, and then pass it to the next player, who can add a descriptor. The process ends when the group has created at least 6 places, each with two descriptors. The group will always be able to add new locations during the game, if necessary, following the same creative path.
Creating the Monster Together
A fundamental element of the game is the monster that is claiming victims in the town where the characters live. Monsters proceeds with the shared creation of this element as well. This involves the compilation of the Monster Sheet. Following the same narrative process, the group defines the name that represents the creature. Each player then adds a physical characteristic and a behavioural characteristic to the card. Only two of these characteristics are known to the characters at the beginning of the game.
Don’t forget that if any feature offends the sensitivity of a participant, it is marked with a V for veiling. Everyone at the table will know, in this way, that that topic must be discussed only covertly.
Monsters Player Characters
The creation of Monsters player characters follows the same shared process, but there are at least two more characters to create than people are playing. This is because there is the possibility of putting the spotlight on one or another of the protagonists created, or simply because not everyone will necessarily survive. Each player begins to fill out a Character Sheet by writing a name and a profession. Then they pass the card to the person on their right, who will add a skill. The process proceeds until each character has three abilities assigned. Each character also has destructive behaviour, no matter whether towards themselves or others. This is what identifies them as an outcast of the society in which they live. The last element to identify is the character’s Accomplice. It is another inhabitant of the town who somehow helps them in their misdeeds.
One of the game’s premises is that the characters are forced to work together. They will have to investigate, discover and possibly stop the Monster before the citizens decide to accuse them, for convenience, of what is happening. Part of the co-creation is also the definition of the agreement made by the characters. Together, they must contribute to the compilation of the Alliance Form. It includes at least three constraints or three rules that establish the pact, and which cannot be broken.
Shared Narrative Authority
The role of the master in Monsters is passed from player to player from Act to Act. Whoever temporarily takes on this role is called a Chronicler and is responsible for managing the initial description of the scene. The Chronicler explains why the characters are in that place, adds secondary characters or any obstacles present. The Chronicler can help themself keep track of what is narrated, precisely because the narrative authority is shared, thanks to the Chronicler’s Card. This tool will be held and managed by whoever takes on the role of Chronicler. The numbered list of the Acts is presented on the form. For each of them, a Question, an Answer and a Manifest Characteristic are indicated. They are all elements that define the clues and the progression of the story.
The game involves facing five Acts, plus the Showdown. Each Act can be made up of a variable number of scenes, depending on the narrative involved.
The Placement Roll, the Engine of the Scenes
The Placement Roll is the mechanic that allows you to lead the game in the scenes to reach the climax. Any person who plays one of the Main Characters, after the formal opening by the Chronicler, can activate this mechanic during the Scene. The Placement Roll is activated when a player explicitly and precisely declares the narrative outcome they want to achieve in that scene. For example, they might want to steal an important object for the investigation or make the Monster escape.
To make the Placement Roll, it is necessary to roll up to three 6-sided dice. A basic die, an additional die if the character’s profession is useful in the test, and a last die if you want to add the Dark Destiny table. The latter contains elements that reveal the destructive element of the character.
The characters may find themselves in a complicated situation and having to deal with impediments, duly listed in the explanation of the mechanics. In these cases, the basic die changes into a 4-sided die.
Dice results must be placed on custom charts called Destiny Charts. Each result of the dice roll corresponds to an entry, thus creating a pattern for concluding the Scene.
The Game Rules at the Service of Narration
At first glance, Monsters rules are complex and detailed. This can be seen, for example, in how the manual presents the more mechanical part of the rules. The text includes an entire chapter that is very detailed and provides numerous examples, including the whole process of creating a session. My advice is not to be discouraged by the different phases presented in the chapter dedicated to the Placement Roll because, once the game is brought to the table, it turns out to be highly narrative.
As I said at the beginning of this review, narrative authority is shared. It is therefore essential that all players at the table know how the scenes unfold and the mechanics of die rolls work. Players are helped by the presence of various sheets, which allow the outcome of the dice roll and the impact on the scenes to be immediately clear. In case the group is not used to games with shared authority, players can introduce the two proposed optional rules: deciding to keep a fixed Chronicler and ignoring bonds.
Monsters Aesthetics Review
Monsters is a decidedly aesthetically fascinating game. Unlike what is normally proposed at an editorial level, the text is presented in a single column and is constantly integrated with illustrations, as if the word embraced the images. Important terms are shown in capital letters and in a larger font to catch the reader’s eye. I don’t think this choice is always perfectly functional, It undoubtedly satisfies the eye, but sometimes risks distracting rather than helping to understand the salient and important points of the volume.
The illustrations convey the themes of the game. Dark, almost sketchy, made with dark colours and with marked traits, they seem like the transposition of nightmares and are almost allegorical.
Conclusions of the Review of Monsters
The Italian gaming scene is finally expanding, and Monsters is an excellent example of how small projects can see their realization thanks to crowdfunding platforms. I am pleased that this work has found a way to reach the gaming tables of a wider audience thanks to the support of the publishing house that adopted the project.
Monsters is certainly not a game for everyone. However, I believe it offers many possibilities for fun for those groups who like to explore the dynamics between characters and who want to face the dark side of the stories.
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