It just came out. I'm really digging it, what do you guys think about it? You can buy the book here if you want it. You can get the game here https://post-mort.com/products/actual-fucking-monsters (https://post-mort.com/products/actual-fucking-monsters) or on DrivethruRPG.
Quote from: arcanuum;1088410It just came out. I'm really digging it, what do you guys think about it? You can buy the book here if you want it. You can get the game here https://post-mort.com/products/actual-fucking-monsters (https://post-mort.com/products/actual-fucking-monsters) or on DrivethruRPG.
Short answer: I fucking love it.
Long answer comes later.
Ow man, I thought this was going to be something like Book of Erotic Fantasy!
The would be 'Fucking Monsters, Actually', with Hugh Grant as the lich.
Grim! Pimp your new game! Let's hear all about it. Love the concept.
See you're going for the mass market with the title! :)
Can I get it POD via Amazon?
It's good to hear there's now an RPG for replicating the experience of being a monster(s) in a horror movie, but I'm still bummed there isn't an RPG yet for supernatural soap opera series in the 18-30+ demographic. Rosemont Bay seemed great in theory, but the author lost his mind and it died.
I drop f-bombs 100+ times a day, but there's just something so...juvenile about putting cuss words in book titles.
And here I thought it was going to be something about RPG.net mods.
Quote from: Brad;1088669I drop f-bombs 100+ times a day, but there's just something so...juvenile about putting cuss words in book titles.
Kinda like when garbage tier 'news' sites like Buzzfeed put them in their headlines.
Quote from: Brad;1088669I drop f-bombs 100+ times a day, but there's just something so...juvenile about putting cuss words in book titles.
Agreed, but it is better than copping out with "frakking" or "effing" or something silly like that. If you gotta do it, go big or go home.
Grim, why no Kickstarter?
Quote from: Brad;1088669I drop f-bombs 100+ times a day, but there's just something so...juvenile about putting cuss words in book titles.
Agreed. Venger Satanis did it with his quite good Gamemaster like a Fucking Boss and I don't see it as a net positive for sales.
I agree about the name seeming juvenile.
I looked at the review by AaronThePedantic (https://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?40592-Aaron-The-Pedantic-Reviews-Actual-Fucking-Monsters) posted here. I'm curious how the concept works with a party of multiple PCs. Do the players work together at all, as a team-up of monsters? Or does most of the action happen with them split up?
I've played a few bad-guy games - but they were more as criminal teams rather than horror-movie monsters.
Quote from: jhkim;1088723I agree about the name seeming juvenile.
I looked at the review by AaronThePedantic (https://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?40592-Aaron-The-Pedantic-Reviews-Actual-Fucking-Monsters) posted here. I'm curious how the concept works with a party of multiple PCs. Do the players work together at all, as a team-up of monsters? Or does most of the action happen with them split up?
I've played a few bad-guy games - but they were more as criminal teams rather than horror-movie monsters.
I had someone ask me that on the post, and I tried to answer. The book gives recommendations on how they start together and it seems to be just better for their survival that they work together, knowing that humans basically want them dead. That said, the nature of how they feed makes it seem as though there will be some significant time spent split up, so time management is going to be important. Hope that helps.
Sounds like a darker version of Clive Barker's Nightbreed, or going for Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark feel or perhaps Rob Zombie's Devil's Rejects.
I'd probably go the Devil's Rejects route where the hunters are just as bad as the monsters and live in a twisted symbiosis.
Might be fun as a one-shot.
Somebody poke Grim!
I just learned Fate of Cthulhu by Evil Hat had a SENSITIVITY CONSULTANT for their book. :eek: LOL. What fucknuts.
I gotta know Grim, was Actual Fucking Monsters approved by a Sensitivity Consultant before you published it?
I gotta know, is it safe to read??? :D
Quote from: Spinachcat;1088926I just learned Fate of Cthulhu by Evil Hat had a SENSITIVITY CONSULTANT for their book. :eek: LOL. What fucknuts.
As a man who has only known comfort for all my life my only response for this is this. What pussified shit is this shit?
Quote from: Spinachcat;1088926Somebody poke Grim!
I just learned Fate of Cthulhu by Evil Hat had a SENSITIVITY CONSULTANT for their book. :eek: LOL. What fucknuts.
I gotta know Grim, was Actual Fucking Monsters approved by a Sensitivity Consultant before you published it?
I gotta know, is it safe to read??? :D
As far as I know, they didn't have him work on the main book. He was contributing an adventure if they made the $100,000 stretch goal (which wasn't made).
His credentials are here: https://jamesmendezhodes.com/rpg
Quote from: JRT;1089012His credentials are here: https://jamesmendezhodes.com/rpg
From the link:
Quote from: Mr. SensitivityI've been working in tabletop games professionally since 2014. I draw on my personal and academic background to guide games and media toward new cultural frontiers through writing, development, editing, and sensitivity reading.
I also run games professionally, mostly ones I haven't written myself, mostly for children whom I later make fun of on the Internet.
Seems super sensitive to me.
Quote from: Spinachcat;1088858Sounds like a darker version of Clive Barker's Nightbreed, or going for Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark feel or perhaps Rob Zombie's Devil's Rejects.
I'd probably go the Devil's Rejects route where the hunters are just as bad as the monsters and live in a twisted symbiosis.
Might be fun as a one-shot.
The "he who fights monsters" trope gets boring after a while. It makes more sense to roll randomly to determine a given hunter's moral compass. That would be more believable than declaring all hunters are automatically scumbags.
Also, after that fiasco with
Beast: The Primordial being pedophile apologia incognito, I am significantly less charitable towards works that depict the monster hunters as another kind of monster. Especially if the literal monsters are serial killers. Unless the monster hunters are also serial killers, they're still not as bad as the literal monsters. If the monster hunters
are serial killers, then they're just literal monsters pretending otherwise.
I don't see a reason why AFM couldn't support playing as a monster hunter who went off the deep end and became more or less a literal monster. I'm pretty sure plenty of slasher movie villains were punishing teenagers for having premarital sex or something.
Killer Condom is the epitome of that.
I'm not sure how you would actually play an evil sentient condom that wants to castrate dudes for having premarital or homosexual sex, but it sounds like it would be bloody hilarious. Literally.
Quote from: kythri;1089015From the link:
Seems super sensitive to me.
He's also writing yet another article about how orcs are tied up into the history of colonialism and racism. He's personally experienced casual racism in his life, so I'm curious to see his takeaway from the subject. Most of the articles I can find on this subject are either vapid or too clinical to make for engaging reads.
I don't believe that orcs, as used by any particular author, are a parable for racism. I do believe that the whole concept of an intelligent race whose sole purpose is to be killed and looted by the "heroes" stems from humanity's innate nature as tribalist bloodthirsty savages. Right now it is politically incorrect to express the desire to kill and loot people who look and think differently from you, much less act on it. Since this represses our inherent instincts to bathe in the blood of screaming victims, we sublimate our urges by inventing elf-games where we kill orcs. While we think we want to kill the orcs, the truth is that were the orcs all along.
TL;DR Blood for the blood god! Skulls for the skull throne! Milk for the Khorne flakes!
Quote from: BoxCrayonTales;1089045He's personally experienced casual racism in his life, so I'm curious to see his takeaway from the subject.
I'm a white boy from Oregon.
When I was in Yonkers, NY about 20 years ago, a group of gentlmen of African? descent called me a cracker.
What do I win for that?
Mr. Sensitivity sounds like a giant wanker.
Quote from: Spinachcat;1088926I just learned Fate of Cthulhu by Evil Hat had a SENSITIVITY CONSULTANT for their book. :eek: LOL. What fucknuts.
Having read this type of fucking sensitivity drivel spewed repeatedly in the Fate Core Horror Toolkit, this is hardly surprising.
Why aren't they publishing a sensitivity handbook for their players to peruse?
Quote from: kythri;1089052Why aren't they publishing a sensitivity handbook for their players to peruse?
I don't know about a sensitivity handbook, but last I heard they had an "Accessibility Toolkit"/handbook planned for future release.
What would it contain? I struggle to imagine. Perhaps just a reprint of Fate Core in braille and on audiobook...?
There better be build plans for a wheel-chair ramp in there.
Can we go back to the part where I play as a sentient condom with teeth intent on castrating men for having premarital sex?
Quote from: kythri;1089056There better be build plans for a wheel-chair ramp in there.
Seems likely. I believe it's a Fate World called "Deep Dark Blue" about submarines, art featuring a wheelchair-bound crew member.
If memory serves, a poster on the G+ forums mentioned that it made no sense at all and that anyone bound to a wheelchair would be functionally useless and an obstacle on such a vessel (including the oversized/cartoonish/fantasy-kind featured in Deep Dark Blue). He was banned shortly thereafter, with the sort of 'inclusivity' and 'sensitivity' spiel you'd expect from the moderation (which in this case, I believe was Fred Hicks himself).
Again, if memory serves, I believe I recall the same poster mentioning elsewhere (perhaps on his private G+ feed, I can't remember) how unjust he felt the ban and the corresponding verbal beatdown were because he, himself was disabled. He became excluded simply by acknowledging reality, despite his own person being part of the demographic Evil Hat is trying to suck up to.
Edit: Thinking back he may actually have served in the Navy as well which would have made sense as far as his frustration level, though this part I'm not at all sure on.
On the other hand, I've got a serious case of the brain rot so at least some of this is likely to be inaccurate or possibly outright false.
In any case, this post was pretty clearly entirely off-topic (I don't own "Actual Fucking Monsters" and have no real plans to pick it up at this time) so feel no need to respond to this; either way, I won't push this topic further.
Quote from: BoxCrayonTales;1089057Can we go back to the part where I play as a sentient condom with teeth intent on castrating men for having premarital sex?
I don't know, that campaign doesn't sound like it would have legs.
Quote from: Spinachcat;1088858Sounds like a darker version of Clive Barker's Nightbreed, or going for Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark feel or perhaps Rob Zombie's Devil's Rejects.
I'd probably go the Devil's Rejects route where the hunters are just as bad as the monsters and live in a twisted symbiosis.
Might be fun as a one-shot.
Grim listed Night breed as an influence and in the GM section suggests that you run the game where basically all the humans are awful as well in the shadows
Quote from: BoxCrayonTales;1089057Can we go back to the part where I play as a sentient condom with teeth intent on castrating men for having premarital sex?
Nope. We've started on this board's favorite pastime of building up strawmen and knocking them down. Going to have to sit back and wait it out now.
...although the monster in question sounds like a... more horrifying version of Sausage Party.
Quote from: Stephen Tannhauser;1089060I don't know, that campaign doesn't sound like it would have legs.
It would probably be OK for a one-shot though...
PoD is only via Lulu at the moment, but should hypothetically be on Amazon eventually.
Uh, what do you want to hear?
It's a game where you play irredeemable Monsters who don't try and stay human and whine all the time, but act like what they are and get hunted down (inevitably) for it, by ever more dangerous enemies.
Think of it in some ways as a 'what happens next' after the end of Nightbreed.
Yeah, but fuck it. Why not?
The idea is that monsters sort of have to stick together to survive, even if they're all horrible 'people'. Nightbreed/Cabal is the main touchstone.
Quote from: Spinachcat;1088926Somebody poke Grim!
I just learned Fate of Cthulhu by Evil Hat had a SENSITIVITY CONSULTANT for their book. :eek: LOL. What fucknuts.
I gotta know Grim, was Actual Fucking Monsters approved by a Sensitivity Consultant before you published it?
I gotta know, is it safe to read??? :D
Oops, haven't been quote replying. Never mind.
Yes, I talked with a sensitivity consultant and every problem they raised I doubled down on.
I'd not heard of 'Beast the Primordial'. You could play as Hunters, the Hunter groups are all utter bastards too. I intend to expand on that side a bit in a companion book.
Quote from: BoxCrayonTales;1089045The "he who fights monsters" trope gets boring after a while. It makes more sense to roll randomly to determine a given hunter's moral compass. That would be more believable than declaring all hunters are automatically scumbags.
Agreed, more variety is a good thing.
In a "PCs as Monsters" game, I generally prefer an Evil vs. Evil setting setup, but that's just my preference.
Quote from: BoxCrayonTales;1089045Milk for the Khorne flakes!
That's awesome!
Quote from: BoxCrayonTales;1089057Can we go back to the part where I play as a sentient condom with teeth intent on castrating men for having premarital sex?
Sounds like a perfect PC for this game. I'd go with a shapeshifter so you have a human body for mobility (maybe even an enslaved one) and you sneak into places and then transform and enjoy snack time.
Quote from: GRIM;1089629Yes, I talked with a sensitivity consultant and every problem they raised I doubled down on.
Amen!
Always good to hear from you Grim!
Quote from: GRIM;1089628The idea is that monsters sort of have to stick together to survive, even if they're all horrible 'people'. Nightbreed/Cabal is the main touchstone.
Tell us more about how this works in actual play.
As the PCs do not feed together, their individual "feeding scenes" would not involve the other players at the table, aka they go on solo quest.
How do you run that at your table and keep the other player's involved?
Quote from: GRIM;1089626PoD is only via Lulu at the moment, but should hypothetically be on Amazon eventually.
Make this happen! There's something extra fun about getting a RPG in the same box as your fresh undies and toilet paper.
Quote from: GRIM;1089626Uh, what do you want to hear?
More about actual play.
What pitfalls should GMs be aware of?
And why not a Kickstarter? AFM doesn't sound like anything else on the market, and I could see the concept grabbing eyeballs.
Quote from: Spinachcat;1089654Amen! Tell us more about how this works in actual play.
In actual play it works out that almost anything you do - as Monsters - will almost inevitably lead to you exposing yourself and attracting 'trouble'. Lone monsters can be powerful, but not so powerful that even local law enforcement or a revenge-seeking family member of a victim can't do you harm. It's pretty much a necessity to work together to maximise survival chances and cover assorted bases.
Quote from: Spinachcat;1089654Amen! As the PCs do not feed together, their individual "feeding scenes" would not involve the other players at the table, aka they go on solo quest.
While I would not skimp too much on the feeding/transgressing scenes, whittling them down to a dice roll as White Wolf sometimes does, I think the nature of the game encourages other players 'voyeurism' and it shouldn't take too long, plus everyone will get a turn in the spotlight and as you're all in a broadly similar location and rely on each other there should be some interest. In longer-term games this might become repetitive, but in normal circumstances less so I think.
Quote from: Spinachcat;1089654Amen! How do you run that at your table and keep the other player's involved?
By it being gross, and by them being invested in you not bringing hunters down on all of them :) The consequences effect everyone.
Quote from: Spinachcat;1089654Amen! Make this happen! There's something extra fun about getting a RPG in the same box as your fresh undies and toilet paper.
I've approved the print proof, but a lot depends on whether Amazon and other resellers will allow a book with 'Fucking' in the title.
Quote from: Spinachcat;1089654Amen! More about actual play.
There's been a few requests for this, so I thought I might write out - or record - a proper session. I have trouble with motivation and confidence when it comes to recording games though.
Quote from: Spinachcat;1089654Amen! What pitfalls should GMs be aware of?
Moreso than in other games I think this may attract a degree of edgelordery that can go TOO far, even though that's explicitly part of the point of the game you don't necessarily want to indulge someone's paedophillic fantasies - for example. I think, like all RPGs, this is solved by maturity and unwritten social contracting around the table and is better served that way than by something dumb like 'X Cards', but perhaps an essay explicating that with some examples would help.
I also think many GMs have learned NOT to be ruthless with players and to treat player death with kid gloves, that 'programming' can be hard to overcome (and it's not something I personally enjoy in a lot of games) but it's thematically necessary in AFM.
These aren't really pitfalls of the rules, but in playing style and conventions. Harder to 'fix'.
Plus, y'know, people are entitled to play your games any way they want.
Quote from: Spinachcat;1089654Amen! And why not a Kickstarter? AFM doesn't sound like anything else on the market, and I could see the concept grabbing eyeballs.
Because I am a grumpy old curmudgeon.
Here's the cliff notes version as to why:
1. If a project doesn't NEED crowdfunding, I don't like to ask for crowdfunding. I think it should be reserved for projects that need it and hate how it has become pre-ordering.
2. Crowdfunding is a huge stress and pain in the arse.
3. I didn't want to crowdfund when I have another crowdfunding project on the near horizon.
How would AFM work for one on one play?
Quote from: GRIM;1089677By it being gross, and by them being invested in you not bringing hunters down on all of them :) The consequences effect everyone.
In your playtests, did players wander off in various directions to hunt or did they ambush groups to get their feed on?
Quote from: GRIM;1089677I've approved the print proof, but a lot depends on whether Amazon and other resellers will allow a book with 'Fucking' in the title.
I searched Amazon.com for fucking and I got...
1-48 of over 20,000 results for "fucking"Venger Satanis has two "Fucking" titled RPG books Here (https://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Like-Fucking-Boss/dp/1986479161/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=fucking+rpg&qid=1559088265&s=gateway&sr=8-2)and Here (https://www.amazon.com/Adventure-Writing-Like-Fucking-Boss/dp/1717597254/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=fucking+rpg&qid=1559088265&s=gateway&sr=8-4)!
Quote from: GRIM;1089677There's been a few requests for this, so I thought I might write out - or record - a proper session. I have trouble with motivation and confidence when it comes to recording games though.
Maybe you could find a horror RPG livestream group and trade them a box of free copies for recording a short play session. They would already have the YT video gear setup and the XP invested in their livestreaming skills.
Quote from: GRIM;1089677Moreso than in other games I think this may attract a degree of edgelordery that can go TOO far, even though that's explicitly part of the point of the game you don't necessarily want to indulge someone's paedophillic fantasies - for example. I think, like all RPGs, this is solved by maturity and unwritten social contracting around the table and is better served that way than by something dumb like 'X Cards', but perhaps an essay explicating that with some examples would help.
AFM should totally use X-cards! Except here they mean the player or GM isn't going FAR enough into creepy zone!! Dude, you've been X-carded, add more evisceration and flying entrails! :)
But definitely GMs and players need a pre-game discussion of expectations and boundaries.
Quote from: GRIM;1089677I also think many GMs have learned NOT to be ruthless with players and to treat player death with kid gloves, that 'programming' can be hard to overcome (and it's not something I personally enjoy in a lot of games) but it's thematically necessary in AFM.
I'm an old school adversarial DM so its natural for me to have "PCs vs. NPC foes" referee mindset, but I imagine many GMs will need a primer on "its not you vs. the players, it's PC monsters vs. NPCs monster-hunters" and encouraging the GM and players to discuss the adversarial dynamic and WHY its crucial to AFM and how it adds to the experience.
Quote from: GRIM;10896772. Crowdfunding is a huge stress and pain in the arse.
Agreed, but I hope you find marketing outlets and promotion opportunities for AFM.
Hopefully it will trigger and offend somebody with a large Twitter following!!!
Quote from: arcanuum;1089698How would AFM work for one on one play?
It could work quite well, I think you'd have to up the seriousness and down the splatterpunk vibe a little, and would also have to tone down and reduce the frequency of 'Consequences' for their actions, but that could be intense and enjoyable.
Quote from: Spinachcat;1089718In your playtests, did players wander off in various directions to hunt or did they ambush groups to get their feed on?
I searched Amazon.com for fucking and I got...1-48 of over 20,000 results for "fucking"
Venger Satanis has two "Fucking" titled RPG books Here (https://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Like-Fucking-Boss/dp/1986479161/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=fucking+rpg&qid=1559088265&s=gateway&sr=8-2)and Here (https://www.amazon.com/Adventure-Writing-Like-Fucking-Boss/dp/1717597254/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=fucking+rpg&qid=1559088265&s=gateway&sr=8-4)!
Maybe you could find a horror RPG livestream group and trade them a box of free copies for recording a short play session. They would already have the YT video gear setup and the XP invested in their livestreaming skills.
AFM should totally use X-cards! Except here they mean the player or GM isn't going FAR enough into creepy zone!! Dude, you've been X-carded, add more evisceration and flying entrails! :)
But definitely GMs and players need a pre-game discussion of expectations and boundaries.
I'm an old school adversarial DM so its natural for me to have "PCs vs. NPC foes" referee mindset, but I imagine many GMs will need a primer on "its not you vs. the players, it's PC monsters vs. NPCs monster-hunters" and encouraging the GM and players to discuss the adversarial dynamic and WHY its crucial to AFM and how it adds to the experience.
Agreed, but I hope you find marketing outlets and promotion opportunities for AFM.
Hopefully it will trigger and offend somebody with a large Twitter following!!!
You can find titles if you explicitly search for them, but there are various shenanigans that reduce visibility of horror (and erotica) and naughty words. It's a grim calculus of artistic integrity and site visibility.
I'm kinda persona-non-grata with the larger streaming groups which all seem to be infuriatingly woke, but worth a shot.
Could always make
M-Cards (https://postmortemstudios.wordpress.com/2018/06/26/rpg-m-card-roleplaying-outside-safe-spaces/) an explicit part of the game ;)
Yeah, I think an essay would be a good idea. I tend to prefer to be a bit hands-off when it comes to trying to force people to play a particular way, but AFM can use the additional direction.
Thanks for the enthusiasm :)
gonna be honest here...
I backed Beast the Primordial on kickstarter. This was before I knew it was a shitshow.
AFM is the game I wanted Beast to be, and if Onyx Path had any balls it would be.
Grim, I have bought a bunch of your games, largely because TBP tells me not to, and I like to think me giving you money pisses them off.
This is your best one yet IMO.
Keep up the good work.
How bad was Beast? You should answer that in another thread.
Quote from: Snowman0147;1089939How bad was Beast? You should answer that in another thread.
Beast reads like your character is a pedophile, and all your victims are those that you groom to be victimized further. That you feed off of them to 'teach them a lesson and what you do is 'for the good of your victims and for society as a whole'. All Beasts have a default power that makes all the other supernatural splats in the new World of Darkness like them and see them as family, so they don't attack them. Some of the example heroes (those that fight various Beasts, aka the bad guys) in the supplements include child psychologists, concerned teachers, and 'overly protective soccer moms. A group of scientists in Philadelphia, that look like a set of certain sit com characters, are hunting beasts to make magic Viagra so a certain politician in the white house can get it up to have sex with his daughter. Gamergate was created by a Beast so that she could feed off of the rage from angry men online.
if you really want more, read the Fatal and friends review of the game and the followup books. They do a far better job of covering it than I can.
(Oh yeah, and the dev for it, BlackHat Matt, may or may not have had forced sex with an underage girl, which got him booted frum rpg.net and Chill 3rd ed canceled)
A lot of personal destruction right there.
Meanwhile James Desborough is known for doing charity work.
Quote from: remial;1089978Chill 3rd ed canceled)
It is not cancelled the rights reverted to the person who held the IP. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/148433/Chill-Third-Edition . The system is not my cup of tea yet neither should it suffer because of the actions of the previous developer.
Beast sounds like trash imo. Made by people pretending and thinking they are 90s edgelords. While forgetting that kind of edginess will not work in today rpg climate.
Oh it can work and frankly it would be refreshing. Just it requires the dev to actually have balls to do it. Like James here.
Quote from: remial;1089829gonna be honest here...
I backed Beast the Primordial on kickstarter. This was before I knew it was a shitshow.
AFM is the game I wanted Beast to be, and if Onyx Path had any balls it would be.
Grim, I have bought a bunch of your games, largely because TBP tells me not to, and I like to think me giving you money pisses them off.
This is your best one yet IMO.
Keep up the good work.
Thank you so much.