Thanks to the 24-hour RPG Geek RPG Design Contest. I'm very happy with it... but that's before playtesting. We shall see if it holds up.

This is a very long post as it includes the full three pages of actual rules. A further warning should be issued for the some of the pretentiousness in parts of the text as that is something I usually strive to avoid, but here it seemed appropriate.

In Monster Hunter, each player takes on the role of an agent employed by a government agency that is trying to rid the world of monsters. The characters will have to decide how to balance their gruesome job against their relationships with friends and family, their principles, and their mental and physical health.

The World of Monster Hunter
The world the game takes place in is much like ours: people are born, live, work, love and die much like we do. But in the shadows monsters are lurking, savage beasts that kill and ravage the innocent and guilty alike. These monsters take many forms, ranging from the nearly human – men with slightly too pale skin and dark, piercing eyes that make dolls from the skin of children, or women whose nails grow into talons to savage their spent lovers – to utterly inhuman horrors of tendrils, moonlight and the stench of rotten corpses.

The Agency the characters work for is dedicated to the eradication of the monsters, but not the preservation of individual life. Typical of a big bureaucracy, it is also bound by many rules that make the agents that follow them all less effective in fulfilling the final goal.

Character Creation
Play begins with each player describing their character: former occupation, family, general personality and anything else they seem fit to mention.

They also divide 15 points between four attributes: Relationships, Principles, Sanity and Health, with a minimum of two points and a maximum of five points in each attribute. All characters start with three points in the Career attribute.

The Describer
During a mission one player will describe the scenes confronting the acting agent. That player is called the Describer, since she is the one who tells the other player what it is that his agent is facing. If there is at least one player without a character, then only players without characters will act as Describer, with all players without characters taking turns to do so between them. If all players have characters, as will be the case at the start of the game, the player to the right of the one whose character is currently on a mission will act as Describer.

It is the Describer's job to describe the initial mission details, the results of the monster's attacks, the monster's lair and the monster itself when it is confronted, but nothing else. The player whose character is currently on a mission will himself describe what actions his character performs, what he feels, what he thinks and, if he so chooses, why he does those things, along with the problems his choices solves and causes.

In the following text, ”the player” always refers to the player whose agent is currently on a mission.

Attributes and Playing a Mission
In turn, each player will put his character through a monster hunting mission for the Agency, describing the actions they take and their effects they have on the character.

Each mission has several steps. In each step, the player will have to decide what he will put at risk to achieve his goals, and indeed what those goals are. Will he try to keep his job with the Agency so he can continue ridding the world of monsters? Will he strive to keep his principles intact by choosing an ethically sound path? Or will he sacrifice those things to keep his mind and body intact?

When confronting each step the player will have a few options, most of which involve Risking one or more attributes, and sometimes he will be able to Increase a different attribute. When Risking an attribute, the player rolls a six-sided die: if the result is 4-6 nothing happens, but if he rolls 1-3 he loses one point from that attribute. When Increasing an attribute he also rolls a die, with 1-4 indicating no change and 5-6 giving him an additional point in that attribute, to a maximum of 5.

When an attribute is reduced to zero it has a profound effect on the character, as follows:

• When Relationships reaches zero, the character has lost all contact with his friends, family and colleagues. All he has left is his work, with nobody but the Agency knowing if he lives or dies.
• When Sanity reaches zero, the character is driven insane by the horrors he has faced and spends the rest of his life locked up in a mental institution or raving on street corners.
• When Health reaches zero the character dies, from direct injury or because his body gives in after years of stress and abuse.
When Principles reaches zero the character has become a moral vacuum, sacrificing others for his own convenience. He is well on his way to becoming a different type of monster to the ones he hunts.
• When Career reaches zero the character is fired from the Agency and loses the resources and information necessary to find and eliminate the monsters that prey on humanity.

When one of a character's attributes is reduced to zero, he is removed from play. When this happens, all the players should reflect on the choices that were made, what was held onto and what was sacrificed. Lighting a candle and holding a moment of silence may be appropriate.

Sometimes a player will have a bonus die for a particular roll. When a player uses a bonus die, he rolls an additional six-sided die of a different color than the normal die. If the bonus die shows 5 or 6, then the player uses that result instead of the result on the normal die. The player has to decide if he wants to use one or more bonus dice for a roll before rolling the normal die. Bonus dice must be used during the mission when they are gained and cannot be saved.

When a bonus die is gained for the next roll of a certain type, it must be used the very next time the player makes that type of roll and cannot be saved for later. For example, if a player gaines a bonus die on the next Career roll then that bonus die must be used the next time the player makes any Career roll, even if he would prefer to save the die for a later roll.

An [Attribute] roll is any Risk or Increase roll involving that attribute. For example, a Career roll is any roll Risking or Increasing the Career attribute.

A [Step] roll is a roll made during a specific step of the mission. For example, a Research roll is any roll made during Step 3: Research.

A Success roll is made with a separate six-sided die, with a result of 1-4 indicating failure and 5-6 success.

Step 1: Mission Priority
When an agent is sent on a mission they are expected to drop everything else and immediately leave for the mission location. The Describer describes where the agent is sent off to and the initial details of the mission, and then the player has the following options:

• Risking both Relationships and Health and gaining a bonus die for their next Career roll by going by the book and leaving immediately by the fastest route, which is seldom the most comfortable.
• Risking only Health by honoring their obligations to friends and family but travelling as quickly as possible.
• Risking Relationships by leaving immediately but travelling at a more comfortable pace.
• Risking both Career and Principles by putting both their personal life and comfort before the job.

Step 2: Crime Scene Investigation
Once the agent arrives on the location of the monster attack the Describer describes the no doubt gruesome scene where one or more people were killed by the monster. The player then has the following choices:

• Risking Sanity by making a detailed investigation of the scene.
• Risking both Sanity and Health but gaining a bonus die on a Research roll by making a thorough investigation of the scene and staying up late going through their notes.
• Risking Principles by only making a cursory check of the location or relying on photographs and written documentation of those who have visited the scene.

Step 3: Research
When the important details from the crime scene have been identified, it is time to find out what kind of monster they could be connected to. The player has the following choices:

• Risking Relationships and gaining a bonus die on the Confrontation roll by spending all their free time making additional research instead of staying in touch with friends and family.
• Risking Health and gaining a bonus die on the Confrontation roll by spending their nights reading old case files.
• Risking Career and gaining a bonus die on the Confrontation roll by using backchannels to get classified information.
• Risking Principles by only checking the most obvious sources of information.

In either case the player makes a Success roll, with a success earning him an additional bonus die to be used on any Rescue, Preparations or Confrontation roll.

Step 4: Rescue
At this point the monster attacks again, killing some and taking others with it to its lair as described by the Describer. The player now has the following choices:

• Risking Health and Sanity but increasing Principles by going beyond their job requirements and personally trying to rescue the victims from the monster's lair. The player makes two Success rolls, saving one abductee for each success.
• Risking Career by using their credentials to force local law enforcement agencies, who may not be properly equipped or trained, to effect an immediate rescue. The player makes a Success roll to see if one of the victims is saved. If they are, the player Increases Career as his actions are justified.
• Risking Principles by leaving the victims to their fate and hoping they survive long enough to be rescued during the final attack on the monster's lair.

Step 5: Preparations
Now the monster's lair has been found and it's abilities tentatively identified and it is time to prepare for destroying it. The player has the following choices:

• Risking Career and gaining a bonus die on the Confrontation roll by using their credentials to gain access to restricted equipment and help from local law enforcement agencies.
• Risking Sanity and gaining a bonus die on the Confrontation roll by trying to understand the monster.
• Risking Principles but gaining a bonus die on the next Career roll by going by the book and following the Agency's rules to the letter at the cost of effectiveness.

Step 6: Confrontation
The time has come to finally destroy the monster. The player has the following choices:

• Risking Sanity and Health by personally confronting the monster.
• Risking Principles by letting others (such as local law enforcement personnel) take the main risks.

In either case, the player makes a Success roll to see if the monster is destroyed. If the monster is successfully destroyed, the character Increases Career.

If the agent didn't try to rescue the victims abducted in Step 4, make a Success roll. On a success, a single survivor is found.

Step 7: Report
After the mission the agent is expected to write a detailed report to aid other agents who face similar monsters.

If the agent Risked Career at any point during the mission, the player has the following choices:

• Risking Career by making a truthful report.
• Risking Principles by making a report that hides his transgressions against the Agency's rules.
• Risking Principles and Career but gaining a bonus die on both Recovery rolls by making a hasty report that ignores anything but the most important highlights, leaving him more time for rest and recovery.

If the agent did not Risk Career, the player has the following choices:

• Increasing Career by making a full and thorough report.
• Risking Principles but gaining a bonus die on both Recovery rolls by making a hasty report that ignores anything but the most important highlights, leaving him more time for rest and recovery.

If the player made a hasty report he makes one Success roll, and otherwise he makes two. Each success indicates an instance when the report he made helped another agent defeat a monster and thereby save innocent lives.

Step 8: Recovery
After finishing the mission the agent has a chance to rest and relax before being called up for their next mission. The player may pick from the following options twice:

• Increasing Relationships by spending time with friends and family.
• Increasing Sanity by temporarily checking into a mental institution or going into intense therapy.
• Increasing Health by resting up and getting medical help.
• Increasing Career by catching up on paperwork.

Step 9: Reflection
The player reflects on the choices he has made and the effects they have had on his character and the world around him. What has been sacrificed, and to what end?

Ending the Game
The game ends when all agents have been removed from play. The players should take some time to reflect on the fates of the characters and the choices that led them there.

How about you provide a brief summary, and if we're interested, we'll read more.

No offence, but I'm kinda in a hurry, and don't want to waste five minutes reading something if I don't know whether it'll be any good.

That was a graceless response. Anders is not doing anything wrong or strange, and you have full power over whether to read his post or not; that's not his problem. Also, as a detail, please try to avoid saying "no offense but," which cannot be read in any fashion except "fuck off," regardless of intentions.

Anders, it's true that a thread here should have a discussion topic. I like the fact you wrote the thing, I like the contest, and the game certainly seems ready for playtesting. Announcing all of this is fine, but now you've done it ... so what would you like to talk about, or receive posts about? Let us know.

As feedback, I'm interested in the content regarding the Agency, and specifically, how its bureaucracy and (to borrow from The Wire) institutional dysfunctions are involved in play. I see the mechanics, but how do you see these things becoming important parts of fictional scenes and situations?

Best, Ron

Good question Ron. Like most things about the game, I haven't thought about it in detail, but I'll try to dig up what mental notes I have.

The ancestry of the Agency goes back to an idea I had for a Technocracy game in the old Mage, which mutated into a kind of X-Files-meets-Swedish-bureaucracy kind of thing, which then turned into a Hunter game I wanted to run but realized Hunter wasn't the right system for. Basically, it's a typical bureaucracy: created for a benevolent purpose, but weighed down by decades of changing policies, office politics and plain old human incompetence. It is at least partially formed by my experience with working in or close to big corporations and government agencies, both organizations that tend to have a lot of inertia and policies that while they kind of make sense in context seem crazy when viewed in isolation.

The Agency is meant to be one of these semi-functional bureaucracies: superficially, it has a clear purpose - the destruction of the monsters that prey on humanity - but in practice this purpose is subverted by the kind of complications I mentioned above, and like any bureaucracy it values policies more than people. For the characters, this means that if they follow all the rules the Agency has established, they won't be able to do their job as well as they could, but if they break too many rules they will be fired and unable to do their job at all. Much as in real life, I think.

But on to your actual question. In regard to the fiction, the Agency is meant to be mostly in the background. The characters act fairly independently once they are out on a mission, but they are still expected to follow policy and the other agencies they are in contact with will report back on their conduct. It is not meant to be directly present during the actual mission (other than during the report stage), but to always be present in the character's mind: it's the Agency that makes it possible for them to save lives, but it also hinders them in that mission.

In a way, the Agency is to the characters what the GM is to the players in a moderately dysfunctional gaming group: the all-powerful presence that makes the game possible and doles out punishments and rewards in a somewhat unpredictable manner. Kind of like the Computer in Paranoia, I guess.

Does that make sense? I know the game rules are very light on world description, for a number of reasons: the short time I had left to write once everything about the system clicked, aesthetics, and my bad habit of removing perceived clutter in text until it is next to incomprehensible are all to blame, so answering this type of question is probably a good way for me to understand what I need to fill out when I rework the game into a more complete version.

Sorry, that was harsh

Yes, actually, it does make perfect sense, and I don't think it will encounter playtest problems. The framework seems a tad strict, but heavy description and role-playing should compensate - I'd recommend experienced role-players who are in it for the role-playing. Overall, I actually like it.

Thanks, flight. (Do you have a real name?)

Yes, the structure is very strict. When I continue developing it after the competition has ended I will probably loosen it up a little, but I like keeping it tight as a way for the rules of the game to parallell the restrictions facing the characters in the game.

Yes, I have a real name, but I never grew up, so childish pseudonynms amuse me.

Any chance of me getting my hands on the next version?

I will post it on RPG Geek (and a link to it in this thread) when I'm done with it. I've started work, but there's more left to be done.