Monsterhearts 2: Mall of Secrets

Six Feats Under’s latest is a miniseries of Monsterhearts 2


(original art by Spencer Amundson)

In the faraway year of 2007, four teens have jobs in the same mall, and connections to the supernatural. As their lives entangle, will they become the capable people they hope to be, or will they fall to their obsessions and pettiness?

Monsterhearts 2 is the second edition of Monsterhearts by Avery Alder. It’s a modern classic about supernatural romance, awkward adolescence, and queer lives. Players take the role of a young person who is also empowered by some dark side to themselves. Maybe you’re a werewolf, a vampire, from the fae, or violently popular. In any case, the mechanics present these characters with all their power as metaphors for messy lives, and messy lives make drama. The second edition is more player-friendly with some streamlined mechanics, more GM-friendly with clearer guidelines, and just generally friendly with its new rules and advice for asexuality, race, and other topics.

Cast:


Cecile is a witch. She thinks of herself as a watchful protector of Glenbrook mall, or at least that’s how she justifies being so nosy. She weaves her magic from a lair in the mall’s guts behind her day job at Warm Bodies. She has a large collection of trinkets stolen from people to help her cast hexes on them should the need arise. Cecile is played by Ragny.


Dennis, the ghoul, is an older teen whose life was put on hold when he died. He still has his life though, in a sense, and other than his legs he’s outwardly the same. Inside, he has an unquenchable thirst for power that he feeds with the petty tyranny of managing the Frogurtaboutit froyo stand. Dennis is played by Grant.


Kayla, the infernal, is a scene kid without much of a scene. She is enamored with her boss Miss Vivki, owner of the mysterious new shop Curiosities, but it’s definitely just for normal reasons that have nothing to do with a deeply repressed attraction to other women. She only owns two pieces of clothing without an Invader Zim design somewhere on them. Kayla is played by Arden


Minerva uses the Hollow skin. She is an imaginary friend come to life, then abandoned by her creator. Only equipped with the knowledge and experience needed to handle a younger person’s problems, she still holds down a job at the ImpactFont gaming store and is trying to integrate with her peers. Minerva is played by Poorweather.

Our GM, and the architect of Glenbrook mall, is Devious Vacuum

Episodes:
Episode 1: 'Gimme that Gurt: We meet the cast, and set the scene. Then, Dennis gets an offer he very much does not want to refuse.
Episode 2: A Cure for Death: As their shifts end, our characters get deeper into each other’s business. Cecile casts a spell. Dennis grabs some Milk Duds. Minerva makes a purchase.


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6 Likes

Poorweather’s hollow concept is :kissing_smiling_eyes::ok_hand: I can already tell this is gonna be amazing.

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These characters are incredible already, but shout out to the credits theme for actually making me rest my face in my hand and mutter “god damn it” into it during my commute.

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“Awww man. Minerva is being so nice and sweet and helpful to Dennis.”

“That’s literally what she’s meant to do.”

“I ship it.”

“NO FOOL. YOU ARE FALLING FOR THE SIMPLE TRAP.”

“But it’s cuuuuuuuuuuuute.”

“NO.”

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Poor Weather’s characters are often my favorite and that’s true here! Not to say the others aren’t great. She’s just has the sort of dry absurdity to all her characters that is always really funny.

Also, it’s always great to have Grant as a player and that Ragney is guesting.

This first episode was a lot of fun.

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This was just a treat to listen to. I could practically hear minerva’s character just going “Switching to interaction program 5” with an associated clunking noise like a vhs player having trouble.

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This episode was incredible, I loved hearing about everyone’s 2007 and an explanation of Spencer’s Gifts. Also I love Arden’s explanation of Kayla, where they start with “this is who I wish I’d been” and then just keep adding cringey details XD so so good.

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Episode 2: A Cure for Death
As their shifts end, our characters get deeper into each other’s business. Cecile casts a spell. Dennis grabs some Milk Duds. Minerva makes a purchase.

Ragny’s guest plugs:
https://www.twitch.tv/paulineragny
https://www.twitch.tv/helloitsdan

3 Likes

Love the new game, and I love all the characters (Minerva especially activates my sad robot protection instincts, and I love Cecile trying to keep the peace).

However, while telling a friend about it, I realized the second episode needs a trigger warning for self-harm. Could you add that to the description?

“Morbid is no longer a condition but part of who you are.”
Well if that ain’t the most monster hearts phrase…

1 Like

Miss Vivki seems like the person who would constantly have some sort of old fashion smoking pipe. Kind of like Cruella Deville.

Episode 3: Girl-Liking Juice
Minerva and Cecile get closer, leaving Kayla and Dennis with some very confused feelings.

Six Feats Under Monsterhearts: Come for the queer relationships, stay for the Shrek-xistential crisis.

Calling it now: the Nokia mascot is the secondary antagonist. Not the primary one, though, because we have teen PCs for that.

2 Likes

I really like the production in this series. The sound effects add a lot.

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Episode 4: You Have To Say “I Accept”
Minerva is drawn in two directions, as our game becomes a millennial Pygmalion. Kayla makes another sale. Cecile meets Miss Vicki. Dennis finds a shoulder to lean on.

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Wow that editing is fantastic. Even more kudos and props!

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I really hope there is a lord of the dance sequence in a latter episode. That aside, this series seems to be shaping up where Kayla and Dennis are villain pc’s, Minerva is there, and Cecile seems to be actually trying to do good for people/not enthrall them to a devil.

the editing has indeed been fantastic

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I am loving this series so much already. It being set in 2007 is really making me nostalgic and, I gotta say, it’s actually helping me reconnect with and forgive/accept my teenage self a little bit. I too hated preps and put my middle finger up at them and had many Invader Zim shirts. I feel seen.

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