MONSTER GUTS Rules Clarifications

Hey folks!

First up, thank you all for your interest in and support of MONSTER GUTS! Writing and working on it has been an absolute delight, and I can't wait to be able to share the extra content y'all itchfunded (as well as a couple extra things thrown in cuz I felt like it).

Due to the terse styling of the game, there are a lot of gaps in what the rules cover. In general, go with your gut. I think that's a good rule of thumb for all ttrpgs, and it goes especially for MONSTER GUTS since the game (intentionally) covers such a small part of your scavengers' lives.

That said, folks have questions, and I the answers I'd give at my table. Y'all should be able to comment with any other questions you might have, and I'll try to keep this updated with answers.

0. If I want to write content that's compatible or based on MONSTER GUTS, what copyright/licensing should I use? Use whatever you like! You're welcome to write whatever you like for MONSTER GUTS, reserving whatever rights you wish, and charge however much you like. I'd appreciate it if you'd point people who read your content towards MONSTER GUTS. You are welcome to quote text from the MONSTER GUTS zine if you attribute it properly. However, all art assets and graphic design in the MONSTER GUTS zine are not for folks' public/commercial use, as a courtesy to myself and the artists I commissioned.

1. How much damage to basic weapon attacks deal? Basic weapon attacks deal damage equal to the weapon's current Edge (if it has Edge). Ranged weapons don't have Edge and thus do a fixed amount of damage per attack. Since melee weapons spend Edge on their special moves, the basic attack damage suffers until the weapon gets sharpened.

2. How does the Reload tag work? Great question. At my table, weapons with Reload can run out of ammo on a mixed success. I'll often have players roll a d6 to see what the mixed success entails. 1 - lose an Edge (if no Edge, then nothing bad!), 2 - get knocked back, 3 - must spend an action to reload before firing again, 4 - you get knocked down, 5 - you get staggered, and 6 - take 1 Harm.

3. How do elements affect scavengers? You can think of scavengers having a 1-count clock for each element. So, getting hit by a fire attack would trigger the Fire effect (increasing all incoming Fire damage by 1).

4. How do you get rid of Blisters? To get rid of your blisters, you'd need to hunt some new monster whose parts could be turned into a cure. Write one up for your table if you've a player or two in need of some medical attention. You could even publish it here and make money! Alternatively, don't worry about Blisters. That's going to depend on the feel of your table and the vibe you are pursuing.

5. Can you transfer earned tags between weapons? It depends on your table. If I wanted to run a grittier MONSTER HUNT game that leaned into an almost Dark Souls vibe with regard to the environment and tone, no, I'd lock earned tags to the weapon that slew the monster that produced that tag. In a more casual game, why not? Transfer all the tags you want!

6. What is the stunned condition for scavengers? The stunned condition eats the scavenger's turn. It's rough. The Staggered condition, on the other hand, limits them to 1 action between now and their next turn.

7. How does the Enrage mechanic work? When the monster crosses each indicated threshold, the Rage effects activate. They don't stack on top of each other by default. Rage ends when the Bout ends, so if the monster is currently enraged and then crosses another Health threshold, they stay Enraged, but don't get nastier. However, stacking rage is a really cool idea for a more powerful monster. Thanks for the idea!

8. Do affliction effects (Poison, sleep, etc.) occur at the start or end of the turn? Honestly, that's entirely up to you. I'd probably run it with them activating on the start of the affected creature's turn, but as long as you are consistent with the choice, either works fine.

9. How do you determine turn order when there are multiple enemies in the Bout? Such a good question. I wing it. As a rule of thumb, I think Beasts should act before Monsters, and I'd want enemies that are closer to the scavengers to go before enemies that are further away.

10. Can monsters and beasts be found in any environment? Up to you. In my games, each area has a distinct set of creatures that folks might encounter. I feel that separating them that way keeps zones feeling distinct for the players: you're unlikely to run into Gristlebears on the Hanford plains. Needleflies are going to be near still water. Ancorhynches, well, those fuckers are everywhere.

11. Are there any plans to add other monsters? I'm waiting on one of my contributors to release the two monsters that we itchfunded. Given the general state of the world, I'm giving them time and space to work on it. If there was enough interest, I'd love to do a monthly monster release similar to what Spencer Campbell did for the LIGHT season passes.

12. Do you have any guidelines for building monsters? Yes! 1. All monsters have a cool name and can be summarized in three words or less. I kid, that's already in the game. All the base monsters are designed for one-shot play, so they hover between 60 and 80 health each, with an estimated hunt time of 90 minutes. I got to the 60-80 range by estimating how much damage I might expect a single scavenger to deal (4-ish a round) and scaling that to two scavengers, aiming for 3 bouts of 3-4 rounds each. Scavengers with more tags, for the most part, don't do a lot more damage but they do have more control over the monster behavior (taking advantage of elemental weaknesses, triggering stuns more often, etc.) and they are hardier, so increasing the expected health range to 90-120 for a more intermediate/advanced monster seems appropriate.

*EDITED*

13. What about the ice roly-poly monster from the Top Shelf stream? You can grab it here: The Titanic Iceopod: A Monster Guts Hunt by Mads Madigan (itch.io) Also, you should join the TPK Discord and bother him to make more stuff for MONSTER GUTS. :-) I think I've linked all the 3rd-party MONSTER GUTS material in a collection on my itch page (unless there's been more released since I last looked!).

14. What happens to your scrounged items at the end of a hunt? When I run MONSTER GUTS, anything that's not used by the end of the hunt gets donated to the village. Unlike the Monster Hunter games, your home base is not in a stable condition - you need all the resources you can get. 

15. Could you clarify what happens when more Monsters appear during a Complication? I'm happy to talk about what I do at my table. I only roll 1 Tempo Change at the end of the round, choosing whichever Monster to target as seems appropriate, given the situation at hand. I don't allow more than one extra Monster appear during any Bout, and if on a subsequent Bout a Monster should appear, I always will choose for it to be the Monster from an earlier Bout that Hunt. If the scavengers damaged that Monster but don't kill it, I'd definitely make that into a unique Monster with a vendetta against the scavengers, as that seems like a lot of fun. Monsters tend to focus on other Monsters unless the scavengers get in their way.

16. How might I determine where scavengers and Monsters start on a card grid? However you like. The initial setup is going to completely depend upon the circumstances of that Bout. The scavengers might be close together, the Monster might suddenly lunge out at them, the scavengers might have gotten separated and all arrive at the fight over several rounds, etc. Use your gut and ask everyone else what makes sense.

17. How important is monster facing and general positioning? OK, we're in for a longer answer here. The rules in MONSTER GUTS are written such that there is no need for a Facilitator. I think a Facilitator makes for a more dynamic session in MONSTER GUTS, as having a Facilitator allows for a more fluid connection between the dearth of rules and the abundant information of a game session. When you have a Facilitator in charge of the Monster, the Monster AI shouldn't be determined from just a 2d6 roll. The roll is an ignorable suggestion. No Monster is going to choose to attack empty air - they're going to target something. If that means they need to move or rotate as appropriate, then, yeah, they should do that.

19. Does a scavenger's position in relation to the monster's facing limit what parts they can target? In a more tactical, gritty MONSTER GUTS game, yes, absolutely. If a scavenger can only hit Close targets but the Monster is flying or has a particular part up in the air, that scavenger can't attack that part unless they change the situation. The Monster, too, could only hit targets within the indicated range of the part doing the attack (so a scavenger in the air over the tail would avoid a Bite attack). In a more power-fantasy MONSTER GUTS game, as long as the player had a way of getting to the targeted part, sure, awesome, go for it. 

20.  Can special weapon moves target a part specifically (if not explicitly stated), or do they hit the body? Do you ever need to roll for special weapon moves? Yes, weapon moves can target specific parts. No, you do not roll for special attacks.

21. On the character sheet, it shows that Companions can have tags; how are Companions affected by tags? Are there any limits to what tags can be applied to them? Treat Companions as scavengers with how many tags they can use and how those tags manifest.

22. On the character sheet, there is a section for Notches. Is this the number of hunts total the scavenger has survived, just the successful hunts, or something else? Do they have any benefit other than bragging rights? Nope.

23. Does Harm dealt to part damage also reduce the monster's body HP, or are they separate? Up to you. I waffle on this. When I've run MONSTER GUTS, Harm dealt to a part goes to both the body HP and the part. Attacks that graze or hit an already-broken part deal damage only to the body HP.

24. Does directing your Companion to use a tool cost an action on your turn? Yes.

25. If using a weapon with an elemental tag, does that weapon deal Harm as well as clocks, or does it just fill the respective clock? Adding the tag to the weapon means that the weapon gets the additional effect of increasing the clock. It does not change the weapon's regular function.

26. When a scavenger is afflicted by a condition (burn, ice, bleed, etc.) how long does it last? Until the end of the Bout, a set number of turns, or other? Up to you, but be consistent.

27. When harvesting tags at the end of the mission, if you harvest extra tags that can't immediately be applied to your weapon or armor, can they be saved and accumulated for later? That's going to depend how strict you are on tags being swapped around. A stricter game binds all acquired tags to whatever character/weapon was equipped during the Hunt, and either you have a tag or you don't - you can't have multiple copies of a tag (you could put a Fire tag on your weapon and gear after earning it one time, but you couldn't put a Fire tag on another weapon until you earned it on that weapon). On a looser game, once you have a tag unlocked, it's unlocked for everything. The one exception is the Ephemera tags, as you spend 2 matching Ephemera tags on a weapon to enhance it. You do want to track the number of each type of Ephemera you have acquired.

28. If you accumulate too many Blisters on a weapon to be able to use it, do you have to pick a different weapon entirely, or can you pick up a new weapon of the same type you were using before?  If the latter, and saving tags for later is possible, can those tags be applied immediately? If you cannot use your weapon of choice, you'll need to use a different weapon. You cannot 'restart' the same weapon, as your body still carries the damage you've suffered from your hunts. If you have a player who only wants to play a single weapon, you should decide if you want to play with Blisters or play without them.

29. If it seems like the group is going to fail the hunt, is there any way to retreat from the hunt without gaining a Blister? If so, are there any penalties for doing so? You are always welcome to run away! Doing so might have narrative consequences, but you only gain Blisters from losing all of your health, not from retreating.

I'd like to reiterate that while I may have written MONSTER GUTS, I don't know how to play it any better than you do. The only way to be wrong while playing MONSTER GUTS is if you play as cops/fascists/white supremacists/etc.

P.S. The enemy, as always, is white supremacy and capitalism.