Most people don’t believe in monsters, but you know the truth. They’re real, and it’s your task to bring them down. This revised edition of Monster of the Week brings that adventure to life.
Monster of the Week is a standalone action-horror RPG for 3-5 people. Hunt high school beasties a la Buffy the Vampire Slayer, travel the country to bring down unnatural creatures like the Winchester brothers of Supernatural, or head up the government investigation like Mulder and Scully.
This book contains everything you need to tackle Bigfoot, collar a chupacabra, and drive away demons. In this revised edition, you’ll find:
- Character creation rules to bring your hunter to life and create a cohesive hunting team.
- Eight simple moves to investigate and deal with monsters.
- An easy-to-use system based on the popular Apocalypse World RPG.
- Thorough mystery-creation tools and two ready-to-play mysteries.
- New material including an introductory mystery; example monsters like Balkan vampires, werewolves, and other-dimensional creatures; and hunter types like the Crooked and the Spell-Slinger.
Grab the fireplace poker and get your spell book. That monster’s going down!
GAME INFORMATION
Number of players: 2-6
Age of players: 12+
Length: 2-8 hours
Type of Game: Roleplaying Game
Languages Available: English
Suggested Retail: $25
Game Designers: Michael Sands & Steve Hickey
Release Date: early 2015
Man, this is right up my spooky dark alley. At night. Near the swamp. Where the government covered up the UFO crash.
Sign me up!
Looks amazing; can’t wait to see what improvements have been made.
Exactly the kind of RPG I’ve been wanting. Can’t wait!
I may have to pick this up despite owning the first edition! Worth it.
Must have… Do want… *twitch*
Hi Fred: Just curious…why Apoc World as the engine?
Lots of reasons. Because we’re not JUST a Fate company, and we never have been; and the original (not available in retail) edition of Monster of the Week, which this is a revised edition of, used the Apocalypse Engine. And we like the engine here at Evil Hat: Rob’s running a Dungeon World game right now, and I’m running a MOTW game m’self. And we plan to be doing more with the engine. And we’ve already got urban fantasy adventure with Fate covered pretty damned well. 🙂
I need this game. Love the Apocalypse World engine!
Can you say if the art is changing? I love the rules and playbooks in the original, and I’d love it if we could get illustrations in the style of the new cover art
Yep, as a big fan of AW I’m going to have to get a copy of this myself.
I wish things like this had a “remind me when this comes out” box, as next year still seems far away… Happy Halloween!
Interior art includes the original stuff, but a LOT of new stuff (the book’s 120 pages longer too); so we’ve got Daniel Gorringe’s stuff in there now, and we’re going to be adding a ton of new pieces by Juan Ochoa and Kurt Komoda.
Sandra, our Evil Hat mailing list is our best “remind me” tool. Go to http://www.evilhat.com/home/ and look for the sign-up tool in the upper right of the page.
Awesome – done, thanks! (:
2-6 players? Is that total, or can I GM it for one player?
I don’t see why you couldn’t do it for one player.
Very nice, however I noticed that the original version isn’t available anymore in my Library at DriveThruRPG. Uh… Should I contact THEM about that error?
That’s a Generic Games matter, I’ll let Michael know.
Hi Joel,
I had made the old edition private (thinking that existing owners would still be able to download). I’ve made it public again for now (with a warning message) and I’m getting in touch with drivethrurpg to work out a solution.
@ Joel – my DriveThru files haven’t changed at all. The library still links to the original MotW files for both the rule book, playbooks, and reference sheets.
@ Terry: MotW would work fine one player. Some of the playbooks are geared more to group play (the Mundane marks experience when another Hunter uses their Protect Someone move to protect them), but playbooks like the Flake or the Monstrous could easily work as solo characters.
Excited for the new release, but would you mind expanding on what’s changed in the revised edition? Is the new content mostly text and explanation material or new rules materials? And is the original material the same (with only new stuff added) or is the original moves and such altered as well?
I ask because I own the original and am light on money, so I want to know how much I would get out of the new version. Thanks!
Max,
The new edition adds:
– Two new hunter types, the Crooked and Spell-slinger, and the Divine is now included in the book
– Two introductory mysteries
– Revisions based on two years of play and questions asked, including tweaks to basic moves and lots of revised and new advice
– A bunch of new example monsters
– Loads of awesome new art
– A new experience point system.
Wasn’t there a mention, back when this was first announced, that there would be some kind of special deal for owners of the original version? The new version definitely looks cool enough to pay full price for, but I thought I remembered reading something along that line.
Folks who bought the PDF from Generic Games or DriveThruRPG are getting sent a coupon code for the revised edition PDF.
Excellent! Thanks both for doing that and for mentioning it here.
@Joel, I’ve just had a reply from drivethruRPG. My making the first edition private should not affect your library if you already had a copy, so if you are sure it’s not in your list then drivethru customer support should be able to help you.
Wait – what? Owners of the original PDF will get a coupon for the revised edition? That falls under the category of “fantastic news!”
It was one of the terms of the license arrangement with Michael. 🙂
What about those of us who got our copies through the original indiegogo campaign? Do we also get pdfs of the revised edition?
Sam, Michael is working on how to get the coupon code sent out.
Awesome. You two are stand-up guys.
I’m not sure where to post this. Page 99 Rolling the dice example math is off, 1+2+5=9, err nope.
No book goes to press perfect. You’ve found one of the flaws. Thanks! 🙂
Any update on the date for the DriveThruRPG coupon codes? As a supporter of the old version, I’m looking forward to seeing the new!
They were sent out last week by Generic Games. If you’ve got an aggressive spam filter or you’ve disabled publisher emails on DriveThruRPG.com, that may be the culprit. Reach out to Generic Games/Michael Sands to get yours if you can’t find it in your spam folder.
Looks like the first wave has already sold out. Are there more at your warehouse or will we have to wait for another printrun?
The first wave has super-not sold out. What gives you that impression?
Chalk this visit up to seeing it on the Ennies 2015 nominations… looks great, will definitely check it out!
What about playing something like The Strain with Monster of The week. Would it work?
I think so! You’d have to put some thought into making the individual vampire threats varied & different from each other, shifting the focus of “the mystery” a bit away from “figure out what the monster is and what its weaknesses are, then exploit those weaknesses to kill it” (a la Supernatural) and instead into “figure out where the vampire(s) is and what it’s doing, and put a stop to that” (a la The Strain).
Another game to take a look at might be Night’s Black Agents, from Pelgrane Press.
Is there a dead tree copy of this game available. Having only a smart phone makes pdfs a no go.
Has been for most of a year, and you can buy it right here on this site from evilhat.com/store or in game stores that are served by distributors such as Alliance, ACD, Esdevium, etc.
I’m new to tabletop gaming. My friend recently bought this and I instantly fell in love! We now have a regular gaming group and played this twice now. It is easy to learn and tons of fun! Thanks guys! I even picked up a copy myself so I can be the Keeper at some point!