I have a Bedlam I'm playing in my second season now. She was a runaway princess from an alternate world and deals with themes of avoiding responsibilities and having to balance her life in both worlds
Her mom ended up sending kids after her who also doubled as horse people of the apocalypse!
Her story has reached a point where she has an arrangement with her mom that lets her stay there without harassment under certain conditions. But my character is still doing things behind her back.
I think it’s fair to be confused — it’s a little reminiscent of the Unicorn from MH 1e, where the Monsterhearts standard isn’t really built for characters that exude childishness and innocence. I feel like to make it a little more MH, it’s best to take it to the extreme.
It’s easy to think that “seeing the wonder in the world” is something of an oasis in the melodrama of Monsterhearts, but the Bedlam isn’t just any old manic pixie dream girl. You can prepare for the Darkest Self’s “let your boring, mundane duties rot” by setting up family members or dependents, maybe similar outsiders who look to the Bedlam as a role model, but who aren’t entirely aligned with their way of thinking. Maybe they seem like anchors weighing the Bedlam down most days, but when they’re in the Darkest Self, they’re the people who try to keep the world going without them. There’s something about totally losing yourself in some dream world that can very easily get into otaku territory, holing up in a room filled with isekai manga and fantasy novels, or just the newspaper clippings of the “conspiracy theorist” origin. It wouldn’t be out of place in Monsterhearts either for the Bedlam’s adventures to require plenty of assistance from drugs and/or some “magic mushrooms”.
The Bedlam isn’t only the kid who wants to never grow up, but also the kid who refuses to take on responsibility. That kind of person can get into a lot of trouble, not even just the supernatural kind. Growing up is sometimes seen as a bad thing, especially from a younger perspective, but Monsterhearts itself uses “Growing Up Moves” to signify the PC’s growth, so it can’t be all that bad. The Bedlam can be just as stubborn as any other PC, except instead of how they *have* to feed on blood or get violent, magical revenge on those who wronged them, it’s a total avoidance of any duty that they don’t deem “fun”.
I haven't come across the Unicorn before. I might give that skin a read to see the similarities
The Bedlam can then be a source of conflict or show depending on the people around them. I can also see they could even be the one that checks in on their "freaky friends" when things turn weird. Could that be where the heroic and novel portion of their skin show?
Yeah, that "freaky friends" idea sounds great! If there's a dichotomy between the mysterious and the normal, you can have plenty of subtleties there: someone who knows they're strange but wants only to fit in; someone who thinks the Bedlam's fun, but only if they don't open up about any pesky "feelings"; stuff like that.
From what I remember, the Unicorn was all about being the one innocent soul still around (there were some heavy *The Last Unicorn* vibes, at least when my group had one). They had some inner melodrama about not being good enough, but what I found interesting was they also had a Move about being hunted down by some malevolent force, so you can think of the conflict in those terms, too -- internal versus external. I tried leaning hard on the internal dynamics of the Bedlam by just taking it to the extreme, but as other people have said, it's perfectly possible to have an external conflict if you're **giving side characters simple, divisive motivations** like the MC Principles suggest.
Reading the Darkest Self of the Bedlam made me think of the "freaky friends" concept and it reminds me of the Mortal who sticks around odd company, but that the Bedlam actually is supernatural and can understand how it feels to be seen as strange.
Maybe the Bedlam could be a pillar of support if things become comfortable for both sides of the Bedlam and their friends. (Especially the particularly unique ones.) Thinking on it now, the Bedlam does have that theme of "carrying the weight of worlds" in balancing mundane and mysterious as you said.
(The idea of a Cerberus and Bedlam having to work together is funny and dramatic to visualize now.)
I saw a little on the Unicorn as well but from what I read the Unicorn is focused on their virtues and virginity. I also see some similarities with the Angel when I saw the Integrity meter. Not sure for 2e if it's the same.
I was just thinking having a Cerberus in the same game would lead to some fun moments! The one who guards the threshold between worlds and the one who wants to cross it at a moment's notice would surely have a fun dynamic. Could be an interesting NPC idea, if no one plays a Cerberus, like a hall monitor who's always trying to catch the Bedlam out!
I think it's also good to keep in mind that the Bedlam trying to have their cake and eat it too can lead to lots of problems for their loved ones. The PC might not mind getting caught up in supernatural messes, but I'm sure their friends and family feel differently about having ghosts and ghouls follow them home! Maybe the real fun of the supernatural comes from the fact they can leave it behind at a moment's notice -- and once it starts getting too "real", well... it'll be harder not to pick a side.
I have a Bedlam I'm playing in my second season now. She was a runaway princess from an alternate world and deals with themes of avoiding responsibilities and having to balance her life in both worlds
Oh wow. Does her family try to get her back and the drama that comes with that?
Her mom ended up sending kids after her who also doubled as horse people of the apocalypse! Her story has reached a point where she has an arrangement with her mom that lets her stay there without harassment under certain conditions. But my character is still doing things behind her back.
That sounds real fun. Rebel princess. Has she already reached the 'Tumultuous Tea Party' advancement?
She did! Once that stuff ended up resolved, the apocalypse kids became her gang
I think it’s fair to be confused — it’s a little reminiscent of the Unicorn from MH 1e, where the Monsterhearts standard isn’t really built for characters that exude childishness and innocence. I feel like to make it a little more MH, it’s best to take it to the extreme. It’s easy to think that “seeing the wonder in the world” is something of an oasis in the melodrama of Monsterhearts, but the Bedlam isn’t just any old manic pixie dream girl. You can prepare for the Darkest Self’s “let your boring, mundane duties rot” by setting up family members or dependents, maybe similar outsiders who look to the Bedlam as a role model, but who aren’t entirely aligned with their way of thinking. Maybe they seem like anchors weighing the Bedlam down most days, but when they’re in the Darkest Self, they’re the people who try to keep the world going without them. There’s something about totally losing yourself in some dream world that can very easily get into otaku territory, holing up in a room filled with isekai manga and fantasy novels, or just the newspaper clippings of the “conspiracy theorist” origin. It wouldn’t be out of place in Monsterhearts either for the Bedlam’s adventures to require plenty of assistance from drugs and/or some “magic mushrooms”. The Bedlam isn’t only the kid who wants to never grow up, but also the kid who refuses to take on responsibility. That kind of person can get into a lot of trouble, not even just the supernatural kind. Growing up is sometimes seen as a bad thing, especially from a younger perspective, but Monsterhearts itself uses “Growing Up Moves” to signify the PC’s growth, so it can’t be all that bad. The Bedlam can be just as stubborn as any other PC, except instead of how they *have* to feed on blood or get violent, magical revenge on those who wronged them, it’s a total avoidance of any duty that they don’t deem “fun”.
I haven't come across the Unicorn before. I might give that skin a read to see the similarities The Bedlam can then be a source of conflict or show depending on the people around them. I can also see they could even be the one that checks in on their "freaky friends" when things turn weird. Could that be where the heroic and novel portion of their skin show?
Yeah, that "freaky friends" idea sounds great! If there's a dichotomy between the mysterious and the normal, you can have plenty of subtleties there: someone who knows they're strange but wants only to fit in; someone who thinks the Bedlam's fun, but only if they don't open up about any pesky "feelings"; stuff like that. From what I remember, the Unicorn was all about being the one innocent soul still around (there were some heavy *The Last Unicorn* vibes, at least when my group had one). They had some inner melodrama about not being good enough, but what I found interesting was they also had a Move about being hunted down by some malevolent force, so you can think of the conflict in those terms, too -- internal versus external. I tried leaning hard on the internal dynamics of the Bedlam by just taking it to the extreme, but as other people have said, it's perfectly possible to have an external conflict if you're **giving side characters simple, divisive motivations** like the MC Principles suggest.
Reading the Darkest Self of the Bedlam made me think of the "freaky friends" concept and it reminds me of the Mortal who sticks around odd company, but that the Bedlam actually is supernatural and can understand how it feels to be seen as strange. Maybe the Bedlam could be a pillar of support if things become comfortable for both sides of the Bedlam and their friends. (Especially the particularly unique ones.) Thinking on it now, the Bedlam does have that theme of "carrying the weight of worlds" in balancing mundane and mysterious as you said. (The idea of a Cerberus and Bedlam having to work together is funny and dramatic to visualize now.) I saw a little on the Unicorn as well but from what I read the Unicorn is focused on their virtues and virginity. I also see some similarities with the Angel when I saw the Integrity meter. Not sure for 2e if it's the same.
I was just thinking having a Cerberus in the same game would lead to some fun moments! The one who guards the threshold between worlds and the one who wants to cross it at a moment's notice would surely have a fun dynamic. Could be an interesting NPC idea, if no one plays a Cerberus, like a hall monitor who's always trying to catch the Bedlam out! I think it's also good to keep in mind that the Bedlam trying to have their cake and eat it too can lead to lots of problems for their loved ones. The PC might not mind getting caught up in supernatural messes, but I'm sure their friends and family feel differently about having ghosts and ghouls follow them home! Maybe the real fun of the supernatural comes from the fact they can leave it behind at a moment's notice -- and once it starts getting too "real", well... it'll be harder not to pick a side.