Monster Of The Week is arguably one of the most popular horror role playing games of the past 15 years. It allows players to take part in a modern monster hunts in the style of classic TV shows like Supernatural, Buffy The Vampire Slayer and The X-Files. Anyone that’s ever wondered what would happen if Mulder, Willow and Castiel teamed up to save the day might look like should check out this game.
The success of Monster Of The Week has lead to two expansion books. Tome of Mysteries includes more playbooks, 29 mysteries for groups to investigate and rules on how to modify their game for more scientific mysteries seen in shows like Fringe. Codex of Worlds includes team playbooks, campaign frameworks and plenty of advice on how to structure campaigns around specific concepts or alternate settings.
Evil Hat is currently crowdfunding two more expansions to the game. In addition, players can pick up official dice and coins that track game elements. There’s also an Investigator’s Casebook that’s part character sheet, part character journal for in depth note taking.
How To Play Monster Of The Week
Play in Monster Of The Week revolves around the Powered By The Apocalypse engine. When a player makes a move, they roll two six sided dice and add one of their character traits to the result. On a ten or better, the player gets what they want, on a six or less the Game Master gets what they want and on a seven, eight or nine, both sides get a little of what they want.
Players choose playbooks for their characters that sketch out classic archetypes from these sorts of shows. They can be anything from normal people driven to avenge their loved ones slain by a monster, members of secret societies that have been fighting monstes for years to actual monsters that have decided to fight on the side of humanity. These choices help the players and the game master, called the Keeper, set up the rules and background of the game.
Keepers build out not just the monsters but a countdown timeline of what awful things the monster will get up to without the players’ intervention. Knowing the monster’s plan makes it easier for the Keeper to react to player action. The books are full of solid advice for this style of game for game masters who run any game in this mode.
Monster Of The Week Slayer’s Survival Kit
The Slayer’s Survival Kit offers nine new playbooks for use with the game. Players can try out being an Action Scientist like Indiana Jones or a Celebrity monster hunter like Peter Vincent from Fright Night. The book also containes guidelines and advice for groups that want to make their own playbooks.
There are more team playbooks included as well. These tend toward weird science and parapsychology with more options accessible to every player. I was excited to see Artifact Collectors as an option as that was the background I used for one of my more memorable Monster Of The Week campaigns.
The book has more advice on integrating the mundane lives of the hunters. These “real lif” moments give contrast to the heroic fantasy and remind the players why they fight. They also provide unexpected resources for story points during the game.
Monster Of The Week Hunter’s Journal
The other book, Hunter’s Journal, focuses on the hunters themselves. It looks at each of the playbooks in depth, including the ones introduced in Slayer’s Survival Kit. The book gives Keepers tips on how to play to the strengths of the character, how to avoid the weaknesses and how to tailor threats to each archetype.
Hunter stories also get some focus here. Despite the genre conventions, monster of the week shows often have episodes that focus on the main characters dealing with non supernatural problems. These sessions can be a good change up from slaying monsters every session with a chance to get into some deep roleplaying.
Fans who want to check out the new Monster Of The Week expansions can do so by backing right now and checking out the text complete manuscripts. The books are curently targeted for a full release in summer of 2025.
