MOTW Resources

The simplest, easiest thing to do is have a page that at least talks about what the organization is. You can see this on the picture below. I have a short description of who they are and what they do as well as some known affiliates. I usually leave some empty spaces in case some new characters related to the organization come in. It’s perfect if you realize you wanted someone secretly working with the organization all along, good or bad. I also have notes just to keep any plot developments in order- this is where I think your takeaways will be most useful. Even if you repeat information, it’s good to have information sorted by subject and in chronological order. In a game about being off-the-cuff, it’s good to have a reference to keep things consistent.

You can also see that I have a notes page so I can compile new developments. You can feasibly put anything else, but I think it’s super important to have that miscellaneous section just in case you make up something new, whether it’s a fun fact or legitimate story beats.

Here’s another thing I do to keep things in order: write a legitimate meeting log for a certain group. In this journal, I’m really only doing this for the Oracles, as they act as sort of an antagonist for the hunters. Even if a mystery doesn’t surround them, it’s a good way to act on the mixed successes of Help Out and Act Under Pressure, just in case there’s no mystery relevant ways to put the hunters in danger. This also works in situations where the hunters need to see the bigger picture and past the mystery, like the Oops! for the Mundane or Connect the Dots for the Flake. You can see how I do it below.

What also helps me is writing what each organization knows. You as the keeper know everything, and I personally find it a challenge to keep in order what each character, player or non-player, knows.

Inspirations

This is a loose take on Too Many Vampires, where there’s several different people with different agendas- some good, some bad. And yes, I made countdowns for all of the actresses. The movie they’re making isn’t super important. For my sessions, it was a clue to the larger story at hand. Also, the names I chose for the women auditioning are super confusing. Feel free to change them.

Hook

We are at a fancy restaurant in the city. Ever since we all learned about the existence of monsters, we begin to notice more and more signs that not everyone in the city is human as we pan through the eatery: two women, on a date, drinking a red liquid- too red for wine. A man dropping his white glove, a rotting hand underneath it. But we rest on a man and a woman, seemingly celebrating, a stack of papers between them.

The man is dweeby, wearing a patterned bowtie, nerdy glasses, and a newsboy cap. When he smiles, we can see his canines are larger, and he’s a little hairier than most people. The woman is a red-haired beauty, relying on her natural looks rather than makeup. She finishes signing the papers and the couples clinks their champagne glasses together.

“Congratulations again on the part, Cleo,” the man says. “I look forward to working with you.”

Both take a sip from their glasses. However,  the woman starts coughing. We cut to a shot of the table- it’s blood.

The man panics, getting up from his spot to check on her. The whole restaurant panics as everyone notices the scene. The man calls for a doctor. Someone claiming to be a doctor comes and checks Cleo’s pulse, but it’s too late. 

Cut to a point of view shot of Cleo, watching as the doctor announces Cleo is gone. Her vision fades as we heartbeat slow and then stop.

Main Countdown

Day: Joe Gillis reauditions the role of Blaire in the film Ben Atkinson wrote. Clary, Clarice, Clarissa, Clarabelle, and Clarity are all up for roles.

Shadows: Clary barely dodges a falling light, but breaks her leg.

Dusk: At a dinner meeting, Clarissa fails to show up- alive. She is cooked in the dinner.

Sunset: Clarice is cut up and accidentally used as a prop during the movie.

Night: Clary begs for the role as she believes she can still do it, but Joe doesn’t want her to exert her broken leg.

Midnight: The rest of the auditionees get into a fight, and Clary wins. But everyone else is dead.

The Monster

Clary, Queen

Motivation: Possess the role she’s auditioning for.

Description: Beautiful long red hair that reaches her mid-back. She has a ton of freckles dotted across her face, and she is wearing black converse and a leather jacket.

Bystanders

Joe Gillis, Witness

Motivation: To provide information about the movie and auditioning process

Description: The director is a man wearing a newsboy hat and a band t-shirt. He has a scruffy beard and nerdy glasses.

Notes: Joe is meant to be a werewolf. It’s not important to the mystery, but it was important to the main story. If you’ve been keeping up with these mysteries, he’s looking for Ben Atkinson, the monster from the first mystery.

Clarity, Official

Motivation: Look suspicious by sabotaging the other women auditioning 

Description: Curled red hair and a beauty mark near her nose. She is wearing a Nirvana shirt and skinny jeans.

Modified Countdown:

Day: Set up the falling light trap for Clary.

Shadows: Put laxatives in Clarabelle’s drink.

Dusk: Give Clarissa the wrong audition sides.

Clarissa, Victim

Motivation: Put herself in danger by running a group talk that shit-talks Clarity

Description: Bright green eyes and hair clearly dyed red. She is dressed like Uma Thurman in the poster of Pulp Fiction.

Modified Countdown:

Day: Open and run groupchat to shit talk Clarity.

Clarabelle, Gossip

Motivation: Talk shit about the other auditioners

Description: Hair dip-dyed red and is wearing circular glasses. She’s wearing a beret and houndstooth print pants, as well as carrying a polaroid camera.

Modified Countdown:

Day-Shadows: Partake in the shit-talking groupchat.

Dusk: Start shitting.

Sunset: Shit pants in front of Joe at audition.

Night: Shit ON Clarity.

Clarice, Victim

Motivation: Put herself in danger by threatening to reveal the shit-talking group chat

Description: Dressed a very witchy, nu-goth outfit. She has dark sunglasses and her red hair is tied in a messy bun.

Modified Countdown:

Shadows: Gather the evidence about the groupchat.

Dusk: Arrange a meeting with Joe to talk about the groupchat.

Sunset: Die.

Locations

Lunar Movie Studio, Crossroads

Motivation: Bring the hunters, the monster, and the bystanders together

Description: The movie studio is crowded, busy place. It’s dark, the lights on the set of an office as you see two actors perform a scene in front of the cameras. Behind the cameras, there are people carrying costumes, scripts, makeup brushes. They all seem to be at a standstill as they watch the scene playing out in front of them, too.

You’ll need:

Your bullet journal

Your favorite pen

Character Art (optional)

For the hunters, I’ll reserve a page for them and write their name at the top. I’m an artist, so I’ll draw a picture of the hunter in question and tape it to the page. Then, I’ll write down a brief description of who they are. In my campaign, the hunters are “chosen ones” (in a very loose sense lol basically imagine the spirit of your childhood best friend telling you to do something), so I’ve also written their roles on their page as well. Afterwards, I’ll add whatever plans I have for them on the sheet, with a one sentence description of what it is. Here are two examples of this.

You might have noticed that I don’t put what their playbooks are, nor the ratings, moves, or anything else mechanical. Unlike games like Pathfinder and DnD, class changes can happen at the drop of a hat. In fact, Vic was a Crooked session zero, and turned into the Monstrous by session three! You can write down the mechanical stuff about your hunters, but I’ve never had a use for it.

I also do this for NPCs as well, but not to the extent I do for the hunters. I don’t do character art, but you certainly can. I’ve put some campaign-specific information in my NPC descriptions, but it does include a physical description of the character as well as why they’re important. As they’re magical, I’ve given them custom moves as well. Keep in mind that this is something you should be able to look back at. In essence, your bullet journal is your world handbook.

Here’s how I did the NPC profiles:

Theoretically you can do this for every character, but I’d say stick to your hunters and the recurring characters. Personally, I did this to reduce the amount of time I spent looking back through my notes.

Things You’ll Need

Your bullet journal

Your favorite pen

Sticky Tabs (optional)

You’ll want to start each session by writing either the number of the session or the name of the mystery. Then, put a sticky tab down. Keeping note of when each session occurs in your book makes things easier as you can tell when certain plot points began to develop, and generally makes tracking chronology easier. You don’t need a sticky tab, but I’m going to put one down anyway.

From here, you can just take notes as usual about the session. This could mean major character changes that happen during the session. You can also the health of NPCs as it becomes relevant. I also like putting the bits and bobs the players come up with about their characters in order to use them later. As this game is mostly improv, I also track down the off-the-cuff details I make about the world so I stay consistent.

Then, of course, you go back and do your takeaways from the session. This is when you record what was most important about what happened and how it will affect future mysteries. For instance, if you’ve come up with a name for a place or person you’ll probably use later, write it down. If a hunter’s playbook starts coming back to bite them, like the Chosen’s or the Spooky’s, write it down too. This information will be important for your behind-the-scenes notes.

After you finish doing your takeaways, you are done for the current session. It should look a little something like this: