Characters / Monster of the Week

This is a character/playbook listing for the Monster of the Week Tabletop RPG.

Core rules playbooks

The Chosen

The one with the special destiny.

• Arch-Enemy: Many Chosen come with a Nemesis to make their lives hell, and that usually won't be taken down until the end of the campaign.
• Born Winner: The only playbook whose starting ratings add up to +4, rather than +3 like all other Hunters' (except the Monstrous, who gets an implicit bonus to Weird), and who can then go up to +3 in any rating without needing advanced improvements.
• The Chosen One: Who exactly chose them and for what is left up to the player.
• Cosmic Plaything: The destiny tag system allows the Keeper to pester the Chosen with their fate whenever they use Luck points.
• Dynamic Entry: "The Big Entrance" lets the Chosen make a flashy entrance and hold everyone's attention.
• Expy: Of the title heroine of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
• Healing Factor: The "Resilience" move lets them heal extra fast.
• Iconic Item: Gets a custom weapon that only they may wield.
• Large Ham: The "Big Entrance" move paralyzes everyone with their grand entrance until they're done monologuing.
• Made of Iron: The "Invincible" move lets them ignore 2 points of harm just by being awesome.
• Prophecy Armor: The mandatory "I Am Here For A Reason" move prevents the Chosen from dying until their Destiny is fulfilled—any event that would normally kill them is automatically negated with their Luck points.
• Seers: The Chosen can, once per mystery, look into their own future (if they roll well).
• Story-Driven Invulnerability: If they die before their destiny is fulfilled, they come back to life at the cost of a luck point. They can't die for real until their destiny is fulfilled or they run out of luck.

The Crooked

The one with the criminal past.

• Back Stab: The "Assassin" background gives them +2 harm to the first attack against an unsuspecting target.
• Dark and Troubled Past: The Crooked starts with two enemies over events from their past.
• Deal with the Devil: The move of the same name, which grants several options for bonuses in exchange for payment at a later date.
• The Driver: The move "Driver" gives them two vehicles, skill at hotwiring, and +1 ongoing while driving.
• Expy: Of Anna Valmont from The Dresden Files and Peter Bishop from Fringe.
• Had to Be Sharp: Their past experience of surviving the criminal underworld is what gets them through the literal underworld in one piece.
• Guile Hero: The Crooked tends to have high Charm and Sharp scores and can draw on their underworld connections to reach their goals. Backgrounds like "Grifter," "Fixer," and "Charlatan" support this playstyle by giving advantages to social manipulation.
• Recruiting the Criminal: A petty criminal (or a Professional Killer) roped into fighting monsters.
• The Team Benefactor: Can become this, if they take the "Recover a hidden stash" upgrade.

The Divine

The one on a mission from God.

• Action Hero: Always starts out with +2 in Tough, making combat their main focus.
• Anchored Teleportation: The Divine playbook has the Angel Wings special move, which lets the player teleport for free whenever they want. The only limitation is that they can only teleport to places they know well and to people they are close with. However, these restrictions are vague enough that any player can circumvent them, making Angels Wings easily the most overpowered special ability in the game.
• Banishing Ritual: "Cast Out Evil" lets the Divine banish monsters, as well as supernatural hunters lie the Monstrous, though without control over where they end up.
• Disc-One Nuke: The "Angel Wings" move, available to the Divine as early as character creation, is incredibly overpowered as-written, as it allows the Divine to be wherever any other Hunter is whenever they want. Most Keepers therefore tend to either impose some kind of role-playing limitation on its usage, or outright disallow the Divine in closer-to-reality campaigns.
• Expy: Of Castiel from Supernatural and Michael Carpenter from The Dresden Files.
• Flaming Sword: The default signature weapon obviously invokes Archangel Michael. The other options include Thor's thunder hammer and a five demon bag.
• Hammerspace: "What I Need, When I Need It" lets them summon small items to their hand from a pocket dimension.
• Holy Hand Grenade: The "Smite" move automatically gives every monster an additional weakness to attacks with their divine weapon and their own body. So you know how you cannot defeat a monster until you figure out its specific weakness? Yea, the Divine doesn't care.
• Iconic Item: Gets a divine weapon that only they may wield.
• Man of Kryptonite: "Smite" makes the Divine's unarmed strikes count as a weakness against all monsters.
• Mission from God: They are always on a specific mission from their supernatural superiors, and they also receive specific tasks on every mystery.
• Our Angels Are Different: It is possible for the Divine to be an honest-to-goodness angel sent down (or exiled) from Heaven.
• The Paladin: This playbook has many of the trappings of a classical fantasy paladin, including Smite Evil and Healing Hands. That said, they are not required to be Lawful Good and may just as well be an Apocalypse Maiden.
• Protectorate: One possible Mission from God is to protect another Hunter's life at any cost.
• Teleporter's Visualization Clause: The Divine playbook's ability Angel Wings allows them to teleport to any place they have physically visited before or to any person they personally know well, wherever that person may be.
• Teleportation Misfire: The "Angel Wings" move allows the Divine to teleport to somewhere else with two other people... but if they roll poorly, they either end up in the wrong place or a Party Scattering occurs.
• Teleportation Rescue: "Angel Wings" (see above) can be used for this.
• Teleportation with Drawbacks: The Divine playbook has the Angel Wings special move, which lets them teleport for free whenever they want. The only limitation is that they can only teleport to places they know well and to people they are close with... but those restrictions are so vague that any savvy role-player will circumvent them, making Angels Wings easily the most overpowered special ability in the game.
• White Mage: "Lay On Hands" lets them magically heal others.

The Expert

The one with the tools and knowledge.

• The Atoner: Some Experts delved into some very dark magics once upon a time, and are seeking to atone for their misdeeds.
• Attack Its Weak Point: "Precise Strike" lets the Expert make an additional Tough roll when the deal damage. On a success they do bonus damage, on a miss they leave themselves open and in a worse situation than before.
• Crazy-Prepared: The "Preparedness" move lets them produce anything they need in the heat of the moment, as if they've always had it with them.
• Dark and Troubled Past: "Dark Past" lets the Expert draw on their past experiences to fight the current threat, but a bad roll means they were personally complicit in causing the present threat. Whoops.
• Expy: Of Bobby Singer from Supernatural and Rupert Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
• I Know Mortal Kombat: The "I've Read About This Sort Of Thing" lets the Expert roll +Sharp instead of +Cool to act under pressure, because apparently, they've learned everything there is to learn about dangerous situations from books.
• Mentor Archetype: Tends to become this to other Hunters.
• Muggle with a Degree in Magic: The Expert is a person without special powers who has access to vast knowledge about the supernatural and history, as well as various rare materials for applying that knowledge.
• Only a Flesh Wound: The "It Wasn't As Bad As It Looked" lets the Expert shrug off damage that would potentially kill them.
• Science Hero: Starts off with a +2 in Sharp and, unlike the Flake, relies more on methodical analysis than on Rule of Cool.
• The Team Benefactor: Tends to gravitate towards this role, as their special moves often give them access to unusual material resources that the Hunters may need.
• Walking Armory: They get three weapons, ranging from silver swords to flamethrowers.

The Flake

The one who has figured it all out.

• Agent Mulder: This playbook is characterized by believing in many things that even seasoned monster hunters hold for unlikely.
• Back Stab: "Sneaky" lets the Flake deal extra damage when attacking from behind or ambush.
• Commander Contrarian: The "Contrary" move lets them get experience and bonuses to rolls by not following others' honest advice.
• Conspiracy Theorist: A high-functioning apopheniac who takes in minuscule clues to figure out the big picture (which is the in-universe justification of their "Connect the Dots" move that lets them ask the Keeper questions about the investigation without having to roll for it).
• Expy: Of Fox Mulder from The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen.
• Guile Hero: Always starts with +2 in Sharp, which they can also use to manipulate others with the "See, It All Fits Together" special move.
• Living Lie Detector: The "Suspicious Mind" move lets them know whenever anyone lies to them.
• Prescience by Analysis: The Flake can figure out correct answers from clues so minuscule it seems like borderline clairvoyance.
• Properly Paranoid: They may seem a bit crazy but they always have at least a +2 in Sharp, making them one of the best characters for investigating.
• Utility Party Member: Always has maxed-out Sharp (making them very suited for all investigative and technical tasks), but can barely get over 0 in Tough (making them a lousy combatant).

The Initiate

The one from a long-standing tradition.

• The Apprentice: To a secret magical sect. Or a covert order of monster fighters.
• Expy: Of every Warden from The Dresden Files and Annelise from Harry Connolly's Twenty Palaces series.
• Heroic Vow: "Sacred Oath" lets them swear themselves to a goal, swearing off something in the process. So long as they keep their vow they get +1 ongoing to work towards their goal but take -1 in everything if they break it.
• Mentor Archetype: Can have a personal mentor in their Sect.
• The Order: Belongs to an ancient Sect dedicated to fighting monsters.
• Seers: Can use the "Fortunes" move to be prepared for dangerous situations.
• Student–Master Team: Can bring an apprentice on adventures.

The Monstrous

The one who hunts one's own kind.

• The Atoner: Not a few of these were evil once upon a time and are seeking to atone for their misdeeds.
• Expy: Of Angel from Buffy and Angel and Bill Compton from True Blood.
• Face–Heel Turn: One of the potential ending options for a Monstrous character is to turn evil, becoming a Keeper threat.
• Healing Factor: "Unquenchable Vitality" lets the Monstrous rapidly heal themselves.
• Heel–Face Turn: One of the monstrous backgrounds is a reformed servant of an evil master.
• Horror Hunger: The Feed Curse. The Monstrous must roll dice just to keep themselves from feeding at the first opportunity.
• Hunter of His Own Kind: Pretty much this archetype in a nutshell.
• Manipulative Bastard: The moves "Mental Dominion" and "Dark Negotiator" allow npcs, other hunters and even monsters to be manipulated into following orders.
• Our Monsters Are Different: The playbook has outlines for how to use the Monstrous options to create werewolves, vampires, ghosts, demons, zombies, and more. Given the rule system and how a Keeper monster of the same type would have very different rules, this even applies in-universe.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: "Shapeshifter" gives the Monstrous one or more alternate forms they can transform into.

The Mundane

The only one who is perfectly normal.

• Born Lucky: Most playbooks never get their spent Luck points back, and only a select few can get one back. Counting the advanced improvements, the Mundane can spend a total of 11 Luck points before running out—an over 50% advantage over everyone else!
• Designated Victim: Their special moves like "Don't Worry, I'll Check It Out" and "Always The Victim" mechanically incentivize this type of play.
• Damsel in Distress: The "Always The Victim" justifies it: whenever they are captured by the monster, they get an XP, and whenever someone rescues them, the rescuers do. In an interesting stereotype inversion, the Mundane is one of the few playbooks depicted in the art as male, while almost all others are depicted as female.
• Expy: Of Xander Harris and Cordelia Chase from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
• The Face: Always starts with maxed-out Charm, which makes them the usual candidate for this role.
• Guile Hero: Starts out with +2 in Charm, making them The Social Expert.
• Hero's Classic Car: A "classic car" is a mobility option for the Mundane, although theirs is in "terrible condition".
• Unfazed Everyman: Characterized by their lack of special powers (except The Heart).

The Professional

The one who gets paid for it.

• Combat Medic: The "Medic" move gives them training in field triage, in addition to kicking ass.
• Cool Car: The "Mobility" move comes with highly customized car for their monster-hunting business.
• Consummate Professional: Doesn't have to be played this way, but all stat spreads start with Cool +2, so they certainly trend towards a reasonably calm and calculating approach.
• Expy: Of Riley Finn and the Initiative from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Olivia Dunham from Fringe.
• The Men in Black: While variations are possible, the Professional usually gravitates strongly towards the MIB feel.
• Mysterious Employer: The Agency is every Conspiracy Theorist's wet dream.
• Hero's Classic Car: "Classic" is one of the options available for the Professional's signature Cool Car.
• No One Gets Left Behind: The "Leave No One Behind" move gives them bonuses to helping teammates and innocents escape from danger.
• The Team Benefactor: Tends to gravitate towards this role, as their special moves often give them access to unusual material resources that the Hunters may need.
• Walking Armory: Three guns. Possibly Weird Tech Gadgets.
• Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?: "Weird tech gadgets" is probably the most versatile Resource tag, essentially letting the Professional pull pretty much anything short of heavy-duty weaponry out of their ass and refer to the Agency if anyone wonders about the thing's origins.

The Snoop

The one who searches for the story. Introduced in the official supplement Reinforcements by Michael Sands.

• Expy: Of the Ghostfacers from Supernatural.
• Intrepid Reporter: The "What Does That Feel Like?" or "Press Accreditation" moves allows the Snoop to be helpful in acquiring information by talking to witnesses and locals or distract a person to create enough opportunity for the other hunters to act in the meantime.
• Tagalong Reporter: A possible reason for the Snoop to join the monster hunters is to get the story for their blogs or news station, however strange the story is.
• We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties: Spending luck for the Snoop can lead to their equipment suffering from technical difficulties, which may be caused by something supernatural.

The Spell-slinger

The one with the fireballs.

• Expy: Of Harry Dresden from The Dresden Files and Willow Rosenberg in the later seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
• Magic Knight: Fights using their spells, Harry Dresden-style.
• Mythology Gag: This playbook was added to the second edition by Fred Hicks of Evil Hat Productions (publisher of MotW 2E), who has previously designed The Dresden Files tabletop RPG.

The Spooktacular

The one who runs a mystical carnival. An official playbook released by Michael Sands in 2020 on his itch.io page.

• Circus of Magic: The specialty of the Spooktacular's show can vary from being operated by Supernatural Creatures or be Problem Solvers or be operated by an Infernal Power.
• Expy: Of mystical circus stories such as Carnevale, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and Johannes Cabal the Necromancer.
• Master of Illusion: Magic & Illusions can be the Spooktacular's chosen show specialty and can be applied to their moves that require +Wierd rolls such as "Put On A Show" or "The Game Is Fixed".

The Spooky

The one with the freaky powers.

• Creepy Child: One of the only three playbooks that can pick a childlike appearance (the other two being the Chosen and the Mundane), and the only one to be actually depicted as a child in the art.
• The Dark Side: The dark side tags let the Keeper make them do stuff, and the more Luck points they expend, the worse these requests become.
• Expy: Of Sam Winchester from Supernatural and Willow Rosenberg in the early seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
• The Jinx: Eerie coincidences tend to happen around the Spooky. In particular, their move "Jinx" lets them manipulate coincidences to their advantage, others' disadvantage, or, if they roll poorly, have the Keeper use the same things against them.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: The "Hunches" move lets them know where bad things are happening without any obvious connection.
• Seers: The Spooky can see visions pertaining to the upcoming mystery with their "Premonitions" move.

The Wronged

The one with the personal vendetta.

• Action Hero: Always starts out with +2 in Tough, making combat their main focus.
• Arch-Enemy: The Wronged often has one in the fiend responsible for the loss that threw them on the vengeful track.
• Badass Biker: It should come as no surprise that the Wronged is the only one who gets to ride a "classic motorcycle".
• Badass Normal: The Wronged is always among the toughest members of the Hunter crew, yet has no supernatural powers whatsoever, instead relying on Charles Atlas Superpower to carry them through the fights.
• BFS: One of the signature weapons they can choose is listed as a "Huge Sword" (or alternatively, an axe). It's ambiguous how big it's supposed to be, but the fact that it's outright called "huge" and has a heavy trait implies it's much larger than a regular sword
• The Berserker: The "Berserk" move lets them shrug off any damage until the end of the combat encounter.
• Chainsaw Good: One of their signature weapon options is a chainsaw.
• Combat Medic: The "DIY Surgery" move lets them administer first aid in combat.
• Expy: Of Dean and John Winchester from Supernatural.
• Hero's Classic Car: A "classic car" is an alternative to a classic motorcycle in the Wronged's mobility options.
• Iconic Item: Their signature weapon gives them bonuses in combat.
• It's All My Fault: Their misfortune is often their own fault.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The Wronged is on a one-person crusade against a particular monster that killed or abducted their loved ones.
• Taking the Bullet: The "NEVER AGAIN" move lets them protect others without having to roll for it, with the trade-off that they take full brunt of the incoming damage instead.

Additional playbooks

The Action Scientist

The one with a passion for SCIENCE! Only available for the first edition of the game.

• Clarke's Third Law: Can use magic through Science with "The Doors of Perception."
• The Engineer: They actually have a special Sharp move to rapidly fix (or break) complicated equipment.
• Expy: Of everyone from Atomic Robo.
• Fearless Fool: The "Oblivious to Danger" trait makes them immune to fear - largely by not realizing that now might be the appropriate time to book.
• Gadgeteer Genius: The "Science!" move lets them construct weird gadgets and weapons as they need them. Another move lets them combine two existing gadgets into a single new one with all their original functions intact.
• Ridiculously Human Robots: Can be a robot, which will not affect their traits in any other way.
• Science Hero: It's in the name.
• Two-Fisted Tales: Obviously, they're designed to invoke this aesthetic. The move that lets them fight using their Sharp rating is even called "Two-Fisted Science"!

The Changeling

The one who grew up thinking they were human. Third party playbook.

• Bluffing the Advance Scout: One of the moves allows the Changeling to try to bluff monsters based on what they are at the risk of the monster realizing that they don't know anything about themselves.
• The Dark Side: Similar to the Spooky, the Changeling has a number of issues based on the fact that they have no one to tell them what is or isn't normal for their kind.
• Eldritch Location: The Strange Paths move allows the Changeling to travel quickly by moving through arcane dimensions.
• Expy: Bo Dennis from Lost Girl
• Glamour: Every Changeling has the ability to hide their inhuman nature from other people. This can be illusion, shapeshifting, or mental manipulation.
• Glamour Failure: Changelings can push their glamour to manipulate people, but doing so always causes the glamour to fail later.
• Nurture over Nature: Literally one of the names of the moves (though it appears a typo has reversed the name.
• Oblivious Adoption: Most of the time, the revelation of their inhuman nature is a surprise. This usually comes with an adopted family, depending on the backstory even the family might not have been aware of the adoption until later.
• Puberty Superpower: The assumed trigger for their supernatural powers is reaching their puberty.
• The Sacred Darkness: One of the moves notes that the character is an uncorrupted individual of a creature that is typically evil.

The Constructed

The one who was made for this job. Third-party playbook.

• Become a Real Boy: One of their advanced improvements is to become human (and switch playbooks).
• Brutish Character, Brutish Weapon: The Constructed is super-strong and tough, and emphasizes this by having a big weapon.
• Made of Iron: The Constructed has three more harm boxes than anyone else, and crucially, does not become unstable when damaged.
• No Social Skills: The Constructed has a disadvantage when it comes to social interaction, not understanding humans all that well. For the same reason, others also have a disadvantage when trying to manipulate them.
• Turned Against Their Masters: One option for their origin is that they killed their creator.

The Gumshoe

The private investigator. Introduced in Tome of Mysteries.

• The Alcoholic: Implied to be one as the basic gear includes "a liquor flask".
• And Another Thing...: A Gumshoe with the ability "Just One More Thing" can get additional information out of suspects with a Charm roll.
• Code of Honor: Each Gumshoe has a one-sentence "Gumshoe Code", like "Murders must be punished" or "The weak must be protected from the strong". Violating their code causes the Gumshoe to lose the ability to spend Luck points or use certain moves until the end of the mystery or until they made amends.
• Knows a Guy Who Knows a Guy: The Gumshoe's "The Naked City" move gives them access to a web of contacts that can help with the investigation.
• Private Detective: The Gumshoe is a private investigator who got swept up in the supernatural during a case.

The Hex

The magic user, of a more reckless variety than other hunters. Introduced in Tome of Mysteries.

• Expy: Of Willow circa-season 6 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

The Pararomantic

The hunter in a relationship with a supernatural being. Introduced in Tome of Mysteries

• Expy: Of Elena Gilbert from The Vampire Diaries or Belle from Beauty and the Beast
• Love Triangle: One of the Pararomantic's advances allows them to add a second supernatural being in love with them... without retiring the first one.
• You Sexy Beast: While the Pararomantic's relationship to a supernatural being doesn't have to be romantic or sexual in nature, it's assumed it probably will be.

The Searcher

The one who dedicated their life to investigating the unknown after a supernatural encounter. Introduced in Tome of Mysteries.

• Agent Mulder: Like the Flake, the Searcher represents characters with a firm belief (and interest) in the supernatural.
• Alien Abduction: One possible origin for their "First Encounter" move. It provides a bonus to studying strange or ancient phenomena, on the basis of having been given knowledge by your abductors.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: "Self-defense training" is one of the playbook's weapon options. It enables them to inflict legitimate damage with unarmed attacks, something other playbooks can only accomplish with specific moves.
• Expy: Of Roy Neary in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The book also cites Charles Fort as a historical example.
• Touched by Vorlons: The basis of the playbook's mandatory "First Encounter" move, where being exposed to the supernatural in the past grants the hunter some kind of extraordinary or supernatural ability.
• Utility Party Member: Will always have bonuses to Sharp and Weird (making them great at investigative tasks and dealing with the supernatural), but can never start play with a bonus to Tough and has poor access to combat gear on top of that, making them lousy at fighting the monster directly.
• Seen It All: Forms the basis for several of their moves. "Just Another Day" lets them roll Weird instead of Cool when dealing with monsters, and "The Things I've Seen" enables them to instantly determine information about monsters and phenomena on the basis of having witnessed/learned about them before.

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