Handling Police in Monsterhearts
A play-aid for Monsterhearts 2e to determine comfort-levels for players.
Screen Presence
Screen presence is how often and how prominent
police are shown in-game. This should always be the
comfort level of the least comfortable player (if people
pick multiple options, only take the highest).
Absent
Cops? What cops? Police never show up. They might
not even exist, maybe they’ve been abolished. Out-
standing crimes never have legal repercussions. Jail or
juvie is not a concern.
Stealing might get you expelled or grounded, murders
will have their friends gunning for you, but it’s people
you need to be scared of, not the system.
Veiled
Police exist, but they don’t really do anything. We
might mention that they show up and poke around,
but you’ll never actually interact with one.
You might still be able to get in legal trouble, but we
won’t focus on things like arrest or interrogations.
Cops are not characters, at most they’re a vague threat
to prevent open crime. Minor crimes should be dealt
with like the absent screen presence.
Realistic
Police are around, crimes get investigated, you can get
arrested or interrogated and get in actual trouble.
Sometimes other authorities will create consequences,
but the cops are a presence. Repeated crimes might
introduce a recurring side character.
Stealing from other teens and stalking are probably
poorly-handled, but murder gets cracked down on.
Mundane killings are generally solved eventually.
Credits
This is a fan supplement for Monsterhearts 2, designed by C.M.Ruebsaat
Check out the game at buriedwithoutceremony.com
(And maybe other rpgs, idk, I’m not a cop)
Behaviour
If the police exist in any way, especially realistically, it
is important to determine how they act. Ignore this if
cops are absent.
Idealized
Cops are trying to be helpful, whether or not they are
effective at solving crimes. They genuinely care about
keeping the community safe and believe in letting
people off with warnings. You can go to cops for help.
This can be especially appropriate for a well-meaning
small-town sheriff, or a main-character’s grandparent
cop.
Grey
Cops are bureaucratic and bland. They are neither
helpful nor malicious, and probably pretty boring over-
all. They tend to defer responsibility to other authority
figures if they can. They’ll do their job when asked.
Generally these cops won’t get names or characteriza-
tions. Even if they do, they will act more like bored
retail workers than anything else.
Unpleasant
Cops are complete garbage. They are probably out to
get the main characters. On the lighter end, you’ll be
“those goddamn kids.” On the darker end, they might
be sexist, homophobic, transphobic, or racist. Crimes
you commit will get investigated, crimes against you
are probably ignored.
These cops are villains, or supreme annoyances at best.
They are rude, lying, and possibly violent. Take special
care with this option, and make sure to check in with
your group members regularly.
This document is not pro-cop. It is attempting to be faithful to the genre of Monsterhearts 2e, and that is its
intent in its portrayal of the police system. If anyone, especially POC, have concerns about this document,
please reach out to me @Belac93 on Twitter.
Alternatives
If you don’t want to include the cops in
a game, what do you do instead? Here
are a few ideas:
School Figures
Teachers, principals, or guidance coun-
cillors. These can be used in-school
especially, but some schools also try to
regulate out-of-school drug use, fights,
or internet behaviour. They are occa-
sionally well-meaning, but always mis-
understand the actual problem or try to
bulldoze their rules through.
Family
Guardians, grandparents, or siblings.
They can be used in all aspects of life,
but especially relationships and what
you do in your free time. They have a
wide range of feelings towards you, but
always think they know best and have
unrealistic expectations for you.
Other Monsters
Dark powers, faerie courts, vampire
lords, or werewolf alphas. They can be
used well for big crimes that would
strain belief if someone else caught
them and didn’t report it, such as
murder or arson.
They probably don’t directly oppose
crimes or misbehaviour, but they might
not want you to be obvious about it or
draw attention to the wider supernatu-
ral world. They likely don’t care if you
steal, but draining someone’s blood
raises questions.