The Cryptozoologist

“Hey, it's a part of the ecosystem. Okay, it's a part of the ecosystem that eats people.”

A Monster of the Week hunter playbook.

To make your Cryptozoologist, pick a name. Then follow the
instructions below to decide your look, ratings, moves, and NAME:
gear. Finally, introduce yourself and pick history.
LOOK:
look, pick one from each list:
• Man, woman, indeterminate
• Thoughtful face, gormless face, stern face, politely inter- Ratings
ested face, contemplative face, scarred face, aged face. Whenever you roll a highlighted rating, mark experience.

• Lab coat, tweed suit, plain suit, engineer’s jumpsuit, ca- Charm:  -1 0  +1  +2  +3
sual clothes, messy clothes, old unfashionable suit. Basic moves: Manipulate Someone
Ratings Cool:  -1 0  +1  +2  +3
Pick one line, then mark each rating on the right à Basic moves: Act Under Pressure, Help Out
 Charm -1, Cool+0, Sharp+2, Tough+1, Weird+0
Sharp:  -1 0  +1  +2  +3
 Charm+2, Cool -1, Sharp+2, Tough -0, Weird -1 Basic moves: Investigate, Read a Bad Situation
 Charm+1, Cool+1, Sharp+2, Tough -1, Weird+0
Tough:  -1 0  +1  +2  +3
 Charm+0, Cool+0, Sharp+2, Tough+0, Weird+1 Basic moves: Kick Some Ass, Protect Someone
 Charm+0, Cool+1, Sharp+2, Tough+0, Weird+0
Weird:  -1 0  +1  +2  +3
Moves Basic moves: Use Magic
Specialization: Cryptozoology- the study of monsters, is a
broad field. Everyone has a specialty. What's yours?
All Cryptozoologists have the following move:
Pick one of these:
 Back off Man, I'm a cryptozoologist: The scientific
 Cryptosociology: You focus on intelligent monsters and study of monsters gives you great insight into their
understanding their ways. You can use the manipulate behavior. After finding physical evidence of the monster or
someone move on monsters as well as people, if they can hearing a detailed eyewitness account of it, you can form a
reason and talk. hypothesis about its behavior. Roll +Sharp.
On a 10+, ask two questions, On a 7-9, ask one question. On a
 Wildlife photography: You hunt monsters with nothing
6-, you get to ask two questions, but the answer to one of
but a camera and live to talk about it. Take +1 Cool, to a max
them is incorrect or misleading.
of +2.
 Anatomy: When you inflict harm on a monster, you can • What is the monster's main method of attack?
aim for a weak spot. Roll +Tough. On a 10+ you inflict +2 • What role does it play in the local ecosystem- failing that, what
harm. On a 7-9 you inflict +1 harm. On a miss, you leave does it eat?
yourself open to the monster. • What environment would the monster prefer to den in?
• What are its natural enemies?
 Metaphysicist: Instead of studying monsters, you study • What is one of the monster's special powers?
the physical laws they violate. You can use magic with • Is the monster nesting/caring for young?
+sharp instead of +weird, but you'll almost always need to
consult a book or have weird ingredients. Finally, pick one of the following:
 Cladeophile: You specialize in a particular -type- of
monster- herpetology for monster reptiles, for example, or  Two-fisted science: Use sharp instead of tough to kick
Equinology for the study of monster horses. (Don't laugh, some ass.
there's a lot of monster horses.) When you form a hypoth-  School ties: You've got connections to fellow scholars of
esis about a monster's behavior, (as in the move below) the supernatural. When you contact a scholarly acquain-
your degree of success is always one better- a failure is 7-9, a tance to help you with a mystery, roll +Charm. On a 10+,
7-9 is a 10, etc, but only when dealing with creatures in they’re available and helpful—they can fix something, use their
your specialty. connections to get around authority figures, do background re-
search, or get you some special information. On a 7-9, they’re
prepared to help, but it’s either going to take some time or
you’re going to have to do part of it yourself. On a miss, you
burn some bridges.
 Field Guides: When you make a record of your en-
counter with the supernatural, roll +Sharp. On a 7-9, hold  Behaviorist: When you investigate a mystery on a
one. On a 10+, hold 2. On a miss, the Keeper gets one hold monster you've formed a hypothesis about, you can ask
that can be used to give you penalties to rolls. You can only “Where is it likely to strike next” as one of the questions.
have hold from one previous case at a time. Hold can be
spent in future mysteries on a one to one basis for the fol-  Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints:
lowing effects: When you record a monster in secret and don't expose
yourself to it, roll +Cool. On a ten+, choose 2. On a 7-9,
• Declare that some characteristic of this monster is related to one
choose 1. On a miss, it finds you anyway.
we've fought before, without having to roll to investigate.
• You learn something important about the monster once you
• Use your notes on a previous case as the magical grimoire you
review the footage.
need to consult to use magic.
• You get away undiscovered.
• Give an ally +1 forward by reusing an earlier applicable strategy.
• Your recording device is undamaged and the footage is clear.
• Negate the harm from one monster attack because of something
you previously prepared.
 Trust me, I'm a scientist: When you provide a rational
explanation for supernatural events, normal people
 Metaphysical investigation: When you use magic, you
automatically believe you.
can ask a question from the investigate a mystery move as
your effect.

Gear
You get two recording device, one subtle weapon, and one normal weapon.
Recording Devices, pick two:  Taser (1-harm close ignores-armor reload small electric)
 Digital video camera with nightvision filter.  Cattle Prod (2-harm hand ignores-armor electric.)
 Tiny digital video camera.  Bola (0-harm close slow entangle many)
 Laser mike Normal weapons, pick one:

 Phablet smartphone with considerable audio and video storage.  .38 revolver (2-harm close reload loud)
 Digital audio recorder.  Shotgun (3-harm close messy)
Incapacitating weapons, pick one:  Hunting rifle (2-harm far loud)
 Net launcher (0-harm close area heavy slow entangle)  9mm (2-harm close loud)
 Tranq Rifle (1-harm far quiet slow drugged)
 Big knife (1-harm hand)

Introductions
When you get here, wait for everyone to catch up so you can do your introductions together.
Go around the group. On your turn, introduce your Cryptozoologist by name and look, and tell the group what they know
about you.

History
Go around the group again. When it's your turn, pick one for each of the other hunters:

Hunter History Notes

An old friend from school.
They killed a monster you still think was harmless. Ask them what they think.
You're writing them a poem, but are pretty sure “Cyanotic” and “Erotic” are not
good rhymes.
You're their crazy uncle or aunt. Are you the close kind of the one they don't talk
about?
You recorded that bigfoot video together.
You provided the proof that they weren't crazy.
They're a fan of your work- if you have the field guide move, they have a copy of
one of yours.
They hauled your fat out of the fire when you got too involved in a study to notice
the subject was about to eat you.
Luck
You can mark off a Luck box to either change a roll you just made to a 12, as if you had rolled that; or change a wound you
have just taken to count as just 0-harm. If your Luck boxes all get filled, you've run out of good luck.
Okay c c c c c c c Doomed

Harm
When you suffer harm, mark of the number of boxes equal to harm suffered. More than four harm is especially dangerous.
Okay   |    Dying Unstable:  (Unstable injuries will worsen as time passes)

Leveling Up
Experience:     
Whenever you roll and get a total of 6 or less, or when a move tells you to, mark an experience box.
When you have filled all five experience boxes, you level up. Erase the marks and pick an improvement from the list below.

Improvements:
 Get +1 Sharp, max +3  Take another Cryptozoologist move
 Get +1 Cool, max +2  Pick a second specialization.
 Get +1 Charm, max +2  On a 12+ when using “Back off Man, I'm a cryptozoologist,
you may ask 3 questions.”
 Get +1 Weird, max +2
 Take a move from another playbook
 Take another Cryptozoologist move
 Take a move from another playbook
After you have leveled up five times, you qualify for advanced improvements in addition to these, from the list below.

Advanced Improvements
 Get +1 to any rating, max +3.
 Change this hunter to a new type.
 Make up a second hunter to play as well as this one.
 Mark two of the basic moves as advanced.
 Mark another two of the basic moves as advanced.
 Retire this hunter to safety.
 Erase one used luck mark from your playbook.
Notes (moves, holds, etc)

This is a hunter playbook for Monster of the Week revised. Find out more at http://genericgames.co.nz