Monsterhearts is set in a fictional high school that along with the surrounding environment is named and fleshed out by all players during
character creation. In order to start creating the setting, each player first picks a
character class (called a "skin"), with each skin being both a type of
monster and a
metaphor for the struggles of a teenager. As a part of the character creation process and by using the elements provided as a part of their skins, the players define their characters' relationships with each other and with other elements of the setting. Then the
homeroom for their high school class is drawn, with the players filling in where their characters sit. The
GM (known in
Monsterhearts as the
MC) then fills in some of the rest, leaving blanks for further exploration. At the end of character creation the characters will all have "strings" on each other that can be spent to manipulate, and more can be gained in the course of play.
Skins Each skin comes with a collection of "Moves" or special abilities, (every skin starting with either two or three), a default "
Darkest Self" that indicates what happens when things go really wrong, and a "Sex Move" that indicates what happens when that character
has sex with another. In addition to the default skins found in the rulebook, each edition has additional skins available from the developer or third parties, and advice for modifying skins or creating new ones. The default skins in
Monsterhearts are the
Fae, the Ghost, the
Ghoul, the
Infernal, the
Mortal, the
Queen, the
Vampire, the
Werewolf, and the
Witch, with first edition adding the
Chosen and second edition the
Hollow.
Sexuality and queer content In
Monsterhearts any PC may roll to
turn any other character on, and all the characters have a sex move (as indicated above). This is explicitly because as a teenager you don't get to choose what turns you on, and because "Monsterhearts is a game about the confusion that arises when your body and your social world start changing without your permission." It also, because of this, has a
two page spread dedicated to using
Monsterhearts to explore
queer content. This approach to sexuality has drawn comment, with
Bitch Magazine commenting, "Indeed, nearly every rule related to sex and sexuality in Monsterhearts is a game manifestation of real-life sexual dynamics, good and bad, healthy and unhealthy. Instead of the rote, heterosexist portrayals of sex and sexuality you might find in other games, Monsterhearts gleefully encourages people of all identities to explore sexuality in every permutation, often with great self-examination and as uncomfortably as possible. But for a game with such a depth of emotional/sexual content, it's remarkably free of sexism. It also doesn't slut-shame, or enforce traditional gendered tropes of judgment about sexual behavior." ==Gameplay==