Monsters & Other Childish Things

[Silus]

So I've decided to look into this game and, while I've not looked at the mechanics behind it (All I really know if the stats are named differently and that it uses D10s), it looks like a fun game.

Main thing I'm wondering is, how hard is it to learn, especially for people that have never played a tabletop game beyond the 'vanilla" board games?

Also, about how fun is it from your personal experiance?

[Prospector]

I just got my hands on the game myself. I would say it is not that complicated to create the kids, the monsters are the complicated part of the system. GM help can alleviate most of that but you might offer your players a chance to rebuild their monsters after the first session once they get a better understanding of the game. I have qualify all this by saying I have yet to run a session yet. A lot of it is based on my impressions of the book and what I have gathered from the web.

Definitely check out Roleplaing Public Radio's various podcasts of their MaOCT sessions. Very instructive and fun to listen to. I'd start with either Pastoral Manor podcast or the Sucrose Park podcast. Hope this helps.

Edit: I'm also very excited about the game. Can't wait to get a group together and play it.

[Deper]

Monsters is one of those games that doesn't get anywhere neat the attention it deserves.

The rolling mechanic seems a little odd, but actually works pretty quickly in play. Best thing to do is to listen to some actual plays so as to see how it actually works in play.

The RPPR actual plays are great, but they aren't the only ones out there.

I suggest you check out The Drunk & The Ugly. They have several Monsters and Other Childish Things one shots, 20+ episodes of the Road Trip campaign, 6 session mini-campaign based on the Persona series, 50+ episodes of their own Monsters Campaign as well as a new spin off campaign with 4 episodes so far. They also have a wiki where you can check out some of the monsters they've made, and have other actual plays, like CoC, Fiasco and Little Fears.

In the same vein, I highly suggest checking out the Monster Force Zeta actual plays, which are by a different group (GM'd by Luffy316 on these boards). They're on these boards here, but I suggest checking out the thread on The Drunk and Ugly Forums since they have far more episodes up as well as several Monsters one-shots.

If you're looking to get an idea as to how the mechanics work, I suggest starting with the Monster Force Zeta material. It does a great job of sticking with the feeling of the game and the Drunk and the Ugly casts change to a homebrew system for a while before switching back.