The Monster's Playbook

An actual-play monster of the week podcast set in the (surprisingly) haunted city of Minneapolis, MN. Join us every other Tuesday for a new episode! Explore the Show!

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Meet the hunters! They may not have a solid plan, functioning relationships, or basic impulse control—But hey, they do have incredible character art. Thank you to the talented @carlzsays for bringing our favorite weirdos to life (again)!

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Meet Sutton Malone—The Monstrous

Life was never easy for Sutton. And while her twin brother escaped their broken home to find freedom in faith, she just escaped. Into partying and addiction. It’s a story you’ve heard before, and Sutton’s nearly ended the way you might expect, until a fateful encounter with a vampire kept death at bay and took her life in a whole new direction. These days? She’s doing the same as you: Just trying to survive. Only she’s a little better at it than she used to be.

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Meet Robert V. Slaughter—The Mundane

As an ex-special forces member, Robert learned the art of infiltration, interrogation, and combat. During his service, he was always eagerly awaiting his next assignment and when he wasn’t in the field, he was either polishing his sidearm or training.

But his life changed in 1984 when he met his soon to be wife, Betty, and he quickly left the service, married her, and picked up a mop. From there, Robert focused his life on two things: loving his wife and making sure the floor shined.

After 40 years of marriage, Betty passed away and Robert’s life changed once again. These days, he mostly keeps to himself. The only thing keeping him in good spirits are the residents of River Bluff. That and his mean banana bread.

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Meet Jack Harrow—The Crooked

Once a notorious thief for hire, Jack Harrow spent years running jobs for people with deep pockets and dirty hands. That was until the heist that went south, where she was left with nothing but a bullet wound, a dead fiancé, and a cursed grimoire she can’t get rid of. Now, Jack wants nothing more than to leave her life of crime behind. But fate, or perhaps that grimoire she stole, has other plans. Cunning, ruthless, and fiercely loyal, she’s determined to put the pieces of her shattered life back together—if the past doesn’t catch her first.

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Want to get a head start on our new campaign? Well, surprise, our Session Zero just dropped! 

Welcome to Channels. It's a whole new campaign in a whole new world with a whole new player! Let's check in with Jonny, Miah, Lauren, and new player Drew! Meet Sutton Malone, a vampire doing her best to lie low. Jack Harrow, a former thief doing her best to stay on the straight and narrow. And Robert V. Slaughter, an aging custodian who is just the best. Plus, we'll talk a bit about what's new and what's not in campaign two of the Monster's Playbook. It all starts here! So jump in!

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Channels: A Brand New Monster of the Week Campaign

Reality is fragile in Broken River, Minnesota. There’s been a weakening of the walls between what is real and what isn’t. And three unsuspecting citizens will find themselves unwitting adventurers in… a late-90s online video game??

Yes, elderly custodian Robert V. Slaughter, former thief Jack Harrow and literal vampire Sutton Malone will fight scary monsters, meet colorful characters, and hopefully stay alive long enough to figure out what’s going on here. In their seemingly normal home of Broken River, and in the wilds of the Sega Dreamcast game Kings of Bolera, they’ll have to explore two worlds of weirdness to get to the truth.

Welcome to Channels, our brand new Monster of the Week campaign, premiering June 3rd.

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Join us for our second campaign, “Channels,” premiering June 3rd. We're back playing monster of the week, with even MORE shenanigans.

Check out this stunning cover art for a hint of what you can expect, and keep an eye out for a teaser trailer coming soon!

Cover art by: Mygie on IG

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Oh wait...there's MORE fan art! Before we transition campaigns we just had to share this stunning artwork from our listener @doggogills. It's truly fit for royalty 👑

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Just because the campaign is over doesn't mean the fan art has to stop! Thank you to our listener @doggogills for this incredible piece of Theo and her magical companions, Psevdomenos and Cerberus. 💜

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More art! If you've ever wondered what it looks like inside Kira's mind it's a bit like this. Thank you to @doggogills for the amazing art, as always!

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Between monster hunting and his duties to the Sky Kingdom, Mark Clayton is a pretty busy guy. But don't worry, he'll always make time to feed his bird Lariat.

Thank you to our wonderful listener @doggogills for the fabulous art! 💜

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Another gorgeous work of art from our listener @doggogills of Casey and Nick! It sure is good to have this power couple back as we ramp up towards our finale.

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Hey, it's everybody's favorite weird Monster Dad, Donovan!

Did you know we have a bonus NPC episode featuring Donovan over on our Patreon? Go listen now!

Special thanks to our listener @doggogills for the art. ❤️

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We recently got a bunch of new art from the wonderful and talented @doggogills! Here's the first of the bunch featuring everyone's favorite apprentice mage, Anna, and the CUTEST familiar, Iniko.

We are in love 😍

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Some absolutely stunning art of Theo from our listener @doggogills! Oh how we’ve missed your art 😍

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Our latest episode had Kira reaching out to the world-ending demi-god known as Ember, who just so happens to live inside Kira's mind. Hopefully the hunters can figure out what to do with her and the other end fires before it's too late.

Art by our very own Lauren! 💜

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Homecoming: Pt. 2

Kira sat in the alcove beneath the living room’s bay window to peer out at the stylish mystery man speaking to her father. She closed the wrinkled, beige curtains behind her, creating a makeshift hideout from the rest of her family as she spied on the two men outside. They were a stark contrast to one another: her father the picture of suburbia with his khaki slacks and striped polo shirt, while the mystery man was all haughty sophistication with his silk pocket square and immaculately combed hair.

She watched as the man’s burly driver stepped forward, procuring a thick envelope from her suit jacket, and handed it over to him. The gentleman gestured calmly to the bundle in his hands before holding it out for her father to inspect. He peeked into the envelope, staring at its contents with widening eyes.

“Well, your mob theory seems a bit more likely now, doesn’t it?” Anna asked, keeping her voice to a low whisper. Kira didn’t answer, and instead nodded her head absentmindedly. “What do you think they’re saying?”

To her extreme disappointment, Kira had no clue and kept scooching ever closer to the window attempting to hear something, until eventually, her breath was fogging up the window pane. Unfortunately, the thick glass morphed any outside noise into a cartoonish “wah-wah” sound that reminded Kira of a Peanuts telephone call.

“Ugh, I can’t hear anything,” Kira sighed with frustration as her father shut the envelope and eyed the mystery man with a furrowed brow.

Anna looked from the window pane to Kira with a spark of mischief in her eye, “Then DO something about it.” Anna mimed cranking open a window and gave her an encouraging nod.

Despite her faint trembling, she reached forward to unlock the window. At the sound of the window unlatching, an image flashed in her mind of her father’s red and blotchy face if he were to catch her spying. She drew in a sharp breath and started to withdraw her hand as the tightness in her chest became entirely too much to bear. But then, an image of a storm cloud flooded her mind. Setting her mouth in a hard line she grasped the handle and cranked it once to crack open the window.

“I don’t know…” her father trailed off, crossing his arms.

The tall, thin man gestured to the envelope her father was clutching far too tightly and fixed him with a discerning gaze, “I assure you it's all there. And it appears you've already made your decision.” He cocked his head to the side as her father grunted something unintelligible and gave an almost imperceptible nod.  

“We’ll need a minute.” Her father said with gravel in his voice.

The man grimaced at her father and shook his head, “No, that won’t be necessary.” He turned his gaze to the red, Chevrolet Conversion van and then back to her father. “Arrangements have been made.”

The man took a step closer to her father, partially shielding himself from Kira’s view as he muttered something. Desperate to hear what they were saying, Kira leaned forward a bit too fast and bumped her head against the window pane. Thud. Kira shook her head, momentarily dazed and turned to look at Anna who was gritting her teeth as if to say, “Oops.”

Both her father and the mystery man turned to the window and locked eyes with Kira. Her father’s jaw clenched, sending a shiver down her spine. But to her surprise, he only drew in one deep breath before lowering his gaze to the ground in... resignation, anger, shame? She wasn't sure which.

The mystery man, however, pulled his shoulders back to straighten his posture as he fixed his attention upon Kira. His eyes narrowed as he studied her, causing her to shrink back from the window at the sudden attention. She was good at looking small and unimportant. She'd had plenty of practice retreating into the shadows where she often hid from the man she called Father. Something flickered in the mysterious man's eyes for just a moment that she found herself wondering if she'd imagined it. And then, as if he were suddenly bored, the man shifted his apathetic gaze back to her father and waited.

After a moment, her father returned the envelope to the man before striding towards the front door. Kira parted the cover of curtains and hopped down from the bay window, prepared for a scolding—or worse. Her heart hammered in her chest as her father emerged in the entryway. But again, he glanced at her for only a moment before looking away and calling out for the other members of her family.

“What is it?” Kira’s mother asked as she emerged from the kitchen. She yawned and held a mug of coffee dangerously close to her face. Kira wondered absently if her mother thought she could absorb the caffeine simply by inhaling the steam. Kira wasn’t totally sure herself if she was being honest. 

“Get the kids. We’re leaving,” her father growled with a voice that meant there would be no ifs, ands or buts about it.

Her mother's face scrunched up in confusion. “What are you talking about? Michael what's this about?”

Her father placed both hands on her mother’s shoulders, “Do what I say.” Kira shivered, hearing a familiar edge creep into his voice. Her mother bristled slightly, hearing it too. She nodded and started calling out for the rest of Kira’s siblings to pile in the van outside. One by one they filed out of the house until Kira was the only child remaining. Doing a final glance around the living room, her mother’s gaze fell on Kira.

“Abby!” her mother snapped at her. Abigail may have been their name for her, but she had always felt like a Kira. Maybe that was why she didn't realize her mother was talking to her until she felt a rough hand clamp around her wrist. “Abby, did you hear me?! Get outside and wait in the—”

“No,” her father said, suddenly. A lengthy silence filled the room. “She’s not coming.” Her mother looked between her father and Kira, her brow furrowing deeper as he searched her husband's face for an explanation. Her father continued to avoid Kira's gaze at all costs.

“What’s going on?”

“Just get in the damn car,” her father snarled. He grabbed her mother above the elbow and started pulling her bodily through the door and towards the stylish gentleman outside.

Kira clung to the frame of her family’s front door, breathing heavily as she watched her siblings all pile into the van—without her. She was reminded of picking teams in gym class, and the sinking realization that she’d be the last one left. Except this time, there was no team left to join. And she felt so small. She wished she could fade into the shadows, into nothingness, where nothing and no one could hurt her again.

She felt a familiar presence at her side as a warm hand slid into her own. Kira gripped it tight, blinking back tears as Anna squeezed once to let her know she was with her. No matter how dark a corner Kira retreated to, Anna would always find her. She was always the light to lead her out.

“They all SUCK,” Anna proclaimed, her bravado cracking only slightly. Kira nodded, wiping a traitorous tear from her heated face as she watched the mystery man hand the envelope to her father once more. The man turned away from her parents and started walking towards the Altman home. Kira’s mother was muttering something to her father as he pulled her towards the van, her eyes never leaving Kira’s face. And then, her father paused, taking in a deep breath and balled his hands into fists.

Kira had witnessed her father’s anger far too many times. She recognized the rigid set of his shoulders and the veins that popped in his neck as rage welled within him. So, when her father turned on his heels and started to rush the tall, aristocratically thin man, she wasn’t surprised. But when the mystery man stopped cold and enormous, red leathery wings sprung from his back that knocked her father to the ground—well, she was surprised then.

Kira heard distant screams and sobbing as her father crashed to the ground and cowered beneath the winged man. Her father stared at the wings with abject terror that Kira knew all too well. A hexagonal pattern of a bathroom tile flashed before Kira’s eyes at the thought. She gripped the edge of the door frame and flinched as the ghost of some painful memory echoed in her mind.

The winged man didn’t even bother to turn around, but instead, he tilted his head towards Kira’s father as he spoke calmly, “You have shown yourself to be the kind of man who would sell his own daughter, now you would be the kind to renege on a deal?” The man’s wings twitched slightly at the thought. “You are already beneath my concern, do not become beneath my contempt.”

Kira looked between her cowering father and this winged man and felt a sick satisfaction warm her face. He deserved it. The winged man turned and resumed his calculated walk towards the house, while her father scrambled back on his hands and feet to Kira’s mother. She hoisted him up by the shoulders, and they raced to the van and peeled out of the driveway in record time, leaving the memory of their daughter in the rearview mirror.

“Good riddance,” Anna and Kira muttered in unison, each letting out a relieved, weary sigh. Kira turned her attention to the man with the wings as he approached, and tried to make sense of what was happening. He came looking for her. He made the monsters go away, and he kept her safe. For some reason, she mattered to him. She was important to him.

The man’s hazel eyes found her own, watching him and his red wings with fascination. And to both of their surprise, she did not wither beneath his stare. Instead, she straightened her back and matched his gaze. She felt the corner of her mouth twitch into a small grin as a truth resonated deep in her bones—this was home. And for the first time in as long as she could remember, she didn't feel so small anymore. She felt safe.

This is part two in a canonical short story written by Lauren Johnson. The events take place before the events of the Cover Story Campaign.