Campaign: Miranda Leigh Daily

Character: Miranda Leigh Daily
Game: Monsterhearts 2
Episode: 1
Theme Song: Fickle Game by Amber Run
Keywords: Outgoing, optimistic, haunted

When I sat down to play Monsterhearts, my initial goal was to play a young Jason Momoa as the Queen and function as a hot queen instead of a cold one. Of course, when I sat down, I sat down with a lot of powerhouses. The werewolf, the ghoul, the vampire, and the witch. I didn't know the group playing, but I knew based on the law of averages, if I played a manipulative dude queen, I'd be dead before episode 2.

So I defaulted to my comfy space and made a mortal named Miranda. I wanted her to be different than my other mortal, who was a really broken individual coming in. That being said, I knew my high functioning, popular, nice girl needed to have a reason she was vulnerable and why the darkness would make her feel beautiful.

We started with the established relationship of Miranda being in love with the werewolf, Flinch. That was really my only tie to the group, and I was okay with that. Flinch and Miranda grew up together, and over the summer she was tutoring him through his math class so he could join their 11th grade math class. Naturally, she's kind and outgoing and always there to try to get him out of trouble, since he's a delinquent with an attitude problem.

As we played, it became clear that Miranda spent a lot of time trying to make her school a good place. She had high school spirit and didn't want people to be lonely. This meant taking it personally when the witch didn't have anyone to walk to school with, and inviting the vampire to come help her host a party. Of course, Miranda has no idea these people are powerful as fuck supernaturals. They're just lonely people she needs to help feel like they belong.

After the game, I knew I needed to figure out a vulnerability for the girl, why she was pretending to be so chipper and upbeat because that was easier. I didn't want it to be super dark and super supernatural, I just wanted something most teen girls dealt with that felt impossible. So I decided that over the summer, Miranda had gotten drunk and fucked the school golden boy. They had fun, he took some pictures, and now he keeps calling her and she keeps doing what he wants because there's a subtle and potential threat of him sharing those pictures with the school and ruining her life.

This isn't unlikely in today's society. It's probably enough it feels like a real teen problem and her response is to just pretend everything is normal and try to hide how shaken she is by it. I wanted to make sure there was consensual sex involved, and not rape, but also be clear that some boundaries had been crossed, or bad decisions made. It'll be interesting to see that happen in play and what the supernaturals think of her petty teen problem. I'm interested to their responses when that comes into play.

As for challenges, my goal with Miranda is to simply play up teen drama and bring it for the other players, who are all new to the game. I want to make sure they're having a great time and I will do my best to insert my character and cause drama wherever I can. I feel like I might get kidnapped a lot. Ah well. Tis the mortal's lot in life. And I love it.