"Most people don't believe in monsters. You know the truth — and you've got a fireplace poker."
Monster of the Week is an action-horror Powered by the Apocalypse game by Michael Sands, published by Evil Hat. The players are a team of hunters in the vein of Buffy, Supernatural and The X-Files: every session is a self-contained episode where you crack a mystery, find the creature's weakness and take it down. Roll 2d6 plus a rating, pick an archetype playbook from the Chosen to the Mundane, and let the Keeper build each mystery from a clear template.
Our world, today — just with monsters in the shadows. Vampires on the edge of town, ghosts in the old school, cultists on the city council. Your hunters might be small-town teenagers, drifters on a road trip or government agents. You build the setting together: the book hands you tools, not a fixed map.
2d6 + Rating
Five ratings — Charm, Cool, Sharp, Tough, Weird. A 10+ is a clean success, 7–9 succeeds at a cost, and 6 or less lets the Keeper make a move while you mark experience.
Investigate a Mystery
The core move: success buys questions from a list — what kind of creature is it, what can hurt it, where did it go. You can't beat the monster head-on until you've found its weakness.
Luck
Seven Luck boxes for a hunter's whole life. Spend one to turn a roll into a 12 or cut incoming harm to zero. Once you're out of Luck, your hunter is truly mortal.
Mystery Countdown
The Keeper builds each mystery from a template: a monster, minions, locations and a countdown from Day to Midnight. Dawdle, and the catastrophe arrives right on schedule.
Open in Session Zero to let every player vote and see the results.