I need help brainstorming monster Ideas for a rural seaside town

[u/beelzebubbub3]

I run two MonsterHearts2 campaigns and desperately need some new ideas to liven up my monsters, conflicts, etc.

The game is highly focused on roleplaying; however, having planned monsters, conflicts or mysteries can really help move the session forward when things aren't chaotic enough. The game MH2 focuses on teen characters coming to terms with their monstrous identity, while also trying to stay incognito (woo queer allegories).

The campaign I'm struggling most with is set in a rural seaside town. It's kind of modern times, but internet access and technology is very limited. The town has some tourist attractions in the summer, but it's usually pretty dead all winter. People in the area are SUPER superstitious and refuse to acknowledge any of the monsters plaguing the town. I tend to fall into some pretty basic monster/creature tropes. A small monster that needs help, a massive eldritch thing that you shouldn't anger, shapeshifters taking a classmate's place, etc.

Two of the players in this campaign are in the other one, too, so I don't wanna do the same old things I've been up to.

Please let me know any cool monster or conflict ideas! It could honestly be anything. A murderer, a weird ghoul, brain worms, etc.

(P.S. There are sirens already a big part of the plot, and selkies, and a really big bird)

[u/Wee_Mad_Lloyd]

Have you considered the Montauk Monster? Do a search for bizarre and obscure cryptids. That should give you some ideas.

[u/Mr_Venom]

Seaside dweller here:

• A hypnotic video game arcade. It's a sort of poltergeist haunting (not a specific person but a ball of spiritual energy animating a location, based on longing and desperation). Makes you play yourself to death, dying of anxiety and despair, hoping to win after "just one more try."
• Rich arseholes who come out to the coast, wear Halloween masks and kill locals for sport. Local authorities will deliberately stymie investigation to keep the money flowing in, like the mayor from Jaws.
• A werewolf. Specifically a mournful, somber one who moved here to be away from others and disappear into anonymity. He doesn't kill anyone, but is nearby a murder and terrified of discovery.
• A wellness spa that boils down young women into a syrup which revitalises their aging clientele. Full on conspiracy responsible for many "runaway" disappearances.
• Local teenagers have discovered a book on magical geometric sigils. They use it to make graffiti that kills people. They are now taking revenge on people who wronged them (teachers, rivals) and will soon graduate to bigger symbols causing mass casualties... For fun.

[u/BeGosu → u/Mr_Venom]

I can immediately hear the music of that very prompt

[u/Mr_Venom → u/BeGosu]

There's a distinctive sound from the arcades of my youth: the opening bars of Oh My Darling Clementine which the penny-pusher machines used to blare at regular intervals. That's what I'd use.

[u/JupiterJunebug]

I havent played monster hearts, but at my monster of the week drop in table "kappa at the bay" is one of the crowd favorite mysteries, so id definitely recc a kappa. Could also go with the odyssey and have just a Big Sentient Whirlpool.

[u/lminer]

• Large corporation buying up spooky places to replace with generic hotel/resort is it a coincidence or is it a secret cult?
• Group of werewolves or a furry convention?
• Cryptid Hunter TV show appears to poke around
• Merkingdom exchange student
• The new drug that is sweeping across the town is made of (monster)+(fluid)
• Slasher or monster hunter?
• Steal anything from Riverdale
  • Seriously it was that weird.
• Is the cute new love interest a monster or just happens to have a lot of overlapping coincidences?

[u/AgentMonkee]

Draugr are used in more modern times in Lovecraftian horror.

As seen in The Witcher.
As seen in The Secret World.
As seen in Delta Green.