When you imbue a location with wards, roll +spirit.
On a 10+, your wards are locked tight, it is always safe from magical incursion there until the spell ends.
on a 7-9, your wards are great, but have one key weakness, the MC will tell you what.
On a miss, the wards have an obvious flaw that went completely unnoticed, the MC will tell you what.
I’m not sure what the difference is between 7-9 and a miss. After all, both cases the MC tells you the flaw.
Maybe something more like this:
*On a hit you create your wards. On a 10+ select 3 from below. On a 7-9 select 1 from below:
-Your ward can also keep out mundane intruders, in addition to supernatural
-Your wards do not stick out like a sore thumb
-Your wards will survive past midnight
-There is no obvious flaw*
I didn’t put a 6 option, because I think the MC should be allowed to be as malicious as they please with their moves.
This gave me an idea! I’m going to need to refine it a bit but I’ll post it when I’m done.
Good luck.
Here’s my reworked version:
When you imbue a location with wards until the new moon, roll +spirit.
On a 10+, your wards are locked tight, it is always safe from magical incursion there until the spell ends. You may mark corruption to choose:
Take 1 from the 7-9 “and” list
or
Take 2 from the “and” list and the MC may choose 2 from the “but” list.
on a 7-9, your wards are great, choose 1 from the “and” list, the MC will choose 1 from the “but” list.
And…
They are subtle, difficult to detect
They prevent physical entry, even from mundane creatures and mortals.
They are permanent until dispelled
But…
They have an unnoticed flaw to one particular type of magical incursion.
They are unable to discriminate friend from foe, only you are allowed to pass through.
They require a costly component to maintain, the MC will tell you what.
I think the “but” list still needs some work, but I like the variety and choice this never version adds.
It’s interesting, but I feel like permanent spells aren’t terribly interesting, even it it’s for a 10+. That implies there’s something that’s safe, and in Urban Shadows only the things you work hard for should be safe-such as retiring a character or any item the Veteran builds.
I don’t know, personal opinions, disregard at your own leisure.
I also had an option I considered: “The ward will alert you when it’s been bypassed or attacked”
I might switch the permanent one out for that instead because you make a good point, also, permanent is too good, it’s kinda an obvious choice, and it should never be an obvious choice, because that’s not interesting.
I feel like the wording could be cleaned up. I’d probably use “feature” and “flaw” lists instead of “and” and “but” lists because it’ll make the wording a little less awkward. Also, why is there only corruption on the 10+?
You might want to rephrase it something along the lines of
“When you imbue a location with wards, roll +spirit. On a hit, the area is protected from magical incursion until the new moon. Choose 1 additional feature, and the MC will choose 1 flaw. On a 10+ either choose a second feature or remove the flaw. You may mark corruption for 1 additional feature.
Features:
Flaws:
“
Alternatively, if you want there to always be a flaw (not present in the original 10+ above), then it could start with 2 flaws, or you could remove the option to remove the flaw.
Good call on the wording, I’ll definitely change it to “features” and “flaws”
Here’s my reasoning why a 10+ doesn’t include any extras. Wards are a big deal. They really help keep paranoia at bay, and allow the characters to speak candidly, privately.
The peace of mind of fully functional wards, no strings attached, no bullshit, is worth it alone. The corruption comes in when the character gets greedy and wants MORE than just peace of mind.
That said, I take your point that maybe the exact payouts I have written could stand some further scrutiny and perhaps rearanged. I’ll come up with a 4th feature and flaw, that gives me more room.
I agree that fully functional wards are worth it on its own for 10+, I just thought it was strange for there to be corruption at 10+ and not at 7-9. You could also flip the phrasing a little bit, and have only flaws (no features), and have hit vs 10+ just be in how many flaws you choose, with some of the flaws implying what the ward does like “only keeps out one kind of supernatural” or “only prevents remote scrying/action, not in-person interference”.