I see now that Apocalypse World has recently received a second edition. Will Urban Shadows get a second edition now with the newer rules?
Also, How well does Urban Shadows play? I recently almost got into Vampire the Requiem but was put off by some of the writing. I really want to do something that is a cross between the politics of Vampire the Masquerade, the urban fantasy of The Dresden Files, and the interpersonal drama of Forever Knight.
Can Urban Shadows do all of this well?
AW2e didn’t change the underlying engine, which is most of what Urban Shadows had in common with the original AW, and Urban Shadows hasn’t even finished releasing everything for the ‘first edition’ yet, so I really doubt there’s a second edition on the way any time soon.
It’s a very, very people-oriented game, so it does interpersonal drama and faction politics very well. It doesn’t get nearly as bananas as Dresden Files does (by default, set your dials wherever you like, blah blah), so it really depends on what you mean by urban fantasy.
First off I second everything James Etheridge said.
To your second question… the short answer: It’s all about political factions and interpersonal drama. I love how it plays, but it does tend to generate LOTS of NPCs… and occasionally these NPCs need to be culled…
You can easily setup the setting to be very similar to the Dresden Files (out of the box is pretty close in kind if not in details). The difference is going to be that all of the PCs won’t be working together all the time, or at least it plays better if they aren’t all buddy buddy. One of the mechanics is debts, acquiring and spending debts on other player characters. If you always are willing to go with the other players without any debts involved you’re essentially ignoring of the core mechanics.
You’re going to want each PC to have their own agenda (and have these agenda’s conflict with other PCs). The PCs will then make promises and accrue debts to help others out on their pet project… only to later cash them in on something they normally wouldn’t get mixed up in.
You end up with these intertwined stories, where sometimes one PC is the protagonist and the other(s) are the hired help… then it flips. Sure you can use the debt mechanic on NPCs… but that’s just going to require a lot more work for you as the MC… better to get them to use the debts on each other…
I agree. I’ve had some of the best roleplaying with this game. The mechanics and playbooks really seem to drive it. Then again, the very premise of Urban Shadows is that you play someone unlike you, so perhaps my group just took that to heart. Have you watched any Actual Plays (AP)? I recommend this one — it shows how to keep the storylines tight. Mark and the players work this well, and show how the game can sing.
youtube.com – Indie+ Demos: Urban Shadows with Mark Diaz Truman
As an old-time VtM fan: depending on what you’re looking to get out of VtM, I’d say that Urban Shadows does VtM “supers politicking” far better than VtM does.
You could also take a look at Undying, but I’ve only read that one, I haven’t actually played it. It has a focus on the “humanity vs. beast” bit, rather than the supers politicking bit, and also seems to carry it off better than VtM does.
Both of these benefit from (a) a design focused on the bit of VtM they’re actually trying to replace, and (b) An engine focused on narrative drama, rather than combat resolution (sorry, ST system). Both of these genres are… well, narrative drama genres. I wouldn’t use either if what you’re interested in as a bunch of brujah leading tactical war against the Camarilla, though.