I freely admit that I am new to PbtA, but I am loving the variations that are out there.
Now, I have access to both Urban Shadows and Monster of the Week. They both hit a similar vibe (modern urban fantasy), but from different angles. Overall, it feels like US works best in a single city while MotW is more mobile.
From those who have at least thoroughly read both, what’s your take? Do you have a preference between the two? What are your experiences?
Yeah, Olde Skoole compare and contrast 😉
They are wildly different types of games.
US is political and about trading favors and scheming, with intelligent baddies and shades of grey.
MotW is an action game about investigating baddies and smashing them until they die.
It’s like comparing Angel and Supernatural.
Well, never really having cared for either of those shows, and spinning more towards novels myself, I do recognize they are very different in tone, but they draw on similar interest groups.
If nothing else, the concept of a “party” is US is pretty much thrown out the window; the characters know each other and have interactions, yet are not necessarily wedded together towards a common goal, as in MotW.
I suppose I am more looking for experiences — which one had players taken to more quickly, which works better for long term, as opposed to short run, campaigns.
They’re not just different in tone, because PbtA games are built from the ground up to deliver vastly different genre-infused experiences. Because of this, the groups drawn to them are not really similar.
MotW is action adventure, often bloody, frequently tongue in cheek, and full of heroics: its modern monster-hunting D&D. Urban Shadows is more like a political thriller, and often quite dark, as you watch protagonists spiral into corruption: it’s noir with a tail and wings.
MotW is easier to slide into for players, because there’s no time spent addressing the Faction interplay that is critical to Urban Shadows. Everyone gets MotW’s deal: kill baddies. US demands a more nuanced mindset, going into a game open to the idea of breaking your protagonist, and watching social ties get compromised. MotW is good for short games, because it is built toward episodic, Friday-night-monster-fight play. Urban Shadows is fueled, deeply, on long term, simmering complications that snowball and escalate… how long it can easily run, I don’t know, but the “smallest unit of satisfying US game” is larger than the one for MotW. Both games have character timers of sorts: in MotW, you run out of Luck and become a horror victim waiting to happen. In US you become corrupt and go full villain.
Instead of debating wether these games are different or not I’ll just share my experiences.
Urban Shadows is prettier. It has a lot of cool ideas and bitchin’ setting imagery. Factions are a cool addition to the pbta palette. I found the playbooks unique and potent. I’ve played the game two or three times and despite all its appeal the game fell flat for me and my group. Maybe it was the lack of mechanics for factions or just my groups dynamics at the time but the game didn’t get off the ground for us.
Meanwhile Monster of the Week is fast fun and simple. It boasts my favorite game prep method to date. The monster, minions, bystanders, and even locations are given motivations and it’s all done on one clean sheet of paper. My group and I chewed this game up for weeks. We had at least thirteen monsters show up. Players were invested in their characters and the world even though I didn’t start reusing npcs until the fourth game and there wasn’t any sort of campaign arch until game 6 or 7. It has a way of not taking itself too seriously that gives permission to the players and GM to relax and have a good time. Love this game. Id recommend it to anyone, especially if the are new to pbta.
Enjoy.
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Angus MacDonald like Alfred Rudzki said, it’s far more than just tone – the core activities of the game are different. Just look at the basic moves
I thank you all for the answers. Like I said, I’ve been reading through them (only ever actually played AW) and got the matter of tone, but I am seeing MotW as an easier “entry” game.