Played our game of Urban Shadows at The Adventurers Guild last night.

Played our game of Urban Shadows at The Adventurers Guild last night.  Our game is set in modern day, Rome, Italy with an Oracle who is a nun living in Vatican City, a Fae who is the Roman God Sancus trying to reclaim his city, a Dragon member of the Cosa Nostra, and a Tainted part time criminal part time layabout (played by me).

The session started off with us trying the new Session Start which puts more narrative input into the laps of the players. That narrative input is probably one of the more jarring differences between traditional gaming and games powered by the Apocalypse. While there is absolutely nothing stopping traditional game masters from asking for input to the world very little advice was given on asking questions more than, “What do you do?” 

I’m going to table that “differences between games” discussion to a later post or reference the undoubtedly many discussions on different communities and get back to last night’s session.

With the factions set in the spotlight, several of us built upon the existing story or added new elements. A wizard has begun asking around for dragon’s blood, a schism has developed within The Vatican, the Russian mafia is making inroads into Rome, and another that has slipped my mind.

The Oracle had a dream sequence which involved (spoilers) The Tainted’s father, who has been imprisoned within the Vatican vaults as a supernatural enemy of the church. The two have a conversation which makes the Oracle very uncomfortable and she cuts it off early. Before leaving the supernatural enemy mentions the Tainted’s name. Now, the Oracle and Tainted have a very deep relationship and she is trying her very best to save the Tainted’s soul (to the tune of 3 debts owed to the Tainted by the Oracle). The Oracle seeks the council of a cardinal with whom she is under the supervision of.

Meanwhile, the Tainted is in the process of putting together a plan and equipment to steal a tablet of supernatural significance and hoping to cash in on the 2 million euro sale. His cat burglar contact meets him first thing and they breakfast together. She reveals that the tablet is in the possession of a Roman wizard which makes things a little more touchy. Could this be the same wizard looking for dragon’s blood?

During this time, the Fae meets with several other old gods and continue to formulate their plans of reclaiming Rome as theirs and ousting the Church. Their numbers swell with Minirva, Haephestus, and hopes to bring Janus and Venus into the conspiracy. Mars is also with them but Sancus hates that guy with a bitter passion.

Finally, the Dragon trying to establish himself within the mafia is brokering a deal between the Fae and his mob bosses. This attempt goes moderately well but the honour of both Sancus and the Dragon’s boss were put into question and may create some disfavour for each other in the near future.

After consulting with the cardinal, the Oracle meets the Tainted for coffee (the Tainted always spends his days in cafes sipping coffee), the Oracle mentions her dream and that God himself warned her about the demon who visited her dream. Sensing embellishment the Tainted asked some probing questions but was blocked. He even went so far as to call in a debt but the Oracle held fast (losing ALL debts in the exchange). Before the scene escalated both noticed that the cafe had cleared out and two members of the Children of Remus (werewolf gang) walked in to tell the Tainted to mind his own business regarding their gang. The Oracle, even though she just reneged upon a debt, quickly came to the Tainted’s aid and sent the two packing with strong words available only to one who had spent her life teaching godless children. 😉

Other scenes took place but I am at a loss to remember them at this time.