So, after looking at the new moves for a couple days, I have a couple thoughts…
1. Is the “keep an eye out” move gone? That is something my players will ask about. It seems that it would be good to have a move to ask about the environment. Sure a player can “let it out” and do something super natural to sense the area, but the price is very high. I hope it makes it back in.
2. For “let it out”, there is no longer the option to take harm on a 7-9 result? With how important it is to manage corruption, it seems like ” let it out” would only get used when times were dire? Is that the intention? It seems like giving the players the choice of consequences suffered is better for the drama.
3. More of a system question. How do you do mundane but important things? If you need to open a locked safe, what move is that? How about sneaking around a building? Fixing a car that won’t start? Clearing a jam an in a gun? I fully admit my experience with apocalypse games is small (I mostly come from a much more rigid background, as does my group) and I am sure to be meet with these questions when I put urban shadows in front of them.
Thanks for the help!
1. I think the purpose here is to move away from generic Notice rolls, which rolls are often called for when its not actually needed and carry little flavour, to direct study of people and Investigation of power which reinforce the central dynamic of US.
2. I think take Harm is gone as it simplifies the text and also encourages/tempts players to engage with the Corruption cycle that is central to the RPG. Harm is a cheaper and less interesting price to pay.
3.If there is no move then there is no roll. Most such situations are simply adjudicated based on the PC and the situation. Then again the triggers for the moves are broader than they may seem. If those things are done in a stressful situation, then I would expect Keep Cool move to be used a lot. It’s very versatile and reflects the essential core mechanic in Urban Shadows. It would cover opening the safe, sneaking, and clearing a jam in a gun in combat. If you are trying to start a car to escape pursuit then Escape move applies.
1. I felt the same way, which is why I felt that you take “Figure Someone Out” and convert that to “Figure Someone/Something Out”
2. Where is take Harm out?
Mark Diaz Truman mentioned that it was removed to make the game focus on being v being actions. I disagree personally, as I find being v situation just as interest, but is a show of intent by US which probably ties in with the Faction XP system.
2. Previously under Let It Out you could take Harm or gain Corruption. Now it’s just the latter.
Didn’t notice the change (missed it within all the other changes,) but that is a curious alteration.
Luke sums it all up rather nicely actually.
I will say from my dozens and dozens of playtests, no one ever once choose to take harm with Let It Out, not once! People want corruption, it’s one of the whole reasons people play Urban Shadows, to dance with the devil in the pale moonlight.
If you’re scared of corruption, and you probably should be, don’t Let It Out! LiO is a powerful move, and it’s a gamble, because power always has a cost. 😉
Funny Andrew Medeiros, my players always take harm over corruption.
What are you telling them about Corruption? Are you scaring them away from it? lol
nope ….. most of my players take to corruption too early, then find themselves scared of it as they realize they are running out.
Well then, this is perfect! You can’t run from your past, there is no easy way out. (aka you can’t just take harm anymore for the same power!)
This has been informative! Thanks for the discussion. I apologize for my rookie questions, but I am really trying to wrap my head around what is a foreign (but exciting!) Paradigm shift.
I think I have a little better handle on the thing. Players should be gravitating to corruption for the interesting plot twist.
David Walker, if there is one things us gamers love to do, it’s debate gaming. 🙂
Corruption doesn’t have to be present for interesting plot. I played an Aware who was a straight up good guy and only marked Corruption like 5 times over an 8-9 session campaign. But I tell ya, I had to pay some high prices for that nobility. =D
Andrew Medeiros, but isn’t there also validity in harm? You are low on health, fighting someone that was unexpectingly hard ….. and your choice needs to be made.
Corruption itself isn’t needed for an interesting plot, but the choice of whether to accept corruption for additional power is compelling drama. A person who resists corruption has likely paid the price elsewhere 🙂
What I do not like is corruption only for this as basic move. I am fine with it for AT moves all day long.
Harm isn’t removed from the system, just Let It Out. You can already accept Harm when you Unleash or Escape when up against a powerful opponent. I personally like the focussing of Let It Out on Corruption, and it feel like a more natural escalation from those other Moves as a result. Resorting to the monster inside should be at the cost of letting that monster gain influence over you; not injury that you can then heal away.
I get that Luke, but what I like for my players and for I as a MC is sometimes a choice …. The decision which path for me.
I will do some further testing though.
Totally cool 🙂 The Moves in *World games restrict certain choices by design, so its not uncommon. You can simply plug the choice back in if it works better for you 🙂
Keep An Eye Out: I think the game will work fine without a generic perception move, but I would balance its absence by adding an MC principle (borrowed from the Gumshoe system) like: “If a character is investigating a scene, always give them a clue (or create a custom move)!” That’s how I’d handle it as the MC anyway.
Let It Out: I suppose the choice between corruption and harm would only be meaningful in very few situations, i.e. if a character already has so many corruption advances that they need to avoid corruption AND if they already have taken so much harm that 1-harm will be dangerous to them and not heal quickly. In any other situation, the choice would be to easy to create any tension. So I like the 2.0 version of the move!
Markus, absolutely! Don’t skimp on the clues or info. Last night I ran a session where the Immortal was looking for a missing person and Hit The Streets to gather some info from a contact. They failed their roll so I stone-walled them in being able to talk to that NPC. BIG MISTAKE! Things went flat after that and I had to to actually rewind the scene and do it all over again because giving a player nothing is always the wrong choice. 🙂
Markus Schoenlau – Yes, I think an MC move is definitely “give them a clue” and I would use that anytime someone started to poke their nose around without a specific move…
Mark Diaz Truman I think that solves a lot of my issues, so good suggestion Markus Schoenlau.