So I’m running Urban Shadows as a 4 hour one shot at Furnace convention in Sheffield, UK, next weekend, first time I’ve run the game (Although I’ve run quite a lot of PBTA one shots with other systems)… what tips do you guys have for making a one shot pacy and sing? I’m quite happy with massive blood opera escalation, and I remember some advise about starting everyone with a corruption move, but what else works? I’m imagining for my prep just some sketched npcs, potential bangs and locations, and NPC portraits to be designed in game.
So I’m running Urban Shadows as a 4 hour one shot at Furnace convention in Sheffield, UK, next weekend, first time…
So I’m running Urban Shadows as a 4 hour one shot at Furnace convention in Sheffield, UK, next weekend, first time…
That is going to provide an unsatisfactory game you will never finish in a 3 or 4 hour Con Slot.
Us is a deeply political game.
So, i would advice you to already have a tense, but customizable situation. Already assign most of the debts. Like:
—The Queen is dead—-
Who would like to take the place of the Queen of the city?
Choose a booklet: Vampire, Mage, Fae.
–> Tell us who she is, why someone hates her and why someone loves her. Tell us why you want to take her place.–> Tell us about ZZZ, another member of the entourage of the Queen which would like to take her place.__________________________
After everyone introduced their character, do the following:
BBB owes you 2 debt – ask them which weapon or secret you gave them.
XXX owes you 1 debt – you helped them hide a secret from the Queen. Tell us what, and how.
BBB: Who just killed the Queen?
Choose an archetype: The Werewolf, the Tainted, the Hunter.
–> Tell us why you killed her, and how you managed to have its bloody corpse under your fingertips right now.–> Tell us about XXX, one of the most trusted advisors of the Queen.____________________________
After everyone introduced their character, do the following:
CCC owes you 2 debts: you saved their life. Ask them how.
YYY owes you a debt: you did for them a terrible thing in the past. Tell us what.
If you’re a Tainted, you owe your patron 3 Debts, and they owe you 1.
CCC: Who knows why killing the Queen was a really bad idea?
Choose an archetype: the Aware, the Veteran, the Ghost.
–> tell us what terrible thing the queen planned to happen in case of her death.–> tell us about YYY, who would benefit immensely of such terrible thing.____________________________
After everyone introduced their character, do the following:
AAA owes you a debt – you helped him to go in a cool political position. Ask him why.
ZZZ owes you two debt – you gave them a terrible secret about AAA.
thanks guys. I’ve gone for a trimmed down set of options for my characters, an inciting incident that any of the factions could be involved in, and a few options for bangs if stuff slows down. I’ve use Andrea Serafini’s thing about targeted questions to link the starter situation to the plot and will do the session move about factions once the big bang is out in the open from everyone – so they can link their faction conflicts to it.
I would advise you agains the start of session move – if you’ve 3-4 hours you’ll already spend all the time of gaming in material related to the other questions.
Just for the sake of curiosity, once you’ve done the setup, would you mind to share it?