Author: Kevin Weiser

What’s the correct starting Faction stats for the Fae?

I have a question about Factions. As my group built the Supernatural Background of Detroit, things didn’t quite end up working along the traditional Faction lines:

Fae are trying to push for a green energy revolution, but are stymied by entrenched demonic forces in the auto industry.

Vampires have two factions, the Old Guard, which has largely been wiped out by The Brood, new, young, feral vamps that don’t give a shit about The Way It’s Always Been.

Wizards are dealing with internal strife, as the Freemasons turned against and started systematically hunting and killing other Wizards.

In each of these cases, these conflicts are WITHIN a faction. Is this going to mess up Faction Moves? If I have a +2 Night, is that +2 with The Brood, or The Old Guard? How can we tell?

I discovered a neato program that’s perfect for building relationship maps. Visual Understanding Environment (VUE)

http://vue.tufts.edu/

Here’s what I’ve worked up for my current game. This is all setting stuff my group has collaborated to create before the first session next week. I’ll go in and add PC’s and a lot more NPC’s once we’ve got those established. It’s fun to play around with!

As our new game develops, it turns out Wizards get their power from a Dark Gift that was inherited generations ago. Using magic risks madness, as it connects you to the Outer World, a scary place full of scary things. 

With that in mind, I’m thinking about tweaking the Wizard’s Corruption move. We’ve established that the ritual and use of magical language in spellcasting is a way to “refine” the energy of the Outer World, making it more palatable to mortal minds. So I’m trying to come up with a corruption move that reflects this. Maybe something like:

When you cast a spell without spending one of your Hold from Channelling, mark corruption.

I hesitate, though, because other corruption moves don’t give you a direct in-game benefit like this. Does this corruption move seem legit? Any suggestions?

For those who’ve put in a fair few sessions of Urban Shadows: Do you generally use Session Intro for immediate or more mid-term plot threads?

My understanding of the Session Intro move is that it is primarily for generating immediate or short term plot propulsion. It’s stuff to do this session. 

This jars with my powergamer itch to always strive to engage the primary advancement mechanic. The Faction checked in the move can’t be checked again until the other three Factions are checked. So when I first read this move, I assumed (despite the evidence right there in the examples for the move) it was for generating “B” plots. Stuff to do NEXT session. For the current session, hammer on the remaining Factions to be checked (and resolve the related plot) so next session the rumor in the distance steps up. 

I’m wondering, though, if this interpretation of Session Intro might be really great for mid-late game. Once the ebb and flow of the plot is better understood by the group and can be more finely manipulated. 

Working on Vamp moves. Here’s what we have come up with for sunlight:

When you are exposed to direct sunlight for a short time, roll +Spirit.

On a hit, you’re fine, for now.

On a 7-9, chose one:

°You smolder visibly

°You take – 1 ongoing until you get out of the sun.

On a miss, you burst into flames. The MC will tell you how much ap Harm you take. Prolonged exposure to sunlight will automatically result in a miss.

I was listening to a podcast AP of Urban Shadows and they were using a rule where you could “Let it out” in order to access corruption moves you don’t have. Or you could just take a corruption and then use a corruption move you didn’t have. That’s… not a thing, right?

I have a question about The Oracle’s “Foretelling” move. I haven’t actually used my hold in-game yet, but every time I try to figure out how it’d work, I get stuck on how and when the +1 Ongoing is applied:

“Foretellings: At the beginning of the session, roll with Spirit. On a 10+, hold 2. On a 7-9, hold 1. During the session, you can spend your hold to declare that something terrible is about to happen. You (and your allies) take +1 ongoing to avoid the impending disaster. On a miss, you foresee the death of someone important to you and take -1 to all rolls to prevent

it.”

Here’s a likely scenario from next week’s session, when I’ll probably (+3 Spirit) have some hold to spend:

James has beef with a local anarchist Fae hacker adhocracy, who’s recent mass-doxings have put him in hot water. He’s going to drop in on them at their combination head shop and hackerspace in downtown campus town. If everything goes well, he’ll convince them to help him get “off the grid” and away from his stepfather, whom has been actively chasing him for years. 

So James rolls up to the building and as the player I say “I have a bad feeling something terrible is about to happen.” 

My question is: do I have to say what that terrible thing is? Do I have to say “I think this is a trap, these Fae want me dead.” or “The local Vampire Clans surely won’t let this invasion on their territory last, they could bust in here and slaughter everyone  at any time!”

The +1 ongoing is only for AVOIDING “something terrible”, but who gets to say what the terrible thing is? Is it part of player skill to guess, like “I think i’m walking into an ambush.” If so, does that mean if they guess wrong – they call ambush, it’s actually Vampires – they don’t get the +1 Ongoing?

Does the MC say what the terrible thing is, so the player can make metagmame-informed decisions about how to avoid it in the narrative? Or do you just declare that some rolls are for avoiding the terrible thing?