Magpie Games invites you to join us in our new forums—The Nest—and we’re celebrating with a Buy One Get One Free…

Magpie Games invites you to join us in our new forums—The Nest—and we’re celebrating with a Buy One Get One Free…

Magpie Games invites you to join us in our new forums—The Nest—and we’re celebrating with a Buy One Get One Free sale on all of our classics thru March 20th! Head over now to our brand-new Magpie Forums at magpiegames.com/community-3/. We look forward to seeing you there!

If you haven’t heard yet, this Pi Day is MagPIE Day!

If you haven’t heard yet, this Pi Day is MagPIE Day!

If you haven’t heard yet, this Pi Day is MagPIE Day! Next week, we are launching our very own Magpie Games forum—The Nest—for our dedicated community. We hope this forum is the perfect place to discuss our games, and anyone who registered an account on our webstore can use the same login to access forum!!

Magpie Games has some pretty big news… ready? We’re adding forums to our website on March 14th!

Magpie Games has some pretty big news… ready? We’re adding forums to our website on March 14th!

Magpie Games has some pretty big news… ready? We’re adding forums to our website on March 14th!

With the impending shutdown of Google+ upon us, we’re excited to create a permanent place for our fans to share session recaps and podcasts, ask rules questions, and stay up to date on the latest Magpie Games news! More details to be announced soon!

So while G+ looks like it’s wrapping up, i was thinking maybe before we head towards heading to somewhere else we…

So while G+ looks like it’s wrapping up, i was thinking maybe before we head towards heading to somewhere else we…

So while G+ looks like it’s wrapping up, i was thinking maybe before we head towards heading to somewhere else we could close out with discussing our Urban Shadows playthroughs past and present to talk about the great stories we’ve built within the framework of the game.

To start us off, the game i’m GM’ing has a storm building which i’m excited for, because the intersection of events which resulted in it was not something i had expected.

Essentially, the game started off with a few rather basic plots in the part of the city most associated with the game’s Vessel, a clockwork automaton named Snipe. Snipe’s creator has been missing for years, but meanwhile she is still more or less programmed to protect the clocktower which was her creator’s home and workshop. This made the area around the tower a great place to hit with local threats, such as a lyncanthrope pack power struggle over how to contend with the additional threat of gentrification driven by a mysterious property developer.

Snipe and another PC Wizard named Vincent were pulled in by separate acquaintances with debts in order to clandestinely deal with the power struggle by assassinating the more violent contender Viscera on behalf of the other contender, an old wolf named Greywind. They agreed for the sake of ensuring stability in the area, and began hatching a plan.

The Wizard however, was discovered snooping around the junkyard serving as the base for Viscera and her gang, tipping them off that there might be powerful third parties involving themselves in the situation. The gang mobilized, calling in allies and favors, including another PC, a faerie named Deiralae.

Meanwhile, Snipe came under scrutiny by a metro police force worried enough about the situation to begin keeping an eye on the area’s most powerful figures. The detective tailing her however, picked the wrong time to do so, just as Snipe and Vincent’s operation was about to start in earnest. The detective was discovered by on gaurd lyncanthropes, and the resulting startled gunfire led to the entire pack mobilizing, nearly tearing the policeman and several pc’s apart.

Snipe however, had a nuclear option. She had gotten her more mindless automaton kin to agree to step in if she needed them to. Leading to essentially a swarm of metallic insects descending on and ripping apart the pack.

Viscera however, had been looking for Vincent instead, not present during the attack, leaving her hungry for revenge. Meanwhile, a metropolitan policeman is now lying nearly dead in the ICU, and not only has the goal Greywind intended for the pair not been completed, but his packmembers have been slaughtered by the “kin” of the ally he had sent out to do it. Now he has to declare war on the clocktower, not only for the deaths of those he had considered under his protection, but also out of shame for complicity in the deed. The police meanwhile, are likely to come down like a brutal authoritarian hammer on all involved. Even if they are in some way tempered, they don’t take kindly to one of their own being targetted. A war for the streets is brewing, and meanwhile the organization that helped stir the situation, is almost entirely unknown in their motivations. A storm to be sure.

Guys, I know I’m being such a noise posting here all the time, but it’s the first time I’m running Urban Shadows…

Guys, I know I’m being such a noise posting here all the time, but it’s the first time I’m running Urban Shadows…

Guys, I know I’m being such a noise posting here all the time, but it’s the first time I’m running Urban Shadows with my people and some circunstancies have apeared. I’m making sure if all of that can be solved with the corerules, but some are impossible. So… Let me begin.

Yukio (The Wizard) stroke a mystical deal with Baltazar, a powerfull and dark wizard. Of course, he marked corruption. While Yukio should marry Baltazar’s daughter, Isabela, the old one needs to help Yukio to investigate the leyline in his sactum. ‘Cause of that, both sign a magical contract (and not a mere deal). So, I didn’t find any move to cover this situation and created this one:

Perpetual Vow

When you sign a mystical contract with another wizard or witch, mark their Faction and establish clauses. The other part may modify the terms. You can drop the wizard’s or witch’s name as if they owe you a Debt while this pact stills valid. A perpetual vow ends when both parts fulfill their obligations. If one tries to break a perpetual vow before accomplishing their obligations, they die.

I don’t know if this custom move is funny or even function, but it surely covers the situation: two wizards sign a contract with magic and put their lives at risk to think at the big picture. Yukio’s player thought it was good, but I’d like to hear your opinion for all of this. Thank you.

Hello, guys!

Hello, guys!

Hello, guys! I need help with a question which was born at my gametable. At the second session of my US campaign, Doze (The Oracle) was made the fucking drug dealer of a neighborhood by Antônia, the vampire judge of Belo Horizonte. Because of that, Doze’s player asked me about creating a custom move to represent Doze’s new territory. He is not a werewolf, but it is the drug dealer master somewhere. I think it’s a good idea, but don’t have a clue to create it. Can you help me thinking about it?

Hello, folks!

Hello, folks!

Hello, folks! I need your help with a custom move for my first and new Urban Shadows campaign. We’re playing in our own city, Belo Horizonte (Brazil), and it’s going very well… But, in order to represent vampire blood as a drug at our game, I’ve created the following move:

False Vamp

When you consume vampire blood, roll with Spirit. On a hit, heal as much harm as the MC tells you. On a 10+, choose 3. On a 7-9, choose 2 and mark corruption.

– You don’t get addicted

– Expend your senses as a vampire would

– Gain +1 Blood until the effect’s gone (MC’s call)

– You don’t get too horny

– You can be traced by the vampire who owns that blood

On a miss, shit happens. You get addicted and mark corruption.

Vampires can’t trigger this move.

Well… I’d like to know what you think about it. Suggestions? Opinions? Thank you so much.

Reading the wolf playbook now what does +crime, +guardian mean with territory how does that work in game I don’t…

Reading the wolf playbook now what does +crime, +guardian mean with territory how does that work in game I don’t…

Reading the wolf playbook now what does +crime, +guardian mean with territory how does that work in game I don’t understand

Hello everyone I’m hoping to finally start my first game after the new year.

Hello everyone I’m hoping to finally start my first game after the new year.

Hello everyone I’m hoping to finally start my first game after the new year. Have created npcs with information like goals ect printing off maps of areas in my location of the game setting created localtion with the setting ie nightclubs ect also used some real ones too 2 players have given me characters and backstory waiting on 2 more should I start creating threats and storms are just wait until after 1st session I have nothing planned at all apart from basic world building and some ideas in my mind

Hey folks! After eyeing it for a while I picked up US and am really digging it.

Hey folks! After eyeing it for a while I picked up US and am really digging it.

Hey folks! After eyeing it for a while I picked up US and am really digging it.

I was wondering if anyone had hacked the Faction aspects. I was thinking of remixing which kinds of beings (and playbooks) go with which of the given Factions, and/or what those factions’ deals are. There are some (cool and flavorful) setting assumptions baked into Urban Shadows there, but I immediately imagined messing with them.

It seems to me factions based on origin/metaphysics and behavior, e.g, werewolves, vampires, and specters are all once-human creatures who care about territory and usually are tied to crime. I think those two themes determining factions makes a lot of sense for how the mechanics tie to the fiction, so, what if the fiction changed?

The simplest hack would seem to be shuffling which playbooks go where, which an MC could do in consultation with the players at the first session or unilaterally, in the same way they might edit a type of being out of the setting when they don’t present all of them to choose from. Moving a playbook would mean that default behavior for those beings (PCs and NPCs) changes to align with their new Faction. As you go deeper you might have to rewrite some things to reflect the fiction (ex: group advancements, faction moves). Any problems with that in general? Any pitfalls to look out for? Any other approaches?

Here are some examples of what I’m thinking of:

*What if werewolves come from a tie to otherworldly spirits, related to the world of the fey? Drop tainted from the Wild faction and move werewolves there.

*What if all vampires were of the psychic variety, an ability that is acquired and/or developed along similar lines to oracles and wizards (whatever that is in the setting)? Move vamps to Power.

*What if specters and tainted shared in common their connection to the underworld, as inmates and jailers? Make a new faction (Infernal?) that they both live in, and make faction moves for it (possibly by cannibalizing Wild and/or Night).

Etc.

Footnote: I did find here a cool take on it (by Aaron Griffin, but I’m not sure how to make sure I’m tagging the right one) where you invent power groups first session and replace factions with that. It wasn’t quite what I was looking for. I think it gives up too much of the “faction as a community” aspect in exchange for distinct power groups, which is a good but different thing, and I want to try it the first way.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17qNLCkLg97_-RcRs-PKoV1IYGhFmud0HUx-Dd81C6LE/edit?usp=sharing)

I searched for “Faction” and “Hack” in this group and didn’t find anything else, but if there’s something I missed please link it!