How are you expected to fictionally describe a Faction?
How are you expected to fictionally describe a Faction? When someone shows up and a character wants to Put a Name to a Face, how do you inform them what Faction to roll? If the players chase someone into a building that seems ominous, and they want to Investigate a Place of Power, how do they know what to roll if the owner is currently unknown?
I think this is a thing I’ve been doing wrong, so I’d like to hear what others do.
Things are coming to a head.
Things are coming to a head. Various threats have been maneuvered to the Vamp’s wine bar (not his haven, that’s the VIP back room)
– the Fae is meeting a witch known for taking things from those weaker than her who also has a couple redcap slaves/bodyguards. They’re making an important trade (will she act honorably? will he help his brethren?)
– the Veteran is staked out in his truck with a “good” demon child named Stephanie, waiting for the strange human who is somehow killing and consuming demons (is this demon even worth saving? what power allows one to consume a demon?)
– the Vamp has hidden his nature from a group of hunters who rolled in to town and was able to turn their leader into his thrall, but they’re suspicious (will they find out their leader has been compromised? will they lash out in a bar full of supernatural folk?)
– the Spectre’s daughter and Link follows the Vamp around, romanticizing the vampire lifestyle. The Vamp intends to make her his ghoul (will she agree? will the Spectre reveal himself to her?)
– Two ghouls of a rival vampire are looking for the Spectre, who agreed to help them with some local wolves being nuisance, but bailed
– Some of those wolves show up, looking for the master of the ghouls that killed one of their pack in the park the previous night
So all this stuff is sort of happening at once at the beginning of this session in the wine bar. How does it turn out? What tinder ignites first? WHAT DO YOU DO?
Brand New To PbtA Games
Brand New To PbtA Games
I’ve been an RPGer since I was a kid (35ish years ago).
I’ve been looking around for new systems to try out lately. I’m favoring game systems like Cortex Plus that are quick, easy, and involve the player at the table more in the narration.
I stumbled onto PbtA games and hacks and want to learn more before I get my hopes up and buy.
In looking at PbtA games, Urban Shadows stuck out. Very World of Darkness with one rules system (as far as I can see). I was a WoD fan from day one, but one of the things that I disliked was the fact that each group (vampire, garou, mage, etc) was almost its own game when it came to rules about their specialties. An expert in Vampire may very well have been a failure when trying to understand Mage rules, and so on.
So my questions to the community here are:
1. How fast is action resolution? I prefer Cortex Plus’ one or two rolls then done over rolling dice for four hours to accomplish ten seconds of action.
2. How much is the player at your table involved in the narrative process of an adventure?
3. Is there a single general rule-set that defines each supernatural class or, as I mention above, is each class a brand new set of rules?
Thank you for your time and your help, all! 🙂
Is there a reason the Hunter’s shotgun does less damage than all the other shotguns on gear lists, and they don’t…
Is there a reason the Hunter’s shotgun does less damage than all the other shotguns on gear lists, and they don’t get a haft/handle weapon as powerful as the basic sword on other lists (both 3-harm)?
I understand that, with their customization, they can get more damage to make them equal – are hunter weapons supposed to be on par with other weapons, so if they have one of the chosen advantages, they are weaker harm-wise than their counterparts for balance? Or are they supposed to be beefier and better?
Would it be unbalanced to make them match other weapons and then take the harm increases of the table as options?
The group I play with generally only does four or five session campaigns (we did a one-off with Uncharted Worlds.
The group I play with generally only does four or five session campaigns (we did a one-off with Uncharted Worlds. They loved it and I’m hoping to convince them to do more ;)). Is US suitable for that brief of a campaign?
What happens when a faction hits +4?
What happens when a faction hits +4? Or for that matter, if it hits -4? I’ve seen posts in this community about the +4 getting xp and the -4 getting corruption. But I can’t find that supported in the game text. Anyone know if that’s still the rule, or do we just leave +4’s as +4’s?
LFG looking for an Urban Shadows game to join.
LFG looking for an Urban Shadows game to join. Want to try it out as a player if possible. IF anyone knows of better avenues to find groups let me know.
Well here it goes. PEACH.
I think that fan made content, and archetypes being separated causes a lot of issues, since archetypes is what…
I think that fan made content, and archetypes being separated causes a lot of issues, since archetypes is what people usually do most; the trouble is apparent when clicking on both tabs.
Just created my first Urban Shadows character: Alfred Searles, a 1920s actor accidentally killed by a sandbag while…
Just created my first Urban Shadows character: Alfred Searles, a 1920s actor accidentally killed by a sandbag while waiting in the wings on the opening night of his Hamlet.