Category: Urban Shadows RPG

So, I am a huge, huge fan of Dogs in the Vineyard, and I was thinking today that, with Urban Shadows’ feel, that it would be an awesome setting for the Escalation mechanic.

For those not familiar with Vincent Baker’s amazing DitV, Escalation is a mechanic where you can escalate a situation from Talking to Violence to Gunfighting, in order to get a boost to your action. Basically, if you’re losing the argument, you can throw a punch to make a point. Its about how far you’re willing to go, because Escalating will block “damage” and give you a healthy advantage. But it asks the question of whether or not you’re willing to shoot someone over a simple argument just to win.

Urban Shadows already captures a bit of that with its Corruption mechanic, but rather than asking you to push the situation and your morality, it asks you to inch closer to oblivion for a taste of power.

I was just thinking about how things would play out with the addition of a single Basic Move: Escalation: If you escalate a situation/confrontation, take +1 forward. 

The move basically encourages you make situations more complicated/dangerous for the sake of not wanting to lose. 

Additional thought was adding: “You may also mark 1 Corruption to ignore the results of your last miss in the scene.”

More a thought experiment than anything else, but I figured I’d throw it out there!

Regarding Werewolf Territory.. anyone have thoughts on additional Troubles to pick from? With such a limited quantity, it feels a bit weird as I build various territories.

You’ve got Violent (automatic), Crime, Obligations, Encroachment, and Haunted.

Now, Violence & Crime already seem at least a little redundant (especially when to get rid of Violence, you’re taking something that says the people work hard to keep the place safe…but yet you can still end up with Crime?) But otherwise, it just feels a bit crowded with having to pick 2 out of 4.

Especially when you factor in a blessing like hunting ground, which seems to suggest your territory is like a woodsy area. Where’s the crime/violence coming from?

Also, is there a reason that Violence is the default + Pick 2, rather than just Pick 3? Or Crime might be the better default (just to represent the darker areas of the city a Werewolf would hang out) with Violence being a Trouble that you’d have to pick, since Violent Crime would be a step above break-ins, drug dealers, and prostitutes. And like I mentioned, what is the Violence if not itself Crime? What else is it supposed to represent?

Just to be clear, I love the idea of Territory, I’m just thinking the Troubles list needs to be expanded by at least 2-3 more options, and the default Trouble reconsidered.

So, looking at the Immortal, I can’t help but wonder if Into Your Ken is a bit much, in terms of story hooks. As it is, you’ve already got the Session Start roll to generate a hook, but then the Immortal+GM have to deal with an additional hook every session? And if its anything but the first session, there’s likely the continuing story to deal with as well.

That just seems like a bit much. If it modified the Session Start move for the Immortal, that’d be one thing. But as a completely separate roll, I can see it being a headache.