Category: Urban Shadows RPG: Discussion

So this Thursday, I’m going to be running my first US game.

So this Thursday, I’m going to be running my first US game.

So this Thursday, I’m going to be running my first US game. While I’ve never played it or run it, I’ve watched everything I could get my hands on in the form of videos of actual play and have read over the books, etc.

Question for you guys:

In mentally going over my prep for the session, I’m thinking up situations with actions that don’t really have moves for them like “I want to kick in that door” or “I want to pick that lock” or “I want to hack a security system.” The way that I understand the game, I have several choices.

A) Use a move that already exists – Unleash to kick down that door (even though the description specifically says it’s not for that).

B) If the move becomes prevalent and important in the campaign it may be time to create a new move.

C) The action really doesn’t mesh with what the system is trying to accomplish with it’s move rolls, which is to say don’t worry about picking that lock – if it should happen, then it happens in the fiction without the need for a move. Or that it’s just not appropriate for the type of story that Urban Shadows is trying to tell, like hacking for example.

What is your general advice on situations like these? Thank you for your help!

How should I approach the one-sided threat of violence in terms of Moves?

How should I approach the one-sided threat of violence in terms of Moves?

How should I approach the one-sided threat of violence in terms of Moves?

Example: a Hunter with a sniper rifle getting into position to support his allies in the coming confrontation.

In Apocalypse World (1e), there is a move to threaten someone to get what you want. In a situation like sniping, one simply used that Move. It worked perfectly.

I don’t see any equivalent in Urban Shadows. Unleash an Attack explicitly involves being in personal danger while doing harm.

Keep Your Cool is generic enough, perhaps, but using Spirit would hurt as the Hunter – who is the only one in a position to start the game with a sniper rifle!

Thoughts?

So the Vessel’s playbook under their gear says “A clumsy, but effective weapon (3-harm hand/close)” but provides no…

So the Vessel’s playbook under their gear says “A clumsy, but effective weapon (3-harm hand/close)” but provides no…

So the Vessel’s playbook under their gear says “A clumsy, but effective weapon (3-harm hand/close)” but provides no examples. Does anyone have an ideas?

Bought the game, loved reading it.

Bought the game, loved reading it.

Bought the game, loved reading it… And couldn’t get past the first session. World creation, character creation, first hour of play, and that was it, experiment failed.

Neither the players nor me managed to make it work. As a GM, I felt lost and oppressed by the imperative of thinking about the moves and applying them and interpreting them according to the situation.

As players, they complained about not being able to immerse themselves in the game because they always had to think in terms of moves, they felt restricted to limited options, and thinking in “moves” destroyed their immersion, they weren’t able to just “be their characters”.

The Apocalypse engine turned out to be incredibly hard to understand, impossible, even. We’re not D&D players, we play a variety of mainstream and indie games, but none has stumped us like AW did. This is very frustrating. And nothing I’ve read on the net helped me. The book itself was already doing everything it could to help me and it didn’t work.

For this specific game, I think I’m one of these GMs who need to play it first under someone who knows it like the back of their hand. Concrete examples, concrete situations, lived and played instead of read about. Which means it’s never gonna happen, I don’t have such a GM around.

But, guys, seriously : reading the game was great, and if only for that pleasure, I’ll never regret buying it !

So I’ve been reading Urban Shadows for a while and am thinking of starting up a game.

So I’ve been reading Urban Shadows for a while and am thinking of starting up a game.

So I’ve been reading Urban Shadows for a while and am thinking of starting up a game. I am concerned a bit about the concept of corruption. It seems that the PC gets to flex their true supernatural (etc) muscles or roll badly 30 times in the entire lifetime of their character, including taking the remove corruption move advance, before it gets retired.

That just seems kind of harsh to me. I really expected more rules to mitigate corruption than just the one advance when I first began reading up on the game.

Something like a penance move. Or am I missing something?

Do you guys find this limiting of the fun in your games or am I overreacting to how much and how quick the average character will burn through those 30 instances?

Thank you for any insight! 🙂

I’m having some trouble figuring out how to run a game for the Spectre.

I’m having some trouble figuring out how to run a game for the Spectre.

I’m having some trouble figuring out how to run a game for the Spectre.

They’re the most unusual archetype when compared to typical urban fantasy settings, and they don’t have most of the other characters limitations (being immaterial, invisible when it suits them and almost immortal).

So I have a few questions to anybody who played or had one in their campaign.

Can they carry regular items? The Manifest move doesn’t seem to have any limitations in this regard. In your games were they able to simply continuously manifest and carry around weapons or plot McGuffins?

How do they get around town? In your game did they go everywhere on foot? Or did they get a ghost car? Were they allowed some sort of transport powers?

How did they interact with combat? It seems to me that they face little danger from mortal enemies, and when dealing with other ghosts or spirits, can’t really get help from most other archetypes. Did they make a significant difference in physical confrontations?

How quickly can they de-manifest? Would you say that de-manifesting quickly (let’s say, to avoid an oncoming attack) is a “keep your cool” move?

Any and all input will be appreciated 🙂