Category: Urban Shadows RPG: Discussion

How would you handle a Storm when the threat at its Eye reaches the end of its countdown clock before other threats are resolved? Choose a new Eye? Move threats to other Storms? Continue without an Eye?

Looking for feedback on my first crack at a Storm, if anybody’s interested (unless you are one of my players, in which case, buzz off, jerk).

Rumors we started with in the first session include:

Wild is looking for a powerful artifact.

The highest ranking wizard in the city is dying.

The Winter Court may be looking to take the Arboretum.

The Werewolves are recruiting.

The Mafia may be “disappearing” supernaturals.

A portal to Sheol in the Wizard’s sanctum is of interest to the Tainted’s patron.

I’m still working out threat types and custom moves, but I have some general ideas for threats and countdowns…

Storm obligation: Community

Eye of the Storm: Power Vacuum

Threat: Power Vacuum

Type: Ritual (Theft), I think

Cast: Ashur (head wizard), Prospero (angling to replace Ashur), Caarcrinolaas (Tainted’s Patron)

Description: Chancellor Ashur of the Sundered College is dying, and rumor has it Prospero may be using a ritual with a mysterious artifact to do it. The truth is actually that Caacrinolaas arranged to have this dangerous artifact make its way to the city in the hands of some unwitting demons, who thought it would just help them in their soul-collecting efforts – and Caacrinolaas tipped off Power that a dangerous, soul-leeching artifact would be coming to town. Ashur is trying to contain and defuse the thing, but isn’t up to the task alone, and the next most powerful wizard in town isn’t inclined to help if it means a promotion. If left unchecked, the ritual will eventually draw all the souls through the portal to Sheol, leaving some prime real estate for Caacrinolaas to establish his new kingdom.

Move: When you touch the cursed rosary, roll with Spirit. On any hit, a skilled magic-user or artificer can Unleash with Spirit (3-harm ap). On a 10+, choose 1; on a 7–9, choose 2.

• Take 1-harm ap.

• Mark corruption.

• You lose your grip on the rosary as your hand grows numb.

Countdown:

1. Ashur falls into a magical coma.

2. Prospero names himself interim Chancellor.

3. Ashur dies.

4. Dozens of souls start exiting through the portal.

5. Thousands of souls spread throughout the city and beyond.

6. Sheol is emptied and Caacrinolaas claims it as his kingdom.

Threat: Snowfall

Type: Power Play (Feint)

Cast: Lady Thistle of the Daoine Sith, Jack Frost of the Winter Court, various demons and other supernaturals

Description: The Winter Court has long paid its traditional tithe to Hell (in this case, the local demon gang). The Sith see this a sign of weakness and want to take over. They’ve seeded rumors that Winter is trying to expand into the Arboretum to control its gateway to Faerie, and they’re staging crime scenes to make it look like Winter is taking out hits on members of other faction. They figure this will gain them enough allies to take over the Arboretum themselves. They are biting off more than they can chew.

Countdown:

1. A Winter fae and a mafioso are found dead in apparent struggle

2. A Winter fae and a werewolf are found dead, as above

3. A vampire escapes to reveal truth of Sith ambushes

4. Winter discovers the hidden location of Sith HQ

5. Winter allies invade to slaughter the Sith

6. Summer Court emerges from gateway in the Arboretum, blocking full-on invasion of Sith in Faerie, and introducing a new group to the city

Threat: Remade Men

Type: Passion (Love) or Power Play (Annex)

Cast: Rico and Los Lobos, among others

Description: Hearing rumors of possible fae incursions in territory already disputed with the vampires, the pack is actively recruiting not just from locals, but from notable figures in other factions. They offer it as a chance to become stronger, live free, and fight for a community you love rather than a master who uses you. The message is especially enticing to mafia underlings, and mafia attempts to hunt down defectors fuel inaccurate rumors of a supernatural pogrom. Eventually, the pack may grow so large, with so many big names, that not even its charismatic alpha can keep it under control.

Countdown:

1. Rico invites notable people (including PCs) to join up

2. Pack grows unruly, leaving scat & carcasses in its turf

3. Mauled remains found of those who refuse to defect

4. Named lieutenants defect from other gangs to Lobos

5. Lobos territory grows; new blood declares open season on trespassers

6. Someone bigger, badder, and meaner than Rico challenges him for control of the pack

The rule book suggests that you might want to give supernatural NPCs certain kinds of protections or vulnerabilities in keeping with the lore (e.g., vampires getting armor vs. mundane attacks, but taking extra damage from fire or blessed attacks). For those who have done this: Did you extend the same protections/vulnerabilities to your PCs of the same species?

Do MCs here have any advice for pushing the characters together, especially in the first session?

(I welcome you to respond just to that question and ignore the rest of my verbose background explanation of why I ask.)

I’m about to run my first session of Urban Shadows with a group that’s played a few other PbtA games. They’re all great players, but they sometimes have trouble justifying to themselves and one another, “Why would I ever cooperate with this person?” when they make PCs with dramatically different goals and personalities.

The starting Debts should go a long way to answering that question for most of the archetypes they’ve chosen, I think; the Veteran, Oracle, Wizard, and Vamp all have links that imply that they’re friends, or at least somewhat dependent on one another. The Fae’s starting debts feel a lot more impersonal, though, and the player who picked that archetype has something of a history of unwittingly making PCs that are hard to mesh in with the rest of the group.

In other RPGs with factions (like In Nomine), I’m used to saying something like, “Your immediate superiors want to see cooperation between factions for this situation, so you’ve been ordered you to work together.” That seems like maybe not the best fit for Urban Shadows, though, when there are likely to be multiple, potentially unrelated threats rather than a single, clear antagonist … but maybe I am misunderstanding what the game will end up looking like! I wonder if I should prompt them to answer this question up front for themselves (e.g., “Where do you hang out together when you have downtime? Where do you meet up when you need to compare notes on a job?”) or if I should just let that evolve more organically.