Category: Urban Shadows RPG: Discussion

Once upon a time, you were someone important…and dangerous.

Once upon a time, you were someone important…and dangerous.

Once upon a time, you were someone important…and dangerous. People knew you and gave you a wide berth. You were a force to be reckoned with in this city. And then you got old, broken, or both.

Looking at playbooks for an upcoming game and I’m attracted to The Veteran. Problem is, I’m not sure what The Veteran is. The intro suggests a badass, maybe an ex Aware or Hunter?  But being bad-ass doesn’t seem to be the focus of the playbook. They don’t have an arsenal of old weapons, instead they have a workshop. They make stuff. They are artists.

What stuff do they make? Magical stuff? Weapons? High Tech gear? All of the above? Is this what they did when they were important and dangerous? 

The Spectre owes someone, say a mortal reporter who is Aware – how does the mortal get ahold of their ghostly ally?

The Spectre owes someone, say a mortal reporter who is Aware – how does the mortal get ahold of their ghostly ally?

The Spectre owes someone, say a mortal reporter who is Aware – how does the mortal get ahold of their ghostly ally?  In a world of cell phones, I’m curious how you handle this.  Maybe the ghost has a phone somewhere he can get messages at?  Maybe a mortal friend, the person he’s haunting, takes messages for him?

The Tainted’s demonic jobs section references what the Tainted can cash in a Debt with the Patron for, and “their…

The Tainted’s demonic jobs section references what the Tainted can cash in a Debt with the Patron for, and “their…

The Tainted’s demonic jobs section references what the Tainted can cash in a Debt with the Patron for, and “their Faction” is referenced. This confuses me: isn’t the Tainted’s Patron a Demon? Isn’t their Faction always going to be Wild?

“Answer a question (honestly) about their Faction; Introduce you to a powerful member of their Faction”

Suppose I’ll be starting a US campaign soon, and two players have expressed their intention of running it too (as…

Suppose I’ll be starting a US campaign soon, and two players have expressed their intention of running it too (as…

Suppose I’ll be starting a US campaign soon, and two players have expressed their intention of running it too (as sequels). How would starting the first with a character of my own interfere with the game?

I mean, it’s not like I’ll have any plots planned beforehand or anything. Has anyone ever tried that?

(Mind you, I’m still half way through my reading, so it’s possible such thing is already covered in THE book.)

Has anyone ever added an faerie Otherworld to their game?

Has anyone ever added an faerie Otherworld to their game?

Has anyone ever added an faerie Otherworld to their game? An example of this would be the Bright world from Changeling: the Dreaming, or Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, if you wanted to emphasize the “urban” part of it.

Urban Shadows Session Summary

Urban Shadows Session Summary

Originally shared by Travis Scott

Urban Shadows Session Summary

Players: “Ugh, I keep taking corruption! This sucks!”

Me: “It’s OK. Take another corruption.”

Players: “Ugh, I have five corruption! This sucks!”

Players: reading corruption moves

Players: “I can possess people? I can have a gang of demons? This is AWESOME!”

Hi folks

Hi folks

Hi folks,

We started playing Shadows this week and everyone seems to be having a good time (me included).

The session threw out a lot of plot hooks and elements, and I’m slowly winnowing them down to a handful that I can effectively use in this three-session game.

However, one thing I’m struggling with is turning these ideas into Threats. (I’ve had difficulty with this in other PbtA games too.) It’s tricky for me to break an idea up into the six clock-ticks; I have a habit of overcomplicating things, putting too much into each tick and dragging in additional plot bits that don’t connect to the core idea.

So it’d be great to hear from y’all about how you make effective Threats – particularly if you could share some you’ve made and talk about how they worked in play.

Thanks!

A review of Urban Shadows I wrote. Its in german, but just in case somebody likes touching new markets :)

A review of Urban Shadows I wrote. Its in german, but just in case somebody likes touching new markets 🙂

A review of Urban Shadows I wrote. Its in german, but just in case somebody likes touching new markets 🙂

http://richtig.spielleiten.de/2015/09/22/rezension-systemvorstellung-urban-shadows/

Faction Rules Hack: I’ve noticed that the game’s rules seem to disincentivize going to your fellow PC’s for help and…

Faction Rules Hack: I’ve noticed that the game’s rules seem to disincentivize going to your fellow PC’s for help and…

Faction Rules Hack: I’ve noticed that the game’s rules seem to disincentivize going to your fellow PC’s for help and information, because you can’t mark Faction when your buddy the Wizard hooks you up.  I’m thinking of loosening that rule a little so that any time another PC helps you out in a way that 1) involves a roll and 2) involves an introduction or at least your name being dropped, you get to mark Faction.  This sort of simulates the idea that, even if you haven’t met the Vampire King of Cleveland, he’s heard of you and that you’ve been asking a lot of questions about him, he’s got you on his radar.  Obviously it’s then up to the MC to keep track of this and decide when the Vampire King is going to reach out and start asking questions of his own.  The roll is required so there’s some skin in the game and so that a miss can remind the MC to make trouble for both PC’s involved. 

Will this break the game or make advancement way too easy?  I play online, so fast advancement is good as long as it’s not too fast.