Urban Shadows RPG: Discussion – Page 41 – Powered by the Apocalypse G+ Archives

I’d like to drift my upcoming Urban Shadows game towards a funky, Unknown Armies- like direction.

I’d like to drift my upcoming Urban Shadows game towards a funky, Unknown Armies- like direction. You know, like a Tim Powers novel.

I think that will be easy for the Humanity and Power factions, who are basically humans dealing with the weird and unknown. I’d just need to give them some extra flavor.

But what about the other factions? I’m worried that the established body of tropes around, say, werewolves and vampires, is going to make it hard to get a fresh angle. Should I make some playbooks off limits, or have more faith in my players?

New favorite US tech: getting people to do things that are in their own best interests, like getting the Veteran…

New favorite US tech: getting people to do things that are in their own best interests, like getting the Veteran investigating a cryptic medallion of a cult trying to summon a Big Bad Thing, or getting the Wolf to check out this warehouse that’s on his turf and potentially in danger.

I mean, hey, it just so happens that I wanted their help, but it’s nice that they would’ve wanted to do it anyway. A good bit less prone to owing Debts.

Hi.I’m currently playing in a pbp urban Shadows game and I was curious about a strange rule quirk.

According to Advancement, whenever I honor a debt, I get to mark their faction. However someone, another PC, an Aware, has dropped my name, but rolled an 8, so they cashed in the debt I owed them.

Does this count as me honoring the debt? Do I get to mark Mortality?

Hi folks

Hi folks,

There’s some material in Shadows about running single-session games, and it’s great to get advice on how to tweak the setup for a one-shot.

However, I’m getting ready to run a three-session Shadows game, and I’m wondering if anyone has thoughts or advice on similar tweaks. Should characters start with advances and corruption? Should we bother with the start/end-of-session moves?

It’d be great to hear people’s thoughts and experiences.

Thanks!

Ghouls, Trolls, Demons and more.

Ghouls, Trolls, Demons and more… Is there any more information on these creatures besides mentioning them in passing? Or are they up to us to figure out on our own?

Any update on when the preorders will ship?

Quick question, When looking at custom weapons under the add ons there’s an option for enchanted(+1 anchored). I…

Quick question, When looking at custom weapons under the add ons there’s an option for enchanted(+1 anchored). I can’t seem to find what that means. there’s no other mention of anchored or what it does. What is anchored?

Aw gee. I’m playing the Vamp, and I’m already almost about to mark my first Corruption advance. :-P

Aw gee. I’m playing the Vamp, and I’m already almost about to mark my first Corruption advance. 😛

Maybe I should try to find more cooperative people to feed from.

Hey guys – actually got around to playing our first game last night.

Hey guys – actually got around to playing our first game last night. Everyone had a blast, but it being our first time it obviously brought up some questions.

The biggest one had to deal with the Oracle & Foretelling. We’re not quite sure how it’s supposed to work really. Here’s a situation:

– Jane the Oracle is at the bar talking with August, the Spectre. Suddenly Ahai, the vampire, comes barging in to the bar. Jane sees him – he looks angry, and the vampire gang starts to spread out in the busy bar. Jane says “He’s here to kidnap me!” Now, if Ahai was there just to ask her some questions, do Jane & August get +1 forward to running away? What about if August decides to smash a bottle and attack Ahai and his men? They weren’t originally there to get Jane – just get information.

Basically I guess the big question is – does the Oracle have to be at least partially right to use the bonus? In that case, it seems like it’d be in the Oracle’s best interest to not use the power until the last moment – when they have the most information – then drop their Foretelling. The issue there is that it then feels less like seeing the future, and more like being able to get a +1 for something that everyone already knows.

Anyway, the group had a lot of fun. I wish I’d gotten more Faction moves (we used Put a Name to a Face a lot – but none of the others really – though there were quite a few non faction moves).

Some thoughts on political “power level”

Some thoughts on political “power level”

One of my complains for Urban Shadows was (/still is a bit) the low power level of characters on the political side. In Apocalypse World you can be the Hardholder or the Hocus and have a bunch of people that directly reply to you. Outside of the Wolf Pack and the Spectre’s Body of Ghosts there is no Archetype that can get these before 5+ Advances and no Archetype can start with them.

I was getting ready for creating a Vampire and had this Vampire biker gang in mind. Turns out, my character can’t be their leader. The game doesn’t allow that. However; this might be a good thing.

Advancement is both prescriptive and descriptive right? So if my character kills the leader of a local vampire clan he can become their leader. Or maybe she messes with the offical vote and comes into power like that.

A starting Vampire however might not have enough power to see this through. So they would need to collect debts of other characters to help them.

If you want to play with the big boys, either wait it out and get the advance or work for it in the fiction. I like that. It forces a player to use their debts and claw for power.

Was that the design intention behind moving these advances to the later part of the game?