Category: Urban Shadows RPG: Discussion

Hi all – I played the Spectre in Ian Howard’s game and wanted to give some archetype-specific feedback as well as a little general feedback on the game.  Starting with the latter:

US is a great game with a lot of really excellent and innovative mechanics.  I know I speak for the whole group when I say we’re very excited about what the game has to offer.  Debts in particular produced some extremely interesting and exciting possibilities, but the Drama moves produced a lot of intriguing possibilities as well, to name just a few things.

I think a lot of us felt our archetype moves were a bit bland, or there were only a few really interesting choices.  I’d really like to see expanded lists, and moreso, some really strong choices in selecting new moves, that really add some flavor of being a particular “type” of whatever thing you happen to be.  The Corruption moves, by contrast, I think pretty much everyone was impressed by 😛  It seems the Corruption moves (rightly) represent the more supernatural, inhuman aspects of the archetype – excellent abilities, but to gain them you distance yourself from humanity.  I’d like to see some archetype moves that are similarly juicy but represent more of an integration of the human and supernatural, or at least encourage characters to cling to their dwindling humanity.  (maybe I can brainstorm some proposed Moves another time)

I picked the Spectre archetype because I am a long-time fan of the old White Wolf game Wraith: The Oblivion.  What immediately struck me was 1) in US a ghostly character integrates with a corporeal party much more naturally and easily than in old WoD, and 2) I am left with an awful lot of questions about the nature of Spectres and their “world”.  Many of the archetypes could benefit from more leading questions to establish what it means to be a Dragon/Wizard/Werewolf/Vampire in this setting, but the Spectre in particular needs it most, I feel.

Some of the questions I found myself asking: 

a) “What keeps you anchored to this world?” — A Link is a possibility, but it could also be a driving goal, simple force of habit and/or fear of the unknown, or even something external to you:  the psychic energy of those who still mourn you.

b) “What could cause you to move on?” Or even, “What do you need, to willingly pass on?” and “What could banish you for good, against your will?” — I like the design decision that character death is generally something of a player’s choice, but I think it is often good to set some parameters for even an immortal existence.

c) “Are you the same person you were in life, or are you changed somehow?” — Death can change a person, after all.  I conceived of Emily as not-really the person she was in life, but fragments of her personality anchored to the world by a profound sense of injustice, hurt and anger.  

d) “What ‘feeds’ a Spectre?” — Some possibilities would be Memory/Emotion/Belief.   For Emily I took the same route as Wraith, supposing that a ghost absorbs emotional energy, whether their own or that of mortals, to continue their existence.  Much like with the Vamp, however, this leaves open the possibility that not all Spectres are the same and others may sustain themselves in a different manner.

e) “What are some strengths & weaknesses that all Spectres share?”  Many obvious things (invisibility, insubstantiality) are built in, of course.  But maybe Spectres can perceive the life force of living creatures – can see when they are hiding a sickness within them, or tell the difference between the truly living and the undead (vampires).  Maybe they can sense emotional states (particularly if emotion is what feeds them) or can look into a living creatures eyes and know how they will die.  But maybe this also means the shadow-world they exist in, between life and death, sometimes plays tricks on their perception.  Maybe they can see life force, but cannot truly perceive details of faces the way a living creature could – or cannot see colors.  Maybe they can see the objects a person carries that are significant to them, but cannot see anything that they consider disposable.  Maybe they are unable to properly perceive anything they had no experience of in life.  Maybe their potential is only limited by how much they cling to their idea of who and what they were in life, but the further they stray from the constraints of that self-image, the closer they are to dissipating entirely into smoke and vapors.

Those are all the thoughts I had to share – that I can remember right now, anyhow.

Oh, and if anyone was wondering, despite the name, Ian and I are not related, though we have been gaming together for about 15 years.