Opening Discussion

I ivinted everyone because of the amount of interest. I enojoy GMing and while I would not mind running a game of 11, in this format it is a no go. I will be running two games(if everyone joins).
With this much interest not everyone would have the same idea of a concept so now we can have two. Maybe most want a 1930's black and white style, others modern. A group of investigators looking to answer the big questions or a small neighborhood watch trying to keep the weird shit away from their families.
We will discuss the series concepts here and vote on which two will be played. Any idea will work this game is very "yes and" focused. Not all ideas will make the cut but your idea may spark one from someone else that will spark another, you get the idea.
Here we will also discuss our social contract. I would hate to make someone uncomfortable by a description or ana action a character or NPC make. While I may not ignore said concepts they will not be a focus of the scene. If blood and gore is a too much for someone we will gloss over the description or have bruises and broken bones. Myself, I have yet to find a limit of action or concepts so its up to your group where the line is, if any. As far as what I enjoy telling(or rather making your characters go through) are adult in theme. Not blood, gore, sex, porn, no more...this 'last link connecting to this world is dying but you can save them. All you have to do is let this child die.' Think Last of Us part 1 ending or the trolly problem. I can go as deep or as shallow into that water as the group likes.

The book gives examples of series concepts. The main thing to think about is answering this question.

Who are you, as a crew?

I also have a template I think has everything needed for a character. We can use links to editable pdf's if you all prefer. Template
Here's the text. Just 'Quote' me and copy the text for the sheet.

CHARACTER NAME:
Player Name:
MYTHOS:
LOGOS:
CREW MEMBERS
First
Help= Hurt=
Second
Help= Hurt=
Third
Help= Hurt=

STORY TAGS
1
2
3

BUILD-UP*****(Erase one for each Build-up)
Write the Moment of Evolution you choose here.

NEMESIS
1
2
3


THEME
Type:
Theme Title:
Attention: AAA Fade/Crack: VVV(Delete one for every mark accordingly)
Mystery/Identity:
Power Tags:(Use 'strike through' when you burn a tag)
1
2
3
Weakness Tag:
1

IMPROVEMENTS

FLIPSIDE

Ok so, first of all: Hello everyone ^^ !

First thing first, I shall warn you that English isn't my first language, so I may be doing a lot of errors in my texts, or misunderstanding some posts. I excuse myself in advance for that.

As far as boundaries go, I'm fine with basically anything, as long as it's not absolute torture porn, or nsfw. I can also accommodate with the boundaries of other however, as extreme content isn't a prerequisite to my fun either x).

As for the setting, I'd like to suggest something a bit special, maybe: a noir atmosphere, but brought at specific moments of history. Maybe in Spain in the 30's, during the Civil War ? Or in the 50's in the USSR, when Stalin's paranoia was at it's maximum ? Or even in France during the occupation ? I think it could be an interesting way to change from the classical in-war/post-war America of noir films, while also putting extra pressure and stakes on the character.
I understand that it could be quite difficult to DM without some knowledge about the specific periods I'm talking about here, however, so I'd like to see the other suggestions as well !

If a topic loke that was selected I'd be willing to do a little research on the subject. I enjoy learning, thats why I know a bunch of game system rules and really the only reason I went for my Bachelor's Degree.
When coming up with concepts remeber the characters can't/wont leave the city and the focus should be on answering 'why do I have these abilities or why is this weird stuff happening?'
A Spanish civil war can be the backdrop of The City but it wouldn't be the focus of it. Like the zombies in Walking Dead or WW1 in Wonder Woman.

To be very honest, I probably wouldn't play in any historical setting and time I didn't know really well. Learning the system is going to be enough to concentrate on, and doing extra research on the history is more than I'd bargained for.

As for historical setting, I like the 30's since I'm a big Cthulhu fan and a lot of it's stories are set in the 30's. But I'm a little concerned that I might find myself thinking Cthulhu when I should be thinking City of Mists. Does anyone see that as a problem? The other option would be modern day but that makes me think of Superhero games. I'm thinking maybe post WWII would be my favorite. Since I was born in 1947, that would make me a boomer, one of the early ones. The Cold War as a backdrop sounds just chilling enough for me and I don't believe I've played a game from that period. But for Moonbeam's sake I could just as easily play in a modern setting.

I'm ok with Modern, slightly premodern (90s), or even a take on Timeless Modern, a la Batman: The Animated Series (where open air street cars and smart phones are both a thing at the same time), but I don't think I'd want to go anywhere pre-Stranger Things. Things being slightly off seems to be part of the setting's beating heart, and it'll be very hard to draw that tonal contrast with a historical setting that we're already unfamiliar with.

I'll have to take some time to dig into the book this week more extensively to work out my character concept and how it fits into a crew.

How tightly should the characters be tied together mechanically, socially, and thematically?

I don't think playing in a real city will fit too well. Whle The City can have aspects and feel like a real city it is not one, as Gotham or Metropolis.

Hey! Just wanted to post that I'm in, but haven't had a chance to work on a PC just yet. I'll put in two cents on the discussion here tomorrow ... headed to bed at the moment.

Looking forward to this!

I have this habit, in a modern setting anyway, of putting myself in a real city. It adds a great sense of realism to the game for me which makes the game much more enjoyable for me. But that's just me. It may not do the same for anyone else. And some GMs like to use real cities for that same reason. I remember one not long ago that used Providence, RI as a setting. The city was perfect for the type of game we were playing. It had a touch of ultramodern with a sense of great history

Hi, I'm pretty much okay with anything that would make it into an R-rated movie. In terms of setting, I like the timeless modern thing since the game seems to float in that kind of ambiguous space anyway. If it leans a little noir, that's nifty too!

Don't worry about characters just yet. A setting is established first before characters. We build them together in a scene.
This game is a little different aswell, not everyone will be in the same game. I will be breaking the party in two. Right now a party of 3 and one of 4.

Some examples to get the idea of what the game means by series concept.

Who are you as a crew?
• Casual detectives
• Company men
• Conspiracy busters
• Dabblers in the Mist
• Survivors of an event
• A gang
• Investigative Masked Vigilantes
• Modern gods
• An order
• Professionals / Rifts-for-hire

What is your City of Mist like?
• True Noir (1930s)
•Neon Noir (80s)
•Modern-day
•Generic comic-book city
•Tapestry of realities
• Mystical Mist

Well if another one is interested, I'd like to do a Cold War setting with Aldrusian.

Otherwise, I would be cool with anything, but I tend to prefers "down to earth" setting, so anything with a gang, detectives or even just casual people trying to understand what's going x). I guess Wild Cards would be a good example ? Not against some mystic atmosphere either, however.

Put me down for "Survivors of an event," and "Modern-day."

The crew could be best described as 'caught in the middle of something'. That would be similar to survival of an event but survival speaks to injuries whether physical, mental or emotional while caught means something more like, 'I was minding my own business, doing my Christmas shopping (or something similar) when something happened. I wasn't hurt only somewhat surprised and I discovered that the world had changed.

I like the Survivors of an Event and Modern day too! That seems like a great way to get disparate peoples together without having to force it.

Hey all, for crew, I'm down for casual detectives, conspiracy (myth)busters, survivors of an event, or professionals.

What is your City of Mist like?

• True Noir (1930s)
• Neon Noir (80s)
• Modern-day

I'll look at the CoM rulebook over the holidays to get a feel for the game and characters.

Thanks for running this btw! In theory, the PbtA system should fit PbP like a glove!

And for those who celebrate, happy Thanksgiving y'all!

I do like "Survivors of an Event," because of its inherent potential for drama and transformation, and I have always had an affinity for the "turning" stories of World of Darkness (first change, embrace, awakening, etc...), I feel it's important to note that it'll put more plot burden onto the GM, and more buy-in burden onto the players. While you can get away with more diverse player characters, it'll be important to pay attention to their chemistry and motivation to make sure they don't just navel gaze after the traumatic happening blows over, and that they have some common ground to stand on - or at least cross-purposes that make for dramatic, interesting, and playable conflict.

The other hooks imply intrinsic common interests which can be used to unite an otherwise disparate group.

My other picks (unranked!) would be Masked Investigative Vigilantes and Dabblers in the Mist.

As for the City itself, I'd prefer Modern Day, but Neon Noir also has a certain appeal.

I put a poll. It kept things I tried to change but we'll roll with it.
With what I've read it looks like most want a modern survivor game. I have reached put to the others and if I don't get a response we can roll with you 6 or do 3 and 3.

I have tried several times to vote for Survivors of an Event, but it doesn't take. It may have recorded my vote for Modern, but I can't be sure that it's not displaying some other players vote, lol.

Hmm. It looks like it only takes one response. It registered Modern for me, but not Survivors same as Moonbeam. But you know my prefs. :) I'm good with either the big group or two small ones, but logisitically two smaller ones might be easier to keep cohesive and have a shared goal. 6 is a lot of cooks working on the soup in a shared kitchen. (Please don't ask me to try to explain that metaphor.)

I have that written down but I've never done the poll option here. Turns out theres a reason.

The City
30's(Spain/USA) - Rattila, Aldrusian, ctme2000
Cold War~50's(Russia/USA) - Rattila, Aldrusian
Modern - GreyGriffin, Aldrusian, KaeJae, Moonbeam, ctme2000

Crew
Casual detectives - Rattila, ctme2000
Conspiracy - Rattila, ctme2000
Survivors - Moonbeam, KaeJae, ctme2000, GreyGriffin

Let me know if I got any of those wrong.

@Rattila yes there are 7 in the game but cdwjava hasnt posted anything but 'I'll post tomorrow.' And that was 2 days ago. As of now there are 6. When/if more join will move from that point.

I don't consider 6 as too many cooks. Here's another way to explain the metaphor. I was the purchasing member of a team that was designing a new piece of equipment for electronic testing. Designs of that nature usually take months to complete but every couple of months the bosses switched out engineers so the lead time took twice as long since each engineer thought they had a better idea and we'd have to start over. Using the cooks in that manner, each cook would want to add their own ingredients to the soup and it ends up tasting terrible. I don't think that really applies here if we have a strong enough GM. From what little I know about Apexwolf, I don't think that will be a problem.

I also voted for Survivors as well as Modern day but the vote for survivors was done first. I assume it picked up Modern but it didn't pick up Survivors. Guess Apex will have to do it the hard way.

Thanks for the vote of confidence Aldrusian. Looks like the hard way is how we will do it. Was hoping the poll thing would work better.
From what has been mentioned it looks like Modern serting with the group survivors of an event. We will head forward with you 6. Anyone else that joins will be the second group. That work with everyone?

Sounds good to me!

I'm good with that !

Hit me!

I was even split on Modern and Neon Noir.

I've never heard of Neon Noir but I can imagine what it might be like. The dark of night with a fog and some drizzle but set in the 1980's, maybe in Las Vegas. But let's go modern. Less we have to think about. It could still end up being noir.

Hi all. Modern Survivor works for me, I have a great concept that fits both that I hope will work when I try to realize it. :)

Head over to the Exposition forum and catch up.