[Closed] [Interest Check] Urban Shadows 2e

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Mar 6, 2024 11:22 am
soises says:
... Your idea with the holiday I appreciate and would be willing to try ...
I doubt we would go that route, though we could if the group really wanted to.

The reason I did this that time was that the group objected to the game being stuck in one city ("this is not City of Mist, after all.":), and wanted to try forcing it to branch out and I had not 'prepared' anything and did not have the energy to start with multiple cities defined and characterised.

I have run games where the players move between several cities (with a sorta Supernatural TV show vibe) and we defined more the type of areas that they would go back to as needed, Midwest, New York, The Sticks. Urban Shadows fights one if they do that, but it is quite doable, with effort.

I have also run a game where there were several groups of players —who know each other— each with a game set in a different city but with the same 'game world and rules', things that happened in one would bleed over to another and things that were defined or worked out in one would also be true in another, though not everyone knew about it. The players could talk about it out of game, and we treated that as though their characters had emailed or phoned each other —with the expected miscommunications and misunderstandings. It was a lot of work, but quite fun and we did a few crossovers when only some players were available and had to drop into another group.
soises says:
... I already did my amount of changing from normy ... Because of this I would prefere to start as an established person ...
If we wanted play a game of 'zero to hero' or 'first time learning about the supernatural' then I would probably not use this system. Everyone is pretty powerful to start off with and the supernaturals are not more so than the mortals (Mortalis, in this one).

So we can assume your wish will be granted... unless we really want to try otherwise.
soises says:
... What is the hindrance to "not being able to do a DF-kind of game"? ...
Hmm... It was a decade ago, so I can not recall details. Before the release Urban Shadows was billing itself as a way (the way, really) to play Dresden Files without the clunky Fate 2 Dresden Files RPG (pre DFA). This was unofficial, or course, since there were Intellectual Property and Licencing issues to contend with.

Then, by the time it came out, it was quite different to that 'promise'. Not saying it was a bad game, but many of us that backed it because of Dresden were disappointed.

You could, possible, play a DF-kind of game, but you could not play DF. The playbooks (archetypes) do not support playing Harry or Molly, or Thomas (though 2e might allow for Thomas:) or Billy and Georgia, or Murphy, or any of the types of characters you see in the books. You simply could not use these rules to play in that world, they had different intents.
Mar 6, 2024 5:16 pm
Thanks for this great and comprehensive explanation. That's a shame, if it was implied in this way.


Your multi group world sounds pretty cool. Chapeau! :)
Mar 7, 2024 4:52 am
soises says:
... That's a shame, if it was implied in this way. ...
It was a decade ago. I can't say they officially implied it was, or could play, Dresden, but that was the prevailing opinion (among those looking for a Dresden (Fate (3, not 2)) substitute) and they did not say 'no'. However, many games change a lot during development, and kickstarters early in the development cycle can have a hard time defining themselves.

I just checked the old kickstarter page and they do imply it, but only by listing it first in what sort of stories it emulates:
kickstarter says:
The game focuses heavily on the gritty drama and tense violence that we see so often in works like The Dresden Files, Angel and Supernatural.

soises says:
... Your multi group world sounds pretty cool. ...
It worked well with that group.
soises says:
... Chapeau! ...
What about my hat?! :)
Mar 7, 2024 6:52 am
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/0f/76/a5/0f76a56cd1de4344a097dcd2331b1727.gif

I forgot about Angel. So many winters have come and past. .. ;)
Apr 4, 2024 4:14 am
The game has been slow to release, and is still not quite done, though they have released a 'final preview' (which is a bit of an oxymoron, no?:).

I figure the book is 'good enough' to get started with, so I will work through it and set up a game.

Who is still interested in playing?
Apr 4, 2024 6:11 am
I am interested to give it a try.
Apr 4, 2024 6:27 am
I’m still interested! :)
Apr 4, 2024 11:57 am
Hi,

I have run Urban Shadows 1E before, and I loved it. I'd be curious to see what changes they did in 2E, so count me in as interested too (provided that not having access to the handbook is not a showstopper)

Thanks!
Apr 5, 2024 6:06 am
Still interested. I 'll give Adrastheia a call to see if she is still on board. :)
Apr 6, 2024 5:28 pm
On board and excited to play!
Apr 6, 2024 5:46 pm
Alright, that is enough to justify starting a game.

@LightOfMidnight and @Ysolde, are you still with us?

This is not first-come-first-served.
Playing a game in a closed city makes it easy to add players or characters later (no need to worry about how to add someone in the middle of a months-long dungeon:), so don't feel that you have to commit for the long-term if you find you are not enjoying it, and don't feel like this is the only opportunity to join.

However, the players that join at the start will have a much larger influence on the shape of the world, since it will be formed and shaped together, based on the starting characters and ideas.
If you are not serious about posting most days, please don't join the game and slow it down for everyone else. We understand that stuff happens, and will work around any needed absences, of course, but let's all try, yeah?
Give me a few days to read the book and put together some handouts and structure for the game and then we will look at who is interested and form a group.

Thank you for your interest. I am looking forward to running this, the game rules look promising so far.
Apr 6, 2024 5:56 pm
Not sure if this is still the place to express interest, but I will anyway. I've played several PbtA games - Monster of the Week, Monsterhearts, Masks, OG Apocalypse World, and engaged in pre-game collaboration for some games that then didn't get started. Haven't played US, though I played some 1e WoD back in the 90s.

So that's me. Interested.
Apr 6, 2024 7:02 pm
@VagueDm: Absolutely
Apr 6, 2024 7:17 pm
Bit busy atm, so can't gurantee being able to post everyday, so I will let others get a look in atm. Thanks for checking in though.
Apr 6, 2024 7:21 pm
LightOfMidnight says:
Bit busy atm, so can't gurantee being able to post everyday, so I will let others get a look in atm. Thanks for checking in though.
Understood. We can always check in again later and see how things are going.
Apr 18, 2024 6:36 am
Invites sent, contact made, and we have formed a group. The game is full and applications closed.

Thank you all for your interest.
Apr 18, 2024 6:46 am
Hope it all goes well. And if you ever run another and I am less busy will be interested.

(Tbf I have been able to keep up with some daily games recentky, but didn't want to annoy people if I occasionally couldn't)

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