Moves

Notes on Turn to Violence
Turn to violence triggers when you choose force as your path —breaking bones, pulling triggers, and messing up your opposition before they do the same to you. No threats or grandstanding here! Turning to violence means you're committed to hurting someone, usually with a weapon in hand and some malice (or vengeance!) in your heart.

On a hit, you inflict as much harm as makes sense for what's happening in the fiction. If you're fighting with nothing but your empty fists (1-harm), you do a lot less damage than someone holding a katana (3-harm) or a rocket launcher (4-harm). See page 46 for more on established harm and harm ratings, but blunt weapons like fists and baseball bats do 1-harm, lethal weapons like handguns do 2-harm, and powerful or destructive weapons like shotguns do 3-harm.

Your opposition suffers that harm on a hit, but also gets to make a choice off their list —striking back, redefining the fight, or getting away from you. Regardless of their choice, you still inflict your full harm as established; they get to decide how they react to the way you're hurting them. Killing or incapacitating them doesn't negate their choice; someone who dies to your blow may still inflict harm on you or put you in a bad spot.

On a strong hit, you get to respond to their choice in turn —escalating the harm, seizing something from them, or enabling an ally's action. You always pick after they pick, knowing both how much harm you've inflicted and what choice they've made off the list.

Options for Turning to Violence
When they inflict harm on you, they get a chance during your attack to get a few knocks in as well. This harm is also as established; it follows what makes sense in the fiction, including whatever weapons they use, their strength and training, and harm their nearby allies might inflict upon you. The MC tells you how much harm you suffer.

When they put you in a bad spot, you find yourself in a worse position than you held prior to turning to violence. Work with their player to figure out how they gain the upper hand. You might be physically threatened by new forces or some clever trick, but you can also end up socially or emotionally vulnerable after striking out. When in doubt, look to the MC for the degree of trouble the bad spot entails.

When they create an opening to flee, your opposition discovers a path, however fleeting, to freedom. Of course, an opportunity doesn't guarantee success; you can try to thwart them… or let them retreat without further opposition. If your target is a PC, they get a chance to escape a situation —and you get a chance to get in their way to stop them.

When you inflict terrible harm, you escalate the ferocity of your attack, dealing +1 harm. If you're punching someone out, you keep punching even when your target curls up in a ball; if you're shooting someone, you keep shooting even when they fall. People who watch you commit this kind of violence are often shocked at the brutality and force.

When you take something from them, the scope is broad; it can represent literally taking an object they're holding or something more conceptual, such as seizing the high ground, unseating their footing, or capturing their complete attention. Work with the MC to determine how the situation changes when you rob them of their position.

When you create an opportunity for an ally, you give an ally a chance to act before your opponent can react. You might stagger your target long enough for someone to also turn to violence against them before they can act, or physically seize them to give an ally a chance to escape the situation, cast a spell, or call for help. Feel free to tell the MC what opportunity you're hoping for, but what opens up is ultimately their call. If you don't like what they offer you, you aren't committed to the choice —feel free to change your pick.

Sidebar: Pulling Punches
When you inflict harm by turning to violence, you always inflict the full harm as established —you can't "pull your punches" with a shotgun aimed at someone's chest (3-harm) and try to inflict just 1- or 2-harm. The action in Urban Shadows is fast, furious, and uncertain; trying to "just shoot someone in the leg" might just sever an artery! Whatever tool you use when you turn to violence —whether it be knives, fists, guns, or magic— is real in the fiction, inflicting the harm inherent to your attack in full. Think carefully about what tool you select, and remember that other moves (such as mislead, distract, and trick or persuade or even let it out) can get you what you want with less blood on your hands.

Notes on Escape a Situation
Escape a situation is your best chance to get out of trouble before the hammer falls. Whether you're running for your life from a feral ghoul or fleeing a faerie gala with stolen goods in hand, you're escaping a situation whenever you try to flee before things escalate. Not all escalations are physical, of course —escape also covers leaving a tense negotiation or difficult emotional situation. If you want to vanish before your boss can fire you, you're still escaping.

In order to trigger this move you need to either create or take advantage of an opening —a difficult task when you're cornered and have no clear avenue of escape. Turning to violence; misleading, distracting, or tricking; and letting it out are all excellent ways to create the opening you need to escape a situation.

On a hit, you get out of the immediate situation before things get worse, and the scene comes to an end. You might find yourself in new danger —on both weak and strong hits, you're going to have to deal with some consequences— but the urgent threat is resolved.

Note that you don't have to make this move if you find some other way out of danger. For example, if you murder everyone who might be a threat or cash in a Debt with whoever is pursuing you, then you are free to walk out of the situation. Escaping a situation only covers instances where something obstructs your safe retreat.

Options for Escape a Situation
Suffering harm during an escape might be the result of your opposition attacking you on your way out or because you run into something else blocking your path; the MC tells you how much harm you take. You suffer harm as established, which makes choosing this option more dangerous when those chasing you are firing automatic weapons or the path in front of you is riddled with deadly magical traps.

Ending up in another dangerous situation puts your fate into the hands of the MC. The new danger may be an old foe catching up to you or some novel threat presenting itself for the first time. The type of conflict may change as well; you might flee an argument with a friend only to run into armed thugs sent by a rival.

Leaving something important behind means that you drop, forget, or leave something (or someone) on your way out. Note that this doesn't give the MC carte blanche to ruin your day; you're more likely to leave something incriminating or personally significant than a priceless magical item or the very object you secured through your escape.

Owing someone a Debt signals that someone —perhaps a character who wasn't present before— provides a crucial resource or opportunity that enables your escape. Often this is an obvious choice, especially when an NPC in the scene helps you get out the door by covering your escape or an offscreen NPC calls in a favor to protect you, but it's the MC's final call who you owe. Perhaps one of your enemies within the city is suddenly eager to help at just the right moment… knowing you'll owe them when it's done.

Giving in to your base nature and marking corruption means you call upon whatever darkness lurks inside your character to get to safety. Such a cost may seem cheap compared to suffering harm or owing Debts, but corruption has its own long-term costs. You can read more about them on page 45!

One final note: on a 7-9, the MC cannot choose the option you chose. They must always pick another.

Notes on Persuade an NPC
Persuade an NPC triggers when you try to get an NPC to do something they don't want to do by seducing them, promising them something, or threatening their interests. Simply reasoning with them isn't enough here; you have to have some leverage for the move to trigger. In other words, they have to want something you're offering or be afraid of the consequences you can bring to bear. At the same time, your request has to be proportional to your leverage; you can't mind control an NPC with this move just because you have a high Heart, i.e. an NPC won't betray a close friend just because you offered a minor favor. The MC is the final judge on what counts as proper leverage.

On a strong hit, NPCs generally accede to your wishes, albeit with their own idea of how to give you what you want. If you ask a violent werewolf to find someone for you, there's no guarantee they're going to play nice with that person unless you make an excess of kindness a part of your request. Wolves be wolves, after all. Nothing changing that.

On a weak hit, the NPC has some more input on the deal itself. It's their choice: they can either modify the terms of the deal —essentially making you a reasonable counteroffer on the spot— or demand some immediate payment upfront. With this result, NPCs negotiate in good faith; they won't ask you for something truly impossible or modify the deal without cause. A hit means the NPC wants to follow through, even if the two of you can't agree on a price.

Either way, you don't have to agree if you don't like the modifications or requirements of their counteroffer. You're free to walk away from the deal anytime before you both agree to the terms. That said, once you've offered a deal (and they've countered your offer) you can't persuade them again about this issue until the situation changes or time passes.

When you invoke a Debt to add +3 to your roll, explain how you're bringing that Debt into play as if you were cashing in the Debt. Just saying "I spend the Debt" isn't enough; you have to include it directly, reminding them why they owe you. Invoking a Debt always counts as providing moderate leverage —such that most NPCs will consider your moderate favors and demands— and the Debt is considered resolved if you both agree to an eventual deal.

If you roll a miss after invoking a Debt, the Debt is not spent. Instead, the NPC in question finds a way to weasel out of what they owe (for now) alongside whatever else happens as a result of a miss. You still hold the Debt, but you can't ask the NPC for a similar favor until the situation changes or time passes.

Sidebar: The Art of Seduction
Seducing an NPC you are trying to persuade means much more than merely offering sex. Instead, seduction covers any kind of persuasion that draws an NPC into their vices, lusts, and desires. A wizard might long for sex, of course, but he might also be convinced to help you in order to further his own ambition. So long as you're trying to get the character to give into their baser nature, you're seducing them!

Notes on Mislead, Distract, and Trick
Mislead, distract, or trick is triggered whenever your character tries to gain the upper hand over another character through deception. You might want to deflect someone's attention away from or toward something, convince someone that the lie you're offering them is the whole truth, or fool them into taking an action —or not taking an action.

Triggering this move, however, involves offering a plausible lie, distraction, or trick. You can't walk into a gathering of ghosts and pretend to be one of them… unless you've got a magic spell that makes you look, sound, and feel like a ghost. You've got to offer some reasonable falsehood that makes it possible for your target to believe in your deception, especially when you're facing long odds of successfully fooling them. You haven't reached the point of uncertainty —the point at which a move triggers— if it's obvious you're not telling the truth.

That said, the move has a broad trigger based on intent: throwing a rock at the cops to distract them is definitely misleading, distracting, or tricking them, but throwing rocks at those same officers with the intention of inflicting harm just means you're turning to violence with the rocks as your weapon. Mislead, distract, or trick focuses on deceit! If the goal is something else, then use a different move.

On a hit, remember that your target is tricked! You get to choose a few options from the list, but the core deception you put forward succeeds. If you are fleeing from a dragon and trick her by quickly ducking down an alley, a hit means she is fooled for at least a few moments —the options you pick tell the MC how long the deception lasts, how quickly your opposition recovers, and what other benefits or opportunities your deception offers you. Sometimes that means you may inflict harm or other effects as a direct result of your deceit; if you trick someone into walking into a trap, they suffer the consequences!

If you're trying to be sneaky while accomplishing another goal —like striking out at someone from a concealed position— you can use this move first to gain the benefits of surprise, use the move after another move to avoid the consequences, or both. Simply jumping into a move like turning to violence or letting it out means you're openly pursuing your goal, even if the opposition sees you coming, instead of carefully setting up an ambush or taking advantage of a target's distracted state.

Finally, there is no difference in outcomes if you target a PC or an NPC; mislead, distract, or trick is equally binding in both cases. Player characters do get a chance to get in the way —and may successfully stop you from fooling them— but if you get a hit, the results are binding. Of course, you can only mislead, distract, or trick another player character with a plausible lie or deception; the MC is the judge of whether your deceit is believable in the case of NPCs, but players get to make up their own minds about whether the tale you're spinning could reasonably fool them.

Options for Mislead, Distract, or Trick
Creating an opportunity gives you a chance to act when you otherwise wouldn't be able to act —an escape route in tight quarters or an opening in someone's defenses— or gives you some beneficial circumstance not already on the table, like an overlooked ally or resource. When you choose this option, your MC tells you what opportunity you get as a result of your trickery, but feel free to suggest ideas that fit the fiction. If you don't like what they offer you, you aren't committed to the choice —feel free to change your pick.

Exposing a weakness or flaw lets you discover a vulnerability within your opposition. Sometimes this is because you mislead them into revealing a particular weakness or distract them long enough for you to observe something meaningful that they would rather keep secret. It's up to you to act on the weakness, which may lead you to trigger another move. In some cases, the weakness or flaw is so significant the MC may allow you to take advantage of it without making another move!

Confusing them for some time means your gambit lasts longer than normal. The deception may last until you're ready to act on it, or may extend for several scenes or sessions. Note that not picking this option means that your opposition is only fooled for a short time. If you want your tricks to stick, you need to give up one of the other options.

Avoiding further entanglement allows you to get away more or less clean. After this, the attention is no longer on you and unlikely to return; your enemy can't quite pin you down. Your opposition may blame someone else or simply overlook you, but their focus falls elsewhere. Further engagement might reopen their interest, but you're in the clear for now! If you don't pick this option, it means they will eventually take a harder look at whatever lie you've told them.

Sidebar: Powerful Opportunities
Sometimes the fiction of an opportunity created by a move sets up a PC to act without uncertainty. For example, sneaking up on a patrolling goon is an opportunity to knock him out or kill him without needing to turn to violence. Unless there's some other circumstance that makes the attack uncertain —the goon is especially tough or the PC taking the action is unskilled at violence— there's no need for another move. That said, many opportunities merely give PCs a chance to take another uncertain action —like escaping a situation by jumping through a previously secured window after you've picked the lock.

Notes on Figure Someone Out
Figuring someone out involves learning another character's motivations and worries by scrutinizing their body language, tone of voice, or other telltale clues. In order to trigger the move, you have to narrate how you're studying the other character, including what kinds of things you're looking for in their behavior and appearance. Such investigation demands focus and patience; it's not something you can do while you're crashing through a plate glass window.

This move usually requires interacting with your target, but there may be cases where you can trigger the move by watching them at a distance or rifling through their belongings. As with other moves, the way you trigger the move shapes the outcomes, so the answers you get may be more vague at a distance.

On a strong hit, you're in control of your observations. You get to ask two questions from the list, revealing little to nothing about yourself as you do so. Tell the player of the character you're figuring out what you do or say and which questions you select; they must respond truthfully, even when you're figuring out an NPC and their player is the MC. Whatever you do or say, however, remember that the questions must come from the list; talk to your MC if there's something you want to know and nothing seems to fit.

On a weak hit, you still get to ask two questions, but you also let something slip about yourself, giving your target a chance to ask questions about you as well. Often this means your target realizes you're reading them and turns their attention toward you as well. If you're reading them at a distance, however, you might leave something behind at the scene or disturb the location in such a way that your target gets some information about your plans and loyalties.

Note that you get to ask the player of the character your questions, so the focus here is on the data your character takes in from their overall observations —info that might be unspoken or subtle. If you ask "Who's pulling your character's strings," the revealed information might stem from a lapel pin or choice of phrase in your target's speech. You can always ask the question in character if you'd like, but all that's required for you to get the information is to select the questions from the list.

If the character you're figuring out is in your Circle, you get to ask an additional question, even when you roll a miss. You know a bit more about how people from your own community act and think, so it's easier for you to piece together what they're up to, even when you don't get a full read on them.

Notes on Keep Your Cool
Keep your cool triggers when your character's focus and willpower are needed to accomplish an important goal or avoid serious danger. Note that the move only triggers when the pressure is on, so you won't have to keep your cool unless something else in the scene has already brought some strain to bear on your character.

Keeping your cool means trying to stay in control when the situation gets messy, but only when no other move seems like a perfect fit. If another move fits, use it! If you're trying to sneak past a guard, you're likely distracting him; if you want to inflict harm on someone, you're probably turning to violence. Keep your cool is for those moments where nothing else truly fits, like dodging a moving car, hacking a computer, or disrupting a spell.

When you keep your cool, you set the stakes by declaring what situation you're trying to avoid. If you're worried about the guns already drawn in a gunfight, you might say, "I don't want to get shot"; if you're nervous about your spouse's reaction to some terrible news, you might say, "I'm trying to avoid a misunderstanding about what happened last night."

When you roll a strong hit, you see the stressful situation through, dodging bullets, avoiding calamity, and generally coping with shit. Whatever you set out to avoid doesn't come to pass! That said, there may be other consequences of your actions —avoiding a misunderstanding with your spouse doesn't mean that he has to like whatever news you just delivered.

On a weak hit, you find yourself under more pressure than you expected —but the MC will always provide a way out… and the cost for taking advantage of that opportunity. Remember, though, a hit is a hit! A 7-9 result here offers a real chance to avoid your chosen situation, and the MC is obligated to give you a cost that's both within your ability to pay and doesn't invalidate that you're seeing the danger through.

For example, the MC can't say "There won't be any misunderstanding if you never talk to your spouse again" because it invalidates the very relationship you were trying to protect, but they can offer to let you off the hook with your spouse if you're willing to lie about the messier details. A cost you pay to keep your cool now may resurface later as a new problem —your spouse may discover the depth of your lies!— but you dodge the consequences for now.

On a miss, the MC isn't obligated to bring the threat you were avoiding to bear. It's possible the thing you feared comes to pass, but it's also likely that there are other outcomes that make sense in the fiction too. Just as with the other basic moves, a miss while keeping your cool means the MC says what happens next, and they aren't bound to respond in the obvious way you established when you tried to keep your cool.

Abilities per Playbook
• The Aware's Let It Out Abilities:
 • gain access to a secure or locked-down location
 • draw immediate mortal attention to a person or situation
 • spot a previously overlooked clue or advantage in the immediate area
 • convince an NPC to act on their kindness, role, or own best interest
• The Fae's Let It Out Abilities:
 • summon an elemental storm of your court (2-harm close area ap)
 • appear to others as someone you have previously touched
 • compel the elements of your court to reveal what they have seen
 • create a telepathic link between yourself and another for a scene
• The Hunter's Let It Out Abilities:
 • track someone or something through the city with limited information or trail
 • treat a mundane object as a weapon (2-harm messy) or 1-armor for a scene
 • jury rig an explosive (3-harm loud fire) or smoke bomb (s-harm loud smoke)
 • force a vulnerable foe to flee your presence and deliver a message
• The Imp's Let It Out Abilities:
 • sniff out a secret stash, even when expertly concealed or hidden
 • infiltrate a hostile area by appearing unworthy of concern
 • teleport into your establishment from any distance or position
 • inflict 4-harm (ap) on a vulnerable target who underestimates you
• The Oracle's Let It Out Abilities:
 • uncover the essential truth of a thing or person in your presence
 • twist the strands of fate to help or hinder an NPC in your presence
 • frighten or impress someone with knowledge of their past
 • channel a powerful prophecy from beyond concerning a present character
• The Spectre's Let It Out Abilities:
 • instantaneously travel to one of your anchors, no matter the distance
 • take control of a machine or vehicle by possessing its mechanical form
 • let loose a psychic blast of ectoplasmic energy (2-harm close area ap)
 • follow an ordinary mortal —no matter where they go
• The Sworn's Let It Out Abilities:
 • shatter a magical spell, illusion, or enchantment with a touch
 • cloak yourself in magical armor; expend it to ignore all harm one time
 • strike down all lesser foes in your vicinity with a blast of elemental force
 • force someone to answer your questions truthfully for a scene
• The Tainted's Let It Out Abilities:
 • imbue your touch with demonic corruption (2-harm hand ap)
 • impress, dismay, or frighten someone with a display of demonic fury
 • move through or past a physical obstacle created by mortal hands
 • summon your dark patron's attention directly on your location
• The Vamp's Let It Out Abilities:
 • create an opportunity to escape, ignoring all mortal bindings
 • perform a fantastic feat of vampiric strength or agility
 • extend your vampiric senses for a short period of time
 • display your dominance; low-Status NPCs flee, PCs must keep their cool
• The Veteran's Let It Out Abilities:
 • blindside an unsuspecting target with a terrible or knockout blow
 • barricade or secure a place using minimal supplies
 • frighten or intimidate someone with a reminder of the person you used to be
 • reveal the ways an old ally or enemy is shaping a current conflict
• The Wizard's Let It Out Abilities:
 • deflect or redirect an oncoming blow before it strikes
 • perform a feat of telekinetic strength or precision
 • detect the presence and function of magical items or spells
 • reshape the essence or nature of an exposed object or magical spell
• The Wolf's Let It Out Abilities:
 • heal 2-harm instantaneously, starting with critical harm
 • transform from one form into the other without seeing the moon
 • perform a ferocious feat of lupine strength and speed
 • enhance your lupine senses to supernatural levels

Notes on Let It Out
Let it out triggers when you turn to the darkest forces within you for power, allowing the lurking shadows to fuel powerful supernatural and preternatural abilities. But letting it out isn't merely activating magical feats; you're actively letting out the darkness within, giving it control to get what you want.

When you trigger the move, select one of the abilities from your playbook before you roll —you aren't just letting out some random part of yourself! Instead, you're letting out a specific ability, like appear to others as someone you have previously touched or let loose a psychic blast of ectoplasmic energy. Each playbook starts with four abilities, but you may gain more as your character matures and grows.

On a weak hit, you activate the ability (and mark corruption), but the outcome is imperfect. The MC tells you which complication —cost, limitation, or instability— affects your efforts. Sometimes the messy consequences are obvious, drawn from the fiction right in front of you, but other times the complications reveal new elements in the scene or previously hidden limits to your powers or abilities.

For example, trying to impress someone with knowledge of their past might upset an onlooking crowd (unstable effect), while attempting to shatter a magical spell might reveal certain magics can only be weakened (limited effect). Whatever is established in the fiction affects more than just this move —it's a part of the fiction moving forward, shaping what's possible in the future and informing the new conflicts arising from your actions!

On a strong hit, you have a choice: you can overcome the complications that come with activating your ability or you can avoid the corruption and accept that diminished or messy effect. If you choose to overcome the complication, you're putting special effort into avoiding the cost, breaking through the limitation, or stabilizing the effect, turning to the darkness inside you to push through and achieve the full effect.

Options for Let It Out
Costly abilities fully activate, but they impose physical, emotional, or social costs. You might suffer harm as magical energies course through your body… or find that your ability caused collateral damage to your allies. These costs are often about the conflict at hand —the result of your opposition's resistance or the exertion required to use the ability— but they can also stem from how others view you when they see what capacities you wield.

Limited abilities don't demand more from you, but they also don't manifest in full. Their range or effect may be restricted —for example, affecting some characters you targeted, but not others— or they may simply be incomplete, leaving you with partial answers or flawed defenses. A limited ability still works, though, even if it inflicts less harm or doesn't answer all your questions.

Unstable abilities manifest in full, but they are inherently temporary or dangerous. Magical powers may begin to fade as soon as they take effect; physical feats may create additional problems, threatening to spiral out of control. An unstable ability achieves its effect, but you must act quickly before you miss your moment or the situation becomes more complicated.

Yet… a hit is a hit; the complication doesn't invalidate your chosen effect. If you're performing a ferocious feat of lupine strength and speed —tearing the door off a car to get at someone inside the vehicle— the outcome is more likely to be costly (you take harm) or unstable (you damage the car to the point that it's leaking gasoline) than limited. You either tear the door off the car or you don't!

If you feel the complication chosen by the MC undermines your intent —inflicting lethal damage on the friend you were trying to protect, offering partial answers that don't offer a way forward, etc.— let them know. The MC must honor the hit; the problems need to complicate your efforts instead of invalidating them.

Marking the corruption —and getting the full effect you wanted— may sound tempting, but remember that it means you're letting in a bit more of the darkness to fuel your dominance. Check out Corruption on page 45 to learn more about the costs of marking corruption!

Sidebar: Let It Out Abilities
Some of the let it out abilities are quite specific —heal 2-harm— but others are broad and open to interpretation, capturing your playbook's nature or capacities in ways that give you room to make them your own. For these malleable abilities —such as impress, dismay or frighten someone with a display of demonic fury— work with your MC to figure out how the outcome of the move will manifest in the fiction before you roll the dice.

Some of these abilities overlap with other basic moves or playbook moves, so look carefully at the effects before you decide which move to make. An Oracle with Soothsayer (page 138) can turn to her prophetic tools to read someone's fortune, receiving information from the MC about what lies ahead. But that same Oracle could also let it out to channel a powerful prophecy from beyond concerning a present character. The former gets her some information with little risk; the latter may alter the very fate of the character in question and exposes the Oracle to complications and corruption.

If none of the let it out abilities on your playbook fit what you want to accomplish in the fiction with your powers, you're likely invoking your fictional position to make another move, like attempting to persuade someone with your vampiric charm or figuring someone out with the keen senses of an experienced hunter. If nothing fits, then it's likely you're keeping your cool to overcome some obstacle or avoid trouble.

The scope of the let it out abilities also goes far beyond "supernatural" powers. Mortalis playbooks can still harness their inner strengths and hardfought skills to reach beyond their limits by letting out the forces inside them. For example, the Aware can wield their innocence like a weapon to convince an NPC to act on their kindness, role, or own best interest, and the Hunter can throw themselves into the hunt to track someone or something through the city with limited information or trail. While not "magical" in nature, these abilities are still powerful tools, allowing Mortalis to keep up with the monsters and mages… at the cost of losing their humanity to the same darkness of corruption.

Notes on Lend a Hand or Get in The Way
Each move in Urban Shadows is a moment in the fiction, an event that needs to resolve before you can move on to the next one. Only one character can have that kind of spotlight at a time, so you resolve one move at a time. If you try to escape a situation, we need to see how that resolves before you can turn to violence against the opposition. One move at a time.

After a player rolls, however, other players can jump in to help or interfere with their plans, provided they can fictionally do so. Helping or interfering requires you to be able to directly affect the action in question; you can't help someone turn to violence against a demon while you're on the phone with them, but you can help if you're in the same room holding a baseball bat! Some of these actions might normally trigger a basic move, like trying to deceive another character or beat them up, but since you're acting while another player has the spotlight, you roll with their Circle —hoping your knowledge of their community can point to the best way to aid or hinder them— instead of rolling any other basic move.

The bonuses and penalties you can offer tell you when this move is useful —you can't help (+1) when someone has rolled a 4, and you can't interfere (-2) when someone has rolled a 12. Your character can obviously undertake whatever fictional action they deem appropriate, but this move only triggers when it makes sense for the situation and has mechanical meaning. Otherwise, you instead trigger a new move after the current one is resolved, turning to violence or attempting to persuade the NPC as you like.

On a strong hit, things go smoothly; you modify the other player's roll without cost, applying a +1 or -2 to their total. On a weak hit, you still get to affect their roll, but you also find yourself in a tough spot as a result of your interference, perhaps suffering the same consequences as the character you impacted or stumbling into new consequences you didn't foresee. On a miss, the MC says what happens, as with any other basic move.

This move is crucial when the players oppose each other. Since turning to violence isn't an opposed roll, whoever lashes out first might do a lot of damage before the other player's character can react. Getting in the way allows targeted players to weaken attacks and resist trickery without everyone rolling dice all at once. If you'd like to read more about these kinds of conflicts in Urban Shadows, check out PC vs. PC Conflict on page 211.

Only one character can successfully lend a hand and only one character can successfully get in the way on any given roll. All the characters can try, but you can't keep racking up +1s as every other PC lends a hand (or -2s if everyone jumps in to get in the way). If a player misses, however, other characters can jump in, exposing themselves to the potential costs and complications that result from these kinds of rolls.

Notes on End of Session
The end of each session offers you a chance to reflect on both what happened in the story and how it affected your understanding of the city. Your character's status changes rarely, but the knowledge your character holds about each community is dynamic, dependent on your continued engagement with each Circle and its members. If you don't spend enough time with a given Circle to know what's going on within it, then your familiarity with that Circle as a whole weakens and fades; if you get mixed up in a Circle's business, you learn more about that Circle's current position and politics.

Deciding that you've grown closer to a Circle means your interactions with them have helped you to better grasp that Circle's conflicts and perspectives; raise your Circle rating in that Circle to reflect your new understanding and use that new Circle rating moving forward. Your interactions that lead to this increased knowledge don't have to lead to profound insights —merely spending time with a gathering of ghosts or a connected vampire is reason enough to raise your rating in Night.

Of course, learning more about one community means you're also likely losing touch with a different community. When you raise one Circle rating, you lower a different Circle rating to represent how you've grown apart from one part of the city as you grow closer to another. It's hard to keep up with the politics of Wild or Power when you're spending all your time with vampires and ghosts! Circle advances (page 186) can increase your overall Circle ratings, allowing you to keep track of more communities at the same time, but your base of knowledge is always in flux. It's extremely difficult to reach a point of stasis because the various communities push and pull you night after night.

In addition to thinking about your changing relationships with the city's Circles, reflect on any Debts that you may have overlooked during the session. Did you help someone without demanding something in return? Did you fuck around in someone's business? Did someone fuck around in yours? It's easy to overlook a moment in play that triggered one of the Debt moves (page 90), so take the time to look over your interactions and note any Debts that accrued without you writing them down.

If you help out someone you care about, you still have the right to claim a Debt on them; if you fuck over a close friend, they still have the right to claim a Debt on you. You might be a generous fool and let a Debt owed to you slide, but don't be surprised when you ask your friend for a favor later and find they have other priorities than your friendship.

As always, Debt is an agreement between you and your debtor or creditor. If you both can't agree on the Debt, have the MC weigh in and work things out. Remember that the rest of the city is always watching; if someone helped you out (or you screwed something up for them), then a Debt is owed, even if you feel like maybe you could weasel out of your obligation to them.

Finally, it may be the case that you didn't grow closer to any Circle or accrue any Debts. That's fine! This move exists to capture the action of the session; if nothing pushed you toward or away from any communities and no Debts were overlooked, then there's no need to adjust anything.

Notes on Put a Face to a Name
The city is filled with more people than anyone can possibly know, but your character is bound to have met —or at least heard of— most of the movers and shakers in the city. This move lets you establish history or learn someone's reputation upon seeing them or hearing about them for the first time. The question "What do I know about them?" or "Have I heard of this person?" is going to come up often while playing Urban Shadows; this move lets you answer the question and build on the answer quickly.

You only roll this move the first time you meet someone new or hear a new name. It's not something you can trigger later when you sit down to really think about the person you met earlier. Either the name (or face) hits you and you remember something, or you proceed in the fiction to build a new relationship with that character. It's always an option to say, "I don't know this person" and skip the roll, but the city's gossip carries far and wide. You can always take a shot at putting a face to a name when someone new appears in the story, especially if it's a character you want to engage with more deeply!

If you get a hit on this move, you're familiar with the person in question, but they might not know who you are at all. They've got a reputation, but information isn't always a two-way street. It's possible, even likely, that someone important enough to be known in the city might not yet know who you are.

On a strong hit, you've got a standing reputation with them; you get their reputation and a bit more —a Debt or a deeper insight into their story. If you choose they owe you a Debt, work with the MC to determine how you earned it. Perhaps you did them a favor or helped them out directly with a problem… or maybe they got mixed up in your business without sufficient cause.

On a miss, the MC tells you if they're a stranger or someone you owe. If they hold a Debt over you, talk with the MC to determine the circumstances in which they ended up holding said Debt. It's possible they traded someone a Debt to get a Debt on you, but most Debts are the result of a direct engagement with the character you owe.

Notes on Hit the Streets
Hit the streets lets you seek out contacts and connections within the city to help you get what you need: a safe place to crash, magical items, information, your nightly fix, whatever. Any time your character grabs their coat and hat to get out and pound the pavement for resources, you're hitting the streets.

You must say to whom you're paying a visit before you trigger the move; it must be reasonable that they can provide you with whatever you need. An ancient immortal might just have a spear in their armory that can kill an incarnated god, but it's unlikely the local vampire drug dealer has a stock of such weaponry on hand. You can't hit the streets to get something from someone who definitely doesn't have it.

Whenever possible, try to circle back to existing characters with this move: the city gets crowded if there's a knowledgeable demon hunter on every corner. Better to go to the person everyone knows, the character you've established as the most likely to have what you need on hand. If you get stuck, talk to your MC; they'll help you figure out who might be willing to help you out in your time of need.

Notice that you actually have to get out into the city to trigger this move. It's not enough to make a few phone calls or post on an internet forum and hope that the goods come directly to you. Supernatural creatures —and the mortals who deal with them on a daily basis— are always skeptical of impersonal communication. Phone calls are too easily monitored by their enemies; emails are vulnerable to hackers and police. Best to see someone in the flesh. Safer. Good deals are often sealed with handshakes and oaths.

Hitting the streets is also an excellent way to mark a Circle for advancement; you don't have to have a Debt or an established onscreen relationship with someone to pay them a visit and ask for a favor. Haven't been able to mark Wild this session? Perhaps a visit to a faerie queen might get you what you need…

Options for Hitting the Streets
If whoever you go to is juggling their own problems, it doesn't mean they can't or won't help you; your request is certainly messier when you catch them in the middle of their own troubles, but they have whatever you're looking for at the moment. That said, you do find them mired in some situation that they can't resolve on their own because they lack the resources or skills needed to get out from under the rock. But a friend in need is a friend indeed, as they say —you might just find them more amenable to making a deal if you can help them resolve a ticking time bomb or aid them with a messy situation.

If whatever you need is more costly than anticipated, then either your contact knows something you don't know about what you need or you don't know the real value of what you're requesting. Maybe whatever you're looking for is more dangerous than you realize or you overlooked something obvious about the costs of the thing in question. It's also possible the thing is just scarce or rare: your contact may need you to pay with more than just Debts or money, like immediate favors or priceless items, magical or mundane. They have it, but it's going to cost you.

Notes on Study a Place of Power
Studying a place of power comes in many forms: you might literally dig for secrets in an oracle's hidden library or subtly observe the politicking during a faerie court's equinox gala. In order to trigger the move, however, you have to look for answers beyond what you can see with a quick glance. Studying a place of power requires you to slow down and engage your senses to understand the hidden truths, pulling back the veil by leveraging what you know about the Circle in question and the way it operates.

A place of power, sanctuary, or gathering spot is any spot that members of that Circle consider important: a werewolf bar, the law office owned by a demon lord, a faerie tattoo parlor, a mortal synagogue, you get the idea. The location doesn't have to be magical or supernatural in nature —you can learn plenty from a place immortals hang out, even if they keep their magical activities there to a minimum. So long as it's important to the Circle, you can trigger the move at that location.

The kind of place it is both informs how you study it, and what secrets your investigation might reveal. You can openly wander around a vampire nightclub, eavesdropping on the bloodsuckers' secrets and schemes, but a wizard's council antechamber might require you to ransack the place to study it effectively; either way, neither of these places of power will tell you much about Wild or Mortalis.

At first blush, figuring someone out and studying a place of power might seem similar —you can trigger both by exploring a physical space. The former, however, focuses on a single person and their individual property; the latter is for whenever you want to look at a space that's important to a larger group of characters than just one.

On a hit, the MC pulls back the curtain on some truth amidst the chaos, revealing something that is more than it appears —a secret treasure, a concealed assassin, or maybe even just a conflict between two other characters you might have overlooked. It's up to you to address what you've learned! You can ignore it, play upon it, or use it to your advantage as you see fit, including parlaying what you've discovered into triggering another move, like hit the streets to get more answers from relevant parties or figuring someone out now that you know who you're most interested in learning more about within the space.

On a strong hit, you reach a deeper understanding; you get to ask the MC a relevant question about the Circle and its politics. If you're investigating the vampire nightclub, for example, you might ask, "What here might get the owner in trouble with his sire?" You can't ask irrelevant questions —"Does anyone here teach magic?"— unless it's been set up before in the fiction —maybe some vampires are regular blood magic practitioners and instructors— and you can't ask questions that focus entirely on other Circles, ignoring the Circle that controls it. The +1 forward you gain applies to the next roll you make that relies on the information you've discovered!

Note that choosing to study a place of power names that place as important to the fiction. Ultimately, the MC has final say on whether a sanctuary, gathering spot, or place of power is sufficient for you to trigger the move —it's hard to glean much from a dive bar no Circle cares about— but they will do their best to give you the benefit of the doubt! If it makes sense to you that the rune-marked and eerie section of a local park might be a gathering spot for Power, try to study it and see what you learn!

Sometimes other moves might offer you unique opportunities to study important locales, triggering the move when it would otherwise be impossible. For example, a vampire might let it out to extend their vampiric senses (page 82) while tied up and blindfolded in the basement of a werewolf bar, studying the gathering spot by eavesdropping through several feet of concrete; only by extending their vampiric senses can the character in question even trigger the move!

Notes on Do Someone a Favor
Anytime you help someone out without recompense, you get to claim a Debt from them that can be cashed in at a later time. You can claim Debts from both PCs and NPCs, provided you do something useful for them, and cashing in such Debts is the single most powerful way to compel both PCs and NPCs to action.

Such a favor, however, has to be real and meaningful or it isn't a Debt. If you do something for someone that does little to help them or their agenda, then they don't owe you. Bringing a wizard the severed head of their wizarding rival —unsolicited!— isn't a favor; you've likely made their life far more messy and difficult. Genuine favors clearly benefit the recipient.

At the same time, the city has little patience for disingenuous dismissal of Debts earned. If the same wizard made it known they wanted their rival killed, then they can't backtrack when it happens and say that the resulting mess means they don't owe the killer a Debt. The city knows —and remembers— when a real favor is done.

Sometimes you might work out a Debt in the fiction in advance —"Yeah, I can totally help you out, but you're going to owe me"— or step out of character and draw attention to something that happens in the moment —"I just saved this faerie's life. I think she owes me a Debt." Either way, everyone agrees the favor was done, and the Debt is a consciously acknowledged part of the events that occurred.

If you help someone as part of an even trade, it doesn't count as doing them a favor; you have to go above and beyond the original deal to claim a Debt. You aren't doing someone a favor when you simply uphold your end of the bargain! That said, one-sided deals —"Rat out your friends, and I'll give you a ride across town"— don't count as even exchanges. You can't avoid a Debt by offering something paltry when someone is obviously doing you a favor. You still owe a Debt when they've paid in full for a shared, expensive meal and you merely offer to tip the server.

Finally, you have to actually do the favor in order to claim the Debt. If it turns out later that you didn't actually do anything —perhaps because you lied about what you accomplished or just didn't understand what happened— the Debt is resolved. You can't cash in a Debt for a favor that never occurred!

If you forget to call out a Debt in the moment a favor is done, don't fret. You have a chance at the end of each session (page 85) to collect Debts you think you're owed if you miss them during play.

Notes on Overlook a Harm
Not all Debts accrue from favors done; some Debts stand in for losses that occur when a meddling fool negatively impacts someone else's affairs. Of course, the person harmed can always enact their revenge on whoever wronged them, but agreeing to overlook a harm lets them claim a Debt from said fool so everyone can move on to deal with other business.

Just as when a favor is done, the harm in question must be real and meaningful. Murdering someone's business partner is a serious infraction; you've made it hard for the person impacted to do business in the city, and the Debt keeps the scales even when you dump red ink onto their clean balance sheet. But merely insulting that same business partner isn't serious enough to accrue any Debts. The city isn't going to hold anyone accountable for petty niceties.

If you're mixed up in someone's business for good reason —maybe they've kidnapped someone close to you, and you're just doing everything you can to rescue the victim— then you don't owe a Debt when you break things trying to make it right. Smashing your way through their defenses isn't a harm they can overlook; it's the consequences of their decision to fuck with you and yours.

But if you muck about in someone's affairs because you're bored, reckless, or selfishly stand to gain, then you're almost certainly harming them. A faerie who loses their cool inside a vampire's haven —triggering the sprinkler system with a needless elemental display and ruining the vamp's prized vinyl record collection— owes the vampire a Debt if the bloodsucker agrees to overlook the mess they made. Even if they are friends, a harm was done.

Of course, none of this matters if the person who was harmed refuses to overlook the transgression. Someone you harmed can't claim a Debt from you and still demand vengeance for your actions. The Debt makes things even, and accepting that you owe them means accepting that the Debt covers the loss, at least enough to drop the issue. If they don't want your Debt, they are free to do as they like… but they don't get to claim a Debt and still try to murder you for what you did to them. They didn't overlook anything if they are still acting on the harm you did!

Similarly, a Debt arising from a lie or error about the harm you've done is erased as soon as the truth comes to light. If someone thinks you caused an explosion that killed their husband —a harm they are willing to overlook— they can demand a Debt from you. But if it's later revealed that their husband was alive the whole time, the Debt is resolved without any further payment on your part. You don't owe if they weren't actually harmed by your actions.

Such a situation is quite different than one in which their husband is brought back to life by a helpful wizard after the explosion. The Debt you owe stands in that case, covering the damages you did that had to be rectified by someone else. Only when the event that caused the Debt is revealed to be a lie or error does the Debt itself get erased.

Notes on Cash In a Debt
Whenever you want something from someone who owes you a Debt, you can cash in the Debt by reminding them why they owe you and telling them what you want from the list provided. Assuming they honor your request, the Debt is used up and erased.

You don't need to quote the exact reason for the obligation when you cash in a Debt; alluding to the favor owed is enough to trigger the move. What matters is that both parties recall the Debt and acknowledge it, and that they both know it's resolved if the debtor honors the Debt. That said, cashing in a Debt isn't merely mechanical; you still have to say what you want in the fiction, making an open demand of the person who owes you the Debt in question.

You can cash in a Debt whenever you want, even in the middle of a conflict or chase. It's hard to get someone to answer a question honestly in the middle of a loud gunfight, but so long as you can communicate —text messages? telepathically?— cashing in a Debt can get you the answers you seek. So long as it makes sense in the fiction, you can cash in a Debt.

Finally, remember to mark the Circle of the person with whom you cashed in the Debt, even if they weasel out of it or outright refuse it. Your reputation advances within the city when you leverage your holdings, even if the person in question tries to deny you what you're owed. See page 186 for more on honoring Debts and Circle advancement!

Options For Cashing In a PC Debt
Demanding a PC answer a question honestly is perhaps the only way to get the absolute truth from another PC. Figuring someone out can't tell you if a character is lying about any particular statement —the move focuses on the political situation a character is in, not the truth— but you can force another PC to be honest by cashing in Debts. If the PC honors the Debt, their answer to the question must be both spoken aloud and complete: no obfuscation, deception, or half-truths!

Asking for a favor at moderate cost is a broad option, encompassing all sorts of demands not already on the list. You might ask someone to hide something sensitive for you, steal something valuable, or back you up in a tough situation. What is considered a moderate cost always depends on the skills and talents of the character who owes you the Debt. For some characters, killing someone is a favor they can perform at moderate cost. As always, the MC arbitrates any disputes on what's moderate, but look to the fiction to get a sense of what might be considered a moderate cost for any given character.

Lending a hand or getting in the way both involve securing another PC's aid. If you want another PC to help you —or interfere with someone else— in the moment, this is the option to choose. Note that you might resolve cashing in a Debt in the middle of another move to determine if someone lends you a hand or gets in the way of someone else. As long as they try to help you or hinder your target, the Debt is cleared, even if they don't succeed. Note that NPCs can't cash in a Debt and select this option; they don't have a roll that can be affected by lending a hand or getting in the way.

Erasing a Debt means spending a Debt to erase a Debt they hold on someone else (including you), effectively clearing the books. You lose a bit of control over the person who owes you, but in exchange you give yourself —or a friend who's worth it— some breathing room.

Transferring a Debt requires that you know about the Debt in question. Most people are pretty open with who owes them, but you've got to get the information before you start asking people to hand over their Debts to you. You might transfer a Debt to get a friend out of trouble, but it's even more useful to get leverage on an asshole who's been screwing with you.

Sidebar: When Is a Debt Resolved?
For the most part, it's fairly easy to see when a Debt is resolved. If a creditor goes to one of their debtors and asks for a favor in exchange for a Debt held over the debtor, the Debt is resolved as soon as the favor is done. Debts are binary; so long as the agreement between the parties is acceptable to both sides —creditor and debtor— the Debt is cleared off everyone's books and forgotten.

But if you try to do a moderate favor for your creditor —like murdering a rival— and fail, does the Debt get erased? Or is it still hanging over your head, unpaid until you finally complete the murder you agreed to commit? And what if you didn't even try?

Usually, the creditor is the one who decides if the Debt is resolved. Some noble souls feel that an honest attempt at the moderate favor is enough, especially if the debtor would have a much harder time —due to circumstance or notoriety— attempting the favor a second time. Others, however, are more strict in their understanding of the credit they extend. For them, anything short of a success means the Debt stands.

Of course, this has limits. If a creditor asks for a reasonable favor and the debtor delivers in a messy or complicated way, virtually all of the city will stand with the debtor and declare the Debt resolved. The system would quickly collapse if creditors felt they could nickel-and-dime their debtors in an endless string of recursive requests.

Ultimately, the resolution of Debts is a matter for the two people involved in the transaction. Yes, Wild and Power tend to be more strict in their practice, but everyone in the city knows a soft-hearted faerie or generous wizard. And many vampires, despite their chaotic and uneven record keeping, are masters at keeping someone on the hook time after time —but they can only push things so far and stay in good standing with the rest of the city.

Options For Cashing In an NPC Debt
Demanding an NPC answer a question honestly works just as if you were making a similar demand of a PC; the NPC must give a straight answer to the question without lying, obfuscating, or tricking you in order to fully honor the Debt. If there's a particularly slippery NPC who thwarts your attempts to glean the truth, this is a great way to spend a Debt!

Asking an NPC to arrange a meeting with an NPC in their Circle gets you an opportunity to stand face-to-face with someone you might not otherwise reach; even if your status is low or your relationship with the NPC is hostile, the debtor NPC must ensure safe access to the NPC in question, provided they have a relationship that makes such a meeting possible. Often this means that they have to vouch for you, promising that you won't bring any violence to the situation, and they may include stipulations on the visit, such as "leaving your weapons at the door" or "promising to come alone." That said, if you (or your counterpart) escalate the situation, the debtor NPC may not be able to contain the violence.

Demanding a worthy boon or useful gift means you're offering the NPC a chance to pay off their Debt by giving you goods or services. NPCs don't have to honor requests for specific items or blessings, but they do have to give you something you actually want. A wizard may not bestow upon you the protection spell you requested, but they might give you a ring or amulet that does something in the ballpark.

Erasing and transferring Debts with NPCs works exactly the same as it does with PCs. You have to know a Debt exists in the fiction before you can cancel it or get the NPC to give it to you. You're free to ask, "Got any Debts I might want?" but the NPC doesn't have to give you a full list of their debtors.

Remember that you can also invoke a Debt to add +3 to your efforts to persuade an NPC. For example, if you want a specific good or service from the NPC —not just whatever they feel is a worthy boon— then you're better off trying to persuade them for that particular thing. You can read more about using Debts to persuade NPCs on page 77!

Sidebar: Moderate Favors
In general, NPCs honor anything on the list without hesitation; if you want something that's not on the list —like a moderate favor— you can invoke a Debt for a +3 while you persuade them (page 77). If the move yields a deal, the Debt is resolved; if you miss, the NPC weasels out of the Debt for now, alongside whatever else happens as a result of the miss.

In contrast, you can always ask a PC directly for a moderate favor. PC debtors always have the option of refusing to honor a Debt (page 95) —no matter what you requested— with all the cost and consequences that come with going back on their word.

Notes on Refuse to Honor a Debt
When a PC or NPC comes to cash in a Debt, you might find yourself in a tough spot. Maybe it's not a good time for you —or the thing they want is more costly than they realized. People sometimes ask for "reasonable" things that are likely to make a mess of your other relationships… or your political ambitions. Refusing to honor a Debt lets you (temporarily) try to slip out of your obligations. The Debt stands —even if you succeed in putting off your creditor— but you can try to delay the payment until the time is right or the request is less costly.

Whenever you refuse to honor a Debt, you're rolling with the difference between your highest Status and your creditor's highest Status. Low status NPCs and PCs (Status-0 or Status-1) are relatively easy to put off, especially as your Status in the city grows. Status-3 elites are harder to deny when they come to collect on what they are owed; the difference between your Status and their Status means you're often rolling with a negative modifier.

On a hit, you manage to put them off for now… but you still owe them. That said, they can't cash in a different Debt to try to get you to do the same thing right away. You've already said "no" once. They can, however, ask you for a different favor —cashing in a Debt for a different request— or come back when the situation changes (or time passes). After all, the Debt stands and they might still have needs!

On a weak hit, you put them off, but your flakiness costs you: you either owe them an extra Debt —interest on the credit they're continuing to extend— or have to mark corruption and let the darkness take a bit more of you. In other words, you've got to make promises, putting yourself in deeper hock to someone you didn't want to pay, or harden yourself to the needs of others. Of course, you can always simply decide to honor the Debt and avoid these costs, even after your roll.

When you try to refuse to honor a Debt and miss, you face a tough choice: honor the Debt in full or face the consequences. If you're dead set on saying no, the costs are steep —you erase all Debts owed to you by members of their Circle, and you take a -1 ongoing to Status within their community. If you outright refuse a Debt owed to a hunter when she comes calling in a moment of need, the rest of Mortalis will remember your broken word, refusing to honor what they owe you and limiting how much they trust and respect you. But a demon or a vampire may not care much about the whole situation!

Delays and excuses are part of the system —no one bats an eye when a debtor says it's "the wrong time" or "the price is too steep" when a creditor tries to cash in a Debt. Everyone expects a little pushback in the course of doing business! But outright refusing a Debt when you roll a miss can make you a social pariah. If you won't honor your Debts, then why should anyone honor their Debts to you?