The City

Does anyone have ideas about our City?

Any places you want to try playing in? Any places you don't want to play in? These can be 'types of places' too.

The game sorta assumes it is happening in North America (USA), do we want to fiddle with that? A lot of Urban Shadows seems to be drawn to Canada, and that is generally considered equivalent to USA (don't @ me, I'm just observing).

Other places can get tricky, what with language, culture (we are already dealing with supernatural assumptions, basing them in the familiar can help), and legal differences. If we want to explore this, we can talk about it.

Unless everyone is from the same place I often recommend trying to play somewhere no one (from the group) lives, that way we avoid the jarring moments where something is described and one player shudders at how 'wrong that is'. This is not a hard rule, of course, and I discourage people from sharing any more information about themselves than is necessary, but if we are circling a place that you think might be an issue, feel free to drop me a message and we can reroute.

We don't have to decide directly on the City, we can first narrow down the sort of region we are keen on (East Coast/West Coast/Midwest, Cold/Tropical, Rich/Poor, 'Florida', etc.) if that helps up pick.

Urban Shadows 2 (possibly more than 1e?) seems to favor large cities, but we can turn our 'City Hub' into the hole of smaller city if that suits our tastes better. We can set our Hub on the edge of a large city if we want to keep the big-city-vibe and have access to farmland and wilderness. Options abound.

Think on what sorts of vistas you want to see in the game, what sorts of scenes you are keen on, but temper them through the lens of the implied-game-setting. This is mainly a game about the City, so expect the bulk of the scenes to be city-scenes.

I agree that a city that is unfamiliar to everyone will make it more accessible to everyone because it will be unknown to all. I think a large Metropolis would be great, with segregated strata of all cultures mixed in. Maybe there is a industrial hub of the city and a rich 'Las Vegas' like sector? Maybe a MNC filled sector where every company has its headquarters with towering high rises? The Outskirt of the city can have agricultural sectors that are purposefully kept away from all the pollution. Between the sophisticated agricultural areas and the city proper, you have the suburbs.

It sorta sounds like you are describing ideas for building a city from scratch? Else those sound fine, but pretty generic. :)

We are probably wanting to set this in a real city, and base our worldbuilding around that city's history and legends. So picking somewhere interesting (or previously-interesting) would help bring life to the game.

Do you have any suggestions for real-world cities that specifically fit your description? I heard 'Vegas', which is a fine option if we want.

If you don't know specific cities, giving an idea of desired climate might be a place to start? A Wizard or a Veteran may not care, but a Vamp may well care if the city is too sunny for them (presuming they care about sunlight, which is up to the player) or the nights too cold for prey to be out. Choosing a place that brings challenges can be fun too.

It is true, I was just throwing ideas for building a generic city. As for climate, I want it to rain most of the time, with occasional hot sunny weather. I mean the climate being haywire can be due to fey creatures messing with it. That would be nice arc to explore.

Personally, I don’t have any especially strong opinions about the setting except that I’d like if we chose a city that has public transportation/trains so I can use a train station as my harbour like I mentioned in the other thread. I know that New York has a subway, but that’s about the extent of my North American train knowledge. Do most major US cities have some form of public rail network within the city?

Sounds interesting! That also means we don't need to set this in a city that usually gets rain all the time. We can set it somewhere that does not have the infrastructure to cope with constant rain, and blame 'those damn fairies!'.

I am liking the idea of a fae incursion being something the characters are dealing with as we start. But that presumes we don't have a PC Fae, here's hoping. :) That sets us apposed to the whole Wild Circle, which can be fun, they can be very hard to play as PCs.

Another benefit of the above idea is that we could change the weather later once the constant rain becomes depressing and samey for the players. We could also start in a rainy season anywhere, just so you can get that itch out of your system?

Good point, yes. We definitely do know that much about any city we look at. It does have a train system, and presumably an underground one.
We will have to hit up the wikipedia! :)

We also don't have to set this in America.

Hi,

I agree with choosing a large city, so we have plenty of narrative options, and I think we should choose a real city, and not build one from scratch. It usually makes the game feel more real.

Having said this, I'm okay with whatever location you guys prefer. I'm not American, so the requirement of "no player knows about this city" is true for me for any city you choose in the States or Canada.

Also, just thinking out loud, but if we want rainy weather, a good railway infrastructure, and fae messing around... well, London comes to mind very easily (or any other large city in Great Britain).

I thought about that again when that came up. It tricky part of setting it in London is that guns are not allowed, even the police don't carry guns, so that will present problems for our Hunter player. If we do not have anyone who relies on guns we could set it in such a place, but we may have to constantly fight our habit of assuming guns.

Ohh! I like that a lot! Fits really well with having the fae as major antagonists

:)

A bit on the nose, no?

Putting Fae in America has its own appeal since they are unexpected threat?

I am guessing that the antagonist will be changing? Plus I don't think making the entire Fae as the antagonist will be a good idea. Maybe the Autumn Queen wants a perpetual weather and has stolen the Winter King's daughters passing them out in the city and hiding them with the Mortals, Mages and Vamps. Maybe the Autumn Queen wants to birth a Winter Child so that Autumn has dominion over Winter but Winter wants the old ways to be followed to the core and thus kidnapped a consort of Autumn and kept him hidden. The Autumn Queen can't forget her consort but can't let her ego be subdued and she is desperate. When Autumn consort comes to know he is replaceable, he grieves his predicament and cries out in pain, causing it to rain perpetually. Sorry, I am throwing random ideas. But, I don't think making fae entirely antagonistic is going to be good.

I am not thinking that far ahead. The details can come out in play. All I was saying that I probably would not do something large like this if we had a Fae player, it can get complicated. If we had a Fae player it would be some other reason, or a smaller, temporary issue they can get involved in. If we had no Fae players then that whole Faction is ripe for the plucking.

If we had a Fae player a lot of the Fae stuff falls to them to define.

Yes, and varied, and myriad.

I am okay with London or New York both cities are easy to search via Google Maps and can be reworked to have things that aren't on the maps. Plus, of course, old subways...

Anyway, here are a few things:

Old Church
An old Cathedral style church with gorgeous stained glass windows. A place that has a food kitchen and does real good in the city for everyone no matter race, gender, religion, or class. Basically a beautiful place that will need protectors to keep it beautiful.

The Train Station
Trains in and out of the city. All of the subway lines converge here. This place is absolutely huge and almost always bustling with activity. After the last train departs and darkness comes it just feels empty. There are stories though stories about people who stayed too long after the last train and were never heard from again.

Underground Gambling Den
Poker tables, roulette, and all sorts of games. This place is a hive of gambling where people loose their shirts and end up deep in debt to the wrong sort of person or thing.

OK. I may start putting together both London and New York see which clicks. If there are other places anyone is interested in, let us know.

If anyone has, even slight, preferences for one over the other, let us know and I will focus there appropriately.

I have often found less-well-know cities that fit while doing this sort of research, so there is a chance we may end up somewhere else that feels similar but has less baggage, researching London is proving daunting. :)

Both London and New York (or their less-well-known cousins) work for me, so once we've agreed on the general tone of the city, I'd say that the MC should have the final say, and pick the one that you would be more comfortable with. :)

I'm also happy with either!

One thing missing in the city is Werewolves. They used to be common, but these days there are 'none'† . There have been 'none' for over a decade. († for a given value of 'none'.)

What do you believe is the reason for this conspicuous absence? Everyone should answer.

Hmmm, do you mean what do we (the players) want to propose for the fiction, or what do our characters think is the reason? (even if they're not right)