And here we are!
Okay, Ima talk scheduling over in that thread, and will talk settings and systems here.
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While I am feeling more comfortable with FATE after the Atomic Robo campaign, I’m not sure it’s really my cuppa. The system seems to either demand more of me than I’m usually comfortable with when the spotlight pins me down, or else allows another person with the spotlight to do something incredibly cool that also deflates what I was thinking of doing. This is kind of a me thing, not a commentary on the system itself (which continue to admire for its flexibility). I mean, I’m not running screaming for the doors if that’s what we go with, but my preference.
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I have been steeped in Urban Fantasy reading this year, apparently deciding to catch up with everything Seanan McGuire’s been doing, both her InCryptid tales and her October Daye fae noir. (I’ve read some other things, too, but those have held most of my word count). So I’m absolutely jiggy with that as a setting concept.
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I will do a PbtA game at the drop of a virtual hat, and Root sounds like a (forgive me) hoot.
Magpie’s Urban Shadows is probably the highest profile PBTA urban-fantasy game. I think the 2nd edition is still Kickstarting. It sounds like it emphasizes the political maneuvering typical of White Wolf’s line. It’s supposed to be pretty good.
I have the playtest material for the second edition and have played in several games as part of Magpie’s playtesting of the game. It is a good game, but I don’t know that I want to run the sort of game it is geared towards. Much like Apocalypse World the intent isn’t that the PCs are a team but more allies of convenience who are only as aligned as their agenda are.
While I don’t dislike those sort of games, they definitely require a particular mindset from everyone involved and I don’t know that I want to run a game of that sort of any length of time.
Is there a PBTA game that captures the spirit of what you want to do, that can be reskinned for the urban fantasy genre?
Before reskinning other games, let’s look at what we already have to work with in the urban fantasy genre for PBTA. These are just the ones I am familiar with, so if anyone knows of others feel free to share.
Urban Shadows
- Urban Shadows is a game about being an inhabitant in the City and dealing with the drama of warring factions. You are member of one of these factions, a community of similar individuals based on your history with the supernatural: Mortalis for discovered the supernatural, Power for those who wield the supernatural for their own benefit, Night for those who were pulled into the supernatural and forever changed by it, and Wild for those who were always a part of the supernatural and do not know another way to live.
- The PCs are allies of convenience, tied together by bonds of Debt and aligned goals.
- Advancement is done by interacting with the different factions within the city (Mortalis, Power, Night, and Wild). Whenever you have marked all four of these factions (by using a move that uses your status within that faction or involves a debt with a member of that faction) you erase all of your marks and check an advancement.
- There is a secondary Advancement track as you give into your darker nature, embracing Corruption. Corruption comes easily if you want it, but always ends the same way: “Retire your character; they may return as Threat.”
- Urban Shadows is inspired by crime fiction, and treats its factions (even ones with seemingly legitimate authority) as warring gangs. The game is as much based of series like the Wire and the Shield as it is stories like the Dresden Files.
City of Mist
- City of Mist is a noir-themed game about investigating the mysteries of the Mist while also looking into your own personal mystery. Your character is separated from the rest of the world by their interaction with the Mist, pulled into the secret world that the normal people of the world cannot interact with.
- The PCs are a group of investigators, flavored by their group playbook. They could be private detectives, defenders of a community, or some other group with a shared goal that leads them to dive into the mysteries around the City.
- Advancement is done by exploring your character’s personal mystery (which is determined during character creation) or by you or the MC invoking your Weaknesses during a roll. Once you’ve built up three XP (called Attention) in your XP track, you erase all of it and select an advancement.
- City of Mist is inspired by noir fiction, like the Maltese Falcon and the works of Raymond Chandler. Mysteries and the solving of them is baked into the core assumptions of the game.
Voidheart Symphony
- Voidheart Symphony is a game about rebelling against the authoritarian system put in place by the occult and oppressive Castle. The Castle rules through its henchmen, the Vassals and Enforcers. Only by combatting these forces can you every hope to free yourselves and loved ones from the oppression of the Castle.
- The PCs are rebels, secretly fighting against the Castle using whatever scraps of power they can manage while lying low so as not to draw the Castle’s attention. When you have identified a Vassal, it is time to delve into the Castle and assume your full power in order to directly combat them.
- Advancement is done by two conflicting XP tracks: World and Void. As you struggle in the City, you will mark World as you help to lift others up and mark Void as you work to improve yourself and your station. World advances grant you new options and Moves, while Void advances improve your Stats and rolls.
- Voidheart Symphony is a game of rebellion, inspired by series like Grant Morrison’s The Invisibles, the Persona games, and a tinge of the Silent Hill games, but also things like Star Wars: Rogue One.
Do any of these sound interesting to folks? Of these, I know Bill has played City of Mists when I ran it for him and Doyce, so I’ll defer to his opinion of the game.
Root
- Root is a game about being at the fringes of a war encompassing the entirety of the Woodland, working with the various factions and watching the consequences of your actions ripple out around you.
- The PCs are vagabonds, outcasts from society but very capable and useful outcasts. The vagabonds are not tied to any one faction and may often act against them, standing against oppression and keeping innocents safe from their machinations.
- Also of note, Root features the most playbooks I’ve ever seen for PbtA game with 19 playbooks ranging from the Champion and the Ronin, to the Prince and the Heretic.
- Advancement is done by perusing your Drives. Each PC has two Drives, and at the end of each session there you accomplished one of your goals, you get an Advance. If you accomplish both goals, you get two Advances.
- Root is obviously inspired by the board game Root (it’s a licensed game after all) but also has some Mouse Guard and Redwall in its DNA.
Of the ones you listed Mike I think Urban Shadows is the most interesting to me, but I think all of them sound fun.
Also as Dad said in scheduling stuff, I’m moving in today and should also hopefully be getting wifi (huzzah and praise be!). Will be able to better tell how good the wifi is tomorrow but most anything would be better than what I have now.
I enjoyed City of Mist and would be happy to play it again. My understanding of Voidheart Symphony is that it’s one of a slew of games trailing the popular Persona franchise. I haven’t played, but I’m down. I can buy into the Urban Shadows playstyle. So I’d defer to people with stronger opinions about what they want or don’t want, but I do endorse all these options.
I do think we’re at the point where we want to collapse options rather than add new ones, sorry for a bad suggestion. 
It wasn’t a bad suggestion (and if we were looking for a specific experience, it would even have been a good one) I just didn’t want to start making a painting by excavating Egypt.
Huzzah and praise be, as well!
I am surprised by this but totally down if that’s the way the group decides to go. I’ll also throw out some relevant PDFs so folks can make some more educated assumptions on how they feel about different games. Urban Shadows is the smallest as it doesn’t have a full release yet, but the core of the game is still more than enough to play it.
City of Mist
Urban Shadows
Voidheart Symphony
So I’ll preface by saying These All Sound Intriguing. They all also sound sort of dark, which is not necessarily a bad thing in theory, but may not be everyone’s “Hey, it’s Thursday night!” cuppa.
I’ve not read Bill’s PDFs yet, but based on Mike’s summary …
Urban Shadows - Definite Dresden vibe. I have an initial concern over the “allies of convenience” (which implies termination of alliance / betrayal type things). That’s completely in the genre’s wheelhouse, but I know that, as a group, we’ve tended to value being a team.
(NB Okay, read the start of the PDF. Just tossing the description “mature stories of political
con%ict and personal tragedy” out there.)
City of Mist - Probably the one described I am most interested in. I’m not always at top form in solving mysteries, and noir is, by definition, dark 
but it sounds like there is some interesting stuff for both individual players to focus on as well as a strong group dynamic.
(NB I have read the first few pages of the PDF and I am very intrigued.)
Voidheart Symphony - I am having a great deal of difficulty divorcing what this is almost certainly like from a description that reminded me of the hilarious Mechanicsburg setting in Girl Genius, esp. when it comes to the hapless souls trapped as workers inside the mad / schizophrenic Castle Heterodyne. That said (a) I would never ask anyone to try to run something like Phil Foglio, and (b) I am honestly not thrilled about running in a Grant Morrison-inspired setting.
(NB So, yes, I went back and read the beginning of the PDF. “Play Voidheart Symphony to…
…tell stories of desperate people fighting back with occult power. …tear down tyrants and bigots, and ask what should take their place. …jump between a grounded city and a vibrant otherworld. …grow and change as you steal power and realise truths about yourself.” I a somewhat more intrigued)
… so, after reading (and PDF glancing), I’d rank my interest as highest in City of Mist, with the other two tied in different ways.
All that said, I’d still like to have Root out there for consideration – it looks less dark, maybe a bit more fun. It’s not urban fantasy (it’s more arboreal fantasy), but I don’t want to rule that out, unless @fragolakat wants to get away from tromping through the woods.
Okay, time for my own game prep.
I too did not want to leave Root out of the consideration, I just know that the conversation had turned towards “what system could we play an urban fantasy game with?” and wanted to answer that question. Too keep Root on equal footing, I’ve amended my previous post to include some details about Root as well.
I find it a very interesting take on the PbtA (wait until I have to describe Roguish Feats) and would not mind traipsing around the forest upending tyranny in the style of Disney’s Robin Hood.
So, I took a second look at everything. The end result is that I’d be happy with any of them. Also take these with a grain of salt cause I have not gotten a chance to read any of the playbooks, being busy dealing with every possible disaster during move in (but I have wifi now!)
Urban Shadow
I was concerned I misread Urban Shadow, given that I surprised everyone. I do see how that’s confusing, but I think I still stand by it. Mostly I think the advancement mechanics, both from interacting with factions and the idea that no matter what you do, it slowly corrupts you. Narratively I think that’s cool. But also I understand that faction nonsense isn’t quite this group’s vibe.
City of Mist
Also sounds fun. I don’t have much more to say. Would be fun.
Voidheart Symphony
Since dad brought up Castle Heterodyne, I will be incapable of seeing this any other way. Which isn’t a problem, I love Girl Genius. But just know that’s how I’ll be viewing this. Although I can see where the Persona influence would come in.
Root
Love variety and vagabonds. Sounds fun.
I kind of want to refute this reading that the Castle is a metaphysical and psychological force, but its a very fun reading of the situation and why should I poopoo on the fun.
A sample Voidheart Symphony game might be “our characters vs. the Disney Corporation”. The players are fighting Disney’s control via copyyright over fairy-tale and folklore characters, and they’d project themselves into a Kingdom Hearts-esque world to rescue the Little Mermaid or Snow White from the “castle”:
Of course it is. If there’s Persona influence. But I’m sure that Heterodyne Castle would also argue that is a metaphysical and psychological force 
Castle Heterodyne: IT’S TRUE. I AM IN FACT A METAPHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FORCE.
Hapless Captive: Whew!
Castle Heterodyne: AMONG MANY OTHER FORCES. (Massive gear noises)
Hapless Captive: Eep!
So, I’ll point out its Wednesday and we’re no closer to a game picked out. I still don’t really have time to read multiple playbooks, so if anyone has an idea on one I should try to focus on I can attempt to do that.
(Also side note just a reminder I’m now on east coast time and wake up early and work on Thursdays. Not saying we need to change the time, just that making sure we don’t go too late will definitely be important)
My votes would be for Root, followed by City of Mist.
(Insert standard “But I’m happy to try anything to get some gaming done with friends” caveat here.)
I’ll note that we start at 8p MT, which is a very comfortable start point, but Margie and I could push an hour earlier to 7p MT without heroic measures. Not sure how that works with Mike or (especially) Bill, but I wanted to toss that out there.
(I know you weren’t pushing for a time change, but just to suggest it could be on the table.)
I’m in Pacific so an hour earlier is fine.