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.