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Trains wreck in [Urban Shadows]

InkSplatInkSplat 100%ed Bad Rats.Registered User regular
edited July 2014 in Critical Failures
When you ask the OP to explain Urban Shadows

Urban Shadows is a dark urban fantasy RPG that is "powered by the Apocalypse", meaning it is based on the engine for Apocalypse World, by Vincent Baker, the designer of Dogs in the Vineyard and Mechaton Zero. Apocalypse world was made with the OGL, and so other designers picked up the torch and have turned it into some really cool things, such as this here Urban Shadows, the dungeon crawling Dungeon World, and the Teen Monster Drama RPG Monster World.

RIGHT HERE is pdf with all the Basic Moves needed for the game.

Their use is fairly simple--do what you want your character to do, and it may or may not trigger a move. The fiction comes first, however. What this means is that the how of something is very important, because the fiction itself can determine that you land your hit without the need to roll, or that you fail simply because you try and shoot someone who is impervious to bullets! And at the same time, something you want to do may trigger a Move that isn't necessarily beneficial.

You perform the moves by Rolling 2d6 and then adding the appropriate stat. So, if your Blood was 2, and you Unleashed on someone, you'd roll 2d6+2. On a 10+ you've got a complete success, and a 7-9 you're facing a partial success, and anything below a 6 is.. well, its not necessarily a failure, but its a bad time. You might still succeed at what you were trying to do, but its going to hurt.

Different from Dungeon World or Monster Hearts or Apocalypse World are two major things: Factions, and Corruption.

Faction is what you know and understand about a given faction. It also is how you "level up" in Urban Shadows. As you interact with the various groups and races, you'll naturally increase your Faction rating with them. Once you have at least a single point each of the 4 factions, you can Advance, and then erase all marks for all Factions--basically, things change, and you don't have a bead on the current situation anymore. This can create a decision point, where you have to choose between a strong connection to factions which you can use to your advantage, or getting personally more powerful.

A note that Factions are not the individual supernatural powers or alliances. Night encompasses both Werewolves and Vampires, but that doesn't mean they get along, simply that they are connected.

and Corruption. There are various Moves in Urban Shadows that allow or force you to take Corruption in return for a boost. After every 5 points of Corruption, you then take a Corruption Move, which gives you a new way to gain power as well as tempting you toward more Corruption. And then, lastly, after you've gained a total of 25 Corruption, your character is lost to darkness, likely to become a Threat that the players will eventually have to face.


When you join a game of Urban Shadows.

To sign up, !signup. Looking for 4-5 players.

And then DOWNLOAD THIS PDF with the various archetypes. (Note that the character names/descriptions are just options. Feel free to pick your own.)

Here's a quick rundown of whats inside:
Mortality: The Aware, The Hunter, The Veteran
Wild: The Fae, The Tainted
Power: The Immortal, The Oracle, The Wizard
Night: The Spectre, The Vampire, The Wolf

Skip the part where you assign Debts, as we'll be doing that together in-thread. Still give it some thought though, especially as you're reading through everyone elses characters!

When you ask what the campaign is about

I don't know yet! I've got some ideas, but the Apocalypse World engine is based very much on "first sessions" not having an actual plot, so I'm going to go with that. How you build your characters, how you assign your Debts, and how your "Start of Session" rolls go are going to determine how this plays out.

Over all though, this is a dark urban fantasy game, and we're going to be using a made-up city that we're going to build as we go.

When you make your character, pick one of these questions to answer:
* What is the name of this city? Does it have any special meaning? Does it have a nick-name? Does that nick-name have any special meaning?
* The city has a rather impressive landmark. What is it? What's some of its history?
* What is the overall condition of the city? Is it falling apart like Modern Detroit? An aging East Coast-style city? A thriving metropolis?
* What is the city most known for?
* What's the worst area of the city known as? What's the nicest part of town? Who controls each?

When you have another question

Just ask! There's going to be a bit of improv here, as you'll notice that the Archetypes will refer to XP, which actually doesn't exist anymore. In stead, with anything that says "Mark XP" you'll just be "Mark any Faction" for now until they post the new Archetype sheets. But other issues may pop up, so don't be afraid to ask a question so we can work it all out.

I'm not limiting the number of people that can be each type of character, so we can end up with 2 Hunters or 3 Werewolves or whatever--that one random Vampire in the midst of a bunch of Immortals will make for an interesting story!

Origin for Dragon Age: Inquisition Shenanigans: Inksplat776
InkSplat on
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Posts

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    Super NamicchiSuper Namicchi Orange County, CARegistered User regular
    i am so in like flynn!

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    dresdenphiledresdenphile Watch out for snakes!Registered User regular
    !Interested, but I am completely clueless on the system.

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    InkSplatInkSplat 100%ed Bad Rats. Registered User regular
    edited June 2014
    !Interested, but I am completely clueless on the system.

    The system is really simple. I've taught an 8-year old to play Dungeon World.

    Edit: I realized that the OP was missing an important bit for the uninitiated!
    me wrote:
    You perform the moves by Rolling 2d6 and then adding the appropriate stat. So, if your Blood was 2, and you Unleashed on someone, you'd roll 2d6+2. On a 10+ you've got a complete success, and a 7-9 you're facing a partial success, and anything below a 6 is.. well, its not necessarily a failure, but its a bad time. You might still succeed at what you were trying to do, but its going to hurt.

    That's basically the whole system in a nutshell.

    InkSplat on
    Origin for Dragon Age: Inquisition Shenanigans: Inksplat776
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    OptimusZedOptimusZed Registered User regular
    I'm so down for this. Is there anything we need to know about the various archetypes, or are they mechanically identical?

    We're reading Rifts. You should too. You know you want to. Now With Ninjas!

    They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
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    InkSplatInkSplat 100%ed Bad Rats. Registered User regular
    OptimusZed wrote: »
    I'm so down for this. Is there anything we need to know about the various archetypes, or are they mechanically identical?

    @OptimusZed Download this PDF (also linked in the op) and that'll have all the archetypes along with a step by step process of making a character of that archetype.

    Each one is going to have different starting stats and abilities.

    Origin for Dragon Age: Inquisition Shenanigans: Inksplat776
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    OptimusZedOptimusZed Registered User regular
    Ok, thanks. For some reason I could only find the basic moves pdf.

    We're reading Rifts. You should too. You know you want to. Now With Ninjas!

    They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
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    InkSplatInkSplat 100%ed Bad Rats. Registered User regular
    OptimusZed wrote: »
    Ok, thanks. For some reason I could only find the basic moves pdf.

    No worries! I popped back and made it more obvious. The link was kind of buried in a sentence.

    Origin for Dragon Age: Inquisition Shenanigans: Inksplat776
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    Super NamicchiSuper Namicchi Orange County, CARegistered User regular
    having trouble deciding between wolf, vampire and wizard

    so many good choices.

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    OptimusZedOptimusZed Registered User regular
    I'm definitely feeling drawn to werewolf, hunter and tainted.

    We're reading Rifts. You should too. You know you want to. Now With Ninjas!

    They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
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    AuralynxAuralynx Darkness is a perspective Watching the ego workRegistered User regular
    Sure, ok.

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    AuralynxAuralynx Darkness is a perspective Watching the ego workRegistered User regular
    Aware, Immortal, and Spectre all seem pretty neat to me.

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    OptimusZedOptimusZed Registered User regular
    I think I've settled on werewolf. I'm not sure what the writeup ought to look like, though. I'll probably just go down through the character stuff as bullet points unless someone posts theirs first.

    We're reading Rifts. You should too. You know you want to. Now With Ninjas!

    They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
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    InkSplatInkSplat 100%ed Bad Rats. Registered User regular
    OptimusZed wrote: »
    I think I've settled on werewolf. I'm not sure what the writeup ought to look like, though. I'll probably just go down through the character stuff as bullet points unless someone posts theirs first.

    Pretty much how it works. You can take a look at my Dungeon World game to see how their characters are formatted as well, as they're built pretty similarly.

    Origin for Dragon Age: Inquisition Shenanigans: Inksplat776
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    AuralynxAuralynx Darkness is a perspective Watching the ego workRegistered User regular
    FWIW, I've played Dungeon World. This ain't quite the same thing but I'm in the right neighborhood.

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    InkSplatInkSplat 100%ed Bad Rats. Registered User regular
    Auralynx wrote: »
    FWIW, I've played Dungeon World. This ain't quite the same thing but I'm in the right neighborhood.

    The major aspects are the same, in how Moves work and such. Difference would be small things that shouldn't really cause any confusion if you know one system.

    Origin for Dragon Age: Inquisition Shenanigans: Inksplat776
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    AuralynxAuralynx Darkness is a perspective Watching the ego workRegistered User regular
    Quick sketch for an Aware character:
    Anthony Flint
    Paranoid Male Caucasian in Inconspicuous Clothing
    Blood 1, Heart 1, Mind 2, Spirit -1
    Mortality 1 Night 1 Power 1 Wild -1

    Tony Flint is a small-time gambler in WAY over his head ever since that night. He's
    a native of the town in question, learned about the Supernatural on that same night,
    and desperately needs to keep alive in a world that's even scarier than he thought.
    The city is worth saving because Tony thinks it's beautiful, in spite of it all, and
    if a guy like him thinks something's beautiful, it must be.

    Tony's got a beretta. It makes him feel a little safer.

    Tony is a Hard-Boiled Snoop who Knows Some Guys.

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    OptimusZedOptimusZed Registered User regular
    edited July 2014
    Here's a first draft.

    Chad Greenleaf, Ivy League Dropout Werewolf
    Werewolf_By_Night_(Jack_Russell).PNG
    Who are you?:
    A part-time drug dealer with 67 credits toward a BA in Business at a prestigious school, who turns into a wolf at night.

    How long have you been here?:
    I grew up here. Well, not here, the nice part of town.

    Why do you like being a werewolf?:
    There's something great about being completely cut off from human responsibility, if only for a night.

    Who is trying to save you?:
    My family, but most of them are kind of happy I'm gone. There's also this girl from school, Cheryl. She thinks we dated, and that I dropped out because I was depressed.

    What do I desperately need?:
    To know what happened on that camping trip, and why I'm a werewolf. Also some way to avoid killing all the dudes left in my frat so I can go back to school.

    Debt:
    I Owe:

    Tony 2 Debt for fucking up that thing at the poker game where I killed Simon.

    Simon 1 Debt for that time I killed him.

    Cassandra 1 Debt because I've been dropping in and kind of creeping on her since I found out we're the same and I sometimes bring the cops with me accidently.

    Jessica 2 Debts for keeping me and my frat brothers from mysterious forces.

    I Am Owed:
    2 Debts from Cassandra because she got me into this mess (though I'm not aware of how true that is).
    Look:
    Male Caucasian in Worn College Clothes

    Demeanor:
    Volatile

    Stats:
    Blood 2
    Heart -1
    Mind 0
    Spirit 2

    Factions:
    Mortality 1
    Night 1
    Power 0
    Wild 1

    Gear:
    • Duffle Bag full of my stuff
    • Burner Phone
    • Switchblade (2-harm, hand, concealable)
    • Snubnose Revolver (2-harm, close, concealable, loud, reload)

    Transformation:
    • 3 Harm while transformed.
    • 2 Armor while tranformed.
    • Transformation happens every night.
    • I fight like a small group.
    • Must Keep My Cool or declare a hunt when transformed.
    • Silver weapons ignore my armor.

    Wolf Moves:
    Delinquent: When I get hassled by the law, I get some Faction.
    Nose For Trouble: Roll Blood at the start of a session. 7+ gain one hold, 10+ gain 2. Use hold to show up when someone I care about is in trouble.

    Chad spends his most of his nights in Silvermist Park, the largest municipal wildlife refuge in the country, and hotspot for supernatural activity, particularly among the Wild. Rumors persist that the park conceals a number of places that were sacred to the local native population. In the early days of the city, the eccentric old patriarch of the Rockwell family built six observatory towers around the park, for reasons no on is quite sure of.

    OptimusZed on
    We're reading Rifts. You should too. You know you want to. Now With Ninjas!

    They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
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    Super NamicchiSuper Namicchi Orange County, CARegistered User regular
    oh this is gonna be wonderful. character coming shortly

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    InkSplatInkSplat 100%ed Bad Rats. Registered User regular
    @jdarksun did you still want in?

    Origin for Dragon Age: Inquisition Shenanigans: Inksplat776
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    jdarksunjdarksun Struggler VARegistered User regular
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    InkSplatInkSplat 100%ed Bad Rats. Registered User regular
    Sweet. That makes 5 then. So, unless anyone else really really wants in, we'll call this good!

    Origin for Dragon Age: Inquisition Shenanigans: Inksplat776
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    AuralynxAuralynx Darkness is a perspective Watching the ego workRegistered User regular
    @OptimusZed‌
    Any chance Chad owes Tony money? I feel like Chad owes Tony money.

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    OptimusZedOptimusZed Registered User regular
    That seems really, really likely. Chad probably got hustled by Tony at some point, and knew where to find him when he went off the grid.

    We're reading Rifts. You should too. You know you want to. Now With Ninjas!

    They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
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    AuralynxAuralynx Darkness is a perspective Watching the ego workRegistered User regular
    Don't worry about it, kid, it's not like Tony knows any bail bondsmans' ghosts or anything.

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    OptimusZedOptimusZed Registered User regular
    edited June 2014
    One of my debt descriptors is "someone hired you to do something and you fucked it up." Sounds like maybe Chad was trying to pay Tony off by running interference/protection for him and things got messy. Edit: Wolf messy.

    OptimusZed on
    We're reading Rifts. You should too. You know you want to. Now With Ninjas!

    They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
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    InkSplatInkSplat 100%ed Bad Rats. Registered User regular
    And this is what I love about Apocalypse Engine games. <3

    Origin for Dragon Age: Inquisition Shenanigans: Inksplat776
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    AuralynxAuralynx Darkness is a perspective Watching the ego workRegistered User regular
    That seems pretty plausible.

    Are we supposed to have 1 debt per person or are we all not going to have any special Debt relation to anyone?

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    InkSplatInkSplat 100%ed Bad Rats. Registered User regular
    edited June 2014
    You should fill out all your Debts, but you can double up if you'd like, and there's no need to have a Debt for every other player.

    Also note that I'm fine if you come up with a better idea for a Debt to replace one of your pre-existing ones.

    InkSplat on
    Origin for Dragon Age: Inquisition Shenanigans: Inksplat776
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    AuralynxAuralynx Darkness is a perspective Watching the ego workRegistered User regular
    Side note: If anyone wants to be a Bail Bondsman Spectre, go nuts.

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    Super NamicchiSuper Namicchi Orange County, CARegistered User regular
    edited July 2014
    2w69bnn.jpg

    Cassandra "Cassie" McMasters
    look: caucasian female, baggy clothing
    demeanor: Excitable

    blood 3, heart -1, mind 0, spirit 1
    mortality 0, night 1, power 0, wild 2

    gear
    duffel bag of shit, burner phone, baseball bat, beretta

    moves
    Nose for Trouble
    Blood Hound

    The Transformation
    3 harm
    2 armor
    I change every night
    I battle as a group
    Silver bypasses my armor
    Have to Keep My Cool or declare a hunt

    Who are you?

    Cassie, English Major and TA by day, someone who likes to "cut loose" by night. I bit Chad, but fuck if I'm ever gonna tell him that, let him keep wondering! It's more fun that way.

    How long have you been in town?

    I grew up in a small town about a half hour east, so I've been around the area since I can remember. The McMasters are one of those big-fish-small-pond families that own half the town and I'm in the big city to get away from that.

    What's the best part about the change?

    There's nothing like the power. Fur, fangs, claws, plunging deep into the brush and running down your prey, leaping onto them and sinking your teeth... er.

    Who is trying to save you?

    Tony. He thinks I've got a good heart but I'm not so sure about that. I can fake it, sometimes, but that bloodlust is always there.

    What do you desperately need?

    Validation and friends. A way to permanently get my family off my back.

    Super Namicchi on
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    Super NamicchiSuper Namicchi Orange County, CARegistered User regular
    also as more characters land (like the hunter) i'm more than happy to edit the answers to include people. just let me know and let's collab. i'll do debts later.

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    OptimusZedOptimusZed Registered User regular
    What does the "Fight as a small group" thing mean, anyway?

    Because I looked at that and decided against it because I had no clue.

    We're reading Rifts. You should too. You know you want to. Now With Ninjas!

    They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
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    Super NamicchiSuper Namicchi Orange County, CARegistered User regular
    well, I don't know how it works in this hack, but if it's like Apoc World there's some pretty big disadvantages if a group gets up in your business as a solo

    that being said, if the group vs nongroup stuff is crummy i might change it to Reckless

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    AuralynxAuralynx Darkness is a perspective Watching the ego workRegistered User regular
    Oh man now Tony is a secret romantic.

    I went Full Noir, guys. You never go Full Noir!

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    Super NamicchiSuper Namicchi Orange County, CARegistered User regular
    also for city and locations stuff, I was thinking somewhere midwest where we can get urban areas as well as rural/woodsy type stuff.

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    OptimusZedOptimusZed Registered User regular
    Reckless seemed pretty cool, but it didn't really seem to fit for a guy who is still getting his bearings with this whole wolf thing. Maybe once I level up some.

    We're reading Rifts. You should too. You know you want to. Now With Ninjas!

    They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
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    Super NamicchiSuper Namicchi Orange County, CARegistered User regular
    oh gosh, @Auralynx‌, are we talking full "I have a secret werewolf crush" scenario? hahah

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    AuralynxAuralynx Darkness is a perspective Watching the ego workRegistered User regular
    I'm not sure there's really any reading of "lady werewolf probably younger than you," that can't reasonably translate into "femme fatale," is all.

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    OptimusZedOptimusZed Registered User regular
    oh gosh, @Auralynx‌, are we talking full "I have a secret werewolf crush" scenario? hahah
    Oh, nah. We've got a "secret werewolf crush triangle" scenario.

    We're reading Rifts. You should too. You know you want to. Now With Ninjas!

    They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
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