Okay. I’d be more here for a sub forum with specific threads, but if we can get enough discussion going here maybe that could eventually happen.
I'd love to have a subforum for the urban fantasy genre. I think there used to be more hosted forums for publishers here but for some reason the software update hid them all (but they're still there if you're able to find them).
I definitely like my Urban Fantasy in the shadows....ie the wider world doesn't know about the monsters. And while I know that is the majority (maybe vast majority?) I know there is more than a few out in the open (True Blood, Anita Blake, etc.) and while those can be good, it seems that it is so easy for them to slip into silliness.
There are so many ways to flavor both, too.
With urban fantasy where the magical is known to everyone, you can create radically different settings just by picking a point of divergence. You can have alternate history settings like
Amazing Engine: Magitech. If the magical was revealed in the present or the future, then you can get stuff like
Shadowrun,
Rifts,
Amethyst, etc. I think the "silliness" comes from these settings bordering on dungeonpunk like
Eberron or sci-fantasy like
Dragonstar while still ostensibly (but unconvincingly) taking place in some version of the "real" world.
The hidden magical conceit has its appeals, definitely. It gives you grounding in the real world that makes it easier for players to immerse themselves because they don't need to integrate a bunch of fantasy world lore.
but from your statements I’m not sure if you’d like it.
I always like having options. I'm not opposed to having lore in itself.
That said, I prefer lore to be relevant to the players. If you have a secret history, then what purpose does it serve in the gameplay? Are the PCs time travelers? Do they reincarnate across past lives?
Probably the only urban fantasy lore that I really found myself idealizing was the past lives conceit in the game
Nephilim (I think
Immortal: Invisible War had something similar but I'm not familiar with it). While the mechanical implementation was terrible, the idea of playing campaigns that stretch across different lives in different time periods, or having flashbacks to past lives or w/e, still fascinates me. It's the same appeal as watching
Highlander: The Series or
Forever Knight.
Nothing to say, just placing some fun concept art from a blog I really like.
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RPG redesigns and thoughts.
androidarts.com
I love androidarts. The cylon redesign from a decade ago before the site revamp looked really neat.