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ShortQuests -- individual adventure modules! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed to plug in to your game.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wombat" data-source="post: 2620085" data-attributes="member: 8447">Yeah, I've played in some modern fantasy games; I also love several modern fantasy writers and I have found that there is an extreme disjunction between the two.As far as writers go, you just can't go wrong with Charles de Lint.  To my mind, he is what modern urban fantasy is all about -- subtlety, blending of cultures, low key tales, sadness, and unexpected beauty.  Needless to say, this makes for rather poor gaming material.  Emma Bull's War for the Oaks makes better setting material -- a war between the Seelie and Unseelie courts in the modern world, no holds barred, but most of humanity doesn't realize it is happening -- now that is a great idea!As for games, well let's do the checklist...Call of Cthulhu -- played in this twice, ran a mini campaign.  It's okay, but doesn't really feel like a Lovecraft story.  There is far too much in-game expectation to Go On With The Adventure, where most of Lovecraft's protagonists would have given up or gone mad after a single tale.Shadowrun -- played in it twice (2 mini-campaigns).  Hated the "bucket o' dice" system, found the notion of having the cybertech, medicine men, and orcs-n-elves all running around together to be beyond comprehensible.  Only came back for the second game because a buddy was running it.  Never again.TORG -- played in it three or four times (1-2 one-offs, 2 mini-campaigns).  fun, amusing, a rather more nuanced and explained mixed-genre than Shadowrun, but ultimately it just feels like "wouldn't it be cool if we could play all sorts of settings against each other?"Kult -- played in in three times (a one-off and 2 mini-campaigns); one of the few times in a game that I actually felt afraid (not for me, but rather the shivver of the setting), this one is very creepy, very nasty, and should only played with consenting adults.  That being said, it is an excellent game.  Magic comes at great cost, therre is a sense of doom and forboding to everything you do.  Is it still in print?Over the Edge -- ran it three times, played in 2 mini-campaigns.  This has one of the simplest, most easy-to-run systems I have ever run across.  I used it once to introduce non-gamers to the world of rpgs and they loved it.  Modern conspiracy freakiness, rather than necessarily magic, though the magic can be there as well.  I've seen characters who were chartered accountants, paperboys, astronauts, pulp private detectives, Russian princesses in time warps, and a demoness from the 8th plane of Hell who had an extreme power over "SALE!" signs...Unknown Armies -- played in this in one mini campaign, picked up the book, and am now looking forward to actually running it for a group.  Again, a very simple, open, flexible system, three different possible levels of play (Street, World, Cosmic), all sorts of weirdness, odd magic, no other races (unless you really push it), interesting combat system, and generally fascinating.So, bunch of different systems, bunch of different notions of what makes good "modern fantasy".  Have fun with whatever you decide upon!  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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