Urban Fantasy general discussion thread

[VelvetViolet]

I noticed there isn't a thread specifically for discussing the urban fantasy genre, so here it is.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Generally I find that my threads get more engagement when I present some questions, ideas, etc

I like urban fantasy. What do you want to discuss about it?

 

[Sithlord]

I love Dresden. I think that is a great model for such adventures along with Buffy and angel. Several good shows and books on this now. Artemis fowl (books) is another good example.

my interest lately (very similar) has been rural fantasy set in the modern.

 

[VelvetViolet]

I like urban fantasy. What do you want to discuss about it?

This thread is for discussing anything in the genre. Anything.

A Scooby gang fighting the creatures of the night while muggles remain ignorant of the danger. A vampire detective solving cases while trying to forget their abusive vampire dad/lover. A lost fairy princess trying to make a name for herself and uncover her true identity. A pack of werewolves driven to hunt down and punish evil-doers. A band of resurrected mummy warriors trying to find and protect the reincarnation of their pharaoh.

The only limit is your imagination.

---

You can also complain about the tabletop market and community. I'm pretty frustrated that the urban fantasy genre, at least when it comes to RPGs (there are tens of thousands of paranormal/urban fantasy books on Amazon), is so niche that the only communities around are Shadowrun, Dresden Files, World of Darkness, or GTFO. These games have single settings with decades of awkward lore baked into their rules, as opposed to giving you the option to select any of many different "Night Worlds" using the same basic system like what Night Shift does. This feels very restrictive to me. What if I don't like their arbitrarily limited selection? I don't have any other recourse besides finding an OOP game like Nightlife or Everlasting or Urban Arcana or making up my own homebrew, and good luck trying to find people who want to discuss that.

I can cite specific examples if you're interested. I don't really like complaining though because I don't find it helpful. I prefer to be constructive.

For example, I really liked the concept behind Feed. It's a game about playing vampires, but rather than burdening you with three decades of somebody else's lore addiction, it lets you make up your own settings and vampire strains.

 

[Dioltach]

Isn't there an RPG of the Rivers of London in the making?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

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’m actually building an urban fantasy game, but from your statements I’m not sure if you’d like it. It does have assumed lore in terms of cosmology (9 Worlds, one of which seems to exist in each of the other 8 and is a sort of hidden passage between them all), and stuff like “it’s extremely rare for a sentient people to be inherently evil or good. Even angels can fall, and devils can be redeemed.”

But I’d be down to dig into particulars if you’re interested.

 

[Wolfram stout]

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.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Nothing to say, just placing some fun concept art from a blog I really like.

Breach

RPG redesigns and thoughts.

androidarts.com

 

[VelvetViolet]

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.

View attachment 137728

Breach

RPG redesigns and thoughts.

androidarts.com

I love androidarts. The cylon redesign from a decade ago before the site revamp looked really neat.

 

[Marc_C]

I love fantasy urban adventures.

My current campaign is set in a very large medieval city. They explore ruined buildings, infested sewers, underground complex of weird cults. The wizard has allies at the Temple of Boccob. The thief as a group of street urchins feeding him info for recompense. They own an abandoned buildings after paying the taxes due for the last 7 years, when the prior owner disappeared.

Great fun with the right group of players.