Urban Fantasy general discussion thread

[Thomas Shey]

There are a couple of games focused on demigods or semi-gods: Part Time Gods 2e, Scion 2e, and the Savage Worlds setting Olympus, Inc. Whether one finds any of those satisfactory is, of course, in the eye of the beholder.

 

[VelvetViolet]

Well, the issue is that in a lot of urban fantasy there's assumed to be a stronger commonality within types than is accepted in most superhero games or, really, if you look at the folklorical basis, in reality. The only general exception is in faery folk because, well, its virtually impossible.

In my experience of many bad paranormal romance novels, fairies are just human but with big slang words. The fair folk that haunt the nightmares of humanity are overshadowed by that, sadly.

I did have this idea for a vaguely Nightbane inspired night world where all the monsters draw their power from the same vague meta-origin (nightmares come to life), but otherwise every manifestation could be unique or run in family/infection lines.

I also wish that there was an urban fantasy D&D 5e setting (Ravnica doesn't have most of the classic D&D races, and although I love Eberron, it's not as modern as I would like for an urban fantasy D&D setting). It would be awesome for there to be an official world with new takes on urban Orcs/Half-Orcs, Goblinoids, Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, and other iconic D&D races.

There was Urban Arcana in the d20 Modern line. Altho the magic was hidden from muggles by “Shadow.”

Language, please.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I wouldn't judge urban fantasy handling of fey by the lowest common denominator; the ones in the Mercy Thompson books range from impressive to terrifying, and the ones in the Dresden books are at least interesting (Butcher also has four different kinds of vampires, and at least six kinds of werewolves, all of which show up in one book...)

 

[Fenris-77]

I would kill for a modern setting inspired by Dresden files. Okay that’s just a figure of speech.

Don't mind the FATE haters. I'm not actually a huge FATE guy myself, but the Dresden game is pretty much spot on. It's probably the only FATE game I'd willingly play. Also, if you're a Dresden fan, the rule book is worth reading just in spec. It's ostensibly written by one of the Alphas, with copious notes from Harry and Bob. It doesn't even matter if you play it, just read it.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Don't mind the FATE haters. I'm not actually a huge FATE guy myself, but the Dresden game is pretty much spot on. It's probably the only FATE game I'd willingly play. Also, if you're a Dresden fan, the rule book is worth reading just in spec. It's ostensibly written by one of the Alphas, with copious notes from Harry and Bob. It doesn't even matter if you play it, just read it.

Its an absolutely well put together game with a system that just doesn't work for me.

 

[VelvetViolet]

Nowadays I’m basically inured to systems. I just want something simple that supports whatever themes the game is going for.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I'm flexible, but as a GM Fate just demands for me to too frequently make kinds of judgment calls I don't want to be making that often.

 

[VelvetViolet]

I realized something while reading Night Shift. It includes a D&D lich in the monster chapter, but this is anachronistic. The word lich is Anglo-Saxon for "corpse." It wasn't until D&D that it was associated with undead wizards. It would be less anachronistic to refer to this monster as a koschei... or even as a voldemort if your campaign takes place in a post-Harry Potter world.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

There are a couple of games focused on demigods or semi-gods: Part Time Gods 2e, Scion 2e, and the Savage Worlds setting Olympus, Inc. Whether one finds any of those satisfactory is, of course, in the eye of the beholder.

There was even a Kickstarter for an RPG called "Demigods". I'm still waiting for my copy, but someday...!

Demigods

A table-top adventure RPG where you play the children of gods in a modern day setting, from any belief system you can imagine.

www.kickstarter.com

 

[Thomas Shey]

I was trying to figure out why I hadn't heard of that, and then noticed its PbtA and figure I'd just moved on after seeing that...