Urban Fantasy general discussion thread

[Scars Unseen]

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.

While they aren't the focus of the story, I'd recommend reading Pact for a story with some rather nasty fey. A couple of warnings ahead of time: it's a long read at nearly 950,000 words (somewhere between 3000 and 3500 pages), and it's also a bit of a doom spiral. If you're looking for a classic fantasy, this ain't it. The basic premise of the story is that the universe literally despises the protagonist through no fault of their own. It doesn't really ever give the protagonist room to breathe or get his footing.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

While they aren't the focus of the story, I'd recommend reading Pact for a story with some rather nasty fey. A couple of warnings ahead of time: it's a long read at nearly 950,000 words (somewhere between 3000 and 3500 pages), and it's also a bit of a doom spiral. If you're looking for a classic fantasy, this ain't it. The basic premise of the story is that the universe literally despises the protagonist through no fault of their own. It doesn't really ever give the protagonist room to breathe or get his footing.

And if you like dark superheroes, I have to say Worm (same author Wildbow) is probably the best superhero story ever

 

[Scars Unseen]

And if you like dark superheroes, I have to say Worm (same author Wildbow) is probably the best superhero story ever

Nearly 11,000 pages, and I'm nearly finished with my 7th reading of it.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Nearly 11,000 pages, and I'm nearly finished with my 7th reading of it.

Wow! Ok, you loved it more than I did or you have more free time
My "To Read" shelf in physical space and folder in virtual space are already so full, I can't imagine reading it again. I also heard there was a sequel?!?
I'll probably read the sequel first. Or maybe Pact.

 

[Scars Unseen]

Wow! Ok, you loved it more than I did or you have more free time
My "To Read" shelf in physical space and folder in virtual space are already so full, I can't imagine reading it again. I also heard there was a sequel?!?
I'll probably read the sequel first. Or maybe Pact.

Both are good. I'd probably read the sequel to Worm first because the sequel (kind of) to Pact is still in the writing, and reading one of his works always has me ready to read the next. If you do, make sure to read Glow Worm before reading Ward. It's kind of a prologue to the story. But Pact (and the follow up, Pale) is an excellent resource for this specific topic because the way it works magic and the supernatural is just as well thought out as capes are in Worm. Pretty much guaranteed to give you ideas for urban fantasy games.

 

[VelvetViolet]

I'm working on a werewolf spin-off for Feed. Feed is already flexible enough that you could play Nightlife-style werewolves, but I thought of adapting the mechanics to represent a different metaphor with werewolves. Where vampirism is depicted as having negative consequences for becoming more vampiric, with lycanthropy I wanted to do a balancing act where being too far on either side of the spectrum would cause problems. So not only would you have problems from being too wolfish, but being too human would have consequences too.

EDIT: I also found this useful essay on werewolf "archetypes" in folklore and literature.

 

[VelvetViolet]

I saw a recent video on Monstrum youtube briefly arguing that the zeitgeist of modern urban fantasy is all these monsters—werewolves, vampires, fairies, etc—learning to live together, reflecting the increasing diversity of modern society. What do you think?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I think it has merit.

 

[VelvetViolet]

I think it has merit.

I think this “diversity” has been part and parcel of urban fantasy since its inception, not a “modern” phenomenon.

Unfortunately, no contemporary style urban fantasy tabletop game I know of has tapped into this zeitgeist and been able to get noticeable market share. Shadowrun is post-apocalypse cyberpunk, so not contemporary. The White Wolf games were not designed for mixed play and so suffer from extensive power creep (not to mention a bazillion different editions and associated edition wars, which has soured me on the whole fandom). Nightlife, Everlasting, WitchCraft, Nephilim, Nightbane, etc (basically any game that tried to have mixed play and universal rules at the onset) all died out in obscurity.

 

[Ulfgeir]

I think this “diversity” has been part and parcel of urban fantasy since its inception, not a “modern” phenomenon.

Unfortunately, no contemporary style urban fantasy tabletop game I know of has tapped into this zeitgeist and been able to get noticeable market share. Shadowrun is post-apocalypse cyberpunk, so not contemporary. The White Wolf games were not designed for mixed play and so suffer from extensive power creep (not to mention a bazillion different editions and associated edition wars, which has soured me on the whole fandom). Nightlife, Everlasting, WitchCraft, Nephilim, Nightbane, etc (basically any game that tried to have mixed play and universal rules at the onset) all died out in obscurity.

I think Dresden Files succeed quite well.