Urban Shadows thread

>>49229969

OP, you're in for a world of hurt. /tg/ shits itself whenever anyone tries to discuss any Powered by the Apocalypse game, between grognards arguing about how story games aren't real and the worst of the alt-right calling anything that isn't a cishet white man "SJW propaganda."

>>49229969
What does it bring to the table as far as PbtA. Don't they already have urban fantasy?

>>49230109
>>49231862
I feel I should ask here, what is "Powered by the Apocalypse"? and why is it controversial?

>>49231862

The only other big PbtA urban fantasy game is Monsterhearts, and that's mostly about high school romance. This is more focused on detective stories and city politics.

>>49232158

Any game using the rules originally from Apocalypse World. They catch a lot of hate from the more traditional crowd as one of the most popular storygame/narrativist rulesets out there.

>>49232158
Going to answer but most of my knowledge comes from Dungeon World, the most controversial one.
>I feel I should ask here, what is "Powered by the Apocalypse"?
Takes mechanics from Apocalypse World. Most basic terms roll 2d6+mod 6 or less failure, GM makes a "move", 7-9 partial success GM can make other "move" or make the player make a choice, 10+ get what they want, often other things too. All die rolling is done by the players.
>and why is it controversial?
It's not traditional. It puts a lot of creative power in the hands of the GM. But mostly probably because Dungeon World. A lot of Apocalypse World fans think that Dungeon World gets it all wrong because it isn't handled the same way it is in AW. A lot of grognards think that Dungeon World gets it all wrong, but because it isn't more traditional. A lot of Dungeon World fans seem to think the more narrative approach it takes is "new" and "revolutionary" even though it's shit we've seen since the 90s.

Oh and Dungeon World fans and Dungeon World hate crew are both very vocal and don't listen to the other side.

>>49232337
I meant puts creative power in the hands of players instead of the GM.

And I say a lot. Any of those groups could be a vocal minority.

I've played Urban Shadows, but while it was still in the Kickstarter phase. After a discussion with someone who's played the final version, it seems most of my concerns were corrected.

All in all, I liked the game. If you wanted to play an urban fantasy game with groups of power making dark deals with each other, with a sense of isolation and the feeling of falling deeper into the hole, it's perfect. It felt very much like a game about a constant struggle and even as you get stronger, you're making hard choices and taking risks.

Something that might not have quite been changed was that sense of isolation I mentioned. The rules as I played them meant that helping each other out was sort of the loser's play. I'm not a gamer that cares more about "winning" than the story, but I can't very well make interesting story if I'm too busy catering to social loan sharks. Like I said, when I brought this up the last time someone asked about Urban Shadows, someone who'd played it more recently said it "wasn't that bad anymore", but it still seemed like it was a part of the game. (Which probably adds to the flavor that the game wants to go for - which is fine if that's something your group wants to play around with.)

Personally, of the PbtA supernatural games, my favorites are Monsterhearts > Monster of the Week > Urban Shadows > the others I've tried. But though it's third on the list, I still do recommend it.

>>49231862
>>49232332
Monster of the Week is Urban Fantasy PbtA.

I played a short campaign only once so I don't know if it was representative of the game or just my experience- I didn't like it. The GM was making everything up on the fly which is usually perfectly fine, the problem is that it was obvious. This meant that I didn't feel like the story had any weight. Any time I wanted to investigate something or pursue a mystery I'd be thinking 'I wonder what's at the end of this, what's the hidden, dark secret going on. Oh, not even the GM knows' and it would suddenly seem arbitrary.

>>49234536

That sounds like bad GMing, not the game's fault.

>>49234740
So usually Urban Shadows games have more structure to them, a base story already worked out as in usual games? I might be willing to try it again in future if 'generate as you go' isn't the baseline.

>>49234784
I haven't actually read the rulebook, but I'm betting that any structure comes from the GM themselves.

Not the person you're replying to, but in the game I played, I had a pretty good GM who had experience running PbtA games. He'd let the first couple of sessions go by the fly and then spend some time out of game knitting those storylines together, connecting subplots to each other and not introducing any new subplots.

He typically ran 3-8 session games anyway, so the technique was probably old hat for him. Sounds like your GM just didn't have that down yet.

>>49234784

PbtA is like some other storygames in that a large part of the narrative should be collaborative and improvisational, but any decent MC should have something planned. There's a reason prebuilt cities were a stretch goal for the crowdfunding campaign.

>>49230109
>"SJW propaganda."
It blatantly is. Stop trying to subvert the hobby.

>>49232337

Don't forget trolls trolling trolls, and baitfarmers harvesting the butthurt crop.

File: trackingarmy.jpg (12KB, 360x200px) Image search: [Google]

12KB, 360x200px

>>49238304
>"THEY'RE ALREADY INSIDE, HICKS"!

>>49241956
>you will never be a baitfarmer
What the fuck am I doing with my life?

I just want the extra playbooks to come out!