What is Urban Shadows | The Locals | The City | The System | Buy |
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Cassie’s Journal, October
The nights have changed. Ever since Victoria’s coven of petty vampires moved in on Murdoch’s territory last month, things have been bloody. Even the Fae have been tightening the strings on the cops and the mayor. It’s an unstable situation.
But that just means I’ve got them where I want them. I’ve been fighting against the bloodsuckers for more than 10 years now, an antivirus cleaning out the city’s veins, running down the dead who crawl back up from their graves like vermin that don’t know their place.
And for the first time, I’m not alone. I’ve got friends. Marcus and his pack of werewolves that control the streets around my safe house. Bethany has access to something she calls “Sapphire” magic, whatever that is, and Felicia… well… I’ve seen her die and get back up more times than I can count.
We all owe people, owe favors, owe debts. But people owe us too. And we’re ready to call in those markers to put Victoria in my crosshairs. She’ll pay for what she did to my father, to my sister. She’ll pay.
No matter what it costs me.
What is Urban Shadows?
| 3-5 players | campaign play 2-4 hour sessions | Rated Mature|
Urban Shadows is an urban fantasy game of supernatural drama and political intrigue set in a modern-day city. Some of the characters in this story are mortal, but they might also be touched by otherworldly forces, transformed into ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and wizards, and locked into a world of supernatural debts and obligations.
Above all else, Urban Shadows is a game about cities, the people who live in them, and the machines that make them run. It’s a political game, one that challenges preconceptions about conflicts between communities, and asks players to navigate complex identities in a demanding social structure. It is personal and political for mortals and monsters alike. It drives hard toward these ideas.
If you are a fan of The Wire, Buffy, or Supernatural, you will love Urban Shadows!
The Locals
In Urban Shadows, every character is struggling to survive in a dark urban environment drowning in supernatural politics.
As a city local, you might:
- Call in a favor from the Faerie Queen so you can use her night club for your drug deal.
- Go visit your “friend”, the artifact dealer, so you can strongarm him into handing over Excalibur.
- Unleash your supernatural might to terrify the oncoming gang of werewolves.
- Find answers to the city’s mysteries while hunting around inside an old abandoned, haunted theater.
The game focuses heavily on the gritty drama and tense violence that your characters experience. The characters live at the intersection of different identities and have to wrestle with what those identities mean to them.
The City
Nowhere is safe.
The streets are filled with horrors that will hollow you out for their own pleasure, killers and sadists waiting for a taste of your flesh and your fear, and dark things that linger in the shadows, reflecting back your own hideous wants and desires. The streets are veins of corruption, bubbling up into skyscrapers that watch over the urban landscape like the towers of ancient kings, home to the tyrants of the city who want nothing more than to consume all that you have to offer, leaving nothing behind.
And that’s just the mortals.
The city is also filled with “real” monsters: vampires and werewolves, fae and wizards, ghosts and immortals. They are living among us and apart from us, infiltrating our corporate boards and gala fundraisers while holding their own secret gatherings and dark rituals to decide our fate. They’re everywhere, but you might not notice them if you’re not looking closely. Like the city itself, they are more than they appear to be, dangerous and unkind to those who overstep their bounds, each faction with its own internal politics and dramas.
Normal humans without any supernatural ability. Most people fall into this Faction, since mortals are often unaware of the supernatural world around them.
Night
Creatures of the night who were once human but have been irrevocably changed into something dark and unnatural. Vampires, werewolves, and ghosts all belong to the Night Faction.
Human beings who have obtained supernatural power or gifts through training, blessing, or curse. Wizards, oracles, and immortals all belong to the Power Faction.
Wild
Otherworldly beings, strange peoples, and demonic creatures that originate from outside our world. The Wild Faction is most heavily populated by faeries and demons, but creatures bizarre and strange sometimes find a home in this Faction as well.
The System
Debts
No matter how powerful your character may be, everyone owes someone for what they have. Urban Shadows features Debts, a currency that protagonists and NPCs alike can cash in to influence those who owe them. Debts give characters real tangible power over others, power you spend to manipulate, to force their hand, and to get mixed up in their business. Debts are the only currency that matters–it’s all about who you owe and who owes you!
Corruption
Absolute power… corrupts absolutely. Urban Shadows features a unique Corruption mechanic, which helps track your character’s descent into darkness. When you take a life, give in to your monstrous nature, or cross a line you shouldn’t, you mark corruption. As you gain corruption, you will unlock new and very potent powers that allow your character to get what they want. Cross the line too often and you’ll lose your protagonist to the dark.
Comprehensive Powered by the Apocalypse Guide
Urban Shadows is more than just a great game in and of itself—it represents the refinement and accumulation of our learning about Powered by the Apocalypse games. The book will work as a primer and handbook for those games in general, explaining the techniques, principles, and concepts that permeate all these games in clear and useful language.
Buy
Downloads
Play Materials
The Team
Andrew Medeiros and Mark Diaz Truman – Creators
The Core Team:
- Brendan Conway
- Amanda Valentine
- Shelley Harlan
- Marissa Kelly
- Juan Ochoa
- Thomas Deeny
- Elizabeth Bauman
Community
Looking for other Urban Shadows fans? Have questions about the game? Want to keep up with the latest Urban Shadow news? Join the online community!
Kickstarter Video
Actual Plays & Interviews
