Urban Fantasy

[hivedragon]

I'm looking into playing a game that exists in this time period except the supernatural exists. However this fact is kept secret by a conspiracy of shadowy figures, kind of like in Buffy the vampire slayer.

What books/downloads do you suggest?
What advice/ideas can you give me?

[Kuma Kode]

The genre is Urban Fantasy.

The Dresden Files is a book series/RPG based on the book series that is pretty much exactly what you want.

d20 Modern also has the Urban Arcana supplement, which contains all the rules necessary for playing D&D-like creatures in modern times (dwarves, elves, halflings) and also explains Shadow and why it prevents normal people from seeing these things as they really are.

Both of these assume a "magic exists and it's kinda neat" feel. If you want "Magic exists and it's horrible," try Call of Cthulhu.

[vanyell]

might I suggest d20 modern?
as far as I know it did not get much love, but it's not a bad system, and if you play 3.X, it's pretty easy to pick up

[some guy]

My Call of Cthulhu campaign is set in the modern day. Though normal Call of Cthulhu is mainly set in the 1920's, there's enough information for running modern scenario's in the core book.
If you want supernatural horror with cover-up conspiracy, then there's the Delta Green (http://www.delta-green.com/about/index.html) setting for Call of Cthulhu.

[Siosilvar]

The d20 modern SRD (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/article/msrd) is also available as a free download, including the crunchy bits from Urban Arcana, d20 Future, and d20 Menaces (not too sure on the actual name of the last one). The remainder can be filled out with a 3.0 or 3.5 PHB and DMG.

[Yora]

Isn't there even a Buffy RPG? I think it was considered quite good (or was it abysmal, I'm not quite sure I'm afraid).

[Treblain]

Another recommendation for D20 Modern, though you might want to find the core rulebook because the SRD is harder to use and the Urban Arcana and Shadow Chaser fluff will be helpful.

Some questions you should figure out:

Technology: Decide whether you want modern technology to be either:
- incompatible with the supernatural, or
- crazy awesome techno-magic fusion with spells via email and demon hackers

I'd go with the latter, because of awesome.

Government: Helpful, hindering, clueless, or sinister?

Position of the party: Detectives, government agents, or just a half-dozen guys in a basement who fight monsters on the weekend?

What do the monsters want? Do they crave human flesh? Do they want to be left alone? Do they want to vote?

If you haven't decided who the shadowy conspiracy is, you don't even have to. You can leave it a mystery and then make it up later.

[Yora]

Scanning a cursed book to end up with a possessed computer is awesome. Go for techno-magic. :smallbiggrin:

[Remmirath]

D20 Modern with Urban Arcana can definitely work for that - although, a word of warning: if you have characters using guns along with characters using swords and other weapons, and you play to fairly high level (30+, possibly earlier), the gun users will eventually become useless, since their damage just won't scale up enough. The magic-users also will, because there's no way within D20 Modern to get spells of above 5th level. D20 Modern breaks down in a lot of ways when you get very high level, significantly worse than D&D does in my opinion (reputation, action points and wealth bonus also get rather out of hand).
You don't need to worry about any of that for a low-level game, though. It works pretty well at low levels.

I haven't played it much, but depending what you're going for, it seems like World of Darkness could work as well. It definitely has supernatural things and shadowy conspiracies.

I also tend to agree that techno-magic is the way to go. It can be pretty cool.

[DontEatRawHagis]

Advice:
Figure out how much fantasy you want in it. Dresden is pretty good, but for the most part. I can't speak for the books, but the TV show managed to explain that while magic is powerful it is easily hidden to police and civilians.

Same could be said about the Vampire: The Masquerade video game. I hate it when the fantasy is too much like high fantasy though. Secret councils and vampires are fine but there is a point where I just can't get into it, Buffy and Angel for example.

[Das Platyvark]

I second WoD!
Also, another vote for techno-magic (if you've ever read the Neil Gaiman poem Cold Colors, you should always be able to download a succubus...)

[hivedragon]

Are there any free urban fantasy modules/adventures online?

[Aidan305]

Dresden Files and Delta Green are the two I'd recommend, though Dresden Files isn't so much a conspiracy, as the supernatural world taking advantage of the fact that people don't tend to look to closely at things they don't understand.

[Kuma Kode]

It really depends on the tone you want. If you tell us more about what you're aiming for we can give you more specialized suggestions. Right now we're just fling suggestions about a genre. It's like asking us for suggestions for sci-fi; that covers everything from Dead Space to Mass Effect to Stargate to Chronicles of Riddick.

[randomhero00]

White Wolf, World of Darkness does it best. Usually you play in your own city and a few years back so you even know the history.


If you're looking for pure magic play Mage.

I'd also check out scifi magic though. Stuff like warhammer 40k who has quite advanced psionics.

[hivedragon]

B]Technology[/B]: Decide whether you want modern technology to be either:
- incompatible with the supernatural, or
- crazy awesome techno-magic fusion with spells via email and demon hackers

I'd go with the latter, because of awesome.

I agree, is there somewhere I can read up on this idea?



Government: Helpful, hindering, clueless, or sinister?

hindering, mostly, with a nice mix of clueless and sinister.


Position of the party: Detectives, government agents, or just a half-dozen guys in a basement who fight monsters on the weekend?

I will definitely give the party the option of playing private ***** (I welcome any advice on how to play this) but there is no way I'm giving the party the backing of either the government or a large corporation. At least not to start off.


What do the monsters want? Do they crave human flesh? Do they want to be left alone? Do they want to vote?.

That's to be decided on a monster to monster basis. I Own several monster manuals for 3.5, I would appreciate anyone with ideas on how to adapt them to an urban fantasy setting.

[LibraryOgre]

Well, if you're wanting to use your 3.x stuff, you're more or less set towards d20 Modern. However, I'll pimp another: Apocalypse Prevention, Inc. Currently in print from 3rd Eye Games (http://www.thirdeyegames.net/), the basic game assumes you are part of the eponymous organization, but you can easily ignore that part. Point-based character creation, several core races (humans; changelings, similar to Odo from ST:DS9; spectrals, who are ghosts; Burners, who are demons from another dimension; lochs, who look similar to the creature from the Black lagoon; taylari, who are "living vampires"; and wolf people who are... well, wolf people).

[hamishspence]

The magic-users also will, because there's no way within D20 Modern to get spells of above 5th level.

There is the incantation system- but that has some of the same issues as D&D epic magic. It can't be mitigated down to 0DC to cast though.

[Zombimode]

Isn't there even a Buffy RPG? I think it was considered quite good (or was it abysmal, I'm not quite sure I'm afraid).

Well, its a matter of perspective, really.
The wording, the aestetics and the system itself tries to be as close as possible to the series. Lets take the "artwork": at least 50% of it are just gracious shots of sexy Sahra M. Gellar in various skimpy outfits, and the rest comes from the footage of the series.
Thats probably a good thing if you happen to really like the series and just want to reanact the series on your gaming table.

For anyone else it falls flat. Its not really inspirering to make up your own urban fantasy story, because everything is geared towards the series.

Well, at least thats my expression from just reading the core book.

[TheAbstruseOne]

Urban Fantasy is kind of a personal favorite genre of mine. I've got a bookshelf filled with Jim Butcher, Patricia Briggs, Kim Harrison, etc. (for the record, if you're a Buffy fan and you're not reading the Dresden novels, triple shame on you!) Also, this is my personal opinion on these systems.

World of Darkness: Probably the system most perfectly designed for this. You can reskin the clans/circles/tribes/whatever, but the game system was specifically made for this genre. The newer edition plays this most straight since the various books are more compatible, but the older books have better fiction/fluff IMO. The only real problem is that it's tough to separate the fluff from the crunch in this system since the crunch is tied to the fluff (different vampire clans get different powers that are tied to the vampire clan or bloodline which is tied to the canon setting). The system also has a very broad rules system without a lot of fine details. This is great if you're running a RP-heavy story-based game where there won't be a lot of combat, but a pain if you're going to be running an action-based game because the combat system just flat out doesn't have the detail needed for that sort of game.

Dresden Files RPG: Uses the FATES system that I'm not a fan of, but it's got the ironclad approval of author Jim Butcher and he's an avid gamer himself (*cough*LARPer*cough*), so it's got that in its favor. Make sure you read the novels before you read the RPG books though because there are spoilers up to and including White Night.

True20/d20 Modern: I personally don't like a level-based system for urban fantasy, but it'll be easier to get D&D players to play since the rules are d20 based. Both systems are good translations of the genre to the d20 system, but like I said, level-based advancement just doesn't seem to "click" for me.

Star Wars Saga: Same problem with level-based advancement and the fact that it's Star Wars, but every single thing can be reskinned to urban fantasy with almost no rules changing (Force = magic, blaster = gun, alien = monster, spaceship = car/truck/tank/plane).

Shadowrun: This one will take some work because it's basically Urban Fantasy meets Cyberpunk. You'd have to figure out a way to pull out cyberware without ruining the game balance between magic and mundane. But really, it's not as hard as you'd think. Decking/hacking can be normal computer hacking, up the BP costs or priority for magical ability and magical races, and just ditch cyberware. It's not perfect and it takes some work, but it's close.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: *rolls eyes* This was a pure money grub. The system is one of those tie-in systems that gamers loathe. Every single class/race/character concept/whatever is based on a character, so you're not playing a witch, you're playing Willow. You're not playing a slayer, you're playing Buffy. There's little to no balance in character types so that a human playing with a group of supernatural characters is going to be bored most of the game since they have so little to do. This is the most opinion-colored system on this list because I've never played it. I saw the core book in a used bookstore, thumbed through it for an hour or so, and realized I had absolutely no interest in ever playing a game.

D&D 4th Edition: There's rules for guns online that you can expand if you like, and every single other power in the game can be reskinned. Leather armor = biker jacket, plate armor = full SWAT tactical gear, etc. Just reskin everything in the system so that it fits a contemporary setting and you'll be fine. The downside is that it requires more work than d20 Modern or True20 and it's got the same flaw - level-based advancement.

Hero System/GURPS/Tri-Stat/other generic system: There's almost always a splatbook or setting for these that covers urban fantasy, especially the anime-based ones. I can't say anything about these systems because I haven't played with them much, but honestly they may be your best bet if WoD isn't your cup of tea. Some of them will require more work and some will require less. Some will be easy to run as a GM while others will suck.

[LibraryOgre]

I'll pipe in and say I disagree with the harsh treatment of the Buffy game by most who've mentioned it. The system is CJ Carella's Unisystem, which powers the excellent "Witchcraft". It's a fairly simple "roll d10 and add a couple modifiers) system, with about three "levels" of character... Champions (Buffy, Angel), Heroes (Riley; people with training beyond the norm), and White Hats (Xander, Willow in the early seasons... people without exceptional powers, just the will to do well).

Yes, the art is mostly stills from the show (sample character art is not, but that's all I can recall, and the book is a good five feet away, so inaccessible), but there are a variety of characters that are something other than the main cast. You might also look at the Angel RPG, which has less emphasis on magic, and more on creating different varieties of demons and organizations.

I didn't suggest either because they're both well out of print and somewhat difficult to find. Most of what you'd want from them can be done by API or other systems.

[Arbane]

I'll pipe in and say I disagree with the harsh treatment of the Buffy game by most who've mentioned it. The system is CJ Carella's Unisystem, which powers the excellent "Witchcraft".

On that note, Witchcraft is _another_ urban-fantasy game, and it's reasonably well-regarded. I've heard good things about the Buffy and Angel games, as well.

Also, ANOTHER Unisystem game, All Flesh Must Be Eaten. it was intended for zombie-horror games, but there's no reason it can't be hacked for less end-of-the-world weirdness.

And, of course, that old stand-by GURPS. There's only about a million modern-day and supernatural sourcebooks for it, and they're intended for mix-n-match play.

[Lord Loss]

If you're looking for a Monster Hunters feel, where the PCs fight supernatural beasties and have limited powers (and usually no supernatural ability at all) I reccomend the Supernatural RPG, which plays out much like the TV show. The Quickstart rules are available for free.

If you want an extremely dark RPG with big supernatural beasties against which the PCs can do little (this differs from the previous RPG in that the monsters are muc, much more powerful and the flavor goes from pulp to extremely dark and gritty).

D20 modern (with Urban Arcana) is as pulpy as your Urban Fanatsy is going to get. It's similar to the Dresden Files (sorta) novels in that respect.

[GreyMantle]

Are there any free urban fantasy modules/adventures online?

After Sundown (http://tgdmb.com/viewtopic.php?t=52316)is a brilliant and totally free urban fantasy RPG. You play as supernatural critters who live hidden in the modern world. The tone can range from WoD to Hellboy to Buffy, although it lacks a lot of the angst and all of the terrible system of WoD, either incarnation.

I would strongly urge you to stay away from d20 modern. Like, seriously, stay away. It's not a good system, at all.

I've also heard fairly good things about the Dresden Files RPG, assuming you're into the FATE stuff.

[Aidan305]

I agree, is there somewhere I can read up on this idea?

Yes actually. The author that I would say does it best is Charles Stross, in his Laundry series. I believe that Gar Hanrahan is currently writing the RPG, based on the Chaosium BRP system.

[Bogardan_Mage]

That's to be decided on a monster to monster basis. I Own several monster manuals for 3.5, I would appreciate anyone with ideas on how to adapt them to an urban fantasy setting.
Check out WotC's d20 Modern adventures (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20modern/oaa/full), about half of which are geared towards Urban Arcana. I particularly remember The 7:48 From Central Avenue as borrowing from the Monster Manual, and others use d20 Modern versions that are nearly identical to their D&D counterparts.

[Eric Tolle]

Some Recommendations:

I own and have played the Buffy system, and I would say it's an excellent game for doing high-action urban fantasy. The Drama points are an excellent way to balance the high power characters with the low power ones; Heores may have more power, but White Hats actually have more ability to influence the overal action.

Witchcraft is basically a "Mage Light" for people who don't like to roll multiple dice. The main book is primarily centered around magic users of different creeds, though IIRC, they have an allowance to play Werecats, for the obvious reason. It's a more complex game than Buffy, ad encourages more subtle action.

Feng Shui is a fairly simple system designed for even more over-the-top action in the style of Wuxia films, and between demon powers and the faction composed of ex-animals, can easily be modded to represent assorted fantasy monsters. It's a good game if you've ever just wanted to run up a wall and kung-fu kick a hopping vampire.

True20 is an excellent game for urban fantasy; the general base classes and damage save give it a much more gritty feel than D&D. You might want to look into it, because it's D20 base means you can port D&D monsters over fairly easily.

Delta Green is basically modern day Call of Cthulhu, in all it's xenophobic glory. This is good game if you want the non-humans to be little more than targets for hunting; the vast majority of monsters are alien,completely inimical creatures that can't be negotiated with, related to, or really do anything besides drive PCs insane. So if you want a "see non-human, kill non-human" style of play, this is the game for you.

[randomhero00]

I'd say make you're own in this case.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=204767

Take a look at that.