RPG Review: ‘Urban Shadows’ from Magpie Games

Urban Shadows from Magpie Games blends a magical world with our own to create a role-playing landscape as lofty as our imaginations and as familiar as one’s own backyard. Urban fantasy and magical realism have been literary genres for decades, even centuries, with myths connecting with actual places where gods or spirits are said to have touched ground. That legendary feel in storytelling comes to the tabletop with a system driven by group storytelling, imagining what could be in the real world.

Near-real-world Setting

The setting for Urban Shadows is literally any modern urban area. Its core book comes with details for Chicago and Santiago, Chile, revealing the hidden supernatural city beneath the ones seen by the everyday eye as wizards pull political strings and shapeshifters stalk the night. Because Urban Shadows is a mirror to the real world, any city can become a playable setting. Resources like Wikipedia, local newspapers, and travel guidebooks may be treated as source books showing the city’s history and hotspots along with detailed maps ready to go.

For example, players might pick Oklahoma City, a sprawling conservative metro on the Great Plains with 700,000 people and a turbulent past, including two sets of downtown tunnels: one frequented today and another, older system built by Chinese immigrants and Chinese-Americans that was abandoned in the 1940s. It is not hard to imagine vampires establishing a home in those eternally dark tunnels extending for blocks in every direction, with while zealous religious hunters seeking to eradicate them. Once players dig into the local lore of just about any city, adventures with paranormal potential will quickly arise.

Gaming as a Conversation

While other RPGs may focus on statistics and min-maxing points, Urban Shadows is a game of society and politicking. Rather than a game master or dungeon master, Urban Shadows has a “Master of Ceremonies” as its lead storyteller setting the scene and navigating. The players are just as much part of the storytelling with each of their characters having Drive to accomplish certain goals in their lives as well as complex backgrounds linking with the other supernatural non-player characters in the city.

There are stats to give a numerical value to characters’ physical, social, mental, and spiritual abilities, but just as important are the descriptions and relationships that they build while navigating the complexities of powerful, secret worlds.

Urban Shadows divides its city-settings into Hubs, each dominated by a Circle of like fantastical creatures. Wild fae might hang around the Art District where their magical antics might be masked as costumes or witnesses having too much to drink.

Meanwhile, the Mortalis, humans delving into the supernatural to protect mankind, could be at City Hall keeping their eye on things; the obsessed Night stalk Downtown; and those seeking Power would likely study at the city’s University. Every character has a rating for each Circle to show how much clout they carry with them, numbers that are just as important, if not more important, to achieving the story goals as their stats.

Urban Shadows: Balancing Storytelling with Rules

Urban Shadows is very much story-driven, but it maintains a solid rules system to keep play from derailing into chaos. Players use two six-sided dice to make actions based on their skillsets, explained in Playbooks which reflect what kinds of people these characters are. They could be socially connected Aware, mischievous Imps, duty-bound Sworn, or Spectres – literal ghosts.

The Playbooks simplify classes of characters down to their key actions, making gameplay smooth and entertaining. They also give guidance on special abilities and magic; Moments of Intimacy, deeply emotional key interactions that may lead to corruption while granting great power; and notes for Debts.

As in any good noir, Debt is the true economy that keeps society going, with favors being exchanged and collected. When anyone, player or NPC, calls in a debt, it must be paid, or there will be terrible social consequences. In a world where money can be created out of thin air, property quickly passes to the strongest or sneakiest, and physical forms may be changed like clothing, Debt is just about the only thing people can trust.

Role-players seeking a narrative-driven experience will fall in love with Urban Shadows. With every city in the world a potential setting along with the rich local folklore in each, the possibilities for storytelling are endless. By the nature of the game players must be complex, and they will grow more complex as they interact with the social net all around them. Games can be as light as players want them, but as the “End Move” on each Playbook shows what happens when a character dies, there are always plenty of dangers to be found.