[Mechanics] If you know, you know (rules and moves)

[Wynamoinen]

A thread to provide some quick references to game mechanics.

Table of contents for this thread:

• Faction
• Debt
• Advancement
• Corruption
• Harm
• Moves

More topics may be added. If I need to add one, please tell me!

A good chunk of this was taken from Roekah's Urban Shadows game.

[Wynamoinen]

Faction

Every archetype belongs to a Faction: Mortal, Night, Power, and Wild. These are loose agglomerations of types within the city. A faction is not a unified whole, but it IS a group with common experience, and with ties that bind them together. There are a few key features about factions:

1) There are special Faction moves that you can make. These mostly involve information gathering. They are a way of fleshing out our city. We want a fuller city! You should do faction moves! These always roll with +Faction of the target.

• Hit the Streets

   

  On a hit, they are available and have what you need. On a 7-9, choose 1:

  • They are juggling their own problems
  • What you need is more costly than anticipated

• Put a Face to a Name

   

  On a hit, you know their reputation; the MC will tell you what most people know about them. On a 10+, you've dealt with them before; learn something interesting and useful or they owe you a debt. On a miss, you don't know them or you owe them a debt (MC decides).

• Investigate a Place of Power

   

  On a hit, you see below the surface to the reality underneath. On a 10+, you can ask the MC one question about the schemes and politics of the faction that owns it.

2) Factions are the key to advancement! See the advancement post in this thread. In order to get advancements, you must interact with EVERY faction. So we need to get you involved with every faction. You are literally rewarded for interacting with people different from you. That's where the drama comes in.

[Wynamoinen]

Debt

Debt is the central economy of Urban Shadows. Notice that there is basically no money anywhere in the rulebook. You get what you want in this game by either taking actions, or by incurring (or recalling) debt.

1) There are particular Debt Moves. There will be times where I'll let you take control of an NPC, for the purpose of storytelling. But if there is something important or difficult to do, the main way you get NPCs to do what you want them to do is through Debt. If you're asking an NPC to do something that puts them at any risk, a Debt move will almost certainly be required. Those moves are:

• Cash In a Debt (also allows you to mark faction!)

   

  When you cash in a debt, remind someone why they owe you to:
  Make a PC:

  • Do you a favor at moderate cost
  • Lend a hand to your efforts
  • Get in the way of someone else
  • Answer a question honestly
  • Erase a debt they hold on someone
  • Give you a debt they hold on someone else

  Make an NPC:

  • Answer a question honestly about their faction
  • Introduce you to a powerful member of their faction
  • Give you a worthy and useful gift at no cost
  • Erase a debt they hold on someone
  • Give you a debt they hold on someone
  • Give you a +3 to persuade them

• Honor a Debt (also allows you to mark faction!)

   

  Someone comes calling and holds your feet to the fire? Yeah, its probably going to suck whatever they need, but at least you mark their faction!

• Do Someone A Favor

   

  When you do someone a favor, they owe you a debt

• Refuse to Honor a Debt (+Heart)

   

  On a hit, you weasel out of the current deal, but still owe the debt. On a 7-9, choose 1:

  • You owe them an additional debt
  • You lose face with their faction
  • You mark corruption

  On a miss, you can't avoid the noose. You either honor your debt or face the consequences and they pick 1:

  • They pick 2 from the list above
  • They force you to lose all debts owed to you

• Drop Someone's Name (+{Faction})

   

  Drop someone's name who owes you a debt. On a hit, their name carries weight and gives you an opening or opportunity. On a 10+, they still owe you the debt and you mark their faction. On a 7-9, you have to cash in the debt. On a miss, erase the debt ... and brace yourself

2) Debt also creates a network of obligation and connection. Debt isn't necessarily a bad thing. It is personal contact. A person with a lot of debt is a person who knows a lot of people, and who has probably gotten a lot done! Debt is a tool for getting what you want, and it's also a way of driving the story forward. We'll definitely connect the PCs through debts as the game begins.

[Wynamoinen]

Advancement

Advancement means making your character smarter, faster, stronger. Who doesn't like leveling up? But in Urban Shadows, you don't level up by murdering people and stealing their property. You level up by doing what the game wants you to do. The game wants you to interact with the city in all of its diverse manifestations.

You advance by "marking Faction" with each of the four factions. Once you do that, you take an advancement and clear your marks. Rinse and repeat. You've got a few options to mark faction:

1) make a faction move connected to a given faction. Succeed or fail in that move, mark faction.

2) trigger an intimacy move with a member of a faction. Intimacy can mean sexytimes, but it can also mean emotional vulnerability: opening up to someone and exposing your true self to them. Intimacy moves trigger certain actions or consequences, as described in your playbook.

3) using a debt, in the form of either cashing in a debt or honoring a debt, with a member of that faction.

Your playbook tells you what you can gain when you take an advancement. Raise an ability, get more moves, etc. And once (and if) you advance five times, a new menu of advancements opens up.

[Wynamoinen]

Corruption

The city is dark, and you are part of that darkness. Every step you take can lead you down a path that leads you to losing yourself forever. The city will claim you, and you will become one of the horrific shadows lurking in the darkest parts of the city. When you accumulate corruption, you lose a piece of your humanity, but you gain in power. Is it worth it? Only you can judge.

Your corruption track has 5 spaces. When it fills, you take a corruption advance, as described on your playbook. You can take no more than 5 corruption advances. At that point, you lose control of your character forever. There are many ways to gain corruption.

1) Whenever you take your corruption move, you gain a point of corruption. Every playbook has its own corruption move. Pay attention to this! It's the essential struggle of your archetype. You won't necessarily say "I'm taking my corruptoin move". But you may do something that triggers your corruption move. I'll try to look out for that, and I ask you to do the same.

2) Some moves either force corruption upon you, or let you choose corruption. Foremost among these is Let it Out, an exercise of supernatural power.

3) The MC says you mark corruption! Look, if you do something corrupt, you're going to become corrupted. If I notice this happening, I might either simply tell you to mark corruption, or ask if that's really what you want to do, because it will advance your corruption track. If you think an action of yours or another players' might advance corruption, please share your thoughts in OOC.

Your playbook tells you what your corruption advances are. Notice that they are pretty powerful! To some extent, you're rewarded for accumulating corruption. It's part of the game, and part of the tough choices you should face. But you're taking the tiger by the tail, so think about the costs and the benefits. Think about the story that you want to tell.

[Wynamoinen]

Harm

Urban Shadows is a deadly game! It isn't a game where fighting your way out of every situation is an option. Your harm track has five boxes. The first box you can shake off as faint harm. The next two boxes are grievous, and you'll need multiple days of recovery to get rid of it. The last two boxes are critical. That type of harm will put you out of commission for multiple weeks, and it will kill you if it's not treated by a professional. Take damage beyond that fifth box, and you're just dead (yes, even if you're undead already).

For context, a shotgun or sword deliver three boxes of harm. Absent protection, you can survive one hit from those. A handgun does 2-harm; you'll be lucky to surive two shots from those. Bats and fists and brass knuckles do 1-harm; you can probably exchange a few blows back and forth before your life is in serious jeopardy.

Armor is available to some archetypes. It reduces harm by its value (1-armor reduces a 3-harm shotgun blast down to a 2-harm shot)

Stun damage doesn't fill up your damage track. It will have some negative consequence, or it might require a keep your cool roll to stay upright.

Healing, in game, primarily takes time. Faint harm literally just takes time. Grievous harm will go away faster if you get help, but as long as you don't strain yourself, you'll get over it eventually. Criticlal harm requires professional help. In a world like this, professionals might be doctors, or they might be supernatural. But without skilled help, critical harm will get worst and it will kill you. Faction moves might help you find the kind of help you need! And no matter what kind of help you find, lots of time will be involved before the harm goes away fully.

Scars are the one way that every single character can avoid harm. When harm is dealt, you can simply choose to take none of that harm, and instead take a scar. Scars permanently reduce the ability score of your choosing by one point. Mechanically, that will reduce the effectiveness of some of your moves. You are also encouraged to role play its consequences (as shattered, crushed, fractured or broken - see page 153 of the rulebook).

[Wynamoinen]

Moves

These are the basic mechanics of the game. They are thematic actions of the system. You ONLY roll dice (2d6, plus the related ability, plus any bonuses that you are taking forward/ongoing) when you a move. There are 4 major types of moves for a PC:

1. Basic moves
2. Playbook moves
3. Debt moves
4. Faction moves

See your playbook for the full description of your playbook moves. See the other entries in this thread for Debt moves and Faction moves. For completeness' sake, here are the basic moves (which the authors make available for free).

• Unleash an Attack (+Blood)

   

  On a hit choose 1:

  • Inflict terrible harm
  • take something from them

  On a 7-9, choose 1:

  • They inflict harm on you
  • you find yourself in a bad spot

• Escape (+Blood)

   

  On a hit you escape. On a 10+ choose one (1). On a 7-9 choose two (2).

  • Take harm
  • You end up in another dangerous situation
  • You leave something important behind
  • You owe someone a debt
  • You give in to your base nature; mark corruption

• Persuade an NPC (+Heart)

   

  On a hit, they do what you ask. On a 7-9, they modify the terms or demand a debt.
  If you cash in a debt before rolling, add +3 to your roll.

• Figure Someone Out (+Mind)

   

  On a hit hold 2. On a 7-9, they hold 1 on you as well. Spend hold to ask questions:

  • Who's pulling your character's strings?
  • What's your character's beef with ___?
  • What's your character hoping to get from ___?
  • How could I get your character to ___?
  • What does your character worry might happen?
  • How could I put your character in my debt?

  If they are in your Faction you can ask 1 additional, even on a miss.

• Mislead, Distract, or Trick (+Mind)

   

  On a hit, they are fooled, at least for now. On a 10+, pick three (3). On a 7-9, pick two (2).

  • Create an opportunity
  • Expose a weakness or flaw
  • Confuse them for some time
  • Avoid further entanglement

• Keep Your Cool (+Spirit)

   

  When things get real, tell the MC what situation you want to avoid. On a 10+, all's well. On a 7-9, the MC will tell you what its gonna cost you.

• Let It Out (+Spirit)

   

  When you let out the power within you. On a hit, choose 1 and mark corruption. On a 10+, ignore the corruption OR choose 1 more.

  • Take +1 forward on your next roll
  • Extend your senses, supernatural or otherwise
  • Frighten, intimidate, or impress your opposition
  • Take definite hold of something vulnerable or exposed

• Lend a Hand or Get in the Way (+{Faction})

   

  When you lend a hand or get in the way after a PC has rolled, roll with their faction. On a hit, add +1 or -2 to their roll. On a 7-9, you expose yourself to danger, entanglement, or cost.

Some related terminology and general rules:

• Hit/Miss: Whenever you make a move, any result that is greater than or equal to 7 counts as a hit and anything less is a miss. Notice that a miss is not necessarily a failure. A miss always results in consequences: an MC move.
• Hold: Some moves mention giving you “hold”. This means that you have some “points” that can be spent as described in the move. Normally, these must be spent in the same scene but sometimes can be kept until later. The move will say and if there is any ambiguity just ask me.
• +1 Forward: If a move says you get to “take +1 forwards” it means you add +1 to the next applicable roll, so long as that comes before the effect wears off (normally the end of the scene).
• +1 Ongoing: If a move says you get to “take +1 ongoing” it means you add +1 to all applicable rolls until the effect ends (normally at the end of the scene).
• The greatest a bonus you add to a die roll can ever be is +4. Similarly, the lowest it can ever be is -3. If you would have a higher/lower modifier it instead sets to the limit.