Urban Shadows

Dreamation 2015: 19 February 2016: 8pm: Urban Shadows

I think of this Powered by the Apocalypse Game (aka PbtA, aka Apocalypse World hack, aka *World game) as doing what White Wolf's World of Darkness claims to do.

• Brendan Conway: GM
• Jenn Martin: Fae: Morven Christie, female, Caucasian, eccentric demeanor
• Me: Tainted: Luka, ambiguous gender, Hispanic/Latino, expensive clothing, corporate demeanor
• Whitney D: Angel: Jael, female, Asian: Mongolian, white clothing and furs
• Howard Katz: Wizard: Randall Chase, investment broker

The setting was Utica, NY. Brendan explained a few things about the game, which was, I believe, still in late playtest.

The PCs were people in a city. They were not quite human.

• Community is a thing bigger than you.
• You _can-_run -- but they may find you.

There are 4 factions, although these are fairly loose groups:

• Mortality -- humans who are aware of the supernatural. This includes the Veteran, Hunter, and Aware play books.
• Night -- the Spectre, Vampire, and Wolf play books.
• Power -- the mortals who aren't mortal any longer. They made deals for power. This includes the Wizard and Oracle playbooks.
• Wild -- that which comes from outside the world. This includes Tainted, Fae, and Angel playbooks.

You'll notice we had three Wild and one Power archetype. I'm not sure how typical this is. I'm also not sure if the Angel playbook is the same as it was when we played this, as that was a playbook that wasn't included with the core book.

One way of advancing is to check all four Faction boxes. Another is to gain sufficient Corruption.

As with all *World games, there are Moves. These include:

• Basic Moves that everyone gets
• Faction Moves, as subset of the above
• Moves specific to a playbook
• Drama Moves specific to each playbook, including a Corruption Move, an Intimacy Move (rather than a Sex Move), and an End Move (which is used when the character dies, and perhaps when the character retires -- not all playbooks have the retirement option).

There are two kinds of Advances: Standard (from checking all the Faction boxes) and Corruptions.

Many, though not all, playbooks allow one to take a Move to switch to another playbook.

Corruption Moves make one more like what the archetype is often perceived as. The player should be _interested_ in these. If you're avoiding Corruption and Corruption Moves, you're either playing the wrong game or the wrong character.

Fae: I have the character sheet. Here are some of the highlights:

• Who are you? FTD Delivery. (Yep, she had a day job.)
• What do you most love about humanity? When they burn bright and fast.
• Who is your closest confidant in the city? Eliot, a Water Spirit.
• How long have you been in the city? A year and a day.
• What do you desperately need? The love of my monarch, the faerie king. (I think she'd been banished from court, based on lies someone told the king about her. At least, Morven said they were lies.)
• Gear included a nice apartment, a car, and a smart phone, as well as a symbol of her court, the Winter Court: a ring with an ice diamond. She also had a relic from her homelands, a crystal bottle of wine.
• Her stats were: Blood -1, Heart 1, Mind 1, Spirit 1, Mortality 0, Night -1, Power 1, Wild 2.
• She had Faerie Magic, including Glamours, the ability to change into an animal, and the ability to manipulate emotions. Using Faerie Magic caused her to gain Corruption. She could use Heart instead of Mind to trick someone, use Faerie Magic at no cost on someone she held Debt on, and when trying to Escape, could choose to escape back to her homeland, "for better or worse".

Angel:

• She had ice wings and had started turning to ice. That last may be what it cost her to stay.
• Who is beyond saving? Parents of some child. She pictured them as 2 statuettes facing opposition directions.

Wizard:

• Randall had grown up in this city and returned after his entire family had been killed. They were dead in their house. They'd been murdered, or at least, that's what folks thought. However, there were no physical injuries to be found.
• He had given up a cushy job to return to city. He was seeking closure. Justice. Or, perhaps, revenge.
• He pretended that his focus was a cane, because he was paranoid. It was actually a medallion that he'd found in a safety deposit box along with a note to him, from his parents, saying, "You have denied this for far too long."
• Randall was not particularly ethical. He made his money as an investment broker, replacing his clients' memories so that they invested in what he told them to invest in.
• He had come to the city about 4 months ago, the ominous newcomer.

Tainted: Here are some of the highlights from my playbook:

• Who are you? Luka, representative of Murmur. I'd been browsing the internet for an appropriate Dark Patron and found this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murmur_(demon) So, Luka worked for Murmur, who, in human form, was a Philosophy professor. Murmur used Luka to deliver threats and messages and to broker demonic contracts.
• How long have you been in the city? 2-3 years.
• Who would you die for? Phillip, the son of Luka's housekeeper. Without thinking, I said that Phillip was autistic. Then, it occurred to me that I was making a lot of assumptions about autism that weren't necessarily correct. Then, it occurred to me that Luka might well be making such assumptions, and perhaps others as well, so I said that Luka assumed Phillip was autistic, but might not be correct.
• What is your daily release? Complex origami tableaux.
• What do you desperately need? Information. Got to stay on top of it all.

We created the backstory / web of debt next.

Luka's demon patron, Murmur, held the contract for Luka's soul, and Luka owed him 3 debts.

Luka was protecting Jael from Murmur's attention and had warned the angel about him. Jael owed Luka 2 debts. This wasn't out of altruism, though. Luka was hoping that Jael would turn completely to ice and planned to keep her as a sculpture.

Jael had asthma and always used an inhaler.

• When she first arrived in the city, Morven gave her a place to stay. Therefore, she owed Morven a debt.
• She also owed Randall a debt because he was doing genuinely charitable work.

Randall may have owed Jael a debt or two debts, if she was trying to save him from temptation. He also owed Luka 2 debts because Luka "cleaned his messes".

Someone: Angel to calm you down so you don't make messes. Devil there when you -do- make messes.

But, Randall had also protected Luka from other supernatural creatures, so Luka also owed Randall 2 debts.

Randall had broken a promise to Morven. He promised never to use his abilities on Morven and tried anyway. They didn't work, and he swore he'd make it up to her. He owed her 2 debts.

Morven entrusted Jael with an important task: To steal a flower for her. Jael stone one from Maeve of the Summer Court. Morven and her king were from the Winter Court, of course. I think Morven may have wanted to give the flower to her king? Regardless, Morven owed Jael a debt.

Morven was protecting Phillip for Luka, so Luka owed Morven a debt. Luka also owed Jael 2 debts, and paid one back in game, somehow.

Randall was helping someone keep a dangerous secret. Who? My notes say: "Morven? Fenton". I don't know what that means.

Quote whose context I forget: Always good to have a Plan B.

Brendan said he was modifying the usual session introduction procedure. I think usually, you start either with no Faction boxes marked or just your PC's Faction box marked. But, for this convention one-shot, where it would be nice to get at least one advance / new move, we started with our PC's Faction box marked, and we picked the character we trusted least. That character's player picked a Faction for us to mark We then created a rumor about that Faction, with encouragement to point at something already existing for someone, or to another rumor, especially good for tightening things for a one shot. In addition, we then rolled for the Faction to see if our PC was ready, not ready, or caught flat-footed when things involving that Faction happened.

Randall mistrusted Morven the most. Her player spotlighted Night. Randall's player marked Night and created this rumor: Night trying to eliminate all the members of the Wild Faction because the Wild have the most ability to affect the Night.

My notes say something about a particular vampire, Michael Dark. Randall's player rolled and failed, so Randall was or would be caught flatfooted, unaware, and unprepared.

Jael mistrusted Luka the most. I spotlighted Mortality. Rumor: Mortality is going of its own free will to Murmur for power. Father Brian might be evil or might be pretending to be evil. Jael's player failed her roll, so Jael, too, would be caught flat-footed.

Luka mistrusted Randall the most. Randall's player highlighted Night. I came up with a rumor about a Wolf on Varick Street, Vanessa. I also failed my roll. Luka, too, would be caught flat-footed.

Morven mistrusted Luka the most. I highlighted Power. Rumor: There are Wizard Investigators on Randall's Tail: Vincent and Wesley. Luka owed them a debt. Morven's player actually got an 8 on her roll. 7-9 meant that Morven was "Neck deep in it", but not caught flat-footed. She owed someone in that faction a debt and vice versa. So, Vincent and Wesley owed her because she talked to them about Randall. He (Randall? Vincent and Wesley? My notes are not clear.) got her out of some Mundane, legal problem.

Howard (as what we've chosen sinks in): We're the people Harry Dresden tracks down and kills.

That was perhaps an exaggeration, but not too far off the mark for most of us.

Jael was currently staying in Father Brian's church. She awoke to some noise, and went to see what was going on. I think the Father was being menaced by werewolves.

IIRC, Jael tried to get divine guidance and was told to walk away from what she was seeing. But, instead, she tried to help. I think she showed her true self, possibly overdoing it.

Certainly, my notes say that the werewolves who'd been menacing the Father started tearing each other apart. The Father was not saved, however. His eyes were glowing rest, and he might have had claws as well.

Jael (wishing she'd listened to God): I'm going back to bed now.

I think what was going on was that Father Brian had tried to infiltrate the folks who were going to Murmur, and that this had not gone well for him.

Meanwhile, Randall was talking with Luka in a bar or restaurant that I think was supposed to be neutral. Well, mostly neutral. Well, more or less neutral.

Randall: Are your stocks diversified?

At this point, Vincent and Wesley showed up and invited the two outside, into their car, the kind of invitation one isn't permitted to refuse. Randall and Luka accepted.

However, when Vincent and Wesley made it clear that they were going to take action against Randall for continuing to wipe people's memories and generally mess with their minds, he got out of the car and ran. Vincent and Wesley called in their debt on Luka, telling Luka to bring Randall to them. Luka agreed. Brendan decided that this counted as paying off the debt, which surprised me, as Luka had not done anything concrete. Later, he agreed and reversed that call.

Jael went to Morven's apartment.

Jael: Do you have company?

Morven let Jael in and listened to the angel's tale.

Jael: Father Brian's eyes turned red, and I didn't know what to do.

Morven: What, does he have pink eye?

Jael: Many werewolves came. The Lord said I should leave, but I stayed.

Morven: Well, _that_ was dumb.

Jael: I know that now.

At some point, someone, likely Luka, tried to put a face to the name of Father Brian. A roll of 8 meant that Luka only knew him by reputation. Rumor had it that Father Brian was "not unaware of the supernatural".

There was a lot of stuff I forgot. I remember Luka trying to set things up so that Randall would make a deal with Murmur. So, Luka got Murmur to tell Luka who had killed Randall's family. This meant that Luka now owed Murmur 4 debts. I think some die roll got the result of "more costly than anticipated".

GM: Mark the f*ck out of your Corruption.

But Luka felt it was worth it. Murmur explained that to stop the hearts of Randall's entire family, leaving absolutely no trace of what was done, was a work of art. More, the demon _showed_ this to Luka in some kind of magical psychic way (hence the corruption). Something like that could only have been done by someone with immense power. Specifically, it could only have been done by Morven's monarch, the Winter King.

Luka was awed. This was indeed an amazing work of art.

Luka: F*ck the church -- this is Art!

I'm not sure why there was the reference to the church. Perhaps this was Luka wondering about Father Brian, but dismissing him?

At this point, everyone converged on a warehouse outside of town, or at least, well away from anything else in town. I think Morven called Vincent and Wesley to tell them that Randall would be there? I think Luka told them as well. I have obviously forgotten details, and I have no idea why Jael showed up as well.

My notes say:

• Seeing -- Angel over black ocean
• Tendrils dragging angel down
• Angel dies -) burns
• Muck disintegrated
• -) skeletons where the water used to be

I have no idea whether this was Jael getting a vision of another angel, or someone getting a vision of Jael.

Jael: What the f*ck? -- I don't like my Lord and Savior.

I have no idea to what that referred.

When Randall did show up, Luka offered the truth about his family's death on Murmur's behalf, i.e., in return for Randall's soul, or at least, some impressive debt. Luka was in demonic form, with a halo of smoke, smoky eyes, claws, leather wings, and rock-like skin.

Vincent and Wesley were not pleased, this not being at all what they had meant when they told Luka to bring Randall to them. They wanted him helpless and gift-wrapped, not free and furious. It was at this point that Brendan said to un-check the debt, and I agreed.

Randall accepted Luka's offer. Jael looked around in disgust, and decided that God was right. She turned and walked away from everyone, not relenting even when Luka asked her to take care of Phillip.

This was almost certainly the right move on Jael's part. Sure, Luka was being sincere, but honestly, it didn't matter, except insofar as this may have been refusing to honor a debt -- and even if it were, which I'm not clear on, Luka had just obviously welched on the deal with Vincent and Wesley.

This may have been dialogue and mechanics about Luka's attempt to get Jael to help against Vincent and Wesley:

They'll wipe his mind.
Shh!
Heart -- 6 -- I'm not going to back out of the backing out.

Morven fled, trying to return home. Alas, the Fae wound up not in Winterlands, but in the Summerland, where centaurs seized her and brought her to Queen Maeve, who had not forgotten the theft of her flower. I think the consensus was that Maeve mounted her head on a pike in the garden, and Morven still tried to convince herself, even as a disembodied head, that her monarch loved her.

Meanwhile, Luka and Randall prepared to fight Vincent and Wesley, and we cut and ended the game as the two pairs moved towards each other, weapons, natural and otherwise, out.