Note: There is a 2nd edition available, so some of the review for this 1st edition may not be applicable for the current edition.
A game focused on the political/factional struggles in a modern supernatural setting. You can easily run a game to reflect your favourite novel or television series, be that Dresden, Vampire Diaries, or something else - as long as there are factions involved, and those factions have conflict between them. The game is Powered by the Apocalypse, and uses all the familiar trappings of that rules style; 2d6 resolution, moves, etc. If you are new to PbtA games I would reccomend checking out some gameplay of any of the major PbtA games to get a sense of the playstyle and some of the specific quirks and features of the style.
The game is illustrated in sharp black and white images, generally of high quality. It is is easy to read, and rules are introduced in a logical fashion as you progress through the book. The game has many examples to help a newer player or GM see how the "moves" in the books work, and to give one ideas on how to run and play the game. The focus on making the urban enivronment have character and divesity is excellent - you can tell that the author(s) wish to get us out of thinking of these cities as the way you would see them on a CW show. These cities are multicultural, dirty, and have potential for exciting drama and intrigue just oozing out of the corners.
There are some structural problems with the game.
- Corruption in particular is a consistent complaint from my play group when I ran the game for them: many players complained that corruption is added too quickly, and often for choices that don't feel like they deem it. As you gain corruption points you can access new powers, but the ticking clock until your character is "one of the monsters" (read: no longer playable) appears to be too aggressive for playgroups I've run the game for. I see this as a correctible problem (introducing some corruption mitigation would be easy).
- The advancement mechanic is arbitrary. Like the old "gold for XP" out of classic D&D, the advancement mechanic forces you to engage with each of the 4 factions in the setting to advance. The idea is sound: just like gold for XP, incentivize the thing you want players to do - in Urban Shadows, that's get out and mix it up your allies and your enemies. In play however many players struggle to work this into the narrative. This may be because the overall structure of the city and the factions needs to be presented in a way that allows the fluidity of allegiance and the drive to "rub shoulders" to be more accessible in play. This is the only piece of the game where I felt some better examples were needed.
Final thoughts: medium-low complexity, ease of play is medium, high hackability (like most PbtA), and good quality for cost.
Rating: [4 of 5 Stars!] |