Vote up an Urban Fantasy Setting

[combatmedic]

Vote up an Urban Fantasy Setting


Okay, let's try something more focused the just "fantasy."

The setting (at least the primary setting) will be Earth. The genre is "urban fantasy." For the rest, you guys vote.
I'll come along after I deem sufficient votes are in/the thread seems ripe, and make a tally.

Then I'll put up more voting and more categories, based on your ideas and submissions.

EDIT- Click below to see the initial poll, now closed.

Spoiler:  

Greater value number rank= greater preference.

Time period RANK 1-5
• 1980s
• 1990s
• 2000s
• This decade/present day
• Near future

History: RANK 1-4
• Hidden weirdness: the supernatural stuff has always existed, under the surface, more so in recent centuries—textbook history and common knowledge match our world
• Lost time: a significant chunk of the historical past is fabricated, centuries might be ‘’missing’’
• Small differences alternate: like the first category, but with some minor though potentially important differences in recent decades—wars, art trends, leaders, sports
• Reality quake: a reality altering event has occurred, either recently or deeper in the past/further in the future but affecting the present. Magic bleeds into the world and lots of people are noticing…


Distribution of weirdness RANK 1-3
• Tight, supernatural stuff concentrated in one city
• Regional, one country or large region has more of the weird stuff going on under the surface, other places less
• Diffuse, hidden spookiness and supernatural stuff exists all over the world

Default player-character types RANK 1-4
• Mostly “regular” (from weak to very competent) folks who come into contact with weirdness
• Ghost-breakers, badass detectives, occultists who have real power, etc.
• Minor super heroes with mystical , magical, or gothic themes
• monsters that might be sympathetic as well as scary (White Wolf did a lot of this)

Magic and weird powers, number of categories: RANK 1-3
• One
• Two
• Three or more


Categories of magic/weird powers RANK 1-6
• standard system, limited grimoire and secret
• psi as magic
• supernatural advantages and powers as magic
• book/path of some kind
• esoteric skills like alchemy and herbalism
• fringe tech/weird science



Number of monster categories, rank 1-6:
• One
• Two
• Three
• Four
• Five
• Six or more

Monster types, RANK 1—10,
• Shapeshifters
• Ghosts/Spirits
• Vampires
• Fairies
• Witches, warlocks, evil magicians
• Zombies
• Demons and devils
• Cryptids
• Golems/constructs
• Other types, including possibly some from Creatures of the Night

EDIT:


Here are the results of the first round of voting. This is the basic template on which we can build.




Near Future (of Earth)


Hidden weirdness


Diffuse, hidden spookiness and supernatural stuff exists all over the world

Default PC types: Ghost-breakers, badass detectives, occultists who have real power, etc.


Two kinds of magic/weird powers exist:
• Supernatural advantages
• Path/Book magic


Monsters fall into three broad categories:


• Witches/evil magicians
• Fairies
• Other: DRAGONS


EDIT

Spoiler:  

NEW POLL


Other Monster category, please rank 1-4.
That means: 1, 2, 3, 4. Please don’t leave anything blank or skip numbers. Thanks.


• Creatures of the Night (If this one wins, we will do another poll to pick a set of specific monsters from the GURPS, Creatures of the Night books—including the one for 3E)

• Dragons (presumably they have some means of hiding from/among humans, unless they are all asleep)

• Enchanted beasts (e.g. witches’ familiars, magically uplifted/”awakened “animals)

• Other (please be specific. I this one wins, we will do one more poll with new entries based on your votes/comments)

EDIT-- Dragons wins, poll closed.

Originally Posted by combatmedic

We will work out stuff on fairies, dragons, witches, and some of the questions Faolyn (?0 raised upthread.

As you guys voted for near future, let's first vote on tech level before we get into the more complex stuff:



closed POLL: TECHNOLOGY

Please rate these options from 0-5 (Note I included zero). 0 means you don't want it, period. 5 is your first pick.

• TL 8 Retro trends, possibly some regression in what's commonly avaiable
  
• TL 8 baseline/like today with some new gadgets but no major changes
  
• TL 8 with one area (computers, mechanical engineering, power generation, weapons, etc.) advanced a TL
  
• TL 9 with no superscience but everything else from UT at that TL
  
• TL 9 Cyberpunk Path (more advanced stuff in computers, VR, cyberware, holography, etc.)
  
• other--Specify (if it wins, we do another poll on tech)

EDIT TECH UPDATE

Here are the totals with my votes added:
• 7+4=11 TL 8 Retro
• 25+3=28 TL 8 baseline/like today with some new gadgets but no major changes
• 35+5=40 TL 8 with one area advanced a TL WINNER
• 34+1=35 TL 9 with no super-science
• 23+2=25 TL 9 Cyberpunk Path
• 40+0 =40 other WINNER

Yep, I voted to make a tie. Split TL! Wheee.
The TL 8 with one advanced area is the standard, known default TL for the setting. The Other category may be dragon tech, faerie tech, secret gov’t stuff, magitech, whatever. We will now vote on that with the subcategories drawn from your suggestions, guys.


OTHER TECH/HIDDEN TECH NEW POLL:

• Weird science/crackpot inventions
• Magi-tech
• TL 9, limited and select super-science but no FTL
• Steampunk

Please rank these 0,1,2,3.



SECOND NEW POLL

TL 8 with one advanced area...
Which area? Vote on the options below.


transportation/vehicles

weapons and armor

power

biotech/medicine

communications/sensors/media

architecture/construction/materials

computers

other area (TBD by new poll)

Please rank 0, 1,2, 2, 3....7.

UPDATE, Power wins with 57, nine points ahead of the nearest contender.


EDIT: FOLLOWING POLL NOW CLOSED


NEW POLL: HOW/WHY ARE MAGIC AND MONSTERS HIDDEN FROM THE MUNDANES


1)There is a powerful and effective masquerade enforced by one or more supernatural factions.
2)It's psychological. Most people are too freaked out by magic and monsters to retain any clear memory of encounters. Lots of rationalizing stuff, blocked memories, looking the other way...
3) A mortal secret agency or gov't conspiracy covers up the supernatural in order to protect humanity (or for some other purpose...)
4) Some kind of veil/enchantment over the whole world (or all but "thin places'') hides this stuff from everyone but special humans.

I've broken the various suggestions down into these four basic options.

Please rank 0, 1, 2, 3. Higher number= preferred option.


RESULTS
16 masquerade
10 mortal conspiracy /gov’t cover-up
16 veil/enchantment
6 psychological factors


split result, see later post for me info


NEW POLL ON TEMPLATES/GUIDELINES

http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.p...&postcount=217

results= multiple templates per category won