Pyramid #3/58: Urban Fantasy II

[Kromm]

Walking in the streets
Has a magic of its own
Feel it underfoot

— Some hack

If you're a typical gamer, then when I say "fantasy," the first thing you think of has nothing to do with civilization – more likely, you visualize knights charging across the unspoiled countryside, or a gang of treasure-hunters kicking in dungeon doors. But whether it hangs out a "Magick Shoppe" shingle in a quasi-medieval town or lurks in the alleyways of a modern metropolis, fantasy also has a city house. Pyramid #3/58: Urban Fantasy II, the latest e23 release, takes you on a guided tour:

• We've been taught that our home is our castle – maybe because the spiritual universe seems to agree. Safe as Houses introduces rules for Thresholds: a simple way to turn a dwelling's history and physical circumstances into a rating of how "protected" it is against vampires, ghosts, and other malicious hoojums . . . or in the worst cases, how much the place attracts them!
  
  
• Sometimes, "urban fantasy" means that old-timey, hack-'n'-slash fantasy is paying a visit to town and not being very polite about it. Things don't have to be that way. Traits for Town brings social traits back to GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, allowing delvers to be part of a community of monsters of their own species.
  
  
• Motorcycle clubs can be a terror to a small town. When the bikers are monsters and necromancers, though, you get the worst-case scenario: Belial's Bastards. In this month's Eidetic Memory, David Pulver breaks down the membership, operations, and motivations of a group that's literally Hell on wheels.
  
  
• If heroic hunters can band together to eliminate monstrous threats, then why shouldn't the monsters do the same? When you're ready to throw a real challenge into your GURPS Monster Hunters campaign, pit the heroes against the dark side of GURPS Cabal. Hunting the Cabal offers guidelines for using the Cabal as enemies, allies, or both – along with a new lens and enhancements to Ritual Path Magic to capture that Hermetic spirit.
  
  
• When you're looking for a threat to drop into your urban supernatural campaign, you want someone dark . . . someone wrathful . . . someone who knows the streets better than the PCs . . . someone whose motivations make sense yet aren't overly obvious. You want The Wraith of Precinct 13. This former bad cop seeks vengeance and doesn't care how it gets it. Can it be stopped? That's up to the heroes!
  
  
• One of the easiest ways to make a fantasy setting stand out and seem real is to introduce unique holidays, celebrations, and other Festivals of the Unknown. A handful of dice rolls will give you all the information you need to describe your new holiday in surprising detail – whether as background color or as a source of adventure!
  
  
• As GURPS Thaumatology: Urban Magics taught us, tying magical energy to city planning and architecture can really drive home the meaning of "urban fantasy." In City Botches, Phil Masters takes things a step farther, with this custom critical failure table for spells cast in cities. Magical mistakes might damage nearby buildings, turn the crowds against the caster, or even tick off the city's genius loci!
  
  
• And beneath the mundane veneer of this town you'll find the usual features, including a Random Thought Table that explores how fundamental magic may be, Odds and Ends that'll have you thinking in circles, and a Murphy's Rules that hurts even to contemplate.

— PK & Kromm

[Raekai]

Hmm... What's this about new enhancements to RPM? If it's juicy enough, I may have to buy this Pyramid just for that...

[PK]

Originally Posted by Raekai

Hmm... What's this about new enhancements to RPM? If it's juicy enough, I may have to buy this Pyramid just for that...

Brother Lex Frick has come up with some optional add-ons to RPM to emulate the "hermetic advantage" that Cabal spellcasters are supposed to have. I rather liked them.

[Christopher R. Rice]

I had some leftovers that I probably wouldn't be able to use elsewhere from my article so I tossed them up on my blog as Designer's Notes. :-)

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by Kromm

• Motorcycle clubs can be a terror to a small town. When the bikers are monsters and necromancers, though, you get the worst-case scenario: Belial's Bastards. In this month's Eidetic Memory, David Pulver breaks down the membership, operations, and motivations of a group that's literally Hell on wheels.

"Belial's Bastards"? Is this a chance coincidence in naming, or is this article also usable in In Nomine without major surgery to its contents?

If the former, that's pretty hot stuff . . . and would make the issue worthy of immediate purchase.


EDIT: Three days, no reply - has nobody purchased and read the issue yet?

Okay, I'll make my question easier to answer: Are there non-GURPS stats in the article?

[David L Pulver]

Originally Posted by robkelk

"Belial's Bastards"? Is this a chance coincidence in naming, or is this article also usable in In Nomine without major surgery to its contents?

If the former, that's pretty hot stuff . . . and would make the issue worthy of immediate purchase.


EDIT: Three days, no reply - has nobody purchased and read the issue yet?

Okay, I'll make my question easier to answer: Are there non-GURPS stats in the article?

There are no GURPS or non-GURPS stats in the article. It's a campaign setting only. It is not based on In Nomine, though it could work within that cosmology, I think, without much trouble.

If anyone liked it (or hated it) let me know...

[Refplace]

Havent read all of it yet.
The article on threshold in fact is the only one I have read rather then quickly skimmed but hope to get to at least one other today.
I liked it overall. Good detail, though its not set up for a Magicas Powers campaign very well it does fit pretty much any other magic system well enough and gives overall the flavor I desire in such a thing.
Its pretty simple to use and with enough detail to flesh it out.

[PK]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

I had some leftovers that I probably wouldn't be able to use elsewhere from my article so I tossed them up on my blog as Designer's Notes. :-)

Very cool stuff. Anyone who liked your article should definitely check out those DNs.

Originally Posted by robkelk

"Belial's Bastards"? Is this a chance coincidence in naming, or is this article also usable in In Nomine without major surgery to its contents?

It's a systemless, statless article about an MC (motorcycle club) comprising necromancers, vampires, and similar "bad guys." You could definitely introduce them to an In Nomine game; you'll want the Corporeal Player's Guide for proper stats and rules

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by David L Pulver

There are no GURPS or non-GURPS stats in the article. It's a campaign setting only. It is not based on In Nomine, though it could work within that cosmology, I think, without much trouble.

If anyone liked it (or hated it) let me know...

I did. It would go really great along with another article I submitted for Monster Hunters. Monster hunting biker packs would rock much. Ultimate road show. Hell's Angels could really be...Hell's...(rogue) angels. Much coolness there. :-)

Originally Posted by PK

Very cool stuff. Anyone who liked your article should definitely check out those DNs.

Thanks. I'm kind of wondering (like David) if anybody actually liked it or is using it...or despised it and thought it drivel. I just had so much when I was writing that I knew I wouldn't be able to fit it all in. I had a whole section on Native American "Threshold" myths (they are quite different from the Europeon/Western cousins) that I gathered when I went to see some cousins on the res in North Carolina. I filled three quarters of a damn stenopad with information. Might turn that into a article on its own somewhere down the line.

I also really dug Frick's Hunting the Cabal and Tremlett's The Wraith Of Precinct 13. Overall, a fantastic issue that I would have bought if I hadn't been a subscriber. I look forward to Urban Fantasy III. :-D

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by David L Pulver

There are no GURPS or non-GURPS stats in the article. It's a campaign setting only. It is not based on In Nomine, though it could work within that cosmology, I think, without much trouble.

If anyone liked it (or hated it) let me know...

Thanks - I'll give it a try, then.