December Chapters Update, Last Call for Refunds/Late Pledges
over 2 years ago – Fri, Dec 22, 2023 at 10:50:08 AM

Hey all!

It’s the end of 2023, and we’re back with our final update of the year. We don’t have any previews this month—the new chapters are still mid-layout—but we have some exciting updates on the timeline for the book!

Chapter Update: December 2023

Before we get to the timeline, however, let’s check in with a chapter update. Here’s a brief reminder of what each phase means, but for a full description you can see Update 30: Chapters Update & Dice Preview:

•  On hold areas are waiting for the rest of the book to be done.
•  Writing involves the writing team creating the chapter.
•  Developmental Editing is the process of an editor working with the writer on a written chapter, restructuring and finalizing the text.
•  Copy Editing is when an editor goes through the text to ensure that all grammatical, spelling, punctuation, and style errors are corrected.
•  Layout takes the text from the copy editor and puts it into the final form for print.
•  Proofing: the team looks over the chapter in all its laid out glory to ensure it’s perfect.
•  Art: art is added to the chapter.

Urban Shadows Chapters (December 2023)

• Front Materials (credits, opening, etc) - on hold
• Chapter 1: Introduction - copy editing
• Chapter 2: Cities of Shadows - layout
• Chapter 3: Fundamentals of Play - proofing/art
• Chapter 4: Character Creation - proofing/art
• Chapter 5: Core Moves - developmental editing (2nd pass)
• Chapter 6: Playbooks - layout
• Chapter 7: Advancement - proofing/art
• Chapter 8: The Master of Ceremonies - proofing/art
• Chapter 9: Long-term Play - proofing/art
•  Chapter 10: City Guides - Chicago (layout) + Santiago (copy editing) 
• Back Material (play aids, index, etc) - layout

December is a short month—we’re closed for the last week of the year for the holidays—but we were able to make progress on our last few outstanding chapters: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, and Chapter 5. While Chapter 5 isn’t fully released to copy editing yet, we’re done with the next revision and it’s undergoing final changes before moving on to the next stage. We’ve also moved the Santiago city guide out of dev editing and we’re getting it ready for layout now!

In other words, we expect the full text to be in layout in January, and we’re planning on releasing a full PDF preview of the book—including most of the art—by the end of January. At that time, we’ll be able to give you all a timeline for printing and shipping all the rewards, including the books and other accessories. We’re almost there!

Last Call for Refunds/Late Pledges: Jan 15, 2024

Since we are close to releasing the full PDF, this is the last call for refunds and late pledges—we will no longer be offering refunds or allowing late pledges after January 15th, 2024.

• If you’d like a refund, please email us at [email protected] to request it. Please remember that we’re closed next week (through January 2nd) so we may be slow to respond until we’re back in January.
• If you’d like to make a late pledge, you can still do so on Backerkit (https://urban-shadows-second-edition.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders). Once the late pledge window closes, we will no longer be offering the “All Stretch Goals” bundle.

We'll be releasing the full PDF toward the end of the month, but these deadlines will allow us to process all refund request and late pledge issues in a timely fashion. Thanks!

Thank you!

Once again, thank you for all your patience and support this year. 2023 has been an incredibly trying and difficult year for our staff and design teams (and many other people), and we greatly appreciate the patience and time you’ve given us while we finish up this book. Urban Shadows is one of our favorite games, and we can’t wait to ship it out to you all next year! Thank you!

November Chapters Update
over 2 years ago – Thu, Nov 30, 2023 at 03:56:34 PM

Hey, everyone!

We are back for another Urban Shadows update and are absolutely thrilled to show what all we’ve been up to! Let’s dive in!

Chapter Update: November 2023

We’re continuing to do monthly updates on each chapter’s progress. Here’s a brief reminder of what each phase means, but for a full description you can see Update 30: Chapters Update & Dice Preview:

•  On hold areas are waiting for the rest of the book to be done.
•  Writing involves the writing team creating the chapter.
•  Developmental Editing is the process of an editor working with the writer on a written chapter, restructuring and finalizing the text.
•  Copy Editing is when an editor goes through the text to ensure that all grammatical, spelling, punctuation, and style errors are corrected.
•  Layout takes the text from the copy editor and puts it into the final form for print.
•  Proofing: the team looks over the chapter in all its laid out glory to ensure it’s perfect.
•  Art: art is added to the chapter.

Urban Shadows Chapters (Nov 2023)

• Front Materials (credits, opening, etc) - on hold
• Chapter 1: Introduction - writing
• Chapter 2: Cities of Shadows - copy editing
• Chapter 3: Fundamentals of Play - proofing/art
• Chapter 4: Character Creation - proofing/art
• Chapter 5: Core Moves - developmental editing
• Chapter 6: Playbooks - layout
• Chapter 7: Advancement - proofing/art
• Chapter 8: The Master of Ceremonies - proofing/art
• Chapter 9: Long-term Play - proofing/art (revised)
• Chapter 10: City Guides - Chicago (layout) + Santiago (dev editing)
• Back Material (play aids, index, etc) - layout

This month we focused on carrying several of our outstanding chapters all the way through layout to proofing/art, including Chapter 3 and Chapter 7. Both of those chapters were in an editing stage at the start of the month, so we’re excited to get them totally laid out and ready for you all to preview! In addition, we also worked on Chapter 2: Cities of Shadow that introduces the world of Urban Shadows, and we made good progress on revising and finishing our city guides. We should have previews for all that content soon!

December is going to be focused on trying to move the last major chapter (Chapter 5) through developmental editing. As we’ve said before, we’ll be releasing a final schedule for the book as soon as that chapter is in copyediting—which will be very very soon—so stay tuned! As always, refunds are still available for those who wish for one. To request a refund, please email us at [email protected].

Chapter 9: Long-Term Play Revisions

One of the other big projects for November was addressing some of the feedback we received around Chapter 9: Long-Term Play. Several backers in our Discord pointed out that consolidate control wasn’t a faction move that lent itself to interactions with the player characters…nor did it seem very useful to PC-led factions. While the move was always intended to be far more useful to GMs (for NPC-led factions), the feedback prompted us to reevaluate the move, and we’ve decided to replace it with develop infrastructure!

You can check out Chapter 9 (page 207) for the full text of the move, but the basic changes are thus:

• Factions can use develop infrastructure to mark either improvement track AND secure vulnerable assets
   
• In order to make the move, factions have to have a secure asset they can call upon to develop the infrastructure, like tapping their +criminal slush fund or relying on their +lunar cairn
   
• On a miss, all the faction’s assets become vulnerable (instead of losing a point of Strength) until the faction resolves a schism that’s arisen within the group
   
• Finally, we’ve removed any secrecy from the faction turn—when factions do stuff, people know about it!
   

Ideally, all of this both works better for PC-led factions and gives the faction turn more play around assets becoming vulnerable and secure. We’re excited to see what you all think.

We can’t thank you enough for all the support and kindness as we continue to work on Urban Shadows 2E! We hope you enjoy these preview chapters! We’ll be back next month with even more updates! We hope you enjoy the chilly season and stay warm!

October Chapters Update
over 2 years ago – Tue, Oct 31, 2023 at 10:51:35 AM

Hey, everyone!

Happy spooky season, friends! We’re all about getting haunted at Magpie Games HQ! We hope you’re enjoying the thrills and chills of October! We’re back with a scarily fun update! Let’s dive in!

Chapter Update: October 2023

We’re continuing to do monthly updates on each chapter’s progress. Here’s a brief reminder of what each phase means, but for a full description you can see Update 30: Chapters Update & Dice Preview:

•  On hold areas are waiting for the rest of the book to be done.
•  Writing involves the writing team creating the chapter.
•  Developmental Editing is the process of an editor working with the writer on a written chapter, restructuring and finalizing the text.
•  Copy Editing is when an editor goes through the text to ensure that all grammatical, spelling, punctuation, and style errors are corrected.
•  Layout takes the text from the copy editor and puts it into the final form for print.
•  Proofing: the team looks over the chapter in all its laid out glory to ensure it’s perfect.
•  Art: art is added to the chapter.
   

Urban Shadows Chapters (Oct 2023)

• Front Materials (credits, opening, etc) - on hold
• Chapter 1: Introduction - writing
• Chapter 2: Cities of Shadows - dev editing
• Chapter 3: Fundamentals of Play - copy editing
• Chapter 4: Character Creation - proofing/art
• Chapter 5: Core Moves - developmental editing
• Chapter 6: Playbooks - layout
• Chapter 7: Advancement - developmental editing
• Chapter 8: The Master of Ceremonies - proofing/art
• Chapter 9: Long-term Play - proofing/art
•  Chapter 10: City Guides - Chicago (layout) + Santiago (dev editing) 
• Back Material (play aids, index, etc) - layout

This month we focused on wrapping up Chapter 9 in layout, and we’re excited to send it to you all so you can see the full rules and examples for the faction turn. In many ways, this is the largest set of new rules in Urban Shadows: Second Edition, replacing the old system (Storms) with a new system that better maintains the fraught politics of the city and gives the PCs a chance to become the powers-that-be themselves when they reach Status-3.

In addition to work on Chapters 5 and 7—both of which are moving closer to copy editing— we’ve also started dev edits on Santiago! We’re excited to share both city guides in full soon.

We’ll be releasing a final schedule for the book as soon as everything is in copyediting—which will be very very soon—so stay tuned! As always, refunds are still available for those who wish for one. To request a refund, please email us at [email protected].

Chapter 9 Preview

We’ve finished the layout for Chapter 9, so we’re adding it here so you all can dive into long-term play! You can get your copy of the new chapter preview via Backerkit’s digital download system. We’ve already pushed out the files to your account, and you should have received an email letting you know that the files are ready for download. If you didn’t, you can access them directly from Backerkit here:

https://urban-shadows-second-edition.backerkit.com/backer/digital_rewards

Please let us know your thoughts! We’ve put a lot of time into figuring out the best way to discuss what it means to run campaigns, including the faction turn, and we’re excited to hear your take on the material! If you have any feedback to send, please email us at [email protected] using the subject “US2E Feedback: Chapter 9”. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Thank you, as always, for your support and kindness. We are drawing ever closer to being able to send you a preview PDF of the book and the anticipation is intense! You’ve all been so kind despite the intense delays on this project and we just can’t wait for you to see the finished chapters! Stay tuned and we’ll see you next month!

September Chapters Update
over 2 years ago – Thu, Sep 28, 2023 at 07:21:50 AM

Hey, everyone!

Happy Autumn, friends! As the fall rolls in and the threat of winter begins to linger, we’ve been busy at Magpie Games HQ. It’s time for our monthly update and we are excited to show the progress happening!

Let’s dive in!

Chapter Update: September 2023

We’re continuing to do monthly updates on each chapter’s progress. Here’s a brief reminder of what each phase means, but for a full description you can see Update 30: Chapters Update & Dice Preview:

• On hold areas are waiting for the rest of the book to be done.
• Writing involves the writing team creating the chapter.
• Developmental Editing is the process of an editor working with the writer on a written chapter, restructuring and finalizing the text.
• Copy Editing is when an editor goes through the text to ensure that all grammatical, spelling, punctuation, and style errors are corrected.
• Layout takes the text from the copy editor and puts it into the final form for print.
• Proofing: the team looks over the chapter in all its laid out glory to ensure it’s perfect.
• Art: art is added to the chapter.
  

Urban Shadows Chapters (Sept 2023)

• Front Materials (credits, opening, etc) - on hold
• Chapter 1: Introduction - writing
• Chapter 2: Cities of Shadows - dev editing
• Chapter 3: Fundamentals of Play - copy editing
• Chapter 4: Character Creation - proofing/art
• Chapter 5: Core Moves - developmental editing
• Chapter 6: Playbooks - layout
• Chapter 7: Advancement - developmental editing
• Chapter 8: The Master of Ceremonies - proofing/art
• Chapter 9: Long-term Play - layout
• Chapter 10: City Guides - Chicago (layout) + Santiago (writing)
• Back Material (play aids, index, etc) - layout

For this month, we’re excited to say that the chapter writing for the core chapters are in great shape, and we are now working on the opening material we’ve held off on. We mentioned in previous updates that these sections are held until the end–which is now! Editing passes are being finished up on the core chapters. Things are looking great!

In addition, Chapter 9 is moving to layout this week, so we will have that chapter as a preview for you all next month (and some more exciting previews as well)! We know that the faction turn is an exciting new part of US2E, so we’ve been focusing on getting more information about that out to you all early for comment and proofing!

We’ll be releasing a final schedule for the book as soon as everything is in copyediting—which will be very very soon—so stay tuned! As always, refunds are still available for those who wish for one. To request a refund, please email us at [email protected].

Thank you, as always, for your support and kindness. We are drawing ever closer to being able to send you a preview PDF of the book and the anticipation is intense! You’ve all been so kind despite the intense delays on this project and we just can’t wait for you see the finished chapters! Stay tuned and we’ll see you next month!

August Chapters Update
over 2 years ago – Thu, Aug 31, 2023 at 04:35:21 PM

Hey, everyone!

It’s the end of summer and it has been a busy August! We’re back from Gen Con where we ran a lot of Urban Shadows and got some great feedback from players! After a short break to recover from the convention, we’re here for our monthly update!

Let’s dive in!

Chapter Update: August 2023

We’re continuing to do monthly updates on each chapter’s progress. Here’s a brief reminder of what each phase means, but for a full description you can see Update 30: Chapters Update & Dice Preview:

• On hold areas are waiting for the rest of the book to be done.
• Writing involves the writing team creating the chapter.
• Developmental Editing is the process of an editor working with the writer on a written chapter, restructuring and finalizing the text.
• Copy Editing is when an editor goes through the text to ensure that all grammatical, spelling, punctuation, and style errors are corrected.
• Layout takes the text from the copy editor and puts it into the final form for print.
• Proofing: the team looks over the chapter in all its laid out glory to ensure it’s perfect.
• Art: art is added to the chapter.

Urban Shadows Chapters (August 2023)

• Front Materials (credits, opening, etc) - on hold
• Chapter 1: Introduction - on hold
• Chapter 2: Cities of Shadows - writing
• Chapter 3: Fundamentals of Play - copy editing
• Chapter 4: Character Creation - proofing/art 
• Chapter 5: Core Moves - developmental editing
• Chapter 6: Playbooks - layout
• Chapter 7: Advancement - developmental editing
• Chapter 8: The Master of Ceremonies -proofing/art
• Chapter 9: Long-term Play - copy editing
• Chapter 10: City Guides -Chicago (layout) + Santiago (writing)
• Back Material (play aids, index, etc) - layout

This month, we moved Chapter 4 all the way through layout to the proofing/art stage, as well as worked closely with our layout and art teams on purchasing the remaining art for the book. Several other chapters are close to the proofing/art stage, but they aren’t quite done yet. We’ll have previews of them as they are finished!

We’ll be releasing a final schedule for the book as soon as everything is in copyediting—we’re getting close!—so stay tuned! As always, refunds are still available for those who wish for one. To request a refund, please email us at [email protected].

Chapter 4 Preview

We’ve finished the layout for Chapter 4, so we’re adding it here so you all can see the full instructions for character creation! You can get your copy of the new chapter preview via Backerkit’s digital download system. We’ve already pushed out the files to your account, and you should have received an email letting you know that the files are ready for download. If you didn’t, you can access them directly from Backerkit here:

https://urban-shadows-second-edition.backerkit.com/backer/digital_rewards

Please let us know your thoughts! We’ve put a lot of time into figuring out the best way to convey the nuance of making a great Urban Shadows character, and we’re excited to hear your take on the material! If you have any feedback to send, please email us at [email protected] using the subject “US2E Feedback: Chapter 4”. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Thank you so much for your continued support! We’re so excited to have most of the chapters out of writing! Please let us know your thoughts on Chapter 4. We’ll be back next month with another update and more Urban Shadows news!