April Update: Quickstart 3.0 & Flash Sale
about 3 years ago
– Fri, Apr 16, 2021 at 02:06:42 AM
We’re excited to bring you an April update with a bunch of new developments for Urban Shadows! It’s been a busy time at Magpie, and we’re so thrilled to share the progress with you!
We really can’t thank you enough for all your continued feedback on the game via our Discord, playing CPP games, posting on our subreddit, and by emailing us your thoughts. This vital feedback has given us plenty of good thoughts we integrated into the newest version of the quickstart!
Celebrating 10 Years
We are celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Magpie Games this weekend! We’re running events from now until Sunday in our Discord, like Q+A’s and games! There’s also a sale in our webstore where you can get up to 70% off! Including the last chance to get a copy of Urban Shadows 1st Edition!
Quickstart 3.0
Today, we’re releasing several major changes to the US2E Quickstart—check out the changelog for a detailed list of the smaller changes—but here are the major changes we wanted to tell you about!
- New Playbook: The Aware—We’ve got a new version of this first edition playbook! The original Aware focused on Mind, which led to some strange situations in which the Aware already knew everyone in the city. Now the Aware is based in Heart—like the Fae—and has to build relationships to get at the city’s secrets. Huge thanks to Summer Matthews for her work on this playbook!
- New Playbook: The Imp—We are so, so, so excited to release The Imp, one of our new playbooks for 2E. The Imp has a bunch of schemes running alongside an establishment that caters to supernatural clientele and can earn boons and payouts as their deals come to fruition. We’re excited to feature the work of Hannah Shaffer and Evan Rowland on this playbook!
- New Faction Turn Mechanics: While the v2 version of the faction turn mechanics was quite robust… it was also a lot! We’ve decided to step the faction turn way back, giving each faction fewer moves that do more. Ideally, the MC is rolling dice only five or six times, and getting a lot of really good fiction. We hope this new, simplified version gets at the heart of the faction turn with a lot less work!
None of this would be possible without your incredible support and feedback! Urban Shadows 2E continues to grow in amazing ways because of your feedback. Thank you!
To send specific feedback to us, please email us at [email protected]. You can also hang out in the #urbanshadows channel of the Discord where several of the developers often chat about the game and upcoming changes!
Don’t forget: you can find the updated quickstart on DTRPG any time you need it!
Exploring the City
There are lots of spots in the city to get more Urban Shadows in your life. You can talk about rules or your thoughts on the design on our subreddit or join us in the Discord to talk with fellow players, gms, and (sometimes) our designers.
If you’re eager to jump into a game with our professional GMs, check out the Curated Play Program! We’d love to roll dice with you! All of our games for April and May will feature the newly updated materials, so you can get your chance to play one of the new playbooks...
The Future Looms
Now that we’re done with eleven of the twelve playbooks—and revised the faction turn and city hubs—we’re nearing the end of our design phase. We’ll be releasing our final core playbook, The Spectre, in May, along with any further changes to the existing materials. We’re hoping this is the last major revision to the quickstart, so we’ll be in the writing stage starting in May!
Our current timeline has us writing throughout the summer, then moving the book to layout in the fall while we work with our manufacturers to get the dice, GM screens, and pins made. All of that stuff is in motion now, but our focus has been on finalizing all the rules. We expect the summer to be quiet, but we’ll continue with roughly monthly updates to keep you all informed.
Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm! We can’t wait to keep hearing all your feedback on Urban Shadows!
February Update: Quickstart v2.0
about 3 years ago
– Tue, Feb 23, 2021 at 07:53:38 PM
It’s time for our February update! We’re very excited to share with you what we’ve been working on in the last few months!
We’re off to an exciting start this year and are thrilled to be receiving your feedback on the Quickstart released with the Kickstarter! Thanks to thoughtful engagement, great questions, and the playtesting happening in the Curated Play Program, we’ve been able to integrate and update the rules for this v2.0 release. Read on for more about those changes, the new playbooks we released, and how to give us feedback in March!
Dig into the latest release!
US2E Quickstart v2.0
There are many, many changes to the Quickstart—check out the changelog for a detailed list—but there are a few things we want to call out before you dig into the latest release!
- We’ve made a significant change to one of the basic moves, let it out, largely to make sure that the 7-9 condition still pushes the fiction forward. We got a ton of great feedback on how let it out was working in the Curated Play Program, and we’re really excited about this new version.
- We’ve completely rewritten The Wolf’s transformation and corruption trigger based on feedback from backers. The Wolf’s corruption trigger has always led to a lot of questions; the new version should be much more clear.
- We’ve added in a new feature for the Wizard—a ward! Some of our backers pointed out that the Wizard wasn’t as mixed up in politics as they could be, and this new addition should make Circles/factions more relevant to the Wizard at the start of play.
- We’ve expanded the list of playbooks to include The Sworn, The Oracle, and The Hunter. The Sworn is brand new—we can’t wait for you all to try it—and both the Hunter and the Oracle received substantial rewrites from 1st Edition. Please give these new playbooks a try! We are so excited for your feedback!
- And finally… we’ve swapped out The University City Hub for the Downtown City Hub. We’re taking The University back into the workshop for some fine-tuning, but we’re proud to feature a new Hub that contains both all new anchors/relationships/moves, but also some cool random generation tables for the MC to use when running the game!
Again, none of this would be possible without the incredible support and feedback you all have given us. Urban Shadows 2E is much, much improved already because of your feedback, and we’re going to keep making changes as you all playtest and review things. Thank you!
And don’t forget: you can find the updated quickstart on DTRPG any time you need it!
Feedback
You’ve got feedback and we want to hear it! We can’t wait to hear what your play experience is like with these updated rules and playbooks. Your feedback is vital to ensuring the final game is everything it needs to be. Please try out the new content in the Quickstart and let us know what questions you have, what rules you struggle with, and what things are missing.
To send specific feedback to us, please email us at [email protected]. Please give us as much information as you can, including what playbooks you were using, how many players, etc. We love hearing from you all, and the more specific your feedback is the more we can use it in our work.
Finding Your Circle
Want to get more Urban Shadows in your life and find your Circle? You can talk about rules or your thoughts on the design on our subreddit or join us in the Discord to talk with fellow players, gms, and (sometimes) our designers.
If you’re eager to jump into a game with our professional GMs, check out the Curated Play Program! We’d love to roll dice with you! All of our games for March will feature the newly updated materials, so you can get your chance to play one of the new playbooks...
Thank you for your ongoing support and enthusiasm! We hope you're staying safe and playing games!
January Update
over 3 years ago
– Fri, Jan 15, 2021 at 12:59:09 AM
Thank you so much for being here and being as excited as we are about Urban Shadows 2E! It’s been so exciting jumping into this content and exploring the changes we’re making for the second edition. We hope you’re enjoying the changes, and we’ve loved receiving your feedback!
For the past few months, we’ve been working on keeping the project rolling through the holidays. Here are some general updates for what we’ve been up to and what you can expect from us in the coming months!
Backerkit
Late pledges are available through Backerkit, so if you missed the Kickstarter you can still late pledge using the button at the top on the Kickstarter page or by directly following this link.
Backerkit won’t be available for backers until we finalize all the weights of the products with our factory. This may happen in May, or it may be later in the year, depending on how COVID delays affect production.
Once Backerkit is available, you will receive an email notification to fill out your Backerkit. Remember that you’ll also be charged for shipping through Backerkit!
The Quickstart
Updates for the Quickstart will continue to happen as we develop playbooks, mechanics, and other revisions. We’re planning on releasing an updated Quickstart by early February, so expect an update on that soon!
Mark and Marissa have been reviewing feedback from backers—as well as information from our Curated Play Program playtests—as well as adding new playbooks and expanding the material on the faction turn mechanics. Once it’s ready we’ll release v2.0 to you with a DrivethruRPG link!
Feedback
Thank you to everyone who’s talked to us in our Discord, on Reddit, or through email about their feedback on the Quickstart! Once the next Quickstart update is released, we’ll begin accepting formal playtesting feedback via a Google form!
In the meantime, please keep sending us feedback through Discord or Reddit or by emailing us directly at [email protected]. We really value your comments and questions, so keep ‘em coming!
Breathing Life into the City
It’s been an intense, harrowing, and difficult 2020 AND 2021. We’re so grateful that you’re part of this project and playing Urban Shadows 2nd Ed. Thank you once again for all your support and excitement!
If you’d like to talk about Urban Shadows with fans in our community spaces, join our Discord or join us on Reddit. We’d love to hear from you about your experiences with the game!
Stay safe, take care of yourself and each other, and play games!
Update #15: WE DID IT! $196,906 FUNDED! & Late Pledges!
over 3 years ago
– Fri, Nov 20, 2020 at 12:27:01 AM
What an incredible moment! Thanks to all of you we have raised over $196,000 to bring Urban Shadows: Second Edition to life! This is an amazing moment for our whole team, and we can’t thank you all enough for making it possible.
But first, our recently unlocked stretch goals...
UNLOCKED - $160,000 PDF City Hub: The Financial District
At $160,000 we’re creating a new City Hub you can add to any campaign of Urban Shadows 2E: The Financial District. Dominated by Power, the Financial District is caught in the grip of the immortal numerologists and financial seers, all vying for control of the city’s monetary pulse. What will you do to seize your destiny when others traffic in your future?
Backers at the All PDFs pledge level and up receive a digital copy of the Financial District City Hub for free!
UNLOCKED - $175,000 PDF New Playbook: The Restless
At $175,000 we’re creating a brand new playbook for Urban Shadows 2E: The Restless (Night):
Regretful and unearthed, the Restless has returned to the city after a long incarceration in the Underworld, seeking redemption for their crimes now in the land of the living.
The Restless is the creation of game designer Alexi Sargeant. We’re so glad to have Alexi join us for the project; his work on the Restless is amazing!
Backers at the All PDFs pledge level and up receive a digital copy of The Restless for free!
UNLOCKED - $185,000 PDF City Hub: The Block
At $185,000, we’re creating a new City Hub you can add to any campaign of Urban Shadows 2E: The Block (Mortalis). A bastion of Mortalis factions, the Block is a working-class neighborhood that takes care of itself, a ‘hood where people get by just fine...even if they never get out. But is there a future here for those who dream of bigger things? Or must dangerous deals be struck with other powers?
Backers at the All PDFs pledge level and up receive a digital copy of The Block for free!
UNLOCKED - PDF New Playbook: The Ancient
As a thank you for all your support throughout the campaign, we’re unlocking our final stretch goal right now, creating a brand new playbook for Urban Shadows 2E: The Ancient (Power):
Divine and dethroned, the Ancient is an old god whose powers have waned in the modern era, a shadow of their former self attempting to still pull the strings of the city all the same.
Backers at the All PDFs pledge level and up receive a digital copy of The Ancient for free!
Campaign Overview
Let’s take a quick look at what all you’ve accomplished over the course of this campaign:
- Funded in Twelve Minutes!
- $196,906 Funded
- 3,775 Backers
- 15 Stretch Goals Unlocked
- A GM Screen, Urban Shadows Dice, Circles Pin-set, Campaign Notepad, Dice Tray, and Journal Pack!
- 10 Additional Playbooks: the Vessel, the Scholar, the Revenant, the Anointed, the Immortal, and the Dragon—all revamped—and all new playbooks including The Angel, The Witch, the Restless, and The Ancient.
- 4 Additional City Hubs: The Docks, Skid Row, The Financial District, and The Block
Thank you for your support and excitement! This is such an incredible success and you made it all possible! Urban Shadows is our #2 most-funded Kickstarter of all time, behind only Root: The RPG from late last year. We cannot believe how much this fanbase has grown, and we’re so honored by your support. Thank you so much!
Late Pledges
We know the pain of missing out on a Kickstarter campaign by just a few hours, so we’ve set up a late pledge preorder store through Backerkit that will stay open through the start of 2021.
To join the campaign as a late pledge, follow the link here and fill out your order:
https://urban-shadows-second-edition.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
If you backed during this Kickstarter, you don’t need to do anything here—we’ll let you know when it’s time to fill out your surveys in Backerkit! The late pledge option is only for people who want to make a late pledge because they missed the end of the campaign.
Next Steps
Our team will be taking a quick break to renew and regroup after running such a thrilling Kickstarter! Since Thanksgiving is next week here in the States, we’ll be out of the office until the start of December.
Then we’ll dive into the work of writing, creating, and playtesting over the next several months. As we make progress, we’ll share with you here all we’re working on so you can see the game as it develops.
Don’t forget you can start playing the new edition right now by downloading the Quickstart. We’ll be refining and expanding these materials as we go, so they won’t be the final product. You can download the quickstart here:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/333500/Urban-Shadows-2nd-Ed-Quickstart
To ensure we keep you up to date without overwhelming you with updates, we’ll be posting one update a month. These updates will fill you in on our progress, show you what we’re currently working on, and give you new play materials as we go.
An Amazing Journey
Urban Shadows was an important milestone in our journey as designers and creators. From its earliest design in 2013, to the release of the book in 2015, now to its incredible second edition, our passion for Urban Shadows has never waned. It's inspiring to see that your passion hasn’t either.
Because of you, we’ve been able to revise our work, add amazing new content, and reimagine how we play Urban Shadows. Your feedback, excitement, and ideas always help us build strong games, and this project is no different! You’ve made Urban Shadows 2E possible in so many ways, and we appreciate all of your support.
Over the next few months, our journey with Urban Shadows will continue! We’re so excited to share with you everything you’ve funded through this campaign, and we can’t wait to get your feedback on new playbooks and mechanics as we release them. The shadows of the city are calling. We can’t wait to hit the streets and see what we find together!
Update #14: Pin Set Unlocked and New Stretch Goals!
over 3 years ago
– Tue, Nov 17, 2020 at 01:55:46 AM
Wow! $150,000!!! What an incredible achievement. Thank you so much for your amazing support and excitement. We never dreamed we could get this far from our first edition in 2015 to where we are today!
Many folks have asked us for ways to show off their Circle, so we’re proud to present...
UNLOCKED - $150,000 Urban Shadows Pin Set
At $150,000, we’re creating a full set of four Circle pins! For each Circle, we’ve created a unique symbol to represent that community, one that members of the Circle might use to mark a building as a place of power or tattoo on themselves to show their allegiance to a supernatural group. Showcase your devotion to Mortalis, Night, Power, or Wild...or you can wear all of them to keep your admirers guessing to which Circle you belong.
Backers at the Core + All Stretch Goals pledge level and up receive the Pin Set for free!
Upcoming Stretch Goals
Now that we’re so close to the end, we’re announcing FOUR new stretch goals for this week, featuring two new City Hubs and two entirely brand-new playbooks!
LOCKED - $160,000 PDF City Hub: Financial District
At $160,000 we’ll create a new City Hub you can add to any campaign of Urban Shadows 2E: The Financial District.
Dominated by Power, the Financial District is caught in the grip of the immortal numerologists and financial seers, all vying for control of the city’s monetary pulse. What will you do to seize your destiny when others traffic in your future?
Backers at the All PDFs pledge level and up receive a digital copy of the Financial District City Hub for free!
LOCKED - $175,000 PDF New Playbook: The Restless
At $175,000 we’ll create a brand new playbook for Urban Shadows 2E: The Restless (Night):
Regretful and unearthed, the Restless has returned to the city after a long incarceration in the Underworld, seeking redemption for their crimes now in the land of the living.
The Restless is the creation of game designer Alexi Sargeant. We’re so glad to have Alexi join us for the project; his work on the Restless is amazing!
Backers at the All PDFs pledge level and up receive a digital copy of The Restless for free!
LOCKED - $185,000 PDF City Hub: The Block
At $185,000, we’ll create a new City Hub you can add to any campaign of Urban Shadows 2E: The Block (Mortalis).
A bastion of Mortalis factions, the Block is a working-class neighborhood that takes care of itself, a ‘hood where people get by just fine...even if they never get out. But is there a future here for those who dream of bigger things? Or must dangerous deals be struck with other powers?
Backers at the All PDFs pledge level and up receive a digital copy of The Block for free!
LOCKED - $200,000 PDF New Playbook: The Ancient
At $200,000, we’ll create a brand new playbook for Urban Shadows 2E: The Ancient (Power):
Divine and dethroned, the Ancient is an old god whose powers have waned in the modern era, a shadow of their former self attempting to still pull the strings of the city all the same.
Backers at the All PDFs pledge level and up receive a digital copy of The Ancient for free!
Last Chance to Get the Word Out
We’re so grateful for all your support and excitement as close in on the end of the Kickstarter! We have just a few days left before the close of the campaign on Thursday! Let’s spread the word and try to hit these next few goals to unlock even more amazing things!
