Writing Updates and Timelines
over 3 years ago
– Sun, Aug 29, 2021 at 09:53:15 PM
Happy Friday, friends! We’re excited to talk about Urban Shadows 2E and what all has been going on behind the scenes. It’s been a while since we released the final version of the Quickstart, and we’ve been working on the final book ever since.
Here are a few quick updates to keep you all appraised of how the work has been going!
Writing Updates
With all the changes to the second edition, including new playbooks, faction turns, and heavy edits to some other playbooks and mechanics, one of the big ways we’ve been focusing on finishing the book is playtesting these changes to ensure they’re seamless, meaningful, and integrated. This process ensures we hand you an excellent book, not just a good one. Playtesting, for us, is an integral part of creating a beautiful finished product.
We’ve also been taking all the feedback you’ve sent us over the last few months and addressing any changes or insights you’ve given us on the game so far. Thank you for all your thoughts, ideas, and feedback on the Quickstart! It’s been incredibly helpful as we finalize the design and finish the writing of the book.
Finally, we’ve been working hard to get the final writing done for the core book itself, and getting chapters off to editing. This process takes time, and we’re doing our best to move through it quickly but with intention and being mindful that it’s better to have a great end product than a rushed one. We’re both adapting material from the original book and writing all new material, so we may have some chapters ready to preview far earlier than others.
Timelines
Despite our best efforts to get everything ready, a PDF release in September will be difficult to meet. We still have some final writing to do, and we’re still waiting on art for the final book. This means we’re looking at a more realistic timeline of early Winter for the PDF and printing in early next year. We may still have the book to print in 2021, but we’ll keep you posted as we move forward.
One quick note: COVID has had a dramatic effect on paper supplies and global shipping. We are working to make sure we have everything in order to avoid production delays, and we’ll let you know as soon as we know about any problems. We just want to make sure everyone is aware that this is an unprecedented time for game production, but we’re on top of it!
Thanks again for all your excitement and support of Urban Shadows 2E. We’re so excited to keep working to bring you an amazing new version of the game. We’ll continue to update you as we progress through the work so you’ll know what’s happening with the project every step of the way!
Pledge Manager Launching Soon!
over 3 years ago
– Wed, Jul 14, 2021 at 10:43:10 PM
Hello all!
The work continues on the US2E core book and other rewards, but we have some exciting news: we’re ready to launch our pledge manager for the campaign. Read on to hear more about completing your pledge through Backerkit (and about another urban fantasy Kickstarter campaign we don’t want you to miss)!
Backerkit Launch Imminent
Now that we’ve finished with the design of US2E, we’re moving into getting all of the amazing rewards to print. In order to finalize our counts, we’re launching the US2E Backerkit this week. Keep an eye out for your survey, which will allow you to enter your address, pay your shipping fees, and add on any new items you want from the campaign.
Don’t panic if you don’t get the link rights away. We’ve submitted it to review with Backerkit yesterday, and we’ll do a smoke test with a small number of backers before it goes out to everyone. You should see it by the start of next week!
On that note, we are keeping a close eye on the rising difficulty (and cost) of shipping from China. Our current plan is to print most of US2E in the United States! For those items we had planned on printing internationally, we have put aside funds to cover the cost incurred by the shipping crisis so your shipping costs won’t be impacted.
Defiant RPG Kickstarter Closes Tomorrow!
While we’re digging into making Urban Shadows 2E awesome, our good friends over at Game Machinery are funding another urban fantasy game on Kickstarter: the Defiant RPG.
Defiant is an urban fantasy game about mighty, modern-day supernaturals who rebelled against their destiny and decided to protect the world instead of destroying it. As Defiant—blue-blooded rulers—your characters empower protective seals, staving off the forces of the Apocalypse while ensuring that the mortals remain oblivious to the chaos that lies outside the city. Can you retain your grip on power while angels attempt to sunder your defenses and your rivals strive to steal your crown?
Defiant Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dfnt/defiant-rpg?ref=1kshz2
We're really thrilled to see Defiant do so well—they've already unlocked a ton of mini-supplements and online tools!—and it's rare that we see an urban fantasy RPG with such a great setup for political drama. Everyone at Magpie Games is excited to try our hand at balancing the complex politics of the Defiant when the book comes out next year! Check it out before it closes tomorrow (Thursday at 8 am Eastern)!
Thank you!
While we’re hard at work on making the book (and other rewards), we still appreciate any and all feedback you all have about the mechanics of the game. Please drop us a line at [email protected] if you have any comments (or questions) and come join us in the Magpie Games’ Discord if you want to talk about Urban Shadows!
Quickstart Update v4.0 (Final)
over 3 years ago
– Sat, Jun 19, 2021 at 12:13:40 AM
We’re finally here—today we're releasing the fourth version of the quickstart with some final updates before our design team dives into creating the final product!
Thank you for all the feedback, insight, and thoughts you’ve shared on this edition of Urban Shadows. Without your contributions, the game wouldn’t be as amazing as it is. Because of all your feedback, we’ve made many adjustments to the Quickstart. We’re so excited about the newest version.
US2E Quickstart v4.0
Today, we’re releasing some final 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!
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New Playbook: The Spectre—We’ve got a new version of this first edition playbook! The Spectre has been completely revamped to focus on anchors—people, items, and places that bind the Spectre to this world—and trauma. We can’t wait to see what you all think!
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Playbook Updates: The Sworn + Wizard—We’ve made some changes to a few playbooks, including the Sworn and the Wizard playbooks! The Sworn now has a new intimacy move, and the Wizard has a new relationship, a new spell, and an updated corruption move!
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Playbook Updates: All Playbooks—We’ve also made minor updates to a few other playbooks to help address issues that popped up in playtesting. For example, we’ve expanded the Fae’s court quite a bit and revised the Imp’s start of session move.
Although this is the last major revision to the Quickstart, you can still send feedback to us by emailing us at [email protected]. We love getting feedback from you all, and we’ll continue to update materials as we complete the book. We’ll keep you all posted on the next steps, but it’s likely we won’t release any updates to the Quickstart from this point forward!
The Storm Awaits
From here out, our team will be focusing on completing the book and fine-tuning the mechanics so they sing. We’ll continue with monthly updates to talk about what’s happening, where we’re at, and what’s next. For example, we expect to open the Backerkit in late July!
We hope you have a blast with the updated playbooks and continue to send us your feedback! Until next time, stay amazing and enjoy summer in your supernatural city. (And drop by our Discord to say hello and talk more about Urban Shadows if you've got time!)
April Update: Quickstart 3.0 & Flash Sale
almost 4 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
almost 4 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!
