The Core Mechanic

Every character has the following four Main Stats, generally rated -3 to +3. that describe their general capabilities.

• Blood: the measure of your fight or flight instinct. How tough, dangerous, and quick to act you are in a dangerous situation,
• Heart: your passion, charm and charisma. How proficient you are at getting what you want through negotiation and discussion.
• Mind: your critical thinking, trickery, and observational skills. How perceptive you can be and how good you are at manipulating others and deceit.
• Spirit: your connection to the supernatural and your force of will. How focused and determined you are under pressure and your ability to connect to 'the other.'

In addition, each character has the following four Faction Stats, also generally rated from -3 to +3, which reflect how connected they are to the various groups of Urban Shadows:

• Mortality: the mundane world and everyone in it, whether aware of the supernatural or not
• Night: those that stalk and rule the shadows all the way down in the streets
• Power: those who ally themselves with the power structures of the world, whether mundane or supernatural
• Wild: those whose power comes from Elsewhere. The strange, alien, inscrutable beings that exist outside the ken of both the mundane and the supernatural world

Whenever a rule says 'roll with Heart' or 'Roll with Night' it means roll 2d6 and add the applicable Stat (and any other bonuses). Anything 7 or over is a 'hit.' A 7-9 is a 'weak hit' which means you either partly succeed or succeed at some cost. A 10+ is a 'strong hit' and you generally achieve what you were trying with few or no consequences. A 6 or under is a 'miss.' Some moves will tell you what happens on a miss, otherwise, the MC does something to change the story in line with the fiction.

The MC never rolls dice. Their role is mostly reactive. Their main jobs are: frame each scene so that the PC's have things to do; and alter the story in response to what the players do.

Hold, Forward, On-Going
Some moves tell you to Hold X. This means you have a pool you can spend for certain effects. The Move will then tell what what you can spend your Hold on, and how long you can Hold it.

Sometimes something will give you +1 Forward. This means you get +1 on the next applicable roll.

Sometimes you will have +1 On-going. This means you have +1 to all applicable rolls until the effect ends.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:27, Sun 16 May 2021.