Name: Urban Arcana
Produced By: Wizards of the CoastIf you remember my review of the D20 Modern core book, you might remember my mention of this campaign setting. And you might also remember how I mentioned that it got it's own source book. Well, this is it. Let's get started.
The basic set-up is that magic exists, monster exist, and there's also sorts of techno-magic, but the average person isn't really aware of it. Because of The Shadow. Yes, that's the word they picked. What is the Shadow? Well, it's partly a veil that keeps the monsters and magic hidden from normal humans. It's also the border between our world and the world where the monsters and magic comes from.
This world, the one full of elves, magic, Beholders, and so on seems to be Greyhawk, which was the main D&D setting at the time, but they did keep it rather vague. You see, when something comes through the Shadow, their memories get a bit fuzzy. They still know who they are, that they're not native to this world, and will be able to work some of their magic (if they have any), but that's about it. Some can recall names of the gods they revered, others can recall bits and pieces of the societies they left behind. They don't give you too much detail, as they felt you would want to make it “your world” and they also said that the game wasn't about “armed marines going into the magical world.” That also means that going through the Shadow is a one way trip.
When it comes to keeping the magical stuff hidden, they use that good old stand by of “people see what they want to see.” For example, there's a very powerful Mindflayer that pops up. To most people, he appears to have a very large beard that might seem to move. If you're In The Know, you get to see him in all his horrific glory. Assuming you can see past his illusion, that is. For most other races, it's easier. Dwarves, elves, gnomes, halflings, and those kinds of folk can pass pretty easily for human. So can orcs and goblins. Oh, and don't forget about the Drow. They really want you to know there's Drow in this game. So much so that they put three of them on the cover. Don't get me wrong, I like that cover. It's just that there's a lot of Drow in the art.
Since d20 Modern was an almost direct port of the d20 system of D&D 3.5, creating characters get a little wonky. In the core book, everyone was human, so you got the extra skill point and feat, and didn't have favored classes. Well, they had to change everything back, as well as deal with ECL or Effective Character Level, since most races you can imagine are covered in this book. Not just the ones from the PHB, but a lot of the iconic races from the Monster Manual. Drow (as I've mentioned), orcs, Gnolls, Trolls, and so on. There's actually a really good picture of members of these races like a police line-up holding up their ECL on a card, which is great for quick reference.
In order to help convert many of the D&D classes, there's a lot of Advanced and Prestige classes to smooth over the transition. Of course, magic in this world isn't nearly as powerful as it was in the other world, so the characters won't be as powerful. Another interesting thing is that the world of Urban Arcana is very closely tied to the Plane of Shadow, so a fair amount of the spells and magic are related to that than anything else. You might not be able to throw around as many fireballs, but you'll probably be a lot more stealthy.
Speaking of magic, the list of magic items in this game is fantastic. Eldritch cellphones, Bumper of the Ram, Chain Saw of the Psycho, Decoder Ring, Camera of Soul Stealing, and Universal ID are some of my favorites. There's a more than you'd think and they do give guidelines for converting others from D&D. I would have love to have seen a whole book of the weird and wacky things they could have come up with. There were some third party supplements that came out, but they were mostly science fantasy or knock-off ShadowRun stuff. Now do you see what I was mentioning the whole “Shadow” thing?
There's also guidelines for converting more monsters from D&D, mostly dealing with the missing spells, in addition to the list they already have in both the core d20 Modern book and this one. And don't forget about the Menace Manual, which I'll probably cover in another article. There are several interesting and unique monsters in here, but my favorite is probably the Living Dumpster. If I ever get to run a game of this, that one WILL turn up...
There's a few reasons why I really like this book, but the setting isn't one of them. I have to admit that I'm really (really, really, REALLY) tired of the “hidden world” stuff we see in Urban Fantasy. I feel like it's tired and worn out. What I really wanted to do, and did run a brief game of using this, was something like Bright. But actually good. And not based on a fantasy world advanced to the modern age. I do like having the “well, there's a bunch of fantasy things in the world now” kind of like ShadowRun but without the cyberpunk elements. I honestly would have also loved a thing where you DID have marines invading a fantasy world. Like Gate, but again, actually good. I'll get around to writing that novel. Eventually.
No, I keep this book around partly for the art. While there is some Christopher Shy (who I do not enjoy), there's several pictures in here that just knock in out of the park for me. When they blend the magical and normal in just the right way, I love it. That mash-up just works for me.
There's also a random table for adventure ideas, just like in D&D, but very much more in line with this world. A skyscraper made out of bone appears in the middle of a city, in what was a vacant lot. That sounds like a good adventure. There's also a lot of maps for locations and rules and tables for making your own city. If you ignore the magical stuff, you could use it for any setting.
Maybe some day I'll play this game the way it was meant to be played. Or revisit my own version of the game. Or maybe I'll make my own version of ShadowRun. Or something else entirely. Time will tell.
If you've read this and you liked the sound of it, go out there and find yourself a copy. If nothing else, it can give you ideas for your own settings and campaigns. Just... Good luck finding it.
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