City of Mist

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City of Mist is a detective urban fantasy tabletop role-playing game created by Amit Moshe and published by Son of Oak Game Studio. The game is set in a modern-day metropolis where ordinary people of all walks of life become modern-day reincarnations of myths, legends, and fairy tales, gaining magical powers and abilities. The cinematic tone of the game is inspired by film noir and detective graphic novels as well as street-level detective superhero TV shows. In 2018, the game was picked up by publishing partner Modiphius Entertainment.

A free starter set of the game was released in August 2016 prior to the launch of its first crowdfunding campaign, which raised US $104,313 on Kickstarter. The game raised an additional US $182,969 on its second Kickstarter campaign, Nights of Payne Town, funding additional expansions.

Setting

City of Mist is set in a modern-day city titled the "the City". Ancient real-world myths and legends, the Mythoi, seek to manifest and re-enact their story through modern-day people in the City, but are held back by a mystical barrier called the Mist. Rifts, individuals who "awaken" to a Mythos within them, gain magical powers and uncanny abilities inspired by the legend incarnated in them. However, the Mist hides Rifts' magical abilities from the unaware residents of the City by distracting them at an opportune moment or causing them to forget or excuse what they saw. Under the cover of the Mist, Rifts operate freely in the City's secret underworld of crime and magic, using their Mythoi-given powers to pursue their personal agendas and commit or avert a wide-range of wrongs, from the petty to the unspeakable.

Players play a crew of Rifts, each a modern-day individual carrying a specific legend within, such as Anansi the Spider, Alice in Wonderland, or King Arthur's Excalibur. The struggle between each character's ordinary life and the mystery of the Mythos within her is a focal point of the game. The nature of the crew and their shared agenda is determined during the crew and character creation (session zero), and may vary including private detectives, a band of vigilantes, a ruthless gang, or a high-school clique. However, all characters seek answers about their Mythos, answers which drive them to investigate the City and the Mist. The City's exact location or even existence are shrouded in mystery, but players may choose to set the game in any modern era, such as the 30s ("true noir"), the 80s ("neon noir"), or present day.

Game System

"Words-Only" Character Creation

In City of Mist, characters are described using exclusively words ("tags") – there are no stats or numerical values of any kind. Each character is made out of four themes, representing major aspects of the character. Themes are divided between Mythos themes, which describe legendary powers given by a Rift's Mythos, and Logos themes, which describe the character's mundane life (such as a daily routine, a defining relationship, personal gear, or a defining past event). Each theme contains:

• Power tags, which describe specific abilities, resources, and items;
• Weakness tags, which describe limitations and shortcomings; and
• a motivation, either a Mystery to explore for the Mythos themes or an Identity to uphold for the Logos themes. Each character therefore has four, sometimes conflicting motivations at the start of the game.

The details of the each theme are created using a questionnaire called a themebook; the player answers to the questions in the questionnaire become the character's tags. The game's core books contain seven Mythos themebooks (Adaptation, Bastion, Divination, Expression, Mobility, Relic, and Subversion) and seven Logos themebooks (Defining Event, Defining Relationship, Mission, Personality, Possessions, Routine, Training) as well as a crew themebook for crew themes and three additional extra themes unlocked as part of character development (Ally, Base of Operations, Ride).

Tag-Based Action Resolution

The action resolution system in City of Mist is a heavily-modified version of the Apocalypse World game engine. Like most Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) games, the Gamemaster is referred to as the Master of Ceremonies, or MC. Most player character actions are resolved using one of eight Core Moves which encapsulate the genre. To make a core move, the player rolls two six-sided dice (2d6) and adds a modifier called Power to the result. The PbtA outcome categories apply (10+ is a great success, 7-9 is a success with complications, and 6 or less is a miss, provoking an MC hard move), with specific outcomes for each core move.

Unlike most PbtA games, where the modifier added to the roll is a stat, in City of Mist the Power of each action is determined by invoking tags relevant to the action. Each relevant power tag adds 1 Power to the action, while each relevant weakness tag reduces the Power by 1 (but earn its theme 1 Attention, a resource used for character development). A character's ability to perform an action is therefore determined by her power tags and their relevance to the action. Supernatural and mundane tags are used in the same way, but are useful in different situations.

Damage and all other conditions in the game are represented by statuses, tags with a tier ranging from 1 to 6, such as gunshot-3 or restrained-2, regardless of whether the condition is social, mental, legal, mystical, etc. When a Status is relevant for an action, it modify a character's Power, limiting her ability to act.

Investigation

Investigation is a major theme in City of Mist. Player characters use the Investigate core move to take investigative actions (studying a crime scene, interrogating a suspect, communing with the spirit of the dead), which then generate a resource called Clues. Each Clue can be spent to ask the MC a question about the subject of the investigation. The question may be as broad or as narrow as the player wishes; the MC has the choice of whether to provide a substantial clue or the full answer, allowing for pacing considerations.

Non-Linear Character Development

The system offers two types of character development side-by-side. First, gaining Attention points allows players to add power tags and unlock theme improvements. The second and more substantial character development mechanic focuses on the experience the pull between the mundane and the mythical. Player characters are encouraged to Make Hard Choices, go against one of their motivation either to honor another motivation or to achieve an in-game goal. This can cause a character to replace an existing theme with a new theme form the opposite type (Mythos to Logos and Logos to Mythos), changing the balance of legendary and ordinary within her and decommissioning some of her abilities and background aspects while introducing new ones. Characters who lose all their Logos themes become Avatars, unstoppable manifestations of their Mythos, while characters who lose all their Mythos themes return to be fully affected by the Mist and become Sleepers again. Both Avatar and Sleeper characters are still playable in the game and have their own modes of play.

Books and supplements

• Starter Set - free PDF with the basic rules, seven pre-generated characters, and two starting cases: V is for Going Viral and Demons in Cross End (also available in print)
• Core Books
  • City of Mist Player's Guide - introducing the setting and describing the rules of the game, character creation, and character evolution
  • City of Mist MC Toolkit - containing guides for running the game and writing cases, a "bestiary" of Mythos-powered crooks and villains, and a sample case Gambling with Death
• Supplements
  • Gambling with Death - a standalone version of the case included in the MC Toolkit
  • Tourist Trap by James Introcaso - a flashy district of wide-eyed tourists and dangerous pleasures
  • La Colonia De Sombras by Mark Diaz Truman - a shadowy district of heroic immigrants and Meso-American horrors
  • Stone-Cold Beauty by Jack Godwin, a vindictive small-time villain of petrifying glamour (based on Medusa)
  • Puppet Show by Jack Godwin, a calculating small-time villain driven to kill by fatherly love (based on Geppetto of Pinocchio)
• City of Mist Core Book - the original version of the game, both core books in a single 512-page volume (out of print)

Reception

City of Mist was praised on Geek & Sundry, saying "The mechanics are simple yet INCREDIBLY robust" and the game featured in Geek & Sundry's December 2017 RPG Buyer's Guide and 2018 Best Role-Playing Games. EN World called the game "a treasure trove of beautiful art, comic panels, well developed rules, and an evocative make-it-your-own setting." James D'Amato of One-Shot Podcast said the game "combines everything that’s great about Apocalypse World with everything that’s great about FATE". Tabletop Gaming Magazine said "Style and drama ooze from every page of this beautiful book. It takes a little more effort to crack than most story-driven games, but when things click it offers something truly special."

Awards

• 2017 Silver ENnie award for Best Free Game (Starter Set)
• 2018 Gold ENnie award for Best Interior Art (Core Book)

See also

• City of Mist official site
• Tabletop role-playing game
• Powered by the Apocalypse

References

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