Urban Fantasy World Building

Ok, so. Me and Spirit both want an Urban Fantasy game bad. So, I thought I'd use this thread to collect all the ideas we all have about how it should work in one place. For that reason, a copy of the crazy bullshit me and Spirit came up with on the spot. Enjoy!

[7/25/2012 3:33:55 AM] Adam: Dates match up roughly with when our lot dropped Mordred, Wannabe Dread Lich, right Dorian?
[7/25/2012 3:34:25 AM] Dorian: Either her or that mad Elf chick who wanted to fuck Driders
[7/25/2012 3:35:09 AM] Adam: We get one of those every other week. Not a pretty sight if you're assigned to cleanup duty.
[7/25/2012 3:35:44 AM] Dorian: Yeesh, I'm glad I got transferred to monitor duty on the Loom of Fate
[7/25/2012 3:35:57 AM] Owen: It just says what COULD have happened.
[7/25/2012 3:36:05 AM] Dorian: And we're saying what did
[7/25/2012 3:36:37 AM] Owen: It's making me desk-flipping mad
[7/25/2012 3:37:04 AM] Adam: Yeah, truth can be a bitch. Monitor duty can't be fun.
[7/25/2012 3:37:14 AM] Dorian: Honestly? Noy as bad as it sounds
[7/25/2012 3:37:31 AM] Adam: All I tend to get these days is damage control and repair. "Stand here, guard these, memory wipe those" all day every day.
[7/25/2012 3:37:44 AM] Dorian: Fuck, not even a break?
[7/25/2012 3:37:55 AM] Adam: Depends on the disaster.
[7/25/2012 3:38:19 AM] Adam: For example, you ever tried stopping a horny drider in an antimagic zone? Damn near impossible, I tell you.
[7/25/2012 3:38:32 AM] Dorian: All I have to do is sit around drinking coffee and making sure nothing fucks up in the bit of the weave I'm keeping an eye on at the time.
[7/25/2012 3:38:47 AM] Dorian: I mean, I see what you guys do, but it just looked sort of easy.
[7/25/2012 3:39:16 AM] Dorian: Hell, last mission I kept an eye on, noone even used any proper Martial Arts
[7/25/2012 3:39:19 AM] Adam: Long periods of easy-boring, punctuated with "ohshit this time I'm really going to die".
[7/25/2012 3:39:59 AM] Dorian: Hah, I remember that.
[7/25/2012 3:40:32 AM] Owen: I hate you guys.
[7/25/2012 3:40:40 AM] Dorian: Got stuck on cleanup one time when shit went batshit over China way. Something about a giant mountain dragon. Turns out, it wasn't dead
[7/25/2012 3:40:59 AM] Adam: We're brilliant, aren't we? Saving your ass day in, day out, and then I go in to make sure we'll never be thanked.
[7/25/2012 3:41:25 AM] Dorian: And I make sure what he does is only mildly life threatening
[7/25/2012 3:42:05 AM] Adam: I'll wave next time, be nice for one of your lot to get some recognition. We explicitly avoid it, for obvious reasons.
[7/25/2012 3:42:36 AM] Dorian: Yeah, I know.
[7/25/2012 3:43:10 AM] Dorian: I'd say drop by the office some time for a cup of coffee, but you haven't had your Loom Acclimitisation Training, have you?
[7/25/2012 3:44:44 AM] Adam: Nah, we don't get high level training. Squadmate forgot to supress before wiping last time. Hit a necklace of spell turning, poor bastard doesn't remember his name.
[7/25/2012 3:44:58 AM] Dorian: Ouch
[7/25/2012 3:45:16 AM] Dorian: Rehab can usually fix that, I think
[7/25/2012 3:46:05 AM] Adam: He's in there, probably didn't help that he was pissed off at something. Spell levels wavering all over the place - we had to get another cleanup squad to clean up after the cleanup squad.
[7/25/2012 3:46:35 AM] Adam: I, personally, teleported out and edited records to say I was in team B. You'd be amazed how many of us do that.
[7/25/2012 3:46:47 AM] Dorian: Hah!
[7/25/2012 3:47:19 AM] Dorian: Want me to fudge the Loom records to show that? It's no biggie, noone gives a fuck what we do with the records.
[7/25/2012 3:47:45 AM] Dorian: For example, I own quite a few... let's call them "explicit" records
[7/25/2012 3:48:14 AM] Adam: Might help - last time somebody got caught, management sent a Zelekhut after them. Not to kill, but enough to teach him his lesson.
[7/25/2012 3:48:35 AM] Dorian: Yeah, fuck Zelekhuts, seriously.
[7/25/2012 3:48:46 AM] Dorian: I'll get right on that, then.
[7/25/2012 3:49:36 AM] Adam: Damn right. As somebody who's job it is to lie about stuff happening, overzealous Zeleks are a death sentence. Got to the point that bellowing "Code Z" means "Just teleport the fuck away, one of us has been targeted."
[7/25/2012 3:51:11 AM] Dorian: Well, that seems... fair.
[7/25/2012 3:51:22 AM] Dorian: You risk your lives daily, I just drink coffee
[7/25/2012 3:52:36 AM] Adam: Not so much daily. It's usually just planting UFO stories and wiping memories because somebody's forgotten their invisibility before going topside.
[7/25/2012 3:52:57 AM] Dorian: Nice
[7/25/2012 3:53:44 AM] Dorian: Back when I was doing routine Field Ops, it was more along the lines of thunerbolts, lightning, and "OBEY ME, MORTAL, FOR I AM YOUR GOD!"
[7/25/2012 3:53:55 AM] Dorian: Things have changed
[7/25/2012 3:54:47 AM] Adam: Oh, we all wish we could get a manifest. But nope, running shit from behind the scenes, relying on people like me to sort things when somebody peeks through the curtain.
[7/25/2012 3:55:46 AM] Dorian: Hey, did you hear about that tall fucker who lost it and started following people around?
[7/25/2012 3:55:47 AM] Owen: Night guys, I'll return to read more of this tomorrow.
[7/25/2012 3:55:54 AM] Dorian: Night, then.
[7/25/2012 3:56:02 AM] Adam: Night!
[7/25/2012 3:56:11 AM] Adam: No, go on?
[7/25/2012 3:56:13 AM] Dorian: Keep an eye out for the... you know what, you probably don't want to know.
[7/25/2012 3:56:33 AM] Dorian: Yeah, he did it all stealthy and screwed with their tech and stuff.
[7/25/2012 3:56:52 AM] Adam: Ah, that fucker? We've got a squad on him, don't worry.
[7/25/2012 3:57:36 AM] Dorian: Hmm? I put out a Grade 83 Tactical Erasure hit on him.
[7/25/2012 3:57:58 AM] Adam: Shit, I'll get them to back off a little. Safe radius?
[7/25/2012 3:58:32 AM] Dorian: Erm.... a few miles?
[7/25/2012 3:58:53 AM] Adam: Got it. A good mind-mage is a terrible thing to lose to collateral.
[7/25/2012 4:01:32 AM] Dorian: Seriously, though, watch out for Varakhuts if you're near him, a grade 83 consists of about three of them.
[7/25/2012 4:02:39 AM] Adam: Dear god. I've only ever seen two deployed, and we had to hurry the Manhatten Project up by several years just to stop the fuckers.
[7/25/2012 4:02:55 AM] Dorian: Yeah, they ain't nice.
[7/25/2012 4:03:09 AM] Dorian: Still, HQ considered it necessary
[7/25/2012 4:03:31 AM] Adam: Not at all. Thankfully, they die to nukes, which is helpful. Saved us working out a spell that could drop it.
[7/25/2012 4:04:00 AM] Dorian: Manhatten Project? This was '45, right?
[7/25/2012 4:04:14 AM] Dorian: They've had a LOT of upgrades since then.
[7/25/2012 4:05:01 AM] Adam: Yeah. I shudder to think. Tell me an abort was one?
[7/25/2012 4:05:22 AM] Dorian: Oh, we can call them off, don't worry
[7/25/2012 4:05:34 AM] Dorian: At least, we could the last lot.
[7/25/2012 4:05:58 AM] Dorian: Huh. I'm now slightly worried.
[7/25/2012 4:06:36 AM] Adam: I don't want to have to nuke the next lot. Passing that by command was a ball-ache, but I didn't really have another option.
[7/25/2012 4:07:10 AM] Dorian: I'll make sure to check that I'm good for a Grade X1 on them.
[7/25/2012 4:08:18 AM] Adam: Perfect. And if that entails sending more out to kill them, rethink.
[7/25/2012 4:09:16 AM] Dorian: It entails... you know what? I'm pretty certain you don't want to know. As in, you'll probably be killed if I tell you.
[7/25/2012 4:09:31 AM] Dorian: The best I can do is say "think Acererack"
[7/25/2012 4:11:00 AM] Adam: My gods. Not something I want to be on the same continent as.
[7/25/2012 4:11:22 AM] Dorian: We'll probably end up doing a total planar recall, if it comes to it.
[7/25/2012 4:12:30 AM] Adam: I like those. The lads at the office slip a few days aside in the temporal flux, we get a little holiday amidst the confusion. It's nice have a chronoturgist in the lab.
[7/25/2012 4:14:19 AM] Dorian: I'll see if we can't send you to Bytopia or something. You know, somewhere nice.
[7/25/2012 4:15:05 AM] Adam: That'd be pretty sweet. Or hell, just mess with the logs - we get plane shifters, but they're all tracked.
[7/25/2012 4:17:52 AM] Dorian: Yeah, but Plane Shifters just use an unauthorised transport detection system, with no actual logs. Can't really dick with those safely, sorry.
[7/25/2012 4:18:52 AM] Adam: I'll have to get down to the artificer's guild sometime, surely they could hook me up. I mean, I get to see a lot, but I'm usually there to scrub some poor sod's mind, not sightsee, you know?
[7/25/2012 4:19:13 AM] Dorian: Yeah, you're probably owed YEARS of overtime.
[7/25/2012 4:19:52 AM] Adam: Damn right. And knowing the chronologician's office, they'll probably hand it to me in a cup. Suppose that's a perk of the job.
[7/25/2012 4:20:23 AM] Dorian: You want it converted into luck?
[7/25/2012 4:20:58 AM] Dorian: I can get you all the cushy jobs that get you more departmental rep, if you want.
[7/25/2012 4:22:23 AM] Adam: Luck would be pretty sweet. Rep helps, but not the cushy job. Crazy as it sounds, I like the colours finger makes on my deathblock. The thrill of trying to wipe somebody who really would rather you dropped dead.
[7/25/2012 4:23:16 AM] Dorian: Never got that outside of basic fate combat, really.
[7/25/2012 4:24:30 AM] Adam: You'd be amazed. Even if it does so often come down to forcecage grenades.
[7/25/2012 4:25:59 AM] Dorian: Hah, lucky bastard getting GEAR when someone tries to kill you. You know, I could get you a reccommendation for a promotion to Feild ChronoFate Manipulator, if you want.
[7/25/2012 4:27:25 AM] Adam: Yeah, custom loadouts too after a while. Glad to say I requested the forcecage 'nades first, they're now standard issue. A promotion should be useful - standard mind-mages are a little... forgettable.
[7/25/2012 4:29:04 AM] Dorian: Yeah, putting that through now. Basic fate combat should be interesting for you. Tell me, have you ever faced down a Balor with no weapons at all?
[7/25/2012 4:29:57 AM] Adam: Not and supressed it. Just dropped a Lock and ported out of there, called reinforcements. Don't think that counts.
[7/25/2012 4:32:02 AM] Dorian: Not really, no. This is a port-locked, kill or be killed situation. I mean, you get the five months of SpatioWyrd and ChronoWyrd Manipulation training first, but the sheer scale of what you're doing is almost overwhelming
[7/25/2012 4:33:48 AM] Adam: I can imagine, usually the most intense thing we have to deal with traps and guards. Artificer here, so we're sorted as long as somebody brings an invisibility.
[7/25/2012 4:35:07 AM] Dorian: I started my lot out as a Monk, believe it or not, and eventually branched out into a tad of Psion
[7/25/2012 4:35:24 AM] Dorian: But hey, we all end up at a desk eventually
[7/25/2012 4:36:01 AM] Adam: Hah, not if I'm killed first. Which, believe me, I'm high on a few lists. Along with my squad, of course.
[7/25/2012 4:36:44 AM] Dorian: Oh god, their faces when you come back as a fully qualified CF Manipulator
[7/25/2012 4:37:43 AM] Adam: Should be worth seeing, assuming they'll take the bloody masks off. Keep faces covered while on duty, stops sympathetic magic working on your squad when you're accessing memories.
[7/25/2012 4:38:09 AM] Dorian: Well, their psychic expressions, at any rate.
[7/25/2012 4:38:14 AM] Dorian: Hold on a sec.
[7/25/2012 4:38:37 AM] Dorian: Ah, shite. Something's come up, and I'm gonna have to deal with this.
[7/25/2012 4:38:56 AM] Adam: Good luck.
[7/25/2012 4:39:00 AM] Dorian: I'll need it.
[7/25/2012 4:39:27 AM] Dorian: At any rate, you too. See you tomorrow, hopefully!
[7/25/2012 4:39:53 AM] Adam: Assuming the chronologicians are working, sure!

So. I'll be analysing this later, but holy shit setting is holy shit good.

Wouldn't want to live in that world.

Even if this world is that world? Well, have fun thinking about that.

Anyhow, from that we can draw... ah, sod it, time to write fluff!

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This world is ignorant. It's people go about their lives, seeing nothing, knowing nothing. Yet there exists a shadow. There are those who would bring this world to it's knees, through violence and hate. They are monstrous in being, yet not necessarily in appearance. They are here, as they have been for millennia. Yet they have not succeeded, thanks to the efforts of a brave few. They have telepaths in every council, evokers on every street, diviners looking out at the hell that comes from the shadows. Their lies permeate the truth, and with them, the truth is variable. Time and Space are their playthings, to use as they see fit. Even Fate itself, the very order by which the universe is ruled, is not beyond their grasp. It is thanks to them that the world is ignorant, for if it were not, the enemy would have already won.

So wait, humans not noticing the dumb things around them is a good thing?

Of course. It's somewhere along the lines of a "Go Mad From The Revalation" kind of thing.

Ah makes since. So what appens if a human has their eyes opened?

Not a clue. This is all we have for this setting, which is the reason this thread isn't called "Urban Fantasy Setting"

Ah, so when will it be more developed?

When anyone can be arsed.

Forgot I had a forum. Let's do this.

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The Company. For those who don't or shouldn't know, the phrase means nothing. Thanks to department 7, but that's another story. For those who do, however, it meant home. Family. Safety. A guild of mages who can protect a brother from the truth of the universe, usually with automatic weapons courtesy of department 16. The original name is lost to time, appearing in no public records.

When there's something strange in the neighbourhood, we're who you call after we acquired the assets of a former group of exorcists via a successful takeover bid in late '06. Our agents can be en route within the second, and assuming department 21 has anyone on duty, you'll never even notice we were there. Equipped with only the best equipment our artificers can craft, we keep the public in blissful ignorance of the monsters lurking in the corners and under the beds. We're the ones that watch the watchmen, the ones with a finger in every conceivable pie, and the ones responsible for making sure you stay in the dream.

You see, reality as you know it isn't the whole truth. The truth is, the world's a big scary place, and the vast majority of it's occupants see you as little more than a snack or speed bump, for the larger ones. And if this was ever realised, there'd be chaos. Mass panic. Disorder. And we at The Company do love our order, our last little defence against the night. We select the finest wherever they appear and train them. Remember that bright kid from your school, little weird, went missing halfway through term? He's one of us now. Mages of all sorts come to us, even if they don't know it - naturally, we've plenty of people in the education systems. We unlock their gift, give them power beyond their wildest dreams, and all we ask is their help. Diviners, to locate whoever's breached our little veil of lies. Conjurers, to get us where we need to be. Evokers and Enchanters, to subdue our enemies. Abjurers, to minimize collateral. Illusionists and Transmuters, to give the media the story we've practised. And even Necromancers, for those cases when we simply need more bodies.

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Yeah, I ain't good at that. Mechanics is my forte. Even so, couple of things for internal consistency.
- No official name is recorded. Makes more sense that way. Less to go on for the /x/philes of this world.
- Department 7 is memory manipulation and rapid response.
- Department 16 is artificer's guild and equipment.

What system we working on here? Or trying for system independent? Just for things like equipment - it's a much bigger deal in GURPS than it is in D&D, for example.

I reckon systemless is as good as any. Also, you seriously expect The Company to have equipment issues? Like, ever?

Also, I think we need to get down which departments do what. I'll keep a list in this post.

Department 01 -
Department 02 -
Department 03 - medical
Department 04 -
Department 05 -
Department 06 -
Department 07 - memory manipulation and rapid response
Department 08 - arcane intervention unit
Department 09 -
Department 10 -
Department 11 -
Department 12 -
Department 13 -
Department 14 -
Department 15 -
Department 16 - artificer's guild and equipment
Department 17 -
Department 18 -
Department 19 -
Department 20 -
Department 21 - stealth and visual masking

I stop looking at this thread one moment and suddenly it's awesome xD

So does group 7 also handle the media or does rapid response mean something else?

Ever seen Men In Black? Imagine SWAT with their Neuralizers, only better trained and geared up with the kind of magitech we can only speculate on.

That doesn't answer my question though xD. What if someone sees something they shouldn't? Who handles that?

Also are only the mages listed above allowed in to the group?

And can i get an example of said magitech?

That'd be Department 7. There's a reason they do rapid response AND memory manipulation. Also, I'd assume that anyone with the right mindset and abilities is allowed in, but being some form of Mage or Psion helps.

As for an example of the Magitech, think... well, this, for example. Only loaded by an infinity clip into a M-16 Vulcan cannon.

Lol that's awesome (the arrow).

Also makes sense that anyone could get it... what happens to none mages that get in though? Do they forever have to be insecure cause they're powerless?

Nah, they do a bit of field work, quickly turn into badasses without magic, then get a nice desk job. Or learn to magic the fuck out of things. Because Spellwarp Snipers who take the "sniper" part to it's logical extreme (ha ha, 500 yard headshots with a magically enhanced .50 cal incendiary round fired from an M82 with True Strike enhancements on the barrel and True Sight enhancements on the scope!) are the single most badass thing ever.

Ah that makes sense... so what kind of things does this organization fight regularly... and what opposes them? Are there things they fear as well?

Read any given Monster Manual for any generic game. That's what they fight. Things they fear? Huh. No idea.

Ah okay, so a group of five mages from there versus... a dragon... who wins and at what difficulty? (kinda trying to get a gauge of their skill)

What dragon?

What mages?

What location?

When?

What department?

How geared up?

What rank?

Dragon: It is a middle aged dragon that breathes fire. It also has basic wind and earth control and is immune to all fire based magic.

Mages: Four combat mages and one is a healer to keep the mages alive so i believe that is department 8

Location: They are fighting in an open space above a tower.

When: After they had three days to get ready for it 2010 on the winter solstice (when it's coldest).

Department: I believe I said that already.

Gear: On a scale 1-5 with 5 as worse and 1 as best... 2.5

Rank: What do you mean? Rank of mages? I'd rank them 1-5 scaling as above... at 3

So, Adult Red Dragon vs a full Department 8 combat team in a location where the dragon has an elemental disadvantage. Yeah, the dragon's fucked like there's no tomorrow. Combat mages stun the dragon on the surprise attack (got with invisibility spells) then beat it down with high-end ice spells.

True... how about on the summer solstice? (when the world is hottest).

Also how would they fair on a regular day but while going up the tower to eliminate the dragon... mental projects of the dragons were attacking them on the way up. Each projection is real but only 1/10 as strong as the real dragon and about as big as a man. They (as in the mages) have knowledge of the dragon but did not know about the mental projections.