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City of Mist 2024

Welcome. This homepage and the pages linked to it are maintained by professork in support of his 2024 City of Mist games.

Organization

The online City of Mist game will start as one-shots (which typically take 2 sessions.)

The one-shots are open to anybody and beginners are welcome. I will be recruiting for the campaign game based on what I see in these “auditions.” When we have a full body of players for the campaign, it will take over and the one shots will be discontinued. In the event that a seat opens up again in the campaign group, I will be reopening the one-shots until that(those) seat(s) are filled.

Game Philosophy

This is important. It gives you some idea of what to expect from me, as well as what I am looking for in campaign players. Please read the page linked to here.

A bit about narrative RPGs

Narrative RPGs are fundamentally different from traditional table-top role-playing games (ttrpgs). In traditional RPGs, the mechanics of simulation are front and center. Roleplay arises organically on a meta level. In some (more recent) ttrpgs the story is written as part of the adventure preparation. The players are expected to follow along a predetermined path. In videogames, we say that the experience is “on rails.” The stories arise out of how the player characters deal with those challenges.

In narrative role-playing games there are no rails (much like old-school ttrpgs). The player characters (PCs)are free to go anywhere and try anything, within reason. Rather than being about tactical simulation, the rules are about the structure of a story. Which is to say the rules are descriptive, not prescriptive. The story itself is created by a combination of PC actions and rolls of the dice.

Just like in ttrpgs, there are many different playing styles supported by the game. See the page about my Game Philosophy. to understand how I play such a game, and what I am expecting of the players in the games I run.

Game Setting

The game is set in The City of Mist. Everyone who lives there just calls it “the city”. If it ever had another name, it has long since been forgotten. The city is a mid-sized city by US standards (think Milwaukee or Indianapolis) and has an over-all midwestern feel in both society and architecture.

The city tends to be visually dreary and washed out with deep and ever-present shadows. The sort of cityscape that can make an individual feel like a meaningless cog in a giant machine. A deep fog hangs over it constantly adding a cold chill that can be felt to the bone.

The city goes on, grinding up and spitting out whoever gets too much in its way. Gods of politics and Titans of industry vie amongst themselves for power and control. The little people are as fuel for their machines to burn up, or lubricant for its gears. Somehow, they manage to eke out their existence under the heavy ever ringing hammers of industry.

But where there are humans, there are stories. And where there are stories, there is hope. Special people embody these stories. They display unusual powers and abilities and bring hope where otherwise there would be none. They are the answering force to the city's forces of destruction and despair. To those that know of them, they are known as Rifts, and they know one of the city's deepest secrets. The mist is more than just a physical phenomenon.

If the rifts embody hope, then the mist is the embodiment of despair. It seeks to limit the effectiveness of rifts by dulling the awareness of others. Witnesses to heroic efforts explain it away or immediately forget they ever saw it. The mist also dulls awareness of anything outside of the city. People who try to travel outside the city find themselves doubling back without any memory of having tried to leave. City dwellers refer to anything outside of the city as simply “out of town” and don't think about it any further.

Occasionally, someone resists the mist long enough to see the truth, and another rift is born.

Characters

Characters are built in session 0 by the players. I recommend, but do not require, that you use the mythos and logos tropes to help guide you in character building. Doing that lets you start with some inspirational ideas before you dive into the weeds of tags.

At this time, I do not allow Gatekeeper PCs (from Shadows and Showdowns) for reasons.

I recommend you start with a balanced number of mythos and logos themes, but you are only required to have at least one of each.