Urban Fantasy Fridays: NightLife (1990)

 NightLife is a game I have had on and off for a number of years. I only ever owned the core rules and the Magic book. I never got a chance to play it, but it is a game we talk about every so often in our Elf Lair Games meetings. The game is quintessentially early 90s. It's filled with blood, dark, and dirty streets, and where you get to play the monster. Vampire: The Masquerade may have done it better, but NightLife gave it its all a year earlier.

NightLife is set in New York. A strange New York that is sandwiched between the movie Warriors and the First World Trade Center bombing.  A city that is hot and perpetually at night. Something like Dark City meets Nightbreed.

NightLife

by Bradley K. McDevitt, L. Lee Cerny, Walter H. Mytczynskyj
1990, 1992 Stellar Games, 256 pages.

Much like Beyond the Supernatural, NightLife is wonderfully crunchy.  Character creation is a prime example. Roll 4d10 for the eight attributes: Strength, Dexterity, Fitness, Intellect, Will, Perception, Attractiveness, and Luck. Then there are another twenty d10s to put toward your skills. And there is a lot of them. It is very much an RPG of its time in that having a skill for something matters, and you will find them for everything from firearms and martial arts to pharmacology, manuscript illumination, seduction, and even skateboarding. Honestly, it already feels like the heart of this game is a cyberpunk game gone horror, splatterpunk. This will not be the last time I feel this while going over the rules.

The underlying system is simple enough. Your attributes and skills yield a percentage, and you roll under on percentile dice. A 20 in a given skill denotes you are competent at the everyday task without needing to make a roll; it is only when things get difficult, or you are under pressure, that the dice come out. Character generation can be a bit of a time sink, but once you are in the game, the central mechanic is not hard to grasp. 

The art is very early 1990s punk style. Cool for the time, but looks a bit dated by today's standards. To be fair, one of the creators, Bradley K. McDevitt, has his own stock-art service, and his stuff is great. I have used his art many, many times in my own work. So, to me, despite its age, the art is very much a "draft" of what I consider "urban horror art." Later on, the artists for Vampire: The Masquerade and WitchCraft RPG would help define this style in my mind. But credit where credit is due for starting here. 

The Kin

What sets this apart is that you do not go after the monsters. You are the monster. Like I mentioned above, it covers similar ground to Vampire: The Masquerade, but the tone here is less Anne Rice. 

The supernatural types refer to themselves as the Kin, leaving ordinary people with the rather condescending title of "the Herd." The book has seven varieties of Kin: Vampyres, Werewolves, Ghosts, Daemons, Wyghts, Inuits, and Animates. They all have their Edges, or powers, and the traditional Flaws of being a monster. The Magic sourcebook also adds Witches to the mix.

Vampyres are of the old school. Give them sunlight, garlic, a wooden stake, running water, or holy objects, and they will be stopped. They turn into bats, mist, and wolves. These vampyres are more akin to Dracula than Lestat, but his DNA is in there as well. Werewolves change shape. Ghosts are the dead with unfinished business. Animates are your Frankenstein’s monsters and golems. Daemons are extradimensional and have been magically put here. And Wyghts are unpleasant undead affairs that siphon the youth from their victims.

Then we have the Inuits.

Well, yes. This is where the game’s age shows, and not in an endearing way. The handling of Indigenous spirits under that moniker is something I would either not use or rewrite. 

Edges, Flaws, and Humanity

You have Edges, the supernatural side of things. Some are common, some are for a particular Kin. Claws, telepathy, weather control, possession, invisibility, speed, and armor are among the options. But the cleverness lies in the price.

That price is Humanity.

Humanity is not merely a morality stat on the sheet for the GM to levy punishment with. It is a resource to be spent. 

Your monster can do some very cool things, but they are the very things that erode what is human about him. That is a fine mechanic. There is a built-in temptation in the rules. You can have more power, but how much of yourself are you prepared to put on the line?

It goes both ways. High Humanity can make you functionally human. Let it drop, and the character becomes more visibly monstrous, his weaknesses more pronounced. Lose too much Humanity, and now your character has become a true monster and an NPC. I like this idea. The World of Darkness games made this idea their central thesis; other games have a form of this as well. NightLife wasn't the first to do this, but they did do it well.

The City at Night

An urban fantasy needs somewhere for its denizens to put down roots, and NightLife gets that. Not just a crypt or a haunted house. We are talking clubs and bars, record stores, and warehouses. Back rooms and street corners. The sort of places for showing off, making bad decisions, and hearing what is going on. You could say nightclubs are the heart of the game's culture. Style is everything, as is the right music and the right clothes. The book is so preoccupied with fashion that a modern retrospective put it best: in NightLife, a gun can sometimes look like the more economical option than a proper wardrobe.

Then there are the particular modifiers for a fight on the dance floor. That's about as much of a NightLife rule as you will find. I can't think of another game that does that.

Do not mistake this for Gothic horror moved to an urban environment. This is urban horror. The monsters are of the city; they have their neighborhoods and their enemies three blocks away; they have favorite clubs, and they listen to the music. It is easy to see why the comparison to The Warriors holds up.

New York is as much of a character here as it is a setting.

The supernatural is divided into factions and gangs with differing views on humanity. You have the Commune, which is content to let Kin and humans coexist, or the Complex, which would rather control and make use of them. The Morningstar Corporation will undermine society with its wealth and politics, while Red Moonrise is far less subtle and has no qualms about terror and slaughter. And if one wants to be hunted, there are human outfits like the Van Helsing Society and Target Alpha who know the Kin are out there. In short, there is always someone to have a go at. NightLife anticipates as much.

There is some wonderful worldbuilding here that sadly went unnoticed at the time.

Putting the Splatter Back in Splatterpunk

This is no subtle affair. The rulebook will tell you exactly how big a wound is from the damage taken. A Kin can take some horrific injury and come back for more unless put down in a certain way. That kind of durability is what lets the game live up to its splatterpunk side.

Shadow of the Vampire

One cannot help but compare this to Vampire: The Masquerade. NightLife came first in 1990 with Vampire behind it in 1991. They share the d10s, the Humanity stat, the urban backdrop and the same sort of player characters. Yet the tone is worlds apart. NightLife is punk where Vampire is Gothic. It is all about the leather jackets and the loud music, the blood on the wall, and the monsters having it out in the alley behind the club. There is plenty of angst to be had, but also a motorcycle chain and a switchblade.

In NightLife, everyone is Clan Brujah or Tremere.

What do I get out of NightLife? More than one might expect.

I am fond of the way it treats Humanity. It is not a passive number for the GM to judge by. Your very existence as a supernatural puts your connection to humanity at risk. I can make a lot of use of that.

I also appreciate the Kin being a single culture. Vampires and werewolves do not need to be in separate societies that never cross paths; they can be in the same faction and have the same enemies. Very fitting for an urban setting. They can still hate each other. Fight in gang wars or even have an uneasy alliance. Same with the other types here. 

The factions are fine, though I would not use them verbatim. What interests me is the concept: supernatural beings at odds over how to deal with ordinary people, and those differences turning political or violent.

But the thing NightLife offers above all is a sense of place. The supernatural has to be somewhere on a Friday night. It may sound foolish, but a community is only convincing when there is a bar they all know, a record store open till two in the morning, a diner where the night staff won’t remark on odd patrons, and an alley to settle scores. I put that to work in NIGHT SHIFT.

For example, in my 1990s sequel to Jackson set in Chicago, Faye Thorne, now calling herself Fiona Voss, runs a record store called Muse. Muse is where people (and not-people) congregate and hear things. Even those who would not normally work together can be found across from each other because they both know it is safe ground. 

And that is what NightLife does best. It is not a matter of monsters hiding in the city, but of them having a life in it. The distinction is important. The vampire has a band he likes. The daemon has a drink with an old friend. The ghost knows her way in. The werewolf has friends and enemies and the clothes and the neighborhood to prove it. The supernatural is not in town for a visit. It lives here.

And regardless of the Kin, they all need somewhere to buy the new Inkubus Sukkubus album. 

My Jackson Kids: Chicago 1992

This campaign does not have a name yet. Nor is it even very well defined. I just know this. Like my real kids, my Jackson, IL kids will grow up and move out at some point. Some end up in Chicago in the 1990s. Why Chicago? Why not! I LOVE Chicago. 

Among the PCs/NPCs I'll work with, there will be Larina, Faye/Fiona, Roderick Morgan, and Moria Zachary. There will be new characters too, but the players will create those. 

Fiona, Larina, and Moria, Chicago 1992

And...that is about all I have for that campaign! Really. I have some other idea involving the Maxwell Street Market and other things I loved about Chicago in the 1990s, but this notion is in it's infancy. 

So I am trying out a lot of different ideas. Namely, this campaign is an attempt to move from Modern Horror (Jackson, Sunny Valley) into Urban Fantasy. The horror is still there, but it isn't the same sort of thing.

So, for NightLife, I started with the core book and create a character who fits. I considered turning one of my Jackson kids into a ghost, but in truth I just couldn't bring myself to do that. So instead, I am using a character and keeping her more or less as is. Then I grabbed a copy of the magic book and created twom more characters.

Edited to Add: In my online research, I see that there is a book for NightLife called "America After Dark." I didn't really have the time to buy a copy. Though maybe I will grab it later on since it covers the time period when I was living downtown. In truth I should assemble all the RPGs and supplements that cover Chicago sometime. Especially if I get this Chicago game off the ground.

Moria Lucille Zachary

Race/Kin: Daemon
Age: 21

Abilities
Strength (STR) 23
Dexterity (DEX) 34
Fitness (FIT) 27
Intellect (INT) 26
Will 21
Perception (PER) 27
Attractiveness (ATT) 27
Luck 19
Magic Ability (MA) -

Base Hand-to-Hand (HTH) damage 4
Max Humanity 80
Humanity 36 (40)
Survival Points 46

Edges and Flaws
All Kin
Armor 5, Aura Sight 27, Claws 27, Danger Sense 27, Drain 27 (diet: Human or Animal Life Force), Speed 34

Kin Specific Edges
Alter Form 21, Body Control 27, Flight 27 (true form only), Telepathy 26, Travel 21

Flaws
Substance Vulnerability: Flint, Holy Relics, Fire (double damage), Command: Majestic Daemonic

Skills
Combat Skills
Pistol 41, Streetfighting 52

Archaic Skills
Kin Lore 37

General Skills
Alertness 34, City Knowledge (Chicago) 32, Disguise 30, Language (English) 30, Persuasion 31, Psychology 33, Seduction 31, Stealth 57, Streetwise 42, Theology (Catholic) 32

Occult Skills
Occult Knowledge 34

Connections
Bar Bouncer, Bartender, Police Detective

Money: $13,000.

Moria is great for this. Plus, we haven't seen her in Jackson for a while, so it has a nice "what the hell are you doing here?" vibe. I also like the idea that the girl who was considered dangerous in Jackson is just mildly threatening here in Chicago. 

Larina Stephanie Nichols

Race/Kin: Human, Witch
Age: 22

Abilities
Strength (STR) 15
Dexterity (DEX) 28
Fitness (FIT) 25
Intellect (INT) 35
Will 34
Perception (PER) 34
Attractiveness (ATT) 30
Luck 21
Magic Ability (MA) 30

Base Hand-to-Hand (HTH) damage 5
Max Humanity 100
Humanity 48 (50)
Survival Points 46

Edges and Flaws
All Kin
None

Kin Specific Edges
None

Flaws
None

Magic
Shadow Paths, Deflection, Escape, Magic Sight, Vibes, Word, EMT, Lighter, Open

Skills
Combat Skills
Knife 31, Pistol 27, Martial Arts (Judo) 42

Archaic Skills
none

General Skills
Alertness 39, City Knowledge (Chicago) 38, Driving 31, First Aid 34, Language (English) 35, Language (Greek) 35, Language (Latin) 35, Persuasion 37, Psychology 43, Research 48, Streetwise 31

Occult Skills
Library Research (Magic) 48, Talismanic Magic 40, Herbal Magic 40, Occult Knowledge 44

Connections
Bar Bouncer, Bartender, Police Detective, Elder Kin

Money: $8,000.

Larina only lives here during her undergraduate and Master's degrees, from fall of 1987 to Spring/summer of 1993. I have her going on other adventures in 1993 that correspond to her Chill 2nd edition period and flowing into her WitchCraft RPG time. Whether those games involve the same "mirror shard" of Larina or not, I don't know yet. But for now, this is Larina in 1992.

Fiona Voss

Race/Kin: Human, Sorceress (near Kin)
Age: 22

Abilities
Strength (STR) 20
Dexterity (DEX) 24
Fitness (FIT) 28
Intellect (INT) 34
Will 46
Perception (PER) 30
Attractiveness (ATT) 34
Luck 20
Magic Ability (MA) 35

Base Hand-to-Hand (HTH) damage 4
Max Humanity 80
Humanity 30 (Soul Burn)
Survival Points 48 (36 in stored spells)

Edges and Flaws
All Kin
Drain 28 (Fiona "recharges" herself by going out)

Kin Specific Edges
None

Flaws
Substance Vulnerability: Metorite iron, salt (she makes up for it with hot peppers)

Magic
Black out, Shadow Paths, Deflection, Escape, Hotwire. EMT (white), Dispel Magic (white), boombox (white), Binding (black)

Skills
Combat Skills
Pistol 28, Streetfighting 32

Archaic Skills
Kin Lore 40

General Skills
Administration 42, Alertness 36, Business 44, City Knowledge (Chicago) 42, Dancing 29, Driving 28, Fashion Sense 34, First Aid 38, Intimidation 50, Leadership 54, Musical Style (Goth/Alternative) 46, Profession (Record Store Manager) 46, Research 38, Security Systems 39, Stealth 29, Streetwise 56

Occult Skills
Occult Knowledge 42

In many ways, Fiona has become my standout NPC in my Chicago games. 

Larina is a human witch; Fiona is a near-kin Sorceress. I opted to go in this direction so I could see the differences between the two magic types in the Magic book. Fiona is still recovering from her near Hag-conversion. So her magic feels more like a Kin than Larina's coven magic does. 

So, I want to talk about the differences between Jackson-era Faye and Chicago-Fiona. Same girl, different experiences. In some ways, Fiona becomes more Fiona in NightLife. Faye hated high school, and she hated (hates) Jackson. She flees first to UIUC and then to UIC, but it isn't college or university academics that give her life. It is Chicago. Here is a giant city filled with strange new people, and she LOVES it. 

I get it. I remember leaving class one summer night and looking out at the city from a Blue Line L station and just being in awe of how beautiful it was. In my mind, Faye saw the same sight, but where I was in awe, she fell in love. Faye embraced Chicago in such a fundamentally deep way. From that moment on, she was never, ever going to leave.

NightLife also gave some great ideas for Faye/Fiona regardless of what game system I might use. She works till close at Muse (before she owned it) and then goes out to clubs that would have been too dangerous for a girl in her 20s to go to by herself, but she is a powerful sorceress/witch. She dances until 3 am, eats Thai food or whatever is still open (lots of places), and turns around and goes back to work the next day. 

While all of this is wonderful for Fiona, it is the start of Fiona and Larina growing apart. They still remain close; you can't erase that. But they are setting their sights now in different directions. 

Jackson to Chicago

I did not set out to create another campaign this month. I certainly don't need another campaign. But somewhere along the way I followed these kids out of Jackson and into Chicago. By 1992 they are no longer kids, and the supernatural isn't something hiding beneath their hometown anymore. It has neighborhoods, jobs, stores, clubs, politics, and a social life. I don't know what I am going to do with that yet. For now I am calling it Chicago 92. I suspect I will be coming back to it. 

Jackson was about discovering the supernatural. Chicago is starting to look like it will be about living with it.

Final Word

NightLife will not replace NIGHT SHIFT on my table. NIGHT SHIFT is just a far better fit for what I want out of a horror RPG. But I would not have NIGHT SHIFT in my hands now if it hadn't been for the nightclubs and streets of NightLife. 

I intended to explore how a single campaign idea could be viewed through the lens of different games; I ended up with much more than that. I got so much out of these games that I think I'll do a proper retrospective later. Likely next month. 

Urban Fantasy Fridays: Coven & Crucible (2023)

 I feel a little bad about this one. It has been sitting on my desk to the left of me for a very long time on my TBR pile. I wanted to get a review of it done back when it was new. Then, when the revised edition was out on Kickstarter. Now we are in between editions. This particular edition is no longer available on DriveThruRPG (which is disappointing, to be honest), and the new one isn't up yet. 

It is a good game and perfect if you are like me and want to have a focus on Witches and Witchcraft in your game. But how does it hold up?

Coven & Crucible

Raechel Henderson and Stephan Kelly
2023 13th Moon Games, 196 pages.

The product is from 13th Moon Games and the work of Raechel Henderson and Stephan Kelly. Henderson is behind the story and setting, while Kelly has put together the mechanics. The two saw the game through playtesting in 2022, and it was funded the following year. They are married and their kid does the art. The art is actually pretty good.

A word before we proceed: this review is of the original core rulebook. A second edition, Coven & Crucible: Reforged, was funded in early 2026 and should be in fulfillment soon. That version will preserve the original's collaborative spirit while streamlining the rules. For now, then, this is an examination of where the game started.

The World of Coven & Crucible

What you will find is that magic is not secret. That is the one thing that puts Coven & Crucible apart from most of the urban fantasy/horror games I have been turning over for previous Urban Fantasy Fridays like WitchCraft or Mage. There is no Veil, no Masquerade, no grand secret war to keep the rest of us in the dark. Everyone is aware of witches and what they can do. You can go online and hire one.

The game puts it on a par with martial arts, cooking, or computer programming. You could become a witch if you wanted, but it is a matter of study and discipline. I have to say I am fond of that. It means if there is some magic work to be had, you can just put out a contract to a witch.

That choice ripples through the whole of the setting and changes the tenor of the game. You get your magical businesses and professions, your occult markets and currencies, and organizations with enough history to have built up their share of wealth, grudges, and bureaucracy. The introduction paints a picture of specialists who might be stockbrokers using divination or working at a place like the Magic Beans coffee chain. The latter alone gives you a sense of the tone. It can be a dark affair but not everything supernatural has to be evil.

Chicago

I was drawn to the default setting of Chicago for the obvious reasons. And it feels right. You have old neighborhoods and the new construction all in a pile with the witch politics. This is not one of those settings where "Chicago" is reduced to the Sears Tower and deep dish pizza because someone has seen The Untouchables or Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Here, the architecture, the lake, and the weather are part of the fabric of things. The supernatural is layered on top of the mundane rather than in some other dimension, which is how I prefer to run the city in my own games.

There are good details too. Take the Midnight Market, a black market for the magically inclined that runs parallel to the regular flea markets. Or the fact that witches deal in Pentacles; not because paper money is no good, but because in magical commerce discretion has a price. Favors will do as currency in some cases. It is the kind of thing that makes a world feel lived in.

The Coven and the Crucible

As for the name, it is a nod to the two big institutions. The Coven is the international organization with its Houses and internal squabbles. The Crucibles are another matter entirely, an independent network of sorts to offer neutral ground and services. You could describe it as a magical hotel, an embassy and concierge service, a meeting place and sanctuary all in one.

Then there is the matter of the Coven and the Crucibles. The Coven would be only too happy to have control over them, but does not. The two put up with one another for the simple reason that any attempt at absorption would come at too high a price. It is a fine source of tension; neither has to be evil for there to be conflict. People are after influence, organizations want their territory, families are concerned with prestige and witches with their independence. One does not need an ancient Dark Lord to rouse himself from his slumbers to make for a compelling setting.

While the focus of the book is Chicago, other Crucibles are mentioned.

The System

Coven & Crucible makes do with just two d12s, which is enough to put it in my good graces right off the bat. Characters are defined by four Attributes (Will, Body, Agility, Magic) along with nine Skills and sixty-three Sub-skills. Resolving an action is straightforward: add Attribute plus Skill and Sub-skill, factor in modifiers, and a Difficulty set by the Storyteller equals the Target Number. Roll 2d12 to come in under or on this Target Number. So higher skills are still better since they increase the Target Number. A 13 is a special case, resulting in a critical of some sort depending on the circumstances. Since we are talking about 2d12 here, 13 is the most likely result.

The formula has its flexibility, though, and that is where the system becomes more engaging. A Sub-skill may be listed under a certain Skill, but the game is open to the player and Storyteller to put together whatever combination of the three best suits what the character is set on doing. This is of paramount importance when it comes to magic. This makes it more akin to Unisystem than say a d20 based game.

Character creation is a bit more of an undertaking than the core rules might imply. With Attributes starting at 3 and Skills at 4, and a pool of 63 levels to put into Sub-skills or Traits, one has to make no end of decisions. I don’t mind that. The payoff is a degree of specialization. The game is looking for characters who are very capable in their own right, not blank slates that will take twenty sessions to become interesting. They know when they are out of their depth and will call on others.

Though, like many games I am looking at this month, it is easier since I know what I want to end up with and after doing it a couple of times. 

Magic

Unsurprisingly, this is the part of the game I like best. Forget spell lists or slots or even “named spells” in the way most RPGs have them. The witch tells you what she wants to do and the Storyteller works out the formula. Say you want to turn invisible. The book will put forward a number of options: Magic + Magical + Disguise, or perhaps Stealth or Larceny. If it is a case of evading a camera rather than a person, even Security Systems might be called upon.

Two witches can end up with the same result while going about it in entirely different ways. That is how I prefer my witchcraft. The effect may be the same mechanically, but the intent and symbolism should be the character’s own. Faye is not going to ward a house the way Sylvia does, any more than Larina will go about making herself invisible as another would. Larina would bend light around herself; Faye would simply make people not see her. Coven & Crucible handles that nicely.

There are two ways to cast: Improvised for the quick fix in combat, and Ritual for something with more staying power. You will also find alchemy, materia magica, familiars, grimoires, summoning, and all the other accouterments one expects from a game of this sort. Grimoires are of particular note. They are no run-of-the-mill spellbooks but a record of a witch’s research and discoveries. I was reminded of Larina’s Book of Shadows straight away.

The System at Its Best

One could make the case that the magic system is the game’s most compelling mechanical conceit. It delivers on what so many systems promise and then don't: a form of freeform casting that does not forgo structure in the process. There are still numbers to be had, and character specialties matter. Try something hard, and there will be consequences. Yet you are never put in the position of poring over a list to see if you have the right spell for the job. In that way, your characters come across as witches rather than mere assemblages of powers.

Teamwork fits into this nicely. Put a Divination specialist with one who is good at Warding and an investigator of some note, and the system is happy to reward them for acting like a coven of specialists. I would hazard a guess that is by design.

Where It Gets Rough

That very flexibility is a double-edged sword. Some groups will find it wanting when the player and Storyteller have to hash out which combination of abilities is in play. A group inclined to talk through their intentions will be fine with it; others may want to argue over the most advantageous mix for every roll and put a damper on the pace. Magic only magnifies the problem. The absence of a spell list is liberating but it forces the Storyteller to make judgment calls on what can be done and how taxing it should be. I have no trouble with that, though those in need of tightly codified powers might.

Then there is character creation, which is more of an undertaking than the resolution mechanic. With sixty-three Sub-skills and Traits to account for, there are plenty of little numbers to wade through before you start. Once the character is put together, however, things move along much faster.

As for the book, in spots it has the feel of a first core offering from a smaller publisher. The visual design is striking enough with its black-and-white art and sharp color in the chapter pieces, but some of the rules are dense and call for a re-read. It did not deter me from wanting to get behind the table. If anything, it left me curious to see what the designers would put in place after a few years of use, and that is what makes Reforged so interesting.

Building my Characters

I went with a couple of the Jackson teens for this one; the setting suggested another approach. So I put the clock forward (from Jackson, backward for us) to 1990. I have been considering a "sequel game" for some time, and I know it will be set in Chicago in the 1990s.

Sylvia is here because she causes trouble and this is exactly where she would end up after being chased out of Jackson.

In my "Jackson Universe" version of Chicago, I have Larina Nichols and Faye Thorne. They are both twenty. Larina is at the University of Chicago and well on her way to being the scholar she will become. Faye is new to the city, having transferred to the University of Illinois at Chicago from the sister school, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Faye is still Faye, but you can see the growth that will cause her to reclaim her birth name, Fiona Voss. She has found her life increasingly tied up in music and the supernatural side of the city’s nightlife. And there is Sylvia, the older witch with experience to spare. Three different witches with three different goals.

Building Larina was almost too simple. Her character sheet says it all:

Will 7
Magic 7

Academics 7
Magical 10

You have your extremely intelligent, strong-willed, and magically potent type, physically unremarkable but with a head for Academics. Add in some solid Occult, Linguistics, History, and the like for Divination or Warding, and you have her. 

Since the poor girl was always getting her ass kicked in physical fights, she is taking a judo class now. She is not very good at it, but at least she won't get knocked down as much. 

Faye is the other side of that. Less concerned with theory, she is more physical and instinctive, a streetwise sort. Athletics, Underworld, Hexing, and Warding are where her strengths lie, as is the nascent Artistic side that will take on greater significance in time. Then there is Sylvia, the Veteran. She puts decades of experience to work alongside her natural talent and shows me what those rules mean in practice. It is a good thing she does; it keeps Larina and Faye from coming across as finished products. They are very good, but Sylvia makes plain how much ground they still have to cover.

What Did I Learn About My Characters?

I have been going round and round with this for some time (with many games), but Coven & Crucible has put it into perspective: a witch is not made by her spell list. Her approach to magic is what defines her. Larina will research and name things, looking for precedent. She needs to know who first did the magic and why, what language or symbols were involved, if anyone put it to paper. Faye goes about it by feel. And Sylvia has done it enough times to tell you which rules are worth following and which can be let slide. The end result may be the same, but the method should not be. Coven & Crucible offers a rules language for that kind of distinction, and one I can put to use elsewhere.

What Can I Use in NIGHT SHIFT and Jackson?

More than one might think. I am not going to bring the whole setting over; the assumptions do not hold up, and my NIGHT SHIFT magic is not so open. But there are ideas I want to make my own.

Take Formula Flexibility. Not the mechanics per se, but the notion that two characters versed in protective magic need not employ it in identical fashion. Or the idea of coven specialization. A coven ought to be like an adventuring party: one for spirits, another for wards or divination, one for combat, one for the old books. It is far more compelling than having five people with the same Witch class.

I already do this, to be honest. Stephanie’s protective magic looks like blue flames. Larnia’s like a mult-sigiled ward, and Faye’s looks like a growth of thorns and brambles. 

The concept of the Crucible is also something I can put to work. I won’t use the institution itself; it is too tied to this setting, but a neutral piece of supernatural turf is excellent for lending a setting instant history and politics. Be it a hotel or a club where factions agree to certain terms, it is useful. As is the magical economy. Favors, obscure ingredients, information, introductions. Occult types have their priorities, and money is not always at the top of them. It is an idea I have toying with in Nightlife as well. Another game set in Chicago.

Final Thoughts

It is no surprise I am fond of Coven & Crucible. It is a game of witches and d12s that gives me a supernatural Chicago and lets me build a character based on what they know rather than a prewritten selection of spells. What I value is its particular view of a witch. Here, magic is not a superpower or a religion. You learn it, study it, improve upon it. In theory, anyone could, but most will not put in the effort. It has a different taste to the mages of Mage or the arcanists of Beyond the Supernatural.

That is what I was after for this year’s Urban Fantasy Fridays. I have no interest in five games that are cut from the same cloth. I want to see how the supernatural exists in our world. Coven & Crucible says it has a job and bills to pay and family troubles and a favorite coffee shop. And it has politics. And before lunch, it might hex someone. That is fine by me.

This does make me want to pick up the new edition of Coven & Crucible when it comes out. Maybe I'll give these characters a run set in 2027 when they are all close to 60. Sylvia will be a lot older than that, but I am not asking her age, and neither should you.

My Jackson Chicago Kids: Larina, Faye, and Sylvia

So I created sheets for many of my witches in Jackson, IL. But since this game is set in Chicago and I already had some ideas about who would be there, I decided to focus on just Larina and Faye. Both are growing in different directions, which is about to cause a rift that won't be addressed until 1995. Vague, I know; it's supposed to be. These are just broad strokes that I'll figure out at the game table. But 1990 is still a few years away from my current year of 1986.  

I threw Sylvia into the mix because I want an NPC who would know things. 

Larina Nichols

Gender: F, Age: 20
Height: 5'4", Weight: 125

Pentacles: 18

WILL 7
BODY 2
AGILITY 3
MAGIC 7

Initiative 10
Speed/Sprint 18/6
Health 17
Magic Resistance 24

Magic Resistance (Tattoo) 3
Linguist 2
Attractive 1

Skills and Sub-Skills

Academics 7
 - Computers +1
 - History +3
 - Linguistics +3
 - Lore +1
 - Psychology +1
 - Theology +1

Magical 10
 - Alchemy +4
 - Divination +2
 - Forging +1
 - Hexing +5
 - Occult +7
 - Summoning +5
 - Warding +6

Strategic 6
 - Awareness +1
 - Tactics +1

Artistic 5
 - Dancing +1
 - Drawing +1
 - Performance (Sing) +1
 - Writing +2

Martial 3 
 - Unarmed (White-belt Judo)

Technical 5
 - Animal Handling +1
 - Survival +2

Athletics 4
 - Sleight of Hand +1
 - Stealth +1

Social 5 
 - Appearance +1
 - Conversation +1
 - Ettiquette +1

Underworld 4
 - Intimidation +2

Faye Thorne
Gender: F, Age: 20
Height: 5'3", Weight: 114

Pentacles: 11

WILL 5
BODY 3
AGILITY 4
MAGIC 6

Initiative 10
Speed/Sprint 30/12
Health 19
Magic Resistance 23

Impulsive 2
Fearless 2
Creative Soul 2
Sneaky 1

Skills and Sub-Skills

Academics 4
 - Lore +2
 - Psychology +1
 - Theology +1

Magical 8
 - Alchemy +2
 - Divination +2
 - Forging +2
 - Hexing +7
 - Occult +4
 - Summoning +3
 - Warding +7

Strategic 4

Artistic 5
 - Drawing +1
 - Performance (singing) +4

Martial 5 
 - Dodge +4

Technical 4
 - First Aid +1
 - Survival +2

Athletics 7
 - Acrobatics +1
 - Endurance +2
 - Sleight of Hand +2
 - Stealth +2

Social 5 
 - Conversation +4
 - Persuasion +3

Underworld 4
 - Deciet +4
 - Force Entry +1
 - Intimidation +2

Stephanie is at UIUC. Vera is still in Jackson. And Renee is back home in Finland.  I have Sylvia's sheet, but I wanted to redo her numbers again. She should be more powerful than the notes I have written. But I like how these two came out. 

Links

• 13th Moon Games
• ... on DriveThruRPG
• ... on BlueSky
• ... on Patreon

Urban Fantasy Fridays: Beyond the Supernatural (1988)

 Beyond the Supernatural was always one of those games I kind of liked from afar. I bought various Palladium RPGs over the years. I always enjoyed reading them and even working on a character or two, but these days the rules are a little too overwrought for my tastes. I owned Beyond the Supernatural, both the 1st and 2nd Editions. I picked up 2nd Ed a while back at a Gen Con, and I held on to it for years. I kept meaning to play it, picking it up and reading it, but eventually sold it back at an auction.

I picked up the PDFs at DriveThruRPG. Both are interesting games, but I never got the chance to play them. It's a pity, really. I love the idea of Rifts, and maybe, in an alternate universe, it would have been the game I played obsessively. I mean, I can really see it; everything is already there for me to enjoy. 

I would have left this game as an interesting curiosity I would have spent years picking at and maybe doing nothing with, but then Jonathan Becker over at B/X Blackrazor started talking about Heroes Unlimited, and that brought my attention back to it. 

So I guess. This is his fault.

This is less of a review of the game (it is nearly 40 years old) and more of an overview of how I am playing it/using it. That might not be very helpful to you if you are coming here looking to see if this is the game for you. But there are a lot of reviews for it online.

Beyond the Supernatural 1st Edition

by Randy McCall and Kevin Siembieda
1988 Palladium Books, 256 pages.

I have been reading over this, and I had forgotten how crunchy this game is. Actually, I am having a lot of fun with it.  Right away, I am happy with the vibe of this game; it was written largely in 1987 and published in 1988, so for my game set in 1987/88, it feels perfect.

If you are looking for a quick way to put it, Beyond the Supernatural is "Palladium does contemporary occult horror." But that doesn’t quite do it justice.

In truth, this is a game set in our world, or something akin to it (see: Rifts), where you have your ghosts and monsters and ley lines and psychic phenomena and strange cults and things from elsewhere lurking at the periphery. It is a free and easy mix of folklore, parapsychology, 1980s notions of the unexplained, and monster movies. You will find Stonehenge and the Bermuda Triangle in the same breath as vampires and the supernatural. The book makes no bones about putting all these elements in one pot to see what kind of horror results. 

I mean. Those are all my favorite things for a game, really. 

Not to mention I like that approach. There is an unmistakably late 1980s air to it, not only by virtue of its date but in reflecting the popular culture of the day: the Satanic panic, UFO weirdness, haunted houses, mysterious energy, and possession were all part of the zeitgeist. Beyond the Supernatural has no need to keep them apart. It asks, in effect, "What if it was all connected?" Which is fine by me for the type of games I run. 

OR better yet, "What if all these were real and I made no effort to figure out why they are real at the same time?" 

Yeah. Now we're talking!

The rules are Palladium through and through. You have your eight attributes, percentile skills, S.D.C., Hit Points, alignments, saving throws, and combat bonuses, along with enough modifiers to occupy your pencil. It is crunchy. Very. Yet I am more taken with the crunch here than I thought I would be; it suits the game. A character is not merely an "Occult Investigator +4." They have an education, they speak languages, they have picked up odd bits of knowledge, technical and academic skills, and perhaps some combat training. For an investigation game, I prefer my characters to have a good deal of actual know-how.

You can engage with the supernatural in any number of ways as an Arcanist or a psychic, or you can be a normal human who has been drawn into the fray. The latter is key. You don’t have to be anything special to play. One of the included adventures is made for the ordinary "Victim" type, the sort of person who is hopelessly outmatched and whose best course of action is to leg it. That says a lot for the game’s range.

Then there is the magic system, which I find the most useful. All the different traditions, be it witchcraft, druidism, voodoo, or thaumaturgy, may have their own philosophies and rituals, but they are tapping into the same Potential Psychic Energy. I might not want to make a habit of using that cosmology in my own games, but the premise is sound. People put together their own traditions and, being human, insist theirs is the right way to do it. Since it is Palladium, I can pull things from other books. As people often did for the 2nd edition of Beyond the Supernatural. 

What I really like is the notion that genuine magical knowledge is hard to come by. The world is awash in occult tomes, but most are either wrong, incomplete or confused with superstition. An Arcanist doesn’t just level up and get new spells; she has to research and reconstruct them, or learn from another magician or an old diary. Now that is how I want my occult magic to feel. Old, often contradictory, and a little dangerous.

There is also a sensible divide between spells and rituals. A spell is quicker and easier, but a ritual demands time, concentration and maybe a few other people, and it is much harder to put down. I can work with that. Granted, that is pretty common place today in RPGs, but in 1987 that was brand new.

You can have your psychic investigators with their telekinesis, or your occult scholars with their tomes, or you can put ordinary folk in front of the wrong door. I like a game that can accommodate all three. Not all magic is a matter of casting it across the room in the heat of combat.

Occasionally you want to put in an hour and a half with a circle, six candles, and three people who know their way around a ritual, all while hoping for no interruptions. To me that is good occult magic.

Then there are the psychics.

The game treats the psychic side of things with as much importance as it should. These aren’t just powers with a different label; they have their own I.S.P. pools and a distinct way of dealing with the supernatural. It makes for a nice distinction between Larina and Morgan.

Larina will tell you she has come face-to-face with a demon or a ghost. Morgan is more likely to say they were a persistent psychic imprint and that there is no evidence whatsoever of a demon. The beauty of Beyond the Supernatural is that it gives them both enough ground to stand on for the argument. I find that useful. I don’t always want my games to offer one authoritative take on the universe’s oddities; conflicting explanations can be far more compelling.

I don't want to write them that way, and I don't want to play them that way.

As for horror, there are your standard rules for fear, possession, and insanity, but the Horror Factor is a mechanic I have taken to. A creature will have a Horror Factor, and when you see one, you roll a d20. If you fail, you are left momentarily stunned by what is in front of you. You forfeit initiative and an action, leaving you open for a moment until you can compose yourself.

Again, not uncommon today, but this predates the Fear and Horror checks of AD&D 2nd edition Ravenloft. So yeah, it is fun to see it here.  Plus it is simple and effective, and it doesn’t mean your character is out of the game for twenty minutes because he saw something awful. The monster has its turn, then you make your move. Fear should be a factor at the table, not an impediment to playing.

What do I get out of this? A good deal.

Take the way it handles occult knowledge. Magic ought to be shrouded in bad information. An old journal might have half a ritual in it, or a 1974 paperback will cite a source you can’t find anywhere else. A folklore professor will put down something that proves to be of great import, but you need to find his original manuscript. For an investigative horror game, that is gold.

I also appreciate the divide between the psychic and the magical. I have no need for every character to be in agreement over what they are witnessing, nor for it all to spring from the same well.

This works extremely well for me. Magic and Psychic phenomena should feel and "be" different. 

And the emphasis on research, education, and the like is something this game did well. Your sheet says something about the person before the monster appeared tonight. Larina has an eye for archaeology because she studies it. Morgan is well-versed in psychology and mathematics because he cares about them. When the supernatural intrudes on their academic lives, I have more to go on than a flat "Occult +8."

There is a lesson in here for my own settings too. The world doesn’t require some vast hidden order to make sense of it. A haunted house is often just that. Or perhaps there is something living under the floorboards of an abandoned building. The one with the most insight into the situation could be a professor, a psychic, or the odd dude at the bookstore.

You do the investigating because no one else will. 

Beyond the Supernatural provides rules for the supernatural without making it safe. There are psychics who can feel what is out there, but feeling and understanding are worlds apart. Authentic knowledge of magic is hard to come by.

That suits Jackson. That suits my nascent "Chicago 92" setting (whatever that is going to be). It suits the kind of contemporary horror I am after. The world seems normal, and for the most part it is. But then you happen upon the wrong book or venture into an old tunnel, and you see how much of it was right in front of you all along.

My Jackson Kids: Larina Nichols and Roderick Morgan

Morgan: "There are some things man was not meant to know, Nichols."
Larina: "Oh, that's ok. I'm a girl."

For this game, I set it during Larina's Freshman year at the University of Chicago. Stephanie and Faye are both down at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, but she gets an unwelcome surprise when she discovers that one of her fellow freshmen is Roderick Morgan.

Plus all month I have been watching some college-related horror movies, so this feels right.

Already, this tells you that this game has a different tone. High School Hijinks are one thing, but Larina and Morgan are at one of the most academically prestigious universities in the country. If nothing else, the stress is higher. This is also the pivot point of my campaign.

This works great for me since it gives me a chance to try out a "magical" character and a "psychic" character.

I am not 100% sure what sorts of adventures they will have at the U of C. I know one thing, though: they dislike each other too much to become anything other than casual friends. Not enemies, but they would never call each other friends. They do tend to end up in the same places a lot. 

Larina Stephanie Nichols
1st-Level Arcanist
Occupation: Student (University of Chicago)
Alignment: Scrupulous (Good)
Age 17 (September 1987)

Attributes
I.Q. 21
M.E. 19
M.A. 14
P.S. 9
P.P. 12
P.E. 13
P.B. 15
Spd. 19

Hit Points: 23
S.D.C.: 12
P.P.E.: 30
I.S.P.: None

Education: One-Year College
+10% to Scholastic Skills
Two Skill Programs
Eight Secondary Skills

Arcanist Abilities
Understanding the Principles of Magic: 82%
Read Magic: 89%
Practiced Use of Magic: Automatic
Sense Magic: Automatic, 120-foot range, but she cannot pinpoint the source
Recognize Magic Enchantment: 65%

Scholastic Skills
Automatic
English: 98%
Mathematics: Basic: 98%

Lore and Research
Lore: Demons & Monsters: 87%
Lore: Ghosts & Faeries: 87%
Lore: Geomancy & Lines of Power: 82%
Lore: Religion: 82%
Research: 98%

Science
Anthropology: 77%
Archaeology: 82%
Psychology: 82%

Technical
History: 87%
Writing: 73%

Languages
Latin: 97%
Ancient Greek: 97%
French: 97%
German: 97%
Irish Gaelic: 97%
Hebrew: 97%
Sanskrit: 97%

Skill Programs
Language Program: three additional languages.

Physical Program: Prowl, Swimming, Climbing, Running. 

Prowl: 97%
Swimming: 98%
Climbing: 98%
Running: no percentile roll

Secondary Skills
First Aid: 77%
Automobile: 98%
Cook: 80%
Dance: 70%
Sing: 67%
Photography: 77%
Mathematics: Advanced: 88%
Astronomy: 77%
Basic Mechanics: 64%

W.P. Knife
Hand-to-Hand: Martial Arts (Judo) (gained at 3rd level)

Combat
Attacks per Melee: 2
Automatic Parry: Yes
Pull/Roll with Punch, Fall or Impact: +2
Strike: +0 normally
Parry: +0 normally
Dodge: +0 normally
Damage Bonus: None

Saving Throws
Psychic Attack: +3 total (12+)
Insanity: +2 (10+)
Possession: +4
Horror Factor: +4
Magic: +4
   Spell cast by levels 1-3: 8+
   Spell cast by levels 4-7: 9+
   Spell cast by levels 8-11: 10+
   Spell cast by levels 12+: 11+
   Ritual/Ceremonial Magic: 12+
Lethal Poison: 14+
Non-lethal Poison: 16+
Harmful Drugs: 15+
Acids: No saving throw, dodge the attack.

Known Magic
Level One: See Aura*, Sense Magic*
Level Two: Detect Concealment, Extinguish Fire, Levitation, Mystic Alarm*, Turn Dead*
Level Three: Breathe Without Air, Impression*, Invisibility: Simple, Telekinesis
Level Four: Astral Projection, Energy Field*, Seal*
Level Five: Eyes of Thoth, Heal Wounds*
Level Six: Enhanced Memory, Tongues*, Words of Truth
Level Seven: Second Sight
Level Eight: Commune with Spirits*, Exorcism (ritual)
Level Nine: Familiar Link (ritual), Metamorphosis: Insect, Protection Circle: Simple*

* means Larina knows both the spell and ritual versions.

In this version of Larina, I have decided that the poor girl is tired of being knocked on her ass all the time. So, in her Freshman year, she joins the Judo club. She likes judo; it allows her to get out of her mind for a bit, but she isn't very good at it. Nor is see likely to be good, but at least it gives her something. 

Roderick Morgan II
4th-Level Psychic Sensitive
Occupation: Student (University of Chicago)
Alignment: Principled (Good)
Age 18 (September 1987)

I.Q. 24
M.E. 20
M.A. 19
P.S. 14
P.P. 14
P.E. 10
P.B. 16
Spd. 12

Hit Points: 23
S.D.C.: 19
P.P.E.: 13
I.S.P.: 88 (recovery: 2 points per hour of complete relaxation or sleep.)

Education: One-Year College
+10% to Scholastic Skills
Two Skill Programs
Eight Secondary Skills

Savings: $10,000
Trustfund: $100,000

Psychic Powers
Sense Supernatural Evil
Opening to the Supernatural
Recognize Possession: 65%
Recognize Magic Enchantment: 50%

Scholastic Skills
Automatic
English: 98%
Mathematics: Basic: 98%

Computer Program
Computer Operation: 98%
Computer Programming: 80%

Journalist/Investigation Program
Computer Operation: 98% (same as above, might give him an outside-the-rules bonus)
Intelligence: 78%
Photography: 90%
Research: 90%
Writing, Journalistic Style: 70%

Secondary Skills
Basic Electronics: 70%
Pick Locks: 65%
Wilderness Survival: 70%
Climbing: 92%
Rappelling: 60%
Automobile: 98%
Art: 66%
Mathematics: Advanced: 90%
History: 75%

W.P. Knife
W.P. Sword (Sword Cane)

Combat
Attacks/Actions per Melee: 2
Automatic Parry: No
Strike: +0 normally
Parry: +0 normally
Dodge: +0 normally
Damage Bonus: None

Saving Throws
Psychic Attack, Closed: +3 from M.E.; needs 7+
Psychic Attack, Open/Using Powers: 15+, no bonuses
Insanity: +3, needs 9+
Possession: +3
Horror Factor: +3
Magic: +1
   Spell cast by levels 1-3: 11+
   Spell cast by levels 4-7: 12+
   Spell cast by levels 8-11: 13+
   Spell cast by levels 12+: 14+
   Ritual/Ceremonial Magic: 15+
Mind-Altering Drugs: +3
Lethal Poison: 14+
Non-lethal Poison: 16+
Harmful Drugs: 15+ normally
Acids: No saving throw, dodge the attack.

Psychic Powers

Sense Supernatural Evil
Automatic class ability
I.S.P.: None
Range: 300 feet

Clairvoyance
I.S.P.: 4
Base Skill: 66%
Friend or Loved One: 71%
Duration: 6d6 melees
Maximum Attempts: Twice per day

Divination (arithmancy)
I.S.P.: 3
Base Skill: 48%
Divining His Own Future: 38%
Duration: 2d4 minutes

Morgan feels that what he does is just calculating probabilities.

Mind Block
I.S.P.: 4
Duration: 40 minutes
Bonus: +1 vs. psychic and mental attacks

See Aura
I.S.P.: 6
Range: 60 feet
Duration: 30 seconds

Sixth Sense
I.S.P.: 2
Range: 90 feet
Trigger: Unexpected imminent life-threatening danger

For the initial melee when triggered: +6 Initiative, +2 Parry, +3 Dodge. Cannot be surprised by a sneak attack from behind

Speed Reading
I.S.P.: 2
Duration: 12 minutes
Reading Speed: 30 pages per minute
Highly Technical Material: 15 pages per minute

--

Wow, that was a lot.  That took me a couple of days to get right to be honest. I remembered why I picked up this game, got all fascinated with it, and then put it back down. 

And I have barely scratched the surface of what this game can do to be honest.

While I have talked about it in other posts for this Urban Fantasy Friday, some ideas began here. 

This is where I got the idea that Larina should pick up Judo so at least she can last a little longer in a fight where she can't use magic. 

Both here and in NightLife Larina has a "pistol" rating. Again, the idea is she picked it up for a little self-defense. I can't recall if Illinois required a FOID card back then like they do now, but I figure she, along with Fiona and Morgan, joined a shooting club. I am going to say it was Morgan's idea, saying something like, "You can't rely on magic all the time, Nichols," and Larina saying under her breath, "the fuck I can't." But while I have never considered her a "gun person" at all, she can appreciate the skill and sportsmanship of shooting as a hobby or sport. In my mind, it is Fiona who takes to it and is surprisingly good at it. 

Both Beyond the Supernatural and later on NightLife are wonderfully crunchy. They grab that time when AD&D 1st ed was in it's last days, but before AD&D 2nd ed or Vampire hit the shelves and tables. It seemed, to me at least, that any game had a chance to be the top RPG of the time. I felt the same way about ShadowRun when it first came out. 

I am not likely to run either game to be honest. Again, NIGHT SHIFT does everything I want. But they do have a quality that is hard to replicate because it has to do with the time they were developed and written. It is part and parcel with the crunch.

One thing I do know is that if (and that is a big if) I ever get my Chicago game going, these will be some of the books I look to for inspiration.

Links

• Palladium Books
• Beyond the Supernatural, 2nd edition
• Character Sheets
• Palladium on DriveThruRPG
• Palladium Horror on DriveThruRPG
• Beyond the Supernatural RPG - 1st Edition Rules
• Beyond the Supernatural RPG - 2nd Edition Rules

Urban Fantasy Fridays: Occult Detective (2026)

 Occult Detective is a newer game to me. In fact, I didn't even know about it until the author posted about it in his #RPGaDAY2026 posts on Bluesky. Sadly, you will not find the game on DriveThruRPG, and I got my copy via Amazon. 

Doing a bit of research on the game before I bought it, I saw it had been in development for while, with some evidence of an early version going back nearly 10 years.  They took their time to get exactly the way they wanted it and I can respect that.

The Occult Detective

by Bob Freeman and Connor Freeman.
2026. Bordermen Games. 352 pages (6" x 9" format).

There are two central themes/ideas baked into this game. The first is that magic, the supernatural, and all that is real but hidden (the Occult part), and the characters play the part of investigators of the occult (the Detective part). It is a very solid premise. But as long-time readers of my blog already know, we have no end to games that do this. What does Occult Detective do that is different?

The feel of the game is very Noir. IT could take place in the 1930s, 1990s, or last week. The timeline is not as important, I think, as the stories it is trying to tell. Stories is a good word for it, too. The game master is called "The Author," and the player characters are "The Protagonists." So already you get the feel that is a detective novel you will try to bring to life. There is some merit to this, but I have been watching a lot of Masterpiece Mystery on PBS. Sure, many of these began as books, but maybe the feel I want is more "The Director" and "The Characters."  Yes, Occult Detective can do this, and that's how I'd play it.

The World Building chapter supports the idea of any sort of world/time. The equipment chapter, though, is more focused on 21st-century items and prices (as expected).

The intended audience for this book/game seems to be people who only have a passing familiarity with role-playing games. But maybe more than a starting interest in the Occult. That is fine. Any game can be someone's first game. I certainly get the feeling that author Bob Freeman has played a few games of his own, so he is familiar with how different games work.

Resolution is a d20 vs. target; roll high; 20s and 1s are criticals. But it is not a d20-as-in-D&D game. There are places where the DNA of D&D comes through, but that is true of every game.

Character Creation is fun and pretty easy. I did have to go back and forth just a little. But I kinda expect that with a new game. I do have to say I rather like the character sheets. 

All characters have a Trope, or what amounts to an archetype. Not a class really, but it does let you know how your character will respond in certain situations and might give you a bonus to your rolls in other situations. For example, I gave Larina the Trope of Scholar, which will help her in her research tasks.

After that, you choose your Kith. This is similar to other games' species or even races. Think of it this way: Trope is what you Do; Kith is what you Are. They are Natural (your normal Humans), Preternatural (your magic users), and Supernatural (vampires, ghosts, and the like). There are rules for moving up. A Natural can learn some magic to become a Preternatural or become a werewolf (Supernatural). They are handled well enough and work well for this game. 

All characters get a score in Fire, Air, Earth, Water, and Spirit. Each of these has different applications. For example, a high Spirit score gives a bonus to magick checks and other supernatural abilities, while Earth adds to your health. I have to admit it is my favorite part of the system. 

Everyone starts at Level 1, and you level up after a successful case. Sometimes, for longer cases, you could level up in between. It is essentially a "milestone" style experience, and it works well here. Different Kith get different things at different even levels, and everyone gets something at different odd levels. (Or that might be the other way around; I'll have to check.

There are no long list of spells or psychic effects, but there are some to give you a start. The idea here is that each and every character might do things a little differently. I also like that. 

Characters can also have curiosities. Like a Book of Shadows or a pentagram necklace.

If you are getting a "Dresden Files" vibe from this game so far, you are not wrong. I would say that the world of Occult Detective is a little more rain-swept and both darker and not as dangerous as Harry Dresden's Chicago. For example, the focus is on the "Protagonists," so the world bends around them. That doesn't mean they are "safer"; it is just that the mysteries they are going to solve will be ones that they can potentially solve. Also not saying they *will* solve them, but that they *could* solve them. This isn't Call of Cthulhu. Nor is it the sweeping universe that built up in the Dresden Files or even Antia Blake or Rachel Morgan. This is Harry, Anita, and Rachel in their first three books or so. The world of Occult Detective is dangerous, but it is also one the Protagonists can relate to. 

The strength of this game comes from the notion that many occult traditions are true, even the contradictory ones. Use what you want and ignore the rest. The World Building chapter is the most flexible, but if you squint, you can see the "intended setting." That's fine, really, nothing at all wrong with that. There is enough here to make it your own. 

Which is what I did.

My Jackson Kids

I mentioned last week that one of the takeaways from these playtests was the shocking revelation that Vera "Raven" Rook is a lot of fun. The game I played with her and my family was back in August. We only did one game of this before we came down with a cold. No. I don't blame the game. But Vera really started to become someone fun to have around.

Given the book is filled with various bits of occult symbolism and ideas, I am going to stick with my witches.

The first character took me a little bit, but after that the rest went extremely fast.

Larina Stephanie Nichols

2nd Level Preternatural (Magician)
Trope: Scholar
Tradition: Folk Magic

Earth +1
Air +5
Fire +0
Water +2
Spirit +3

Wellness 12
Defense 12

Immunities: None
Resistances: None
Weaknesses: None

Resources: Upper Middle Class

Spells (Folk Magic)
Warding, Wild Speech, Scrying

Her Air is higher, reflecting her intellect.

Faye Thorne

2nd Level Preternatural (Magician)
Primary Tradition: Chaos Magick
Trope: Ghost Hunter

Earth +2
Air +2
Fire +1
Water +3
Spirit +3

Wellness: 13
Defense: 13

Immunities: None
Resistances: None
Weaknesses: None

Resources: Lower Middle Class

Spells (Chaos Magick)
Pyromancy, Dwimmering, Summon (Chaos)

Faye is a Chaos Magician to reflect her upbringing.

Stephanie Wren Vale

2nd Level Preternatural (Magician)
Primary Tradition: Ceremonial Magic
Trope: Investigator

Earth +2
Air +2
Fire +1
Water +4
Spirit +2

Wellness: 13
Defense: 14

Immunities: None
Resistances: None
Weaknesses: None

Resources: Upper Class

Spells (Ceremonial Magick)
Compel, Magic Circle, Mesmerize

Investigator works really well for the later game Stephanie. She wants to know what is going on. Not to understand it like Larina, but to stop it.

Vera Diane Rook 

2nd Level Preternatural (Magician)
Primary Tradition: Mysticism
Trope: Thrill Seeker

Earth +1
Air +4
Fire +0
Water +2
Spirit +4

Wellness: 12
Defense: 12

Immunities: None
Resistances: None
Weaknesses: None

Resources: Upper Middle Class

Spells (Mysticism)
Mesmerize, Mind Reading, Scrying

This is where Vera began to shine for me. She is a "Thrill Seeker" because she likes the idea of these adventures. She also likes to hang out with Faye and annoy Larina and Stephanie. 

Larina (reading): "Hic locus mortuorum est."
Vera: "Is that some Christian thing I don't get because I am Jewish?"
Larina: "No, it's Latin. And I am not Christian either; I'm Wiccan."
Vera: "There is hope for you yet, Nichols."
Laria: "It says, 'This place belongs to the dead.'"
Vera: "Less hopeful now."

Faye, Vera, Stephanie, and Larina investigate.

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