RPG Review: City of Mist
City of Mist, by Son of Oak Game Studio and distributed by Modiphus, is a game of Urban Fantasy, where the legends and myths of old encroach into a Noir detective story, where purple prose and Purple Worms combine.
Based on the Powered by the Apocalypse system, players walk in a world where the mythic is all around them, but obscured by the mystical veil called The Mist. Gleaming armor appears as flack jackets to the mundane residents of the city. Swords are walking sticks. The game takes WotC’s Urban Arcana and focuses on the pulp and detective story genres. I’ve always loved this idea: that the magical world exists just under our mundane one, but our minds don’t allow us to see things as they really are.
Characters have a Logos, the things that define their mundane world, and their Mythos, the legends that live within them. Every character has an Awakening, where they begin to realize something is wrong. You feel uncomfortable, as though you’ve forgotten something urgent, but as time goes on, you become more and more aware, remembering ancient times and things. Once you are awakened, the Mist will try to claim you, to make you forget again. Characters will seek out those who have also awakened.
Most of the beginning of the book consists of descriptions of locations, moods and characters, putting you into the world of the City of Mist. It’s all very detailed and provides dozens of story hooks. You won’t have a problem running this game with all the hooks.
Character creation actually begins with a Series Concept. Basically, you will create the group’s core concept before character creation. Are your characters a gang, a group of masked vigilantes, or perhaps an organized unit of “professionals” hired to do the dirty work of rich benefactors who need people killed or intimidated?
You’ll then design your city. What’s its feeling? How does it live? Is it a real existing city here on earth, or a fictional one? After all this, you FINALLY get to create characters! (Mind you, I’m not complaining. I like the idea of players getting together and deciding exactly what kind of campaign they want before they begin character creation).
Character creation is really interesting. You create not only your Logos but your Mythos as well. Your Logos is your mundane job and concept, while your Mythos is who you really are. Your Mythos could be a general type of mythological creature, could be a historical or mythological character from throughout history, or could even be a magical concept, such as a magical weapon or even location. Your Logos could be any job you’d find in a city, and can make for a really interesting character concept if your Logos and Mythos don’t match. Perhaps you’re a grocer whose Mythos is the sword Durendal, the legendary sword of Roland, paladin of Charlemagne (as an example). There’s a lot more to character creation, but I won’t go into all of that now, as I’ve got more to talk about.
Themebooks are something which will be familiar with PbtA games. You choose a general category for your character, and then use the themebook to answer questions about your character which will shape them. The example I gave above with the grocer, he’d be a Relic. You also choose themebook for your Logos, helping shape who they are in the mundane world. Again, using my own example above, since the only thing we know about him is his grocer occupation, perhaps his would be Routine, which covers mundane job stuff, or perhaps he has a Defining Relationship, which could be his theme. There’s a massive selection, and I’d be surprised if anyone had a hard time fitting their character concept into the themebooks.
I’m not going to go into the mechanics of the game, because they’re pretty close to PbtA games, and Cannibal Halfling covers the basics pretty well.
Artwork throughout the book is stunning. It’s in a dark comic book style. There are also beautiful cityscapes. Another exciting and gorgeous looking is the Location Maps, available here. The PDF presents multiple locations for you to play in, all gorgeously detailed, of a quality you don’t see too often. I highly recommend it.
The Starter Set is available here for free. It presents you with seven pre-made characters, two adventures (which can also be found here). You can pick up another pregenerated character, Lily Chow, here.
The Core Rulebook is available here.
Dice Monkey received a copy of Lily Chow, the Core Rulebook and Location Maps for review.
