Explosive action and epic adventure fill the modern
world when fantasy and reality collide. In Urban Arcana, heroes armed with
swords, spells, shotguns, and cell phones dive headlong into trouble with
monsters, mobsters, cabals, and corporations. Take a deep breath, and discover
the realms of fantasy within the gritty shadows of the modern world.
To use this product, you also need the d20 Modern Roleplaying Game core rulebook. For players and Gamemasters, this product is compatible with other d20 System roleplaying games.
The Urban Arcana campaign setting takes place in the world outside your window, but with a twist: the magic and monsters of mythology and legend are real. In this setting, magic and the stuff of fantasy collide with the modern world. Suddenly magic and enchanted weapons and the monsters of fantasy are set loose on the streets of Manhattan, Tokyo, Chicago, London, and Los Angeles. This intrusion of the fantastic remains largely a secret, as only a select few can perceive (or wish to comprehend) the reality of magic and monsters. The heroes fall into this select group. They are touched by the fantastic, in some cases imbued with its magic, and equipped to protect the good and constructive facets while defending against the evil and destructive elements that also slip into our reality.
In the Urban Arcana campaign, kobolds mingle with street toughs to form inner-city gangs while both good and evil dragons set up residence in abandoned subway tunnels and other deep places. Heroes learn arcane and divine spells as magic infuses the world. Medusas engage in hostile takeovers of large corporations. Displacer beasts and bugbears stalk the night-shrouded streets of the city. Most people, meanwhile, can't (or refuse to) see the fantastic as it takes its place in our world. To them, magic doesn't exist, monsters aren't real, and the troll living in the bowels of their apartment complex is just an obnoxious super with a taste for human flesh.
The Role of the Heroes
Heroes in an Urban Arcana campaign come from any background found in the modern world. A character's economic, ethnic, or cultural history is secondary to his or her determination to seek out adventure and explore the awakened magic in the world.
Heroes have a nearly infinite range of motivations, goals, and agendas spurring them into lives of danger and adventure. The heroes band together for safety, common goals, complimentary abilities, and the need to complete a specific quest, among other reasons. Of course, most other people in the world don't believe that dragons and magic exist. Allies come from the few who have accepted the new reality and from fantastic creatures that are disposed to providing advice and assistance as called upon.
Characters should be introduced to the setting slowly over the course of the first few adventures. As they advance from 1st to 2nd level they learn about the changes in the world and the rising tide of Shadow. Your first adventure or two can be standard action-adventure stories, with perhaps a little touch of the fantastic to hint at things to come. By the time the characters fully understand what's happening, they should be advanced enough to take advantage of the Mage and Acolyte advanced classes. Feel free to use the Shadow Slayer and the Occultist in this campaign, too.
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