Advice/Help Is there any real interest to an Urban Fantasy RP? Does anyone else like them as much as I do?

[Proarch]

If you ask me, I prefer to play a regular human character with no special skills or anything. The idea of a ordinary man interacting or even fighting against supernatural forces in a modern day setting is just so appealing to me. Especially when my character is interacting with other characters that are inhuman or supernatural that are controlled by other people.

I guess it's why I got into roleplay in the first place, roleplaying as a regular human fighting or allying with supernatural beings.

It looks like there hasn't been much interest in Urban Fantasy these days, or have I been looking in the wrong places?

 

[Rusty of Shackleford]

I'm a fan of Urban Fantasy...IF it's done well.

A good example of what I enjoy is the show/book series True Blood.

I've never watched nor read it, but the concept is immediately engaging:

Vampires have just made themselves public knowledge after a substitute for blood is found. Now they struggle against both anti-vampire lawmakers and themselves in Louisana.

Or Vampire The Masquerade. Most vampires live by a code of laws known as the Masquerade, with the most important part of it being to never let humans know that vampires are real, all the while a massive web of lies and deceit so large and ancient no one knows it's true extent threatens to tear vampire society apart.

Or a spin off series in it's universe: Werewolf The Apocalypse.

The chosen warriors of the Earth fight against the personification of destruction as humanity slowly destroys the environment and aids it's spread, all the while the werewolves fight amongst themselves over how to actually solve the problem.

I enjoy when supernatural elements are integrated in a way that gives unique story opportunities, where the fantasy is used ot tell stories usually too out there for modern series, but more grounded than a fantasy one.

 

[Idea]

I certainly enjoy urban fantasy. I really like fantastical elements interacting with the modern world and modern technologies, though it should be noted when I say "the modern world" I'm not particularly talking about our reality so to speak. I like to use things like vaguely defined fictional locations, or make a modern world different from our own, with magic integrated into society and likely being at the source of technology like our own.

In particular, I like mystery or slice of life stories in urban fantasy, that or magical girl genre ones, though I suppose that strays a bit from what's conventionally thought of as "urban fantasy" (however since it's still magic in a modern setting, I would still classify them as such). Slice of life urban fantasy explores how mundane issues are dealt with by fantastical beings or with the employment of magic, and the problems that come with each one that but still in that mundane thread. It's very relaxed and if the writers are good at gradual character exploration and developing on smaller scale issues, then it can really be wonderful. Mysteries on the other hand I think draw in with the bizarre. Against good character exploration and in particular in this case , dynamics are extremely important, but the mysteries themselves can draw on a supernatural element in a more familiar modern world, creating contrast and strange problems a more grounded mystery wouldn't be able to touch on. One of the mainstays of the plots in my 1x1 interest checks for instance, A Vampire for Your Troubles, is intended as the set up for an urban fantasy mystery.

In terms of more conventional (AKA not magical girl) urban fantasy RPs, there have been a few times when I saw an urban fantasy RP I was intrigued by, but what usually turns me away from them is simply the fact they don't appeal to my writing style or just don't have enough going for them. A lot of the time the premise feels too vague or bland. The one exception I can think of came at a really bad time in which not only did I have a lot of roleplays already but I was also busy with college work, so I definitely didn't have time to take up that RP. Still, most of them feel either lazy or lost, and fail to get the gears turning for me, or do so too weakly to get me to believe it's a sustainable endeavor for me.

As for why I don't start one myself, while I can see the potential, most of the time there's just some other idea that appeals to me more. Urban fantasy is something I can love, but it's not something that is inviting enough for me to actively pursue as far as concept go, and even if I do have an urban fantasy idea, it's in this strange middle space where one could reasonably ask: This could be either more traditional fantasy or it could be scifi, or even superhero stuff. Which one would be a better fit? With so many other options right on the corner, it's a lot more likely than with most genres that I might shift the idea into some other genre.

 

[VeilofRain]

Urban Fantasy is my favorite setting. Messing with the modern world, adding in heavy sets of old lore. I’m particularly fond of Fae(But hate the “legendary children” trope.)

Urban fantasy gives a taste of the secrets of the old world, and how that world is coping now, along with what people have to deal with when faced with it. I don’t usually picture these things as evil either, just that they lack our logic, and morals.

Humans might be furniture to some of them? Others see them as prey. Others find a few kind ones. Whatever the creature may be. Whether you have it in your blood, or your normal, there are limits to how you can interact, and yet have to manage the downtime of the other aspects of your life.

Urban Fantasy is wonderful, but it’s bogged down with a lot of generic concepts. It’s a popular adolescent genre, and so a lot of those tropes will float around those that make it and while it’s fine for a start for some, it tends to grow weak when the whole thing is written on such a base concept.

Hollie Black has an excellent series of books in the lore of urban fantasy. They are teen books, but avoid any of the tropes and focus on the character enduring the odd lives they come upon. How it mixes with their normal lives, rather than being some grand adventure.

Urban fantasy should make the concrete and steel shudder, but still be there.