Dusk Veil: An Urban Fantasy supplement for Pathfinder 2e

In order to explain why I am creating Dusk Veil, let me tell you a story. An allegory of sorts.

There is a moment in Tabletop RPG playing that I will remember for the rest of my life.  It was way back in the year 2002. I had already been playing D&D regularly for about three or four years at this point. I was aware that other games existed and vaguely intrigued by them. But none of my friends were interested in those systems.  D&D was just fine, and it was familiar, so that’s what we all played.

That year, a co-worker came to me with two brand new RPG books, that were definitely not the Player’s Handbook I had seen a thousand times. In that moment, I knew something good was about to happen.  Excited to try it, we gathered a few friends, ran a quick session, and had a blast.   That game was, of course, Wizard of the Coast’s D20 Modern and their setting for it, Urban Arcana. But here’s the thing, what made this particular game so accessible to all of us was, it was still a d20 game.

Familiarity makes games more accessible.

Though I would go on to play a myriad of systems over the next few decades, It always stuck with me that I was able to break away from the normal fantasy setting by playing a game that was basically still D&D but with a twist. Go on any social media group or forum focused on RPGs or D&D and you will see hundreds of people trying to write hacks to have D&D in space, D&D western, D&D horror, etc..  It’s easy to see that while people like to break away from the vanilla D&D experience, many do it in baby steps. They convert the system they are familiar with, the one they know their friends and playgroup will already understand. Familiarity makes games more accessible.

That day also introduced me to what would become one of my favorite genres, both as an avid reader of sci-fi and fantasy and as an RPG player: urban fantasy.

Those things have led me to where I am now, creating this game. A new urban fantasy setting for d20 games. “But wait,” you might say if you read the tagline of the game, “isn’t this using the Pathfinder Second Edition rules? You just talked about D&D a bunch.”  Yup.  You are correct.

There are two main reasons why I am making this a Pathfinder 2e mod.  The first is the boring one.  PF2e is released under the OGL. That means I can use all the rules content without fear of legal backlash (I know 5e eventually came around to this, but not everything is there, and besides I said there are more reasons).

The main reason though, was my excitement when I read the rules for Pathfinder 2e.  One of my very first thoughts was how well suited it was for running a modern d20 game.  It is extremely easy for a player to plug in new feats, due to the flexibility of Ancestries and Classes, as opposed to making whole new ones.  Or if they want to play a knight somehow transported to modern times, they will know that the system would require no fudging to make vanilla classes from the core rulebook work.  Everything would already fit in the same mold, players and GM’s would simply add the things they wanted without having to get rid of something that was already there.

There are other mechanical benefits to the game.  The three-action economy is well suited for modern weaponry.  Codified exploration and downtime rules will convert over well to a modern setting.  The Magical Traditions mean any new classes don’t have to have an entire spell list created (though stay tuned for a new Tradition that will fit the setting) just assigned.  There are many more, but again, this is just to summarize and introduce the ideas.

What about other systems?

The last thing I know people are going to say, “Why a d20 system?  Why not Powered by the Apocalypse, or BRP, or Savage Worlds?  Also, aren’t there already modern games with magic and/or supernatural elements?  Why make another one instead of just playing one of those?”   Ok, Ok, imaginary critic, one at a time.  To answer that in reverse order, I do play those games and of course they exist.  Some of them I have had nothing but fun playing.  Others have fallen flat, whether because of the group I was playing with or the system itself or some combination of both. 

But having played those games, there is a trend that I have noticed among them. They all focus on a certain amount of grittiness and, what I will call, street-level gaming.  The two games that fall under that umbrella which I’ve enjoyed recently are Shadowrun and Delta Green.  Mechanically, these games could not be further apart. Shadowrun is known for its crunchiness and complexity while Delta Green is fairly light and barely requires rolling dice.  But the common thread is, you are not heroes.  You are not people saving the world. Even if you are, it’s not on a grand scale, you’re more stopping this one piece of a much larger evil machine.  It’s street level, not epic level heroics.  With me?

The one thing all d20 games do better than most TTRPG’s is epic level heroics.  You get to be a hero.  That’s why I’m going for a d20 game, and I’ve already explained why PF2e. 

This is not to disparage those other games.  Urban Fantasy is a genre that lends itself to that sort of gritty, street-level storytelling, and I love it.  But the genre is also full of examples of grand, epic level heroics.  Up until now, that element has been missing from TTRPGs in the genre.  Why can’t I be an epic level wizard saving the world from a cabal of liches who are secretly controlling all the world’s governments, with the help of my motorcycle riding, shotgun-wielding, Dwarven friend?

The answer is: Now you can.

What is Dusk Veil?

So, what exactly is Dusk Veil, you might be asking?  What it isn’t is a brand-new game with its own rules. It is, what is often called, a mod or hack.  You will still need the Pathfinder 2e Core Rulebook.  These will simply be supplemental rules that will allow you to use the PF2 rules in a modern fantasy setting.

This blog will contain several elements.  The first will serve as a sort of development blog.  This will consist of new rules, feats, items (did someone say modern guns?), classes, ancestries, magic, vehicles and vehicle combat, and more. All the things you need to play a modern setting PF2e game and some of my logic and thinking behind them. I’ll try to keep the thoughts brief, but I think it’s worth explaining to get a full picture.  The second will be some writing on the setting, or at least how I envision it.  This might be short stories, or descriptions of how certain fantastical creatures get on in our modern world, or ideas for plot elements in an urban fantasy setting.  Lastly, I will be writing and publishing a few short adventures to serve as introductions to this world. 

This blog will follow one Core Design Philosophy.

Everything in Dusk Veil will be focused on allowing the rules to be used directly with the more traditional fantasy rules of PF2.  This is for ease of incorporating them, and because the fun of urban fantasy is in mixing magic and modern.  In order for them to coexist in the game, they must be balanced with each other.  At the same time, there needs to be a clear difference between low technology and modern technology.

As of right now, and probably forever, this blog is a one-person passion project.  I will be putting out as much content as I can come up with and I will do my best to maintain a consistent schedule and release new content as often as possible. That being said, it’s just me here, so I make no promises.

By all means, if you have any comments or criticism feel free to let me know.  If you use any of these rules in your game, I would love to hear feedback on how they worked.

Check out the rules for New Skills, including Computers and Pilot, A post about setting, and rules for Modern Firearms. All available right now.

*Side Note: This author strongly believes that Black Lives Matter and Trans Right are Human Rights.  It also seems to me that Paizo understands this quite well, so that may also factor into my decision to use their product.

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