City of Mist Starter Box

Ramie: 00:00:05

Hello. I'm Ramie.

Beth: 00:00:06

And I'm Beth.

Ramie: 00:00:07

And this is brother Knows Quest, the podcast where I, your host, introduce my sister to the wonderful world of tabletop role playing games. Beth, do you know what we're talking about today? It's been a while since we had power outage.

Beth: 00:00:16

I have no idea.

Ramie: 00:00:17

Okay, we're talking about this city of Mist. Yeah. It's based a lot on the power, the Apocalypse games, which I talked about in an earlier episode.

If you want to know more about those, listen to Apocalypse world. It was the first, and it gives you more details on the rules. You got the starter box in your hands, right?

Beth: 00:00:34

Mm hmm.

Ramie: 00:00:34

Okay, explain what comes in the starter box real quick.

Beth: 00:00:37

A booklet for players explaining the rules of the game through short learn as you play. Read out text, a booklet for the MC explaining the role of the MC and containing the details of your first case. Shark Tank.

Five pre generated character folios, 20 tracking cards, the crew themed card, two custom city of Miss Dice, seven location maps on two double sided sheets, 41 illustrated character tokens.

Ramie: 00:01:04

Yeah. City mist is a modern day city. Or you choose a city that you want to put this in. It's like a nameless city.

You could put your own in it, where ordinary people are secretly mythological figures. Not everyone, just some of them. The mist that they talk about in the name kind of veils things.

If someone gets attacked by a unicorn, somebody whose inner self is actually a unicorn, it just shows a horse rampaging the distracts to normal people hanging.

Beth: 00:01:29

Well, that's still an odd sight to see.

Ramie: 00:01:31

Yeah, but it's less odd than a unicorn.

Beth: 00:01:34

It's kind of like ripd how they had different identities, and he was a hot blonde and the other one was a little chinese man.

Ramie: 00:01:41

Yeah, I forgot about that. I love that.

Beth: 00:01:44

And they were doing these crazy things. It looked absolutely ridiculous.

Ramie: 00:01:48

It did. I'll need to watch it again. There's a second one.

Beth: 00:01:51

I was gonna say, didn't they make a second or was talking about it?

Ramie: 00:01:54

Yeah, they did make a second. I'm pretty sure the basic concept is a mythos, the legendary identity.

And you have your logos, which is a mundane life identity, and tags, which are powers and weaknesses that go along. It's kind of like the apocalypse world stuff I was mentioning earlier.

You kind of figure out your character motivation, and then you have to make your identity so you get the idea of what you want to play as. You want to be like a postal worker who's secretly arbos or something, just whatever mythological or story you don't have to be mythological.

It could be a story. Think of Sherlock Holmes or something. You could be your secret identity because Sherlock Holmes and.

But the more you focus on one part of your life, the other part eventually wanes, so you have to decide. And the problem is, if you choose, it sounds nice. Yes. I want to be completely Sherlock Holmes, but you also have to suffer the fate of your mythos.

In the end, you don't want to play as Loki and end up getting really good at something, and then eventually, you get tied down and tortured by Odin because of the way the mythos goes. So you might want to balance that a little bit more. Or you could choose to go one way or the other. You could just be a postal worker.

The character sheets you got there, what are some of them? Cause I didn't look through the box since the day I bought it, and it's been a while back when I bought this.

Beth: 00:02:59

Chips. I've got maps, interesting chips. They're falling apart.

Ramie: 00:03:03

What?

Beth: 00:03:04

I mean, not apart, but, like, how? They're on a sheet, and you push them out.

Ramie: 00:03:07

Oh, okay. A lot of them are like, yeah. I thought I was like, well, I haven't opened it in about a year, but I didn't know that was going to happen. Unfolding.

Beth: 00:03:14

Well, this is nice.

Ramie: 00:03:15

Yeah, a lot of the stuff, I've got a bunch I bought.

Beth: 00:03:18

This is a nice quality, and it's big. Let's see. Lily Chow.

Ramie: 00:03:24

What is her mythos and Lobos?

Beth: 00:03:26

Lily Chow. Forget it. It's all a lie. It's always been a lie. They're just trying to get me to come back home.

They've sent private investigators, a therapist, even my best friend. Oh, a therapist. But they don't give a damn about me. They've been hiding the truth, a dark, horrible secret about who they are and what they've done.

And that's why I'm never going back. Hans is different. He cares. He wants me to be my own person, and he makes sure I have what I need.

And he can do things you wouldn't believe, insane things. Setting him free was the best thing I ever did. Now I've got to set myself free of my stupid parents.

I'm guessing Hans is the big green man behind her.

Ramie: 00:04:10

Yeah, I don't recognize Hans.

Beth: 00:04:12

Maybe it's pronounced Hans. H a n s. I'd say it's Hans.

Ramie: 00:04:16

What are some of the other character sheets? Because one of them, I do remember recognizing the mythos of. See, when I first got into this, way back when, I learned what it was about.

I did not know it was based on power led by the apocalypse. I knew it sounded familiar.

Beth: 00:04:28

Detective in Kudu. I'm assuming that's how it's pronounced. It's always been there, ever since I was a child on the streets.

This urge calling me to rip through all this modern woman crap and just syringe through the wild and become a beast when I answer the call. This facet of normality is not the only thing I tear through. You better not get in my way. That's why I keep it bottled up.

I don't have time to go on a wild rampage. I've got more burning issues to deal with, like how this neighborhood is going to hell. Oh, well, that sounds familiar.

And how my sergeant is all up in my grill for not doing my paperwork. Problem is, ordinary cops don't see the things I see, which is why I'm moonlighting as a private eye with people like me.

If any of my colleagues finds out, I'm done for.

Ramie: 00:05:14

Okay, hand me the other character sheet you'd already went over so I can look at it. I want to see. I don't think I have the PDF for this. I looked. I didn't find it. Oh, yeah, they have a poster on the back.

It's like a poster, but on the other side of the poster is your character sheet, and you unfold it. And on the outside of the poster is literally, like I said, a poster. Lily Chow. Let's see what? Lily Chow's a green magical giant mystery.

Who am I without huns?

Beth: 00:05:37

Thorny tentacles.

Ramie: 00:05:38

He's a mythical giant. He's an unusual big brother. They have, like, tags, like bastion and conjuration. Sorcerer supreme.

Beth: 00:05:46

Yeah, power tags.

Ramie: 00:05:47

Yeah, power tags.

Beth: 00:05:48

That's what I was. She's got the one I've got here. The detective has thorny tentacles.

Ramie: 00:05:52

She's. This one's even. Even. Two in mythos and two in logos. How many is yours under her name on the inside?

Beth: 00:05:58

Mythos one. Locos, three.

Ramie: 00:06:00

Okay. Yeah, she did sound like she was more into the detective stuff than this one and more into her job than her other half. I forgot how nice these were.

Beth: 00:06:08

This is the character sheets.

Ramie: 00:06:10

Yeah, well, see, I've got the books in there. I was going to cover the books first, and I remembered I had the starter set so we'd cover those first.

So I kind of just picked this up and ran in here with it.

Beth: 00:06:18

It is for those, obviously, who cannot see, because this is a podcast. A thick, glossy cardboard that opens like a bro. Well, not even a brochure. It's bigger than a brochure. It's much bigger.

As he mentioned, like a poster. That's like a menu open.

Ramie: 00:06:32

Yeah, it's like a menu sized poster that folds open. Two page menu.

Beth: 00:06:36

Yeah, a good quality menu.

Ramie: 00:06:38

What are the other character sheets? If you don't mind going over those.

Beth: 00:06:40

Really wish they would come up with some names I could pronounce.

Ramie: 00:06:43

They can pronounce it. We can't. That's the problem.

Beth: 00:06:45

Tlaloc. T l a l o c. Don't judge me, okay? Just my luck. Being born with this much charm and good looks into such a dump of a neighborhood.

People here gotta make ends meet. And when they can't, they come to me and make it happen. I had a good thing going, and life was just fine the way it was.

I was starting to make a name for myself, but now this thing comes along, this electricity, and I find myself flowing into places I shouldn't be in, seeing and hearing things I'm not supposed to. Can't deny this power has its perks. But lately it's been heavy on my conscience, and I didn't even know I had one.

What goes down in this neighborhood is downright sinister. If I don't do something about it and the people get hurt, it's on me. But this response is the last thing I need right now. God of rain and lightning.

Okay, is it wherever there is water, I am?

Ramie: 00:07:33

Okay, yeah, keep reading below that. Where? It's where it shows their handwriting under the mystery. And it will tell you, usually, who their character, their other half is.

Beth: 00:07:40

Who threatens to blot out the fifth sun. What does it mean to be everywhere?

As the God of all watery things, Tlaloc, or however that's pronounced, can turn his person into water and reform it wherever body of water exists, if it's a big enough for him to go through. In his divine purview, he controls storms and lightning. But with his newfound powers came a growing need to find those who would ravage the earth.

A need he's been trying to stifle.

Ramie: 00:08:08

So he's an eco warrior? Well, mine was Iron Hans under lily Chiles. Should be two more. I just want to cover these.

Cause I like to get the idea what's in the character, what people could play as, since it is a starter box.

Beth: 00:08:20

Job or job. You think you have it all figured out, huh, kid? You're young, on top of the world. Nothing can hurt you, right?

Listen, son, I know a thing or two about feeling invincible, and I know it's all a show. We both know you're hiding your pain. So why don't you get off that high horse and tell me what it is you've lost?

See, well, I used to have everything once. Then I got hit so hard, I thought, I'll never get back on my feet. I've lost. Never mind. The point is that I somehow got up. Somehow.

I always get up, no matter what they do to me. The trick is, don't let the pain tell you what to do. So what do you say? Think you can try that for me?

Ramie: 00:08:57

What was. Now? Read their little blurb about their motherhood.

Beth: 00:08:59

I'm assuming he's a priest. Okay, maybe he's got a cross on his neck.

Ramie: 00:09:03

It probably is.

Beth: 00:09:04

Devil. Devil, take it all. What is the purpose to my suffering? Job simply cannot die. He tried.

Like his biblical mythos, he is at the center of a bet between God and the devil that has ruined his life, but keeps his body alive and his soul untarnished.

Ramie: 00:09:20

So he is literally after his namesake job. Okay, that made life easier. What is the last one? What's his mythos? What's his level? Locos and mythos.

Beth: 00:09:31

Not level, but what's his one in three? Baku, the people of the city are slumbering, sleeping even through their waking hours. And in their sleep, bad dreams haunt them.

Flesh and blood nightmares that prey on their oblivious minds and numb bodies. Sometimes they awaken for a moment, just enough to call for help. I'm that help. I am here to hunt that which hunts, to terrify that which terrifies.

I'm the nightmare of those who would be the nightmares of others. But I am a nightmare from which there will be no waking up. My name is Baku, and I am the dream eater.

Ramie: 00:10:03

I call it the other half. I should say mythos.

Beth: 00:10:06

Oh, it says, who created this monstrosity? Baku is a chimera.

Ramie: 00:10:11

Chimera?

Beth: 00:10:12

Chimera. What's that?

Ramie: 00:10:13

That's a. Remember we covered him. It's one of those creatures, kind of like mixed of multiple different things.

Beth: 00:10:18

Oh. A magical being made out of leftover parts of other animals created to devour nightmares.

He can change himself to counter any dark or phantasmal entity.

Ramie: 00:10:29

Phantasmal?

Beth: 00:10:30

Oh, okay. He encounters.

Ramie: 00:10:33

Okay, at least you got that part down. So each character has motivations and why they're into this. The core mechanics are two d six, plus your relevant power tags.

I'll cover some of the basic moves you go through, like go toe to toe, which is something most characters can do. This is a move for physical conflicts. So you roll whatever stat you have in toe to toe.

Added to your two d six you have investigate which needs no description face danger. This is a versatile move used to overcome any obstacle or challenge that isn't covered by another move.

It's the catch all or convince which is a persuasion manipulations move.

The Mc, the master of ceremonies, which is the dem GM, they have inflict harm, which is a move that allows the Mc to inflict harm on a character either as a consequence of actions or the environmental damage. Reveal a danger to the characters offer an opportunity for the characters to do something compel a choice.

This move forces characters to make difficult decisions with significant consequences and it's pretty simple.

Rules powered by the apocalypse is fairly rules light this is a little bit more crunchy than normal PBTA games, but I like it for its setting and not even much for mystery games, solving mysteries and all that.

Like this game is kind of focused at it's not necessarily have to be, but every time I read something, somebody's played it or something, it's usually done that way. And I do like this mainly because you could play as, let's say the hatter from Alice in Wonderland as your second, as your mythos.

That would be kind of fun. You're telling what would happen there. The evil queen. That would be a good one. The Red Queen.

If you go around painting roses red and beheading folk, yay. Yeah, I keep going to fairies and princess stories and fairy tale, all that stuff, but there's a lot of good ones. You could be Abraham Lincoln.

It doesn't have to be mythical or it could be from books or just lore. It could be the idea of overreaching influence of social media if you wanted to. I am the embodiment of social media influencers.

It's just the wildest stuff you could do. I found the box set available at many online stores. I will say that I couldn't find a PDF version.

There might be one, but I did do some searching and couldn't find it. Son of Oak games are the publishers and that's the website I have a link to in the description for the starter set and that's where I got it from.

I ordered the whole set. It is perpetually on pre order if you get it from them. I bought it on pre order a year ago, got it about a year ago, but still.

I don't really know why it's always on pre order, but it did show up. So they're not trying to scam you that's always nice. And then after I got it, I went on to order, like, a whole bunch of other stuff.

I've got, like, four more books to talk about. We will talk about City of Mist for a bit, as long as nobody's complaining. But as for the starter set comes with everything you need.

Character creation. We're going back and forth between character creation and what's in the box, but that's how I'm doing this.

You choose your mythos, and then you choose your logos, and then you have to figure out how the two clash or intertwine or get along however you want to do it. That could be difficult. It's very open.

It isn't like d and d, where you just pick a class in a background and you just copy down the stuff it gives you. You have to think about it and then pick the stuff that matches with it in the books, like skills and things.

So it's a little bit harder to build a character if you're not used to being open minded, I guess, is the way to put it. But I myself fiddled with the character creation and kind of enjoyed it.

So if I can do it, most people can, because I struggled a bit on a couple of games I've talked about here. I don't really know how much to say about it.

I want to cover the core book, the two core books, the Players handbook, and the master of ceremonies guide. Game masters toolkit, I think is what it's called. Mc Toolkit. I can't remember. I'll talk about that next episode. How do you like the idea of this?

I don't know if I'd want it to be in a city. I'd like it to be in a town.

Beth: 00:14:00

Yeah.

Ramie: 00:14:01

I'm more familiar with towns.

Beth: 00:14:02

Yeah. I don't know. It's different.

Ramie: 00:14:04

I like to. I mean, imagine the characters you could play as. You could be a waitress and be Princess Ariel, I guess, is what you would play.

I don't know who you'd play as.

Beth: 00:14:11

I'm a waitress that swims around the.

Ramie: 00:14:14

Ocean, work at a seafood restaurant. It's like a daily nightmare every time you go, oh, I don't know what Disney Prince, what character from a Disney I'd play as Ursula.

My day job would be ruined.

Beth: 00:14:25

I don't know, Jafar. I think Jafar would make a little more sense.

Ramie: 00:14:30

Yeah. I just keep going to Disney ones. Cause, I don't know, it's just the easiest to kind of think about sometimes.

That'd be kind of cheating to play as Harry Dresden wizard. I guess you could. A fairy queen. That'd be a good one. A dragon.

Beth: 00:14:42

Wouldn't that be kind of like Maleficent?

Ramie: 00:14:45

Yeah, pretty much. She was a arch fae, I suppose. Of course you could also choose bad things. Your alter ego could be people's fear of nightmares.

You could be Freddy Krueger, you could be Chucky. Just Charles Lee Ray in a person's body. Again, that would be bad. But he thinks he's a da all every time he transform.

Just a lot of fun you can have with this. And especially if you pick the right job that you have as a mundane Libeau.

We'll go into more of it next episode because I'll have time to go through more of the books. We've had a serious power outage here.

Luckily I had a backlog of episodes for this podcast, but horrific history and hauntings didn't, so we missed an episode.

Beth: 00:15:20

Hurricane hell came through.

Ramie: 00:15:22

Yeah, we weren't hit as bad as other people in this part of Virginia, but we were extremely lucky, which isn't normally a problem.

In our recording room we have backup batteries, but by the time we realized the power wouldn't come on in time, I had already used those backup batteries to power other things in the house.

Beth: 00:15:37

Well, also, I didn't even realize that part. I was thinking the last time the power went out, it was kind of awkward being in a dark closet for you.

Ramie: 00:15:46

It was. I had a candle.

Beth: 00:15:47

Well, good for you.

Ramie: 00:15:48

Because we sit in the closet, and it's the same closet Scott uses to dry his no window crops out. It smells kind of bad. So we sit in a stinky closet with a lot of old furs hanging up to sound dampened.

Next week I'll actually have time to cover the entire core books instead of just this.

Other than the sonoboat games link in the description, I have a couple affiliate links for the core books, which we'll talk about next week in the description. For drive thru RPG, you don't have to buy the books if you use it, it will just help the podcast.

Whatever you put in your cart and drive through RPG will help us.

And I do buy a lot of PDF's and since I don't think I have the PDF's for this, I might get this, but I've also been looking at some a couple of other games that I've seen people been buying I'm interested in. It might be nice to talk about after these are done. So did you say you would play this though?

Beth: 00:16:32

Just I would play it. Could you make an Inuyasha setting.

Ramie: 00:16:36

Yeah. Why?

Beth: 00:16:36

Like, when he's in the modern world?

Ramie: 00:16:38

Yeah, you could do that. I don't know about a setting, but you could play as Inuyasha. Your big bad could be Shishomaru, a crime lord running a little demon empire.

Yeah, that would work. Yeah. If you like what you heard here. Uh, we have other podcasts for part of the gruesome gaming Group podcast network.

We have horrific history and hauntings. It's where Beth here tells me all about everything in the title. Horrific history, hauntings, some true crime, usually some murders.

We have some good older ones. There's an Halloween episode we covered last year that was pretty popular. It's still up. If you haven't heard that one, go back and listen to it.

There's a link in the description. It's a link tree link. It'll take you to all of our socials, including the top link will be the website that has all of our podcasts for groups.

Gaming Group has horrific history and hauntings. Brother Nose Quest and leveling Duo, which a podcast we don't do as often.

But whenever we play a new video game, we really like me and Beth, or me my friend Dakota. Create another leveling duo and talk about that video game. Follow us on the socials or just messages and we'd like to hear from you.

There's also emails in the description you can use to reach out there below the link tree link. And then below all those links, you'll see the affiliate links if you want to use those.

The son of Oak isn't an affiliate link, but if you want the box starter set, that's the way to go. Reach out to us. Give us ideas of things to cover. Thank you to the people who do use the affiliate link.

Other than just helping us keep the show hosted on the website, it also gives me ideas of what other books to cover because I can see what people have bought. Even if I can't see their name or address, I can't see anything. I get to see what people bought. Thank you for listening.

Beth: 00:18:01

I've been Raimi and I'm Beth.

Ramie: 00:18:02

And this has been brother nose quest. Bye.