Urban Decay: Beat 'Em Up Roleplaying

For Trish and Zane - Who continually inspire me to fight for my dreams.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

WELCOME TO URBAN DECAY

INSPIRATION LIST

CHAPTER 1: THE HEROES

STEP 1: CONCEPT

STEP 2: RECORD BASIC STATS

STEP 3: SELECT ARCHETYPE

STEP 4: SELECT BACKGROUND

STEP 5: SELECT TRAINING

STEP 6: SELECT CODE

STEP 7: CUSTOMIZE

STEP 8: SELECT EQUIPMENT

STEP 9: SELECT CREW TYPE

STEP 10: ANSWER QUESTIONS

EXAMPLE HERO

SKILLS

EQUIPMENT

Weapons

Armor

General Gear

HERO ADVANCEMENTS

Passive Advancements

Active Advancements

Advanced Skill Talents

Momentum Talents

CHAPTER 2: THE CLASH SYSTEM

BEFORE THE ROLL

Difficulty Steps

Helping

READING THE DICE

Criticals and Fumbles

Traits

The Rounding Rule

DECIDING SUCCESS

Opposed Rolls

Code

The One Roll Rule

MOMENTUM

Fleeing

CHAPTER 3: THE COMBAT

STEP 1: AMBUSHES

STEP 2: ENERGY POINTS

STEP 3: INITIATIVE

STEP 4: COMBAT ROUNDS

Move

Attack

Challenge

Break Materials

CLASH POINTS

DEFENSE

DAMAGE

Energy and Wounds

Damage steps

Damage bonus (DB)

Criticals in combat

Damage from non-combat sources

Falling damage

Using momentum to avoid death

Guts

MORALE

AFTER COMBAT

Healing

Battle scars

CHAPTER 4: RUNNING THE GAME

GAME MASTER ADVICE

AWARDING ADVANCEMENTS

THE DOMINATION POOL

CAMPAIGN DESIGN

LEVEL DESIGN

Step 1: Select the District

Step 2: Select the Plan or Secret

Step 3: Design/Pick the Lieutenant

Step 4: Create the Final Area

Step 5: Create the Path

Step 6: Plant the Clue(s) to the Next Level(s)

SCENE DESIGN

Scene Effects

What’s In the Box?

ENCOUNTER DESIGN

CHAPTER 5: THE CITY

DOCKS

DREDGES

FINANCIAL

HIGH RISE

MANUFACTURING

MIDTOWN

UPTOWN

WAREHOUSE

MOVING BETWEEN DISTRICTS

HOME NEIGHBORHOOD

CHAPTER 6: THE OPPOSITION

Skill Groups

Attributes

Attack Rolls

BOSSES

Step 1: Pick Archetype

Step 2: Pick Resources

Step 3: Pick Fighting Style

Step 4: Pick Secret

Step 5: Pick Local Plan

LIEUTENANTS

ELITES

SOLDIERS

MOOKS

CHAPTER 7: BLOOD IN THE STREETS

GLOSSARY

CHARACTER SHEET

CREDITS

INTRODUCTION

The rain beat against the plate glass as she looked out the window over the City. Even through the heavy storm, she could make out the neighborhood. The sound of Wesley clearing his throat a second time brought her back to reality. Yes, Wesley?

All the permits are in place, but…

But. What. Wesley?

There is a hold out, Saint Mark’s. They refuse to sell. And if they don’t sell, Wesley’s nasally voice trailed off, but the implication was obvious.

Offer them more money.

It is not about the money to them. They see the community as theirs to protect. They won’t budge. We have offered five times the value of the property, and I have it on good authority they are starting to rally the others.

Fine. We will do this the old way. Call Lucien. Tell him to persuade the parishioners to leave.

Wesley said nothing, but his discomfort with Lucien and his tactics radiated off of him.

Is there anything else?

No… ma’am.

Wesley closed the door behind him, leaving her to her thoughts again. Inevitably, she turned her gaze back to the window. Wesley’s conscience was becoming a problem, but not one she had to deal with… yet. She pressed a hand to the glass, covering the neighborhood. The sooner Lucien broke the father’s bones, the sooner that eyesore would be gone, and then her plans for the City could continue.

WELCOME TO URBAN DECAY

Welcome to Urban Decay, a modern role-playing game set in the mean streets of the City, a fictional city that is the icon of all great cities of the world. Urban Decay is inspired by movies like The Warriors or the John Wick franchise, comics like Marvel Knights, and side-scrolling video games likes Streets of Rage. In it you take on the roles of Heroes of the City who come together to stave off the predations of the Bosses: powerful, ruthless people who seek to exploit your neighborhood and community.

In a game of Urban Decay, one of you takes the role of the Game Master (GM). It is the GM’s job to bring the City to life. The GM creates and runs the adventures, manages the non-player characters (NPCs), and challenges the players’ characters (PCs). The rest of the group plays Heroes, those characters who are fighting to save their neighborhood and City.

In this book, you will find a d100 system that provides the rules for playing in this modern world. It allows you to create a Crew quickly and get to the streets to win back the soul of all your Heroes love. At the end of this book is an adventure to start your gaming in the City. We hope you enjoy entering the concrete jungle and defending those you love from those who wish to exploit them… or worse.

You will find this book broken up into seven chapters:

Chapter 1: The Heroes This chapter contains all the rules for putting your Hero and their Crew together. Additionally, the rules for equipment and advancing your Hero are found here.

Chapter 2: The Clash System This chapter explains the Clash system, the d100-based rules for running Urban Decay. Keep an eye on how Clash Points work, as they are at the heart of the Clash system, as well as Momentum, as that is a key resource for your Crew. Chapter 3: The Combat This chapter focuses on how the Clash System works in combat.

Chapter 4: Running The Game This chapter contains the Game Master advice for how to run Urban Decay, and how to design Levels (adventures) for your game. It also includes the rules for the Domination pool, the Game Master’s counter to Momentum. Chapter 5: The City This includes the overview of the City and its Districts, as a useful GM guide for adding flavor to the Heroes’ surroundings.

Chapter 6: The Opposition This chapter contains all the rules for creating the Boss of your game, their Lieutenants, and the Gangs which will carry out the battle with the Crew.

Chapter 7: Blood in the Streets This chapter contains an introductory Level, complete with its own Boss and Lieutenant.

INSPIRATION LIST

MOVIES

The Warriors

Charles Bronson Films

John Wick Franchise

Big Trouble in Little China

VIDEO GAMES

Streetfighter

Streets of Rage

Mortal Kombat

River City Ransom

COMICS

Marvel Knights

The Old Guard

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Daredevil

CHAPTER 1

THE HEROES

Eddie could never follow the fights as closely as she wanted. Every time she sat watching her brother fight, the life of the gym drew her away from the action. The rhythmic smacks of the heavy bags. The smell of sweat and determination soaked into the wood of the place. The feel of the benches she sat on, worn smooth from thousands of hands and bodies over the years. It all called to her.

The sudden thump and the bell brought her attention back to the fight. Her brother had taken his opponent to the mat and had him in a submission hold. The bell signaled his win and Eddie went wild. It took her a moment to realize that she was one of only a few cheering. Her brother’s trainer looked sick, and there were a lot of angry looks in the crowd. He won, why would they be angry? Eddie beamed at her brother, who smiled back wearily as the judge lifted his hand in victory. He always fought his hardest when she was in the crowd.

Later that night, Eddie would find out the cost of that win.

As a player, your first step in adventuring in the City is to make a character. In Urban Decay, you play one member of a Crew who sees the rising tide of corporate greed in your neighborhood and seeks to put that right. Characters in Urban Decay have no classes or professions. Instead, it uses a life path system to help you build your Hero from scratch. As you move through the nine steps of character creation, you will come to have a better understanding of your character as well as the identity of the Crew:

• Concept

• Record Basic Stats

• Select Archetype

• Select Background

• Select Training

• Select Code

• Customize

• Select Equipment

• Select Crew Type

• Answer Questions

STEP 1

CONCEPT

The first step is to come up with a concept for your Hero and possibly your Crew (see step 9). The concept phase is important because it will help you make choices as you move through character creation. Do you want to play a brutish street tough or a Zen detective on the police force? Is your group a gang of car thieves or all members of a local dojo? Think of the concept as your Hero’s introduction to the other players.

Ben is sitting down to make a character for Phil’s Urban Decay game. He decides he wants to play a warrior monk from a local monastery, someone fast, noble, and peaceful. So he takes a new character sheet to record the below stats.

STEP 2

RECORD BASIC STATS

As Urban Decay takes place in our world, everyone is a normal human raised in this City. As such, your starting points are all the same. Your Hero’s Attributes represent their capabilites in combat, while their Skills represent their general ability at accomplishing tasks (see here). Record the following values on your character sheet:

Once you have recorded all of these starting points, you can start to differentiate your Hero through your life path choices.

ATTRIBUTES

Damage Bonus (DB): Characters with a high Damage Bonus receive bonus damage dice in melee combat and with thrown weapons (see here).

Initiative: This governs how quickly a character can react in combat (see here).

Move (MOV): Move represents the number of yards a character can move in a turn (see here).

Guts: Guts represents the character’s will to fight and endurance (see here).

Clash Points (CP): Clash Points represent the character’s battlefield awareness and ability to react to threats and new situations. Characters can use these points to react to enemy attacks, turning them into opposed rolls (see here).

Wounds per Row: Wounds represent the amount of actual damage a character can suffer before dying (see here).

STEP 3

SELECT ARCHETYPE

The first real step of making an Urban Decay character is to select one of the following Archetypes. A character’s Archetype defines how they make their way in the world. Once you select the Archetype, apply the bonuses to your character and record the Archetype’s Trait.

TRAITS

Traits have in-game effects on specific Skills, and players should underline or otherwise mark the Skills their Traits affect so they remember to use them during the game. Traits are powerful! When you roll a d100 on a Skill for which you have a Trait, you roll two d10s for the ‘1s’ die and choose the one you want. This increases your chance to critically succeed and decreases your chance to critically fail (see here). Heroes may invoke Traits as often as they apply, but they apply in only very narrow circumstances, so choose wisely.

ANGRY

You are a powerfully angry person. Thankfully, the move against your neighborhood gave you a… let’s call it healthy…outlet for all that rage. When you select this Archetype, you are focused on the most instinctual response to any situation. Gain the following bonuses:

CHARISMATIC

You are the person at the center of everything. You draw people to you. When you saw the neighborhood’s need, you did what you do best. You gathered a Crew. When you select this Archetype, you want to gather friends and send them out at the target. Gain the following bonuses:

FAST

You are all about speed. Life is fast and… well hopefully your reflexes will keep you from dying young. When you select this Archetype, you are focused on the most agile or quickest solution to any situation. Gain the