Shadows
A tabletop RPG where cyberpunk and the supernatural share one city, and the city keeps score. Welcome to NYTE City, 2099.
The myths never left. They adapted.
NYTE City swallowed the whole Eastern Seaboard. On the surface it's everything you'd expect from 2099: corporate towers, street gangs, and a LINK that sees everything. Underneath, the old stories are still running the place. Vampires own the nightclubs and the blood banks. Werewolves clock in for security work and call out on certain nights. The Fae negotiate contracts with finer print than any corporation. (They also own K-pop.)
And the city is paying attention. Steal a car, burn down a corporate front, leave a body in the wrong alley. NYTE City won't stop you, but it will answer.
- A stolen car
- a fixer remembers
- A burned corporate front
- the corporation “audits”
- A body in the wrong alley
- a gang retaliates
Every job leaves a mark your crew has to live with. Shadows is for players who want, in the rulebook's own words, “danger with weight, power with cost, and hope that has to be earned.”
If you've ever wanted cyberpunk and urban fantasy at the same table, this is that game.
Who you can be
Everyone starts human. What happens next is up to you: three ways to stay human and close the gap, and two ways to leave humanity behind.
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Professional
mortal
No bloodline. No implants. No covenant with forces older than language. Just a person who decided that wasn't going to be enough of a reason to lose.
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Cyborg
mortal
Chrome. Tech. Art. The Cyborg is all three — and chooses to be.
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Arcanist
mortal
The Aether doesn't care how curious you are. It only cares whether you can hold on.
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Vampire
supernatural
As old as civilization itself.
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Werewolf
supernatural
Predators not of malice, but of duty.
Watch it played
Shadows started with a crew who couldn't find the system they wanted, so they built one and refined it over years of play. A lot of that play is on YouTube: full-length actual-play campaigns, start to finish.
Shadows 2.0
Our longest-running campaign — 60-plus episodes following the Cult of Personality storyline that shaped NYTE City from the ground up.
Watch Shadows 2.0 → (opens in a new tab)Shadows: World's Apart
A new crew steps into NYTE City once the dust from the first great campaign finally settles.
Watch World's Apart → (opens in a new tab)Shadows: The Old Regime
Extra-long sessions following Arad's journey through a city on the edge — fewer episodes, a lot more table time in each one.
Watch The Old Regime → (opens in a new tab)Shadows: 13th Floor
A tight two-part side story — a missing persons case that spirals into something much stranger.
Watch 13th Floor → (opens in a new tab)Want to play it rather than watch it? Players and GMs find tables on our Discord (opens in a new tab).
How it plays
Shadows runs on the Synergy System, our own d10 system. One die resolves almost anything a scene throws at you: hacking the LINK, dropping a threat, casting a spell, or talking your way out of a holding cell. The rulebook is still being written, so each page below is a preview of a chapter in progress.
Try it now
The book isn't finished, but the game is playable. The character sheet runs live in your browser: roll your Stats, pick an Archetype, and walk out with someone ready for the table. Prefer paper? Print a blank sheet instead.