Urban Arcana
Urban Arcana is a campaign setting for the d20 Modern roleplaying game that builds on a small campaign model included in the original rulebook. It adds much in the way of magic and monsters to the game, and contains rules for things such as playing Shadowkind characters. History. The core book for Wizards of the Coast's "d20 Modern Roleplaying Game" (2002) included information on the modern day fantasy setting "Urban Arcana". Wizards later developed this into a full setting sourcebook of its own: the "Urban Arcana Campaign Setting" (2003). Description. In the world of Urban Arcana, dragons  rule the boardrooms and bugbears rule the streets. It is a world where monsters and magic exist, yet the human psyche just cannot fathom them and covers up all supernatural events. Some, however, break that barrier and become aware of the world around them and help Mages, Acolytes, and other magical characters fight with monsters from another realm. This game takes modern adventures and combines it with a chaotic twist of magic, using creatures and spells familiar to those who play Dungeons & Dragons. The setting is simply Earth as we know it. Slowly creatures from another world, where magic  and fantasy rules, have moved into ours. They are hidden by the human subconscious which disbelieves seeing horns on people's heads or monsters in the subway. Story. Urban Arcana's story varies from GM to GM, but they usually share these common factors. Urban Arcana takes place on Earth, or a slight variation of it. Ever since the dawn of time, creatures from another world have been appearing on Earth due to a force called Shadow. Creatures such as Elves, Kobolds, Gnoll, Aasimar, and others have inhabited earth for years, with no memory of the world they came from  due to "The Gift of Lethe". They have always assimilated into human society because most "Mundane" or normal humans believe them to be fictional, and therefore see them as other mundanes. This is helped along by the fact that the Common tongue of D&D is always identical to the language of the area that they appear in (A sort of Deus Ex Machina to over come language barriers). In recent years however, Shadow activity has increased, with an influx of new Shadowkind appearing. The reason for this varies from campaign to campaign, some times never being explained at all. This  has resulted in the formation of various organizations. Other organizations are corporations that are run by a genie, a medieval themed fast food restaurant run by shadow, or a homeless shelter for recently displaced shadowkind. One module involves Department 7's benefactor being a Gold Dragon. World. The player can either be a "Mundane", who stumbles upon shadow somehow, or a Shadowkind, who is either already settled, or is trying to fit in. In the world of Urban Arcana, demons can attack, vampires can own Ferraris, and emails can curse players. The Game is played with d20 Modern rules. Each  player starts off with a basic class: They then can take any advanced class from classic d20 modern, or special urban arcana classes. Some of them are analogs of classic Dungeons and Dragons classes like the Mage (wizard) or Acolyte (cleric). Others are more modern, such as: The world can be nearly identical to the real world, such as a campaign taking place in London or New York, or completely made up, as is the nature of pen-and-paper RPGs. As the game borrows heavily from Dungeons and Dragons, sharing many spells and items, and mythology. Real world religion  and D&D religion are considered equally valid in Urban Arcana, and you can have a Knight of Pelor, or a Christian Acolyte, as the game takes place in the "real world". Prepackaged campaigns also borrow from pop culture. One adventure, "Come for the Reaping", involves your heroes investigating a mansion filled with zombies in a reference to Resident Evil, complete with the explosive finish. Urban Arcana is best used as a campaign to transition into. A d20 Modern character and a Dungeons and Dragons character can both be added to Urban arcana, although the D&D one would require modification in  order to balance the game. Scrapped television adaptation. The Sci-Fi Channel had announced plans to create a television show based upon the roleplaying game, but in 2007 the program's listing was removed from Sci-Fi Program Info at NBC Universal Media Village. Before its removal the Urban Arcana listing had said: Cities across the globe have been invaded by creatures from a parallel world. These beings have crossed through a portal into the human sphere and don’t plan to obey the laws of the land. Undercover detective Sean Mayhew must protect the human population from the influx  of these chameleon-like, mythological creatures. Urban Arcana is based on a Hasbro/Worlds of Wonder role playing game. Aron Coleite (Crossing Jordan) will write; Gary A. Randall and Rockne O’Bannon (The Triangle, Farscape) will executive produce in association with Fox Television Studios.