this post was submitted on 05 May 2026
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see this is the setting i want. modern urban fantasy with none of the grimdark that seems to plague the genre.
Modern urban grimdark fantasy is a reflection of our modern urban grimdark reality. Writing hopeful fiction in a modern setting requires a much more vivid imagination.
Ravnica setting is what you want. I suggest the "Bylaw and Order" series!
Ravnica isn't grimdark? Exploding gang warfare goblins, angels that lead crusades against small sins, a festering sin imprisoned beneath the world? Cancerous growths that hold the last nature a city dweller might have a chance of seeing, but will lead to your skull being added to the growing staff's power?
Maybe it's not 40k levels of wanking grimdark, but it's not a very nice place.
Well, my exposure to the setting was the aforementioned podcasts Bylaw and Order and Under Torchlight by the LRR group.
In the first, a group of food safety bureaucrats have to get guild signatures to codify the life's work of their boss, a unified standard for sausage composition. Typical D&D hyjinks ensue, like a jail break, stopping a haywire college thesis project from exploding, etc. In Under Torchlight, a group of food service workers have to keep the shop running in spite of a shipping delay, criminal dealings, and guild infighting.
Both podcasts are very lighthearted and show that the setting is fertile for telling modern stories with a fantasy twist, aided by the rich details of the setting. I'm sure other stories focus on the dark parts.
Fair enough. I think any 'realistic' setting is going to have a large enough world that you can find anything you'd like in it, and the various ways that M:tG makes wackiness in its magic systems leaves a lot of ripe fruit to pick for any story.
the descriptions all seem fairly dry. i wonder if it can be combined with masks...