"Magic is real. Somebody still has to fill in the paperwork."
The official roleplaying game of Ben Aaronovitch's urban fantasy series, written by Paul Fricker, Lynne Hardy and friends and published by Chaosium (PDF in 2022, hardcover in 2023). Under the hood it runs on Basic Roleplaying, the same d100 engine as Call of Cthulhu, but faster and gentler: characters are hard to kill and easy to get into trouble. You play new recruits of the Metropolitan Police's magic branch, the Folly, solving cases that involve river gods, talking foxes and people changed for good by magic.
- you want police procedural cases in a magical modern London
- your group likes investigation with gentler survival than Call of Cthulhu
- you are fans of the novels and want to join the Folly
- you want hopeless cosmic horror where characters break
- your players want flashy combat magic
- you want a fantasy world rather than real-world London
Modern London, with a second, magical city running underneath it: the demi-monde, where every river has its own god or goddess and every spell leaves a trace. Magic is a precise Newtonian discipline, and it fries electronics: one careless spell and your smartphone turns to sand. The book spends real effort on how London policing and criminal investigations actually work, and ready-made case files come in separate collections.
d100, London style
Skills are percentages: roll equal to or under your skill for a Regular success, under half for a Hard success, 01 is a critical and 100 a fumble. A failed roll can be pushed — a second attempt with higher stakes. Bonus and penalty dice replace modifier tables.
Advantages & Luck
At creation you pick two minor advantages or one major one; Magical is a major advantage. Luck starts at 50 + 2D10 and is spent to change roll results. When a blow would kill outright, spending 30 Luck turns it into a mortal wound instead.
Newtonian magic
Spells come in orders, and a spell's base cost in magic points equals its order. Your pool is one-fifth of POW plus 1 per mastered spell, and it refills by the next scene. Fumbling, failing a pushed casting roll or casting on empty risks Hyperthaumaturgical Degradation — up to a stroke. Every spell leaves vestigia and the caster's personal signare.
Conditions, not hit points
There are no hit points: the damage roll is made against STR (melee) or DEX (firearms, spells) for 1, 2 or 3 damage plus weapon damage. 1 damage is Hurt, 2 Bloodied, 3 Down, 4 in one blow a Mortal Wound, and 5 in one attack kills unless you spend 30 Luck.
Open in Session Zero to let every player vote and see the results.