Another dark night, fog rolling out of sewer grates as a lifeless body lays waiting in an alley for someone to turn it over and delve into their mysterious death. Sometimes it seems like finding a new mystery is the easy part, but where do you start with a Virtual Tabletop for City of Mists? Well, throw on your overcoat and get ready for an all nighter as we find out how to spot the perfect game that scratches your itch for mystery.

City of Mist is a fantastic game, mythic even, that is perfect for allowing the imagination to run wild. In fact, Theatre of the Mind is a perfect environment for City of Mists and little else besides the optional fun mystery hand-outs would be required to get the most out of this game. But when playing online, it can help to have all the shared information in one place, so it doesn’t get lost while our imaginations are running amok.

Enter our suspects.

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Alchemy

Alchemy is a relatively new VTT that offers beautiful backdrops and an immersive environment for playing games. While an account is free for players and GMs, Alchemy shines when using their officially packaged “Enhanced” editions which include official art and backgrounds with minor animations, and my favorite part, wonderful soundtracks to accompany the mood. City of Mist is one such game for which Alchemy supports an Enhanced edition, though there is a standard edition which includes all the content references for the game in-app and character sheets for ease of use.

Alchemy delivers a unique experience among VTTs, providing ease in the form of their premade content, but it can be a bit cumbersome to navigate at first. It’s worth signing up for a free account and checking out their tutorial videos to see if you enjoy using it.

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Role

Also known as Play.Role, is a free to use web based VTT which allows for a wide range of dynamic options on Character sheets and the accessibility to easily build such character sheets yourself without having to use any code. This is Role’s greatest strength, however it can be time consuming to build such custom sheets, and at the moment City of Mist is not supported on Role officially. You can however easily find user made character sheets, and make copies to alter if there are any differences you deem necessary. Role is a fantastic choice if you like having control over the design of character sheets. Use alongside Discord for voice & video and you’ve got a perfect option to enable a great game of City of Mist.

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Roll20

A familiar haunt for any seasoned online player, Roll20 is a great option for City of Mist games. Many people are already accustomed to the function of Roll20, and it's free accounts provide more than enough features to facilitate a great game. If Roll20 is already your favorite VTT and you don’t mind investing in their marketplace, it also has fully integrated City of Mist supplements available to make setting up a game even easier. Including the starter mystery of Shark Tank, it has everything you need to run a fresh mobster mystery out the gate and is plenty easy to design your own on platform.

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Foundry

If Roll20 is the local haunt for City of Mist, Foundry is the high rises. While it requires an upfront purchase, Foundry doesn’t require any subscription fees (unless using an online hosting solution), and only one license is required for a full group. However if your primary interest isn’t a free experience, Foundry offers the tools to build up a game with fully interactable landing pages, beautiful maps with functions for lighting and walls, and music playlists to soundtrack your game. User made modules support character sheets which are freely accessible and provide all the utility required to track a full crew of rifts.

With so many options, we are spoiled for choices that fit our needs for VTTs, and hopefully among the VTTs on this list you can find something that works for you and your group. You can find an excellent game on any of them, and if you’re interested in seeing how a pro-utilizes any of these VTTs, say Alchemy, you can always filter games on SPG by VTT to narrow your search. 

As a bonus mention, whether playing online or in person, SyrinScape features fantastic soundscapes especially for modern noir intrigue. Creeping footsteps walking down an alleyway, music suitable to the jazz or simple backgrounds, and sirens rushing to a crime scene. Not to mention the wealth of SFX that can represent signature attacks of mythic foes, all of which can help set the stage for the game to leave you feeling like you’re there in the city searching for answers yourself. Features integration with Foundry for those GMs taking on the labor of putting together a powerful experience for your players.

So get out in the streets and search for the truths. The core conflict between who we are and the mysteries that drive us forward are universal, and drive the best mysteries forward. Hopefully with this info the only mystery left now is which City of Mist game on SPG is your perfect game.

Another case closed for now.