Perhaps I'm being a tad obvious but films such as Pan's Labyrinth, Kronos, Delicatasen , City of Lost Children , Chocolat, and Amelie would certainly qualify as Modern Fantasy.

As for books, Rushdie's Midnight Children, Barker's The Great & Secret Show and browse through some of Harlan Ellison's stuff - Mephisto in Onyx comes to mind.

And because I'm in a rather cheeky mood, Foucault's Pendulum....

Regards,
David R

Quote from: joewolzAnd real history is 19th century to the present.  Roman history, in the academic sense, is intellectual masturbation.  Justified ad nauseum by the Swine who are trying to justify their paltry existence.

Man, what? :confused: :rolleyes:

RPGPundit

I think the more popular term for the genre is urban fantasy, but that's just splitting hairs. Personally, I call it modern horror, because it usually involves a lot of things that are supposed to be scary.

In television, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Special Unit 2, and Dresden Files are all decent examples. The movie Constantine was a good example of occult themed urban fantasy.

Books include the Neil Gaiman titles you mentioned, Simon R. Green's Nightside series, Dresden Files, Patricia Briggs' Moon Called and Blood Bound, Kat Richardson's Greywalker, C.E. Murphy's Urban Shaman. A lot of books in the genre lean toward romance, especially the works of Laurell K. Hamilton,  Kelley Armstrong, Charlaine Harris, and Kim Harrison.

The main elements in these type of stories are combinations of magic and supernatural creatures. Vampires, Werewolves, and Faeries are some of the most commonly used entities and invariably there is spellcasting to some degree. The supernatural is most often hidden from the public view, but in some works (like the Anita Blake novels of Laurell K Hamilton) vampires are known to the public and necromancers can make an honest living. Another take on urban fantasy is a struggle between angels and demons and the forces of heaven and hell.

RPG-wise, the WoD stuff is urban fantasy, but my personal favorite is the Eden Studios Witchcraft game and it's supplements.

I've run games where the players were norms, crusading against the supernatural, as well as games where the PCs were supernatural themselves, campaigning against even more sinister and powerful foes.

There are a lot of great inspirational sources out there and a lot of directions you could take a game in this genre.

How about "On A Pale Horse"?

I don't think I see it mentioned. Though lots of what has been mentioned is like it.