Urban Fantasy w/o The Masquerade

How does your Urban Fantasy setting work without the Masquerade? Do you still try to have it resemble our world or is it a different world entirely?

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My urban fantasy setting is actually more of a superhero setting, whereas magical elements are a part of the package. So the world resembles our own but with wizards and faeries alongside mutants and aliens. They’ve always been around and there are certainly details changed by this, but a visitor from the “real world” would likely have to go scrounging for those differences beyond the obvious.

The most important thing, to avoid Magitek and Dungeon Punk (I don’t dislike these elements, I merely avoid them in this particular setting) magic in inherently unreliable for humans (and human adjacents). Magic seems to have a will of its own and often operates under tropes and Rule of Drama. Incautious use leads “interesting times” and not necessarily desirable.

Magical creatures can get magic to do what they want, but they are inhuman and similarly unreliable. Some humans have the inherent gift to get magic to do what they want but they’re a rare breed and might count as “magical creatures”, if more reliable. Magic, therefore, is considered a primitive tool of our ancestors that fell out of style as more reliable technology emerged. “The steam engine never cared if you were ‘worthy’,” is the common saying.

So basically you're saying there are some Muggle-born witches? The only other explanation is that they may be half-breeds, quarter-breeds, etc.

Sounds like human on human conflict might devolve into a contest of who can manage to manipulate magic or magic users to their advantage at the right time and place to win.

There might be bloodlines and/or whole entire subspecies, a homo sapien magus, are another flavor of superhuman among superhumans or something. The point is, they're esentially human in all but this one aspect, they're rare and when they cast a spell or perform a ritual it does exactly what it's supposed to do without trying to punish them for their hubris or only work for the pure of heart or something.

Ooo, how so?

Much like every other super-something in the setting, countries try to recruit human magi to fight on their behalf, that's for sure.

Trying to use regular magic or deal with non-humanoid magical creatures incautiously tends to end with the country being felled by hubristic irony or something.

Well, I have a somewhat cynical attitude toward people and society, even in stories that are thematically optimistic. You tell me that there is a world in which magic exists, and everyone knows it, and the first thing that occurs to me is that politically-minded people will try to find a way to take advantage of it. Even if magic is wild and unpredictable beyond a certain point (like the weather), even a little bit of control could go a long way. If I were a CEO of a large corporation, or the President of a powerful country, and I knew that magical power runs on Rule of Drama, then I would start hiring poets and story-tellers, and giving them various scenarios to write about. If I knew my rival had access to a mage with fire-powers, I would try to hire one with water powers. And if that nature druid over there who doesn't like me has an ex-girlfriend who jilted him, maybe I can use her to mess with his mind. That kind of thing.

'Course, it all depends on what kind of story you are writing. Are there clear cut heroes and villains, good vs. evil, where the power of friendship and personal integrity trumps all, or is it the next Game of Thrones, where high functioning sociopaths seem to run everything?

Hubristic karma huh? Then one needs to explore the ethical parameters that the cosmos seems to run on. Moral Philosophy is about to become a very well funded field, thought it's findings may end up not being shared with the public.

I feel like trying to game the system is exactly the sort of thing that ends in hubristic irony.

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Scientists and engineers call it "sprinkling on pixie dust" whenever you try to cheat and use magic to make something work. You have a machine or miracle cure you're desperate to get working, but there's this one design hurdle you're having trouble with and a deadline fast approaching.

A little bit magic to plug that last hole, as a stop gap solution. You'll be able to patch it out later, while you still have funding, you're sure of it. Just hope to God dramatic irony doesn't turn its gaze on your project.

Suddenly, the intern has turned into a berserk lizard man and the on-board AI has developed murderous sentience.

Actually, "pixie dust" could easily work as a metaphor for something that seems out of the ordinary—it could even replace "Deus ex machina" as a term.

Also, funny suggestion: perhaps the Pixies is entirely made up of, well, pixies.

"How does your Urban Fantasy setting work without the Masquerade? Do you still try to have it resemble our world or is it a different world entirely?"

That would depend on how fantasy it is. A world with a bit of extra magic would likely largely resemble our own. A world where magic is common and easy would be very different. The main use of the Masquerade is to reconcile the two, where you have a recognizable modern setting with loads of magic.