SotI, I think, looks a bit more elegant than it actually is. There’s a lot of hidden complexity around The Man and The Woman. If you avoid those playbooks it’s simpler, but not quite as simple as… say, Monsterhearts?

That said, Urban Shadows definitely has more moving parts. When I was playtesting I, semi-conciously, did a Burning Wheel hub and spokes type thing where I started off with basic moves, added in playbook moves late in the first session, and got to factions only in the second session.

Really, I think its like a swiss watch once it gets going — lots of moving parts, but they grip well together and grip well with the fiction. (Where as my feel about Motobushido, which you can correct me on as you’ve actually played, is the game parts grip each other well but don’t always tight grip with the fiction.)

P.S. I hate saying “the fiction.” It’s a stupid way to talk about it, but I think everyone here probably can guess at what stupid thing I’m saying.