The Inside Scoop on Gaming

"It's time to stop playing games."

These are the first words that leap from the back cover of Unknown Armies, the new roleplaying game published by Atlas Games. Written by John Tynes (Delta Green) and Greg Stolze (Spherewalker's Spourcebook), the authors make the claim it is a new animal: an adult game of modern occultism, transcendental horror and furious action. The moxie, attitude and sheer will that radiate through the text tell one story: this is the game that will take back the supernatural from White Wolf and makes it new again--combine Call of Cthulhu's humanity with the power politics of Vampire, crush Mage's magic system and surpass all other contenders.

This is appropriate. In fact, in the style of its own mythology, this game is trying to topple the rusty archetypes of the World of Darkness, Nephilim and Kult to place itself on the throne.

In short, this game knows it is one bad mofo.

Physically, this 224 page book with standard soft covers, decent art and unpreposessing layout. Of course, if you _read_ the book, that's when the beauty and elegance of the game come roaring up to life. If anybody doesn't buy it because it didn't look pretty, they're missing the first of many lessons UA purports to teach: pretty is nice, but it don't get you fed.

The system has great genius. In a nutshell, take the 4 stat simplicity of Everway, combine it with the customizable skill sets of Over The Edge and add some impressive dice tricks. The two combats I have playtested so far have a flow and grace that defy description, due in large part to a percentile system that involves flip-flopping (where a 19 becomes a 91 if you have the chutzpah to pull it off) and all attacks and damage are calculated on one die roll: hit me with a 43, you do 4 + 3 = 7 damage. It is cake.

For all the GURPS heads out there, don't worry--this system is a no-nonsense, heavily deterministic result engine...in other words, there's no need for GM fudging or storytelling tricks to resolve combat. Though simple, it does exactly what it says it will: give you cinematic combat where the average man with a gun can kill someone if they shoot them at reasonable range.

This isn't Werewolf. This isn't Vampire. Don't get in a gunfight without an edge or you won't live to regret it. Conversely, it isn't Call of Cthulhu either, and players aren't kleenex.

Character creation is dedicated to creating real emotional landscapes. Every character in UA has a central obsession, one that rules their life. Everyone. This prevents wallflowers from developing, and adds to the kick-ass, take-no-prisoners feel of the game. You also designate a Fear, Rage and Noblity stimuli so you'll know what elements in the world will set off which drives in you.

It is the Madness Meter where the game really takes off. A next generation SAN characteristic, you receive either 'hardened' or 'failed' boxes in a number of different categories: isolation, the Self, the Unnatural, violence. Become hardened to violence and every killing is easy...of course, you stop knowing how to feel. Fail a few boxes in the unnatural and you start jumping at shadows.

Tynes and Stolze are trying to crush out the adolescent "rape/kill/loot" cycle that persists in gaming today. You wanna kill ten people to get that Peruvian idol? Fine...but you're going to take the natural hardening that sociapaths get after they kill wantonly. I love the accountabillity this builds into the system--too many systems treat the law and human life as worthless. Here, you can do the same--but there is a cost to your callousness, and it can get pretty hard for your character to look at himself in the mirror.

The setting is three-tiered: you can play street level games, where junkies and minor adepts cruise for survival, global level games where power factions vie to ascend to the archetypal realms, or cosmic level games which revolve around the machinations of order and entropy as the Invisible Clergy dances through the Statosphere, manipulating men with silent, unseen breath. In an ideal campaign, the action is supposed to shift from level to level, so that characters begin on the street, work into power, go back to survival on the street, suddenly get tangled in some cosmic juju, etc.

As for the rest of the setting, here are some snippets for you:

Epideriomancers who make magic by cutting and maiming themselves.
Raucuous boozehounds have to great drunk to generate a charge to power their spells...they ever sober up completely they become defenseless.
Check your money...a plutomancer might have signed a dollar bill in your wallet, and if you don't spend that sucker fast, he'll trace you down and show you the cost of living.
A sect of rabid, occult fans gain might by recreating scenes from the life of a porn star who has ascended into the Invisible Clergy before the eyes of the camera.
Cliomancers use history-based magic to weave urban legends so real that they can sway the minds of millions.
A spell system so loose and simultaneously detailed that it can handle ritual, spontaneous and combat spells with equal aplomb...it feels like Ars Magica dropped peyote and let its hair down in the postmodern night.
Artifacts that create themselves, like JFK's magic bullet, and artifacts that need creating, like the preserved blood of unborn fetuses wrapped in wine skins.

And finally...you knew there had to be a finally...

There is a point to Unknown Armies.

A goal. A true objective. One no player could object to:

you can change the world.

Really change it. By becoming an Avatar of an archetype: the Jungian dreams of our collective unconscious given real form: the Mother, the Warrior, the Masterless Man. The Fool.

By living in their ideals, players can become more and more like these ascended beings that live in the realm of pure probabillity. Eventually they can aspire to become Godwalkers...but there can only be one Godwalker for any archetype. So if you want to be it, you need to eliminate the ones who are in the way.

And if you become the Godwalker? Why, then you can vie for the ultimate prize: ascending into the ranks of the Invisible Clergy. You'll need to have a new archetype, though...or you'll need to evict one of the archetypes from their throne and throw them down to earth.

I don't want to say too much more. I can only preach...I'd challenge you to give it a try and tell me there is anything similar in the RPG market today.

To read some interviews with John Tynes on the game, go to this link:

http://www.mania.com/columns/box/box122598.html

To download the free scenario "Pinfeathers" in order to get a taste of what UA has to offer without shelling out some cash, here is another link:

http://www.atlas-games.com/ua_index.html

Think John Constantine. Think Tim Powers. Think James McEllroy. Think Tom Waits. Think whatever you want that evokes real magic: the way magic would feel if it walked into your life, put a choke-hold on you and squeezed your vision into red.

Buy the damn game.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Unknown Armies
Author: Greg Stolze and John Tynes Category: game Company/Publisher: Atlas Games Cost: $25.00 USD Page count: 224 pages ISBN: 1887801707 Capsule Review by Michael Daisey on 01/23/99. Genre tags: Modern_day Horror Conspiracy	"It's time to stop playing games." These are the first words that leap from the back cover of Unknown Armies, the new roleplaying game published by Atlas Games. Written by John Tynes (Delta Green) and Greg Stolze (Spherewalker's Spourcebook), the authors make the claim it is a new animal: an adult game of modern occultism, transcendental horror and furious action. The moxie, attitude and sheer will that radiate through the text tell one story: this is the game that will take back the supernatural from White Wolf and makes it new again--combine Call of Cthulhu's humanity with the power politics of Vampire, crush Mage's magic system and surpass all other contenders. This is appropriate. In fact, in the style of its own mythology, this game is trying to topple the rusty archetypes of the World of Darkness, Nephilim and Kult to place itself on the throne. In short, this game knows it is one bad mofo. Physically, this 224 page book with standard soft covers, decent art and unpreposessing layout. Of course, if you _read_ the book, that's when the beauty and elegance of the game come roaring up to life. If anybody doesn't buy it because it didn't look pretty, they're missing the first of many lessons UA purports to teach: pretty is nice, but it don't get you fed. The system has great genius. In a nutshell, take the 4 stat simplicity of Everway, combine it with the customizable skill sets of Over The Edge and add some impressive dice tricks. The two combats I have playtested so far have a flow and grace that defy description, due in large part to a percentile system that involves flip-flopping (where a 19 becomes a 91 if you have the chutzpah to pull it off) and all attacks and damage are calculated on one die roll: hit me with a 43, you do 4 + 3 = 7 damage. It is cake. For all the GURPS heads out there, don't worry--this system is a no-nonsense, heavily deterministic result engine...in other words, there's no need for GM fudging or storytelling tricks to resolve combat. Though simple, it does exactly what it says it will: give you cinematic combat where the average man with a gun can kill someone if they shoot them at reasonable range. This isn't Werewolf. This isn't Vampire. Don't get in a gunfight without an edge or you won't live to regret it. Conversely, it isn't Call of Cthulhu either, and players aren't kleenex. Character creation is dedicated to creating real emotional landscapes. Every character in UA has a central obsession, one that rules their life. Everyone. This prevents wallflowers from developing, and adds to the kick-ass, take-no-prisoners feel of the game. You also designate a Fear, Rage and Noblity stimuli so you'll know what elements in the world will set off which drives in you. It is the Madness Meter where the game really takes off. A next generation SAN characteristic, you receive either 'hardened' or 'failed' boxes in a number of different categories: isolation, the Self, the Unnatural, violence. Become hardened to violence and every killing is easy...of course, you stop knowing how to feel. Fail a few boxes in the unnatural and you start jumping at shadows. Tynes and Stolze are trying to crush out the adolescent "rape/kill/loot" cycle that persists in gaming today. You wanna kill ten people to get that Peruvian idol? Fine...but you're going to take the natural hardening that sociapaths get after they kill wantonly. I love the accountabillity this builds into the system--too many systems treat the law and human life as worthless. Here, you can do the same--but there is a cost to your callousness, and it can get pretty hard for your character to look at himself in the mirror. The setting is three-tiered: you can play street level games, where junkies and minor adepts cruise for survival, global level games where power factions vie to ascend to the archetypal realms, or cosmic level games which revolve around the machinations of order and entropy as the Invisible Clergy dances through the Statosphere, manipulating men with silent, unseen breath. In an ideal campaign, the action is supposed to shift from level to level, so that characters begin on the street, work into power, go back to survival on the street, suddenly get tangled in some cosmic juju, etc. As for the rest of the setting, here are some snippets for you: Epideriomancers who make magic by cutting and maiming themselves. Raucuous boozehounds have to great drunk to generate a charge to power their spells...they ever sober up completely they become defenseless. Check your money...a plutomancer might have signed a dollar bill in your wallet, and if you don't spend that sucker fast, he'll trace you down and show you the cost of living. A sect of rabid, occult fans gain might by recreating scenes from the life of a porn star who has ascended into the Invisible Clergy before the eyes of the camera. Cliomancers use history-based magic to weave urban legends so real that they can sway the minds of millions. A spell system so loose and simultaneously detailed that it can handle ritual, spontaneous and combat spells with equal aplomb...it feels like Ars Magica dropped peyote and let its hair down in the postmodern night. Artifacts that create themselves, like JFK's magic bullet, and artifacts that need creating, like the preserved blood of unborn fetuses wrapped in wine skins. And finally...you knew there had to be a finally... There is a point to Unknown Armies. A goal. A true objective. One no player could object to: you can change the world. Really change it. By becoming an Avatar of an archetype: the Jungian dreams of our collective unconscious given real form: the Mother, the Warrior, the Masterless Man. The Fool. By living in their ideals, players can become more and more like these ascended beings that live in the realm of pure probabillity. Eventually they can aspire to become Godwalkers...but there can only be one Godwalker for any archetype. So if you want to be it, you need to eliminate the ones who are in the way. And if you become the Godwalker? Why, then you can vie for the ultimate prize: ascending into the ranks of the Invisible Clergy. You'll need to have a new archetype, though...or you'll need to evict one of the archetypes from their throne and throw them down to earth. I don't want to say too much more. I can only preach...I'd challenge you to give it a try and tell me there is anything similar in the RPG market today. To read some interviews with John Tynes on the game, go to this link: http://www.mania.com/columns/box/box122598.html To download the free scenario "Pinfeathers" in order to get a taste of what UA has to offer without shelling out some cash, here is another link: http://www.atlas-games.com/ua_index.html Think John Constantine. Think Tim Powers. Think James McEllroy. Think Tom Waits. Think whatever you want that evokes real magic: the way magic would feel if it walked into your life, put a choke-hold on you and squeezed your vision into red. Buy the damn game. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)