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Warning: Possible Spoilers ahead if you are a player in game that may use these adventures.

To me, five stars in a category should be very, very rare. I don't like handing out 5 stars-- for a product to earn five stars, it really needs to shine. It needs to a) accomplish what it sets out to do, and b) show me something I've never seen, and execute it well. Even though I doubt anyone who wrote one of the games I review actually reads what I write, I want them to know they have to work for five stars. So it's with that warning that I actually award 5 stars to "One Shots," for Unknown Armies.

The Setup:

"One Shots" is a collection of five adventures for Unknown Armies. Each adventure is stand-alone and self-contained, although it goes without saying that a GM who wanted to could work any of these into an existing campaign. As they are to work by themselves, each adventure comes with pre-generated characters with solid, playable backgrounds. Only in one of the adventures (Strange Days) do players really get to play with real Unknown Armies style characters, some of the New Inquisition folks. For the most part, the PCs for these adventures are semi-normal folks caught up in a variety of weirdness. As such, a few of the adventures seem great starting places to begin a campaign or to run at a con, and can probably be brought over as adventures in other systems. I don't worry about that in my review, but felt it should be noted.

The stated goal of these adventures is that they be good, strong stand-alones, and the game-designers state that they clearly don't mind if you dislike one or two of them. Better a good adventure you dislike than a middle-of-the-road one you merely read. With that as a caveat, I have to say I liked all of the adventures, although due to personal taste and gaming-group whim I'm only likely to run three of them.

The Adventures:

The adventures run the gamut from the surreal (Joy & Sorrow), to the occult-tinged and action-packed (Fly to Heaven), to the apocalyptic (And I Feel Fine). All are well done, although some of them merely set a stage and let the players wander about on their own for hte most part(Jail Break) while others have their own internal clock that builds up to a climax (Strange Days). Each caters to different style of game, but all can be used by any style GM.

To summarize them briefly, in Jail Break a group of medium security convicts escape and take hostages to a farm-house straight out of a nightmare. Strange Days leads the characters to a small, sleepy, fishing village where the strange villagers are only part of the problem. Joy & Sorrow is a surreal trip that adds some interesting baggage to the St. Germaine archetype, and seems like it would be the most difficult to actually play with my group. Each GM's mileage may vary, but I saw enough that I could use in this adventure to still make it work. Fly to Heaven takes an airline hostage situation and turns it on it's head. And ...And I Feel Fine is a post-apocalyptic slasher romp great for a night when no-one brought another game to play.

From my personal perspective, Joy & Sorrow and Jail Break would be the most difficult for me to pull off with my group, but other GM's probably wouldn't have the same problems I do. All of the adventures are first rate and are meaty enough for three or more hours of play. At the back of the book is a bonus damage chart that can work with most or all of the guns out there.

Layout And Editing:

My only complaint with the book was with some of the editing…the introduction still had the laid-out paragraph symbols, and so did the paragraph before the gun charts in the back of the book. The art is serviceable, and the rest of the layout is nice and easy to read. The cover art is liable to give parents the wrong idea, but the back cover reads "For Mature Readers Only," and I suppose that if you're twelve and playing Unknown Armies than your parents are well in hand. Adornng the inner front and back covers are neat little slogans and photos that I imagine are there to add to the atmosphere. They don't seem to have much to do with the adventures, but they're nice touches nonetheless. The editing problems are what leave this with a Style of 3, but the Substance more than makes up for it.

One question-- why is the name Rich Dansky, the same name as White Wolf's Wraith developer, a PC name in one of the adventures? I'd love to know the story behind that, if there is one.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

One Shots
Author: Various Category: game Company/Publisher: Atlas Games Line: Unknown Armies Cost: $14.95 Page count: 80 ISBN: 1-887801-73-1 Capsule Review by Eric Brennan on 06/04/99. Genre tags: Modern_day Horror Conspiracy Post-apocalypse	Warning: Possible Spoilers ahead if you are a player in game that may use these adventures. To me, five stars in a category should be very, very rare. I don't like handing out 5 stars-- for a product to earn five stars, it really needs to shine. It needs to a) accomplish what it sets out to do, and b) show me something I've never seen, and execute it well. Even though I doubt anyone who wrote one of the games I review actually reads what I write, I want them to know they have to work for five stars. So it's with that warning that I actually award 5 stars to "One Shots," for Unknown Armies. The Setup: "One Shots" is a collection of five adventures for Unknown Armies. Each adventure is stand-alone and self-contained, although it goes without saying that a GM who wanted to could work any of these into an existing campaign. As they are to work by themselves, each adventure comes with pre-generated characters with solid, playable backgrounds. Only in one of the adventures (Strange Days) do players really get to play with real Unknown Armies style characters, some of the New Inquisition folks. For the most part, the PCs for these adventures are semi-normal folks caught up in a variety of weirdness. As such, a few of the adventures seem great starting places to begin a campaign or to run at a con, and can probably be brought over as adventures in other systems. I don't worry about that in my review, but felt it should be noted. The stated goal of these adventures is that they be good, strong stand-alones, and the game-designers state that they clearly don't mind if you dislike one or two of them. Better a good adventure you dislike than a middle-of-the-road one you merely read. With that as a caveat, I have to say I liked all of the adventures, although due to personal taste and gaming-group whim I'm only likely to run three of them. The Adventures: The adventures run the gamut from the surreal (Joy & Sorrow), to the occult-tinged and action-packed (Fly to Heaven), to the apocalyptic (And I Feel Fine). All are well done, although some of them merely set a stage and let the players wander about on their own for hte most part(Jail Break) while others have their own internal clock that builds up to a climax (Strange Days). Each caters to different style of game, but all can be used by any style GM. To summarize them briefly, in Jail Break a group of medium security convicts escape and take hostages to a farm-house straight out of a nightmare. Strange Days leads the characters to a small, sleepy, fishing village where the strange villagers are only part of the problem. Joy & Sorrow is a surreal trip that adds some interesting baggage to the St. Germaine archetype, and seems like it would be the most difficult to actually play with my group. Each GM's mileage may vary, but I saw enough that I could use in this adventure to still make it work. Fly to Heaven takes an airline hostage situation and turns it on it's head. And ...And I Feel Fine is a post-apocalyptic slasher romp great for a night when no-one brought another game to play. From my personal perspective, Joy & Sorrow and Jail Break would be the most difficult for me to pull off with my group, but other GM's probably wouldn't have the same problems I do. All of the adventures are first rate and are meaty enough for three or more hours of play. At the back of the book is a bonus damage chart that can work with most or all of the guns out there. Layout And Editing: My only complaint with the book was with some of the editing…the introduction still had the laid-out paragraph symbols, and so did the paragraph before the gun charts in the back of the book. The art is serviceable, and the rest of the layout is nice and easy to read. The cover art is liable to give parents the wrong idea, but the back cover reads "For Mature Readers Only," and I suppose that if you're twelve and playing Unknown Armies than your parents are well in hand. Adornng the inner front and back covers are neat little slogans and photos that I imagine are there to add to the atmosphere. They don't seem to have much to do with the adventures, but they're nice touches nonetheless. The editing problems are what leave this with a Style of 3, but the Substance more than makes up for it. One question-- why is the name Rich Dansky, the same name as White Wolf's Wraith developer, a PC name in one of the adventures? I'd love to know the story behind that, if there is one. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)