>What is Unknown Armies?
Unknown Armies is a system for playing in a modern fantasy setting filled with postmodern magic, new age weirdness, and conspiracies.
It's been a while since we've last had one of these. How many of you are playing the new edition now that it's out?
>>47690481
>now that it's out
Post it or it didn't happen.
All that was released was the gamma (sic!) text for the new rule books afaik.
>>47690481
Yeah, I don't think it's out.
>Repo Man was so great. Repo Men...not so much.
>>47691914
>>47690908
The gamma test material is over 400 pages long, yeah it doesn't have pictures and needs some rewrites, but to me that qualifies as out. I've played 3 games using only the new rulebooks already at this point.
I don't think Unknown Armies needed an update, certainly not one that up-ends the existing game as much as the new version does.
>>47694886
No, you're right, videomancy would be exactly the same for one...NOT!
>>47694886
Honestly, while some of the newer Adept philosophies are cool, I really prefer copycats over the new sociomancers. The latter just kind of feels like it's covering ground that Avatars already do, just for small-fry archetypes like The Fedora or The Model Train-set Builder.
GNOMON, though? That tickles my fancy. Not sure it needed to be counted as an adept school, or if I'd allow a player to be part of it, but it's still got some cool Hotline Miami meets Wikipedia vibes.
>Get a skype call
>Blank out
>Wake up in a seedy bar telling some random nobody how wrong he is about Vatican II
>Such is life as an editor on Wikipedia
I really, really dig the new mechanics in UA3, especially tying your skills directly to the shock gauges. I really helps unify the whole game under a more coherent theme, as opposed to being just a bunch of cool stuff put together.
>>47690481
I enjoyed this movie.
So what's different about the New UA?
>>47696747
For one thing, there are no more Body/Speed/Soul/Mind Stats.
Instead, your relevant Skills are linked to your Shock Gauges, aka Madness Meters.
For instance, the Violence Gauge is linked two Skills: Connect and Struggle. Connect is used to reach out and understand people, to negotiate, barter, joke with and empathize over. Struggle is your basic "Fighting" Skill.
As you become more Hardened to Violence, your Connect score declines while your Struggle score increases. Someone who hasn't experienced much Violence can connect easily and will be reticent to fight, while someone with lots of Hardened Violence notches will find it hard to connect with other people but won't back down from a street fight.
>>47696747
Skills have been replaced with Identities in a sort of similar way to Over The Edge. Body, Speed, Mind, and Soul are gone, and instead you have you predefined set of semi-skills that tie directly into your shock gauges.
Each shock gauge gets two "skills" associated with it that can only be changed by getting notches on the gauge.
Violence has Connect, and Struggle.
Isolation has Status and Pursuit
Helplessness has Health and Dodge
Unnatural has Notice and Secrets
Self has Knowledge and Lie
So in general you want to roll an Identity, but if an Identity doesn't apply you roll one of these skills. Identities each get one free skill they can be tied to, to count as a sort of generic roll for that skill.
Identities have a lot more customization than the old skills. In addition to each identity being tied to a skill, each identity gets one special ability that you can add to it to make it more unique. Special abilities either grant unique items tied to the identity, increase the character's hit points, give the ability to heal others, tie itself to a second skill, give the ability to calm others down, give the character an initiative bonus, or a bunch of other options. For adepts and avatars your school or avatar counts as a Supernatural Identity doesn't come with a free special ability.
There are a bunch of other changes that I can't put in for the sake of space.
Story wise the new editions continue the plot, so I'll put that in a spoiler:The world doesn't end on 3/3/03, but everything changed. New Inquisition goes under as the leader gets betrayed, he later makes a new faction that is half cult half business. Saint Germain "dies" and is reformed into this cosmic entity known as Old Mother Apocalypse. The Freak takes his place and reforms into The Human Eternal. Invisible Clergy doesn't know what the fuck is going on. All bets are off now that the next 3/3/03 will be in the year 2103.
Is anyone else excited for the new avatars? I can't wait to play an opportunist and be the sleaziest motherfucker in the room.
>>47700587
My favorite thing is that they actually use the proper term for hacker in the avatar of the hacker. Avatar's of the hacker are not allowed to use the right tool for the job out of they box, they must make something else do something else to get something.
A hacker can't drive a muscle car, he must make a shitbox go extraordinarily fast.
A hacker can't use a new laptop, he must get his old thinkpad brick to run the latest software.
A hacker can't use a supercomputer, he has to ducktape a shitload of PS3s together.
>>47701010
So can a hacker use items for their normal intent if they use them in a needlessly complicated way? Because it seems very UA to have a hacker setting up a rube goldberg machine to prevent taboo. Or even better, using them as part of gutter magick.
Just picture it: The party breaks into a rathole apartment full of home alone style traps. Most of them barely function and are easily stopped, but if even one gets through the hacker can put a nasty negative tilt on them.
>>47701225
That definitely sounds like it wouldn't break taboo. The idea of the hacker is that they believe they can build anything, fix anything, and mod anything. A hacker has to be able to use things in ways nobody else can.
>>47701299
Hairdryer full of home-grown anthrax.
>>47701825
He's not dying of old age, he's just ascending when he feels like it.
>>47701859
Ascending isn't the only goal.
>>47702147
By a lot of arguments, being a Godwalker's better than ascending.
>>47703924
Eh, Hacking the Planet is very 90s. People play a microeconomic game these days. The nail that sticks out gets hammered into the next fucking century.
You step up, play the Big Games, and everybody jumps on you. It's all petty hypocrisies now. People don't believe in much, or what they do believe in changes every few months. It's like surfing in a storm. You can't stand up. Either you grow some wings - good luck - or you learn to float.
So if you were to set out to channel the survivor, how would you get started? The big not dying taboo is taking unnecessary risks, so purposefully crashing a plane and going out to play Hatchet is counter productive. Do you just start camping, hope disaster strikes when you're grocery shopping, or fill a cellar with potted meat and toilet paper?
>>47704508
You'd most likely take some kind of high mortality job and then just do whatever it takes to survive, throwing any kind of moral stance out the window. Like joining some kind of terrorist group and throwing away your suicide vest at the last minute.
>>47704548
Oh, and also gunning down everyone that's on your side as well so that you don't get killed for refusing to die.
>>47704508
Go off the grid. Move to a third world country where your kind - whatever that is - isn't wanted. Take a vow of poverty. Live life the hard way.
Survive.
Don't forget to spread those genes!
Lies! All of it.
>>47706160
What?
>>47706173
Everything.
Can you level up your fighting skill of Struggle with exp or roll your "Martial Artist" or "Former Soldier" identities instead? Because it seems weird you can't get better at fighting except by getting notches.
>>47706792
Getting notches is the only way to get a better struggle score. At the end of the day you DON'T want to get notches so anything that requires notches means, roleplaying wise, you are only good at because of trauma that pulls you away from society.
You shouldn't be good at killing people, you are meant to Connect with people.
You shouldn't have a fanatical devotion to pursuing your cause, you're meant to have family, friends, and a Status in society.
To be naturally good at avoiding harm often means you've been harmed or abused far too many times in your life, this can erode your self image and accept the horrible Health of your body as a fact of life.
You shouldn't know the horrible secrets of the world to the point where you accept anything as normal, a normal person would Notice when things aren't right.
You shouldn't be so used to lying to yourself and others that you can't even trust what you Know(ledge).
So overall would you guys rate the changes in fluff as good or not?
>>47708556
The good news is, even if you don't like the new fluff you can just set your game before 3/3/03.
>>47708556
The background hasn't changed, it has developed. This is not a retcon, it is a continuation.
>>47708677
>>47708705
...Okay, but are the 'developments' good? Do they make sense? Are they interesting? Do we have to deal with more stupidly overpowered, special snowflake GM-PC's like the Freak and Comte?
>>47709028
On a first glance it seems a bit less in touch with the zeitgeist than the old edition. No idea how it'll play.
Without the update the game would have remained in the sphere of pre-9/11 without social media, where smoking was commonly accepted and a cop stopping by a school was something to talk about. About half the potential players wouldn't even be in a position to understand what it is about.
>>47708107
But that is bullshit. Is Stolze gonna disappoint me? That wasn't in 2e.
>>47708107
What about shooting? Shooting is not Struggling, is it?
>>47709219
A 70-year old veteran that has seen some shit is obviously a better fighter than a young 20-something martial artist that has only mostly fought in a dojo, anon.
Thankfully, I still own a copy of 2e, and converting stuff back to 2e while keeping the new setting should be trivial.
>>47709234
Any form of aggressive combat action is counted under Struggle.
Shooting is Struggle.
Wrestling is either Struggle or Health depending on if it's an endurance thing.
Stabbing somebody is Struggle.
etc
Typically you don't want to rely on the stats tied to your notches, you want to use your identity whenever you can. The stats tied to your notches are kind of only there when you don't have an identity that will work for you.
>>47709417
So you CAN fight with Martial Artist identity?
Also if you want Unknown Armies 2e in print for about $20 or so get a pdf from here on 4chan and then have PrintMe1 print you one. They do good work though unless you're willing to splurge a bit it's going to be in black and white except for the cover page.
>>47709435
Oh woops, sorry about that, I must have misread one of your earlier posts. Yeah, you can fight with your martial artist identity, and you're supposed to do it that way.
>>47709445
Here's one I did for GURPS that came to around $30 though I edited the pdf to have both the characters and campaign book along with a better binding.
>>47709445
Alternatively you can get a used copy for around 15 dollars.
>>47709512
Eh, the printed one are in better condition and they're not that much more expensive. You can also choose what gets printed as well by adding adding or removing pages as well. So if you want a chapter from Stratosphere, some modules, or maybe don't want the intro story and fluff it's easily done as well.
>>47709577
>Stratosphere
>>47709679
It was the first one that came to mind since I've just downloaded the pdf.
>>47709028
Comte is nowa BBEG, so you won't have to deal with him anymore.
>>47709715
Read that again, young acolyte.
>>47709722
Which an improvement butwith Freak becoming The Human Eternal it's not as much of one as it could have been I feel.Still any more word on the Cruel Ones?
>>47709752
Oh, Statosphere not Stratosphere.
>>47709435
The way that Identities work is that you say "I'm an _____, of course I can...". So for Martial Artist you say "I'm a Martial Artist, of course I can beat someone up, center myself in a tense situation, mend light wounds, defend myself from close quarters attacks..." and some other stuff like that. It's actually a really great system.
You can also have more than one Identity. I think the guide for new characters is that you have 130% worth of Identities, and you can't have an identity below 30% or above 80% at the start, though I don't remember the exact numbers.
>>47709435
To clarify: if some core component of your character's identity is too important to leave it to the shifting melange of the shock gauges, you incorporate it into an identity.
Identities get a broad penumbra of shit (the whole "I'm an 'x', of course I can 'y'" thing) and three specific qualities. These qualities are picked from a defined list that includes: replacing skills, providing wound points, eyeballing and coercing people's gauges (so social combat is now kind of a thing), resisting trauma to particular gauges and a bunch of other shit I'm forgetting.
