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Unknown Armies
Unknown Armies 2nd (second) edition Text Only
What will you risk to change the world? The acclaimed RPG of modern occult intrigue returns in a stunning new hardcover edition. Completely reorganized, largely rewritten, and jam-packed with new art, the second edition of Unknown Armies isn't just better. It kicks metaphysical ass!We've remixed the book based on the level of campaign you want to Street, Global, or Cosmic. At street level, you're outsiders to the secret world of magick, ordinary people entering a land of mystery and peril. At global level, you're mojo-wielding cabalists in the occult underground, pursuing your arcane agendas and plotting against your rivals. At cosmic level, you're in tune with the cosmos itself, fighting to shape the next incarnation of reality. Background material is divided up as well, so new players in a street-level campaign only read what theGM wants them to know.But the beats don't stop Much more information for new players, to get them into the mindset of the game and help them make better characters and stronger campaigns.* New character-creation options, including Trigger Events, Paradigm Skills, and power levels scaled to match the level of campaign you're playing.* Numerous rules tweaks, including a new initiative system, Fuzzy Logic skill checks, player-directed combat modifiers, amped-up martial arts rules, a new experience system, and more, all dedicated to upgrading UA's innovative percentile system into a lean and precise tool for fast play and player empowerment.* More magick for Authentic Thaumaturgy, new rituals and artifacts, and revised versions of Proxy Magick and Tilts allow the freewheeling use of symbolic, sympathetic magick by anyone with the will to make it happen.* Twelve schools of magick (up from seven in UA1) for obsessed adepts, including revised versions of published schools (Bibliomancy, Personamancy, and Urbanomancy) and two new schools (Videomancy and Narcotic Alchemy).* Fourteen avatars (up from eight in UA1) for archetypalists, including revised versions of published avatars (The Messenger, The Mother, The Mystic Hermaphrodite, and the True King) and two new avatars (The MVP and The Warrior).* More resources for the GM, including specific guidance on combat, wounds, skill checks, campaign building, and other critical issues.* New cover art and design, new interior art and design, and a hardcover binding to keep this game in line.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1999
2 people are currently reading
128 people want to read
About the author
Greg Stolze
147 books57 followersGreg Stolze (born 1970) is an American novelist and writer, whose work has mainly focused on properties derived from role-playing games.
Stolze has contributed to numerous role-playing game books for White Wolf Game Studio and Atlas Games, including Demon: the Fallen. Some of Stolze's recent work has been self-published using the "ransom method", whereby the game is only released when enough potential buyers have contributed enough money to reach a threshold set by the author.
Together with John Tynes he created and wrote the role-playing game Unknown Armies, published by Atlas Games. He has also co-written the free game NEMESIS, which uses the One-Roll Engine presented in Godlike and the so called Madness Meter derived from Unknown Armies.
Stolze has contributed to numerous role-playing game books for White Wolf Game Studio and Atlas Games, including Demon: the Fallen. Some of Stolze's recent work has been self-published using the "ransom method", whereby the game is only released when enough potential buyers have contributed enough money to reach a threshold set by the author.
Together with John Tynes he created and wrote the role-playing game Unknown Armies, published by Atlas Games. He has also co-written the free game NEMESIS, which uses the One-Roll Engine presented in Godlike and the so called Madness Meter derived from Unknown Armies.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
September 17, 2018
I'd never thought I'd rate so high a 1) horror; 2) RPG manual--as a piece of literature. However, Unknown Armies has impressed (and surprised) me in both departments.
In terms of themes, this must be the first role-playing world, where fighting or trying to kill someone is the most desperate, dangerous or plain stupid course of action you can take. Tellingly, the "Combat" section of the rules starts with "Six Ways to Stop a Fight." I'm hooked already there. (I'm tired, sick and--whaddya know--skeptical of violence: its power to resolve anything.) The game does splendid justice to its tagline, "power and consequences": go get the power if you must--but mind the consequences.
In terms of language, UA dazzles. I can't recall the last time when I had to sift through my slang dictionaries so many times per page. The writing, especially in the first three books, especially in the gossip sections ("What You Hear"), is superb. (In Book Four, aimed directly at Gamemasters, the authors state up front that they're gonna drop "the three dollar words," for the sake of brevity. Fair enough.)
Highly recommended to anyone who's looking for a deeper, subtler game--or building their own.
In terms of themes, this must be the first role-playing world, where fighting or trying to kill someone is the most desperate, dangerous or plain stupid course of action you can take. Tellingly, the "Combat" section of the rules starts with "Six Ways to Stop a Fight." I'm hooked already there. (I'm tired, sick and--whaddya know--skeptical of violence: its power to resolve anything.) The game does splendid justice to its tagline, "power and consequences": go get the power if you must--but mind the consequences.
In terms of language, UA dazzles. I can't recall the last time when I had to sift through my slang dictionaries so many times per page. The writing, especially in the first three books, especially in the gossip sections ("What You Hear"), is superb. (In Book Four, aimed directly at Gamemasters, the authors state up front that they're gonna drop "the three dollar words," for the sake of brevity. Fair enough.)
Highly recommended to anyone who's looking for a deeper, subtler game--or building their own.
Read
May 8, 2015Brought to you by Reading Project 2015.
Again, this is H's, so I leave the commentary to him:
"Classic modern occult for the late 90s/early 2000s. The same hidden magic world schtick as about 40% of 1990s RPGs only significantly more, balls-the-wall insane."
Again, this is H's, so I leave the commentary to him:
"Classic modern occult for the late 90s/early 2000s. The same hidden magic world schtick as about 40% of 1990s RPGs only significantly more, balls-the-wall insane."
June 23, 2019
Something witty and shocking and literary, in the urban fantasy genre? Yes: this RPG does the same secretly-magical subculture-glorifying thing as the rest of the 90s, but does it better. The genre might be better described as political horror - the same kind of logical extrapolation of conspiracy theories and occult 'wisdom' as Unsong.
The core mechanic is that there's always a catch: you have to sacrifice to gain magic. In particular, social deviance brings power. Each character has an obsession - the booze mage gets charges from drinking rare liquors, the wealth mage from squandering money, the skater mage from risky stunts, the porn mage from..., the self-harm mage from... This isn't trivial: to get the serious charges you have to permanently change your character. The spells in the book are just suggestions, the characters mostly have to make them up. And this is reflected in the fluff: being edgy isn't a pose, it directly drives your alienation from society and mere reality. You go mad even if you win.
The back story is huge and silly (moves from control of the Street, to the World, to the Cosmos) but also excellent for long campaigns. This thread on a random dead forum is a key part of the book.
Totally perfect for teens. haven't read it since but I will.
Everybody hears things on the street. Some of them might even be true. Like these:
Every single president of the United States has had a glass eye. The same glass eye.
Planes do not actually fly. It is a very elaborate hoax created because the general public does not understand or trust quantum teleportation.
Those games kids play—“step on a crack” and all that— are actually rituals that do stuff, but you’ve really got to believe in them. Kids believe in them, but don’t know what the rituals really do. That’s why kids can survive...
There is a cabal operating in fast food restaurants who want to take over the world by drugging the most popular fast food with powerful magical drugs.
The internet is one big engine. The faster the information flows, the more power it generates. If anyone could find out how to harness this power they could rule the world.
Brendan Behan’s pint glass sits behind the bar in a Dublin pub. Any who drink from it have words flow from them, but at what price?
Nearly every nursery rhyme originated as teaching tools for magicians. You don’t even want to know the magickal meaning of “Three Blind Mice.”
There’s a tape floating around containing a ritual to produce a soundtrack to the caster’s life. The intention was to never again miss anything suspicious or ignore a romantic moment. At the end there is only a long, eerie note—and then static.
There’s a sandwich shop in Atlanta where, if you order the special, along with a hot beverage, they include a small slip of paper telling you the date of your death. Most people just throw it away or eat it by accident.
There’s a kid in Little Rock, Arkansas who gains magical power from boredom.
The final scores of every year’s Superbowl are part of an ever-changing numerology formula that can start and stop wars.
Butane lighters with occult symbology contain listening devices in the bases. The company putting them out is trying to spy into the occult underground with these devices.
Aliens from Proxima Centauri have been living among us now for years, but in the last few months they’ve all started leaving.
The core mechanic is that there's always a catch: you have to sacrifice to gain magic. In particular, social deviance brings power. Each character has an obsession - the booze mage gets charges from drinking rare liquors, the wealth mage from squandering money, the skater mage from risky stunts, the porn mage from..., the self-harm mage from... This isn't trivial: to get the serious charges you have to permanently change your character. The spells in the book are just suggestions, the characters mostly have to make them up. And this is reflected in the fluff: being edgy isn't a pose, it directly drives your alienation from society and mere reality. You go mad even if you win.
The back story is huge and silly (moves from control of the Street, to the World, to the Cosmos) but also excellent for long campaigns. This thread on a random dead forum is a key part of the book.
Totally perfect for teens. haven't read it since but I will.
March 28, 2008
I actually read the 1st Edition, authored mainly by John Tynes, but I'm too lazy to put it into the system.
So, the designers who came up with _Mage: The Ascension_ should probably have hung their heads in shame if they ever read this book. It's the only good modern magic system I've ever encountered, in that it ascribes psychologically realistic motivations and consequences into learning and using magic. Just as a piece of writing, this book is gritty, weird, and freakishly imaginative.
Magicians in this world are all battling (wittingly or not) to ascend to the status of demiurge. This makes most of them extraordinarily unpleasant to deal with. They gain their powers because of deep and overriding obsessions. A pornomancer gets juice from sex acts, a cliomancer (history mage) from interaction with historical items or places, a flesh mage by hurting themself, and so forth. Added to this is one of the more wacked-out ritual magic systems I've ever seen.
This game is a hidden gem. One of these days, maybe I'll even get some people to try it.
So, the designers who came up with _Mage: The Ascension_ should probably have hung their heads in shame if they ever read this book. It's the only good modern magic system I've ever encountered, in that it ascribes psychologically realistic motivations and consequences into learning and using magic. Just as a piece of writing, this book is gritty, weird, and freakishly imaginative.
Magicians in this world are all battling (wittingly or not) to ascend to the status of demiurge. This makes most of them extraordinarily unpleasant to deal with. They gain their powers because of deep and overriding obsessions. A pornomancer gets juice from sex acts, a cliomancer (history mage) from interaction with historical items or places, a flesh mage by hurting themself, and so forth. Added to this is one of the more wacked-out ritual magic systems I've ever seen.
This game is a hidden gem. One of these days, maybe I'll even get some people to try it.
January 30, 2008
This is an excellent RPG, with a simple system and versatile setting. The character creation can take almost no time at all with a good ability to customize your character. The learning curve is gentle and the process of learning is great fun.
The two most impressive portions of the book are the section on "killing other characters" and the sanity system. It is true to life, explaining that any balanced individual would be better off running away, giving in, calling the cops or generally doing anything other then violence. The sanity system is also very apt, the single best representation that I have ever seen.
Two thumbs up.
The two most impressive portions of the book are the section on "killing other characters" and the sanity system. It is true to life, explaining that any balanced individual would be better off running away, giving in, calling the cops or generally doing anything other then violence. The sanity system is also very apt, the single best representation that I have ever seen.
Two thumbs up.
January 16, 2015
A very interesting read. The prose style is generally excellent. It is both irreverent and perceptive, although repetitive at times. I rarely find the obligatory interspersed pieces of fiction to be worthwhile reading in game books but I made a point of reading each one here. The vision of the Occult Underground is a fascinating one. The system is complex enough to be useful and robust but simple enough not to take over the story.
Read
October 23, 2021This is one of my favorite games, a game for which I own (in either physical or electronic form) everything from the 1st and 2nd edition. (There's a 3rd edition that I own nothing of and my birthday is coming up.) It's a very theme-forward game, so let's get into the themes.
Theme 1: Obsessions
This is a horror game about obsession, about what you're willing to do and who you're willing to sacrifice to get what you want. This focus on obsession comes across not just in the setting (with obsessed adepts using magic and obsessed avatars of the archetypes fighting over what the world will be), but in the rules, with special emphasis on your obsession skill (which lets you adjust the dice for favorable rolls) and your emotional triggers (rage, fear, and noble are all part of the character sheet). Everything is so well-honed, and so well-written for this theme that the books never seem to make a misstep.
Theme 2: Horror, degradation
This is the flip side of obsession, as many of the powerful characters have gotten to that point by doing some terrible things, and your PCs may well have to face them too. This leads to the game's five-track stress system: rather than just a madness meter, Unknown Armies asks you to track your character's exposure and resistance to different sorts of stress, like violence, helplessness, the unnatural -- see a monster, roll an unnatural check. If you fail the check, lose a step off that gauge, and eventually go mad; make that check, and you become a little more Hardened to that sort of stimuli. ("Yawn, another tentacle monster, ho-hum.") Which might sound better than madness, but that way lies sociopathy, and more separation from humanity. In other words, things are going to end up badly for you almost no matter what you do -- just what you do will dictate the _flavor_ of badness that results.
Theme 2: Paradox
This is a postmodern take on the fantastic in our world, with adepts gaining magic power from the frisson of paradox -- the love wizard who has to divorce themselves from emotion, the drunk wizard who gains power over the world by losing control of themself, the money wizard who worships the power of money so much that they can never spend it. The world is, in a sense, not just what we perceive it to be, but what we make it by perceiving it.
In fact, the universe is as it is because of certain Archetypes -- the True King, the Savage, the Rebel, the Flying Woman -- who influence the cosmos, but who are themselves influenced by the world, and in fact removable from that stratospheric position by others who follow and believe in that archetype.
Theme 4: History and secrets
The world of Unknown Armies is not a sitcom where everything has to remain the same to leave the world as playable as possible: old magic schools have fallen out of fashion, and in the modern world (when this was being written, 1990s and 2000s), we see that with the clockwork automata magic school; and new magics might be aborning, just as new archetypes or new versions of the archetypes. (For instance, the campaign book To Go features the Messenger archetype possibly being replaced by the Heisenberg Messenger -- the messenger who doesn't maybe always tell the truth because maybe truth is unknown or even unknowable.)
****
Those four themes -- there's probably a dozen more in the book and of course any game might pick out different ones to emphasize -- hit squarely in my interests. (And a bunch of other people too, to judge from the internet. Reminds me of that time on twitter I praised Robin D. Laws for his work on Dreamhounds of Paris, which is a game at the intersection of interwar surrealists and Lovecraft's Dreamlands, though how many people would be interested in that intersection besides just me? Laws responded "There are more of you than you think!") So how about the books? Which ones should you get?
Keep in mind that I haven't read the 3rd edition, but from looking at reviews, it seems to pare back one of the things that begins to bother me a little in this setting: in the 1st and 2nd editions, there are so many cabals, avatars, adepts, etc. -- and they're all so interesting -- that sometimes I wonder what PCs actually do. The 3rd edition apparently gives more blank space for the players to worldbuild in. That said:
The 1st edition corebook is fine, but the 2nd edition cleans some of the rules up and is much better organized, including one of my favorite things, different levels of play. So you can play street magicians just trying to get by, big machers in the underground, or even the big players who are vying for Ascension. (I really love the way this corebook introduces what those worlds might look like to people through little one-sheet monologues about what this or that person witnessed.) But honestly, so much is already right in the 1st edition, which has one of my favorite intro adventures, about a guy who somehow got duplicated into three versions of himself years ago, and how their return home at the same time threatens something deep in the universal warp-and-weft.
The 2nd edition corebook also contains a lot of information that was in some of the other books in the 1st edition, or possibly I've just been so deeply infected by this world that I see it everywhere now.
Some of the books help expand the world by detailing different groups; for instance, Lawyers, Guns, and Money is all about the New Inquisition, this private army of weirdos and last-chancers put together by an incredibly wealthy and driven businessman. They could be an employer or an enemy, and this book really fills out their world. (I really do love so many of the NPCs here and how things are brought together, from the ex-hippie adept to the disgraced plastic surgeon who doesn't know anything about the true nature of the world.)
Similarly, Hush Hush is all about the Sleepers, the other incredibly rich cabal that is dedicated to keeping magic stuff hidden because if everyone knew about it, they would go mad. (This book has rioting rules that were then incorporated into the 2nd ed corebook.)
By contrast, Break Today covers Max Attak, the fast-food-based cabal of plebeian adepts and know-nothings who are dedicated to infusing magic into every day life -- literally handing out pieces of magical power at random to costumers -- and so bringing about a magical enlightenment. It's really no wonder that these are the three cabals that get full book write-ups as the breakdown of the three neatly triangulates most positions towards magic. (Still, it was about the time that I was reading Break Today that I felt like there were just a lot of important people running around this universe.)
The other major type of supplement (after the cabal investigation and sourcebook) is the expansion of some magical corner. So Stratosphere gives the 1st edition rules on the Invisible Clergy, that group of archetypes that both influences and is influenced by the world; this book also gives us the wonderful Rooms of Renunciation, a magical bit of psychotherapy that turns people into their ideological opposites after they fail.
Meanwhile, Postmodern Magick gives us more of that: more schools of magic, artifacts, NPCs, etc. I don't know that there's anything here that stuck out as great, per se, and a lot of this got incorporated into the 2nd edition, but I left myself a note that this is a must-have, so you can't have my copy.
Besides supplements and sourcebooks, Unknown Armies was also pretty well supplied with adventures, including two books of one-shots. (Since this is a horror game at heart, it might be wise not to get too attached to your characters, and some of these one-shots take place in such specific circumstances that the adventure provides pre-generated characters, like escapees from a jailbreak or passengers on the plane.)
One-Shots is just that, and I think maybe the first supplement for the 1st edition, showcasing the weirdness of the UA world. (Is it just me, or are there a lot of automata running around who think they're people?) Most notably, this book from 1999 includes the adventure "Fly me to Heaven," where a bad guy hijacks a passenger jet and tries to crash it into a tall tower in order to ascend as the archetype of the Terrorist. So, yeah. I'm not sure it's playable now, but sure wish someone would pay some RPG writers to form a think tank.
Weep is another set of one-shots, much less typical adventures and more examples of what other weirdness you can do, such as getting trapped in a nightmare city, finding the Swap Meet where the avatars of the Merchant archetype trade things beyond money, or a PCs befriend a nice family that was never real. My favorite two straight up adventures here (nightmare city being a great _concept_ and the never-real family playing out in a series of vignettes that don't really give the PCs much to do) are one in which PCs investigate a town's weirdness only to learn that it's just small-town resentment tearing it apart, no magic required; and one in which a bitter writer is channeling the horrors of his creation into his urban home.
(A small note about the art: some of the art is very late 90s "eerie" photographs, like a doll in an abandoned field, and I do not have time for this, in part probably because that's what I was taking photos of in the late 90s too.)
The last book in my collection is the campaign To Go, in which the PCs try to hunt down 7 major magical charges in the 7 cities of America's misaligned chakras; it's a great campaign frame, with a rich set of antagonists and allies, and I loved how the big illustrations (from the cover on in) follow an example adventuring party as they go from ready for adventure to limping through yet another meat- and mind-grinder of an encounter. I'm not sure I love each of the seven chapters, and there's still so much going on that I can't imagine running this game in my cold- and cold-medicine-addled state, but it does give a good hologram for what an Unknown Armies campaign could be.
Books I got in the Bundle of Holding offer:
Unknown Armies, 2nd edition
Godwalker (novel, I think I owned a hard copy of this and even read it?)
One Shots and Weep, scenario collections
Break Today
Stratosphere
To Go
Books I own in physical form
Unknown Armies, 1st and 2nd edition
One Shots and Weep
Stratosphere
Postmodern Magic
Lawyers, Guns and Money
Hush Hush
Theme 1: Obsessions
This is a horror game about obsession, about what you're willing to do and who you're willing to sacrifice to get what you want. This focus on obsession comes across not just in the setting (with obsessed adepts using magic and obsessed avatars of the archetypes fighting over what the world will be), but in the rules, with special emphasis on your obsession skill (which lets you adjust the dice for favorable rolls) and your emotional triggers (rage, fear, and noble are all part of the character sheet). Everything is so well-honed, and so well-written for this theme that the books never seem to make a misstep.
Theme 2: Horror, degradation
This is the flip side of obsession, as many of the powerful characters have gotten to that point by doing some terrible things, and your PCs may well have to face them too. This leads to the game's five-track stress system: rather than just a madness meter, Unknown Armies asks you to track your character's exposure and resistance to different sorts of stress, like violence, helplessness, the unnatural -- see a monster, roll an unnatural check. If you fail the check, lose a step off that gauge, and eventually go mad; make that check, and you become a little more Hardened to that sort of stimuli. ("Yawn, another tentacle monster, ho-hum.") Which might sound better than madness, but that way lies sociopathy, and more separation from humanity. In other words, things are going to end up badly for you almost no matter what you do -- just what you do will dictate the _flavor_ of badness that results.
Theme 2: Paradox
This is a postmodern take on the fantastic in our world, with adepts gaining magic power from the frisson of paradox -- the love wizard who has to divorce themselves from emotion, the drunk wizard who gains power over the world by losing control of themself, the money wizard who worships the power of money so much that they can never spend it. The world is, in a sense, not just what we perceive it to be, but what we make it by perceiving it.
In fact, the universe is as it is because of certain Archetypes -- the True King, the Savage, the Rebel, the Flying Woman -- who influence the cosmos, but who are themselves influenced by the world, and in fact removable from that stratospheric position by others who follow and believe in that archetype.
Theme 4: History and secrets
The world of Unknown Armies is not a sitcom where everything has to remain the same to leave the world as playable as possible: old magic schools have fallen out of fashion, and in the modern world (when this was being written, 1990s and 2000s), we see that with the clockwork automata magic school; and new magics might be aborning, just as new archetypes or new versions of the archetypes. (For instance, the campaign book To Go features the Messenger archetype possibly being replaced by the Heisenberg Messenger -- the messenger who doesn't maybe always tell the truth because maybe truth is unknown or even unknowable.)
****
Those four themes -- there's probably a dozen more in the book and of course any game might pick out different ones to emphasize -- hit squarely in my interests. (And a bunch of other people too, to judge from the internet. Reminds me of that time on twitter I praised Robin D. Laws for his work on Dreamhounds of Paris, which is a game at the intersection of interwar surrealists and Lovecraft's Dreamlands, though how many people would be interested in that intersection besides just me? Laws responded "There are more of you than you think!") So how about the books? Which ones should you get?
Keep in mind that I haven't read the 3rd edition, but from looking at reviews, it seems to pare back one of the things that begins to bother me a little in this setting: in the 1st and 2nd editions, there are so many cabals, avatars, adepts, etc. -- and they're all so interesting -- that sometimes I wonder what PCs actually do. The 3rd edition apparently gives more blank space for the players to worldbuild in. That said:
The 1st edition corebook is fine, but the 2nd edition cleans some of the rules up and is much better organized, including one of my favorite things, different levels of play. So you can play street magicians just trying to get by, big machers in the underground, or even the big players who are vying for Ascension. (I really love the way this corebook introduces what those worlds might look like to people through little one-sheet monologues about what this or that person witnessed.) But honestly, so much is already right in the 1st edition, which has one of my favorite intro adventures, about a guy who somehow got duplicated into three versions of himself years ago, and how their return home at the same time threatens something deep in the universal warp-and-weft.
The 2nd edition corebook also contains a lot of information that was in some of the other books in the 1st edition, or possibly I've just been so deeply infected by this world that I see it everywhere now.
Some of the books help expand the world by detailing different groups; for instance, Lawyers, Guns, and Money is all about the New Inquisition, this private army of weirdos and last-chancers put together by an incredibly wealthy and driven businessman. They could be an employer or an enemy, and this book really fills out their world. (I really do love so many of the NPCs here and how things are brought together, from the ex-hippie adept to the disgraced plastic surgeon who doesn't know anything about the true nature of the world.)
Similarly, Hush Hush is all about the Sleepers, the other incredibly rich cabal that is dedicated to keeping magic stuff hidden because if everyone knew about it, they would go mad. (This book has rioting rules that were then incorporated into the 2nd ed corebook.)
By contrast, Break Today covers Max Attak, the fast-food-based cabal of plebeian adepts and know-nothings who are dedicated to infusing magic into every day life -- literally handing out pieces of magical power at random to costumers -- and so bringing about a magical enlightenment. It's really no wonder that these are the three cabals that get full book write-ups as the breakdown of the three neatly triangulates most positions towards magic. (Still, it was about the time that I was reading Break Today that I felt like there were just a lot of important people running around this universe.)
The other major type of supplement (after the cabal investigation and sourcebook) is the expansion of some magical corner. So Stratosphere gives the 1st edition rules on the Invisible Clergy, that group of archetypes that both influences and is influenced by the world; this book also gives us the wonderful Rooms of Renunciation, a magical bit of psychotherapy that turns people into their ideological opposites after they fail.
Meanwhile, Postmodern Magick gives us more of that: more schools of magic, artifacts, NPCs, etc. I don't know that there's anything here that stuck out as great, per se, and a lot of this got incorporated into the 2nd edition, but I left myself a note that this is a must-have, so you can't have my copy.
Besides supplements and sourcebooks, Unknown Armies was also pretty well supplied with adventures, including two books of one-shots. (Since this is a horror game at heart, it might be wise not to get too attached to your characters, and some of these one-shots take place in such specific circumstances that the adventure provides pre-generated characters, like escapees from a jailbreak or passengers on the plane.)
One-Shots is just that, and I think maybe the first supplement for the 1st edition, showcasing the weirdness of the UA world. (Is it just me, or are there a lot of automata running around who think they're people?) Most notably, this book from 1999 includes the adventure "Fly me to Heaven," where a bad guy hijacks a passenger jet and tries to crash it into a tall tower in order to ascend as the archetype of the Terrorist. So, yeah. I'm not sure it's playable now, but sure wish someone would pay some RPG writers to form a think tank.
Weep is another set of one-shots, much less typical adventures and more examples of what other weirdness you can do, such as getting trapped in a nightmare city, finding the Swap Meet where the avatars of the Merchant archetype trade things beyond money, or a PCs befriend a nice family that was never real. My favorite two straight up adventures here (nightmare city being a great _concept_ and the never-real family playing out in a series of vignettes that don't really give the PCs much to do) are one in which PCs investigate a town's weirdness only to learn that it's just small-town resentment tearing it apart, no magic required; and one in which a bitter writer is channeling the horrors of his creation into his urban home.
(A small note about the art: some of the art is very late 90s "eerie" photographs, like a doll in an abandoned field, and I do not have time for this, in part probably because that's what I was taking photos of in the late 90s too.)
The last book in my collection is the campaign To Go, in which the PCs try to hunt down 7 major magical charges in the 7 cities of America's misaligned chakras; it's a great campaign frame, with a rich set of antagonists and allies, and I loved how the big illustrations (from the cover on in) follow an example adventuring party as they go from ready for adventure to limping through yet another meat- and mind-grinder of an encounter. I'm not sure I love each of the seven chapters, and there's still so much going on that I can't imagine running this game in my cold- and cold-medicine-addled state, but it does give a good hologram for what an Unknown Armies campaign could be.
Books I got in the Bundle of Holding offer:
Unknown Armies, 2nd edition
Godwalker (novel, I think I owned a hard copy of this and even read it?)
One Shots and Weep, scenario collections
Break Today
Stratosphere
To Go
Books I own in physical form
Unknown Armies, 1st and 2nd edition
One Shots and Weep
Stratosphere
Postmodern Magic
Lawyers, Guns and Money
Hush Hush
June 13, 2012
My favorite RPG book of all time. It is simply the best written rulebook ever (and the rest of the line is top notch too), I love the system, I love the setting, and I love the authors style in portraying all of it.
UA is a game of "urban fantasy/terror" where magic is real, yes, and things move in the background of our normal world. Aha, you say, another one. Not, not really. This is a game where the biggest magical battles of the world are fought by bums, addicts, and total freaks, because being a mage is, fundamentally, being a loser, an obsessed waste of a person that cant just get out of the realization that reality can bend to your will - if you will is insane enough.
It is a game where cosmic relevance may be at your fingertips. By faithfully following an Archetype in the minds of humanity - and those change with the times, and not all archetypes are glamourous. That guy that you think is the very best example of the worst of, say, bureocracy? That guy can be just a step from achieving transcendence and become one of the ruling forces of the universe... and ensure it has a place for petty meaningless boring soul-crushing paperwork forever.
It is a game where monsters prey on humanity. Only the monsters are human, too. In the end, everything in the setting is our own fault, individual or collective. The whole universe is a reflection of humanity - if it sucks, is because we do.
The system is a simple BRP derivate with some twists and a wonderful extension of the "sanity" mechanics of Call of Cthulhu to encompass more axis for your mental health to go from normal to fucked-up. And even at the system level the satiric, ironic, and streetwise atmosphere of the game keeps up instead of being diluted in crunch; this is a system where you name your own skills with whatever name you want, for example.
All in all, again, for me this is the very, very best RPG in terms of writing, setting, and sheer fun of play I've ever played.
UA is a game of "urban fantasy/terror" where magic is real, yes, and things move in the background of our normal world. Aha, you say, another one. Not, not really. This is a game where the biggest magical battles of the world are fought by bums, addicts, and total freaks, because being a mage is, fundamentally, being a loser, an obsessed waste of a person that cant just get out of the realization that reality can bend to your will - if you will is insane enough.
It is a game where cosmic relevance may be at your fingertips. By faithfully following an Archetype in the minds of humanity - and those change with the times, and not all archetypes are glamourous. That guy that you think is the very best example of the worst of, say, bureocracy? That guy can be just a step from achieving transcendence and become one of the ruling forces of the universe... and ensure it has a place for petty meaningless boring soul-crushing paperwork forever.
It is a game where monsters prey on humanity. Only the monsters are human, too. In the end, everything in the setting is our own fault, individual or collective. The whole universe is a reflection of humanity - if it sucks, is because we do.
The system is a simple BRP derivate with some twists and a wonderful extension of the "sanity" mechanics of Call of Cthulhu to encompass more axis for your mental health to go from normal to fucked-up. And even at the system level the satiric, ironic, and streetwise atmosphere of the game keeps up instead of being diluted in crunch; this is a system where you name your own skills with whatever name you want, for example.
All in all, again, for me this is the very, very best RPG in terms of writing, setting, and sheer fun of play I've ever played.
August 30, 2014
Unknown Armies is an RPG set in a world like ours, but which has an “occult underground,” the weirdness of which was inspired by the novels of Tim Powers, David Lynch films, and Shea and Wilson’s Illuminatus! trilogy. The setting is entirely humanistic, with every “magickal” presence being human, formerly human, or a product of humans. It’s also very post-modern: the power of belief and perception overrules that of any objective reality. As one of the taglines of the game states, “You Did It.” An excellent, and darkly humorous, source book for lovers of the genre of gritty, painful magic, regardless of their inclination or ability to game.
September 5, 2015
A mgnificent game, easily my favorite one. I wonder if splatbooks are easy to find...
February 16, 2024
awesome rpg setting with tons of cool occult ideas and a bigger focus on rp and interpersonal conflict. But when combat shows up it's deadly. very versatile in style, u cld run it straight up horror or suspense or even just silly. Theres some shit thats pretty dated. I found the self-harm adept to be a lil much and i wont be putting those in the game, aswell as some of the writing for politics and factions in the GM section. Some rules are a bit overkill for me too but I appreciate the flexibility offered with this game. But overall a great read if yr thinking like delta green or call of cthulhu but minus lovecraftian lore more post-modern chaos magick-y then its totally worth checking out. lots of good fiction here too.
October 28, 2021
This RPG is basically "Grant Morrison: The Home Game". Weird, surreal, insane, and just generally off the wall.
The rules are just a slightly more complex version of the Basic Roleplaying system (Used by games such as Call of Cthulhu) with a very imaginative insanity system bolted on. Where this game shines, though, is also where it falters a bit. There is just so much stuff here to digest. You could spend a long time delving through Unknown Armies' magic, occult groups, important people, etc. and just barely scratch the surface. This is really not a game where you can read it once through quickly and then get it right to the table.
The rules are just a slightly more complex version of the Basic Roleplaying system (Used by games such as Call of Cthulhu) with a very imaginative insanity system bolted on. Where this game shines, though, is also where it falters a bit. There is just so much stuff here to digest. You could spend a long time delving through Unknown Armies' magic, occult groups, important people, etc. and just barely scratch the surface. This is really not a game where you can read it once through quickly and then get it right to the table.
January 5, 2022
Gee howdy was this world and game designed in the 90s.
That’s not a complaint, just an observation. The underlying premises; the creepy conspiracy theory vibe, the mechanics having so much to do with emotional immersion, and emotional immersion into broken people, is just so typical of the time. Yes this is the 2002 second edition but the game is already struggling to catch up with the new reality the players are in. I’m interested to see what the 2017 3rd edition looks like.
At the core it stands up as a great game - clean design, open concepts, drives hard for its thematic goals - and I’m happy to finally have a copy.
That’s not a complaint, just an observation. The underlying premises; the creepy conspiracy theory vibe, the mechanics having so much to do with emotional immersion, and emotional immersion into broken people, is just so typical of the time. Yes this is the 2002 second edition but the game is already struggling to catch up with the new reality the players are in. I’m interested to see what the 2017 3rd edition looks like.
At the core it stands up as a great game - clean design, open concepts, drives hard for its thematic goals - and I’m happy to finally have a copy.
December 21, 2022
Far and away the best of the 1990s occult horror RPGs. The expanded 2nd edition incorporates the best additions from the 1st edition supplement line, and despite 3rd edition coming it is the best version of the game if you want to run a campaign where the PCs are unaware of the occult underground at the start. Full review: https://refereeingandreflection.wordp...
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May 10, 2025Read about a third of this to familiarise myself with the rules and the bizarrely believable Occult Underground world in which the game is set. Our game ran out of steam at some point, but it was a wild ride while it lasted.
August 6, 2017
Awesome setting and system. Really excited to run it.
September 8, 2025
Never got to play it, loved reading it. Amazing system to denote mental stability and the slow erosion of humanity, lovely dark background. I had fun with this one. Good game.
February 21, 2017
¿Sabía usted que...
...las listas de "100 películas para ver antes de morir" realmente le otorgan la inmortalidad a quien logra verlas en su totalidad?
...todos los presidentes de Estados Unidos han tenido un ojo de vidrio? ¿El mismo ojo?
...al menos doce suicidios han sido atribuídos a la cancelación de "En Familia con Chabelo"?
...todos los perros van al cielo?
...la razón por la que el hombre no ha regresado a la luna es porque los gritos no dejan hablar?
Bueno, ya. Tráete 2d10 y tira a ver si ese vagabundo no terminó derritiéndote la cara.
...las listas de "100 películas para ver antes de morir" realmente le otorgan la inmortalidad a quien logra verlas en su totalidad?
...todos los presidentes de Estados Unidos han tenido un ojo de vidrio? ¿El mismo ojo?
...al menos doce suicidios han sido atribuídos a la cancelación de "En Familia con Chabelo"?
...todos los perros van al cielo?
...la razón por la que el hombre no ha regresado a la luna es porque los gritos no dejan hablar?
Bueno, ya. Tráete 2d10 y tira a ver si ese vagabundo no terminó derritiéndote la cara.
Read
December 5, 2010It's an RPG System book, but its concepts, theology and reality world are part of a dark universe that can provide a lot of imaginative stories. I wonder if have been or will be romances on this universe. Looks like Stephen King twisting a John Lennon's fiction.
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