Unknown Armies

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Unknown Armies
Unknown Armies 2nd edition cover
Designer(s)	John Tynes, Greg Stolze
Publisher(s)	Atlas Games
Publication date	1998
Genre(s)	Urban fantasy, postmodern magic
System	Custom

Unknown Armies (abbreviated UA) is an occult-themed role playing game by John Tynes and Greg Stolze and published by Atlas Games. Subtitled "A roleplaying game of power and consequences". The first edition was paperbound and published in 1998 (with the original subtitle of "A roleplaying game of transcendental horror and furious action"), the revised and expanded 2nd edition was published in a hardbound format in 2002 (with a second printing in 2004).

The game is set in a modern-day "occult underground," populated by loose networks of shadowy cabals and practitioners of magic. Commonly described as "Quentin Tarantino's Call of Cthulhu" by RPG fans, the style and setting of the game draws on a number of influences, including the fantasy novels of Tim Powers, the crime novels of James Ellroy, the films of David Lynch, the Illuminatus! Trilogy, and comic books such as Grant Morrison's The Invisibles. The game creates an extensive postmodern mythology of everyday weirdness and magic that lurks in the shadows of the mind.

Several supplements and adventure collections for Unknown Armies have been produced but further books are not currently planned. They are:

One Shots: Five Stand-Alone Scenarios
Lawyers, Guns, and Money: The New Inquisition Sourcebook
Postmodern Magick: The Unnatural Sourcebook (usually abbreviated PoMoMa)
Statosphere: The Invisible Clergy Sourcebook
Hush, Hush: The Sleepers Sourcebook
Weep: Six Scenarios of Woe and Ruin
To Go: The Occult Roadtrip Campaign
Break Today: The Mak Attax Sourcebook

A licensed edition of Unknown Armies in German has been released in September, 2005, by Vortex Verlag under the SighPress Label. The German edition ("Ein Rollenspiel um Macht und Konsequenzen") is hardbound, 440 pages, complete as the original, and also includes some additional information about weapon laws in German - to make it easier to use Germany as an alternative setting as well as new artwork and lay out from European artists and designers.