Unknown Armies

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Unknown Armies
Unknown Armies 2nd edition cover
Designer	John Tynes, Greg Stolze
Publisher	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 and a third printing in 2007).

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,^{[citation needed]} 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
The Ascension of the Magdalene

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 layout from European artists and designers.

[edit] System

Unknown Armies uses a percentile dice system where checks are made by rolling two 10 sided dice, with one representing the "tens" and the other representing the "singles" digit (d100 for short). Players aim to roll under their appropriate skill in order to pass their skill test, however, it is unlike standard systems in that the higher the roll obtained the better the result (while still keeping under the skill level).

Players can start off as mundanes, Avatars or Adepts. The benefit of the latter two is that one finds themselves in tune with some mystic force, and are most likely clued into the Occult Underground. However, playing mundanes also has its advantages as one will can spend their points on aspects other than an Avatars or Adepts power.

Each character's statistics are split into 4 main categories:

Body - deals with main physical skills
Speed - deals with dexterity based skills
Mind - deals with mental skills
Soul - deals with personality and "spiritual" based skills

The system is considered flexible in that players can choose their own skills (for example, one can substitute the "Guns" skill with "Shooting things from far away").

Each player's character also starts off with an obsession (something the character is passionate about) and assigns a relevant skill. (For example, an obsessive stamp collector will most likely have the appraise skill as an obsessive skill.)

The system also introduces the concept of 'flip-flopping', where players who are using their Obsession skill can choose to switch the "tens" and "singles" of their dice rolls (for example, turning 74 in 47.)

There are also 5 madness meters, which help catalogue your character's sanity:

Violence - Represents your character's reaction to violent acts
Unnatural - Represents your character's reaction to the unnatural
Helplessness - Represents your character's reaction in helpless situations
Isolation - Represents your character's reaction in periods of isolation/loneliness
Self - Represents your character's ability to deal with issues relating to identity