Unknown Armies (always recruiting)

Started by Kythia, August 06, 2013, 08:59:59 PM

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Kythia

Unknown Armies is, according to the back of the book, "a roleplaying game of power and consequences".  More specifically its a roleplaying game about a vast occult world sitting  alongside, underneath or possibly above the world you know.  In dingy shops and back alleys people study magic or strive to become gods.  Most of the world views them as insane and, well, maybe that's not totally unfair.  But by and large they mind their business and rarely stray into the line of sight of the general population.  Rarely isn't never though, and sometimes people get sucked in...




In order to get the group interacting, there are some criteria for character backgrounds.  You can find an up to date list, along with various other information, on the game's Wiki Page

Shout if you have any interest or questions.
242037

Blythe

I'm interested, but I'm not familiar with the game. I would need walked through character creation.

Also, what kind of posting speed would you be expecting?

Kythia

I can talk you through creation no worries.  It's a relatively involved creation process but I absolutely love this game and think its one of the strongest I've come across.

I can guarantee to three posts a week once I'm caught up from my holidays - which was planned to be two days ago.  So, I dunno, "relatively slow?"  "mid paced?"  Something like that.  Of course, I'll likely be posting more than you, GM as opposed to player, so I shouldn't imagine it'll be too time consuming. 

Of course, if the game takes off, if I get four incredibly enthusiastic players, whatever then I'll need to revaluate and reprioritise that posting.  I'm pretty excited about the game, though, so prepared to put a fair amount of time into it if needed.
242037

Blythe

Awesome. Do you want me to see if I can come up with a concept involving J Horner and the date August 8th?  :-)

Kythia

Yeah.  Obviously you're the first person to express interest so don't, you know, devote the rest of your life to thinking of a concept.  But I always feel the best way of doing character creation is to have a character first and assign stats to that (if that makes sense - as opposed to say the DnD way of having stats first and building a character from them).

As you mention, I need the link to Honer's and to 8/8 in order to bring everyone together.  It can be, realistically, pretty loose but I do need it to be there.  If you have any queries on what's acceptable  then shout
242037

Demigod1945

I can say that I'm interested, although I'm also not familiar with game, but I am a incredibly enthusiastic player.

Kythia

Heya Demigod. 

Awesome, thanks for the interest.  Tonight I'm gonna get myself up to date on some of my games I've slipped behind on and then start putting together some character creation info.
242037

Demigod1945

Sounds good, I'll think I'll look up unknown armies, to get myself familiar with it.

Kythia

The Wikipedia page is always a good place to start.  After that, there's a very good fan page (with some of my work on it!) and, if you have nothing to do for the rest of the night, a TV Tropes page.
242037

Remiel

I am in!

My character shall be Norm von McNormalovich, and he shall not be extraordinary in any way. 


Kythia

Good to have you Remiel.  Sit tight, character creation rules are en route.
242037

Kythia

So.  Here's a character sheet I ripped from a book of pre-written scenarios so you can see what one looks like.  I think it's helpful to have an example when doing one for a new game.



Let's work through it in order.

Obsession

This is the thing that drives you, the thing that gives your life meaning.  It doesn't have to be big and noble, something as simple as "Being financially and physically comfortable" is just as fine as "Overthrowing the crypto-fascist military-industrial complex" or "Wiping the Scottish from the face of the Earth"

Some examples from the core rulebook are:
Egyptian Antiquities, Knowing it All, Music, Physical Perfection, Religion

Shout up if you need help defining one.

Passions

These are the things that bring out the worst, most terrified and best in you (Rage, Fear and Noble respectively). 

Are you annoyed by rude people?  The Scottish?  People who give opinions on matters they know nothing about?  There's your Rage Stimulus.  You'll get bonuses to rolls relating to smashing, destorying or otherwise nullifying those things.

Are you scared of snakes?  Being poor?  Becoming Scottish?  Being tied up?  There's your Fear stimulus.  You'll get bonuses to rolls to getting the fuck away from that thing.  You'll notice that the example character sheet has "(Self)" written there, ignore that bit, I'll fill that in.  It relates to the stress gauges below.

Does the suffering of small children bring out the best in you?  Or maybe you think Education is the most important thing of all?  Or maybe you have devoted your life to helping people who are born with genetic Scottishness fit in in civilized life? That's you Noble Stimulus, the thing that brings out the best in you.  You'll get bonuses to rolls that work towards your noble goal.

Shout up if you want some help on this.

Stats

Ah, game mechanics.

You have 220 points to distribute between the four stats.  50 is human average, and I probably won't allow anything to be below 20.

Body is your physical toughness and strength.  It governs how much damage you can survive, how strong you are and how long you can run without needing a rest.
DnD Equivalent: A combination of Strength and Constitution
V:tM Equivalent: A combination of Strength and Stamina

Speed is your physical and mental reaction time.  It covers how fast you sprint, how well you dodge and how clumsy you are.
DnD Equivalent: Dexterity
V:tM Equivalent: A combination of Dexterity and Wits

Mind is your intelligence and ability to retain facts, along with your mental resilience.  It governs how much you know, how fast you can balance your chequebook and how well you react to Things Man Was Not Meant To Know (TM).
DnD Equivalent: A combination of Intelligence and Wisdom
V:tM Equivalent: Intelligence

Soul is your force of personality, emotional and social skills and also your propensity for magic.  It governs seduction, lying and altering the nature of the universe.
DnD Equivalent: A combination of Wisdom and Charisma
V:tM Equivalent: A combination of Charisma and Manipulation

Let me know if you want any help assigning.

Skills

This is where it gets a little tricky.  Each stat has a number of associated skills.  Skills cannot go above the lower of the governing stat or 55 (initially at least.  They can be raised later).  You start off with some free skills and then can raise them in character creation.  You have the number of points in the governing stat to spend on raises in that stat's skills.  So if you have put 60 points of your 220 into Body then you have 60 points to spend on raising Body skills.  Once that is all done, you have a further 15 points you can spend anywhere.

A few things to be aware of before I get to skill descriptions.

1) Penumbra.  This is the term for a host of related skills around the main one.  Take Drive for example.  At low levels of Drive the penumbra covers knowing different makes of cars, the Highway Code, etc.  As you get higher ranks it expands to cover mechanics, maintenance, etc.  In essence, its a way of limiting the number of skills you need to take.  Quoting from the book:
Quote
A skill is more than a direct action. It's also the knowledge you have related to that skill. This area of knowledge around a skill is the penumbra. Your Firearms skill lets you shoot guns, but it"s also the skill you use fOr knowkdge about firearms: what the gun laws are in your area, who sells guns on the black market, how much a gun is worth, and so on. The penumbra is abstract knowledge, it's knowledge of people with similar skills and interests and so on.

Got a skill in Egyptology?  The skill's penumbra means you know about current Egyptian antiquities exhibits touring the country's museums, or who can figure out how old that mummy in your basement is, or where to sell stolen grave goods.  It's all right there in that one skill.

The higher your skill, the wider your penumbra.  Someone with a Firearms skill of 30 is unlikely to know any arms smugglers.  Someone with an Egyptology of 70 is on a first name basis with nationally recognized experts in the field.

2) Skill levels reflect your ability to use the skill under pressure.  So long as you have a rank of 15% you can use that skill in mundane situations without a roll - you don't have an 85% chance of crashing if you drive across town.  You do, however, have an 85% chance of crashing if making a high speed getaway while thugs shoot at you and a demon tries to claw the rook off your car.

3) Matched rolls.  If you roll a matched roll (11,22,33, etc) then the outcome is unusually good or bad, depending on whether its a success or a failure.  This has the side effect of making a skill of 33% more than one percent better than a skill of 32% - as a matched roll of 33 becomes a matched success rather than a matched failure.  It doesn't come up all that often but its worth being aware of.

4) Obsession skills.  See in the sample character sheet how "Belive Me" is bold?  That's because it's the Obsession Skill.  Pick a skill that relates to your obsession.  You can always choose to "flip flop" (essentially switch the tens and units round) this skill.  The choice is up to you and will say something about your character.  Two characters might havve the obsession "Sorting out the city's homeless problem" but if those two characters have taken "Build Houses" and "Hide the Body" as their obsession skills they'll have radically different approaches to how to do that.

Finally, 5)  You can rename skills or even make them up.  There's a list of general skills, which I'll get to in a second, but they're only a starting point.  The sample sheet has "Believe Me" and then an explanation of it, for example.  If you want to make one up, to be able to do something most people can't, then talk to me about it and we'll make something up.  Renaming is similar, and changes the focus.  You have a free skill called "Struggle" which covers melee combat.  You might want to change that to "Karate".  It's still the same thing, but the focus of it, and the penumbra, will be different.

Skills are a tricky area.  Feel free to shout up with any questions.  They are the only tricky bit though.

Anyway.  The skill list.

Body Skills:
General Athletics - Starts at 15%
This covers running, catching a ball, lifting weights, all of that jazz.

Struggle - Starts at 15%
All sorts of Melee.  Hitting people with fists, baseball bats or katanas. 

Other example Body skills (You don't get these for free, but you can spend points on them if you wish.  Or make your own up)

Distracting physique - incredibly beautiful or soul-crushingly ugly, people stop and stare at you.
Hold Your breath - you can hold your breath for a long time
Hold your liquor - You can remain standing after a heavy night boozing
Large and hard to move - you're difficult to take down.

Or what about:
Climbing, Boxing, Weight Lifting, Work without rest, Marathon running, Enduring torture or  Falling down safely.

Speed Skills:
Dodge - Starts at 15%
What it says on the tin.  Getting the hell out of something's way

Drive - Starts at 15%
The ability to drive a car

Initiative - starts at half your speed score.
How quickly you react to stuff

Other example Speed skills (You don't get these for free, but you can spend points on them if you wish.  Or make your own up)

Do Two Things At Once - you're very good at splitting your attention between tasks
Fast Draw - you rock at getting a weapon into your hand quickly
Snatch - the ability to get something out of someone else's hands and into yours
Squirelly Reflexes - you're intrinsically jumpy and move quick at the first sign of trouble

Or what about:
Slight of hand, Picking Pockets, Parlour Magic, Sprinting or Diving for cover

Mind Skills:
Conceal - starts at 15%
The ability to hide things, either on your person or in a room or even hiding yourself

General Education - starts at 15%
The stuff you learnt at school and still remember.  Dates of battles and trigonometry.

Notice - starts at 15%
The ever present spot/perception attribute.

Other example Mind skills (You don't get these for free, but you can spend points on them if you wish.  Or make your own up)

Authority - you're in a position of authority in some formal organisation and can occasionally order people around
Photographic memory - See it once and its always with you

Or what about:
Medicine, Locksmithing, Strategy or Natural Linguist

Soul Skills:
Charm - starts at 15%
Getting people to like you

Lying - starts at 15%
Telling impeccable lies and having them believed

Other example Soul skills (You don't get these for free, but you can spend points on them if you wish.  Or make your own up)

A friend in the family - you have a contact you can call on for favours
Commanding presence - people naturally see you as a leader
Good old whatshisname - you just look kinda familiar to people.

Or what about:
Persuasion, Seduction or Borrowing Stuff

As I say, skills are a little complex.  Feel free to ask for any clarifications.

Finally we reach

Madness Meter

Don't worry about this.  If you know the rules and want to play around with it - paradigm skills or whatever, then fine and ask.  But for those not familiar with the rules, ignore it for the moment and I'll bring it up as and when it becomes relevant.
242037

Demigod1945

ha, seems simple enough.

Kythia

Yeah, explaining a ruleset for a new game is always tricky.  I've made it as easy as I can but, meh, there's a minimum.

If you want me to go over anything then please do speak up.  If you don't understand it, odds are no one else does either so you're doing a public service.
242037

Demigod1945

Well I'm having trouble understanding the stats system and the skills.

Blythe

#15
Okay....I think I got this figured out. I think this is a bare bones sheet, but let me know if I got it right. I assumed that the skills you listed at 15% were ones we did not pay for and auto-started with.

Rough Character Sheet and Concept

Name: Miyo Takahara
Age: Probably close to 30.
Link to Honer's: Employee at Honer's. Miyo works as an accountant for the company.
Significance of Aug 8: Miyo's father died on Aug 8 about twenty years ago, and the day fills her with sadness.
Rough Concept: A former homeless woman who managed to pick herself up by her bootstraps a couple of years ago, get a job at Honer's, and found stability. She had initially fell into poverty years ago by devoting too much time to her research and lost sight of what was more important. She's a bit of a firebrand, dedicated and fierce, but she is stubborn to a fault. However, she's trying to keep her life back on track for now and approach her old obsession with a more balanced interest this time.

Obsession: Researching and documenting the paranormal. Weird stuff is out there, and Miyo is amazed at how much people don't seem to want to know about it.

Passions:
Rage Stimulus [Bullies. Can't stand them.]
Fear Stimulus [The Scottish Enclosed spaces--has claustrophobia]
Noble Stimulus [Helping the homeless or poor; Miyo used to be homeless and knows what it's like.]

Body: 40
Speed: 50
Mind: 60
Soul: 70

Body Skills: General Athletics - 35%, Struggle - 35%
Speed Skills: Dodge - 35%, Drive - 25%, Initiative - 25%, Picking Pockets - 20%, Sleight of Hand -15%
Mind Skills: Conceal - 15%, General Education - 15%, Notice - 25%, Locksmithing - 25%, Medicine - 25%
Soul Skills: Charm - 30%, Lying - 30%, Debate - 25%, Intimidation - 15%
* Debate: Any time someone questions the paranormal or tries to hinder or limit the character regarding it, this skill is used to try to open someone's mind by rationally talking about research and facts.

EDIT: Had changed my mind on names and left the old choice in when I should have put in the new one. Fix'd. Also fixed a few typos.

Kythia

Okey dokey.

Let's put some concrete examples together.  I'm gonna roll up, god I dunno, Jimi Hendrix.

First we have the four stats - Body, Speed, Mind and Soul.  Jimi has 220 points to split between them.  Composition/lyrics writing is tied to Soul, musical instrument playing to speed, so lets say he assigns them as:

Body 30
Speed 70
Mind 50
Soul 70

OK?  That bit is hopefully the simple bit.  What we have there is someone who's a bit more frail and weak than most (Body 30) - maybe the drugs have ravaged his body.  He's spot on average in intelligence with a Mind of 50 - that's an IQ of 100.  He's dextrous though, playing that old guitar and suchlike has given him some flexibility and he's charismatic and sensitive - Soul and Speed are both 70.

If he were a DnD character he might be roughly:

Strength 8
Dexterity 15
Constitution 8
Intelligence 12
Wisdom 14
Charisma 15

With me so far?  I'm gonna stick a line in here to split stats from skills.




First off, Jimi gets some skills for free.  These are the first ones listed in each section.  So his sheet so far is:

Sheet 1
Body Skills: General Athletics 15, Struggle 15
Speed Skills: Dodge 15, Drive 15, Initiative 35
Mind Skills: Conceal 15, General Education 15, Notice 15
Soul Skills: Charm 15, Lying 15

All the free skills start at 15 except initiative which is half of speed.  Those skills are what every single player gets.

Then he gets to assign points.  He spent 30 in Body so he can assign 30 points to Body skills.  He was in the army and so had some training in combat, he decides to dump 5 into Struggle.  He now has 25 left.  For those, he chooses to make up a new skill "Drug Resistent".  Essentially, Jimi has used so many drugs that he's built up a bit of a tolerance.  He checks with me first and I say that's fine.

So, made up skills are a way of fleshing out a character a little.  If you don't see a trait or ability you like in the list for each stat, just make up a new one.  If instead of Jimi Hendrix I was rolling up Bear Grylls I might want him to have a skill called "Endure the Elements" or something, to reflect him being used to hostile climates.  A police officer might have one specialising in restraining suspects.  A librarian might well not have any unique ones.

So far:

Sheet 2
Body Skills: General Athletics 15, Struggle 20, Drug Resistent 25
Speed Skills: Dodge 15, Drive 15, Initiative 35
Mind Skills: Conceal 15, General Education 15, Notice 15
Soul Skills: Charm 15, Lying 15

Now on to Speed skills.  He was a good guitarist so we're going to go ahead and whack 55 of his 70 points (because he has a speed of 70) into "Playing Guitar".  I'd like to put more in, but at the power level of the campaign 55 is the maximum.  This is basically a choice I made as GM, it rules out world-reknowned experts.

Now, at a "Playing Guitar" skill of, say, 5 he can strum out "Kum Ba Yah".  All the way up at 55, though, the Penumbra is a lot bigger.  He can read music, compose songs, restring a guitar, is known as a guitar player, a whole load of other things that are related to guitar playing.  So we don't actually need seperate skills for those, because they're all included.  With me?

He's spent 55 of his 70, so has fifteen left to spend.  What else could he have?  Well, looking over the list of Speed skills I see "Do Two Things At Once".  Seems like a useful skill for a man who could sing while playing a guitar behind his head.  I whack the fifteen into that.

Sheet 3
Body Skills: General Athletics 15, Struggle 20, Drug Resistent 25
Speed Skills: Dodge 15, Drive 15, Initiative 35, Play Guitar 55, Do Two Things At Once 15
Mind Skills: Conceal 15, General Education 15, Notice 15
Soul Skills: Charm 15, Lying 15

And we carry on.  50 points to spend on Mind skills, 70 to spend on Soul skills.  I'd probably make up a few soul skills for him.  Maybe a "Showman" skill that means people pay attention to him when playing.  Maybe a few in "Friend in the Family" to reflect people he knows in the music industry.

Once all that was done, he has another fifteen points he can spend anywhere.  Maybe I wanna give him 5% in the Body skill "Parachute jumping" to reflect paratrooper training, which I couldn't afford earlier.

In general, skills correspond to anything that distinguishes your character from everyone else.  In OWoD terms, they'd be abilities, backgrounds, etc.  The things that distinguish one person with 30/70/50/70 from any other.




Did that make any more sense?

In general, though, I think the easiest way to do it is to come up with a character first.  Then you and I (or anyone else and I) can go through it and think about what skills make sense.

But yeah, let me know if that cleared anything up, or if you want me to go over anything again.
242037

Kythia

Blythe

That looks awesome, yes.  And yeah, you're quite right.  The ones starting at 15 are "free", sorry for not making that clearer.

I'm not gonna fix that in stone just yet in case you want to return to it and tweak it, but it looks absolutely great to me.
242037

Demigod1945

Ok, It's all starting to click, but please bear with me, I don't have any experience with a system like this.

Demigod1945

Character Sheet

Name: Chris Manners

Age: 28

Link to Honer's: His late wife used to be a low level office staff of the company.

Significance of Aug 8: His wife was killed in a mugging, which he believes to be his fault, and every year on this day he drinks away his sorrows.

Background: Native to the United States, Chris moved to the UK to attend the Newcastle University , where he studied psychology, and how to known if someone was lying by identifying what are known as Micro-expressions. It was at Newcastle where he first met his future wife, who had a job at Honer's. They married a year later, only for her to tragically die two months after the wedding. The police told him that the a investigation was pointless, but he never listened. Three years later, he now works as a private investigator, and has been trying to track down his wife's killer.

Obsession: He is determined to find and bring justice to his wife's killer, no matter the cost.

Passions:
Rage Stimulus ( Any criminal of any kind, people who you use violence to get their way.)
Fear Stimulus  ( He is deftly afraid of rats, ever since he was a little boy)
Noble Stimulus ( Helping victims of a crime find justice)

Body: 50
Speed: 60
Mind: 75
Soul: 35

Body Skills:
Speed Skills:
Mind Skills:
Soul Skills:
*

Demigod1945

Accidentally posted before finishing, sorry.
Character Sheet

Name: Chris Manners

Age: 28

Link to Honer's: His late wife used to be a low level office staff of the company.

Significance of Aug 8: His wife was killed in a mugging, which he believes to be his fault, and every year on this day he drinks away his sorrows.

Background: Native to the United States, Chris moved to the UK to attend the Newcastle University , where he studied psychology, and how to known if someone was lying by identifying what are known as Micro-expressions. It was at Newcastle where he first met his future wife, who had a job at Honer's. They married a year later, only for her to tragically die two months after the wedding. The police told him that an investigation was pointless, but he never listened. Three years later, he now works as a private investigator, and has been trying to track down his wife's killer.

Obsession: He is determined to find and bring justice to his wife's killer, no matter the cost.

Passions:
Rage Stimulus ( Anyone who abuses women, or shows disrespect towards them, because that could have been wife.)
Fear Stimulus  ( He is deftly afraid of rats, ever since he was a little boy.)
Noble Stimulus ( Helping victims of a crime find justice, since he can empathize with them.)

Body: 50
Speed: 60
Mind: 75
Soul: 35

Body Skills: General Athletics: 25 Struggle: 25
Speed Skills: Dodge: 15 Drive: 15 Pick Pocket: 30
Mind Skills: General Education: 20 Notice: 20  Lie detection: 35
Soul Skills: Lying: 25 Charm: 10
* Lie detection: When someone tells a lie, this skill allows Chris to pick up on it, and exploit their lie.

Kythia

Looks good.

A couple of quick points though:

1) You have another fifteen to spend on skills.  Sorry for not making that explicit enough - once you've spent the stat limits you then have another fifteen on top of that.

2) Why was he meant to be there on the morning of the game starting?  I'm assuming it was to talk to (re-talk to, I assume) someone he believes is a witness?  Or did you have something else in mind?

3) Could you just go in to a little more depth on what you mean by "exploit" their lie in the description of your "lie detection" skill?
242037

Demigod1945

Added 15 to Lie detection. Also totally forgot about the be there at 9 am part, sorry.
Character sheet

Name: Chris Manners

Age: 28

Link to Honer's: His late wife used to be a low level office staff of the company.

Significance of Aug 8: His wife was killed in a mugging, which he believes to be his fault, and every year on this day he drinks away his sorrows.

Background: Native to the United States, Chris moved to the UK to attend the Newcastle University , where he studied psychology, and how to known if someone was lying by identifying what are known as Micro-expressions. It was at Newcastle where he first met his future wife, who had a job at Honer's. They married a year later, only for her to tragically die two months after the wedding. The police told him that an investigation was pointless, but he never listened. Three years later, he now works as a private investigator, and has been trying to track down his wife's killer. He was currently suppose to interview an employee of Honer's at 9 am, however on his way there, his car broke down. He had to have it towed to the nearest garage, and because of this, he arrived half an hour late. 

Obsession: He is determined to find and bring justice to his wife's killer, no matter the cost.

Passions:
Rage Stimulus ( Anyone who abuses women, or shows disrespect towards them, because that could have been wife.)
Fear Stimulus  ( He is deftly afraid of rats, ever since he was a little boy.)
Noble Stimulus( Helping victims of a crime find justice, since he can empathize with them.)

Body: 50
Speed: 60
Mind: 75
Soul: 35

Body Skills: General Athletics: 25 Struggle: 25
Speed Skills: Dodge: 15 Drive: 15 Pick Pocket: 30
Mind Skills: General Education: 20 Notice: 20  Lie detection: 50
Soul Skills: Lying: 25 Charm: 10
* Lie detection: When someone tells a lie, this skill allows Chris to pick up on it, and exploit their lie to get information out of them, to reveal it to the general public and humiliate them, and allows interviews/interrogations to almost always work for him.

Kythia

Coolness.

Both of those are looking good.

So here's what I think I'm gonna do next. 

I'm away over the weekend so on Monday(ish) I'm going to put up:

1) an introductory post.  It won't be the start of the game proper, I mean it more as a chance for you guys to chat ICly if you wish and to kinda retain some momentum.  There'll be no dice rolling in it but I'll check in on it every so often in case there's a question.  Post in it when you're ready and there's no need to wait until every I has been dotted and t crossed on your character sheet.  Once they all are for everyone, I'll progress that thread and the game proper starts.

2) a brief guide to the rules.  They're pretty simple - roll d100 under the relevant skill - in almost all cases.

Also, one thing I've done when learning a new system that has always helped me a load is to run a combat.  Using the PCs but in a parallel universe - basically just a one off combat that has no effects on the game itself, its just there to get a feel for the rules and combat system.  If people would be interested in that then shout.
242037

Blythe

Quote from: Kythia on August 09, 2013, 09:50:34 AM
Also, one thing I've done when learning a new system that has always helped me a load is to run a combat.  Using the PCs but in a parallel universe - basically just a one off combat that has no effects on the game itself, its just there to get a feel for the rules and combat system.  If people would be interested in that then shout.

Yes, please. I'm usually terrible with new combat systems, and running an example one would be really handy for me.