Unknown Armies 3E - CLOSED

[Alistair Leonhart]

You do lose a bit of skill if you taboo as an Avatar, but remember that your skill also goes up if you succeed at their rolls, at least the first time every game. So you can set your taboo off by simply succeeding, or (if you manage to avoid tabooing at all) actually increase your skill. While Adepts, well, let´s say you cut your wrists and stabbed your sides thrice only to lose all those charges AND suffering all that damage in vain just because you suddenly blacked out from blood loss and awakened at the hospital. Not a good feeling, that one.

[nailcrosser]

Again, another full weekend. I want to get the post out TONIGHT.

Ty - Viaturge is perfect. Work out a way with Alistair and Kythia on how/if YC knows their characters. I do see ways to work your meet-and-greet with them into the action of the story, though. Fender bending accident, kooky Lyft driver, whatever. And if you want some inspiration, the cab driver in this

RHCP video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnfyjwChuNU

is totally a viaturge. Could also be an entropomancer, come to think of it.

EDIT: Something to think about: I would like each character to be completely rookie to the occult underground. The only things your characters may know are some of the names of adept schools and a couple of my underground NPCs. I want them to gain their first real charge and expel it during play. I think it'd be fun to play out. Thoughts?

[Ty]

Willing to try the new to magic thing if you want. Consider if that means you want us to have lower % in them if that's the case. I had kind of assumed you wanted us more experience if we were all magic. Depends a bit how naturally you see adepts being able to occur through normal crazy (or if you want to provide mentors)

I had pondered that even if they didn't help get Alistair's character into San Diego, my driver probably got someone or something he's close to in. And is probably on Kythia's watchlist. Unless she's be more interested in another tie.

[nailcrosser]

I'd say keep the adept/archetype percentages at less than 40%, if everyone is willing to play this kind of game. Training wheels freshly off, first descent into total madness type of thing. I'll be generous with chances to boost these numbers.

[Ty]

Sounds reasonable to me.

[Kythia]

An avatar skill of 49 let's you do one thing though (well, two if you count rituals). A similar adept skill let's you do literally infinite things with the same chance of success. It would be weird if taboos were equally restrictive.

(That was in relation to the earlier conversation. I guess that wasn't clear)

[Ty]

Kythia : Yeah, I think that's maybe why I find Avatar less tempting. Though Adepts can't just make up new 'spells'  I thought? So maybe not infinite.

Anyway, as said, I've read but not played the system, so looking forward to writing with you all and apologies if I misunderstand anything.

[Kythia]

Kythia : Yeah, I think that's maybe why I find Avatar less tempting. Though Adepts can't just make up new 'spells'  I thought? So maybe not infinite.

Anyway, as said, I've read but not played the system, so looking forward to writing with you all and apologies if I misunderstand anything.

I've not fully internalised third ed so I'm not sure. They certainly could in previous versions though.

[nailcrosser]

Character sheet template is up in my initial post. Friendly NPC contacts will be provided tonight or tomorrow, rough outlines are:

Diane, biker chick turned bartender at the Dour Dandy
Jamie, androgynous street kid from San Francisco
Wulf, a benevolent vestimancer

[Ty]

Playing with ideas and numbers and such. Brain is kind of flip-flopping some things. Like between the By The Way cabbie, or a female Hunter S Thompson (in visual style). Both have a kookiness (does using the word Kooky automatically mean 80s?) to them.

Would "Can pilot a motor boat" be a Feature or just an 'Of course I can... I'm a..." ? I'm kind of assuming being warm and coastal there's a bunch of civilian boating and such even if it doesn't support some of the Florida style beach hobos.

[nailcrosser]

Playing with ideas and numbers and such. Brain is kind of flip-flopping some things. Like between the By The Way cabbie, or a female Hunter S Thompson (in visual style). Both have a kookiness (does using the word Kooky automatically mean 80s?) to them.

Would "Can pilot a motor boat" be a Feature or just an 'Of course I can... I'm a..." ? I'm kind of assuming being warm and coastal there's a bunch of civilian boating and such even if it doesn't support some of the Florida style beach hobos.

"Of course I can..." should go in the Identity / Features box. As long as being a motorboat guy ties in with an identity then you are squared.

[Ty]

Was thinking like, 40% Viaturge, 40% Driver For The Mob, 30% Wharf Rat. If that makes sense. Or Viaturge at 30% and nudge Driver For the Mob up to 50% if you prefer. Any input on suitable features is welcome, or tweaks to identities, like Shady Cab Driver, or Uber With Benefits. That last sounds.. a bit off, maybe forget that one.

[nailcrosser]

Just do Mob Gopher as in "go for this, go for that." You drive mob guys, dump bodies, shuttle drugs in from Mexico, etc. MS-13 has a big presence in SD, check out some of the other criminal organizations there.

[Ty]

Cool. Just obviously needed a decent driving Identity to help Viaturge (as Adept % is only for casting, IIRC?) As funny as a Viaturge who only drives in safe conditions is. If there's any semi obvious uses of the identity that you think should come in as a Feature, let me know. Might take Firearm Use under Mob Gopher, unless you'd rather not.

Would the occult underground be it's own mob, or just have individuals tied up with or controlling mundane public ones?

[Alistair Leonhart]

Hmm... well, that limit on the magick identity did mess up my character a bit (was at 50% before). Alright, gonna remake the identities then. Do I PM you the identities, or the full sheet, or post it here, Nail? Also, would it be alright if he got a job as a bouncer or pro hitman (the ones who break people´s legs with a bat, not the sniper type) or anything similar? Since he´s a retired pro player, I can only see him getting some job that would make use of his physique, most of them criminal in nature and also a way to charge off his exposure to danger constantly (and make the nickname of his magick school quite literal as well).

That could also justify a 20% or so job-related identity to get Entropomancy down to 30% and thus play by the rules of "only newbies to the occult underground". The hitman stuff is an idea that someone on Roll20 gave me when I was making a character for their game, similar to this one, since it would allow my character a lot of contacts and breaking & entering "Of course I can..." skills, as well as a source of income. If it was too much, I can go for any other job or criminal occupation that makes use of the body more than the mind and contributed in some way to the team. What do you guys think?

Edit: Also, I just noticed. Only 110 identity points? I thought it was usually 120. If it´s made on purpose to represent our newbie-ness to the occult underground or something, it´s fine, I just wanted to know if it was a typo or anything.

[Ty]

I was assuming he was either going to be a) A washed up bum, b) The shady kind of professional gambler, or c) a thug, yeah. Better to be in the same pocket or opposing gangs do you think? If Kythia is kind of on the right side of the law (unless she's a corrupt Customs Official I guess, which could still really suit True King) maybe not best to be on the same side.

[Alistair Leonhart]

Eh, I don´t think he´s as good at gambling as he is swinging a pole at something or running the hell out of somewhere. He´d probably use an ability to gamble. More likely to end up a thug with contacts (he´s not as stupid as to go plain murderhobo) or working at some job that values physical aptitude and risk taking. Hell, he could even be a cop if you need lawful guys dearly, although with your character being a criminal I´d be at most a bent or corrupt cop willing to work with all sorts of people for personal benefit. In any case, you get the point, he doesn´t HAVE to be a criminal but he certainly can. (Not saying I´m gonna be a cop, it´s just an example, I know those kinds of character kind of trigger you Nail xD)

[Ty]

I think I'm mostly waiting on some feedback from Nail, or more info on Kythia's character (or her preferences on what kind of bozos she has to work with). Some friction in the group is good, but too much is tiring.

[Kythia]

Yes, sorry, its been a pretty chaotic time at work.  What sort of info do you want from me?

[Ty]

Don't take it as pressure, please. Standard disclaimers about priorities and this just being a game.

To a degree just more info.But her relationship with organized crime and smuggling (good or people) looks like it'll come up. What she's True King of, and her general approach to fufilling the role.

Just didn't want two hardened criminals and a mystical Dudly DoRight bang heads, unless we all think that'll be hilarious.

EDIT: Although my driver is not going to Ryan Gosling or anything. Less hardened, more really fucked up 20 something with desire for freedom, and a lack of money.

[Kythia]

I've got that information, I'll get it all copied over tonight

[nailcrosser]

Cool. Just obviously needed a decent driving Identity to help Viaturge (as Adept % is only for casting, IIRC?) As funny as a Viaturge who only drives in safe conditions is. If there's any semi obvious uses of the identity that you think should come in as a Feature, let me know. Might take Firearm Use under Mob Gopher, unless you'd rather not.

Would the occult underground be it's own mob, or just have individuals tied up with or controlling mundane public ones?

I'll apply Adept % to any rolls involving an action outside of casting where the Identity school could be useful. If your Mob Gopher % is higher, I would apply that percent to a car action rather than Viaturge %, or vice versa.

I'd take a separate Identity for firearm use. But, I'll give you bonuses for when you want to beat people up with your fists.

The occult underground is not an organized group. It's like a web of weirdos who are loosely, if at all, connected. It's not like there is a LinkedIn and Wiki for these people. Most info is spread by word of mouth, lost notebooks, odd phone calls, or cryptic websites. Vast majority of cabals are kept small and rarely work efficiently together. But when they do work, they do some heavy reality shaping.

Part of why I want your characters to be pretty green in this game is so you have to work to earn the trust of various people with connections to the underground. These aren't normal people, and it will take more than a BBQ to form a bond with them. They're going to ask you to do some absurd shit before they let you in on a secret.

Do I PM you the identities, or the full sheet, or post it here, Nail? Also, would it be alright if he got a job as a bouncer or pro hitman (the ones who break people´s legs with a bat, not the sniper type) or anything similar?

The hitman stuff is an idea that someone on Roll20 gave me when I was making a character for their game, similar to this one, since it would allow my character a lot of contacts and breaking & entering "Of course I can..." skills, as well as a source of income. If it was too much, I can go for any other job or criminal occupation that makes use of the body more than the mind and contributed in some way to the team. What do you guys think?

Edit: Also, I just noticed. Only 110 identity points? I thought it was usually 120. If it´s made on purpose to represent our newbie-ness to the occult underground or something, it´s fine, I just wanted to know if it was a typo or anything.

Everybody: PM me your sheets. I'll post them in the OOC thread and alter them for you throughout the game.

Alistair - Hitman, bouncer, corrupt cop, I can see any working. Each has a different enough skill set. The ex-baseball player Identity is really cool, I'd suggest giving it the highest portion of %. 110 is my purposeful doing, to enforce the newbie pony rule. And again, there will be ample growth opportunities.

While I dislike seeing typical detectives/cops in every damn game, I do have a personal affection for dirty cops. If you do this, I'd want you to really commit to being a mean prick. Frisk people if they look at you wrong, snort coke, stab a kid's handball for no reason. He can have some redeeming features but the other characters will only work with him because of circumstance...or because they are also nuts.

Dirty cop and hitman are good because they'll give you reason to know Ty's character. The main concern is why Kythia's character would want to hang out with you guys. A queen riding shotgun with thugs sounds funny, though.

[Alistair Leonhart]

Don´t worry, I don´t find the dirty cop (or normal cop) identity that appealing. I´d prefer the hitman one since that´d give me a chance to know Ty and also a way to divide some points in a "low score, easy to level up" identity while getting charges and some mad cash from each dirty job. Not to mention the amount of networking and breaking & entering skills it could give my character on the long run, which could be pretty useful when we need shady contacts willing to do stuff for money, or when we need some door open. Granted, I´ll need a few more violence hardened notches for being able to beat people up for money, but I guess I can live with that.

Still wondering how a lawful Avatar of the True King is gonna end up riding along with a pair of criminals, but I´m not complaining, sounds fun to have a bit of dissonance in our group. As for the identities, I´ll go for Ex-MLB Batter 70%, Entropomancer 20%, Hitman for Hire 20%. He´s fresh out of magick kindergarten and just took a job as a hitman hired over a larger, well-hidden network on the deep web a few months back, so he retains his former, impressive prowess at sports while slowly gaining new skills. At least that´s what I have in mind for him. I´ll send you the sheet soon.

[Ty]

I'll apply Adept % to any rolls involving an action outside of casting where the Identity school could be useful. If your Mob Gopher % is higher, I would apply that percent to a car action rather than Viaturge %, or vice versa.

I'll note, after double-checking the book, that's explicitly something Adepts don't usually get, although it is the kind of effect a minor charge can get (which is an old bilbiomancer trick). They do get to both gather charges easily (compared to everyone else) and do real, quick, magick. So they don't need much help.

Noted on firearms, I'll probably just not be that good at using them (it is intentionally a rarer trait, which is why I asked, based on the intented feel of the game.) But replaces Struggle is probably going to be in Mob Gopher or Wharf Rat.

And thanks for your take on the underground. It's one of those things that can vary a lot based on general GM worldview, so it's nice to work from roughly the same page.

[LordRod]

So I read the summary of the system on Wiki Pedia....it more or less makes sense, but I'm unclear on how many points I have for each attribute, and how MANY Obsessions I can take; ie the basics of the numbers I am working on.

Also...unsure if this is thread I should post to.  Love the idea of this char though