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Title: Unknown Armies by Greg Stolze, John Tynes ISBN: 1887801707 Publisher: Atlas Games Pub. Date: 01 January, 1999 Format: Paperback List Price(USD): $25.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 5
Rating: 5
Summary: My favorite roleplay system
Comment: I got to test a white-bound version of this a few GenCons ago, and i've been hooked ever since. If you have ever played a game like Nephilim or Immortal, you will come to grips with this one quickly. You can pick it up rather fast if you really have any experience with non-fantasy RPGs. The world they have created (with the 'chorus' of various avatars, conspiracies upon conspiracies, etc) is a very compelling one that is uniquely flexible. Want to run a shadowy game full of backstabbing, intruigue, and mystery? No problem. Feel like blowing away magickal automatons? No problem. We usually run sessions filled with conspiracies, cults, and a general noir atmosphere, but the world also adapts to occasional horror or dark humor themed one-shots as well.
I actually find myself reading this book frequently as general source material for games I run in other systems, and it serves as a wonderful well to draw from.
A special mark has to be made of the magic system. This is, hands-down, the most enjoyable magic system i've ever used. The concept of "earning" your magical charges (where magicians who use chaos have to do chaotic things to get magic, and dispomages need to get drunk, etc), is a very inventive game system that always makes for interesting scenarios for your players to play through.
The character creation/advancement systems are well thought out, combat is handled well (I particularly like it how the GM keeps track of actual damage levels rather than the player to avoid metagaming). The general dice-rolling is kept to a minimum of tables and such, and the game captures a great element of "flow", where the mechanics rarely serve to bog the game down.
In short, I give this game my highest reccomendation.
Rating: 5
Summary: Compelling roleplaying is finally available.
Comment: How should I start praising this glorious game?
The rules provide a method for creating characters with life and depth beyond that which you can obtain by simply rolling dice or allocating dots. Part of the creation system requires players to form motivations for their characters, and what causes them fear and pride, all having specific in-game effets.
The game system itself is perfect. UA's simple dice rolling system doesn't bog down roleplay. One percentile roll incorporates both the accuracy of the action and the resistance of its target. The magic system is a thing of beauty - very well balanced, wide open, and less subject to endless debate than Mage: the Ascension.
The framing of the world in which the game takes place is frightening, exciting, and written exquisitely. Modern day games are the easiest to play, and the illuminati-type power struggle outlined in the core book provides enough variation for a game master to make any type of story he likes. Unlike many games that like to leave no world details to its players' imaginations, this world-system is written more to let you fill in the blanks or choose what works best for you. In this way the world is very adaptive - The storylines need not have anything to do with the struggle itself, yet can still incorporate its elements.
The word commonly used to describe this system is "gritty", but it's such perfected, polished grit that it might be called glass. The rules lawyer or powermonger will find no happiness in this game, however, if you love to role play, you'll have a new yardstick by which to measure all your other games.
Rating: 5
Summary: A system geared for storytelling
Comment: What I like best about this system is how flexible it is. The characters are broken up into simple yet realistic attributes, and the skills are virtually limitless. All dice rolls are percentile based, with simple but clever twists for decreasing or increasing difficulty. I was delighted to see a system that included 'soul' as one of the attributes, and that focused as much on the mental/psychological development of characters as it did other aspects (if not more). Perhaps the best part about this system is its portability. You can keep the book's setting or write your own, keep or ditch the (very innovative) magic system, increase or decrease the power of the characters with great ease. As long as your goal is more good storytelling than dice rolling, you should enjoy this book. On top of it all, the writing is excellent, and the authors' sense of humor surprisingly engaging for such a grim setting.
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Title: Hush Hush (Unknown Armies) by John Tynes ISBN: 1887801936 Publisher: Atlas Games Pub. Date: 31 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Exalted by White Wolf, Geoff Grabowski, Melissa Uran, Christopher Moeller ISBN: 1565046234 Publisher: White Wolf Publishing Inc. Pub. Date: October, 2001 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Unknown Armies (2nd Edition) ISBN: 1589780132 Publisher: Atlas Games Pub. Date: July, 2002 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
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Title: Scavenger Sons by Justin Achilli, John Snead, Scott Taylor, Ghislain Barbe ISBN: 1588466523 Publisher: White Wolf Publishing Inc. Pub. Date: August, 2001 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Exalted: The Sidereal (Exalted) by Bryan Armor, Rebecca Borgstrom, Geoffrey C. Grabowski, Steve Kenson, Krister M. Michl, John Snead, White W0lf ISBN: 1588466698 Publisher: White Wolf Publishing Inc. Pub. Date: October, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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