zomner, a regular on the Unknown Armies Discord, presented a writing prompt: write up to 2,333 words on some aspect of the Unknown Armies universe constrained to some themes.
Overall, there’s some good stuff. The fact that there was only a weekend to do this means that we’re going to be light on rules/crunchy stuff in favor of just conveying ideas and flavor, although quite a few people did include some NPC stats. I don’t have a takeaway from all of them – just a lot of fun ideas to pick up and steal from.
I’m going to go through them in no particular order.
The Scenarios
Shotgun Scenario: Danse Macabre
by mellonbread
You’re a plague-ridden medieval adventuring party going to rob an Earl for a Christian relic – maybe because you think it’ll get you into heaven, maybe because you think it’ll save you. You have at most 2 days before the plague gets you. Some great fucked up stuff here – if I ran this I’d want to go dark with it.
Shotgun Scenario: My Heart is a Haunted House
by mellonbread
This opens with a greenhouse lair of a Goddess cult and a violent raid by the Global Liberation Society. That’s all just setup for the real thing: a one-way tunnel to a haunted house where the ghost is black mold. Definitely a lot of interesting stuff here to build on and there’s a bonus linked magic school based around black mold magic. I wouldn’t be able to resist ramping up the architectural horror part and have the house itself be a labyrinth, a deeming mass of black mold holding up halls and shuffling rooms about.
The Lafayette Faire
by Joyful
What’s here is a fair amount to work with. Some great PCs with solid motivations, some interesting history, and a clear problem that needs to be solved. And a talking animal, an under-served demographic. The gut wizard PC is a good idea and totally worth ripping off.
Basic Concept (Avalon)
by Void C
This one’s a very thin sketch but I like secret histories and there should be more of them. What if there was an ancient empire in the West that rivaled Rome but was buried by history? A through line of Western thought of the notion of being the rightful heirs to Rome, after all. This is a sprawling idea and I could definitely see some weird NPC trying to sell the PCs on it.
The Rituals
Minor Ritual: Speaking to the Leaves
by Karin M
When I first read this I was thinking that it let you act like a garden gnome for magical powers. It’s not quite that, but it’s close – you squat in someone else’s garden and gain magical powers tied to that place after performing a weird little hermit ritual, and you have to sleep in that garden without getting caught every night to maintain your power. It’s a bit unclear what happens if the owner of the garden is aware of your presence and allows you to stay, but I’d probably lean on that being fine – you’re their garden gnome.
Minor Ritual: Chain Mail
by Kate C and magnificenttophat
No idea how I’d actually use this but I like weird little stuff like this.
Significant Ritual: Double and Nothing
by Kate C
Probably one of my favorites. It’s a ritual that lets you bodyswap into someone who has it worse than you. The books constantly reference how rituals are dangerous, how demons will fuck you and how you shouldn’t just use rituals. This is probably better for an NPC to use than a PC since players famously hate getting their characters taken away from them.
Locations
The International Hotel
by Valiant
I wrote this one. I like it a lot. I see this building when I’m down near Columbus Circle and it’s a striking thing. It’s not really usable as is, I think – I’ve been thinking on themes of virtual and augmented reality, of substitutions of the logic of our world with other logics.
¥0 Location: Gakkuda
by mellonbread
A small Korean cafe in Japan, run by a cigarette adept and North Korean expat. It’s good, has some political intrigue built into it that a DM or PCs could easily build off of, and includes some DM notes about making use of it. Mellonbread’s put out a few things related to running games in Japan (The Cleaners, done in conjunction with Kate C for the UA Halloween Contest, comes to mind).
Artifacts
Significant Artifact: Old Friends
by magnificenttophat
This is a little artifact – a set of whiskey glasses that lets you charm people into being old friends as long as you’re drunk and holding a filled glass. It’s a funny visual, having to carry around that magical whiskey glass and having to avoid spilling it. Could be a MacGuffin, could be a bit of flavor for your game’s local bar, could be used against the PCs by an evil wizard. Special shoutout for being 333 words.
A Felon’s Memoirs
by Cydd
It’s a Cinemancer artifact with some niche utility. I appreciate the hooks on how one might incorporate this.
NPCs
I BREAK MIRRORS WITH MY FACE IN THE UNITED STATES
by Tuesday 8:00
Very strong title. I absolutely love the visual of an MIT professor smashing his face into a mirror but I disagree vehemently with any sort of time bullshit. That’s hard to deal with! Mirrors are fun, mirror universes are fun. Definitely something here.
Phoebe Bailey
by Cliomancer
Really good NPC, especially fond of the short fiction explaining her obsession. I kind of see her as obsessed with the violation of privacy as opposed to learning secrets; not a Cryptomancer but either an atypical magician or just a normal person who’s a real weirdo. Also easy to slot her into any game, just have the PCs stay at a hotel and she’s spying on them.
Supernatural Phenomena
Rephaim
by Chris Cooper
It’s a kind of flying zombie. I don’t have anything interesting to say about this one.