Gaming: Unknown Armies
My Champions group is going to be taking a break from the superhero gig again for a while starting this week. Bill has volunteered to run Unknown Armies. The system sounds really good. It's percintile based and sounds like a great alternative system for Amber roleplaying.

Here is how he described it in his email:

There are four stats in UA: Body, Speed, Mind, and Soul. You have 220
points to divide among all of them. 50 is human average, 70 is normally
human maximum, and 30 is considered atrophied or retarded. Soul, for
purposes of this game, is a rough mix of Ego and Charisma; it's your empathy
stat. I don't think I have to go over what all of them do for experienced
players like you, nu?

You also must choose a brief description for your stat. For example, Neo
from the Matrix might have:

Body 55% (A little wiry)
Mind 40% ("Not too bright, though")
Speed 80% (The Chosen One)
Soul 90% (Inexplicably charming)

Then, choose your skills. You get several skills for free, though you can
buy them up:

BODY:
General Athletics 15%
Struggle: 15%

SPEED:
Driving 15%
Dodge 15%

MIND:
Conceal 15%
General Education 15%
Notice 15%

SOUL:
Lying 15%
Charm 15%

Now here's an important thing to know about UA character creation; yes,
these stats are low. Most of the time, under non-stressful circumstances,
you won't have to make a roll - or if you do, it'll be equal to the stat
it's based on. These stats are based on what you could do UNDER THE MOST
STRESSFUL CIRCUMSTANCES AROUND. Anyone can target shoot, sure, or study
Aikido - but when someone suddenly appears behind you, charging down a dark
alleyway with a knife and yelling, "I'MA KILL YOU MUF****!", well... I think
we all know the story about the brown belt who did well in class but just
broke down during his first real fight. Likewise, we've all lied about our
whereabouts or charmed a stranger at some point - but how well do you lie or
win someone over when Vinnie the Snake is holding a gun to your head,
saying, "If we find out you're wrong, your brains are gonna be all over that
wall!"?

Not well, probably. That's what UA is based on, and a lot of standard UA
characters have no skill over 30. Buy your skills accordingly.

Anyway, you have X points to spend on each skill, where X is the relevant
stat, and 15 bonus points to spend where you like. For example, if you
bought a 60% Body stat, you have sixty points to buy on Body skills, and if
you really wanted to be bodyriffic, you could spend another 15 total.

There are two things to note about the skill process:

1) I GIVE YOU NO LIST BECAUSE THERE IS NONE. Make up your own, and feel
free to get creative. If you buy enough Struggle, maybe it changes from
Struggle to Beat The Shit Out Of Someone. My character in this weekend's
game had such Mind-based highlights as See The Threads In The Tapestry
(figure out who benefits from any given action), Got You Now (rattle someone
significantly when he has an advantage on them), and he also had the
Soul-based Face In The Crowd (he wasn't very noticable and could fade away
when he wanted to).

Other examples:

Body: Crack Your Knuckles Ominously, Hold Your Breath, Hold Your Liquor,
Large And Hard To Move, Enduring Torture, Lifting Heavy Stuff

Speed: Do Two Things At Once, Fast Draw, Squirrely Reflexes, Pick Someone's
Pocket, Blow A Guy's Brains Out, Snatch, Skitter Up A Wall

Mind: Respect My Authority, Doublethink, Hypnotherapist, Photographic
Memory.

Soul: Friends Everywhere, Aura Sight, Commanding Presence, Good Old
Whatsisname, Play Dumb, Vocal Imitation, Sing The Blues, Getting People To
Buy You Drinks.

2) ONE SKILL IS YOUR OBSESSION. It doesn't necessarily have to be your
highest skill, but it should be reasonably high; it's what you do well, what
you get up in the morning for. You rarely fail at this, since it's what you
live for, which means that you get to flip-flop rolls for this skill;
meaning if you wake up in the morning and all you can think of is Beating
The Shit Out Of Someone at 55%, if you roll a 93 - normally a failure - you
can flip-flop that into a 39, which is a success.

Lastly, you need to choose your three Passions: Rage, Fear, and Noble.
Everyone in the game has these hot buttons that drive them, and even the
scummiest criminal has a soft spot - Hitler did want to make Germany a
better place, after all. These are a phrase or a one-sentence description
of the things that will send you into a fury, terrify you, or cause you to
rise up against your better (or worse) nature. They do have a couple of
important game mechanic meanings, but we'll leave those for now; suffice it
to say that if you choose them in character, they'll both help and hamper
you, just like any other passions.