One Shots is the first supporting product for Atlas Games’ excellent Unknown
Armies RPG. One Shots contains 5 stand alone scenarios complete with
pregenerated characters. Each scenario is meant to be played in a single
evening, much like a convention scenario.

The Adventures

“Jailbreak” by Greg Stolze is a spooky little number that highlights one of
my favorite themes of Unknown Armies: true horror lurks in the safest
looking places. This scenario strongly relies on intra-player conflict, as
some players take the roles of escaped convicts and others play their
hostages. With a motivated group, this can quickly become an exercise in
tension and terror.

“Strange Days” by Tim Dedopulos is an investigation scenario. The characters
are sent to find the source of a series of bizarre phenomena. While the idea
is strong, this scenario suffers from some drawbacks. First, I didn’t find
the NPC actions very believable. After emphasizing the repercussions of
character actions in the rulebook, no less than eleven NPCs are slaughtered
by various psychos over the course of the scenario, without anyone either
noticing or raising a general alarm. Second, the climax of the adventure is
a bit of a let down. Still, the ideas for playing off of H.P. Lovecraft bred
paranoia are great. If your players are into CoC, run this adventure on them
and watch ‘em squirm.

“Joy and Sorrow” by Nicole Lindroos and John Tynes is an unqualified
success, though you may have problems finding players up to the roleplaying
challenges of this adventure. I can’t really explain this scenario without
quoting about a page or two from the book, nor will a summary do it justice.
Just take my word for it: the next time some poseur slob mouths off about
his roleplaying skills, run him through this thing and put those boasts to
the test. My guess is that 90% of the gamers out there couldn’t handle this
scenario without copping out or rewriting their character. To which I say
MORE, MORE, MORE!

“Fly to Heaven” is another excellent offering from Greg Stolze. The
characters are trapped on a airliner when a disturbed adept decides that its
time to ascend as the Terrorist archetype. While not as strong as
“Jailbreak,” this adventure offers a lot of freaky happenings, problem
solving, and good old fashioned roleplaying.

“And I Feel Fine” by Geoffrey C. Grabowski is an ambitious scenario that
fails to really come together. The basic premise is that a tiny town in
Arizona wakes up to find everyone else in the world gone. No TV, no radio,
straight out of Night of the Comet. What weakens this adventure is a lack of
focus. Grabowski gives the GM three plot options for this adventure. While I
like the idea of flexibility, we’re really left with three ideas that aren’t
fleshed out quite enough. There really isn’t that much of a difference
between the three options, and one (a government conspiracy idea) is
somewhat silly. I’d much rather have one well developed, focused idea than
three underdeveloped ones.

The Verdict

This is a promising product for the Unknown Armies line. While uneven, this
collection has a solid sample of the possibilities of Unknown Armies. Call
of Cthulhu keepers will find a lot of good ideas here, as will anyone using
White Wolf’s World of Darkness.