From the article archive
One Shots
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.