[UA] Thoughts on LA riots of 1992?

[Chris Cooper]

--- sneadj at mindspring.com wrote:
> Jason Schneiderman <jadasc at ma.ultranet.com>
> > 
> > >In UA, as in most RPGs, there's a tendency to
> give everything a
> > >"supernatural" explanation.
> > 
> > There's a very good reason for that.
> > 
> > Because you *can*.
> > 
> > Presuming that we know what can be known, in the
> real world nothing
> > has a "supernatural" explanation. Things happen
> for mundane reasons -
> > complicated or simple. Roleplaying games like UA
> offer a chance to
> > imagine fantastic motives for everyday things, and
> it always puzzles
> > me that people complain when fans conjecture about
> them. (This is not
> > entirely you. I subscribe to multiple mailing
> lists for modern fantasy
> > games - In Nomine and Vampire among them - and
> this sort of thing
> > comes up quite a bit.)

Yes I agree. In a great many games, there is a
tendency to include every major event oe person to the
conspiratal puppet-strings of the supernatural mover
and shakers.

It gets really, really stale after a while.

I prefer a sparingly-used, subtler, subliminal
motivation to something, like the LA riots.

Actually the idea that the Urbanomancers are
"responsible" is nifty.

I picture urbanomancers as druids. Their sacred wood
is the city. They have a geis. And  the desire to get
to the top of the pecking order sends all sorts of
psychic ripples down to the masses that fuel the
urbanomancer's beloved cities. The urbanomancer's have
gotten a bit top-heavy, so they factionalize into a
magic civil war. All the exhaust-sorcery gently steers
the masses into simulating the druids in a larger,
more widespread context.

So the actions of twenty druids duking it over who
gets to Hoover the charges, subconsciously prickles
the masses, who then generate more charges, like a
cattle herd getting panicky before a thunderstorm.

A viscious, quick-burning cycle that ends when
everyone is drained. Remember any stressful situation
could lead to spontaneous sleeper awakenings...

Cheers,

Chris.



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