[UA] One o' them thar pwernomancers!

[Nick Wedig]

>Knowing about the various types of magic (pornomancy,
>dipsomancy, etc....) is out of character knowledge?  I
>kind of got the idea that everything in the UA books
>was, more or less, open knowledge to those in the
>Occult Underground.  At least, that's how I've end up
>interpreting it.  That approach made it the first game
>my wife really liked, too.
>
>Really, characters are supposed to be in the dark
>about the various groups and types of ghosts and the
>nature of demons and stuff?  Really?
>
>(Again, -and I realize repeating this makes it seem
>like sarcasm, but do not take it that way- I honestly
>do not undestand and would very much like to before I
>really, really embarrass myself.)

It depends on the character.  If you're playing a perfectly normal guy who gets sucked into the OU, then no, you don't know anything.  You know what everyone in the real world knows about the occult: very little, and what there is typically has been shown false (alternatively, you could play New Age type guy who believes various things New Age types guys believe, but have no relation to the postmodern occultism herein).  If you're playing a guy who's been around in the OU a while, hen you'll know something or other, but I don't think I'd let any of my players get specific details on things (ie, they know pornomancy exists, but I won't let them read them charge gaining, taboo, formula spells, etc, unless they're playing a pornomancer or have worked closely with several).

One of the things I liked is that most characters in the game have only a little actual knowledge and a lot of rumours (low signal to noise ratio), as opposed to some other games.  E.g., I know all the monsters in D&D and their various weaknesses, even if my unexperienced 1st level wizard wouldn't.  The same even goes as far as Call of Cthulhu due to my extra-game reading.

But that's just how I see the game working, and if you get fine results playing otherwise, then go right ahead.

Mr. Teapot
1st level wizard

____________________________________________________
FREE Disinformation E-book - http://www.disinfo.com

_______________________________________________
UA mailing list
UA at lists.uchicago.edu
http://lists.uchicago.edu/mailman/listinfo/ua