[UA] Re: Bitterness

[Robin Pfeifer]

What I like:

- the fact that all religions are equally bogus. I've seen enough modern-day
games which use a barely disguised Judeo-Christian world view as truth for
their settings. UA has its own mythology (and subsequent truth) instead.

- the openness of said world view. There is still place for the Unexplained,
even though the basic nature of the universe is explained. In effect, just
about anything is possible.

- the game system very easily converts to the system I use (out of habit,
not because I don't like the UA system).

- the relative openness of the magic system which does not only rely on
spells but allows for other effects, too.

What I don't like:

- Above all, the name. I wasted about a year thinking that 'Unknown Armies'
was probably a cosim gone half-assed RPG, or a modern-day Warhammer, or
maybe Soldier Zombies from Hell. Some game with a primary focus on combat.
Therefore completely useless to me.

- Many schools of magic, many avatars are simply way above my head. I just
don't get what motivates them, don't understand the taboos driving their
magic, I cannot develop any feel for them. The same goes for a couple of
other concepts. But that is probably related to:

- I haven't read / watched most of the influential novels / movies UA
apparently is based on. For instance I had never heard of Tim Powers or
Charles DeLint. I did order a book by Powers, though, so I'm about to remedy
that. Therefore, many things presented in UA are doubly arcane to me;
incidentally many references on this list are, too. For instance, his
highness, the Royal Minister of Stuff advised me: "(...) Like Edward
Leedskalin and the coral castle in Florida or the Flying Dutchman." Clearly
we've got vastly different frames of reference because I haven't got the
slightest inkling who E.L. might be, have only seen a couple of photos of
the coral castle and only a fleeting, faint memory of the Flying Dutchman.
In other words, UA attracts a lot of people with similar (sub-) cultural
background which isn't quite as easily available here in Germany.

- ...and it's not 'Das Garten' but 'Der Garten'.

Robin


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