[UA] Unknown Asylums?

[Terence Leong]

Hey folks, guess it's always polite and traditional to introduce yourself 
when you first make a post to a mailing list.  I've been on this list for 
about a week now and I must say it's nice, and rare, to find a group of 
people who are this friendly and unabashed about their opinions.  I was 
introduced to UA from a link I got on RPG-Archives about a module that goes 
by the name of "Kind Hearts and Coronets", and instantly I was hooked by the 
Avatar Archetypes.  I knew I just HAD to get the sourcebook, and hello first 
Amazon.com purchase, since they don't sell it in Singa-bloody-pore.  But 
enough about the history lesson.

I used to work on a module cum customized D20 system with a couple of D&D 
friends, the main premise being that there are things in this world which 
mortal minds cannot comprehend because we refuse to accept their existence; 
things that would fry our heads if we actually ever saw them.  The insane 
people are really just people who kinda popped their heads over the occult 
bend and, well, were unforunate enough to be able to See: the loony sitting 
across you on the bus yaking to himself isn't really talking to himself, and 
neither are those strange hand-actions he's making really just a byproduct 
of his demented mind.  Who's to say that he's not really summoning a demon 
to trip you the next time you stumble and fall?  To badly quote Nietzsche 
(and probably misspell his name at the same time): "And those who were seen 
dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."  
We called the game Asylum, because every character started off in an Asylum 
suffering from amnesia, not knowing who they are or even where they are: 
there was a massacre in the Sunshine Meadows Institute for the Criminally 
Insane, and the PCs are the sole survivors.

And then I stumbled upon UA, and...  holy shit.  I mean, wow, a system that 
would REALLY REALLY suit that game setting, and at the same time give my 
players funky powers through their own "insanity"!  I mean, it was a virtual 
dream come true, and I didn't have to sweat through the list of skills and 
feats that I was planning to go through with the D20 system.  The passions, 
obssessions and whathaveyou were a huge plus too, of course.  Granted, quite 
a lot of the original flavour was lost (since the asylum was planned to be a 
starting dungeon in the first place, with weapons and "power-ups" scattered 
across the map), but I think it's for the better.  I'm currently trying to 
start a small group of maybe 3 to 4 players, run the modified thing through 
a little and maybe see how things go.  I haven't made much plans after their 
escape from the Asylum, but we'll see how the Occult Underground in 
Singapore deals with them.  ;)  I already have quite a few True King GMCs 
ready to bust a few skulls in.



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