[UA] Unknown Armies Dark Ages (big)

[Chris Cooper]

Hey people.

A while ago I had a nifty idea of doing a dark ages
Cthulhu game. So I found my old Runequest and
Stoembringer games and started modifying Cthulhu.

I did a fair chunk until I found I had other things to
do. Especially since the mods took up more space than
my game.

The August Previews has the solicitation for Dark Ages
Call of Cthulhu - trying to fill a gap left by
Runequest? And someone else did a fantasy version of
UA.

Seeing this advert, I decided to do the old DA Cthulhu
game but using UA rules.

Here is my first draft of Unknown Armies Dark Ages.

Feedback and critique appreciated. I know a lot of you
are not going to like about what I've added or
changed. Too bad.

I've left out Avatars - Ascension of the Magdelene can
be used for modifying them. This is the time when
Robin Locksley ascended to the Clergy.

Cheers all,

Chris.

--------------------------START----------------------

Unknown Armies Dark Ages: getting medieval on yo’ game

Character creation for UADA is pretty much the same
for UA. The base skills are the same for UA except for
a few changes.

STATS & SKILLS
All skills start off at 15% except Initiative which
starts off at half of Speed.

BODY
Battle – Battle is the trained version of Struggle.
Battle indicates some sort of proficiency and training
with weapons. Struggle is still used by peasants who
are forbidden to carry weapons or train in combat.
Heartiness – This replaces and extends General
Athletics. It has an important function with healing
which is very important later on.
Ride – this is the Driving of the time. Deal with it.

MIND
Conceal – No change is required.
Shoddy Education – much like General Education, except
that one needs 25% or better to be literate but also
gets to be able to use Latin too. 
Notice – No change is required.

SOUL
Lying – No change is required. 
Charm – No change is required.

SPEED 
Dodge – No change is required.
Initiative – initiative remains the same with a few
additional changes regarding combat and missile
weapons. Initiative starts off at half of Speed.

COMBAT & THE ROUND COUNT
Rounds are counted up from one up. Every ten counts
make up one round. The lowest initiative is fastest.
Players can choose to roll initiative or keep their
default initiative.

Default initiative
Default initiative is the inverse of the Ten’s value
of character’s Speed stat. A character with 30 Speed
has a default initiative of 7.

Rolling initiative
The Initiative check is rolled before combat. The
character moves every fifth count afterwards –
sometimes twice in a round.

Success – use the lowest single number off the two
dice.
Failed – use the highest single number off the two
dice.
Above Speed – initiative is the sum of both dice.

An initiative that exceeds ten only moves on the next
round. An initiative of 13 only goes on third count of
the second round.

COMBAT & WEAPONS
To attack an opponent, you must roll your Battle
skill.

Weapons are dealt in a slight variant of the standard
UA combat rules. Weapons are divided into two classes,
those that do H2H (Hand-to-hand) damage and those that
do FA (Firearms) damage. 

Missile weapons also use both H2H and FA damage (see
below).

All weapons do uncapped FA damage plus modifier on a
successful matched pair.

COMBAT WEAPONS
H2H damage is the sum of the Battle check’s two dice.
FA damage is the number rolled. A damage cap is the
maximum result a character can roll. Any higher number
is lowered to the cap maximum. Modifiers can
subsequently increase the damage above the cap.

WEAPON CLASS	DAMAGE SYSTEM
One-handed weapons	H2H damage plus modifiers
Two-handed weapons	FA damage capped by the user’s Body
stat plus modifiers. 

Damage Modifiers 	Initiative Modifiers
Big	+5		+1		
Heavy	+5		+2
Sharp	+5		-
2Hands*	+5		-1	

*Includes two-handed weapons and one-handed weapons
used two handed. Small weapons like daggers cannot be
used two-handed. The initiative modifier only includes
one-handed weapons used with two-handed.

Weapon		Damage Modifier
Dagger		+5: sharp
Mace		+10: big and heavy – can be used two-handed
Polearm		+15: big, sharp and two-handed.
Broadsword	+10: heavy and sharp – can be used
two-handed
Hand-&-Half	+20: big, heavy, sharp, and two-handed

MISSILE WEAPONS
Missile weapons require much more of a keen eye,
timing and judgement that the hacking of melee
weapons. Bows and crossbows roll Notice checks to
shoot. Other missile weapons roll using Initiative. 

MISSILE CLASS	DAMAGE SYSTEM 		SPECIAL EFFECT
Arrow*			FA damage capped off at 40	Ignores Mail
Quarrel			FA damage capped off at 90	Ignores Mail and
Leather
Spear**			H2H damage			Big and sharp, +10 damage
Stone			H2H damage			Heavy, +5 damage
Thrown Dagger		High pick			Sharp, +5 damage

*Arrows from longbows are capped at 60 and include a
+10 modifier from two-handed and sharp.
**Spears are missile weapons, polearms are two-handed
weapons.

All missile weapons can be fired once every round with
an accumulating +1 shift to initiative. Quarrels can
only be fired every other round, as it requires one
round, and a Body check, to winch and cock a crossbow.

DEFENSE & ARMOUR
A character can defend his person in two ways,
standard defence and full defence. 

STANDARD DEFENCE
Each unarmoured character has one basic Defence die,
which is useless by itself. Armour and shields are
designed to take the force of a weapon blow, but not
always. Armour and shields give accumulating defence
dice. Defence Dice are rolled with a Dice Crash like
car accidents in UA (see below).  

Armour		Initiative Modifier	Defence Dice
None		+0			1
Leather		+1			1
Mail*		+1			1 
Shield		+1			1
Tower Shield**	+5			0 

After a successful blow roll Defence Dice and
rearrange the dice so two can exceed the attacker’s
Battle roll, but below the defender’s Speed stat. An
unsuccessful Defence Dice roll injures the character
and damages his armour by reducing it by one die. A
successful Defence check against a successful matched
pair from an opponent also reduces the Defence Dice
pool by one die.

*Mail includes leather armour so they’re two Defence
Dice together.
**Tower Shields are huge, slow and unwieldy, but give
two Defence Dice against missiles not weapons.

FULL DEFENCE

Parry with a weapon or shield
Instead of attacking, you can roll your Battle skill
and if it is under your opponent’s Battle skill, your
weapon parries his blow. A shield may be used, but the
character loses the Defence Die for that round. A
character can parry twice in a round if he has two
actions in a round.

Dodge
A character can avoid a blow if he is quick enough. He
must opt to dodge instead of attack. Ill-equipped
opponents are most likely to dodge incoming blows.

HEALING & WOUNDS

The character’s Wounds also indicate the current level
of his Body stat. As a character is wounded his Body
level drops.

When a character is hurt in battle and rests
afterwards roll a Heartiness check. If it succeeds he
heals the sum of the two dice.

If he fails but is under his Body stat, nothing
happens except that he remains unhurt.

If he rolls above his Body stat, he gets infected and
feverish and loses one extra die of his Wounds. He can
try rolling in a week. Characters who are infected can
only roll significant checks for their skills.

A character that has lost more than 10 Wounds never
recovers properly. His next best Wound level is ten
worse than what it was previously. 

MAGIC
Magic is plugged directly into the divine order of the
day. Magic is not as freeform as it is in the
twenty-first century, but then there are no schools
determining magic value systems – there is only one
paradigm for the European magician. All Western magic
is currently based upon some sort of divine blueprint,
whether studying it like cabbalist rabbis, or
monitoring it like magi, or trying to usurp it like
demonic dabblers.

The creation of the universe by God is the current
irrefutable law of physics; no one even thinks about
questioning this at this time. No exceptions
permitted.

Magic only uses rituals modified for the time period –
but adept rituals can be used if appropriate. Rituals
do not use charges but drain the sorcerer’s very
spirit. Each ritual is a separate skill unto itself.
Every ritual has a starting skill equal to the sum of
two dice. The Soul stat is reduced by the same roll.
This is regardless is the ritual is minor or
significant in power.

Every time a ritual is attempted, roll the ritual’s
skill. If the ritual is minor reduce the sorcerer’s
Soul stat and every Soul-based skill by the sum of two
dice. If the ritual is significant, the sorcerer’s
Soul stat and all his Soul skills are reduced by two
dice flip-flopped to the highest result.

If a sorcerer wishes to use a skill that has been
reduced to zero or lower, he can try by rolling a Hail
Mary.

If the sorcerer’s Soul is ever reduced to zero or
below, he cannot roll any Soul or Soul-based skill
checks; he exists in an exhausted fugue state until
recovered. 

The sorcerer does not die at low or zero Soul but he
may become extreme susceptible to other magicians and
spirits. 

Sorcerers regain one point of Soul per day if they’re
alive.

Rituals and spells
The Tilt rules are effective as minor curses and hedge
magic. The familiar rules from Break Today are good
for use as is. 

Certain rituals, adept spells and artefacts can be
easily converted (demon stration tape can become a
magic circle against demons) and the Hand of Glory is
simpler to recreate than in the modern days. Ghost
Vintage can be the providence of Chaldean wizards
trapping spirits in bottles. A GM and player may
back-engineer magic from other game systems if they’re
appropriate.





=====
‘You, goddess-born, what future hunts you down through such tremendous trials? 

'What violence has forced you onto these ferocious shores?’

Chapter and verse: 860
Virgil, the Aeneid.

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