[UA] Campaign Reversal

[Rich Ranallo]

(I'm cross-posting this between RPGnet and the UA mailing list, so some of 
you might be reading it twice.  Or not reading it twice, as the case may 
well be).

While making characters for our latest Unknown Armies game, our group ran 
into a constant obstacle; we wanted the group to be a cohesive cabal, with 
a definite long-term goal.  But, not knowing what plot the GM had in store, 
every group concept we came up with might very well have run contrary to 
the plot of the game (this is one of those one-shot, maybe long-term games).

So, then it occurred to me: Unknown Armies, like a lot of other games, is 
very character-driven.  It's not generally just about random people 
reacting to weird stuff happening all around them, it's about people with 
ambitions and the things they encounter when pursuing them.

Typically, an RPG session comes about when a GM invents a plot.  He then 
goes looking for players, and the players make characters, which the GM 
either approves or disapproves, based on whether they'd fit into his game.

I say, turn it around.  Get together with three or four friends and make up 
a group.  Decide what kind of game you want to play (Street, Global or 
Cosmic level), and what kind of group you want (TNI enforcers, Naked 
Goddess followers, Mak Attax).  Then, once you've developed these 
characters, go out and find someone to run the game.  The GM then takes a 
little while and makes up a plot that fits the group, not the other way 
around.  So, if the group is playing a bunch of art terrorists bent on 
destroying the Daley Plaza Picasso sculpture in Chicago during an anti-war 
riot, they don't end up being railroaded into helping the New Inquisition 
rub out a rogue Duke in the alleys of San Francisco.

Obviously, this puts a lot of burden on the GM, since he won't be able to 
take his sweet time making up a story.  Most likely, he'll have two weeks 
max to hammer out some sort of opposition to the group's agenda.  He'll 
have to know the game very well, and the players will have to give him a 
lot to work with, in the way of personality templates, history and 
connections for their characters.  I'm going to give this thing a try with 
my group soon; I start with a complete blank slate, and all I do is throw 
curveballs at the group as they try to find the Holy Grail or whatnot.

Has anyone out there actually tried this sort of thing, or am I totally off 
my rocker?


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