[UA] Graffiti artists and a charging scheme

[Evan Loehle]

Here's what I cooked up awhile ago for my campaign. It revolved around a 
weird Urbanomancer varient who was seeking to unite all cities (mystically 
or otherwise) after a vision of The City (a sort of archetypical city that 
reflects all cities). He had recruited a Graffitomancer to help with the 
promise that once all the Cities, or enough or whatever, were united, he'd 
bring the Graffitomancer to The City and be the first to tag there.
Also came up with a cult that worshipped an old demon-variant graffiti 
master, but they were more or less not "bad guys".

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Graffitomancy
(aka bombers, taggers, aerosals, vandals, huffers, writers)


Graffiti's paradox is that has a strong message, without saying anything 
specific, that it exalts territoriality while ignoring the idea of property 
lines, that it is the soul of the City, but the City whitewashes it away. 
The Graffitimancer takes that paradox and exalts it. The graffitimancer is 
all about distorting boundaries and redefining borders, about literally 
making abstracts concrete (taggers love that joke every time).


The Paradox

Graffiti marks territory, it displays the soul of the street, it’s the voice 
of the City, but it disregards the borders of property, is bodiless, and the 
City it speaks for seeks to shut it up with white-washing and blue-suit 
arrest machines.
The message isn’t distorted, distortion is the message.
The paradox is that while graffiti defines and makes the abstract concrete, 
it blatantly ignores the definitions already present and only reflects the 
wants and needs of the city which rejects it. It’s art for art’s sake. Soul 
for soul’s sake. This ain’t your ancestor’s murals, this be profit free, 
baby. For the streets, of the streets, by the streets, on the streets!

Taboo

Allowing one of your tags to be tagged over by another’s tag. Being 
whitewashed (unless it’s whitewashed by another graffitimancer) doesn’t 
count, as that’s part of ecological process of the City, neither does 
painting over your own pieces. Being paid for your tagging services in 
anything past an exchange of favors. This is ART, man, not sneakers or 
microwaves or washing-machines.


Charging Structure

Minor : Create a piece of art through lasting (more than soap or eggs) 
vandalism (i.e. non-sanctioned wall) in a place with little to moderate 
chance of getting caught OR only a moderate amount of people traffic to see 
it OR has never been tagged before (even if the original is painted over). 
This piece must either encapsulate a full message (a name, a political 
message, your tag three times) or be a full, but simple, picture (e.g. 
simple face, the ever-popular penis, a single animal or creature). In either 
case, it must be something that draws attention. Usually, this means a piece 
at least a 2 ft. by 2 ft. or an alteration of an existing structure/image in 
a noticeable way (something more complex then merely giving the large poster 
of the local Senator red eyes. Red eyes and red horns together, on the other 
hand, is sufficient.) Alternatively, replace someone’s territorial tag with 
your own.

Significant : Create a piece of art through lasting vandalism in a place 
with a fair chance of getting caught (directly off a busy street, on a major 
street in the middle of the night, on a house in a suburb after 6:00 p.m. 
and before 9:30 p.m.) or a pretty unusual or inaccesible spot (such as the 
side of a Train, the wreck of an airplane, a difficult to access statue, the 
ceiling of an overpass). This piece must be 5 ft. by 5 ft., contain either a 
full message or picture and must draw attention. Alternatively, replace a 
dangerous someone’s (or someones’) territorial tag with your own while aware 
that the person or gang is dangerous. Alternatively, a large mural in safer 
area.

Major : Use lasting art to vandalize a unique AND difficult to reach spot 
that has never been vandalized before. Though an art museum may sound like 
the perfect spot to load up on major charges, since nearly all priceless art 
has been “maintained” or “restored” over the years, which leaves little left 
for the enterprising vandal. A side-effect of this is that it ruins the 
ability for Cliomancers to charge off this spot, as you have effectively 
brought the place into the modern day.

Blast Style

Varies from minor to significant.

The Minor Blast is a spray of boiling or chipped paint from the nearest 
source. This can be particularly disturbing if the nearest source of paint 
is a little ways away, as a round or two may pass, then the sound of popping 
and oozing paint or the horrible tapping of what sounds like thousands of 
insects comes running along the road to attack the confused victim.

One of the most flamboyant, the tagger’s Significant Blast summons horrible 
distorted creatures which fade in from nearby surfaces or emerge from shirt 
patterns, out of prints, tv shows, etc., and generally abuse the poor 
victim. If killed, the creatures and the victim form a new, permanent, 
particularly gruesome tag, though blood spatters may remain on the ground 
near the tag.


Random Magic Domain

Graffitimancy is great for redefining barriers and borders, 
emotional/soulful communication, and changing how people see things from 
concrete-physical to symbolic-abstract. Not to mention marking what’s yours.

Minor Formula Spells

Knohumsayin
1 Minor
Hey man, knohumsayin’?
They will now. Knohumsayin’ allows the tagger to get his message across, 
past social and lingual barriers, but only in its most basic, emotional 
manner. No details can be conveyed, but the general plight or intent can be 
communicated.

Soul of the Street
1 Minor
The tagger can get the general “feel” of a neighborhood as well as look for 
spiritual entities or blights in the area such as Revenants, Carnals, 
faeries, and a general idea of the demon level of activity, but must state 
whether she’s trying to sense the symbol landscape of the people and the 
neighborhood or the symbol-landscape of the unnatural and the neighborhood.

Writing on the Wall
2 minor
Graffiti carrying a complex visual message or simple set of words (number of 
words determined by tens spot of roll) is either suddenly “noticed” by a 
target chosen by the tagger or fades in. For an extra sig charge, the 
graffiti that appears is both permanent and more complex.

The People’s Voice
2 minor
The reverse of Knohumsayin, the tagger immediately gets where the other 
people or group(tagger must designate which) are coming from… emotionally. 
This may come in the form of sudden empathy or a symbol-ridden vision 
overlapping normal sight. It does not convey any specifics, just the general 
idea and intensity. The tagger can realize that the group they’re talking to 
is strapped badly for cash and a general idea of how desperate they are, but 
they won’t know WHY they’re strapped for cash, for how long, or exactly how 
much.

God, It’s In My Eyes!
3 minor
Painfully blinds a target for the 10’s spot in rounds. The smell of aerosol 
is strong, then.

Aerosol Cap
3 minor
This is the tagger minor blast. If the target is within 15 ft. of one of the 
tagger’s significant pieces, an extra die of damage can be added.

Personal Vision
4 minor
Identical to the USD of the druggies, Personal Vision grants Aura Vision and 
Symbol vision for the roll in minutes to the tagger or a target within range 
of sight.

Significant Formula Spells

Monster Bomb
1 sig
This is the Tagger Significant blast.
If the target is within 15 ft. of one of the tagger’s significant pieces, an 
extra die of damage can be added hand-to-hand damage style.
*
-Jocko the tagger Monster Bombs a corrupt cop who is chasing him down an 
alleyway that Jocko had earlier made a comedic mural in. Jocko rolls a 35, 
but since it’s near a significant piece, takes a third die and rolls a 4, 
doing 39 points of damage total to the cop as a huge Mr. Bubbles starts 
scrubbing the policeman’s flesh away).-

I Was Here
1 sig
The tagger can see, hear, smell, touch, taste, and speak through one of 
their significant works. For an extra minor charge, the tagger can choose to 
alter the work in some way. While in touch with the work, the tagger is in 
an intense trance and appears to be sleeping.

Art Reflects Life
2 sig
The tagger may paint something which then, temporarily, becomes useable. The 
object painted, whether hammer or gun, is always a caricature of the actual 
thing, and obeys exaggerated cartoon physics. The gun will work and not run 
out of bullets for as long as the spell lasts, but whether the bullets do 
real damage or cartoonish damage (think Bugs versus Daffy Hunting Season 
style) is 50/50.
This lasts for the sum of the dice rolled in rounds in battle or minutes, if 
not in battle, with remaining minutes being turned into rounds if battle 
starts.
Spraypaint made in this manner, while possible, is the most unstable object 
that can be made with the highest likelihood of something totally unexpected 
occurring.

B.I.G. is R.I.P.
3 sig
Usually accompanied by a memorial mural, this spell allows the tagger to 
either generically ward an area from demons (it won’t keep them out 
directly, but they’ll subconsciously avoid the place unless they have a good 
reason) or put a single demon to rest. The latter requires some information 
about the ghostie in question, particularly its obsession focus, as this 
allows the tagger to incorporate these into the mural, usually with the 
demon depicted indulging in the need that brought it back or, if the tagger 
is feeling vindictive, being denied the very thing that drives it. This 
ghostly restraint may be temporary, though. If the mural is tagged over or 
white-washed before it has strongly decayed on its own or the wall it’s on 
has been destroyed (these two things being close enough to death 
symbolically to ease the transition back past the veil) that the demon will 
be freed, possibly pissed at the tagger if it was trapped being denied its 
desire.
The name of this spell comes from the belief commonly shared by taggers that 
the potency of the spell is aided by help from crew who have passed on, the 
Saints of the Streets, most popular being 2Pac and the Notorious B.I.G.

Roadrunner’s Underpass
4 sig
The tagger speed-paints a tunnel or door onto a wall or other suitable 
surface, which he can then enter. Anyone else attempting to enter the 
passageway will run into the side of a cliff (or office building or cement 
divider), usually comically. The tagger finds herself in a long dark tunnel 
that will end in an opening at one of the tagger’s other bombsites, usually 
out of a door (one either portrayed in the painting or a real door which was 
painted over) or cave, but occasionally spat out by a face or squeezed out 
of some strange insect. The tagger can choose which piece they come out of, 
but it must be big enough, contain a suitable element to come out of, and 
must be a significant piece. The tagger need not have any type of paint with 
them, as graffiti soul (complements of the sig. charges) will provide a 
temporary ghost-can that expends itself and fades out with the end of the 
spell.


Art Reflects Life
5 sig
Like I Was Here, the tagger can sense through a significant piece, but now 
she can also animate it, using it like her own body. If she gets in a fight 
while inhabiting the spraypaint body, she takes all damage as though it were 
½ hand-to-hand damage, unless the body is destroyed, in which case she 
automatically loses 10 wound points. She can stay in the body, otherwise, 
until she gets hungry, thirsty, needs to pee, or falls asleep. The body 
retains her physical statistics, but is able to climb sheer surfaces and is 
2D, which may allow certain variances in ability in certain actions.


Major Effects

Become a graffiti-creature. Bring a tag to life or make items in a tag 
permanently real. Banish someone to a graffiti hell. Really leave your mark 
on the city. Make a graffiti-haven accessible through a tag.





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