[UA] The Hotel of Renunciation

[Mike Dewar]

-----Original Message-----


I've stewed over some of these ideas before, and some concerns: 

The idea of the Renunciation which turns out more complicated than expected
(or has unexpected moral repercussions) is great fun, and obviously true to
that whole "power and CONSQUENCES" thing that gets mentioned from time to
time. ;-) 

But I'd say that it's got to be used as an occasional spice as opposed to a
regular occurrence: otherwise, every session turns into an episode of
"Touched by an Agent". OH NO! Another moral dilemma! 

As regards personal goals and generally being sucked into Underground
politics unrelated to the Great Work (uh...wait, wrong cabal!) - it's a
staple of the UA game, and tremendous fun when done right, but I'd want to
use that as primarily sub-plot material than as main plot machinery. If it
starts to overshadow the whole House angle, then this might as well be any
random group of mystic weirdos. 

Also, my impression is that the whole Renunciation angle may make the
Underground more than a little skittish. Who wants to hang out with a person
who may suddenly decide that your personality needs a re-write? Obviously,
the PCs can try and stay under the radar as "just another cabal", but that
in turn limits their involvement in serious Underground politics. 

Room-versus-Room action: Any suggestions on how this might play out? I've
got some long-term ideas for a rival Room to make an appearance once the PCs
are settled in their mystic roles, but I'm still toying with the most
effective way to use them. Obviously, Renouncing friends and allies can be
fun (Who can you REALLY trust?), but I'd want to avoid too much strategic
renouncing as it might start to turn silly - I Renounce your best friend!
Well, I Renounce him back! 

Given the whole "skittish Underground" aspect, I wouldn't expect either Room
to be too successful at drumming up serious support from others (outside
their past "clients"). Again, the Underground will probably respond to both
sides with fear and suspicion. 

I like the idea of the Room using other tools besides Renunciation to
achieve its Agenda: allows me to create variety while still staying
"on-mission." Anyone got any thoughts in that arena? 

I'm currently looking at a set-up where Renunciation features mainly as the
PCs' "day-job". Sometimes they'll just have a "quiet week" when they
basically just need to trick people into staying at the Hotel (meanwhile,
sub-plots and other UA weirdness go on overdrive) and sometimes particularly
complicated Renunciations dominate the plot (because the "client" is hard to
access, mystically-aware, or both). And every now and again, a simple
Renunciation turns out sour or returns to bite them in the ass. ("What? The
social worker we Renounced two months ago has turned up on the FBI's Most
Wanted List?")

Thoughts? Has anyone out there run a Renunciation game? How did it play out?

- Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin Patrick Hogan [mailto:dromedan at umich.edu] 
Sent: 26 August 2006 01:43 AM
To: mike.dewar at crysp.co.za; The Unknown Armies RPG Mailing List
Subject: Re: [UA] The Hotel of Renunciation

One option:
Make it part of a larger web of opposing/allied forces.

What House of Renunciation is the hotel opposed to?  What if the players 
are sent to retrieve an agent of this opposing house?  What House is 
opposed to your hotel?  What if your players cross paths with this other 
house's agents?  What if this other house sends a group of its people 
after a major NPC?  Or one of the PCs?

   --K


Possible alternative scenarios:

*Other objectives. Sure, the hotel of Renunciation wants to renounce people,
but it has other fish to fry as well. Maybe renunciations of particularly
powerful people require certain ingredients and artifacts, or maybe they
need these things for other reasons. Just because they're most well known
for renunciation doesn't mean they don't have other things they could do.
*The PC's personal goals. Maybe Renunciating isn't THAT demanding of a job,
and the PCs have enough "down time" that they can run more personal
adventures related to their own wants, needs, and personal nemeses.
*Taking folks down. Maybe the lover of someone that was recently Renunciated
is angry, and has amassed enough mojo that they could become a threat. Maybe
there's someone out there who's just mad at The Room for ethical reasons.
*Exploration of the rammifications of Renunciation. A few scenarios wherein
the PCs are exposed to the consequences of what they're doing, and forced to
trudge on in spite of what they reap, or become turn-coats.

-Young Han
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