[UA] Stupid Newbie GM questions...

[Anthony H.]

I dig from the hip games as well. I attempted to bring in some less
conventional games to prepare them for other kinds of games. I decided that
WFRP was a nice way to ease them out of the D&D mindset. It's a fantasy game
with swords and sorcery, but grittier, and with more in common to Call of
Cthulhu and Unknown Armies. I told them that an army of 200 Beastmen were
coming against a wartorn village of about 30 starving peasants and their
leader wished to evacuate. The game derailed here. They fully intended to
fight the small army.

First, I tried roleplaying the leader of the village explaining the logical
reasons for leaving (200 big, strong, hairy, crazed beasts fortified by the
powers of Chaos) but they called the leader a coward. I stopped the game and
had to explain to them that 200 Beastmen against 30 villagers and three
insane adventurers was certain death. This resulted in them complaining that
they didn't like the system "because they couldn't win." That was their
reasoning, as quoted. We had only played two sessions and had only had two
instances of combat, where they literally trounced the enemies, but would
throw their hands up in frustration any time their attacks missed.

I ended up distancing myself from that group for that and other, far more
troublesome reasons. Sadly, when you leave a group, it's very, very hard to
find another. They're (understandably) very exclusive here.

Bleah. Sorry. A bit of a rant there. I'll be moving to Maine in a few
months, so hopefully I'll hook up with gamers a bit more willing to give
something different a try.
On Thu, May 15, 2008 at 10:04 AM, David Lowe <david.joseph.lowe at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Well I've played UA a few times and am getting a game set up for people who
> haven't. Because I want them to have more obscure games on the table.
>
> So far I'm plotting my story out for about a month. It's a rough guideline.
> I'm a from the hip GM, so most of it will be player driven.
>
>   On Thu, May 15, 2008 at 10:02 AM, Anthony H. <ars.mysteriorum at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> You know, I've owned UA for years and never once ran it. It's one of the
>> most daunting games to make a plot for. I love the material though. I just
>> wish I could shape it into a workable plot...
>>
>> The other issue is players. I live in South Dakota, where RPGs are still
>> the work of the Devil. It makes it a bit difficult to find players that play
>> anything other than d20 or Exalted, as there is no audience for the "more
>> obscure" games.
>>
>> So... is it hard to make up a story? How much time do you usually spend
>> planning a session?
>>
>>   On Thu, May 15, 2008 at 9:55 AM, Eslington ~ <eslington at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> It's suggested that for a street level game, a PC could start with up
>>> to three hardened notches their choice of madness meters, if they take
>>> a failed notch on meters of their choice in exchange.
>>>
>>> So you could, say, take two hardened notches on Violence and one
>>> hardened notch on Isolation, but would have to also take on three
>>> failed notches on meters of your choice.
>>>
>>> Also note that upon becoming adepts, characters take on one hardened
>>> and one failed notch on the Unnatural Meter to reflect their exposure
>>> to the supernatural.
>>>
>>> As a GM though, these are reccomendations. Rules to bend as you see fit.
>>>
>>> If you feel your player's character concepts justify them, you can let
>>> your players write their own madness meters out as they choose, within
>>> any boundries you choose to set.
>>>
>>> You might want to avoid this if your players don't quite "get" the
>>> system and are likely see being totally hardened on a meter as a path
>>> to invulnerability rather than a descent into inhumanity.
>>>  _______________________________________________
>>> UA mailing list
>>> UA at lists.unknown-armies.com
>>> http://lists.unknown-armies.com/mailman/listinfo/ua
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> "Disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and
>> business."
>>
>> - Tom Robbins
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
>
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>


-- 
"Disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and
business."

- Tom Robbins
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