More UA LARP stuff

[the_eggwhite]

Things covered in this post:

• What to do if you're unfamiliar with UA
• A brief summary of UA magic
• How important are downtimes? What happens if I don't submit one?

What to do if you're unfamiliar with UA

If you don't know UA that well, I'm going to guess that you don't own the rulebook. This isn't hugely a problem. For a general feel of the setting, you can go and look at a .pdf preview of the game which is basically the first chunk of the rulebook.

This doesn't really cover the details of magic, though. I'll be running what's called a "global level" game, which means that characters are generally aware that magic exists, and that there is an underground society of those that have this knowledge, albeit an incredibly fractious and frequently violent one. This means that many (if not all) PCs will have some form of Mojo, or some form of schtick that relates to magic in some way.

A brief summary of UA magic

There are two main forms of magic and two "lesser" forms.

The main ones are as follows:
Adepts
Adepts trick reality by having a firm belief in a central paradox or "symbolic tension". There are various "schools" of adept magic to choose from. Each school is based around a particular "symbolic tension", which comes with an area of specialism and some limitations. As an example, Dipsomancers believe they can do anything when they're drunk, and because they're gaining power by losing the ability to use it (through drunkenness), they lose their stored up magic when they sober up. Entropomancers gain the ability to control fate and luck by throwing themselves open to fate or luck. By taking random risks and not attempting to control them, they can gain the ability to control other risks. But the cost they must face up to is that they cannot refuse a risk if somebody else is willing to take it.

Avatars
Avatars spot reality's established patterns and archetypes and try to embody them, gaining related abilities along the way. Again, there are several different archetypes to choose from. As an example, an Avatar of the Fool cannot pay too much attention to things or think too much, but as long as they remain blissfully ignorant things will tend to go their way. An avatar of the messenger can move around without impediment (at high levels they can just open a door, go through it and arrive in the right place), but they can't block or change a message.

The other two forms (I hesitate to use the word "lesser") are as follows:

Ritual Magicians
Ritual Magicians have learned the odd ritual here or there. Rituals are difficult to find out about, and getting them to work can be something of a long-term project, but pretty much anybody can try them. They don't have the flexibility of the other types of mojo, and they're unlikely to ever reach the heights of power that Adepts or Avatars do, but they don't have the restrictions. They don't need to keep to a specific skewed view of reality. In short, the others all have to be a bit nuts. You don't. You just need to spend time tracking down a ritual, the components you need for it, and then you need to perform it.

"Majeekians"
"Majeekians" is a derogatory term used for this kind of magic by the other magic users, who tend to look down on them for being one-trick ponies. Basically, these guys have something which is "their thing" and that's it. It could be an ability to spot people who use magic. It could be the ability to summon demons (when you summon a demon in UA, you summon them into your own body, by the way), or to identify emotional ties between people. As far as the system is concerned, these kinds of things just work like any other skill. They let you do your one thing, and nothing else, but you can do it whenever you like and there are no drawbacks or restrictions whatsoever.

There is another type of magic, but they won't be coming into play in this game. Or if they do, it won't be something that was instigated by a PC, anyway.

How important are downtimes? What happens if I don't submit one?

As I've mentioned in a previous post, downtime activity in this game will be in the form of 20 one hour "slots", representing the hours of that day not spent at a game.

They're important if you're an adept who wants to spend some time gathering charges between games. A Dipsomancer might want to spend hours in a bar drinking, and very little time sleeping because they don't want to sober up. An Entropomancer might want to go into a rough pub and bet free punches on coin-tosses. An Oneiromancer might want to make a point of not spending any time sleeping at all.

They're important if you've got a job, as the hours you spend working will justify your salary. If you don't work those hours, you risk your job and income. If you work casual hours, you might be told you have to work certain hours - limiting your downtime activity.

I'm planning on some standard downtime plans - these will be created with a bit of consultation with each player, but not much. These will be a basic "do nothing special" downtime. They won't have many benefits. They'll essentially represent a lazy "do nothing" kind of day. Employed characters will have working hours. Adepts will probably have a small time allocated to charge gathering, but not much. There'll probably be a reasonable amount of time allocated to simply resting and watching TV and the like.

If you don't submit a downtime, a standard downtime appropriate to your character will be used instead. It will almost always be better to submit a downtime than to not do so. You will get much more benefit from doing so, and you can use the time to investigate or research things that arise in play.

In other words, downtimes are not essential, but you'll get more out of the game if you submit them. They don't even have to be particularly complex.