Unknown Armies:Passions
You don't go through life like a car on an assembly line. You're volatile, spontaneous, and committed. The events in your life can have a profound effect on you. There's something that really scares you, something that ticks you off, and something that inspires you to action.
These are the passions that rule your life. In a very real way, they're the foundation of all the "logical" and "rational" decisions you make as a human being. These are the hot buttons wired deep into your brain.
You have three: A Fear stimulus, a Rage stimulus, and a Noble stimulus.
Your passions cannot contradict your obsession. You are a coherent person.
When you're in a situation that pushes one of your buttons, you go all spooky-intense. You can opt to either flip-flop or reroll a failed roll during that situation. You only get to do this once per session for each passion. If you're going to go buck wild, make sure it's worth it.
The GM can shut you down. If you unleash a passion for bogus reasons and she calls you on it, you don't get to cut loose. Yet.
The Fear Passion
What do you fear the most? Pointy things? Looking Weak in front of people you respect? Whatever it is, it's the thing that makes you run like a neck-stumped chicken, the stink of panic erupting from your fevered skin.
If you activate your fear passion, you can use the flip-flop or reroll to get away. Run fast. Bust down the locked door. But you cannot use it to attack—the thing you fear most has the most power over you.
Your fear passion has a connection to your Madness Meters. These are mental stresses that record how messed up you are in the head. There are five such tracks: Violence, Helplessness, The Unnatural, Isolation, and Self. Pick one that synchs up closest to your fear. Then if your fear rises up and smacks you, you have to make a stress check against the linked meter.
Sample Fear Passions
(Helplessness) Fire. Fire claimed your house, and with it your wardrobe, your record collection, not to mention all your photos and yearbooks. It’s bad stuff, not just dangerous and painful but unpredictable as well.
(Isolation) Foreigners. When you were overseas, you always knew they were talking about you behind your back, jabbering away in that weird monkey language. Now they’re all around you, even in the streets of your home town.
(Self) Temptation. You don’t drink anymore. When you get drunk you do terrible things, so you don’t drink. Much. No, not at all. In fact, you’re careful to stay away from bars, restaurants, and that liquor store on Third and Main.
(The Unnatural) Possession. You don’t like to talk about the exorcism. You don’t like to say the creature’s name. You know it’s still out there and that calling it could bring it right back.
(Violence) Dogs. You’ve got marks on you from the red jaws and white teeth. Even those barky little shit dogs make you nervous, and big beasts like a Doberman or Saint Bernard? Forget it.
(Violence) Victimization. You weren’t the one who got hurt, you were the one they made talk. You tried to be tough, and that made it all your fault. Now you can’t stand to see people get hurt. To you, watching the victim is worse than being the victim.
The Rage Passion
What makes you lash out in a blind fury? Child abusers? People who have undeservedly been rewarded with the things you work so hard for but cannot obtain? Your rage passion is the thing you must destroy, surpass, or overcome, in whatever form or persona it manifests.
If you activate your rage passion, you can use the flip-flop or reroll to lash out. You might fire a gun, swing a fist, or turn over the tables of the money-changers in the courtyard of the temple. You cannot use it to do some sort of skilled careful work, like picking a lock or hacking a computer belonging to your enemy. You must lash out immediately in all your volatile, beautiful, uncontrollable rage.
Sample Rage Passions
Backchat. Is it too much to ask that people be polite? You understand someone who throws a punch at you, but a sarcastic loudmouth really gets your goat.
Enemy Drivers. You’re an excellent driver. You wish all the bad drivers around you would just realize it, hang up their cell phones, and get the hell out of your way.
Laziness. When someone does a half-assed job, they’re not just disrespecting their duties or their boss. They’re flipping the bird to everyone who has to put up with their shoddy work. God help one of your employees if you catch her slacking.
Sleaze. Booze. Pornography. Foul language. Toilet humor. The country is swimming in filth, and no one’s doing anything about it. It’s time someone took a stand. Someday a real rain is gonna fall.
Stuck-up Assholes. Just because you didn’t go to college and don’t drive a Lexus doesn’t mean those rich fucks get to look down at you. Goddamn snobs. Someone ought to take them down a notch.
Those Fat Cats in Washington. Democrats and Republicans are just the competing teams in the “Screw the Taxpayer” Super Bowl, brought to you live by the Army, the Post Office, and your local Police Department.
The Noble Passion
What inspires you to be the very best person you can be? Relieving the worldwide burden of poverty? Getting the money for your grandmother's operation? Your noble passion is the thing that takes you higher. To avoid your fear, you might leave your friends in the lurch. To destroy your rage, you might lie, torture, and murder. But to pursue your noble goal, you would make sacrifices, risk your own life, and endure terrible suffering for the common good.
If you activate your noble passion, you can use the flip-flop or reroll to take a selfless action that furthers your noble goal. You need to do it right away—this isn't a resource you can use to write a grant proposal. Bust the lock on the warehouse to feed the starving, drive fast to get the child to the hospital, persuade a soldier to let you into the refugee camp. This is a moment to define your highest self.
Sample Noble Passions
Entertainment. How much better would the world be if people devoted as much effort to making one another happy as they do to getting rich or becoming powerful? You believe laughter is the best medicine—so if you cheer someone up now, the future takes care of itself.
Historical Preservation. If we can’t learn from the past, we’re doomed to repeat it, and all those who suffered did so in vain. Preserving our links to the past gives us a firm foundation to build a better future.
Landmine Removal. Landmines are deadly, indiscriminate, and a bitch to remove. You’ve seen their carnage firsthand and you’re dedicated to removing them physically (by working as a minesweeper) and politically (through activism to get landmines banned).
One for All. Most people are crap, but you’ve made a tight bond with your friends. They’re all right, and your loyalty to them is unshakeable.
Pedagogy. Education is the key to it all. Knowledge rinses away prejudice, eases misery, and exalts all that is good about the human condition. Educating others is your mission in life.
Protect the Elderly. Most old people have already had seven courses of misery and heartache in their lifetimes without an extra helping in the eleventh hour.