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.

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.

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.