Can of Worms

Unknown Armies, 2nd Edition wrote:
Somewhere out there is someone who had loving parents, watched clouds on a summer's day, fell in love, lost a friend, is kind to small animals, and knows how to say "please" and "thank you," and yet somehow the two of you are going to end up in a dirty little room with one knife between you and you are going to have to kill that human being.

It's a terrible thing. Not just because he's come to the same realization and wants to survive just as much as you do, meaning he's going to try and puncture your internal organs to set off a cascading trauma effect that ends with you voiding your bowels, dying alone and removed from everything you've ever loved. No, it's a terrible thing because somewhere along the way you could have made a different choice. You could have avoided that knife, that room, and maybe even found some kind of common ground between the two of you. Or at least, you might have divvied up some turf and left each other alone. That would've been a lot smarter, wouldn't it? Even dogs are smart enough to do that. Now you're staring into the eyes of a fellow human and in a couple minutes one of you is going to be vomiting to the rhythm of a fading heartbeat. The survivor is going to remember this night for the rest of his or her life.

Six Ways To Stop A Fight

So before you make a grab for that knife, you should maybe think about a few things. This moment is frozen in time. You can still make better choices.

Surrender. Is your pride really worth a human life? Drop your weapon, put up your hands, and tell them you're ready to cut a deal. You walk, and in exchange you give them something they need. Sidestep the current agenda. Offer them something unrelated to your dispute, and negociate to find a solution.

Disarm. Knife on the table? Throw it out the window. Opponent with a gun? Dodge until he's out of bullets. Deescalate the situation to fists, if possible. You can settle your differences with some brawling and still walk away, plus neither one of you has to face a murder charge or a criminal investigation.

Rechannel. So you have a conflict. Settle it in a smarter way. Arm wrestle, play cards, have a scavenger hunt, a drinking contest, anything that lets you establish a winner and a loser. Smart gamblers bet nothing they aren't willing to lose. Why put your life on the line?

Pass the Buck. Is there somebody more powerful then either one of you who is going to be angry that you two are coming to blows? Pretend you're all in the mafia and you can't just kill each other without kicking your dispute upstairs first. Let that symbolic superior make a decision. You both gain clout for not spilling blood.

Call the Cops. If you've got a grievance against somebody, let the police do your dirty work. File charges. Get a restraining order. Sue him in civil court for wrongful harm. You can beat him down without throwing a punch.

Run Away. The hell with it. Who needs this kind of heat? Blow town, get a job some place else, build a new power base. Is the world really too small for the both of you? It's a big planet out there.

Oh well.

Still determined? Backed into a corner with no way out? Have to fight for the greater good? Up against someone too stupid to know this is a bad idea? Or maybe just itching for some action? So be it. The rest of this chapter contains rules for simulating the murder of human beings. Have fun.

Bal wrote:Hrm, combining with above, it means that Innocent, Typical, Hardened, and Hardcore all take automatic trauma the same way from seeing a Heinous Act. That seems bizarre. It actually means a Hardcore character is far less likely to take trauma from torturing someone than by seeing someone tortured.

Bal wrote:There also seems to be a distinction in the text between "Prohibited" and "Cannot be performed willingly" - they sound like two different classifications in the Typical write-up, even if that isn't borne out elsewhere. If that is the case, I have a feeling that for the witnessing thing, what is intended is you take trauma if you witness an act "You cannot perform willingly", instead of just "Probited". That'd mean autotrauma for witnessing Questionable and Heinous for Innocents, and for witnessing Heinous for Typicals.

Bal wrote:If I were redoing this, I'd use the Acceptable, Prohibited, and Cannot Perform Willingly perhaps, and do it like this:
Innocent: Acts of Grace Acceptable, Minor Prohibited, everything else Cannot Perform Willingly.
Typical: Acts of Grace and Minor Acceptable, Questionable Prohibited, Heinous Cannot Perform Willingly.
Hardened: Acts of Grace, Minor and Questionable Acceptable. Heinous Prohibited. Nothing they cannot perform willingly.
Hardcore: Minor and Questionable Acceptable. Heinous and Acts of Grace Prohibited, but have easy tests for them. Nothing they cannot perform willingly.
Irredeemable: Acts of Grace Prohibited. Everything else Acceptable.

And then I'd say you only have to make challenges for witnessing acts that you Cannot Perform Willingly, and are good if they are just Prohibited. That's how I'd clean it up. Obviously, the section is in need of much clarification.

Eliel wrote:
What happens if a character takes 4 or 5 points of voluntary moral and immoral trauma every month?
Example: A hardened/hardcore divine who honestly cares about people and constantly performs acts of grace but also frequently tortures sinners for their own good to help them confess their sins.
Could they just say “I’ve had multiple breakthroughs this month bounced back and forth between hardened and hardcore and now I’m X”

cenobyte wrote:If the character, while Hardcore, chose to perform Acts of Grace, she may have to make trauma tests, or she may choose to take trauma for it (Moral Aligned, most likely, although it isn't specified as such for characters other than Irredeemable).

Bal wrote:And then I'd say you only have to make challenges for witnessing acts that you Cannot Perform Willingly, and are good if they are just Prohibited. That's how I'd clean it up. Obviously, the section is in need of much clarification.