Unknown Armies Book One: Play

Unknown Armies presents magic as it could exist in a setting focused on crime and secret stories, as a complex wrinkle in the fabric of reality, created by a growing spiral of risk, renunciation and obsession. Unknown Armies asks you what you would be willing to sacrifice to change the world. Your friends? Your family? Your Health? Your sanity? Magic always finds a way to demand the maximum from those who use it, until they get what they want, or they are left with nothing.

It's a game about being desperately and inexorably human.

Book One: Play is intended for gamers. Among other things, it details:

    Passions, identities and obsession.
    All the rules to solve the actions of the game.
    The central mechanics of dementometers.
    How to avoid fights, and what to do when you get caught up in one anyway.
    The magic of adepts, avatars and rituals, and the tricks of vulgar magic.

Unknown Armies was created by Greg Stolze and John Tynes, and presents a totally original world, but disturbingly close to reality, centered on mystery, horror and action.


Includes contributions from Aaron Acevedo, Cam Banks, Tim Dedopulos, Thomas Deeny, Jason Engle, Shoshana Kessock, Sophie Lagacé, Chris Lites, W.J. MacGuffin, Ryan Macklin, Colleen Riley, Chad Underkoffler, Monica Valentinelli, and Filamena Young.