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I don’t know whether anyone is actually playing Unknown Armies any more. I think the fan base was always comprised mostly of guys who bought the books and like to imagine playing someday, rather than actual players, but there was a time when the list featured rules questions and ideas for new material: plots, archetypes, magical themes, house rules.

For a year or more, virtually all the list’s electrons have been spent on reporting weird news. The rationale is that weird news could inspire plotlines for UA’s weird setting. On the presumption that weird news can only be the glimpses we in the general public get of a secret magical conflict, speculation on the purpose and outcome of the ritual presumed to lie behind each news oddity follows. It’s an exercise that requires little effort or commitment, and especially doesn’t require anyone actually to be playing UA. Without that actual at-the-table dynamic, the entertainment value of discussing weird news gets stale; after a while, none of it looks worthy of becoming a scenario.

Today’s offering is an exception, though. Nearly. There’s a short story to be had from a couple touring the US, visiting all 50 states, and getting hit and killed by a car shortly after crossing the border into Ohio, number fifty on their itinerary. I doubt that story ought to involve magical rituals, ascent to godhood, the sabotage of same by a rival mystic, or a blood sacrifice to the gods of the interstate, but it might. Interesting, if not game-worthy.

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