Product Review
From The Dawn of Time…
The Atlantis Rising sourcebook takes
you on a comprehensive tour of the most human like
aliens in the Conspiracy X game, the Atlanteans. The
Atlanteans are an ancient race from a distant planet
called Alan’ns, which was much like Earth (as
far as geography goes anyway). They have been among
the human race since the dawn of our civilization
and have been messing about with us for roughly the
same amount of time.
The Atlanteans have been very tied
in with human society throughout history. They frequently
masqueraded as our kings and queens, even as our gods
(way back when we all ran round in loin cloths and
poked hairy things with sticks till they fell over).
Atlanteans look a lot like humans, usually good-looking
humans, but they can alter their appearance using
nanotechnology. Nanotech is all about using microscopic
machines (nanites) to perform various tasks.
Nanotech is a major part of the
Atlanteans society; they use it for everything, from
making houses and transport to maintaining their bodies.
The use of it on their bodies has achieved something
else as well, immortality. Atlanteans don’t
age, they don’t get sick and they can heal damage
that would easily kill a human.
What was Atlantis all about then…
The first three chapters of this
book can be read by the players, although the third
section should only really be read by players wishing
to use one of the new Forgotten character types. Chapter
one is short and sweet, it tells you how the book
is laid out and what lies in wait for the reader.
Chapter two is another shining example of the gleaming
Conspiracy X setting. It has been written as if the
characters in the game have performed a search using
their HERMES computers (special laptop type things
with access to loads of secret info). This is good
for building up the Atlantean myths, legends and background;
it should also give the players a healthy respect
for the things these super-human aliens are capable
of.
Chapter three is used to tackle
an area that may interest the gamers who’ve
been playing the game for donkey’s years. To
an immortal a prison sentence is a bit of joke. After
all they could lock you up for 200 years and when
you got out you’d still have an eternity of
freedom to look forward to. So how do you punish a
bad Atlantean? You take away their memories. To an
Atlantean their memories are very important, so as
a punishment they have their memories stripped away
and then they get abandoned on Earth for a set amount
of time. When their sentence is complete they get
picked up and given their memories back, well most
if them do anyway.
The Forgotten are Atlanteans who
never got picked up, they’ve been forgotten
(not just a clever name). These beings still have
their immortality and their Terminator like bodies
they just don’t know why. Sound like an interesting
character? Well they are and if your GM agrees to
it you could be road testing an immortal in your next
gaming session.
The rest of this book is great,
but it’s also very “GM eyes only”
so I ain’t going to ruin anything by giving
stuff away. Suffice to say, Chapter four gives you
a really detailed description of the Atlanteans history
and origins. Chapter five has some sample Atlanteans
with varying motives that are sure to enhance any
storylines. Chapter six is where the nanotechnology
I was telling you about earlier is explained. There
is some really good stuff in here and the look on
your player’s faces when the Atlanteans start
using it will be well worth seeing. The last chapter
is one of the standard sourcebook adventures, where
they try and crowbar some of the stuff from the book
into one of your games. It’s well written though
and is a worthy end to a good book.
The End…
This is a good expansion of the
rulebooks alien section and will tell you almost everything
you could possibly want to know about the Atlanteans.
Some of the revealed secrets weren’t quite what
I’d hoped for but they were good none-the-less;
and the fact that most of the information in the book
is from “incomplete and inaccurate” Aegis
files it can easily be altered to suit your games.
This book could easily keep conspiracy
theorists busy for years, assuming they live that
long of course…
Reviewed By Jon Simpson |
