The Inside Scoop on Gaming

The Technocracy has long been one of my major problems with Mage: the Ascension. I am an aspiring scientist myself, studying physics and philosophy, and the consistently terrible treatment that the Techies had gotten through book after book always grated on me and never fit right. The Convention books were almost universally poor (Syndicate being an exception to that, I hear) and the agents of the Technocratic Union were always portrayed as jack-booted thugs with big black hats and a fetish for mind-control, not a group that has fallen from its goals of protecting humanity. When I first heard about the Guide to the Technocracy, my initial reaction was "About damn time!" That was soon followed by "I certainly hope they do it right." It is about time, and White Wolf almost does it right.

The opening story was good enough, I suppose. It was simple and kept me reading, and it also showcased the two sides of the Technocracy, the idealist who is trying to save humanity and the cold, hard agent who simply does what his superiors tell him to.

The Introduction chapter was surprisingly useful, giving a primer for the Union's world-view. The short discussion of mood and theme was much more useful than in most White Wolf books, oddly enough. There is also a very useful list of major events and issues that the Union has had to deal with. This is the first mention of "the Schism" which I felt was over-emphasized, considering how little it was explored. The short chapter has some interesting points and tidbits (like the mention that more and more mortals are claiming to be possessed by angels or messiahs), but unfortunately, the overwhelming feeling of a Technocracy trying vainly to hold in its own intestines as the world crumbles around it is not carried into the rest of the book. The mood of "the Cracking Monolith" mentioned here is covered over in the rest of the book, either ignored, covered over by an annoying veneer of propaganda, or mentioned in passing as the Schism.

Chapter One: Indoctrination, seems at times almost like an Introduction, Take Two. It is not a bad chapter, just somewhat ill-placed. It contains little bits on how the Technocracy is fighting to save reality, how the Union is not perfect, and how it seems to be crumbling to politics. There are four groups of Technocrats all involved in their own form of "underground resistance" in the Union, fighting to keep it pure and untainted. Unfortunately, they are not given much more information later on. This is all followed by an oddly organized Lexicon. Useful, but I was puzzled by the placement of some words.

The Enlightened Science chapter is what I wanted most from the book, the discussion of Technocratic paradigm in detail. A good, solid chapter, it has a few flaws, one of them being brevity. The Union's view and interpretation of Paradox was beautifully done, and reinforces the idea that they are "not doing magic, only advanced science." The discussion of it was excellently done, it is just as plausible as the Tradition's theories, in addition, the example given is not one of solid technology, but of social manipulation. That was a very interesting route to take indeed. There is also a look at why the Technocracy hasn't flooded the world with the technology they already have, both from a societal and Paradoxical viewpoint.

The chapter then moves onto looking at Avatars, Seekings, and other mainstays of the mystic Mage game through the Union's unblinking eye. The Technocrats view their "Avatars" not as re-incarnated souls or the embodiments of ancient gods, but simply as "True Genius," the insight which allows them to understand Enlightened Science. I liked this explanation because it is much closer to the way I run Mage myself, where Avatars are simple souls, and don't have any more of an independent personality (usually). It was somewhat spoiled her (and elsewhere) by the constant implication (and sometimes blatant statements) that the Technocracy is deluded about their claims to "True Genius" and that they are just denying their Avatars, and as such are just deluded fools.

Right along with this portrayal of Technocratic agents as deluded fools is the discussion of their metaphysics. Most Technocratic agents don't know that they influence reality in any way with their "science." They are simply following scientific laws that Sleepers haven't figured out yet. I like that, it is really the only way to make the Technocracy make any sense while keeping a completely subjective world in Mage, the problem is, I don't feel like a similar effort has gone in to showing what the Traditions think of their metaphysics. It simply feels like Mage is still one-sided in that the Technocracy (all but it's leadership) has no idea what is going on. It is a mad, lumbering monster, simply following the commands of those In The Know.

Don't get me wrong when I say that the books paints the Union as deluded. I am not necessarily saying that is a bad thing. I have to admit that I have not decided that yet. In some ways, it could make for an excellent campaign. In other ways, it just doesn't seem to fit right.

Seekings were handled better, as Psych Ops and basic psychology acknowledges the value of the journey and quest through metaphor. A Seeking to a Technocrat is a psychological journey into the subconscious, where the agent can come to accept what his subconscious mind has already figured out.

One of the most lukewarm bits of the book, sadly, as the dealing with quintessence. Broadly and vaguely described as "primal essence," we are not given any detailed scientific theories about its nature. Considering its usefulness, I would have thought that the Union would have directed a massive amount of research in the direction of Prime.

The "Tools, Devices, Styles and Theorems" section was one of the best in the book, I think, simply because of the acknowledgment that not all paradigms will carve up each of the Spheres simply, with no overlap. I recommend that for experienced groups, the system of Primary Foci be used across-the-board in Mage games. It places a greater emphasis on paradigm in the game, and that is always good. On the other hand, "Speed Science" I found to be stupid. It seemed to further the feel that parts of the book had with the Technocrats being mages who cover their magick with science, not mages who do their technology with science. While I fully agree that MacGuyver is a perfect example of improvisational technomagick, the "spontaneous effect" rule I found laughable. The example given is that an agent realizes that the roof is damaged, so it falls and blocks a fireball from an escaping mage. How did the agent use science to do that? What did his training have to do with it? This is more "Last-ditch Luck" that "Speed Science," and as such, it should either not be available to anyone, or both sides of the Ascension War should get it.

The Nine Spheres themselves only got two pages when they should have had at least a page each, just to give the basics of them in the Union's paradigm. As it was, the few paragraphs each gave me just enough to get interested and a few thoughts rolling, but not enough to flesh out a paradigm well enough that I could use it on the fly in a game. I didn't really have any problems with this section other than its brevity and vagueness. I wanted detail and thought-provoking ideas from the Guide to the Technocracy, but I only got the latter.

The history chapter is the gleaming gem of the Guide to the Technocracy. It is written well, it is detailed, and it has many differing viewpoints. I loved it. The "Three Interpretations of History" got me thinking indeed, and I kept thinking as they were referred to again and again throughout the chapter. I was very pleased by the detail and anecdotes scattered throughout the text. It was as well written and developed as the best parts of Trinity, the only comparable games in terms of well-done histories are Blue Planet and Fading Suns, both of which have incredibly rich historical information. It was not completely Euro-centric, although it was slightly biased, with the bulk of the information presented pertaining to the world around the Mediterranean, but there were mentions of Artificer efforts in China, at least in the beginning. The history chapter shows the Technocracy to be a Western organization with some few roots and influences in Eastern thought, that was rather disappointing, but not entirely unexpected. I feel that it was made up for, at least in art, by the detail of what information was presented. There is a vast amount of information on the development of the Order of Reason from the 11th century to the Renaissance, as well as a look at the Victorian-ear housecleaning that forged the Technocratic Union out of the ashes of the Order of Reason. The defection of the Sons of Ether and the Virtual Adepts are painted in a quite negative light, and even those who play such magi should remember that they are not without their darker side. Moving on to the modern age, the effects that the World Wars and the nuclear age have had on the Technocracy are explored, from increasing military reliance upon technology to the efforts of Alan Turing and the Virtual Adepts in dissemination computers to the sleepers. The chapter also has interesting tidbits like a sidebar that looks at the question of which comes first, the Technocracy, or the Technology and the way in which the Technocracy wages war, and why. The chapter closes out with another look at the cracks in the Union, and a short mention of the Red Star and its effects on the Union, which are limited to worrying some Void Engineers it seems.

The following chapter is all about the organization and structure of the Technocracy, and how it operates. The Precepts of Damian are also looked at in a "theory and practice" format. The Precepts were apparently the six principles that the Technocrat Damian was able to get all factions to agree on back in the 19th century, when the Order of Reason evolved into the Technocracy. None of the Precepts will shock any experienced Mage players, but the commentary on them is useful none the less. Similar to the Precepts was the section on Mission Protocols, as well as the "standard protocols for dealing with the supernatural." The Technocracy's official stance on the other denizens of the World of Darkness was very useful to have in print, and most of it makes at least a reasonable amount of sense.

The eventual goals of each of the Conventions are detailed in the section on Time Tables, and there are some interesting bits of information there. The section serves to demonstrate just how different the same goal can appear if seen from a different viewpoint and worded differently. One of the more interesting sidebars in the book is also in chapter four, dealing with the Pogrom, since not all Technocrats think that it is such a good idea to indiscriminately slaughter "reality deviants." I was very happy that not all Technocrats are blood-thirsty assassins trying to kill every mage they meet.

Included in chapter four are the social conditioning and effect of brainwashing that Psych Ops uses on the agents of the Technocracy. I have to say that while the idea of social conditioning is interesting and applicable to the Technocracy in general, I don't think that it was implemented as best it could have been. More of a Storyteller fiat and role-playing tool than the scale of control it came across as, I think it should have gotten more of an essay exploration than it did. Like the scientific backing of the Spheres, it was an interesting idea that was not given enough space.

The section on Technocratic influence was also good, looking at how the Technocracy attempts to influence cities and set up fronts for their operations. The book also looks at why the Technocracy doesn't just use "killer satellites and super surveillance" to get the job done. Several paragraphs and a short sidebar about just how far the technology goes without the required information or direction helps explain why the Technocracy isn't simply sitting in orbit broadcasting mind-control rays down to the Earth. It is a nice change from the "A mage? Send a HITMark!" tone that the Technocracy has had in previous supplements. Why destroy and entire city block in a vulgar display of technology and magick when you could just freeze the mage's accounts and get the police and FBI searching for him?

The next chapter focuses on the Conventions themselves, giving each a four-page spread and a batch of quick templates at the end. There is nothing amazing or startling in the chapter, but it was nicely done, with quick sections on the philosophy and even the failings of each Convention. The latter is something that I think should be incorporated into future Tradition material. For the most part, the Theory and Practices sections were serviceable, none really went far enough, they were beginnings, just like the Enlightened Science chapter. The Notable Figures were always interesting and even often useful, but then I've often been a fan of such information for the World of Darkness. Sadly, the Methodologies were, for the most part, remarkably bland. None of them were really stupid, but few really seemed that exciting either. The "Stereotypes" sidebars were all nice and short, and of some help at least. I like the lack of emphasis on them, unlike in older some White Wolf books.

The next bulk of the book, sadly, is taken up by character creation and a list of traits. Some of the chapter was useful, and some was very amusing, but it just seemed much too long. I would have preferred more room for paradigm and Enlightened Science myself. What is here are lots of guidelines for creating a new Technocratic agent, from new skills to new merits and flaws to new takes on old backgrounds. Some interesting details include the option of pooling Ability points like in Trinity, how the Essences affect an agent, and several new archetypes, which also included the virtues and failings of each, which was another nice touch that should be used in later publications across all of White Wolf's products.

There are 20 pages of new Abilities, all presented in the format from Vampire: the Masquerade Revised Edition, with little stories before each of them. It wasn't pulled off as well here, however, and I think that they should have been cut due to space concerns, like I've mentioned earlier. The Merits and Flaws are pretty well done, with several pertaining to playing something like a HITMark or clone. The Backgrounds were very nicely done, on the whole. The rules for Requisitioning and such seemed to work well enough, although I haven't seen them in use. Like Demon Hunter X and the SF0 and its dealing with Backgrounds, the Guide to the Technocracy does a rather good job converting mystic backgrounds and getting new ones. Arcane becomes Cloaking, Familiar Companion (although it could have been more well-defined), Chantry Construct, Talisman Device, Avatar Genius, Dream Hypercram (one of the best re-fits, I think) and Sanctum Laboratory. For those Backgrounds that didn't need to change and can exceed 5 for one reason or another, we get handy ratings. The new Backgrounds include Backup (mooks), Enhancements (cyberware and bioware/genetic modifications), Patron (which overlaps quite a bit with Mentor, although the Patron is much more removed), the aforementioned Requisitions, Secret Weapons (where you get to be the test subject using the neat new toys) and finally Spies ( a background from Mage: the Sorcerer's Crusade).

The Storytelling chapter is the second gem of the book, with great advice on how to run a Technocratic campaign. From the different kinds of campaigns to common techniques and "cheap tricks," the whole chapter had me interested, and I have to say that there were no parts of it that were not useful in some way. It is one of the few Storytelling chapters that didn't feel like a waste of time, and I think it might even have been better with more space.

The last chapter is a catalog of rotes and devices. Oddly enough, this chapter was one of the most sour of the entire book. Reading this, I once again got the feeling that Technocrats are simply mages who cover their magic in science, pretending to be using technology, not actually doing so. Some of the rotes are completely inexplicable by science (which would make it impossible for a low-Enlightenment agent to use) and some have really bizarre Sphere requirements, while others seemed to have confusing Sphere groups, in that I couldn't tell which were standard and which were added on, or if the alternate Spheres were a completely independent Procedure. There were many Mind Procedures that used Mind 3 to control and re-write memory and behavior, when Mind 4 is required for that. What's more, Prime was tacked on to many Procedures for seemingly no reason. The Devices seemed okay enough, some were actually interesting, but I was surprised to see that apparently every Void Engineer has a closet full of devices, in the form of Ion Cloth jumpsuits. I found that rather bizarre indeed. The cybernetics and biomods were serviceable enough and seemed balanced, but were also surprisingly uninspiring, and I was surprised by the absences of things like a distinction between "cybernetic arm" and "cybernetic body." Unfortunately, there are only a handful of biomods in total, so they come off more like and afterthought than anything else. The section on Mundane Tech should have been more accurately called "Seemingly Mundane Tech." The vehicles were likewise workable but not really that exciting in any way.

Overall, the books looks nice. The art and layout are wonderful. The full-page splashes by Christopher Shy continue to get even better and better. Foss did some of his best work ever in this book, he still had some troubles but I wish he could do this well with all of his work on Trinity. I would like to know if the Scott Baxa is the same Baxa of Dark Sun and Shadowrun fame, because if he is, he has become phenominally better, having finally found his medium in digital pseudo-abstracts. Prescott and Jeff Rebner also do some very nice work indeed. It was really only Sean Murray and Joe Corroney that were completely disappointing and off-putting.

The Guide to the Technocracy was not all that I had hoped that it would be, but I have to admit that I had pretty damned high hopes indeed, so that doesn't make it a bad book, it is, in fact, quite good. I just think that the focus is misplaced, spending too much time on traits and character creation and too little on paradigm. Beyond that, I found the slimy veneer of propaganda that coated many sections to be infuriatingly annoying and grating. Considering everything negative I've said about the book up till now, you might ask "Do you think the book was worth it?" Yes, I do. The Guide to the Technocracy is a great book, despite its many flaws. There is a lot of inspirational material, but like Changeling: the Dreaming it will take a lot of work to make the details slide smoothly, and to someone who feels so passionately about science as I do, that amount of work is necessary.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Guide to the Technocracy
Author: Phil Brucato, Brian Campbell, Steve Long, Tom deMayo and Scott Taylor Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Game Studio Line: Mage: the Ascencion Cost: $25.95 Page count: 246 ISBN: 1-56504-417-7 SKU: WW 4014 Capsule Review by Derek Guder on 08/30/99. Genre tags: Fantasy Science_fiction Modern_day Horror Space Espionage Conspiracy	The Technocracy has long been one of my major problems with Mage: the Ascension. I am an aspiring scientist myself, studying physics and philosophy, and the consistently terrible treatment that the Techies had gotten through book after book always grated on me and never fit right. The Convention books were almost universally poor (Syndicate being an exception to that, I hear) and the agents of the Technocratic Union were always portrayed as jack-booted thugs with big black hats and a fetish for mind-control, not a group that has fallen from its goals of protecting humanity. When I first heard about the Guide to the Technocracy, my initial reaction was "About damn time!" That was soon followed by "I certainly hope they do it right." It is about time, and White Wolf almost does it right. The opening story was good enough, I suppose. It was simple and kept me reading, and it also showcased the two sides of the Technocracy, the idealist who is trying to save humanity and the cold, hard agent who simply does what his superiors tell him to. The Introduction chapter was surprisingly useful, giving a primer for the Union's world-view. The short discussion of mood and theme was much more useful than in most White Wolf books, oddly enough. There is also a very useful list of major events and issues that the Union has had to deal with. This is the first mention of "the Schism" which I felt was over-emphasized, considering how little it was explored. The short chapter has some interesting points and tidbits (like the mention that more and more mortals are claiming to be possessed by angels or messiahs), but unfortunately, the overwhelming feeling of a Technocracy trying vainly to hold in its own intestines as the world crumbles around it is not carried into the rest of the book. The mood of "the Cracking Monolith" mentioned here is covered over in the rest of the book, either ignored, covered over by an annoying veneer of propaganda, or mentioned in passing as the Schism. Chapter One: Indoctrination, seems at times almost like an Introduction, Take Two. It is not a bad chapter, just somewhat ill-placed. It contains little bits on how the Technocracy is fighting to save reality, how the Union is not perfect, and how it seems to be crumbling to politics. There are four groups of Technocrats all involved in their own form of "underground resistance" in the Union, fighting to keep it pure and untainted. Unfortunately, they are not given much more information later on. This is all followed by an oddly organized Lexicon. Useful, but I was puzzled by the placement of some words. The Enlightened Science chapter is what I wanted most from the book, the discussion of Technocratic paradigm in detail. A good, solid chapter, it has a few flaws, one of them being brevity. The Union's view and interpretation of Paradox was beautifully done, and reinforces the idea that they are "not doing magic, only advanced science." The discussion of it was excellently done, it is just as plausible as the Tradition's theories, in addition, the example given is not one of solid technology, but of social manipulation. That was a very interesting route to take indeed. There is also a look at why the Technocracy hasn't flooded the world with the technology they already have, both from a societal and Paradoxical viewpoint. The chapter then moves onto looking at Avatars, Seekings, and other mainstays of the mystic Mage game through the Union's unblinking eye. The Technocrats view their "Avatars" not as re-incarnated souls or the embodiments of ancient gods, but simply as "True Genius," the insight which allows them to understand Enlightened Science. I liked this explanation because it is much closer to the way I run Mage myself, where Avatars are simple souls, and don't have any more of an independent personality (usually). It was somewhat spoiled her (and elsewhere) by the constant implication (and sometimes blatant statements) that the Technocracy is deluded about their claims to "True Genius" and that they are just denying their Avatars, and as such are just deluded fools. Right along with this portrayal of Technocratic agents as deluded fools is the discussion of their metaphysics. Most Technocratic agents don't know that they influence reality in any way with their "science." They are simply following scientific laws that Sleepers haven't figured out yet. I like that, it is really the only way to make the Technocracy make any sense while keeping a completely subjective world in Mage, the problem is, I don't feel like a similar effort has gone in to showing what the Traditions think of their metaphysics. It simply feels like Mage is still one-sided in that the Technocracy (all but it's leadership) has no idea what is going on. It is a mad, lumbering monster, simply following the commands of those In The Know. Don't get me wrong when I say that the books paints the Union as deluded. I am not necessarily saying that is a bad thing. I have to admit that I have not decided that yet. In some ways, it could make for an excellent campaign. In other ways, it just doesn't seem to fit right. Seekings were handled better, as Psych Ops and basic psychology acknowledges the value of the journey and quest through metaphor. A Seeking to a Technocrat is a psychological journey into the subconscious, where the agent can come to accept what his subconscious mind has already figured out. One of the most lukewarm bits of the book, sadly, as the dealing with quintessence. Broadly and vaguely described as "primal essence," we are not given any detailed scientific theories about its nature. Considering its usefulness, I would have thought that the Union would have directed a massive amount of research in the direction of Prime. The "Tools, Devices, Styles and Theorems" section was one of the best in the book, I think, simply because of the acknowledgment that not all paradigms will carve up each of the Spheres simply, with no overlap. I recommend that for experienced groups, the system of Primary Foci be used across-the-board in Mage games. It places a greater emphasis on paradigm in the game, and that is always good. On the other hand, "Speed Science" I found to be stupid. It seemed to further the feel that parts of the book had with the Technocrats being mages who cover their magick with science, not mages who do their technology with science. While I fully agree that MacGuyver is a perfect example of improvisational technomagick, the "spontaneous effect" rule I found laughable. The example given is that an agent realizes that the roof is damaged, so it falls and blocks a fireball from an escaping mage. How did the agent use science to do that? What did his training have to do with it? This is more "Last-ditch Luck" that "Speed Science," and as such, it should either not be available to anyone, or both sides of the Ascension War should get it. The Nine Spheres themselves only got two pages when they should have had at least a page each, just to give the basics of them in the Union's paradigm. As it was, the few paragraphs each gave me just enough to get interested and a few thoughts rolling, but not enough to flesh out a paradigm well enough that I could use it on the fly in a game. I didn't really have any problems with this section other than its brevity and vagueness. I wanted detail and thought-provoking ideas from the Guide to the Technocracy, but I only got the latter. The history chapter is the gleaming gem of the Guide to the Technocracy. It is written well, it is detailed, and it has many differing viewpoints. I loved it. The "Three Interpretations of History" got me thinking indeed, and I kept thinking as they were referred to again and again throughout the chapter. I was very pleased by the detail and anecdotes scattered throughout the text. It was as well written and developed as the best parts of Trinity, the only comparable games in terms of well-done histories are Blue Planet and Fading Suns, both of which have incredibly rich historical information. It was not completely Euro-centric, although it was slightly biased, with the bulk of the information presented pertaining to the world around the Mediterranean, but there were mentions of Artificer efforts in China, at least in the beginning. The history chapter shows the Technocracy to be a Western organization with some few roots and influences in Eastern thought, that was rather disappointing, but not entirely unexpected. I feel that it was made up for, at least in art, by the detail of what information was presented. There is a vast amount of information on the development of the Order of Reason from the 11th century to the Renaissance, as well as a look at the Victorian-ear housecleaning that forged the Technocratic Union out of the ashes of the Order of Reason. The defection of the Sons of Ether and the Virtual Adepts are painted in a quite negative light, and even those who play such magi should remember that they are not without their darker side. Moving on to the modern age, the effects that the World Wars and the nuclear age have had on the Technocracy are explored, from increasing military reliance upon technology to the efforts of Alan Turing and the Virtual Adepts in dissemination computers to the sleepers. The chapter also has interesting tidbits like a sidebar that looks at the question of which comes first, the Technocracy, or the Technology and the way in which the Technocracy wages war, and why. The chapter closes out with another look at the cracks in the Union, and a short mention of the Red Star and its effects on the Union, which are limited to worrying some Void Engineers it seems. The following chapter is all about the organization and structure of the Technocracy, and how it operates. The Precepts of Damian are also looked at in a "theory and practice" format. The Precepts were apparently the six principles that the Technocrat Damian was able to get all factions to agree on back in the 19th century, when the Order of Reason evolved into the Technocracy. None of the Precepts will shock any experienced Mage players, but the commentary on them is useful none the less. Similar to the Precepts was the section on Mission Protocols, as well as the "standard protocols for dealing with the supernatural." The Technocracy's official stance on the other denizens of the World of Darkness was very useful to have in print, and most of it makes at least a reasonable amount of sense. The eventual goals of each of the Conventions are detailed in the section on Time Tables, and there are some interesting bits of information there. The section serves to demonstrate just how different the same goal can appear if seen from a different viewpoint and worded differently. One of the more interesting sidebars in the book is also in chapter four, dealing with the Pogrom, since not all Technocrats think that it is such a good idea to indiscriminately slaughter "reality deviants." I was very happy that not all Technocrats are blood-thirsty assassins trying to kill every mage they meet. Included in chapter four are the social conditioning and effect of brainwashing that Psych Ops uses on the agents of the Technocracy. I have to say that while the idea of social conditioning is interesting and applicable to the Technocracy in general, I don't think that it was implemented as best it could have been. More of a Storyteller fiat and role-playing tool than the scale of control it came across as, I think it should have gotten more of an essay exploration than it did. Like the scientific backing of the Spheres, it was an interesting idea that was not given enough space. The section on Technocratic influence was also good, looking at how the Technocracy attempts to influence cities and set up fronts for their operations. The book also looks at why the Technocracy doesn't just use "killer satellites and super surveillance" to get the job done. Several paragraphs and a short sidebar about just how far the technology goes without the required information or direction helps explain why the Technocracy isn't simply sitting in orbit broadcasting mind-control rays down to the Earth. It is a nice change from the "A mage? Send a HITMark!" tone that the Technocracy has had in previous supplements. Why destroy and entire city block in a vulgar display of technology and magick when you could just freeze the mage's accounts and get the police and FBI searching for him? The next chapter focuses on the Conventions themselves, giving each a four-page spread and a batch of quick templates at the end. There is nothing amazing or startling in the chapter, but it was nicely done, with quick sections on the philosophy and even the failings of each Convention. The latter is something that I think should be incorporated into future Tradition material. For the most part, the Theory and Practices sections were serviceable, none really went far enough, they were beginnings, just like the Enlightened Science chapter. The Notable Figures were always interesting and even often useful, but then I've often been a fan of such information for the World of Darkness. Sadly, the Methodologies were, for the most part, remarkably bland. None of them were really stupid, but few really seemed that exciting either. The "Stereotypes" sidebars were all nice and short, and of some help at least. I like the lack of emphasis on them, unlike in older some White Wolf books. The next bulk of the book, sadly, is taken up by character creation and a list of traits. Some of the chapter was useful, and some was very amusing, but it just seemed much too long. I would have preferred more room for paradigm and Enlightened Science myself. What is here are lots of guidelines for creating a new Technocratic agent, from new skills to new merits and flaws to new takes on old backgrounds. Some interesting details include the option of pooling Ability points like in Trinity, how the Essences affect an agent, and several new archetypes, which also included the virtues and failings of each, which was another nice touch that should be used in later publications across all of White Wolf's products. There are 20 pages of new Abilities, all presented in the format from Vampire: the Masquerade Revised Edition, with little stories before each of them. It wasn't pulled off as well here, however, and I think that they should have been cut due to space concerns, like I've mentioned earlier. The Merits and Flaws are pretty well done, with several pertaining to playing something like a HITMark or clone. The Backgrounds were very nicely done, on the whole. The rules for Requisitioning and such seemed to work well enough, although I haven't seen them in use. Like Demon Hunter X and the SF0 and its dealing with Backgrounds, the Guide to the Technocracy does a rather good job converting mystic backgrounds and getting new ones. Arcane becomes Cloaking, Familiar Companion (although it could have been more well-defined), Chantry Construct, Talisman Device, Avatar Genius, Dream Hypercram (one of the best re-fits, I think) and Sanctum Laboratory. For those Backgrounds that didn't need to change and can exceed 5 for one reason or another, we get handy ratings. The new Backgrounds include Backup (mooks), Enhancements (cyberware and bioware/genetic modifications), Patron (which overlaps quite a bit with Mentor, although the Patron is much more removed), the aforementioned Requisitions, Secret Weapons (where you get to be the test subject using the neat new toys) and finally Spies ( a background from Mage: the Sorcerer's Crusade). The Storytelling chapter is the second gem of the book, with great advice on how to run a Technocratic campaign. From the different kinds of campaigns to common techniques and "cheap tricks," the whole chapter had me interested, and I have to say that there were no parts of it that were not useful in some way. It is one of the few Storytelling chapters that didn't feel like a waste of time, and I think it might even have been better with more space. The last chapter is a catalog of rotes and devices. Oddly enough, this chapter was one of the most sour of the entire book. Reading this, I once again got the feeling that Technocrats are simply mages who cover their magic in science, pretending to be using technology, not actually doing so. Some of the rotes are completely inexplicable by science (which would make it impossible for a low-Enlightenment agent to use) and some have really bizarre Sphere requirements, while others seemed to have confusing Sphere groups, in that I couldn't tell which were standard and which were added on, or if the alternate Spheres were a completely independent Procedure. There were many Mind Procedures that used Mind 3 to control and re-write memory and behavior, when Mind 4 is required for that. What's more, Prime was tacked on to many Procedures for seemingly no reason. The Devices seemed okay enough, some were actually interesting, but I was surprised to see that apparently every Void Engineer has a closet full of devices, in the form of Ion Cloth jumpsuits. I found that rather bizarre indeed. The cybernetics and biomods were serviceable enough and seemed balanced, but were also surprisingly uninspiring, and I was surprised by the absences of things like a distinction between "cybernetic arm" and "cybernetic body." Unfortunately, there are only a handful of biomods in total, so they come off more like and afterthought than anything else. The section on Mundane Tech should have been more accurately called "Seemingly Mundane Tech." The vehicles were likewise workable but not really that exciting in any way. Overall, the books looks nice. The art and layout are wonderful. The full-page splashes by Christopher Shy continue to get even better and better. Foss did some of his best work ever in this book, he still had some troubles but I wish he could do this well with all of his work on Trinity. I would like to know if the Scott Baxa is the same Baxa of Dark Sun and Shadowrun fame, because if he is, he has become phenominally better, having finally found his medium in digital pseudo-abstracts. Prescott and Jeff Rebner also do some very nice work indeed. It was really only Sean Murray and Joe Corroney that were completely disappointing and off-putting. The Guide to the Technocracy was not all that I had hoped that it would be, but I have to admit that I had pretty damned high hopes indeed, so that doesn't make it a bad book, it is, in fact, quite good. I just think that the focus is misplaced, spending too much time on traits and character creation and too little on paradigm. Beyond that, I found the slimy veneer of propaganda that coated many sections to be infuriatingly annoying and grating. Considering everything negative I've said about the book up till now, you might ask "Do you think the book was worth it?" Yes, I do. The Guide to the Technocracy is a great book, despite its many flaws. There is a lot of inspirational material, but like Changeling: the Dreaming it will take a lot of work to make the details slide smoothly, and to someone who feels so passionately about science as I do, that amount of work is necessary. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)