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Tangents is the Alternity sourcebook for adventuring in parallel dimensions. This book gives an added "dimension" (no pun intended) to the Alternity Science Fiction game system.

The book consists of 96 pages, for the subject matter it seems a little short, even with the adventure one would think that there is more to cover regarding parallel worlds and dimension hopping.. Tangents is a two color book (brown side-bars and tan pages), makes reading a little more easy on the eyes, but the $18.95 price tag makes it hard on the wallet. Thankfully the material enclosed is pretty solid or this would've been highway robbery. A summary of the book follows and describes what is contained within these 96 two-color pages.

The first three pages goes over Super-Space physics. This is the science of multiple worlds. This is a pretty cool introduction to the whole parallel worlds idea and gives some support with science-like ideas. This sets a solid foundation for the rest of the book, and makes it seem a little more, dare I say, 'plausible'.

The next section features a map of the Superspace Divisions. This attempts to put parallel worlds into a map, using an X/Y axis concept. It sounds more complicated than it really is, but it makes perfect sense and could help a GM plan out his adventures and give him a few ideas.

The divisions of Superspace are separated by four boundaries or characteristics that help define what is happening on each world as it gets farther away from the baseline cluster. These four divisions are: Historical, Biological, Cosmological and Fantastic. It is mentioned that more divisions may exist, but for all intents and purposes, these are enough. Under each division's characteristic is a chart that will give some examples of what could change under that characteristic. Example: Under the Biological division, there is a table that lists several attributes. They consist of: Disease-free world, Plague World, Sentient Apes, Universal Sentience, Over/Under Populated, and a few more.

With these changes and table combinations the GM can quickly come up with a new Tangent world in minutes. Each one can be radically different from the rest. Following world creation is a section on Cruising Superspace. This section basically tells you all the means and methods for getting to and from each parallel world. The various devices and their descriptions includes, but not limited to: Fixed Gates, Alien Artifacts, Superspace Drive, Quantum Tunneler, Paraskiff, Arcane FX and more. This section is rounded out with Superspace skills, which adds a few new Superspace related skills.

The next section deals with the dangers of traveling through Superspace. There are Superspace anomalies that add an extra flare to dimensional travel. Such delightful obstacles include Hyperrealistic Objects (objects that exist in more than one tangent at a time), Outpocketing Simple/Complex (realities bulging into one another), Space-Time Wrinkles, Superspace Bleeding, Time Loops and a few more. This is a very interesting chapter. The problems one can encounter are quite fantastic and would give even the most jaded players pause and more than a few moments of slack-jaw. Each section is enhanced with 'side-bar' examples featuring a unique take on each problem or situation. These in and of themselves present some serious gaming ideas and could actually be developed into full blown campaigns.

The first half of the book is topped off with a sample Superspace vessel called Probability One. This is a pleasant little example of a Superspace Vehicle. Nothing that'll drive you mad with excitement, but it gets one up and running.

The second half of the book is devoted entirely to an adventure called: Lucid Dreaming. It's about a company that secretly develops the ability to traverse to parallel worlds, the only hitch is that a rival company sets up a little corporate espionage and then things get complicated. The PCs are hired by Lucid Technologies, the ones who developed the Superspace devices, to rescue four lost scientists. Easy enough, right? Wrong. Each scientist has been thrown into a different parallel world.

*** Adventure Spoilers, stop reading if you don't want to know about the adventures.***

The worlds that the PCs travel to aren't terribly unique, considering the possibilities that are explored in the first half of the book. There is the mandatory Post Apocalyptic (Nuclear Wasteland) world. This world is inhabited by strange mutants. Pretty decent, one would expect this setting, a few surprises here, but nothing too earth shattering. The next world is a world that has been devastated by a plague. Ok, pretty good adventuring material, but once again, not too incredibly original. I haven't played/run the adventures, I imagine they would play out pretty well. The third adventure is the most disappointing. It is a romp into an unsoiled North America, where the PCs run into a group of Native American Indians and their Shaman. While this adventure really shows off the flexibility of the Alternity game system it could've been left as a side bar note for future excursions. One would think that the author could've use the random world generation tables and come up with more original or creative ideas. Once again, maybe this adventure would play out better than it reads. The last adventure has a bit of a supernatural overtone to it. The PCs arrive to a world that is inhabited by specter-like creatures. This adventure sets up the climax for the entire series of adventures.

The PCs also have another group of troubleshooters to contend with, they're from the rival corporation. There is also a bunch of religious fanatics that were thrown into the fray as well, giving the players a target rich environment. There are several pre-generated characters at the end of the book to get players up and running quickly. The book's uses aren't limited to a 'Sliders' type of campaign. The information in this book can be translated to any progress level and style of play.

The artwork through out the book is very good to average. The illustrations are very relevant to the subject and/or the text.

A solid book for Alternity; Tangents really pushes the envelope of what Alternity is all about. Fans of GURPS, CORPS, Beyond the Supernatural or any modern day to near future RPG can easily adapt the information to their favorite system and mine this book for tons of ideas.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Alternity: Tangents
Author: Bruce R. Cordell Category: game Company/Publisher: TSR/WOTC Line: Alternity Cost: $18.95 Page count: 96 ISBN: 0-7869-1352-5 SKU: TSR11352 Capsule Review by John Snyder on 10/24/99. Genre tags: Science_fiction Modern_day Historical Horror Far_Future Space Espionage Conspiracy Post-apocalypse Generic	Tangents is the Alternity sourcebook for adventuring in parallel dimensions. This book gives an added "dimension" (no pun intended) to the Alternity Science Fiction game system. The book consists of 96 pages, for the subject matter it seems a little short, even with the adventure one would think that there is more to cover regarding parallel worlds and dimension hopping.. Tangents is a two color book (brown side-bars and tan pages), makes reading a little more easy on the eyes, but the $18.95 price tag makes it hard on the wallet. Thankfully the material enclosed is pretty solid or this would've been highway robbery. A summary of the book follows and describes what is contained within these 96 two-color pages. The first three pages goes over Super-Space physics. This is the science of multiple worlds. This is a pretty cool introduction to the whole parallel worlds idea and gives some support with science-like ideas. This sets a solid foundation for the rest of the book, and makes it seem a little more, dare I say, 'plausible'. The next section features a map of the Superspace Divisions. This attempts to put parallel worlds into a map, using an X/Y axis concept. It sounds more complicated than it really is, but it makes perfect sense and could help a GM plan out his adventures and give him a few ideas. The divisions of Superspace are separated by four boundaries or characteristics that help define what is happening on each world as it gets farther away from the baseline cluster. These four divisions are: Historical, Biological, Cosmological and Fantastic. It is mentioned that more divisions may exist, but for all intents and purposes, these are enough. Under each division's characteristic is a chart that will give some examples of what could change under that characteristic. Example: Under the Biological division, there is a table that lists several attributes. They consist of: Disease-free world, Plague World, Sentient Apes, Universal Sentience, Over/Under Populated, and a few more. With these changes and table combinations the GM can quickly come up with a new Tangent world in minutes. Each one can be radically different from the rest. Following world creation is a section on Cruising Superspace. This section basically tells you all the means and methods for getting to and from each parallel world. The various devices and their descriptions includes, but not limited to: Fixed Gates, Alien Artifacts, Superspace Drive, Quantum Tunneler, Paraskiff, Arcane FX and more. This section is rounded out with Superspace skills, which adds a few new Superspace related skills. The next section deals with the dangers of traveling through Superspace. There are Superspace anomalies that add an extra flare to dimensional travel. Such delightful obstacles include Hyperrealistic Objects (objects that exist in more than one tangent at a time), Outpocketing Simple/Complex (realities bulging into one another), Space-Time Wrinkles, Superspace Bleeding, Time Loops and a few more. This is a very interesting chapter. The problems one can encounter are quite fantastic and would give even the most jaded players pause and more than a few moments of slack-jaw. Each section is enhanced with 'side-bar' examples featuring a unique take on each problem or situation. These in and of themselves present some serious gaming ideas and could actually be developed into full blown campaigns. The first half of the book is topped off with a sample Superspace vessel called Probability One. This is a pleasant little example of a Superspace Vehicle. Nothing that'll drive you mad with excitement, but it gets one up and running. The second half of the book is devoted entirely to an adventure called: Lucid Dreaming. It's about a company that secretly develops the ability to traverse to parallel worlds, the only hitch is that a rival company sets up a little corporate espionage and then things get complicated. The PCs are hired by Lucid Technologies, the ones who developed the Superspace devices, to rescue four lost scientists. Easy enough, right? Wrong. Each scientist has been thrown into a different parallel world. * Adventure Spoilers, stop reading if you don't want to know about the adventures.* The worlds that the PCs travel to aren't terribly unique, considering the possibilities that are explored in the first half of the book. There is the mandatory Post Apocalyptic (Nuclear Wasteland) world. This world is inhabited by strange mutants. Pretty decent, one would expect this setting, a few surprises here, but nothing too earth shattering. The next world is a world that has been devastated by a plague. Ok, pretty good adventuring material, but once again, not too incredibly original. I haven't played/run the adventures, I imagine they would play out pretty well. The third adventure is the most disappointing. It is a romp into an unsoiled North America, where the PCs run into a group of Native American Indians and their Shaman. While this adventure really shows off the flexibility of the Alternity game system it could've been left as a side bar note for future excursions. One would think that the author could've use the random world generation tables and come up with more original or creative ideas. Once again, maybe this adventure would play out better than it reads. The last adventure has a bit of a supernatural overtone to it. The PCs arrive to a world that is inhabited by specter-like creatures. This adventure sets up the climax for the entire series of adventures. The PCs also have another group of troubleshooters to contend with, they're from the rival corporation. There is also a bunch of religious fanatics that were thrown into the fray as well, giving the players a target rich environment. There are several pre-generated characters at the end of the book to get players up and running quickly. The book's uses aren't limited to a 'Sliders' type of campaign. The information in this book can be translated to any progress level and style of play. The artwork through out the book is very good to average. The illustrations are very relevant to the subject and/or the text. A solid book for Alternity; Tangents really pushes the envelope of what Alternity is all about. Fans of GURPS, CORPS, Beyond the Supernatural or any modern day to near future RPG can easily adapt the information to their favorite system and mine this book for tons of ideas. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Alternity: Tangents