The Inside Scoop on Gaming

It is somewhat odd to see the Dungeons and Dragons folks tackle something like conspiracy theory. The freshness of the approach, however, turns out to be really interesting. Particularly since the effort is done with such skill. The game itself is what the X-Files should have been, with well thought out and well researched conspiracies that integrate the occult, psychic phenomena, and alien abduction into a single, coherent, cohesive setting which still manages to look just like our world. Its just that all the stuff that people whisper about are true.

Chapter One is the sort of introduction you just don't get from other companies putting out games in this genre. Packed in these thirty pages are an introduction to the setting, the basics of the Alternity system, character templates, and an introductory adventure. Not bad. Even though I have little use for it, being neither a new player or someone intending to use the Alternity system, it is very useful for those who fit one or both of those categories.

Chapter Two details the organization of which the players are expected to be a part, the Hoffman Institute. It is very well detailed, with everything from department descriptions and recruiting procedures to building schematics. Everything a growing GM needs. Even some tidbits about the internal politics and covert operations are thrown in as plot hooks. Some of it is a bit hard to understand without going over the detailed history in Chapter Five and I found it worth skimming a second time after going through the whole book.

Chapter Three is character stuff, expanding on the Alternity rules for the setting. There are new skills, new careers, and new perks and flaws. The language sidebar is absolutely fabulous, dividing all of the major and some obscure and dead languages into similar language groups and dialects, with chances to understand languages in the same groups as the ones you know. It's extremely well done and very workable.

Chapter Four expands out the FX rules for Alternity to include magic and faith-based miracles. It is fairly comprehensive for its brevity and manages to cover a lot of territory in a simple, easy to use system. Fast, efficient, and accurate (so far as I could tell), it has everything from voodoo to enochian magic.

Chapter Five is a damn impressive piece of work. It offers a detailed history of the world, from far distant pre-history to the modern day, integrating all of the aliens, psychic mischeif, and magic so seamlessness, that I'm unsure in several places where real history ends and the fabrication begins. They've definitely done their homework and it shows. Although I'm not thrilled with the alien angle, which is very integral to the setting, it is very well done.

Chapter Six is a primer on conspiracies, from the old and large (Freemasonry) to the new and exclusive (Skull and Bones). It even covers the United States Government except that it avoids the mistake that most authors in the genre make by not making it a huge, government wide conspiracy, but several smaller ones contained within the massive bureaucracy which, for all its flaws, is essentially benign. It makes things a lot more reasonable and believeable. Another major perk to how they are presented is that the larger conspiracies are offered with an 'Or...' addendum which gives alternative 'truths' to the ones detailed in the main text and the smaller ones all come with adventure seeds. This is very nice. It keeps the players on their toes when they don't know which version of the truth the GM is using, and it allows the GM a lot of flexibility to tailor the setting to fit his or her needs. Mystery and uncertainty are essential to the genre and this book delivers. Even the Hoffman Institute may be benevolant or part of the conspiracy. There's no way to be sure.

Chapter Seven offers the reader a conspiratorial tour of the world, centering on the United States but covering just about every inch of the Earth's surface (and bits of the Moon and Mars, too) in some detail. Mystic places, alien landing sites, and hidden lairs of monsters are all detailed, with plot hooks galore. For the length, it is incredibly well packed with useful information.

Chapter Eight covers xenoforms, or the monsters, aliens, spirits, and other beings which populate the Dark*Matter world. All are done with a degree of ambiguity, both in their nature, their motives, and their origins. Are the Elohim actual angels, or just extra-dimensional beings? What do the Greys really want? The same sort of uncertainty which strengthened the Chapter Six works here to the same effect. It is up to the GM who is right and who is on what side and why. Even if the players study the book in intricate detail, they will come out knowing very little for certain.

Chapter Nine is the obligatory 'how to run Dark*Matter' chapter, except that its inevitability doesn't detract from its usefulness. In fact, this is one of the better sections of its kind on the topic. It is very comprehensive, from different types of campaigns to different types of scenes. The information given allows you to run any sort of campaign: monster hunting, psychic investigation, secret society games, and alien conspiracy. There is a brilliant sidebar that just lists 'Adventure Topics', single phrase concepts to build into adventures like 'abduction', 'false memory syndrome', and 'trephination'. The whole thing wraps up with the themes rife throughout the game. Cynicism, paranoia, insanity, they're all there.

Chapter Ten is all about campaign options. What if you don't want to be with the Hoffman Institute? Or even work against it? Or perhaps you want to play a Grey or even a Sasquatch? It's all here.

Chapter Eleven is a larger introductory adventure, giving a 'first mission' for a fledgeling group with the Hoffman Institute. It's a nice introduction and there are a few options (like running it without the characters being with the institute). It has full color maps (like the rest of the book) and some rather well detailed supporting characters (with relevant psychological hints, like the wife's inability to accept the paranormal). A pretty good introduction to the game, and much more in depth than the little teaser in the first chapter.

The book wraps up with the index, recommended reading and veiwing lists, and the character sheet. All are pretty slick, which matches with the rest of the book which has nice, shiny, sturdy pages, full color, cool art, and stylish presentation that is actually legible (unlike Kult).

All in all, I intend to mine this book mercilessly for material to use in the other games I want to run. I'm not fond of the Alternity system and the alien-heavy setting of Dark*Matter doesn't fit my particular taste, but that still leaves plenty of useful material. My money wasn't wasted and that's really saying something. There are secret socities, plot concepts, and even hints on running games in here that can be used anywhere. Even taken as a whole, the concept underlying the whole setting, Dark Matter, which gives the setting its names, is an interesting way to tie together all of the disparate elements into a cohesive whole. Certainly worth a look.

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

Dark*Matter Campaign Setting
Author: Wolfgang Baur with Monte Cook Category: game Company/Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Line: Alternity Cost: $29.95 Page count: 286 ISBN: 0-7869-1433-5 SKU: TSR11433 Capsule Review by Eric Christian Berg on 12/28/99. Genre tags: Modern_day Conspiracy	It is somewhat odd to see the Dungeons and Dragons folks tackle something like conspiracy theory. The freshness of the approach, however, turns out to be really interesting. Particularly since the effort is done with such skill. The game itself is what the X-Files should have been, with well thought out and well researched conspiracies that integrate the occult, psychic phenomena, and alien abduction into a single, coherent, cohesive setting which still manages to look just like our world. Its just that all the stuff that people whisper about are true. Chapter One is the sort of introduction you just don't get from other companies putting out games in this genre. Packed in these thirty pages are an introduction to the setting, the basics of the Alternity system, character templates, and an introductory adventure. Not bad. Even though I have little use for it, being neither a new player or someone intending to use the Alternity system, it is very useful for those who fit one or both of those categories. Chapter Two details the organization of which the players are expected to be a part, the Hoffman Institute. It is very well detailed, with everything from department descriptions and recruiting procedures to building schematics. Everything a growing GM needs. Even some tidbits about the internal politics and covert operations are thrown in as plot hooks. Some of it is a bit hard to understand without going over the detailed history in Chapter Five and I found it worth skimming a second time after going through the whole book. Chapter Three is character stuff, expanding on the Alternity rules for the setting. There are new skills, new careers, and new perks and flaws. The language sidebar is absolutely fabulous, dividing all of the major and some obscure and dead languages into similar language groups and dialects, with chances to understand languages in the same groups as the ones you know. It's extremely well done and very workable. Chapter Four expands out the FX rules for Alternity to include magic and faith-based miracles. It is fairly comprehensive for its brevity and manages to cover a lot of territory in a simple, easy to use system. Fast, efficient, and accurate (so far as I could tell), it has everything from voodoo to enochian magic. Chapter Five is a damn impressive piece of work. It offers a detailed history of the world, from far distant pre-history to the modern day, integrating all of the aliens, psychic mischeif, and magic so seamlessness, that I'm unsure in several places where real history ends and the fabrication begins. They've definitely done their homework and it shows. Although I'm not thrilled with the alien angle, which is very integral to the setting, it is very well done. Chapter Six is a primer on conspiracies, from the old and large (Freemasonry) to the new and exclusive (Skull and Bones). It even covers the United States Government except that it avoids the mistake that most authors in the genre make by not making it a huge, government wide conspiracy, but several smaller ones contained within the massive bureaucracy which, for all its flaws, is essentially benign. It makes things a lot more reasonable and believeable. Another major perk to how they are presented is that the larger conspiracies are offered with an 'Or...' addendum which gives alternative 'truths' to the ones detailed in the main text and the smaller ones all come with adventure seeds. This is very nice. It keeps the players on their toes when they don't know which version of the truth the GM is using, and it allows the GM a lot of flexibility to tailor the setting to fit his or her needs. Mystery and uncertainty are essential to the genre and this book delivers. Even the Hoffman Institute may be benevolant or part of the conspiracy. There's no way to be sure. Chapter Seven offers the reader a conspiratorial tour of the world, centering on the United States but covering just about every inch of the Earth's surface (and bits of the Moon and Mars, too) in some detail. Mystic places, alien landing sites, and hidden lairs of monsters are all detailed, with plot hooks galore. For the length, it is incredibly well packed with useful information. Chapter Eight covers xenoforms, or the monsters, aliens, spirits, and other beings which populate the DarkMatter world. All are done with a degree of ambiguity, both in their nature, their motives, and their origins. Are the Elohim actual angels, or just extra-dimensional beings? What do the Greys really want? The same sort of uncertainty which strengthened the Chapter Six works here to the same effect. It is up to the GM who is right and who is on what side and why. Even if the players study the book in intricate detail, they will come out knowing very little for certain. Chapter Nine* is the obligatory 'how to run DarkMatter' chapter, except that its inevitability doesn't detract from its usefulness. In fact, this is one of the better sections of its kind on the topic. It is very comprehensive, from different types of campaigns to different types of scenes. The information given allows you to run any sort of campaign: monster hunting, psychic investigation, secret society games, and alien conspiracy. There is a brilliant sidebar that just lists 'Adventure Topics', single phrase concepts to build into adventures like 'abduction', 'false memory syndrome', and 'trephination'. The whole thing wraps up with the themes rife throughout the game. Cynicism, paranoia, insanity, they're all there. Chapter Ten* is all about campaign options. What if you don't want to be with the Hoffman Institute? Or even work against it? Or perhaps you want to play a Grey or even a Sasquatch? It's all here. Chapter Eleven is a larger introductory adventure, giving a 'first mission' for a fledgeling group with the Hoffman Institute. It's a nice introduction and there are a few options (like running it without the characters being with the institute). It has full color maps (like the rest of the book) and some rather well detailed supporting characters (with relevant psychological hints, like the wife's inability to accept the paranormal). A pretty good introduction to the game, and much more in depth than the little teaser in the first chapter. The book wraps up with the index, recommended reading and veiwing lists, and the character sheet. All are pretty slick, which matches with the rest of the book which has nice, shiny, sturdy pages, full color, cool art, and stylish presentation that is actually legible (unlike Kult). All in all, I intend to mine this book mercilessly for material to use in the other games I want to run. I'm not fond of the Alternity system and the alien-heavy setting of Dark*Matter doesn't fit my particular taste, but that still leaves plenty of useful material. My money wasn't wasted and that's really saying something. There are secret socities, plot concepts, and even hints on running games in here that can be used anywhere. Even taken as a whole, the concept underlying the whole setting, Dark Matter, which gives the setting its names, is an interesting way to tie together all of the disparate elements into a cohesive whole. Certainly worth a look. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Dark*Matter Campaign Setting