The Inside Scoop on Gaming

I love this book. I hate this book.

This book tackles conspiracy theory. This book tackles the occult. I love this book because of the conspiracy stuff and hate it because of the occult stuff. I actually have one other reason to hate it but will get into that later.

First off let's dive into what the book is actually about. This is about conspiracies (and the occult(which is not to indicate that the two are separate (or that they are linked in a way that all conspiracies are occult in nature) which will be addressed in the second part of my review) and how they interact with each other. Rather than having one huge conspiracy that is all encompassing or even two there is a slew (although not a plethroa) of conspiracies(some of an occult nature (which I will adress here as the conspiracies are the focus rather than their occult powers) including such standards as the Freemasons and Rosicurians which are given a suitably standard treatmet detailing what they are thougt to control and what those rumors may just be a cover for.

Also included are such small groups as the Skull and Bones Society (the Yale one not the ancient Germanic one the Yale boys are believed to associate with) and the Invisible College. Virtually the only conspiracy theories not given the full treatment are the blatantly anti-semetic ones such as ZOG although the Priory of Zion gets a nod or two. The various groups are followed up with a BIG writeup of the US government which portrays it as a fractured body with innumerable conspiraces within it all vying for control. Next to the Greys there's even stuff on the Mothmen(which look suspiciously like Mi Go) and sandmen. This is so much cooler than things like X-Files because instead of relying on Carter's internal storyline that he keeps changing everything in here is part of existing conspiracy lore and having been a memebr of one or two (not that the actual number is going to be revealed) of the secret societies detailed(and I'm sure you all can guess which ones(not that I will reward a correct guess with a cookie(virtual or otherwise) or even acknowledge if you are correct) with just a little effort) I can say that in a few places Monte and Wolfgang have brushed up very close to the facts(or Truth if you avoid any of the icky subjectivism stuff (and like capitalizing the word "truth"(instead of putting it in quotes)) so common when dealing with conspracy hounds).

The occult FX rules are tight although the nature of the occult traditions is kind of misrepresented. Enochian magic is the use of a secret and angeline language to gain power rather than a system of bargaining with benificant entities. Shamanism is too broad of a category for what they attempt and GURPS VOOdoo is a better researched book on the subject when it comes to the history and descriptions. Aside from that the system for the FX looks solid and I am looking forward to the FX book.

The only other problem is that the much advertised website for Dark Matter leads to a holistic healing webseite prclaiming there to be a "quadrinity" if you leave off one "M". I got set there the first few times. Other than that tere is actually a decent amount of web stuff. Send E-mail to all of the addresses given on the sample memos in the book. You'll get proper responses. IT's done a lot better than White-wolf's hunter-net. Really classy.

Finally the basic system deserves a look at. It's Alternity which, in brief, means that you've got a step table without it being as intimidating as Earthdawn's. New rules are given for the new skills and the "fast play" (stripped down but not actually much faster) rules are included. They say you need the Alternity Player's Handbook to make it work but you can glen how the chargen rules work from the examples of new abilities and from reverse engineering skill point costs from the sample character sheets. It's elegant and more imprtantly it works. I also hate this game because I like to think of myself as the most bitter and spiteful reviewer on rpg.net.

I'm the guy Skarka talks about as the ones who loudly tear everybodies hard work to shreds, and I like this. I even like the notes for GMing notes in back. I guess Freeman is still the most curmugeonly of all. Maybe he saw the day coming when he'd have to write reviews of things he actually enjoyed and bailed for that reason. I don't know. It doesn't matter. I might as well also state that I love Jumex Guava Nectar. It gets a 3/5 on style and a 4/5 on substance. The game's stats appear below.

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Dark*Matter
Author: Wolfgang Baur & Monte (Major) Cook Category: game Company/Publisher: TSR/Wizards/Hasbro Line: Alternity Cost: $30 Page count: 286 Capsule Review by Bailey Watts on 01/14/00. Genre tags: Science_fiction Modern_day Conspiracy	I love this book. I hate this book. This book tackles conspiracy theory. This book tackles the occult. I love this book because of the conspiracy stuff and hate it because of the occult stuff. I actually have one other reason to hate it but will get into that later. First off let's dive into what the book is actually about. This is about conspiracies (and the occult(which is not to indicate that the two are separate (or that they are linked in a way that all conspiracies are occult in nature) which will be addressed in the second part of my review) and how they interact with each other. Rather than having one huge conspiracy that is all encompassing or even two there is a slew (although not a plethroa) of conspiracies(some of an occult nature (which I will adress here as the conspiracies are the focus rather than their occult powers) including such standards as the Freemasons and Rosicurians which are given a suitably standard treatmet detailing what they are thougt to control and what those rumors may just be a cover for. Also included are such small groups as the Skull and Bones Society (the Yale one not the ancient Germanic one the Yale boys are believed to associate with) and the Invisible College. Virtually the only conspiracy theories not given the full treatment are the blatantly anti-semetic ones such as ZOG although the Priory of Zion gets a nod or two. The various groups are followed up with a BIG writeup of the US government which portrays it as a fractured body with innumerable conspiraces within it all vying for control. Next to the Greys there's even stuff on the Mothmen(which look suspiciously like Mi Go) and sandmen. This is so much cooler than things like X-Files because instead of relying on Carter's internal storyline that he keeps changing everything in here is part of existing conspiracy lore and having been a memebr of one or two (not that the actual number is going to be revealed) of the secret societies detailed(and I'm sure you all can guess which ones(not that I will reward a correct guess with a cookie(virtual or otherwise) or even acknowledge if you are correct) with just a little effort) I can say that in a few places Monte and Wolfgang have brushed up very close to the facts(or Truth if you avoid any of the icky subjectivism stuff (and like capitalizing the word "truth"(instead of putting it in quotes)) so common when dealing with conspracy hounds). The occult FX rules are tight although the nature of the occult traditions is kind of misrepresented. Enochian magic is the use of a secret and angeline language to gain power rather than a system of bargaining with benificant entities. Shamanism is too broad of a category for what they attempt and GURPS VOOdoo is a better researched book on the subject when it comes to the history and descriptions. Aside from that the system for the FX looks solid and I am looking forward to the FX book. The only other problem is that the much advertised website for Dark Matter leads to a holistic healing webseite prclaiming there to be a "quadrinity" if you leave off one "M". I got set there the first few times. Other than that tere is actually a decent amount of web stuff. Send E-mail to all of the addresses given on the sample memos in the book. You'll get proper responses. IT's done a lot better than White-wolf's hunter-net. Really classy. Finally the basic system deserves a look at. It's Alternity which, in brief, means that you've got a step table without it being as intimidating as Earthdawn's. New rules are given for the new skills and the "fast play" (stripped down but not actually much faster) rules are included. They say you need the Alternity Player's Handbook to make it work but you can glen how the chargen rules work from the examples of new abilities and from reverse engineering skill point costs from the sample character sheets. It's elegant and more imprtantly it works. I also hate this game because I like to think of myself as the most bitter and spiteful reviewer on rpg.net. I'm the guy Skarka talks about as the ones who loudly tear everybodies hard work to shreds, and I like this. I even like the notes for GMing notes in back. I guess Freeman is still the most curmugeonly of all. Maybe he saw the day coming when he'd have to write reviews of things he actually enjoyed and bailed for that reason. I don't know. It doesn't matter. I might as well also state that I love Jumex Guava Nectar. It gets a 3/5 on style and a 4/5 on substance. The game's stats appear below. Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Dark*Matter