WARNING: I'm not of English mothertongue but of Italian one (and proud of it, I must add 8-), so please excuse any problems with my writing.
GURPS Atlantis, published by Steve Jackson Games in August, is one of the most recent sourcebooks for the GURPS game system, but it's easily usable in other RPGs. To prove my point, I'm an avid fan and buyer of GURPS sourcebooks and I use them regularly, altough I have never learned to play the GURPS rules system…
Presentation: the GURPS Atlantis sourcebook is published in the usual SJG presentation, a paperback book with a beautiful full color cover, black and white interiors and average quality paper. Graphics and illustrations are good, but not particularly excellent. Wizards of the Coast's, Dream Pod 9's or Whte Wolf's most recent releases are really better as book designs. However, Steve Jackson games has covered subjects strongly regarded as 'niche market' even in the RPG field, so the publisher can't invest too many resources in a book with a somewhat limited appeal.
Text: this sourcebook has been written by the British author Phil Masters, one of the veteran game designers in RPGs and viewed by many (myself included) as one of the best in the business. We could divide the text in three main parts: the first covers the historical theories about Atlantis; the second one gives us an overview of Atlantis as it could have been, strictly following that Plato wrote in his works; the third covers a modern-day conspiracy of Atlanteans that dominates the world.
The first part is very well written and a really interesting reading. Phil Masters covers not only the most popular theories as Atlantis in the Atlantic Ocean (Bermuda triangle or deep ocean, at your choice) or Atlantis as the Minoan civilization before the explosion of the Santorini volcano, but much more obscure (albeit to me) hypotesis as Atlantis in the Black Sea, in the North Sea, in Britain (!) and so on. Every possible location is described, along the facts supporting or opposing the proponents' ideas. We have some coverage of other hypotetical continents as Lemuria and Mu and historically uncertains voyages as St. Brendan's. In my opinion, this part is not only useful for games, but enhances the reader's culture and, given the skin deep preparation on history of many writers, it's not a negligible fact.
The second part is very well written, too, but not particuarly original if you have already read something about Atlantis in the Atlantic Ocean as a Greek-style conquering power, clashing with Athens and than being submerged by the wrath of the gods (and of Poseidon in particular). Perhaps if the writer could have used more pages, this part would have been more interesting and deep about the subject it covers.
The third part is the one I have most problem with. I'm sure most readers of this review know Steve Jackson Games' passion with conspiracies and many of the most recent sourcebooks have various suggestions for a conspiracy-style game, not including the full sized conspiracy GURPS sourcebooks as Illuminati, Warehouse 23 and IOU. In this part we are trated with the story of Minoan survivors that, having developed psionic powers before the Santorini eruption but, amazingly, never anticipating the disaster that will befall them, slowly become humanity's hidden masters. Don't misunderstand me, the writing is always good, but the idea is so trite (another hidden conspiracy? Sheesh!) I can't see why a sourcebook devoted to Atlantis must give su much space to such a subject.
Comment: I felt a little upset in discovering the big chapter devoted to the Minoan Conspiracy, especially after such a good start with the various possible Atlantises and the competent, if albeit uninspired, effort in describing the 'typical' Greek style Atlantis. I think that avoiding this Conspiracy, or strongly reducing the space that was used for it, and giving much more space to the first two parts would have been a really better choice and the sourcebook would have gained much from it.
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