Life on Atlantis is the latest source book for Dream Pod 9's Heavy Gear universe and is dedicated to a former Earth colony water-world and its ongoing war of resistance against re-conquest by Earth forces. This book has its high points - silhouette rules for (under)water combat, some good quality hard sci-fi and just about the best example of vehicle design I have ever seen. To my mind, the book emphasises some of the wrong aspects of the world in favour of sticking to the format of other Heavy Gear setting books.
Physically the book is a 112 pages with a soft cover and good binding. The supplement's layout is, as with all Dream Pod products, very good; the text is clearly set out while the manga-influenced b&w artwork is well above industry standard. As is usual for the Heavy Gear range each chapter begins with an unrelated piece of fiction to help bring the world to life.
The book hangs together quite nicely. The planet's society seems a reasonable one given the influencing factors of the colony's history and planet's geography. Classical & mythological Greek names and influences abound. The state of the war on Atlantis is nicely teased out through the book showing the delicate balance between the sides. The native Atlantan society controls the deep oceans and has the ability to strike at objects in low orbit, the Colonial Expeditionary Force (CEF) holds any of the islands and shallow water installations it wants and the rest of the solar system.
Chapter one deals with the geography and geology of Atlantis and its solar system. Primarily a water world, Atlantis is seismically very active - the surface has a number of islands/arcipeligoes many of which are volcanoes. The humidity and warm temperatures make for a volatile weather system while under-sea quakes give rise to tsunami. These are the factors that have caused the bulk of populous to relocate from the surface to living beneath the sea.
Chapter two deals with the history of the colony, from being a corporate asset through the rise of the city states to the current planetary 'unity' brought about by resistance to the CEF invasion. Chapter three details the political and military organisations of importance; as is usual for Dream Pod 9 products the tensions and interplay between these groups are well thought out and make good for good rpg hooks. Several pages are devoted to Atlantis's rebel military and includes the structure of military units. Not being much of a tactical player of the game I'm not sure but I have the feeling that the units (and vehicles detailed in a later chapter) listed might prove a little limiting; see later...
Chapter four has some disappointments for me. Lots of similar Dream Pod 9 supplements detail cities/settlements in standard way, ie one page per place, a basic map and some interesting facts about the people or place in question. Life on Atlantis is no exception, major island settlements, floating, shallow and deep water cities are each covered one at a time with enough info to kick-start a rpg campaign. However there is no discussion of the 'science' behind such marvels which is a shame. I feel a page or two on generic city facts of life (like a cross-section of a floating city or an example of a deep water city dock) might have been worth the effort. Finally the 'maps' of floating cities are really not worth including guys!
Chapter five is all about Atlantan culture and technology. Religion, language, clothes, attitudes, etc are all there, some topics are better written than others but on the whole it is all good stuff. The section on technologies has some nice touches (such as underwater comms devices for use when your larynx is full of breathing fluid) but the submarine mounted anti-satelite weapon and sensor drones stand out as superb pieces of hard sci-fi.
Chapter 6 is the gamesmaster resources stuff, plot hooks, underwater rules for tactical games, weapons, equipment, example Atlantan character templates and local fauna. The usual Heavy Gear quality is maintained.
Finally there are the vehicles. Of the 10 craft listed, 2 are for deep sea work and have no weapons while a further 2 are low capacity civilian transport craft and have no weapons (though may carry infantry?). These then are fine for rpg campaigns but I suspect are of limited use to tactical players.
The stars of the show for me are the 'Sisyphus class' submarine (a laser weapon platform) and scylla buoys (passive sensor drones). Together these vehicles make up the weapon which keeps the skies clear(-ish) of CEF craft. These vehicle are a shining example of how to use the Silhouette vehicle design rules (a sub with a space navigation lab to help plot firing solutions - I love it).
One the whole the vehicles are a bit of a strange mixture for tactical games; a sea cargo sub (no weapons), a CEF gunboat that has no effective anti-sub weapons, an Atlantan sub with no ship-to-shore or ship-to-air capability. Each of the vehicles is perfectly rationalised into the setting, it's just that I can't imagine them in the same tactical games. (Ironically the book states that this is more or less the case, both the Atlantans and the CEF control part of the planet and lack the ability to take the fight to their opponent.)
To sum up then, this is another solid Heavy Gear book. While reading it through it senario ideas abound particularly if the gamesmaster is prepared to do some work fleshing out the details of a location or organisation. Some of the vehicles and sci-fi ideas are real quality; I felt some opportunities were missed. Role players will find this a good supplement (although I would have preferred less details like month names in favour of 'how underwater cities work'). Tactical gamers may have to do some work tweaking vehicles to get them fighting. Having the CEF source book will make this book a lot more useful.
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