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People who just like the setting but do not use d20 rules should probably stay away from this book, as a few new hints for GMs and a timeline continued into the 21st century are not worth the 30 USD. But what does this book hold for people new to the setting? I have only skimmed through the old Dark Matter and read d20 Dark Matter as someone new to the setting:
Physical Object and Visuals
The book itself is a well bound 156 page hardcover in the typical d20 Modern style, although the printed “hinges”, which are on the other hard covers, are missing. The sepia colored cover picture by Ashley Wood has a very mysterious quality which lends itself well to the setting and is in contrast to the otherwise more comic-like d20 Modern covers (also it has five people instead of the usual three…). Unfortunately, what seems to be large black alien eyes in the background look a bit like the central character has Mickey Mouse-ears. The background by Joshua Hagler, as always three action packed panels, is in a similar style. The bottom one is a bit gross for product without an age restriction though. As stated above, the inside art is recycled, although given that the old Dark Matter was one of the most beautiful RPG products of its time this is not necessarily a bad thing. Chapters begin with a quote (from a real person) and a picture, of which most are stunning collages of photographs and setting specific artwork.
This semi-real style is continued throughout the book, although the quality of the art fluctuates a bit, the pictures being by Glen Michael Angus, Scott Fisher, Joshua Hagler, John Matson, Adam Rex, David Seeley, Steven Stone, and Ashley Wood. A piece by Fisher on page 54 is a bit out of tune, because the demons on it look more out of the Monster Manual then from a dark semi-realistic setting, as are the class pictures out of Shades of Grey by Wood which are a bit too comic like in my opinion.
Contents - Chapter by Chapter Introduction (2 pages) A short paragraph on the setting and a useful outline on what the game style is like in ten points, as well as a note that the d20 Menace Manual is needed for the creatures and some organizations inside. A good entry into this book and the Dark Matter universe. You can view this part of the book here.
Chapter 1 The Hoffmann Institute (10 pages)
The Hoffmann Institute is the default organization for the player characters and is therefore presented here in more detail than other d20 Modern organizations. Without the information in Chapter 3 and 4 this is a fairly general overview of a secretive group with its subdivisions, recruitment policies and general functions. Standard equipment that would be issued to player characters is presented twice (under Resources and Accountability and Hoffmann Institute Standard Issue), but otherwise this is a solid chapter without anything surprising. Department 7, the common hero employer in any d20 Modern setting, is the paranormal investigation department of the institute, by the way. Chapter 2 Heroic Options (30 pages)
This is the character creation part with all the crunchy bits. Three new starting occupations and five new advanced/ prestige classes – the Alchemist, Diabolist, Field Antiquarian, Field Guide, and Visionary, all of which appeared with the same rules in Shades of Grey. The Xenoengineer from Shades of Grey is missing though, which might be because he was a bit specialized. As “new” species we get Fraal, Greys, Moreau, Sand Slaves and Sasquatch, nothing really new here either. Note that the Moreau aren’t mentioned again until a short “antagonist” entry in Chapter 6.
There are also 20 new feats – most of them connected to spells or psionic powers – 26 new spells and 25 new powers. What struck me is that these include reprints from the d20 Modern supplement Urban Arcana. These are the feat Spell Penetration, the spells Dataread, Degauss, Magic ID, Shutdown, Trace Purge, and the psionic power Mindwipe. Mindwipe has been reworked while most spells only have slightly different components listed. While I appreciate that this means less references to other d20 Modern supplements, I am a bit confused about which versions of the spells or powers are canon. A nice touch about the new spells is that some of them are connected to voodoo practices.
The chapter ends with new equipment, again a couple of overlaps with Urban Arcana (four of the six ammunition types and two of the hunter kits), and new drugs with a focus on countering supernatural contagions such as lycanthropy.
Chapter 3 The True History (24 pages) This is supposed to be a history of supernatural events and conspiracies on earth, together with a handy timeline with various strange events, which runs through the whole chapter. What is a bit unfortunate here is that unlike Eden Studio’s Conspiracy X, Dark Matter does not have a unified paranormal/ supernatural setting and leaves many questions unanswered. Apart from the seemingly random appearance of “dark matter”, which is accompanied by all kinds of strange events, and some involvement of extraterrestrials we don’t get any explanations for the timeline. Also, a couple of names of historical people are misspelled. There is nothing one couldn’t have taken randomly from one of the hundreds of conspiracy theory books which are out there. And there are a lot of typos concerning page references.
Chapter 4 The Illuminati (36 pages)
Named after the world’s most famous secret society, this chapter outlines a number of organizations relevant to the setting. This is the best chapter of Dark Matter and can easily be mined for other modern day settings. Each major organization is presented in detail with little overlap with the Menace Manual, although there are a couple of cross-references and the book is needed to fully use some of the presented organizations (for instance FEMA). The major organization also feature short info for players which, although being somewhat redundant information, can make excellent handouts. Each entry ends with alternate ideas for the organization’s machinations which can be good campaign starters. Even Itohiro Nakami’s stats are almost identical to his stats in Menace Manual.
Some hiccups include a reference to Yeltsin as Russia’s president (looks like a bad cut & paste job out of the 1999 edition of Dark Matter) and the fact that Aum Shinri Kyo is the only non-US or European organization. Especially Asia has a higher potential for conspiracies, government agencies etc.
Chapter 5 Places of Power (24 pages)
This is basically a short tour to some supernatural sites on Earth and in near space. Again some strange priorities with less than 2 pages on Africa (including Egypt), 5 on Europe & the Near East, and more than 8 pages on the Americas… The selection seems a bit random anyway and most descriptions are too vague to be more than a starting point for adventures. Especially because most just cover the ancient history of places without any hints on how to use that for the present day, and modern events are almost all from before 1999 (copy & paste?!).
There is even a reference that the present year is 2001 on page 128. Concerning Europe we get some more blunders, such as a Czech Republic in 1989 or a paragraph on Cyprus without any reference to the partition of the country. The picture of Sasquatches on page 128 is also more than silly.
Comparing this to the two previous chapters, I also got the strange impression that there are numerous hidden Nazi orders and Nazi scientists everywhere, but there is no single reference to modern day Germany. Seems like a good export product!
Chapter 6 Running the Campaign (16 pages)
Strangely, this chapter starts with a warning to players to stop reading here. Although this is the part of the book with game mastering hints, it has the least setting spoilers and is more about general information. We get a list of plots or different kinds of paranormal events, but it all remains rather superficial. There are no paragraphs on gamemastering techniques or campaign building.
The chapter closes with some useful story hooks for xenoforms (which stats can be found in Menace Manual, d20 Modern, and Urban Arcana). Unfortunately, the backgrounds of some creatures remains vague, for instance we learn that there is an ancient struggle between Elohim and Luciferans without any explanation why they kill each other. I can imagine that leads to problems when player characters question one of these guys.
On the bright side, the chapter has some useful sidebars, such as on how to include the number 23 throughout the game and on weapon laws in countries outside the US (which I would have liked to have been in the d20 Modern core book).
Chapter 7 Exit 23 (11 page introductory adventure)
The adventure - a demon in a gas station which has been separated from the outside world by a blizzard - does one thing well: it brings characters together in a first contact with the supernatural situation. Otherwise it is rather straightforward, but this is actually not bad for an introductory adventure. Nothing special, but not too bad either.
d20 Dark Matter finishes with a good two page index and a page of recommended books, magazines, and films, including Dan Brown, Erich von Däniken, Anton Szandor Lavey, and Robert A. Wilson as authors of nonfiction literature…
Conclusions...
One could argue that conspiracies and the paranormal are a cultural phenomenon of the 1990s. In many respects, Dark Matter feels like taken straight out of this time, and not only because most of it is a reprint, while RPGs like Eden Studio’s Conspiracy X continued their metaplots into the 21st century. The copy and paste nature makes the book feel like a rushed job, maybe to coincide with the current Da Vinci code craze.
For using a conspiracy theme in a d20 Modern game, this product does its job fairly well, apart from the fact that you will also need the Menace Manual to fully utilize it. As a conspiracy game among others, its hodgepodge setting doesn’t really provide an alternative to what else is out there, especially given the relatively high price.
