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INTRODUCTION

The name's Davenport. I review games.

And if you've been payin' attention to my reviews lately, you're probably expectin' me to tell you how some big, smelly talkin' gorilla came bargin' into my virtual office to tell me all about Terra Primate.

Well, you're wrong.

First of all, the landlord just about had kittens over me letting that damn parrot into the building a while back. (You try tellin' the old geezer it was the pirate's fault.) Do you really think I'm gonna wait to see what Eden sends over to push a game called "Terra Primate"? Nope. For this one, I set up a meeting in a nice, public park.

And secondly, it wasn't a big, smelly talkin' gorilla.

It was a small, Brut-wearin' talkin' gibbon. In a suit and tie, no less.

Since I'm guessin' you didn't come here to read half a page filled with "Whoooooop-whoop-whoop-whoop-WHOOPWHOOPWHOOPWHOOP," I'm gonna spare you the dirty poo-flingin' details.

So here's the deal in a nutshell: I hadn't thought Eden'd be able to make a decent game out of nuthin' but zombies, and I had to eat some crow over that one. Not plannin' on makin' the same mistake twice, I said to Mr. Bimpo (don't ask), "Talkin' apes? Sure. I liked Planet of the Apes as much as the next guy. Send it over!"

Did I make a mistake? (About the book, I mean – not about gabbin' with a talkin' monkey in a public place.) You be the judge.

Chapter One: My God! They're Apes!

After the thankfully brief but entertaining intro fiction, the chapter begins with an excellent but equally brief study of the history of apes in the movies and other media, from Murders at the Rue Morgue to Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes remake. Naturally, the section spends the most time on the original Planet of the Apes, although it touches on ape influences from such diverse sources as The Lawnmower Man, Every Which Way But Loose, and the Alan Moore comic Tom Strong. (B.J. & the Bear being an egregious omission.)

Character creation is fundamentally identical to that in All Flesh Must Be Eaten. As in that game, there are three character types:

• Pre-Heroic: The equivalent of AFMBE Norms, albeit created with 50 points rather than 49.
• Heroic: Identical to AFMBE Survivors.
• Powered: The equivalent of AFMBE Inspired, but with psionics (see below) instead of miracles.

Qualities and Drawbacks are unchanged as well, with the exception of "The Gift" Quality being renamed "Powered". Like the Gift, it's a prerequisite for supernatural abilities, which in the Terra Primate core book is limited to psionics.

And speaking of psionics, the rules for them are mostly unchanged from the Seer powers in WitchCraft. As in Pulp Zombies, the powers use their "real world" names (e.g., "Telekinesis" as opposed to "Mindhands"), and the selection is more limited than that in WitchCraft.

The difference is that while Pulp Zombies eliminates Mindkill and Mindheal, Terra Primate keeps Mindheal (as "Bioenergetics") and adds an entirely new power, Telemagery (a.k.a. illusions and invisibility). I didn't really see the reasoning behind introducing this new power in this particular game until the book mentioned the psionic illusion-creating mutants in Beneath the Planet of the Apes. Regardless of the rationale, I'm happy to have the new power choice – particularly since it could help psionics fill in for the absent magic rules. (Well, nearly absent – see "Simians and Sorcerers" below.)

Archetypes

The chapter concludes with eight Archetypes:

• Apeman (Heroic Character)
• Astronaut (Heroic Character)
• Big Game Hunter (Heroic Character)
• Psychic Child (Powered Character)
• Quantum Physicist (Pre-heroic Character)
• Reformed Genetic Scientist (Pre-heroic Character)
• Reluctant Hero (Pre-heroic Character Hero)
• Savage Girl (Heroic Character)

The Apeman is a Tarzan clone, obviously, and is interesting in that it includes the option of taking Ape Qualities and Drawbacks (see below). I was mildly surprised that there isn't a literal "apeman" (as in a "missing link" caveman type) in the mix, but I suppose that falls more closely under the ape PC territory (again, see below).

I noticed that the Archetypes seem a lot less generally useful in this book than they did in AFMBE. But given that the Apeworlds tend to be either more otherworldly or more limited than the Deadworlds, that's to be expected. Just be aware that unless you're running a really weird game – even by "intelligent ape" standards – all of your players aren't going to be able to grab an Archetype.

Chapter Three: Opposable Thumbs

The rules are standard Unisystem, so I'll refer you once again to my All Flesh Must Be Eaten review (in which I describe and analyize the system) and my WitchCraft review (for which I playtested the system). One change worth noting is that the card-based and diceless mechanics featured in the aforementioned games have been relegated to the Terra Primate web site for this game. (At least, that's what the book says. They weren't up as of this writing, although I'm told they will be soon.)

The equipment chapter, this is identical to the corresponding chapter in All Flesh Must Be Eaten in all but one respect: a sidebar pointing out the likely differences between human and ape weapons and vehicles and the difficulty a member of one species may have using a device designed for the other. I do wish there were some general guidelines for ape-sized weapons, but it's an important observation nonetheless.

Although the equipment list is identical to that in AFMBE, it nevertheless felt somehow more substantial to me in this book. That may be a reflection of the fact that in an intelligent ape setting, all of that equipment is more likely to see use by the featured adversaries.

Chapter Five: Anthropology

Up to this point, there's not all that much to distinguish Terra Primate from any other Unisystem game. Here, that changes in a big way. This chapter looks at what it takes to make an Apeworld, and in a lot more detail than I ever expected.

First off, the chapter discusses the source of the apes' intelligence. Is it the result of bizarre extraterrestrial experimentation, or are the apes really aliens themselves? Does their intelligence spring from evolution, or from Divine creation? Was it added through genetics or eugenics, or has it been there all along, having gone unnoticed due to apes' lack of speech? And speaking of which (pardon the pun), the chapter also discusses possible sources for the apes' ability to speak.

But it was the discussion of ape cultures that really grabbed me. Ape cultures are divided into two basic types: those based on human culture, and those based on the natural tendencies of apes. The latter opens up all sorts of interesting possibilities – consider, for example, a society incorporating the wildly different mating habits of polygamous gorillas, monogamous gibbons, promiscuous group-oriented chimps, and promiscuous loner orangutans. (A sidebar even discusses intelligent monkeys and their likely place in ape society.)

The chapter also covers possible cultures of the humans (if any) sharing the world with the apes, from primitive to futuristic to post-apocalyptic, and possible tech levels for the apes and/or humans, from Stone Age to ultratech. The lack of stats for high-tech equipment limits the utility of the game for futuristic settings, unfortunately.

Nevertheless, this array of mix-and-match Apeworld elements really jumpstarted my imagination regarding the game's potential.

Ape character creation follows a delightfully logical progression through this chapter. First come the Qualities and Drawbacks natural to the various ape species: Animal Communication, Animal Intelligence, Brachiation (natural climbing ability), Knuckle-walking, and Negative Bouyancy. Then, these Qualities and Drawbacks combine with attribute bonuses and miscellaneous perks to form Chimpanzee, Gibbon, Gorilla, and Orangutan packages, which are presented along with a short scholarly discussion of each species.

Keep in mind that these packages represent the apes in their natural form. They may be really strong and agile, but they're still just apes – not the best PC material. As such, all but the Gorilla package are Drawbacks, and even the Gorilla package only manages to be a 1-point Quality.

But now comes the fun part: "uplifting" those baseline templates into intelligent apes. Obviously, getting rid of some of those natural Drawbacks is the first step – Animal Intelligence, at the very least, if they're to be something more than monsters. Then, the chapter introduces a second set of Qualities and Drawbacks to customize these super-apes. This is where you can make your apes carnivorous, like those in Congo, or partial bipeds, like those in the Planet of the Apes remake.

And if talking apes aren't weird enough for you, the chapter includes a selection of ape powers: armor, claws, super-leaping, wings (flying monkeys!!), venom, regeneration, and even the ability to go incorporeal! Now, in all honestly, I have to wonder how much sense it makes to purchase an "intelligent ape" game in order to create a race of hairy winged poisonous ghosts. Nevertheless, these abilities do serve to expand the overall utility of the book.

The chapter concludes with ready-made templates of apes of each species for "quickie" modification by GMs who don't want to go through the aforementioned process.

I really like the way the chapter handles animal intelligence. While it might make sense to give animals Intelligence scores of 0 or below using the standard Unisystem scale, the result would render creatures like chimpanzees nearly incapable of properly displaying such intelligence as they do possess – tool creation and use, for example. To get around this problem, the chapter includes an Animal Intelligence Table that gives animals Intelligence scores in the human range numerically but not in terms of capability. For example, Animal Intelligence of 2 indicates that the creature can be trained in a wide variety of ways, while a score of 4 is the equivalent of a human Intelligence score of 1.

There are also two very noteworthy sidebars in this chapter. The first features a size comparison chart for beetle- to Godzilla-sized creatures and rules for bumping creatures up on the scale – thereby allowing for not just giant apes a la King Kong and Mighty Joe Young, but also giant versions of any and all creatures from the bestiary in the Appendix. And the second explains how to use the ape creation rules in conjunction with All Flesh Must Be Eaten to produce zombie apes! (Sadly, there are no rules for creating Kong-sized zombies.)

Like All Flesh Must Be Eaten, Terra Primate offers up several different settings for the game – some full-blown "Apeworlds," some more suitable to individual adventures. Each world includes full stats for the various ape breeds and other relevant NPCs, along with ape character creation packages modified to fit the setting.

Dominant Species

About as close as you can come to a "default" Apeworld, this one shows a very strong influence from the Tim Burton incarnation of Planet of the Apes: partially bipedal intelligent chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans with Iron Age technology ruling over savage Stone Age humans. Unlike the movie world, however, this really is a planet of the apes, with many scattered independent city-states. This not only provides more room for exploration, but also sets up the potential for ape-vs.-ape conflicts. And speaking of which, there's room for ape PCs in the form of (literal) human rights activitists.

The section includes the option to upgrade the apes' technology to flintlock rifles and cannons (complete with stats for said weapons). And speaking of options, the section offers several intriguing possibilities regarding the origins of the apes from which the GM can choose.

Apeopolis

Inspired, perhaps, by DC Comics' Gorilla City, this setting hides a super-tech simian refuge in Antarctica, of all places. Welcomed by the benevolent king of the gorillas, the main threat the PCs face takes the form of intrigue as various factions try to decide what to do with the human interlopers. Although the setting seems a little limited, there are two scenarios presented that can be strung together. And again, the section offers several possible secret origins for the apes that could lead to further adventures themselves.

Given the high tech level of these apes, I was looking forward to some nifty gadgets. Well, there are stats for apetech stun rods, flying scooters, laser pistols, and laser rifles; strangely, though, the pistols and rifles are completely identical to mundane 9mm pistols and 7.62mm rifles in all respects other than bulk. (The laser pistols are slightly heavier than their mundane counterparts, while the laser rifles are slightly lighter.) That seems particularly odd, given the emphasis the section puts on the fact that these are meant to be lasers of the flashy, unrealistic Star Trek/Star Wars variety.

Heart of Africa

Congo mixed with pulp. In the 1920s, explorers delve into Darkest Africa in search of an ancient temple filled with fabulous treasures and forgotten knowledge but guarded by dimly intelligent but savage and carnivorous white gorillas. Obviously, this one is an adventure scenario, not a full-blown "Apeworld". (Well, possibly two adventure scenarios, if you count the suggested 1930s sequel, complete with Nazis.)

As the book points out, this setting offers an ideal opportunity for an AFMBE crossover in the form of the temple's potentially zombified builders. Just imagine the fun of seeing your intrepid PCs fight or sneak their way past the savage gorillas, only to find themselves caught between the apes outside and the zombies inside! (Actually, the zombie twist would probably be a good idea – otherwise, the players will know what's coming as soon as they hear rumors of white killer apes.)

Majestic Apes

A Medieval world with apes as the nobles and merchants and humans as the serfs. The twist is in the general acceptance of the status quo: off-world humans trying to start a rebellion may find themselves opposed by the very serfs they're trying to free! On the flip side, a proud ape noble may have to turn to these strange humans and their mysterious "boomsticks" in order to repel an attack by a rival's gorilla knights. I can also see this being an entertaining setting for ape PCs, especially after importing some more fantasy trappings like magic and monsters. King Arthur Pengibbon!

If the GM wants to give the priests of the setting's simio-centric religion some actual power, the setting includes a few sample miracles using the Inspired Miracle mechanic from WitchCraft and All Flesh Must Be Eaten.

A sidebar includes suggestions for moving this concept to other times and places, such as Medieval Japan or the American Civil War.

Invasion of the Apes

An alternate-reality ape civilization as technologically advanced as our own launches a full-scale cross-dimensional invasion of Earth with genocide as the goal.

On the one hand, I see this Apeworld as somewhat necessary for the sale of completeness: We have multiple examples of technologically and socially inferior apes and one ("Apeopolis") of super-advanced apes, so an ape equivalent of our own world is a natural choice. On the other, that very similarity rendered this setting less appealing to me – it's essentially conventional modern warfare with opponents who happen to be unusually dangerous in hand-to-hand combat. The suggested commando raid scenario into the ape's world could be fun, given the difficulty of the humans going "under cover," but the section gives only a tantalizing glimpse of that world.

(Ironically, the same vehicle stat list that struck me as overkill in All Flesh Must Be Eaten actually proves marginally deficient here, given the lack of heavy military equipment – tanks, jet fighters, etc.)

Island of Dr. Monroe

On a small, remote island, a scientist in the tradition of The Island of Dr. Moreau has created transgenetic human/chimpanzee and human/gorilla crossbreeds, carefully training them to revere humans and their superior intelligence above all things. In one scenario, the arrival of the marooned PCs sews confusion in the minds of the ape-men and leads to their violent revolt, while in another, a chimpanzee-man realizes that he is smarter than the scientist himself and so more fit to rule. I can see either one making for a fun adventure, although – like "Apeopolis" and "Heart of Africa" – it's definitely one-shot territory.

Apeocalypse

Here's my personal favorite – a setting blending elements of both Beneath the Planet of the Apes and Battle for the Planet of the Apes with Road Warrior.

At some point in the near future, humans create intelligent apes as slaves. At some point after that – possibly because of it – a nuclear war (or some other global disaster, natural or manmade) breaks out, destroying both civilization as we know it and (courtesy of massive EMPs) the vast majority of technological devices. In the aftermath, the remnants of humanity share the wastelands with their former ape slaves. In some places, apes have turned the tables and enslaved or slaughtered the humans. In others, apes and humans have learned to coexist. But in the ruins of the cities, horribly mutated humans threaten all those who lack their affliction, human and ape alike. Like the mutants in Battle for the Planet of the Apes, they have arsenals of scavenged technology, and like the mutants in Beneath the Planet of the Apes, some of them are psionic as well.

This is a setting that's really worth the price of admission. I say that not just because I love the premise, but also because out of all the Apeworlds, this one makes the most out of the book's resources. Ape PCs? Check – and unlike in the other Apeworlds, neither the apes nor the humans need be inferiors or outsiders. Psionics? Check. Primitive through modern-day equipment? Check. In fact, if anything, this section underplays its potential. If you want to push the setting further into Gamma World territory, those funky ape powers would make great physical mutations. And the giant animal rules could turn ordinary critters into Atomic Horrors.

(And if you have AFMBE, you could do a crossover with that book's "After the Bomb" Deadworld, introduce radiation-spawned zombies of your own, and/or use some of the zombie powers as still more freakish mutations.)

Damn. I need to run this.

Simians and Sorcerers

Traditional high fantasy, but with apes!

Initially, I was pretty skeptical about this one. It almost managed to win me over in the end, though. Why "almost"? Well, first of all, the premise – your basic evil sorcerer enslaving apes to use as his army of conquest – seemed a little limited to me. Not as limited as "Heart of Africa" and "Dr. Monroe," perhaps, but not a full-fledged Apeworld, either. And if you're after an individual fantasy adventure with ape adversaries, I have to wonder if it wouldn't be a lot easier to add the apes to a fantasy setting rather than forming a fantasy setting around the apes. (Fantasy with apes as permanent central figures, as in "Majestic Apes," is another matter.)

The addition of fantasy creatures in the Appendix bestiary gives the setting a little more potential variety, however. And the re-interpretation of ape species as fantasy creatures – gorillas as massive armored war apes, orangutans as agile "leapers," and gibbons as the ever-frightful flying monkeys – was novel enough to have me give the setting a second look.

Still, there's just not enough space to do a fantasy setting justice. The magic element is case in point: Magicians are mentioned as possible PCs, but the only magic powers listed are a few samples of the evil sorcerer's dark abilities. And they, in turn, are actually repackaged Taint powers out of WitchCraft's Abomination Codex.

Primal Apes

I was as enthusiastic about this Apeworld going in as I was skeptical about the previous one. At last! A Unisystem dinosaur setting!

It left me feeling a little ambivalent, though. I thought that this other-dimensional setting would be the place in which the game would apply ape Qualities to produce B-movie "missing link" cavemen. Instead, it sticks with chimps, gorillas, and orangutans, with the gorillas and orangutans cast as bestial hunter-gatherers of limited intelligence and the chimps as more highly evolved cavemen types experimenting with farming. In a bizarre twist, the humans in the setting are "Aquans" – primitive amphibious beings evolved from apes adapted to life in the sea.

These facts didn't turn me off of the setting, even if the end result was more like a pseudo-scientific "what if?" documentary and less of the pulpy "Lost World" that I'd hoped it might be. In fact, I gradually warmed to the concept, at least in theory. No, in the end, it was the same issue that turned me off of Torg's equally prehistoric Living Land – namely, the question of what to do in the setting other than wander around and try to stay alive. The suggested adventure provides one answer: an effort to capture dimension-hopping poachers. That certainly has potential, but I'd like a prehistoric setting for more long-term use.

As mentioned previously, the ape-pendix (sorry, couldn't resist) begins with a glorious 34-entry bestiary, with each entry noting a particularly appropriate Apeworld for the creature. The menagerie:

Bear, Grizzly	Bear, Polar	Bird, Tropical	Boar, Wild	Deer	Dinosaur, Apatosaurus
Dinosaur, Pterodactyl	Dinosaur, Stegosaurus	Dinosaur, Triceratops	Dinosaur, T-rex	Dinosaur, Velociraptor	Dog, Attack
Dolphin	Elephant	Falcon	Griffin	Horse, Riding	Horse, War
Leopard	Lion, African	Lion, Mountain	Monkey	Ogre	Rhino
Seal	Shark, White	Snake, Python	Snake, Rattle	Snake, Sea	Troll, Cave
Walrus	Whale, Killer	Wolf	Wyvern

Offhand, the only glaring omission I see is "Alligator/Crocodile." While all of these write-ups are extremely bare bones, the generous quantity more than compensates in my opinion – especially since the book might well have gotten away with no bestiary at all. It's also worth noting that with a wee bit of extrapolation, the ape character creation rules could be applied to many of these creatures.

A sizeable bibliography of relevant movies, TV shows, books, comics, and web sites follows, as do a glossary, reprints of all character creation tables, and both general and chart/table indices.

Terra Primate is a sturdy hardcover following the handy 7.25" x 9.25" format Eden has used for all non-Buffy games thus far. The cover features an attractive background motif reminiscent of a shadowy jungle that I assume will be the line's equivalent of the standard AFMBE "guts" cover background. Unsurprisingly, the cover image is of a grinning ape, although it looks more like a baboon to me than anything else. The interior black-and-white art ranges from slightly above average to good, leaning strongly toward the latter – none of it really blew me away, but it's attractive and consistent for the most part. The layout and organization meet Eden's usual commendable standards, and the cave painting border motif gives the book a unified appearance.

The writing in the main text is clear enough, although like the art, it didn't overly impress me. The entertaining fiction pieces more than took up the slack, however, displaying a contagious love of the subject matter while giving witty simian nods to everything from H.P. Lovecraft to All Flesh Must Be Eaten to Donkey Kong.

The only flaw creeps into the fiction when it overreaches what the game itself can offer. The AFMBE crossover piece is forgivable in this regard, perhaps, since the Unisystem game required to simulate it at least exists. The same cannot be said for the "superheroes in Apeopolis" story, however. (Not until Beyond Human comes out, at any rate.)

I went into All Flesh Must Be Eaten skeptical about the very concept of the game. After reading the implementation, I was no longer a skeptic... but neither was I made a true fan of the game. I simply respected it as a game that deftly handles a subject that didn't especially interest me. (Enter the Zombie would change that down the road, but that's another story.)

My point is that Terra Primate did AFMBE one better. Again, I started out a skeptic regarding the concept. (Albeit not as much of one, given my prior experience with AFMBE.) This time, however, I came out actually interested in running the game. Furthermore, Terra Primate, like AFMBE, gave me plenty of elements I might import into other Unisystem games. (The bestiary alone fills a noticeable gap in the Unisystem line.)

So, the bottom line(s): If you're a fan of the subject matter, get this book. You will not be disappointed. But I'd say this book is also worth a look from any fans of Unisystem as a whole. Re-buying the system may be a pain, but there's more of use here than you might think. And you just might end up being a convert like myself.

• Setting
• Quality = 4.0
• Quantity = 4.5

• Rules
• Quality = 4.5
• Quantity = 5.0

STYLE:

• Artwork = 4.0

• Layout/Readability = 4.0

• Organization = 4.0

• Writing = 4.0

• Proofreading = -0.0

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