It’s been way too long, but I thought I’d return to my rambling evaluation of the Conspiracy X line with one of the game’s lesser known publications – Bodyguard of Lies 3 – Synergy. And yes, because I like to be contrary, I thought I’d leap right into the third book of the series…

This review is written with the assumption that the reader is already familiar with the setting and themes of the Conspiracy X RPG (or Con X as it is often abbreviated). For those of you reading this review who may not be so educated, the one sentence summary of this game would be – in Con X the players take on the roles of agents within Aegis, a clandestine organization tasked with hiding the truth of aliens, monsters and the supernatural from the fragile minds of humanity.

For those who do not know, the Bodyguard of Lies (BoL) was a series of three supplements released during 1998 and 99 by Eden Studios to support the 1st edition of Conspiracy X. Designed as part magazine, part splatbook, I get the impression they were aimed at maintaining the interest in the game line while longer, more traditional, game supplements were being written. This format also provided an opportunity to explore subjects, and provide scenarios, that were either too brief, or perhaps too tangential, to the core Con X setting to warrant their own dedicated release. These days I’d imagine such material might well appear on publisher’s website as a freebie or as a quick and easy PDF release via Drivethrurpg, so seeing these articles and adventures in physical print format is quite cool (even I do have some reservations on the form factor of the books).

Now, I can only speak for myself, but I missed the original publication of all three issues of BoL, which seems strange, especially given my interest in conspiracy and horror gaming. I do, however, wonder if my personal overlooking of this line may well be a pointer as to why only 3 books were released? In any case it’s a shame we didn’t see more of these, especially – as I note later – there seemed more material awaiting the wings.

Initial Impressions

I’m not sure what Eden Studio’s goal was in producing a book with the physical dimensions of the Bodyguard of Lies series. These small, slightly larger than B5 size books (6”x9”) may have been an attempt to cut down costs, or simply a print format the company had easier access to. Whatever the reason, the small form factor has both its advantages and disadvantages, with the former being that it is easily carried in large pocket or bag, while the later resulting in it being almost impossible to lay flat without really breaking its spine. I have to say that I definitely prefer reading a book of this size in most places (be it on the bus or when in bed), but it’s not so convenient when at the game table. If one would be super critical then I’d say that for a book of this dimensions to work, it should have to have much more internal gutter (i.e. white space) on the inside each of the pages to make it readable while only partly open… but this may simply be that my eyes are getting older and need more help these days…

Released in 1999, like its bigger brethren, it is a soft-covered, glue-bound sourcebook, that comes in at an impressive 160 pages in length. While the layout and design aren’t as interesting or creative as other Con X supplements, it does use of a good clear and readable font, and has plenty of quality artwork. I note that it originally retailed at $16.00 US, which actually seems quite expensive when compared to, say Sub Rosa, a traditionally sized supplement for Con X which was released the same year. (Sub Rosa comes in at a full 152 pages, with a lot of condensed text and more room to play with its layout, for a cost of just $17.00 US!)

The book consists of only two articles, but both are individually chunky pieces of content. …Another Man’s Poison written by Jennifer Woodward is a comprehensive treatise on poisons and toxins in Conspiracy X, while the book’s title piece, Synergy, is a continent spanning scenario from the pen of Susanne Johnson-Haggett. As you’d have likely noted Woodward and Johnson-Haggett are both female authors, and while I feel a stupid pointing out that fact, in some ways I think their authorship represents the period in which this book was released; a time of real growth in the creative stocks of roleplaying writers and their audience, one which I think which made the next decade or so a much more interesting time for the hobby. As a note, this article seems to be Woodward’s only published RPG contribution of any form (at least as far as my research allows), although Susanne Johnson-Haggett on the other hand was heavy involved in the Conspiracy X line around this period and might have even been the Line Developer for a while (I know for example she was a lead writer for the aforementioned Sub Rosa supplement).

Before moving on, I should take a minute to highlight the art in the book. While some of it is repeated from other sourcebooks, there is plenty of it in the book, and it is mostly the black and white line drawing/shaded style that is symbolic of the whole Con X line. I wasn’t too surprised to see at least one piece of (I think it is Christopher Shy’s?) photo-realistic style of art also appear, although this isn’t the first time while browsing an old Conspiracy X book, I’d hazard a guess that at such an image might not appear if the book was released today (due to its adult nature). That comment aside, I have to say, that amongst others, the art of Phillip Reed, Christopher Shy and George Vasilakos does more to invoke the 90s setting than anything else in book, and it gives one that ‘warm fuzzy feeling’ to see this art style used so well.

The Content

Normally I wouldn’t spend time talking about an intro to a book, but in this specific case, Alex Jurkat’s opening words are an insight into Eden Studios as the company stood at that point in time, and they obviously reflect a period of change within the organisation. Here he discusses various upcoming releases (including a computer game based on Mayfair games Iron Dragon boardgame!?) and the fact that Conspiracy X was soon to have a GURPS based edition (that wouldn’t see the light of day until 2002 and, interestingly enough, was the first ever Con X book I ever purchased). He also mentions the future of the Bodyguard of Lies series with a few other scenarios awaiting in the wings, and although there is the promise of this new material, history shows us that it never eventuated with Eden Studios moving away from Conspiracy X line into newer (and probably more popular) worlds of adventure over the next couple of years. A shame really, and one can only but wonder what became of that material?

That said, the next page is dedicated to the ‘Eden Operative Programme’, a fan focused system of encouraging writers and GMs to support the Conspiracy X line and BoL specifically. Again, I wonder how successful this might have been if the line had continued, or may it wasn’t hence the lack of any future releases?

…Another Man’s Poison

At 50 pages in length, …Another Man’s Poison is the most comprehensive list of poisons and toxins I think I’ve ever seen for a roleplaying game. In fact, it is so detailed that I’d hazard a guess that the author must be a medical doctor, a specialist or an academic in the field? While the presentation of this material is specifically in a Conspiracy X 1st edition format, the core of what’s written here can easy be adapted to any RPG (in fact, I do recall that some of it was later converted also the 2nd – Unisystem – Edition).

The initial overview details how to use poisons in the game, including dosage sizes, their toxicity, onset times and potential physical and mental symptoms. This all translates into various degrees of damage, and we are introduced to a range of effects that go from ‘Almost Non-Toxic’ to ‘Lethal’. Of most interest to me was the statement (one that I’d never really appreciated prior) that there are rarely any real ‘cures’ for poisoning, and the human body has to do the hard work to heal itself after absorbing these chemicals. Medicine is usually there to simply ensure the victim has the opportunity to recover and (to quote Woodward) “…it is frequently the symptoms that kill a victim. At any rate, by staving off such unpleasantries as cardiac arrest, pulmonary edema, suffocation, kidney damage, a caregiver can ensure the patient has a decent chance of recovery.”

With those lovely thoughts in mind we then get some information on how to acquire poisons or locate the resources needed to make them. (I’m tempted here to repeat the author’s words from the beginning of the article – “the information contained in this article is to be used as reference for a roleplaying game, for players who wish to have their characters employ poisons in an accurate and thorough way. Please don’t do this at home!”) The rest of the article is an ample list of toxins and drugs, from those readily found around one’s home through to those sourced from nature and created as a by-product of industry. Each receives a comprehensive write-up, including the type of poison and how it is likely administrated, as well as the common symptoms and treatments.

Interestingly, there is one alien poison, or more specifically, Saurian venom listed, and it seems incredibly lethal. Thankfully, venomous Saurian ETs seem a rarity amongst their species and few, if any, of the other alien races deem to stoop so low as to rely on poisons.
All in all, this is great article, and presents some eye-opening facts about the plant and animal kingdom, as well as an insight into the sorts of deadly materials we constantly have around us in the real world. Through Jennifer’s efforts I’ve learnt that Monarch butterflies are poisonous if ingested, and that only 5 to 10% of human beings have the capability of sensing that ‘bitter almond’ smell that is produced by cyanide!

Synergy

Synergy or Braving the Spider’s Web is a lengthy scenario that potentially spans the entirety of the United States. At 90-odd pages in length, it is broken into four chapters and provides a comprehensive collection of player handouts and maps. As general statement, I’d say that this adventure could almost form the basis of a decent mini-campaign, especially if the Chronicler/Game Master wanted to explore the various optional and extended clues arising from its (hopefully) successful completion.

The overarching plot of the adventure – spoilers to follow – revolves around a high-ranking Black Book scientist attempting to defect to Aegis. However, this paranoid intellectual isn’t simply going to hand himself over to just anyone offering to ‘protect’ him from the retributions of the National Defense Directorate (NDD). No sir, instead he is looking to challenge his would-be saviors and ensure that they prove both capable and resourceful enough to truly be a thorn in the side of the NDD/Black Book. As a result, the core of the scenario revolves around the party following a number of leads that take them all across America. With each discovery, the party get the opportunity to undermine a variety of Black Book experiments, and in turn prove they have the ‘right stuff’ to rescue their unknown benefactor.

I must praise the story for developing in an incredibly natural way, as if a very real conspiracy is being playing out behind the scenes. To explain, at the outset of the scenario the agents are provided with a series of vague clues and will need to rely on their own initiative and nous to put together any real information as to their purposein relation to the overall plot. While this is excellent at making the scenario and setting seem alive, I’m sure you can already see it comes with some risks and potential issues on the player’s side of the equation. The first challenge for a GM looking to run an adventure like this – one with such an organic method of storytelling – is that players have been ‘trained’ through years of traditional roleplaying constructs to look for the obvious leads that follow a more ‘dot to dot’ type of game experience. Synergy rarely offers this, for example, the majority of the opening setting – the fictional town of Friar’s Hill – is packed with red herrings and a multitude of irrelevant leads that could well take full sessions to play out. With so few clues having anything to do with the main plot, and even less actually offering any reward in return for the agents’ time in investigating them, I dare say that some players could well become very frustrated with the scenario very quickly. As I said, I personally appreciate this slower pace, but without some substantial additions or an upfront discussion with your players, such a meandering style might not be everyone’s idea of fun.

Once the core plot is revealed, things do start to get a bit simpler for the players, although even here the players shouldn’t expect to have everything fall easily into their laps. The Non-Player Characters (NPCs) are in some ways very lifelike, and few are willing to simply give up information or reveal their life stories to a bunch of strangers for no reason (for example, there’s a key NPC who appears early on that really only feels comfortable telling their whole story during a third(!) meeting with the agents). Now I don’t know about your players, but the fair majority people I’ve gamed with in the past would well be frustrated by such an approach and will soon get bored without some really active leads to be following. This sort of stonewalling isn’t help by other events that the players will immediately feel wil take away their player-agency (for example, the very same NPC mentioned above is soon after kidnapped right in front of the party and the GM is told that the group cannot stop the attempt), and so the Chronicler will need to smooth these humps out by reacting to the play at the table or slightly tweaking the events beforehand to better move the story on.

Those sorts of things aside, however, Synergy is a fun adventure, and it brings a good balance of investigation and action into focus during play. For me personally, one of the best aspects of the scenario is that the agents efforts actually result in some wins against Black Book and their alien allies. This isn’t always the way in horror or conspiracy games, where often the player’s successes mean little to the overarching meta.

I should also point out the final chapter of the scenario brings out everything anyone could ever want from a spy thriller climax. With the agents now knowing who has been guiding them in their early efforts, and aware of their intention to defect, the plot challenges the party to infiltrate a secret NDD base and rescuing the Black Book scientist. I imagine that this would be an epic session or two of play, as the group must find their way into the facility, bypass security and keep up whatever charade they’ve set for themselves in the face of their ‘enemy’. What more could you ask for?

So, a fun scenario all round, even if the GM is probably going to want to change things up a bit to best suit their group’s style of play. Beyond that, I would say that Synergy lacks just two things; a better summary of how the narrative might play out (as in a guide for the GM, and to provide an insight as to how to keep the story beats flowing), and better quality handouts. As I said I like quantity of the handouts, and most definitely the content (handwritten letters, photographs, etc.) but in the condensed form factor of the B5-type printed book, some, such as the handwritten letters – which are key to kicking off the scenario – are just impossible to read, being too small and blurry to be usable in this format. So much so, that I had to actually read them in my PDF version (and even here with the zoom on the PDF, I was still struggling to make sense of the handwriting… argh…) Worse, there is no printed ‘text’ version of these letters in the adventure either (or for any of the other handouts for that matter) which means even as a GM you have to rely on translating a goodly number of handouts to actually know what is going on in your own scenario.

Wrap-up and Summary

But let’s not dwell on that. All in all, Bodyguard of Lies 3 – Synergy is a great Conspiracy X supplement, with a fantastic lead article and a pretty cool adventure (which I’m sure would get even better if you have time to flesh it out). I see – at the time of this review – the PDF is still available via Drivethrurpg for a very reasonable $5.60 US. So, if you’re curious as how you could unleash a range of deadly poisons on your players or are hankering for a uniquely styled conspiracy horror scenario, you could a lot worse than shell out for Synergy!