Category: Review Page 1 of 3

[Review] Sub Rosa – 1st Edition

“Three may keep a secret… if two of them are dead.”
– Benjamin Franklin,
Poor Richard’s Almanack

While Conspiracy X is best known for its setting focused on humanity’s ongoing struggle against aliens, monsters, and the supernatural, perhaps its most intriguing notion – its diamond hidden in the rough, so to speak – is its exploration into the very concept of ‘conspiracy’ itself. Sub Rosa: The Conspiracy Creation Sourcebook, is the game’s deep dive into this very subject, a supplement that aims to present a theoretical examination of how conspiracies come about, how they are run, and most importantly how they are created within the Conspiracy X ruleset.

But just how well does it succeed in this task? Do we get nothing more than a shallow look at the same old tired conspiracies we see in so many other game lines, or will it break the shackles and truly deliver a sourcebook that allows Game Masters to build brand new layers of intrigue into their existing campaigns? Well, dear reader, read on and we shall find out…

[Review] The Hand Unseen – 1st Edition

Let me tell you again, AEGIS nothing more than a cult and we, I’m afraid to say, have been lied to for far too long…

From its release in early 1996, Conspiracy X had always operated under one simple premise – the player’s characters, as members of a secret conspiracy known as AEGIS – are humanity’s last hope, the final protectors of mankind… the so-called ‘bodyguard of lies’. This book, The Hand Unseen, whips away that veil of half-truths and rumours and simply asks – What if AEGIS aren’t the ‘good guys’ we all believed them to be? What if their approach to the existential threat of extraterrestrial invasion and the rise of supernatural dangerous phenomenon as nothing more than closed-eyed, fear mongering? And if that is all true, then who will stand as the champions all of humanity?

That, my dear reader, is why this book exists, to tell you that there is another way, and that a programme for humanity’s salvation is already underway… whether you like it or not!

[Review] The Esoterror Factbook

Please note that this review was originally posted over on RPGGeek and is mirrored here for completist reasons only!

You know that feeling, the one that goes… “hang on now, they’ve definitely set this all up for a sequel, right?”. Well, that’s what I always felt when reading the original The Esoterrorists roleplaying game (the core rulebook now known as 1st Edition). Written by Robin D. Laws and published by Pelgrane Press in 2006, here you had gem of a great set of mechanics (the vast majority of what we know today as the GUMSHOE system), but no real substance behind it. I mean in The Esoterrorists 1st Edition you got the bare bones of anything you might realistically call a ‘game setting’, and worse, it really felt like a ‘quickie’ knock off of other more intriguing modern horror settings such as Delta Green, Hunter or even Conspiracy X. Sure, one could see that somewhere in the text there was a really neat unique game world just waiting to let loose … but where, oh where, was it!

Well, you’ll be pleased to know, 2009’s The Esoterror Factbook (also by Robin D Laws) is that missing ingredient; the background, context and detail that finally brings The Esoterrorists into its own… just a shame so few people know it even exists….

[Review] The Book of Unremitting Horror: Gumshoe Edition

Please note that this review was originally posted over on RPGGeek almost a decade ago (OMG!) and is mirrored here for completist reasons only!

If there is one genre that draws me more than any other in gaming, then it is horror. From the investigative paradigm of Call of Cthulhu, through the brutality of Kult, and even into the wackiness of Deadlands, the horror genre has always been more than just monsters hiding in the darkness to me. This generic interest in horror was probably what first drew me to The Book of Unremitting Horror, but it is its note-worthy content (which is much more than your typical collection of ghouls and goblins) that inspired me to write this review.

[Review] Nemesis: The Grey Sourcebook – 1st Edition

Watch the Skies! For they are ‘The Grey’ and they mean us great harm…

With the successful launch of the Conspiracy X roleplaying game in early 1996, New Millennium Enterprises (the original publishers of game line and the precursors to Eden Studios) quickly realised they were on a winner and had captured an audience wanting to know more of the setting’s mythology and background. Either anticipating this interest or responding rapidly to its demand, Nemesis – The Grey Sourcebook was released a few months later.

This review continues my series of looking back on the various books, supplements and publications that have been released for Conspiracy X over the years, and in the processes looking at what insights this – once extremely popular – roleplaying game might reveal to us here in the 2020s.

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