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.

About Nemesis

The first thing you’ll notice upon picking up Nemesis is its extremely thematic and invocative cover. It depicts a scene of three Grey aliens looking directly into the viewer’s eyeline, as if the reader themselves is the subject matter of the extra-terrestrial’s intent. Behind them blaze bright lights (complete with lens flare) with the scene set against a dark sky, full of stars. And is that a pine forest you see in the background? Yes, that’s right, you – dear reader – are the abductee…

Coming in at 96 pages, Nemesis follows the layout and design set by the earlier Conspiracy X core rulebook and includes many of the design traits that we would later see in all future Eden Studios publications (such as the use of in-text icons allowing the reader quickly to identify the type of content they are reading, the abundance of atmospheric black and white art, and regular interspersed snippets of provocative fiction). All in all, Nemesis – as a pure artifact – is a product of its time (i.e. the late 90s); when desktop publishing allowed for more creativity and an improved design aesthetic, but when layout and structure of books never quite broke any boundaries. That’s not meant to be a derogatory statement, by the way. The book is easy to read (i.e. lot of white space with the use of readable fonts), is simple to use (with a decent table of contents and a brief index) and is full of great art (I love the Grey version of Vitruvian Man appearing in the front pages), but apart from the cover, nothing really makes it stand out from any other 90s roleplaying ‘splatbook’.

Anyway, ignore all that negativity, what we have with Nemesis is a great supplement introducing the history, technology, and motivations of Conspiracy X’s most wily of opponents, the Greys. In the first few pages the author tells us that their design goal with the book was to provide “inspiration for endless plots, characters and conspiracies surrounding the Grey presence on Earth”; a target I think it admirably achieves. As I’ve already noted, it is well written and never ‘overstays its welcome’ dwelling too long on any of the concepts or ideas it raises.

A Note on Availability

Unfortunately, as far as I’m aware, this sourcebook is not available in PDF format, although some physical copies often appear (for a fairly reasonable price) via eBay or through other second-hand game markets. The good news, however, is that most of this book’s content (revised and updated even) is available in the Conspiracy X 2nd Edition supplement – The Extraterrestrials Sourcebook – which is readily found in PDF and print.

Chapter One – Evolution

After the perquisite introduction, we are treated to Evolution, a chapter of detailing the history of the Greys. This is the most comprehensive section of the supplement and sets the scene for the more ‘game and mechanics focused’ material that follows in subsequent chapters. I have to say that this is a cracker of an introduction to the Grey, covering the history of the race, the reasons for their arrival on Earth, and their goals in remaining here. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to easily summarise all the information presented in this chapter, so instead I thought I’d create a quick introduction in my own words.

Hailing from the Zeta Reticuli system, the water dwelling Grey’s evolved long millennia ago as the dominant species on their home world – not only through evolutionary advantage but also their skill with psychic talents. Over the course of millions of years, they developed these powers to the point where overwhelming mental domination meant that acts of physical violence were no longer required, and life on ‘Greyworld’ became a place of peace and artistic contemplation.

That was, of course, until the arrival of The Others and the emergence of a phenomena known as ‘Static’. These Others were space faring beings (later to be known as another alien race that plagues AEGIS – the Atlanteans) whose lack of any psychic ability saw them immediately at odds with the Greys. This ‘invasion’, however led the Grey to realise that there was a whole universe outside of Greyworld, and – through the use of ‘psychic coral’ (known to them as lenses) – they began to explore space. Meanwhile, the Static – a background disturbance in the psychic energies of the universe – began to not only drive the Greys insane but also impacted the races already reduced reproductive rates. With these two factors about to devastate the Zeta Reticulians, the Grey’s looked to resolve these destructive troubles. And it was this mission that led them to a small planet located in the western spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy… a place they have since learnt to call Earth. Here the evolved apes had developed some sort of uncontrolled residual psychic ability, and this is what has resulted in the Static!

And so, the Grey are here to change us, humanity, in a desperate attempt to save their own race.

As we soon discover, the Greys have maintained a presence on Earth (at great risk and sacrifice to those who do so) in an attempt to isolate the source of the Static. It is these efforts that lead to their eventual contact with humanity (the Roswell Incident, anyone?) and their later involvement with AEGIS’ main human adversaries – Project Black Book. With a foothold on the planet and allies in place, the Grey finally became the Nemesis hinted at: with their abduction of hundreds of ‘test subjects’; their clandestine infiltration of various influential organisations; the creation of meta-humans and slave-like hybrids; and even the establishment of a hidden headquarters at Dulce, New Mexico.

All-in-all this chapter provides an excellent overview of the Grey and their activities here on Earth, demonstrating that the world is on the cusp of dramatic – and perhaps devastating – change, if the machinations of the Zeta Reticulis are not halted!

Chapter Two – Vivisection

Not every Grey from Greyworld has come to our world, and in fact the very physiology and mental make-up of the Grey race means that those who have come here are now somewhat isolated and changed from their brethren. The Vivisection chapter therefore explores the Grey on Earth, their society and its goal of creating an ‘inhuman paradise’. Specifically, we learn of the Grey’s social groupings (that can be called gestalt in nature), their psychology, and most importantly the impacts of ‘Static’ upon their race (Static, by the way is also known as ‘Seepage’ in Con X – and this is the psychic energy that is responsible to creating the various supernatural events and entities that are also seen in the setting). Each of the aspects revealed in this chapter adds to the understanding of what drives the Grey to act in the way they do and provides excellent fodder for Game Masters in developing their own stories involving these extra-terrestrials.

The chapter is rounded out by introducing mechanics allowing players to create their own Grey Player Characters. This outlines the various racial advantages of the Grey, as well as their limitations (as you’d expect while the Grey are almost unmatched mentally, they are physically inferior to most humans), while also introducing new Grey-specific skills (such as Psibot Operations and Pilot: Grey Saucer) and trainings (both of which are focused on attuning to the lenses relied on by the Grey). Perhaps the greatest deviation from human characters, however, is a Grey’s access to Psi abilities, with their increased capability for psychic disciplines and impressive powers of recovery (allowing them to use their powers a lot more often), aspects which make them dangerous opponents. Unsurprisingly, we are also provided with plenty of new psi powers such as Domination, Teleport and Jinx, all of which, of course, more than make up for any lack of a Grey’s physical abilities.

Chapter Three – Lenses and Psychotrons

Beyond their natural psychic abilities, the Grey have also discovered the power to manipulate the native coral of their homeworld. When treated to specific mental attunements, this coral can be formed into tools (known as Lenses) as well as other psycho-focused devices (called Psychotrons), and it is these devices that have allowed the Grey to master the ability to travel through space and ensure domination over (almost) every being they encountered. We are introduced to a sample of these Lenses from those enabling levitation and genetic manipulation, through to the those used in the creation of Psibots (psychically controlled robots that come in a variety of configurations) and beyond.

It should be noted that this chapter is more than simply an ‘equipment’ list of cool Grey items, rather it focuses more on the capabilities and functions of these Lenses, encouraging the Game Master to use them as examples to create their own devices in the future.

Of specific interest when reading this chapter is the idea of Implants (those little devices that seem to be found in all abductees). These, like the other tools at the Grey’s disposal, have a multitude of uses, from tracking and monitoring an abductee, through to enabling more direct control and command over their host. The concept and the usage of implants really stirs up plenty of ideas for scenarios involving these items, and especially just how far the Game Master could be take them. I mean I can just imagine using these to activate a double-agent (or two) within the player’s AEGIS cell, or running a scenario in which a whole town that has been implanted, and now works, unknowingly of course, in aid of some sinister Grey plot. Talk about instilling a sense of paranoia in the party!

Chapter Four – Hybrids

One thing I’ve neglected to mention to date in this review is the very important fact that the Grey are pacifists. Whether this is due to their psychic nature or a result of generations of peaceful contemplation on Greyworld, depends really on what you believe to be true about the Grey’s origins. Regardless, not wishing to enter any direct conflict with humanity, the Greys have instead set upon a path of changing humanity in an attempt to ‘breed-out’ the very Static that affects their own race so badly.

To this end and realising that a connection must exist between the humans and the Others they’ve encounters (given the physical similarities between the humans and the Atlanteans), they have embarked upon a programme designed to create a ‘more perfect human’. This, as you’d expect, resulted in an agenda focused on ‘Human Breeding’, with female abductees impregnated with DNA that has been manipulated by the Grey to change our psychic makeup. Of course, this plan has taken many generations to come to fruition, and only by the 1990s has resulted in a number of new meta humans (all of whom show enhanced psychic abilities). What these meta humans will do now (even under the watchful eye of their creators and Black Book), is a worrying unknown for AEGIS.

And if such manipulation of living beings wasn’t scary enough, the Greys (who are also aquatic in nature) also embarked on a series of experiments to modify the DNA of dolphins. In these cetaceans, the Grey saw many similarities to their own evolutionary cycle, and together created the ‘Blues’. At first these Blues were worthy creations, combining the best of the Grey and Dolphin traits, however generations of these hybrids have revolted against their masters, and in doing so discovered their immunity to the Grey’s greatest strength – their psychic powers. Today, deep under the Caribbean, these Blues wait ready to act…

I really, really like the ideas presented in the Hybrids chapter. The complexity and drive around the creation of the metahumans and the Blues brings new and interesting parties to the Conspiracy X landscape, players that are just as likely to ally with AEGIS as they are to double-cross them! And I’ve only scraped the surface of what is fully covered in this chapter (You want to play a Blue character? – well don’t worry there’s rules for that!), so it should come as no surprise that this portion of the book is packed with enough ideas and inspiration as to ensure you’d never really need to look at another Con X sourcebook ever again (although that would be a silly idea)!

Chapter Five – Grey Matter

The last chapter of the book is the adventure ‘Grey Matter’, a relatively short scenario introducing the Grey as a major Conspiracy X adversary. Set in a single location (the upper stories of a cable television station), the plot is a straight-forward but challenging game of ‘cat and mouse’. Here the player’s AEGIS agents are thrown into a situation involving not only the Greys, but also operatives from Black Book, as well as a number of human pawns of the Atlanteans. I don’t want to spoil too much of the story, but this is a very open scenario set against the backdrop of an ‘exclusive event’ in which a purported Grey alien is to be autopsied on live television (sound familiar to anyone?). Of course, given the interest in the situation (with just about everyone wanting the ‘body’) it shouldn’t come as any surprise that the player characters will be up against it if they want to retrieve the Grey.

As written, Grey Matter does a good job at setting up the situation, detailing the various antagonists and laying out many of the possible outcomes and events as they might unfold. All in all its a nice little scenario that probably could be easily run as a convention game or a ‘one night’ introduction for players new to Conspiracy X. Sure, it’s nothing groundbreaking, but is a hell of a lot better than many intro adventures I’ve seen (or played in)!

My overall thoughts?

As the first of nearly a dozen supplements to be released for Conspiracy X, I’d have stay that Nemesis does a good job at providing a distinct context and purpose to the Greys. (Especially given how little space was given to the three alien races in the core rulebook.) More than that, it really does live up to its goal of providing inspiration for would-be Game Masters, and I don’t think there was a single page in which I didn’t get at least one new idea for an event, scenario, or some other affair that I could unleash on my players.

As previously mentioned, it’s also a readable book, with lots of good art and an effective layout. Furthermore, it has plenty of player facing rules and options means that it is more than simply a Game Master’s splatbook. (Note that while my initial thinking would be to avoid Grey or Blue player characters and the like, I really do think they have their place in the setting.)

But does it live up to its title as Nemesis? Ummm… maybe? Now don’t get me wrong, I love this book, and personally think the Greys are the most interesting extra-terrestrial race opposing AEGIS, but nothing in this book really makes them our ‘nemesis’. Sure they’re plotting to replace all humanity with hybrids, but at least the reasons for this seem understandable (I mean it’s our uncontrolled psychic Seepage that’s killing them!). In my opinion, the Saurians (another of the alien races) probably better embodies the nemesis nomenclature, but your mileage might vary…

That all said, I’d recommend this book to anyone interested in Conspiracy X – or even just wanting to see how interesting ‘Little Green… er… Grey men’ can be in a roleplaying setting. Now if only we could get a PDF version!!