Tag: Eden Studios

[Review] The Hand Unseen – 1st Edition

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On February 9, 2024

In Conspiracy X, Review

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!

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

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On February 27, 2023

In Conspiracy X, Review

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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[Interview] M. Alexander Jurkat – Founding Owner of Eden Studios

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On April 20, 2022

In Conspiracy X, Interviews

One of the pleasures I have as an ‘archivist’ of some pretty cool, albeit it Out-Of-Print, roleplaying games (see www.stormbringerrpg.com and www.darkconspiracytherpg.info for other sites I run) is the opportunity to interview the creative forces behind the products that now line my (overburdened) shelves. Over the years I’ve interviewed plenty of gamers who have given their time and effort to chat with me about the creation and history of various games and products, but few has given me as much pleasure as this interview with Alex Jurkat – one of Eden’s Studio’s founding editors. Please read on to hear about how Eden rose would rise to become one of the leading lights of tabletop gaming in the late 90s and early 2000s – from saving Conspiracy X from what could have been a very fatal false start, through to the arrival of the Unisystem mechanics and the publication of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG….

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[Review] CryptoZoology: Dossier of the Unexplained

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On August 12, 2020

In Conspiracy X, Review

So, I’ll be honest, I’m not a big fan of mixing my cryptids with my aliens. Sure, the X-Files did it with their ‘Monster of the Week’ style offerings, but I like my extraterrestrials and Jersey Devils to stay in their own sandpits, thank you very much! It was therefore with some trepidation that I unsealed my (long unopened) copy of CryptoZoology: Dossier of the Unexplained for Conspiracy X First Edition.

A Note – This review is written with the assumption that the reader is familiar with the setting and themes of the Conspiracy X RPG (or Con X as it is often abbreviated). For those of you who don’t, the one sentence summary would be – in Con X the players take on the roles of agents within a clandestine organization (known as Aegis) and are tasked with hiding the truth of aliens – and the like – from humanity.

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[Review] Conspiracy X Second Edition Core Rulebook

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On August 26, 2017

In Conspiracy X, Review

It seemed logical to start the review entries of this blog covering the book that brought about the rebirth of Conspiracy X in the middle of the 2000s – Conspiracy X 2nd edition. Written and compiled by the ever friendly David F. Chapman (Dave to his friends and fans – see our interview with him here), it not only converts the game into Eden’s Unisystem mechanics, but also blends together material from numerous first edition supplements into a definitive post 9/11 edition.

I should warn you, this review is probably different from others you might have read on this game, I say this, as it doesn’t go into the background and premise of Conspiracy X, and nor will it directly compare this edition to the first. Instead it simply focuses on the various elements that I, the reviewer, have found of most interest within its pages – from the good to the not so good.

In the future, we’ll return to this book to look deeper into its contents, as well as examine what elements it brings to the gaming table and how they might be used in play.

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