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Given the importance of Atlantis to the "immortal cabal" plotline of Shadowrun, you might think that GURPS Atlantis would be a useful addition to the collection of GMs who make Atlantis and the Atlantean Foundation part of their games. Unfortunately, this is not as true as it could be. On the one hand, the 128-page sourcebook on Atlantis contains a well-organized collection of extremely useful information about theories on Atlantis (and other "lost continents") ranging from the almost-plausible to the very far-fetched, all quite relevant to giving some depth to the activities of the Atlantean Foundation. On the other hand, a great deal of the work is dedicated to fleshing out three different campaign ideas on using Atlantis in your game. Since Shadowrun/Earthdawn canon already contains a fairly specific conception of how Atlantis fits into equation, this material is mostly extraneous to Shadowrun campaigns that care to use a predominantly "by the book" conception of Atlantis. The book opens with "Platonic Solids," a treatment of Plato’s mention of Atlantis that may or may not be the source of the whole concept of Atlantis. The chapter continues with a history of nearly all of the theories on Atlantis that sprung up afterwards, including the ideas of the Theosophist movement, science fiction and even serious archeological research. It gives accounts of a number of places considered as locations for Atlantis and why. Though this description makes these 26 pages sound quite dry, it is fairly lively text and probably the book’s most interesting and useful section for Shadowrun gamemasters. The next chapter, "These We Have Lost," continues in a similar, but less detailed, vein about a wide variety of non-Atlantean "lost" lands, such as Avalon, Lemuria and Mu. As in the first chapter, the text avoids any game-specific concepts for such lands, but instead summarizes what real-life scholars and quacks have written about such places. Again, this chapter is quite useful for GMs, particularly those looking to incorporate such places into their campaign. "Beneath the Waves" follows, dealing with the concept that Atlantis is still functioning perfectly as an underwater city. This chapter is more scattered, starting with various myths of underwater civilizations, and then transitioning into the practical matter of underwater geology and exploration. As the chapter continues, it becomes more rules-intensive, discussing diving equipment and problems, underwater combat, submarines and rules for underwater vehicle design. Some of this may be of interest to rigger fanatics, but most of this is covered in Shadowrun terms in either Cyberpirates or Rigger 3. The remaining three chapters make up almost half of the book and flesh out three specific campaign settings that use Atlantis. This is something of a minor tragedy for Shadowrun readers because, while these campaigns are well written and actually pretty neat, they are fairly useless to Shadowrun campaigns that involve the Atlantean Foundation and the canon material behind it. For other game systems, or for Shadowrun GMs anxious to ditch the concept of an Earthdawn crossover, one of these campaign ideas may speak to you. The three ideas tend to be mutually exclusive, aimed at specific GURPS products and different time periods. "The Orichalcum Age" is set in a decadent but pre-disaster Atlantis, targeted mostly at GURPS Greece players. As the text says, it can be "inserted into almost any fantasy campaign as ‘the powerful island nation over the horizon.’" One of the neat aspects of this campaign is that the GM and the players, but not the characters, know that Atlantis will soon be destroyed by a big calamity, which has some interesting role-playing aspects that could be explored. "The Heirs of Minos" targets modern illuminated/conspiracy campaigns. This is probably the most Shadowrun-like of the campaigns in the book and many of the ideas in it could be applied to the Atlantean Foundation; however, the campaign is based more around the idea of a vast conspiracy that are the world’s secret puppet masters (&agrav; la the Illuminati). This makes the conspiracy vastly more wide-reaching than the cabal in Shadowrun is thought to be, but some Shadowrun GMs may welcome this. As conspiracy campaigns go, this one is fairly standard, though the section on factions could be useful. The last campaign, "Lords of the Deep," is geared toward Victorian-era steampunk games, or perhaps a super-hero or even Lovecraftian setting, and is built around the concept of a living Atlantis beneath the waves. The back-story of this campaign involves an alien conflict over Earth’s orichalcum and is fairly interesting, which is a shame because this campaign setting is probably the least useful to Shadowrun GMs. Sprinkled throughout the book are the random sidebars GURPS regulars have come to expect. As always, these are hit or miss in terms of interest, but hit more often than not. Sections like "A Nazi Atlantis?," "Orichalcum," and "Sonar and Oceanography" can suggest campaign ideas, rules modifications or are just basically interesting. One sidebar in particular, "Minoans in GURPS Technomancer," comes closest to the Shadowrun vision for Atlantis. (This is not surprising, as GURPS Technomancer might as well be called GURPS Shadowrun in many respects.)
The last three pages, containing references and the index, are perhaps the most useful, particularly the detailed bibliography. This list references everything from oceanography and submarines to other role-playing material, as well as a healthy dose of pure Atlantis material. One of these, L. Sprague de Camp’s classic Lost Continents, rips apart the Atlantis theories up to its day (1954) in a spectacularly droll, British way, and should be required reading for any GM interested in Atlantis. GURPS Atlantis is a good sourcebook, filled with a variety of ways to integrate Atlantis into nearly any game world. Unfortunately, most of these ideas are not particularly appropriate to canon Shadowrun’s view of Atlantis. Still, the first two chapters provide top-notch research on the subject, tailor made for role-playing, and this alone may make it worth your while to own. |
