The Arcanum
Atlantean Role Playing Game

Game Review

Reviewed by Sam Shirley


Bard Games P.O. Box 7729, Greenwich, CT 06836
Released: December, 1984
Price: $12.00
Complexity: Intermediate
Solitaire Suitability: None
* * * 1/2

The Arcanum is the first part of The Atlantean Trilogy, a new fantasy roleplaying series from Bard Games. The Arcanum contains the game mechanics, eight races, 27 character classes, and an expansive magic system. The other two books, The Lexicon, a "cyclopedia and atlas of the Atlantean world," and The Bestiary, "a compendium of the fabulous creatures and beings of the antediluvian age," are scheduled for publication in the second quarter of 1985.

The world of The Atlantean Trilogy is set in a hyperborian age of fantasy where the characters can "adventure in an age of mystery and magic, where fabulous peoples, mythical monsters, and legendary places come to life." The authors do not intend to represent a particular historical period. They pick from different Earth cultures and fantasy sources, from Norse and Celtic mythology to medieval alchemy and witchcraft. Little more can be said about the world until their second volume, The Lexicon, is published.

Bard Games has done a quality job producing The Arcanum. There are few typographical or grammatical mistakes. The rules and mechanics are clearly written and well organized. The charts and tables are easy to follow, and the frequently used ones are collected in an appendix in the back.

A few words about the actual mechanics. The Arcanum's game system is based heavily on Dungeons and Dragons; they use the six D&D player statistics plus perception and speed. There are character classes, saving throws, levels, d20 combat, and alignments.

The mechanics of D&D have been changed slightly and expanded to improve many of the original game's shortcomings. These are a saving throw system based on the character's statistics, an expanded experience point system that rewards good role-playing as well as good die rolling, a skill system open to all characters, a large spellcasting alchemical system, and a highly modified combat system that does not use armor classes.

I liked the extensive treatment of magic. Along with the required spell lists, the game also includes magical runes and glyphs, alchemical ciphers, lists of herbal remedies, rules for creating and using potions, the creation of magical items, necromantic rituals rules for the creation of magical beasts: lists of supernatural beings, and more.

Because it is so closely modeled on D&D, it has many of the same shortcomings. The major one is that there is no overall system from which the various sub-systems are derived; each new rule is handled as a special case. The problem is that there is no general framework from which to extrapolate new rules for new situations, and the present rules won't integrate to allow the use of non-combat skills to affect combat. A further example of this is the way skills are handled; there is no overall system. Rather there is a collection of mechanics addenda and exceptions organized as skills. Ideally, the skills should all use the same mechanics. This would make it easier for the referee to create new skills, to compare conflicting use of skills, and to remember how a particular skill is used.

Another temporary problem is The Arcanum is only one third of a complete game system. There are not yet any monsters to kill, nor is there much of a world to kill them in. However, the variant rules presented in The Arcanum probably have something you can use in your game.

The Arcanum is more suitable for a combat-oriented role-playing game. Most of the rules deal with combat, and the character classes are the adventurer type. The magic deals mostly with combat applicable activity, and the skill system, something that usually lets the characters get away from combat, is also mostly combat-oriented and is not cohesive enough to handle the variety of situations that arise from intensive role-playing.

Overall, I'm pleased with the game. The Arcanum is a better version of D&D than D&D. If that's your game, you ought to give this one a try. it solves many of those puzzling quirks you may not have even noticed were bothering you.

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© Copyright 1985 by Dana Lombardy.
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