This article originally appeared in d20 Weekly
Shadowforce Archer
Published by Alderac Entertainment Group, Inc.
Written by Patrick Kapera (and others)
256 b&w page hardback (with 8 color plates & color map); $34.95
Shadowforce Archer is the first supplement to AEG's d20 resource Spycraft. Spycraft laid the groundwork for roleplayers who wanted games set in the murky undercover world of espionage, and Shadowforce Archer details AEG's default setting for the game.
[SPOILER ALERT!]
The book describes a conspiratorial secret history stretching a century into the past. The crux of the storyline is Conrad Archer, a well-to-do explorer with a passion for information and adventure. Trying to pry secrets from a Greek cave, he became the first Psion, a man with abilities beyond those of ordinary people. Those abilities would come in handy when his partner's wife became possessed by a malevolent spirit, a being that has threatened the world repeatedly . . . not least when it nurtured the Demagogue Adolf Hitler.
By the 1950s, Archer and a cadre of other intelligence agents saw the world was heading for a fall, so they created the Pact, which promised to provide resources and personnel dedicated to protecting all humanity from its own chaos. The Archer Foundation divides itself and the world into eight sections and pairs them up; each one has wormed its way into the intelligence and police organizations of its respective geographic location, and uses them as both decoy and resource funnel.
The Archer Foundation, . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: July 24, 2002
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