This article originally appeared in d20 Weekly
Secrets of the Ancients
Published by Eden Studios, Inc.
Written by C J Carella
Illustrated by Paul Harmon, Ian Hodgson and Ginger Kubic
48-page softcover; $12.95
Under their Odyssey imprint, Eden Studios has released three titles to date. One of these was the monster anthology, Liber Bestarius, while the other two were variations upon the scenario book, not were not done in the same format as other d20 System adventures, where the whole of the plot takes place in one go before the party of adventurers move onto the plot of the next scenario. Rather, the format for Akrasia: Thief of Time and Wonders Out Of Time is that of vignette sourcebooks, which set and played out their plots and themes in small nuggets across the whole of a character's life -- from 1st up to 20th level! Not only were the format of these books interesting, but so were their subjects, with Akrasia: Thief of Time dealing with the effects that the worshippers of the Goddess of Distraction, while Wonders Out Of Time delved into archeology and ancient history.
The fourth Odyssey title, Secrets of the Ancients, also delves back into archeological territory, and is authored by C J Carella, better known as the creator of games such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG and the Armageddon RPG. The format for the vignette sourcebook is to provide particular information and then put said information into play with the various scenes or, rather, vignettes. This is the case with Secrets of the Ancients, which describes two ancient . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: April 30, 2003
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