Six Questions with Eloy Lasanta

Eloy Lasanta took the time to answer six questions from me about AMP: Year One, AMP: Year Two and Third Eye Games in general. And don't forget, the Year One giveaway is still going on!

I'm not a very good interviewer, but I thought something fairly short and to the point could be nice here.

Tommy's Take on API Worldwide: South America

Apocalypse Prevention Inc. has had a release pattern since the core rules came out, alternating between Demon Codices and Regional Sourcebooks. We have previously taken a look at Canada and Europe…now we travel to South America!

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: The print book is $20 in black and white and the PDF is $10, with the book coming in around 96 pages. As with previous API Worldwide books, this is designed to cover a region of the world…in this case, South America.

The chapter South America Briefly details some of the challenges the API faces when operating in South America, such as the lack of cell reception, the vast stretches of uncivilized territory and the constant run-ins with organized crime (namely the drug trade, though API tends to avoid them unless the drugs are supernatural in nature). A number of sidebars are included, such as one that details a number of herbs found in The Amazon, complete with their mechanical effects on those using them.

History Lessons covers the past and the present of the API in South America. For instance, the South America division takes in less savory agents due to the limited talent pool, and a lot of problems just never get addressed due to the lack of resources. The leader of the South America API branch is a small woman who can “influence” those she speaks to, which helps her more than a bit.

Chaos vs Chaos details some of the threats the API must deal with, beginning with The Council Most High, an organization of demons who are in a bit of a cold war with API. Another threat is a rogue agent and her organization, the Interdimensional Publicity Agency (IPA), which is trying to expose the supernatural world in direct opposition to API. The Children of God are a group of vampires who are breeding their own psychotic army to take out API and rule the world. The Manchakuy are descendants of the Incans who are hunting the Spanish in South America in revenge for encroachments by the Spanish Conquistadors. The Shadow Trade is dealing out weapons and information to anyone with the money, being both a resource and detriment to API. There’s even a group of human hunters called Skinners that have become aware of the supernatural and hunting demons in the street.

Secrets of the Amazon provides mechanical crunch, such as the effects of heavy rain and mudslides, as well as hyperthermia. The Path of the Mark is introduced, providing animal-based tattoo magic, like Mark of the Monkey which can grant the user a monkey-like screech or Mark of the Serpent which can provide a python-like grip. The Path of Wealth covers both aesthetic bits like looking wealthy, as well as a creepy power called Dirty Money that borders on reality warping as it can force people to remember committing crimes that they did not! New weapons (like automatic shotguns and grenade launchers) are included, as are new toys and cybernetics. New antagonists range from anacondas and jaguars to the frightening Cherufe – a demon made of molten rock.

Four new demons are provided: Gyks (Geeks) are tech-demons. Mohans look kinda like monkeys, but they can transform into serpents and jaguars as well. Thirsts are parasitic starfish that latch onto dead human bodies and reanimate them. Tox are a blind species with venomous skin.

Two adventures are included, the first being a clash with the IPA and a scary demon that controls shadows, while the second ends in a horrifying decision that can alter the world.

WHAT WORKS: This API Worldwide book does a great job conveying the different “feel” that it has over a US-based game, doing an even better job of illustrating that then Europe or Canada did, and feeling more “complete” than the Europe book. The lack of metaplot means that you don’t have to worry about your group’s decision at the end of the second adventure being overruled by anyone.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: None of the four new demon species really jumped out at me the way previous Worldwide demon entries did.

CONCLUSION: If you’re not setting a game in South America, even as a temporary detour, I’m not sure there’s going to be enough here to make you NEED this book. That said, if you want a completely different, almost desperate, feel to your API campaign, South America is just what you’re wanting: The API South America branch is outgunned, overpowered and trying to figure out how to make it all balance. Strong recommendation if you like API and want a change of scenery. If you’re just wanting something to boost your existing game, this probably won’t do the job for you.

Apocalypse Prevention, Inc Savage Worlds Released

Of course, many of you know that I'm a fan of both Apocalypse Prevention Inc and Savage Worlds, so this should be perfect review material, right?

Normally, I would agree. In this case, I can't review it because I kinda pitched in a bit, especially with the monster conversions. This is a pretty complete book combining material from the original books that came before it, all geared for providing Fast, Furious Fun for your Savage Worlds groups.

You can read my original API review here, to get a feel for the setting, then run off and buy the book in PDF format for $9.99.

New Edges, new races, new monsters and a cool monster-hunting setting. What more do you want?

Apocalypse Prevention Inc and Streets of Bedlam Kickstarters

Just a quick note tonight about two Kickstarter programs that I think you all should be aware of, and that I plan on contributing to, if I can budget them in (and I am really hoping I can).

Apocalypse Prevention Inc., by Third Eye Games, is releasing their South America region book, which will cover South America (of course), and include new demons (including playable ones), equipment and tattoo magic. You can check out their Kickstarter page here. Also, there had better be a creepy tentacle creature, or I will feel ripped off. To read more about Apocalypse Prevention Inc., check out my reviews here. API Worldwide: South America, is still about $80 shy of their goal at this writing, with little more than two weeks remaining.

The other Kickstarter is a Savage Worlds setting by Jason L. Blair of Little Fears, called Streets of Bedlam. This one HAS already been funded, but looks pretty great, so I hope to get in on the action. Some of the inspirations cited for the game include the movies The Warriors, Payback and Four Brothers, and Jason has some unique ideas about how to model the world in the Savage Worlds rules, including using the race creation rules to provide Archetypes like Samaritans and Pushers. A full Plot Point campaign will be included, and the Interrogation rules should be a thing of beauty (something I asked about in the Beautiful Brains chat the other night, as you can inadvertently force a "false positive" while pushing your mark in interrogation). You can read more about Streets of Bedlam here.

Demon Codex: Lochs is currently on sale

Just a quick post to let everyone know that Eloy Lasanta and Third Eye Games has put Demon Codex: Lochs for Apocalypse Prevention Inc on sale for half off at their website. API is pretty great stuff, and the Lochs really come alive in the Demon Codex. Pop on over here for my full review, then on to the Third Eye Games website to order.

Third Eye Games Fights For Autism Awareness

I haven't exactly been subtle about the fact that I'm a big fan of Third Eye Games, both Wu Xing and Apocalypse Prevention Inc. What neither Eloy nor myself realized until recently is that we shared a common experience: We are both parents of autistic children (him having a son, myself having a daughter). I should have shared this earlier, but I failed to: April is Autism Awareness Month, and Third Eye Games is donating 10% of all their profits to AutismTalks, so I encourage anyone who has had any interest in picking up anything by Third Eye Games to do so this month, from RPGNow or Studio 2 Publishing.

To read a review of pretty much anything they have released thus far, you can click here. Plus, for this month, you can get 20% off Apocalypse Prevention Inc. at RPGnow by using checkout code DTRPGAprilPodBlog2011.

(This code will also give you 20% off Dirty Secrets by Dark Omen Games, Wraith Recon by Mongoose, Lexicon of Traps by Ennead Games and Shadow, Sword & Spell by Rogue Games.)

They make great games. I own everything they have released thus far, in some format or another, so I don't make the recommendation lightly...so support a great cause and buy some great games.

Thanks!

For more information on this charity or to give directly, visit http://www.autismspeaks.org.

Tommy's Take on API Demon Codex: Spectrals

Demon Codex: Spectrals is the new sourcebook for the Apocalypse Prevention Inc. RPG by Third Eye Games, a game I reviewed last year and was quite impressed with. For the most part, Third Eye Games has a pattern they take with API, which is Location Sourcebook, Racial Sourcebook, Location Sourcebook, Racial Sourcebook, etc...last book was API Europe and the one racial sourcebook so far as been Demon Codex: Lochs.

Spectrals, currently available in PDF format for $9.99, is a 90 page PDF that is bookmarked and searchable. From a layout perspective, if the 3EG products have a weakness, it is the table of contents, in that it is just the chapter headings and page numbers with no "detail" within the TOC, and that holds true here.

Spectrals are, for the most part, ghosts of humans that can't move on...this book promises to expand those boundaries a bit.

PROLOGUE: DREAMS THAT END AND DREAMS THAT DON'T

The prologue is a short fiction piece based around a young woman in the 60s who comes to terms (mostly) with her existence and takes her place inside API. It's a good piece that gets into the head of a Spectral, as well as sheds a little light on on API and their handling of Spectrals.

CHAPTER ONE: LIFE AFTER LIFE AFTER DEATH

Cute title.

First off, we get a helpful reminder that the very CEO of API is a Spectral, thus pointing out how important they are to the mythology of the setting. From there, we get an explanation about what happens at the moment of death...the Bright Lights that beckon the fallen to the beyond, with speculation on the hows and whys that some people don't see them, or why they don't move on.

We get a helpful sidebar on how animals perceive Spectrals (yes, it is possible that your dog will spot one while you remain unaware), and the living's unflattering perceptions of the dead. Spectrals are slaves to their passions, which can make them appear, to the living, as very single-minded and one dimensional.

We also get a handy, and sad, sidebar about summonings and what a spectral feels when they are summoned...and why it is best to ensure that you have protections in place when you summon one to you.

There is an oddly placed fiction interlude that is nicely written, with one Spectral witnessing another passing into the Bright Lights, it just felt oddly placed given the layout, taking up a full page and interrupting the flow of paragraph.

We learn about Spectrals and their senses (sight and hearing are all they REALLY have with the same clarity), and get a deeper discussion about Bright Lights and the common threads in all known cases of Spectrals that did not see them. Essentially, the Spectral community is made up of three types: Those that never had the chance to move on (because they didn't see the lights), those that had their Bright Lights stolen from them, and those that felt compelled to stay behind for their own reasons.

Important Places are covered next, but in a nutshell, ghosts tend to congregate at places where there are lots of living people. They just can't congregate for long, because Spirit Eaters are drawn to ghosts, and the more in one place, the more likely they are to swarm on them. In a nice twist, ghosts are almost never found in graveyards.

Sidebars include near death experiences and "Loops"...you know the drill, where living people get caught in a ghost's presence, reenacting some important event (usually the ghost's death, which is often a suicide...there was a Buffy episode about this).

A list of the things spectrals tend to fear (and why) is present, like the Spirit Eaters (ghosts that evolved into demonic versions of themselves), exorcists, necromancers and an artifact called the Soul Key, which can forcibly remove the spirit from a body.

The next section goes into children...both as ghosts, as well as dealing with ghosts. Like animals, kids often have a sense for the spirits, though they learn to tune this out.

The chapter ends with two alternate fates for Spectrals (beyond moving on into the Bright Lights, that is): Becoming Ancient - in which they come to embody a certain aspect of their passions completely - or Fading Away...which is as it sounds.

A GREAT first chapter just full of information on how Spectrals "work" in the API mythology.

CHAPTER TWO: GHOSTS ARE GOOD COMPANY

This is where we get into Spectrals and their involvement with API.

The chapter starts with a fiction piece in which API basically forces a Spectral into working for them, which isn't very nice at all.

We get an extensive look into the existence and mindset of the API CEO, Annabelle Iisley, including her death, return as a Spectral, and driving passion (to find her missing children).

A sidebar called "Ghosts vs Spectrals" breaks down how Spectrals is a company term, as well as how much nicer Spectrals are treated by API now, rather than how they used to be.

Next is the "life" of a Spectral Agent, which typically falls into two categories: API employees that want to continue serving the company, and Spectrals that are basically forced into working for API. Awesomely, we find out that Spectrals are not all super agents...but are often assigned positions throughout the company, including mail room and maintenance.

A discussion is given on Evolution, where a Spectral starts to become a spiritual embodiement of a belief or an element.

The main text of the chapter ends with The Igors, the section of API devoted to harming the Spectrals that don't get recruited and can't be left alone.

The head of the department has a sidebar about his perception of Spectrals and how they interact with other API-employed demons...notably having an odd kinship with Wolf People.

A two page optional rule is given here as well, for Demon Spectrals...various demons that are unable to move on, such as a Burner Spectral or even a Taylari Spectral. Some good info here for GMs looking to expand their options.

CHAPTER THREE: WHO YA GONNA CALL?

Here we get into some Spectral related organizations.

The Caballistas are necromantic drug runners who have a unique trick: They possess the dead! They are made up of a disturbing combination of criminals, voodoo priests and Catholic priests.

The King James Court is a European Spectral court ruled by the illegitimate son of Charles II, and they refuse to relinquish power over the spectral dead in Europe, often ripping Spectrals away from the Bright Lights to prevent them from moving on.

The Council of Paracelus seems to reveal that the Archangels (Michael, Gabriel, Raphiel and Uriel) are in fact Spectrals who are incredibly old (and, of course, long since evolved).

The Upward Spiral is rightfully described as "The Pyramid Scheme From Hell"...basically, Spectrals that look for people who are largely cut off from the world, murder them and let the Spectral that has waited the longest steal their Bright Lights, usually recruiting the newly murdered to their fold. They also have a unique shift in focus provided, which you can use as-is, or you could switch them to once your PCs run afoul of them.

Kellwood Forest is an awesome, creepy, haunted forest...that moves.

Last is a ghost hunter who likes to record paranormal activity, star of his own TV show...who has a very cool twist to his identity.

CHAPTER FOUR: YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU

Now we get into the gameplay part of it, such as focusing on your Passion, which API will help Spectral agents with...to a point. After all, a fulfilled Spectral isn't useful to them. The book also talks about likely roles (like spies...and smartass).

Four new Gifts are present, one of which is actually only for living agents who use a Dream Machine (that lets them become Spectrals). The others allow Spectrals to have cybernetic "husks", have a "personal medium" they can possess, or have emotion-fueld ectoplasm (such as a Spectral phasing through a person and filling them with ecstasy).

Two new Drawbacks are given: Tethered binds them to a place or thing, and Driven by Passion means they are CONSUMED with following their passion, no matter what.

New equipment is provided, much of it for API agents to use against Spectrals, such as Ectoplasmic Disrupters and Shriekers. spirit Gloves allow agents to physically touch Spectrals, and the Dream Machine lets an API agent leave their body and become a Spectral...for a time.

The Path of Radiance is used by the demonic Radiants, and has nasty tricks like Beckon Spirit, which can "fake" the Bright Lights in order to draw Spectrals in.

A number of new Evolutions are present, from the cool Circuit Jockeys (who can possess a cybernetic chassis) to the frightening Mnemosyne, who harvest the memories of the dead. Sadly, I will probably wind up as a Web Haunter, my consciousness out on the internet, blogging for eternity.

We get some game stats for adversaries as well, namely Exorcists, Necromancers and Spirit Eaters.

Walkers are the first of the three new demon races, and they are Spectrals that refused to pass on and refused to leave their bodies...essentially, they are intelligent zombies. While they are not necessarily inherently evil...they MUST eat living flesh in order to sustain themselves...making it hard to be TOO good. There is a hint to a darker purposes behind the very existence of the Walkers that is intriguing.

Radiants have a "mostly human" form and a natural form that is more than a little spider-like. They also eat ghosts, meaning that they are not popular with Spectrals...and are sometimes recruited by API.

Death Wishers are parasites that latch onto victims and turn them into murderous madmen...while draining their souls to the point that they never even SEE the Bright Lights, much less become Spectrals at all.

ADVENTURE: GHOST ROAD

Obviously, this adventure has a Spectral flavor to it, in which the Agents are sent to find the body of an API Agent who was in a high speed car crash, but fell off the radar altogether immediately after that. It is designed to be playable by any group of agents, and is an investigative adventure.

Without spoiling too much, the adventure relies on the PCs being at least a bit curious. If they don't try to investigate the "how/why", they can miss out on, well, the adventure...and they are under no explicit orders to do so. That said, if they are playing Agents worth their salt, they should be able to pick up on something being very "not right" when they find the agent.

The book concludes with a good index and a series of ads, including one for Third Eye Games' next RPG, Part Time Gods.

THOUGHTS

I dig it.

I really like Spectrals as it is, and I thought this was a stronger book than the Lochs book (which was great in and of itself). Most of the entries in Chapter Three could be turned into adventures at least, and full blown campaigns at most. Chapter One was just FULL of useful information on Spectrals and how they "work" in the API mythos.

One thing this book did, which all of the API books do, is present you with two different APIs...and this was present in the Anthology as well: You have the API that risks everything, standing at the edge to keep people safe from every last beast, demon, monster, what have you that would hunt them...and the API that isn't afraid to force Spectrals to work for them, with threats of slavery or worse. Neither version of API is every really given the lions share of "screen time" to me, and I think that openness is intentional: Much like all of the other plot seeds present in this (and the other) books, they are left open for your interpretation, to make them fit your game.

That's another thing...this book was a return to form from API Worldwide: Canada, as being JAMMED full of plot seeds. I could run half a dozen campaigns out of this book alone, without touching the included adventure.

My biggest complaint is that Brennan Bishop promised to top himself in the "creep Tommy out" category, and I gotta say, I just didn't feel it. The editing was much tighter than it had been on some past 3EG books, with the only real problem I found being a missing page reference on the art credits for Matthew Howerter.

A must-have purchase for API fans, no question.

Tommy's Black Friday/Cyber Monday RPG Buyer's Guide

I'm not telling you EVERYTHING for sale out there...I'm just telling you about the awesome stuff out there that I think you should take advantage of:

Arc Dream is running a big sale for another week, including Dreadful Secrets of Candlewick Manor and the Monsters and Other Childish Things Pocket Edition, which are collectively only $21 - in print. Dreadful Secrets is an AMAZING book, and if you've been curious about ORE (at least the Monsters version), then jump on this. Dreadful Secrets is high on my "wanna try" queue.

Third Eye Games is offered deep discounts on the PDFs of Wu Xing and Apocalypse Prevention Inc. These are two of the best RPG corebooks I saw this year, and $10 is a steal.

Gun Metal Games is offering a half-off sale, and I urge you to take advantage of this and get Interface Zero for Savage Worlds while this offer is in effect. A tremendous cyberpunk setting and only $8 this weekend.

Reality Blurs has two standout products that I must mention alongside their regular sales items, namely Iron Dynasty and Realms of Cthulhu. You can get their PDFs deeply discounted at RPGnow, through the links I have provided, or you can visit their website and find great print deals as well.

Daring Entertainment, makers of one of the best and most ambitious Savage Worlds products I have had the pleasure of reading, is unleashing a War of the Dead Holiday bundle, featuring Chapters One and Two, plus The Paper Dead. And if you already have one or more of those products, they are all being reduced by the bundle amount for your buying pleasure.

Adamant Entertainment is offering all of their PDFs for only $1, so if you've wanted to check out ICONS, now is the time (and take advantage of the great stuff by Misfit Studios, Radioactive Ape Designs and Vigilance Press as well), plus I DEFINITELY recommend getting Thrilling Tales for Savage Worlds.

Silver Gryphon Games is also running a sale, you should be able to get their Wellstone City setting, a Savage Worlds Sin City-ish set-up, for $1.50 and all of their Wellstone adventures (as well as non-Wellstone adventures like the Pine Ridge Horror) for only $1!

UPDATE: Divine Madness Press has Fight! The Fighting Game RPG on sale for $9 right now, and it is a great treatment of the fighting game genre. Well worth it if you've ever thought about mixing fighting games and RPGs.

Savage Mojo has slashed prices on their awesome Shanghai Vampocalypse, as well as their newest entry in their Suzerain setting, Caladon Falls. I haven't read Caladon Falls, but Vampocalypse is a GREAT high-stakes Savage Worlds setting.

Spectrum Games has also cut Slasher Flick and Cartoon Action Hour Season 2 to $9.99 each, both of which are highly recommended, as Cynthia Celeste Miller is a master of genre emulation.

Also, from now until January 5th, you can get 20% off of the following PDFs:

Weird War II Player's Guide [Pinnacle Entertainment]

Adventurer's Guide to Cthonia [Alea Publishing]

ArcheTech Special Report: An Assortment of Armor [Cracked Mirror Publishing]

Wu Xing: The Ninja Crusade [Third Eye Games]

Martial Cultures: the Daikort Pack [Chaotic Shiney Productions]

Legend of the Five Rings (4th Edition) [AEG]

Dungeon Dwellers (Rev. 2nd Edition) [Empty Room Studios]

Fuzzy Heroes (2nd Edition) [Inner City Games]

Ave Molech (2nd Edition) [Morbidgames]

Book of Alignment (OGL/Pathfinder) [Emerald Press]

All you have to do is use the coupon code Holiday2010BPCX at checkout.

Enjoy!

Tommy's Take on The API Anthology Vol. 1

This is kind of new territory for me...reviewing a fiction anthology, as opposed to an RPG product.

Hopefully it turns out better than my attempt at reviewing a video game the other day.

The API Anthology is the first anthology release by Third Eye Games for their Apocalypse Prevention Inc. setting (reviews of which can be found on my blog).

The API Anthology is a PDF clocking in at 92 pages with 9 stories featuring a few names that I recognize from the game industry and a few names that I don't...I'm cool with that: Everyone's gotta start somewhere, and I hear anthologies can be a great starting point.

The Apocalypse Prevention Inc. setting is a modern action-horror setting that is dominated largely by the very "Men in Black" type organization that hunts, captures and kills the demons that would threaten humanity. Every story in the anthology is set in this world, though not all of them necessarily revolve around the organization.

As is always the case with works featuring multiple authors, you are going to get different levels of work.

Unfortunately (or not, depending) the book begins with the weakest entry "Jezebel Sly, Private Investigator", with the titular character being beholden to working API cases after she gets involved in a supernatural incident. The story is a missing persons case with an API twist, but the authors attempts at making the main character jaded and cynical work too well...to the point that I honestly didn't like any character in the story.

"Girl Trouble" was another story that I had trouble with, for similar reasons. The heroic motivation of the protagonist never quite felt "real", and the payoff line at the end felt a bit cheesy and forced. This story, like the first, also cast API in a negative light, with the antagonist being a Burner serving as an API Agent. That said, the protagonist - an Oracle, who have bad luck effects on people around them - did have a VERY cool moment at the climax with the API agent.

"Back for Seconds" and "Fish on Dry Land" really capture the quirky, off-beat humor of the API universe, which is really not surprising with the former, as it was written by Brennan Bishop who has contributed some of the most disgusting aspects of the API universe (I'm not picking on him! He bragged about it!) and so his tale of Changelings as delicassies really hits on the black humor of the setting. "Fish on Dry Land" does a great job of portraying an overworked API unit and stars a Loch named Elvis. Both were entertaining reads, with humor intermixed with quirky drama.

"The Difference A Day Makes" features an API squad against a group of unlikely rivals with some very interesting pasts. I recognized the author, Rucht Lilavivat from White Wolf's Ravenloft line, and they did a very nice job of putting forth characters I actually wanted to read about...especially the laconic (until he needs to not be) Al. I liked both "teams" in the story, and thought it had a very nice payoff.

"Shut Up & Fish" has one of the smallest API presences in the book, but is a favorite of mine as it draws on the API Canada sourcebook, touching on The Thing Under The Ice (specifically, its effect on some poor saps who encounter it at sea).

"Failure To Communicate", ironically (or intentionally), does the best job in the book of presenting a situation from both sides: A wolf person trying to keep from losing control, and the pair of API Agents who try to stop him when he does. I particularly thought that the author did a great job of conveying the "change" in the wolf person's internal monologue.

"Loch, Stock, and Barrel" by Clint Black of Pinnacle Entertainment is probably the best offering in the book from a pure story stand point. The storytelling is tighter here than anywhere else, it hinges on a huge issue in the setting (Lochs and their difficulties reproducing) and one of the main characters undergoes a very noticeable change from the beginning of the story to the end.

That said, "The Pact" probably hit me the most with its sudden, abrupt ending. I can't say it was one I had never seen before, but the resolution surprised me with its execution, and in a good way.

The editing really needed to be tighter in a lot of places, with my eye catching typos here and there...and it seemed like there was probably an underuse of commas. In one story, I'm reasonably sure that a word got unintentionally invented. There was also an inconsistency in capitalizing the names of the demon races...for uniformity, I would have either capitalized all of them or none of them.

On a format note, I sideloaded the PDF into my Barnes & Noble nook, and the conversion process wasn't the smoothest, with my order watermark showing up at every page break (which was sometimes in the middle of the page) and one story have some odd fontal squishing going on. I'm not counting this as a knock against the anthology, mind you, just an observation...I'd love to see a release in epub format as well.

With much more good than bad, I would not be disappointed at all to see this truly just be volume 1, and for us to get volume 2 in the future. If you like API, or if you like reading action/horror fiction, it's a good buy.

Interview with Third Eye Games CEO Eloy Lasanta

As you may have noticed, I have spent the better part of the last week reviewing every last product in the Apocalypse Prevention Inc. game line.  This came about when Eloy Lasanta, known on RPG boards as Oni, or First Oni, asked me if I would be interested in reviewing wither Apocalypse Prevention Inc. or Wu Xing.  Now, I had most of the API books already, thanks to the Haiti Relief bundle offered at DriveThruRPG earlier this year, and so I agreed to review the entire API line.  After some discussion, I decided to make a week of it, which I have.  To cap that week off, here is an interview conducted with Third Eye Games CEO Eloy Lasanta, conducted via e-mail:

TB: First off, thanks for taking the time to do this interview.  It seems that Third Eye Games' profile has ben raising significantly since GenCon, and deservedly so...but for those who don't know, introduce us to Eloy Lasanta and Third Eye Games.


EL: Well, Third Eye Games is essentially my brain child. I'm a one man army that writes, edits, does art direction and layout as well for our games. I started with Apocalypse Prevention, Inc. at then end of 2008 which was a setting i wanted to write for a long time (corporate monster hunters) and it has taken off quite successfully, which has led to a handful of sourcebooks and digital downloads for the game as well. I'm a writer, but i'm also a single father. My two beautiful kids are what pushes me to continue with my goals for Third Eye Games. I really enjoyed GenCon and, for me, its a con to go out and talk to the fans. I met a lot of new fans this year, so that could be the reason behind the boost in prestige.


TB: Apocalypse Prevention Inc was the first game released by Third Eye Games...was it also your first professional work on an RPG?


EL: Well, i wrote for a fanzine for the oWoD called Ex Libris Nocturnis for years, working as an editor/writer of articles and other fun mechanics and setting info. That was a blast, but i got bored with all the work for free. So, i started looking for professional work and my very first job was to Co-Author a book with VajraEnterprises.com called KidWorld. The process showed me how to create a game from start to finish, which was instrumental to the creation of Apocalypse Prevention, Inc. In a "Oh wait, i can do that!" kind of way. I also did some work for Witch-Hunter: The Invisible World, which was nothing but a great and cordial experience. Taught me a thing or two on how to conduct myself with freelancers.


TB: API has been described, and this has stuck with me, as "Joss Whedon's Men in Black".  On some level, it also makes me think of something like "SyFy Original Movie: The Game", and I mean that in good way.  How hard do you find it to inject the necessary camp and humor in the game without going overboard with it?


EL: I honestly feel honored to be compared to such a great writer. While I haven't seen The Game, Joss Whedon and his various works were a huge influence on my writing in general, but Apocalypse Prevention, Inc. specifically. It also taught me how to balance the different aspects of that kind of story together. It's all about having a healthy bit of action, drama AND comedy. How you keep it from going completely overboard is to make sure the characters are grounded in reality, no matter how crazy, magical and supernatural things get in the story. Without firm characterization the agents become characitures of what they are supposed to be. It is a horror game after all. The characters have to have something to lose and they have to have ideals that can be tested and they must have fears. Then you can inject humor to throw them off guard before you start to really scare them.


TB: My initial exposure to API was through the Haiti Relief Bundle.  While I know the desired effect of participation was to help out with the horrible situation in Haiti, did you also notice a spike in interest in API there, or did it fail to have a noticeable impact on API's and Third Eye Games' profile?


EL: Contributing to the Haiti Bundle was the least I could do to try to help with disaster relief. I think there was an initial spike in interest, as it put the game into thousands of hands, which is great. But there were hundreds of games in the pack (a lot of others being awesome as well) and API got glossed over by a few just by being buried. I haven't had the chance to check out all the games myself yet either. lol. I'd participate again in a heart beat though and would remind people that Haiti Bundle supporters already have some of the API books.


TB: Third Eye Games recently announced that API is getting "Savaged"...that is, it will be converted to Savage Worlds (my favorite in print system, actually).  Has work officially begun on that?  Can you tell us anything about the format for Savage API?  Will it be a single release?  Dual stat books?  Will Savage API "replace" the Dynamic Gaming System?


EL: The Savage Worlds Edition of Apocalypse Prevention, Inc. is officially "under construction" as of a few months ago. We're working hard to balance the fun fast and furious nature of SW with the feel of the original API. It will be a single book release with everything from the original corebook, plus a few other things from some of the sourcebooks. Savage Worlds will not be replacing the Dynamic Gaming System. I am a huge fan of Savage Worlds, but there is a reason why I created my own system. Ha!


TB: We have the Loch Codex out, as well as Canada and Europe sourcebooks. The Spectrals Codex was announced as being on the way, and I can't wait. Will we see more Codices?  What about more Worldwide books?


EL: Oh yeah! We plan on going all around the world to delve into the company's goings-on. Work has begun on API Worldwide: South America which should be a grand ole time! There are also the Taylari and Burner Codices under way, as well as a sourcebook about some of the Illegal races, but the release schedule hasn't been finalized on those books quite yet. There's also Volume 1 of the API Anthology series that should be out pretty soon. Lots of things to come for API indeed.


TB: I have to ask, just curious: Were you pulling for, or at least expecting, a Hilary Clinton win in 2008? (Note: To those who have not read API, it's a relevant question).


EL: Actually, i'm not very political. I just thought that would interesting.


TB: I'm a big Spectrals fan, but one thing I love about every race I've read about so far is that not only are they unique (even with races that otherwise have some overlap, like Wolf People and Wendigos), but they are *playable*, so *huge* congratulations on that.  Which API race is your personal favorite?


EL: Thanks for that! I've tried hard to balance the races out as much as possible and to NOT have a power creep with each new book. My motto is, "Sourcebooks should simply give more "options", not more "power"." I have a lot of favorites as far as races go. I think my biggest fave are the Burners (especially since i have a bunch of additional info developed for their sourcebook). Their background and attitude resonates with a lot of people, including myself. I've been happy with all the burner-love i've seen from the fans.


PS: My second favorite are probably the Linx (from Demon Codex: Lochs). They were interesting in concept and to write-up. Their drawback of being servants is also really fun to run in a game.

TB: You mentioned the API Anthology...what can you tell us about that?

EL: Sure thing! It's an awesome series of short stories that gives fans a glimpse of the world of Apocalypse Prevention, Inc. from the perspective of its inhabitants. We have 3EG headliners, like Brennan Bishop and Darren Pearce, as well as industry favorites like Clint Black and Rucht Lilavivat, all contributing to expanding this already lively world.


TB: Wu Xing is your most recent RPG release, and I hope to be reviewing it here soon.  Tell everyone a bit about what Wu Xing is, please.


EL: Sure! Wu Xing: The Ninja Crusade is a game of rival ninja clans that must work together in spite of centuries of blood feuds with each other. The reason is that the Emperor has called for the head of every ninja after his family was killed in the crossfire. It's has the feeling of a mix of Ninja Scroll/Basilisk with Naruto in a war torn world similar to Avatar: The Last Airbender.


TB: Wu Xing seems to be a huge hit, judging by anecdotal evidence on various sites and message boards.  Obviously, that must feel pretty good!  What does the future hold for further Wu Xing releases?


EL: Yes, i've loved the response the fans have had to Wu Xing. It's a completely different game than API, but it's easily accessible because it still uses the same core rules. That makes exposure for one act as exposure for both, which is a pleasant surprise for me. We've already been working on the first and second sourcebooks for Wu Xing. First is Wu Xing: The Firebrands, focusing on the fire aspected clans, the Blazing Dancers and Virtuous Body Gardeners. The second is Wu Xing: The Land of Seed and Blossom, giving a ton of info on the nation to the southeast of where the core of the Ninja Crusade is occurring.


TB: Lastly, I noticed on the Third Eye Games website that you've mentioned "other" game settings.  Anything you can give us here?  Even a hint?


EL: Hmmmm. I don't want to reveal anything too soon, since the next setting isn't due for about a year. Gotta keep "some" secrets, right?

That concludes the interview as well as API Week.  If you haven't checked the game out yet, I *HIGHLY* recommend it.  It has quickly shot to the top of my list in the modern action/horror genre for managing to neither take itself too seriously or be a bad parody of its inspirations.  As well, I have just begun cracking into Wu Xing, and I look forward to bringing that review to you as well!

Tommy's Take on API: Seafood Chowder

The last Apocalypse Prevention Inc review for now is a free downloadable adventure called Seafood Chowder.

Written by Brennan Bishop, the adventure builds off of the information in the Lochs book for API, as your API Agents find themselves investigating attacks by “fish people” and discover that there is far, far more going on here than meets the eye.

At the risk of spoiling too much, since it is an adventure (albeit one available for free), the agents quickly find themselves embroiled in local aquatic politics, specifically involving a Loch API bureaucrat and a group of enraged Ondine.

The endgame is left very wide open, with the adventure written in such a way as to set up the situation (which has no easy answers to it) and the API Agents get to make the call on how to finish it out.  Let's just say that both sides have done some crappy, crappy things...and there is the possibility of bad political fallout regardless of the outcome.  It doesn't mean that it's no-win, exactly...just far from clear cut.

No less than five possible solutions are given for resolving the conflict, with the possible long term fallout for each solution laid out as well.

Unless you just really rather hate the aquatic races of API, I give this a strong recommendation.  Heck, even if you're not a fan of them, its still worth it as a GM just to get an idea of some of the hairier situations you can involve the agents in.

Also, it is worth noting that if you just have the API corebook, you don't NEED the Lochs sourebook use the adventure, as all the relevant game information is included...though it certainly doesn't hurt, just to give you a broader view of the Loch-Ondine conflict.

Tommy's Take on the API Demon Packs

I am reviewing these next three products together because of both the length of the titles and the subject matter involved.  The titles in question are the API Demon Packs 1 & 2, as well as the free Crooners supplement.

The Demon Packs micro supplements designed to add new demons to the mix, be they PCs or NPCs.  Each Demon Pack retails for $2.99 and includes a three demonic races.  Crooners is free and includes a single race.  No art is used in any of the entries, just pure text.

First, let's tackle The Demon Pack 1:

The first race present are the Naga, a race of devoutly religious vaguely humanoid snake men.  They lived perfect, idyllic lives of peace and labor until two vain Naga Queens, also sisters, pushed their followers into a war over who was the more beautiful.  This war raged until long after the Naga had forgotten the roots of the war, and continued even longer.  A handful of Naga on a special mission found themselves on earth, a Buddhist monastery specifically...where they had their warlike ways shocked back, and they reconnected with their spiritual roots.  Worshipped as divine beings but themselves enamored with religion, Naga went out into the world becoming consumed with learning about the various faiths and began taking an active role in the conflicts involving their chosen faiths.

The Naga get two Passions, the first being Faith and the second being player defined.  They also get a little combat prowess due to striking like a snake, regardless of actual training.  They absolutely abhor technology, however.  This means no cyborg Naga but it also means no e-mail Naga or cell phone Naga either.  This can cause a problem with travel as well, I would imagine.  Also, Naga largely fear magic and their reaction to another Naga learning magic is usually...violent.

The Jaguar Warriors are closer to the Wolf People or especially the Wendigos, in that they are animalistic demons who are very much from this dimension.  Like Wendigos, they are made and not born, selected by other Jaguar Warriors to join their bloody crusade. Many Jaguar Warriors prefer to feast on the flesh of humans, earning them no friends at API and any newly turned Jaguar Warrior that does not embrace their new life is brutally turned on and killed.

Jaguar Warriors are also known as Werejaguars because they can shift back and forth between human form, jaguar form and (sometimes) half-jaguar form.  They are also addicted to flesh, preferring human meat, and can use the Path of Blood like the Taylari.  They also have a hidden, hazardous weakness that I won't reveal here for any potential players that may be reading.

The last race in the first pack are the Hopkins, who may well be the source for all the crazy talk of “Grays”.  Hopkins lived real basic, solitary lives in their own dimension, feeding off of the star there until things we wonky and they started zapping through dimensions, with some crashing here on Earth. 

Mechanically, their big deal is that once a day or so, they have to release pent up energy as an EMP burst or they develop a major glow.  That burst can zap anything around them, including shorting out a cyborg's implants, making them bad candidates for teaming with cyborgs.  They are small, featureless humanoids, looking a lot like the aliens people have come to call “Grays”.

Demon Pack 2 first gives us Dunbars, which are giant rock monsters.  They hail from another dimension, but have spent a great deal of time in our own, and are responsible for Stonehenge in the API reality.  The only thing they devour is other stone, and they cannot stomach synthetic building materials like concrete.  Upon death, they revert to inert stone, appearing to be random, abandoned statues.

Not only can Dunbar shapeshift into other stone forms, but they can also possess other stone constructs.  However, they have no fine manipulation skills and they have a voracious appetite though, unlike some other races, they eat stone and not flesh or the like.  Three days without hitting their allotment of stone and they starve to death, turning into giant, dead statues.

Grandels add to the list of aquatic races in API, fitting in nicely with the options provided in the Lochs book.  They are basically giant, humanoid Angler fish, hailing from a dying planet in another dimension.  They haven't made any attempt to adapt with human society like Lochs have, only recently encountering Lochs and having their eyes opened to a much wider world.  They have a built in story hook, as a statue of one of their Gods has gone missing and could be used to suck them away, back to their home dimension.

Though they are often struck by Earth as they explore it, they aren't often cowed...and they look pretty ferocious themselves with giant teeth and an eerie glow (being like angler fish and all).

The final race in the 2nd Demon Pack are the Olivers, a whole race of impish rapscallions, taking their name from the Charles Dickens character Oliver Twist.  Pretty much sneaks and thieves, they still get work with API because of being so sneaky and fearless.

Olivers have razor sharp hairs on their bodies, and so tend to wear larger than normal clothes, adding to the “street urchin” look and helping the Demon in the Trenchcoat rule.  They also have the interesting ability to mentally “steal” items, so long as there is no solid obstruction between them and the item.  However, they can rarely resist a dare...even one that's not directed at them.

The final race (and product) is a free download released by Third Eye Games called Crooners...and it is an adaptation, essentially, of Lorne from the TV Show Angel, released after actor Andy Hallett's death.  Now, Angel is one of my favorite shows ever, and Andy Hallett's death was an utter tragedy brought on by medical issues beyond his control and not self destructive lifestyle choices, which makes it all the worse...so do I approve of the “Crooners”?  Darn straight.

Whereas Lorne was an exception among his people, Crooners are written as being the standard for their race and, unlike many other races, they didn't travel to Earth...API found them.  API fought to liberate them from the giants that held them as thralls, and the Crooners that came to Earth have rather fallen in love with its music.

Crooners are not fighters, and are a useful alternative to Oracles, as they have some sense of the future without all of the crazy bad luck effects that the Oracles tend to have.  Mechanically, they are based very much on Lorne, being able to read auras by listening to people sing, but only being able to advise the subjects of the reading in general terms.

Are they worth the cash?  Well...not if you hate API, obviously...but if you do, I think you're crazy.  Entitled to your opinion, yes...but crazy.  Crooners are awesome and free, while the only real strike against the Demon Packs is the lack of art, and that was due in large part to budgetary concerns.  However, you can get the Demon Packs together in a $5 bundle.  My thoughts on the races themselves?  Werejaguars are going to be MUCH better antagonists than PCs...and Olivers might just invoke the hatred people had toward Kender back in the heyday of Dragonlance.  I really dig the implementation of the Crooners, and the Naga and Dunbar are rather cool.  There is nothing bad here...if you like API, my recommendation is to pick up the Demon Packs.

Tommy's Take on API Worldwide: Europe

Okay, my streak ends at two.  I admit it, I don't know what the cover of API Worldwide: Europe is.  Not that it's, like, indecipherable or anything...I just don't recognize it.  Is it the European Union flag?  I am a flag-waving, jingoistic American...I can't be expected to know this stuff.  (Editor's note: Apparently it is the EU Flag.  Yes, I should have known that already, but at least common sense mostly worked that out for me.)

Europe is about 90 pages and the PDF does have one strike against it: No bookmarks.  Sorry, I need bookmarks anyway.  I like to be able to pull 'em up and click around as I see fit.  It is searchable and includes an index, but bookmarks would have been great.

We get a five page fiction piece that actually ties in with the adventure included in the book.  Its not bad, really, as it serves to show the difference in the temperament between API US Agents and API UK Agents.

Chapter one begins with a brief and almost apologetic overview, noting that there is just a ton of diversity to cover in Europe.

A Cliff's Notes version of the European Union is presented, along with a sidebar on how the fall of the Iron Curtain has affected API operations in Europe, and how the London and Moscow offices are increasingly at odds.

The overview of London provides a pair of plot seeds: A cyborg serial killer known as Red Jack, as well as a Spectral claiming to be Shakespearean actor John Gielgud...who has drawn a crowd of other Spectrals, as well as Spirit Eaters.

Big Ben is a giant antenna for magical energy, while Merlin's Eye, the giant ferris wheel, is a mass hypnosis device!

In fact, all the little “zoom ins” on London have at least one plot hook that could be expanded into a full blown adventure or two with a little work.

Zooming out into England outside of London, we get towns sacrificing virgins for power and longevity, ghouls that feed on fear and more.  Other fun nuggets include a peaceful demon uprising in Wales seeking to limit API's control.

As the chapter looks to the rest of Europe, again it takes a slightly apologetic approach, because there is just So Much.  Grendel, apparently, is alive...or at least something big and scary that the Danes believe is Grendel.  Four Taylari singers called the Bridez of Dracula are secretly using their music to call out to the dread lord Dracula, in hopes of bringing him back...assuming he was ever real at all.

Honestly, for the first time, I feel like the line stumbles a bit.  There is clearly a sense that they are trying to cover too much ground here, leaving it all feeling a bit flat.

Chapter two delves into the European branch of API and their operations.  The API was forged in Europe, doing battle with the Rat Queen, who unleashed the Black Plague.

Two other power groups exist in England, and have very different outlooks on API: The Knights of Solomon consider them upstarts who should not have interfered against The Rat Queen, while API and the Rosicrucians have had a pretty open exchange with one another.

The Great Fire of London was an attack on API by The Knights of Solomon, which devastated the Taylari, but ultimately allowed API to rebuild bigger and better.  Later, while API London's leader (at the time) Damon Nesbitt was out of the area, Fauns converged on London and started a panic.  Trying to calm the people, they used their music...invoking a wave of orgies.  Nesbitt cut a deal with the Chiron (centaurs), who mass poisoned the Fauns to end the problem.  Nesbitt was removed from power, sparking a rivalry with his replacement, his brother Brennan.  This ultimately ended in Damon's death.

We also get a sidebar here like we did in the Canada book, showing some of the techniques specially used by the Elites in Europe...my favorite being Ghost Hands, which allows them to affect Spectrals and the like with their bare hands.

We also begin to learn about the importance of Oaths, and Oathkeepers.  Oaths are apparently a Really Big Deal, and it is the responsibility of the London Branch to watch them make sure API doesn't go around accidentally breaking them.

The London HQ itself is actually divided up into a network of places beneath London, with my favorite bits being that King Arthur's Round Table is still being put to use by current Director Jonathan Nesbitt, and the Trove: A vault of magical goodies.

Next up, we get to learn about how the various demon races interact with API Europe: Burners are second class citizens, Carriers have a pact with the Nesbitt family, the Company deals somewhat reluctantly with Chirons (who are not Nice Guys), Ondine have pacts with API London, which is causing problems when Lochs attack Ondines as it puts the London office in a tricky political position, and Spectrals from throughout Europe's history hang around, playing a role.

Finally, we get profiles on important staff in the London office.

Chapter three gets into some of the other organizations in the area, beginning with the Rosicrucians.  The Rosicrucians are staunch allies of API, teaching them magic in exchange for combat training, and both sides joining forces to face off the impending Apocalypse.  The two sides are such allies, in fact, that API cells ofter call on Rosicrucians for assistance on missions.

The Inner Circle are a bunch of corrupt politicians that are making deals with demons and circumventing API...but have something FAR more sinister than even that going on.

Knights of Solomon are dangerous foes who could easily have been allies of API...except for the whole “demon” issue.  API thinks some are okay, the Knights do not.  The Drawbacks almost make playing one of these too difficulty (you have to make a check to avoid flying into a rage if you even encounter someone who is friendly with demons), but they make a very cool addition to the world.  Impressively, they even have the Holy Grail among their resources.  Seriously, the Knights of Solomon are one of the coolest additions to the game, by fair.

The 7 Keys are the descendants of seven British soldiers who (kind of) fell under the sway of a powerful demon in World War II.  I say “kind of” because the demon is imprisoned and needs the “7 Keys” to set it free...however, the families have instead used the demon's imprisoned state to leech off of it.  The book only provides five of the Keys, giving you free reign to decide the other two as you will.

The Greyfire Club are adventurers and artifact seekers who will do whatever it takes to acquire their targets...destroying half of the rain forest, murdering relatives, killing villages, you name it.  To make it worse, often times their efforts wind up allowing demons a foothold into the world or allow artifacts to fall into the hands of those that should not have them.

Chapter four gets into the new crunch, starting with the Path of Oaths, where we learn about the power in Oaths.  Oaths require two willing participants, and Oath magic used to be used in marriage ceremonies, although nowadays, they don't bother.  There are three “levels” of Oaths: Lesser, Greater and Legendary, with examples of both duties and punishments.  And Oaths really are big deals, as magic backs up the pact, meaning it backs up the punishment if someone breaks the oath.

The Path of Fortune also gets a few spells added to it, including a spell that allows a caster to take his own life to save another.  Nice flavor, but I don't see that one getting used a ton.

New equipment gets added here, including the “required by the London office” Demon Scanners and the pretty awesome Black-Flame Thrower that is designed to only hurt demons and leave everyone and everything else be.

Then we get to some awesomeness: artifacts!  Caliburn leads off the list, and all artifacts have both cool bonuses and heinous drawbacks.

New Antagonists include Basilisks, The Furies, Pegasi, Unicorns and the Sphinx, as well as antagonist stat blocks for the new races in this book.

Speaking of: Chiron, Fauns, Hidden Folk and Morgane are the new races added in API: Europe.

Chiron are centaurs, and are vicious, nasty creatures that API has a grudging pact with.

Fauns are also known as Satyrs, and are essentially under the rules of Chirons, whether they like it or not.

Hidden Folk are elves, but are really spirits who hop from body to body.  Initially, they look just like their host, but over time the body begins to transform into more traditional elven characteristics.

Morgane are virtually immortal, mysterious manipulators.  Merlin, in fact, is a Morgane.  In their normal form, they have sunken, black holes for eyes and featureless faces and they must consume human souls to remain on Earth.

Included in the book is an adventure called “Elsewhere?” that picks up with the agents from the prologue, as well as Big Ben, being sucked away into another dimension.  The disappearance of Big Ben is being covered up by magical veils, preventing a giant panic.

The trip into The Wastes allows for fun with giants that utterly dwarf humans, as well as creepy ice spiders native to the dimension.  The fate of Big Ben, the agents and the 500 ft radius around Big Ben is revealed...with a little twist.  In the end, the Agents have the opportunity to put down a giant demonic prince as well as establish diplomatic relations with giants...so long as they don't get stranded in the Wastes.

A London branch specific debriefing form is provided, followed by an index.  One other small change from the previous books, though, is that the last few pages are filled with advertising, a noticeable amount more than was present in the previous books.

In the final analysis?  I like it...with a “but”.  There's some really good stuff here (I love the Knights of Solomon, The Morgane, the artifacts and the Path of Oaths).  The adventure is another great example of what you can do with API that isn't quite like any other adventure released for it so far.  I also love that things like the Ondine were not ignored, even though they appeared in another book.  They didn't shoehorn, say, Wendigo in just because...but if they fit in, like Ondine?  Absolutely use them in the text, building on what came before.  Also, I love a lot of the plot seeds dropped around to be expanded on (from the big, obvious ones like the 7 Keys to John Gielgud drawing his crowd of ghosts)...but whereas API: Canada managed to make the Great White North feel like it was bursting with adventure potential, API: Europe tried to cover too much for its page count, and that made Europe feel a little...lacking.  Honestly, I think I would have preferred API: London, with a slightly less detailed look at the rest of the UK, rather than also trying to cover France, Romania, Italy, Greece and so on.

There were a few other niggling issues worth noting, the first being at least a couple of instances of “see page XX” popping up in the text, placeholder page markers that never got filled in.  It is also worth noting that we get introduced to our third straight beast that is a mass of tentacles and teeth (Grendel, like The Thing Under The Ice and The Vastness before it), although “Grendel” is left vague enough that it could just be a manifestation of The Thing Under The Ice's global reach mentioned in Canada.

It's still a very good book with some great ideas (I LOVE the Morgane, *really* like the Chiron and Hidden Folk, and like the Fauns), just next to Canada it kind of stumbles, unfortunately.

Tommy's Take on API Demon Codex: Lochs

The first (and thus far, only) release in the Demon Codex series for Apocalypse Prevention Inc. is Lochs, detailing the fishy race found in the API corebook.

One minor strike against Demon Codex: Lochs right off is that the cover art is recycled from the interior of the API corebook...the Loch wearing surfer's shorts.  Otherwise Lochs, in PDF form for $9.99, is a fully searchable, indexed, bookmarked digital tome clocking in at 85 pages.  Obviously, its all about the Lochs...but is it worth buying, especially if you're not a big fan of them?  Let's take a look...

The book opens with a piece of short fiction introducing Jonah, a Loch who serves as a quasi-narrator/POV character in the book.

The Lochs are a fish-like demon species who have been cursed with the Contagion, which makes them unable to breed normally.  However, on earth they have discovered that they can implant eggs into humans...though only women have successfully given birth to the new Half-Lochs.  Men...not so much.

Anyway, that's the basic background.

The Codex begins with the history of the Sedrone, more or less what the Lochs were called before they came to Earth.  To sum it up, they were a savage, conquering race who took what they wanted and killed all that opposed them...until a rebel faction plagued them with the Contagion, which killed 90% of the Sedrone and left them unable to reproduce with one another!  A number of Sedrone tried to escape the Contagion by fleeing to Earth in portals, but it was too late.

The Voltics had answered a distress call by the rebels and came to aid them against the Sedrone...but they arrived after the Contagion had ended the war, and so they pretty much enslaved what was left.  API has crossed paths with the Voltics a few times since, and it hasn't been pretty.

Chapter one provides a lot of detail on Domainya, the watery dimension that was home to the Sedrone...literally a dimension entirely underwater...lit by glowing plants on the ground and no overheard source of light, as it all just fades into the Dark Horizon once you get too far removed from the floor.

In the present day, API has a contingent present in Domainya, helping aid the fight against the Voltics in the presumed interest of turning the Spandrels (which was the cradle of the Sedrone empire) back over to the Sedrone.  The human in charge of the operations has developed a growing fondness for the Rebels, while API's official stance backs the Lochs/Sedrone.  This chapter sets the conflict up nicely, then lays out three “this might happen” scenarios for the conclusion of the conflict.

There are a number of cool little layers in this war, such as API recruiting the Ondine (an Earth-based aquatic race) for help, who are motivated entirely by the idea that if they help the Lochs, the Lochs will leave the Earth and essentially stop challenging their supremacy of the seas.  Also, one of the Rebel races, the Scryers, is planning a second Contagion, this time aimed at the Voltics.  Chapter one basically lays out what could be a whole campaign on its own, completely aside from anything else presented thus far in the API line.

Chapter two details the exodus to Earth.  It started off as an invasion, as the Sedrone mustered up a massive army of 500,000 soldiers...then promptly went a different route once they realized how bad they were screwed numbers wise.

Their first portal transport to Earth was in a little body of water called Loch Ness, where they encountered API agents...and thus, they became known as Lochs.

The Lochs arrived en masse in Brazil, and wound up in open conflict with API, which they lost.  They were quarantined and then registered, with a large number of Lochs embracing human culture and even The Company.  However, there are still more than a few “anti-human” holdouts.

As extinction, due to The Contagion, loomed over the Lochs they grew desperate.  Given their dominating and violent nature, some Lochs engaged in rapes of humans and discovered...that they could breed together.  The Lochs have since learned that every attempt to breed, though the child may survive, results in the death of a parent.  So now the Lochs and humans are exhausting every procreational method they can to try to save Lochs from extinction.  Half-Lochs are being born, and the oldest right now is about four years old...so they may yet save the Lochs from extinction.

The human friendly Lochs have utterly embraced human culture, from movies to popular music and so on.  They stole hold out some traditions for themselves, but by and large, they had tried to integrate as much as they can on Earth.  This isn't universal, of course, as a number of other immigrants still hold tightly to their culture and frown on Loch integration...these immigrants also still use “Sedrone” as their identifier and not “Lochs”.

We get a little sidebar here by Jonah, from the beginning fiction, talking about the other demons and how Lochs view them overall...perhaps surprisingly, they like Burners the best and don't care much for...well..most anything else besides humans.

In another nice little touch, API has set up a series of underwater bases that they use Loch agents to man, in the Sea of Japan, Jamaica, the Mediterranean Sea, Antarctica, off the coast of India and in the Pacific Ocean.  Each base serves a specific purpose and has their own internal quirks.

A community in the Florida panhandle, called Black Moss Lake, is also detailed...being the place where the API first brought the Lochs after quarantine ended.  Its described as being a bit of a hodge podge of human and Loch architecture, but the Lochs who are there still consider it very much home.

Lochs and their relations with four other races are also provided, closing out the chapter: The Linx, which were a bit of a servant race back on Domainya, are split: Some still stick close to Lochs, others have begun to latch onto humans.  A very rare few are becoming overtly independent.  Ondine are not demons, but an aquatic race the developed on Earth and have had many a violent conflict with Lochs over the Earth's oceans, as they consider themselves the rules and Lochs as interlopers.  Scryers, the race that infected Lochs with the Contagion, obviously have very strained relations (at best) with the Lochs.  Finally, there are the Voltics.  Much like the Tarks from the core rules, they hit Earth for specific missions...however, their portals also allow the great Kraken known as The Vastness to access Earth as well, making it DOUBLY bad for everyone involved.

Oh, and a final note is included on Lochs...apparently they LOVE cybernetic implants and, unlike Changelings, it doesn't limit their usefulness as agents.

Chapter Three gets into Loch groups...helpfully noting that not all Lochs like humans and not all Lochs are on board with API.

Aquatic Alchemists are creepy.  Aquatic alchemy is where the Contagion was spawned from, and it has been frowned upon ever since if killed 90% of the Lochs and sterilized everyone it didn't kill.  Everything from herbs to animals to people can be used as ingredients...and they are.  Currently, Alchemists are divided into two main groups now: Those striving to cure the Contagion and those who are striving to create a new Contagion...to be used on humans.

Deep Green isn't a Loch group exactly...its a plastics corporation who has inflicted damage to Lochs living in the ocean with their illegal dumping, and sparked a war with them over it.

The Forgotten Tribes are the Lochs that arrived in South America during the initial migration, and have become weakened over the years...the elder immigrants having largely died off now and the younger ones trying to make their way.

Hooks were kind of like the CIA on Domainya, and now are pretty much bounty hunters and PIs.  They welcome any law-abiding member of an aquatic race and are often used as sub-contractors by API, and as an alternate solution for demons that don't want to deal with API for matters.

The Hope Foundation is a group dedicated to save the Lochs from extinction.  It arranges two Lochs and a human, who attempts to carry the Half-Loch to term.  Only two Half-Lochs have been born through the organization, and they have done some...spotty ethical things to get that far, using the salvation of the Lochs as their justification.  They are a huge thorn for API, who would love to take them out, because they couldn't end the operation all at once, and a large number of Lochs look to The Hope Foundation for, well, hope.

The Red Steps are somehow creepier than the Aquatic Alchemists, being Lochs who have taken over Michigan slaughterhouses and are now pumping various races through there, turning them into food that they are selling off to fast food places.

Yeah.

Superior City is an Ondine city in Lake Superior that Lochs overtook.  Nestled in the heart of the city, much like Excalibur, is a trident that is trapped in a statue.  Full stats are provided for the Trident, should you wish to insert it into your game.

Chapter four gets more in depth into actually playing Lochs.

First off, it provides three methods for Lochs to work among humans, from Image Emitters, to the Trenchcoat Rule to the very creepy alchemists who use human skin as a disguise.

A reminder is provided on the creepiness of Loch-human sexual relationships, which have involved rape more often than once in the past.  Also, while Lochs make good fighters, the book provides tips on playing non-combat themed Lochs as well.

A new Passion, Redemption, is provided.  New Gifts include Aquatic Alchemy as well as other physical modifications such as tentacles and crab claws, which have their own advantages.

A new Drawback, Water Breather, is provided for those who just don't breath well out of water.

New equipment includes the H.I.C.C.U.P., an underwater transport, as well as M.U.E.s, which are special diving suits, and Compressor Cloth, which helps condense a large-framed individual who is using an image emitter.

New cybernetic options are provided, such as Waterproofing, a Current Generator (torso mounted, creating strong currents) and Air Lungs, which allow the recipient to adapt between two environments, such as land and sea.

A list of Aquatic Alchemy items are included, like the Siren Choker, which gives a bonus to Perform Checks, Aqua Lung (gives a land lubber the ability to breath in the water), the Infinite Box (made from the pieces of a Husk) and Human Skin, which makes for the ultimate disguise.

New Antagonists include The Afflicted (Scriers altered by the Contagion), Charcadons (scary, shark beasts), dolphins and sharks, krakens, The Vastness' Tentacles and more.

The new races are given profiles like those in the corebook.

The Linx are odd little guys...a single Linx is born into four bodies, which operate with one mind.  They cannot willingly go more than 300 ft apart, and being forced apart is Very, Very Bad.

Ondine claim to be the children of Poseidon, and are essentially merpeople...and as they were The aquatic race on Earth for thousands of years, they don't like Lochs at all.

Scriers are the guys that created the Contagion, and also have a second set of eyes, which allow them to see into the magical spectrum.

Voltics are war mongers who occasionally make in-roads into Earth and are considered very much illegal by API.

Finally, for those who want to run the timeline ahead or play around with the setting in other ways, rules for playing grown Half-Lochs are included, even though there aren't currently any older than the age of four, officially.

Two adventures are included as well, the first being Deep Run in the Tunnels, which serves as a primer on Domainya.  Reports are that a female Loch is apparently pregnant by another Loch, which could be huge news for the future of the Lochs.  The Agents are sent after the missing Agent who reported this phenomena.  The Agents get to experience some Domainya politics as well as possibly snatch up a Loch artifact.

Jaws Snapping In The Dark is a hunt involving a batch cloned Lochs gone bad.  It is pretty much a straight forward investigation culminating in a big, bloody fight (most likely).

Honestly, the adventures are the weakest part of the book...but that might be because the book is just TEEMING with plot hooks, seeds and goodness.  Seriously, even ignoring the adventures this is an amazing book.  The information on Domainya is enough to run a whole campaign on, and then throw in all the great stuff with the factions, plus five new races.

The Lochs are presented as complicated creatures...you can play them as fun-loving joke characters...giant fish wandering around in trenchcoats...or blood thirsty conquerors...or a fallen, tragic species driven to desperate measures in order to survive.  Throw in the quirky Linx, the poor Scriers who are stuck in a bad place no matter what they do, and the Voltics as pretty much unambiguous bad guys, and this is just a great resources.

Some minor failings bring the book down just a hair, but this is by and large an amazing supplement that really sets the bar for future Demon Codices.

Tommy's Take on API Worldwide: Canada

I had no idea that Canada meant “Big Village”.  Seriously.  That's the first little tidbit I learned about Canada from the API Worldwide Canada region sourcebook for Apocalypse Prevention Inc.  The Great White North gets a full treatment, complete with plot seeds, some new rules and a few new races.

The 85 page PDF is fully searchable and bookmarked, again featuring a great index but only a mediocre table of contents.  The book is in black and white, but the cover motif is similar to the corebook's, with the fiery backdrop to a skyline, and this time featuring a blood-splatter in the shape of the Canadian Mapleleaf.

We learn right up front that the API branch of Canada is spread awfully thin because Bad Stuff happens all over the country, but they just don't have the manpower be everywhere they need to be...so its less about “stopping bad stuff from happening” and more “hope too many people don't die before we get there”...which is kinda bleak, really.

Like the US in the corebook, Canada has further tightened their gun laws, leaving guns largely in the hands of hunters alone.  Can't say as the gun stuff thrills me much.  I'm not a gun nut, but I am a pretty hardcore Libertarian type, and I tend to think that taking guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens tends to just leave them vulnerable to bad guys, but that's neither here nor there.

After the general overview of Canada, the book gets into deeper detail, starting with Montreal, hope of API's main Canadian HQ.  Montreal sounds like a lovely place, where life moves at its own pace, from the laid back record store guy to the hyperactive would be executive.  One of the first plot seeds are dropped here, a Spectral that haunts Montreal's wi-fi network and (apparently randomly) inserts and encrypts files on people's computers through the network.  Another nice tidbit is about a gentleman who owns a carpet cleaning company, and encountered the ghost of a suicide victim while on a job...after peacefully convincing the Spectral to move on, he would up seeking out ghosts, and is now a sub-contractor for API.

Underneath Old Montreal lies the API HQ, protected with an anti-violence ward, not unlike Lorne's club Caritas from the TV show Angel.

Other useful tidbits include the sudden spike in crime in the region due to gang conflicts as well as mafia push, the higher than average Wolf Person population in the area, the Montreal Undercity (featuring a large population of Taylari, who became much more compliant after UV strobes were installed in the area), and more.

Though Montreal gets the prime focus, the book does cover Canada as a whole, and so it moves to the West Coast and Interior.  The Rocky Mountains that run through British Columbia are a hotbed of supernatural activity, for instance, and Tarks have a heavy presence in Regina, Saskatchewan.  Once you get in the Northern Territories, you can have all kinds of fun with tiny, tiny towns being stalked by a single demon or two.  We also learn that the US branch “lets” the Canadian Branch of API protect Alaska, rather than keeping up their “two teams” approach up there.  Hmmm...I wonder if they also think Hawaii is too much hassle, or if they're cool sending isolated teams out there?

The Aurora Borealis gets special treatment here, as it is a pile of discarded Mana and, some believe, where many demonic souls go.  It has in-game effects if a character is brought near death in the proximity of them, warping and transforming the weakened and often screwing with magic cast around them as well.

Chapter two begins to get into the nitty gritty of the API in Canada.  The current leader of API Canada, Gerard Robert, is descended from Guillot Robert, an exceedingly brilliant tactician who apparently planned the breeding of his descendants for maximum effect.  Being an API Agent in Canada means working with fewer resources and less back-up than other places, especially places like America.  Canada Agents are also taught to subdue and not kill unless necessary, a bit of a contrast with US Agents.

We get our first real game mechanics in a sidebar in this book, with four new Elite Training Techniques, including two fairly wicked ones in which the Agent controls their internal body temperature in order to inflict extra damage to creatures sensitive to heat or cold.

Due to the shortage in manpower, Agents in Canada are able to get away with breaking more rules without close scrutiny due to the unspoken reality that the Agency can't afford to crack down on rogue behavior.  There is a bit of sibling rivalry on the Board of Directors, as Gerard Robert and his older brother Serge struggle...with Serge undercutting Gerard often, but Gerard seemingly not moving against him in retaliation.

We also get a bigger look at The Thing Under The Ice, an entity that threatens Canada and feasts on still-beating human hearts, but that they just don't know that much about.  The TUTI has a number of minions, including Possessors that kinda do what their name implies, and cults that have risen up to worship this thing...(as happen when Things Man Was Not Meant To Know make their presence felt).

The Canadian HQ itself is well protected, in that they have eliminated almost all normal entrances, and use portals to achieve access instead.  A sidebar details three of the inmates imprisoned in the HQ, one of whom was a sadistic, blood-drinking rapist who kept up his evil ways as a ghost as well as Patient Zero, who was the Canadian Branch's first attempt at harnessing the power of the Aurora Borealis.  It didn't quite work.

A section is included on Demon Agents...as expected, Burners aren't terribly prevalent in the Canadian Branch.  Two new races included in the book, Husks and Wendigos, are often used as agents...and while they will turn a blind eye to the Illegal status of some Carriers and Oracles, Gerard Robert tends to only use Spectrals for experimentation and not as Agents.  There is also what amounts to a special ops squad known as The Radicals, which is currently five Demons (the numbers may change, but The Radicals are always Demons).

An overview is provided of major NPCs in the Canadian branch and their uses in the game, including leader Gerard Robert, leader of the Canadian Elites Cassie Fredericks, Francois Chevalier – Wolf Person and illegitimate son of Gerard Robert, and Trask, a Changeling and leader of the Radicals.

Chapter three touches on the other major power groups in Canada.

The Alpha Pack is loosely knit network of Wolf People that has a pretty good working relationship with API.  The Wolf People in Canada tend not to organize into large groups, but instead operating solo or in pairs, then surrounded by “normal” wolves.  The Alpha Pack doesn't do harm to humans directly, though they will take the fight to those that would harm the environment or their wolf brethren.  In addition, they wage war with The Thing Under The Ice, the Wendigo and more.

The Thing Under The Ice is just creepy, as it is apparently located under the thickest ice in Canada, but its reach can wind up global in scope.  It apparently sleeps for thousands of years until hunger stirs it...the begins to awaken, sending its minions out and feasting on the world at large.  Did I mention that its reach has been global in the past?  A whole cult is devoted to it, and they think it is part of the Earth's life cycle...the planet gets overpopulated, The Thing Under The Ice trims the population.  Wash, rinse, repeat.  Makes a certain kind of crazy sense.  Stats are given for the TUTI's tentacles, pseudopods and maws, for it can be fought back...but bashing a tentacle tends to have little actual effect on the beast overall.

The Ordo Cryos are a group of Adepts studying the Path of Ice for the purpose of combatting Global Warming.  They have ran afoul of the TUTI's cult, as a deep freeze of Earth makes it harder for TUTI to feed, you see, and the cult can't have that.  The Ordo Cryos come across mostly as flavor in the book, since they keep an incredibly low profile while studying magical cooling on a global level.

LeyLines.Org is an organization devoted magically zipping around the wilderness, finding those who are lost and returning them to civilization.  Gerard Robert, however, has begun to suspect that they use their powers for other purposes, such as trafficking of controlled substances...he just doesn't have proof...yet.

The Two Thousand Sleepers are a Taylari group who are all about any region that is shrouded in night for months at a time.  That, in and of itself, isn't a huge issue for API...but the Two Thousand Sleepers also tend to think that the feral, Taylari Mortus state is a holy state that needs to be revered.

Chapter four is heavy on the rules content.  Weather related stuff, like snowblindness, avalanches and frostbite are covered here, as are a couple of new combat rules.  Tons of new equipment is present, including a laundry list of snow gear.  For the heat sensitive, the Heat Wave is presented: A rifle designed to fire concentrated heat.  Mirror Keys are emergency transport for API Agents, and Neural Gauntlets transmit electric feedback to anything that's hit with them.  A couple of new cybernetics are listed here, such a crampons that extend from bionic feet for climbing.

New monsters are present as well, including Abominable Snowmen, the TUTI's Harvesters, Fenris Wolves and, my personal favorite, Freed Reflections.  Mirror Magic can release a person's reflection, which is then obsessed with killing them...after that, it acts out the original's darkest desires.

Four new Paths are presented, the Paths of Ice, Mirrors, Shadows and Fractures (the latter of which is only performed by Husks).

The three new races are detailed: Husks, Wendigos and Infected.  The Husks are creepy, statuesque creatures that don't eat or breath as normal and have one of the least human outlooks presented so far.  In order to effectively move in combat, they must “crack their shell” and they can't heal until they “set the shell”.

Wendigos are ravenous meat eaters that make Wolf People look cultured and civilized.  They look pale and frostbitten normally, and upon consuming at least five pounds of fresh meat, they transform into giant, ravenous beats.  API has tried to “neuter” a few Wendigos and turn them into Agents, but they are always treated with suspicion and mistrust.

The Infected look utterly normal, except that you can see the Northern Lights in their eyes.  They are created when the TUTI's Slugs “impregnate” human females.  From birth they manipulate those around them, forcing their parent(s) to feed them a diet of human hearts and extending their control from there as they get older.  At the age of 30, they begin making their way to the TUTI...though to what end,  exactly, is unclear.

Two adventures are provided in this book: Danger at the Mine and Splinter.

Danger at the Mine serves as a nice introduction to Canada.  Two Agents and their guide have gone missing, and the PCs are called in to retrieve them.  Along the way, they get introduced to Wendigo, The Infected, the Devotees of the Cull and a Possessor, plus exposure to the weather rules and cool gear from earlier in the book.  The adventure is prevented fairly broadly...it's “rail-roady” in the sense that you are Agents with orders, but other than that, there is very little “You Must Do This” in the adventure.  Different situations have different potential outcomes that will, in turn, have different consequences depending on what you do.  I think it could be a swell campaign launching point, or you could use it with American Agents “on loan” due to manpower shortages as a change of pace.

Splinter is...kinda trippy.  It involved a Husk serial killer who has found a superthin crack in reality.  Without giving too much away here...don't run it with less than four people...UNLESS you want to run it with two players and add some NPCs...as the adventure requires splitting the party (I know, right?  But it all kinda works out, really).

Danger at the Mine, as written, is the stronger adventure...but Splinter, if pulled off well, is rather cool.

I tend to dismiss game fiction, but there is a prologue with a Canadian Agent suffering a broken leg, as well as an epilogue featuring Gerard Robert pressing him back into action with a replacement leg for his own, unknowable purposes.

Finally, a cute little API “Field Report” form is given, that can be filled out as a record for missions if one likes.

I gotta say...Third Eye Games makes the frozen North seem awfully cool.  You have Wendigos running around, The TUTI and God only knows what its up to, Adepts trying to freeze the world to save it...all cool stuff, none of which is directly tied into the core book, thus making the API World seem even bigger and more active.  Hopefully this is only setting the stage for more awesome Region books.