Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent RPG Supplement, July 19, 2000
Though official one volume of a three-volume set of rules for the Atlantean RPG system, the Arcanum has a much greater value as a supplement for other Fantasy RPG games. The Atlantean world is very poorly written and has very little variation. The classes - though interesting - are not fleshed out very well. However, the skills and magic are phenomenal, and it contains the best concepts on alchemy and the creation of magical items ever written. If you can find a copy, this book is great to supplement any other FRPG and can provide great expansion to other games in terms of the range and depth of its information and ideas.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
A good source for "house rules" in AD&D type RPGs, February 8, 1998
This book is good for those familiar with the terms of role playing, particularly Dungeons and Dragons, as there was no glossary. The book presented many ideas which were easily applied to my existing variant Dungeons and Dragons campaign. The system is simple, easy to use as is, allowing in many cases for greater ease of play than Dungeons and Dragons. Creativity is required to use the combat system as written without acquiring the monster statistics from either "The Bestiary" or "Atlantis: the Lost World." For the veteran DM, who likes to tinker with the rules, this book is of interest. While the rules presented here are of interest, the color of the game leaves something to be desired. The long lists of spells are sparcely described and given weak names, like "Lock/Knock"- a spell that locks or unlocks a lock. Miscellaneous magic items are not described, named for the effects of the spells which they mimic exactly. An example could be, "Ring of Lock/knock." For a simple but effective set of alternate rules, which creates slightly more powerful first level characters, this book is ideal. I liked the book very much, and use it often; still, most of the color and fine details come from elsewhere.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
An excellent general Fantasy Roleplaying Rulebook., March 22, 1997
By A Customer
The Arcanum, the core rulebook for the Atlantean system, is quite possibly the finest of the old-style RPG books ever written. The author, Stephen Michael Sechi, went on to write the excellent Talislanta system, based around the incredibly detailed world of Talislanta. The Arcanum has many connections to the later world of Talislanta, but retains its own particular flavor.
Noteworthy in this book is that it incorporates both the concept of a level-driven system and that of a skill-based system, something quite uncommon in RPGs (of those in its era, only Rolemaster did something similar). Its basic mechanics, however, are FAR easier than Rolemaster's, more consistent than that of TSR's Dungeons and Dragons series, and overall actually more comprehensive as well. The Arcanum divides magic into many different schools, provides a multitude of different classes and skills, and in addition gives rules for alchemy (a compressed version of those found in The Compleat Alchemist), lists of interesting magical items, and a myriad of playable races; some, like the Druas, Beastmen, and Aesir, are extremely unusual and interesting.
One of my all-time favorites in the roleplaying field, The Arcanum has been one of my mainstays for a decade and a half of play. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in fantasy roleplaying games.
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