[Review] The Empathic Sourcebook

Dark Conspiracy was probably too early to be considered to have ‘splatbooks’¹, although I have always thought of the Empathic Sourcebook as about as close to one as you’ll find. I Interestingly, while Empathic abilities have always been an important part of the DC setting, the core rulebook only briefly touched on these powers (ironically, while topics such as Space Travel got their own complete section). That said, while a revisit and expansion of this topic is appreciated, one must ask, ‘is there actually enough one needs to know on Empathic abilities to fill an entire 120-page supplement?’

So that, dear reader, is the purpose of this review: is the Empathic Sourcebook a vital missing cog in your Dark Conspiracy gaming, or is this book just a desperate money grab for a line that by 1993 was struggling to pull its own weight? Read on, and we will find out together….

The Design

From 1993, GDW began to change the way their game book cover design ‘felt’. This change was subtle and aligned with the company’s then-new look in Traveller: The New Era. Perhaps it was the use of more pastel colours or a cleaner, simpler layout, but whatever the change, the Empathic Sourcebook follows this trend. Overall, the book’s art and design are typical of GDW at the time: a clean two-column layout with plenty of quality black-and-white line images. The cover is by Les Dorscheid and, while not as impressive as others in the line, it fits nicely with the book’s theme. The interior art lacks any real standouts (barring Paul Daly’s ‘Phasing Entity’ on page 31), although we are graced with a who’s who of GDW house artists from this period – including the dynamic duo of Steve Bryant and Rick Harris through to the always interesting Rob Lazzaretti.

The Content

The supplement comes in at 120 pages and is broken into eight sections, the majority of which cover the four expanded empathic disciplines introduced in the book. The rest of the content, which I’ll discuss in more detail below, outlines a revised d20 system, introduces the idea of the Empathic Underground, and includes an appendix deep-diving into an example underground group.

After a solid introduction, the book outlines the basics of empathic skills in the Dark Conspiracy setting. This includes simple rules on how to study the various disciplines and how successes in using these skills are determined. It also clarifies the use of the Dimension Walk skill, specifically that travellers must already know the protodimension they are shifting to (i.e., they must be introduced to a plane by someone or something else before they can go there).

The only thing I’d call out here is what I think is an oversight in the authors’ structuring. In this section we get a jumble of ideas all thrown together in a seemingly random order. This is best highlighted with the subsection called ‘Some Definitions’. This is buried between text on empath benefits and calculating stages of success, when really such a key concept to the DC lore really needs to be called out and emphasised.

Let me explain further. Dark Conspiracy has always had its own set of unique terms, although it is not as bad as many other RPGs in its use of jargon (I’m looking at you, Shadowrun!). For example, the characters aren’t just PCs; they are Minion Hunters, while labels such as Darkling, Dark Minions and Igors have all developed organically and are seen as specific types of dangers arrayed against the heroes.

Here, obviously prompted by questions or a desire to set the record straight, the DC developers decided to define the terms Dark Master (an expression mentioned once or twice but never fully explained in the core rulebook) and Dark Lord. Interestingly, under this definition, the Dark Master (or Dark One) is described as ‘A noncorporeal entity from another dimension and realm of existence which seems to gain sustenance from human suffering and similar emotional discharges’ or the ultimate ‘big bad’ of DC (here specifically saying ‘there are no examples of Dark Masters mentioned in Dark Conspiracy literature, for none have been or ever will be seen, unless they wish to die.’). Meanwhile, Dark Lords, such as Fiddleback and Pygmalion from the Fiddleback trilogy, and the Great Dark One from the Hellsgate adventure, are meant to be agents and generals for the Masters.

I don’t know where your thoughts go, but I really think that this is a waste of space, even for someone like myself who likes everything in its place. Making enemies, such as Fiddleback, just powerful minions of some greater evil not only downplays their specific purpose, but also their importance in the stories they appear in. I personally like to think that the Dark Ones/Lords/Masters are all one and the same – and it is simply their petty squabbles and the Minion Hunters’ sheer willpower and dedication that keep them in check. We don’t need anything more than that, and I believe we especially don’t need some hidden pyramid of dark powers, especially not one led by an untouchable Dark One (hell, even Call of Cthulhu investigators get to face down the King in Yellow or Cthulhu itself at times!)

The d20 System

GDW introduced a d20 version of their in-house game system in the PC Booster Kit, although I do recall Lester Smith saying somewhere how that he quickly realised this iteration lacked a certain intuitiveness and was more complex than it needed to be. This revised d20 ruleset (which also appears – in a more abbreviated form – in the Proto-Dimensions Sourcebook, Volume I supplement) is an improved, more streamlined way of utilising the d20 (as opposed to a d10) as the game’s primary die. In the 10 pages covering these revised mechanics, the reader gets a rundown of changes to the game’s subsystems, from character generation to converting the five difficulty levels (Easy, Average, Difficult, Formidable & Impossible) and more.

While I’m a fan of the d20 mechanics, it is actually some of the specific rules introduced alongside these core changes that interested me most.

Fear. Finally, we got some mechanics for the effects of encountering otherworldly beasties and minions. These are really simple, being a Willpower (or Initiative) test against a task difficulty (representing the level of Fear) as deemed appropriate by the Referee. Failing this roll results in the Minion Hunter freezing, unable to act (which works well with the mechanics involved in the Step-Initiative system)until they can shake off the fear. An Outstanding Success (i.e. rolling 10 under the target) on this test allows the character to take an immediate free action, while a Catastrophic Failure (i.e. rolling 10 higher than the target) results in them fleeing for their lives in panic. This is a lovely, very simple set of mechanics that melds well with the overall DC feel and design, and it’s a shame they weren’t included in the core rules.
Recoil Changes. Likely a tweak after a few years of play, this new change reduces all semi-automatic (or at least those with listed Rates of Fire) recoil by 10% (rounding down of course!). While this might seem insignificant, trust me: the chance to get one more accurate(?) burst into that Bloodkin Troll charging the party should never be overlooked. To be honest, the biggest downside to this rule I recall from – now, albeit fuzzy memory – is agonising over whether or not to take a pen to the weapon entries in the core rulebook.
Falling Damage. Not sure why GDW felt the need to change this. In the original Fall rules, you simply multiplied the number of meters fallen by 2d6 and subtracted the character’s Agility in d6 from the total. In this revised system, you now roll the damage dice from the fall and then roll the damage mitigated from Agility before allocating the remainder to the hit locations. Sure, the old system meant that a high-Agility character could mitigate long falls without taking any damage, but boy was it a hell of a lot quicker than having to fish out all those d6s. If I’m being honest, I like the changes to this mechanic, but boy, I’d hate to think about the logistics when an entire party of Minion Hunters has to calculate fall damage!
The Task Summary Tables. It was nice of GDW to include a revised set of Task Summary tables in the book, but I think they would have been better placed at the end of the supplement. Flicking through the book to find a specific reference, or stretching the pages to photocopy a table, is never ideal.

The Empathic Underground

In some ways, the section on the Empathic Underground is my personal highlight of the supplement. In just a dozen or so pages, it lays out the importance and position of the underground in DC. It also handily provides an incredibly simple-to-follow, yet surprisingly comprehensive, process for creating your own Empathic Underground groups. As the introduction to this section goes on to explain, the incursion of the Dark Lords has awoken the underground – old and new- and today these groups are often the last guardians in the battle to hold back the Dark Ones.

The section goes on to discuss the diversity of underground cells and how their individual goals, motives, and methods differ greatly, highlighting that it would be ignorant to think of the underground as a single, harmonious whole. In reality, the underground is dozens, if not hundreds, of disparate groups fighting back against the evil growing across the world, each operating in its own distinct ways against the threats that impact it most. While this material attempts to codify some of these methods (for example, using terms like information brokers or gunslingers to indicate their modus operandi, or defining them as operating as ‘pencil commandos’ or ‘shadows’), it never expects them to always conform to such rigid structures.

Fittingly for the Empathic Sourcebook, a considerable amount of text also focuses on how these cells view and engage with the empathic disciplines (i.e. their empathic philosophy). Not all groups in the underground embrace all the disciplines, and some might even be indifferent to them all.

To assist the Referee in creating cells, and in an age where random tables seem to be making a comeback, the Cell Generation process outlined here is one of the better ones I’ve seen. Not overly complex and completed with just half a dozen D6 and D10 rolls, it allows them to create a new underground cell in just a few minutes. And I should point out that the example cells the designers provide aren’t too bad either (if you ignore their soul-cringing names like Dark Pentad, Champions of Conflict and Lord of Commerce), and I could even see myself using one or two of these in a pinch.

Also covered in this section, and an idea I believe is quite insightful to the designers’ intended direction for Dark Conspiracy, is a discussion of ETs and their place among the Empathic Underground. This begins with a recap of the events leading up to the arrival of the various ET races now present on Earth (such as the incident at Roswell and the ill-fated attempt to open the portal on Io), before highlighting the ‘survivors’ ongoing relations with humanity and, more importantly, the underground. This includes insight into how and why Renegade ETs (i.e., those who haven’t succumbed to the power of the Dark Ones) survive in the shadows, as well as the close connection between these beings and the four disciplines of empathy. We learn that most are linked to either Psionics or Mysticism, with Sorcery the power least encountered among ETs. It also states that what potentially makes ET empaths different from their human counterparts is the use of Mathematical Dimensional Transcendentalism. This talent combines the disciplines through complicated mathematical equations and formulas, allowing these wielders to be more in tune with the power of the universe.

The section rounds out with suggestions for the Referee (and I suppose players) on how to bring an ET character to life at the table. This means not just their ‘alienness’ but also their status as renegades and targets for the dark forces. It recommends using language to reinforce these aspects, and emphasises that such ETs are likely reluctant to expose themselves to any possibility of capture. Here we also get three new careers, allowing players to create Mystic, Psionicist and Sorcerer Renegade ET characters. I’d personally be reluctant to allow my players to use such characters, but it’s nice to see them included (even if these ‘careers’ don’t really fit in with the lifepath model – What? Does the character take two Terms as a Mystic Renegade ET before, say, taking two more as a mechanic???)²

The Disciplines

Most of the rest of the supplement focuses on the four types of empathic abilities, each with its own dedicated chapter. These all follow the same general structure, discussing the key concepts of the discipline, their specific powers and any special rules or mechanics relevant to their use.

Neuropathy. Neuropathy is the rawest empathic ability, with these powers manifesting in increasing numbers since the incursions of the Dark Ones began. Neuropaths are often created or have their abilities awoken by trauma, resulting in individuals having immense powers but little discipline or training to control them. In some ways, these abilities best match the powers/skills presented in the Dark Conspiracy core rulebook, although here rules are added allowing the users to ‘push’ these talents. While pushing allows the character to retry a failed test, a second failure comes with a cost in the form of psychological damage.
Psionics. I like to think of Psionics as the other side of the Neuropathy coin, representing the untapped potential of a human mind that, once trained and honed, can do extraordinary things. Psionic talents focus more on the self than on others, with powers like Clairvoyance or Thought Projection at the forefront (though a trained psionic is more than capable of unleashing mental assaults or kinesis attacks on their enemies, if necessary). Psionics are more likely to gather groups or communities than Neuropaths, sharing their knowledge and training with the next generation of potentials.
Sorcery. This is as close to real ‘magic in the Dark Conspiracy setting. Sorcery allows its practitioners to manipulate Earth’s connection to other dimensions to bring forth elements their unique elements. You want to throw an icy cold snowball at an enemy? Well, simply tap into a freezing protodimension and allow, for a barest of instants, some of that world’s power to shoot through into ours. How about pulling a rabbit from a hat? Well, you just need to know that nightmare land infested with vast quantities of cute bouncing bunnies and reach on through. And that’s the most interesting part: sorcery comes with its dangers. As the ‘magicians’ are essentially just using Dimension Walk to manifest their powers, who knows who might follow that cute little furball through afterwards? Or, even more concerning, sorcerers are a likely vector for the ongoing incursion of Dark Ones. They see these individuals as a bright beacon of untapped power across ever-changing worlds. Sorcerous talents cover the gambit from short environmental changes through to phasing and manipulating gates; basically, if it involves manipulating worlds, a sorcerer somewhere knows how to do it!
Mysticism. Mastery of the mind and self is probably the most powerful and yet safest of the empathic disciplines. Mystics are part Jedi-knight, part humble monk, able to enter trances to travel between worlds and harness the very essence of humanity. This discipline has access to some of the most unique empathic powers, though they are also likely the least likely to be used regularly in game sessions: Dream Intrusion to send messages and alter memories, Psyche Surgery to fix trauma and heal the intangible, or Psychic Tracking to follow those who might otherwise be untraceable. This chapter, the longest of the four empathy disciplines, also has a section on the powers of the Astral proto-dimension. While fascinating, using such a restrictive place might be a little difficult to use at the game table, especially when other non-mystic Minion Hunters are present. ³

The Appendix

The supplement rounds out with quite an interesting appendix, a fully fleshed-out example of an empathic underground cell – the Free Mind Federation Cooperative (or FMFC for short). A group that could easily be slotted into any existing DC campaign. Where the previous example cells (see above) were just half-column summaries of underground operations (with the minimum of flavour text), the FMFC details not only the goals and workings of the group, but also dedicates time to its founder, Winston Smith, and the corporation he uses to cover their activities – Free Market Food Corp. While it seems obvious that this cell was created as a way of supporting the process integrating new Minion Hunting parties (DC has a bit of the same issues as games like D&D – just how do you get a dispirit group of characters together in a world where you are told to trust no one?), it just doesn’t have enough ‘meat’ on its bones to be anything more than an interesting read; at least in my opinion. Part of me thinks it was written solely as filler (to get the book to its 120-page length), but that is probably doing it a disservice. The issue is – on reread – this group doesn’t actually do anything. They simply support groups of Minion Hunters, and have a leader with a secret past. So much more could have been added here to make the FMFC a more dynamic, integral part of any story they might find themselves involved with.

Thinking positively, this appendix is probably best seen as a way a Referee might look to build their own empathic underground cells, both in approach and lessons on what to perhaps avoid in the process?

Thoughts & Impressions

As you will have likely picked up throughout this review, I have some mixed (leaning more to the positive) feelings about the Empathic Sourcebook. In hindsight, most of these come more from the fact that this material – vital in my mind for bringing the vast potential of the Dark Conspiracy setting to life – only appears here right at the end of the game’s 2-year run. Specifically:

The revised d20 rules. It’s great to see these get a good airing, although I’m in slight amazement that here we are multiple books into the line and GDW are still mucking about with the game’s core rules. I have no doubt that this version of the game engine (likely with further tweaks) would have formed the basis of the promised but never printed Dark Conspiracy 2nd edition ⁴.
The empathic underground creation process. Not to downplay the ‘meat’ of the book – the empathic disciplines – but this is actually the part of the supplement I’ve used most often. The creation process is sharp, and it does a lot to pull back the curtain on what fighting back against the dark should really be like in DC (i.e. lots of small, motivated groups struggling against the impossible, often all working at cross purposes and always with the sword of Damocles hanging just above their heads!
Background on ETs and empathy. This is another really interesting section as it provides insight into a small, but I feel vital, part of the DC setting – the ETs. 18-year-old me would have likely overlooked this material, but today I find it one of the best for interpreting where GDW saw the Dark Conspiracy game line going.

Overall, I appreciate the addition of more detailed rules on the empathic disciplines, although the layout style (with limited use of headers, likely to save space) can make finding a specific power a little more difficult than it needs to be. Also, the level of detail given to each power varies, and not all seem to be given as much love and attention as others. That, and the decision to gather each discipline’s Skill Charts at the end of each chapter (rather than together in an appendix), makes it even harder to find things when you need them most during play.

Sorcery remains my favourite empathic discipline, as it feels the most unique to Dark Conspiracy (and what’s not to love about summoning blasts of fire through a micro gateway from a hell-like protodimension!), although each talent definitely has its place in the game. I’d be loath to let all my players access all these disciplines, although in some ways the clash of the competing philosophies behind these talents would be fun to watch play out at the table.

Finally, and I know I mentioned it before, but it feels so strange to have an Appendix that is basically just an example of an Empathic Underground cell. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to have such a detailed group, but why in the appendix? Why not with the rest of the underground material?

So to answer my own question – yes, there is most definitely enough material for a dedicated deep-dive into the world of empathy. The Empathic Sourcebook is an addition to Dark Conspiracy 1st edition, one that complements material missing from the core rulebook. It’s just a shame that it’s such a jumble of ideas all thrown into one package, and appears so late in the game’s shockingly short lifespan.