Tradition Book: Virtual Adepts

Rating:
Summary: Nice guide for an interesting Tradition
Review: Tradition Book: Virtual Adepts took what was presented in the original tradition book and brought the most modern tradition up-to-date. The Adept attitude was still there as well as their contempt for the Technocracy. A lot of old information was given a lot more space and coverage.

The section on the Adept's history was about the same as the old book except for a few big revelations such as the Technocracy's secret T-Virus and how some historical figures from World War 2 may have been members of the Traditions rather than the Technocracy. The section basically talks about the origins of the Adepts from the Technocracy, what they did, why they left, and what they're doing now. My only complaint regarding this section is the total disregard for Iteration X's accomplishments in the computing field and how they worked side-by-side with the early Adepts.

The next chapter was about Adept society, culture, subdivisions, paradigm, rotes, and wonders. This was an interesting section and treated every aspect with much more detail than the old book. You'll learn all the ins and outs of being an Adept after going through this section. The only issue I had with this section was the paradigm. The Adept paradigm made a lot of sense in theory, but in practice it just didn't seem to work. This could have been fixed with some examples of rote casting. A step-by-step casting with a good explanation would have been nice. The rotes themselves should be useful to players and storytellers.

The final section covered notable Adepts, a sample cabal, miscellaneous thoughts, and template characters. The noteworthy adepts were interesting, especially the twin Adepts who became enemies of society. The sample cabal had members that were a bit over-powered, which was a common theme in the book. The idea was nice and should definitely be explored by players and storytellers. The template characters were okay, but not too interesting.

There was a lot of talk about the Technocracy and how it is bad for everyone; the reader will probably get the feeling that the Virtual Adepts' want what they have but are just bitter since they don't have it. In the end, it sounded like both groups just wanted control. Reality 2.0, the Adepts' big project to enlighten humanity sounds good in theory but it will destroy society if it is implemented. Whatever you may think it was interesting to read about. The Technocracy was still portrayed as the enemy despite the end of the Ascension War and it looked like the Adepts had no intentions of keeping a ceasefire with their old associates.

The book could have benefited from a section on important realms such as the Crystal Palace and other popular hangout aside from the Spy's Demise. A better paradigm explanation and a more unbiased look at the world from the Adepts' view would have been nice. Still, maybe it's their whole look and culture; despite the flaws, I still enjoyed the book a lot.