Title: Trinity Continuum – Prometheus Unbound
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
Authors: Christopher Allen, Sean Creef, Travis Legge, Clayton Oliver, Chris Shaffer, Leath Sheales, John Heron Snead, and Vera Vartanian
Artists: Sam Denmark, Farri Lensen, Digital Art Chefs, Ivan Vegar, and Romane Fauer
Year: 2022
Genre: Supplement for the Trinity Continuum: Aeon roleplaying game
Pages: 193 pages
MSRP: $16.99 in PDF at DriveThruRPG
Onyx Path once again delivers a meaty expansion to its Aeon setting for the Trinity Continuum with Prometheus Unbound, a deeper dive into the setting’s psi orders.
Prometheus Unbound easily clears the high bar set by the previous four expansions, expanding on the all-too-brief introduction given to the orders in the Aeon core book. Previous entries have given us new character types, a deeper understanding of Earth and the broader galaxy, and even alien life, offering more and more plot hooks, story details, and gameplay potential; Prometheus Unbound does the same for the eight orders and opens the door for fascinating new experiments with psi aptitudes.
No matter your opinion on any given faction, readers will no doubt be surprised and, perhaps even delighted, by some of the reveals. While some of Onyx Path’s recent –generally Kickstarter-funded– expansions have been somewhat uneven in their treatment of different groups, Prometheus Unbound covers each with equal care and attention. Readers should expect to come away with a better understanding of the history, structure, state of affairs, major figures, allegiances, and enmities as well as a hefty dose of the interpersonal dynamics at play.
It’s one thing to know that Orgotek and the Aesculapians work together to develop biotech. It’s another to understand that Aesculapian proxy, Matthieu Zweidler, and Orgotek “Prexy”, Alex Cassel, are an unstoppable force in the lab — but that, should the secret of Chitra Bhanu’s survival and the truth of Dr. Bhurano’s possession by the Doyen be revealed, that same alliance may pose serious difficulties to any serious affiliation between Chitra Bhanu and the Aesculapians. All of that is to say nothing of the Doyen’s increasing attempts to possess the Electrokinetic proxy, seemingly stopped only by his very Talented (pun-intended) wife, Ellayne.
It’s these kinds of twisty interconnections that make Prometheus Unbound stand out and succeed so wildly at elevating the worldbuilding. No order exists in a vacuum and the book takes care to drive that point home at every opportunity.
Of course, the mechanical additions are also quite robust. In addition to elucidating new paths within each organization for members who share the aptitude, Prometheus Unbound also makes sure to call to attention opportunities for latents, Psiads, neutrals, Talent, and Psions with other aptitudes. Whether its serving as a more grounded counterpart to one of ISRA’s clairsentients, a thermokinetic firefighter deploying with Upeo wa Macho, or a Ministry-trained telepath now healing minds as their Aesculapian colleagues focus on bodies, opportunities abound.
The book also offers fresh perspectives on the various psi aptitudes. Most interestingly, it also opens the door for players to use their aptitudes beyond the described abilities presented in the core text. This alone offers compelling storytelling potential and should excite players eager to push the boundaries of what their characters can accomplish. This isn’t without risk, however, and the introduction of potential consequence adds real story weight to this exploration, a nice bit of ludonarrative cohesion.
From a technical perspective, Onyx Path continues to deliver high quality PDFs with built-in hotlinking from the table of contents. The layout is clean and subtly color-coded, helping to give a sense of visual cohesion. Art is both lovely and plentiful, helping to make connections between the written word and a concrete concept, but doesn’t interfere with the flow of text. The only major detractions from a technical perspective are the recurrent references to Mission Statements, an as-yet-unpublished expansion. While these will no doubt be helpful once said expansion is available, at the moment, it only highlights that there is a part of the puzzle missing.
Prometheus Unbound gifts players and storytellers alike with a massive expansion to Aeon’s world and challenges them to push the boundaries. The book benefits from the time and space to give each order an equally in-depth treatment, leading to a much richer, more nuanced understanding of each. Fans of the series will be thrilled to dive in, whether as players or storytellers, and those looking for a hook to draw new players in will find yet another trove of potential.
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