Atlantis (role-playing game)

The geographic regions and real-world influences are:

• Mediterranea (Europe)
• Eria (North America)
• Tamoanchan (South America)
• Turan (Arabia)
• Gondwana (Africa)
• Jambu (Asia)
• the Nether Realm (Antarctica)
• Anostos and Jotunland (Iceland and Greenland).

Mythical continents are also added:

• Atlantia (Atlantis),
• Antilla,
• Hyperborea
• Lemuria
• Mu
• and others

In 1983 the new company published three books known as the "Compleat Series": The Compleat Adventurer by Sechi, The Compleat Spell Caster by Taylor and Sechi, and The Compleat Alchemist by Cordovano and Sechi. No specific role-playing system rules were mentioned, the unwritten assumption being that players would use the popular Dungeons & Dragons rules.

The following year, the books of The Compleat Series were combined with a new role-playing system into one central rulebook, The Arcanum, a 156-page softcover book by Sechi and Taylor.[3] This was followed in 1985 by The Lexicon, a 128-page softcover book by Sechi, Taylor and Ed Mortimer that provided the setting, and The Bestiary in 1986, a 132-page softcover book written by Sechi and J. Andrew Keith that provided the creatures. As a result, the role-playing game became known as The Atlantean Trilogy; later versions with fewer than three books were simply titled Atlantis.

Sechi would go on to produce the role-playing game Talislanta, also published by Bard Games in 1987.

In the 2014 book Designer & Dragons: The '80s, game historian Shannon Appelcline wrote that "Because of the success of their Compleat books, Bard Games decided to combine the best information from those supplements within a game system and a setting. The result — which would become known as "The Atlantis Trilogy" — would really put Bard on the map. Stephan Michael Sechi oversaw this new and daunting project — which took three years to complete. Eventually he produced three books: The Arcanum (1984), The Lexicon (1985), and The Bestiary (1986). The system was clearly derivative of D&D, but it also introduced character skills and point-based character creation. The setting was a bit more unique, as it portrayed an antediluvian world of myth (though it also contained some off-key elements including typical fantasy races of D&D and even druids). Some players embraced the new game as a more complex D&D with a uniquely textured setting."[2]^: 186

A second edition of The Arcanum was published in 1985 with revised and updated rules. Three years later, Bard Press combined The Lexicon and The Bestiary into a single book, Atlantis: The Lost World.[4]

In 1996, Death's Edge Games released a third edition, largely based on the second edition, with the addition of a new race, the Selkie.[5]

In 2005, Khepera Publishing released Atlantis: The Second Age[6] replacing Bard Game's original role-playing rules with Morrigan Press's Omni System.

In 2014, Khepera Publishing released a newer and updated version via kickstarter[7] for Atlantis: The Second Age 2e[8] using a different System : Omega System.

In 2012, K. David Ladage purchased the rights to The Arcanum, but not the rights to The Lexicon and The Bestiary, which were still held by Khepera Publishing. The following year, doing business as ZiLa Games, Ladage ran a Kickstarter to re-release The Arcanum in a new, cleaned up and re-edited form. However, when ZiLa was unable to deliver after three years, all backers were reimbursed their entire pledge. In 2017, he ran a second Kickstarter to re-release The Arcanum[9] and both a PDF of the book and the book itself were delivered in 2019.