History TabletopGame / AgeOfAquarius

According to the story, the astrological age of Pisces, associated with organized religion and science, is [[EndOfAnAge slowly fading]], and the new age of Aquarius, [[TheMagicComesBack associated with magic]], is setting foot on the world. But our society is incapable to deal with it without catastrophical changes, necessitating use of TheMasquerade to unveil the truth very slowly. To do that, an [[TheMenInBlack international conspiracy of security agencies]] is created in 1945, called the Nettersheim Pact.

* KnightOfCerebus: the [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Fallen Primordials]], not appearing in any of the two main edition books, but stated in previews to be the {{Big Bad}}s behind the prequel game ''[[UsefulNotes/RedOctober Age of Pisces: Scarlet Dawn]]'' and suspected to be actually responsible for the attack on the Institute in 1992. [=AoP:SD=] is already explicitly stated to be DarkerAndEdgier than the main setting, and the main setting itself grew somewhat DarkerAndEdgier after the developers (Aurora, to be precise) came up with these guys.
** The (now defunct) Era-Aquarius forum also contained the [[WordOfGod developers' references]] to "the Black Net" and the "New World Order", who are supposed to be the Fallen Primordials' mortal agents and be capable of collapsing the intricate balance of TheMasquerade.

* NoExportForYou: It was made by a team of enthusiasts who had troubles finding a publisher. Of course it isn't hitting American bookshelves.

* PathOfInspiration: Many cultist type enemies of the Institute. The first edition even had the guts to openly accuse Scientology of being one of those.

* [[PromotedFanboy Promoted Fangirl]]: Aurora Nikolaeva, one of the authors of the second editions. She even lampshades it in the foreword.

** RodentsOfUnusualSize: As are giant rats (from a Russian urban legend).
* UsefulNotes/RedOctober: The ([[DevelopmentHell yet unreleased]]) prequel game ''Age of Pisces: Scarlet Dawn'' will be set in this era. Think ''TabletopGame/{{Deadlands}}'' [[RecycledInSpace IN SOVIET RUSSIA!]]

** The current development team is called POPEREK, which is Russian for [[Manga/ExcelSaga ACROSS]].

* AllMythsAreTrue: played with. Because of the [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve somewhat malleable]] nature of supernatural reality, everything a lot of people believe in exists in some form. Another question is, though, can it interact with ''you''?
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: played with. Vampires in Age of Aquarius are infected by a demonic virus that slowly turns them evil. A vampire older than a human could be is almost guaranteed to be evil; a young one can try and give TheVirus a fight.
* AngelsDevilsAndSquid: they inhabit the deep astral.
* {{Animesque}}: as you can see from the cover.

* AstralProjection: a psychic power.
* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: both magic and religion run on this in Age of Aquarius. Basically, if enough people believe in something, it becomes real.

* DamageReduction: armor does it.
* DemonicPossession: yes, they can do it to you.
* EndOfAnAge: the basic premise.
* ExtranormalInstitute: the Institute of Applied Exophysics was one before end of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. Then it had to become a full-on force of TheMenInBlack.
* ExperiencePoints: called "плюшка" (a word that literally translates to "a sweetroll").

* FantasticScience: exophysics, that is scientific study of the supernatural.
* FighterMageThief: the trio of protagonist organizations. DEFENDER is Fighters, the Institute is Mages, the Utopists are Thieves.

* GovernmentConspiracy: the Nettersheim Pact is an international, benevolent one.
* HermeticMagic: your character can practice it.
* HeroicBSOD: the second edition has a game mechanic for it.

* LaserGuidedAmnesia: vampires have it as a natural ability, the Institute has to make "forget serums" from vampire saliva.
* LikeRealityUnlessNoted: it can be played as anything from overt UrbanFantasy to subtle MagicalRealism.
* MagicAIsMagicA: exophysics (and the game's mechanics) makes a sharp distinction between magic per se, religious phenomena, psychic powers and workings of spirits. Each of these is quite unique and has a set of game rules, often complex and precise.
* TheMagicComesBack: again, the basic premise. Whether it is a good thing or not, depends on the MIB's efforts.
* MagicKnight: the DEFENDER.
* MagicMisfire: called dysharmony.
* MagicPoweredPseudoscience: played with. In this world, any science passes through MagicPoweredPseudoscience phase before being fully estabilished as hard fact. Characters who dabble in it are called "technomages".
* TheMasquerade: enforced worldwide, but still cracking.
* TheMenInBlack: all organisations of the Nettersheim Pact are various kinds of MIB. The Russian IAE is a quite benevolent (and mostly plainclothes) version; some others are not.
* {{Mooks}}: a game mechanic exists in the second edition that gives the mooks a simplified health tracking system.
* MysteriousWatcher: in the first edition, Semyon Nikolaev was described as that: a shadowy archmage who watches over people and [[TricksterMentor teaches them magic]] while remaining unseen. The second edition gave him more character evolution, turning him to something like BigGood MysteriousProtector.

* NoExportForYou: it was made by a team of enthusiasts who had troubles fiding a publisher. Of course it isn't hitting American bookshelves.
* OccultLawFirm: averted. The Institute utilizes an extraordinary tribunal of law that provides the supernatural criminals a free (but terrible) defence attorney and most likely will convict them. It's the investigation that tells innocent from guilty. All this is actually an exaggerated form of Soviet justice system.

* OurVampiresAreDifferent: vampirism in this verse is caused by a magical demonic [[TheVirus virus]].

* PathOfInspiration: many cultist type enemies of the Institute. The first edition even had the guts to openly accuse Scientology of being one of those.

* PostModernMagik: called "neo-magic". It allows you mix different magical traditions and will never conflict with modern lifestyles, but will always be underpowered compared to "pure" {{Ancient Tradition}}s.
* PowerLevels: spirits have these in form of the "Power Index". They range from 1 (an invisible, powerless spirit - typical for a freshly dead soul of a common civilian) through 2-4 (ghosts who can manifest, knock or sometimes even materialize, most nature spirits also go here) through 5-6 (powerful angels and demons who can work miracles) to 7 (small-g gods in full power).

* RatStomp: rats are included in the enemy stat block.
** RodentsOfUnusualSize: as are giant rats (from a Russian urban legend).
* UsefulNotes/RedOctober: the ([[DevelopmentHell yet unreleased]]) prequel game ''Age of Pisces: Scarlet Dawn'' will be set in this era. Think ''TabletopGame/{{Deadlands}}'' [[RecycledInSpace IN SOVIET RUSSIA!]]
* RitualMagic: all of it. That's what makes magic different from, say, PsychicPowers.
* SanityMeter: the Confidence stat doubles as one. If you lose it, you can end up with psychological disadvantages or even lose your sanity completely. A very real occupational hazard for both mages and psychics.

* TheSixStats: a slightly altered version. The three physical stats are ISO standard; the mental stats are Education (loosely equivalent to D&D Intelligence) , Cognition (loosely equivalent to D&D Wisdom) and Confidence (loosely equivalent to D&D Charisma). There is also the seventh stat, Luck. They all range from 0 (a challenged person) to 5 (world-famous for it). A stat of 6 is too uber to be normal and typically belongs to some powerful supernatural creature. 7 and 8 are reserved for god-like [=NPCs=] than may even be honest-to-goodness gods or demigods.
* SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic: that's how exophysics works.

* WorldHalfFull: the twilight between eras is dark and dangerous, but there's hope everything will get better.

* TheyFightCrime: They are {{Player Character}}s. They work for the Institute. They fight supernatural crime!

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Buran's real name is Georgy Maximovich Zheleznyak. Everyone calls him by nickname, which means [[AwesomeMcCoolname "Blizzard"]].

* MainliningTheMonster: Vampire saliva is used to make a LaserGuidedAmnesia inducing drug. No profit on it is made, though, since [[TheMenInBlack the Institute]], who owns the technology, is a noncommercial organization, and it needs the drug itself to enforce TheMasquerade.