I hate him, I hate him I hate him. If I was going to design and alien book (and I was in the process of doing so) this is exactly how I would do it. What this essentially means, is this book rocks. If you need an alien maker this is pretty much it. It is in depth, and reads much like a text book, but gives you a near complete evolutionary path. God, I hate these guys, for beating me to it.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Regretfully....everything. It even mentions the Drake Equation!!!! (If you don't know what that is you shouldn't be trying to make aliens.)<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I didn't come out with it first<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

v. cool. in particular the fact that the design layout can be adapted easily to any RPG that you are using!<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: gives you an excellent feeling for behavioral characteristics of a designed alien, her homeworld, her care/feeding, etc, all in one smooth and powerful, and well-researched source.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: A tad too WAY out overall, right off the science to the fantasy end of things...also, fair amount of mispellings, bad homonyms can be discouraging.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

This product has a LOT of discussion material in it - about half of the document. It is pretty good material for those who aren't already in the know, however, and is useful. It does kind of wander back and forth between humans in rubber suits and aliens so alien you couldn't play them, but there appears to be reason behind it. It has no random generation capability.

Definitely worth a fin for this product. <br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Good information about cosmology and evolution. The point buy system is a good way to give some weight to different creature features. This will definitely enhance my future species generation efforts in Traveller. <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: This thing didn't have an editor, evidently. It is mostly well written, but there are some parts where it is evident noone proofread, and there are double words, bad punctuation, etc. It's not terribly prevalent, but.... Also, there needed to be a random system of some kind included to spark some creative juices. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Atomik Alienz, like GURPS produce (Space, Aliens, Bestiary) and like Hero products (Star Hero, the alien race book), puts together a wide variety of other-world creatures. The difference is that without a specific system, Atomik Alienz can suggest creatures for story purposes free of said systems. The only problem is that the reference material in the back is slightly dated, and the lack of a setting or technology for beginners.

I can't wait until Atomik Supers.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Thought-provoking in parts, but no more than that. Editing is substandard. Can't seem to decide if it is hard science or Star Trek and doesn't serve either genre well. The quality of science varies sharply between sections but in general is not comprehensive.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Disappointing<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

A good guide for GMs who want to design more-plausible alien races for their science-fiction campaign settings, wrapped up in a completely nondescript presentation.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: - Atomik Alienz delivers exactly what it promises: a guide to designing alien species for your SF role-playing game. It even addresses the different types of alien design, from the "humans with bad skin conditions" humanoid type common to New Trek, to the more difficult (from a role-playing standpoint) hard SF truly-alien aliens. Example aliens are provided and, in a clever touch, even a few fantasy creatures (elves, dragons) are designed under the rules to demonstrate how the design sequence works.

• With the free Atomik add-on PDF (referenced in this product and free to download from RPGNow) gamers can fairly easily translate aliens designed under the Atomik system into their favorite gaming systems, including FUDGE, GURPS, and the ubiquitous d20. The author explains his conversion system well enough that, no doubt, Atomik alien species could be translated into game systems not inferred by the Atomik book with little ease. Only truly unusual and/or obscure game systems might present a conversion problem.

• The author avoids technobabble and design jargon, and makes every effort to explain the scientific concepts, and the design concepts, of Atomik Alienz in ordinary terms.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: - The scientific references in the author's bibliography seem rather old; I don't think any source newer that the late nineties is credited. While I don't think the author got any of his basic xenobiology or space science details wrong, space science knowledge is being updated pretty much every week these days. I would've felt better about Atomik Alienz if its source material were a little more current.

• Visually, Atomik Alienz is the equivalent of a clear, well-presented college term paper. Beyond the cover, there is essentially no artwork of any significance in this product. A few charts, and perhaps a stock galaxy picture, but that's it folks. Mostly, it's two columns of black text on a white page, every page. Be warned.

Because it's so bland, I'm tempted to give Atomik Alienz a 3/5, but while it is unbelievably bland-looking, it's not actually ugly. Besides which, the product delivers exactly what it promises, content-wise: guidelines for designing more plausible alien races for your SF game, plus (with the free add-on PDF) the means of transferring your newly-designed aliens into your favorite game systems. Call it a 4/5, then, with one star off for potentially-obsolescent science data, and a nonexistent visual style.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>