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." Second edition: Atlantis 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. Third edition: Atlantis 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. Atlantis: The Second Age In 2005, Khepera Publishing released Atlantis: The Second Age replacing Bard Game's original role-playing rules with Morrigan Press's Omni System. 30th anniversary edition 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 and both a PDF of the book and the book itself were delivered in 2019. Reviews In the December 1986 edition of White Dwarf (Issue #85), Phil Frances reviewed all three books of the original edition of The Atlantean Trilogy, and noted the similarities to Dungeon & Dragons, commenting "I found myself playing Spot the D&D Equivalent — a game not mentioned in the book. It sure whiffs of That Game a lot [...] It's pretty obvious