[[quoteright:342:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/12784757_Era_Vodoleya_6903.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:342:First edition cover]]

''Age of Aquarius'' (Russian: Эра Водолея, or "[[TheBackwardsR Era Vodoleya]]") is the first commercial TabletopRPG produced in Russia. Appeared in 2001 and went through two editions to date, it is set in [[LikeRealityUnlessNoted a world similar to our own]], where various supernatural phenomena are a reality but are hidden under TheMasquerade. It was compared to the ''TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness'', but unlike it, Age of Aquarius is a [[WorldHalfFull more optimistic and idealistic world]].

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 of dealing with it without catastrophic 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.

The first edition of this game was mostly concerned with the activities of the Russian organisation of the Nettersheim Pact, called [[ExtranormalInstitute Institute of Applied Exophysics]]. The second edition added two more playable organizations: DEFENDER, a heroic PrivateMilitaryContractor which is aware of the big picture and is [[CrazyPrepared preparing to fight off an apocalypse]], and the Utopists, who are a loose network of roguish, but generally ChaoticGood {{Mad Scientist}}s. Of course, an option to play as an unaffiliated team was always present.

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!!This Tabletop RPG provides examples of:
* 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.
* TheArchmage: Semyon Nikolaev.
* 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.
* ColonelBadass: Evgeni Veeda, the Institute's chief operative (technically a Lt.Colonel), and Buran, the DEFENDER commander.
* ColorCodedItemTiers: The game has a rarity rating for every weapon or item. It features standard rarity ratings of "Common", "Rare", "Very Rare" for most items, and off-the-scale, idiosyncratic rarity ratings for both extremely common items (i.e. Rock: "It's probably lying under your feet right now") and extremely rare items (i.e. Minigun: "Hell freezes over before you find one").
* 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").
* {{Expy}}: DEFENDER, of VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII's [=SeeD=].
* 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.
* GodsNeedPrayerBadly
* 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.
* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: Boris Ivanov, the Institute's head. His stat block comes with a "TOP SECRET" instead of a portrait.
* ImperfectRitual: The game mechanics allow you to try this at your own risk, with a penalty called ''magic dysharmony''. Some components of rituals are essential and can't be swapped, however.
* 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 defunct Era-Aquarius forum contained the 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.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Vampires have it as a natural ability, the Institute has to make "forget serums" from vampire saliva.
* LikeRealityUnlessNoted: The game 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.
* NobleWolf: Evgeni Veeda, a noble and very badass [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolf]].
* 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.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Buran's real name is Georgy Maximovich Zheleznyak. Everyone calls him by nickname, which means "Blizzard."
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Vampirism in this verse is caused by a magical demonic [[TheVirus virus]].
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent
* PointBuildSystem
* 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).
* PrivateMilitaryContractor: DEFENDER.
* PsychicPowers: run all the gamut from telepathy to clairvoyance to psychokinesis. Your character can use them if they have the "Psychic" advantage.
* RatStomp: Rats are included in the enemy stat block.
* RitualMagic: All of it. That's what makes magic different from, say, PsychicPowers.
* RodentsOfUnusualSize: Giant rats (based on a Russian urban legend) are included in the enemy stat block.
* 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.
* ShoutOut:
** The 13th Department of NSA (the American Nettersheimer organisation) is an allusion to Bureau13.
** DEFENDER has a pilot named [[Franchise/FinalFantasy Cid]].
** The development team is called POPEREK, which is Russian for [[Manga/ExcelSaga ACROSS]].
* 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.
* SupernaturalRepellent: Radiation repels and hurts spirits. Those spirits who cannot simply leave the presence of the radiation isotopes (like earth spirits, bound to their land,) were subjected to a FateWorseThanDeath.
* TimeAbyss: Semyon Nikolaev, a.k.a. [[spoiler: Hermes Trismegistus, Enoch and Count de Saint-Germaine. WordOfGod states him to be 15000 years old.]]. Still younger than many spirits and gods, but you already expect Archangel Michael, Odin or Cthulhu to be older than the mountains, so they do not fit the trope. And you definitely do not expect the kindly old telephone prankster to be that ancient.
* TricksterMentor: Granddaddy Semyon again. His favourite way of teaching magic is via phone prank. If Semyon [[CerebusSyndrome appears in person and speaks plainly and clearly]], it means [[OhCrap some serious trouble a-brewing]], serious enough to warrant his personal intervention. The last time he did so was UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
* WorldHalfFull: The twilight between eras is dark and dangerous, but there's hope everything will get better.
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