Devastation Entertainment

Cyberpunk 2020

2011-07-07T16:00:00.000-07:00

So, I got my old Cyberpunk 2020 RPG material out this evening and sat there for a good hour pondering the fate of this great game. I played the original black box 2013 version, then the 2020 version, and yes I even played the terrible 203X version that Mike released after legions of fanboys and fangirls spent years and years whining for on the R.Talsorian forums and on many other RPG forums like RPG.net. I GM’d games at GenCon and dozens of other conventions in both the USA and Australia. I even had the unique opportunity to be one of 4 writers invited by R.Talsorian themselves to put forward a manuscript for a ‘third’ 4th Corporate War book. It’s core helped in the transition from 2020 to 203X, and yes even explained much of the new ideas that seemed so different than what Mike had created with such a landmark gaming system as 2020. The book was never released, and it seems that since the day we submitted the manuscript, R.Talsorian has gone dark.

That seems such a shame considering that much of what was contained in that alternate timeline is now more relevant then ever. It might be twenty years late, but I really do think that there is an incredible insight in that game that perhaps many never really appreciated. I guess this was the reason I actually got these books out in the first place tonight.

I wonder whether there isn’t still a lot of mileage to be gained from the old 2020 system? Perhaps a ‘new’ version of 2020 called 2042 or something equally esoteric. I think if we took the timeline diversion that occurred back in the mid 80’s and began to apply it now, wouldn’t a new game seem eerily ‘real’? After all we are in the throes of a massive economic collapse, and if the debt ceiling isn’t raised, we’re being told that economic calamity on a global scale never before witnessed will befall us all. Isn’t that kind of what 2020 laid out for 1994? We’ve already had the collapse of the old Soviet Union, CHOOH2? Hello Ethanol.

The core rulebook, gives us this – “The collapse of the United States. Weakened by losses in world stock crash, overwhelmed by unemployment, homelessness and corruption, many city governments collapse or go bankrupt. The U.S. government, snarled in a staggering deficit and the machinations of the Gang of Four, is totally ineffective.”

Mike wrote that ten years before he predicted it in Cyberpunk 2020’s 1996, and almost 25 years before it may very well happen in reality. Uncanny. And that is why I wonder whether there is more to be gained from such a game. Are we at the renaissance of a new version of ‘Cyberpunk’? What would a new timeline look like if we started now and took it forward progressively to 2042?

Mike, if you’re still out there contemplating that ‘Classic’ Cyberpunk 2020 release, here’s a tip, rebadge it. Call it Cyberpunk 2042, and pretend that 203X never happened. You’re not reinventing the wheel or rehashing an old classic or even flogging a dead horse (OK so I went overboard on the catch-phrases), you’re creating a game from the ashes of another that has perhaps more relevance and real-world playability right now than 2020 ever did throughout the 90’s. And of course you have a dedicated group of fans out here that would at a moment’s notice help you.

Do it, before someone else does.

The 24 Hour RPG Movie Mashup Competition

2011-02-13T13:51:00.002-07:00

Do you think you can take a couple of cool movies, mash their plots and storylines together, then germinate an RPG seed from the result? With some pretty interesting cult movie titles as part of the 40 film list to choose from there's certainly something for everybody. Zombies, Sci-Fi, Horror, Thriller, even classic film noir. All of the films are well known and there is ample material out there on them on the internet. Google is your friend.

One thing to remember though, if you choose to participate, and I honestly encourage you to because this is a real opportunity to test your creative mettle, you'll need to abide by the rules, and that means not doing too much preparation work beforehand other than coming up with a basic idea. Sure you can break or bend the rules, but that's not the spirit of what this is all about.

So, get your thinking caps on and the grey matter percolating, go join the forums, read what others are doing, read the rules, choose your two movies, and get going. You've got plenty of time to set aside 24 hours, but there's no time like the present.

UPDATE: I've selected Dark City and Groundhog Day as the pairing for my first attempt at this. I'll focus on the wash, rinse, repeat concept by resetting the scenario, or elements of it every so often as part of the game's mechanic. Next up I'm thinking of seeing what will work with One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

The Bleeding Edge

2009-12-26T12:19:00.004-07:00

At the moment I'm working on a new cyberpunk project, one that has no connection to either Cyberpunk 2020 or CyberGeneration. Other than the likelihood of it being released in printed format ready for the gaming conventions in summer, there isn't a lot I can say about it at the moment. It's different, that's for sure, but it will be a full-sized gaming environment, not just a sourcebook or a gaming supplement. While it is based on an existing game engine/license, there are significant changes being made to give it the dark future balance.

Some of the other projects I am working on seem to be up in the air at the moment. The Cyberpunk 2020 sourcebook on the aftermath of the 4th Corporate War, the long-awaited third book in the Firestorm trilogy has been on haiatus for a year now. The third draft was delivered to R.Talsorian Games in December 2008 but its actual publication date is unknown. I just hope we don't have to wait as long for this as we did for V3.

The Assassin's Cloak project has taken several turns in the last few months. It originally encompassed the story of Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby and the circle of people around him, his suspicious death and the possible links between his murder and that of several other contemporary people. Part of the evolution of the project included looking further at Guy Fawkes. Not that he has any connection to the Earl, but there are a decided lack of solid academic resources on one of histories most infamous individuals.

Many years ago I wrote an article on the slim possibility Fawkes married and his wife bore a son, just prior to his departure for Flanders. It still seems to get some commentary across the internet, and the online biography I wrote seems to be spreading further afield each year as well. So the idea of a detailed biography on Fawkes offers a strong appeal both to me as a researcher (and a recognized authority on the subject) and to a wider public who would certainly gain insight from such a book. It has also garnered a lot of encouragement from friends and associates who agree that a definitive work on Guy Fawkes is overdue.

I have thus consigned both SiG and 1601 to the archives, to be revived one day, but not for a while.

Denver - Mile High Dragon Released

2009-09-09T11:06:00.003-07:00

Yes it's finally here, my first 'official' RPG supplement has finally hit the electronic shelves - Denver: Mile High Dragon. This is scheduled to be the first in a series of city specific source books for R.Talsorian's Cybergeneration role-playing system currently under license to Firestorm Ink.

If you want to purchase a copy, and all Cybergen gamers need to, then you can head over to DriveThruRPG and get one.

In the pipeline there are several projects including books on Sydney, Miami, Clarkers, and an update on Yogangs, all of which are well into their first drafts and beyond. So, lets see some encouragement and buy Mile High Dragon!

CCG's - The End of the Road?

2009-05-24T17:51:00.003-07:00

A recent comment on a message board really got me thinking over the last few days. A booth holder at a fairly large gaming convention made the claim that the Collectable Card Game as a gaming vehicle was dead, and that apart from the 2-3 games that will inevitably survive (Magic, VS and L5R), the chances of a new game breaking into the industry are zero. Not only have most themes been covered in one shape or form, but the economic crisis that the industry has been collapsing under for a while now has finally taken its toll.

Now is not the time to be releasing a new card game, just ask Decipher. The two key magazines, Scrye and Inquest are sadly no more and recent news includes the demise of WizKids and the scaling back of Upper Deck - both significant players in the industry. On top of that, it seems that the playing community is tired of investing in yet another new game only to find it barely makes its first expansion and the support for it disappears long before there is any inclination that the game has died. I've lost count of the number of CCG's that I have bought into over the years that failed - Netrunner, Cyberpunk CCG, Shadowrun, X-Files, Call of Cthulhu, Spycraft, 7th Sea, Street Warriors. Many were excellent games and with the right company behind them could have been big sellers that could still be drawing crowds at GenCon and emptying shelves in gaming stores.

So, is this the end for card games, or is there something out there that could be the last gasp saviour? Firestorm Ink's DCG concept, despite it needing a lot of actual development still as far as marketing and sustainability goes could be an interesting proposition, and I say this not because I work for them, but because it's a concept that doesn't have PROFIT as it's driving force. It's a game design concept put together to generate great, affordable, and versatile entertainment. Wasn't that what the industry was all about before the big corporate entities changed the face of it?

It's no coincidence that apart from Fight Klub, 2008-2009 has not seen the release of any major Collectable Card Game. They've done their dash. People are too aware of how they quickly become black holes that suck your spare money into and so have become more discerning at what games offer beyond just the gameplay. A game needs to be an entertainment experience rather than just dueling across the table with a friend. It's become quality not quantity, and alas few games in the last few years can truly call themselves quality products. Flashy graphics, cool art, and jazzy packaging don't cut it, they never have, but gamers have finally woken up to the fact.

So yes, the CCG industry is at its lowest point in years. Most of the minor games have now bitten the dust and their players have returned to the big players - Magic the Gathering, VS, L5R, and Yu-Gi-Oh. There are holdouts, as there are with anything but unless someone truly can come up with the next big thing in Collectable Card Games, the End of the Road is just there, on the horizon...

Fight Klub - My Last Tirade

2009-04-05T10:55:00.006-07:00

Well, OK, because I just wanted to, here is the very last post I will make regarding Fight Klub.

I’ve decided I don’t like the whole ‘culture’ that is growing up around Fight Klub, but then from my earlier posts how would you ever believe anything else. I await the typical fanboy responses to this post, if they are reading this which I know some are. Some players take delight in searching online for any Fight Klub threads and then spamming them with “If you join tell them xxxxx sent you”. This as you will see only helps to support my argument below.

I’ve noticed that the atmosphere on the forums is changing, and not in a good way. While there may have been some dissent while the game was still being promised, there is a lot of disappointment surfacing from many of those who were faithfully keeping the hype going for most of last year. Their disappointment stems from two things - the game’s lack of depth and the fact that the game is not growing as quick or as effectively as they expected, which impacts other things on the site being useful or available (such as Gangs, Alliances, Gang Blogs, you know, the stuff that would help promote the game).

The apparent lack of flexibility in deck design for the various character cards, and the fact that after what is now 3 years, Decipher is calling for playtesters for the first actual expansion of the game (set Three) is worrisome. That’s a lengthy process and with printing puts Three at least 5-6 months away. Will the game be dead by then as players looking for variety have none? It's also just a little disconcerting when the 'Everything Else' topic on the forums gets more posts than the actual game related ones. But there is worse. the whole Gang concept seems to have fallen flat on its face. In the last 6 weeks there have been about 50 new gang sign-ups. You would expect that number to be ten times that given the game has just been released and the motivation of players to promote the game is high, or is it.

As the game has been shipping now for over a month I thought I would check out the response to the game on RPGNet, perhaps the primary gaming community on the web. There seems to be only a single thread, spammed of course by a couple of fanboys. I’d rather listen to those who have been regular contributors to those forums and the industry in general than a couple of noobs with less than a dozen posts between them who only joined up to shill the game – it’s what Decipher’s viral marketing campaign is based on after all, shilling the game when and where you can, right?

Here is a sample:

The best part is how I'm now totally unwilling to believe any positive reviews or comments on this game because I'm suspicious that it's someone shilling for a kickback.

Invitation Only suggests cool exclusiveness, or at least quality control on membership. But any mystique is destroyed by every player scrabbling to recruit for the rewards available before diminishing returns set in.

Yes, an earlier post of mine conveyed one fallacy of the game’s apparent ‘exclusiveness’, regarding becoming a Founding Mentor.

I'm having a hard time taking this whole concept seriously. Someone seriously had, what, a board meeting with graphs and charts and everything, and somehow sold the idea that what game geeks really want is a CCG where you can pit the cast of Fargo against the cast of Jumanji?

There seems to be a set of common objections to the game – the ‘pyramid’ method of marketing, the sleaziness of elements such as money as a reward and Fight Klub Girls, and the B-movie nature of the licenses.

No matter which way you slice and dice it, promoting the game by giving players cash rewards based on the sales of those they recruit, is multi-level marketing. Whether its just one level or not, and the truth is it's failing miserably. Most people are being recruited to the game based on this strategy which defeats the whole purpose of this Mentor program – how is a person going to Mentor someone who lives on the other side of the world and only signed up because they saw your handle on a forum post? They’re not, so let’s stop calling it a Mentor Program and call it what it is – a Pyramid Program.

Fight Klub Girls? Seriously, come on Decipher, drag this game out of the gutter and stop trying to use cheap thrills and sleaze to attract pre-pubescent males. Are you aiming to narrow your market share right from the get go? Don’t you have the confidence in the quality and gameplay of this CCG without having to resort to the basest elements to sell it? That’s sad.

As one poster to RPGNet put it, and Rick Cummings elaborated on, there is something about all of the licenses that have been acquired. They are all B-Movie licenses and ones that would never sustain a game of their own. I have mentioned on the Decipher forums a few times that to expect Darth Vader or Spiderman is totally unrealistic because of the current licensing of those properties, and I found it almost dishonest by Decipher to use such comments. In a recent interview, Tim Ellington was still espousing it - "Well, there’s always been the theoretical question of “who would win?” between famous characters. Captain Kirk versus Darth Vader". The reality is the players will never find out, not in Fight Klub anyway. Decipher incidently lost both the Star Wars and Star Trek licenses years ago so the likelihood of them re-acquiring them is, well, zero.

So how does the game look a month down the line, when we should be hearing of tournaments at the summer conventions, noises being made about large playgroups and the first batch of rewards being sent out? Surprisingly quiet really. It’s almost as if Decipher are sitting back thinking their job is done and it’s now in the hands of their player community to market and sell the game for them. The player base is less than a thousand. Good grief, even Cyberpunk CCG the last game I was heavily involved in behind the scenes had more than a thousand players after the first month. One thing that just makes me laugh is the 4 top posters on the original forums, and probably still the top 4 posters on the new ones have exactly one sign-up between them (where a sign-up is a confirmed sale of the game). Like I said if Decipherwere relying on the players to sell their game - BIG MISTAKE.

As to other web sites covering the game, well it seems RPGNet isn’t alone. The same few fanboys have been banned from several of the more popular gaming sites, posts regarding the game are nothing but ads for it, and there are no serious web sites out there devoted to its play. Apart from Decipher's own site (and the forums are a mess for new players and are in serious need of a redesign) there are perhaps a couple of blogs and neither has been updated with anything of value in weeks. Yes I know that there are a lot of active blogs on the Decipher site itself, but be realistic it's a Catch-22 - who will read those blogs if non-Decipher blogs aren't out there bringing players in? Hmmm, sounds all very 'exclusive' to me, as the RPGNet poster indicated.

A game developer friend of mine gives the game a year. He reckons that by the summer con season Decipher will be shedding staff (a convention booth at Origins or GenCon, accommodation, etc is not cheap) and by Christmas Fight Klub will be yet another dead CCG. I would follow the Silverhand First Law of CCG's - wait for the first expansion to hit the stores. At least then you know it wasn't a one-shot. Oh wait, Decipher aren't using stores.....

Perhaps them releasing the game spiel originally on April 1, 2008 was ironically coincidental...

UPDATE: Last Monday it was announced that Rick Eddleman pled guilty to 12 charges relating to the embezzlement of $1.5 million from Decipher. At the same time it was announced that Decipher had written off losses totalling $8.9 million. Wow, just wow, and my friend gives the game a year?

A Cybergeneration Leap Forward

2009-04-03T21:50:00.004-07:00

I elected not to write another article on Decipher's new CCG Fight Klub as my latest post, rather I'll point you to a 2-part post by Rick Cummings that outlines my thoughts almost point for point. Rick and I share the same concerns although I am probably a little more willing to throw around terms like batshit crazy for the marketing strategy of letting 15-year olds sell your game across the internet, and get banned from every gaming forum, message board and web site known in the process - which only further sullies the Decipher name. But as I said I wasn't going to write about Fight Klub.

What I am going to do is put in a plug for the next CyberGeneration offering I am working busily on. As mentioned in previous posts, Denver: Mile High Dragon is in art and Clarkers will soon follow it (once it's completed). The third project on the go is Sydney: Dreamtime Download, set, you guessed it in Sydney, Australia. The Manuscript is already bigger than both Denver and Clarkers and is only about 80% complete. When finished it will take CyberGeneration beyond the ISA for the first time and provide an alternative city/country in which to play the game. You will of course be able to rework most of it and turn it into almost any major metropolis you choose.

One interesting element though is I have taken 3 of the traditional Yogang types and given them an Australian spin as well as added a new one. Gogangers have become RevHeads, Neo-Pioneers have become Jacks, and Boardpunks have become Skegs. There's also a new Evolved type called Scrappers - characters who can ingest everything from rock to metal and derive nourishment from it. One of their specialist tricks is regurgitating a corrosive hexite bile that can eat away at most things, from flesh to metal. Anyone remember that scene in The Fly?

This is certainly the most detailed of the CyberGeneration material I have written to date and I'd like to see it as a launching pad for several additional city sourcebooks not based in the ISA. I already have ideas for a London Sourcebook....

Cybergeneration: Revolution 2.0+

2009-03-05T11:49:00.003-07:00

In a couple of weeks the artwork for the new Firestorm Ink produced Cybergeneration book Denver: Mile High Dragon will be available for us to peruse. Once it is done, the next Firestorm Ink book, Enemies of the Revolution: Clarkers will follow it into art production. Both books should be available by the third quarter this year, with the first hopefully making an appearance at the Convention season openers in August.

Firestorm Ink have had something of a love/hate relationship with Cybergeneration, but it finally seems to be kicking back into production, with the prospect of more material, greater support, and an expansion of the playing world beyond the Incorporated States of America.

Excellent support at Dreamation recently showed that there is still enthusiasm out there for the game and with a slight Revolution 2.0+ makeover (expanded Yogang specializations, new Yogangs and new Evolved types) the game could easily grow its player base.

You can watch a couple of interviews Jon Lavallee of Firestorm Ink did at Dreamation regarding Cybergeneration [HERE] and [HERE].

Cybergeneration releases slated for 2009/2010 include a tentatively titled Children of the Revolution, an updated and in-depth look at Yogangs, creating localized gangs within each group and looking at their history; New York: The Chrome Apple, and Night City to follow the Denver City Sourcebook.

Fight Klub Goes Live

2009-02-21T21:59:00.004-07:00

The CCG Fight Klub by Decipher has finally gone live. We shall have to wait to see its impact on the industry, what with its new marketing technique - the decision to forego traditional brick and mortar retailers and sell its product directly from its web site through its Mentor Program.

Truth be told if it works it will be a great new model, but its reliance on a small player base (significantly smaller than the original 6,000 Founder Mentors it originally wanted to recruit) may be what causes the game to stumble out of the gate. I'm buying some cards though, I think the artwork as well as the game's concept are particularly good (if you're a fan of film and television all of the proprietory characters in Fight Klub are drawn from popular culture) and even if it only ever gains cult rather than superstar status it will be fun to play a few games with people I know who are avid CCG fans (and I'm one of those who collects rule books too!).

So, if you are interested in seeing what the game has to offer then drop on by to decipher.com and to get through the front door, tell them Mysteron sent you.

Dreamation, NAGA and the 2009 Con Season

2009-02-07T10:14:00.004-07:00

The gaming convention season opens in just under two weeks in New Jersey with Dreamation running from February 19th-22nd. Double Exposure run 2 events annualy, the other being DexCon in July, and over the years both have strongly supported CyberGeneration - one of the few places that the RPG has become something of a tradition.

This year is no exception, and while I won't actually be attending in person, Jonathan Lavallee will be, and amongst his usual box of tricks, he'll be running the first NAGA (North American Gaming Alliance) module I have written - Fall From Grace.

All of the NAGA modules will tie in to the anticipated releases from Firestorm Ink, so hot on the heels of each module will be a new PDF sourcebook. The first of these will be Denver - Mile High Dragon.

In the coming weeks I should sit down and start to plan the Cyberpunk 2020 scenario for Origins/GenCon based on the material I put together for the new Aftershock book. I'm going out on a limb here but this one will definitely not be set in the collapsing USA. I'm still undecided as to whether it will be set in Europe or Australia/The Pacific but I'm currently leaning heavily toward the unfolding events surrounding The Vatican - but you'll just have to wait for the sourcebook to read that!

CFC - The Fundamentals

2009-01-25T01:22:00.002-07:00

The beta testing for Championship Fight Card has been going extremely well and we are likely to launch in the next few days as the number of users passes 250.

I thought I'd post a brief summary of the game and how it works so people interested in giving it a try at least have some basic understanding that will enable them to get something out of it when they join without having to feel their way around, get frustrated, and leave.

The initial styles are more Strength, Fortitude and Dexterity based. So it makes sense to concentrate initially on raising those attributes. In the next release we will have TaeKwonDo, Jiu-Jitsu and Wrestling. These new styles will focus on Reflex, Willpower and Fortitude respectively.

Initially you will want to select your fighting posture. This determines the number of Offensive and Defensive points you have for the selection of Special Moves, and the composition of your Core Fighting Deck. Offensive Action Points are equal to twice your Dexterity, Defensive Action Points are equal to twice your Reflex, and you have a floating number of AP that can be split between Offense and Defense equal to your Intelligence. Fortitude and Strength determines the amount of damge you do, the amount of Hit Points you have, and the amount of Fatigue yo inflict or can prevent. Willpower and Intelligence determine how quickly when facing specific moves or fighting styles you can learn their techniques and thus enable your fighter to train in those areas.

Once you have selected your posture, spend some Street Kred (SK) and unlock some Special Moves that will enhance your posture. Trade some SK for some extracash and train either some more attributes or moves. Once you are confident you're ready to fight, try some sparring with fighters in the same weight division as you. Tune your Fight Profile until your sparring has you consistently defeating your opponents, and then turn professional.

In the Fight screen, select an opponent and see how you fare against them. Each fight has a purse awarded to the winner. The greater the weight division between you and your opponent and the higher their Prestige, the bigger the purse. But beware, bigger fighters generally have more Hit Points and better moves that you cannot unlock yet. Once you have earned enough cash, go back and train.

Once the game has been running for a couple of weeks we will be implementing a weekly and monthly championship where winners will be awarded Championship Belts and will fight for purses that include both cash and Street Kred. You can also earn SK by inviting your Facebook friends to join your Dojo or by purchasing it through Paypal or one of the sponsors on the Fight Exchange screen. Eventually we hope to offer additional things to purchase that will enhance the fighting experience as well as an ever-increasing stable of fighting styles to try and master.

It's an excellent game and an enjoyable way to spend maybe 15 minutes every day. As I mentioned in my earlier post we are hoping to expand into other genres with a similar engine. Next on the cards is an 80's Wrestling game.

Championship Fight Card

2009-01-20T23:55:00.006-07:00

I've been involved in the development of a gaming engine for some of the social networks. While its not the kind of game I originally anticipated creating I think its a great example of what you can do when you put your mind to it.

Based around the idea of cage fighting, its a strategy based game that requires some thought into creating and developing a fighter with the ultimate goal of fighting in The Octagon and becoming a weight class champion. As you fight you can unlock new moves, new styles, and train up both your attributes and special moves to make you a better fighter. In time more moves and more styles will be added. At the moment you can select Boxing, Karate, Muay-Thai (Kickboxing), and Jailhouse Rock.

The other developers are people I have known from the gaming industry for several years now and we had thrown ideas around almost monthly before we finally had this epiphony. Expect to see more games in this format in the coming months, including Wrestling and Roman Gladiatorial Combat. Until then head on over to
Championship Fight Card, sign up and join the beta test.

Playing by the Rules

2009-01-03T09:47:00.009-07:00

Selecting a rule set for your game (assuming you're not going to design one yourself) is much like auditioning new members for a band (that's another story). You have to go ever each and every element to ensure that what you choose has the best fit for your intended purpose. In my 25+ years of gaming I've seen a lot of rule systems and some just didn't work either because they were too loose or simply too restrictive. The best rules were those that didn't infringe on the flow of the adventure and were more guidelines than hard and fast mandates. Unfortunately a lot of the open source rule sets out there at the moment (True20, D20, OGL) simply aren't designed for the type of game I am putting together.

That's why at the moment I am leaning heavily towards the Fuzion system, with some home modifications of course. I can't expect to find a system that I can drop my material into in such a way that it fits perfectly. That's unrealistic. Then again I don't want to have to spend months adding enhancements or working with something that's just not flexible enough. I like the way the attributes are broken down in Fuzion, after all they focus on the individuality of the character rather than restrict you to churning out one-dimensional cardboard cutouts with Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Charisma, Intelligence and Wisdom, and little else. A system must have that flexibility when you're designing what amounts to real people and putting them into real historical situations rather than throw-away semi-superhero's that are there to save the day. I also tend to see a lot of systems that place far too much emphasis on the role of combat in a game. The whole point of 1601 will be characterization, political and religious intrigue, and conspiracy rather than a high body count. That's also why I have contemplated including a LARP module, something that some systems have made attempts at doing - in particular the excellent Mind's Eye Theatre series from White Wolf.

The LARP element I am hoping will attract a lot of people to this game. Because of the lack of magic and the limited combat, this kind of setting and the storylines that will grow out of it lend itself perfectly to this format. From the stand-off between soldiers and a Catholic family suspectd of hiding a priest to the first contact betweeen the Jonestown settlers and native Americans.

Some colour background:

1601 is a character oriented role-playing system set during the last tumultuous years of the reign of Elizabeth I. Unlike many other RPG systems, 1601 is not heavily centered around combat, rather the subtlety, communication and interplay between individual characters, both real and imaginary. While there may be the opportunity for some to prove their courage and skill on the battlefield or in one on one combat, the primary focus of this game is the intrigue, the deception and the religious and political turmoil that was orbiting the final years of The Golden Age.

Catholic repression had reached a zenith by the close of the 16th century. Catholic’s had conspired at every chance to remove Elizabeth from the throne and replace her firstly with Mary, Queen of Scots, and then by a Catholic sympathizer amidst the royally connected families. Under the guise of religious freedom the fires of rebellion were stoked in hundreds of Catholic houses throughout England. While many sought to change England from within, others exiled themselves to European shores or placed their hopes on the discovery of new lands where they were free to live and worship as they chose.

As the spies of Walsingham, Burghley, and later his son the Earl of Salisbury dug deep into this Catholic underground, exposing both fact and fiction, hundreds were hunted down, tortured and eventually executed as enemies of the state. It is a time of turmoil, of political aspirations, international intrigue, conspiracies and religious persecution. The lack of a successor to an aging Queen has fractured the country along both religious and political lines as the nobility vie for popular support.

Amidst this intrigue lie secret societies, alchemists and hermeticists, magi and those who challenge the boundaries of science. In the world of spies are the actors and playwrights that are linked to the greats such as Marlowe and Shakespeare. Sedition festers like a sore and nobody is safe from its clutches. Whether you choose to do the bidding of Cecil and the Crown and hunt down Jesuits, the traitorous nobility, or non-conformists; give comfort to your fellow religionists and plot rebellions and assassinations in the taverns of London; or seek a new beginning in Europe or the New World, your story is woven tightly into history. Can you change it?

The Assassin's Cloak

2008-12-28T11:43:00.003-07:00

A lady paid me a wonderful compliment in a bookstore the other day, a compliment that I guess helped me to realize that my research into The Assassin's Cloak certainly has appeal. I had just picked up a copy of The World of Christopher Marlowe by David Riggs to add to my collection when she appeared from behind and asked me whether I thought that Marlowe was Shakespeare. Now anyone who knows me knows that a question like that is like a red rag to a bull. So after spewing forth a dozen or so facts to support my argument that Marlowe wasn't Shakespeare, but that he didn't die in a Deptford tavern, and that Ferdinando Stanley, long associated with Marlowe's 'friends' was likely murdered by the agents of the government to keep Catholics from the throne, she told me that such a story would make compelling reading.

She's right. The story itself has that fascinating 'whodunnit' element to it, so I have again decided to work seriously on it, likely at the expense of some of the other things I have on my plate, but such is the spark of motivation. Now if only someone would contact me about co-authoring a film script on The Gunpowder Plot....

Movie: Children of Men

2008-12-13T10:01:00.005-07:00

My friend Gary Astleford at Neuro Suction has just been lamenting his current situation - being unable to run a game session, and not having had the chance for almost a year now. Welcome to my world, Gary. I think it's been a good couple of years since I actually GM'd a game, probably at GenCon. It hasn't stopped me writing though, and inspiration these days seems to be quite thick in the air.

Case in point. Last night I watched Children of Men. I must say that it was nice to see an English/European dystopian film, like one of my all-time favourites - Nineteen Eighty-Four directed by Michael Radford and starring John Hurt. Children of Men is an excellent look at a dark future society that would fit right into the Cyberpunk: Aftershock world. The violence is real, without the need for hollywood pyrotechnics, the cinematography uses the single-shot sequence liberally and to great effect as it makes you feel you are a part of the action, and the world that director Alfonso Cuaron has created doesn't give that CGI feel that so many American made films these days do.

The film also puts the characters in the action and they are subjected to its events, like balls in a pinball machine bouncing of the bumpers they react to the scene as it unfolds around them, rather than the traditional action film of the characters directing the events themselves. This all adds to the hopelessness of the situation and the despair that each character feels - the inability to actually decide an outcome for themselves - they always seem to be taking the first available opportunity to present itself.

The characters are believable and Clive Owen's acting is excellent. His character knows he's out of his depth from the moment the first bullets begin to fly, and there is no time for painting a romantic hue over any of the film - it's brutally honest, full of swearing, blood, gore and liberal doses of political finger-pointing. For those who want to look deeper there is plenty of imagery, from the strong religious theme that underpins the film to the constant reference and allusion to modern events and problems such as terrorism and immigration. This is one of those rare films I would give 10/10 to and suggest to anyone interested in the Dark Future to watch, more than once.

It Keep's Me Occupied

2008-12-07T14:43:00.007-07:00

I'm always being asked 'What are you working on?', Well, for those who care to follow along here, over the next few months I will be posting (hopefully frequent) updates on the various writing/gaming projects that are presently keeping me occupied. Where an NDA prevents me from saying too much (or anything at all), I'll try and at least be interesting in my vagueness. I'm even going to attempt to use labels on each relevant post so if you so choose you can follow individual threads or projects.

Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0.
I include this one at the top of the list simply because it's the only official piece of work I am eventually going to get paid for. Yes I should get paid in some way for others, but this one is official.

R.Talsorian Games are developing the long-awaited final installment of the Firestorm series. What began with Stormfront and Shockwave will end with Aftershock. It will look at the world at the end of the 4th Corporate War and lay the foundation for the AltCults that appeared in Cyberpunk V3.

I am hoping that this will lead to additional projects within this license.

CyberGeneration: Revolution 2+
Firestorm Ink are in the process of resurrecting this license by putting out a series of PDF sourcebooks. These will look in detail at various cities around the ISA (including Denver, Miami, Night City, Chicago and New York) as well as the Enemies of the Revolution. Expect the first of these to hit DriveThruRPG.com in 2009.

1601
I've been throwing notes together for a while now for my Elizabethan RPG system. I've decided that it will be written using the Fuzion system (but that might change) and will contain a significant LARP section.

It's set just after the Essex Rebellion of 1601 (hence the title) and will allow players to portray characters as diverse as soldiers of fortune, privateers, explorers, members of the Catholic underground (from Jesuits to conspirators), or the pursuivants that hunted them down.

SPECTRUM is Green
This is the fledgling 'idea' I mentioned in my previous post and because I intend to pursue at least the prospect of putting something together, I have included it. whether it will grow any legs, I don't know.

So those are the four RPG projects that are presently underway. They seem to take up most of my free time these days, not that I have as much of that any more as I once did. The last project that should be included is of course my book on Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby titled 'The Assassin's Cloak'.

This is the voice of the Mysteron....

2008-12-03T22:06:00.006-07:00

Someone once asked me if I could acquire the license to any movie, TV show or piece of intellectual property and develop an RPG system out of it what would it be. It's one of those conversation starters, something a bunch of us ('us' being gamers) could sit round and wax lyrically on for hours.

The assumption of course is that it can't already be in RPG form. That's too easy. Everyone wants to have a go at reinventing their favourite system, from Star Wars to Lord of the Rings, Dungeons and Dragons to World of Darkness. For me there are several contenders, from a variety of genres and ranging from small and insignifcant to potentially huge.

I'm already developing ideas for an Elizabethan RPG system that I think could do well with a LARP component built into it, but that's something that doesn't require a license, just hours upon hours of detailed research, and then I get to actually do some writing. No, if I could take any single license it would have to be the license for the world of Gerry Anderson. Who? I'm sure many of you have no idea who he is. Remember the TV programmes Thunderbirds or Captain Scarlet & The Mysteron's? what about the program Space 1999?

Both Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet (along with the lead in series like Fireball XL5) were 'set' in and around the years 2065-2068. The first involves an organization called International Rescue who miraculously turn up when things go wrong to save the day, and the second is about a mysterious security agency called Spectrum that exists to thwart international terrorism and fight the war against a race of Martians called The Mysterons.

The high-tech, yet bleak future appeal of these two shows would make an excellent pseudo-cyberpunk setting in which you could have players playing both Spectrum agents and individuals that exist in the murky and shadowy world they live in. I keep abreast of the state of the Gerry Anderson properties on a regular basis, but to date nobody has ever even attempted to put an RPG system together. Considering Gerry no longer owns the rights to the show and has recently been battling Carlton Television to secure them again so he can do an upated Thunderbirds, it seems hardly likely that such an RPG project would never see the light of day. Still, it's an interesting idea all the same.

The Birth of an Idea - The DCG

2008-12-01T09:40:00.010-07:00

There are a lot of things to consider when developing a CCG, and as a player there are plenty of things to consider before investing time and money into a game. The best of all combinations then is a game that is cheap to produce but retains quality, engaging and addictive in its gameplay, not such a massive financial investment that if nobody else you know plays it you haven't lost your shirt, and a game that retains a degree of either collectability or rarity amongst its cards. The DCG or Downloadable Card Game does all of these.

Firestorm Ink have an excellent concept here and the first incarnation of their DCG idea is currently being rolled out in all its Alpha glory. Factions is a political game that takes some of its ideas from games like Allegiance and adds an engaging set of mechanics and gameplay in a very accessible framework. They are accepting alpha testers now, email them at alpha@firestorm-ink.com.

What is a DCG then? It's actually a vehicle to produce card games. Cards are printed to PDF (the same quality files that go to a regular printer) and then players can buy the individual PDF files for a set price (each PDF has 9 cards on it). Each file you purchase gives you a credit. These credits can then be used to enter tournaments, acquire additional rare cards, etc. Once you have the card PDF you can print it as many times as you want, on any medium, from proper card backing to ordinary printer paper. If a card set has 180 cards then the entire game will cost you $20 to start playing if each file costs $1, and it is anticipated that this is about what each file will cost.

Want some friends to learn? Print them off some cards, simple as that. Lose a few cards, or they get torn and ratty, print some more. So what's stopping players buying the cards and then just printing them for all and sundry? Well nothing really except by actually buying the files you are earning the Credits and you also register to get unique card files emailed to you. If you choose to give these rare cards to your friends too, then that's up to you, but not doing so will give you an advantage both in local play and in tournaments.

Beyond this simple download of the files, players can purchase a subscription. This entitles them to all the cards that are produced for the length of their subscription (including all rare and special cards). Higher levels of subscription will enable the player to have the cards professionally printed on card and posted to them (keep the card backed set for tournaments and use the paper backed copies for friendly social play).

It's a great concept, and allows a player to invest as little or as much into the game as they wish by bypassing or putting in the players hands the major cost of a CCG's production - the printing, bring in friends initially at no cost, and if the game isn't your cup of tea, you haven't lost your shirt. With some good titles behind this idea, Firestorm Ink might just be onto something.

Deciphering Fight Klub

2008-11-29T10:26:00.011-07:00

The last couple of years haven't been too kind to Decipher, what with the implosion of the gaming industry in general, coupled with their lawsuits and embezzlement issues. So when I heard that they had massivley reduced their staff, moved buildings, and put all their hopes and dreams into a new TCG called Fight Klub, I was keenly interested in how they were going to climb out of the mire. They've had some good games over the years, Star Trek, .Hack, Lord of the Rings and of course the original Star Wars CCG.

They removed their entire web site on the evening of March 31, and April 1 launched a 30 day sign-up for Founding Mentors with a transition Fight Klub web site - announcing to the gaming world they were intent on changing the way CCG's are played, sold, and collected. Bold plans indeed.

I signed on hoping to be one of the 'select few' to become Founding Mentors (at least that was what I got from the spiel - turns out that in order to get anywhere near their lofty goal of 6,000 Founding Mentors they approved anyone who signed up with no selection process - first black mark Decipher) and sat back to enjoy the ride. That was April 1st (an auspicious day if ever one was selected to launch a game). Yesterday, November 27th, Thanksgiving they finally released card spoilers for it and it looks like it might actually make it to print. Let's have a look back over the last few months though to guage where the game is, where its heading, and whether it's Decipher's 'golden goose'.

Decipher's track record is atrocious. apart from the outstanding lawsuits filed against them from retailers, players, and staff, their lack of communication with their player base is legendary. So, with that in mind it would seem ironic that they are claiming they will be revolutionizing the gaming industry and giving the power of this game's direction to the player community. The game sadly has stalled since April, several times, and there are as many people on their forums bemoaning that fact as there are fanboys claiming its the next best thing since sliced bread, despite only having just seen cards for the first time. The distinct lack of news in those 7 months doesn't auger well for that change in the industry - second black mark Decipher).

This diehard fanbase is also just a little too creepy for my liking. How can you become so invested (to the point of extreme fanaticism) in a game you know next to nothing about. They say there is a sucker born every minute, well it seems a high proportion have made their way to Fight Klub already. People who post in excess of 3,000 times to a forum promoting a game that doesn't actually exist at present really do need to get a life, I'm sorry. Oh, and we've been promised 'Fight Klub Girls'. WTF? This isn't a black mark Decipher, it just makes me shake my head in total disbelief that you'd resort to such sleaze to attract your obvious market - spotty post-pubescent males. What about an intelligent game for mature players or is that beyond most gaming companies these days?

I'd like to be able to review the game play, the effectiveness of the mechanics, the interaction of the cards, and of course test Decipher's claim that this will change the CCG industry, but it's been 9 months since we were told about Fight Klub (and a further 2 years in development if you believe the hype on their web site). If they don't have anything concrete yet then it is hard to believe a game like this, that relies on countless film and television licenses before it can make it to print, is going to set the CCG market on fire or provide a changing gameplay environment that CCG players generally seek. Yes Decipher claim once again (they seem to be doing a lot of 'claiming') that they have countless licenses, so you would think they could have at least spoiled one or two cards in the last 9 months, right? It's called maintaining enthusiasm and momentum amongst your fan base.

With part of the gaming industry claiming their marketing strategies are 'Amway for CCG's' (for every player you recruit to Fight Klub - it's invitation only - you get 10% of their lifetime purchases), another part shaking their heads at Decipher's continued inability to communicate effectively with their players, and only a handful of diehard kids (and yes the mentality of those on the forums gives their age and maturity level away rather easily) being the basket that Decipher have put all its eggs in, I really don't see either Decipher or this game getting beyond the first major hurdle, which will be when the license expectations of the players (who have been clambering over each other for licenses such as various Anime, Marvel and DC characters, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings) conflicts with what Decipher is able to acquire, because anyone with a modicom of gaming industry knowledge knows that the owners of those licenses guard them jealously and are unlikely to allow a competitor to produce rival gaming products using them.

Personally I don't see the characters in the game being enough to retain or capture a quality player base (so far we have such luminaries as The Jigsaw Killer, some guy from Lost Boys and Chev Chelios amongst others - a real niche market there Decipher) and once the initial release hype has gone I believe Fight Klub will end up as yet another failed CCG with a small diehard following failing to reach a critical mass that will justify keeping the game alive. There arealready as many nay-sayers about the character selection as there are extreme fanboys trying to keep it pumped. It seems to be a whimper rather than a bang.

But I'll reserve my final judgement for the game when it has been out six months and we can see where its heading. I have to admit that the cards do look pretty good, but then again once you get beyond the initial eye-candy it's the gameplay that will keep people interested - so if Decipher have sacrificed gameplay for visual appeal, well that's the third black mark I'm afraid. Strike three, and it's Game Over.

DevTain is back Online!

2008-11-28T10:44:00.002-07:00

A friend of mine recently asked me whatever happened to my gaming blog and to be honest I couldn't give him a satisfactory answer. Truth be told I had so many other things going on at the time that it became an unfortunate casualty, as many blogs do. It's been nearly two years since I posted my last note of disappointment at the demise of the Anaheim GenCon. Perhaps having such a big convention right on my doorstep, and then seeing it die after only a couple of years helped to erode any enthusiasm I had left for the industry.

Then again maybe I just felt that I needed a break from something that had behind the scenes become all-consuming. I must admit I also felt a little disappointed at not being asked to help further in the process of putting GenCon Oz together. I had some great ideas and while the convention has ultimately become a success, I still believe my input could have improved some small part of it. I understand it's hard being a hands-on organizer from afar, but I was ready, willing and able to help, yet nobody asked. All of that was perhaps instrumental in the blog just ending.

Well, I have finally returned. Things in general haven't progressed as far forward as I would have liked with regard to my own gaming projects, but at least they have moved forward and they will still provide material for my posts here. I've also moved. Arizona is now just another chapter in life as Florida was before it. I'm now breathing good clean country air in Oregon, running a 50 acre sheep farm and training to become a cheesemaker. Yep you read that right, a cheesemaker.

So if you are interested in comments from the cheap seats, insights into the gaming industry and my adventures through it - from CCG's and RPG's to observations and general criticisms or praise, then bookmark Devastation Entertainment and come along for the ride.