Iron Sky: The Roleplaying Game Funded on Kickstarter
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Are you tired of conventional fantasy and sci-fi roleplaying games? Do you enjoy conspiracy theories that make Deus Ex seem tame in comparison? In that case, Iron Sky: The Roleplaying Game may be something right up your alley. Based on an eponymous Finnish-German-Austrian film, Iron Sky: The Roleplaying Game will offer you the chance to play as a character in the Iron Sky universe filled with Moon Nazis, shapeshifting lizards, and tense space combat. And even though I've not previously heard about this movie-turned comic book-turned board game-turned pen and paper RPG, it was aparently popular enough to warrant a sequel and a cult following.
The Kickstarter campaign to fund the Iron Sky pen and paper RPG initially asked for €15,000 and with 17 more days to go, it has already gathered over €18k, ensuring the eventual release of the Iron Sky rulebooks. So, what will the game itself be about when it does come out? Read on to find out:
About Iron Sky
In 2012, Iron Sky took the world by storm. The 7.5 million dollar film was catapulted into instant cult status by the fans, who had funded more than 10% of the project, and its quirky storyline, tongue-in-the-cheek humor and great special effects made sure it reaped in 4 major awards and 2 more major nominations at leading film festivals. The Iron Sky team didn’t stop there, though: it released its own comic and board game and expanded its universe. As we are writing this press release, the 18 million dollar sequel, Iron Sky: The Coming Race is in the final stages of post-production, while spin-off Iron Sky: The Ark is already being worked on.
On top of that, a TV series uncovering the conspiracies that led to Nazis being on the moon in the first place may be added to the Iron Sky setting as well, making sure there is a lot of room for future RPG supplements and adventures.
In the original film, we found about a secret Nazi community that was established on the dark side of the Moon during the closing moments of World War II. With a new generation being readied to ‘bring peace’ to Earth, Führer Wolfgang Kortzsleisch (played by the German cult actor Udo Kier), is preparing the huge space fortress Götterdämmerung to lead the way in establishing a new Third Reich. After American astronaut James Washington (Christopher Kirby) sets foot on a sector of the Moon too close to the secret Nazi base, he gets captured and finds out about the planned invasion. After being rescued by the beautiful Renate Richter (Julia Dietze), James has to come up with a plan to save the world from near-extinction.
The Iron Sky Universe is firmly rooted in both SF and satire. It's not just about fighting Nazis or shape-shifting reptilians, but also about fighting ignorance, hate and bigotry in all shapes, and forms.
In The Coming Race, the Iron Sky Universe will be hugely expanded. Set 20 years after the events depicted in the original film, the former moonbase has become mankind’s last refuge. The film will reveal the existence of a Hollow Earth buried underneath our planet’s wasteland, as well as the truth behind our creation and the presence of the Vril, an ancient reptilian shapeshifting race that will determine the fate of everyone involved.
About the Roleplaying Game
Iron Sky: The Roleplaying Game will allow players to create characters for different time periods within the timeline. Either play just before the Moon Nazis reveal themselves, during the struggle, during the aftermath or 25 years later, when the existence of the Vril is discovered. We'll also provide you with suggestions on how the Moon base got established in the first place, allowing for adventure seeds that can transport the game into the sixties.
The Synthesis rules system provides for rules tweaks according to genre, so you can play Iron Sky as it is intended, as a pulpy satire/pastiche with rules that reflect that, as a more serious, gritty campaign, as en epic struggle against evil, as a space opera adventure, as a political intrigue story, or more.
Aside from the genre rules, the setting is also reflected in on of the five Base Traits a character has: Personality (which is divided in 5 Focuses if you're playing the Advanced version of the game, each of them representing one of the 5 major personality characteristics in psychological literature). A Character's Personality will be of tremendous help during the game if it has a positive value, while negative values may get your Character into trouble. Personality can also temporarily be used instead of one of the other Traits if that Trait is lower (or lowered because of injury or other reasons) and the action needs to be successful.
The game allows you to create your own Character, whilst also including writeups of all of the major (and some of the minor) characters in the film, pregenerated characters, creatures, vehicles and even the Götterdämmerung itself. Full space combat rules are also included and reflect personal combat in order to make the rules easy to digest.
With so much resource material to draw from, the game is sure to expand with supplements and adventures for years to come.
