#sigmata

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"SIGMATA: This Signal Kills Fascists" is a cyberpunk tabletop role-playing game about ethical insurgency against a fascist regime, taking place in a dystopian vision of 1980's America.

Players assume the role of Receivers, the superheroic vanguard of the Resistance, who possess incredible powers when in range of FM radio towers emitting a mysterious number sequence called "The Signal." When the Signal is up, Receivers lead the charge against battalions of Regime infantry and armor or serve as the People's Shield, protecting mass demonstrations from the brutality of a militarized police force and neo-Nazi hooligans. When the Signal is down, however, Receivers are mere mortals, desperately fleeing from a powerful state that senses their weakness.

It's called the Sigmata, a Signal-induced stigmata, because it is a both a blessing and a curse. At least when you're marked by the state, you can’t sit on the sidelines anymore.

Two Receivers storm a Regime fortification, bullets bouncing off of their cybernetic flesh.

Regime propaganda, McCarthy's vision of an America under siege by the Interior Threat.

SIGMATA takes place in a dystopian vision of America where fascists have taken control of the government. The Regime fosters white supremacy, religious bigotry, and Cold War hysteria to turn America's fury against already marginalized populations, all while plundering America's coffers and thrusting the country into pointless proxy wars all over the globe. To punish internal threats to "Real America," the Regime rewrote the U.S. Constitution to establish the Freedom Fist, a complete merger of military and law enforcement, which dutifully executes the fascists' national program of mass incarceration and deportation.

Freedom Fist regulars protecting the State from the People.

The communities targeted by state violence have begun to fight back. The Resistance is bolstered by an unlikely alliance of radical Leftists, right wing militias, Christian extremists, and wealthy entrepreneurs, whose grievances with the Regime overpower the seething contempt they have for each other. As linchpins of the Resistance, the Receivers must take great pains to prevent the alliance from fracturing. If they allow ideology to trump strategy, the factions will fall back on their worst tendencies, handing the Regime the political victories it needs to maintain a stranglehold on the people.

A Resistance SysOp performs reconnaissance on Regime BBS systems using her blazing fast 300-baud Haze modem.

SIGMATA takes place in alt-1986, before the Internet was a thing, and at a time when less than 10% of American homes possessed a computer system. The retro technology of the 1980s is full of constraints that make for exciting stories about Resistance organizing; from seeking a payphone in a dangerous rural environment, to smuggling floppy disks of mission critical data through Regime checkpoints, to infiltrating corporate facilities in order to access room-sized mainframes, to recording amateur VHS videos of Regime atrocities and playing them on public access cable channels. The Resistance must organize using payphones, dial-up modems, bulletin board systems (BBS), floppy disks, pirate radio broadcasts, photocopied zines, and word of mouth, all while avoiding Regime forces using technology, influence, and intimidation to hunt them down.

As a foil to SIGMATA's dark political vision, the game delivers a satirical take on 1980s media, fashion, pop culture, and consumerism, complete with all the embarrassing chic, uncritical jingoism, and style-over-substance cool we've come to expect from 1980s period pieces. Expect playful nods to the 80s film that inspired this setting, including Robocop, Red Dawn, Terminator, War Games, Escape from New York, and Videodrome, among others.

Mechanically, SIGMATA is a hybrid of a traditional role-playing game and a narrativist story game. There is a game master (GM) involved, but players will be doing most of the storytelling. Players make decisions about what tactics and powers their Receivers employ during structured scenes of combat, stealth, and intrigue, but who gets to narrate the outcome of decisions depends on how well players do on their dice rolls. When a dice roll is required, a player rolls a combination of D10 and D6 dice, depending on her Receiver's four processors (i.e. Aggression, Guile, Judgement, and Valor), hoping to get a result of 6 or higher on each die. The more successes a player rolls, the more control she has over the outcome in the story space. Rolling a single success permits her to narrate a story of marginal success, complicated by an element of tension or stress that the GM contributes to the story. Rolling several success permits her to narrate a story of dramatic success, emphasizing how skilled, strong, or courageous her Receiver is, without input from the GM.

A Receiver uses the Wrecking Ball subroutine to channel the Signal into superhuman strength.

Players aren't just rolling dice for a chance to own the story; they are playing to win. Scenes of combat, intrigue, and stealth are structured in a way where each player needs to manage a resource called exposure. Exposure represents danger; the danger of getting caught during a stealth scene, the danger of getting injured during a combat scene, or the danger of being outed as a Resistance spy during an intrigue scene. Each turn, the GM makes moves to increase the Receivers' exposure. In response, each player selects a tactic, allowing her to either increase the enemy's exposure (cautiously or recklessly), reduce her own exposure, or reduce the exposure of one of her allies. The end result is exciting stories told with a narrativist approach, influenced by a tactical resource management mechanic that emphasizes risk/reward and teamwork.

Of course, this is a cyberpunk genre game as much as it is a period piece, so Receivers also rely on superheroic powers (subroutines), performance enhancing cybernetic modules (blade servers), iconic equipment (peripherals), and the evocation of fallen comrades (memory) to press through their most challenging ordeals against the Regime.

SIGMATA also features a strategic meta-game that charts the Resistance's progress in toppling the Regime, based on real counterinsurgency (COIN) doctrine. The Resistance's efforts against the Regime's military forces mean nothing if they are not also winning over the local population and the international community. The strategic strength of the Resistance not only tracks campaign progress, but influences the strength of the Signal, which the Receivers rely upon to fuel their most dramatic abilities.

As an artistic work, SIGMATA attempts a merger of the gritty, cyberpunk styles of Akira with the vibrant colors and action-figure motifs of 1980s Saturday morning cartoons (e.g. G.I. Joe, Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, etc.), all executed by the mighty Ario Murti. With Ario as the game's sole illustrator, expect maximum consistency and continuity of setting materials, quality, and mood.

Kickstarter campaign ends: Thu, December 28 2017 11:46 PM UTC +00:00

Artwork from tabletop RPG SIGMATA which is under crowdfunding phase right now, one of the stretch goals is a soundtrack by yours truly.

What could be better to play than a “tabletop role-playing game about ethical insurgency against a fascist regime, taking place in a dystopian vision of 1980s America”? SIGMATA: This Signal Kills Fascists ticks a lot of boxes that get me excited, so I had to back it when I was clued in about it through Boing Boing. If something promises to kill fascists, chances are you can count me in.

Players…