I’m in a video!

Along with Chris Birch, we  chat with our host Josh about some of the cool stuff that makes the Infinity RPG tick.

First: Modiphius has released the Infinity Quickstart, which includes a streamlined version of the core mechanics, a general overview of the world, and six pregenerated characters so that you can pick it up and try the game out for yourself. The Quickstart is 100% free, so you really don’t have any excuse not to click the link and check it out.

Second: The Quickstart also includes an abridged version of the Paradiso Countdown, an introductory scenario that I wrote. The abridged version is nice, but the full version is even better. It’s going to be part of the Shadow Affairs campaign coming next year. But Modiphius is also offering access to the beta test version of the full adventure as an exclusive for backers of the Infinity kickstarter right now. So if you kick in just $1, you’ll be able to download the full adventure (which should provide 2-3 sessions of gaming). Check it out.

Third: There are now just 3 days left for the Infinity kickstarter! With the stretch goals we’ve been unlocking, the backers are getting some really fabulous deals. The PDF Master Level is currently delivering 13 books for £40 (approximately $60). The All the Books level at £300 is pricey, but you’ll get 22 books in both print and PDF plus a bunch of additional bonus material that’s already been unlocked.

The Infinity roleplaying game will give you all the tools you need to create an exciting campaign set anywhere within the Human Sphere: Play as Hassassin Govads seeking to recover the lost Cubes of their former brothers from the Equinox terrorists who stole them. Join the crew of the Go-Go Marlene! Show as location scouts. Journey into the depths of Acontecimento’s oceans in aquatic Apsara Lhosts. Hunt Shasvastii Speculo Killers through the shattered planetoids of Human Edge. Sign up for a PanOceanian mercenary company fighting Libertos rebels on Varuna, then steal a spaceship and become Haqqislamite privateers!

The default mode of play for the game, however, assumes that you are agents working for Bureau Noir, O-12’s Secret Service. Bureau Noir’s operative teams are flexibly liaised through the other O-12 Bureaus, which means that their duties can effectively take them anywhere in the Human Sphere.

Theoretically, Bureau Noir — like O-12 itself — is a neutral agency and its agents are impartial and unaligned. In reality, the Human Sphere is wracked with factions and every PC will belong to one of them. Their loyalties will be divided and their true agendas will be hidden.

We call this the Wilderness of Mirrors.

SUBTERFUGE INTENSITY

In addition to their primary mission objective, scenarios for the Infinity roleplaying game are designed with multiple faction goals. (For example, the primary mission objective might be to protect media tycoon Charles Angleton from threats made by the criminal AI Svengali. Yu Jing agents, however, have a faction goal to insert an eavesdropping virus onto Angleton’s comlog, and Nomad agents have a faction goal to retrieve intel on Angleton’s suspected collaboration with Svengali.)

When running an Infinity scenario, the GM needs to decide how many of these faction goals they’re going to use. Using a single faction goal for each mission (while perhaps rotating which team member has a faction goal for each mission), for example, will lightly spice the campaign with complications. On the other hand, if every PC receives a faction goal then the mission becomes laced with paranoia in a complicated loop of espionage and counter-intelligence.

PARANOIA LEVEL

The GM will also want to decide on the paranoia level for their campaign.

In Deep Cover campaigns, the faction loyalties of the PCs are concealed and their secret agendas for each mission are kept hidden.

In Diplomatic Immunity campaigns, the PCs know the faction loyalties of their compatriots, but everybody smiles at the polite fiction that they are all loyal, unbiased O-12 agents. (In a campaign like this, it is even possible that the faction agendas are openly known at the gaming table, even if the characters are not aware of them.)

In a Faction United campaign, all of the PCs belong to a single faction and they’re all working together to pursue both their primary mission objective and their faction goal. (This method also allows the GM to easily repurpose published scenarios for Infinity for campaigns that aren’t using the O-12 framing device. For example, if the PCs are working for Yănjīng, the Yu Jing Military Intelligence Service, the GM can simply use the Yu Jing faction goal as the scenario hook.)

Finally, in a Loyal Agents campaign the PCs have no faction goals and their only objective is the primary mission.

USING THE WILDERNESS OF MIRRORS

Setting the right subterfuge intensity and paranoia level for your group and your campaign may require a little bit of fine-tuning, but once you dial in the right values your players will feel the weight of the increased stakes in every action that they take, and the conflicting agendas will heighten the dramatic tension of every decision. The Wilderness of Mirrors will bring the broken alliances and fraught tensions of the Infinity universe to burning life at your gaming table!

DESIGN NOTES

As I’ve previously discussed at length, one of the most overlooked aspects in the design and play of traditional roleplaying games is the underlying game structures that we use in play. In adapting the incredibly rich universe of Infinity into a roleplaying game, there were two key things that I considered of vital importance:

First, to guarantee that Infinity didn’t simply become “yet another science fiction RPG”. There are a lot of SF roleplaying games on the shelves, but Infinity is too cool for people to just glaze over it as one option among many.

Second, to capture the high-stakes, faction-vs-faction tensions of the miniatures game in a context that made sense for an RPG. (I also recognized that current players of the miniatures game have already chosen “their” faction in the universe, and I wanted to make sure that a group of those existing Infinity players could come together to form a roleplaying group with everyone playing a character belonging to their faction of choice.)

Hopefully you can immediately see how the Wilderness of Mirrors helps us accomplish both of these goals. It emphasizes the inter-factional conflicts and maintains them as a persistent, underlying theme. The Bureau Noir structure makes it trivial for characters with diverse backgrounds and allegiances to come together. And the hidden faction goals add a unique spice that will make a game of Infinity feel very different from a generic science fiction game.

But the Wilderness of Mirrors won’t be the only place that you’ll see Infinity presenting strong game structures for you to build your campaigns around. For example, the Tactical Assault Gear sourcebook will be describing the mecha warsuits of the setting. The scenario structures required to support campaigns revolving around TAG pilots routinely jumping into their armored suits are fairly unique, and so we’ll be creating a game structure specifically to support those campaigns. We’ll be doing the same thing for Corsair space pirates and Hypercorp raiders and mercenaries plying their services on the War Market. (And I think things will get really interesting once you can start mixing and matching these scenario structures together.)

Modiphius launched their Kickstarter for the Infinity Roleplaying Game, based on Corvus Belli’s incredible sci-fi skirmish miniature game.

Actually, what I should say is that we’ve launched our Kickstarter. I’ve been hired as the line developer for Infinity. I’m also the lead writer for the core rulebook, and I’ll also be personally developing a deluxe campaign supplement for the game that we’ll be unlocking through the stretch goals in the Kickstarter campaign. (Plus, with your support, a dozen other amazing supplements.) If you’re one of the many people who have wanted to see me use node-based scenario design to design a full-fledged, dynamic campaign… well, I’ve finally found a company who shares that vision.

WHAT IS INFINITY?

In the twisted jungles of Paradiso, humanity fights for its survival. The fierce, alien warriors of the Combined Army have poured through the Acheron Gate, descending upon the emerald jungles of the newest colonial world in a seemingly unstoppable torrent. The bestial Morat pound the Paradiso Front, where brave men and women fight ceaselessly to maintain a desperate defensive line which the sly Shasvastii penetrate with devastating ease. In the star-swept skies above, the collected might of humanity’s armadas maintain a life-or-death blockade to cut off an endless horde of alien reinforcements. And if any of humanity’s fractious forces should falter, then all may be lost…

But beyond that terrifying holding action, the intrigues and adventures of the Human Sphere spin on. Space pirates cruise through the shattered planetoids of Human Edge. Scientist adventurers delve the oceans of Varuna. Merchant guilds scheme amidst the scourging sands of Bourak. From Yutang, the Emperor gazes forth from an uneasy throne. Titanic war machines stride across the icy plains of Svalarheima. Byzantine hypercorps struggle for dominance amidst the chrome towers of Neoterra.

For the last ten years, players have tested their mettle upon the battlefields of the Human Sphere in Corvus Belli’s hugely-popular Infinity skirmish game. Now you can expand your adventures, diving deep into the amazing, never-before-seen depths of the Infinity universe with the ultimate science fiction roleplaying game.

Play with the full dynamic 2d20 game system featuring: 

• Cinematic action driven by the twin engines of Heat and Momentum
• The triple battlefields of Warfare, Infowar, and Psywar
• A multifaceted Zones system which brings the game world to life
• All New Artwork of the Infinity universe commissioned by Modiphius and Corvus Belli
• Find out more about the 2d20 System further down the page

Explore the definitive guide to the Infinity universe with: 

• A complete Chronology of the Human Sphere detailing centuries of bloodshed
• The culture, history, and intrigue of seven powerful factions
• Gazetteers for all twelve planets of the Human Sphere, including beautiful, full-color maps

Leap into your character by: 

• Forging your identity with an immersive Lifepath character creation system
• Fighting for your faction with the fractious, innovative Wilderness of Mirrors scenario design system
• Facing dozens of fearsome, ready-to-play adversaries who stand between you and your destiny!

WHAT’S NEXT?

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be talking more about some of the really cool things we’re developing for Infinity (like the Wilderness of Mirrors scenario structure and the triple battlefields of Warfare, Infowar, and Psywar).

But for right now, I hope you’ll join us on Kickstarter and help us publish what I think is going to be a fantastic game. As I write this, we’ve already blown through three major stretch goals and we’re closing in on the Gamesmaster Guide.