Update from grydscaen RPG Playtest 4
Hey all, wanted to give an update about the grydscaen RPG playtest from June 28. We had a fabulous time with over 8 players testing the new hacker pack characters from the grydscaen RPG deck. It was a great time and we got some good feedback. We played at a coffee shop in Tempe and had an awesome time. Lets hear about what we learned from this playtest and introduce you to the new hacker pack cards which are a collaboration between Natsuya Uesugi the game designer and author of grydscaen.
About the grydscaen RPG game
The grydscaen RPG game is an anime-inspired romp through the cyberpunk dystopian hard scifi grydscaen world. grydscaen has been called a cross between The Matrix, Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell and Akira and has received accolades from Hollywood which reviewed the grydscaen: retribution screenplay and wrote the Treatment for the grydscaen: beginning TV show with pilot episode featuring Faid Called the Packrat hacker. Hollywood also created the grydscaen: A Storm’s Coming Treatment which was designed to be a full length movie that was slated to be shopped to the SyFy channel. The grydscaen RPG game is based on the grydscaen series and the hacker pack cards are based on the novel grydscaen: dark which is a new book in the series and features the blackhat hacker Jester and the Level 9 hacker Rom, whose name means “read only memory” and it homeless after he was captured by the government who erased his memory.
The multi-player game pits hackers like Jester trying to hack the City mainframe against cybersecurity analysts trying to stop them. You pick your player character and develop a storyline based in the grydscaen universe as you attack and use exploits to take down the government. The objective, hack the mainframe in a fatal attack can be done by using steal cards where you can team up with other hackers and obtain Top Secret IDs, passwords, credit card dumps, RFID badges and then use hacker skills through social engineering to get inside the mainframe room and attack the target directly. The cybersecurity analysts with try to stop you using threat mitigation techniques so be on your guard.
The new hacker pack cards
The hacker pack2 cards introduced a few new players into the deck. Where Rom and Faid are already Major Arcana player characters these new hacker cards allow players to make additional affiliations with them. The Cybersecurity operative cards give you need skills to mitigate the hacker attacks and the new Foil characters who are also affiliates provide more elaborate partnership opportunities. The Silence badges are new to the game and are part of the virtual reality gridscaen game which is from the novel grydscaen: metropolis. In the story Faid is addicted to the Silence ware game which you play jacked in and will kill you at level 55. Adding the Silence badges, players can sneak attack to steal reputation, virus and credit tokens on their turn in a sort of mini side game taking away tokens required in some attacks.
The Hackers:
The Government Cybersecurity Operatives
The Foils / Rogue Elements
Silence Badges
The playtest environment
The coffee shop was happy to let us take over two tables in the back and stay all morning as we had two games going. We played for 4 hours and got a lot of great feedback from the event which will allow us to expand on the threats mitigation actions available and give us more complex attacks. The grydscaen RPG cards are promo trading cards that work with the RPG game and we are currently looking into publication with a game manufacturer. Stay tuned for more updates on the game but for now I leave you with some of the feedback we got from the players.
playtester comments
“Love the role play element, it is like the anime world of grydscaen is really alive. I love playing Jester after having read grydscaen: dark, it really helped me get into his mind and be more malicious when executing attacks.”
“My favorite character in Iin the Trance Channeler. She is one feisty woman. I want more of her and her psychic power which really gives the game an added dimension.”
“Riuho is one bad ass arsehole. I got to make an affiliation with him. By doing that I destroyed my opponent.”
“I want to see more exploits and complex attacks. The social engineering cards were excellent and I got to use a few.”
“I really like the silence badge mini game which lets you steal tokens from other players. I want to see more of that storyline. I hope they expand on rad mouse and the mole system unite icons which allowed me to remote in and attack my opponent.”
Whats next for the grydscaen RPG?
Based on the playtest we will be expanding the hacker skill cards for more attacks and adding a script kiddie character and a bio hacker character from grydscaen: dark. This will also add to game play and make the world more rich.
Check back for more later this year as we plan another playtest and create more cards.
“Hackers Unite! Hack Till You’re Dead” as Jester like to say.
