Kickstarter expected Q4
Retail edition Q1 2021
MGM is not letting go of the Stargate property anytime soon. Wyvern Gaming’s SDCC2020@Home panel had Brad Ellis, Wes Walker, Mack Martin and Lee Alley with Jenny Stiven hosting talk about their passion for SG-1, and their upcoming game set in this universe–especially as a living campaign–to Kickstarter later this year.
The rules are based on Wizards of the Coast’s D&D 5th Edition Open Gaming License, and part of the reason is that more role playing gamers are familiar with this set of rules than any other. It makes sense to develop from the television series since there’s a lot to draw from (four series) and the Goa’uld threat will never fully disappear.
This role playing game is made by fans for fans. Also, it can be played board game style (with minis) or “homebrew” (i.e. standalone) with GMs wanting to explore a different arc, like including the animated series.
The timeline the designers place their world in is between season 6 (episode 9, “Allegiance”) and 7. There’s a lot of unanswered questions. We want to know who is truly helping whom. The new freedom fighters we meet during this time can help defeat the Goa’uld. You can play different factions/races–the Tolans, rebel Jaffa, Unas or Tok’ra–who have allied with the Earth forces during this time. Other groups, namely the Nox and Asgards, are simply overpowered and the designers decided not to include them. Instead, a new race, the Atruen, who were nurtured by the Nox, is a species players can opt to play.
Dealing with type three civilizations was tough in this series, and players are not expected to know diplomacy. As with any game, role playing is encouraged—but not everyone has those skills a character sheet details. General Hammond can be a teddy bear when he wants to, but when it’s time to exercise authority, the soldiers stand at attention. To resolve situations like these boils down to a determination point pool. A chapter is dedicated to explain how this game mechanic works and it’s perfect to help players who aren’t that skilled in real life to be like this commander. To have Jack O’Neill’s smarm is not easy either. While gaming rarely gets to the nitty gritty of seeing characters falling in love, namely Sam Carter and her many boyfriends, the essentials to recreate any of these nuances in role playing through this mechanic is in the beta testing currently going on.
At this series core is in seeing teams enact military style missions, having high stakes conversations and dealing with alien encounters nonviolently. The format of a typical session is very much like a television episode, hitting key scenes for conflict resolution. Since the formula is very traditional science fiction tv writing, this game can also be redressed to become a Star Trek RPG too. The two series are very similar because they are about exploring unknown worlds and follow the writer’s room formula for creating episodes in this action-adventure-sf genre.
The designers assume gamers know the finer points of the Stargate franchise. New content will be in the core book, detailing the launch point of where this new canon material begins. Any abridged info of the series, worlds seen and regular villains are almost unneeded because of the wealth of online information. On this list includes character biographies from the Stargate Wiki for info on non-player characters and enemy dossiers on GateWorld.net. Before anyone can get excited for this updated edition, this game still needs to be published!
This version of the game is not connected to Alderac Entertainment Group’s 2004 product. It is long out of print. If Wyvern’s take shares similar DNA to this older version of the game, it does not. Copies can be found on eBay for those who want to compare and play this standalone product, or simply collect.
The Kickstarter campaign helps pay for getting new art in and assist with the printing costs. Additional resource material is being planned, but it’s not likely to be part of the initial crowdfunding campaign. MGM has to approve everything. As much as I like dissecting the Replicator society through their many upgrades, that’s best left to the die-hard fans to Wiki up, and game designers to translate as popularity for this new game grows.
Want to know more? More streaming content can be found this weekend. The schedule is as follows (links go to Discord, with links to when YouTube content goes live):
Friday, July 24 • 3:00pm – 6:00pm
Stargate SG-1 RPG 5e Game Session 2
Saturday, July 25 • 10:00am – 12:00pm
Stargate SG-1 RPG 5e Game Session 3
Saturday, July 25 • 12:00pm – 3:00pm
AMA with Wyvern Gaming crew and players redux
Sunday, July 26 • 12:00pm – 2:00pm
AMA with the Wyvern Gaming Stargate RPG Crew and More
