Despite running a wildly popular Kickstarter, Chris Birch of Modiphius Entertainment still managed to find some time to answer some of the questions we here at Dorkland! had about Mutant Chronicles 3rd Edition and its Kickstarter.
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Dorkland!: Have you learned anything new from the
Mutant Chronicles Kickstarter and what might that be?
Chris Birch: Good
question - well I would say that there are so many massive Mutant
Chronicles fans who've just been waiting for the return of this awesome
game. I keep being surprised every day as more and more join in the
Kickstarter - it's like people are coming home!
DL: You've run a very successful Kickstarter
before and are currently running another very successful one -- what do you
feel is your reason for such success?
CB: I
think it's about the huge amount of ground work we do before we get to
the Kickstarter - building up the fan base, talking to them, finding out
what people really want, not just what we think they want then using
that to steer our cool ideas. We already knew what we were going to do
with the story, but learning what products people wanted to see first,
and what aspects of the Mutant Chronicles universe were more important
was a huge help in shaping the releases. We had been playtesting with
over 400 groups over 6 months so once you get to those kinds of numbers
you can have a great start to the Kickstarter. But then it's about
keeping up the hard work. You don't just sit back; you are constantly
talking to people, responding, giving feedback, creating new graphics,
art and sculpts to show off to keep the excitement level high. So many
people think they can stick their new idea on Kickstarter with no
backup, no research, and no effort day by day - and that's why not every
project succeeds. We're often up till 3am
working on the Kickstarter, but also the day to day business of
Modiphius and it's really hard work - which is why not everyone is
willing to do it. I will say though it's such rewarding work - as you
see the response of your efforts almost immediately and get to talk to
people who are as passionate as us.
DL: Mutant Chronicles was created in the
1990's and the old editions show it. Will you be doing any updates to the
setting to bring it more in-line with modern technological sensibilities? If
so, how? Or, if not, why?
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CB: The
setting was actually very diesel punk although they called it
techno-fantasy. The techno-fantasy is still there but we're defining the
tech levels before and after the outbreak of the Dark Symmetry - what
do the ships look like before the computer systems fail, and what do
they end up looking like. We've drawn together all the disparate stories
and timelines in to one, worked out the backstory, filled in some of
the odd gaps and answered questions left hanging so people are going to
discover all of this through the books. The big thing about the setting
is it sits nicely in the diesel punk genre that's appeared which is
where it's a 1940's/50's era of technology, everything's bigger and
chunkier than it needs to be, engines are massive, vehicles huge,
shoulder pads bigger! This all works with the 90's era of design they
had at the time, and as we develop the looks of the worlds, buildings,
ships and more it will all fit nicely with what has gone before as we'll
be reusing the classic Paul Bonner art alongside new artists and the
point was to bring the rest of the universe to life, not reinvent it for
the sake of it.
DL: The rules will be undergoing a change,
what are some of the changes? Will it still utilize the roll-under method?
CB: Yes it's still a d20 roll under, we're making a big announcement about the rules on Monday the 17th of February,
so people will know a lot more about the direction we're taking then
and we hope to have a revised beta available about a week later (or
before the end of the Kickstarter at least) for people to test out. It's
being designed to be a really cinematic system though, allowing to you
do all the crazy stunts you always imagined you should be able to do in
Mutant Chronicles, without the GM suffering under a weight of stats and
modifiers etc.
DL: One of my favorite parts of the older
Mutant Chronicles game was the background cycle during character creation --
what is going to happen to it in the 3rd edition?
CB: Yes,
the Lifepath character generation was one of my favourite parts too, and
we intend to expand on this, bringing a lot more flavoured events in to
the process. It will really help you shape a very cool RPG character,
but we'll also have a points buy system for those who have a specific
concept they want.
DL: Why combine the Algeroth and Ilian Guide
books into the Dark Soul book?
CB: Well,
actually what I should say is that the core book will contain a lot
more info on all of the Dark Legion Apostles and then the Dark Soul book
will expand on this for each of them as well as covering Pluto, Nero,
the Dark Legion's history and much more. The idea was to bring
together Ilian's and Algeroth's material in from the two books and enhance
it with the rest of the Apostles. We also wanted to show how different
they each are - so there will be more defined strategies and the creatures
properly broken down, so each apostle has different types of heretic and
creatures. The creatures and heretics are all described by how they try
to attack - what their tactics are.
DL: Will all of the original Guide books be
given the 3rd edition treatment, even if their stretch goals are not met? What
exactly is going to be done with the Guide books? Will they differ from the
previous edition?
CB: Yes, we're
bringing back all the original guides, though the Freelancer supplement
is now included in a specific more detailed guide of Luna for example,
and yes we'll be publishing all the books regardless of whether they get
unlocked through the Kickstarter. They will be re-written, fleshed out
with new material, expanded to be major geographic sourcebooks so, for
example, Capitol is also the guide to Mars. There will be a lot more insight
in to the organisation, gear and resources, character options etc.
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DL: What is some of the new, expanded
content going to be? Are we going to get new Guide books?
CB: There's
a lot more storyline to include, the histories and relationships of the
Corporations, more cool gear, ships, more guide books detailing things
like Mutations (which is will be a growing theme through the storyline -
don't worry, no talking rabbits!) rules for spaceship combat, running
your own corporation or shipping company - a great kick off for
adventures, loads of new content on the Dark Legion
DL: Three campaigns are planned for 3rd
edition -- will these relate to the Venusian Apocalypse adventures in any way?
Will anything be done with the Venusian Aplocalypse books? If not, how easy or
hard might it be to convert them to the 3rd edition?
CB: We
plan to convert the Venusian Apocalypse for 3rd Edition and bring it up
to date with more artwork, maps and, allegedly, there was an Episode 4. So,
I have a feeling that will be really exciting as you'll be able to find
out where the storyline was planned to go. There will be a major
campaign book (which also reveals some of the secrets) set during the
first Dark Legion War starting days after the Pluto landings, leading
right up to the final climatic assault on the citadel. The second major
campaign book focuses on the 2nd Dark Legion War and is more epic in
scale and power. Whilst the third campaign is set during the Dark Eden
period (which is still part of the 2nd Dark Legion War) and has a big
focus on Earth.
DL: Lastly, there are a lot of very
interesting facets to the Mutant Chronicles universe -- what are your favorite
parts of it? What are the aspects that really get you excited about this game
and setting?
CB: I
think it was the techno-fantasy but with the grounding in the
civilisations we know - it's kind of near future, recognisable designs
and styling, but the techno-fantasy element lets us do anything. The
universe is full of extremes, massive guns, bigger shoulder pads, insane
battles and stories. It's the final stand of humanity and I love
stories that deal with the epic heroism possible in such extremes.
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We here at Dorkland! would like to thank Chris Birch for his time and wish him the best with the ongoing Kickstarter. If you would like to know more about giant shoulder pads, Dark Symmetry, and corporate life, be sure to check out the Mutant Chronicles 3rd Edition Kickstarter page or Modiphius Entertainment's website.