By Andrew Dodson on September 4, 2014 at 12:35pm
Fantasy Flight Games just announced a new survival/horror role-playing game called "The End of the World." Well, technically, they didn't just announce one - they announced four.
"The End of the World" is a role-playing series made up of four different books, each detailing a different apocalyptic theme with different campaign stories within that theme. Currently lined up in the series, there is a Zombie Apocalypse, an Alien Invasion, the Revolt of the Machines (Writer's Note: arguably, the most likely apocalypse), and the Wrath of the Gods.
If you're a fan of the tabletop RPG, you may be thinking about what kind of character you're going to play. Don't worry about that. Fantasy Flight Games is trying something very new with this in that you play as yourself. The game encourages players to look at themselves and use the system to develop a character as close to themselves as possible, so your apocalyptic experience is as true to your life as it can possibly be. What about equipment, you ask? Well, what do you have in your pockets? That's your equipment. The apocalypse within the game starts as the player-characters are sitting down to play a game, so you have time to run to the kitchen to grab a knife or break the GM's antique lamp to form some kind of makeshift spear. While obviously there is no one forcing you to play as yourself, but according to the game's developer Tim Flanders, playing as yourself is an very important mechanic to this game.
Of course, the other major theme that runs through the entire game line is that the players get to explore and experience these world-ending events as themselves. This is, hands down, the most exciting part of this game for me. The idea of playing through an apocalyptic (and eventually post-apocalyptic) scenario with my friends, in my home town, definitely adds a pretty unique thrill to the game.
Tim Flanders
Each book in the series provides game masters with five different setups for the game's apocalypse. The first book to be released, Zombie Apocalypse, has zombies that arose from infection, parasites, radiation and crazy voodoo magic, and the book also details all manner of government response to the zombie uprising. Each book promises a multiple unique adventures, and a fantastic amount of replay-ability.
We should be able to start fighting zombie hordes with the Zombie Apocalypse book of the "End of the World" series by Fall of this year.
Are you ready to survive the apocalypse?
Fantasy Flight Games: The End of the World
