InQuest 16 - 37 - Unmasking "The X-Files": X-Files CCG Feature
FBI Special Agent Fox
Mulder crept cautiously
down the dark alley. Ahead,
a single lighted window cast
glistening reflections on the
black pavement - a window,
he knew, that looked into
the La Jolla, Calif., head-
quarters of the mysterious
Organization known as
NXT Games.
He dropped to his
hands and knees on the
wet concrete and crawled
until he was underneath
the window. On the
ground, a shadow
moved across the win-
dow's rectangle of light
as someone - or some-
thing - looked out. When the
shadow vanished, Mulder slowly
raised his head and peered inside
the building.
Two men sat across from each
other at a card table. Each held col-
orful odd-looking cards in their
hands. More cards were arranged
carefully on the table.
Mulder crept cautiously
down the dark alley. Ahead,
a single lighted window cast
glistening reflections on the
black pavement - a window,
he knew, that looked into
the La Jolla, Calif., head-
quarters of the mysterious
Organization known as
NXT Games.
He dropped to his
hands and knees on the
wet concrete and crawled
until he was underneath
the window. On the
ground, a shadow
moved across the win-
dow's rectangle of light
as someone - or some-
thing - looked out. When the
shadow vanished, Mulder slowly
raised his head and peered inside
the building.
Two men sat across from each
other at a card table. Each held col-
orful odd-looking cards in their
hands. More cards were arranged
carefully on the table.
The man on the left picked up a
card and held it up. Mulder's eyes
widened.
There was a photograph of a face
on the card.
It was his face.
Mulder slumped back against
the wall, pulled out his cellular
phone and dialed his partner.
"Scully," he said, "You're not going
to believe this. 'The X-Files' has been
turned into a collectible card game.
And we're in it."
It's hard to accept that your life's
work has been turned into a game.
But that's the risk you take when
you're a fictional character - espe-
cially a character in one of the
hottest shows on television.
card and held it up. Mulder's eyes
widened.
There was a photograph of a face
on the card.
It was his face.
Mulder slumped back against
the wall, pulled out his cellular
phone and dialed his partner.
"Scully," he said, "You're not going
to believe this. 'The X-Files' has been
turned into a collectible card game.
And we're in it."
It's hard to accept that your life's
work has been turned into a game.
But that's the risk you take when
you're a fictional character - espe-
cially a character in one of the
hottest shows on television.
For those of you who went out
for chips three years ago and just
got back, "The X-Files," which
began airing in the fall of 1993 on
the Fox network, follows the adven-
tures of Federal Bureau of Investi-
gation agents Dana Scully and Fox
Mulder. The protagonists, played
by Gillian Anderson and David
Duchovny, respectively, investigate
bizarre cases no one else will touch,
involving everything from alien
abductions to man-eating monsters
in city sewers, and try to unravel a
shadowy government conspiracy.
Although the agents often come
into violent conflict with the objects
of their investigations, it's mystery,
not mayhem, at the core of the
show's appeal.
When it came time to design The
X-Files Collectible Card Game, Ron
Kent and Duncan Macdonell of NXT
Games had to decide how to main-
tain this atmosphere.
"It became quickly apparent that
we didn't want to make this another
kind of combat game where I attack
you and you try to fend me off and
you attack me," Kent says. For one
thing, Fox really didn't want to see
Mulder and Scully being killed off.
Nor, in all likelihood, would the
show's fans.
for chips three years ago and just
got back, "The X-Files," which
began airing in the fall of 1993 on
the Fox network, follows the adven-
tures of Federal Bureau of Investi-
gation agents Dana Scully and Fox
Mulder. The protagonists, played
by Gillian Anderson and David
Duchovny, respectively, investigate
bizarre cases no one else will touch,
involving everything from alien
abductions to man-eating monsters
in city sewers, and try to unravel a
shadowy government conspiracy.
Although the agents often come
into violent conflict with the objects
of their investigations, it's mystery,
not mayhem, at the core of the
show's appeal.
When it came time to design The
X-Files Collectible Card Game, Ron
Kent and Duncan Macdonell of NXT
Games had to decide how to main-
tain this atmosphere.
"It became quickly apparent that
we didn't want to make this another
kind of combat game where I attack
you and you try to fend me off and
you attack me," Kent says. For one
thing, Fox really didn't want to see
Mulder and Scully being killed off.
Nor, in all likelihood, would the
show's fans.
The solution was to make a
game that focuses more on inves-
tigation than combat. Each player
faces an "X-File" selected by his or
her opponent. "You're trying to
figure out who your opponent's
X-File is, and you're using teams
of agents to do it," Kent explains.
"It's somewhat like Clue, somewhat
like 20 Questions. Both of those
games derive from deductive rea-
soning, and that's something that's
common to every investigation."
How to Play
When you play The X-Files, you
take on the role of an FBI official
directing an investigation. Your
deck includes agent cards, site
cards, X-Files cards, event cards and
witness cards.
game that focuses more on inves-
tigation than combat. Each player
faces an "X-File" selected by his or
her opponent. "You're trying to
figure out who your opponent's
X-File is, and you're using teams
of agents to do it," Kent explains.
"It's somewhat like Clue, somewhat
like 20 Questions. Both of those
games derive from deductive rea-
soning, and that's something that's
common to every investigation."
How to Play
When you play The X-Files, you
take on the role of an FBI official
directing an investigation. Your
deck includes agent cards, site
cards, X-Files cards, event cards and
witness cards.
To play a hand, you divide
your table into a bureau section,
field section and a hospital
section. You choose agents from
our hand for your investigative
team and pick out an X-File for
your opponent to guess. You place
that X-File face-down in the middle
of the table. Your opponent does
the same.
You deploy your agents in
teams, assigning each team to a dif-
ferent section of the table. The next
step is to draw seven cards. From
those cards you play a site, or sites,
and assign your agents to investi-
gate each one. "From that point on
you play events and witnesses to
try to help your agents investigate
that site. Your opponent will play
creatures and events to try to hin-
der you from investigating that
site," Kent explains.
Each site demands a skill level.
"For instance, Lake Okobogee
[from the first-season episode
'Conduit'] has a prerequisite alien
investigation level of four-plus,
which means you total up all of the
alien-investigation skills of the agents
you sent to that site; if it makes four
or better, they get to go on with
investigating that site."
your table into a bureau section,
field section and a hospital
section. You choose agents from
our hand for your investigative
team and pick out an X-File for
your opponent to guess. You place
that X-File face-down in the middle
of the table. Your opponent does
the same.
You deploy your agents in
teams, assigning each team to a dif-
ferent section of the table. The next
step is to draw seven cards. From
those cards you play a site, or sites,
and assign your agents to investi-
gate each one. "From that point on
you play events and witnesses to
try to help your agents investigate
that site. Your opponent will play
creatures and events to try to hin-
der you from investigating that
site," Kent explains.
Each site demands a skill level.
"For instance, Lake Okobogee
[from the first-season episode
'Conduit'] has a prerequisite alien
investigation level of four-plus,
which means you total up all of the
alien-investigation skills of the agents
you sent to that site; if it makes four
or better, they get to go on with
investigating that site."
Once a site is successfully inves-
tigated, you get to ask a question
about your opponent's X-File.
Each X-File has four defining char-
acteristics and there are five
categories within each character-
istic (see below).
An X-File Typology
The object of The X-Files
Collectible Card Game is to be the
first to guess the identity of your
opponent's X-File. Your agents help
you do so by uncovering information
ahout the defining charactoristics of
the X-File. Here are the four
characteristics and the five
possiblities within each type:
• Affiliation: Alien, government,
evolutionary, primordial or occult
• Motive: Knowledge, survival,
ideology, control or security
• Method: Subterfuge,
possession, violence,
manipulation or threats
• Result: Abduction, insanity,
death, physiological or
manipulation of evidence
tigated, you get to ask a question
about your opponent's X-File.
Each X-File has four defining char-
acteristics and there are five
categories within each character-
istic (see below).
An X-File Typology
The object of The X-Files
Collectible Card Game is to be the
first to guess the identity of your
opponent's X-File. Your agents help
you do so by uncovering information
ahout the defining charactoristics of
the X-File. Here are the four
characteristics and the five
possiblities within each type:
• Affiliation: Alien, government,
evolutionary, primordial or occult
• Motive: Knowledge, survival,
ideology, control or security
• Method: Subterfuge,
possession, violence,
manipulation or threats
• Result: Abduction, insanity,
death, physiological or
manipulation of evidence
- Edward Willett
THE BOX
Name: The X-Files Collectible
Card Game
Publisher: Donruss/NXT Games
Designers: Ron Kent and Duncan
Macdonell
Genre: Science fiction/supernatural
suspense
Set Size: More than 300 cards
Release: August 1996 (at the Gen
Con Game Fair in Milwaukee)
Packaging: 60-card starter decks,
10-card booster packs
Suggested Retail: $8.95 per starter
deck, $1.99 per booster deck
