Tuff Stuff's Gamer Winter 1997 - 7 - X-Files CCG: Mention
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ESSENTIAL INFO
By Mike O'Connell
FANTASY
* Halloween arrives early this year
thanks to Chaosium's January release of
its "Mythos: The Dreamlands" expansion.
The stand-alone set introduces 200 cards
drawn from the nightmare realm created
by horror writer H.P Lovecraft. "It opens
up a new dimension for 'Mythos' investi-
gators to explore," says Dustin Wright,
Chaosium's advertising and promotions
representative and official spiderkeeper.
"Dreamlands" cards are available in
13-card boosters for $2.95 and 60-card
starter decks for $8.95. Every deck con-
tains one of 10 new double-sided investi-
gator cards. Although all the cards are
new, some are actually "Dreamlands"
versions of monsters and characters
introduced in earlier "Mythos" sets. Ex-
amples of these are the Nightgaunts and
H.P. Lovecraft.
ESSENTIAL INFO
By Mike O'Connell
FANTASY
* Halloween arrives early this year
thanks to Chaosium's January release of
its "Mythos: The Dreamlands" expansion.
The stand-alone set introduces 200 cards
drawn from the nightmare realm created
by horror writer H.P Lovecraft. "It opens
up a new dimension for 'Mythos' investi-
gators to explore," says Dustin Wright,
Chaosium's advertising and promotions
representative and official spiderkeeper.
"Dreamlands" cards are available in
13-card boosters for $2.95 and 60-card
starter decks for $8.95. Every deck con-
tains one of 10 new double-sided investi-
gator cards. Although all the cards are
new, some are actually "Dreamlands"
versions of monsters and characters
introduced in earlier "Mythos" sets. Ex-
amples of these are the Nightgaunts and
H.P. Lovecraft.
"You don't have to purchase other
'Mythos' products to play 'Mythos: The
Dreamlands,'" Wright says. "At the same
time, this set is completely compatible
with all previous 'Mythos' sets."
HISTORICAL FANTASY
* Early in December, Cactus Game
Design released The Redemption Player's
Guide by David Easterling and "Redemp-
tion" designer Rob Anderson.
"It has clarifications and it explains
what all the different card types do,"
Anderson says. "There are deck-building
strategies, including a number of sample
decks. There are solitaire versions of the
game, collector information as far as
promo cards and where they went, all that
kind of stuff"
Later in 1997, Cactus will release the
second "Redemption" expansion, "Wom-
en of the Bible." The company is also in
the process of licensing a Bible Scatter-
gories board game from Hasbro. Ander-
son hopes to premiere that game in July
at the Christian Book Publishers show
and the Origins gaming convention.
'Mythos' products to play 'Mythos: The
Dreamlands,'" Wright says. "At the same
time, this set is completely compatible
with all previous 'Mythos' sets."
HISTORICAL FANTASY
* Early in December, Cactus Game
Design released The Redemption Player's
Guide by David Easterling and "Redemp-
tion" designer Rob Anderson.
"It has clarifications and it explains
what all the different card types do,"
Anderson says. "There are deck-building
strategies, including a number of sample
decks. There are solitaire versions of the
game, collector information as far as
promo cards and where they went, all that
kind of stuff"
Later in 1997, Cactus will release the
second "Redemption" expansion, "Wom-
en of the Bible." The company is also in
the process of licensing a Bible Scatter-
gories board game from Hasbro. Ander-
son hopes to premiere that game in July
at the Christian Book Publishers show
and the Origins gaming convention.
SCIENCE FICTION
* Look very carefully at those "X-Files
Premiere Edition" cards from The United
States Playing Card Co. Hidden on some
of the cards are "easter egg" clues that
lead to prizes.
Certain cards contain random letters
that, when put together in the right order,
spell out specific words. Gamers who
decipher the correct words and send them
to USPC can win "X-Files" promo cards,
T-shirts, and other cool prizes. At press
time, USPC was still determining the
number of prizes to be awarded.
Web-crawling gamers have even more
chances to win. USPC has set up a special
website with complete contest rules and
an opportunity for people to submit
their entries on-line. Prizes go to the first
on-line responses that correctly identify
each of the encrypted words; the first per-
son to correctly identify all the words
wins a grand prize, including an X-Files
leather jacket.
* Look very carefully at those "X-Files
Premiere Edition" cards from The United
States Playing Card Co. Hidden on some
of the cards are "easter egg" clues that
lead to prizes.
Certain cards contain random letters
that, when put together in the right order,
spell out specific words. Gamers who
decipher the correct words and send them
to USPC can win "X-Files" promo cards,
T-shirts, and other cool prizes. At press
time, USPC was still determining the
number of prizes to be awarded.
Web-crawling gamers have even more
chances to win. USPC has set up a special
website with complete contest rules and
an opportunity for people to submit
their entries on-line. Prizes go to the first
on-line responses that correctly identify
each of the encrypted words; the first per-
son to correctly identify all the words
wins a grand prize, including an X-Files
leather jacket.
How do you find the website address?
We can't say too much. The best thing to
do is collect all the cards, sort them by the
colored "file tabs" in the top left corners,
and look for little differences in the lay-
outs. Also, pay close attention to the
"Bureau File Numbers." Good luck.
* "On the Edge" fans will have to wait
until the second half of 1997 for "The
Chaos Plague." Atlas Games president
John Nephew says the company has
placed the stand-alone expansion on the
back burner.
"Our energy is all tied up in some new
editions of our role-playing games,"
Nephew says. "When we originally an-
nounced it, we didn't mention any
specific date, because we knew that we
were going to be busy with RPG stuff
right away-the Ars Magica game that
we acquired from Wizards of the Coast,
for example. Those things have been the
big priority."
Too bad. "The Chaos Plague," like the
previous "On the Edge" expansions,
sounds really cool. In it, Al Amarja,
Atlas' island of paranoia and back-stab-
bing, encounters an alternate universe.
"There, magical thinking, not science,
determines cause and effect," says co-
designer Robin D. Laws. "The version of
mystic stuff we know in the 'real world'
is just a pale reflection of the unpre-
dictable laws of the parallel universe."
We can't say too much. The best thing to
do is collect all the cards, sort them by the
colored "file tabs" in the top left corners,
and look for little differences in the lay-
outs. Also, pay close attention to the
"Bureau File Numbers." Good luck.
* "On the Edge" fans will have to wait
until the second half of 1997 for "The
Chaos Plague." Atlas Games president
John Nephew says the company has
placed the stand-alone expansion on the
back burner.
"Our energy is all tied up in some new
editions of our role-playing games,"
Nephew says. "When we originally an-
nounced it, we didn't mention any
specific date, because we knew that we
were going to be busy with RPG stuff
right away-the Ars Magica game that
we acquired from Wizards of the Coast,
for example. Those things have been the
big priority."
Too bad. "The Chaos Plague," like the
previous "On the Edge" expansions,
sounds really cool. In it, Al Amarja,
Atlas' island of paranoia and back-stab-
bing, encounters an alternate universe.
"There, magical thinking, not science,
determines cause and effect," says co-
designer Robin D. Laws. "The version of
mystic stuff we know in the 'real world'
is just a pale reflection of the unpre-
dictable laws of the parallel universe."
Nephew admits that it's too soon to
give any specifics about the "Chaos
Plague" boxed set. "But," he adds, "I sus-
pect there will be 110 cards because that's
convenient for the way production works."
It's certain that "The Chaos Plague"
will be self-contained yet remain compat-
ible with the core game. "The idea will be
that somebody can buy a booster pack of
'On the Edge' cards and add them into
this game, or buy this game and use it as
a mega-booster pack for a regular 'On the
Edge' deck," Nephew says.
