Welcome to the second part of the Interplanetary 2015 recap. This time, we will focus on the background of the Infinity world, rather than on the game itself.
Like last time, I had the pleasure to talk to Gutierr, a.k.a Interruptor, the man in whose head all the Infinity background resides. Without further ado, let me present the outcome of my Q&A with Gutier:
I told them that Żubrówka vodka is made out of bison piss. Hence the look on Bran do Castro’s face
Will all the RPG Kickstarter models be exclusive to the Kickstarter?
No, as Corvus knows that these models would sell well. Modiphus has no problem with Corvus releasing the models later with an arm-swap, like the limited Bounty Hunters in years past. „People want limited things” as it was put bluntly by my interviewee. RPG models will have some light weapons and the CB ones will be unarmed, to make good HVT stand-ins.
Can you tell us more about ethnic and religious minorities in Haqqislam?
The traditional division of Islam between Sunni and Shia sects has eroded. Haqqislam is a new sect, a younger brother to the aforementioned two. Only in the broadest of terms it is connected to the old sects. Bourak itself is home to all the different versions of Islam and/or Middle-Eastern people and religions – Shia, Sunni, Alawite, Kurd, Druze and others. Compared to the number of the followers of the New Islam, the amount of Sunnis and Shias on Bourak is relatively insignificant. Druze Society, by the way, is based on the Old Earth. Moreover, Haqqislam is home to other ethnicities, such as Americans in the form of NASA scientists. It was thanks to NASA technology that Haqqislam was able to travel to the stars and the US scientists, after the US as a country stopped financing their research and retreated into being a minor power on the Old Earth decided to put their faith in Haqqislam and keep working for the Search of Knowledge. Most of the descendants of the US-born scientists can be found in the Sultanate, as that part of Bourak is most-connected with space-faring.
Haqqislam – Traders, Pirates, Seekers of Knowledge
What happened to the USA then? In which block are they?
They’re outside of any Megapower. If you read the background carefully, you will find the cause of the US’ downfall in the Nanotech Wars. Shortly after the creation of PanOceania, US entered into conflict with the fledgeling nation, seeing them as a usurper that could endanger its interests. The politicians saw the war as a chance to improve their ratings at home and stir the failing economy. It turned out however that PanO was able to quickly establish a foothold on American soil. It was then that the US used nanobots against the enemy – nanobots that quickly turned on their creators. Think “Dark Mist“. The United States never recovered from that blow.
Regarding the Shasvastii redesign – will they be made more human?
We want to change them similarly to what was done with the Morat. More and better, but different! We want to improve them visually and gameplay-wise. We want the Combined Army opponent to be able to tell, at a glance, this guy is a Shasvastii, this one a Morat, this one something else and so on. The process of faction revamp has not yet been started.
Are there Native Americans in USAriadna?
Yes. USAriadna is the most ethnically varied faction of them all. You have WASPs, Latino, Black, Native American and others. The names of USAriadna bases come from the Indian language – Navajo, Mohawk (Field triage) or Arapajo (FOB).
Anything about the natives of Varuna?
Nothing solid yet. The Oom “fish-men” and Helots will appear as a playable part of the Varuna sectorial, though!
Will there be new personalities in Qapu Khalqi or Neoterra?
Not in Qapu, for sure. We consider Qapu to be a “finished” army, so they will not be getting any new entries. NCA – maybe, we designed the army as a kind of a spammy and “limited” army and it could probably benefit from new unit entries.
Was the Duo Fire-team something that sprung organically or was it something you had in mind from the very beginning?
We stumbled upon it during testing. The process looked, in short, like this: Failed Tohaa rules -> Haris -> Enomotarchos -> Tohaa Triads.
Anything about the new Tohaa thundercats?
They will have a big round base, like the bigger drones. Should come out this year. Antipode-size. They are supposed to invigorate the Tohaa rules.
Why does Bostria make mistakes in promotional videos? (Mobile Brigada and Shock, for example)
“Mistakes can happen” – different versions of the rules are tested and sometimes mixed up. Bostria, who was present during the question made a sad face.
Can you elaborate on the Tohaa Symbiont armour?
A little like Venom from Spider-Man, but not sentient. It’s a costume that you put on by opening a can. It’s colour is based on what it digests – that’s why Pardiso Tohaa are orange but for example Errant Ships Tohaa are blue. They’re a little like Algae in that regard.
Gotta catch’em all!
SymbioMate and SymbioBomb – how do they work?
SymbioMate emit pheromones that calm down the Symbiont wearer. When hit by flame, it’s not the flame itself that kills the wearer, but it’s the psychic feedback that the dying Symbiont generates that kills you. The shock, if you will.
Can Tohaa use their pheromones aggressively?
In a sense, yes. The i-Khol that the Makauls have in their profile is exactly that, a confusing pheromone not a make-up. Think the Haka dance from New Zealand.
How much background will Infinity RPG add?
A lot and about things not mentioned before – daily life, shopping, etc. All of that has been approved by Interruptor. Modiphus will release books “more often than Corvus Belli”.
Aerocam? What does it do?
The release of Aerocam rules was postponed many times. It will be released as a PDF. It’s basically a 360 Visor.
Is there a king in PanOceania?
No, it is run by a President. The independent countries that are constituents of PanOceania can have whatever form of government they see fit – think something like the Bundeslaender in Germany. There’s a King/Queen in the UK, in Belgium etc.
Why does Neema lack Inspiring Leadership? Her lore suggests she would be a good fit?
Her first profile had that skill, but we found out that it did not synergise well with the Tohaa.
Will the lore come back into the website ? (unit background in the unit gallery)
Yes.
The Hassassin Veteran
Will there be more Dire Foes?
Maybe, but it’s a lot of work and many releases, and there are only 5 release slots per month. USARF will take at least 1 of these slots every month in the close future. The logistics of Dire Foes make it an impossible release at the moment.
Will USARF be able to do a Spec Op on a grunt chassis?
Yes, that option is making it’s way to ARMY 5.
What limited model will be added to HSN3?
„Female”. „Maybe another mercenary, we want all the players to be able to use it (sorry, alien lovers)”.
A Chaksa sectorial?
Definitely, some of the models are already here (Rasail, Gorgos, Chaksas themselves) but a lot of new ones have to still be released. More Chaksa incoming!
If you like these guys, keep your eyes peeled
Any other things you can share?
Based on our ITS Data, Tohaa is doing very well in ITS.
There will be more Mini-TAGs like the Gecko.
The unit descriptions are not very accurate in order not to restrict the designers.
A female knight? Yea, possible.
Bootlegs were supposed to limit the number of SKUs that the stores would stock. They were supposed to be an extra part of the catalogue, that would not be obligatory to order. By mistake they made their way to the general catalogue.
The background presented in Viral Outbreak is the most advanced piece of lore at the moment.
Chris Birch from Modiphus also ran a seminar about the Infinity RPG. I had a chance to play a short demo with him – the last session of the day had 7 players wanting to try it. I didn’t finish as I was whiskered away to do an interview for regional TV station, but from what I’ve seen it is a very tactical game, based a little on the FATE system of narration. Very dynamic and fluid, giving a lot of freedom to the narrator. It uses 2D20, achieving results similarly to how we roll in Infinity, and many D6es.
What Chris revealed in the seminar is the following:
Chris ran a Demo for our fat group of 7
Modiphus wants to release at least 8 books, one for each faction. Beta will be available this month. Kickstarter; the same. I mentioned the game uses a modified FATE system, generating threat tokens which is a kind of a currency for the narrator to put players in trouble. The game itself is very tactical – think Infinity on a bigger scale.
For 100 GBP we are supposed to get a subscription to all the books in PDF form released in the next 2 years. We will also get a physical copy of the rulebook. There will be no Early Bird bonus and the Kickstarter will be open for a long, long time. Low shipment withing Europe.
One of the introductory scenarios will be the stories that Interruptor and the rest of the team played together as their RPG.
Many different classes were mentioned, most of them civilian in nature – media star or scientist. Some of them, however, were completely different – the given example was a TAG pilot. A TAG Pilot and the media star are “prestige classes” for PanOceanian players. Character creation is again similar to FATE – important elements include Background, Defining Event and “How the team got together”.
One of the civilian dossiers. More of those in my Photobucket album – link’s at the end of the article
Then, we also had Bostria’s seminar:
Unfortunately, most of the info was already revealed during Gencon. However, we did get some new information.
Army 5 is supposed to have more and better filters. For example “Show me only TO camo HI hackers.
Civilians were sculpted by Antonio Moreira.
Blackjacks will probably be similar to Azra’il.
Govads – coming 1 quarter 2016.
A new Dactyl doctor was revealed.
New Dactyl
The holoprojector will undergo “drastic changes”
Khawarij and Tariq will link.
New Avicenna will be available to “more factions”.
Achilles in Hoplite armour – ARM 6. Other Personalities in Hoplite also possible. This does not replace the old Achilles. Think Joan 2.0.
Hoplite Achilles
Kosuil Pioneers are Medium Infantry with K1 and Nimbus Grenades. Perceptors allow to field the cats and have interesting loadouts – their Pulsar is rumoured to be a ranged DTW.
Uhlan and Tikbalang are one box of 2 models. Toni Macayana deleted as she was too good.
This year we will see: N Drone, Zhanyig, Domaru and Guija.
HSN3 will be released this year, but no release date given.
HSN3 does not FAQ or errata anything in the N3 book.
Killer Hacking Device on Interventors & Ninja, budget HD to kill enemy hackers.
Shasvastii and MRRF in Acheron Falls, replaced by Onyx and USARF.
HSN3 will also improve the profiles of Vanilla Aleph.
Hector would fit as a Phalanx release.
ITS will not be changed significantly, the company is happy with how it works at the moment.
Maghriba is still being designed – options are being explored as the model is too heavy to be cast in metal.
There will be more sepsitorised human models.
The rumours say the remainder of the year could be considered “Tohaa time”. Word on the street is that there’s a lot of cool stuff that we haven’t seen yet.
There was a cosplay contest as well. We had a chance to see Musashi Miyamoto, a Valerya Gromoz, Odalisques, a Lasiq sniper, Sun Tze, a Hardcase, a Tohaa Spec Op, an Antipode Controller, a Galwegian and even a Bostria!
Cosplay contest participants
Other activities included an exhibition of Infinity diorama, art and the painting and speed-painting contests as well as painting workshops ran by D.A.F.
Speedpainting was very popular
After the event itself we were invited over to Cangas, to the new HQ that Corvus Belli opened in the Industrial Area outside the city. Those who didn’t win what they wanted in the event were allowed to purchase whatever they wanted, directly from the manufacturer.
Corvus Belli HQ
I can get all this stuff? Really?
A never released Ghulam HMG that was supposed to go in a blister
To summarise, the event was magnificent! There was much to do, many things to see and people to meet. I can’t wait for next year’s edition and I hope that it will be even more grand. If you have second thoughts about coming, dear reader, be assured that Interplanetario is something you don’t want to miss. As some wise man once said: “Well… it could be worse!” See you next year!
If you want to see more photos from the event follow this link to my photobucket album: Interplanetario Album
The post Impressions from the Interplanetary 2015: Background a.k.a Fluff appeared first on Data Sphere.