Overview: Revolt of the Machines
The Machines are coming to get you – Check out Fantasy Flight Games’ latest “End of the World” RPG Revolt of the Machines!
I’ve never been particularly fond of toasters. Maybe it was one too many movies where someone gets electrocuted by some “water + toaster” combo. But I think my irrational distrust of toasters has deeper roots and now I have a (totally irrational) explanation why:
In latest Fantasy Flight Games “End of the World Series” book Revolt of the Machines all of your electronic gadgets are out to get you. Yes, YOU! If you’re unfamiliar with the series we’ve actually covered the previous three books. Heck, Alien Invasion was covered earlier this year. But the formats are generally the same. Fantasy Flight Games takes a world ending theme (usually plucked from various pop-culture references) and creates 5 scenarios for you and some friend to survive. Each of the different scenarios has an “invasion” and a “post-invasion” situation that you can play through – or you can start with the “invasion” and play through all the way to the “post-invasion” end-game I suppose.
Revolt of the Machines (as you may have guessed) is the Cyber-Apocalypse version of this series. We cover all 5 of the scenarios in the video and while there is the “Skynet” style scenario, I think my favorite one is probably the “Maximum Overdrive”-esq scenario where all the mundane machines are just trying to kill you. I don’t know why but something about that idea just resonates with me – perhaps I watched that movie on a Saturday at an impressionable young age…Maybe it was the super creepy poster they had for it. Or maybe it was just the stupid truck with the Green Goblin on the hood:
Seriously, who thought this was a good idea? Okay…maybe it was actually a good idea because it’s still terrifying.
So if you’re looking for a unique RPG experience or if you’re just looking for some fun one-shot RPGs to run I highly recommend the End of the World series and I strongly recommend checking out Revolt of the Machines. Will you and your friends end up being the saviors of mankind or will your smart phone give away your position to the grey-goo that’s coming to eat your carbon-based mass…One way to find out!
Revolt of the Machines
Suited men walk lethally through the crowd, honing in on a single mother. A swarm of almost imperceptible nanites fly through the air, devouring any biological matter that they contact. You have a horrid, creeping sense of dread that suggests your dishwasher is trying to kill you. Technology has shaped our lives for so long, it’s almost impossible to imagine a world where it’s our worst enemy. Now, you can experience the tumult and chaos of this nightmare apocalypse for yourself.
Revolt of the Machines is the fourth book in The End of the World roleplaying game line created by Álvaro Loman and José M. Rey. Like Zombie Apocalypse, Wrath of the Gods, and Alien Invasionbefore it, Revolt of the Machines gives you the incredible opportunity to play as yourself, in your own hometown, as the apocalypse erupts all around you. Five utterly unique scenarios with dozen of adversaries and encounters challenge you and your friends to survive a world where technology has gone rogue, while the elegant, narrative rules system keeps the focus on the story. Prepare to test yourself against the worst kind of technological revolution!
When the machines ask, “Are you John Connor?” you say, “NO!”
