Dark*Matter is my favourite RPG of all time – a conspiracy laden, cryptid infested, 1990s pop culture classic. At the time Inquest Gamer described it as the “best game TSR/Wizards ever produced”, and they might be right!
Taking inspiration from The X-Files the game was built on the short-lived Alternity system developed at TSR as they were taken over by Wizards of the Coast
The rules system formed the basis of D20 and Dungeons and Dragons 3rd edition, and Dark*Matter won awards for its incredible design, but despite all that it has largely been lost to time and internet decay.
I track the origins and influences on the game, its release history, and narrative tie-ins; and gain insights through interviews with the design team who actually made the game in the first place.
Join me as I uncover the truth behind the best roleplaying game Wizards of the Coast ever produced. All that you see is not all that there is.
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TWITTER: https://twitter.com/JordanSorcery
WEBSITE: https://jordansorcery.com/
#DarkMatter #XFiles #DeltaGreen #TSR #WizardsoftheCoast #Alternity #TwinPeaks #Dungeon #Dragon #RPG #Roleplaying
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Links & Sources:
[Jordan Sorcery Interviews with JD Wiker, Philip Athans, and Bruce R. Cordell] https://www.patreon.com/collection/833192
[Philip Athans Blog] https://fantasyhandbook.wordpress.com/
[Original Dark Matter Website via Wayback Machine] https://web.archive.org/web/20010617021125/http://www.wizards.com/darkmatter/
[Alternity.Net Official Fan Site] https://www.alternityrpg.net/
[Dark Matter Movie Reference List] https://boxd.it/l81SY
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Art, Music, and Copyright:
Images used belong to their respective copyright owners
Jordan Sorcery Theme by Joylin Music
Jordan Sorcery Heraldry by Becka Moor
Jordan Sorcery Heraldry and Theme copyright @jordansorcery
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When I was a teenager with no money I always take this book in the importation section of the store. It looked so cool, but I never had the money.
It’s great series
Picked up Alternity last year and I am loving it so much. I've tried to get into sci Fi RPGs multiple times over the years.
Star Wars D6 as well as the D6 general (Space, Modern, Fantasy), but my players didn't like how it ran because while it is a great system, it is clunky as hell.
Starfinder was a mess. Nothing really worked well in it in my opinion. The fact that the weapons have different stats based on who picks them up, the difference between KAC an EAC was almost non-existent with the difference being 1 or 2 points.
Star Wars D20 and Saga Editions both had their flaws, mostly revolving around using the force and space combat.
Warhammer 40k RPGs never really clicked with me.
Starship Troopers D20 wasn't very good.
Infinity 2d20 by modiphius was good, feels like they took a lot of inspiration from Alternity in hindsight. Roll under your stat and buying ranks in skills. I just didn't like the meta-currencies in it (momentum and whatever).
But Alternity was one where from the get go I was having fun with it. The mechanics are simple and quick. The initiative system can make for great encounters. Had a malfunctioning force field that would switch off and on at random initiative segments. I rolled a d4 to see if it would switch in A, G, O, or M phases. If it switched on anyone who tried to go through that phase had to make a 1 step penalty dexterity check to get through or take a d6 stun. When I put my players through the beginner box adventure, they got Kestral back to the ship but the attack robot ripped him in half and almost took out our Mechalus Tech Op. They tried to duct tape Kestral back together and stuck him in like a bacta tank type thing to try and bring him back. The guy making the check had to roll a 6 or higher on a max difficulty task (d20+3d20) ended up getting like 70 something so I had Kestral come back, but immediately started to mutate into a horrible abomination that started ripping through their ship and they had to make a mad dash to the escape pod. 1 guy failed his roll to resist the failing gravity, then failed a dex to grab onto something, then failed another dex with a nat 20 and got knocked out when he smashed his head off a pipe, floating unconscious out into space.
Not just brilliant, prescient.
The sun's actually going crazy right now, it's not just solar maximum, we're passing through a gas cloud. Not really dense enough to count as a nebula.
Also, scientists are using superconductors to try to measure dark matter.
UFOs/USOs/UAPs/etc are at a record high.
And then there's all that stuff going on at Skinwalker ranch.
The future is now. Dark Matter mixed with Cyberpunk was correct.
I see what you did there 0:15
This has been the best review for a game I have ever read or watched. Not only do you tell us about a great game you fill in the whole environment of the culture that surrounded its release. Fantastic, fantastic review. Thank-you.
2:58 I had a very similar experience with the original Alternity starter box at a Borders or somewhere. I saw a box that alleged to be a game somehow, but it wasn't a computer game and didn't have any pieces. Had no idea what to expect but it reminded me of Star Trek TNG so I begged my dad to buy it for me. Here. I am decades later, I think I got to play Alternity a total of one time, but it sparked a lifelong interest in tabletop gaming including board games. And although I never really got to engage with Alternity as much as I'd like, or RPGs in general, as a treat to my younger self, I have collected every single alternity supplement and novel that I could possibly find over the years. I think I am only missing the alternate Alternity Gamma World cover with the orange beast on it (if somebody has it I would appreciate hearing from them!).
If the state of the world starts to look better domeday. I would like to get the books restored or digitized, because I worry that this one will be forgotten by time, even though it was seminal for the d20 Dystem and the progenitor of d20 Modern, and unfortunately that second edition that that Baker came out in 2018 with Sasquatch Games was just not well received and the company did not stay afloat.
Always reminded me more of that shortlived Xfiles sister show, Millennium