THE PRESENT . . . .

The year is 204X. The world is in the early stages of a slow apocalypse. Economic collapse. Ecological disaster. Anti-biotic resistant super plagues. Endless war to seize energy reserves and pad the pockets of weapons manufacturers.

. . . . THE FUTURE

The year is 212X. Decades of constant crisis and misery gave birth to wonders. Nano-technology revolutionized medicine and engineering. Telepresence allows the privileged to attend to business across the globe using special organic machines without the hassle of travel. All it cost was eighty percent of the human race. Jackpot.

What The Jackpot was Intended to Be?

A complete Forged in the Dark game inspired by William Gibson's 2014 novel The Peripheral. Players take on the role of operatives in a conventional cyberpunk "present," receiving intel from a mysterious benefactor in the transhuman "future." Their goal: prevent the slow apocalypse that is going to wipe out most of humanity.

What was Completed?

Intro fluff and character playbooks. The playbooks are still quite serviceable, if you just want to update Doskvol to a cyberpunk future. They were largely inspired by the playbooks in Scum & Villainy, though I built them out a bit more so that each character has their own special mechanic. Even two years later, I think they're really cool.

What's in the Future?

For now The Jackpot is shelved indefinitely. While I'm proud of the playbooks in terms of mechanics and themes, I think they really missed the mark capturing the essence of the source material. I'd like to reexamine the top level "what do I want this game to be?" Work out the actual core game loop. Who the characters are. And THEN start building the mechanics again.

Wait, Why is This $3?

I put a lot of work into these playbooks, and I'm not willing to devalue that work. If you can't drop $3 in the tip jar for any reason, please grab a complimentary community copy. They are there for you to take.