Deadzone Third Edition: Breaking the lore

Welcome to the second week of our awesome Deadzone blogs. That’s right, we’ve got so much content we couldn’t squeeze it into just a few days. This week we’re finishing off our initial burst of write-ups with a look at the lore and also a brief entry about damage, as that’s one of the rules that’s changing slightly in Third. We stress the word slightly there. Anyway, here’s what’s been covered so far:

• September 13th – what the aim was with Third Edition
• September 14th – What’s new? Building your Strike Team
• September 15th – What’s new? Changes to line of sight
• September 16th – What’s new? Cleaning up keywords and abilities
• September 17th – What’s new? Units and minis!
• September 20th – What’s new? Moving the narrative along
• September 21st – Bonus blog! Calculating damage
• September 22nd - Bonus blog! Campaigns

Right, moving onto narrative then! When we were reviewing Second Edition one of the big realisations was the almost complete lack of any background. There was no real scene setting to the Galactic Co-Prosperity Sphere and each faction only had a few paragraphs about their motives and how they fitted into the grander plots.

Coming into Third that was something we really wanted to fix. After all, knowing the setting for a tabletop game can be really important for creating a theme for your faction or getting inspiration for your new gaming table. With that in mind, the core rulebook now features a dedicated ‘background’ section where you can learn about the Mandrake Rebellion, what a Forge Star is and even the background to the Mazon Labs, amongst other really exciting elements. We’ve even updated the star map to include some new locations (like Neo Matsudo, the Matsudan’s home planet).

Meanwhile in the Force Lists book we’ve doubled the amount of space for each faction intro to give you a clearer idea of the various units and the different ways they fight in Deadzones.

Talking of Deadzones, something we want to do with Third is move away from the traditional idea of containment protocols being declared because of an outbreak of the Plague. After all, the Enforcers can’t be that good at their jobs if outbreaks keep popping up all over the place! Instead, it’s likely that humanity is facing all-manner of threats across the galaxy from the Nameless trying to aquaform a planet, to the Veer-myn invading a city or Rebs sympathisers blocking a major space highway outside Exham VII.

Whenever the Council of Seven is keen to hide these problems, a containment protocol is likely to come in handy! What’s more, in the past there’s been a sense that a Deadzone applies to a whole planet but it could actually extend from a city, right up to an entire planetary system.

This shift in the cause of a Deadzone moving away from just being a planet that has been ravaged by a Plague outbreak is carried through into the terrain as well. Alongside Third Edition we’ve got a new street accessories set, which features neon signs, an awning for a store and other day-to-day objects. These can be used to bring to life a city that is in the chaotic early stages of a lockdown – when no one quite knows what’s happening and some people are still trying to scratch out a living, while the Enforcer gunships fly overhead.

Perhaps one of the most exciting elements of Third Edition is that we're already planning on ways that you can shape the narrative. Early next year, we'll be hosting a global campaign where your battles will affect the future of Deadzone. Stay tuned for more details on that!