Release and Inspirations!

Hello again, everyone, and welcome to the release of 199X: INFEST, the second of my 199X series! Much like SHUTDOWN, this project has roots in my love for the tabletop RPGs of an era before my time - but with the lightweight mechanics of today that I'm so fond of. Both of these games are shameless in their inspirations, but no familiarity is required so long as you lean into the post-apocalyptic vibes (one of my playtesters made a Bug-slaying psychic "paladin" and another made "Kamen Rider, but a mutant"). 

That said, the things on my mind were mostly:

• Shadowrun 2e's Bug City is INFEST's foundation, a brilliant setting book/campaign that saw cyberpunk Chicago reduced to a glowing wasteland fought over by bigoted gangs, ghoul enclaves, and predatory "insect spirits." I've been jonesing to run it in a different system since I was a teenager, and it's a joy to finally cross that off my list, because the flavor is just so good.
• Gamma World, a venerable old post-apoc tabletop standard with a penchant for randomly-rolled mutant characters. I played the D&D 4e spinoff (what I believe was technically Gamma World's 7th edition?), which had a really clever focus on using bespoke decks of cards for mutations, scavenged loot, and almost everything else - but more importantly, it was about fun mutant freaks!
• Nuclear Throne is one of the most addictive roguelikes out there, but more than that, it's an explosive and colorful wasteland adventure full of chaos, spontaneous transformations, and wild weaponry. If your INFEST game is going for the craziest extremes of the genre space, this is a good pull, and the soundtrack is absolutely killer.

I hope everyone enjoys 199X: INFEST! I worked hard on it, and my group had a phenomenal time playing around with it. If you haven't picked up 199X: SHUTDOWN yet, it's on sale in a bundle with this game for a week - add Hardware and Software to your Rad Zone, stuff Powers and Twists into the Helix Spire, or hack together both into the retro-cyberpunk system of your dreams!