DEGENESIS has a rich history. It’s creators and players have contributed to the development of the game world over the years. Ideas were generated and input was crucial.

When we first decided to launch the REBIRTH EDITION, we realized that we’re standing in front of a mountain of background information, that needed restructuring and focus. To be able to relaunch the universe and lay the ground work for proper follow up materials that will expand the background into different media, we needed a comprehensible start. So the idea of a full revision of the core books was born. We wanted to filter through all the ideas that were shelved over the years and start expanding on the story and plot of the world so new readers would find it attractive, and old players would still find a lot of new stuff in there.

What started with a few minor updates, turned into a complete overhaul of the game system itself, the unraveling of the mythology of Degenesis and it’s vast Metaplot and the chance to finally drive the story forward that we started telling over ten years ago. With every page rewritten, we found new ways and angles to explore the world and create an updated version for a modern reader, that still retains the charm of the first edition but also allows us a new perspective into the history of the world.

Every design decision was influenced by the visual overhaul first. Back when we first launched Degenesis, we were constrained to Black and White images. Even though we knew what the world was looking like in full color, we couldn’t fully explore it. With the REBIRTH EDITION we are finally able to witness the richness of the world and it’s inhabitants in full color. We’re able to see the blue gowns of the Neolibyans and the white alpine harnesses of the Hellvetics. There is no second guessing anymore, the images make the people of the world come to life.

Step by step, throughout the next few weeks, we’ll be showcasing a behind the scenes glimpse into the REBIRTH EDITION, the changes, the design decisions and challenges we faced. Enjoy! And if you want to discuss, come and join our forums and share your thoughts.

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Inspired by a question on our boards, we decided to publish 13 things that changed in the
DEGENESIS: REBIRTH EDITION

Obviously, this is not the full scope, just a quick look into what players who know the first edition can expect from the REBIRTH EDITION.

1. A decade has passed, in the real world as well as in the world of DEGENESIS. It is the year 2595. We’re pushing plots forward that we’ve sown 10 years ago…

2. The clans rise. They are a major threat to the hegemony of the cults. South and East Borca burn from their conquests, the Protectorate is under fire.
In the Balkhan, the clans have rose to power and overthrown the dominant cults. Praha Republica has fallen into their hands and large armies are on the move.
21 clans, new and old are introduced as both enemies and playable character classes. Pick your fight…

3. The cults unite for the first time to oppose the threat of the clans. The african conquest of the Balkhan has come to a halt. Between Anabaptists and Jehammedans in the Adriatic basin a fragile truce is negotiated. In the face of danger the Chronicler Modus and the Baptist Orphid sign a peace treaty between the two cults, uniting the Protectorate with Cathedral City for the first time in history. Scourgers and Hellvetics fight back to back to protect the trading routes from Europe to Africa. Everything is at stake…

4. African Apocalyptics! Yes, new flocks rise on the coast of northern Africa. Led by buzzards, they raid the african coastal cities and join forces with the maritime Apocalyptics of the Mediterranean. They are also said to be working closely with a secretive trader group, only called the Leopards…

5. Fractal forests are spawning all across Pollen. Weird trees carrying otherworldly fruits that cause emanations lead Anabaptists to a new religious pilgrimage. Even more strange, these fractal forests grow on top of spore fields, destroying the underlying sepsis and causing the burn harvests to plummet. The Apocalyptics are not amused…

6. Fully developed ranking system for every cult. Now you can level up your character through a tree of ranks and adapt him to your preferred play style. Every cult features a unique ranking tree giving you dozens of possibilities of progression.
Each step forward in the tree unlocks cult specific equipment, potentials, allies and authority, secrets and new possibilities. Build your character as uniquely as never before…

7. Salvage, modify and upgrade your weapons, equipment and firepower with a new and quick to use crafting system. Perfect for Scrappers who want to show off their skills. And deadly in the hands of a raging Scrapper cave bear…

8. Exciting character development from early game to end game. Threats and prowess rise gradually with experience. Potentials are new unlockable perks that give a character a certain edge in combat, negotiation or leadership. Primal and Focus add variety to the play style in combat – coldblooded routine or raging anger – choose wisely. An additional Ego pool allows characters to rise above themselves in critical situations or enhance their skill rolls by going all in. But be careful of those enemies who can strip you off your morale…

9. Fully overhauled Concept system in the character creation. Concepts are now based around the 22 major arcana of the Apocalyptic Tarot. Choose your Concept to be “The Conqueror”, “The Visionary”, “The Destroyer” , “The Ruler” and many more. Choosing and playing out your Concept carefully in game, will let you replenish your Ego pool faster and garner more experience. Choosing the right Concept during character creation will also unlock attribute and skill combinations that will make your character more specialized… and harder to kill.

10. Fully reworked rule system for using enhancements and drugs like Burn, Marduk-oil and the Elysian oils of the Ascetics. Drugs like Burn replenish your Ego pool faster, but they come with a price – the call of the Chakras lures you into the world of the Psychonauts…

11. Artifacts. Powerful Artifacts. Lots of them. Nuff’ said…

12. For Larpers and Cosplayers who have kept the spirit of DEGENESIS alive all these years, the full color representation of the world adds a new level of inspiration and ideas on how to build your gear and equipment by hand. Countless new illustrations and designs are featured to create your own costumes and weapons. All weapons in DEGENESIS come in 3D, fully textured, and will be available as downloads after the release. If you’re looking for a blueprint to create a real life Splayer, Trailblazer or Pneumohammer, the books will show you how.

13. Sleepers, Marauders, Recombination Group, Primer, Homo Degenesis. Revealed like never before…RECLAIM, WHAT ONCE WAS OURS

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You need all the rules at hand, time, a blank character sheet and one of these old school pencils to create a new character in a roleplaying game. And if your game master wants to have a look before the gaming session starts, you have to scan the sheet and send it by email. No more!
We proudly present the Degenesis Online Character Generator! It is completely free, no download needed (use it in your browser), and your freshly created character can be saved on our internet servers and shared with whomever you want. You can print it out for the gaming session, and it looks perfect.
If you level your character, you can update it online and print out a new sheet with ease. No more smeared character sheets.

Get it at:

http://www.degenesis.com/character

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Ich liebe gutes Artwork. Als langjähriger Comic-Fan und -leser passiert es mir nicht selten, dass ich mich in genialen Bildern verliere und mich an geschickten Kompositionen ergötze. Es ist also kein Wunder, dass die Degenesis Rebirth Edition von Sixmorevodka bei mir einschlägt wie eine Bombe. Das atemberaubende Artwork, das dynamische Layout, der edle Buchdeckel – was hier für ein Rollenspiel geleistet wird, ist absolut verblüffend und setzt neue Maßstäbe. Die Illustrationen mit ihrer Detailverliebtheit beschreiben eine Rollenspielwelt, wie sie für mich greifbarer nie war, erwachsen, düster und derb. Sixmorevodka geben alles, um mich in diese postapokalyptische Welt zu versetzen. Welches andere Rollenspiel kommt schon mit einem Live-Action Trailer?

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Wenn nun schon die Grundversion eines Buches derartig opulent ist, fällt es schwer sich vorzustellen, wie man dies noch in Sondereditionen für Sammler und Liebhaber toppen könnte. Trotzdem schaffen es die Macher von Degenesis auch hier, uns den Atem zu rauben. Mit der auf 100 Exemplare limitierten Artist Edition legen Sixmorevodka nochmal einen drauf und offenbaren Degenesis dem Fan nicht wie die anderen Versionen im Schuber, sondern in einer erlesenen handgefertigten Deluxe Box im gewohnten edlen weißen Lack-Look. Darin sind nebeneinander die beiden Bücher Primal Punk und Katharsys eingebettet. Es wäre aber keine limitierte Sammleredition, wenn sie nicht exklusives Zusatzmaterial enthalten würde, welches den wahren Fan so richtig wahnsinnig macht. Im Falle der Artist Edition ist das der signierte und nummerierte Kunstdruck mit Artwork von Gerald Parel im A3-Format und eine Originalzeichnung von Marko Djurdjevic höchstselbst. Die Drucke bieten sich geradzu dazu an, eingerahmt und aufgehängt zu werden, um jede Degenesis-Sitzung zu inspirieren.

Beim Anblick der Artist Edition fällt es mir immer wieder schwer zu glauben, dass es sich um ein Rollenspiel handelt, da das Set einfach so ins Extreme ausschlägt und mich mehr wie ein Artbook mit seiner Pracht und Qualität überwältigt. Wie empfindet ihr das? Viel zu viel, oder eine gebührende Aufwertung für ein sowieso schon opulentes Original?

Erhältlich ist dieser Trumm einer Deluxe-Ausgabe bei Sixmorevodka, die Rebirth Edition im Schuber findet ihr bei uns im F-Shop.

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Original Interview given at www.obskures.de

Translation: Andreas Mecker



Degenesis: Rebirth Edition – Interview with Marko Djurdjevic

Almost one month ago, Degenesis: Rebirth Edition was released more or less surprisingly.
SIXMOREVODKA hereby launches a comprehensive overhaul of their well known post-apocalyptic RPG from 2004, which had been released by Sighpress at that time.

Fans of the original version quickly discovered that hardly one stone had remained unturned.
Over a total of 700 pages within two hardcover-books delivered in a slipcase are waiting to be discovered.
The first book, Primal Punk, portraits the detailed world of Degenesis whereas the second book
-Katharsys- comes along with a completely renewed set of rules including a start-up adventure.

The following interview with Marko Djurdjevic grants a glimpse behind the scenes of one of the most ambitious German RPG-Outputs this year.
French, Spanish and of course English translations of the new Degenesis: Rebirth Edition are already in the making.
Additionally, the announced comic-adaptation gives a slight hint of the potentials behind the considerable creation of Christian Günther and Marko Djurdjevic.

Despite a tight schedule in the middle of the release, Designer Marko Djurdjevic shared some of his time to answer some (very well) critical questions.





On the 10th of October 2014, Degenesis: Rebirth Edition was released in German language. What is this roleplaying-game about basically? Was does Primal Punk mean?
Primal Punk- in one term- summarizes, how we understand the evolution of a world and its inhabitants after the collapse of their civilization, when primal ferocity replaces mindful planning and the strongest claims the throne.
The age of reason and political correctness is over, violence becomes a viable option again. Humans are like a scattered bunch of dogs, blending together into new packs, choosing their Alphas and fight for shelter and prey.

Primal Punk is kind of a red line for us, which we followed creating the post-apocalyptic scenario of Degenesis. On first sight this point of view seems negative, the resulting world being chaotic and cruel. And that’s right in some places. But in fact, the whole spectrum of human emotions, not only the negative ones, becomes apparent: ideologies are being defended passionately, great pain is being met with great courage.

The atmosphere of Degenesis is dominated by the Cults.
Cults are groups that extend across cultures either wielding great influence on an economic, military or religious basis.
As a Player you follow the ideologies of one of those cults. What all cults have in common is their intention to lead humanity towards greater deeds and to make the world a little better. Every cult claims the right to this heritage on its very own way. Different ideologies or ways of life then become obstacles.
But then, the environmental dangers in the world of Degenesis have grown so strong – Psychonauts, Sleepers, Sporefields, the rise of the Clans – that the cults cannot conduct conflicts among themselves anymore but have to cooperate to throw back those dangers.

Clans diverge from Cults as they only wield very regional influence, where they can still become serious threats and problems.
Players can also choose Clanners and take the role of a Clan. The Clans have been pushed towards the outskirts of society for centuries. They have been denied artifacts and culture, were chased away from their holy places or had to subordinate to the Cults. But that is now over! Everywhere in the Wastelands a wind of change is rising and the Clans suddenly become a threat because they intend to reclaim what once was theirs.

While playing in a group, players are encouraged to take part in the world´s evolution, do extraordinary deeds for their Cult or Clan and to push forward the vision of a better life against all odds.
The big question in Degenesis is if man has what it takes to bring back that civilization that he has lost five centuries ago and if it is all worth it in the face of such enemies or if egoism, recklessness and the will for power show their ugly faces over and over again, destroying all hope for better times.

All that is being spiced through reduction of resources, a hostile environment and the overpowering enemy, Homo Degenesis, who seeks to tear Homo Sapiens from his throne.



It was pretty silent around Degenesis for a long time. To be honest, the announcement of the new edition really came by surprise, especially as the release lies very short ahead and the already shown materials (trailer, artworks) are pretty impressive. On top of that, there must be some changes in comparison to the old material. Foremost the old set of rules in the game was viewed upon quite critically.
So, what are the most essential features of this new edition concerning the background-world and the rules-system Katharsys? What is to be considered in terms of downgrade-compatibility?

We have spent two whole years with the Rebirth Edition. Our goal was to maintain absolute silence and to present the product to the public only when it would be fully done. We originally had estimated a lot less time but we came to the conclusion very quickly that we needed a lot more time at the backend to get it done just the way we wanted.
Immersion and quality of the product where of utmost importance to us. Another main goal of the redesigning process was the complete overhaul of the game rules to improve the playing experience.

We decided to do the redesigning in full isolation of the public because we didn´t want to let the RPG-scene have tranquilizing effects on us. It needs focus and tight collaboration to realize such an ambitious project. External influences can have a negative effect quite easily because they tend to distort your visions.
As an example, we had already shot and produced the trailer a whole year before publication, simply because we wanted to make everyone on the team give his best but also to point the direction where we wanted this all to go.
Not only to tell a story via one single medium but to incorporate all media to introduce the trademark as diverse as possible.

So the essential features of that new edition are a complete overhaul of the background which now takes place ten years after the original edition. We intended to downgrade the intensity of conflicts between the Cults (which we never saw as intense as some of our fans did) and to further advance the background-story of Degenesis. Chris and me have been working on this material for years and we have created a load of loose ends that we were never able to link together in the past.
With the Rebirth Edition we now press on. You could say that we had kind of a “Unfinished Business”-feeling towards the product, something that haunted us as we didn´t have the possibility to bring it to an end.



How long have you been working on Degenesis: Rebirth Edition respectively how did the process of creation come to be?
As mentioned above, about two years. Everything started when my employees in the studio persuaded me to run a RPG-campaign in April 2012. After some discussions about what game to play, somebody asked: “Why don’t we try your old game, Degenesis? You might know your way around with that best, do you?”

The campaign was a huge success and my employees, all but awesome illustrators, started drawing their characters or developing scenes and landscapes for that setting to catch certain moments in the game they considered special.
Shortly after one of my employees stumbled across that website, www.fraktal-endzeit.com, and we were in absolute awe about our LARP-community that had grown in the background over the years and kept the spirit of the game alive. So I hastily called Chris and asked him to do a complete reboot and overhaul of that whole Degenesis with me. Chris then told me that he was working on new rules-mechanisms anyway and we could as well use them for the relaunch.

Initially there were only plans for a new edition with minor editing and complete new illustrations. But when Chris and me come together on a new project it usually culminates into quality-marathons.
It also became clear to us soon that we needed Malik onboard again, he who sits right in the between of us two like Buddha to keep our ambitions clear and sometimes to shave our heads.
The principal work started in August 2012, reviewing stuff, sorting it out, discussing it, rethinking and replacing it. For four months into January 2013 we pretty much turned every stone in the world of Degenesis upside down, reviewing it from a ten years distance. Which Cults went badly in the first edition, where did we need stronger concepts for certain cultures, how could we link the background together in a better way. With the complete overhaul finally done, we started rewriting the contents and visual redesign was initiated. And now, 20 months of pure work are available as bookblock!



What is a typical Degenesis-campaign about? What are the characteristic enemies and conflicts the player has to face?
This question is almost impossible to answer in just a few lines minding the depth and width of this setting.
Wherever man appears there is trouble, even five centuries after a global disaster.
Conflicts arise from different points of view, ways of life, humiliations – and the player is always in the thick of it. In a typical campaign you do best to make the different members of the group ambassadors of their certain Cults, to make them face dangers for their Cults together. The genre can differ enormously depending on the culture the campaign takes place in.

Borca is the best place for political intrigues, fighting back Clans on the rise or Cult-based campaigns.
Pollen is more a place of horror – Biokinetics, twisted woods, an uncontainable wall of spores, they all evoke atmosphere. Franka with its swamps and unapproachable terrain is all about resistance against the Pheromancers but also about securing passageways, guarding caravans and merchants to ensure the flow of goods towards Borca.
Hybrispania is a psycho-thriller-warzone with absurd time-aberrations going on, a place where past, present and future collide and interweave.
Balkhan gives us an untamable place, where local rulers come and go just as the seasons do and where secrets centuries old lie buried beneath the ground.
Purgare is all religious insanity, zealots and fanatics, but also Psychokinetics that devastate the lands with their plagues, an apocalyptic crusade taking place in a mystery-setting basically.
When it comes to Africa then, things look a little different. There is trade, the world is being split into pieces, expeditions are being set out and every corner of the world is being explored. But at the same time, strange plants slowly seep into the consciousness of that whole culture to influence its course of action.



What do you like best on the new Degenesis: Rebirth Edition?
The final product itself. There has been such love and effort put into every detail. We treated every part of the product equally, giving meaning and importance to every aspect. There is virtually no other RPG-product, where illustration, graphics design, layout and written text do correspond on such a high level . You can see a lot of RPGs where illustration comes seconds at best, not to mention typography. Seldom does the art-director take care of illustrations and design as well as development of the world itself at the same time.

Chris and me work on every single part together and we do not hold back with feedback towards one another. We try to see as much ideas as possible from two perspectives, be it the written or the visual side. Things being described must also work visually and in return, design has to harmonize with the written parts because otherwise there will only be a haywire of concepts.
According to that there must be a visual and narrative line that has to be followed, a line that opens up to the reader after a while and that he can fall back to when going through the books looking for inspiration.



One essential trademark of Degenesis has always been the spirit of community. The rules were available as a free download and there was great activity in the Degenesis-forum. What can we expect on this side?
We take great efforts to reanimate our forum and, as developers, always present a helping hand. We hope to see the forum coming to live again as back in the good days. But release is now 20 days past, so there is still some way to go until we can say the community has grown active again. We are happy about every single new fan and we try to answer the most important questions at least once a day.

You are right, there was this free PDF-download back then, but we won´t have it this way again. This is simply because we came to the conclusion that something, that is free, has no actual value for its owner. Yes, we heard it quite often like: “I could download the PDF for free back then and everyone who had the PDF also bought the books”. But as a matter of fact, that´s not true. We had about 40.000 downloads of the old core-rulebook but had only sold about 3.000 printed. The discrepancy between those who want to grab something for free and those who are willing to pay real money is so big that we just can´t come up with this again. Even more, I would judge this as scam towards those fans that paid real money for the books to support the project while others could simply get it all for free. To be honest, that´s not my interpretation of fairness.



What are your further plans for the Degenesis: Rebirth Edition? Will there be additional gaming materials (adventures, rules, supplements)? What about an English version or even projects that add up to already existing material?
We are already working on follow-ups for the RPG. Yesterday, we announced Degenesis: Black Atlantic via our newsletter. We have a two-year-agenda set and we know, what we want to do: products on the highest level possible. We will not release one-shots or irrelevant books with no actual use. The Degenesis –trademark is made for different media at the same time. Not all following products will automatically have something to do with the RPG but very well with the story of Degenesis itself. For example, we already announced a graphic-novel , in our last newsletter. And that is just the beginning. We will come up with more news one by one.
Just now, cooperation with Edge Entertainment was announced. They will deliver a Spanish and French version of the game. But even here there is more to come at its given time.



Besides the Premium-Edition (4000 printed: 99,-), there is a Limited Edition (555 printed: 146,-) and even an Artist Edition (100 printed: 499,-). That´s pretty ambitious, is it? Why should the old or new fan support Degenesis: Rebirth Edition( just now)?
Many of our pre-orders are fans from the first days. They stayed true to us, know the level of our concepts and products and can estimate the quality delivered to them. You can say what you want about those fees, even that they are ambitious. But when I look at people paying 99,-EUR for a pair of shoes hastily stitched together by kids in Bangladesh or see them paying 600,-EUR for a new smartphone, assembled within a couple of ours, then I don’t see the point of this discussion.

Degenesis demanded two years of energy, handworking and free time of about 20 people. Every texture found on the background pages was handmade, every logo was created by hand, every single illustration took about 3-5 days of work, endless conceptual discussions and workings on texts not even included.
I know of no other RPG that hits the market with epic trailers, state-of-the-art homepages and such huge expectations towards the quality of the final product.
That all was pre-funded by ourselves, no crowdfunding was included. As a publisher, I have to be able to measure the actual value of the product considering production-budget and the amount of time put into the project. At the end of the day, the numbers have to fit in order to refund such a financial demanding and time-intense product. Considering the amount of work put into this all I would judge our fees pretty harmless all in all.

Thanks a lot for this interview. The last lines are all yours!
Foremost a big thank you to all our true and wonderful fans, be it at the the table or at LARP, that have stayed true to our product. Also our gratitude goes out to our friends that have helped us during launch-phase. We wouldn´t have made it without you.

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Titel: Degenesis Rebirth Edition
Art: Rollenspiel, Post-apokalyptisch
Regeln: Katharsys (W6 Erfolgbasiert)
Sprache: Deutsch
Verlag: SixMoreVodka
Publikationsjahr: 2014
Autor: Christian Günther
Illustrationen: Makro Djurdjevic
Umfang: 704 Seiten
Bindung: 2 Hardcover im Schuber
Preis: 99,95€
Rezensent: Bastian Olpp


Mit der Rebirth Edition von Degenesis veröffentlichte SixMoreVodka im Oktober die zweite Edition, des 2004 erstmals erschienen post-apokalyptischen Rollenspiels Degenesis. Nachdem es in den letzten Jahren vermehrt ruhig um das Spiel wurde, liegt nun eine in wesentlichen Teilen überarbeitete Version des Rollenspiels vor, für die SixMoreVodka eigens einen stimmigen und spannenden Trailer (!) gedreht hat. Was sich genau verändert hat und was sich hinter den schlichten weißen Buchdeckeln der beiden Hardcover versteckt, die derzeit in den Läden und im Internet angeboten werden, wird sich im Folgenden zeigen.





Primal Punk und Katharsys

SixMoreVodka teilt das Grundregelwerk in zwei gleichberechtigte Bücher auf. Dabei deckt das erste, Primal Punk, den Hintergrund der Welt, ihre Geschichte und Entstehung ab, sowie die Kulturen und Bevölkerungsgruppen, die in ihr leben. Katharsys, das zweite Buch beschäftigt sich mit dem, was der Rollenspieler als Crunch bezeichnet. Hier folgen also die Regelmechaniken, die Charaktererschaffung, die Gegenspieler und tieferen Mechanismen. Eine derartige Trennung des Stoffes findet sich in jedem anderen Grundregelwerk eines Rollenspiels auch, dass man hier aber gleich zwei Bücher zu je 350 Seiten zur Verfügung stellt, spricht von den Ambitionen hinter dem Projekt der Rebirth Edition.



Primal Punk – Die Apokalypse

Teil 1 des Grundregelwerkes wirft einen Blick auf die Geschichte der Apokalypse, ihrer Folgen für den Planeten und seine Bewohner. Die menschliche Zivilisation (aus Betrachtung Menschen in Degenesis als Urvolk bezeichnet) erreicht bis zum Jahr 2073 einen transhumanistischen Stand, der jäh durch den Einschlag mehrerer Meteoriten in Europa ein Ende findet. Die Einschläge sind so heftig, dass alles Fortstreben des Menschen auf die Stunde null zurückgesetzt wird. Zwar überleben die Menschen in dem nun zerstörten Europa und Afrika weiter, sind aber nicht mehr die alleinigen Herren der Schöpfung. Die Meteoriten trugen eine außerirdische Pilzart, den sogenannten Primer, mit sich, der massive Eingriff in die Fauna und auch den Genpool von Mensch und Tier hatte. Während sich die Menschheit wieder aufrichtet um aus der Zerstörung eine neue Zivilisation zu erbauen, mutiert in den Sporenfeldern um die Kratereinschläge der Homo Degenesis, dessen gefährlichste Art die sogenannten Psychonauten sind.

Degenesis Rebirth spielt im Jahr 2595, Homo Sapiens und Homo Degenesis hatten ausreichend Zeit um sich zu entwickeln. Der neue Gegenspieler des Menschen ist ihm klar überlegen. Der Primer erweckt übernatürliche Fähigkeiten in ihm, denen der Mensch als Einzelner und unbewaffnet, nicht gewachsen sein kann. Dazu kommt eine fortwährende Ausbreitung der Pilzsaat über Europa und Afrika, so dass Lebensraum ein umstrittenes Gut wird. Während in Europa hauptsächlich der Mensch vom Primer betroffen ist, hat sich die afrikanische Flora unter dessen Einfluss lebensbedrohlich entwickelt und wächst als Psychovorengürtel vom Äquator aus nach Norden, in die bewohnten Gebiete der Neolibyer.

Christian Günther fokussiert in seiner postapokalyptischen Vision den Kampf des Menschen, zu einen mit sich selbst, nämlich im Aufbau einer neuen Zivilisationsordnung, zum anderen mit seiner Umwelt, die feindlicher nicht sein könnte. Auf der zerstörten Erde gelten jetzt auch außerirdische Gesetze, die ihre Bewohner weder verstehen noch adäquat eindämmen können. Der Kampf ums Überleben der eigenen Gruppe, sei es die Familie, der Kult oder die Menschheit an sich, prägt Degenesis. Es kommt dem Spiel dabei zu Gute, dass der Metaplot seit der ersten Edition um 10 Jahre vorangetrieben wurde. Die Welt nach der Apokalypse wirkt nun zugänglicher und viele Parteien untereinander kompatibler.



Primal Punk – 7 Kulturkreise

Als Konfliktparteien stellt Günther zum einen sieben Kulturkreise auf und zum anderen dreizehn Kulte. Überblieben aus den Ruinen unserer heutigen Welt sind Africa (der nordafrikanische Raum), Borca (der deutschsprachige Raum), Hybrispania (Spanien und Portugal), Pollen (Polen), Purgare (Italien), Balkhan (der Balkanraum) und Franka (Frankreich) als tragende Kulturkreise. Jedem ist ein interner Konflikt gegeben, bei dem sich menschliches und psychonautisches Handeln gegenüber stehen, was eine Vielzahl an Ideen für spannende Geschichten erlaubt und schon beim Lesen die Fantasie weckt. Es gelingt dabei verschiedensten Ansatzpunkte für Kampagnen zu wecken. Sowohl der politische Thriller, ein Horrorszenario, Mystery oder ein Glaubenskrieg sind denkbar und bei weitem nicht alle Möglichkeiten.

Interessant für den Metaplot ist hierbei vor Allem, dass sich neue Machtzentren gebildet haben. Dem zersplitterten Europa steht dabei ein vereinigtes Afrika gegenüber, dass, durch den Klimawandel begünstigt, über Ressourcen, Geld und Macht verfügt. Waren die Africaner in der Vergangenheit von Degenesis noch generische Bösewichte, mit imperialem Streben nach Europa, hat sich dies mit der Rebirth Edition gewandelt. Zunehmend erscheinen nun auch politische Bündnisse, so dünn und vorläufig sie auch sein mögen, im Interesse der Africaner zu liegen. Damit eröffnen sich für eine Spielgruppe neue Gebiete und Kulte.

Die Beschreibungen der Kulturkreise zählen mit zu den spannendsten Abschnitten in Primal Punk. Der prosaische Schreibstil von Christian Günther ist dabei für ein Rollenspiel überraschend und bedarf einer gewissen Gewöhnungszeit. Man ist es aus anderen Büchern einfach gewohnt, dass die Informationen konkreter sind. Man erkennt aber schnell wie viel Günthers Beschreibungen und anekdotenhafte Abrisse zur Atmosphäre beitragen. Das Gefühl der Immersion entsteht schon beim Lesen und weckt Lust auf mehr.



Primal Punk – 13 Kulte

Was für die Kulturkreise gilt, findet sich bei den Kulten ebenso wieder. Auch hier sind die Beschreibungen detailverliebt und überzeugen mit atmosphärischer Dichte. Des Weiteren sind die Kulte im Umgang untereinander offener geworden, was nun gemischte Spielgruppen ermöglicht und Degenesis als Spielwelt zugänglicher macht.



Bei den Kulten handelt es sich dabei um:

Die Spitalier, die als Ärzte und Krieger mit geheimem Wissen um Medizin den Primer bekämpfen und erforschen.

Die Chronisten, die als Sammler der elektronischen Daten des Urvolkes, versuchen das ehemalige Datennetz wieder zu errichten, deren Stärke sich aber auch aus ihrer Position als Herausgeber einer Währung speist.

Die Hellvetiker, die die Alpenübergänge aus Bunkerfestungen heraus kontrollieren. Noch immer allen anderen technisch überlegen und einstmals abgeschottet, müssen sie sich nun auch langsam der Welt öffnen.

Die Richter, die als Gesetzesträger Kultur in die Welt bringen und damit keineswegs überall gerne gesehen sind.

Unter den Sipplingen fassen sich nahezu alle kleineren Kulturgruppen zusammen, die nicht einem Kult zugehören. Oftmals als Wilde in der Ödnis außerhalb der großen Machtzentren ums Überleben der eigenen Familie kämpfend, durziehen Europa oder Afrika.

Die Schrotter suchen in den Ruinen des Urvolks nach Verwertbarem und entdecken so auch Geheimnisse. Sie sammeln, verkaufen und durchsuchen beide Kontinente nach solchen Schätzen.

Die Neolibyer sind die Herren Africas. Sie sind die Händler, die Herrscher, die Eroberer. Sie haben den Spieß umgedreht und versklaven die Reste Europas. Aber auch sie sind auf die Hilfe der Europäer angewiesen.

Daneben stellen die Geissler den kriegerischen Arm Africas dar. Sie sind Stammeskrieger, die die alten Traditionen ihrer Ahnen in ein neues Zeitalter bringen. Sie kämpfen und sterben für Africa.

Die Anubier sind mystische Priester in der Tradition des altägyptischen Pantheons. Sie bewahren Geheimnisse, stellen Tinkturen und Öle mit seltsamen Kräften her und scheinen vom Einfluss der Psychovoren frei.

Die Jehammedaner ehren nur die Prophezeiung Jehammeds höher als ihre Familie und ihre Bestimmung darin. Der Schutz ihrer Familie und ihres Glaubens verlangt vollen Einsatz.

Die Apokalyptiker sind der Schwarzmarkt, das Bordell, das Glückspiel und der Drogenhandel. Sie bilden ein Netzwerk des Begehrens auf beiden Kontinenten.

Die Wiedertäufer sind Krieger im Namen Gottes. Sie sehen ihre Bestimmung in der Heilung des Landes, der Zerstörung des Primers und allen anderen Übels.

Die mysteriösen Bleicher haben den Großteil der Apokalypse in Bunkern verbracht und stellen sich nun einer Welt, die sie so nicht verstehen. Sie folgen einer Prophezeiung des Urvolkes, deren Ausgang sie selbst nicht abschätzen können.



Es findet sich also ein Sammelsurium an Möglichkeiten zur Darstellung verschiedenster Charakter. Von schräg bis traditionalistisch, von mysteriös bis gesetzesfanatisch, alles hat seinen Platz und ist stringent in die Welt eingefügt. Was in der Welt von Degenesis ohnehin schon bizarr und befremdlich erscheint, findet sich in den Kulten wieder, relativiert sich dabei aber auch. Christian Günther zeichnet eine interessante, abwechslungsreiche und durch und durch konfliktbeladene Welt, in der ebensolche Menschen versuchen ihr Überleben zu sichern. Diese Menschen bewegen sich dabei ständig in einer moralischen Grauzone. Gut und Böse erscheinen in Degenesis ohnehin fragwürdige Konzepte zu sein. Das muss man nicht mögen, es ist aber ein Weg abseits ausgetretener Rollenspielpfade, vor Allem auf dem deutschen Markt.



Primal Punk – Fazit

Insgesamt ist der Eindruck zu Primal Punk hervorragend. Atmosphärisch dicht, detailverliebt, erzählerisch und eindringlich wird hier eine Spielwelt beschrieben, die aus der Masse heraussticht. Was bei einer Beschreibung des Buches nicht untergehen darf sind das phänomenale Layout und die zeichnerische Gestaltung. Dass Marko Djurdjevic für Marvel gezeichnet hat, sein Handwerk also bestens versteht, zeigt das Buch auf nahezu jeder Seite. Die Charakterzeichnungen sind mit das Beste was man auf dem Rollenspielmarkt finden kann – mehr muss man dazu nicht sagen. Sie transportieren die Thematiken von Christian Günthers Texten über das Auge direkt weiter in die Vorstellungskraft. Dort wo keine Zeichnungen zu finden sind, ist das Layout derart vielseitig, abwechslungsreich und thematisch passend, dass die Atmosphäre stets lebendig gehalten wird. SixMoreVodka hat eine Referenz für den deutschen Rollenspielmarkt geschaffen, zumindest wenn es um die Opulenz der Ausgestaltung geht.

Einzig ein paar mehr Landschaftsbilder hätte man sich wünschen können. Dies hätte sicherlich zur Auflockerung des Buches beigetragen und Teile der Textpassagen besser mit der Gestaltung verknüpft. Das ist bei dem Dargebotenen allerdings Kritik auf hohem Niveau.



Katharsys – Regeln und Kampf

Teil 2 des Grundregelwerkes beleuchtet die Regeln, Charaktererschaffung, Kampf und Feinde. Des Weiteren finden sich hier noch Informationen für den Spielleiter und ein Abenteuer.

Vorweg muss erwähnt werden, dass Regeln Geschmacksfrage sind. Einer der großen Kritikpunkte der ersten Edition von Degenesis war das damalige Würfelsystem. Für die Rebirth Edition wurde es nun komplett neu designt. Als Kernmechanik funktioniert dabei ein W6-Erfolgssammelsystem. Ein Attribut wird mit einer Fertigkeit kombiniert, gewürfelte Erfolge (4-6) gezählt und mit einer Schwierigkeit abgeglichen. Damit gehen die Designer einen Weg, der soweit aus anderen Systemen bekannt und erprobt ist. Einzig die Wertung einer gewürfelten 6 als Trigger erscheint hier neu. Der Trigger entscheidet dann über das Maß des Erfolges, bzw. den Style. Im Kampf kommt Triggern dabei eine besondere Bedeutung zu, da sie z.B. Waffenschaden erhöhen.

Vor dem Hintergrund exotischer Würfelsysteme der letzten Jahre, wie sie in einer Vielzahl von Rollenspielen derzeit modern sind, wirkt Katharsys zuerst ein wenig konservativ. In genauerer Betrachtung ist der Schritt den Degenesis dabei geht, aber kein Fehler – Katharsys ist erfrischend einfach.

Es ist den Designer gelungen mit Katharsys ein schnelles System vorzulegen, dass mit Vergleichs-, Unterstützungs- und Containerwürfen (das Erreichen einer festen Erfolgszahl in einem festgelegten Zeitraum) alles abdeckt, was ein modernes Rollenspiel braucht. Die Zuordnung der Attribute, Fertigkeiten und Submechanismen wirkt dabei überzeugend. Bei der Gestaltung der Regelbeschreibungen stich positiv hervor, dass die einzelnen Passagen abschließend mit kleinen Merksätzen oder Faustregeln zusammengefasst werden. Das vereinfacht die Suche auf den Seiten und erlaubt schnellen Zugriff auf die fraglichen Regeln.

Der Kampf in Degenesis ist schnell und tödlich. Dabei folgt das Design dem einfachen Aufbau der Grundregeln. Eine Angriffsfertigkeit wird gegen einen modifizierbaren Verteidigungswert gewürfelt. Waffen machen einen festen Schaden (über Trigger aus der Fertigkeitsprobe steigerbar), von dem der feste Wert einer Panzerung abgezogen wird. Was übrig bleibt wird als Schaden gewertet und davon halten die Charaktere nicht allzu viel aus – nach zwei bis drei Treffern geht so mancher leblos zu Boden.

Bewegung, Sicht, Distanz, Verwundung, Initiative, Handhabbarkeit der Waffe, usw. – es gibt viele Modifikatoren, die das Kampfgeschehen in Rollenspielen beeinflussen. In Katharsys kommen die meisten davon vor und sind sinnvoll implementiert. Es fehlt allerdings an detaillierten Manövern für Fern- und Nahkampf. Interessant ist bei Degenesis die Verwendung von Egopunkten um die Initiative vor einer Kampfrunde zu erhöhen, da die Egopunkte im Verlauf des Kampfs wiederum so etwas wie die Ausdauer des Charakters repräsentieren.

Die Designer von Katharsys bauen, auf den Grundregeln fußend, ein Kampfsystem auf in dem die Simulation abstrakt gehalten wird und nicht den Detailgrad anderer Spiele erreicht. Das kann man als Kritikpunkt sehen, es lässt aber auch einen großen Freiraum für im erzählerischen Spektrum des Kampfes. Spieler die einen höheren Grad an Simulation suchen, werden hier jedoch enttäuscht.



Katharsys – Charaktererschaffung

Bei der Charaktererschaffung kombiniert man einen Kulturkreis mit einem Kult, sofern dieser in dort ansässig ist. Zu diesen beiden Faktoren gesellt sich nun noch eines von 22 Konzepten und damit ein übergeordneter Wesenszug des Charakters, mit dem Vor- und Nachteile verbunden sind. Leider ist die Beschreibung der Konzepte etwas zu kurz geraten. In machen Texten finden sich nur positive oder nur negative Aspekte. Eine größere Balance wäre hier wünschenswert gewesen. Nichtsdestotrotz ist das System gangbar und umfangreich genug, um verschiedene und vor Allem spannende Charakterideen umzusetzen.

Ist die Wahl auf Kultur, Kult und Konzept einmal getroffen, wird der Charakter nun mit Werten ausgekleidet. Dabei bringt Degenesis eine spannende Neuerung mit. Der Spieler versucht dabei den Anforderungen der Ränge des Kultes gerecht zu werden und seinen Hintergrund im Kult zu stärken. Mit den Rängen sind Privilegien, Ansehen und Ausrüstung verbunden und daher Ziele, die Charakter erreichen möchten. Hier ergibt sich ein großes Potenzial für Plot-hooks, bereits vor dem ersten Spielabend. Das ist gut gelungen, hätte nur explizierter erwähnt und beschrieben werden können. Ein Charakter muss sich in der Folge noch zwischen einen emotionalen (Primal) und einem vernunftgetriebenen (Fokus) Handeln entscheiden, was einen zusätzlichen Aspekt der Handlungsausgestaltung bietet. Die Entscheidung ist dann für die Errechnung der Egopunkte verantwortlich.

Wer sich in der Spielwelt auskennt, dem dürfte eine Charaktererstellung schnell von der Hand gehen. Wer sich erst in die fremden Kulturen und Kulte einlesen muss, der wird entsprechend länger brauchen. Letzterem sei aber der hervorragende Charaktergenerator auf der Degenesis-Homepage empfohlen. Ein Service der durchaus in der Verlagswelt Schule machen darf.

Zusammenfassend hat Christian Günther die Charaktererstellung zügig und zielgerichtet beschrieben. Gestaltungsmöglichkeiten für runde Charaktere sind ausreichend vorhanden, wenn auch stellenweise etwas zu bündig dargestellt. Der Aufstieg in den Baumstrukturen den Kultränge ist dergestalt aber neu und gut umgesetzt – dafür ein großes Lob.



Katharsys – Ausrüstung, Feinde, Spielleiter

Die Ausrüstungsliste in Katharsys ist umfangreich. Von Kleingegenständen bis haushohen Drangpanzern, von Dolchen bis Flammenwerfern, von kultspezifischen Gegenständen bis allseits verfügbaren Alltagsdingen ist alles vorhanden und hat seinen Preis. Lobenswert fällt dabei auf, dass die Waffen, Fahrzeuge und diversen Anzüge der Kulte modifizierbar sind und entsprechende Regeln vorliegen. Das passt in eine Welt, die auf und aus den Trümmern einer anderen lebt. Nicht weniger überzeugend sind die zahllosen Darstellungen der Waffen und Gegenstände, die hier mittels Computergrafik detailreich auf fast jeder Seite zu finden sind.

Ebenso passend ist das Kapitel zu Burn, einer Droge die aus den Pilzknospen des Primers gewonnen wird. Die fortschreitende Versporung durch Burn kann bei einem Charakter zwar zur körperlichen und seelischen Zerrüttung führen, die positiven Effekte der Droge sind aber nicht zu übersehen. Je nach Art der Droge steigert sie Attribute und Fertigkeiten, was im Kampf ohnehin, aber in sozialen Interaktionen von enormem Vorteil sein kann. Die großflächige Abhängigkeit der Menschen in Europa erklärt sich somit logisch, auch wenn der Konsum dauerhaft in den Ruin treibt.

Mit Feinden spart Katharsys nicht. Das entsprechende Kapitel ist umfangreich, stellt aber auch eine Vielzahl an Sipplingen mit vor, die den Spielern als Hintergrund und Inspiration zur Verfügung stehen können. Hier findet der Spielleiter in der Folge viele Hintergründe zu den verschiedenen Gegnern der Menschheit, bis hin zu den Marodeuren, die im neuen Metaplot stärker eingebunden werden sollen. Und wie schon in Primal Punk trumpfen Günther und Djurdjevic hier groß auf. Die Kombination der Texte und Bilder erzeugt eine dichte und glaubwürdige Atmosphäre. Das Kapitel zu den Feinden zählt zu den Highlights im zweiten Teil des Grundregelwerkes.

Auch Degenesis verzichtet richtigerweise nicht auf ein Kapitel für den Spielleiter. In Anbetracht der Tatsache, dass über das Wesen und die Art des Spielleitens eigenständige Bücher geschrieben werden, fallen solche Abschnitte in der Regel knapp aus. Christian Günther legt dabei ein umfassendes Kapitel vor, in dem sich die allermeisten Dinge, die man erwartet, wiederfinden. Von der Motivation der NSCs, bis zu deren glaubwürdiger Darstellung und den Aufbau von Kampagnen und Abenteuern ist alles vorhanden und ausreichend gut beschrieben. Als Neuling wird man sich mit solchen Kapiteln immer schwer tun, als erfahrener Spielleiter kann man hier auf einige gute Ideen zurückgreifen. Lediglich die Beschreibungen der Spielertypen wirken nicht gelungen. Hier liegt aber eine generelle Abneigung gegen solche Einteilungen bei mir vor. Andere werden daraus sicher ihren Nutzen ziehen können.

Katharsys schließt mit einem Einführungsabenteuer über dessen Inhalt hier nichts gesagt werden soll. Es liest sich jedenfalls spannend und bietet die Möglichkeit als Ausgangspunkt für verschiedene Folgeabenteuer zur Verfügung zu stehen. Erwähnen sollte man hierbei noch, dass die Karten sich über das Degenesis-Forum in guter Auflösung herunterladen lassen.



Katharsys – Fazit

Seine Aufgabe, die Darstellung der Regeln und Erweiterung des Hintergrundes, erfüllt das zweite Buch ausreichend und gut. Die Regelmechanismen sind schlank und gehen schnell von der Hand. Hier und da hätte man die Mechaniken um ein paar Optionen erweitern können, aber dies tut dem Spiel keinen Abbruch. Die Charaktererschaffung ist bündig und rund und verknüpft dabei schlüssig Besonderheiten der Spielwelt mit ihren Darstellern. Der hohe Standard des Layouts und der Beschreibungen wird durchweg beibehalten. Vor allem das Kapitel zu den Feinden sticht dabei hervor.



Degenesis Rebirth Edition – Fazit

Ist Degenesis die neue Referenz auf dem deutschen Rollenspielmarkt? Ja und nein. Ja, es gibt derzeit kein vergleichbar schön und ausladend gestaltetes Regelwerk eines deutschen Verlages auf dem Markt. Hier steht Degenesis einsam an der Spitze. Letztlich bewegt es sich aber mit dem angebotenen Setting weit ab vom Rollenspiel-Mainstream. Die Art der Konflikte und ihre Präsentation wenden sich eher an erwachsenere Spieler. Persönlich bewerte ich das als Vorteil des Spiels, es bietet sich damit aber nicht jedem an.

Wer die beschriebene Post-Apokalypse und die Welt von Degenesis noch nicht kennt, aber spannend findet, dem muss ein Kauf des Grundregelwerkes einfach ans Herz gelegt werden. Zu selten werden Spiele dieser Qualität veröffentlicht. Wer die erste Edition schon besitzt, findet hier genug Mehrwert um bedenkenlos zuzugreifen. Die beiden Bücher, wie auch die Spielwelt, bauen Bekanntes aus und liefern vor Allem ein spielbares Regelsystem, das der ersten Edition fehlte.

Das in dem Spiel viel Herzblut steckt wird durch die Bücher selbst, durch den eingangs erwähnten Trailer und die Aussagen der Macher im Internet, deutlich. Das Ergebnis von zwei Jahren Redesign und Arbeit ist mehr als nur beeindruckend und bereichert den Pen&Paper-Markt. Degenesis hat seit jeher auch eine große LARP-Gemeinde, die durch die zahllosen Personenzeichnungen und Waffendarstellungen eine enorme Inspirationsquelle in den beiden Büchern finden wird.

Was die Zukunft für das Spiel bereithält, hängt vom Verlag und dessen Plänen ab. Ansatzpunkte für weitere Veröffentlichungen sind in großer Zahl gegeben. Seien es nun Erweiterungen des Settings bezüglich der Kulturkreise und Kulte, oder erweiternde Regeln. Degenesis sollte sich gezielt ausbauen lassen. Das wird spannend zu beobachten sein, denn laut Christian Günthers Aussage von der diesjährigen Spiel, sind Erweiterungen bereits in Planung. Dazu zählt eine Graphic Novel, was auch vollkommen Sinn macht, wenn man Marko Djurdjevic an seiner Seite hat. Mit Black Atlantic ist bereits etwas in den Startlöchern über dessen Inhalt noch nichts weiter bekannt ist. Es bleibt zu hoffen, dass es SixMoreVodka in Zukunft gelingen wird, dem hohen Niveau des Regelwerkes mit weiteren Veröffentlichungen zu folgen. Den deutschen und bald auch englischen, französischen und spanischen Rollenspielern kann das nicht schaden.

Von meiner Seite aus, eine ganz klare Kaufempfehlung.

Links:

Schlagworte:Degenesis, Rezension, Rollenspiel

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1. SIXMOREVODKA und Striker Entertainment unterzeichnen exklusiven Lizenzvertrag, um DEGENESIS für Film, Fernsehen und Konsumprodukte zu adaptieren


SIXMOREVODKA zeichnet Striker Entertainment als exklusiven weltweiten Lizenzagenten aus, um DEGENESIS-Adaptionen für Film, Fernsehen, Videospiele, Collectibles und gleichartige Kategorien voranzutreiben.

Striker Entertainment hat sich in Hollywood standfest als eine der führenden Lizenzboutique-Agenturen etabliert und repräsentiert einige der bemerkenswertesten Organisationen und IPs, zu denen auch The Twilight Saga, AMCs The Walking Dead, Pacific Rim, Orphan Black, DreamWorks Studios, LionsGate, Candy Crush Saga und The Hunger Games von Suzanne Collins gehören.

Mit Striker Entertainment an unserer Seite lässt sich das gesamte Potenzial der DEGENESIS-IP vollständig erkunden. Wir fühlen uns geehrt, dem eindrucksvollen Kundenstamm dieser gefeierten Firma anzugehören.

Weitere Entwicklungen und Neuigkeiten werden wir auf unserer Website veröffentlichen.

WWW.STRIKERENTERTAINMENT.COM



2. DEGENESIS: BLACK ATLANTIC-WEBSITE ONLINE


Die Website für unser neues Buch DEGENESIS: Black Atlantic ist online. Auf ihr finden sich die ersten Infos und Previews zum Buch selbst:

BLACK ATLANTIC

Black_Atlantic_02.jpg


Behaltet die Seite im Auge, denn wir werden in den nächsten Wochen weitere Informationen über den Titel und weitere Previews mit euch teilen. Hinterlasst eure Meinungen und Impressionen bei uns im Forum:

DEGENESIS FORUM



3. DEGENESIS-ADVENTSKALENDER



Der schöne Monat Dezember ist angebrochen und alle warten ungeduldig auf die Feiertage. Um die Wartezeit bis Weihnachten ein bisschen zu verkürzen, bieten wir ab heute für die nächsten 24 Tage einen kostenlosen und exklusiven Art Print bei jedem Einkauf eines Printproduktes in unserem Shop an. Um herauszufinden, welcher Print an welchem Tag verfügbar ist, schaut direkt auf unsere Adventskalender-Seite:

ADVENTSKALENDER

Jeder Print ist nur einen Tag lang erhältlich und wird umgehend mit dem entsprechenden Einkauf verschickt.



4. NEUE UND ÜBERARBEITETE JUSTITIAN-KARTEN ONLINE



"JUSTITIAN: Die Gerechte Faust" war immer unser Lieblingssetting aus der ersten DEGENESIS-Edition und wurde gleichermaßen von unseren Fans gefeiert. Wir wurden mehrfach gefragt, ob wir überarbeitetes Material zum Setting beisteuern können, und wir fanden, es war der Zeit, es zu tun. Ein Blick auf unsere Download-Seite enthüllt einige neue wunderschöne Karten, um euren Justitian-Kampagnen einen neuen Schliff zu verpassen.

DOWNLOADS

Ebenfalls erhältlich auf unserer Download-Seite sind die Karten zu "Embargo", dem Einführungs-Abenteuer aus dem Regelwerk.



5. NEUE REZENSIONEN IM NETZ


Die DEGENESIS Rebirth Edition bleibt ihrem Kurs treu und sammelt hervorragende Rezenesionen überall im Netz. Wir sind glücklich über die tolle Resonanz und das großartige Feedback allerorts.

ROLLENSPIEL ALMANACH

WUERFELHELD



6. INTERVIEWS MIT UNSEREM ART DIRECTOR MARKO DJURDJEVIC



DEGENESIS Art Director und Co-Entwickler Marko Djurdjevic hat einige ausführliche Interviews zum Making-Of von Degenesis gegeben. Für einen Blick hinter die Kulissen zur Entstehung eines Rollenspiels schaut einfach hier rein:

WÜRFELHELD-INTERVIEW

OBSKURES INTERVIEW DEUTSCH

OBSKURES INTERVIEW ENGLISH

FOLGE UNS IN DEN SOZIALEN MEDIEN, UM MEHR INFORMATIONEN UND NEUIGKEITEN ZU ERHALTEN:



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When I started in SIXMOREVODKA one of the first things I finished was one of these illustrations for table top RPG Degenesis.

There was a lot of awesome sketches by Marko Djurdjevic prepared for the book. I chose to work on these, because they were something different than I usually do. It’s fun to paint all the action pieces, but after so many of those, it felt really refreshing to work on something with more story. You don’t usually see illustrations of kids playing when you think of post-apocalyptic world, but that’s what created a nice contrast and really shows the idea that life will indeed find a way.

I tried to stay close to the art style Marko had in the book. Not a lot of Photoshop trickery was used to achieve the final results, it was mostly painted with just few brushes. My goal was to recapture the mood of the sketches, painting it out in a lot of details without losing the flow. My final paintings then went through some Marko feedbacking and tweaking, that was a great way to learn. I really enjoyed these, so hopefully you’ll enjoy them too.













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December 2012. We were still in the early conceptual phase. Chris and I met several times to discuss, what bothered us about the old edition. The talks were great! Looking at something you produced over 10 years ago, with a certain amount of distance and maturity gives you a feeling for what you could have done better and what you should think about in the next steps ahead.

One of the things that bothered me incredibly, was my explosive and incomprehensible layout in the first edition. Logos and textures were done without a proper concept, shots from the hip, and afterthoughts. I didn’t like the grungy-ness of the early 2000’s anymore and felt it was dated and overdone. I envisioned a far cleaner, moderate and timeless design for the REBIRTH EDITION.
I knew just the right guy for the job… but I had to get him here first.

I called Dennis Nußbaum, a childhood friend of mine. Dennis is a spectacular graphic & fashion designer, deeply integrated in urban and hip-hop culture. He was the graffiti artist, I was the guy with the sketchbook. He bombed walls and I drew characters for my friends. Since we were kids we always wanted to do a project together, but our clientele and industries lay too far apart to make things happen. With DEGENESIS there was an opportunity. I wanted to bring someone on board from the left field. Someone who could help me design the new look in a fresh and untainted way, who wasn’t spoiled by the RPG-fantasy-swirly-grungy-overdone shit that was on the market everywhere.

“Dude, I need you here, January 1st. We’re relaunching this game that we did ten years ago and I need someone who can make it look fucking cool!”

“I can’t man, I’m in the middle of setting up my new clothing brand. I can’t commit to anything. I’d love to, but it’s going to break my neck!”

“Dennis, this is the last chance we might get. Tomorrow I might get hit by a bus, and we’ll never be able to work on something again.”

“But I have no clue about this RPG-stuff. This is all weird to me. These characters have strange names, I don’t even know what it means. What the fuck is an Usudi?”

“Usudi’s are this tribe…, that errr..fuck it, it takes too long to explain all of this. Just swing by. We’ll kill it together. You don’t need to know what all of this is about, if you knew you’d already be tainted and I want a pair of fresh eyes on this.”

“Oh man, I’m going to be in so much trouble for this. Ok, I’m coming.”

Two weeks later Dennis was in Berlin and started working with us on DEGENESIS.
Before any illustrations were finalized or any texts were written, we wanted to develop the design language for the Logo, the overall typography, the feeling you would have if you would just glance at the future product.

We imagined a strong and bold, but readable logo, that had a touch of elegance by using tall and towering letters. We wanted something that comes across like a unified shape, without serifs, curves and lower case letters. But we also wanted to integrate the Suncross into the logo somehow. This design element is deeply rooted within the mythology of DEGENESIS, the numbers 4, 8, 12 and 16 are integral parts of the metaplot and the numerical meanings allow for clues within the setting. The images below show the exploration and the different design approaches we took in these early conceptual days.

When we (eventually) came out with the final result, it seemed like the project was about to become a reality. A logo is such a fundamental piece in the design process as all other steps in the design will be influenced by the typographic language of the logo. For designers, this is the base skeleton, that you can coat with meat and skin later on.

“Holy shit, I designed my first RPG logo. This shit is like Lord of the Rings. But awesome! Can I go home now?”

“No, we still have to do the logos for ALL the cults, cultures and much much more.”

Poor Dennis didn’t know what he had signed up for.









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DEGENESIS is all about making choices. In game, as well as during character creation. Seven Cultures and 13 Cults are locked and intertwined in the conflicts of the world in the year 2595.
Between them lies an ocean of dirty secrets, idiosyncrasies and resentment, that is now contained by the rise of the clans. A player character needs to fit this world, where political entanglement as well as uncovering bunkers of the Recombination Group is part of the daily business. A character needs to be part of such a society full of prejudice, arrangements and opinions.

That’s why the character creation system in KATHARSYS is more than just a collection of dice rolls or randomly distributed skill points. It’s about making the right choices:

CULTURE, CONCEPT, CULT

The three big “C’s” make up the foundation of a character. Each step in the decision making forms the character culturally, morally and ideologically.

CULTURE: Culture describes the mentality and geographical background of a character, his heritage and the customs he grew up with. A childhood in wealthy streets of Tripol, where the air is full of fragrant odors, will lead to a different worldview than someone’s who grew up between the dust ruins of Borca.

CONCEPT: The concept describes the archetypal characteristics of a character, his deeply routed moral instincts. concepts are represented by the 22 major Arcana of the Apocalyptic Tarot. Choosing a concept adds principal standards which the character chooses to live by.

CULT: The final choice is the cult. They resemble ideologies, religions and economies. What the character stands for, what he strive for and what larger goals he feels appointed to. A cult is a destination for doing greater things, belonging to one gives a character a purpose in life.
Every Culture, Concept and Cult allows for certain Attributes and Skills that can be trained more easily. A Spitalian can easily afford to spend a point more on the skill, “Medicine”. A Hellvetic can do that with the skill, “Firearms”. But they don’t have to do so out of necessity. All bonuses granted on attributes and skills only enlarge the maximum available value for the increase during character creation. It’s the players choice if he wants to spend his points to max out an available skill or apply them sparingly across a larger skill set.

In general, the distribution of points is rather uncomplicated: 10 points are granted and divided among 6 attributes. 28 points are available to raise skills. The maximum level available is limited but expanded for each of the choices of the 3 “C’s”. Generalists don’t care about maxima and distribute the points to their liking among a vast set of possibilities. Specialists invest their points into the skills that are preferred by their Culture, Concept or Cult.


FOCUS VS PRIMAL

Does a character draw his strengths from ferocity? Is he choleric? Does he push forward against all odds? Then he must choose the skill “Primal”. Is he calculated, concentrated, a clear thought behind the bars of intellect? Then his choice must be “Focus”. Savage explosiveness vs cold blooded reaction. Primal and Focus eliminate each other.

Again, the player must make a choice which path of life his character follows. Once Primal or Focus is chosen, it excludes the other skill and is blacked out on the character sheet.

Some of the special skills a character can learn over the course of the game – the so-called “Potentials” -will be influenced by this choice. Also, both Primal and Focus determine the Ego pool of a character. Ego describes the amount of self-confidence, inner strength and will to survive. With Ego, the rules of combat can be bent to ones advantage and incredible feats can be achieved.

FAITH VS WILLPOWER

For some, psychological strength derives from Faith, others draw it from pure willpower. In the conflict of religion and ideology a character has to make his stand. The choice between the two eliminates the other skill which again is blacked out on the character sheet. As with Primal and Focus, the choice will have consequences on the Potentials that a character will have available during character progression. Furthermore, faith and willpower determine the maximum of Spore infestations a character can withstand before the call of the chakras begins to lure him in and follow him in his sleep. Whenever the character is exposed to the Primer’s powers, faith or willpower will be used to resist the threat.

BACKGROUNDS

When a character starts a game he has already left his footprint on the world. He has excelled within his cult or gained respect from people he was in contact with. These topics are reflected within the six Backgrounds: Allies, Authority, Network, Renown, Resources and Secrets. The more a character does for his cult, the easier it will be for him to draw comrades to his side, unlock upgrades for his own equipment or influence the cult’s agenda.

RANKS

Every character has access to a rank within his cult, that is determined by a combination of skills, backgrounds and achievements. Every rank grants advantages, upgrades, bonuses and specific cult equipment that can only be obtained by a certain ranking. The ranks are described through different hierarchy trees within each cult. The further a character progresses, the further he branches out from the trunk.
The ranks in each cult are as unique as the cult itself. Here are the hierarchy trees for two cults: The Spitalians and the Jehammedans.





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You need all the rules at hand, time, a blank character sheet and one of these old school pencils to create a new character in a roleplaying game. And if your game master wants to have a look before the gaming session starts, you have to scan the sheet and send it by email. No more!
We proudly present the Degenesis Online Character Generator! It is completely free, no download needed (use it in your browser), and your freshly created character can be saved on our internet servers and shared with whomever you want. You can print it out for the gaming session, and it looks perfect.
If you level your character, you can update it online and print out a new sheet with ease. No more smeared character sheets.

Get it at:

http://www.degenesis.com/character

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Original Interview given at www.obskures.de

Translation: Andreas Mecker



Degenesis: Rebirth Edition – Interview with Marko Djurdjevic

Almost one month ago, Degenesis: Rebirth Edition was released more or less surprisingly.
SIXMOREVODKA hereby launches a comprehensive overhaul of their well known post-apocalyptic RPG from 2004, which had been released by Sighpress at that time.

Fans of the original version quickly discovered that hardly one stone had remained unturned.
Over a total of 700 pages within two hardcover-books delivered in a slipcase are waiting to be discovered.
The first book, Primal Punk, portraits the detailed world of Degenesis whereas the second book
-Katharsys- comes along with a completely renewed set of rules including a start-up adventure.

The following interview with Marko Djurdjevic grants a glimpse behind the scenes of one of the most ambitious German RPG-Outputs this year.
French, Spanish and of course English translations of the new Degenesis: Rebirth Edition are already in the making.
Additionally, the announced comic-adaptation gives a slight hint of the potentials behind the considerable creation of Christian Günther and Marko Djurdjevic.

Despite a tight schedule in the middle of the release, Designer Marko Djurdjevic shared some of his time to answer some (very well) critical questions.





On the 10th of October 2014, Degenesis: Rebirth Edition was released in German language. What is this roleplaying-game about basically? Was does Primal Punk mean?
Primal Punk- in one term- summarizes, how we understand the evolution of a world and its inhabitants after the collapse of their civilization, when primal ferocity replaces mindful planning and the strongest claims the throne.
The age of reason and political correctness is over, violence becomes a viable option again. Humans are like a scattered bunch of dogs, blending together into new packs, choosing their Alphas and fight for shelter and prey.

Primal Punk is kind of a red line for us, which we followed creating the post-apocalyptic scenario of Degenesis. On first sight this point of view seems negative, the resulting world being chaotic and cruel. And that’s right in some places. But in fact, the whole spectrum of human emotions, not only the negative ones, becomes apparent: ideologies are being defended passionately, great pain is being met with great courage.

The atmosphere of Degenesis is dominated by the Cults.
Cults are groups that extend across cultures either wielding great influence on an economic, military or religious basis.
As a Player you follow the ideologies of one of those cults. What all cults have in common is their intention to lead humanity towards greater deeds and to make the world a little better. Every cult claims the right to this heritage on its very own way. Different ideologies or ways of life then become obstacles.
But then, the environmental dangers in the world of Degenesis have grown so strong – Psychonauts, Sleepers, Sporefields, the rise of the Clans – that the cults cannot conduct conflicts among themselves anymore but have to cooperate to throw back those dangers.

Clans diverge from Cults as they only wield very regional influence, where they can still become serious threats and problems.
Players can also choose Clanners and take the role of a Clan. The Clans have been pushed towards the outskirts of society for centuries. They have been denied artifacts and culture, were chased away from their holy places or had to subordinate to the Cults. But that is now over! Everywhere in the Wastelands a wind of change is rising and the Clans suddenly become a threat because they intend to reclaim what once was theirs.

While playing in a group, players are encouraged to take part in the world´s evolution, do extraordinary deeds for their Cult or Clan and to push forward the vision of a better life against all odds.
The big question in Degenesis is if man has what it takes to bring back that civilization that he has lost five centuries ago and if it is all worth it in the face of such enemies or if egoism, recklessness and the will for power show their ugly faces over and over again, destroying all hope for better times.

All that is being spiced through reduction of resources, a hostile environment and the overpowering enemy, Homo Degenesis, who seeks to tear Homo Sapiens from his throne.



It was pretty silent around Degenesis for a long time. To be honest, the announcement of the new edition really came by surprise, especially as the release lies very short ahead and the already shown materials (trailer, artworks) are pretty impressive. On top of that, there must be some changes in comparison to the old material. Foremost the old set of rules in the game was viewed upon quite critically.
So, what are the most essential features of this new edition concerning the background-world and the rules-system Katharsys? What is to be considered in terms of downgrade-compatibility?

We have spent two whole years with the Rebirth Edition. Our goal was to maintain absolute silence and to present the product to the public only when it would be fully done. We originally had estimated a lot less time but we came to the conclusion very quickly that we needed a lot more time at the backend to get it done just the way we wanted.
Immersion and quality of the product where of utmost importance to us. Another main goal of the redesigning process was the complete overhaul of the game rules to improve the playing experience.

We decided to do the redesigning in full isolation of the public because we didn´t want to let the RPG-scene have tranquilizing effects on us. It needs focus and tight collaboration to realize such an ambitious project. External influences can have a negative effect quite easily because they tend to distort your visions.
As an example, we had already shot and produced the trailer a whole year before publication, simply because we wanted to make everyone on the team give his best but also to point the direction where we wanted this all to go.
Not only to tell a story via one single medium but to incorporate all media to introduce the trademark as diverse as possible.

So the essential features of that new edition are a complete overhaul of the background which now takes place ten years after the original edition. We intended to downgrade the intensity of conflicts between the Cults (which we never saw as intense as some of our fans did) and to further advance the background-story of Degenesis. Chris and me have been working on this material for years and we have created a load of loose ends that we were never able to link together in the past.
With the Rebirth Edition we now press on. You could say that we had kind of a “Unfinished Business”-feeling towards the product, something that haunted us as we didn´t have the possibility to bring it to an end.



How long have you been working on Degenesis: Rebirth Edition respectively how did the process of creation come to be?
As mentioned above, about two years. Everything started when my employees in the studio persuaded me to run a RPG-campaign in April 2012. After some discussions about what game to play, somebody asked: “Why don’t we try your old game, Degenesis? You might know your way around with that best, do you?”

The campaign was a huge success and my employees, all but awesome illustrators, started drawing their characters or developing scenes and landscapes for that setting to catch certain moments in the game they considered special.
Shortly after one of my employees stumbled across that website, www.fraktal-endzeit.com, and we were in absolute awe about our LARP-community that had grown in the background over the years and kept the spirit of the game alive. So I hastily called Chris and asked him to do a complete reboot and overhaul of that whole Degenesis with me. Chris then told me that he was working on new rules-mechanisms anyway and we could as well use them for the relaunch.

Initially there were only plans for a new edition with minor editing and complete new illustrations. But when Chris and me come together on a new project it usually culminates into quality-marathons.
It also became clear to us soon that we needed Malik onboard again, he who sits right in the between of us two like Buddha to keep our ambitions clear and sometimes to shave our heads.
The principal work started in August 2012, reviewing stuff, sorting it out, discussing it, rethinking and replacing it. For four months into January 2013 we pretty much turned every stone in the world of Degenesis upside down, reviewing it from a ten years distance. Which Cults went badly in the first edition, where did we need stronger concepts for certain cultures, how could we link the background together in a better way. With the complete overhaul finally done, we started rewriting the contents and visual redesign was initiated. And now, 20 months of pure work are available as bookblock!



What is a typical Degenesis-campaign about? What are the characteristic enemies and conflicts the player has to face?
This question is almost impossible to answer in just a few lines minding the depth and width of this setting.
Wherever man appears there is trouble, even five centuries after a global disaster.
Conflicts arise from different points of view, ways of life, humiliations – and the player is always in the thick of it. In a typical campaign you do best to make the different members of the group ambassadors of their certain Cults, to make them face dangers for their Cults together. The genre can differ enormously depending on the culture the campaign takes place in.

Borca is the best place for political intrigues, fighting back Clans on the rise or Cult-based campaigns.
Pollen is more a place of horror – Biokinetics, twisted woods, an uncontainable wall of spores, they all evoke atmosphere. Franka with its swamps and unapproachable terrain is all about resistance against the Pheromancers but also about securing passageways, guarding caravans and merchants to ensure the flow of goods towards Borca.
Hybrispania is a psycho-thriller-warzone with absurd time-aberrations going on, a place where past, present and future collide and interweave.
Balkhan gives us an untamable place, where local rulers come and go just as the seasons do and where secrets centuries old lie buried beneath the ground.
Purgare is all religious insanity, zealots and fanatics, but also Psychokinetics that devastate the lands with their plagues, an apocalyptic crusade taking place in a mystery-setting basically.
When it comes to Africa then, things look a little different. There is trade, the world is being split into pieces, expeditions are being set out and every corner of the world is being explored. But at the same time, strange plants slowly seep into the consciousness of that whole culture to influence its course of action.



What do you like best on the new Degenesis: Rebirth Edition?
The final product itself. There has been such love and effort put into every detail. We treated every part of the product equally, giving meaning and importance to every aspect. There is virtually no other RPG-product, where illustration, graphics design, layout and written text do correspond on such a high level . You can see a lot of RPGs where illustration comes seconds at best, not to mention typography. Seldom does the art-director take care of illustrations and design as well as development of the world itself at the same time.

Chris and me work on every single part together and we do not hold back with feedback towards one another. We try to see as much ideas as possible from two perspectives, be it the written or the visual side. Things being described must also work visually and in return, design has to harmonize with the written parts because otherwise there will only be a haywire of concepts.
According to that there must be a visual and narrative line that has to be followed, a line that opens up to the reader after a while and that he can fall back to when going through the books looking for inspiration.



One essential trademark of Degenesis has always been the spirit of community. The rules were available as a free download and there was great activity in the Degenesis-forum. What can we expect on this side?
We take great efforts to reanimate our forum and, as developers, always present a helping hand. We hope to see the forum coming to live again as back in the good days. But release is now 20 days past, so there is still some way to go until we can say the community has grown active again. We are happy about every single new fan and we try to answer the most important questions at least once a day.

You are right, there was this free PDF-download back then, but we won´t have it this way again. This is simply because we came to the conclusion that something, that is free, has no actual value for its owner. Yes, we heard it quite often like: “I could download the PDF for free back then and everyone who had the PDF also bought the books”. But as a matter of fact, that´s not true. We had about 40.000 downloads of the old core-rulebook but had only sold about 3.000 printed. The discrepancy between those who want to grab something for free and those who are willing to pay real money is so big that we just can´t come up with this again. Even more, I would judge this as scam towards those fans that paid real money for the books to support the project while others could simply get it all for free. To be honest, that´s not my interpretation of fairness.



What are your further plans for the Degenesis: Rebirth Edition? Will there be additional gaming materials (adventures, rules, supplements)? What about an English version or even projects that add up to already existing material?
We are already working on follow-ups for the RPG. Yesterday, we announced Degenesis: Black Atlantic via our newsletter. We have a two-year-agenda set and we know, what we want to do: products on the highest level possible. We will not release one-shots or irrelevant books with no actual use. The Degenesis –trademark is made for different media at the same time. Not all following products will automatically have something to do with the RPG but very well with the story of Degenesis itself. For example, we already announced a graphic-novel , in our last newsletter. And that is just the beginning. We will come up with more news one by one.
Just now, cooperation with Edge Entertainment was announced. They will deliver a Spanish and French version of the game. But even here there is more to come at its given time.



Besides the Premium-Edition (4000 printed: 99,-), there is a Limited Edition (555 printed: 146,-) and even an Artist Edition (100 printed: 499,-). That´s pretty ambitious, is it? Why should the old or new fan support Degenesis: Rebirth Edition( just now)?
Many of our pre-orders are fans from the first days. They stayed true to us, know the level of our concepts and products and can estimate the quality delivered to them. You can say what you want about those fees, even that they are ambitious. But when I look at people paying 99,-EUR for a pair of shoes hastily stitched together by kids in Bangladesh or see them paying 600,-EUR for a new smartphone, assembled within a couple of ours, then I don’t see the point of this discussion.

Degenesis demanded two years of energy, handworking and free time of about 20 people. Every texture found on the background pages was handmade, every logo was created by hand, every single illustration took about 3-5 days of work, endless conceptual discussions and workings on texts not even included.
I know of no other RPG that hits the market with epic trailers, state-of-the-art homepages and such huge expectations towards the quality of the final product.
That all was pre-funded by ourselves, no crowdfunding was included. As a publisher, I have to be able to measure the actual value of the product considering production-budget and the amount of time put into the project. At the end of the day, the numbers have to fit in order to refund such a financial demanding and time-intense product. Considering the amount of work put into this all I would judge our fees pretty harmless all in all.

Thanks a lot for this interview. The last lines are all yours!
Foremost a big thank you to all our true and wonderful fans, be it at the the table or at LARP, that have stayed true to our product. Also our gratitude goes out to our friends that have helped us during launch-phase. We wouldn´t have made it without you.

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When I started in SIXMOREVODKA one of the first things I finished was one of these illustrations for table top RPG Degenesis.

There was a lot of awesome sketches by Marko Djurdjevic prepared for the book. I chose to work on these, because they were something different than I usually do. It’s fun to paint all the action pieces, but after so many of those, it felt really refreshing to work on something with more story. You don’t usually see illustrations of kids playing when you think of post-apocalyptic world, but that’s what created a nice contrast and really shows the idea that life will indeed find a way.

I tried to stay close to the art style Marko had in the book. Not a lot of Photoshop trickery was used to achieve the final results, it was mostly painted with just few brushes. My goal was to recapture the mood of the sketches, painting it out in a lot of details without losing the flow. My final paintings then went through some Marko feedbacking and tweaking, that was a great way to learn. I really enjoyed these, so hopefully you’ll enjoy them too.













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DEGENESIS is not just a game. It’s a universe. A whole world lies in front of us to explore.

“What’s the big deal about RPG’s?” you may ask. Well, they are the mother of all modern day video games. No other medium is so concerned about creating and building consistent worlds. So, to be able to dive into the world of DEGENESIS and bring it to life on a transmedia level, we needed to set the foundation and groundwork to explore all those different regions. In the past two years we’ve invested time and energy to see where we can bring DEGENESIS next. The trailer was the start, an early beginning. By translating the strong visual elements into a classical screen format: making the figures come to life, seeing how the costumes would work in an actual context and background, we forced that universe to become reality.

“What’s next?” you ask. The sky’s the limit! Comic books, toys, board games, card games, whatever you can think of, we’ll dive right in and explore it, without losing the vision of what we wanted to do in the first place: telling rich and exciting stories that are not influenced by producers and directors who tell us “you can’t do that!”

SIXMOREVODKA is a small team of impassioned artists and designers. We want to make stuff that has meaning, purpose and is created with the utmost care and attention to detail. For us, that means paying tribute to the richness of the world whenever we chose to take it that next step further. In the next few weeks we’ll show you guys some stuff that we’ve been cooking on our stove. Until then, join the board and get your previews first hand.

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Inspired by a question on our boards, we decided to publish 13 things that changed in the
DEGENESIS: REBIRTH EDITION

Obviously, this is not the full scope, just a quick look into what players who know the first edition can expect from the REBIRTH EDITION.

1. A decade has passed, in the real world as well as in the world of DEGENESIS. It is the year 2595. We’re pushing plots forward that we’ve sown 10 years ago…

2. The clans rise. They are a major threat to the hegemony of the cults. South and East Borca burn from their conquests, the Protectorate is under fire.
In the Balkhan, the clans have rose to power and overthrown the dominant cults. Praha Republica has fallen into their hands and large armies are on the move.
21 clans, new and old are introduced as both enemies and playable character classes. Pick your fight…

3. The cults unite for the first time to oppose the threat of the clans. The african conquest of the Balkhan has come to a halt. Between Anabaptists and Jehammedans in the Adriatic basin a fragile truce is negotiated. In the face of danger the Chronicler Modus and the Baptist Orphid sign a peace treaty between the two cults, uniting the Protectorate with Cathedral City for the first time in history. Scourgers and Hellvetics fight back to back to protect the trading routes from Europe to Africa. Everything is at stake…

4. African Apocalyptics! Yes, new flocks rise on the coast of northern Africa. Led by buzzards, they raid the african coastal cities and join forces with the maritime Apocalyptics of the Mediterranean. They are also said to be working closely with a secretive trader group, only called the Leopards…

5. Fractal forests are spawning all across Pollen. Weird trees carrying otherworldly fruits that cause emanations lead Anabaptists to a new religious pilgrimage. Even more strange, these fractal forests grow on top of spore fields, destroying the underlying sepsis and causing the burn harvests to plummet. The Apocalyptics are not amused…

6. Fully developed ranking system for every cult. Now you can level up your character through a tree of ranks and adapt him to your preferred play style. Every cult features a unique ranking tree giving you dozens of possibilities of progression.
Each step forward in the tree unlocks cult specific equipment, potentials, allies and authority, secrets and new possibilities. Build your character as uniquely as never before…

7. Salvage, modify and upgrade your weapons, equipment and firepower with a new and quick to use crafting system. Perfect for Scrappers who want to show off their skills. And deadly in the hands of a raging Scrapper cave bear…

8. Exciting character development from early game to end game. Threats and prowess rise gradually with experience. Potentials are new unlockable perks that give a character a certain edge in combat, negotiation or leadership. Primal and Focus add variety to the play style in combat – coldblooded routine or raging anger – choose wisely. An additional Ego pool allows characters to rise above themselves in critical situations or enhance their skill rolls by going all in. But be careful of those enemies who can strip you off your morale…

9. Fully overhauled Concept system in the character creation. Concepts are now based around the 22 major arcana of the Apocalyptic Tarot. Choose your Concept to be “The Conqueror”, “The Visionary”, “The Destroyer” , “The Ruler” and many more. Choosing and playing out your Concept carefully in game, will let you replenish your Ego pool faster and garner more experience. Choosing the right Concept during character creation will also unlock attribute and skill combinations that will make your character more specialized… and harder to kill.

10. Fully reworked rule system for using enhancements and drugs like Burn, Marduk-oil and the Elysian oils of the Ascetics. Drugs like Burn replenish your Ego pool faster, but they come with a price – the call of the Chakras lures you into the world of the Psychonauts…

11. Artifacts. Powerful Artifacts. Lots of them. Nuff’ said…

12. For Larpers and Cosplayers who have kept the spirit of DEGENESIS alive all these years, the full color representation of the world adds a new level of inspiration and ideas on how to build your gear and equipment by hand. Countless new illustrations and designs are featured to create your own costumes and weapons. All weapons in DEGENESIS come in 3D, fully textured, and will be available as downloads after the release. If you’re looking for a blueprint to create a real life Splayer, Trailblazer or Pneumohammer, the books will show you how.

13. Sleepers, Marauders, Recombination Group, Primer, Homo Degenesis. Revealed like never before…RECLAIM, WHAT ONCE WAS OURS

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I was oblivious to what we had created with DEGENESIS over ten years ago for a very long time. After the original publication in 2004 my life was meandering through several very important stages. Spent years in San Francisco working at Massive Black, then I worked at Marvel Comics where I created roughly 350 covers in the period of five years. All of that eventually led the foundation of SIXMOREVODKA, the company and design studio I’m currently running out of Berlin. It was spring 2012, when I was thinking of a personal project I could invest my personal time in. By accident I stumbled over this site: http://www.fraktal-endzeit.com
DEGENESIS Larp! I had never seen those images before, but I was blown away by the love and care these people put into their costumes. I looked around and saw so many of my ideas from the first edition brought to life in a exciting and respectful way. I called Chris to discuss right away:
“What if we relaunched DEGENESIS? I mean, not just a relaunch. We do it from scratch! 10 year Anniversary! We could do it the way we wanted to 10 years ago when we were kids and had no clue about publishing, no contacts and no money. “
“Hmm, maybe I could rewrite a few passages and adapt the rules?”
“Let’s do it!”
We estimated a good 3-6 months of development, optimistic that we could reuse a lot of the old stuff. Well, we were too optimistic. Within a few short weeks we realized that we wouldn’t keep our estimation and that this thing would need to be rebooted from zero to be A) successful and B) hit the quality mark we aimed for. We went ahead step by step, looked at all the negative feedback (from the first edition) first and tried to get those parts straight before we entered the full revision of the book.
What a roller coaster ride. Originally we estimated 2 Books times 256 pages each. We wanted to make it a nice and comfortable package. Half way through, we realized it wouldn’t be enough, so the page count went up to 296, then 304, 330 and finally 352. Around March 2014 it seemed this project would never end. By that time we had accumulated so much material that we had to start filtering again. The page count was bursting from information and I was discussing with Chris if more rules or more artwork was needed. Overall, I had to take out over 50 illustrations that I planned on having in the book. They are now awaiting the light of day in follow up materials.

Here are a few of the original drawings that I’ve done for the REBIRTH EDITION back in June-July 2012.



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EPISODE 1



April 2013. We were already knee deep into the production of the books. The whole plan lay mapped out in front of us. We thought, if we come back, we need to do so with a bang. Show the people that we’re serious about this project and that we want to make it come to life in different media too. Not just a game. A universe!



I scribbled down a few storyboard images and defined a budget. I was dead set on making a live action, cinematic trailer. For one, as a thank you to the DEGENESIS Larpers who’ve inspired me to breathe life back into this project in the first place. Secondly, to give a strong introduction to the world of DEGENESIS to any and all newcomers.



I called my friend and director Zoran Bihac. He’s been making amazing music videos and commercials for as long as I remember. His work for RAMMSTEIN has always particularly inspired me. I wanted to show him the storyboard and feel him out, maybe he could point us in the right direction with stuff.



5 Minutes later he rang the doorbell:



“So, what do you think, can we shoot this thing in a studio here in Berlin? Save us some costs?”



“No way, you have to go somewhere were the location tells the story. Somewhere you freeze to death. You don’t want to do 300! You want to do Sergio Leone!”



“Can you help us out, point us in the right direction?”



“Yes, but I want to direct this thing. It’s awesome. It’s like X-Men meets Lord of the Rings!”



I swallowed. “Somewhere cold? Where do you want to shoot. it’s april, summer is around the corner?”



“We could do Ukraine, maybe. Or Argentina. Or maybe Iceland! Yes, Iceland should still be freezing this time of the year.”



Another 5 minutes passed and he was calling Tony Petersen Film, a well known German production company, specialized in shooting commercials for Mercedes, Audi, Telekom etc.



“Ok, they’re hooked. You need to storyboard it, so we can get them on board!”



“But here, I already drew something.”



“It’s too short. Make it big. Make it look like you had a million bucks. We can still throw stuff out at a later point. Show them what you got!”



After a few more minutes of catching my breath, I was back at my drawing board. I had the rough concept in mind and things were starting to look serious. I wanted to get this story off my chest so I started drawing. I revisited my initial concept of the trailer and decompressed certain scenes, to give the whole plot more built up time.



The next morning I walked into the office.



“We’re doing a trailer guys! I finished the Storyboard last night.”



Everyone looked at me in disbelief just shaking their heads. He’s gotta be crazy…



NEXT UP: Designing the costumes



Below you can see the original storyboard.



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When we played “Ludo” as kids, we tried to roll the die as high as possible – every 6 was a party! There were other games with a handful of dice and every time you rolled high, it translated into successful results.

When we started revising KATHARSYS, we had exactly these same memories in mind. Besides the die roll itself, we had a few more points on our list:

– One mechanism for everything
– Little math, no multiplications
– Scaleable, to be able to reflect Machine Men and Mammoths without having to address special rules
– Fast recognition of exceptional die rolls
– Exceedingly more successful die rolls in comparison to the old KATHARSYS
– The Storyteller should be able to ask for rolls without the need to reveal the difficulty

What came out of it wasn’t a game system trying to reinvent the wheel, but something that reached our requirements in all regards. If a player wants to start a melee attack, he picks the skill “Melee” and adds it to the parent attribute, “Body” and thus receives his action value. Different influences, like the quality of a weapon or injuries can modify this action value. Once all bonuses and maluses are factored in (they rarely change, so the player doesn’t need to calculate much) the player rolls a number of dice equal to his action value.

For example, an action value of 7 leads to a roll with seven six-sided dice. Every die showing a 4, 5 or 6 counts as a success. Successes are counted. The Storyteller provides the threshold for the roll – the amount of Successes a player has to reach with a single roll, for his action to succeed.

So far, so good. A pool system with six-sided dice.
But one specialty comes with rolling a 6. All dice that rolled a 6 are counted separately. KATHARSYS calls these special Successes “Triggers”. They are the equivalent of a critical success. With these Triggers, extraordinary actions can be activated.

– During initiative rolls, each 2 triggers rolled allow an additional action
– Triggers are counted 1:1 onto weapon damage. No additional damage roll is needed.
– Triggers can launch a weapon’s special abilities, like the blades of a Splayer snapping together in the right moment
– “Potentials” are cult-specific abilities that need to be levelled up. Some of them are also activated through Triggers.

This is the pool system of KATHARSYS in a nutshell. Let’s close off with:

– The player never has to roll more than 12 dice. All action values above 12, are reduced to 12. The excess is counted as automatic Successes and prevents dice roll orgies.
– Within combined actions, players can add their dice to solve extremely difficult actions together.

In the best case, a game system for a Roleplaying Game is a silent clock-work ticking in the background, that drives all other components of the game forward. These other components include character creation, combat rules or crafting mechanisms.

We’ll look at all of them, one at a time.

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December 2012. We were still in the early conceptual phase. Chris and I met several times to discuss, what bothered us about the old edition. The talks were great! Looking at something you produced over 10 years ago, with a certain amount of distance and maturity gives you a feeling for what you could have done better and what you should think about in the next steps ahead.

One of the things that bothered me incredibly, was my explosive and incomprehensible layout in the first edition. Logos and textures were done without a proper concept, shots from the hip, and afterthoughts. I didn’t like the grungy-ness of the early 2000’s anymore and felt it was dated and overdone. I envisioned a far cleaner, moderate and timeless design for the REBIRTH EDITION.
I knew just the right guy for the job… but I had to get him here first.

I called Dennis Nußbaum, a childhood friend of mine. Dennis is a spectacular graphic & fashion designer, deeply integrated in urban and hip-hop culture. He was the graffiti artist, I was the guy with the sketchbook. He bombed walls and I drew characters for my friends. Since we were kids we always wanted to do a project together, but our clientele and industries lay too far apart to make things happen. With DEGENESIS there was an opportunity. I wanted to bring someone on board from the left field. Someone who could help me design the new look in a fresh and untainted way, who wasn’t spoiled by the RPG-fantasy-swirly-grungy-overdone shit that was on the market everywhere.

“Dude, I need you here, January 1st. We’re relaunching this game that we did ten years ago and I need someone who can make it look fucking cool!”

“I can’t man, I’m in the middle of setting up my new clothing brand. I can’t commit to anything. I’d love to, but it’s going to break my neck!”

“Dennis, this is the last chance we might get. Tomorrow I might get hit by a bus, and we’ll never be able to work on something again.”

“But I have no clue about this RPG-stuff. This is all weird to me. These characters have strange names, I don’t even know what it means. What the fuck is an Usudi?”

“Usudi’s are this tribe…, that errr..fuck it, it takes too long to explain all of this. Just swing by. We’ll kill it together. You don’t need to know what all of this is about, if you knew you’d already be tainted and I want a pair of fresh eyes on this.”

“Oh man, I’m going to be in so much trouble for this. Ok, I’m coming.”

Two weeks later Dennis was in Berlin and started working with us on DEGENESIS.
Before any illustrations were finalized or any texts were written, we wanted to develop the design language for the Logo, the overall typography, the feeling you would have if you would just glance at the future product.

We imagined a strong and bold, but readable logo, that had a touch of elegance by using tall and towering letters. We wanted something that comes across like a unified shape, without serifs, curves and lower case letters. But we also wanted to integrate the Suncross into the logo somehow. This design element is deeply rooted within the mythology of DEGENESIS, the numbers 4, 8, 12 and 16 are integral parts of the metaplot and the numerical meanings allow for clues within the setting. The images below show the exploration and the different design approaches we took in these early conceptual days.

When we (eventually) came out with the final result, it seemed like the project was about to become a reality. A logo is such a fundamental piece in the design process as all other steps in the design will be influenced by the typographic language of the logo. For designers, this is the base skeleton, that you can coat with meat and skin later on.

“Holy shit, I designed my first RPG logo. This shit is like Lord of the Rings. But awesome! Can I go home now?”

“No, we still have to do the logos for ALL the cults, cultures and much much more.”

Poor Dennis didn’t know what he had signed up for.







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