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Hey, look what showed up in my mailbox today? Two teaser images from the Brave New World proof-of-concept short that Reactor 88 Studios shot last summer. The first one is of Natalie Victoria playing Lisa, the girl from the opening few pages of the Brave New World Roleplaying Game.

The second is of Chuck Wagner playing Patriot, the leader of the Defiants. When I saw Chuck on location last year, it was like Patriot had stepped off the page to shake my hand. I can’t wait to see more of this.

written by Matt Forbeck

Reactor 88 Studios has set up an IMDB entry for the Brave New World film. This includes an entry for me. Trivial, I know, but cool.

written by Matt Forbeck

The folks at the Games Workshop Chicago Battle Bunker showed me a great time this past Saturday. I signed a few dozen books, chatted with lots of Blood Bowl players, and peeked over a few shoulders to see some great teams, pitches, and matches. I also talked again with tournament organizer Tom Anders, who edited the latest version of the Blood Bowl Living Rulebook, and he kindly completed my set of exclusive (and very cool) Chaos Cup figures.

Darren Orange and Zachary “Charge” Laoutides from Reactor 88 Studios showed up to chat about the Brave New World movie too, and Chuck “Patriot” Wagner stopped by with a couple of lovely ladies to invite us to his birthday party. Sadly, I had to pass on that, but I did grab dinner with Darren and store manager Allen Jorjorian, who invited me out to say thanks for making the trip.

Allen has one of those great life stories that reminds me why I love gaming. Formerly a successful stockbroker, he put that behind him after the birth of his son and now works his dream job as a manager of a Games Workshop store. I love seeing people being true to themselves and doing what they love.

written by Matt Forbeck

The Brave New World movie now has its own, official entry on IMDB.com. So far, there’s just a title up, but more will appear as the various credits get approved. Cool!

written by Matt Forbeck

I’m leaving for Gen Con in about 12 hours. I hope to see many of you there. If you’re around, please show up to the Brave New World film short and documentary on Thursday evening at 8 PM. To whet your appetite, see the BNW movie MySpace photos page, which features posters for the film. Here’s my favorite of the bunch:

written by Matt Forbeck

This past Sunday, I drove down to Chicago for the final day of shooting for the pilot (proof-of-concept short) for the Brave New World movie that Reactor 88 Studios is working on. I can barely begin to tell you how much fun I had and how impressed I was with everyone involved.

The pilot brings to life the 8-page comic book that opens up the original Brave New World RPG core book. In it, Lisa Stanski (played by the lovely and talented Natalie Victoria) is on the run from the government supers known as Delta Prime. As she dashed through an alley, she literally runs into Patriot (played by the rugged and talented Chuck Wagner), once a Delta Prime hero and now a leader of the rebellion known as the Defiance. They try to escape, but Charge (played by the handsome and talented Zachary Laoutides) corners them in a helicopter that Patriot blasts out of the sky.

As you can imagine, this is an ambitious, action-packed sequence to tackle, but as a proof-of-concept, it’s perfect. If the team can handle this, they can handle anything, and from everything I saw they’re doing a bang-up job.

I’ve rarely been part of such a polite, respectful, gracious, and grateful group of people. Besides the tremendous amount of skill and talent they brought to the project, I never saw or heard of a cross moment all day long, even on the third, long day of a rigorous weekend shoot. They all treated me with such kindness that I instantly felt like a part of this family that had coalesced around this project.

While many people thanked me for creating the game that’s the basis for the film, I told them they should talk to Darren Orange, Reactor 88’s president, instead. The kind of vision and passion that he and his team displayed for this film would have to find some way to express itself, and I’m just thrilled that it happened to focus on Brave New World.

I took these photos here from a distance, mostly trying to stay out of the way, but the material they captured on for the shoot is utterly stunning. I actually got chills watching the playback on the monitor for the scene in which Patriot shoots down the helicopter. The actors did such a wonderful job reacting to things that only existed in their heads, like the explosions and such, which will be added in post-production with computers.

Chuck, in particular, looked perfect as Patriot. He seemed like he’d leaped off the cover of Ravaged Planet. Seeing a character I’d created walking around and even chatting with me was surreal.

Director Joe Martin even insisted on giving me a Stan Lee moment in the film too. When the pilot is ready later this summer, you’ll see me crossing the street in front of Dearborn Station just before the big battle goes down. I’m in a suit and tie, so no one will be able to recognize me, I’m sure.

I can’t wait to see the final production when it’s ready. As soon as I can share more, you’ll know about it too.

written by Matt Forbeck

In one of my earlier posts about the Brave New World RPG film in the works, Reactor 88 Studios producer Darren Orange comments:

We are ahead of the game. Just FYI for everyone out there. We are filming this weekend in Chicago June 30th and the 1st of July. Thanks for all the support. This pilot will be excellent thanks to all the excellent hard working talent involved on the cast and crew sides.

Darren kindly invited me down for the whole shoot, although due to deadline pressures I think I can only make it for one day. Despite that, I can’t wait to see the cast and crew in action. They’ve been fantastic so far, and here’s where it all comes together.

written by Matt Forbeck

While I was at the GAMA Trade Show, I sat in on a meeting about the Brave New World movie, between Darren Orange of Reactor 88 Studios and John Zinser of AEG. John gave Darren the go-head for to create a pilot for a feature film (essentially a proof-of-concept). The schedule calls for shooting in Chicago the weekend before Origins. With luck, the fine people at Reactor 88 should have something to show off at Gen Con.

Natalie Victoria, the actress set to play Lisa Stanzski (the woman in the opening comic of the BNW RPG) recently stopped by here and left a comment. (Thanks, Natalie!) I’ve not yet had the honor of meeting her, but she certainly is a dead ringer for the part. With her joining Chuck “Patriot” Wagner and Zachary “Charge” Laoutides, the pilot’s developing a great cast. Combine that with the crackerjack crew, and we should have a lot of fun on our hands soon.

written by Matt Forbeck

A talented group of indie filmmakers from Chicago—a group known as Reactor 88 Studios—are working on a proof of concept for a film based on my Brave New World roleplaying game. I sat down and had dinner with them in December and met the cast and crew, led by producer Darren Orange. They have a tremendous amount of energy and a real passion for the project, and I’m excited to watch them pull it all together.

written by Matt Forbeck

Over at Cinerati, Christian Johnson posted an excellent rant about my post here yesterday on my Brave New World RPG and Marvel Comics‘ upcoming Civil War event. While I enjoyed the essay (go read it, and then come back here), I want to clarify one of the comments I made on my own post, which Christian quotes. I wrote:

BNW was ahead of its time thematically. I don’t know if AEG would have wanted to pick it up from Pinnacle in the current climate. I recall having to convince a business parter or two that making the cover a burning American flag was the right thing to do. That was provocative back in ‘99. Today, I would have a harder time winning that argument.

As for art and life, I created a world that asked one of the questions that concerned me most back then. It concerns me even more now.

To clarify, I don’t know that I’d have a hard time getting someone to publish Brave New World these days. Heck, I could publish it myself if I hadn’t long ago sold off the rights.

My comment was about the nature of the game’s cover (which shows a burning American flag) and whether or not my then-partners at AEG (who are a bit more politically conservative than me, to say the least) would be willing to release the game today with that cover on it. I argued hard for that cover, as I couldn’t conceive of anything that better represented the themes in the game, and my partners—to their credit—saw that wisdom and went along with it.

Christian is right in that changing the cover would be an act of self-censorship, and I’d be against that. If you have something important to say, I think you should say it. But people do it to themselves all the time, especially when you’re working within a group of people who have different opinions.

Let me reiterate that I have nothing but respect for the folks at AEG. They’ve always been stand-up people, and I don’t begrudge them the right to speak their mind about these sorts of things either. We had an honest conversation about the cover, and we did the right thing—together.

The thing that stuck out at me most about Christian’s post was this bit:

It also reminded me that I am in many ways the type of person who Matt might think wouldn’t buy his game, and that pissed me off too.

Actually, one of the things that made me happiest about Brave New World is how it appealed to people across the political spectrum. The man who was in charge of sales at AEG at the time, Marcelo Figueroa, is as politically conservative as they come, but he loves Brave New World. Of course, he wants to play Delta Prime (the government enforcers) rather than the Defiants (the rebels), but that’s because the game doesn’t specifically espouse one point of view over the other.

My own sympathies may lie with the Defiants, but I wrote the game from many different viewpoints. Just about every book in the series has its own perspective on the problems of the day. Figuring out how to balance civil liberties against security concerns is not an easy question. I wrote Brave New World to help people explore that question and perhaps answer it for themselves.

written by Matt Forbeck

ICv2.com has an article on the upcoming Civil War event from Marvel Comics. It quotes a New York Times article on the subject (you may have to register to read this). According to the reporter:

The question at the heart of the series is a fundamental one: “Would you give up your civil liberties to feel safer in the world?”

This is exactly (word for word) the theme behind my Brave New World RPG, published way back in the more innocent days of 1999. The metaseries plotline involves a disaster after which all the heroes have to register with the government or become criminals. For those of you familiar with Brave New World, that’s going to sound achingly familiar.

I’m not saying that Marvel’s lifting anything from my game. This is as relevant a topic as there is these days. It’s just great to see one of the Big Two comic publishers tackling those same issues. I’ll be in line to get my copies and see how they handle it.

As an aside, I noticed that Wikipedia now has an entry on Brave New World. If you’re not familiar with the game, the article features an excellent recap of its background.

written by Matt Forbeck

In a comment to one of my posts on Brave New World, AkodoAkira writes:

“So my question is this: why are their no new Alphas? Maybe I missed it in one of the books, but what’s the deal with it?”

Native alphas come from deltas who have near-death experiences. These people are still affected by the Disappearance Effect that happened in the wake of the Bicentennial Battle. They end up transported to the disappeared Chicago.

Alphas can come into the world from other dimensions, and they can also stick around if they’re protected at the moment of their conversion. This is rare, though, and could only happen through tremendous foresight or providence.

“Also: Why do Deltas begin springing up in the 20th century? My friend is arguing that the tears in the fabric allow the Delats to appear, I am arguing that medical science is allowing them to survive the change. Which one is more accurate?”

Your friend is closer to what I had in mind. I like your idea too. I’d never thought of it that way. It could easily be a combination of the two.

written by Matt Forbeck

Last week I asked for questions about Brave New World, and you came up with a bunch of them. I’ll do my best to answer them here. If I mess something up, be easy on me. It’s been years since I worked on the Brave New World, and my memory might be something less than perfect. Anyhow on with the questions!
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written by Matt Forbeck

I just spent a few weeks pulling back the curtain on the secrets behind Brave New World, I think I hit upon most of the major secrets. Of course, it’s been over three years since I finished work on the last book in the series, so there’s probably a ton of details that just don’t spring to mind any more. If you have any questions I haven’t answered, drop me a line or post a note in the comments section here. I’ll answer them the best I can, even if all I can come up with is, “I never got to that part, but here’s what I think I might have done.”

written by Matt Forbeck