Rebellion Unplugged, the tabletop game arm of Rebellion, will publish their own Judge Dredd RPG, and it’ll premiere at the online Galaxy’s Greatest: 2000 AD 45th Anniversary convention this weekend.
Dread: Dredd is based on Epidiah Ravachol’s award-winning Dread RPG. That’s a game about horror and hope, which uses Jenga blocks rather than dice.
Epidiah Ravachol designed Dread: Dredd, enlisted by Rebellion to bring the Jenga mechanic (which seems fitting for Mega-City One!) to life for the Judge.
The designer told press;
When I first met Dredd he was hidden on the “Mature Audiences Only” shelf at my local comic book store. Forbidden fruit for a young teen in the ’80s! A Dredd setting for a Dread game has come up more times than I can count over the past couple decades. Never something official. Never something beyond a little adventure for between friends. Never something I got around to doing. And then this hit, a now or never chance to score big in Mega City – the opportunity of a lifetime!
There are games you toil over for years, and there are games that blast their way out of your head, unwilling to wait. It’s been a few decades, but I still feel like that little perp that slipped through old Joe’s icy grip. Exhilarating.”
The game’s debut playthrough will have The Immortal Hulk writer AI Ewing, artist PJ Holden and game designer Jen Vaughn as the players, with Grant Howitt as Host/GM.
Duncan Molloy from Rebellion Unplugged added;
We were delighted when Epidiah said he was interested in adapting Dread for our 45th anniversary. It’s such a unique game and the way it’s been adapted to Dredd’s world is brilliant. The playthrough by Grant, Al, PJ, and Jen as part of this weekend’s online convention is hilarious and well worth checking out, if only to see how fun this game is for 2000 AD fans and newbies alike!
The game’s plot has been revealed as well;
As the iron fist of the Justice Department tightens its grip on the people of Mega-City One, there stirs once again movement towards democracy. As pro-democracy agitators, now is the time to take a stand for self-governance!
Because now you have Walter, a former Justice Department droid and somewhat reluctant co-conspirator who has damaging information about the Judges. Information the public must hear. And you will deliver it to them, today, at the opening game of the first Aeroball season in decades.
All of Mega-City One will be watching. The Judges will be unable to pre-emptively shutdown the broadcast for fear of citywide riots. It is the perfect opportunity. Never has democracy stood a better chance.
Dread: Dredd will be available to pre-order on the day, with a launch next Wednesday. The PDF has the adapted Dread rules, character sheets, the Adventure booklet and an Encounter list for the Host.
The previous Judge Dredd RPG from EN Publishing came to an end with the news in November last year that the license had not been renewed.
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