The Dark Forest theory attempts to explain, in real life, why we’ve not met aliens. In summary, any race that makes a noise in space is a potential threat, so any noise results in a pre-emptive counter-attack. Chinese sci-fi master Cixin Liu brings it to life in book two of the Three-Body Problem, a better book than the already good first.
CRISPR Monkey Studio’s Dark Forest is an actual forest; the horrors in this are bio-engineered warriors or workers. It’s a supplement for the 5e-powered GeneFunk 2090. There’s still about a month left on the Kickstarter, and CRISPR is about to pass the CA$20,000 funding goal needed to bring the project to life.
GeneFunk 2090 is a biopunk 5e setting where biopunk takes the dystopia of cyberpunk and puts the focus not on metal technology but fleshy bodywarping through biological sciences. That’s not to say there’s no cybernetics; they’re a thing too.
The dark forest here is a secluded and mysterious setting, perhaps not what your GeneFunk 2090 players expect.
The successful Kickstarter aims to produce a reprint of the core GeneFunk 2090 rules, which have also sold out since last year. The new edition corrects typos and brings in the errata updates. A previous supplement, Shadows of Korea, is also getting some love.
All three books will be hardcover and printed on premium paper in colour, not through the usual DriveThruRPG LighteningSource partners but Friesens, who CRISPR have used before.
Dark Forest, also known as Bosque Oscuro, is a remote Peruvian jungle valley filled with treacherous transgenic life of every variety. The players will encounter carnivorous plants, insidious parasites, narcoterrorists, mad scientists, monstrous beasts, mutagenic viruses, horrifying kaiju, and diabolical biological AIs!
A pledge of CA$29, about £19, is enough to get all three books in PDF.
At CA$65, or about £42, backers will get just the Dark Forest book but get it in PDF and colour hardcover. Shipping fees will be added later, but worldwide delivery is possible.
The core rules in PDF and hardcover are the reward at CA$69, and at CA$115, backers will get both the Dark Forest and GeneFunk 2090 in both formats.
After that, there are CA$119, CA$169 and CA$289 to offer in Shadows of Korea in different formats and combinations. A retailer tier is a CA$399 option, but limited, with only 2 left currently.
The new printings are expected in July 2023.
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