It’s the first day of PAX Unplugged and Evil Genius Games at booth #4018. They have announced a partnership with Living Dead Media for a zombie and dark humour Return of the Living Dead TTRPG.
Evil Genius has had a rocky year, and I asked about NFTs when this news broke. Evil boss D. Todd Scott stood by the company’s commitment not to use Web3 technologies, drawing my attention to the tech stack page.
The summary of Evil Genius’ tech position is that they sell games, not data, have a tech code of ethics (I can’t count many TTRPG publishers that do) and built their platform on S3, CloudFront, Route 53, MongoDB and JavaScript. These are all vanilla. If you wanted to pick a fight, you could, as they list Blockchain Founders Fund as an investor. They also list Angel Squad as an investor and probably don’t use angel blood in their code.
The Return of the Living Dead RPG will use the d20 Modern-inspired Everyday Heroes using the Cinematic Adventures model already used for Highlander, The Crow, Pacific Rim, and Kong: Skull Island.
Steve Wolsh, Founder and CEO of Living Dead Media, told the press;
I’m thrilled to partner with Evil Genius Games and bring Return of the Living Dead into the tabletop gaming space! Tarman has never been more popular, and the 40th anniversary is the perfect time to reintroduce this cult classic to a new generation of fans.”
Tarman is a zombie in the film, played by actor/puppeteer Allan Trautman, who says “braaaains“.
Return of the Living Dead TTRPG is slated for 2025 and will be written by Nick Lowe, adding new rules and mechanics suitable for dark humour and undead mayhem. Lowe has worked on Earthdawn and Modiphius’s Cohors Cthulhiu previously.
Four short adventures will be suitable for the macabre but also quirky franchise. Evil Genius added,
We created Everyday Heroes to be the ultimate modern-day TTRPG platform. No modern platform would be complete without a zombie setting. With the enduring popularity of the Return of the Living Dead franchise, we couldn’t ask for a better partner.”
Living Dead Media is set to revitalise the Return of the Living Dead franchise with a new feature film planned for 2025, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the original cult classic. The company also announced the development of a VR experience based on the franchise. No further details about the film or the VR experience have been released.
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