Outside of the fortified megacities of Zone 17 are toxic wastelands, scarred by pollution and war. In these blighted lands are ghost cities, abandoned when the waters dried up and the burning ash fell from the sky. Their crumbling concrete warrens hold great treasure…and great danger. The ruins may be abandoned by humans. But that does not mean they are uninhabited….
Zone 17 Ad 2: Background
The year is 2083, and the world is on fire. Political unrest, climate change, and the collapse of globalization have fueled an age of proxy conflicts and skirmishes known as the Rain Wars. Across the planet are conflict zones, disputed between National Blocs and megacorps. One area in particular has seen the worst of the fighting: Zone 17. In this toxic waste, fortified megacities vie with each other for resources and influence, waging war with mercenaries and mecha. It is a gritty world of chaos and instability. But in chaos, there is opportunity.
Zone 17 Ad 1: Gong Fu
We’ve put together our first short ad for our upcoming Tabletop Roleplaying Game, Zone 17. Even in a world of mecha and machine guns, sometimes you’ll have to resort to good old fisticuffs.
Hope you enjoy!
Zone 17 Character Sheet Now Available!
The lovely character sheet for Zone 17 is now available as a free download from our site.
Support our Kickstarter to get all the books that tell you how to use it!
Pre-Order Refunds
One Small Step has committed to exclusively use Kickstarter (or a similar service) for all of its crowdfunding efforts going forward.
Pre-orders are a mechanism we have used in the past, but we wish to move out of the pre-order business. This policy change will enhance the quality of service we can provide customers and keep customer spends much closer in chronological proximity to our delivery of associated products.
We are in the process of issuing refunds for all outstanding pre-orders for the small clutch of products that accumulated them. We will reverse charges on PayPal and credit card accounts as appropriate. For those pre-orders made using other mechanisms, we will mail out a respective check as soon as we can verify each target mail address.
We’ll notify everyone as new products are prepped for Kickstarter using our normal channels (e.g. ossgames.com blog, Facebook). One can purchase each product during its respective KS campaign at the KS discounted price. At the conclusion of each successful Kickstarter campaign, we will make the product available at MSRP through our online store.
Our current product release order is Zone 17 RPG/Miniatures, Millennium Wars Global Crisis Center, Fornalder, and then 12 Battles in the Age of Chivalry.
We appreciate your patience. Thank you for your patronage.
Operation Storm: Stalin's Barbarossa now available for sale!
Exciting news everyone. We have begun to ship out our Kickstarter backer’s orders of Operation Storm. If you did not back our Kickstarter but still wish for a copy, we now have them available for purchase on our website.
Who Will Win?
The best thing about gaming is showing how gaming is a perfect analog for the real human experience.
Okay. That might not be 100% true.
So, according to Politics as Usual, who will win the 2020 Presidential election, Trump or Biden?
In the game, the winner is the Candidate who captures the most Votes.
Votes are scored by winning Issues. Each Issue nets the winner a specific number of Votes, from -3 to +5.
Issues are won by skillful card play.
Here are the results:
Abortion (-3 Votes)
Biden sticks this Issue with Trump even though neither candidate looks good here. The Kavanaugh hearings nudge this in favor of Biden. Running Score: Trump -3; Biden 0.
Balanced Budget (-3 OR +3)
Neither candidate wins this issue. Trump’s tax changes have not improved the budget situation and the COVID-19 bills have blown the budget. Biden would have and will also push for more spending. Running Score: Trump -3; Biden 0.
Business (2 Votes)
Trump wins this issue handily. Unemployment rates prior to the lockdown were in a free-fall and the stock market is doing well in spite of the lockdown. Running Score: Trump -1; Biden 0.
Church & State (-1 Vote)
Both candidates’s actions are poorly aligned with any religion I recognize. Neither pushes for more government interference with regular churches. However, Biden wins this issue because members of his party push for a moratorium on group church services while promoting other select mass gatherings. Running Score: Trump -1; Biden -1.
Civil Liberties (1 Vote)
Nether candidate holds an advantage here. Running Score: Trump -1; Biden -1.
Education (4 Votes)
I think this Issue is overrated as to its Vote total. Biden asserts pushing more money into a broken system (K-12) fixes it. (Hint: It usually doesn’t.) Forgiving college debt may be merciful but will likely have epic reverberations throughout the fabric of the country, almost all bad. Trump appointed Betsy DeVos. Love her or hate her. Shrug. I give this issue to neither candidate. Running Score: Trump -1; Biden -1.
Energy Policy (3 Votes)
This is an issue that the country really needs in order to better deal with near-peer adversaries and establish competent forward action. No winners here. Running Score: Trump -1; Biden -1.
Environmentalists (2 Votes)
What is with these candidates? A good environmental policy would clean up superfund sites, push a bit on clean energy, but mostly change trade policy to enact tariffs and other mechanisms to make trade with polluting countries more onerous. Biden has been working this for a half century. Solved nothing. Trump has no priority here, but if I did award the issue, I might hand it to him because his trade policy will tend to punish countries with poorer environmental records, even if that is just by happenstance. Running Score: Trump -1; Biden -1.
Foreign Policy (3 Votes)
This is an easy Trump win. No idea where the engagement with North Korea will lead. Probably a dead end but there may be more to see. A peace process in the middle east? Interesting. The US standing up to China? Good. Running Score: Trump +2; Biden -1.
Gun Control (-2 Votes)
Biden adds this crown of thorns, not so much for what he has done directly, but by association with politicians with activist agendas here. This may come home to roost. Running Score: Trump +2; Biden -3.
Immigration (1 Vote)
Trump wants that wall. For folks for whom this is important, this will give him the issue. Running Score: Trump +3; Biden -3.
Law & Order (2 Votes)
Trump will win this one by breaking up gangs of rioters and looters and generally supporting police. Running Score: Trump +5; Biden -3.
Mom & Apple Pie (5 Votes)
Both candidates are creepy. Neither wins here. Move along. Nothing to see. Running Score: Trump +5; Biden -3.
Social Programs (1 Vote)
I give this to Biden. His stated priority of social programs is higher than Trump’s. I expect he’s good on follow through for this one. Running Score: Trump +5; Biden -2.
Social Security (3 Votes)
This could be one that Trump gives to Biden. There is a lot of false noise about the purpose and effects of Trump’s payroll tax deferments that could hurt Trump. Weak sauce. Running Score: Trump +5; Biden 0.
War on Terror (4 Votes)
Hard to find a winner here. Trump is trying to pull troops out of the Middle East/Central Asia. Does that mean this is a win? Shrug. Running Score: Trump +5; Biden 0.
So, final score, Trump with 5 Votes and Biden with 0 Votes, Trump wins re-election come November.
Discuss.
The time has come, the Walrus said...
I’ve never been much for journaling.
Fortunately, this forum is not for me to share things about myself, but instead to keep our customers apprised of what we’re up to.
We don’t do enough of that.
That changes today.
One Small Step LLC is a small boardgame manufacturer and magazine publisher. The company has transformed and evolved many times since its inception in 1996. We’ve published many products and engaged in more than our share of experiments. Many of those efforts were highly successful. Some stumbled. A few crashed a burned.
But failure is okay. We learn from every effort.
Did I compose this post to signify some great change in who or what we are?
No. (Whew!)
But I do want to start making blogs about what we’re up to, such as the status of some project or other.
We also have some new, amazing projects we’d like to share with you.
Stay tuned.
Michael Anderson