When you're a spy, your job is your life— literally. You have no friends who aren't expendable, no ID that's not fake, no possessions except those that can be stuffed in a suitcase or left behind without a thought. But when you've been blacklisted, with your assets frozen and passports flagged, you lose everything, and everything changes. Your training tells you a couple things: find a place to lay low, figure out who you can rely on or exploit, and do whatever it takes to get back in.

But you don't have a wealth of developed assets any more: you don't have a network of co-workers and false identities and owed favors. All you have, all you are, is you. So you make nice with the few people who'll have you, and rely on them more than you should— but if you're too cold or uncaring, they'll turn on you. And if you care too much, the people who are after you will exploit them to hurt you. And if you cared about them at all, you wouldn't care about them even a little.

When you love a spy, whether it's your boyfriend or daughter or army buddy or brother, it's like being a member of a religion you didn't sign up for. You're just supposed to trust them: when you don't know what's going on, when you're being lied to, when you see the person you care about act like a monster— you're supposed to believe. And you have to believe, because a crisis of faith could mean damnation for both of you. You have to assume the best intentions, because if you blow his cover or undo her handiwork, you could both die.

But as much as your boyfriend or daughter or army buddy or brother might play God, it's your job to bring them back to humanity. It's been a long time since they've felt truly loved, and without someone to care about you, right and wrong becomes awfully blurry. When you're paid to play a monster, sometimes the role catches up with you— so they need you. You need to believe in your loved one so that no one dies, and you need to be vigilant so that they keep their soul. And just hope to God you don't get broken in the process.

Blowback is a game where you play spies blacklisted after a job goes awry, and the people who care about them. You can play this game with 3-5 people, and while playing it as a single game session is fun, it's designed for long term play. It's heavily inspired by the American television show Burn Notice and movies like the Bourne trilogy. As much as Blowback is about pyrotechnics and car chases, it's a fish-out-of-water premise: spies stranded without their agency, normal people swept up in intrigue. And, like all multiplayer games, it's about relationships— how much can you ask of someone, how much can you disappoint them before they turn their back on you?

The production of the game was funded with a generous grant from Lester "Wordman" Ward, as the first DivNull Lark. Final costs will go up on the Blowback blog later this week. Spoilers: with GenCon booth costs I believe I've gone a bit over, but it's amazing what can be done with $1000. Preorders will hopefully pay for the initial print run, and following sales will fund the iPhone/iPad play tools planned for later this year.

The specs:
9x7" perfect-bound softcover, approximately 60 pages, full-color throughout. $24 (plus $5 shipping) gets you the book, plus PDF (which will start going out this evening), PLUS a manila folder stamped TOP SECRET with everything you need to set up your first game: location rundown (New Orleans, Louisiana), character dossiers, the first job, and ideas for later jobs.

The New Orleans folder is only available to pre-orders! There will be a new job folder available with the game at GenCon (if all goes well).


But enough about that, you probably want pictures:

That layout is hot & incredibly clean.
I love it so much.

I want to read this thing.

Leo, it goes until the 20th. If you need a little longer, whisper me. $5 covers Canada, but if you're further from me than that, let me talk to the post office and work something out. I'm concerned the envelope might make shipping tricky.

Joe! Thank you. I am really, really pleased with the layout. It's a product of a lot of hard work between myself and Shreyas.

And thanks, Joshua!

Good luck with it. It's looking beautiful.

Thanks, Wordman! I hope you find the game worth it. :)

Is untaken_address at yahoo.com really the Paypal address for this? That has a suspicious sound to it.

anyone else want to pre-release a game so I can buy it?

(Elizabeth, congrats, I'm really excited to see your game.)

YAY!

I am so excited to get this game!

D:

My wife will kill me if I pre-order this. We just ordered $30 of stuff from Boards and Bits. But I really, really want it.


It's tough being me.

Posted By: dyjootsD:
My wife will kill me if I pre-order this. Wejustordered $30 of stuff from Boards and Bits. But I really, really want it.

When you're a spy, pre-ordering a game without your wife finding out is among the least of your worries ;)

Posted By: J. WaltonThis game is gonna rock so hard. I'm hoping we can get a late playtest happening here in Seattle in the next week or so. Lukas, I'm looking at you!

Sold.

Yay! I am too. Ideally, you'll be able to fill out job dossiers and stuff on your phone— great for game prep when you're waiting in line, etc. I just need to find a developer.

Posted By: dyjootsD:

My wife will kill me if I pre-order this. Wejustordered $30 of stuff from Boards and Bits. But I really, really want it.


It's tough being me.

Michael Western has plenty of advice for tricky situations like this.

Posted By: dyjootsI just had to go the regular route of begging and convincing. It worked! So at least there is that.

I think three plus seasons of Burn Notice would illustrate that this is a perfectly valid strategy in some cases; most especially in this case.

PDF-only orders are now open for the low price of $10!

Buy it now

While I have no interest in the modern spy genre, I'm quite compelled by the snazzy layout and [at least from the sample] quality writing. I'll have to keep an eye on this...