The Return of the Outsider Chronicles

I love coming up with new ideas for games. I can even get a bit high on ideas when I have one of those days when they are spilling out of my head like popcorn. However, as delicious as they may be, they often take me on tangents that lead nowhere. They pull my attention away from the work at hand and waste my time since they are so exciting to follow.

Fortunately, I think I may have had an idea that will help complete one of my projects. I’ve been struggling with Silver Screen Dreams for a few years now. It’s a potentially great project, and I want to do it right. However, it is big and rather hazy as well, since I am trying to encompass all genres of Hollywood storytelling. Its like trying to juggle fog.

So, I tried narrowing my focus. My friends Ralph and Seth told me years ago that I should think about narrowing the game down to a specific genre of movie, but I didn’t listen. I was convinced that I could cut through to the heart of Hollywood with what I had come up with. This time, I followed their advice, but took it step further. What if I made the game about a specific movie franchise? Better Yet.. what if I made it about a fictional televison series, The Outsider Chronicles?

I published the first Outsider Chronicles game, Steeltown, back in 1999. It used SOL as its gaming system. The game was primarily ignored, mostly because it was a traditional RPG that didn’t really stand out in the market.

The setting had a load of promise: A secret government project that was born from the infamous Philadelphia Experiment. Its purpose is to explore alternate realities and protect the United States against possible threats from those realities. Nazis? Aliens? Magick? Anything would be possible.

I studied tons of questionable history and listened to hours of Art Bell to get ny mind in the right frame to write Steeltown, which was to be the first in a series. I started, but never finished the second book. The failure of the first one convinced me that I needed to do a lot of retooling before attempting to publish again.

So, the Outsider Chronicles will be reborn as a Story Game using many of the mechanics I have developed for Silver Screen Dreams. I now have a much clearer image to focus on. I’m looking forward to the ride.