Nightfall Games announced briefly in October 2020 about The Terminator RPG, but today they released full details about the game and who will be involved. The license for the game was acquired from Studiocanal S.A.S. The license includes the rights to the canon presented in The Terminator movie and all associated The Terminator graphic novels published by Dark Horse. But, per the press release the license does not “currently include any other Terminator intellectual property (including those seen in other movies) nor the likeness of Mr. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and only extends to tabletop roleplaying games and RPG accessories.” So we may not see any characters or Terminator models outside of the original first movie and the Dark Horse graphic novels.
The rulebook will be hardcover bound, full color, and include a variety of artists including Dave Allsop, Alyssa Menold, Mirco Paganessi, Aaron J Reilly, Matteo Spirito and more.
As for the writing, the main rulebook will be led by Andrew E.C. Gaska. The Quickstart rulebook, which will be released before the end of 2020 as a free PDF, was led by Richard August. The rules are being written by Chris ‘Shep’ Shepperson (the original creator of Nightfall Games’ S5S system). As in the S5S system, The Terminator RPG will feature rules for vehicular carnage written by Marc Langworthy. Nightfall Games will be bringing in other writers who will be announced in the next coming weeks.
“We are looking forward to bringing the world of The Terminator to the tabletop roleplay scene,” said Mark Rapson, Director of Nightfall Games. “We are working hard to getting a free quickstart version out for everyone to try it out before we crowdfund the game.”
After the release of the Quickstart rulebook, Nightfall Games will start their Kickstarter campaign for the production of the book in early 2021. The release of The Terminator RPG is expected to be in retail stores by the end of 2021.
The Terminator RPG Creative Team
Andrew E.C. Gaska, the ENnie and UKGE Award-winning settings and adventure writer for the ALIEN Role Playing Game by Free League, Drew is a creative director, designer, and sci-fi author with twenty years of industry experience. He is a freelance consultant to 20th Century Fox, maintaining continuity and canon bibles for Alien, Predator, and Planet of the Apes. For seventeen years he consulted for Rockstar Games on titles such as Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption. Drew has written two Planet of the Apes novels and is also the Senior Development Editor for Lion Forge Animation. He lives beneath a pile of action figures with his glutenous feline, Adrien.
Richard August is a game designer and writer from Manchester, UK. He is Steamforged Games in-house RPG developer, and has written for Modiphius (including the UKGAMES Expo award winning Conan), Chaosium, EN Publishing and others. His most recent RPG project, for which he was lead writer, Animal Adventures: Secrets of Gullet Cove was a massive hit on Kickstarter earlier this year. He, for one, welcomes our robot overlords.
Shep is a games designer and freelance writer from Derby, UK. His credits include SLA Industries, Kings of War RPG, Devil’s Run RPG, Dragon Dice and a whole host of other projects, as well as being the designer of the Nightfall Games S5S rules system. In addition to his passion for all things dark and dystopian, Shep is also a qualified hypnotherapist, kendōka and avid family gamer, who enjoys nothing more than teaching his kids a lesson by destroying them at Netrunner on a regular basis.
Marc Langworthy is an ENnie award winning writer and game developer whose credits include writing and line development for the Devil’s Run RPG, a roleplay game where his innovative vehicle combat rules were first published. He has also written, art directed and line developed a number of projects for Modiphius, Red Scar Publishing and EN Publishing. His work can be found in the Mutant Chronicles 3rd Edition, Conan, Infinity, Hellboy, Kings of War and Judge Dredd RPGs. He likes spending time with his awesome family and occasionally allowing his Orc Shaman altered ego to emerge.
You can follow Nightfall Games and The Terminator RPG at the links listed below:
The Terminator RPG Website page: https://nightfall.games/terminator
Nightfall Games Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/nightfallgames/
The Terminator RPG Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheTerminatorRPG/
Nightfall on Twitter: @nightfallgames
The Terminator RPG on Twitter: @TerminatorRPG
About Nightfall Games
Nightfall Games are Dave Allsop, Jared Earle and Mark Rapson. The company was founded in 1993 in Scotland and is responsible for the SLA Industries RPG which successfully relaunched with a 2nd Edition in 2019/20. Nightfall Games is known for high production values, evocative writing and some of the best art in the industry.
About StudioCanal
STUDIOCANAL, a 100% affiliate of CANAL+ Group held by Vivendi, is Europe’s leader in production, distribution and international sales of feature films and TV series, operating directly in all three major European markets – France, the United Kingdom and Germany – as well as in Australia and New Zealand.
STUDIOCANAL owns one of the most important film libraries in the world, boasting more than 6,000 titles from 60 countries. Spanning 100 years of film history, this vast and unique catalogue includes among others the iconic Terminator 2, Rambo, Breathless, Mulholland Drive, The Pianist and Belle de jour.
STUDIOCANAL has fully financed box office hits Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Paddington 1 and 2, The Commuter and Shaun The Sheep Movie. Upcoming films backed by STUDIOCANAL include Marc Munden’s The Secret Garden produced with Heyday Films (Paddington 1 & 2) starring Colin Firth and Julie Walters.
STUDIOCANAL is actively developing and distributing high-end TV series through its network of award-winning European production companies, including TANDEM in Germany (Shadowplay), the UK’s RED Production Company (Years and Years), Spain’s BAMBÚ PRODUCCIONES (On Death Row) and France’s STUDIOCANAL ORIGINAL (Mouche). STUDIOCANAL is also an associate of Danish-based SAM Productions founded by Søren Sveistrup and Adam Price (Ride Upon The Storm) as well as of UK-based GUILTY PARTY PICTURES; Benedict Cumberbatch’s production company SUNNYMARCH TV (Patrick Melrose) and URBAN MYTH FILMS (War of the Worlds).