DARK EDEN is a TOTALLY NEW Collectable Card Game from the folks who brought you DOOMTROOPER, KULT, JAMES BOND 007 and the CROW Collectable card games.

DARK EDEN is set in the MUTANT CHRONICLES setting, just like DOOMTROOPER, Only this time, we're going home.

Here is the (tentative) BACKGROUND from the DARK EDEN rulebook:

And then came the Great Exodus. Poisoned Earth became nothing more than a hideous graveyard waiting to be filled. The corporate leaders, working together for the first time in centuries, enacted massive plans to save their people, and their livelihoods.

Luna, Mars, Venus, even Mercury were terraformed to accept humanity. Enormous arks were constructed to carry the best and brightest to their new homes. Capitol ventured to the moon; Bauhaus tamed the wild jungles of Venus; Mishima dug deep and fortified themselves in the red soil of Mars; Imperial, ever unwanted, sent their Conquistadors to every corner of the solar system, only to settle among the floating rocks of the Asteroid Belt. Humanity was saved.

But that is another story.

Countless billions were left to rot on the desolate surface of Earth. The planet became plagued by ruin, famine, disease and anarchy. For centuries the remnants of civilization struggled and died. Nation-states and alliances broke into splinter groups. The strong conquered the weak. All was in chaos. Then the Dark Symmetry awoke.

Long-forgotten missile silos sprung to life without cause and vomited out their nuclear offspring. The missiles flew randomly, enveloping the Earth in nuclear desolation. The few survivors fled to underground caverns as the sun disappeared behind a veil of fallout and ash. The polar ice caps crept forward, and the Age of Ice began. It lasted for centuries. The only habitable area was a narrow band of terrain along the equator. Competition for food and Resources was never more horrible. All social order collapsed; mankind was reduced to the rule of the strongest.

Then the inexplicable occurred. The tenth planet Nero belched out hundreds of flaming meteors, each bound for frozen Earth. After many years they arrived and plummeted into the icy terrain. The mysterious rocks refused to be snuffed out by the wintery conditions, and the ice and snow began to melt. The Age of Flood began.

The Earth churned, fault lines lost their eternal battle and broke apart. Entire continents sunk into the seas, while new land masses erupted from the dark waters. Plants grew once again; strange Beasts evolved and migrated. Food was abundant like never before. Tribes grew and matured once more. Entire nations formed, and fought. Empires expanded. The primitive peoples explored the ancient ruins which the ice and snow gave up. They rediscovered caches of old technologies long forgotten, and weapons to make the strong even stronger.

And amongst it all, the Dark Legion toiled. They befriended tribal leaders, and made enemies of the pure. They coexisted with humanity, and were welcomed with open arms by many. They taught, they controlled, and they grew in power with their human allies.

And during all these centuries, one common thing was remembered by all: how their off-world kinsmen had abandoned them. Far away on Luna, the Brotherhood became aware of the reawakened Earth. They saw the progression of civilization, and they felt the taint of the Dark Legion. They looked down upon their long forgotten birthplace with dread. For they knew a new paradise had formed. A paradise formed of warfare, tribal rule, and the taint of evil. And they renamed the Earth in its new image. And they called it DARK EDEN.

DARK EDEN is totally different from DOOMTROOPER. While DOOMTROOPER is a game of tactical warfare, DARK EDEN is a game of grand strategy. Sure, you'll have plenty of opportunities to blow away your opponents, the game is much more involved.

In DARK EDEN, each player plays a Chieftain on forsaken Earth, struggling to develop and maintain their Dominion against the invading hordes of other players. As Chieftain, you must defend your Turf, while at the same time send your Warband out to invade your opponents' Dominions. In addition to all this warfare you must keep track of the essential Resources necessary to build your Turf, train your peoples, and develop new technologies. Each Chieftain has a number of Objectives to fulfill, and the first player to fulfill a predetermined number of Objectives wins the game!

Your Turf area represents your "home base". Included in your Turf is a Chieftain Headquarters (which is where your Chieftain card sits), your Refineries (which provide valuable Resources, and any Establishments you wish to build (which provide various advantages). When the game begins, you only have your Chieftain card and your Objectives in play, but you will add other cards to your Dominion as play progresses.

THE PLAY OF THE GAME

In DARK EDEN, you take turns playing cards, manipulating your Resources and doing battle with your opponents. During your turn, you first perform a number of actions. Actions represent the building of Refineries or Establishments, maneuvers made by your Warriors, commands you as a Chieftain give to your forces, the bestowal of equipment and special abilities, and the actual battles you enact. You then make sure that your Resources are balanced, by measuring the level of Resources you produce against the level of Resources you require. Once you have balanced your Resources you check to see if you have fulfilled any of your Objectives. After that your turn has finished, and it is then your opponent's turn. The game continues until a player has fulfilled a predetermined number of Objective cards under his or her control.

While the game does share a conceptual basis with DOOMTROOPER, it is a COMPLETELY new game, with new strategies. The combat system is simplified to make room for the added task for maintaining your Dominion.

DARK EDEN is an ideal second game for DOOMTROOPER players, and just as perfect for those who have not yet pleyed DOOMTROOPER. Because the games are totally different, you do not need to be familiar with DOOMTROOPER to play DARK EDEN.

DARK EDEN is scheduled for a November 1996 release. The game will include 60-card Staters and 15-card Boosters. Commonality breakdowns and randomization will closely match what we did with the KULT CCG (and for those of you who play Kult, you know how perfect that turned out). The game is designed by Bryan Winter and developed by Henrik Strandberg and Patric Backlund, the same team behind DOOMTROOPER.

And remember, between Venus and Mars lies the most dangerous planet of all...

Back to DE page