Beyond War - Similar Products

OGRE - tabletop wargame featuring a many-against-one model inspired by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) strategy of tactical and strategic nuclear weapons against a 7:1 numerical superiority of Warsaw Pact nation armor in Eastern Europe. Commonly used by military members to exercise these processes and discuss potential strategies and psychology of quantity versus quality warfighting strategy in an effort to better understand the superiority of Western weapons, psychological tactics, and incentive to overcommit forces and fight delaying actions against very large forces through target selection.

Battletech (FASA, tabletop wargame) - designed using copyright-infringing art and designs stolen from the Nation of Japan in future warfare, these products starting with 'Battletech' and 'City Tech' sets demonstrated for tank commanders the concept of fire and cover strategies in fire-and-maneuver tactics, turret management, and critical system kill dynamics in a dystopian Interplanetary space war setting, spawning many books and later video games based on the core concept of appeal to younger audiences of the power of giant (three stories tall) piloted robots.

Masters of Orion - video game, featuring multi-solar system 4x strategy and the bombing of planets using large fleets of small ships, miniaturization of weapons over technology progress, and the use of ground forces in context to economic and material superiority in development of military forces. Also including technology theft, exchange, and diplomacy among in-game artificial intelligence non-player-characters with personality traits.

Nuclear War (card game by Steve Jackson, video game for Amiga) - featuring parodies of nuclear war in a turn-based system featuring diplomacy and posturing, soft and hard operations for population elimination of enemy countries, random events and reversals, and absurd humor in genocidal warfare for political purposes.

The Twillight Zone (tv series) - Original cold-war philosophical and theological metaphors using aliens, close encounters, and narration by Rod Serling - set against the backdrop of the cold war politics of the US and Soviet era.

Star Trek (The Original Series) - created by Gene Roddenberry, a former US Military member, and then taken away by the studio locking the creator off-set in order to change the direction of the show toward children and younger audiences, contrary a very serious and socially conscious direction evoking consideration for racism, anti-war movements, and non-interference in International politics among the emerging superpowers of the late 1950s. Not to be confused with the much more progressive 'Star Trek: The Next Generation', 'Deep Space Nine', or 'Star Trek: Voyager' - which became increasingly feminist, family drama oriented, and socialist in narration, terminating the series with 'Star Trek: Discovery', on completely opposite narative and quality issues.

Gene Roddenberry conceived several principles in this show, including the concept of 'the spaceship as a plot device to deliver the cast to new circumstances without strong relation to an ongoing narrative, unlike drama and sitcom screenplays; although credit belongs to the BBC for their prior work on 'Doctor Who'. Gene tried to carry this concept on in his unfinished 'Starship Andromeda' about the Fall of the Federation, but it was poorly produced and destroyed by the effort after his death, despite a strong showing by actor Kevin Sorbo. The series could not find direction because the audience was greatly reduced in age from original roles.

Star Wars (movie series) - demonstrating that ultimately everyone dies because somebody kidnapped two kids. And because socialist justice (killing the Emperor) was the last straw that pushed Anakin over the edge, along with some shady reckless and downright genocidal acts by Yoda and Ben Kenobi to abandon Anakin on a river of fire, still alive, and then lie to his kids and leave Luke with evil old Uncle Owen - who treated the boy like dirt and told him his father was a bad man, in classic socialist feminist abuse.

Anne Rice's Vampire Lestat - who raised the bar for how scary vampires can be with their quick movements and moody introspection, in a way Mary Shelly would be proud of. Ultimately inspiring later products like White Wolf in their flagrant adaptation for a pen and paper game of this content and the film "Near Dark" (set in Edmond, Oklahoma).

Hellsing - The Vampire Alucard (manga, tv show), thanks for coming to the panel. Absolutely pegged the psychotic elements of a vampire with powers similar to the 1992-1996 Shadowrun character Stryx played at local events - including the dimensional pocket inside his coat and use of a pair of large calibur cannons which were kept in that space, along with the open hand stabs and slashes (also discussed at the panel, regarding regenerative close combat and visualization techniques) by Stryx.

Bleach (tv series, manga) - excellent use of the existential aspects of bushido and Japanese sword use, if somewhat cliche, including the black straight ninja to with square hilt that Stryx carried around while describing the visualization elements of Akira "Leiji" Matsumoto style of animation in events attended by the studio staff in the 1990s. Extremely good expression of atmospheric powers and level of confrontation in the classic bushido rational of duty and obligation to act based on pure will.

FASA Shadowrun (1st and 2nd Ed, pen and paper RPG) - based on the public domain myths, legends, and folk stories of monsters, Shadowrun attempts to integrate magic and near-future dystopian cyberpunk crime as described by William Gibson (1985) into a single world with a scalar damage system and multi-factor variable difficulty (target and number of successes as two-factor) dice system. Ultimately aimed at a much older audience, like mature roleplaying games in the 1970s and 1980s, Shadowrun diverged to younger audiences due to incorrect marketing and corporate oversight, licensing, and failure to comprehend the appeal to older consumers common in the Star Trek studio lockout of Gene Roddenberry. The same result led to the collapse of Shadowrun and its licensing as part of the collapse of the company, sale, and use in turn-key turn-based games with increasingly socialist themes in later release (Shadowrun: Hong Kong, Shadowrun: Dragonfall).

Call of Cthulhu - pen and paper adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft works, now used in many projects including Sunless Sea (game), Darkest Dungeon (game), and referenced in many other serious works (Hellboy). R. Talsorian Games rendition of the art and psychological horror remains impressive, having a 'sanity' damage system in which even seeing the monster can do worse than kill your character. This effect mirrored in the 'Darkest Dungeon' and 'Sunless Sea' games - where sanity loss, not death, is the threat.

Dungeons and Dragons, by Gary Gygax - (pen and paper game), famous for its illustrative monsters and pioneering the dungeon and quest system popular now in most game mechanics; D&D also died a horrible death due to commercialization of cultural 'clones' following the planes (interdimensional) world expansions and coming under fire for referencing demons, hell, gods, deities, and religious characters in consumption of the product by young children and teens in the early 1980s.

Warhammer 40,000 tabletop wargame and early (1987) RPG - based on the (limited) license of Judge Dredd comics, Games Workshop adopted the look-and-feel of the Dredd Universe, without consent or permission, and incorporated the orcs and elves described by J.R.R. Tolkien in his copyright protected work, to make a wargame in the far future that resonated with audiences. Use of brilliant art conceals the fundamentally systematic infringement upon all aspects of the Dredd license and ABC Robots (comic book), which GW UK nor its prior entities owned the license for - and did knowingly adopt most of their core image from. Warhammer is famous for establishing the concept of hyperspace flight 'through Hell', a dimension where all human hopes, fears, and fantasies are realized in a twisted and demonic world that wants to invade our space and time - borrowing symbols of Norse culture in place of an 'evil' anti-human element, and portraying the 'good guys' as Saxon warriors fighting the evil ax-wiedling 'Norse' chaos space marines, and occasional Ork in a nazi helmet (see also: Wizards - the movie).

Fallout 1-4, video games wherein the character can be the hero or anti-hero, and obtain very different outcomes based on the role they decide to play - independent of society or social judgment and rewards. Especially evident in the quirk systems including 'child killer' (removed, Fallout 2), cannibalism (Fallout 4), sandman kills (Fallout 4), and open world with unmoderated mod capability for play.

Rimworld, a video game featuring progressive colony and socialist ideas including taking prisoners to force people to join the colony, psychotic and criminally insane characters prone to violent breaks with animal and human murder streaks, sadism, organ trafficking, and human slavery for profit - under the ultimate (progressive socialist) tenant of 'survival and benefit to the community' as a core game dynamic. This resource scarcity model, as seen in mein kampf and other national socialist teachings, is popular in children's games like Don't Starve, This War of Mine, Oxygen Not Included - and many other more brutal survival games (Rust, PubG, Fortnight). Colonists may grow recreational drugs, make alcohol, and suffer addiction and drug influence as a scripted and positive part of the game, including using marijuana for pain management in Rimworld.

Doctor Who (BBC), spanning 1963-1989, 1996, 2005-present; the Time Lord doctor who originally was a show the studio aimed at children, whom the original actor portrayed with such detail out of respect for the integrity of the show before the children that it became 'serious science fiction' rather than serialized pop raygun punk. Broadcasters were aware it scared children, almost did not make it, but were overcome by the need to inform the young and public in a way that reminded them of the threat of another eugenics campaign similar to the national socialists war crimes in World War Two, with the Daleks and other aliens recurring war against Earth (which often succeeded, if only briefly, in destroying society on the planet). The 2005 reboot brought all of this back, including the iconoclast values of the rogue Time Lord, contrary his own society and the threat it posed to other less developed worlds, in the ongoing effort to 'win' the Time War which led the Universe to hate the Time Lords near the end of the conflict. In fact, vampires (the great vampire) and E-Space (Exo-Space-time continuum) and N-Space were concepts in the original (Full Circle, State of Decay) episodes of Doctor Who. The Time Lords used 'Bow Ships' to fire shafts into the heart of the Yssgaroth, and at the end of his life the Time Lord Rasilon was in fact a vampire. During the Time War, Cardinal Ollistra released the Great Vampires again to fight the Daleks. One such creature is seen in "The Pit" in the new series. The name is derived from H.P. Lovecraft, and his 'Star Vampire" concepts - now public domain. While E-Space and N-Space are relevant places, they are not co-existing or parallax colocation, as found in Beyond War and manifold space descriptions protecting the Sanguine from destruction due to injury or annihilation in one of the two (or more) dimensions of artificial and natrual space-time.

My Hero Academia (anime series), masterfully encompasses the concept of the eugenics and inherited power based on parental 'gifts' compared to the social crisis that a person can 'give' their 'gift' to whomever they choose - based on merit and values - not 'good birth'. One of the best recent products out of Japan on this topic.

Captain Harlock the definitive masterpiece of Akira Matsumoto ('Leiji') which embodies the style of space war later seen in his contribution to 'Space Battleship Yamamoto' and 'Robotech' series, including illustration, character, and the romantic tension of principles between soldiers and the defeated social accommodation of occupation in post-war Japan. Harlock embodies the style of the archetype across multiple stories with nearly identical looking characters in different settings - sometimes crossing over - creating a multi-generational identity and culture resisting genocide by a foreign power which is viewed as both inferior and transitory, yet seductive and sinister. FOR FREEDOM! "To fight until only my bones remain!" Nothing about Harlock is wrong. Harlock was inspired by a wounded Japanese fighter ace, whose photo after being shot through the eye by an American bomber rear seat gunner managed to return home. This, and the French / Austrian style of animation (See Heavy Metal / Wizards) deeply influenced Matsumoto prior the former titles - in early manga and later recovery upon long fight to be credited for his original works. Akira is the master of this genre, despite the steam locomotives (999, Galaxy Express) that fly through space, old west towns in space, and strange mechanoid men (Maetel).

Paranoia (the roleplaying game) - by Steve Jackson games, based on the 'Logans Run' anthology, a dystopian comic version in which all human society is a slave to a computer in a bunker which seeks to purify the human race of all mutants. And of course, every living human is a mutant, hiding that from all the other vault-dwellers, while trying to feign its loyalty to the computer and the caste system of the vault (which is color coded in ROYGBIV rainbow jumpsuits and lasers). So deadly is this game, that every player in the party starts with five clones (they are a clone) and all members of the party should be (permanently) dead before the four-hour session ends. Fratricide is the way of this game. Fun fun!

Car Wars (a board game, by Steve Jackson) - allows players to build and then play with armed militarized cars in a dystopian United States after a fuel crisis drives everyone to electric vehicles and violent mad-max style road sport with the collapse of all State and national government, isolating major cities in the style of Judge Dredd.

Space Pirates and Zombies (video game) - an excellent indie game with an irreverent narrative about a zombie plague that spans the Universe radiating out from the center of the Universe over hundreds of years, leaving the outer worlds in complete isolation and to break down to slavery, piracy, and crazy fast-paced shoot-em-up top-down gaming. The sequel features improved turret warfare, carrier tactics, and modular ships that can be 'cut' in two or destroyed partially with targeted fire during multi-capital-ship engagements. Definitely worth a look, despite not having nearly the fidelity of 1996 Beyond War technology and logistics systems, pacing, and practical elements of more traditional naval ship to ship warfare.

Sundog, the Frozen Legacy (Apple IIe) - one of the first games to feature multiple (6) ship subsystems with (4) component based chains affecting performance during flight, systemic damage, and alternate configurations to build specialized tools like cloaking and advanced weapons. This game included stock-market-like commodity trading, buying, and contract deliveries decades before Eve Online revived that idea in their half-assed space sim, based on numerous accounts and panel discussions by Beyond War explaining this game and Starflight, Wasteland, and early 3D technology in Texas and Oklahoma. Still more fun than Eve. You can actually get out of your ship, buy a beer, walk around, and get mugged (or mug someone) in Sundog: the Frozen Legacy.

Wings of Fury (Apple IIe) a side-scrolling Hellcat fighter-bomber sim which featured a high altitude and low-altitude high-resolution view with enemy planes, ground fire, torpedo bomber interception, carrier landings and recovery, and strafing infantry on the ground after successful bombing and rocket attacks displace them. Like Rescue Raider (a better choplifter) this game featured strategic and tactical simultaneous views of a real-time combat environment that are not successfully replicated in modern 3D games despite 25 years (1984-2018) of computer science. These discoveries and observations were critical in the design of the Beyond War logistic framework - which use computer graphics cards, processors, and network technology in a new way never prior employed by any other game system.

Omega (Amiga) a tank simulator similar to chipwits visual logic control system, for detection and engagement with other computer operated tanks running user created programs. Programming weapon systems using signal and evasion technology was a brief but very enjoyable phase of simulation, which unfortunately did not hit on the general audience of the time. Similar abstracted concepts were present in the computer programming of weapons and systems in 'Sentinel Worlds: Future Magic' of the same era, but are not found in most common systems due to the ability to share information over the Internet, making cheating at programming a no-brainer.

FTL (Faster than Light, game) features crew skill development, real-time tactical and strategic decision trees, and dynamic oxygen generation and management through a series of airlocks and power distribution during combat with hull breaches in a fabulous top-down space game with numerous sub-systems and player economy. Truly original, and nothing to do with Beyond War, as an incredible proof of innovation in indie space games contrary many other imitation products and companies stabbing to deploy rumored tech first (see: Star Citizen) in efforts to collect alpha and kickstarter / investor monies.

12 Monkeys (tv series) one of the few series to tackle time travel as effectively as The Terminator, SyFy Channel's 12 Monkeys deals with causality and paradox to a very effective degree, explaining the consequences of temporal warfare for the average viewer. The effort to shift from self-protection in subsistence to combatting global threats prior to realizing the scope of greater threats which support the extreme positions of large-scale warfighting and temptations of immortality at the expense of morality are all very well expressed in this surprise made-for-television series.

Supernatural (tv series) expanding upon the X-Files legacy (The Truth is Out There, 1993-2018), to explain away myth and legend in a working framework of supernatural power, characters, and events - including self-determination, motivation, spiritual versus religious conjecture, humanism, and conflict - Supernatural took the 1996 concept of Beyond War as a supertheory to explain the myth of the horror genre into successful conclusion along Christian theology, satisfying fans and critics alike. In a similar proposal in 1996, my uncle Wyman Grindstaff said "So what you are proposing in this Beyond War story is basically selling blasphemy as a scientific argument for profit." This is typical of the Christian (scientist) response to the 1996 project, despite the success of Supernatural from 2006-2018 spanning 13 seasons following that discussion.

SDP Multimedia Group

Beyond War - Similar Products