This Defiant Earth turns 1950s sci-fi B-movies into an RPG

Designer C. Michael Hall is hoping to capture the iconic tone and style of ‘50s science-fiction flicks in his new RPG, This Defiant Earth.

The Kickstarted project puts players in the space-age boots of defenders of Earth, who face off against a menagerie of monsters and aliens inspired by the movies, TV shows and comic books of the age.

The game is built around the Lucky 6 system, which was previously used by Hall in his previous RPG Urban Knights. The system uses a pool of six-sided dice, with every five or six rolled counting as a success. If the number of successes passes each challenge’s required amount, the action is pulled off. There is an extra die, referred to as the Harrow dice, which adds more complicated situations when a one is rolled.

Up to four players are recommended, with a GM controlling the suitably melodramatic action.

This Defiant Earth’s rulebook is estimated to be around 200 pages long and will include guidance for creating characters and monsters, as well as material to help build up the atmosphere of an Atomic Age monster movie.

It’s $30 for the book, which is predicted to cost $35 when released at retail, with delivery planned for next July.

Oh, and did we mention the cover art is absolutely fantastic? Because it really is.