It’s been seven years since I first laid eyes on Degenesis, and it hasn’t let go of me yet.

I could go into all the reasons why the evocative art, the vibrant game world, the mysterious metaplot, the characters and situations and stories found and created in this world appeal to me. But at the end of the day it’s mostly because Degenesis respects its audience. It swims fercociously against the norms of our time, it rejects easy moral divides and self-righteousness.

The published adventures tell us time and time again that Degenesis is meant to be played on moral hard mode. Instead of telegraphed good v evil fights, player characters in Degenesis are continuously drawn into conflicts that are harder to parse. Who are the good guys when the good guys have been caught cheating? Who is really defending civilization when everyone is just grabbing at power? Who do put your weight behind when every option fucks the little guy?

Degenesis was born of a pessimistic view of human nature. But because of that the moments of sacrifice and heroism that surface in play have so much power. It’s also a game that evokes empathy without ever hitting us on the head with it. It’s a big, bold, wildly inventive undertaking that carries a hidden payload. It reminds us that we all contain the best and the worst within us.

Degenesis transcends both medium and genre, and though it is no longer being published, campaigns are still being played, new fan material is being created, and every day neophytes are having their minds blown by this game for the first time. Like a lattice of spores hidden beneath the topsoil, Degenesis lives. And Train to Baikonur is here to nourish that otherworldly growth.

This new iteration of T2B is designed to be primarily a repository of information, and secondarily a blog. With permission, it incorporates English-language downloads from The Degenesis Cluster (which is a tremendous resource that also includes useful tools for players and GMs alike). If you have questions or comments, or if you’d like to contribute something to T2B, please let me know in the deg-fanworks-homebrew channel of the SMV Hub.

Ω