Today began the pre-Kickstarter teasers for the Cyberpapacy, the next of Torg’s cosms to be released. Once more I’ll be involved in the adventure process for this one, as I was for both the Nile Empire and Aysle, Torg’s “pulp action” and “mythical fantasy” settings.

Being involved in the Torg Eternity line as a contributor is one of the most exciting things that has happened to me as a writer. This is an RPG that I started playing back in 1990, having picked up the box set right after it hit the shelves, enticed by one of the most effective gaming ads I’ve ever seen, which ran in issues of Dragon Magazine (pretty much the only way for gamers to know what was happening in the biz at the time).

Torg’s premise was complex: our Earth has been invaded by beings from other parallel dimensions whose version of reality is very different from our own, and they brought that reality with them, creating a weird, almost patchwork-like world where foreign realities hold sway. In Torg, for example, all of the eastern seaboard of the U.S. has been transformed to a steaming jungle occupied by dangerous plants, even more dangerous dinosaurs, and a race of highly-religious lizard people. Egypt looks like the 1930s again, but out of the pulp serials, with gangsters, masked heroes, and weird scientists, all battling the forces of the tyrannical Pharaoh Mobius. England and Scandinavia have become a fantasy world with knights and dragons. Japan and China are dealing with frequent breakouts of a corporate bio-zombie plague. India has returned to the Victorian era but is overrun with horrors that stalk the dark. Russia is a demon-infested wasteland, a mix of Hellraiser and Mad Max.

Which brings me to the Cyberpapacy. Spanning France, Spain, and most of Brazil and Argentina, this futuristic dystopia imagines a future where an all-powerful Catholic (-ish) church runs an autocratic communistic government, infusing religiosity with high technology, like holograms, cybernetic enhancements, and a VR internet that feels like being in God’s presence.

It’s a gonzo setting for some high-tech action. I dived into it a little with an upcoming portion of the Relics of Power series, set in Belém, Brazil. I’m looking forward to contributing some more to the vision.