The first unit to arrive was local Officers Angelo and Kaplinsky, seven minutes after the original dispatch. They secured the area, clearing out the civilians who had yet to flee. In the five minutes in which this took, DFM agents Florin, York, Yoren and Renault arrived. They assisted in clearing out the area and instigated a case perimeter. 

Initial investigation revealed one suspected fabricant (SUS-F) holding four hostages in the diner. One hostage was already seen to be dead. Upon approach, the SUS-F shouted that he wanted the officer to step back or he would execute the hostages he held. The officers, upon further observation from a greater distance away, believed they had enough evidence that the suspect was in fact a fabricant. His behavior conformed with classic hostage-taking programming…

-Excerpt from DFM case file 556-447-322 

The Game

The Department is a tabletop miniature game set in a near future America where Fabricated Human Simulants, also known as fabricants, walk among us. Players take on the role of agents from the U.S. Department of Fabricant Management, a government department charged with policing fabricants and fighting the increasing instances of fabricant-related terrorism. The Department is meant to be the first tabletop police procedural game that requires no Game Master to play. Players will use sleuthing, investigation, interrogation, and combat to hunt down and stop fabricant terrorist cells.

The game draws heavily on the noir and police procedural dramas and blends in elements of robotic sci-fi. The Department is not cyberpunk: it’s Blade Runner meets Law and Order meets I-Robot meets American Gangster meets Mad Men meets The Maltese Falcon and more. 

Where Wargame and RPG Meet

The Department uses the popular Goalsystem, written by Scott Pyle. Building on this proven base, The Department features an innovative, cooperative campaign system where players play scenarios in order to gather a diverse array of evidence points. Players then use these evidence points to acquire warrants, follow up on leads, and finally hunt down the leadership of the fabricant terrorist cell. The campaign constantly challenges players to use their limited investigation resources wisely, as their department’s patience will eventually run out and the players will be thrown off of the case.

While it is meant to be played as a tabletop miniature wargame that requires no game master, The Department can be played without miniatures as a map based tabletop RPG. Our goal is to create a rulebook that allows you to explore the streets of 2060s America your way.

What We Will Produce And When We Will Produce It.

The Department will be an approximately 150 page full color soft cover A4 sized book chock full of art, fiction, and a complete ruleset ready to play straight away.

We will also be producing a full color PDF as well as a kindle, ebook, and a printer-friendly Pdf version. 

Currently, production is on schedule and we aim to release The Department in Q1 2012.

All contributors will be acknowledged in the print and electronic versions of the game.

You can find more information on our official website. www.departmentoffabricantmanagement.com   

The Money Side of Things

We’re raising Kickstarter funding to cover our creative costs and an initial print run.

We are a global team working in three countries, but our printing operations will be done in the UK. Please consider adding in the cost of shipping (we recommend $7) for physical items shipped outside of the UK.

If you are a distributor or a store and would like to make a bulk order, please contact joseph.dragovich@gmail.com to discuss a custom donation.