''SLA Industries'' (pronounced "slay") is a

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

first published in 1993 by

Nightfall Games Nightfall Games is a United Kingdom based role-playing game publishing company notable for publishing '' SLA Industries'' and The Terminator RPG. History Nightfall Games was founded by Dave Allsop, Anne Boylan and Jared Earle in April 1993 i ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The game is set in a

dystopia A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...

n far-flung future in which the majority of the known universe is either owned or indirectly controlled by the eponymous corporation "SLA Industries" and incorporates themes from the cyberpunk, horror, and conspiracy genres. The game combined concepts inspired by a range of aesthetics and ideas. Elements include: song lyrics from

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

and the

Industrial music Industrial music is a genre of music that draws on harsh, mechanical, transgressive or provocative sounds and themes. AllMusic defines industrial music as the "most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music" that was "initiall ...

scene,

cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cyber ...

fiction (including ''

Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick' ...

'' and ''

Max Headroom Max Headroom is a fictional artificial intelligence (AI) character portrayed by actor Matt Frewer. Advertised as "the first computer-generated TV presenter", Max was known for his biting commentary on a variety of topical issues, arrogant wit, ...

''), anime / manga (including '' Akira'', '' Appleseed'', ''

Bubblegum Crisis is a 1987 to 1991 cyberpunk original video animation (OVA) series produced by Youmex and animated by Anime International Company, AIC and Artmic. The series was planned to run for 13 episodes, but was cut short to just 8. The series involv ...

'', and ''

Trigun is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yasuhiro Nightow. ''Trigun'' was first serialized in Tokuma Shoten's Shōnen manga, ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Monthly Shōnen Captain'' from April 1995 to January 1997, when the mag ...

''), and the growing cultural obsession with the media (including 24-hour news services and the ''Gladiator'' TV Show).

Setting

SLA Industries itself is a fictional corporation run by a mysterious and seemingly immortal creature called "Mr. Slayer", whose upper management team includes two other creatures like himself, "Intruder" and "Senti". The corporation is headquartered in "Mort City", a densely populated city-sprawl larger than Eurasia and surrounded by the urban ruins of the "Cannibal Sectors". It is all located on a vast planet (also called "Mort") that had been stripped of its natural resources to the point that the ecology had been utterly destroyed. SLA Industries controlled an undefined but vast number of planets, collectively referred to as the World of Progress, and governed them in accordance with Mr. Slayer's Big Picture. The setting is bleak and surreal, with much left deliberately ill-defined in the source material. Players take the role of freelance employees of SLA Industries, called Operatives, living in Mort City and taking care of odd jobs assigned to them by the corporation. These jobs usually involve keeping the peace—chasing serial killers, hunting monsters in the sewers, quashing riots, foiling terrorist plots, and silencing dissidents are common themes. Appearance, style and branding are emphasized in the game world as much as combat ability, due to the omnipresence of television; for ambitious Operatives public persona and TV ratings are often as important as professional abilities. A supplement, the Contract Directory, also provides the option for players to play as celebrity gladiators called Contract Killers. As a role-playing experience, the game tends to be predisposed towards

splatterpunk Splatterpunk is a movement within horror fiction originating in the 1980s, distinguished by its graphic, often gory, depiction of violence, countercultural alignment and "hyperintensive horror with no limits.""Schow, David J." by Gary Westfahl in D ...

horror, noir, dark satire, and/or gunbunny high action. However, the complexity and Byzantine politics of the setting allow for slower-paced campaigns based around subversion, inter-departmental rivalry, and cut-throat power struggles within the company. Along with humans, playable races include the drug-addicted mutant humans called "Frothers", the stealthy feline "Wraith Raiders", the formidably violent saurian "Shaktar", and the two 'Ebb' / pseudo-magic using races: the emotionally sensitive and charismatic Ebon, and their more sadistic and violent evolution, the "Brain Wasters". There are also a variety of biogenetic vat-grown warrior races called Stormers, produced by SLA to fight in their endless wars.

Publication prior to 2nd Edition

''SLA Industries'' was first published independently in 1993. The game was later bought by

Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for ga ...

late in 1994, after their success with ''

Magic: The Gathering ''Magic: The Gathering'' (colloquially known as ''Magic'' or ''MTG'') is a tabletop and digital collectable card game created by Richard Garfield. Released in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast (now a subsidiary of Hasbro), ''Magic'' was the first ...

''. It was later republished by Nightfall Games Ltd and distributed by

Hogshead Publishing Hogshead Publishing was a British game company that produced role-playing games and game supplements. History In October 1994, James Wallis founded Hogshead Publishing, a company which specialised in role-playing and storytelling games. Wallis ba ...

, until Hogshead Publishing closed down. Between 2003 and 2011

Cubicle 7 Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd is an Irish games company that creates and publishes tabletop games. Best known for its ''Doctor Who'' and ''Lord of the Rings'' games, Cubicle 7 offers titles covering a range of licensed and self-developed properties ...

Entertainment produced new material, and in 2011 the license returned to Nightfall Games Ltd, who released supplements (known as Data Packets) as PDFs. In August, 2016, the Kickstarter for the SLA Industries: Cannibal Sector 1 miniatures game was launched by Daruma Productions and Nightfall Games. On 22 June 2018, Nightfall Games announced that Daruma Productions was entering the liquidation process and Nightfall would be taking over completion of the Kickstarter. Cannibal Sector 1, the last 1st Edition product was published in 2019.

Second Edition

A new Kickstarter campaign launched in September 2019, for SLA Industries 2nd Edition. It raised £90,444 from 1,281 backers. Additionally, a free Quick Start was released in August 2019 to introduce the new rules, ahead of the Kickstart campaign. The pledge fulfilment started in December 2020, and the products went on general sale in January 2021. A second Kickstarter was announced in July 2021 for the first sourcebooks for SLA Industries 2nd Edition to start on the 24th of August 2021. The first two books announced are Threat Analysis 1: Collateral and Species Guide 1: Shaktar/Wraithen. SLA Industries 2nd Edition won a Judges' Spotlight award in the 2021 ENnies.

Product line

2nd Edition Publications (all published by Nightfall Games) * "SLA Industries 2nd Edition" Core Rulebook (Jan 2021) including 5 cover variants. * "SLA Industries 2nd Edition GM Screen Pack", includes a GM Screen and 16 page booklet (Jan 2021). * "SLA Industries 2nd Edition: Quick Start", a 48-page PDF introducing the 2nd edition ruleset. The printed version was published Jan 2021. * "SLA Industries 2nd Edition: COLLATERAL", a 240-page sourcebook focused on gangs, Manchines and other self-generated enemies. The first of the 4Cs book (will be published in 2023). * "SLA Industries 2nd Edition: Shaktar/Wraithen", a 80-page sourcebook focused on the names playable species. The first of the Species Guide books (PDF published in 2022). * "SLA Industries 2nd Edition: Hunter Sheets Data Packet 1", a 48 page softback sourcebook (will be published in 2023). * “SLASHER magazines”. A series of in-setting small magazines presenting famous and wannabe criminals. At present there is 1 magazine (PDF published in 2022) * “Progress Reports”. A series of PDF supplements released sporadically since June 2020. At present there are 4 documents (Progress Reports 0-3). * Conversion Documents for "Cannibal Sector One" and “Hunter Sheets 2”. PDFs to allow the use of the 1st Edition books with the 2nd edition ruleset (Jan 2021). * “Headshots” Image Packs. Each Headshots Image pack includes at least 10 high res JPEG images featuring character art by Dave Allsop. At present there are five packs. 1st Edition Publications: The content of the majority of the following products have been (or soon will be) represented in second edition products. The main SLA Industries rulebook and the Hunter Sheets contain useable material for 2nd Edition: * ''SLA Industries'' Main Rulebook () published by Nightfall Games * ''Karma'' Sourcebook () published by Nightfall Games (Out of Print) * ''

GM screen A gamemaster's screen, also called a GM's screen, is a gaming accessory, usually made out of either cardboard or card stock, and is used by the gamemaster to hide all the relevant data related to a tabletop role-playing game session from the playe ...

''(Out of Print) * ''Hunter Sheets Issue 1'' Supplement () published by Cubicle 7 (Out of Print) * ''Hunter Sheets Issue 2'' Supplement () published by Daruma Productions and Nightfall Games * "Gator Stormer" Data Packet, a PDF only Supplement published by Nightfall Games (no longer available). * "Klicks End" Data Packet, a PDF only Supplement published by Nightfall Games * "Momic 0.1" Data Packet, a PDF only Supplement published by Nightfall Games (no longer available). * "Dream" Data Packet, a PDF only Supplement published by Nightfall Games (no longer available). * "Hominid" Data Packet, a PDF only Supplement published by Nightfall Games (no longer available). * "Hunters Sheets: Red Alert" Data Packet, a PDF only Supplement published by Nightfall Games (no longer available). * "Cannibal Sector One" Supplement (352-lage full colour hardback book or pdf published by Nightfall Games). This was the last publication for 1st Edition. The following 1st Edition books and documents are no longer considered canon and are out of print: * "Mort" Sourcebook () published by Wizards of the Coast * "The Key of Delhyread" Scenario () published by Hogshead Publishing * "The Contract Directory" Sourcebook () published by Hogshead Publishing * "CS1" Sourcebook () published by Cubicle 7 * "Ursa Carrien" Data Packet, a PDF only Supplement published by Nightfall Games

The Writers' Bible

Nightfall Games produced the ''SLA Industries Writers Bible'', sometimes simply referred to as ''The Bible'' or ''The Truth'', to allow

freelance writer ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

s to grasp the complicated background of the game. The terms of the associated

non-disclosure agreement A non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is a legal contract or part of a contract between at least two parties that outlines confidential material, knowledge, or information that the parties wish to share with one another for certain purposes, but wish ...

required that the contents of the document remain secret. Following an extended hiatus in production of official ''SLA Industries'' material, editor

Tim Dedopulos Tim Dedopulos is a British-born writer, game designer and editor of mixed English and Greek heritage. His published material covers a wide range of areas—novels, short-stories, game supplements/strategy guides, direct mail self-help booklets, li ...

released the bible to the members of the ''SLA Industries'' email discussion list in 1998. The fans' reaction to ''The Truth'' was not entirely warm, and the remaining members of Nightfall Games made it clear that further redistribution of the bible was not permitted without their explicit permission. The writers have since made it clear that the bible was not intended for mass consumption - it had not been edited to the same standard as the published material, as it was an internal document used only to keep the work of disparate authors consistent with the intentions of Nightfall Games. It has also been explained that the process of revealing ''The Truth'' was originally to have happened over the course of several publications, each one containing more elements of an increasingly refined version of the

backstory A backstory, background story, back-story, or background is a set of events invented for a plot, presented as preceding and leading up to that plot. It is a literary device of a narrative history all chronologically earlier than the narrative of p ...

. In 2005

re-released the old Writers Bible, stating that this was no longer the Truth used internally for further development of material. It is no longer accessible and not considered canon by Nightfall Games.

Reviews

*''

White Wolf A white wolf or Arctic wolf is a mammal of the ''Canidae'' family and a subspecies of the gray wolf. It may also refer to: Organizations * White Wolf (band), a Canadian heavy metal band * White Wolf (band), white power oi band from the USA * ...

'' #44 (June, 1994) * Review *''Backstab'' #24 *''Dosdediez'' (Número 3 - Mar/Abr 1994) *''Rollespilsmagasinet Fønix'' (Danish) (Issue 6 - January/February 1995)

References

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