APOCALYPSE FRAME Press Kit

APOCALYPSE FRAME Press Kit #

APOCALYPSE FRAME front cover
APOCALYPSE FRAME back cover

Fact Sheet #

  • Developer: Binary Star Games
  • Digital Release Date: January 24th, 2023
  • Platform: Tabletop Role-Playing Game
  • Price: $20 Digital (or free to anyone who had the in-development version). $40 hardback.
  • Available At: https://binary-star-games.itch.io/apocalypse-frame

Game Description #

In a ruined and terraformed world where most of humanity is under the yoke of a brutal regime, the former workers of a once-remote factory - now known as The Collective - have risen up to create a future of freedom from oppression. You are an Ace - a highly skilled pilot referred from a Division in The Collective and assigned a humanoid combat vehicle known as a Frame. You and your Strike Team of fellow Aces must take on The Collective’s greatest threats, ensure its survival, and carve a path for its continued success.

APOCALYPSE FRAME has been in development since mid-2021, and now its finished version is being released! Built using the foundation of the popular LUMEN game engine, APOCALYPSE FRAME expands upon that formula to make a tactical mecha roleplaying game influenced heavily by Armored Core, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Battletech, and XCOM.

  • Frenetic action: Light, Medium, and Heavy Frames (mecha) clash on the post-apocalyptic battlefield in a combat system based on LUMEN. Your Strike Team is ready and capable of carving through armies of enemies to fight for the Collective.
  • Customizable Mechs: The simplicity of the basic rules combines with a robust tag system and light resource management to provide any level of depth you might want. Extremely fast character creation and pre-assembled loadouts make it very simple to get started. Once a player has a grasp of the system, 9 Frames with unique traits and abilities combine with 18 Armaments and 18 Systems to allow players to customize as little or as much as they want. As time goes on, new tags can be added to any equipment, allowing players to mold any loadout to their exact specifications.
  • Varied Threats: Several enemy types and factions allow for a lot of flexibility in creating encounters. Face off against the iron-fisted Republic, the cunning Claw, or crafty Survivalists. Plow through Standard enemies, clash with more dangerous Prime enemies, or face a sprawling Colossus enemy - a multi-part monstrosity that can be a mission unto itself!
  • Session and Campaign Play: The game is satisfying when played as a one-shot, but it also supports lengthy campaigns. Tools for shaping the setting to players’ preferences, providing mission choices, and pacing different kinds of sessions over time, as well as two different kinds of player advancement, are provided help keep things interesting for everyone for many sessions to come. APOCALYPSE FRAME is also built for inclusion of outside material during play: its campaign loop contains explicit on-ramps for expansion, third-party, or homebrew content to be introduced mid-campaign.
  • Advanced Rules: This release also provides Advanced Rules that are intended to raise the stakes for players who are familiar with the system and want more to sink their teeth into. This includes more options for both players and GMs to expand the depth of the system at any pace.
  • Well-Supported: Two supplements already exist for it: Ballad of Industrial Gods ( https://binary-star-games.itch.io/ballad-of-industrial-gods), an expansive heist mission that has enough content for 6 sessions, and The Infected World ( https://binary-star-games.itch.io/the-infected-world), a season pass-style enhancement focused on exploration, mapping, and making new discoveries in the post-apocalyptic setting.

The Team #

Binary Star Games is the publishing imprint of Binary, a developer based in the DC area with a heavy focus on designing fast, elegant, evocative mechanics that maintain depth and mechanical weight; and especially high-speed, high-intensity tactical combat. Support on this project was provided by Marx Shepherd (editing), Mykell Pledger (interior illustrations), and Galen Pejeau (cover art).

Press Quotes #

Ever since I played Armored Core 4 and For Answer for the first time a decade ago, I’ve been trying to think about how to capture that feeling of speed, momentum, and power in tabletop form. For years afterwards, I would sketch out some kind of game system that would go nowhere because I just didn’t have the right tools to express it. But the first time I read LIGHT, and subsequently LUMEN, something clicked. LUMEN’s straightforward presentation of quick, precise tactical combat and frankness about the mission-based “loop” were the final pieces of the puzzle. Of course, any LUMEN-based game will be fast and lend itself to power fantasy from the outset. But over a year of revisions I’ve revised and polished APOCALYPSE FRAME to be even faster and feel even more powerful than it was when I started developing it. It’s finally the game that I’d been trying to realize all this time.

- Binary

Apocalypse Frame might be small, but like some of the weaponry listed in this book, packs a serious punch. With story-focused rules guaranteed to satisfy even the die-hardiest of story gamers, but with enough bite to please fans of crunch, if you like rapid-fire mecha anime like Gundam Wing Zero or Tengen Toppen Gurren Lagann, Apocalypse Frame is guaranteed to please. For the GMs, this book contains just the right amount of lore to leave space for your stories; for the players, there’s so much fun stuff to keep you coming back for more like that one pilot who refuses to die. If you buy only one mecha game this year? make it Apocalypse Frame. No regrets, Aces!

- Marx Shepherd, editor and former host of Yes Indie’d

Advance Praise for APOCALYPSE FRAME #

APOCALYPSE FRAME is a mech TTRPG that is firing on all cylinders. It has the fast and intense combat you’d expect piloting a mech. Not only that, but there is a robust system for customizing and tinkering with your mech, that doesn’t quickly overwhelm you. Whether you just want to spend the night reliving the glory days of playing Armored Core on your Playstation, or want to create a sprawling campaign of factions fighting back an a terrible infection, APOCALYPSE FRAME has you covered. 10/10, this is the best mech RPG out there.

- Spencer Campbell, Gila RPGs, author of LUMEN, NOVA, RUNE

I can say with a great deal of certainty Apocalypse Frame is my golden mean for mech games. As a Battletech kid with big love for 08th MS Team there’s a special flavor of mech stories that lands with me. Finding a game that balances customizability, the option to explore story outside the cockpit (without going too far in that direction), and tactical depth, while keeping it all manageable, and play session times snappy - felt like an impossible act. But A.Frame does this. It is that balanced thing. Accessible, flexible, deep, and engaging.

- Ryan Lucas, author of After\\Burner

APOCALYPSE Frame is a real gem of a game developed by Binary Star Games. It is based on the LUMEN system, but takes it to new heights with its straightforward gameplay and customizable mech and pilot creation.

On top of all of this, the game also takes the time to provide fantastic insights on how to best run it, as well as to how to fill the world with beautiful details, and those explanations never get in the way of creating one of the most effectively condensed game I’ve ever read.

I’ve always been a fan of rebellion themed games, and this one is right up my alley.

- Rene-Pier Deshaies, Fari RPGs, author of Hopes and Dreams, Breathless, Nomadic, Charge

Assets #

High-resolution assets can be found here. You can also browse through/get them on google drive here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xRk1Plg0ZIHN60CgfCRSmlEoRH11SRkT?usp=sharing

Contact Information #

If you have additional questions or are looking to schedule an interview, please reach out!