[COMMERCIAL] Faceless Publishing Resurrects Trinity: Battleground

[Faceless Publishing]

Hello everyone. We are Faceless Publishing, a small Canadian tabletop game and fiction publisher. Today is a very exciting day for us, as we announce the first project under our Wargames Resurrectionist label. The goal of Wargames Resurrectionist is to preserve out-of-print tabletop wargames and miniature lines, and make them available once again. After purchasing or licensing the rights to a game, 3d and conventional scanning are used to create a digital archive from the existing material. The digital copies of these games and miniatures will then be made available for purchase through online distribution. Rules and supporting materials will be sold as PDF documents, and miniatures will be available as STLs. 3d printed miniatures will also be available, for those without access to a 3d printer. In addition to game components, we also aim to speak with the sculptors, writers, and creators involved with each game wherever possible, in order to preserve as much of the background behind them as we can.



We are very excited to announce we have signed a license with Onyx Path Publishing to resurrect Trinity: Battleground!



For those unfamiliar with it, Trinity: Battleground was released in 1998 by White Wolf Publishing. It was the only wargame ever based on the Storytelling RPG rules system. The game is set in the Trinity universe (created by White Wolf and now owned by Onyx Path Publishing), and features psionically empowered heroes known as Psions battling twisted, superhuman mutants called Aberrants.



A skirmish level game, Trinity: Battleground contained rules for players to create their own customized Psions and Aberrants, choosing from a variety of psionic powers, mutations, and equipment. Players of the Trinity RPG would even be able to convert their characters into the game, allowing them to participate in larger-scale battles.



Sadly, even with such interesting and flexible rules, and miniatures sculpted by the legendary Bob Naismith, the game was not the success its creators hoped. It only lasted a year, and plans for future releases never materialized.



As a kind gesture, White Wolf released a free PDF containing the material that was currently being worked on for the game, which is still freely available from Onyx Path. Since then, Trinity: Battleground has stayed relatively unknown except to dedicated fans for nearly 25 years.



This will not be a Kickstarter. We are currently in the process of scanning the miniatures and creating print-ready .STL files. The game will be released once those are ready. We are excited to make this lost game available again after so long, and we are very thankful to Onyx Path for the opportunity. Keep an eye on this space and our website for more news as we get closer to bringing this game back to life!

[robh]

Good luck with the release, it is great to see these old games back in circulation. I hope you manage to get some pictures of sample games and scenarios up.

[Malebolgia]

I bought Trinity back in...1999 I believe for about $25 and shipping from the USA, sending the <cash> in an envelope to the US, hoping the game would arrive one day. Me and a friend from back then tried the game and we quite liked it. And I used the cardboard scenery for quite some games, the hills too. Really top notch stuff for the day. Unfortunately I only ever painted one miniature from the set and don't own anything else anymore, but it always has a warm place in my heart!

[Faceless Publishing]

We're happy to see there are other Trinity: Battlegrounds fans around. We should be able to put together some battle reports eventually, but right now our focus is on getting the miniatures and assorted cards and rulebooks ready for re-release.

[eilif]

How interesting!
Great to see old games back in production and IIRC, there were some pretty cool figs in Trinity.
Best of luck to you all in this project.

[Faceless Publishing]

Thank you. Trinity certainly has a lot of cool miniatures, and some were very hard to find even when the game was in production. We look forward to making them available to modern gamers and collectors again.

[manic _miner]

 Great to hear that the metal miniatures range will be available.

 Will have to get my starter set-out and paint the miniatures.

 I do agree that the terrain in the starter set was and still is very good quality.

[Faceless Publishing]

Great to hear that the metal miniatures range will be available.

The miniatures will be available in .STL and 3d printed resin. Unfortunately the rising cost of metal makes metal miniatures cost prohibitive for a venture such as ours. The rulebook and other materials will be available in .PDF format, and will include scanned copies of the cardboard terrain, so you can populate your table with as much of it as you like.

[Mammoth miniatures]

The miniatures will be available in .STL and 3d printed resin. Unfortunately the rising cost of metal makes metal miniatures cost prohibitive for a venture such as ours. The rulebook and other materials will be available in .PDF format, and will include scanned copies of the cardboard terrain, so you can populate your table with as much of it as you like.

Will those be resculpts of the originals, new sculpts, or are you planning on somehow converting the existing figures into STLs?

[eilif]

Will those be resculpts of the originals, new sculpts, or are you planning on somehow converting the existing figures into STLs?

I could be wrong, but it sounds like they're going to be STL's made from 3d scans of the original figures.   

Really tickles the mind as to what other kind of long-gone figure lines could be resurrected if even one good example of a figure can be found.

[manic _miner]

The miniatures will be available in .STL and 3d printed resin. Unfortunately the rising cost of metal makes metal miniatures cost prohibitive for a venture such as ours. The rulebook and other materials will be available in .PDF format, and will include scanned copies of the cardboard terrain, so you can populate your table with as much of it as you like.

 Good to know the miniatures will be in resin then .

 Also being printed is another bonus as i dont own a 3D printer.

 As to other lost games how about the Cell Entertainment 1999 range.

[Faceless Publishing]

Good to know the miniatures will be in resin then .
...
 As to other lost games how about the Cell Entertainment 1999 range.

Eilif is right, we are scanning existing miniatures in order to create digital models of each figure. After a little bit of cleanup, these will then be supported as printable .STLs and also be made available in printed resin through our webstore.

It's funny you should mention Cell Entertainment, as it is actually a company we have been considering for our next project. However, we are currently focusing our energy on Trinity. Information on Cell Entertainment is also hard to find, and it will take some time to find the line's owners and see if an arrangement can be made.

[Mammoth miniatures]

I could be wrong, but it sounds like they're going to be STL's made from 3d scans of the original figures.   

Really tickles the mind as to what other kind of long-gone figure lines could be resurrected if even one good example of a figure can be found.

Alas its not that easy - even a high end scanner struggles below 50mm or so. Perhaps an industrial dental scanner might do it but the resulting scan will still be more of a mini shaped blob than a finished stl, and will need cleaning up.

[Daeothar]

...As to other lost games how about the Cell Entertainment 1999 range.

Of course you'd mention 1999! You beat me to the punch though; it was the first thing on my mind when I saw how these guys operate.

@ Faceless Publishing: I've collected everything there is to be found on Cell and 1999 and run a (very old fashioned) fan-site for the game, but not everything is posted on the site. If you're in need of more info, please let me know; I'd love to see the game resurrected...

www.1999legacy.com

[Schogun]

I am excited to hear this, too.

Trinity: Battleground is one of the few games I have kept from decades ago. Great game. Lots of fun.

Chuck