The Cybernetic Coven is here to announce, in collaboration with Dragon Cobolt, a fast-talking, sharpshooting, pulse-pounding action game the likes of which you’ve never seen before. Welcome to HEAT.

HEAT

HEAT is a fast-paced, highly tactical, diceless game about mimicking the kind of slick, spontaneous action that you might see in a blockbuster movie. Aimed at fitting multiple styles and genres of gameplay, HEAT is all about combining deep tactical choice with snappy, dramatic action in a seamless package.

HEAT functions based off of its titular Heat System, where your actions and struggles build up Heat as you perform them. Succeeding is a given— at least at first, where your movie-hero styled characters are more than capable at what they’re trying to do. But with each successive action, the Heat keeps rising and the stakes get bigger and bigger until you Overheat, forcing you to either take a breather… or take the backlash as you push yourself too hard and too fast.

On top of that, when things get down to the wire, you start leaving Sparks— nominal tags that you attach to people, places, things, even empty spots on the map. These are discrete chunks of narrative control, little places where you can push the story in a different direction. From inflicting injury to dazzling confusion, from the progress on a ticking time bomb to the jerry-rigging holding together a broken vehicle, Sparks add an extra dimension to gameplay that boasts unrivaled complexity and creativity for both the players and the GM to throw at each other.

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Of course the real question is, what do you do in HEAT?

The answer can be a whole lot of things. HEAT is intentionally designed to play to a plethora of different genres and styles, all with their own unique quirks and even mechanical niches. Do you want a pulse pounding, Hollywood action thriller? Lock and load. A sword and sorcery romp of high adventure across strange locales? You have the power. A masterful heist across the rain-slick streets of a megacity? Hope you’re ready to do some breaking and entering. HEAT’s versatility is, while aimed at a specific kind of high-action, high stakes character drama, remarkably able to shift between genre and focus with ease.

To that point, HEAT is a game that comes with a selection of settings, each bringing with it a particular focus on optional or expansive rules that allow for a focus on that particular genre and tone. From a playful romp of creature-battling and whimsy in the idyllic world of living tanks that are your friends called Tankquest! to the halls of high intrigue and baroque undeath in the alternate mid-1900s of Blood Dimmed Tide to wandering among the techno-sorcerous ruins of the solar system in Star Walkers, there’s a whole lot of HEAT to go around.

The Future

Development of HEAT is something that’s been a big project of ours for a while, and it’s one that’s got a few immediate plans in the pipeline.

As of the current moment, HEAT’s beta is available on our patreon. While it contains only the base mechanics and functions, it’s a totally playable version of the game that we’ve been using to test out and explore the mechanical and stylistical options the game gives.

However, the big plan next for heat is the Kickstarter. We’re aiming to get this whole thing out and ready quite soon, and the primary plans for the Kickstarter include a full print run, the three primary settings of Tankquest!, Blood Dimmed Tide, and Star Walkers alongside their own respective mechanical additions to the book, and a plethora of extra and potential guest content.

Keep an eye out for when it’s ready to drop!

About the Cybernetic Coven

The Cybernetic Coven, or CyCo, is a participatory cooperative and artist collective. CyCo focuses on sustainable and healthy work practices, protecting individual members from the risks of the attention economy, supporting the creation of meaningful art that would not be profitable, and rewarding labor according to effort or solidarity. You can learn more on the CyCo website.

About Dragon Cobolt

David Colby is a Californian erotica writer under the pen-name Dragon Cobolt. David has played TTRPGs since middle-school and worked on game design since then. From non-commercial fan-projects for Fallout 1&2, Hackmaster 4th and Rogue Trader, David went to eventually try to design his own games. After various small games, HEAT is now poised to launch its Kickstarter and (hopefully) take the world by storm. (Hopefully.)