Crimson Skies
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Crimson Skies is an alternate history universe, created by Jordan Weisman and Dave McCoy, that has spawned a number of games and novels. The stories and games in Crimson Skies take place in an alternate history version of the United States, where the nation crumbled into many hostile nation-states following the effects of the Great Depression, the Great War, and Prohibition. With the road and railway system destroyed, commerce took to the skies. Great cargo zeppelins escorted by fighter squadrons are the targets of many ruthless air pirates and enemy countries.
Crimson Skies began as a pitch for a game called Corsairs! for the Virtual World location-based entertainment centers. The project was eventually shelved, but the developers saved the idea and redeveloped into a board game simulating aerial combat that was introduced by FASA in 1998. In 2000, Zipper Interactive developed the property into a computer game, which was published by Microsoft. In 2003, it returned as Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge for the Xbox, as well as a collectible miniature games from WizKids.
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[edit] Crimson Skies (Universe)
Within the Crimson Skies Universe the United States and Canada have both broken apart into numerous warring faction states who have unique ideologies, rivalries and allegiances that are derived their regional histories.
Alaska
The former state has become a largely decentralized collection of local governments that represent a frontier lifestyle. Because of its proximity to Russia, Alaska has become a battleground between the remnants of the White Russians and the forces of the Soviet Union who are pursuing them across the Bering straits. Within the PC Game Nathan Zachary and the Fortune Hunters become inadvertently involved in this struggle between the two Russian factions in a series of battles over Alaska.
Appalachian Territory
The area around the Appalachian mountains has always been an area of rural independence. With the collapse of the United States this region carved a new nation out of the former states of West Virginia Kentucky and Tennessee. The area is sparsely populated and dominated by rugged terrain. Therefore, it has become a natural hotspot for moonshine production which has in turn attracted a strong pirate presence.
Arixo
New Mexico and Arizona merged to form this nation. At the time of the U.S. collapse this region was largely unpopulated and lacked the necessary infrastructure to turn it into a continental power. Arixo has managed to survive largely by being ignored by the other powers in the region. However, as with other power vacuums in North America, various pirate gangs have begun moving in to fill the void.
Atlantic Coalition
A loosely organized alliance of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, the Atlantic Coalition is a major player in international trade. Although it faces competition from other coastal nations, specifically Empire State, the coalition has managed to survive due to its massive commercial shipping and zeppelin fleets.
Columbia
With the walls crumbling down all around him, President Coolidge ordered the few Federal forces he still had at his disposal to safeguard Washington DC and the nearby states of Maryland and Delaware. Now that the rest of the country has completely disintegrated, Columbia has become a nation with many roles. Although Columbia is one more nation vying for power on the continent it is also the torch-bearer for the union. Ironically, the wake of the country's break-up has made Washington an even more important center of diplomacy than it ever was before. The former capital now plays host to several embassies of the new North American nations as well as the headquarters for the League of Nations itself.
Confederation of Dixie
As regionalism began to sweep the country the states that had once formed the Confederate States of America were, understandably, among the first to secede. However, much had changed since the civil war and without a strong federal presence threatening their existence many of the Confederacy's original members left to form their own nations before too long. The Confederacy of Dixie currently includes the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Missouri and Mississippi. As the name suggests each state government is in control of its own territory and the weak central government in Atlanta does little more than coordinate efforts of the state militias in matters of national defense. Although they are among the larger nations in regards to sheer size of territory, the fact that the member states work against one another as often as they work together makes the nation very unpredictable.
Disputed Western Territories
The territory that was at one time divided into the states of Nevada, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming has since become a largely lawless stretch of desert and plains that is claimed by everyone and controlled by no one. More than anywhere else this region has regressed to a frontier existence that resembles the wild west only with much heavier firepower.
Empire State
The Empire State is the great power on the east coast. This union of the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York has managed to maintain its status as a major center for commerce and culture despite the chaos that surrounds it. However, the brighter the Empire State shines the more enemies it attracts. Its biggest rivals will likely remain the ISA and the Nation of Hollywood although recent aggressions by the Confederation of Dixie have made the Yankee stronghold turn its attention southward.
Free Colorado State
Although other states formed regional blocs that then turned into nations, Colorodo was forced to go alone. However, given that the state lacks the infrastructure and population to defend itself it has chosen a live-and-let-live approach to the growth of piracy in the region. Although there the appearance of a government exists within the state, real power is likely held by underworld players who keep out of sight.
French Louisiana
Louisiana first left the union as a member of the Confederacy of Dixie. Before long, the state made it clear that it wasn't receiving the share of power it thought was owed it. Louisiana's split caused a commotion in Dixie as member states quickly took different sides of the issue. Given that the state is sandwiched between two much larger and stronger rivals, New Orleans turned to its colonial origins for help. Thus, a small but well-equipped detachment of the French Foreign Legion keeps the tiny nation safe, for now.
[edit] Crimson Skies (FASA Boardgame)
After the Corsairs! project was shelved, Weisman rallied a group of the designers at FASA and on evenings and weekends they redesigned Crimson Skies as a fast-playing combat board game, with a focus on streamlined rules to maximize players' enjoyment. Players were encouraged to develop not only a powerful aircraft, but also a colorful pilot.
The base game came with card stock, assemble-yourself airplanes included, but later metal miniature planes were offered separately. While the focus was on fantasy over fact, many of the planes in Crimson Skies were modeled after real experimental aircraft of the era.
The complex universe of Crimson Skies earned many devoted fans, as dozens of different weapons, planes, nations, air forces, bands of pirates, and characters were all given detailed pasts, and several additional supplemental campaigns were published.
In 1999, Crimson Skies won the Origins Awards for Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Board Game of 1998 and Best Graphic Presentation of a Board Game of 1998.
[edit] Crimson Skies (Microsoft PC game)
When FASA Interactive joined Microsoft in 1999, Weisman had the opportunity to start a new project, and Crimson Skies was at the top of his list.
This combat flight-sim offered game players fast-paced action without the hassle of realistic flight mechanics. The game included a 24-mission single-player mode and an on-line multi-player mode. Both modes made use of twelve different customizable plane designs. The spirit of a pulp fiction novel was well captured with catchy pirate music, excellent voice acting, and great attention to detail. Unfortunately, the original release was plagued with bugs that would cause the game to freeze or crash, but a patch was released to alleviate these problems.
The character of Nathan Zachary, leader of the Fortune Hunters, was introduced as the hero. He is an air pirate with a honorable slant and a concrete rule that only the wealthy will be victimized, characteristics reminiscent of Robin Hood. In fact, when a rival alludes to his aerial swashbuckling, he replies, "Let's get one thing straight, sister: Errol Flynn pretends to be me, not the other way around."
The single-player campaign chronicled the rise of the Fortune Hunters gang (with their base airship known as the Pandora) from relatively small-time thrill seekers to a renowned band of brigands, taking whichever side of the law is most convenient and profitable at that particular moment.
The game was developed by Zipper Interactive and was nominated for the 2000 PC Action/Adventure Game of the Year from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, and won the Editor's Choice Award from Game Revolution, and GameSpy's Game of the Year for sound.
Although the budget re-release box-pack for Crimson Skies says that the game will not run under Windows XP, the game should run correctly on XP if the official Microsoft 1.02 patch is also installed. Players who still have problems, such as Direct X issues, can run Windows XP in a Win 98 "compatibility mode". As a last resort, the game can be run with software-rendered graphics at 640x480, rather than graphics-card rendering.
[edit] Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge (Xbox)
This title was originally announced in March 2002 for a fall release date of that year, but was not released until October 2003. The delay was partly due to Microsoft deciding not to use any of the development team from the original PC game (Zipper Interactive), and starting from scratch with a new team.
Nathan Zachary returned as the hero in Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge. After an opening cutscene in which Zachary steals back the plane he lost in a drunken poker game the previous evening, the game gets under way.
This game retained some of the atmosphere of the series, but designers attempted to make more an arcade-style game, with power-ups and CGI cut scenes. The planes and weapons available are much less customizable than in its predecessors, but the split-screen, system-link and Xbox Live modes provided many more game type options. Up to 16 players can compete in six different games on five different multiplayer maps. The game also has support for downloadable content, which has included four new planes, two new maps and two new gametypes.
Although Crimson Skies' popularity has waned since the birth of the Xbox 360, there is still a dedicated Live community. Live members like The Short Bussers and Dane's Institute for Better Crimson Gaming keep the game fresh and unique.
The game's soundtrack was also released separately, featuring 54 tracks from composer Stan LePard on CD, and a bonus DVD with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround mixes of the game trailer and two cues from the soundtrack.
The game has won many awards, including Best Action/Adventure Console Game of 2003 from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, Best Graphics of 2003 from both TechTV and IGN, and was named GameSpy's Breakout Game of the Year.
As of 2006, the general public knows nothing about a third Crimson Skies game. There is a flying game on the XBox 360 called Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII, but no Crimson Skies. A similar story exists for Mechassault, a mech combat game, also published by Microsoft Game Studios. No one knows if Microsoft ever plans on adding another game to either of these universes.
Recently, however, Mitch Gitelman of FASA has stated in a hardhitting interview on 02/23/07 with the 1Up Yours podcast team, that he is interested in extending the MechWarrior universe ("I want to do it quote unquote right"), and that his developers are telling him they have new ideas for Crimson Skies.
[edit] Crimson Skies: WizKids miniatures game
WizKids makes a series of collectible gaming miniatures with the "Clix" system, in which the changing combat statistics and abilities of each miniature are indicated by a turnable dial inside the base underneath the figure. In 2003 they launched a Crimson Skies line with this system, with miniatures packaged in squadron packs of four planes, or ace packs with two "ace" figures and their planes.
The game's starter kit contains rules for two games. Ace combat uses the ace figures in ground brawl game, played on square grid maps. The air combat game is the meat of the game, with maneuver cards and dice covering different ways planes can fly and attack.
The line broke from WizKids' normal random packaging format, as the miniatures were packaged openly on a blisterpack, so there was no need to buy many booster packs to get planes with better statistics. However, this marketing decision led to lower than expected sales, since gamers didn't need to buy multiple booster packs to bolster their collections, as in other games such as HeroClix. After a year, support for the series came to an end.
[edit] Crimson Skies: The Books
Several tie-in books or short stories were released. Written in the style of the old pulps, each story generally follows one of the main Crimson Skies characters as they fly, flight, and con their way to save the day, or line their pockets in the process.
Spicy Air Tales was published by FASA in 1999. The two volume series featured short stories that originally appeared on the Crimson Skies website and supplemental material for using charatcers and planes from the stories with the boardgame.
- Volume I
- Fortune's Hunt, by Michael A. Stackpole
- Volume II
- The Great Helium War, by Robert E. Vardeman
- Manhattan Mayhem, by Loren L. Coleman
Wings of Fortune: Pirate's Gold, by Stephen Kenson, was published by FASA in November 2000. It introduced Nathan Zachary and his famous band of air pirates, the Fortune Hunters. It follows Zachary's air exploits and daring escapes during his early days as a war pilot, and recounts a climatic confrontation with his nemesis.
Wings of Justice: Rogue Flyer, by Loren L. Coleman, was published by FASA in December 2000. It follows the transformation of Trevor Girard from law-abiding security agent to pirate with a heart of gold.
Crimson Skies was published by Del Rey in October 2002 to promote the future release of the Xbox game. It features three novellas, two originally published on the Crimson Skies website, one previously unpublished. Each story is preceded by a brief history lesson about the Crimson Skies universe which acts as the prelude to the following story.
- The Case of the Phantom Prototype, by Eric Nylund - Paladin Blake must fly a top-secret aircraft into the Mojave Desert.
- "Genghis" Kahn & the Manchurian Gambit, by Michael B. Lee - The notorious leader of the Red Skull Legion pirate gang rescues a lady in distress and fights air battles from Manhattan to Manchuria with, surprisingly, no plunder in sight.
- Bayou Blues, by Nancy Berman and Eric S. Trautmann - Nathan Zachary and his "Fortune Hunters" square off against a Cajun sky-thief, a crooked businessman, and a pair of star-crossed lovers in a high-stakes, high-altitude con game.
[edit] See also
- Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, a '30s-set sci-fi film also involving things like fanciful airplanes and giant robots, and Crimson Skies have some elements in common, something that was mentioned by a few reviewers[1][2] when the film was released.
