AIF (role-playing game)

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A I F
Designer	Dave Littley, Clayton Castle
Publisher	NastiDyne
Publication date	Unknown
Genre(s)	Science fiction
System	Custom

A I F (also known as A.I.F. or AIF) is a free science fiction role-playing game by NastiDyne, an amateur development group lead by Dave Littley and Clayton Castle. It takes place about 3000 years into our future. Human beings have met countless species, and with them, have explored and colonized a space encompassing over three galaxies. Technology has expanded such that no corner of reality is unexplorable, or unexploitable. Societies range from the truly utopian, to horrible despots that wage war on an inconceivable level. It is a setting where science is beginning to pry into the deepest recesses of time, space, and existence.

...and adventure is the best reason for living.

[edit] Background

A I F was originally developed as an alternative to D&D that allowed the creators to role-play in settings more interesting to them, which were obvious derivatives of their Star Wars and Star Trek influences.^{[citation needed]} The original system was very simplistic in terms of game mechanics, relying more on story-telling. As the number of players and contributors increased, a more-involved game system was gradually developed, as well as extremely elaborate histories and vast arrays of fictional gaming elements.

There then followed a period of sporadic development that dramatically shifted A I F from being primarily a story-telling game to also being a game with potentially intense tactical considerations. This change corresponds to Littley and Castle's graduation from high school and attending university. This is also about the same time that Littley and Castle ceased producing loose-leaf game manuals and began publishing A I F on the World Wide Web.