On the other hand, Shock: would work just fine for fantasy, too, assuming you meant that the world looked like the past, and that it was still really about the present. I mean, the difference between a time travel story and a story about the past is that one of them has a character from our time, and the other has a character with our sensibilities who happens to live in the past, right?

The important thing in Shock: is that it be about the real world, with special effects added for emphasis and literary distance.

The important thing for Xenon: is that it be a rich, whole environment that holds together in an intuitive and logical way. I think that kind of thing is beautiful and provides the Sense of Wonder that is one of the defining features of science fiction. It will reliably generate much more beautiful environments than Shock: will, but switching between the games is designed to be an easy process, so you should be able to get the aesthetic impact of Xenon: with the social issues of Shock: by simply using the rules appropriate for the situation.

Particularly, I have been thinking of a fantasy / D&D-inspired (color-wise) game focusing on visiting different cultures and areas and so on.

I don’t know what came over me to imagine such a thing.

And: Looking forward to that. I’ll have to scrounge up some players.

And thanks! Playtest is ongoing. Once things are all written down, I’ll have up a public playtest.

Erm… I don’t mind to nit-pick, but I thought you might like to know – “video companion video” sounds slightly redundant. I figure it’s a simple error – most blogs haven’t got editors.

Anyhow, Xenon: looks like it’s shaping up to be awesome!