Here's another strangely prescient sidebar from that Dark Conspiracy preview insert that appeared in issue #47 of Challenge (December 1990). This is obviously dated from a socio-technological standpoint. In 1991, when the game was released, the consumer Internet barely existed, but the writing was already on the wall by that point, even if most people hadn't realized it yet.
Oof! Man, and people said Twilight 2000 hit too close to home?
ReplyDeletePersonally I get half my news from FOX and half from MSNBC. It’s a fun game: check out the spin put on a story by both outlets and then try to guess what’s REALLY going on (although we never will….)
I’m kidding around, I’ve given-up on watching or reading the news a few years ago.
In 1991 we're two years away from the Pandemonium RPG coming out, which was approximately thirty years ahead of its time. That one's quite a bit more light-hearted about tabloid contents, though.
ReplyDeleteAt that point in 1990, tabloid journalism was becoming increasingly self-aware and satirical (Weekly World News, anyone?) while a fascination with conspiracies and the weird would lead into X-Files and the like. So it's very much a product of the times, and a clever bit of speculative fiction at that.
ReplyDeleteYellow journalism is as old as journalism itself. The ideal of objective truth telling forever aspirational. It's funny to see a game made out of it.
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