Privateer Press Stays Mysterious with Level 7, Gets Accused of Alien Conspiracy
The alien conspiracy thing was a bit of viral marketing, of course, but Privateer is still keeping their new post-apocalyptic science-fiction property, Level 7, close to the vest. Here’s everything we know so far.Level 7 was only officially announced last week, although they’ve been teasing it at cons here and there. It got some extra attention this week when Privateer co-founder Matt Wilson blogged about some nutcase who was going around claiming that Privateer was in league with the U.S. government. Apparently, Level 7 is a smokescreen to divert attention from the fact that aliens are real. It’s a goofy idea, and Wilson said as much, but he did link to the conspiracy nut’s website.
Funnily enough, that site was registered to Matt Wilson, but a weird addendum to Wilson’s post tried to explain that away (there are a lot of people named Matt Wilson, and it might be one of them, or someone using his name to play a joke). Anyway, the whole thing was clearly viral marketing for this new game, which is fine, though I wish it hadn’t been quite so transparent. I’ve heard that there’s some secret code word you can find on the conspiracy site that might win you a free copy of the game if you post it to Privateer’s Facebook page. Not sure if that contest is over yet.
Privateer has released virtually no info about Level 7. No concept art, no rules excerpt, no fiction tie-in. Nothing except this image from their 2012 Lock & Load Gamefest:
Hell, they’re so mysterious that Privateer Press guys giving the seminar at which they announced Level 7 appeared only in silhouette!
(Ok, it’s probably just because they were incidentally backlit, but it’s more fun to think of them as a shadowy cabal).
We officially know that Level 7 is science-fiction, and it’s post-apocalyptic. We can surmise that it involves aliens in some way. It appears that they’re planning a lot of different properties based on Level 7, and that each different property will be named Level 7 [Something in Brackets]. For example, the first game will be called Level 7 [Escape]. They’re hoping to have it ready for release by Gen Con (and I’ll be hoping for a review copy or at least a good demo at the con!).
Privateer also seems to be prepping a short film based on the setting called [Welcome to] Level 7. Wilson writes:
LEVEL 7 incorporates popular government conspiracy theory and well-known mythology unique to our modern culture (though present in nearly every culture on Earth). There are monsters, both human and inhuman. There are dark and dangerous places. And there are secrets, the answers to which will be revealed through a variety of experiences, including this upcoming short film, as well as the LEVEL 7 [ESCAPE] board game to be released this summer from Privateer Press, and some other fun experimental media projects.
Sounds like some cool alternate reality games could be in the works. I love that sort of thing. I’ll admit, they’ve got me pretty hooked.
