Eden Studios

Eden Studios' primary goal is to produce great games. We take a holistic approach: the genre, the theme, the setting, the writing, the rules, the art and the layout must all work together. No one part is sacrificed for another. We are as concerned with how our games read and play as we are about how they look.

We take the time to produce a quality game from cover to cover. Whether read for entertainment, used as a reference book for playing or simply enjoyed as an artistic endeavor, we strive to make each product a gem.

To date, Eden Studios has concentrated in horror- and conspiracy-oriented games. Generally targeted to an audience in the early twenties and above, these games draw on all the standard horror tropes and genres. From witches to aliens to zombies to government cover-ups, Eden Studios has explored themes of a dark and mysterious nature. In all case, judicious use of humor and sharp word-play serves to keep the entertainment value high.

Eden Studios has also had extensive experience with licensed properties. Our licensors have uniformly found Eden to be committed, professional, timely and informative. As recently stated by Fox Entertainment's Executive Director of Licensing & Merchandizing about the Buffy the Vampire Slayer roleplaying game, "A personal thank you to both of you for doing such a good job on producing these books. They are beautiful and certainly present the Buffy brand in the best possible way."

History

In 1986, New Millennium Entertainment (NME) produced Conspiracy X, a roleplaying game (RPG) of modern conspiracies. The game was a critical and commercial success, but NME was unable to survive financially due to an under-performing collectible card game (indeed, the entire CCG market was flooded at that time).

George Vasilakos purchased the rights to Conspiracy X from NME in 1997. He, Alex Jurkat, and another investor formed Eden Studios, Inc. the same year to revive and extend the Conspiracy X RPG. With George Vasilakos serving as art director and Alex Jurkat as editor, Eden quickly republished the main rulebook and the Game Master's Screen. From 1997 through 1999, Eden released 10 Conspiracy X supplements.

In 1998, Eden Studios released its first card game, Abduction. This non-collectible game presented a humorous, "easy to learn" look at alien abduction.

Also in 1998, accomplished game designer and writer CJ Carella brought his WitchCraft and Armageddon RPGs to Eden. CJ Carella's WitchCraft was reissued, and from 1998 to 2001, four supplements were added to that game.

In 2000, Eden Studios released its hottest all-original RPG to date, All Flesh Must Be Eaten (AFMBE), the game of zombie survival horror. The first print run sold out in six weeks. As the foreword explained, "everyone loves zombies!" Eden has released seven supplements for AFMBE. It has also established a line of fiction anthologies which present numerous looks at the zombie survival horror genre, aptly named Book of All Flesh, Book of More Flesh, and Book of Final Flesh.

Also in 2000, Eden Studios issued its first computer game, Rail Empires: Iron Dragon for on-line sale only. Rail Empires: Iron Dragon translated the popular crayon-rail game Iron Dragon to the computer. New art and computer ease of play greatly enhanced the play and introduced a number of new customers to the game.

In 2001, Eden Studios created its Eden Odyssey imprint to produce and sell d20 system products under the Open Gaming License offered by Wizards of the Coast. Three short fantasy adventure vignette sourcebooks, a larger monster manual book, and a critically acclaimed mass combat rule system have been released up through 2004.

2001 saw the release of Eden's second card game, Knights of the Diner Table HACK!: The Tomb of Vectra. This non-collectible card game is derived from the insanely popular Knights of the Diner Table comic book, and Eden's already successful Abduction card game. A humorous, "get-them-before-they-get-you-first" take on surviving a dungeon crawl, KODT HACK! has already proven to be Eden Studios best seller.

2002 brought Eden's first major licensed game to gamers and Buffy fans, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer roleplaying game. In production quality and content, it places Eden at the forefront of game design companies. Three supplements for the Buffy roleplaying game have been published through 2004.

2002 also ushered in the thick GURPS Conspiracy X tome, combining the enormously successful GURPS game mechanics published by Steve Jackson Games with Eden's own Conspiracy X setting.

2003 saw the re-release and complete update of CJ Carella's Armageddon. This roleplaying game of war, myth, and horror reveals the apocalypse just around the corner.

Eden opened a game retail store, called Zombie Planet, in the Albany area in the Spring of 2003. This serves to diversify Eden's revenue base while helping to spread the "gaming gospel" in the local area.

At the close of 2003, Eden published the Angel roleplaying game based on the TV series of the same name. Once again, Eden proved that it could match or exceed the production values of any game publisher and has received several award nominations for its work on the Angel game.

In 2004, Eden continues work on its next big licensed property, Army of Darkness, with a card game to be released shortly and a roleplaying game under production.

Eden also began production on an updated version of Conspiracy X in 2004, compatible with its entire family of Unisystem games.

Eden Studios Presents, a supplement series for Unisystem games, was launched in 2004 and provides a "house organ" for expanding and diversifying Eden's Unisystem offering.

Also in 2004, Eden signed a license to produce gaming product for Ghosts of Albion, a joint property of author Christopher Golden and author/actress/director Amber Benson.

Eden signed a 2004 license with a film production company for the rights to create a feature film based on its zombie horror survival game, All Flesh Must Be Eaten.

The House Game Mechanic

Eden Studios' best selling RPGs, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, AFMBE, and WitchCraft, use a common game system, the Unisystem. The main feature of the Unisystem is its simplicity and lack of intrusiveness. CJ Carella is the guru of the Unisystem, and his design philosophy simple rules that fade into the background after a few games. The Story is key in the Unisystem, not the mechanics. The system is specifically tailored for the horror roleplaying genre.