Science Fiction | Roleplaying Games | Politics

‘Sigmata’ is About Radio-Cyborgs Punching Nazis

‘Sigmata: This Signal Kills Fascists’ is V for Vendetta meets Robocop by way of Fringe

“All people have the right to exist. All people have the right to resist those who threaten their existence through any means necessary.

All onlookers have the obligation to come to the aid of the oppressed, or they’ll fight alone when they, themselves, become the oppressed. And their time will come.

For tolerance of tyranny and genocide against any people, no matter how distant they are, no matter how different they are, only validates tyranny and genocide as acceptable strategies.

Radical empathy is not a sentiment. It’s a strategy, a sword held to the throat of tyrants. Stand with your brothers and sisters or die.”

— Sigmata: This Signal Kills Fascists, page 3

‘Sigmata: This Signal Kills Fascists’ is the most politically charged TTRPG on Earth. Set in an alternate 1986 United States, the game pits cyborg freedom fighters against a brutal fascist government. Players fight, sneak, and politic their way to either a better tomorrow or a tragic end.

Like Cryptomancer, Sigmata’s rules are simple but satisfying, mainly because they were written by the same guy.

Like Ecopunk 2044, Moonpunk, and Beat the Boss, Sigmata is unabashedly political.

Like Underground, Sigmata’s heroes wield high-tech, not quite understood superpowers against The Man.

Like Misspent Youth and Dread: Dredd, Sigmata has a win/lose state. The players can succeed in toppling the fascist Regime or get annihilated trying.

You Get To Play a Radio-Powered Cyborg

“The heroes of this game’s setting, a revolutionary vanguard played by you, are called Receivers: normal people afflicted with the Sigmata, a phenomenon where one’s mind, body, and adherence to the laws of physics are dramatically altered when in range of FM radio towers emitting a special number sequence called the Signal. The Sigmata grants Receivers super-heroic powers, such as the ability to throw automobiles, teleport over phone lines, or scream out laser beams. Our heroes can only exploit these powers as long as the Resistance is able to keep repeating the Signal.”

— Sigmata: This Signal Kills Fascists, page 10

Receivers are like cyborgs re-imagined by the SCP Foundation. Your skin is like kevlar-porcelain and your back opens up to tiny server racks.

Receivers have three levels of powers: Blades, Subroutines, and Ultimates. Only Blades can be used any time. Subroutines and Ultimates only work when the Signal is being broadcast nearby.

Blades are low-key abilities. Grow armor plating. Absorb and reflect light to be semi-invisible. Analyze voices to better suss out someone’s motivations.

Subroutines are more impressive. Transform a gun into a floppy disk and back. Use radio waves as a force field. Turn your face into a projector.

Ultimates are REAL superpowers. Shoot lasers out of your mouth. Enter the speed force. Turn radio waves into a death ray!

Sigmata is Unapologetically Anti-Trump

“All efforts to “expose” the Regime as malignant and self-serving, in order to undermine it, have proven fruitless. Loyalists already know the Regime is corrupt. They don’t care so long as it continues to punish the enemies of Real America.”

— Sigmata: This Signal Kills Fascists, page 38

Sigmata’s alternate America is straight up Trumpian. Populist and fascist, but believing in nothing. The Regime is a giant grift and the people don’t care because they’re getting what they want.

This is made explicit by the Resistance to the Regime. The Resistance is made up of four factions:

• The Old Men are former soldiers, cops, and other violence workers. Their beef with the Regime is that it’s unconstitutional.
• The Party is a leftist alliance of Socialists and Union Members. Their beef with the Regime is that it’s Rightist.
• The Faith are Christian missionaries and true believers. Their beef with the Regime is that its “faith” is centered on big-money mega-church televangelism.
• The Makers are pro-business libertarians and free market Liberals. Their beef with the Regime is that it represses the Invisible Hand.

Only one faction is Leftist. Many of the other three probably supported the Regime before they discovered that in a fascist state, no one is free. This is an explicit message to the Right: Fascists will eat your face too.

Sigmata is Explicitly Antifascist

“The Resistance does not have a monopoly on demonstration. Regime loyalists who are passionate adherents to the ideology of Real America also demonstrate for strategic reasons: to encourage like-minded ideologues to come out of the shadows, to discourage Resistance sympathizers from defending targeted communities, and to promote loyalty to a Regime embracing fascist norms. These events typically focus on a specific pillar of Real America, and their expressed purpose is usually a far cry from the political praxis they advocate. The most frequent example would be white nationalist marches. They are typically organized under the seemingly innocuous banner of European cultural heritage, but they manifest as calls for the purging and eradication of immigrants.”

— Sigmata: This Signal Kills Fascists, page 251

Sigmata promotes understanding Libertarians, Christians, and Violence Workers, but it is firmly antifascist. While the game stays focused on the cyborg heroes, the book explores the Resistance’s propaganda and protest/counter-protest strategies.

The author makes it clear that Sigmata is a game and not an manual. Still, it cribs from real-world literature on protest, insurgency, and revolution. You will learn some useful things.

Sigmata is Easy to Play

“There are three types of structured scenes in SIGMATA: combat, evasion, and intrigue.

…

SIGMATA’s OS manages all three of these scene types using the same game mechanics... The only things that change from scene to scene are how events are narrated, how progress is measured, and how Receiver special abilities manifest.”

— Sigmata: This Signal Kills Fascists, page 80

The game is low-crunch and low-prep. Character creation is straightforward. There are no derived stats and no huge lists of skills and gear. The core mechanic is a little different, but nothing too strange.

Game sessions are equally easy to prepare. Only players roll dice and bad guys are abstracted into a few numbers. The narrative-heavy system provides plenty of mission prompts. This makes running Sigmata easy if you’ve watched ‘Red Dawn’, ‘Rogue One’, ‘The Man in the High Castle’, or any other story about overthrowing an Evil Empire.

The Tech is Very 80s

“Life has never been more high-fidelity. Staggering advances in telecommunications and circuit board miniaturization transport you into the world of space age convenience and warp speed entertainment. Buckle up, because the Starship “Consumer Electronics” is about to blast off!”

— Sigmata: This Signal Kills Fascists, page 68

This is an age of FM radio, landline telephones, and newspapers. The 80s internet is nothing but BBSes and only nerds use those. Without social media or smartphones or Gopros, the Resistance is limited to zines and protests and pirate radio to distribute propaganda. The Regime has network news and billboards and newspapers, aka the mainstream media. This makes the struggle for hearts and minds more personal, more difficult, and way more interesting.

My Enemy’s Enemy is My Friend

“…SIGMATA explores the concept of empathy, compromise, and coalition-building between political nemeses. SIGMATA’s Resistance is composed of fictional political factions that are coded to have revolutionary and humanitarian impulses at their best and counter-revolutionary and authoritarian impulses at their worst. We suspect that the typical reader will identify with some of the factions and detest the others. This was by design. No matter what your political persuasion or background is, you’re bound to be uncomfortable with some aspects of this game’s exploration of politics, ideology, and political violence. We certainly were.”

— Sigmata: This Signal Kills Fascists, page 16

Sigmata espouses “radical empathy” and pragmatism over puritanism. In the real world, a lot of Anti-Trump Resistors were exceedingly puritan. Booting Trump might have been a lot easier if everyone but the most politically correct weren’t shouted down so much.

That’s why Sigmata’s Resistance is the way it is. It could fall apart, especially near the end of the campaign. That’s just how it is because no Resistance is perfect. You won’t like everyone in it. But my enemy’s enemy IS my friend, especially when your enemies are American Nazis who want to make The Handmaid’s Tale real.

The Text Hits You Like a Truck

“The Rules are simple. Pledge allegiance. Go to work. Pay your taxes. Respect your elders. Use an indoor voice. Go to the mall. Buy a car. Say no to drugs. Read the newspaper. Go to church. Make babies. Shave your face. Have dinner ready for your husband. Paint your nails. Mow the lawn. You look like a whore in that makeup.

…

The Rules are simple. The Bible says. Did you see the tits on that? Quit crying, pussy. We need to take our country back. Get on the ground, get on the fucking ground! Let’s go beat that fairy straight. Stop resisting. Why are you resisting? There is a rot in this country. They’re taking all of our jobs. Why can’t you just follow the rules? Why are you resisting? They’re parasites. Why can’t you just follow the fucking rules? Follow the fucking rules. Know your place. Follow the fucking rules. Stop resisting. Get in the cage. Follow the fucking rules.”

— Sigmata: This Signal Kills Fascists, page 30

Sigmata is not a perfect game. Putting the Old Men, the Faith, and the Makers on equal footing as the Party is a bit contrived. And there are typos here and there.

Still, overall, Sigmata: This Signal Kills Fascists is a superb roleplaying game. The lore is engrossing. The story is ugly in all the right ways. The rules are easy to grok. The art is excellent. The sci-fi is bizarre. The writing is shocking. The point is brutally obvious.