Watch The Electic State Netflix trailer, then play The Tabletop RPG

The artist Simon Stålenhag has an eye for creating beautiful graphic novels about high-tech worlds in decline. His works include Tales From The LoopThings from the Flood, the Labyrinth and more. The electric state, first released in 2018, will be joining soon Tales From The Loop as an adaptation to a streaming service.

Stålenhag has also long collaborated with the RPG publisher Free League Publishing on games with his worlds. The electric state The RPG is available right now for fans looking to explore this melancholy world ahead of the film’s release. In addition to the setting, the game, the film and the book share a classic narrative structure: the road trip.

What is the electrical state?

The electric state tells the story of a girl named Michelle who travels to the West Coast with a robot named Skip to find her little brother. Set in the late 90s, the book alternates the story of their travels with beautiful paintings of what they encounter along the way. American has been falling apart for years, though Stålenhag’s art highlights strange beauty hidden in the rust.

In addition to a country torn apart by civil war, there is a technological aspect to the collapse of society. VR headsets called neurocasters give people a chance to escape the world that is coming apart. Unfortunately, the fantasy of the neurocasters is so convincing that many people spend days on the network instead of dealing with harsh realities.

The Electric State movie

When the first teaser trailer premiered a few months ago, it focused on the star power of the makers. The Russo Brothers are still known for their ability to bring the first arc of the MCU to a satisfying conclusion. Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt star as the two humans who travel through the machine’s haunted landscapes.

The latest trailer reveals a few more story details. The road trip element remains from the original work, but it looks like there was one Terminator style machine upheaval added to the mix. The Electric State appears to be a physical place where Brown and Pratt must find her long-lost brother.

The Electric State Game

The role-playing game has the same focus as the original story with players starting in Pacifica, the country that developed from California during the war. As they create characters, they also decide why their characters are on their way. The archetypes range from runaways to medics, and there’s even an option for a player to play a robot driven by a person through their neurocaster.

The game uses Free League’s classic Mutant year zero system that powers many of their games. Players roll a pool of six-sided dice and succeed when a die comes up as a six. The player can push the roll to reroll for more successes at the cost of potentially losing hope points.

New mechanics in this variation include Hope and Tension. Hope reflects how likely a character is to disappear into their neurocaster and not want to come back. Tension reflects the relationship between the characters on the road trip and how they might want to see their fellow members succeed or fail.

The electric state premieres March 14 on Netflix. The RPG is available from Free League, online vendors and Friendly Local Gaming Stores everywhere.