It takes a village to raise a child.
It takes a team of dedicated scientists, farmers, soldiers, and politicians plus a whole lot of good fortune to raze the FAZA from the surface of the Earth.
Battles like the one you will be fighting rage all over the Earth, as humanity strives to free itself from the FAZA invasion. You need to think ahead, take decisive action, sacrifice your own well-being, trust your teammates, and anticipate every danger if you are to overcome the alien force.
FAZA, designed by Benjamin Farahmand, is a fully cooperative, science fiction themed, one for all and all for one game that challenges teams to succeed in the face of overwhelming odds. It can be a ball-busting experience, including the very first turn, when the FAZA get to act first.
Conditions are already bad when you set up the game. The FAZA have invaded, and have already begun to Fazaform the land into something they can survive on, but the process makes the Earth toxic to human life. FAZA drones patrol the earth, while FAZA motherships deliver more drones, attack and destroy human defenders and Fazaform more of the Earth, creating more toxic zones.
And then the FAZA get their turn. Your day just went from bad to worse. Players have to struggle through these initial conditions just to survive long enough to face even more drones, even more attacks, and even more Fazaformed land. In addition, whenever you decide to attack a mothership, you draw a FAZA card. Most of the time, something terrible happens… one of your teammates is abducted, the FAZA immediately attack again, or some other event that hurts your feelings and makes you question your life choices.
On the players’ turn In FAZA, all players decide the order of actions and then each player contributes during the player round whenever it is strategically advantageous. Each player’s role provides a special set of skills to contribute to the team’s success. Each player chooses one of two roles in four general categories: science, military, politics, and medicine. No two roles from the same category can be played, but this means a high level of interdependence among the characters, and since if any one character dies, the game ends and the FAZA win, it is in everyone’s interest to support, help, and advise their teammates.
The Soldier and the Scout 
The Farmer and the Doctor 
The Engineer and the Scientist 
The Senator and the Rebel
FAZA is a ball-buster. The conditions on the battlefield start bad and get worse immediately. But the reward when you win—if you win—is worth the effort, because you know you won as a team, because you know there are no shortcuts to victory, because you know there are many ways to lose and only one way to win, and because you know that the FAZA were not better than your team this day, despite all of their advantages. It may take a few battles to earn your victory, but the celebration of that victory will be worth the pain of previous loss and failure.
FAZA launches on Kickstarter on June 25. I’ve been playtesting this game for more than two years and have been privy to many developments along the way. Included in this launch are chipboard standees for the motherships, with the potential for upgraded components in stretch goals. I’m not financially associated with the project. I just think it’s a game worth backing. If you’re interested in fully cooperative challenging games with a sci-fi theme, give FAZA a look.
“Join the fight. Save the world.”