Old Soldiers

I was browsing through my normal blog-related haunts and came across an article written at ARGNet regarding a recent package they received. Michael Anderson talks about how he recently received a strange package from a man known only as "LOKI", one perhaps related to governmental conspiracies and WW2 veterans. Now, any normal human being; having received mail from a Norse God, would be rather perturbed, perhaps seeking psychiatric attention; but any ARG player would immediately scream TRAILHEAD and run around the office with the package precariously balanced on their head and waving their arms around Kermit the Frog.

On Andersons advice, I popped over to unFiction and perused the details. Seems ARGNet's package contained a number of cryptic clues, dating from WW2 era to present day. An encoded letter, a creased photograph stamped with (we have recently discovered) the message "Time Sensitive Material", strange maps, death certificates and newpaper cuttings. We are currently working on a number of these pieces, including the coded letter, to try to work out what the deuce is going on.

What we do know is that the game is a prelude to the release of Big House Comics' upcoming story "Old Soldiers":

A story born in the last days of World War 2. Across the globe five men begin to feel the pull towards New York, Five Families. What is the  mysterious connection that they have, why are they being called? The pieces in a game that has played out over generations are in place, ready for the end.

The end of the world?

Big House have stated that the release of Old Soldiers will be coordinated with a multimedia campaign and the story itself will bring the reader into an "immersive world" with parts of the story being told online.

For now, our only lead are a number of clues which point towards oddjobs.biz and a strange personality test which claims to be able to give you your perfect job prediction. In reality, the personality test is most likely a kind of "sign up" form for the game which is set to play out - I've certainly signed up, a link can be found here.



Whilst we wait for a reply, the brainboxes at unFiction are furiously decoding the cipher on the original letter and attempting to piece the story together from redacted documents and mysterious coded messages. We are making some headway; with lupusfurcifer translating a Russian letter for us, and Knarf and malevolentneon attempting to persuade an American player to call the number listed on the Odd Jobs website.

What will be interesting about this game, will be the concrete result of a tangible story at the end. You can guarantee its been well thought out and I can't wait to get my teeth into the juicy details which may be hidden below the veneer of the Odd Jobs site. Jump over to unFiction and join the thread to get all the latest info on where we are. Follow on after the jump for links to all the contents of LOKI's package.

ps. bought DC Universe Online yesterday. I figured I'd try the free month and if I don't like it I can always just pack it in. Matt at Darkmatters persuaded me, I expect him to piggyback me through the early hours of the game as payment.


Below are the links to scanned images of the contents of the package sent to ARGnet.

http://www.argn.com/images/oldsoldiers_cccp.jpg
http://www.argn.com/images/oldsoldiers_cipher.jpg
http://www.argn.com/images/oldsoldiers_commendation.jpg
http://www.argn.com/images/oldsoldiers_death.jpg
http://www.argn.com/images/oldsoldiers_johnsmith.jpg
http://www.argn.com/images/oldsoldiers_newyork.jpg
http://www.argn.com/images/oldsoldiers_oddjobs.jpg
http://www.argn.com/images/oldsoldiers_photo.jpg
http://www.argn.com/images/oldsoldiers_redacted1.jpg
http://www.argn.com/images/oldsoldiers_redacted2.jpg
http://www.argn.com/images/oldsoldiers_salimkhel.jpg