5 Minutes into the Future – Vol 1.1 – Photosheet by Ben Dell is a role playing game supplement published by Yknot.me. The supplement is written for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, FATE and Apocalypse World Engine and, as such, is covered by the Open Game License with some parts considered to be Open Game Content as a result.
The supplement is available as a 20-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $1.50 but was purchased at a reduced price thanks to a special discount. One page is the front cover, one the Contents and two the Open Game License. There is a second, printer friendly PDF that is only 15 pages long which is missing the graphics.
The supplement starts with a Disclaimer stating that, though the supplements in the series are based on real technology, the author may have made mistakes and some material will be made up for game purposes.
What is Five Minutes Into the Future? explains what the series is about and what the issues will contain.
What is the technology? talks about the wireless photosheet array, this issue’s technological item. It covers the background of the technology, which uses carbon dioxide, water and sunlight to create a clean solar fuel. This section covers the actual details of the technology along with links to find out more.
Bleeding edge tech has the technology to be beyond the cutting edge, has some potential uses and gives some options for using it in espionage and superhero games.
High tech is more common and more widely available, though not everyday. Again, there are some potential uses and how it might be integrated into post-apocalyptic and technothriller games.
Accepted tech is technology that is widely used and available. Once more there are uses for it and how to use it in hope-punk and techno-horror games.
Rules and game information starts with details that are common to all the games; the size of the array and the power it produces, how to set it up, efficiency, fuel space and destroying things.
Finally, the game stats follow. These are for FATE, which has a new stunt, Powered by the Apocalypse, which has a new move and D&D 5E, which has a new trait. Each also has some other game stats.
5 Minutes into the Future – Vol 1.1 – Photosheet in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and has enough different sections that these would have been useful. The Contents is thorough, but not hyperlinked. Navigation could be better. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be free of errors. There are a number of stock colour images. Presentation is decent.
Most of this supplement is taken up with details on the technology and what are essentially adventure hooks. The game stats take up only a small portion, but could also be used as a basis to convert the material for other suitable game systems. 5 Minutes into the Future – Vol 1.1 – Photosheet is an interesting examination of in-development technology and how to use it in different systems and genres and it can be found by clicking here.
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