A - N O T E - O N - S L A - I N D U S T R I E S - C A N O N

Canon in terms of fiction - or tabletop RPG's - refers to all material accepted as officially part of the storyline of a particular fictional universe. It can also mean anything that can be acknowledged by fictional creators as accurate and true to their intended design.

This is contrasted against fan fiction or derivatives of fan theories, which deal with a fan's own non-canonical interpretations of such a fictional universe.

The established canon for SLA Industries has altered since the release of the first edition in 1993. There has been a criticism that the setting lacks a narrative consistency, that is only vaguely hinted at through official supplements rather than stated outright.

The release of the 2nd edition firmly establishes a new canon for the RPG that will be expanded upon by future Nightfall Games releases.

The new canon is bound to resemble the old canon in some places; as such, i20 takes no responsibility for any personal harm, inconvienience, annoyance, or uncontrollable weeping as a result of assuming any or all of the old canon is still accurate.

On January 2nd 2019, Nightfall Games made this announcement.

Announcement from Nightfall Games as the team work towards the next publication:

As Nightfall Games finalise the new publication – SLA Industries: Cannibal Sector 1, we have taken a good look at the contents of the various source materials published to date. As many of you know, a number of these books were produced with little or no input from the creators of SLA Industries and as such do not represent the image, ideals, nor stories of The World of Progress. Additionally, a number of the books have been directly superseded (in whole or part) by the writing in the new book. With this in mind, only the following source books and supplements should be now be considered canon (the official vision of The World of Progress):

• SLA Industries Main Rulebook (including all reprints) (ISBN 1 899749 23 3)
• Karma (ISBN 1 880992 56 6)
• Hunter Sheets Issue 1 (ISBN 978 0 9555423 1 2)
• Hunter Sheets Issue 2 (ISBN 978 0 9556497 1 2)
• “Klick’s End” Data Packet
• “Momic 0.1” Data Packet
• "The Dream" Data Packet
• "Threat Analysis: Hominid" Data Packet
• "Hunters Sheets: Red Alert" Data Packet
• SLA Industries GM Screen

The publications listed below are no longer considered to be an official part of the SLA Industries canon.

• Mort Sourcebook (ISBN 0 9522176 6 X)
• The Key of Delhyread (ISBN 978-1-899749-24-9)
• The Contract Directory (ISBN 978-1-899749-29-4)
• Cannibal Sector 1 (ISBN 978 0 9555423 0 5)
• “Ursa Carrien” Data Packet

As such we will be removing these books from sale on DriveThruRPG on the 31st January 2019. Note that anyone who has purchased these items before January 31st will still be able to access them in their personal library.

BUT WHAT ABOUT 'THE TRUTH'? A NOTE FROM THE SITE CREATOR

To the credit of everyone at Nightfall Games - the metaplot document once described as The Truth or the SLA Writers Bible (c. 1998) was definitively declared to be non-canonical as of 2005 by Cubicle 7.

It was released to SLA-L (the first major SLA internet discussion group created by Declan Kelly) in 1998. I was a member of SLA-L at the time, and since I first read it, I've had the opinion that it shouldn't have been released in that form.

The best analogy I can come up with is this: if you were running a REALLY amazing RPG campaign, and someone got hold of your campaign notes/summary, instead of experiencing the story as you had wanted it told over the course of the campaign, could they have a fair assessment of the intended end result? I would say absolutely not.

As such, I don't think it's fair to try to hold anyone at Nightfall over the fire for any work they did when they were in their 20's, 20+ years after the fact. Let alone a rough draft document that wasn't even intended for mass distribution.

As of September 2019, the second edition is on the way, a new canon is clearly in place and I hope that I'm not alone in being willing to give them a chance to give us the game they have intended to produce for years.

I'll close with the official word from Nightfall regarding 'The Truth' as part of the 2nd ed Kickstarter FAQ on Sept 18th 2019:

"The Truth was a word document guide supplied to commissioned writers back in the 1990s. It was never meant to be shared beyond that circle. Within it was a lot of rough and ready information supplied to allow the commissioned writer to understand what they needed to know of the game's meta plot in order to write for the World of Progress. It was not a complete story, nor was it eloquently presented. Much of what was included has subsequently changed as ideas developed. The subtleties of the bigger picture were not at all well-presented, nor represented, in The Truth document. There are some very big gaps in the information (the commissioned writers didn’t need to know some aspects, or ideas have moved on and coalesced in the meantime) and if all the information had been included, The Truth document would have moved, from an abhorrent (to many) mess of primordial ideas and chaff to something far more evolved and in keeping with the creators’ vision of SLA Industries. The recent Cannibal Sector 1 book begins to solidify this missing and refined information and 2nd Edition will continue that process. Read The Truth if you can find it (we wouldn't recommend it), but make sure you remember it is not canon, never was, contains information that is now incorrect and is as rough (and odious) as a badger’s bottom – we did warn you!"