Technomancer: Millennium

Technomancer: Millennium, commonly known as Technomancer or TNM, is a trading card game produced by Deep Dive Collective, previously by Vantage Enterprises. Typically played between two players, it is set in the dystopian Technomancer universe, which also includes fiction and animation. Players take on the role of rival hackers seeking to penetrate each other's computer systems and battle for domination in cyberspace and the real world, in a universe set in the 22nd century.

Technomancer is played by enthusiasts worldwide, with a global tournament circuit managed by Deep Dive. The game has a worldwide reach, and is currently printed in nine languages: French, English, Mandarin, Daryan, Spanish, Huenyan, Eirian, Haean, and Serrin.

History

Technomancer was created in 2001 by Blaise Lin, a Laeralian tabletop game designer who had previously worked on the Laeralian localization team for the Daryan trading card game Midnight Heroes. Lin was inspired by the cyberpunk genre and his own left-wing politics: as an anarchist, Lin envisioned the game as a cooperative endeavor in which players would work together to fight corporate and government forces run by the game. When the game was acquired for publication by Vantage Enterprises, the firm insisted on centering on the head-to-head competitive version of the game, which was seen as more marketable.

The game grew rapidly in popularity following its release on the strength of its mechanics, which compared favorably to rival trading card games of the time. Initially published in Laeral, in 2003 it was released in Haesan and by 2008 had an international presence. The game's head-to-head format was more popular than the cooperative version, leading Vantage to settle on a ratio of around 2:1 head-to-head versus cooperative product releases. The company also released accompanying fiction and other media; a 2016 feature film was a critical and commercial disappointment and is today largely shunned by fans. The 2014-2016 animated series The Technomancer Diaries, developed by the Daryan animation studio Studio Blaster, was conversely well-received and remains popular.

Transition in Ownership

In 2016, Vantage Enterprises announced plans to end the production of Technomancer due to declining sales, creative clashes with creator Blaise Lin, and the failure of the Technomancer film. Following the end of Vantage's production, Blaise Lin (with the support of the fan base through a crowdfunding campaign which raised over M22 million over the course of two months), announced that he would buy out the rights to produce Technomancer: Millennium and continue production of the game through a collective, not-for-profit model. This effort became Deep Dive Collective, a collective chaired by Blaise Lin which has produced the game since 2018.

Gameplay

Two bases, two arenas

Setting and World

Technomancer: Millennium takes place in the early 22nd century in a dystopian future IDU, where corporate power has eclipsed that of governments and exploits the public. Players take on the role of technomancers—gifted hackers working on behalf of rebel collectives, powerful corporations, or criminal interests. Technomancers regularly clash with one another in battles which play out in cyberspace and in the real world.