Order of Dolls
Release Date: October 2000
Set Size: 4 Buttons
Publisher: Hawk's Nest Press
Designers: Rhea H. Shelley
Artist: Cinco Barnes
New Rules: Assassin Dice
Order of Dolls is a fan set designed by Rhea Shelley, the man behind Button Men: The Book. It was released in October 2000 by Hawk's Nest Press. Their storyline and art, a Tank Girl-esque pop art style, was created by Cinco Barnes of Spacetime Studios. The set introduces Assassin Dice. When advertising the book, this set was used as a 'hook,' as it was an 'exclusive set' that came with the book. Physical printouts to create buttons of this set were given to those who purchased the book from Rhea Shelley.
As stated in Button Men: The Book:
The Order of Dolls trains young lingerie models in the ways of assassination and world terror. Revenge, humiliation and liquidation are the Dolls' stock in trade-- available to the highest bidder. Founded in the US by a frustrated music industry executive, the Dolls are now employed across the globe.
Rhea Shelley in an interview via email about the set:
I really just wanted to put something in the homemade section of Button Men: The Book that I had done. I wanted a powerful die that could capture nearly anything, but there was a cost to doing so, so you had to be careful with that power. I always liked the dichotomy between a large value die being nice to have for the raw power, but also being a detriment as it could give your opponent a ton of points. It worked well enough. It was homebrew so I didn’t have to worry too much about balance or anything like that. I just wanted to get something in the book that I had done.
A buddy of mine liked to draw so I told him I needed artwork for some buttons. I told him he could do whatever he wanted. He came up with the Order of Dolls and all the character names and drew them up. I cropped the artwork and put them on the buttons.
My intention of the Assassin Dice was to make them powerful enough to take down large dice, but you paid the cost of fewer points. So if you did it too much, sure, you might capture a lot of dice, but they weren’t worth very much, so you would lose. So, you had to be careful in how you used them because they could only be used as an Assassin Attack. I wanted you to use them in both Power and Skill attacks, as the drawback was the reduction in points, if they were used at all, they would reduce the scored points. Doubling the attacking die's value might work just fine. It's all homemade, so have fun with it; if you want to modify it go ahead.
Cinco Barnes reflects upon his part of the set:
Rhea Shelley and I were working at Origin Systems for Electronic Arts at the time. We had different game projects at EA but we worked together in extra-curricular activities - namely a band that had regular shows at an old Austin club called the "Black Cat Lounge." I remember Rhea telling me about the Button Men property and the opportunity to build some characters. He handled all of the game systems stuff and asked me to do the visual development and the fiction for a special set. The fiction had to fit a template and the character imagery had some basic requirements - but the creative-side was pretty wide open.
Rhea and I brainstormed the characters' origin / backstory for a little while and then I got started drawing and writing pretty much immediately thereafter. I did a draft of the fiction first and showed it to Rhea for feedback and editing. When he was happy I sketched the characters and went through the same process with him 'til we were both happy. Rhea was very supportive of my initial idea to do this series on "mutant models," who for various financial reasons donate their bodies to the government and wind up with awesome super-powers.I do not recall how the actual game pieces for 'Dolls' wound up in players' hands. The idea of cutting out and crafting your own button(s) rings a bell but I cannot say for certain. I was not involved in the playtesting but I do recall Rhea running sessions with a wide array of professionals at our company. While all of the Button Men stuff was going on I was working with another developer on a 3D space action game in hopes of getting a job on the next Wing Commander title. Plus, due to lack of attention span I have never been much of a paper gamer. ;-)
Buttons[edit | edit source]
Original Order blanks provided by Rhea Shelley on a Pay-What-You-Will basis. If printed for personal use, please send a Paypal payment to rshelley@gmail.com (suggested rate, $5).
Button flavor text on the individual button pages is courtesy of Elliot C. "Eeyore" Evans.
