It begins with Warhammer, Necromunda, and Mordheim.

We wanted to avoid that crazy mess and build something different. Besides, there are already many amazing variations on them, consolidated by adoring fans into Heroheim, Coreheim, and eventually Wyrdwars.

Then we saw Rat Trap Productions. Much better in our view, with many new ideas when compared to the Warhammer system, such as paying for bonus actions for 5 margin-of-success for dynamic tactical positioning, and having consistent dice mechanics across all attribute stats. I think it works well for solo-play, and for quick pick-up games a gaming conventions. Lots of good genre books.

Next we saw Goal System and Super System by Scott Pyle at Four-color Studios. Those are incredible with its opposed dice rolls and quick warband building with 5-men minions being very affordable. We kept iterating on the dice mechanics and tried to simplify the action economy. That is; how many dice to rule, and how often. After nearly a dozen, we created a nice dice system.

Across the years, we've purchased and reviewed dozens of other game systems. Some few of which are incredible on their own because they introduce new ways of resolving combat, handle movement, provide abilities, or build collections of figures into "warbands". These include; Song of Blades and Heroes, This is Not A Test, Pulp Alley, 7TV, Gangfight, Pulp City, Malifaux, Spectre Operations, Bolt Action, Force on Force, and many more. 

So, a pattern emerged, and we knew what we wanted.

We wanted a game with (relatively few) six-sided dice, that portrayed morale, that had awareness of close combat and allowed for range combat, allowed for customization, and could cover multiple genres and settings. It should be more competitive and less narrative. The game rules shouldn't also require a fixed set of figurines, and be settings agnostic. This last one was because Damon had by this time several hundred figurines from different genres; fantasy, Mythos, Cold War, and some from the European Colonial period. We wanted a game that was tactical, more "boardgame-like" so that it would reward planning and situational awareness, to allow a greater influence on success than lucky dice rolls.

The result is this game, MEST Tactics.

MEST Tactics originates from a conflict simulation game background, and this can be seen in its adherence to the idea of simulation. This is both a good and a bad thing. 

It is good because in order to do this, multiple settings had to be crafted in order to drive consistency by discovering what could and could not work. It is good because it tries to make sure all attribute values are consistent, that skills or abilities are reasonable, and that weapons and armor can work across settings in a predictable but exciting way. 

It is bad because the game becomes bigger than just a single foray into a dungeon, or a skirmish across a bridge, or combat between roaming gangs, or a violent resolution between resistance fighters and regulars. It is bad because by providing everything other game systems provides, and more, the theme becomes lost. Such is the manner of universal gaming systems.

However, that is what the settings and genre books will attempt to provide; a more readily digestible, thematic, interpretation of the MEST Tactics Core rules to provide variations particular to the needs of kinds of play. Swords-and-sorcery would have its own book, as would anything dealing with cosmic horror, or anything handling diesel-punk encounters. Same goes for flying mechas, remote controlled drones, and laser-beam soldiers in skin-tight battlesuits.