San Saba Update

Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our April live event WHISPERS FROM THE DEEP! This is our next ST led over-arc game, led by Noah Goodman. Each week, I’ll discuss in detail an aspect of the upcoming event, compiling the rules and lore into one easy place to read! This week, we are recapping the story of our previous event and updating you on a few continuity updates and changes you should know about going into April.

• TICKETS FOR OUR APRIL EVENT ARE ON SALE NOW! CAN YOU SURVIVE WHAT EMERGES FROM WAKING?

• CLEAN UP IS CHANGING! We will be experimenting with a new process for Clean Up at the end of the event during our April and May games. Immediately after closing announcements, we will start with our Camp Cleanup first, and then complete our Personal Cleanup last! We will have some more details on this soon, but we appreciate your flexibility as we try some new ways to speed up how fast we can get off site after game and still keep our friends in the Girl Scouts happy!

Our photos for this post were taken from our March 2023 DR:TX event by the talented Heather Halstead.

Recap - Gifts of Suffering

You can read more about the Premise of our last event, Gifts of Suffering, if you’d like to catch up, but we’ll cover some of the highlights of what happened if you missed out!

At the start of the event, Brother Agony, a Final Knight holy man came to town bearing several RELICS of unholy power. Each of the relics was a powerful psionic artifact, each with an insidious geas that encouraged those that claimed the crown to blaspheme the faiths that they were designed to mock. In all, there were TEN crowns released into the wild during the March event.

• Crown of Stagnation (Church of Darwin)

• Crown of Anarchy (Cult of the Fallow Hope)

• Crown of the Hellwrought (Final Knights)

• Crown of Moderation (The Light of Hedon)

• Crown of Solitude (The Nuclear Family)

• Crown of the Lost Signal (The Telling Visionaries)

• Crown of the Extinguished (Sainthood of Ashes)

• Crown of the Broken Wheel (Tribe of Seasons)

• Crown of the Discordant (Virtues of the Kings & Queens Court)

• Crown of Fresh Blood - This last crown only functioned in the hands of a character with less than 50 XP, meaning it quickly fell into the hands of a new player!

Each of the crowns offered boons like damage reduction, the ability to use various skills for free, resist AOE effects, and even use Faith Bane against their enemies. But, if conflict was not created, often requiring the wearer to commit a sin against the faith tied to the crown, they would slowly bleed and kill the wearer until they died. But if this compulsion was completed, the Crowns gained new and impressive new abilities, but required the wearer to take the life of another every 12 hours to satiate their lust for blood.

However, the Crowns offered a potential boon for the town of Bravado. If the town would fully ascend and empower the Crowns of Suffering, Brother Agony offered to teach them a benediction that could reinforce and shield the town from the terrible Prince Undying. As the night continued, the comforting blue light of the monolith at the crossroads began to bleed crimson, as the attacks from the Grave Mind grew worse.

Coupled with these psychic attacks on Bravado was the very real challenge of a Reckoner Blockade and the damaged docks that were destroyed by the pirates of the Clearwater Accord after the February event. While folks worked to repair the damage done and ensure the town could reopen a connection with Drywater and other cities along the riverways of the San Saba, the forces of the San Saba Rebellion deployed against the mighty armies of the Reckoners and the Board.

Throughout the day on Saturday, various forces attempted to claim the Crowns for themselves, whether it was rogue Reckoners of the Grave Council, agents of the Waking Intelligence Service, or even simply victims of Brother Agony’s gifts that destroyed towns that were torn apart by the infighting created by the relics. Cassiopeia, a Mystagogue of the Grave Council, heir apparent to the seat held by Rampart offered to help the town understand more about the relics of power with the resources of the Grave Council.

Saturday afternoon, a Gauntlet was held for the villainous General Rampart, leader of the Reckoners, but his military forces were set to keep the Justices of Sin from reaching the trial in time to pass judgement. With the help of Justice Blayne, the town snuck past the Reckoner Legions to bring the Justice to the Gauntlet, where she pronounced the General guilty of the crime of Murder and executed him on the spot. While a few of the townsfolk pried into his brain for a few final questions before he was taken by the Grave Mind, they were all shocked with inky black nightmare tentacles instead drug the corpse to somewhere else.

As the evening grew near and the incursion from the nightmares continued to threaten the town, Brother Agony proved true to his word. He returned with a Benediction to seal the monolith with Seals of Faith, reinforcing and securing the monolith against the influence of the Prince Undying. For every priest they could get to perform their part of the ritual, they could reduce the impact of the nightmares that came to break the strange crystal at the heart of the town. With help from priests of the Hedon, the Seasons, the Sainthood, the Fallow, and the Final Knights, the ritual was enacted as the night fell on Bravado.

Hordes of strange nightmare creatures swarmed the center of Bravado, intent on disrupting the Monolith, but the Crown bearers used the influence of the crowns to sway the tide in their favor. While common attacks to deal with the dead were useless, the seals of faith were useful in driving back the shadowy horde. As the faith of the town held strong under the assault, the crimson light faded from the monolith as it returned to the pure blue light that marked the town under its protection.

While the Crowns of Suffering could have been kept by the bearers, each of the crowns was surrendered and destroyed, removing the threat of them forever. Only time will tell if this was a hasty decision, but the strange GIFTS OF SUFFERING are no more.

UPdates for bravado

Let’s cover the nitty gritty of what has changed since last month:

• First, the Blockade of Bravado has been lifted thanks to the efforts of the brave soldiers of the Rebellion. They broke the back of the Reckoner Legions outside the town and have lifted the immediately consequences that was affecting Trade Connections and other Skills at the PO.

• Anyport was repaired and access to the riverways was restored thanks to a monumental effort of scrap, resources, a trip to sail against the Blockade, and a fierce battle with the Clearwater Accord. The penalities against the Sailing skill have been removed.

• Despite the Blockade being lifted, the town is still being isolated by the San Saba Board. The Ox is forbidden from being sent to the town, telegraph lines need to be repaired, and connections to the greater Wastes are still limited under threat of treason and enemy forces of the Board. While the immediate danger of the Blockade is gone, work yet remains to gain access to the greater railways. You can expect to see ZOMs and other similar repair efforts continue as we end the season, and Battles will continue to fight against the Board.

• We’ve always referred to the “Ox” in a general sense of the RRC network around the area, but there’s more than one locomotive in use by the RRC. While a few “misplaced” locomotives from the lesser fleet of trains that the RRC and the Hackard Family manages can now return to Bravado, the crown jewel of the fleet, the jet-powered Ox, is much too valuable to send into contested territory. Players can once again arrive via the train, but it’s assumed to be a hijacked or mis-purposed train car, a handcart, or some other lesser form of rail access. Players will have an option to claim the Ox for the town of Bravado in the coming events.

• The new MORALE BOOST effect continues until the end of the season. The fire in the heart of the Rebellion is still strong and ready to claim a new future for Bravado! Yeehaw!

The NEw Bravado Charter

One of the important threads from this event that will show up again during April is the question of Law and Order in a town that has rebelled. During the March event, the Law Dogs met to consider a new Bravado Charter, a set of common-sense laws that the town could agree to enforce as a community. Much like the laws of the San Saba Board were created as part of a charter between the powerful factions of the area, the town of Bravado would instead draft their own charter as part of the rebellion.

The Law Dog agents worked to whip up support for their organization, but also to sell the need for some structure in the face of Anarchy. In the end, the town gathered an overwhelming majority of the town to consider the following laws. In April, the town will be able to sign the Bravado Charter, ushering in a new sense of justice in the wastes, and ensuring that the Law Dogs and Justices of Sin can help keep the worst excesses of anarchy and lawlessness at bay.

The laws suggested by the Law Dogs are as follows:

• The act of Murder is illegal, regardless of actual Infection loss.

• Theft of property, labor, or Infection is illegal.

• The possession, harvesting, distribution, and manufacture of Crystal Candy is illegal.

• Contracts between parties do not absolve of violations of these laws.

• The protected rights of assault, post, press, or radio shall not be infringed.

Most of these laws are similar to the ones that have been in place before now. You shouldn’t trade in Crystal Candy, kill, steal, or prevent the Post Office from delivering the mail. But, the Law Dogs have chosen to enshrine the right of a good old fashion brawl with Assault as a town tradition, and protect the nascent rights of the press and radio to bring news to town. Lastly, instead of saying that ‘contracts are the sum and whole of the law’, like in the San Saba Charter, they made sure to close a loophole to prevent contracts from being used as an excuse to escape the long arm of the law.

During the April event, you’ll have a chance to consider any final modifications to these laws before they are enshrined by the new Bravado Charter. As we reach the end of Season 5, we want you each to have a say in the laws of the town as we move towards Season 6. With law and order in sight, the Rebellion takes another step towards building a bright new future for the tiny town of Bravado.

rebellion updates

We introduced a few new updates to our Rebellion mechanics that you can read for yourself on our Discord, but the fight against the enemies of Bravado continued in the month of March. Several folks took the opportunity to draft and muster new Combat Units, and the forces of the Rebellion swelled as they set to defend their hard-earned freedom from the the forces of the San Saba Board and worse. The town defended far away locations by deploying their Units to various battlefronts near Bravado.

There were three battles that took place, with the brave soldiers of the Rebellion striking back to claim territory and break the back of the Reckoner Legions that had laid siege to the town for a month.

Regaining Control of the River

Eager to liberate Roy’s Rest, the Rebellion struck eastward against the forces of the Clearwater Accord and the treacherous pirates that follow Carina Astora. The enemy forces were made up of Clearwater Accord pirates, prowling the waterways trying to prevent reinforcements from reaching the Junkerpunk Port.

Fighting against D’arcy the Dark, the Rebellion reclaimed the riverport as part of their campaign to provide aid to the embattled Junkerpunks. D’arcy was a powerful psion and opportunist, and she turned on the Oxkillers after Carina offered a better paycheck and a disregard for her preference for cannibalism.  She claimed that eating the hearts of her victims let her steal their psionic potential for her own, and was prepared for a feast, but was instead met with an devastating loss.

With the town of Roy’s Rest firmly in the control of the Rebellion, they can now strike along the rivers to rescue ships and citizens that are under siege by the pirates of the Spoiled Coast, and will be able to provide aid to the Clutch during the April event.

Reinforcing Tremorsands

Before the Militia disbanded in February, General Hargrave made the sound decision to provide additional support to the oilfields of Tremorsands Post, one last stop at the edge of the Dune Sea. Thanks to the timely assistance, Tremorsands was prepared for a new and terrifying enemy as the forces of the Undying Empire moved out from Barogue, their undead hordes intent on destroying the living.

Through it was the hardest fought battle of the weekend, the forces of the Rebellion narrowly persevered against the terrible nightmarish legions of the Prince Undying.  A wave of foul blackness sweeps across the desert, resembling shadowy cavalry with skeletal features.  A shrieking chorus rose across the sands, breaking the nerve of even the most stalwart defenders.

The Rebellion overcame the terrible Maja’sulum Nabat, the Consort of the Tentacled Depths, the leader of the undead hordes, and stopped the advance from the desert. However, as the wave of nightmares rolls into the heart of the San Saba, the next bastion of defense will need to be the brave soldiers of the Ramguard as they attempt to defend Falken Castle from the Prince Undying.

The battle of bravado

The final battle of the weekend took place as the Rebellion mustered their forces against the Reckoner Legions, intent on breaking the siege of Bravado. The Battle of Bravado took place Saturday night, with the Rebellion breaking the back of the San Saba Board as they tried their next attempt to reclaim the town.

The enemy forces were made up of allegiant Reckoner Legion units wielding psi-tech weapons and leveraging the Undead hordes still riled up by the strange rituals they used to control the dead from afar, led by Commander Grant, one of the last followers of Rampart. While his forces had been battered during their defeat in February, they still presented a danger to the town and needed to be stopped.

The Rebellion was victorious, pushing the Reckoners back to Essex, and opening a path to reclaim the fortress-prison of Killhouse, a personal goal of General Hargrave. With Tabitha and her Board soldiers separated, it will be up to the combined forces of the Oxkiller Alliance and the Rebellion to break the fortress that has stood firm for the entirety of the War of Antlers.

Looking Forward

There will be FOUR (4) Battles during April, based on the outcomes of the Battles that were fought during the March event.

• Liberating Widow's Peak

• Evacuating the Clutch

• The Conquest of Killhouse

• Defending Falken Castle

Will you be able to claim a bright future for the Rebellion and break the San Saba Board once and for all? Can you hope to stop the Prince Undying, and can you provide aid to your allies in their hour of need? I hope you have your War Supplies ready!

Wrap Up

That’s it for today, Vados. We have a few weeks until our April event, WHISPERS FROM THE DEEP, and we still have a few surprises in store. While evolution may have run rampant in the depths of Waking, what will that mean for your characters as they discover the dangers of Project Eve? Will your be forced into a new evolution, or will you survive the evolutionary leap into the a bright new future for Bravado?

Let’s find out together! Next week, we cover some of the Rules You Should Know, and we will cover some of the important mechanics that might be useful to survive what emerges from Waking.

Tickets are on sale until Friday, but you’ll still be able to reserve your spot on site next week. Don’t miss out on the next chapter of our story!

See you soon Vados!

A New Dawn

Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our April live event WHISPERS FROM THE DEEP! This is our next ST led over-arc game, led by Noah Goodman. Each week, I’ll discuss in detail an aspect of the upcoming event, compiling the rules and lore into one easy place to read! This week, we are covering some of the lore you should know about the upcoming event and glimpse at the new dawn for some of the established traditions of Collection Day and the Grave Tax.

• TICKETS FOR OUR APRIL EVENT ARE ON SALE NOW! CAN YOU survive what emerges from waking?

• One of the next Dystopia Rising Live books has been official released - A GRAVE PLACE is now available on the DR Live Website, free to read and enjoy! This book is a primer on the Grave Mind, but it does include some important story spoilers within. If you are still interested, take a look at the secrets of the Mortis Amaranthine!

• CLEAN UP IS CHANGING! We will be experimenting with a new process for Clean Up at the end of the event during our April and May games. Immediately after closing announcements, we will start with our Camp Cleanup first, and then complete our Personal Cleanup last! We will have some more details on this soon, but we appreciate your flexibility as we try some new ways to speed up how fast we can get off site after game and still keep our friends in the Girl Scouts happy!

Our photos for this post were taken from previous DR:TX events by our talented Photo Team, by Max Pohlmeier, Lauren Guzaldo, and Jason Dumas.

Whispers from the Deep [Lore]

Last week, we talked a bit about the teaser for the game and introduced a few points of interest that you’ll encounter during the April event. But if you haven’t been around DR:TX for a while, some of these names and places might be new to you. Let’s talk about a quick primer of the important stuff your character may know about some of these topics.

Let’s cover the “who’s who” of our next event:

The Buzzbee Family

One of the powerful Families of Waking Prime, the Buzzbees are easily identified by their maroon colors and Tainted scientists. The Buzzbee family was one of the oldest institutions in Waking before it crashed near Bravado, and were said to have been the founders of the flying city.  They created the lightning rod system that brought power to the city’s lesser systems, and the storm alert system that detected weather changes and navigation.  Considered masters of electricity, they collect oldcestor technology in hopes of recreating the marvels of the time before the fall. Some have suggested that the Heavycraf company stole the blueprints for the electro-welder from the Buzzbees, but this is probably just a jealous rumor started by one of the lesser family heads.

Regardless of the family’s success, the Buzzbees are known to be a bit eccentric and a more than a bit secretive. Many of their family worship at the shrine of Savannah’s light as members of the Church of Darwin, and the Buzzbees were thought to be responsible for the maintenance of the Capacity Engine, the strange oldcestor device that powered the flying city before its fall. The Buzzbee family has long since diversified their scientific interests beyond the electrical, and have become somewhat divided on the research in which they dedicate their wealth and expertise, particularly when it comes to the Grave Mind.

Kincaid Buzzbee

Kincaid Buzzbee— the Buzzbee that inherited the profitable backing of his name— chose to focus his life’s work on the Morgue of Waking. He is both the sole student and teacher who maintained a morgue in the sky and has been critical to helping the Grave Council understand how the morgue can be safely assimilated into the Gravemind network in the San Saba. Buzzbee has also been the primary Graverobber for the Waking Prime Family Members, and they have sustained his pockets heavily for decades. Most of the family has stayed very focused on managing the Electric Shield, a device powered by ancient Aggie technology, but Kincaid’s first priority has been the Mortis.

While many of the Waking Families fled Waking when the city was taken by the Mustang Loyalists, the Buzzbees have been one of the few families that has remained invested in the town of Bravado. Both Kincaid and his cousin Professor BB Buzzbee have been frequent visitors and sponsors of Liquidation Runs into the city over the past few months, and their knowledge has been crucial in surviving within the husk of the fallen skyship.

The Buzzbee Electric Shield ™

While the specifics are considered trade secrets by the powerful RRC family, one of the primary defenses of the mighty city of Waking Prime before its fall was known as the ELECTRIC SHIELD. Part generator and part super weapon, the Shield was the last line of defense of the city if a foe was able to overwhelm their arsenal of zeppelins and mounted cannons. When fully powered, the device was said to be capable of energizing the entire surface of the city, creating a powerful deterrent to raiders and those that would have tried to conquer Waking. During the Waste's Faire, the Electric Shield was used to cripple a fleet of raider skyships of the Stormchasers, thanks to the timely intervention of survivors from Bravado.

After the crash and the final shutdown of the Capacity Engine, most of the power of the crashed city has come from the capacitors of the Electric Shield. With most of the city’s interior filled with deadly radiation, the meager energy needs of the surface city have been only a minor drain on the potential of the Shield. While the reservoirs are no longer as easily recharged from lightning storms while in the air, the Chairman set a number of oxblood generators and repurposed batteries towards keeping the defenses of the city intact. Some suggest the Electric Shield may even still be a functional defense of Waking, even in its crashed state.

Mother Mayhem, chief auditor

Mother Mayhem is one of the chief agents of the AUDITORS in the Bravado and Essex areas. One of the only groups within the Grave Council capable of rivaling the Reckoners for sheer power, the Auditors are the day to day accountants, tax collectors, bankers, and financiers of the powerful faction. Mother Mayhem is an older Lascarian who has a habit of killing with kindness until she needs to force something with an iron fist. It is rumored that even blackmail and intimidation are key tactics if needed, but Mother Mayhem purposefully lets the rumors build up their mystique.

Mother Mayhem is the chief arbiter of the Grave Tax, and is responsible for the collection of Brass from across the San Saba to fund the support of the Morgue system. They are a known aberrant and have a deep fondness for other psions, believing their protection will lead to healthier relationships with the Mortis. She strives to protect the Grave Council at all costs, even against themselves, and her assistance was crucial to the arrest of the late Reckoner-General.

Cassiopeia Stargazer

One of the newer prominent figures within the Grave Council, Cassiopeia has recently been promoted as a leader of the Mystagogues, the sect of priests and Grave Mind cultists that make up the spiritual branch of the Grave Council. Cassiopeia is one of the ancient Imix Tribe, the Unborn refugees that first founded the Grave Council after the Hiway War. While most of her focus was on Essex and the heart of the Grave Council’s headquarters, she has recently found allies within Bravado.

Cassiopeia is a member of the Quiet Path, a group of grave cultists that believe the Mortis Amaranthine at its core is neither good nor evil. It is a catalyst for change that should be deeply respected and honored above all else. They believe that when we die, we are stripped down to the barest form of ourselves, and we must reassemble ourselves from the things that are most important to us. This may be seen as unsavory or unsettling to many, but to the Quiet Path, it is an awe inspiring journey that enables us to be the purest form of ourselves. The ever continuing cycle of change and growth is essential for survival in this imperfect and fleeting existence. Many members of the Quiet Path are necrokinetically inclined, and lean deeply into studying the interactions between the Mortis Amaranthine and the rest of the world.

Collection Day

A Grave Council “holiday” of sorts, Collection Day is when the Grave Taxes come due, once a year, normally in the oldcestor month of April.  The forces of accountants and taxmen take to the towns and cities of the Lonestar to upkeep the ledgers of life and death, collect interest on the debts they are owed, and keep tabs on those who would irritate the balance of power in the Wastes. During this time, the fees for morgue services can skyrocket in price, and people across the land strive to avoid an untimely death that could increase their debt, or else the Reckoners could attempt to “close your account” for good.

During the Collection Day “festivities”, the fee for deaths normally doubles in price.  As the bulk of the Grave Council is concerned with upkeep on the ledgers and collection of debts, distractions to manage the morgues have an additional opportunity cost assessed.  

If the debt is deferred, the Grave Council normally applies interest to the debt until it is paid.  This is at a negligible rate but accounts for the cost of maintaining the morgues of the Lone Star.  At Collection Day, a debtor must pay at least a portion of their interest to the Grave Council or risk being held in breach of contract.

The Grave Tax

The Grave Tax is one of the enforced laws of San Saba Territories and a tradition of the Grave Council that helps cover the maintenance of the Morgues of the Lone Star.  This is a fee, normally paid in Brass notes, that a Groundskeeper is paid to retrieve someone from the Mortis Amaranthine and is tracked and collected by the agents of the Grave Council.  As part of an agreement with the Railroad Conglomerate, the San Saba Board has delegated authority over every Morgue within the San Saba territories and the Lone Star to the Grave Council and enshrined the Grave Tax into law of the Board. Even the Junkerpunks acknowledge the need to preserve the cycle of death through the Mortis Amaranthine.

Let’s first consider why we started this tradition in the first place…

Why do we have a Collection day?

Collection Day was a local tradition we introduced to DR:TX back at the start of 3.0. Shan & Aesa introduced the various factions of the San Saba, one of them being the GRAVE COUNCIL. This faction was envisioned to handle two major things in the Dystopia Rising game — how we handle Death scenes from an “in-character” perspective, and how we could create a threat of punishment for breaking the contracts and laws of the region.

One phrase that kept coming up in our design docs and brainstorm sessions was the familiar quote about death and taxes. We loved the idea of creepy taxmen coming to collect what is owed around the same time the rest of us are forced to pay our tax debts to the government. From there, Collection Day was kind of… inevitable. I even wrote a cool story as a teaser before we started play, that you can read about here:

• Death and Taxes — Dystopia Rising: Texas (idratherbeinbravo.com)

We missed our first attempt at running Collection Day due to the pandemic closing down live events around Season 1 and 2, but we revisited this “holiday” two years ago during Season 3 amid some turbulent times for the Grave Council faction. During that event, COLLECTION DAY, the leader of the Grave Council, Takheeta Firstborn, gave her life to cure a sickness that plagued the morgues of the San Saba. Thanks in part to the Grave Tax, a very real problem of disease was at last resolved. Last year, during our Season Four event, HELLS OF THE SAN SABA, Reckoner-General Rampart fired all of the Groundskeepers during a Gauntlet, and declared the town under a “quarantine”. While the faction was kept busy trying to stabilize the morgues of Waking, they left the town to their own devices without any real support from the faction.

We have three major themes of this holiday, from a Storyteller perspective:

• Death has Consequences - In a world where survivors can return from death again and again, crimes like murder can run rampant unless some threat of punishment is enforced.  The Grave Tax is meant as a method to prevent the needless deaths of shareholders, merchants, and Vados, and is assessed as a financial burden upon death.  Unnecessary death is frowned upon and punished more heavily.

• Death Comes for All, Pauper or Prince - The Grave Council does not care for the status placed upon a person in the times within the Mortis Amaranthine. They pursue their due from every being that walks the San Saba wastes, no matter their station. The Groundskeepers treat the death of a Pureblood from an ivory tower the same as they treat the death of a wandering Rover.

• Story, not Punishment - The purpose of the Grave Tax is not to punish players for dying or to create an undue financial burden.  The Grave Tax provides a concrete way to involve yourself in the greater story of the Lone Star, interact with several powerful factions, and seek out assistance and roleplay with other characters in the game.  It is tied with the enforcement of law in the game and can be opted out if the player wishes to avoid a negative play experience.

You can read more about the Grave Tax and Collection Day in our story sections.

The Grave Tax during a Rebellion

Very few individuals that care about the Morgues and the Grave Mind can deny that the maintenance of the Mortis Amaranthine is a demanding task. Each time a person dies, a bit of their body that remains becomes a newly formed zombie, adding to the undead terrors that harass the living. Simply helping someone survive the harrowing journey after death can risk the mind and Infection of the morgue specialists themselves, and it can be a thankless job with little pay and extreme risk.

Furthermore, activities like Grave Dives, Pallor Mortis rituals, Infection transfers, Necrokinetic abuse and more can quickly lead to the ecosystem of the morgue suffering a dangerous MORGUE COLLAPSE. When this happens, the threat of the Undead increases and every death becomes more uncertain, as simply escaping the Mortis becomes a challenge. Whatever the reason, there are consequences when there is no Morgue in an area to attract the newly deceased.

Fixing such a calamity needs valuable and expensive resources like Psionic Crystals, scrap, and more to repair, and keeping that balance maintained can be a full time job for most Grave Robbers and Necrologists. While the stated purpose of the Grave Tax was to provide resources for such a crisis, as well as trained professionals to aid the town should a calamity like this occur, the Grave Council is inevitably tied to the power of the San Saba Board. After a year of little or no support from the Council per General Rampart’s orders, discontent over the concept of Collection Day has grown.

So, with the recent Bravado Rebellion, a very real question looms:

“why should we pay the Grave Tax at all?”

One of the questions that must be resolved during the April event is what becomes of the Grave Council in a world where the San Saba Board’s power is quickly crumbling? Will your survivors find a need for the Grave Tax, or will they be able to forge some new agreement with the Grave Council for their support? What purpose does the Grave Council serve if they cannot collect the Grave Tax?

Will the players fight for the soul of the Grave Council, and can they establish some new system to help maintain the morgues of the area? Can Mother Mayhem and Cassiopeia be trusted, or will they just repeat the mistakes of past Grave Council leaders? Since Rampart quarantined the town, what services has the Grave Council even done for the town over the past year? Should Bravado even continue paying taxes to the Grave Council, given their continued support of the San Saba Board? If the Grave Council isn’t maintaining the Morgues, who is supposed to do this in their place?

As the town continues to fight a Rebellion, and as the survivors of Bravado consider the very laws and order they will continue to maintain, the threat of the Morgue collapsing remains a very real possibility. During WHISPERS FROM THE DEEP, you will get a chance to decide the fate of Collection Day, the Grave Tax, and the very Grave Council itself.

wrap Up

That’s it for today Vados!

We hope that you will join us for our April event, led by the talented Noah Goodman, and explore the future of our factions as we reach the conclusion of our Season 5 story. Will you help the town reach a new dawn, fighting against evolution itself and the horrors that spring from within Waking? Will you pay the Grave Tax, or resolve to handle future grave crises on your own?

Tickets FOR “WHISPERS FROM THE DEEP” are still on sale, so don’t miss out! aPRIL 12-14!

See you soon!

Whispers from the Deep

Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our April live event WHISPERS FROM THE DEEP! This is our next ST led over-arc game, led by Noah Goodman. Each week, I’ll discuss in detail an aspect of the upcoming event, compiling the rules and lore into one easy place to read! This week, we are covering the premise of our event, some content warnings, and some teasers about our upcoming event!

• TICKETS FOR OUR APRIL EVENT ARE ON SALE NOW! CAN YOU survive what emerges from waking?

• If you had a great experience at our last event GIFTS OF SUFFERING or had some suggestions for how we can improve, we’d love to hear from you! Did you get to take one of the Crowns of Suffering for yourself? Did you hear Brother Agony explain why he was “helping” the town? Did you help the Rebellion fight the first battles of the war against the San Saba Board? Let us know!

  • Fill out our Feedback Form!

  • Nominate another player for a Community Achievement!

• CLEAN UP IS CHANGING! We will be experimenting with a new process for Clean Up at the end of the event during our April and May games. Immediately after closing announcements, we will start with our Camp Cleanup first, and then complete our Personal Cleanup last! We will have some more details on this soon, but we appreciate your flexibility as we try some new ways to speed up how fast we can get off site after game and still keep our friends in the Girl Scouts happy!

Our photos for this post were taken from our March 2023 DR:TX event by the talented Heather Halstead.

The Premise

Something is churning deep within Waking's corpse. Memories best left forgotten from the time of the Hiway War have left old Darwin experiments to fester in basement labs. As Mustang Loyalists solidify their hold over the decaying remains of Waking Prime, the final safeguards on long dormant projects have become unstable, threatening to unleash what has been left trapped within the radioactive wreckage. Errant and uncaring soldiers shut off power, open doors, and unlock new sensitive areas within the city without thinking of why those doors were shut in the first place.

Sometimes a door was closed for a reason…

Project EVE, one of those forgotten evolutionary experiments, was said to bend infection itself, capable of mutating flora and fauna and worse, and now it stirs within the bowels of Waking, changing and mutating into something new and unique. Underneath this glowing city of scrap and decay that looms over Bravado, a new danger threatens to EVOLVE.

Kincaid Buzzbee, scion of the Waking Families of the RRC, has called upon the townsfolk of Bravado to help him contain the worst of these threats within Waking. With the aid of brave Vados, he hopes to reactivate the remnants of the Buzzbee Electric Shield ™ to save the town from this new ecological destruction. If these dangerous experiments are let loose to infest the tunnels below Bravado, there is no end to the mutated nightmares that might erupt if evolution is left unchecked.

At the same time, Collection Day looms. With The Grave Council in disarray, Mother Mayhem and Cassiopeia come to negotiate with Bravado’s citizens about a reformation within the Grave Council and revision of the sacred tradition of the Grave Tax. The Grave Council must evolve as the Rebellion continues, but the mystagogues and auditors wish to reestablish their society’s legitimacy in Bravado even after Reckoner-General Rampart’s fall from grace.

Sitting at the edge of a possible mass extinction event, Bravado must salvage the remains of Waking Prime to save themselves from total annihilation while building the pillars of their future society. How will the townsfolk of this rebellious boom-town survive an evolutionary leap into the next epoch of San Saba history?

Inspiration & Tropes

This season in Bravado we have focused on bringing some new elements of Survival Horror to the forefront of the story. In our tradition of Radical Trust, we want to share some of the inspirational bits of media and movie magic that we feel help capture the themes and feelings of our upcoming event. If you are looking for a movie to inspire your role play for this event, here’s a list of our favorites to get ready for WHISPERS FROM THE DEEP:

• Resident Evil

• Parasite EVE (Video Game)

• Cabin in the Woods

• Mimic

• The Crazies

For this event, the common theme is that “evolution doesn’t have a plan. It makes frequent, catastrophic mistakes”. Waking was a city of a mad scientists, using technology beyond their ken to tinker with things that should not be. With the Board in exile, and the city in the control of their enemies, no one is left to contain these projects, and sometimes something goes wrong.

This event also plays on the ideas of “Mad Science Gone Wrong”. The world is being forcibly evolved because of the horrors within Waking. Experiments created in attempts to play God have now escaped and are wreaking havoc on the world. We are looking extinction in the face because scientists focused on if they could without ever considering if they should.

As strange new creatures emerge from Waking, echoes of these experiments can be seen in the horrors like the Necrophage, the terrors within Killhouse Prison, and all of the mutant monstrosities unleashed on the town last year. With this new lingering threat emerging, can you save the town from the disastrous consequences of unchecked evolution?

CONTENT WARNINGS

The themes of Dystopia Rising often touch close to our real world in ways we cannot always avoid. The DR:TX team believes that we can still tell these stories about challenging topics, but we also believe we need to be transparent about our intentions and set proper expectations for our content. In our tradition of radical trust, we want to also trust in each player that attends our game to know their own limits and be able to choose to avoid topics and situations that make them uncomfortable.

It’s important to watch for descriptions, situations, or events that you might want to avoid. You may find new limits that are unknown to you because the matter never came up. We encourage you to take the necessary steps for your own emotional safety. We want you to be comfortable with the types of horror in our events so you can enjoy the thrill of the zombie apocalypse and the nightmare creatures we introduce into the game space.

It’s one reason we take our OK Check-In system so seriously! We understand that these may not be stories you want to participate in, and that’s okay! Remember, you can always use the OK Check-In System to choose to leave a scene, even CVC!

You can always find a list of our Content Warnings on our website, but let’s talk about some of the specific things you might want to be prepared for during this February event.

Overall, this next event focuses heavily on the themes of BODY HORROR, LOSS OF AGENCY, and TAX COLLECTION. These can be some serious themes, so let’s talk about some content warnings of note for WHISPERS FROM THE DEEP:

Body Horror, grotesque or disturbing mutations, visceral costumes and props

• Certain creatures this weekend will have disgusting and visceral costumes and props that might require you to interact with sticky, gross, or terrible looking things. These props will change the features of certain threats, and should be repulsive and terrifying.

• If a module requires you to interact with chemicals or substances that might stain your clothing or costumes, we will announce these aspects as a “SPLATTER MOD”. We will try to give you a fair warning before engaging with these challenges, but we cannot guarantee clothing or items may not be affected by the disgusting goo in our mods.

LOSS OF AGENCY, UNSTOPPABLE THREATS, Consequences AFTER DEATH

• Some threats during this weekend will not be things you can truly kill. Much like the Tyrant in Resident Evil, while you may be able to defeat them temporarily, these are threats meant to survive and endure, not overcome. As evolution itself runs out of control, these threats will continue to return after being killed and continue the pressure of their attacks. You’ll need to run and hide, rather than trying to make a valiant last stand.

• There will be mechanics during this event that return the recently dead back to play as a new threat. This is a powerful way to restrict your character’s agency after death, but will not be something you can avoid if you get put into certain situations.

• Many horror stories involve this concept of loss of agency, where you are powerless to stop a monster that is itself a metaphor for the relentless advance of time, death, or war.

TAXES, RENT, AND DEBT COLLECTION

• Each April we feature the Grave Council tradition of COLLECTION DAY. While this is on it’s face a way to represent the horrors of financial burden and mimic the real life stress of tax day, it’s also a big part of how the town continues to support one of the major factions.

• There will likely be conflict over how the Grave Council attempts to collect debts incurred over the course of the season. If you notice on the bottom left corner of your character sheet, you might see a GRAVE TAX owed if you’ve died during this season. This is a monetary amount in Brass that your character may be expected to owe by the end of the event. While there are ways to ask for forbearance or have this debt taken by another, you may encounter NPCs asking to “check your contract” for their debt. Be prepared!

FORCED EVOLUTION & RAD DAmage

In our tradition of Radical Transparency, let’s discuss some key mechanics that could happen to your character during WHISPERS FROM THE DEEP.

If you are caught alone on the battlefield with certain threats, they may convert you to their cause by a spontaneous evolution before the Mortis Amaranthine takes you with a FORCED EVOLUTION.

Forced Evolution

Upon taking a “Forced Evolution” call, writhe in pain for 10 seconds before rising again and fighting for [REDACTED] with the following stats.

30 BODY, Strong Limbs (Immune to Mangle), Keywords: [REDACTED], Once per flurry/reload deal Radiation Damage. Radiation Damage inflicts both Mind and Body damage at once.

Upon death, report to Ops. Return from The Grave Mind with Radiation Sickness Stage One.

Similar to being devoured by zombies with Cannibalism, if this attack hits your character they will be D-E-A-D, slain by the [REDACTED]. After your death, instead of proceeding to Ops to get your death scene, you’ll first return to play as a NPC threat. You’ll join the horde of enemies, and try to kill your friends until you are stopped for good.

Let’s cover this attack in a bit more detail.

• This attack counts as a Killing Blow. It’ll only be used on bleeding, helpless, and dying characters, so it’s not really something that can take you down in a single hit.

• It’s not a Murder effect, so armor like the Striker’s Coat won’t prevent this effect. However, stuff that stops a Killing Blow can prevent this effect.

• You cannot use most Skills, Equipment, or Abilities during this Forced Evolution. You are just a reanimated corpse, so you can’t do much other than attack.

• You can use still use the basic damage of your weapons (even firearms!) during this brief return from death, but cannot use activated abilities of the item. Rad Bullets sound pretty scary to me! We will also have some white brawlers available for you should you fall to this effect without a weapon handy (or if your friends disarm you.)

• Since your body isn’t really YOU anymore and you aren’t really dead yet, certain skills like Faithful Will won’t be very useful on the creature you become. This means it may be hard for your friends to prevent an Infection loss if get up and wander away.

• Once this Forced Evolution has ended, you can collapse on the ground dead for a brief time before headed to Ops. Once this has happened will effects like Faithful Will or Necrokinetics be again useful on your corpse.

Let’s talk briefly about the other prominent mechanic during this event, Radiation Damage.

Rad Damage (P. 105)

This is a mechanical damage effect normally associated with radiation or irradiated creatures. Radiation damage cause an equal degree of lost Mind as it does Body.

This is a dangerous effect you might have seen before on Glow Boys and Toxic Terrors. When damaged by this type of attack you lose both Mind AND Body, so it’s particularly devastating. For example, if the threat calls “5 Rad!” on an attack that hits you, you lose 5 Body and 5 Mind from the wound.

• Radiation Damage by itself doesn’t inflict Radiation Sickness, the disease most commonly associated with irradiated creatures.

• These attacks can (and should!) be Avoided, and are generally delivered by a melee Strike or a Ranged Attack with a packet.

• If the attack is called by an AOE or Sound of My Voice call, these effects cannot be Avoided, and must be prevented by mechanics that stop AOE effects.

• Armor doesn’t stop Rad Damage. If your got hit by a “5 Rad!” hit while wearing 20 Armor, you would lose 5 Mind and have 15 Armor remaining.

Small attacks with Radiation Damage may not be worth using Avoid on, as spending the Mind on the defense may be more costly than the damage you’ll take. But, take enough of those small hits and you won’t have the remaining Mind to dodge the next big hit! Ouch!

wrap up

That’s it for today, Vados!

We hope that you will come join us for our next event, led by the very talented Noah Goodman. We have some fun surprises in store for you during this game, and we hope that you are ready to EVE-OLVE your tactics to fight the dangerous new enemies facing Bravado. Will you be able to help contain the danger within Waking? Will you fight for the soul of the Grave Council as they take steps forward into this brave new world? Will you pay your Grave Tax?

Next week we will recap some of the important events from our last game, and catch up to speed on all the story continuity you’ll need as we face the WHISPERS FROM THE DEEP! See you soon, Vados!

Tickets are on sale for our april event now! Don’t miss out!

Scope of Setting & DR:TX

Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with a special DR:TX Rules Ramble! This week, before we get started into our previews of our April event WHISPERS FROM THE DEEP, led by Noah Goodman, I’d like to discuss some changes that are ahead for our game on a broader network level and what it means for each of you.

• TICKETS FOR OUR APRIL EVENT ARE ON SALE NOW! WILL YOU BE READY FOR THE CHALLENGES ESCAPING FROM DEEP INSIDE THE HUSK OF WAKING?

• If you had a great experience at our last event GIFTS OF SUFFERING or had some suggestions for how we can improve, we’d love to hear from you! Did you get to take one of the Crowns of Suffering for yourself? Did you hear Brother Agony explain why he was “helping” the town? Did you help the Rebellion fight the first battles of the war against the San Saba Board? Let us know!

  • Fill out our Feedback Form!

  • Nominate another player for a Community Achievement!

Our photos for this post were taken from our March 2023 DR:TX event by the talented Heather Halstead.

tl;DR

In our DR:TX tradition of Radical Transparency, I’d like to cover a few big changes that are going to be implemented over the next few months, and briefly recap the past few months.

Here’s the basics, or TL;DR:

• We have a new license contract with Michael Pucci, the original creator of DR.

• The “national” team doesn’t really exist anymore. Everything goes through the local game now.

• We have some changes to story planned to happen by the end of our season to bring our setting in line with our new contracts:

  • The scope of setting is going to change to focus more on Bravado and less on the San Saba Territories as a whole.

  • Some of our local mechanics need to change, notably our San Saba Sundries and the SES Buy List items.

  • Some of our DR:TX locations and factions will need to be adjusted to avoid certain Canon content from the published materials.

• DR Live is still coming, and we are currently in the feedback process on the Player’s Guide and Guide’s Guide. There’s still a lot to do, but the progress is very cool!

This is a bit of a longer blog post, so buckle up. Let’s cover the specifics in detail:

Changes, changes, changes

In early January, a serious incident occurred on the DR: Michigan Discord with Kyle Elliot, the previous owner of the DR Network, that led to a week of anxiety that nearly ended the entire game as we know it. His behavior caused the closing of several chapters, and led to a lot of serious conversations about how to proceed in a network where the owner was not really someone we could reprimand. For a few days, there were very real talks about ending our chapter and contracts entirely, and it was a lot of stress for basically anyone involved with DR, players and staff alike. Shortly after, Michael Pucci made the hard decision to reclaim his license rights to the intellectual property from Kyle and formed a new company called Larp License LLC. The silver lining of this drama is that we can now license the game from the original creator of Dystopia Rising, but that means that the entire structure of “DR National” will need to change as part of the process.

In the weeks that followed, I took over the business of DR:TX from Shan Lindley as the full owner of the Texas chapter, though this means very few actual changes for our game. I’ve been in charge of the day-to-day affairs since January 2023, so most of the stuff that needs to be done every month like taxes and bills was already a thing I was responsible for. Most of this was simply updating contracts and paperwork, and updating various services we use as a business. We’ve completed most of this process now and in early February, we signed a new business contract with Larp License LLC for the right to continue running Dystopia Rising events. For our part, this has meant business as usual for our chapter with a few key differences.

First, “DR National” no longer exists in the form it did before the change to our licensing contract. In fact, it doesn’t really exist at all. The new contracts are designed in a way to prevent the kind of pseudo-franchise decisions that were common in Kyle’s National network previously from happening at all. The DR Network Support team run by Michael and Catie will be limited to the licensing support stuff, like collecting license fees, maintaining the databases, and updating general docs for our games to use to run their chapters. The new structure means that that the local chapter and not “national” is now the primary source for conflict resolution, rules changes, and pretty much everything needed to run the game.

You can find a great description of this new organization on the new website, Dystopia Rising Live. The other main difference with this new Network Support team is that we don’t really have any group with overarching control over our games like we did before, other than some rules set out in our contracts. The new focus of the Network Support is complete transparency, and publishing new materials for Dystopia Rising, and you can see a lot of these changes over at the new landing page of the national website.

Secondly, we’ve gained a spot and a voice on a new National Advisory Board where we meet with the other owners of DR chapters across the nation to decide how we structure big changes to our games and maintain consistency across the network. This is kind of the new “National”, and Amber and I hold the seats for our game. We’ve even recorded the first meeting that anyone can reference here on the Network Meeting Recordings page. This is a much more community-driven process and it’s enabled a lot more communication between the various owners of games. As long as we stay current on our payments for the license, we get to be a member in good standing on this board. This is a great way to contribute to the growth and development of each branch, while also make sure everyone is on the same page for our setting and our game. We have our second meeting coming up soon, so stay tuned for more updates here.

Lastly, we have some new rules and frameworks that we need to abide by as part of our new licensing contract. Our contract allows us to use the Dystopia Rising world under certain conditions. While most of this is common sense business needs like maintaining contracts, community engagement, bank accounts, insurance and such, we have a few promises we need to keep regarding the genre of the game we run, how we use the licensed canon content, and what the scope of our local game is. These obligations mean we need to make a few immediate changes to keep our game in line with the new contract and make sure we can comply with the rules going forward.

How does this impact us?

As part of our new contracts, we have pretty much total control over our own “town” narrative space, providing us a canvas for creative storytelling and the immersive experience you know and love. We get to control our own local story, and we can tell a narrative that fits into the thematic essence of the world of Dystopia Rising.

However, this creative freedom comes with some responsibilities to adhere to our scope of setting, genre guidelines and canon world details. Right now, we need to make some changes to fully uphold these responsibilities.

Our goal is to implement these changes by the LAST GAME of the season in MAY 2024, and fully shift our story and setting over the summer.

In order to meet these guidelines, I’d like to talk about the immediate changes you’ll see as we continue our season.

Scope of Setting - the big one

Currently, the scope of our game needs to change to focus away from the San Saba Territories as a whole, and instead bring the story back home to Bravado. As part of our new contract, we no longer have any actual or implied broad authority over the entire state of Texas and instead only really control our town of Bravado and the immediate surroundings. This is a pretty big change to be honest, but I’m confident that we still have plenty of stories to tell about our town.

This means that far away areas like Barogue, Widow’s Peak, the Clutch, Star City, Fort Worthless, the Dune Sea, and even Essex will need to take a step back from our story as we continue. These places won’t stop existing in our story, but they will fade in priority as we shift our focus closer to Bravado. It also means some of our player story areas like Lucky Town and Falken Castle will likely remain in the background going forward. Some areas may need to even change slightly, but I’ll cover that shortly.

However, we’ve only scratched the surface of some big mysteries of closer areas that ARE within our scope and nearby locations like the crashed airship city of Waking, the strange underground Facility below the town of Bravado, and the nearby Junkerpunk settlement of Drywater are great examples. We still have some fun ideas that can build on these locations and help draw our focus back to Bravado proper.

Luckily, Heather and I were already planning on a similar shift of focus in our stories and the new Bravado Rebellion and war against the San Saba Board will provide us an excellent story reason to support these upcoming changes. As the war continues, you can expect to see Bravado cut off from some of the other areas in the San Saba, and several of our allies and enemies moving closer to our town so they can remain relevant in the stories to come. I’m working on a new local map of our surrounding areas, and Heather and I have a lot of cool plans for updating our setting over the summer with our new and current Storyteller Senate.

Genre Guidelines

This is probably the easiest change to consider, as I believe we do a pretty good job of enforcing our genre in DR:TX. While the technology of the wastelands remains at a pre-Industrial Revolution there are a few specific exceptions of our setting that push this limit. However, there will be some impact on the complexity of our Local Rules and Mechanics. I know I love crunchy custom rules, but I honestly think this is a pretty good thing overall, especially for new players.

The general genre of DR is described as “brutal, charming, and believable enough”

You can find more information about these two Guidelines here:

• Genre Guide for 3.0

• Scope of Technology Guide

One big place that will be impacted is the San Saba Sundries, the items tied with the various factions of our game. Our Factions are generally tied to the larger world of the San Saba Territories, and these other locations in the setting. While these aren’t being removed right away, we want to encourage you to use these items for big and cool scenes as we finish out our season. It’s possible we will try to revamp these over the summer, and I don’t want you to miss out on getting to do the cool thing with your factions.

The second place impacted will be our SES Credits, so we want to give you time to use these points before the end of the season. While these were originally tied to the Red Ledger, a national faction created by the DR:TX team, the way these National factions work in the future will be determined by plot kits released by the licensing company and future publications. This is another big area we will need to revisit over the summer, so be prepared for changes here.

Lastly, the scope of our War Mechanics will eventually be reduced, as these are still heavily tied into the greater world of the San Saba Territories. We will likely keep some of the core mechanical framework in our other local setting stuff, but we want you tell big stories with the Rebellion as we continue towards a new and exciting future for Bravado.

Canon World Details

The last big change is that we need to be careful with the impact of our story on Canon events and canon world details of the greater world of Dystopia Rising. A big chunk of our setting is based on the 2.0 Dystopia Rising sourcebook, Embers of the Irradiated Wastes, but most of this material is canon material not specifically licensed for our game to use ‘in game’. This means that while our setting and characters can always refer to big places like Star City and New Austen, they will always need to stay just ‘off camera’ and we can’t really directly interact with them. However, some of our in-game locations and events tread a bit too closely on this canon content and will need to change.

In general, we won’t be able to really use NPCs that are mentioned in the books (like General Mustang, the Violet Princes, etc.) without written permission, impact any major city or faction in the published material (like the Rangers), or effect much outside the confines of our immediate local area of Bravado. We won’t be able to blow up whole cities, kill off major characters, or really cause any major changes to the setting outside of our town.

One of the major reasons behind this change is that Michael intends to write several new books to support the next edition of Dystopia Rising, including the first updates to settings locations since 2.0. This is a real exciting update, as it will be a great opportunity to update the canon of the world with the stories we’ve told since we started DR:TX back 12 years ago. I’m currently working on a document to send to Michael regarding major canon events of our game over the past 12 years. My goal is not to invalidate these years of story, but make sure that the big things get to be honored in any upcoming publications concerning the setting of the Lone Star and the state of Texas.

While most of our DR:TX locations are in the gray spaces of the map and won’t really impact the canon setting as a whole, our story of the San Saba Board will come to an eventual conclusion. While this was always the plan, The Board represents a major settings defining organization, so you won’t see anything similar emerge from the ashes of its fall as the rebellion continues. The fall of the Board will be designed to move our local setting back closer to the status quo described in the books with individual locations being mostly unconnected. Likewise, this means we will never really impact Star City, Fort Worthless, or General Mustang in a major way, as these are published canon locations and characters. Even as we move to end the war with the Board and the new Mustang Loyalists, you can expect our villains to be a bit more local in the future.

This also means many of the larger San Saba factions like the Grave Council, the San Saba Republic, the RRC, the Junkerpunks, and more will need to also adjust their setting focus and where they are based. We want these factions to continue to matter in our stories to come, so you’ll see these groups establish a few more local faces and nearby locations rather than focus on far away locations outside our purview of the hometown setting. But it’s not really possible to keep tying these groups tied to a bigger San Saba area as a whole, so we need to bring the focus back to Bravado proper.

Lastly, Essex, the City of Light and Sound, will need some significant changes in the near future. Originally, this location was designed as a stand-in for the canon location of “New Austen”. While we didn’t really ‘replace’ New Austen, this location was always supposed to be nearby to Essex, and we just eventually stopped referring to it as we shifted to 3.0 and even removed it from some in-game maps. It’s my hope we can still keep a lot of our local lore about this location intact or make some slight adjustments, but it’s technically outside the range of our setting and too close to the canon location of Austin. We’ll have more information on this soon.

DYSTOPIA RISING Live

As the new edition of Dystopia Rising approaches, we will need to be mindful of the various unique items, our impact on the canon story, and the scope of the story as we move forward. However, the most exciting part of all of this is that a BRAND NEW EDITION of our game is on the way. All of these upcoming changes are really just going to help us support the shift to a new edition, and I’ve never been more excited about the future of our game and our shared stories.

The next edition of our game, Dystopia Rising Live, is currently in the feedback and editing stages with the various owners of the National Advisory Board. I’ve had the privilege of reading the new Player’s Guide and Guide’s Guide and I’m very excited about the new materials. We’ve been going over the books, suggesting edits and updates, and preparing for the next round of feedback from our Admin teams and other Directors. We’ve already seen some really promising changes to the books based on feedback from the owners, so it’s definitely a community-led effort to get these books ready for our games. Once that step is done, you’ll likely see the new rule books for yourself soon enough, and a chance to provide your own feedback.

If you watched the last recorded Advisory Meeting, you likely saw a preview of the brand-new database and a teasing glance at the character builder for DR Live. However, this is only the first part of what we will need to start true play testing, so there’s still many, many, months of this process ahead. There are some possible play-test events happening next fall, but a lot of that is still very tentative and in no way set in stone.

there is no real firm timeline for all of this — DR Live is still a ways off.

While the core books are in the process of being edited, there’s still a lot of work to do on settings materials, blueprints, threats, and more. Only a portion of the books are at the editing stage, so this isn’t something you’ll need to worry about immediately. There’s a lot more to finish before we can move to larger play tests of the next edition, but it is slowly getting there. As we get more information on the next edition, we will share everything we can with you, so stay tuned to see more. I’m already chomping at the bit to write a few Rules Rambles over the new mechanics.

In the meantime, you’ll start seeing some new Local Items that start including some teases of future mechanics and ideas, and we may even schedule some play-test DR Live combats and similar mechanics soon if you’d like to be involved directly in helping get the next edition ready.

wrap up

That’s if for today Vados!

Next week, we will dive into the WHISPERS FROM THE DEEP, our next DR:TX event led by the talented Noah Goodman. Rumors have it that the recent occupation of Waking by the Mustang Loyalists has stirred up some trouble deep in the husk of the city, and new and dangerous threats are emerging from the depths.

Tickets are on sale now, and next week we will talk about the premise of the event, some of the inspirations you can consider, and some of the key mechanics for the game. See you soon Vados!

Get your tickets for April today!

Rules You Should Know - March

Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our March live event GIFTS OF SUFFERING! This is our next ST led over-arc game, led by Andrew Harper. Each week, I’ll discuss in detail an aspect of the upcoming event, compiling the rules and lore into one easy place to read! This week, we are covering some of the last minute rules you should be ready for this weekend!

• TICKETS FOR OUR MARCH EVENT ARE STILL ON SALE AT THE DOOR! MAKE SURE YOU DON’T MISS OUT ON CLAIMING YOUR OWN FINAL KNIGHT RELIC!

Our photos for this post were taken from previous DR:TX events by our talented Photo Team, by Max Pohlmeier, Lauren Guzaldo, Sidney Betzina, and Jason Dumas.

ONE LAST GIFT FROM BROTHER AGONY…

While the most prominent Gift from the wandering Final Knight monk is the Crowns of Suffering, Brother Agony does have a message for those willing to take up the mantle of his crowns:

You have sealed the Obelisk against The Prince Undying, but I assure you it is but a barred door that he shall seek to test and break through again and again.  

Do not let him. 

If you but accept my gifts then I shall give you one more.  A ritual to bolster the Obelisk and deflect the power The Prince Undying sets against it for a time.

You shall want all the faiths.  Even if they do not see as true as we do, there is still power in them.  So we shall take that power and bend it to a worthy goal.  To defy The Prince Undying yet again.  And so take our humble place in this legend of his eternal defeat.

Brother Agony

Well, if it’s for the good of the town I guess I could be convinced to claim a Crown.

Or two.

To make sure that you can each focus on the CONFLICT that the Crowns bring to town, Brother Agony has also brought a special change to the world:

BLOOD MOON

To enable the CVC centric plot of GIFTS OF SUFFERING, the usual 4-hour requirement before attempting theft is waived at game on. This supersedes the 4-hour limit for CVC play listed on p. 162-163. The time restrictions for lethal CVC must still be met.

Enjoy the suffering faster!

LAST MINUTE LOGISTICS

We’ve received a lot of great feedback from our last game, and we are hard at work responding to some of the key behaviors we can improve going forward. Based on your suggestions, we’ve made some immediately changes you’ll see as soon as our February event:

• Make sure you check out our last blog post on a few settings updates that might be important for this weekend - Age of Rebellion Blog Post

• We’ve dramatically revamped our war game mini plot to be more forgiving, more approachable, and less narrow that it was originally designed. This new ruleset is still designed to be optional and most of this will be available to see on Zones of Mechanics and at the War Table in the Depot.

  • You don’t have to memorize anything, but if you like reading over this kind of thing in advance, here you go!

• War Supplies are now much easier to make and can be made without such a large expenditure of resources. In addition, anyone can recruit a Combat Unit for the war game now, without needing to go through specific folks in the Militia. Lastly, anyone can participate in the war games throughout the weekend, so check out the War Table in the Depot for more info!

• We’ve planned a few NPCs to leave the story based on feedback, and you should see these stories come to a close by the end of the season. We are continuing to find ways to improve our behaviors regarding continuity and Face NPCs as well, and have already started some additional ways to collect after action reports for key characters.

• We’ve received the copies of the 42 new Benediction prints from the Great Revival. You’ll be able to make copies of these Blueprints starting this weekend! You can find a list of the new prints on our Blueprint Checklist!

• Daylight Savings happens this weekend. Saturday night, we will LOSE an hour as the Final Knights enact their ultimate plan for suffering. Prepare accordingly!

Rules You Should Know

Let’s cover a few of the basic mechanics that might be relevant this weekend.

AGONY

Countered by Basic Mental Endurance if delivered by an AOE or Sound of Voice call, or by Avoid if delivered by a Strike or Ranged Attack. Agony is an ability that causes intense physical and/or mental pain in the character affected, making it difficult if not impossible to act through the torment. This effect normally lasts 10 seconds if not otherwise specified, and during that time, the character cannot use Skills or items but can move at a slow pace and defend themselves. Agony Interrupts skills being used when it is called.

That sounds like pain and SUFFERING to me. Surely this won’t come up a lot during this weekend…

Some important details to remember:

Agony is a versatile skill used by several different entities in Dystopia Rising. While affected by this ability, you may not use Skills (including weapon skills!) or items, but can move slowly and act defensively. This means no brews, no gizmos, no armor, no weapons, nothing!

• This attack interrupts all Skills being used, including Crafting. Remember, if you start using a new Skill while working on that expensive Artisan project, you will also be Interrupted. If you use Mental Endurance to resist the effect, you will Interrupt yourself. Best be careful about crafting while [REDACTED] are about.

• Agony is often a precursor to more dangerous attacks like Break and Mangle, so remember you can’t Avoid while under the effects of Agony. 10 seconds is a LONG time in the heat of combat!

• The Candlepin Survival Pack can protect you from this attack, but remember this is a Supply Bag item and cannot be stacked with a Freeiron Dry Pack. You can use either or, but not both!

• The Battle Hymn is probably the best single defense against Agony, as it gives you an Upsurge protect and simply makes you immune. This is the only way to avoid interruption from Agony, as the effect simply doesn’t happen. Remember, an Upsurge only lasts one hour, so make it worth it!

BAPTIZED

A character that has been inducted into a faith, normally through the use of Basic Faithful Patterns, is considered to be Baptized into the faith. They gain the name of their faith as a Keyword, for the purposes of certain abilities that only affect members of a certain faith.

It’s a simple rule that involves Keywords, but remember if you are considered to be Baptized, then that means you can interact with Faith items, Benedictions, and even other things that specifically target folks with that Faith. It also means if someone calls out a mass heal effect like Proficient Faithful Miracles, then you will also gain the benefit of the healing.

Surely monsters (or other players) won’t be using this against you this weekend…

Faith Bane

Bane is a type of damage that can be done to anyone with the matching Keyword. If the Bane damage hits the correct Faith, then they take double the damage called. For example, if 5 Final Knight Bane is called and hits someone that has been baptized into that faith, the character takes 10 damage. If the Faith Bane hits someone without that matching faith, then they only take 5 damage. If the target of the appropriate type Bane damage would normally take reduced damage from the source of the attack, Bane damage and the reduction cancel each other out and the Target would take the standard base damage. If a Target of Bane damage would normally be immune to damage due to the nature of the source, the Target of the Bane damage takes no damage and is still immune.

While one of the primary advantages of the Crowns of Suffering is a resistance to most damage, it does have a particular weakness - FAITH BANE. If you are hit by the Faith Bane and it matches your faith, you take DOUBLE damage.

Better get someone to heal you… oh wait…

Wrap Up

That’s it for today Vados! Short and Sweet!

This weekend, you’ll get to fight amongst yourselves for the honor, nay the privilege, of claiming one of Brother Agony’s GIFTS OF SUFFERING. Will you stand triumphant against the arrogant usurpers that would claim your rightful prize? Will you claim power and your true role among the Damned? Will you thwart those who would promote the false truths of the divine? Will you uphold the laws of Hell and trust not those that claim knowledge of those laws? Will you bring suffering where you can and take power at all times?

Let’s find out together, as we claim the GIFTS OF SUFFERING…

TICKETS ARE STILL ON SALE AT THE DOOR! SEE YOU THIS WEEKEND!