It’s Jonathan here again with another Rules Ramble! Each week, I’ll introduce a topic that will be important in an upcoming game, explain some new mechanic or system for DR:TX, or discuss a particular rule from the DR Corebook. In each ramble, I’ll focus on explaining that topic in more detail than the book alone can provide and help provide one place to reference all the various errata or rulings that might be relevant. Sometimes I’ll even drop a few Story Teasers or provide a summary of the last game in a Game Recap.
As we get ready for our next event this weekend, IMPRINT BY DESIGN, I'm going to be covering a bit about Rules You Should Know. We have a number of special things happening during this game, and we want to make sure you have a head start on any particular mechanics to watch out for. This week, we are going to cover a bit more about Imprint Dissonance and what that means for your character, and some dangerous threat skills like Bloody Evolution, Psionic Vampire, and Bloody Adaptation.
TICKETS ARE still on sale at the door! DON’T MISS OUT ON THE NEXT DR:TX EVENT!
Photo credits in this post are from Max Pohlmeier, Lainey Weiss, Crystal Louise Remy, and Noah Goodman.
Strain Changes & Imprint Dissonance
One of the first things to talk about today is STRAIN CHANGES. Last week, Brett assigned a bunch of folks a temporary Strain for this upcoming event as part of our pre-registration event. If you are still interested in this change, we will have an option for joining this plot at the door as well. We had a few questions on this, so I wanted to answer a few here.
I also wrote a bit about the requirements for Strains and Lineage Advantages, so it might be worth a read if you missed it.
Q: What exactly has happened to your character?
Leading up to IMPRINT BY DESIGN, your LC may have experienced some changes or differences in how they interact with the world. In the wake of the damage done by Nichol’s viral plague, people have reported strange genetic alterations. It appears that mutations have become more common after the Necrophage was released, a strange new side effect of the disease, and many people are experiencing unpredictable changes. Even those that were naturally immune might be susceptible to this new mutable imprint.
In fact, the affected LCs have been slowly manifesting the Strain Advantages and Role Play Burdens of a Strain that is NEW to them. A animal-like Remnant might suddenly lose the features they’ve had for years, as they shift into a Merican. That Elitariat might suddenly mutate into an Ascension, as they manifest the strange features of an Accensorite. Whatever the reason, folks seem to be fluctuating into entirely new Strains.
Q: When can I change my costume for the new Strain?
These changes have been slow and gradual for some, or drastic and rapid for others. But they have all been completed at least a week before game (in the nebulous time between trades). Feel free to roleplay how the change has manifested in that time for your LC, but it is an effect that is in play at game on so you can better plan a costume shift if necessarily.
TL;DR: all changes to Strains are in effect at game on and have been something your character has been dealing with for the last week.
Q: What are the mechanics for this change?
We talked a little about this in my first blog post for this event, but I’m including the rules below. Folks that are affected by the strange Strain change will be impacted by a new type of Role Play Burden. The mysterious Dr. Esgrove has offered a potential cure for this malady with his TITAN Process, but until that can be tested and refined in game here are the mechanics for this condition:
IMPRINT DISSONANCE (ROLEPLAY BURDEN)
Keyword. While a character is affected by IMPRINT DISSONANCE, they are caught in a state of flux and mutability between two different Strain imprints.
The affected character must either obviously Roleplay as the new Strain or use obvious costuming and makeup to represent the new Strain at least once per 12s. If you do not fulfill this burden by costuming or roleplay once per 12s, you lose 1 Resolve. If you cannot spend Resolve in this way, you gain a FRACTURE each time instead.
While affected by Imprint Dissonance, this character counts as a member of the NEW Strain for purposes of Strain meals, brews, and effects that target that Strain. They temporarily lose their former Lineage Advantage and gain the Lineage Advantage of the new Strain while affected by this Roleplay Burden. This Roleplay Burden effect cannot be cured or soothed as normal until specific conditions are met.
Q: Is this change permanent, and what does that mean for my character sheet?
This change is only permanent if you actively CHOOSE to keep the new Strain. During the event there will be an option to either KEEP your new strain, purposefully change to a DIFFERENT strain, or RETURN to your old Strain.
If you take the option to change your Strain, there will be some minor side effects that persist, but you will be allowed a permanent Strain Change without needing to spend the 1000 caps for a character rewrite. If there are some XP differences or weirdness with the rewrite, we will work with you to balance out the XP totals after the event. Note: like a normal rewrite, you will NOT be able to add new Infection as part of this process and you will keep the same Infection you had at the end of the event.
Player Factions & the Stakeholder’s Meeting
Last season, we had several player-led factions complete a series of tasks to gain an air of legitimacy with the San Saba Board. Several of these factions completed their application, paid the fees, and will now get to experience the rewards of being recognized by the various entities of the San Saba. While these player-led factions will never rival the eight main Stakeholder Factions, they do get to enjoy some new member benefits.
Three player-led factions were recognized during the Stakeholder’s Meeting, and will be recognized Society Memberships in the San Saba:
The Shields of the Lonestar
Ramguard
The Road Royals
In addition to voting benefits in the upcoming Stakeholder’s Meeting in May 2023, these factions will gain access to a custom Zone of Mechanics tailored to their faction that can be activated during a game for their crew in the style of the San Saba Socials.
Each of these ZOMs will have an Active benefit and a Passive benefit. The Active benefit will give members the ability to activate an Upsurge effect that lasts one hour, while the Passive benefit will offer minor Mind efficiency on a Skill once per twelves alongside a thematic bonus for the group. These bonuses will need to be activated each event by either paying a sum of Brass to the Post Office, or by turning over some of the Mysterious Ore in trade.
What if you weren’t here last season, or missed out on your chance at registering your crew with the San Saba Board?
Don’t worry, there will be copies of the ZOM: An Air of Legitimacy available this weekend and for the rest of the season at the Post Office for enterprising new player-led groups. This ZOM can be completed over the remainder of the season, and might require a few games to complete. This will require a bit of organization on your part to complete, as well as wrangling a few face NPCs to help your cause but if you complete this challenge you too can also unlock new benefits for your crew.
Threat Skills of Note
The San Saba can be a dangerous place. All the recent excavation under Bravado and delves into the facility beneath the town have stirred up some familiar local menaces, as well as some frightening new ones. One of these undead threats, the BLOODGHASTS, were first encountered in Season One during the December 2019 event THE BREACH and have remained a unique threat of the region. Thought to be corrupted Semper Morts left in a cryostasis tube for too long, these creatures emerge from the catacombs and tunnels beneath Bravado in the dark of the night.
These creatures have a number of Threat Skills you should be prepared for:
Cannibalism
Many types of threats possess the Cannibalism ability. This is distinct from the Gorger advantage, and works differently. If a target Lineage is unconscious, subdued, or in bleed out, this character can begin 30 seconds of brutal cannibalistic roleplay. While roleplaying ripping out pieces of meat and consuming the target Lineage, the target must roleplay being in incredible pain. If uninterrupted for the full 30 seconds of the roleplay, the user calls “Cannibalism: Reduce Bleed Out to 1 minute”. If the target is already under 1 minute left in bleed out, this has no effect. Multiple uses of Cannibalism by one or more zombies will not reduce the count further than one minute, but should be called anyway to alert players to the terrible thing occurring.
Bloody Healing
Bloodghasts can heal almost as fast as a Raider. This ability can be used to heal all wounds and fix all limbs instantly, similar to the Anger Mutations of more common raiders. This ability cannot be used in bleed out, but will be called during a fight. The NPC will call “Bloody Healing” loudly when this power is used. If you don’t quickly put a Bloodghast down, they will regenerate their wounds and keep attacking.
Bloody Evolution
Bloodghasts have a highly mutable system that can undergo spontaneous mutation and evolution, particularly after feeding on a dying survivor. If a Bloodghast is allowed to complete a Cannibalism call (see above), then they will increase in potency and danger instantaneously. If a Bloodghast uses this power, they will call “Bloody Evolution” and experience a moment of body wracking agony as they mutate. After this is done, they will fully heal, refresh all of their skills, and increase to the next Rank of their Threat Sheet. A Bloodghast Omega (Rank 1) will become a Bloodghast Beta (Rank 2), and will finally evolve into a Bloodghast Alpha (Rank 3). Scary!
Blood Frenzy
Bloodghasts can be dangerous foes, particularly to psions. The most powerful of their kind can go into a Blood Frenzy, and become immune to ALL Anomaly skills for 5 minutes. They can shrug off psionic compulsions as easily as a Pyrokinetic blast. When struck by a white packet or psionic effect, they will call “No effect, Blood Frenzy”. At the end of the 5 minutes these effect calls are dropped as if they had been canceled. This skill cannot be initially used as a counter (like Mental Endurance) or during bleed out.
[REDACTED] Threat Skills
Now that we’ve talked about some known threats, let’s discuss the mechanics you might see on some of those UNKNOWN threats.
Bloody Adaptation
The [REDACTED] can quick adapt to their enemies by a spontaneous mutation. The [REDACTED] will call “Bloody Adaptation” when struck with a source of damage OR modifier and gain Damage Reduction to that source of damage. Any source of this resisted damage will be reduced to a minimum of 1 damage. Only one type of damage can be resisted in this way at at time. That means if you use something like HORDE BANE or simply BODY damage repeatedly, the creature can adapt to your attacks and become tougher to kill.
Anomaly REsponse: Psionic Vampire
Many creatures can react to the unnatural Anomaly skills of psions with a power called “Anomaly Response”. When a psionic power is used within Line of Sight of the [REDACTED], it can drain the psionic potential from the target. The creature will call “Anomaly Response: Psionic Vampire! Line of Sight, 10 Mind damage, no Anomaly Skill use for 1 Minute!” When targeted with this ability, the psion cannot use Anomaly skills for the duration and loses some of their precious Mind points. It might be a good idea to stop using psionic powers near the [REDACTED] so it cannot feed on your psionic energy.
psionic cannibalism
[REDACTED] can feed on the emotional turmoil and aberrant energies of lineages as they are dying. This is represented by the skill call of Psionic Cannibalism. For all intents and purposes, this is treated as a use of the Cannibalism skill above and has the same effects. If uninterrupted for the full 30 seconds of the roleplay, the [REDACTED] calls “Psionic Cannibalism: Reduce Bleed Out to 1 minute”. Roleplay for this should still be loud and dramatic but the [REDACTED] will roleplay getting close to the target in order to bask and soak in their energies with cries of glee and hunger. The [REDACTED] feasts on the mental energies of the victim instead of physically tearing apart and consuming the target. It is still an agonizing process to the target and they should be encouraged to roleplay appropriately if needed.
That’s it for today Vados! We have a cool event in store for you, and while this might be a smaller game than normal due to the proximity to the holidays, I think we will have some fun roleplay, some dangerous bumps in the night, and perhaps an answer to the strange Imprint Dissonance impacting the town.
See you in a few days, Vados!