Hey there Vados! It’s Jonathan here with another Rules Ramble! This week we are going to cover updates for our game this weekend - THE CICATRIX. We are going to talk about some rules you should be aware of before game, and things you might see during our upcoming event. As always, the purpose of these Rules Rambles is to cover a topic in the DR rulebook or something that might show up in game in more detail than the book or ZOMs alone can provide.
While advanced ticket sales for the event are closed, you can still get tickets at the door!
Let’s get into a few topics that might be important for this upcoming game, including Death During a Morgue Crisis, The Stakeholder’s Meeting, and a few THREAT SKILLS that you might want to brush up on before the event.
Premise for “THE CICATRIX”
Let’s first look at the premise for the next event, a sneak peek into what is in store for our characters during the game:
The morgues in Bravado have stopped working. The dead have not returned for the better part of a month. Small shrines to the missing dot the long roads between settlements and the aberrant population reports that the wails of the dead, so often cacophonous in the psionically demented mind, are silent.
Takheeta Firstborn has been killed, cut low at the penultimate moment of her triumph, and transfigured into a Gravemind Shard; a kind of semi sentient intelligence that occupies a greater portion of the gestalt that is the local “Gravemind” itself. Her death has made way for General Rampart, new leader of the Grave Council, to impart policy. But, in evoking the Cantankerous Matrix to heal the Morgues across the San Saba, instead the Grave Council has metastasized a fatal threat to the Lonestar, and the Infectious Cycle itself. Over the past several weeks, tumorous protrusions have formed like a layer of scar tissue, cutting off the exit for the newly returned from the Grave.
Now, General Rampart has formulated a scheme to re-open the morgues across the Lonestar Wastes, not by punching through the thick layer of cutaneous tissue that has formed like a plug over every morgue the entire municipality over, but instead by treating the aberrance from the inside; by delving into the abyssal depths of the Mortis, through layers of skin and skein, to where the heart of the cancer pulses in darkness and filth.
In the midst of this emerging crisis, the politics of the San Saba Board still looms. The annual Stakeholder’s Meeting is scheduled for May, despite the threat of the broken morgues. During the Meeting, each of the contracted members of the various factions get to weigh in on the upcoming changes to the San Saba Charter, though some chafe against the law and protest the carnival of capitalism. Surrounded by machinations and manipulations, conspiracy and chicanery, wheeling and dealing, politics and persuasion. the leaders of the Board and their many plots stirs something dark beneath the ground.
Deep below New Bravado, and deeper still than the thin layer of biomass where the Gravemind, The Eightfold Mother supposedly lurks. Against resonant and bloodghast, recollection and reaver, the denizens of Bravado will need to combat the lurking memories that have pooled beneath the morgues like so much sump dump, and press upwards towards the surface until the scab breaks, and the biomass and blood may cleanly osmote between reality, and the Grave.
Hype Recap
We also had a few articles released from THE WASTELANDER, the premier newspaper of Essex, as well as multiple, amazing vignettes written by some of our talented STs.
Obstruction of Justice, by Beau Lee
Empty Hands, by Ed Sampson
We also had a recently announced GAUNTLET, featuring a bit of a contentious defendant:
We will also be enforcing our Local Rule of modified ARMOR COVERAGE rules to account for the extreme temperatures we expect to see this weekend:
Sounds like we are going to have a bit to deal with during the Finale, so let’s talk a two of the major things to consider for this game.
Death During a Morgue Crisis
During our last event, COLLECTION DAY, the final actions of Takheeta Firstborn achieved the unthinkable: a cure for the Plague that has wrecked the morgues. But in doing so, she has caused the morgues of the San Saba to scab over, a “cicatrix” that has healed a little too well.
Currently, EVERY morgue in Bravado is sealed with a thick scar tissue, preventing an exit from the Mortis Amaranthine. This prevents people from returning to life, as they are trapped in the NEAR DEATH, unable to escape. We even wrote a story about one such unfortunate soul in our hype.
The side of Takheeta’s ritual performed in April, the CROSSROADS, in the dead center of Bravado, has been cordoned off as part of the Grave Council’s efforts to try to fix the morgue. For this event, this new “morgue” will be the location that characters can emerge from, if the conditions are right. If this is made possible by in-game actions, I can assure you the escape from the morgue will be… messy.
What does this mean for your characters?
Without spoiling too much, if you die during the May event coming back from the closed-over Grave Mind will be… impossible. Starting on Friday night (Friday the 13th, if you are a TV that celebrates!), if you die in game you will NOT be able to return to play until they are able to find a way to try to fix the morgues of Bravado.
That’s right. For the moment, death is pretty damn final.
Your character will be stuck in the Mortis, compressed and twisted in with all the imprints of our survivors, zed, raiders, and more that were unable to escape. It’s a hellish existence, and you better hope your friends are able to find some way into the Mortis Amaranthine to try to retrieve you. It’s a good thing ya’ll didn’t do something like trap a terrible monster in the Grave Mind to share that same space with you.
If you die early, you will be able to switch to a different character or spend some time earning CAPS for extra NPC time. Either way, we recommend bringing an extra set of NPC clothes with you to Ops should your character get “stuck”, as we have gone all out on some extra goop, slime, and terrible things for you to deal with inside this new proto-morgue. You’ll be able to opt of the splatter if you want, don’t worry. For everyone else, I’d recommend a change of clothes.
Here’s a copy of the Zone of Mechanics that will be in play at the Crossroads at the start of the game, though this will get updated periodically throughout the weekend as the condition either worsens or improves.
As the weekend progresses and certain actions are taken, the process of returning from the Near Death will be made possible, but it will still remain incredibly taxing and difficult and it will have some… consequences. It’s up to you to determine if we can resolve this crisis before the end of the weekend, but I’m sure our RESEARCH folks are already on the task!
I even hear our friends up in the Sequoia Wastes have already sent a bit of help our way…
The Stakeholder’s Meeting
One of the side events of the upcoming game that I’m particularly proud of is the STAKEHOLDER’S MEETING. This is an annual event that we never got to explore when live games ended. It was always intended for one of the last games of the season, so now we get a chance to revisit the concept in the live game.
While the San Saba Board is tasked with day-to-day decisions, each year the Stakeholders of the various factions are given a chance to voice their interests in the Stakeholder’s Meeting. During this event, new laws can be considered for addition to the charter, new factions may seek entry to the Board, and major decisions can be weighed by the populace. Only those that hold a Contract may participate.
Let’s explore a bit how this will happen. I released a bit of a teaser on Monday on this, but I want to clarify some of the questions and make it very clear how the process will work.
Starting at game on, STAKEHOLDER’S BALLOTS will be available to pick up at the Post Office at the General Store. The Ballot will allow you to case your vote towards THREE big changes to the Laws of the San Saba that have been proposed by the Board. This all will be on a Zone of Mechanics at the Post Office and listed on the Stakeholder Ballots as well.
This is part of the actual ballot you’ll see in game.
Each character with SOCIETY MEMBERSHIP in one of the EIGHT San Saba Factions will be able to cast ONE vote. That means if you have an Advanced Membership, each of your alternate characters can vote!
Each vote cast counts for an amount based on your level of Society Membership. Basic Membership is 1 vote, Proficient Membership is 2 votes, and Master Membership is 5 votes.
Each character chooses a FACTION they will represent, and their HIGHEST Society Membership to vote with.
This means if you have Basic RRC Membership and Master Grave Council Membership you can choose either faction you like, but your final vote will count for FIVE votes!
Based on player feedback, there will even be a way for PLAYER Factions like the Ramguard, Road Royals, Rev Resupply, Lucky 7 or others to be formally recognized by the Board so that your Membership in those factions can count as well!
You can use the blank on the Ballot form to “write in” your local faction, but only those factions that complete the Zone of Mechanics will be able to count their votes. Player Faction votes will count as Basic Society Membership
I’ll be tabulating votes after the SIESTA, so make sure your vote is in before 2:00PM Saturday!
Ok, so now that you understand how to fill out the Ballot, what exactly are you voting on? There are THREE amendments being considered during this year’s meeting.
Each of these laws can be voted on either YAY or NAY. If you don’t want the law to pass, choose NAY! If you want the law to pass, choose YAY! ヽ(^o^)ノ
These laws will change the world of our game for the next season in measurable ways, so this is way for your player agency to really matter!
Each law has a certain amount of support from the Board, and a certain amount of opposition. YOUR votes will determine which way they lean, and you can do RESEARCH in game or simply talk with the Board members in person to ask about where they stand. Some votes will be harder to overcome than others, particularly if they are popular with the people of the San Saba.
The surviving members of the San Saba Board (poor Felicity) will be in town at 10:00 AM on Saturday to meet their constituents. They will leave that afternoon to cast their final votes from the opulent towers of Waking Prime sometime later (after I’ve finished counting the player votes).
There will be a way to possibly ADD a new Law or Amendment to vote on provided you can complete a very challenging Zone of Mechanics task, but you gotta have someone with a MASTER SOCIETY MEMBERSHIP in a San Saba Faction to do this. Make sure you find out from your friends if someone is trying to work on this task, and there’s already several players that have planned on trying to make this happen. It’s going to be VERY difficult to complete, but if you don’t succeed, you’ll have some chances to make this easier next season.
Lastly, let’s look at some of the Skill Calls you might hear this weekend:
Threat Skills of Note
I’ll cover these during the opening announcements as well, but there are a few skills you might see on monsters and enemies to keep in mind for this next event.
drowning & DEEP WATER
If an area is marked as a DEEP WATER area, you might have to contend with the Drowning mechanic. We first introduced this during BEYOND THE HORIZON, but you might encounter this effect during the event.
Effect. The Drowning effect immediately drops you to 0 Body, regardless of what you had left, and you immediately enter Bleed Out. This condition is normally inflicted by Aquatic enemies, included in DARK WATER zone of mechanic effects, or the threat skill Dark Water Strike. The Saltwise strain and Full Dead strain are immune to this effect.
Stampede
Given that the Morgues have been closed for a little over a month, many of the zombies that normally plague the Lone Star have dwindled. Creatures that FEED on the Undead like Murder Goat Deer are now looking for new food sources… like YOU! A skill you might see on a certain horned critter might be useful to understand before the game:
Skill. Generally found amongst herd critters, the call of “All <Critter Type> Stampede!” causes all such critters within sound of voice to all charge in a single direction for up to 10 large steps. During these 10 large steps the critters affected by Stampede have up to 10 uses of “Takedown” as a skill during the 10 steps that can be used on those in their way. If struck or affected by any damage or skills during Stampede all animals may call “No Effect: Stampede.” Stampede may not last for more than 10 seconds.
Ranged Reduction
Some [REDACTED] are especially hard to kill, particularly from weapons like guns. Ranged Reduction is a skill common to some of these threats, and makes them very difficult to deal with at range — Guns only deal 1 damage instead of 5! When they are also terrifying and lethal up close, this is an especially deadly combination. Special note here, if you can find [REDACTED] BANE ammunition, you can deal normal weapon damage to the threats with this ability:
Possessed by many zombie threats and some exceptionally armored critters, Ranged Reduction reduces the amount of damage taken from firearms, bows, and thrown weapons to the target. Ranged Reduction (Minimal) means that the target only takes 1 damage instead of 5 from a base Ranged Attack, which Ranged Reduction (Immune) means that the target does not take any damage from a base Ranged Attack. However, burst damage called would still have full effect on a target with either form of Ranged Reduction. Ranged BANE attacks do normal damage to the target, but do not double their damage.
Wrap Up
We have a great finale lined up for y’all and we can’t wait to see each of you for our last game of the season. Remember, you can still get tickets at the door if you didn’t pre-register!
Also, come prepared for the HEAT. It’s gonna be a hot one, so make sure you are hydrating early, wear a bit less armor, and try to be careful of overexerting yourself in the middle of the sunny day.
See you soon, Vados!