It’s Jonathan here again and it’s been a long summer, but it’s finally that time! It’s time for the start of our official SEASON FOUR, and that means a return of the weekly Rules Rambles you know and love. Finally, something to read on Wednesdays again!
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.
Today’s blog post will touch on a bit of things to keep in mind as we start our new season.
The Valley of Fear & The necrophage: PYroclasm
First off, tickets for our Season Opener just went on sale on MONDAY!
You can purchase your tickets for the event on our website or at the gate, but we’ve also got tickets for the NATIONAL EVENT after that one on sale too! You can also purchase your Advanced Memberships and even check out the Widow’s Fund if the summer has made attendance this season a bit harder.
We haven’t talked much about the Valley of Fear other than a few cryptic quotes we shared in an earlier post, so here’s a sneak peak of what to expect in our first game of Season 4:
The Valley of Fear
Before the Burning Season forced the San Saba into hibernation for the summer, dramatic changes to law and order in the wastes took root thanks to the work of the citizens of the tiny town of Bravado. A new law banning the sale and trafficking of Crystal Candy, new faces and new voting members on the San Saba Board, a mysterious accident in the floating city of Waking, and now — a missing Warden.
Tabitha St. Mercy - hounded, hunted, betrayed - caught off guard by enterprising people in Bravado, has disappeared from Prudence Penitentiary. In her place, a new Warden has taken control. Adam Moriarty, former Lifer, has stepped out from the shadows and the effects have rippled across the San Saba Territories. While major changes have been occurring at the prison commonly called “Killhouse”, life in the San Saba Territories has grown more dangerous.
People have gone missing. Roving bands of Vigilantes, often called “puppies” in a deriding fashion by some, try and help the Law Dogs. Their goal is to help enforce the newest laws, especially against Crystal Candy, and if a few skulls get broken, such is the way of things in the wastes. The Justices of Sin are more prevalent than ever, under the orders of Moriarty to help quickly pass judgement so that the Law Dogs can continue their crusade. Moriarty has even helped Wyatt break the backs of the Rotgut Family, former purveyors of the largest Crystal Candy pipeline in the San Saba and now they too sit in Prudence Penitentiary.
Despite the Board’s bold action against the drug trade of the San Saba, a prophecy of trouble has come true. Crystal Candy is still in abundance, and new pipelines are sprouting like weeds. There are even rumors of new and more addictive variations making their way to the marketplace.
And then there is Bravado - breeding ground for Saints and Miscreants - stuck in the middle of these wars between law and order, in a valley of fear…
We’ll go into more detail in the weeks to come about some of the story threads, characters of note, and plots you can expect for Season 4, so stay tuned and get your tickets locked in for our first event of Season 4!
Action Requests, Plot Requests, & PFAs
A new season means it’s time for a few pre-game activities. A few of these need to be submitted ASAP, so make sure you don’t wait until the last minute!
Action Requests
First up, if you have any Action Requests (pg. 13) like Master Criminal Influence, Hunting, Sailing, or Financial Influence it’s time to submit those requests! These need to be submitted BEFORE the game you attend, so you are already on the clock.
If you don’t know quite what these skills do, I wrote a whole blog post about them last season:
Check out the blog post: Action Requests & Plot Requests
submit your action requests here
Every game, our talented STs will work on making sure we have content for the major Action Request items but you might have a neat item or another reason to submit a request. We are hard at work on some upgrades to our boat mods for Season 4, and we have brand new STs this year to include into the machinations of designing devious Criminal Influence heists, or challenging hunts of a San Saba predator (this might apply to the Red Ledger too, now that I think about it)…
Remember, we won’t take Action Requests that are submitted the week of the game, so make sure you get these in ASAP! Don’t miss out on those Master Skill Mods and your rewards!
Character Backgrounds
It’s a new season, and I know a few of you have some new characters planned for Season 4. That means it’s time to submit a CHARACTER BACKGROUND, so we can know all the places to twist the knife and maybe even include something personal into our story lines for the season. What better way to help us understand your motivations and interests than literally telling us what makes your character tick?
You can include things like important Supporting Characters (SCs or NPCs) in your background and their name, such as family members, best friends, or mentors. Maybe you have some other Background Ties with other player characters that are tied to your story. What about an Important Location or some settlements and cities has your character visited previously?
Remember, please be brief, submit in bullet points or key notation format, stay local, keep any NPC Groups in your background as small as possible, double check your submission, be patient, be willing to answer questions or adjust your background as needed. Be open to suggestions to change locations, names, and events to have more relevant links to our story!
personal plot requests
Maybe you picked up some fancy new skills by attending travel games over the summer? Maybe you got a new Social Influence skill or you want to submit a few new rumors yourself. Maybe you want to share that fun story that happened over the Burning Season. Remember, you can spend those hard-earned CAPS to create some Rumors & Gossip with a PERSONAL PLOT REQUEST in addition to fun things like Mind refresh meals and custom Zones of Mechanics.
You might even have a neat idea for a Personal Plot Request in the form of a custom mod or story written by our talented Storytellers. For a mere 200 CAPs, you can submit your request for the new season. Our STs need some time to write these, so the sooner you submit the request the more likely it is that we can include it during our games! Don’t wait until the last minute!
Check out: Check-In Skills
submit your own Personal Plot Requests here
Read more about how you can spend CAPs here: Community Action Points
Remember, we won’t take Personal Plot Requests that are submitted the week of the game, so make sure you get these in ASAP! Our STs need some time to write these, so the sooner you submit the request the more likely it is that we can include it during our games!
Profession Focus Achievements (PFAs)
Maybe you want to use some of that XP you earned over the summer to purchase a new Profession Focus Achievement? Well, it’s easy enough to submit a Personal Plot Request, which is a require of the PFA process via our website, but I want to remind folks of a special DR:TX rule on PFAs:
In DR:TX you can have a PLAYER teach you a relevant PFA, but it still needs to be submitted as a Personal Plot Request so we can update your sheet and meet the rules in the book. We can still help with ST-led PFA mods, but we will only have a few spots each game to facilitate those requests. For instance, finding another player to teach you how to be a Graverobber can be a faster way to earn the PFA, and provide you neat roleplay and character ties at the same time!
Just like the other requests, we won’t take PFA Requests that are submitted the week of the game, so make sure you get these in ASAP!
wrap up
It’s great to be writing these blog posts again, and I have some plans for the upcoming weeks before the VALLEY OF FEAR! We have some exciting new changes this season, from new Work Orders, new Faction Buy Lists, a few location changes on our site, and more. We have a brand new team of Settings & Props folks working on ways to make our site and crafting areas more immersive, and maybe even a few new threats to hunt you in the moonlit darkness at Camp Kachina.
Next week, we will talk about some of the stories you should know, NPCs you might see, and important plot points that will be relevant throughout Season 4. After that, we’ll cover some of the changes in mechanics for Season 4, and as always, I’ll reserve a place for those last minute Mechanics You Need to Know the week of game. It’s coming up soon, and I hope you are ready!