It’s Jonathan here again with another Wednesday 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.
This week, we are going to discuss Rules You Should Know for the upcoming game this weekend, including new Illustrated Item Cards, Mysterious Ore, Variant Crystal Candy, new Roleplay Burdens, Clue Cards, and more!
Tickets are still on sale at the door for VALLEY OF FEAR! See you this weekend!
We had an amazing comic by Beau Lee and Aesa Garcia drop on Monday with a story update for this weekend, so check it out if you haven’t already!
You can also submit official Feedback about our events through our Feedback Form.
Rules you SHould know
TL;DR This is a bit of a long post, and it contains SPOILERS. Reader beware.
This weekend also has a new experiment for DR:TX - new ILLUSTRATED ITEM CARDS! We will be premiering SIX types of new Item Cards that are variations of the Local Plot Item cards. These card will be printed with the rules for the item on one side, and a custom illustrated back designed by Shan, one of our Directors. These cards will be very obvious and will stand out when you find them in play.
Let’s talk about these item cards first, and then we’ll cover a few quick new rules at the end.
Mysterious ore
This first one we are going to be a little coy about. It’s Mysterious Ore, after all. It’s literally in the name.
This weekend will be the first game where you can acquire this new type of limited currency in DR:TX. There will be a finite amount of these items in play, so they will have some value by scarcity alone. Mysterious Ore has no specific function by itself, and is the only Illustrated Item Card this weekend without rules on the card. But it WILL have a use at some point this season.
People that attend our NECROPHAGE National Event will have even more opportunities to gather Mysterious Ore as well. In fact, every person that pre-regs for PYROCLASM will get one of these items at Check-In! We’ll have more on this in our lead up to The Necrophage: Pyroclasm next week.
The primary way to find Mysterious ore this weekend is by helping out the game with some extra NPC time.
Guides, STs, and Players alike can participate in a new Zone of Mechanics that will be in the world somewhere. I’ve even included an image of the ZOM: A Vein of Mysterious Ore below. This ZOM will require you to go out of character and spend additional time as an NPC while you are “mining” inside the Morgue, and can even get you an additional FULL MIND REFRESH for completing an additional four hours of NPC time. September is always a bit lighter game for attendance due to the lingering summer heat, so the extra help will be appreciated and rewarded!
Mining in the Mortis Amaranthine sounds like a lovely idea though. I’m sure nothing bad will happen.
Probably.
In the words of a few new local characters in Bravado “ROCK AND STONE! It’s time for some DIGGY DIGGY HOLE!”
clue cards
Hmm.
These items are pretty self explanatory, but this is an important part of Ted LeBeau’s over arc story for VALLEY OF FEAR. Each DR: Texas game will often have some things we call “plot scaffolding” during the weekend. Sometimes, it might be a series of Research Challenges that need to be completed, or a series of Resource Sinks that require you to turn in herb or scrap, or sometimes you might just have a Monster of the Week to track down and kill (like Grandfather Nichols, or a Raider Queen!). This Plot Scaffolding is how the main plot is resolved, and it’s often a key mechanic of the weekend.
VALLEY OF FEAR is no different, and this takes the form of the CLUE CARD. These items will be found in certain situations and will be useful for understanding more about the nature of the weekend story. The new Warden of Killhouse is definitely up to something, but it’s up to you to find out how deep the rabbit hole goes…
There are two ways to use a Clue Card:
First, you can simply tear up the card and get a free use of one of three Skills — Avoid, Balance, or Basic Awareness. But, by collecting TEN of the Clue Cards, you can turn them into the Post Office for a piece of the puzzle — information about the mysterious Adam Moriarty, the Spider of Killhouse.
These items will be found throughout the weekend, and will have a bit of flavor text to describe the clue itself, but these might be in the pocket of some zombie you just killed, discovered while Foraging out in the woods, or even traded as a source of information with an NPC. Since it’s a Local Plot Item, you can even trade (or sell) it to others, if you so choose.
variant Crystal Candy
One of the big parts of this weekend’s game VALLEY OF FEAR is dealing with the new Law against Crystal Candy in the San Saba, and the backlash against a criminal underworld that is not only continuing to sell the drug, but releasing even worse versions of it. Like we first revealed in our Welcome to Season 4 blog post back in August, a new dangerous and addictive type of Crystal Candy has been flooding the wasteland.
There are three elements of this Crystal Candy plot during VALLEY OF FEAR you need to be aware of: Variant Crystal Candy, Roleplay Burdens, and Crystal Candy Saturation.
Variant Crystal Candy
There are FOUR types of new Crystal Candy items in play this weekend (Red, Green, Blue, and Silver), and they will be on unique, illustrated item cards. There will be no mistaking that the item you have is one of these Local Plot Cards, so it should be able to directly avoid them if you want.
The new drug trade of the San Saba has led to new and more addictive variants of the Crystal Candy commonly found on the Criminal Influence list. These Variant Crystal Candy cards will be printed on separate item cards with an illustrated back. If you encounter one of these items, they will have different mechanics than the common Crystal Candy gizmo. These items interact with the Addiction and Crystal Candy Saturation local rules.
Here’s the plain text of the one the Variant rules on the back so you have an idea of what to expect:
Each of the four variants has two basic mechanics:
The normal function of the item is a more powerful healing effect than the normal Crystal Candy, but comes with the Roleplay Burden (Addiction). However, unlike normal Crystal Candy these items do NOT cost a Resolve, but they have NO effect once you have a Fracture. That means if the Roleplay Burden is not met, these items quickly become worthless.
Each Variant Crystal Candy has a SATURATED effect that can be used once you have consumed three of the new Candies in a single 12s. These are powerful abilities that you must use within the next HOUR, or else a negative effect occurs.
Upon consuming a third Addictive Crystal Candy within the last 12s, you will become SATURATED. If you become Saturated more than once per 12s, become SUPERSATURATED. We will cover a bit more of this below.
Roleplay burdens
This is a new Fracture-like effect that will be in play this season, and the Addiction mechanic is the first of these uses. This is simply a mechanic that simply makes you need to do a particular role play activity or else it becomes a full-fledged Fracture.
ROLEPLAY BURDEN
Keyword. A character can have one Roleplay Burden at a time. A Roleplay Burden must be fulfilled once per 12s, or else it will turn into a Fracture. Roleplay Burdens can be soothed or cured as if they were a Fracture, but does not count as a Fracture for preventing use of certain Skills. Players can opt-out of a particular RP behavior at any time, but must fulfill any required mechanical cost or effects. Roleplay Burdens expire at the end of an event, unless the player chooses to keep them longer.
There are several types of Roleplay Burdens:
ADDICTION: When you consume an item with the Addictive keyword, you gain this Roleplay Burden. You must consume an item with the Addictive keyword once per 12s. If you do not meet this requirement, you gain a Fracture. This is normally found on Variant Crystal Candy cards.
At it’s heart, it’s a pretty flexible rule that can be adapted to a number of different stories, like hunger, fear, disease, or even faith. A possible Roleplay Burden for Starvation could include needing to eat a Meal every 12s, for instance.
You can opt out of any role play involved with roleplay burdens, and no NPCs will ever force someone to use an item that causes this behavior, or require a character to take this condition without consent.
Addictive items will require consent to use on another, just like using an Injection that costs Resolve on someone (DR Corebook, p. 169, 181). Using an item that causes a mechanical effect like this is a CvC action if attempted on an unwilling target. You can also use the OK Check In system to simply decline interaction with this CvC, the Addiction mechanic, or any scene you are uncomfortable with as always.
CRYSTAL CANDY SATURATION
Crystal Candy is bad. Past the horrific way it is harvested from a person, taking too much of it can cause strange side effects. It’s almost like cannibalism in a way, and can have similar effects on a person once ingested. This weekend, this takes effect as Crystal Candy Saturation. Here are the basic mechanics for this new condition:
Crystal Candy Saturation
Effect. Upon consuming a third Addictive Crystal Candy within the last 12s, an LC will become SATURATED. While Saturated, you gain the ability to use the Affix abilities of Variant Crystal Candy cards.
If you become Saturated more than once per 12s, you become SUPERSATURATED. While Supersaturated, you do not refresh Mind at the 12s, and cannot regain Mind points by any means except by using any variation of Crystal Candy. This effect lasts until the end of the event.
In summary: When you take a THIRD Variant Crystal Candy, you become Saturated. When you use the Affix ability for the SECOND time in a twelves. If you do NOT use the Affix ability and take the penalty instead, you do not become Saturated.
Crystal Candy can be deceptively useful, but has a significant cost to being used. If you use too much too fast, you can make yourself unable to regain Mind points at all during the weekend.
You might even see a few common Threats like zombies and raiders this weekend that develop strange new psionic potential spreads from the wastewater and pollution left behind from the Crystal Candy manufacturing. A HELPFUL TIP —- Remember, every Psionic power except for Master Pyrokinetics (p.138) can be resisted with Basic Mental Endurance (p. 126)!
other rules of note
The last few rules of note are gonna be short and sweet. If you hear these calls this weekend, it will be VERY obvious what is happening. Sorry not sorry.
DEVOUR
Skill Call. This delivery modifier causes the attacker to be healed for an equal of Body as the attack deals. For instance, a creature might call “Devour 50 Body!”, which will deal 50 Body as the attack and heal them for 50 Body. This call can drain Body, Mind, Resolve, or Infection.
This Threat Skill might be seen in different variations during this season, but ALL of them are bad. Not only does it deal damage to a target, it can absorbs and drain the very health (or even Infection) from a target. Yikes! That seems like an attack to save an Avoid for!
PUrple Headbands
If you encounter an NPC wearing a PURPLE headband or light, this represents an encounter that is “UNSEEN”.
These characters are part of some space that is not your own, like a dream or a hallucination, or someone “out of phase”. They are not out of character but in a state that can only be observed or interacted with in specific conditions. It is possible for some characters to be able to see this condition, while their friends cannot.
Your LC cannot see the Unseen in-character or interact with them unless given specific instruction from the Unseen character or Guide. The Guide or NPC will place their hand on their head and inform your LC that you can interact with that character. Once given this instruction, you can see and interact with the NPC until you cannot physically see them anymore or they leave the scene. You will not be able to see them again if they reappear unless you are specifically told otherwise.
Certain ZOMs, item cards, and Skill calls can also reveal the Unseen.
The Unseen, huh? Just know that when you see a PURPLE headband or headlight this weekend, that.. person?… thing?.. isn’t quite THERE. Ignore them until something tells you otherwise. Just imagine it’s a Hunter using Stealth and you don’t have Basic Awareness.
New Death Procedures
This last new rule is kind of amazing, if I do say so myself. This is from the new DEATH LOG that will be used this weekend. We have a majestic bell in the center of Camp Kachina that we use to start and finish the game, but during the game it has another use entirely:
RING YOUR OWN BELL
If you should DIE during an event at DR:TX, a newly deceased character should walk to the Crossroads and ring the their own Death Bell three times and then report to Logistics, known in-character as the Grave Council Annex.
That’s right.
You finally get to ring the bell at Kachina yourself. It’s fun, I promise, and there’s nothing more chilling than the discordant three rings in the middle of the night telling you that someone just DIED. This bell will let our talented team of Groundskeepers know to meet you at Logistics to run your personalized death scene, and also lets folks with Faith skills, Necrokinetics and Death Brews know they have a chance to interact with a Gravemind scene.
If you are really excited about this rule, let me know at game and I’ll make sure a certain… eyeless… friend helps make that request a reality…
Medical and Safety Resources
One last reminder:
In previous years we had a few medical-trained folks marked out for assisting in emergencies. This year, we made it a dedicated team under Sadie Hawkins. Folks on that list are available resources for non-emergency/non-professional assistance. The Med Room in Kiva (back room past the the Post Office) will have a revamped and restocked medical supply box. These supplies are available for everyone, though, note we don’t have any consumable medications in there.
Mental and Emotional health are also included in our Medical and Safety resources. The Med Room can also be used as a safe decompression space if you need to step out of character and take time re-center or process something. Several of our medical staff are also mental health professionals, and can be tapped to help provide assistance if you need it.
If you do require assistance, and don’t know how to find someone to help, tap any Guide or Gamerunner and we will help you with finding that resource, or contact emergency services if needed.
wrap up
That’s the last from me this week folks! We will have a few opening announcements to cover at the start of the game, but these are the main things to be aware of before you show up.
I still gotta pack and get my own stuff ready for the game, so I hope I see everyone there this weekend. It’s been a LONG summer, and I’m ready to kill some zombies!