3.0 Evolved

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Caught Alone

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Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our December Premiere event FORGOTTEN IN THE DARK! This will be the last game under the 3.0 system, 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 a key mechanic of the event, being caught ALONE IN THE DARK!

  • If you had a great experience at our last event THE FUTILITY OF EVIL or had some suggestions for how we can improve, we’d love to hear from you! We appreciate your high-fives and suggestions, and always want to seek ways to improve our events.

  • Buy Back for 3.0 Events ends on December 15th!

    Any local DR:TX player can still retroactively buy tickets for past events they missed, or for any past XP you didn’t add to the ticket since your character has been created. Travelers can still purchase for old DR:TX Premiere events too! If you missed an event there’s still time to make sure you don’t miss out on the XP! This is a great way to both support our game and add some XP to your roster before the transition to DR Live. After December 15th, our new contract will prevent this purchase and you will no longer be able to buy XP for any past 3.0 events. Don’t miss out!

Our photos for this post were taken from previous DR:TX events by our talented Photo Team, including Lily-Jay Jones, Miranda Farmer, Noah Goodman, Seth Kahler, and Max Pohlmeier.

Caught Alone

We’ve touched a bit on some spooky mechanics for the winter months during previous DR:TX events. This year, these mechanics are back for a final time with a bit of a twist. When people go missing in the early hours of the Long Night, they often come back missing something important. For some, it’s just a few hours of their time while others forget things more significant. Some haven’t even returned at all if they were caught alone, as the night is dark and full of terrors.

Let’s talk about what this will mean for your character. The mechanics for getting caught are simple:

  • If you are caught alone in the dark after sunset in a place where you can no longer see another person, you might find yourself CAUGHT ALONE.

  • You can either choose to self-report this as a means of opting into the story of the weekend, or a Guide or Storyteller might catch you out in the darkness and send to you Ops if they catch you.

  • You should report to Ops at your next convenience to determine what happens next. If it’s late at night after Ops has closed, you can just come back in the morning to determine what happened.

  • Characters using Basic Stealth can move freely in the darkness while alone, but if a [REDACTED] calls “Alert!”, you’ll suffer the consequences of the Caught Alone mechanic. It’s better to be quiet and unseen, when the unknown things are prowling the darkness.

  • If a player uses “Never Here” and leaves you alone in the dark as they vanish, you could be Caught Alone. Make sure you trust your walking buddy to get you safely to your cabin!

  • There will be actual Threats wandering in the darkness throughout the evenings for this event, so this mechanic isn’t the only danger after sunset.

Let’s talk about what happens next. Don’t read ahead if you want this to be a surprise.

++[SPOILER WARNING!]++

What Happens Next…

If you get Caught Alone during the December event, you’ll proceed to Ops and check on the chart below for what happens next. We’ve chosen to make this a roll of a D6, to mimic several abilities of this sort in the upcoming DR Live ruleset, as well as the Advantage and Disadvantage keywords.

Here’s the specifics of this mechanic:

A LC reporting to Ops for the Caught Alone mechanic should roll one d6 and use the result on the chart below:

Non Aberrant Travelers and Duster roll with Advantage, rolling two d6s and choosing the result they want from the two rolls.

Aberrants roll with Disadvantage, rolling two d6s and must take the lower roll. 

Items may not be used to reroll this roll.

So, let’s cover a few frequently asked questions here.

  • You are an Aberrant if you have ANY psionic or faithful skill on your sheet.

    • In DR Live, being an Aberrant will also mess with rolls for various Grave Mind procedures and increase the number of abilities that can be used against you by monsters.

  • Advantage and Disadvantage work similarly to D&D and other RPGs. Roll two dice, and pick the highest if you have Advantage, or pick the lowest if you have Disadvantage.

  • You can’t use items like the Wasteland Hauler to reroll this dice, as it’s not a function of the Post Office. Think of this like a camp-wide Zone of Mechanics.

  • You can always choose to opt out of the memory loss mechanic below if you don’t enjoy that role play. If you choose this option, you’ll take some damage and a Mangle from the things in the dark, and you can return to play wounded but alive.

  • You can choose to be killed by the things in the darkness if you prefer, but you may be asked to come back later for a Grave Mind scene if the death is happening at the same time as other events in the Morgue.

What is Forgotten in the Dark

When you roll the dice for the Caught Alone mechanic, a few things can happen:

[1] A broad memory is lost.  Pick a broad memory (such as a small group, a settlement, a chain of related events, or a grouping of related skills).  That memory is gone.

[2] A narrow memory is lost.  Pick a narrow memory (such as a single person, a single location in a settlement, a short event, or one skill).  That memory is gone.

[3] A narrow memory is lost.  Pick a narrow memory (such as a single person, a single location in a settlement, a short event, or one skill).  That memory is gone.

[4] A recent memory grows distant.  Pick a recent memory (such as changes in a small group, a settlement, a chain of recent events, or a recently learned skill) and the next time that memory is relevant, spend a scene roleplaying struggling to remember the chosen memory while slowly reclaiming it.

[5] A narrow memory grows distant.  Pick a narrow memory (such as a single person, a single location in a settlement, a short event, or one skill) and the next time that memory is relevant, spend a scene roleplaying struggling to remember the chosen memory while slowly reclaiming it.

[6] The cold presses in and you can feel an alien feral hunger searching for you.  But you make your escape before it finds you.

Our Storytellers can you help you pick a memory that is impacted, but it’s entirely up to you. You can always opt for a lower roll than you actually made, and you can also opt-out of this memory loss, as listed below:

[Optional] If a LC does not wish to RP memory loss, instead of rolling on the table they may escape from a Longwalker.  Lose half your current body and mind in the process, and a limb of your choice is mangled. 

As you can see, a few of the options are repeated on the chart, and the lower rolls generally have a more severe effect. This means that Aberrants will be more likely to suffer the memory loss than other survivors, but most of these effects are targeted at specific role play scenarios.

As with any key mechanic, let’s cover a few basics:

  • The memories chosen should be important and impactful to roleplay.  They should not be trivial to work around.

    • In the spirit of the story, we hope that you will choose something meaningful and important to your character. If you just forget an unimportant memory, your friends probably won’t be able to notice that something happened to you. Steer a bit into the story, and miss out on something major!

  • Memories related to CvC or Criminal actions with potential consequences may not be lost. You can’t game this system to accidentally ‘forget’ that crime you just committed. Sorry!

  • Lost memories will NOT return on their own, but may be restored with Master Biokinesis (in the DR Live ruleset).  A plot card will be written for lost memories if a player wishes to regain them later. This lost memory will function as a “Mental Block Item Card”, and can be restored using the rules in the DRL Player’s Guide on page 56 starting in February.

  • As a story tool for transitioning to DR Live,  a lower roll result may always be chosen if desired to explain large character changes.

Memory Loss & DR Live

One of the big reasons we were drawn to this mechanic once more is the chance to give our players permission to make some big changes as we move into a new edition. As you get ready for this change, you might see fit to update some aspects of your character’s story to better match the new world of DR Live.

The memory loss from the Caught Alone mechanic could be an excellent catalyst to change important parts of your story. Here’s a few examples and ideas:

  • Forget parts of your backstory that never made it into play. Good backstories find ways to make it into your roleplay or in-character stories, but sometimes that bit you wrote a few years ago doesn’t make much sense. Maybe your character forgot that brother they once had, or forgot their time in another settlement. Maybe they forget everything about Bravado, a new victim of the Fog of Memories, and you’ll get to cause some angst with your friends in the new world.

  • Forget a crew or character group. With several factions changing for DRL, it might be time to explore some new opportunities with the Militia or the RRC for DR Live. Maybe your crew has since scattered, and it’s time to find a new family or friends to gather together for safety. This is a great time to set up new alliances, forge new bonds with new characters, and explain away some narrative changes for your player faction.

  • Forget lores or other bits of in-character legends so you can update your character for live. Was your character a Grave Head, or a master of Raider Lore? What if they weren’t anymore? Changes to Lores can be a cool way to explore a new specialty or focus on your character.

  • Forget old characters that have moved on, so you can focus on new connections. It’s no secret that sometimes folks move on from DR or a character might meet their final death. This could be an excellent time to change how those memories impacted your character and try something new. What new ties might you be able to make without the shackles of the past?

  • Forget skills or abilities that you won’t have in DR Live. This is a great time to explain away your changes to your character sheet. Your character forgot how to cook? Must have been the Long Night. Your character suddenly can’t remember their psionic abilities? That was sure some spooky Longwalker you encountered. Got a cool new weapon or armor prop? Time to ‘find’ that new gear just in time for the next edition.

  • Forget Lineage abilities or backgrounds. While this is probably the most extreme example, you could even forget a Lineage or Strain! When we complete the transition to DR Live, you’ll be able to reset all the aspects of your character, including their Lineage. Is your city-bound Nomad now being called to the road as a Wastelander Nomad? Did your Townie forget their home in Old York, and suddenly realized a different calling in their faith? This is a great way to explain away some major changes!

How will you use being Caught Alone to update your story for DR Live?

Wrap Up

That’s it for today, Vados.

We hope that you will come join us for our next event, our last DR:TX event using the 3.0 rules for Dystopia Rising. We have some fun surprises in store for you during this game, and we hope that you are ready to try and survive the looming Long Night. Will your memories fail you as you wander the lonely woods of Bravado? Will something terrible find you in the shadows, or will you discover the answer to the strange happenings and disappearances? Will you be forgotten in the dark?

Next week we will cover some of the Last Hurrah mechanics of 3.0, and some ways to cash out on your SES Points, Local Plot Cards, and more. See you soon, Vados!

Tickets are on sale for our DECEMBER event now! Don’t miss THE LAST GAME of 3.0!

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Forgotten in the Dark

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Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our December Premiere event FORGOTTEN IN THE DARK! This will be the last game under the 3.0 system, 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 the premise of our event, some content warnings, and some themes of our upcoming event!

  • If you had a great experience at our last event THE FUTILITY OF EVIL or had some suggestions for how we can improve, we’d love to hear from you! We appreciate your high-fives and suggestions, and always want to seek ways to improve our events.

  • Buy Back for 3.0 Events ends on December 15th!

    Any local DR:TX player can still retroactively buy tickets for past events they missed, or for any past XP you didn’t add to the ticket since your character has been created. If you missed an event there’s still time to make sure you don’t miss out on the XP! This is a great way to both support our game and add some XP to your roster before the transition to DR Live. After December 15th, our new contract will prevent this purchase and you will no longer be able to buy XP for any past 3.0 events. Don’t miss out!

Our photos for this post were taken from previous DR:TX events by our talented Photo Team, including Lily-Jay Jones, Miranda Farmer, Noah Goodman, Seth Kahler, and Max Pohlmeier.

PREMIERE EVENT TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW!

First off, FORGOTTEN IN THE DARK is a DR:TX PREMIERE EVENT.

Premiere Events are special events run by chapters to give their players the Special Event feel in their own chapter and telling their own stories. These are heightened events meant to be used with unique mechanics, one of a kind plot items, and an opportunity to push the limits of the game to give the community something really big to experience. These events are perfect opportunities to involve National level plots, mechanics, and items, and are a way to “blow the roof off the joint and make people’s heads spin.”

WHAT DO THEY OFFER?

  • MORE XP — Premiere Events off more bonus XP options! You can purchase up to FIVE (5) additional experience points for each of your characters during a Premiere Event. This is awesome for saving up for that point of Infection or a new PFA, or adding a few new skills once DR Live starts next year.

  • NATIONAL CONTENT— National items like Wells Society Favors, ABCs, ARKs, and other National-level currency can be distributed during these events. Premiere events give out less of these items than a National game, but they will still be available through mods and events. We will also continue the story we introduced during DOWNFALL of the Illusions of Civility plotkit!

  • BIGGER PLOTS, BIGGER THREATS — In general you can expect a more intense threat than a normal DR:TX event during a Premiere game, including our very own breed of mysterious threat - the LONGWALKERS.

  • LAST HURRAH! — You gain the ability to Self Teach ANY PFA or Skill that you are able to learn, on each of your characters that are checked in. That’s right, if you always wanted that PFA, you can just add it to your sheet for this game. If you have an Advanced Membership, you can Self Teach a Skill or PFA for each of your three characters! Get one last use of that PFA before the world changes in February!

    • This is the last event that sunsetted items like SES Credits or Local Blueprints can be used. Don’t miss your last chance to use these unique resources before we move to DR Live!

  • These events can also be held over 4-days, but we’ve elected to keep our Premiere Events to our normal 3-day duration, both to save our own sanity and not stretch our team thin.

These events can be held once per season, and December is our chosen month! We have a lot of travelers planning on attending this event, so we hope to have a killer experience to share with y’all.

DR Live start date!

During the 3rd Quarter, the Network Advisory Board met to discuss and vote on the upcoming transition to Dystopia Rising: Live. After thorough discussions and collaboration across all branches, a unanimous decision was made regarding the following key dates:

  • January 15, 2025: All branches will sign new contracts.

  • February 1, 2025: Branches can begin transitioning from DR 3.0 to DR Live.

  • April 30, 2025: DR 3.0 will officially end for all branches.

We will meet once more before Thanksgiving to iron out the details of the transition process, including character builds, item trade ins, and more. We will have more details on this process soon.

Mark your calendars for February 7-9, 2025, as "Cradle's Lullaby" will officially kick off Dystopia Rising: Live for the Texas chapter! With those details out of the way, let’s take a look at the story of FORGOTTEN IN THE DARK!

THE PREMISE - FORGOTTEN IN THE DARK

As we approach the threshold of Winter’s door, thoughts turn to the plans, solidarity, remembrance, and rituals needed to see Survivors through the Long Night.  The past year has been full of upheaval and change. The Winter Lights tradition normally remembers those lost and no longer able to join us at the table, and it is also a time of reflecting on the future.

But that future is uncertain and ever changing.  The unified structure of the San Saba has collapsed into constellations of independent settlements each trying to claw prosperity from the anarchy of an uncaring wasteland.  The once great factions retreat to attempt to rebuild and reshape their future.  To the north a great warband of Raiders scours these settlements from the map.  Zombies everywhere grow more fell and tenacious.

But reaching that future requires first surviving the Long Night.  For something is wrong in Bravado as the days grow shorter.  Time tested plans fall apart leaving a scramble for necessities.  Rituals of comfort and assurance waver and leave only feelings of insecurity and doubt.  And worst yet, suddenly empty homes and farms leave phantom disappearances in place of community and solidarity to see through the challenges of winter.  Survivors sense an alien, feral hunger just out of sight, gnawing at the edges of their memories.

The Long Night approaches and waits for no one. What can be done when the ways that worked before wander where the memory can’t recall them?  How does a community survive when members go missing, memory is stolen, and the lost cease to exist to those that should miss them?  Where do you go when you don’t remember where home is anymore?  
When memories fade and the lost vanish… will Bravado endure, or be Forgotten in the Dark?

Sounds like this will be a Long Night to remember!

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 or show to inspire your role play for this event, here’s a list of our favorites to get ready for FORGOTTEN IN THE DARK:

  • Star Trek: the Next Generation, S4 E5 “Remember Me”

  • 30 Days of Night

  • Darkness Falls

During this next event, there will be many things going “bump” in the night. Much like in the movie 30 Days of Night, darkness will equal death. Venturing away from the protective light of community risks meeting the fell things that stalk the darkness. As the winter approaches, our survivors must hole up for a dangerous winter, though we might need to worry more about zombies than vampires.

Like in one of Andrew’s favorite Star Trek episodes, “Remember Me”, the Long Night brings with it the creeping horror of knowing something is going wrong but everyone else just can’t remember the things that have gone missing.  How will your characters deal with the emptiness and the certainty of the people just disappearing around you? Will you remember them or will your memory fade away?

Lastly, the things out in the dark are not survivors. Like the eldritch abomination of Darkness Falls, they are stories and legends that speak to a much more sinister truth. They are the OTHER, the monstrous, and they cannot be reasoned with. When fell things stalk the dark and memory is unexpectedly fleeting, is it justified to look over your should and check every shadow? Will you be properly paranoid, or is it just a figment of your imagination?

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 December premiere event.

SUDDEN VIOLENCE, JUMP SCARES, DEADLY SURPRISES

  • The strange threats during this event will will be “killing blow active”, capable of killing your characters without need for quarter. They will have dangerous abilities that can make traveling by yourself in the darkness very dangerous indeed.

  • These stealthy threats will hunt anyone that makes noise or strays from the light, so you can avoid the sudden violence by avoiding their attention. You’ll need to stay quiet and hope they find other prey elsewhere.

  • When the fell terrors in the night attack, these will be deadly, quick, and sudden attacks out of nowhere. These threats will primarily operate at nighttime, but some will also be active during the day as well. You’ll need to be prepared to suddenly stop a conversation, silence a musical instrument, or stick to well-lit areas to prevent an attack.

Heavy Ritual themes (not linked to any religion)

  • One aspect of the upcoming event is the use of rituals, and ritualistic themes. During the holiday season, these themes might come up during our resolution of the event and as part of several in-game rituals and events, including Grave Mind scenes. These are not tied to any specific religion, in-game or out, but we understand the sanctity of the season and how these might connect in unexpected ways.

  • You can also read a bit more about our particular take on holiday traditions, Winter Lights.

Memory Loss

  • This event will touch on the strange aspects of the Fog of Memories and a more pervasive plot effect tied with the Long Night, through several opportunities to experience memory loss. This role play will generally be optional and mostly contained in the “Caught Alone” mechanic I cover below, but you may also encounter this phenomenon in other characters or through interacting with their role play around the effect.

  • Characters may forget where they are or how they got there, losing track of important memories, places, or people, get lost in places they've been many times before or have trouble with tasks that were once familiar, or asking the same question or repeating the same story over and over.

  • The primary function of this memory loss mechanic is to allow characters to prepare for the new edition. We want to empower characters to be able to change, edit, or update parts of their background, remember things differently or learn new skills, and generally prepare for the seismic shifts of canon stories as we move towards DR Live.

The Night is dark and full of terrors

Speaking of being forgotten in the dark, we will be once more using a global mechanic for this event, first borrowed from our friends in DR: Virginia, originally designed by Phil Grau. This mechanic also saw use in DR: Michigan, and we will be including our own DR:TX take on the concept below:

ALONE IN THE DARK

At any time after the sun has set that a player finds themselves alone and without the ability to see another person, that person is considered to be Caught Alone.

That player must, at their next convenience, drop out of character and report to Ops. Results for being Caught Alone vary wildly and could be a slight scare or a grievous consequence.

Players under the effect of Basic Stealth may move after dark as they wish, but should beware anything that would cause them to become seen.

If you are caught alone at night, one of the many things lurking in the shadows may find you first. You might wander through a weak part of the veil between the worlds or get too close to some strange Grave Mind effect. Maybe you just got caught alone by one of the Longwalkers or experienced some strange time dilation as you get lost in the woods. Perhaps some local terror like a Nemesis or Murder Goat Deer found you as prey in the darkness. Maybe it was nothing at all. Whatever the result, it’s best to walk in groups or be able to evade prying eyes in the darkness with Stealth during this event.

Worse yet, some report their memories of loved ones or things they should remember are fleeting and forgotten after an encounter in the dark of the night. This memory loss seems to effect different survivors in different ways, but it is certainly tied with the looming approach of the Long Night. In a world that is changed by the choices we have made over the past few seasons, how will this new and terrifying darkness change your characters?

However, the candle lights and Quiet Folk family altars of Bravado are said to protect you from the darkness, provided you can convince them to part with their lanterns to protect you. Stay in the light, lest you be FORGOTTEN IN THE DARK!

Wrap Up

That’s it for today, Vados.

We hope that you will come join us for our next event, our last DR:TX event using the 3.0 rules for Dystopia Rising. We have some fun surprises in store for you during this game, and we hope that you are ready to try and survive the looming Long Night. Will your memories fail you as you wander the lonely woods of Bravado? Will something terrible find you in the shadows, or will you discover the answer to the strange happenings and disappearances? Will you be forgotten in the dark?

Next week we will cover some of the specific memory loss mechanics you’ll encounter during this event! See you soon, Vados!

Tickets are on sale for our DECEMBER event now! Don’t miss THE LAST GAME of 3.0!

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Themes & Stories of Season 6

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Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our penultimate 3.0 event THE FUTILITY OF EVIL! This is one of the last events of the 3.0 rules system before we launch DR Live, led by Jared Schlabra. 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 settings updates and THEMES of Season 6 in a bit more detail.

  • TICKETS FOR OUR November EVENT ARE ON SALE NOW! Will you make the right choice?

  • If you had a great experience at our last event DOWNFALL or had some suggestions for how we can improve, we’d love to hear from you! We appreciate your high-fives and suggestions, and always want to seek ways to improve our events.

  • Downfall pictures are live! Check to see if you had the camera’s favor during Downfall!

    • We’ve posted Seth’s pictures, but have several more sets of photos coming soon!

  • As we approach the launch of DR Live, our last opportunity to offer BUYBACK XP is December 15th. This is your chance to top off your XP pool before the new edition, so make sure you don’t miss out!

Our photos for this post were taken from previous DR:TX events by our talented Photo Team, including our guest photographer Seth Kahler.

Picking up the pieces

Last season during our May event, the San Saba Board was stopped at the Battle of Essex. In a brutal battle, the forces of the Bravado Militia crushed the last remnants of resistance and ushered the San Saba into a new era. While the Burning Season delayed some of the collapse, the final defeat of Arthur Lovelace in September ended any chance of a territory-wide government setting roots in the area any time soon. With the wasteland growing into a harsher place, and as settlements become more isolated, our story has shifted to our hometown of Bravado. While areas outside of our town still have a bit of a story of their own, we’ve focused our narrative on the immediate area around Bravado.

Let’s cover the major updates after the end of the season and as we move into our stories of Season 6:

  • Essex was seriously damaged during the final days of the war. As the Chairman fled the armies of the Bravado Militia, he turned his gunship on the city itself, bombing innocent civilians in a display of carnage not seen in the town since the Fountainhead Incident. Buildings were destroyed, the Grave Bureau was nearly collapsed, but the Fountainhead stood strong despite the fires that swept through the forest-city. Boss Debs of the San Saba Republic has vowed to rebuild, but it will be months and years before the damage is truly recovered.

  • The Battle of Bravado was won by the forces of Bravado and their militia, turning the tide again and again against the last attacks of the San Saba Board. The town held the armies at bay at the Devil’s Gorge Bridge, protected their solar panel system against sabotage, defended their morgue from collapse, and fought back against the combined forces of the Red Ledger and the Chairman’s personal Praetorian Guard.

  • Arthur Lovelace was killed, and an elaborate murder ritual was enacted in Bravado to make sure he stayed dead. When the Chairman’s remaining forces met the Militia at Bravado, they were held at bay while the town dealt with the villain personally. His imprint was scattered, his reason for living was destroyed, and the last walk of Arthur Lovelace was witnessed. The villain is no more, his loyal assistant, Lawrence Graves suffered his final death, and there is none to take up the banner of the Board after his death.

  • The Breaker of Crowns stayed behind during the final ritual, her revenge satisfied. In a shocking turn, the Breaker of Crowns did not emerge from the Morgue after the final death of Arthur Lovelace. Some said that she had come to terms with the monstrous acts she committed in the name of the War of Antlers, but others suggest that she didn’t have a reason to leave after the death of her hated enemy. The San Saba Republic is still reeling from the loss, and have promised a memorial will be made in her honor in Essex.

  • The Red Ledger was paid a hefty ransom to betray the Chairman, and they turned on the remaining forces of the Board during the final conflict. Over 1000 Brass was collected to pay a bounty to Red Ledger in September. The conflict decimated the mercenary company, and their remaining soldiers have scattered to the winds. Without the coffers of the Board, some have joined with the Militia while others have returned to the mercenary life in towns across the Lone Star.

  • A new Bravado Charter has been signed. The Justices have approached each settlement around Bravado, offering their services, not as overlords, but as arbiters, a neutral party to help diffuse tensions before they flare into outright conflict again. Both Bastion with its strict military code, and Drywater with its descent into anarchy have declined this offer, but Bravado has opted to take a chance with this new approach and formulated a Town Charter.

  • The Wells Society Initiative has begun in the San Saba. The Wells Society has proven that their new glow shrooms can be a valuable resource during their presentations at Bastion. While there was some complications with the morgue, the agents of the Wells Society under Dr. Ezekiel Abbott have begun to offer their unique resource to more settlements near Bravado.

  • The Bastion Morgue was stabilized, and the population was kept safe by the efforts of the visitors and the Loyalists during a mighty siege of the Hall of Inventions. The zombie horde was dispatched and the morgue’s corruption was cleansed through the efforts of several dedicated necrologists and grave heads that rebuilt the morgue virtually from scratch. While the danger of these strange new dead has passed for the moment, it’s unlikely that the new zombie threat will remain pacified forever.

Let’s talk a bit more about the themes of our new story.

Themes of Season 6

Each season, we’ve focused on a central theme, such as “Renaissance” or “Rebellion”. The primary theme of our new Season 6 story is “Reconstruction”. In the aftermath of the War of Antlers, there’s been a few changes, and I’d like to remind y’all of these updates as we prepare to move into our full story for the season. I’ve posted some of this back in August, but I figured it would be worth a bit of a refresher on where we stand. This season is about new beginnings, particularly as we launch the 4th edition of our game, Dystopia Rising Live.

Our story of season 6 is one of conflict and drama, and at the heart of that drama is the struggle to survive in a cruel and hostile world after the collapse of the San Saba Board. Here’s a few of the questions and concepts we hope to explore over the coming seasons. I’ve broken these down into a few common narrative conflicts.

The Death of a Future (Man vs. Fate)

When the Board fell, their vision for the future fell with them.  Without a central force encouraging trade, repairing the rails, and helping keep lines of communication open, the San Saba has quickly collapsed into a series of city-states.  Without a greater incentive or need to care about other towns, this inward focus has ended much of the technological advancement that the Board once promised.  This loss will help drive the change to the genre and technological setting materials of DR Live.

New threats have emerged, particularly Natural Born Raiders and strange new undead variants.  Most connection is lost with the north, the southern coast, and even the settlements near Bravado are hard pressed by raiders.  Rail lines are only reliable closer to the main area around Bravado, and generally only for the wealthy or fool-hardy.  Most telegraph lines are gone, salvaged for scrap or destroyed as sabotage during the war.  The RRC has abandoned the outer rail systems towards Gatorland or Hell Dorado, and virtually no one can make a trip into the Dune Sea any longer.  The fleet of locomotives that connected the region is dwindling, and the RRC and others are reluctant to risk the Ox on anything but the safest and most patrolled routes.

Essex is rebuilding, recovering from the devastating Battle of Essex at the end of the war.  While they are still a ready ally, they have their work cut out for them in the months and years to come.  Essex serves as a constant reminder of the damage caused by the war, and the rebuilding that is required afterwards.

The Threat of Bravado, aka What Happens Next? (Man vs. Self)

Bravado is an existential threat.  The world watched as Bravado led a rebellion that toppled the “lawful” government of the area through violence, and brought anarchy and chaos in the wake of the collapse.  Many respect what they did, but there is an undercurrent of fear on the minds of every other settlement in the San Saba.  Bravado now has the largest standing military force in the region.  What happens if Bravado decides that they are the new enemy of freedom in the wake of the collapse?

While hope after the war is still possible, there is a lot of uncertainty for the San Saba.  In the aftermath of violence, with no central leadership the various settlements of the area have been left to themselves.  There is a lot of need to rebuild and restructure, and there are many conflicting ideas of the best path forward.  Each town has their own opinions on what the right answer is but everyone is hyper-aware of what Bravado did.  If they choose for themselves, will the town of Bravado respect their autonomy or choice?

Cities and towns must decide how they define order from the anarchy of the wasteland. They must establish new laws, and find new ways to hold people accountable.  While the Justices of Sin and the Law Dogs can help enforce town charters, there is very little oversight or ability to institute rules without the consent of the governed in the towns.  And after the example of the Board, trust is at a premium.  The players must decide on a Bravado Charter that they can enforce, and they must decide if some larger form of organization for their town is necessary or needed. 

Bravado and the Oxkillers recruited countless soldiers, armed them, trained them, and whetted their appetites on war and violence.  Without a cause to fight for, what happens to those soldiers and weapons of war?  How does a soldier return to a life in their hometown?  Is there still a need for an active military presence, and who should lead them?  Who is responsible for providing funds for upkeep and salaries? What should be done about the militiamen that turn to banditry or set themselves up as petty warlords and tyrants?  It’s difficult to turn swords to plowshares in the apocalypse.

Should a town or its people atone for their sins?  Was it a sin at all if they won? Both sides “othered” their opponents, and war crimes were committed in the name of freedom, justice, law and order.  Enemy soldiers were killed, enemy settlements bombed, and infrastructure damaged.  Should there be accountability for the damage they caused, or should Bravado shoulder any responsibility for their role in the fall of the San Saba Board?  With no easy villain to blame for the damage or to assume responsibility, it’s easy to turn eyes towards Bravado.

A Tale of Two Cities, aka Rivalry with Bastion (Man vs. Man)

During our National Event in October, we had the chance to meet the residents of nearby BASTION, the fortress-city built atop the wreckage of Waking. With the infamous GENERAL MUSTANG at their lead, the town has presented itself as a serious contender and rival to Bravado, with differing philosophies of governance, capable soldiers and weapons to defend themselves, and a place the Mustang Loyalists can call home.

How do you deal with an enemy you can’t simply throw armies at?  The Loyalists have skilled soldiers on their side, a nearly unassailable fortress atop the wreck of the airship, and a surprisingly effective barrier against ground assault in the Exclusion Zone.  They cannot be easily intimidated by the forces of the Bravado Militia.  Bastion represents a source for political drama and ways to create a foil for the town of Bravado.

The Fallow Hope represents a rival settlement to our town, and a drain on potential resources for the area.  This is the first time we’ve really explored the idea of a nearby rival to our town, and it will provide ample opportunities for conflict.  Why would merchants or travelers go to Bravado when they can get better prices or safety in Bastion?  As Loyalists deploy the glow-shrooms to deal with radiation in the area, this provides a new resource in fresh, untainted land and water compared to our town.  The threat they represent is very real, but in a much more subtle way than simply guns or soldiers.

A map of the San Saba after the War of Antlers, PHW ‘08, by Jonathan Loyd

Story premise for Season 6

I shared this in August, but here it is once more:

Another deadly war has shook the foundations of Bravado, and the San Saba has settled into an uneasy and chaotic peace after the collapse of the San Saba Board.  Travel and communication across the area has grown more difficult, and towns turn their focus inward, towards their own fraught survival.  

It happened more quickly than many expected.  The outer rail lines that once reached as far as the Broken Coast and across the Dune Sea have been abandoned in favor of closer, safer routes between the immediate towns near Bravado and Essex.  Telegraph lines stripped for salvage and murdered postal runners mean that all but the most persistent communication between settlements has stopped, and the points of light at the edge of the map have dimmed.  Soldiers and mercenaries recruited for the war, now without a common cause, consider new allegiances, brutal banditry, or violent reckonings on rival settlements ill prepared for trained and well armed survivors at their gates.

In this new world, the implacable equilibrium of the wasteland churns onwards, reclaiming abandoned settlements in overgrowth, and damning once vibrant towns to destruction, returning the land once more to a lawless waste ruled only by what a survivor can claim for themselves.  Strange and dangerous raiders have overtaken the north, their war path marked by blood and the sounds of drum beats.  The dead have risen in even greater numbers, the Grave Mind turning the countless deaths of the War of Antlers into new and more deadly variants, bent on feasting on living flesh.

The factions of the San Saba have been broken and worn by the war, but each has consolidated what remains of their fortunes closer to the new heart of the San Saba, Bravado.  While it should be a new shining beacon on a hill, a pervasive sense of insignificance has rendered the town forgettable and alone, a ghost town tucked into a forgotten corner of the region.  A fog of memories, casting a shroud of forgetfulness and absence has settled over Bravado, perhaps a last dying gasp of an ancient terror trapped within or perhaps just the unfortunate reality of a world that has moved on after the fall of the Board.  As the town wanes in importance, new rivals flourish nearby, threatening to complete the fall into obscurity for our humble home.

Forgotten and left to decide their own future, our survivors face the harsh and horrific realities of survival in the wasteland.  Now, once easily secured resources like power, clean water, food, fuel, and scrap are in question, and the lean and hungry eyes of your fellow survivors seem not quite as friendly as before.  The future promised by the San Saba Board may be dead, but perhaps a new future can be forged from the ashes for the survivors that call Bravado home…

FACTION UPDATES & CHANGES

The War of Antlers had some big impacts on our story, and virtually every faction was impacted by the conflict in a pretty significant way. Our stories of season 6 will determine the fate of some of the factions, and even introduce some new characters to the story. In the same way this will be a bit of a season of transitions as we get ready for the launch of DR Live, this year’s story will continue with the aftermath of the war that nearly ended the town of Bravado.

We will be updating our Faction pages over the next few months, so here’s the major changes to expect:

  • The Factions of the San Saba have lost much of their influence in the region, and many of these groups have new NPC leadership, new headquarters, and new objectives. Money is tighter, and many have had to spend vast resources relocating or rebuilding after the events of the War of Antlers. This is one story reason the Faction Buy Lists will be sunsetted, but overall the ability of a faction to influence a wide area of the San Saba has been severely reduced following the war as part of our new license structure.

  • Two factions will be exiting our story, the Widows of the Lone Star and Prudence Penitentiary. These Society Memberships will be removed from character sheets going forward.

  • One new faction will be introduced, The Bravado Militia, representing the remaining soldiers and troops recruited during the War of Antlers. Players that served as commanders during the war can add this Society Membership to their sheets for free.

Here’s a bit of a story update on the various Factions, and we will expand on this on the website and during our Season 6 stories.

  • The Widows of the Lone Star have been driven out of Widow’s Peak and have now joined the Criminal Factions of Bravado. They are no longer a full faction, as their story really concluded in September with the final confrontation against Arthur Lovelace. While some stories will continue in the background, particularly for characters in Murder Inc, we won’t have regular events like Widow’s Tea and you won’t see characters like Clauthia Lovelace during our games.

  • Prudence Penitentiary has ceased to exist following the war. With the disappearance of Tabitha St. Mercy, taken into custody by the General during the last days of the war, the location once known as Killhouse has been well and truly finished. With no remaining function for the prison after the collapse of the San Saba Board, the fortress-prison has taken on new importance to the Militia and the Grave Council as a strategic fortification and not as a place of incarceration.

The remaining six factions of the San Saba have each experienced their own trials and tribulations following the War of Antlers.

  • The San Saba Republic has splintered further following the aftermath of civil war. The SSR is eager to return to a more peaceful life following war, the destruction at Essex, and the betrayals during the rebellion. With the Breaker of Crowns’ rage finally satiated with the collapse of the Board, many families that were broken and torn apart on the opposing sides of the rebellion are seeking reconciliation. With Boss Deb’s focus on rebuilding Essex, only a few of the Tribes remain in Essex, and many of their soldiers recruited during the war and their Houses have returned to their homes once more. With the Breaker dead, many of the factions have went their separate ways, still picking up the pieces of a vicious civil war.

  • The RRC is in crisis, as most of their fortunes were tied to the success of Felicity Redfield and the Board. Forced to abandon the outer Oxlines, they have taken a more conservative approach to survival after the collapse of the Board. A new CEO will need to be named in time, but the Ox is safe in Bravado for now. However, the families of Waking Prime have splintered with the rise of Bastion - some have joined the Mustang Loyalists in their new fortress-city, while others have remained in Essex and Bravado.

  • The Law Dog Union has established their relevance through the creation of several town charters across the area around Bravado. These new social contracts empower Marshals and Sheriffs to find new paths of redemption for criminals with the help of the Justices of Sin, and they have their work cut out for them. While Boss Wyatt has established an office for the Union in Essex, their agents roam the wasteland offering their services as investigators and beacons of stability in a lawless wilderness.

  • Following the death of General Rampart, Cassiopeia Stargazer has emerged as the leader of the Grave Council. With the help of the new Reckoner-General Solomon, the faction has diverted their expertise in necrology and the Grave Mind towards establishing a new Vault of Reckoning inside the strong walls of the fortress-prison formerly known as Killhouse. The new town charters have also redefined the grave tax for a new post-Board era, but the faction has a lot of work to do to rebuild their reputation.

  • The Junkerpunks are licking their wounds after the war, after being forced to retreat inland towards their new home of Drywater. After years of trying to appease the kinder elements of the Muddy Water Accord, the faction is ready for a clean break from law and order. Drywater has refused to sign a charter with the Law Dogs or the Grave Council, choosing to forge a new path ahead on their own. Will complete anarchy be a viable method of survival in the new lawless wasteland?

  • The Militia stands as the strongest military organization in the region, and has claimed the fortress-prison of Killhouse as their headquarters. Under the leadership of General Hargrave, the Militia now has to grapple with the unfortunate realities of a post-war landscape, including dealing with their veterans and the threat trained soldiers represent. How do they lay down their arms and return to a normal life without the purpose of serving in the rebellion? Who pays the bills now that the rebellion has been won? While many of their soldiers returned home, some remained behind to stand guard against the Mustang Loyalists, and others worry that the Militia will just find a new excuse to plunge Bravado into a new war against Bastion.

There’s still a few unknowns for how Factions and Society Memberships will function in a new DR Live world, but for now there are still plenty of stories to tell as we begin Season 6.

The Fog of Memories

One new story beat we’d like to introduce for Season 6 is the concept of the “Fog of Memories”. For our season of survival, we have added a new story effect to explain why the outside world no longer cares as much about Bravado as it did in seasons past.  This has no actual mechanical effect beyond what the players decide, but it is simply a cool narrative way to address continuity going forward.

Some suggest that the effects of capturing the Prince Undying within the Bravado Mortis appears to have created a strange phenomenon that is now impacting the residents of Bravado.  Others simply point out that without an organizing government like the San Saba Board, most folks tend to mind their own business. With travel being tougher across the San Saba, it’s easy for people not to want to risk a dangerous journey after all.

Regardless of the cause, it started small and sometime shortly after the Burning Season began. People began to forget Bravado unless they were actively living there or had some sympathetic tie to the town.  As it continues to worsen, people literally forget about the town unless they have a reason to remember it.  People with a strong connection or tie to the town like your characters are more resistant to the effect, but the effect increases the further you travel from Bravado. Every month, some new traveler arrives in town, surprised to find the town and even more surprised to find folks living there.

Much like something that is out of sight, or out of mind, it’s a subtle effect for most, and leads to small mistakes and forgetfulness that interrupts regular trade and commerce.  Repairmen forget to make the trip to check the rail lines leading into Bravado, and merchants accidentally miss the stop as they daydream about something else.  Important faction leaders focus on other settlements nearby, and don’t make it a priority to visit Bravado. For those that don’t live actively in the town, it’s as easy to forget as some small random town in another state could be in real life.  If someone brings it up, folks might have a spark of memory, but it quickly fades into obscurity when it fades from their attention.

  • There are no real mechanics for the Fog of Memories. This is simply a story element for how the town is being forgotten by the outside world. Think of elements like relationship decay, or nostalgia as a means to a story.  The themes here are not catastrophic, but just the distance that grows between ideas as time passes.

  • This is an optional story that your character can choose to have impact them, or simply choose to ignore it. If you don’t want it to affect your character, it doesn’t.  You get to decide if and how the Fog of Memories has affected your character. It’s entirely up to you, but this could be a great reason to update a back story, or wrap up some unfinished stories as you prepare for the new stories of DR Live. Maybe the amnesia you suffer can provoke some new character connections or let you start fresh as if you just arrived in town.

  • In general, this is not a problem that can be fixed. It’s simply a new part of life in Bravado, and it can have as much or as little impact as you want it to have on your character. It’s not something that research or a zone of mechanics will change.

  • You might encounter strange fog in Bravado from time to time, as we plan to use fog machines more in S6 as setting ephemera. The fog could have strange effects via certain zone of mechanics, but most of this effect is simply a background story.

I hope you are ready for some spooky stories in Season 6!

Wrap Up

That’s it for today. I hope you are ready to face the cannibals in November! We have some tough choices and deadly enemies to face as we finish out our last two games under the 3.0 ruleset.

We have some fun surprises in store for you as you are ready to try and survive the cannibal hordes of THE FUTILITY OF EVIL. Will you help the Cannibal Crown escape from the choices he’s made for power? Will you help the Malefactors recognize the folly of their philosophy, or will you answer their threat with violence? Will you survive being eaten alive by vicious cannibals?

Next week we will recap some of the Rules You Should Know, including a few familiar DR Live mechanics that will premiere a bit early during this event.

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

See you soon Vados!

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The Chairman of the Board

,

Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our September live event THE FALL OF THE SAN SABA BOARD! This is our second part of our Season 5 finale, led by Heather Halstead and Jonathan Loyd. 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 a bit of the background of the villain of the hour, Arthur Lovelace, the Chairman of the San Saba Board.

  • wE WILL REVEAL THE NEW dYSTOPIA rISING lIVE BLUEPRINTS ON tHURSDAY, 8/29! CHECK OUT OUR DISCORD FOR MORE INFO!

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

IN THE BEGINNING…

When Bravado rebelled against the Board last season, it started a chain of events that undermined everything the Chairman had been working for over the past three years. In a moment, his dream of a united San Saba shattered, and that future disappeared. The death of that future has driven him to the rage he’s now directing towards our town, but it’s important to reflect on all that has gone wrong over the past few seasons.

In the beginning of our 3.0 story, the San Saba was mostly a collection of various factions and personalities like Felicity Redfield, Mr. K, Tabitha St. Mercy, Sinkerswim, and others. While the factions have stayed mostly the same over the years, the idea of the San Saba Board was envisioned by one man in the shadows — Arthur Lovelace, the future Chairman of the Board. This story was first envisioned by Sam Mars, Shan, and Aesa, and debuted during our online Season 2, kicking off with the event THE SHINING CITY. This game saw several world changing events occur in the midst of the Waste’s Faire and an attack on Waking Prime by the Oxkillers.

  • The faction we recognize today as the Railroad Conglomerate first emerged during this event. Formed of two opposing factions, the Conglomerate and the Railroad Commission, they agreed to work together to forge a new future for the San Saba.

  • During this event set in Waking Prime, the various factions agreed to sign a larger contract between them they would call the San Saba Charter. The architect of this plan was of course chosen to lead the new organization, and the San Saba Board was born.

  • One of our other factions, the Junkerpunks, was purposefully excluded from the San Saba Board. The Junkerpunks were slighted and the Chairman cast the deciding vote to exclude them from the new government, despite a good faith attempt to attend the Waste’s Faire. From the very beginning, the Chairman was not interested in folks that focused on freedom over order.

  • The Oxkillers led by Lord Hush made an attempt to kill the Chairman and the new Board with a surgical strike on Eureka Tower during the chaos of a raider attack. While the attack was foiled, this breach ended up leading to the events of QUEENSGRACE, when the Oxkillers broke from the San Saba Republic and killed Queen Jasper.

The original San Saba Board was composed of the following powerful figures:

  • The Chairman, Arthur Lovelace (RRC)

  • Felicity Redfield (RRC)

  • Dr. Stewart, aka “the Scientist” (RRC)

  • Tabitha St. Mercy (Prudence Penitentiary)

  • Holy Mother Queen Jasper (Tribes Disparate, now known as the San Saba Republic)

  • Takheeta Firstborn (Grave Council)

This became the leadership of the San Saba for the next few seasons, with a few changes as members were killed, removed from power, or cast into obscurity. Several others joined the Board or represented their faction over the years, including:

  • Mr. K (Grave Council)

  • Adam Moriarty (Prudence Penitentiary)

  • General Rampart, replacing the slain Takheeta Firstborn (Grave Council)

  • Admiral Sinkerswim (Junkerpunks)

  • Queen Lucy “Boss” Debs (San Saba Republic)

  • While the Law Dog Union was contracted to the Chairman directly, Boss Wyatt never actually held a seat on the council of the elite.

We’ve never had the privilege of Arthur Lovelace actually appearing in person for an event until this upcoming game. He made an appearance during the online event HEARTHBOUND, for a few select folks, but most have never interacted with Arthur directly. You might have heard their voice over a certain red telephone in May, but this event will be the first appearance in the live space for this villain.

Our story of the San Saba Board has always been one of the consequences of the wealthy and powerful becoming more and more severe as the San Saba slipped further into authoritarianism and fascism. The lies and compromises to keep the elite in control have led to more and more people getting caught up in the web of capitalism and power at the heart of the Board. As the Chairman’s iron grip tightened, the rise of the Bravado Rebellion was only a matter of time. But just because he’s showing up for the first time in September doesn’t mean his presence hasn’t been felt up until now…

“Oh cold, cold, rigid, dreadful Death, set up thine altar here, and dress it with such terrors as thou hast at thy command: for this is thy dominion! Leave that which you would kill here with me, and I shall see it done.” —- a Lovelace prayer for vengeance

The first Board meeting, from a comic by Beau Lee.

The Machinations of the Chairman

It’s important to first understand that not much is actually known about the Chairman.

From his first appearance, he’s been a bit of a shadowy figure and it’s all part of his plan. His true name wasn’t actually mentioned in any blog posts, modules, or stories. He was only referred to as the “The Chairman”, and we purposefully kept any other references vague. We’ve always used a surrogate to stand in for the Chairman, in the form of his assistant Lawrence Graves. The few bits of information shared in game were always simply signed with a mysterious “A.L.”, but it wasn’t until the fall of Waking during VOX POPULI that this information became publicly known. While a few fortunate survivors experienced a psionic vision guided by the Curators during our HEARTHBOUND event about his past, the exact details of exactly what happened in Widow’s Peak are mostly lost to history.

Arthur Lovelace was long thought dead during the Hiway War, fallen in battle against the undead hordes of Hiway Robb. Some even say he died a final time and was resurrected by the mysterious events after the Hiway War when the Grave Mind returned the long dead once more to life. It is even whispered by a few of the less loyal Lovelace contractors that he broke a promise to his family to help outsiders instead. While the story varies from telling to telling, they all generally mention that he defied the Lovelace Family to go help the folks in Bravo fight back when the Quiet Folk community voted against interfering in the war. He had always stood for order and rules since he was a young man in his community, and thought it was more important to help neighbors outside of Widow’s Peak rather than his bonds of family.

When he “died”, Clauthia Lovelace, his former wife and the head of the Widows of the Lone Star, swore to prevent the type of events that led to the war by any means necessary. Little did she know that Arthur had come to the same conclusion. In his mind, the main way to prevent the destruction that Hiway Robb inflicted on the Lone Star was to unite the various people under one banner, and to bring law and order to a lawless wasteland. If one voice could unite the people together, they could strike down any opposition with discipline and structure. But before a future could be created, his past had to die. That’s where the Railroad Conglomerate came in.

The RRC was the means for Arthur to enact his vision for a prosperous future. If people could travel safely, then towns could become communities, and communities could become a civilization. With steel, sweat, and brass, he funded the first scientists that developed the OX, a marvel of technology that would enable them to connect the San Saba in a way thought lost. He poured resources into legitimizing the other factions, helping them weather disease, famine, and the threats of the wasteland. He empowered Felicity Redfield to pursue her goals in Bravado as the new CEO, and helped negotiate the alliance between the Conglomerate to help her access the floating city of Waking. As long as the money kept flowing, no one in the RRC leadership really needed to know who was signing the orders. The Chairman was hard at work preparing for his magnum opus, the San Saba Charter, and for a time his need for secrecy was respected by the factions.

Contracts have long been the law of the land in the San Saba, the sum and whole of the law at times. What Arthur envisioned was a new contract, a walking contract shared by any that simply stepped foot in the wasteland of the Lone Star, and agreed upon by the people that really mattered — the powerful factions that arose after the Hiway War. With a shared contract enforced by the will and wealth of the elite, a new era could begin for the Lone Star, an era of control and prosperity.

The San Saba Charter would create a new social contract for the Lone Star, and established laws, government, and rights for the powerful factions. Because each supported the others in their own sphere of influence, each of the factions had a vested interest in propping up their peers. In return, they got to have a seat at the table, in the room where it all happened, helping to organize the new San Saba Board. While the actual planning took years of work, the people joined together into a new community and for a moment Arthur’s dream was nearly reality.

The fall of Waking Prime

The conspiracy of the Board

Arthur Lovelace knew that the real problem with uniting the wasteland was simply logistics. There simply aren’t enough survivors left, and the wasteland is a dangerous place to just exist. Between zed, raiders, and other survivors, getting anyone to agree to the dangerous work of building a better tomorrow was going to need help. The conspiracy at the heart of the San Saba Board was simple — Generate new manpower to fuel the endless churn of a better future. While some details have emerged about these machinations, there are still big pieces unknown about the final plans of the Chairman.

Imagine a world where a body persists after death, and where that body could be propelled by psionic means to heroic feats.  To climb mountaintops beyond us, to plunge ocean depths that would kill a living Lineage - to dive into the bowels of the earth where the air is so hot and so humid it drowns us.

A halcyon world lies behind us, behind iron walls and thousands of years of progress gated by our own fragile bodies.  I dream of undying workers, eternal engineers, running cables through an ocean trench to supply power to a distant island.  A world built more quickly, a recovery and a revolution.

We are going to save the world. —- AL

(Excerpt from a heavily redacted letter, thought to have been penned by the Chairman)

The primary face of the Chairman has been his villainous accomplice, Lawrence Graves. For the past few seasons, Graves has been the “man from the railroad”, administering a calm and collected word in the right ears, and a knife in the back for others. Always prim and proper in his grey suit, Lawrence has been the terror behind the Waking Intelligence Service attacks, but it’s always been at the orders of the Chairman. When the town rebelled during THE SUMMIT, Lawrence was there to murder the Vados that stood in his path, and threatened the good works of the Chairman.

The Chairman was behind the plague known as the Necrophage, and the near destruction of the Lovelace Family. Tabitha St. Mercy was the first conspirator to be outed, fueling the research into a “super soldier” project with a plentiful supply of criminals locked away in Killhouse. With the help of her associates Juliet Butcher and Grandfather Nichols, they developed the NECROPHAGE, a dangerous concoction that threatened to end life across the wastes. The release of the disease devastated the Lovelace Family during emptied the halls of Killhouse and nearly killed everyone in Bravado. While Nichols was eventually stopped, dozens of vials of the Necrophage compound went missing before his death and are assumed to be in the possession of the Chairman even now.

The Chairman was behind the weapons of the Emerald Arsenal. Dr. Stewart and General Rampart were responsible for many of the advances of the Emerald Arsenal, debuted during the EMERALD GALA, at the direction of the Chairman. These weapons, first designed to combat the emerging threat of the Archon menace were quickly turned to more nefarious purposes in the service of control and “security”. Once the proverbial “Pandora’s Box” was opened, it was impossible to unlearn the knowledge that was created in pursuit of this goal. After Stewart’s death at the claws of the outsider threat, the Chairman used the missing seat on the Board to further his agenda. With the duty to break ties on the Board as Chairman, losing a seat on the Board increased Arthur’s influence over the day-to-day affairs of the San Saba.

The Chairman kept Queen Jasper alive long past her prime, through blackmail. While some of Dr. Nichol’s and Dr. Stewart’s research into the Necrophage was meant to save an ailing Queen of the San Saba Republic, this reliance on any means to stay in power began the fall of the Queen. The life-saving compound came with a catch, meaning the Queen Jasper was reliant on the next dose to stay alive, and was forced to sign off on many of the plans of the Board in exchange for simple survival. When she finally had enough, the Queen’s health quickly plummeted, but she managed to gather one last Summit of the Tribes during QUEENSGRACE to help secure her legacy. After her death at the hand of Nichols, (a former Lovelace associate of the Chair), the Chairman took advantage to leverage new more restrictive contracts against the new Queen, Boss Debs, as he continued his plan for domination.

The Chairman attempted to recreate the Resonant Choir and made contact with the Prince Undying. In the bowels of Barogue during THE LOST CITY, the RRC discovered the Resonant, psionically imbued Raiders with crystals implanted in their skulls. Based on the psi-tech they found in the ruins, Arthur believed they could create a new Resonant Choir, an eternal source of psionic energy that could fuel the next wave of expansion for the San Saba Territories. He dreamed of a more stable way to create his super soldier, by implanting Shards of the Red Crown into abducted citizens and creating the perfect worker for his new empire. This research likely led to the strange zed-controlling crystals used by the Reckoner Legions in their siege on Bravado.

One of the Chairman's conspirators, Malorous Mab

The Chairman used the Oxkiller Alliance threat to create an army for himself. The Oxkiller attack on Waking Prime had long been used to justify increased violence and brutal oppression by the Board, justifying the need for rules and laws by using the assassination attempt to gather sympathy from other powerful leaders. When the Oxkiller Alliance struck, Arthur forced a vote during the Stakeholder’s Meeting to form a new army for the San Saba through a declaration of war. While Vados narrowly stopped the leadership from being placed in the hands of Rampart or Tabitha, the Board instead funneled funds into forming a new private army for the Chairman known as the Praetorian Guard. For months, the Militia was forced to survive on their own while the lion’s share of the war supplies instead was diverted to his personal army.

The Chairman directed the attack by the Reckoners on Bravado during the peace talks. During the most recent Summit of the Tribes, General Rampart was discovered to be using the Emerald Gala weaponry to control massive hordes of undead in the service of the Reckoner Legions. He used the undead hordes to attempt to disrupt the peace talks with the Oxkiller Alliance, and attempted to assassinate the leaders with the psi-tech that whipped the zombies into a deadly frenzy. When General Rampart was eventually stopped, it was only after proving that no tactic was outside the depths of depravity the Chairman would pursue to hurt his enemies.

The Chairman provided the Prince Undying a chance to attack Bravado. While the exact details are unknown, it’s clear that some contact was made with the Prince Undying, likely through a strange black crystal known as the Trapozohedron. Last seen in the possession of General Rampart, the device was presented as a gift to the Chairman, and soon after the armies of undead marched once more on Bravado. Though General Rampart was found dead, consumed from within inside the strange Nightmare of the Prince Undying, some deal was struck. The undead hordes ignored Essex and Waking and swarmed past the seat of his power to attack Bravado instead.

The Chairman directed the bombardment of Essex in the final days of the rebellion. When the armies of General Hargrave marched into Essex to finish the Board during THE ATROCITY, the Chairman did the unthinkable — he turned the cannons of his flagship on his own city, causing massive destruction to the City of Light and Sound. Countless civilians and innocent lives were lost, in a scorched earth attack on the advancing armies. When the Rebellion routed the last forces of the Board in Essex, the Chairman had used the devastation to cover his escape. The city will be rebuilding for years to come and is a fragment of its former glory.

The true mastermind is Arthur Lovelace, the Chairman of the Board. While the entire Board was complicit in some fashion in the machinations of Arthur Lovelace, most of them did so only to further their own misguided interests. With the threat of invasion on their doorstep, the Chairman was able to rubber stamp almost any request from the Board in the name of security and safety. Behind every shady decision, every vote, and every order, the Chairman was working towards his insane plan of order in the wasteland by any means necessary. He manipulated each of the faction leaders, using their power to leverage hidden moves in the shadows, forcing votes during the annual Stakeholder’s Meetings, and pushing into a violent confrontation with the new Oxkiller Alliance.

When the Bravado Rebellion emerged as the unlikely end to his dream, it’s no wonder his anger has been turned towards our home. Despite the Chairman’s best attempts at establishing an authoritarian control over the San Saba, the residents of Bravado have been a repeated thorn in his side. In his final acts as Chairman of the Board, he has diverted every last resource in his possession into destroying the town of Bravado. Arthur has deployed mortars, airships, and countless soldier into the task of revenge, eschewing any chance of hiding and licking his wounds in favor of personally leading the fight home.

As Arthur Lovelace comes to Bravado for a final time, this time it’s not to bring aid against Hiway Robb in defiance of family, in the pursuit of a once-noble goal of uniting the wastelands. Instead, he brings anger, vengeance, and bitterness from a future denied to him, and he is intent on making Bravado pay.

The Gauntlet of Tabitha St. Mercy

The war comes home

That’s it for today, Vados!

Despite the volume of lore today, there’s still a few secrets left to learn about the Chairman during THE FALL OF THE SAN SABA BOARD. Will you be able to weather the rage of the Chairman as his last armies descend on your home? Will you be able to truly stop a tyrant in his tracks? Will you survive the assault of Lawrence Graves and the Praetorian Guard?

Tickets are on sale now for the FALL OF THE SAN SABA BOARD! Don’t miss your shot at defeating the Chairman once and for all!

Next time, I’ll dig into some of the mechanics of the weekend, from our “Capture the Flag” events to control the town, the weapons of war deployed against Bravado, and ways to use your Combat Units and War Supplies in the defense of your home.

See you soon, Vados!

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October National Announcement

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Howdy Survivors!

There was a significant announcement on the Dystopia Rising LARP National page, but in case you missed it, here’s a synopsis and some stuff to be prepared for.

Here’s the TL;DR:

  • LIT Update: Starting from January 1st, 2024, we're changing how we use LIT. Chapters won't add new items digitally, but LIT remains active, and existing stored items are safe.

  • Online Econ Play: Online events will still feature economic activities like crafting and farming. Instead of digital items, chapters will mail item cards to players.

  • New Ruleset: We're diligently working on a new ruleset, though it's a year away from full implementation. No XP or full Econ reset is planned.

  • Community Involvement: We're committed to transparency and community feedback throughout this process. Let's collaborate to make our game the best it can be.

What does this mean for our Texas player base?

At present, there won't be many immediate changes. The National team has released a statement to give the community a heads-up about upcoming changes that are over a year away from being put into action.

Following the National team's announcement on October 30, we are preparing to settle LIT inventories promptly over the next few months. Stay tuned for future updates!

For online games, the responsibility of mailing out cards in a timely manner will rest with the respective chapters. Online games will not have the ability to introduce new items into LIT. However, you can still utilize and remove items from your inventory as needed.

New DR LIVE Rule Set!

We are actively working on a new ruleset, and it's worth noting that there are no plans for an XP or full Econ reset during this implementation. The ruleset is expected to be rolled out in approximately a year or two, and more information will be shared as development progresses. While the development process appears to allow for feedback, the exact procedures for providing input are yet to be determined.

Our goal throughout is to continue our commitment to transparency and radical trust in the community. We are committed to maintaining open and frequent communication throughout this entire process to address any concerns y’all may have. For now, we are completely focused on our upcoming events: Emergence (Nov 10-12) and The Red Death, our Premiere event (Dec 8-10).  The Dystopia Rising: Texas Storytelling team has put in extensive effort to craft exciting and captivating stories, and we're thrilled to continue delivering them to you.