Howdy Vados!
It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our November live event EMERGENCE! This is our next ST led overarc of the season, led by Maenad Wilder. 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 notes about our upcoming Disease & Death mechanics!
TICKETS FOR OUR November EVENT ARE ON SALE NOW! get ready for a creepy crawly good time!
We are running our first ever BUNDLE deal for event tickets! If you purchase your Standard Casting tickets for both the November and December events at once, you’ll get a great discount AND access to the unique new Blueprints we will release in December. Check it out on our Tickets page! You’ll still be able to purchase a Grab Bag for the December when tickets go on sale after the EMERGENCE event!
Our Slime Promo is live! We have a new reward when you purchase the extra +2 XP for your ticket in November. If you get the additional XP, we will have a container of home-made SLIME ready for you at check-in! This slime may or may not contain bugs (don’t worry, they are fake!) and is guaranteed to be the perfect way to get into the right headspace for this event!
If you had a great experience at our last event CIRQUE DE DREAD or had some suggestions for how we can improve, we’d love to hear from you! Did you enjoy surviving the nightmare of the Nemesis? Did you earn a shiny circus medallion? Did you have neat memories from the Eclipse? What did you like best? What memories did you make? How was your NPC shift? Did another player impress you?
Fill out our Feedback Form!
Nominate another player for a Community Achievement!
Our photos for this post were taken from previous DR:TX events by our talented Photo Team, by Max Pohlmeier, Lauren Guzaldo, and Maddeax Khole.
EMERGENCE
Here’s the premise for our next event, Emergence:
Bloody fissures around the mouth. Extreme fragility. Missing organs.
These were the symptoms of four sailors returning from a leviathan hunt on Lake Bravo. So severe was the internal damage, the sailors were unable to produce coherent sound and died before any medical diagnosis could be reached. Doctors attempting an autopsy before processing developed the same symptoms and succumbed to internal bleeding within 12 hours. Despite no indications of green veins amongst the afflicted, none have returned from the Grave.
Drywater was quick to cordon off the port and quarantine all who had come in contact with the afflicted. But right as it appeared the situation was under control, the Torchlight tribe sent for urgent medical aid as a new grotesque monstrosity began attacking their deepest settlement, spreading a plague of touch. Before anything else could be done, a massive earthquake struck Bravado and a horde of shamblers bearing the same scars and fissures poured from a crack in the Earth. Victims, who have since died of the affliction, reported the Earth bulging just before the quake, as if something was pressing against it from beneath.
The situation grows worse by the hour as more vectors of infection are revealed, more people die without returning, and something stirs in the depths of Lake Bravo. The Board has called an emergency meeting to discuss the disease brewing at the heart of its territory but, while bureaucracy turns with rusted wheels, your saloons fall empty, your friends go missing, and your neighborhoods are locked down, left to fend for themselves. When a touch is deadly, how can you save Bravado?
A threat is building under the surface and if left untreated, Bravado, Drywawter, and the Torchlight Clans will be locked away with the key tossed aside.
Sounds like something is spreading a new disease in Bravado…
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 to inspire your role play for this event, here’s a list of our favorites to get ready for EMERGENCE:
The Blob (1988)
Nope
Slither
The Strain (TV Series)
The Faculty
Basically, if it’s creepy, crawly, and makes your skin crawl, that’s the feeling we are trying to capture. We plan a lot of fun prosthetics, makeup and slime effects to really capture the grotesque and terrifying themes of EMERGENCE! Disease plots also tend to have some elements of loneliness and isolation, as survivors huddle away from the infected and the ranks of the sick begin to outnumber the healthy.
With that in mind, let’s cover a few of the major ingredients we have in mind for this next game…
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 November event.
body horror & Splatter mods
Body Horror, grotesque or disturbing mutations, visceral costumes and props
Splatter / Gore modules (forewarning will be provided, but these modules will cover players in liquid or debris that could stain costumes)
One major aspect of EMERGENCE will be the themes of Body Horror. Body horror is an important part of the zombie mythos. For example, while elements of mutilation similar to slasher films and monster movies may be present in body horror, it can differ in the zombie apocalypse. These themes might be generally marked by a loss of conscious control over the body through mutation, disease, or other tropes involving uncontrolled transformation. The genre can invoke intense feelings of physical and psychological disgust, or squick, and play upon anxieties of physical vulnerability, contagion, mutation, transformation, disease, mutilation, or other unnatural or violent distortions of the human body.
We have a lot of neat and disgusting props planned for this event, new creature effects, and special effects that will lean towards the gory and disturbing. We will even have a few SPLATTER MODS, events that could include liquid, slime, and debris that could damage your costumes or leave stains. We will warn you in advance of these situations where we can, but the visceral elements of our props and challenges may be something you want to avoid. Remember, you can always use the “thumbs down” symbol to leave a scene or avoid a mess!
disease
Disease, infection, and consequences of diseases
The story of the zombie apocalypse is at its heart a story of disease. Zombie stories involve pandemics, viruses, and the deadly consequences of what that disease turns survivors into. You could argue that “fear of disease” is the key trope to any story that involves zombies and the undead. During our EMERGENCE event, we will be introducing a malady that functions as a new and dangerous Disease in the world of Dystopia Rising.
Given the state of the global pandemic and the impact Covid-19 has had on us all, we understand that this topic isn't for everyone. Each of our lives have been impacted by this crisis and each person is dealing with this trauma in different ways. Our goal is not to minimize the impact of this disease nor it’s effect on our community, and given that we have staff members who have lost a family member to Covid-19, we empathize with anyone that has suffered loss during this pandemic.
bugs & insects
Mutated and hostile fauna, including spiders, bugs, maggots, worms, snakes, deer, bears, and more.
The last bit is part of our focus on the creepy and crawly. We will have a number of disturbing creatures in this game, and we plan on using bugs, maggots, and worms to represent the larvae of the parasites in the game. We will have some resin and latex props made from casted molds to represent the creatures that are infecting the players during this event. Some of the larger creatures will have headpieces, harnesses, and bigger elements of their costume to emphasize the insect and bugs theme of the story. It will be up to you if you want to use some of these costuming elements to represent the disease on your character, and we want you to be able to engage with the level of squick that you are comfortable with. If the props are too much, you can just stick to mechanics.
If you choose to opt out of these situations with the OK Check In System, don’t worry. There’s still plenty to do during the event, and we will have the usual threats of zombies and raiders, and the continuing story of the San Saba. There’s still a WAR going on, and there will be other mods and challenges during the event outside of the disease. You’ll still be able to complete Liquidation Runs, craft and gather resources, and spend time with your friends. If this is still a bit much for you, don’t worry, we have some more scary stories to share in December.
Death and disease
During our upcoming game, we will be using a brand new in-character disease known as BEHEMOTH PARASITES. This disease has the strong potential to be quick and deadly, especially in the later stages as it can kill your character within TWELVE (12) HOURS. I’ll be going over these specific mechanics in a later blog post in detail, but since death is a possibility I’d like to make sure everyone knows how to avoid this up front.
BEHEMOTH PARASITES can be deadly and your character can die from this disease.
There will also be SCs, LCs, and NPCs that will be actively attempting to spread this disease in game. These villains will be trying to purposefully infect your character with this disease as part of our story, so there will be some potential danger of your character contracting this disease during the course of the event simply by playing the game.
I’ve covered some of the basic mechanics of how Disease works in Dystopia Rising in previous posts, and you can read a bit more here about how this will function mechanically during EMERGENCE.
With the basics out of the way, let’s cover some big themes of this disease:
The disease spreads by TOUCH
Behemoth Parasites is an insidious and quickly spreading disease, spread by the simplest of transmission vectors - TOUCH. It’s something so ubiquitous and common, and it’s the primary reason this disease has become so dangerous. A simple handshake, hug from a friend, or even life-saving medical procedure while bleeding out may end up spreading the parasites to a new host.
Mechanics: Any touch between you and another strain triggers “Inflict Disease (Parasites)”. This includes touching prompted by mechanical skill use, like Medical or Enhanced Movement.
However, just because this disease spreads via touch doesn’t remove your consideration of your fellow players. Remember, physically touching another player without their consent is prohibited in Dystopia Rising, so make sure you get the enthusiastic consent of the other person before engaging in physical contact.
Parasites, not an Infection
I’ve used the term “disease” for this upcoming mechanic, but this effect is actually brought about by internal parasites infesting a host. It’s not a bacteria or virus that is spreading amongst the town, but rather actual tiny creatures burrowing in the skin and bodies of the infected, eating them from within. This is a terrifying disease, as it’s more akin to something like mutated tapeworms, fleas, or ticks. If you don’t get medical treatment quickly, you might die a painful and quick death at the hands of the things devouring you from within.
Functionally though, this condition will be treated as a mechanical disease within our DR:TX event. Stuff that interacts with diseases will work against it, and items that help prevent the spread of the disease will still work to contain the infection.
Easy to Cure, Easy to Advance
This disease is very easy to cure, using existing mechanics in our game. The simplest way to deal with the parasites is to eat a crafted Meal that was prepared using the Deep Cholesterol Fry blueprint. There will be other ways to cure this disease with medicine and research, but the easiest way to avoid death via parasites is to get it cured quickly.
Unlike other diseases, this disease stays easily treatable up until the final third stage of the disease. While cures will be plentiful, the bigger strain of Behemoth Parasites will be on Mind points, healing, material resources like herb and produce, and the most dangerous threat of all — the inexorable advancement of time.
If untreated, after 12 hours your character will DIE. This is a three stage disease, and each stage advances after about 4 hours. If you do nothing, your character will meet their untimely end, lose an Infection, and enter the next step our story line after 12 hours.
However, since it’s so very transmissible, it’ll be easy to advance your character to the last stages of the disease. Anytime a ‘Inflict Disease’ mechanic is called, your disease will advanced to the next step. This means you can quickly end up at Stage 3, with a 4 hour timer until you die a bloody death at the tiny mouths of the parasites. Since it’s easy to be reinfected by the parasites, it’ll be important to discover some way to permanently cure the disease before its too late.
death is not the end
While the Behemoth Parasites can be very deadly, remember that Infection means your character can return again and again from death. Death is not the end for survivors in the apocalypse, and in fact it unlocks a new and fascinating side of the game - the Grave Mind Scene. Your character will get a personal scene with a Storyteller, and get a chance to experience the mysteries of the Mortis Amaranthine and the sinister Grave Mind, while getting new opportunities for story, character development, and deep role play opportunities.
However, one of the great mysteries of this event is what exactly is happening to the infected townsfolk when they die. According to the early reports, those that die have not yet returned from the Grave Mind. If your character dies during this event, you will experience a new challenge BEYOND DEATH.
This new experience is sure to provoke some interesting stories and we have a bunch more surprises that await you. Mae and our Gravemind STs have some fun stuff planned, and we can’t wait to show you the horrific fate that awaits your character should they let the parasites devour them alive!
Next week, I’ll reveal the full rules for this BEHEMOTH PARASITES disease so stay tuned!
Wrap Up
We hope that you are ready for the challenge of EMERGENCE. How can you save your friends when a touch can be deadly? What is underneath the ground, and how can you possibly stop it in time? Why are people not returning from the grave when they die? These are some fun and exciting challenges for your characters in the zombie apocalypse. But don’t worry, it’s not just all diseases, you’ll still need to deal with zombies, Oxkillers, and raiders and more.
Tickets are on sale now, and we have our special Winter Bundle deal running for a limited time.
See you next Vados, when we talk the specifics of our new disease, Behemoth Parasites!
