Circus Medallions

Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our October live event CIRQUE DE DREAD! This is our first ST led overarc of the season, led by Matt Hoadley, Ash Sexton, and Luka Drystan. 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 strange Entry Medallions of Colonel Rictus’ Flying Circus, and about about the dreaded Nemesis Cult.

Our photos for this post were taken from previous DR:TX events by our talented Photo Team.

COMPULSION MECHANICS recap

I covered these mechanics during my first blog post, but in case you missed out here’s a quick summary about how this core mechanic works. As with all of our Local DR:TX Rules, you can find these on our webpage under Local Rules & Skills.

COMPULSION

Effect. When an NPC calls “Compulsion, All <KEYWORD>, [Insert Command]”, the affected target must follow the next single command until the task is completed or nullified (such as being compelled to defend someone who then dies). The target must complete the command to the best of their ability. When the target enters Bleed Out, the effect immediately ends. Characters under the effects of Compulsion remember the actions they take, but are not in control of them. This ability is normally resisted by Mental Endurance, but some effects may prevent this resistance.

As a reminder, the primary use of this Compulsion mechanic will be a call you will hear during this event that is circus themed:

“COMPULSION: STEP RIGHT UP AND JOIN THE SHOW!”

When you hear this phrase, your character will be compelled to participate in the dangerous and deadly carnival events held by Colonel Rictus's Flying Circus, for the next TEN (10) minutes. Proceed to the NPC that made the call, and follow their instructions. You’ll generally need to follow their instructions unless you spend Mind points to resist or use an item.

I covered how to resist these effects in the blog post on Cirque de Dread, and a bit about how Roleplay Burdens work, but now it’s time to discuss the curious Medallions of the Flying Circus. You can see our first mention of the Medallions in the teaser we posted the first week, and in the poster below.

Carnival Medallions

There are many stories of the traveling circus that travels from settlement to settlement across the wastes, but they all have similar elements. Before the settlement was wiped out by hordes of Raiders, the twisted carnival games of Colonel Rictus arrived in town first.

Each of these games will have ways to “win”, if you consider simply surviving a deadly contest a victory, but some of them will offer a different sort of reward - a Circus Medallion. The prizes that the raiders offer from their macabre games aren’t things most people would find interesting, but these Medallions seem to be a different story. In fact, several stories mention the destruction of the town happened because of the residents fighting amongst themselves over the medallions offered by Colonel Rictus.

The medallions are pretty decently sized, about 6 inches across and they are gold in color. you can see what they look like in the picture to the below. It should be pretty obvious what you’ve earned once you get a circus medallion.

So, you’ve done it. You earned a Medallion, but what was the cost? Let’s talk about what happens if you are unluck… I mean, lucky enough to earn one of these incredibly valuable prizes!

The Medallions have a couple of unique effects during our October event.

circus Medallion Mechanics:

  • The owner of the Medallion cannot resist “Step Right Up” calls with Mental Endurance.

  • You cannot attack or attempt to hurt Colonel Rictus.

  • When you hear a “Step Right Up” call, you must REPEAT the call as an AOE. Call “Area of Effect, Step Right Up and Join the Show!”. This is an additional instance of the effect and can be resisted.

  • Prized Possession (Roleplay Burden): The Medallion is precious to you. You may not hide this medallion and it must be prominently displayed at all times. You cannot willingly part with this Medallion and if it forcibly removed from you or lost, gain a Fracture.

  • NOTE: You must own a Medallion to participate in the FINALE.

The real danger of the Medallion owners is the dangerous effect they have during the raider carnival games. If an NPC makes the call, you must repeat the call, becoming a second effect to resist. If there are multiple Medallions in an area, it can be exhausting to escape the effects of the Carnival Barkers. This is an insidious effect, so if your friends acquire one of the Medallions, you’ll need to be careful when you protect them from the carnival games, as you’ll be forced to join along.

While the Medallions can be claimed by someone else, remember that CVC rules apply — You still need to use the “C” symbol to ask consent, unless your opponent is in the Wasteland!

Lastly, let’s cover the true star of the show: Colonel Rictus and the Nemesis Cult!

The Nemesis

While the stories of devastation in the wake of the Flying Circus travel from town to town, the other recurring element of the tales are the murderous cultists that follow in Colonel Rictus’ employ. The masked killers are ruthless and predatory, and seem to blend in well with the throngs of Raiders held in sway by the Ringmaster of the Flying Circus. They are the deadly and terrible NEMESIS.

With Friday the 13th coming up during our October event, you might already be familiar with the deadly followers of the Telling Visionaries known as The Nemesis. You can find a mention of them on p. 81 in the Corebook, but I’ve included the relevant passages here to save you the trouble:

The Nemesis are often seen as a dangerous cult within the Telling Visionaries. However, their entire goal is to create heroes among the people of the world - by pushing them to rise to the task. Members don the clothes and faces of villains as they attempt to inspire people to be better. Unfortunately, there’s often a lot of collateral damage. The Nemesis are seen as heretics by other followers of the Telling Visionaries, since many members of the Nemesis are not only extremists but also devote themselves to acts of violence in the name of their faith. - DR Corebook, p. 81

The old tabletop books published during the 2.0 days have a bit more, and you can find some useful information on the Telling Visionary faith, including the Nemesis cult in the book “Echoes of Celluoid Dreams”. While the book is not really canon any longer, the information inside has certainly inspired some of this arc. You can still get a copy on DriveThruRPG, here.

Perhaps the most famous, and most antithetical religious sect within the Telling Visionaries, the Nemesis embrace villainy in all of it’s forms. While certainly couched in the genre of horror, you’ll find adherents of Captain Hook rubbing shoulders with Mean Girls and Schrutes among the Kreugers, Voorhees, and Draculas. The sect is supported by a bit of the founder’s writing that describes the "Beast of the Late Late Show”, a horror-movie monster that terrorizes humanity before the end of the Broadcast day. - Echoes of Celluoid Dreams, p. 26

The Nemesis have been repeated villains throughout the Dystopia Rising network, no matter which game you go to. They are cultists of fear, bent on spreading their particular twisted interpretation of their faith in a misguided attempt to cause terror and mayhem.

It’s a classic trope, of the movie villain like Jason Voorhees, the white masked Psycho Mike, Leatherface from the Chainsaw Massacre, or even Samara from the Ring. And October is their favorite month to prowl, just in time for This is Halloween, the annual tradition of the Telling Visionary faith. We’ve had a number of these killers in our DR:TX games, from Eyeless Jack and his father Grandfather Nichols, to the classics like Voorhees, Michael Myers, and Pumpkin Sam.

With Friday the 13th happening in game, we can’t miss out on the chance to run screaming from a chainsaw killer in the woods, saying “nope” to a band of creepy masked figures in the treeline, and herding together without really protecting ourselves, tripping on level and stable ground, and attempting to hide in obvious and dangerous locations, in classic horror movie tropes. We hope you will buy into the fear, and embrace the story we have in store for you.

Let’s cover some basics as it applies to the story of Cirque de Dread:

The themes of the Nemesis

The Nemesis Cult is an important villain of the weekend, and they are here to enforce a few themes during our event, particularly of SURVIVAL HORROR. There will be several of these villains in play over the course of the weekend, and we still have a few surprises as well as some returning threats.

The Nemesis are villains to survive, not to simply kill. You survive an encounter with a Nemesis by “playing along”. They are here to cause fear and terror, and if you stand in their way you will likely meet a brutal death. The surest way to anger a Nemesis is not reacting to their presence and trying to steal their spotlight. In addition, the Nemesis have strange defenses, powerful brews, and a few unique mechanics they might use against you. They are not simply enemies to hit a bunch of times, as they keep coming back, again and again until stopped, like the psycho killers of their TV stories. Each will have a particular way they need to be dealt with. It’s up to you if you want to go down that dangerous path, or simple decide to focus on survival for this brief time the Nemesis stalk the night. Choose wisely!

The Nemesis are zealots, and they are wrong. The Nemesis are insane, deadly zealots that want to spread fear and terror in the world on purpose. They believe that by becoming something so powerfully evil that they create good in the world instead. When a protagonist rises up to challenge them, that bit of heroism will outshine their evil deeds and inspire others to be better. In their twisted world view, they think of themselves as heroes doing a necessary and dirty job. They are branded as heretics by the TVs, and actively opposed in almost every civilized place in the wastelands. They are not allies, and helping the Nemesis will be a sure way to involve your character in deadly CVC from other players.

The Nemesis tend to adhere to some very stringent rules known as a “script”. The Nemesis almost never hunts other members of the Telling Visionaries — it’s a waste of their time to do so. Their own faith simply already knows what the Nemesis is there to teach, and they are evangelists through fear. They each pick a “script”, acting out what they believe to be the motivations of the classic killers from the Signal, and narrowing the focus of their “performance” in the field. Nemesis tend to think of themselves as professional actors, trying to bring the characters they portray to life by being true to the motivations and actions of that killer. Each often have a few types of victims they will not let escape, and if you can figure out what “script” in game they are following you might be able to avoid their attention.

Your character is probably not familiar with the “scripts” of the Nemesis. Movies don’t exist in the wasteland. Just because you’ve seen a horror movie in real life and recognize that mask doesn’t mean these killers will follow an entirely predictable pattern in game. However, the stories of movies and TV shows from before the fall of man have been passed down as oral traditions by the Telling Visionaries, and they have mutated and changed through the generations, just like the Survivors themselves. Your character has not seen a movie at all, and all you have is urban legends and spooky stories told by some lunatic at the bar. Sometimes, a Nemesis will blend several scripts together to achieve their perfect character, and this means they can be a bit unexpected at times. Each of the killers during this event has a story to tell, information to share, and maybe you can uncover the truth of their scripts by surviving encounters with the Nemesis.

The Nemesis are working with Colonel Rictus. Survivors of other settlements have reported that the Ringmaster himself is a villainous Nemesis, but for some reason he seems to attract other members of this murderous faith. Why they are working with the Ringmaster is unknown, but it may be related to the curious way that the Ringmaster is always followed by hordes of deadly Thrill Kill raiders. Regardless of their reasoning, if you see one of the Nemesis in town, you should assume they are an enemy and are simply “part of the show”…

Nemesis Rules

October is our annual Halloween game and is a time of high-stakes danger, visceral horror, and we strive to make the things that go bump in the night very, very, very real. In the tradition of classic Zombie films, the true horror of the apocalypse is not really the zombies themselves, but rather the depths of depravity that your fellow humans will descend into in order to survive.

The single most dangerous enemy you can ever encounter in Dystopia rising is another Survivor.

Unlike most Zed or Raiders, Survivors are a unique danger because they are intelligent, capable of using equipment and gizmos, and have motivations entirely different than you normally encounter from the common monsters. For this event, we will be featuring several unique “lineage” threats - threats that have a Strain and Lineage much like any other player in the game.

During the upcoming Carnival Games, the villains known as the Nemesis Cult will be in our town of Bravado. These crazed killers will be dangerous threats in addition to zombies and raiders, and you’ll need to be prepared for a deadly encounter. In our focus on radical trust, we’d like to share a few of the mechanics and systems we will be using this weekend to represent these threats.

Mechanics of the NEMESIS

The first thing to know about the Nemesis is that while they are dangerous threats, each of the Nemesis (like any other threat in our game) will honor our “OK Check-In” system for choosing to opt-out of a scene. We want this experience to be one of intense horror and danger, but our Nemesis just play the bad guys on TV - not in real life.

Named Nemesis are always portrayed by Storytellers and Guides and are generally “killing blow active”, which means they can use deadly force against characters in the game.

However, unlike most NPC Threats, we’ve put a few “guard rails” in place on these characters while they are in play in a narrative sense:

  • First, all Nemesis have an agenda and a personality. They are sentient individuals, with their own backstories, motivations, and reasons for why they earned their reputation as a villain. At first glance, a Nemesis may be indistinguishable from another character, despite their horrific costumes. The cult is not just an excuse for wanton murder and mayhem: the Nemesis are in Bravado for a reason - to cause FEAR.

  • Each Nemesis has a primary objective to complete their “script”. If they fulfill these goals, they will stop their rampage, satisfied in their goal of creating fear and terror. This means that not every encounter with a Nemesis has to end in bloodshed - if you can identify and understand their goals you may be able to escape their notice or even survive!

  • In fact, EVERY Nemesis has a specific type of character they will avoid killing, based on their story and motivations. If you can find out this weakness, you may be able to avoid an untimely demise at the hands of a particular Nemesis. This doesn’t mean they won’t torture, maim, or injure you so tread lightly. And just because you might be safe from one Nemesis doesn’t mean they won’t have friends that don’t have a similar restriction. Likewise, they often have a type of victim they will purposefully seek out, according to the twisted scripts they follow.

Mechanically speaking, each Nemesis was built following certain guidelines:

  • Each Nemesis has a monster sheet. They will have a set amount of Body, Armor, Skills, and abilities, but they will have distinct stats. They will be tough, but not immortal. However, unless a Nemesis is satisfied with their performance, they will keep coming back again and again till stopped, so simply hitting them several times with a boffer isn’t always the best way to deal with them.

  • Nemesis will have at least one “Nemesis Ability”. This will be a special Local Plot Card that enables a particular mechanical trick. Many will be resistant to damage like the immortal monsters they portray, or they might be capable of escaping from a fight into the shadows, or they might be able to act in other unpredictable ways according to their role. These will be fairly simple mechanics, but they won’t always be a thing a player can do.

  • For all intents and purposes, they must interact with the world in the same manner as other THREATS.

  • Each of the Nemesis has access to a limited amount of Crafted Equipment. Honestly, this is probably the single biggest reason that Nemesis can be unique threats as they can use those nifty gizmos, weapon augments, and brews against you. If they are killed or captured, these powerful items can be looted or stolen (though they will have shortened expiration dates).

This weekend promises to be a dangerous and challenging time, but our goal is to create a unique threat that is a bit different from a zombie or raider. Each Nemesis has a different story to tell, and we can’t wait to hear about your favorite encounters with these psychotic sociopaths! Let us know what you think!

The Freddy Five are ready for the show!

wrap up

We have a few weeks left until game, and are so excited to show up the fearsome sights of the carnival, and Colonel Rictus’ Flying Circus. Matt and his team have cooked up some great events, some neat props, and some terrifying new villains. We can’t wait to go bump in the night, and help your characters tell the story of survival against all odds.

Tickets are on sale until friday, but you’ll still be able to purchase them on site. Save yourself a wait in line, and buy them today!

See you soon Vados!