Howdy Vados!
It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our September live event BENEATH THE CORPSE OF WAKING! 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 insidious dangers of Radiation in Dystopia Rising, how Radiation Poisoning might kill you in September, and how to survive the WAKING EXCLUSION ZONE.
TICKETS FOR OUR SEASON OPENER ARE ON SALE NOW! DON’T MISS OUT ON THE FIRST EVENT OF SEASON FIVE!
It’s gonna be HOT in September. Check out our new guide of LARPing in Hot Weather so you can be prepared for the heat!
We will have new limited-time Stickers available as a pre-registration reward for September! Buy your ticket early and earn some cool swag!
We’ve add some cool updates to our website over the last few days! We have new maps of Bravado (seen below), new maps of the San Saba, and a few other easter eggs if you look deep enough. Let us know what your favorite resource on our website is!
Let’s get started!
What’s that green spot at the bottom of the map?
The Danger of Radiation
In the world of Dystopia Rising, it’s a little easy to discount the danger of Radiation. You are Survivors, after all, and even though the world is horribly irradiated, you’ve been just fine. Some of y’all Mutants might even be more confident about your ability to survive, but nothing can prepare you for the threat of Radiation that is now facing Bravado within the corpse of Waking Prime.
The world fell. Bombs shattered the earth and radiation blanketed the world. As humans looked up at the skies, they saw their destruction — and their faith shattered… (DR Corebook, p. 69)
In the real world, Radiation can be very dangerous, but it’s not really a threat to most people. Humans are pretty hardy, and most folks will never have any significant radiation exposure in their lifetimes. There’s a lot of misinformation about radiation out there, but in general it will never be a thing you need to worry about.
In the world after the fall, it’s an entirely different story.
The entire world was blanketed in radiation during the fall, and your Survivor has adapted to live in an entire world full of what would be lethal doses of radiation in the real world. So when you encounter something that can hurt you with radiation in Dystopia Rising, it’s an entirely different magnitude of radiation altogether.
In the real world, at very high doses, radiation can impair the functioning of tissues and organs and produce acute effects such as nausea and vomiting, skin redness, hair loss, acute radiation syndrome, local radiation injuries (also known as radiation burns), or even death. When you suffer from lethal amounts of radiation, the cellular bonds of your body cease to function, and you just kinda… fall apart.
In the game world, the symptoms of extreme radiation exposure in the world of Dystopia Rising are VERY similar. It can cause damage by burning, it can cause nausea and vomiting, and many of the symptoms of this poisoning from radiation is covered in a common disease known as Radiation Poisoning. And, just like the real world, it can also cause a slow and terrible DEATH.
Before I get into how this works in our game, I need to cover one conceit we use in Dystopia Rising.
Radiation isn’t actually Green
In various Blueprints, and throughout our network, we commonly use GREEN glowing effects to represent the danger of Radioactive threats. All of the Green Light brand blueprints do something with Radiation, and even the Darwins are always talking about “Savannah’s Green Glow”. Our map above has an entire area marked with green to mark radiation. Heck, there are even some Radioactive Zombies that are represented with green glow sticks to mark them in a horde.
It’s kind of ubiquitous with the concept of Radiation, but since one of our former Directors, Ryan Coogan, was literally a Nuclear Engineer that had VERY elaborate feelings on this concept, I feel compelled to offer one bit of clarity of the real world versus Dystopia Rising.
We may only be nuclear scientists in the Wasteland, but most of us are pretty sure about one piece of nuclear knowledge — we all reckon that "radioactivity has a green glow".
Most of us have seen the opening sequence of any episode of The Simpsons. Homer Simpson sets down tools when the bell rings at the nuclear power plant where he works. The radioactive material he accidentally flips down the back of his shirt is quite clearly glowing green — so there's one undeniable example of radioactivity having a green glow, but it’s largely a Pop Culture trope.
And even back in the real world, hospital patients will say that they've had so many X-rays that they glow in the dark. Indeed, the phrase "glow in the dark" is often used as a metaphor for radioactivity. Old radium-based watches would even appear green in the dark, so it’s easy to see the confusion.
In real LIFE, Radioactivity is invisible to us — it's not green, or any other colour, it's totally invisible. our eyes can’t detect it.
In summary, radiation isn’t green, it’s invisible to the naked eye. It’s a terrifying threat cause you can’t really see it, detect it, or even know it’s there until its too late.
But, that’s hard to represent in a LARP.
So, in Dystopia Rising, when we use GREEN GLOW to represent Radiation, it’s just an easy tool to communicate to our players that something is Radioactive. With love, please forgive us Ryan.
A warning from one of our games back in 2.0. Ah, nostalgia.
Radiation in Dystopia Rising
Radiation in DR can be a deadly killer so it’s important to know what you might face while BENEATH THE CORPSE OF WAKING.
There are four main ways your characters might encounter Radiation in the game:
Radiation Damage, from weapons or augments like the Green Light Gloves or the Green Light Bioform Destabilizer.
Radioactive Threats, like the Irradiated Dead or Luminance Raiders.
Glow Boys, Toxic Terrors, and Doom Fog Zombies are all types of rarer Undead threats (Until now, that is. Turns out we crashed a giant radioactive airship nearby and killed a bunch of folks).
Radiation Poisoning, or Rad Sickness, a common disease found throughout the Wasteland.
Radioactive Areas or Environments, or HOT ZONES, commonly represented by green glow sticks or areas clearly marked with a Zone of Mechanics, like the Waking Exclusion Zone.
So, let’s cover the basic things you need to understand about each of these threats.
Radiation Damage
Radiation Damage is a “Damage Modifier”, similar to Body or Bane damage. When you hear another player or NPC call this as part of a swing, they will call out “5 Rad!”. If this connects and you don’t use a defensive skill like Avoid, then you take that damage with the modifier. The modifier simply changes HOW the damage is applied.
Rad Damage deals damage to both Body AND Mind in the same attack.
This means if you get hit by “5 Rad!”, you take 5 Body damage and 5 Mind damage. Ouch!
Rad Damage can be dangerous in large amounts as it can leave you out of Mind and Bleeding to death in one swing!
Radioactive Threats
While there are some radioactive raiders called Luminance Raiders, the number one threat you’ll encounter near Bravado is probably the Irradiated Dead. Similar to Shamblers, these undead aren’t particularly dangerous by themselves, but each and every one is highly radioactive.
In game, this will be seen through three major Threat Skills:
Basic Spike Damage (Rad) - The zombie will call something like “5 Rad!” during a melee swing. If it connects, you lose both 5 Body and 5 Mind.
Since Avoid costs 5 mind to use, it might not even be worth dodging this one unless you are injured or the Rad damage is a much higher strike.
Inflict Disease (Radiation Sickness) - This strike will infect you with Stage 1 Radiation Poisoning. If you’ve already contracted this disease, it will increase your Stage by 1. Stage 5 is deadly, but it still takes a few months to kill you.
This strike can and SHOULD be Avoided.
Remember, Mutants can spend a Resolve to avoid a NEW instance of Radiation Poisoning, but once you are infected you can’t stop it from advancing.
Doom Fog - Periodically, the most powerful of the Irradiated Dead will call out an area of effect attack. They will shout “By the Sound of My Voice, 2 Body, Undead Immune”. This will hit every survivor in about 50 feet and there are very few ways to avoid AOE effects like this. It’s not a lot of damage, but it adds up!
Some Irraditated threats literally feed off Radiation, so be careful using items that cause Rad Damage against some of these threats. You might have an explosive revelation!
Radiation Poisoning
Radiation Poisoning is a terrible disease and it’s sometimes called “Radiation Sickness” or some similar variation. Regardless of the name, this disease is one of the most common diseases in the wastes, second only to Bad Brain. Since it’s a common disease there’s really no mystery on how to cure it or what it does to a survivor. Symptoms for this disease range from “feeling like shit” to “actually dying while feeling like shit". In DR:TX, this is the variant of the disease we use, based off one used by our friends in DR: SoCal.
Here’s the complete rules for the disease, and these will be posted on our website under the Local Diseases tab.
While Radiation Poisoning can be deadly if left untreated, it still takes two months to die once you reach Stage 5. You should have plenty of time to treat this disease, so actually dying from Rad Sickness is kinda tough.
The biggest danger of Radiation Poisoning is that it needs some Cross-Lineage herb like Cannabis and Khella to cure. If this is a one-off victim you are treating, it’s not that punishing. But if you get a LOT of people with this disease, you’ll need some friendly farmers to gather the appropriate herbs. Hope there’s no issue with radiation leeching into the Meadow!
Radiation in the environmenT
The last way you will encounter Radiation in Dystopia Rising is through environmental dangers. There are two places you will encounter Radioactive Areas in the environment during our September event and beyond.
The number one place you can encounter Radiation in the environment is within the WAKING EXCLUSION ZONE. This is the area known as Zuni on our campsite, and is part of our new NPC land. We will have some very visible signs posted here, so this is a completely avoidable part of the campsite, unless you choose to take part of a Liquidation Run.
While inside the Waking Exclusion Zone on a mod, the following rules apply:
WAKING EXCLUSION ZONe
The radioactive husk of Waking is extremely deadly, even to Strains normally resistant to such things. The lethal doses of radiation inflicted by remaining in the area will kill anyone, regardless of protections, given enough time.
If you remain in the Waking Exclusion Zone for 5 minutes, you contract Radiation Poisoning, Stage 1. This will increase your disease by one stage if you are currently infected.
If you remain in the Waking Exclusion Zone for 10 minutes or longer, you have reached a lethal dose of radiation. Within the next hour, your body will cease to function at a cellular level and you will die and lose an Infection. This loss cannot be prevented or avoided. Characters with Goat Gear Armor, Helscape Masks, or Mutant Strain Advantages cannot avoid this effect.
If you attempt to enter the Exclusion Zone for a second Liquidation Run in the same 12s, your character instantly dies from Lethal Radiation, regardless of Lineage.
As you can see, even Retrogrades can’t survive the lethal rads within the hull of Waking Prime. No matter your strain, no matter the protection, that much Radiation is deadly. Worse yet, you won’t just immediately die. You’ll have about an hour to say goodbye to your friends before your body melts away. There is no way to prevent this Infection loss, as even the Infection can’t regenerate from that level of acute radiation exposure. That’s horrifying!
We’ll talk a bit more about Liquidation Runs in a future blog post, but the main takeaway from this mechanic is that no single character will be able to complete every Run. If you try to do two Liquidation Runs within the same 12s, you immediately die. You’ll have to let some other characters help you complete the mission.
Hot Zones
You will see other pools of Radiation throughout the weekend through a Zone of Mechanics called a Hot Zone. These areas are heavily irradiated, but not to the degree of the exposure within Waking. The rules are mostly the same as above, but it will be in a smaller location. These areas will not always be in the same place, but they will be incredibly obvious. When we can, we will mark these with green glow sticks so they are obvious.
HOT ZONE: Radiation Poisoning
A character in this zone takes 1 Radiation damage every 30 seconds.
Any character in this Hot Zone contracts Radiation Poisoning (Stage 1) after 5 minutes. This will increase your disease by one stage if you are currently infected.
The boundaries of the area effect will be marked by green glow sticks.
As you can see, it’s not as deadly as the Waking Exclusion Zone, but that damage will add up fast. If an item can be used to avoid this effect, it will be listed on the Hot Zone mechanics, but it depends on the source of the radiation.
Protecting Yourself versus Radiation
Lastly, one of the big reasons Radiation is so scary in Dystopia Rising is that there isn’t much you can do to prevent it from hurting you.
Let’s cover a few of the items in game that might be useful for this:
Goat Gear Armor (Master) - This common armor doesn’t have much individual use, but the PFA ability of this armor allows a Free Radical to spend 1 Resolve and be immune to all ill effects and damage from radiation modified damage for 10 minutes.
In general, you will be immune to AOE and Sound of My Voice calls from a Guide within the Exclusion Zone during your 10 minutes of protection.
Prevents ‘Inflict Disease’ from Rad Zombies on strike while protected
Prevents BMV Rad Damage calls while protected
Prevents Rad damage from a Hot Zone ZOM
Does not stop Exclusion Zone mechanics for Lethal Radiation.
Helscape Deathmask - This common item for Graverobbers offers limited protection from some environmental calls, but offers no protection within the Corpse of Waking. This item lets you spend 5 Mind to call "Deathmask, No Effect" to a single environmental call related to poison, disease, or radiation.
In general, you can spend Mind to avoid AOE and Sound of My Voice calls from a Guide within the Exclusion Zone.
Prevents a single instance of damage from a Rad strike or AOE for each 5 mind spent.
Prevents a single instance of damage from a Hot Zone ZOM for each 5 mind spent.
Prevents contracting Rad Sickness from a Hot Zone ZOM for each 5 mind spent.
Does not stop Exclusion Zone mechanics for Lethal Radiation
Mutant Strain Advantage - The Mutant Strain offers some advantages during a Liquidation Run, but even their bodies are not immune to the lethal radiation.
Mutants will have some additional advantages during a Liquidation Run, but I’ll be covering those in a future blog post.
Due to their strain advantage, it will take their body longer to break down, giving an additional hour of horrific, painful decomposition before death if the Lethal Radiation is achieved.
A Mutant can spend 1 Resolve to not be affected by a single source of Radiation Damage or contracting a NEW disease at time of contact.
Note, this does not prevent a disease they have from progressing, so you gotta stop it before you reach Stage 1.
Cannot die due to Radiation Poisoning advancing to Stage 5.
Does not stop Exclusion Zone mechanics for Lethal Radiation
Hijinks Harness - This new armor can allow an Avontuur to spend 20 mind or 1 Resolve to pause a timer on an environmental effect for 1 minute. This is the only native item that will impact the Exclusion Zone, as it pauses the timer completely.
The basic armor effect may be useful during a Liquidation Run, but it offers no protection to environmental calls or Radiation damage.
Relying too much on this Armor during a Liquidation Run could have unfortunate consequences, so user beware!
Master Enhanced Movement - This Skill has limited uses versus the Hot Zone Zone of Mechanics, as it can allow you to physically move from a zone out of character. You can only take 10 Steps OOC, so you can’t bypass all of the Exclusion Zone mechanics, but it may be useful for smaller zones of radiation or limited effects like a trap or a pool of radioactive sludge within Waking.
Vehicles - These expensive items will have some limited use during a Liquidation Run, but they won’t actually stop Radiation damage or disease. However, if you can drive up to the wreck of Waking instead of traveling on foot, you’ll spend less total time in the Exclusion Zone before you start the Run. Nomads and the like will also be able to use their Lineage advantage during a Liquidation Run if they use a Vehicle, so enjoy!
So, as you can see there isn’t much that can be done to prevent Radiation unless you have specific gear or the right Profession Focus Achievement. For most folks, you still stay quick on your feet and be ready to survive BENEATH THE CORPSE OF WAKING!
That’s it! Good luck out there!
wrap up
That’s it for today! Only a few weeks out till game!
Next week, I’ll cover a bit more about the Oxkiller Alliance, and some of the Lore behind this new antagonist faction in the San Saba. See you soon Vados!