It’s Jonathan here again with another Rules Ramble! Each week, I’ll introduce a topic that will be important in an upcoming game, explain some new mechanic or system for DR:TX, or discuss a particular rule from the DR Corebook. In each ramble, I’ll focus on explaining that topic in more detail than the book alone can provide and help provide one place to reference all the various errata or rulings that might be relevant. Sometimes I’ll even drop a few Story Teasers or provide a summary of the last game in a Game Recap.
This week, we are continuing with our four-week countdown to our first combined virtual AND in-person NATIONAL EVENT of 3.0 - THE NECROPHAGE! Today we will be covering some of the specific details and mechanics of the Necrophage disease itself, and what to expect if you choose to opt into the plot kit. This post will contain heavy SPOILERS, so reader beware!
Tickets are still available for both events, and you can find out more about what you get for an advanced ticket in my blog post from last week:
Welcome to Pyroclasm!
Photos used in this post are from the talented Lainey Weiss and Max Pohlmeier, from our September event, VALLEY OF FEAR.
With that out of the way, let’s first talk about WHY we are doing this post today…
Radical Transparency
Last week, we talked a bit about our Content List and included some warnings about the terrible DISEASE that will be spreading through the town of Bravado during our National Event.
So, let’s talk about the Necrophage disease.
We COULD hide the rules for Necrophage until you get to game. We could play coy about the disease and what it does to you. We could hand you a piece of paper with the mechanics when you first get infected, and let it be a big surprise.
But what if we don’t?
In our DR:TX spirit of RADICAL TRANSPARENCY, today we will be revealing the entirety of the player facing rules for the nefarious disease created by Grandfather Nichols and his allies.
This material will also be printed on disease packets that will available at Ops, the Post Office, and from enemies that infect you with the disease. In this manner, you’ll have easy access to the rules at your fingertips, similar to a Blueprint or Item Card. Since it will be in the world like this, it’ll be only a short time before these rules are spoiled in game. Pretty much as soon as we open pre-reg packets to be picked up, you’ll would have had access to this info.
So we have decided to spoil it for you first!
We believe that by giving you ALL of the tools to choose your level of engagement with this mechanic, we can help you have a better experience, show enthusiastic consent, and be able to choose the type of game you want to play.
The complete rules for Bad Brain have been in the game since the Dystopia Rising rule book was first published at the start of 3.0, all starting on page 190. Knowing what that disease can do hasn’t stopped games from telling stories about Bad Brain over the past three years, and we are confident that this reveal today won’t impact your fun either.
Now, let’s get to the juicy details!
This post will include SPOILERS for pyroclasm, so if you want to avoid learning too much about what’s going to happen to you during this next event, STOP here. i’ll have more pyroclasm content next week.
you’ve been warned!
Felicity Redfield says “Seriously, watch out for Spoilers.”
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[SPOILERS BELOW]
Disease Mechanics in Dystopia Rising
I’ve covered a LOT about disease mechanics in Dystopia Rising in previous posts. It’s an incredibly dense topic from the rule book, spread over several chapters, so I’ve included my summary below. You certainly don’t have to read these, as I’m going to talk about the mechanics of the specific disease you will be facing during the National Event. BUT — in case you are a crazy person like me I’ve already done some of the heavy lifting in my previous posts:
Let’s cover some key concepts about this new Disease.
I’ve chosen to [REDACT] a few key mechanics here and there (generally related to CURING the disease), as they are part of the ultimate resolution of this plot kit. We do have SOME surprises left for you at the game, but we definitely want you familiar with the main rules in advance.
This is information that will be the player facing Disease Packet, but there is still a LOT more information that can be uncovered via dedicated Research, from the origins of the disease, the treatment plan, pages and pages of lore about the villain’s plan, and neat kinetic props.
opting in to the danger
WARNING: The Necrophage is a VERY deadly disease.
Necrophage has a serious chance to threaten your Infection, and can progress almost as quickly as you let it. A cunning player might be able to avoid the disease triggers the entire event, but another player might advance several stages in a single fight!
Necrophage can be character deadly and your character can permanently die from this disease.
Players will be able to OPT IN to this disease and come in with Necrophage (Stage One) at the start of the game if they want. When you get your ticket for Pyroclasm, you’ll have an option to join this plot in ADVANCE with the questionnaire attached to the ticket. If you are buying a ticket at the door, you can simply choose to write Necrophage (Stage One) on your sheet at check-in and get a disease pamphlet.
Even if you don’t want to Opt In right away, you will still have multiple opportunities throughout the course of the game to be infected by the Necrophage.
We did this Opt In to a disease or negative effect successfully with our BLOOD FEAST event, and we want those folks that like to embrace the danger a chance to get an early start!
Opting Out of Necrophage
Let’s talk about HOW you can choose NOT to interact with this mechanic. I covered this last week, but I want to make sure I cover it again.
You can easily Opt Out of this plot before game starts. ANY character can simply choose to gain “Natural Immunity” and OPT OUT by simply ignoring the direct disease mechanics.
The below rules will be available for ALL players during our event. If you decide the mechanics of Necrophage aren’t for you, then that’s completely okay. If you signed up for the OPT IN mechanics during pre-reg, and change your mind, that’s okay too.
Natural Immunity (OPT OUT MECHANIC):
If you would like to OPT-OUT of this National Disease Plotkit, you may write NATURAL IMMUNITY on your character(s) sheet before Game-on and if exposed to a situation where you would contract it at any level, you may call “No effect, Natural Immunity”. This immunity cannot be applied to any character, other than your own, through any in-game mechanic.
This Natural Immunity status will be used during Research Challenges in order to develop a Treatment Plan and permanent cure for this disease.
It’s definitely not required to participate in this specific part of the plot. You’ll have plenty of other zombies and monsters to deal with, blueprints to craft, and player events to attend during the event.
Learning more about the disease
One of the primary ways to interact with Necrophage during this event is to learn more about the deadly disease and it’s origins.
First, we will be using some various kinetic methods of interacting with the RESEARCH around the disease that is plaguing Bravado, instead of the normal disease research mechanics in the book. It’ll still use the basic framework so you can use your cool Medical gizmos and such, but we are going to streamline a bit of these mechanics for easier game play, and distribution during a busy game.
There will be multiple stages of RESEARCH, and it will need many people in order to organize an effort to stop this disease. All you Grave Heads and Research nerds will have plenty of conspiracies to sift through…
Secondly, there are still different stages of interacting and attempting to cure this dangerous disease. You will still be able to use Innoculation techniques, use your Doctor Ottoman’s Disease Control Kits, develop new Treatment Plans, and research a permanent Cure, but these will primarily occur during the game as a series of RESEARCH CHALLENGES. These are kind of like Zone of Mechanics, but targeted around learning more about a topic.
These specific disease management rules will also be posted in the Medical Zone in the Meadows, so you won’t have to memorize these rules either!
Inoculations - This is a temporary measure designed to offer a bit of protection to the NEXT exposure to the disease. It only works ONCE per twelve hours and it can be overwhelmed if you continue to be exposed to a source of the disease, but it can provide some temporary protection. These rules will be posted in the Medical Tent.
Dr. Ottoman’s Disease Kits - This is an expensive Blueprint item that enables you to protect a person from a disease until the next 12s, even protecting from multiple exposures. It also improves your ability to research the disease and can protect a doctor from contracting a contagious disease from an infectious patient. These rules will be posted in the Medical Tent.
The Treatment Plan - This is a trial and error attempt to cure the disease. You have to guess what exactly is involved in curing the disease and if you complete at least the minimum amount of work, you’ll be able to send the disease into REMISSION temporarily. This will be resolved as a RESEARCH CHALLENGE.
The Cure & Remission - Resolving a dangerous disease is part of the resolution of the plot of the weekend. Once you understand a cure, you can begin treating your patients and putting them into a state of Remission. As you understand more about the nefarious plans of Grandfather Nichols and his army of psychopaths, you’ll develop new ways to treat and ideally STOP this disease from continuing it’s spread. This will be resolved as a RESEARCH CHALLENGE.
Mutant Strain Advantage & Helscape Deathmasks - Mutants can still RESIST the Necrophage by spending a Resolve, but once you catch it it will progress like normal. One of the ways to be exposed to Necrophage is through an aerosol agent, so some equipment can protect you as well. Make sure you save that Resolve to avoid contracting the disease in the first place! These rules will be posted in the Medical Tent.
Next, let’s cover how the disease spreads.
How Do I get Necrophage in game?
The primary way that Necrophage is spread is via the INFLICT DISEASE threat ability. This call can also be spread by environmental causes as well, but that will generally be communicated by an NPC or Zone of Mechanics. This is the information on the ability directly from the National DR webpage.
INFLICT (DISEASE, STAGE)
Countered by Avoid. The undead, raiders, and critters of the wasteland rarely wash their hands. Some of them also have other ways of spreading their diseases to others. Unless otherwise noted for a threat, this ability is delivered by a Strike and the call of “Inflict Disease Stage X”, and causes the target to develop a specific disease at a specific stage. Many threats will wait until an enemy is in bleedout before targeting them with this ability.
Past the obvious Opt In from the pre-registration tickets, there will be THREE primary ways the INFLICT DISEASE call is used. The mad genius of Grandfather Nichols has developed a weaponized version of his plague that can be deployed strategically and with precision. This is no longer the outbreak disease he used previously, but something with a bit more… intent.
INFLICT DISEASE - Direct Injections
The first method (and PRIMARY method) to be infected with the Necrophage is to be PURPOSEFULLY injected with a [Necrophage Catalyst], a brew of Nichol’s devising:
Local Plot Item: Necrophage Catalyst
Single Use. Injectable-Brew. Must be given to a helpless or willing target. Inflict Disease (Necrophage: Stage 1) upon injection. Leaves an obvious scar that cannot be healed until the disease is cured. This effect can be resisted by the Master effects of the Dr. Ottoman’s Disease Control Kit, temporary Inoculation, Natural Immunity, or the Mutant Strain advantage.
Throughout the weekend, there will be various bad guys trying to hurt you, knock you into Bleed Out, and purposefully INFECT you with the Necrophage once you are helpless. This means that most defenses won’t work while you are in Bleed Out, like Interfere, since it’s an injectable and not a Strike. This is a big part of the threats during the weekend, and we’ve provided you with many tools to protect yourself. But, the only sure way to avoid this will be to either run away from threats or to be Naturally Immune.
Once you have been infected, the disease is mostly harmless. It stays in a LATENT stage until exposed to an activating agent, the inky black clouds of Grandfather Nichols’ revenge made manifest. We’ll cover more about this below.
INFLICT DISEASE - AEROSAL DISPERSAL
The second way to be exposed to Necrophage is via a [Necrophage Delivery Canister]. These items will be accompanied with a black smoke bomb deployed nearby for an obvious effect, but an NPC will make the mechanics call directly.
Local Plot Item: Necrophage Delivery Canister
Single Use. Aerosol. Spend 5 Mind and 10 seconds placing the smoke canister. After this 10 second count, call “BY THE SOUND OF MY VOICE, ALL NECROPHAGE INFECTED: ADVANCE TO STAGE TWO.” This effect can be resisted by items or abilities that protect from aerosol or gas attacks, like the Helscape Death Mask.
A couple of things to note on this item:
First, this is a Sound of My Voice call, so it cannot be Avoided. Remember, this range is about a 50 foot radius, so if you are close enough to see and hear the NPC, you are probably in range.
Secondly, this call only targets Necrophage Infected, so if you aren’t already infected, this call has no effect on you.
The last note here is that this doesn’t mention Inoculation or Disease Kits, as once you have been infected, these items no longer protect you once infected.
This will be the PRIMARY way the disease is advanced into Stage Two. If you avoid the black smoke of the canisters, you might be able to stay at Stage One for a while.
INFLICT DISEASE - ENVIRONMENTAL CAUSES
The last one I’ll be a bit more mysterious about, because the cause is considered an environmental effect. If you stay too long in certain areas, or too long around [REDACTED], you’ll pick up the disease. This might also appear on Zone of Mechanics, but it’ll be a little obvious about what’s about to happen. Just know that the easiest way to avoid this type of transmission is simply not be there.
Additionally, most diseases are INFECTIOUS, so if you work on a patient without suitable protection, you might risk contracting the disease yourself. It also means if you are a Gorger and decide to literally EAT an infected person, you’ll probably contract the disease as well. But really, if you aren’t being that picky about what you eat, you only really have yourself to blame.
So that covers HOW you can gain Necrophage, so let’s look at what happens once you’ve contracted this deadly disease.
Turbo Six only has the Burning Season to blame for how many item cards they lost…
NECROPHAGE DISEASE MECHANICS
Again, I’ve chosen to [REDACT] a few key mechanics here, as they are part of the ultimate resolution of this plot kit. We do have SOME surprises left for you at the game, but we definitely want you familiar with the main rules in advance.
Necrophage Summary
I’ll attempt to condense some more lengthy rules into a brief description below.
There are only three Stages to this disease.
Once infected at Stage One, you remain there until you are exposed to an activating agent of some kind.
At this stage, you only have one major effect. You cannot attack the architect of the disease, Grandfather Nichols, unless you spend Resolve.
Once you hit Stage Two, you gain the major abilities of the Necrophage.
You gain a powerful damage resistance, but completely lose the ability to spend Mind points on anything but a small selection of Skills. You also can no longer resist COMPULSION effects with Mental Endurance.
You can heal yourself when complete a Killing Blow on a Lineage target. That means that other survivors and Lifers can heal you when you kill them, but not raiders or zed.
When you hit BLEED OUT, you activate the key ability of Necrophage — Personal Morgue. This powerful ability heals you and makes you immune to ALL effects for a short time, but costs you one Resolve. When you’ve spent your last Resolve in this way, you immediately progress to Stage Three.
This means you effectively can hit Bleed Out a number of times equal to your Resolve. There’s only a few ways to gain Resolve in game, so this means you need to be careful in combat. You are VERY tough, but it comes with a BIG price.
Once you hit Stage Three, you keep most of the abilities of Stage Two with a few changes.
Your damage resistance now extends to Stun effects and Mangles. You’ve become a perfect soldier. That just so happens to be very vulnerable to psionic commands from some bad people.
Your Personal Morgue now spends Infection. That means once you’ve been knocked into Bleed Out, each time you’ll take a step closer to final death and lose one Infection. Once you you run out, you DIE.
The last and most threatening power is the Abyssal Discharge. This is a HUGE explosion that happens when you die OR when you choose to activate it. If you reach this point, your character is dead. D-E-A-D. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. This is a very damaging ability but when this happens, it means the threat is down for good.
One last important note. When you spend Infection in this way, you don’t actually pass through the Mortis Amaranthine. That means that most abilities that stop the loss of Infection don’t work at all. If you spend Infection from Personal Morgue, it’s GONE. So, this is a SERIOUS cost to the abilities of the disease. Your character is an immensely powerful, perfectly loyal soldier, but becomes a ticking timebomb.
Kinda like a PYROCLASM, if you will.
That’s it in a nutshell. It seems like a lot, but most of the actual serious effects revolve around a trigger that happens when you hit Bleed Out. If you don’t hit Bleed Out, the disease does not advance.
I don’t know why, but this photo makes me think — “Pyroclasm”. Weird.
Let’s cover the actual mechanics you’ll see on the Disease Pamphlets during this event:
Stage One (Latent):
Roleplay Notes: The infected victim has no obvious signs of illness and does not feel anything wrong with them other than mild pain at the site of injection. This disease is difficult to detect until you specifically know what you are looking for.
Makeup & Costuming: The site of the injection commonly forms a wound in the shape of an “X”. Use a mascara pen or a paint pen to replicate this effect.
Disease Mechanics (Stage One):
The disease is inert in this stage, and offers no advantages.
Investigation of the carrier will not show disease infection unless checked by someone with Lore: Mortis Amaranthine, Basic Medical, and a “Dr. Ottoman’s Disease Control Kit”. To detect disease, they must specifically ask “Do you have Necrophage?” instead of asking for Fractures, Body, drug effects, or other diseases as per Basic Medical.
May not attack Grandfather Nichols without first spending 1 Resolve. If you spend Resolve, you can overcome the effect for 5 minutes, as some strange Compulsion fights against your attempts to harm the architect of the disease.
Advancement: If exposed to a source of “INFLICT DISEASE (NECROPHAGE)” via a deployed [Necrophage Canister], extended contact with [REDACTED], or other source, the victim progresses to Stage One.
Treatment: [REDACTED]. If the disease progresses past this stage, this potential cure is no longer effective.
Stage Two (Active):
Roleplay Notes: The infected victim is feverish and experiences intense pangs of rage that cannot be satiated except by giving into the base urge to destroy and to kill. They are increasingly focused on death, seeking out ways to inflict pain on others. The need to kill is crippling, as their body twists in on itself and begins to devour its own biomass to compensate for the incredible expenditure of energy that is required simply to keep the body alive.
Makeup & Costuming: The site of the injection commonly forms a wound in the shape of an “X”. Use a mascara pen or a paint pen to replicate this effect. Thick, purplish veins pulse from their clavicle to their jawline, engorged with the mutagen. Makeup will be available at Ops.
Disease Mechanics (Stage Two):
Character gains Incurable, Personal Morgue, Primordial Siphon, Amaranthine Armor, Single Minded and Compelled traits
Incurable: Once infected, this disease cannot be reduced below Stage Two until a cure is discovered.
Personal Morgue: The Character has become their own ardent crucible, and can reknit their flesh, rekindle themselves and return from death without passing through the Gravemind.
When the character enters Bleed Out for any reason they must declare “Necrophage: Personal Morgue” and then suffer an unavoidable “AGONY, 10 Seconds”. The infected clutches their head in pain as their body transforms and rebuilds.
Once the Agony is completed, the character regains all Body, all Mind points, and removes all current effects. The character, for the next 5 minutes, is invulnerable to all damage and effects (positive and negative), except for abilities provided by this disease. Call “No Effect, Personal Morgue”.
At the end of this 5 minutes, the character loses 1 Resolve. If the character would spend their last Resolve in this way, they immediately progress to Stage Three.
Primordial Siphon: The character can now fuel and heal themselves by absorbing the biomass of other strains. Upon inflicting a Killing Blow to a Lineage target, the character may declare “Primordial Siphon: Devour 50 Body” to heal themselves by 50 body as they absorb part of the dying’s imprint.
Amaranthine Armor (Melee & Ranged): Reduce all melee AND ranged damage to 1. Non-standard damage does not break this reduction, but Bane (Necrophage) does. Call “Reduced” upon taking normal or non-standard damage.
Single Minded: While infected with Necrophage, you may NOT activate or use Mind on any Skills except for Combat Skills, Awareness, Enhanced Movement, Malicious, or Mental Endurance.
Compelled: The disease creates a perfect, unyielding soldier. If an NPC calls “Compulsion” you must follow the commands given to the best of your ability. You cannot resist this effect by any means. May not attack Grandfather Nichols for any reason.
Advancement: If the LC uses Personal Morgue and loses their last Resolve, the disease progresses to Stage Three.
Stage Three (Pyroclasm):
NOTE: THIS STAGE IS CHARACTER DEADLY!
Roleplay Notes: The urge to kill is overwhelming and the need consumes your every waking thought. It is difficult to concentrate on anything but watching the light fade from the eyes of your victims. Those infected cannot help but attempt to kill any living creature in Bleed Out, whether they are friend or foe. The disease has completely overtaken their body and they are driven by their indescribable need for biomass, death, and their Compulsions. The mutagen has altered the strain so fundamentally that it has begun to consume itself for its own biomass. They will soon die a painful, agonizing death. The afflicted cannot kill fast enough to compensate for the growing bomb in thier skull. When they finally die, it will be in a pillar of psionic fire of their own making.
Makeup & Costuming: The site of the injection commonly forms a wound in the shape of an “X”. Use a mascara pen or a paint pen to replicate this effect. Thick, purplish veins pulse from their clavicle to their jawline, engorged with the mutagen. The purplish veins stretch down the infected’s arms and legs, pooling in bruises near joints and major arteries. The color of an old bruise, the purplish veins of those so changed by the Necrophage glow in the dim light of evening and, as if to reflect the white heat of their own illness outward, are alarmingly hot to the touch. Makeup will be available at Ops.
Disease Mechanics (Stage Three):
Same Mechanics as Stage Two but add:
Focused: Immune to Mangle and Stun effects. Call “No Effect, Focused!”
Perfected Personal Morgue: THIS REPLACES THE PREVIOUS PERSONAL MORGUE ABILITY. The Character has become their own ardent crucible, and can reknit their flesh, rekindle themselves and return from death without passing through the Gravemind.
When the character enters Bleed Out for any reason they must declare “Necrophage: Personal Morgue” and then suffer “AGONY, 10 Seconds”. The infected clutches their head in pain as their body transforms and rebuilds.
Once the Agony is completed, the character regains all Body all Mind points, and removes all current effects. The character, for the next 5 minutes, is invulnerable to all damage and effects (positive and negative), except for abilities provided by this disease. Call “No Effect, Personal Morgue”.
At the end of this 5 minutes, the character loses 1 INFECTION. If the character would spend their last Infection in this way, they immediately use Abyssal Discharge and die a final death.
Abyssal Discharge: Single Use. At any time OR upon losing their last Infection with Personal Morgue, the character may call “By the Sound of my Voice, Abyssal Discharge, 500 Body.” Following this call the character has 1 minute during which their body is torn apart from the inside out, consumed by their own inner Mortis until all that remains is a desiccated corpse. After 1 minute, the character is reduced to 0 Infection and is permanently dead. They cannot be returned to life by any means and the Mutant strain advantage to avoid death from disease does not apply.
Advancement: Once the character dies, the character does not become a Zombie, and instead [REDACTED].
SORRY, BUT THIS LAST ONE YOU’LL NEED TO FIND OUT ABOUT IN GAME!
So that’s a LOT we’ve covered today folks. I’ll be available on Discord or Facebook as always if you have questions or see a weird loophole, or you can send emails to info@dystopiarisingtx.com, but I hope that you’ll try to experience the challenges of the Necrophage.
Next week, we will take about some unique challenges of a National Event, and what to expect as you face the PYROCLASM!
Here’s a sneak peek of what to expect:
Pyroclasm: National Event Expectations - National Events have a LOT more players involved, and that means some different logistics than a normal game, for things like the Post Office, sleeping arrangements, LIT inventory, NPC shifts, and such. I’ll try to cover some realistic expectations about what to expect at a National Event, so you can be ready to hit the ground running.
Pyroclasm: What’s Different in DR:TX? - We have a lot of travelers coming out to our first live game in a while. Let’s talk about some culture expectations of our game, some major differences between our game and what you might see at your local events, and some resources to help you understand the differences.
Pyroclasm: Rules You Should Know - The week before game I will release a series of specific rules that might come up during the PYROCLASM event. We will talk about some common rules that might be important, new Zones of Mechanics, new Plot Items, and new Threat Skills you should save some Mind points to Avoid!
See you next time Vados!
EDITS & FAQ:
Clarified the 5 minute timer for attacking Nichols at Stage One.
Clarified that the death from disease on Stage Three overrides the Mutant advantage.
