The Guilty Among Us
Howdy Vados!
It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to next Dystopia Rising Live event THE GUILTY AMONG US! This game will be led by Chase Lira, Casie Spivey, and Kalen Lewis. 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!
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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, and Max Pohlmeier.
THE PREMISE - the guilty among us
Tension coils tight around Bravado and Bastion, twisting like ivy around the proverbial hanging tree. The animosity between the two cities has festered since before the Board War ended, their uneasy ceasefire more a pause than a peace. Bravado’s repeated incursions into the exclusion zone and the ever-present specter of the Midnight Covenant have only deepened the paranoia. Fear seeps into the cracks of their post-war wounds, feeding whispers of espionage, sabotage, and unseen hands pulling strings in the dark.
None of this is good for business. And in the Lone Star, business is king. The Highrollers, ever the pragmatists, have maneuvered both cities into a temporary détente, using the universal language of profit to bring them to the table—if only for a short while. A Premier Horse Race in the San Saba, paired with Bastion’s favored sport of dressage, is the perfect cover for diplomacy disguised as spectacle. Betting markets explode overnight, and the influx of traders, gamblers, and high society elites injects desperately needed wealth into both cities. For those crippled by the Fog of Memory and the financial fallout of war, this is an opportunity too lucrative to ignore.
But peace is an illusion, and the cracks are already showing. Travelers en route to the event report being followed, their footsteps shadowed by unseen figures. Law Dogs uncover deliberate sabotage, vital infrastructure crippled with precision. People vanish without a trace—too many for coincidence, too quietly for comfort. No one claims responsibility, but graffiti scrawled across both cities delivers a chilling message: “THE GUILTY WILL BE PUNISHED.”
The timing is suspect. The intent, unmistakable. Someone is weaponizing fear, turning suspicion into fuel for an already volatile rivalry.
Bastion does not hesitate. Their intelligence officers, trained to recognize insurgent tactics, are the first to recognize a pattern in the attacks. They present the first leads, offering Bravado a rare chance to work together against a common enemy. But while Bastion is eager to root out the threat, their involvement comes at a cost—they expect answers, cooperation, and most of all, control. Their assistance turns the investigation into something more complicated than Bravado may be willing to admit.
Meanwhile, the Mustang Loyalists refuse to acknowledge any connection to the escalating attacks, dismissing concerns while keeping their own movements suspiciously opaque. Bravado’s Black Market—always operating in the shadows—teeters between capitalizing on the chaos or helping suppress it.
A silent war simmers beneath the surface, and Bravado is standing on the fault line. Hosting this multi-city event is no longer about sport or spectacle. If they fail to maintain order—if tensions explode into open conflict—the fragile peace will shatter, plunging the region into chaos.
Because somewhere in the crowd, someone wants war. And they’ve already made their first move.
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 THE GUILT AMONG US!
This film captures the eerie, psychological horror of an enemy who believes they are delivering righteous punishment. The grotesque "trials" held by the enemy could easily take inspiration from Se7en’s methodical, cruel execution of justice.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
A masterclass in paranoia, espionage, and hidden agendas. The film captures the slow-burn tension of a cold war conspiracy, where even allies can’t be trusted. Great for building the mood of double-crossing and intelligence warfare between Bastion and Bravado.
Munich (2005)
Based on the 1972 Munich Olympics terrorist attack, where athletes were taken hostage by extremists. This film captures the horror of an attack on a major event and the long-term consequences of retaliation.
This event combines terrorism, espionage, and political intrigue in a setting where no one is fully innocent and every faction has hidden motives. The players must navigate shifting alliances, unravel a complex conspiracy, and prevent a catastrophe, all while knowing that they could be next.
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.
terrorism, torture, & espionage
The threat of the Midnight Covenant against the Premiere Race is real. These villains have been ruthlessly attacking psions, soldiers from Bastion, and player characters alike. If the conspiracy is not unraveled in time, it will likely end in a dangerous and deadly attack by this terrorist group. With access to crafted gizmos and traps, the collateral damage could be intense and hurt people you might not expect.
Stopping the attack is a task that can be failed. A massive terrorist attack is planned to hit during the horserace, which should kill many people on both sides as well as terrorize citizens generally. Players will be tasked with figuring out this mystery and will need a to discover important information in order to stop the attack. However, this story involves a bit of a race against time. Should you not be able to acquire the right bits of information about the conspiracy, it will be possible to fail to stop the attack.
The enemy will be focused on punishing the residents of Bravado, including abducting citizens and making them answer for their supposed “crimes”. They have decided to punish Bravado & Bastion for reasons that are unclear and opaque but can be discovered by player actions during this event. Players will be hunted and captured, put through horror-show “trials” for their crimes, and be punished accordingly if they are caught by the cultists.
interplayer politics & cvc
Decisions will have long lasting consequences during this event. Players will need to balance their relationship with Bastion while attempting to solve this mystery and catch the real villains, as both cities are being attacked. They can choose to work with Bastion or against them, which will have implications for both this game as well as their relationship in the future. These decisions made be influenced by the decisions of a handful of players who happen to be at the right time and place or wield their particular blend of wasteland charisma to gain the allegiances of the rabble rousers.
You’ll need to politic with players as well as NPCs. Players will be given various opportunities to investigate leads, question suspects, and try to get to the root of the conspiracy before it culminates in an attack on Bravado. However, you may find yourself at odds with other players, particularly if level an accusation against a target they work with or have a desire to protect. You’ll need to navigate the in-game politics of the various player crews in town in order to be successful.
Tensions are rife for CVC conflict. Between the threat of Bastion and the Midnight Covenant, and the seedy manipulations of the criminal underworld, there are likely those that stand to gain by creating a bit of chaos for themselves. You should expect CVC involvement from players for this event, including theft, infection loss, or surprise attacks.
Resource scarcity, and the struggle to provide for yourself in the apocalypse
The DR Live economy is brand new. With the major change of Impact Skills, the Mind economy you are used to in the 3.0 system doesn’t really exist in this brave new world. It’s one thing to look at a proposed break down of blueprints and mind points and try to anticipate how it will function in a live space, and it’s an entirely different thing to actually do it live. Part of this event will include learning a new cadence to the flow of economy and crafting, and it WILL be different than the previous edition.
Items are less necessary in DR Live, and you may have less gear than you are used to in 3.0. Many of the tricks you needed items for in 3.0 are now included into the various Impact and Development skills. Other items only really function for Professions. Healing is significantly improved, and your combat skills don’t need a steady supply of Mind brews to stay ready. While cool items can be nice, they certainly aren’t a requirement for surviving in this new apocalypse. Many of the blueprints have very niche applications that won’t necessarily come up during every event, so don’t worry about trying to build out a perfect set of gear!
Expect a scarcity of some resources. One lesson we saw during Downfall was that certain items (like Herbs) were scarcer than folks imagined they would be. Now, while some of that was due to the nature of the one-shot event and fewer people taking the Agriculture skill, there’s still going to be a LOT of folks building new equipment and items that is brand new to the DR Live system. Crews will likely be focused on copying new blueprints, making items for their team, and harvesting resources for their personal use. There may not be as many people selling the goods you need, so plan ahead!
Wrap Up
That’s it for today, Vados.
We hope that you will come join us for our next event, THE GUILTY AMONG US. While the festivities of the upcoming celebration are certain to impress, it’s a bit of a Bravado tradition for a big party to go horribly, horribly wrong. What threats lurk in the shadows of the horse races? Will you get a ticket into the VIP lounge to hobnob with the elite of the San Saba? Will you win it all in a game of chance or will the stakes be more than you are willing to pay? Will you uncover the deadly mystery at the heart of this event?
Next week we will cover some more of the specific ways you can be involved during the event! See you soon, Vados!
