Howdy Vados!
It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our April live event WHISPERS FROM THE DEEP! This is our next ST led over-arc game, led by Noah Goodman. 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 teasers about our upcoming event!
TICKETS FOR OUR APRIL EVENT ARE ON SALE NOW! CAN YOU survive what emerges from waking?
If you had a great experience at our last event GIFTS OF SUFFERING or had some suggestions for how we can improve, we’d love to hear from you! Did you get to take one of the Crowns of Suffering for yourself? Did you hear Brother Agony explain why he was “helping” the town? Did you help the Rebellion fight the first battles of the war against the San Saba Board? Let us know!
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Nominate another player for a Community Achievement!
CLEAN UP IS CHANGING! We will be experimenting with a new process for Clean Up at the end of the event during our April and May games. Immediately after closing announcements, we will start with our Camp Cleanup first, and then complete our Personal Cleanup last! We will have some more details on this soon, but we appreciate your flexibility as we try some new ways to speed up how fast we can get off site after game and still keep our friends in the Girl Scouts happy!
Our photos for this post were taken from our March 2023 DR:TX event by the talented Heather Halstead.
The Premise
Something is churning deep within Waking's corpse. Memories best left forgotten from the time of the Hiway War have left old Darwin experiments to fester in basement labs. As Mustang Loyalists solidify their hold over the decaying remains of Waking Prime, the final safeguards on long dormant projects have become unstable, threatening to unleash what has been left trapped within the radioactive wreckage. Errant and uncaring soldiers shut off power, open doors, and unlock new sensitive areas within the city without thinking of why those doors were shut in the first place.
Sometimes a door was closed for a reason…
Project EVE, one of those forgotten evolutionary experiments, was said to bend infection itself, capable of mutating flora and fauna and worse, and now it stirs within the bowels of Waking, changing and mutating into something new and unique. Underneath this glowing city of scrap and decay that looms over Bravado, a new danger threatens to EVOLVE.
Kincaid Buzzbee, scion of the Waking Families of the RRC, has called upon the townsfolk of Bravado to help him contain the worst of these threats within Waking. With the aid of brave Vados, he hopes to reactivate the remnants of the Buzzbee Electric Shield ™ to save the town from this new ecological destruction. If these dangerous experiments are let loose to infest the tunnels below Bravado, there is no end to the mutated nightmares that might erupt if evolution is left unchecked.
At the same time, Collection Day looms. With The Grave Council in disarray, Mother Mayhem and Cassiopeia come to negotiate with Bravado’s citizens about a reformation within the Grave Council and revision of the sacred tradition of the Grave Tax. The Grave Council must evolve as the Rebellion continues, but the mystagogues and auditors wish to reestablish their society’s legitimacy in Bravado even after Reckoner-General Rampart’s fall from grace.
Sitting at the edge of a possible mass extinction event, Bravado must salvage the remains of Waking Prime to save themselves from total annihilation while building the pillars of their future society. How will the townsfolk of this rebellious boom-town survive an evolutionary leap into the next epoch of San Saba history?
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 WHISPERS FROM THE DEEP:
Resident Evil
Parasite EVE (Video Game)
Cabin in the Woods
Mimic
The Crazies
For this event, the common theme is that “evolution doesn’t have a plan. It makes frequent, catastrophic mistakes”. Waking was a city of a mad scientists, using technology beyond their ken to tinker with things that should not be. With the Board in exile, and the city in the control of their enemies, no one is left to contain these projects, and sometimes something goes wrong.
This event also plays on the ideas of “Mad Science Gone Wrong”. The world is being forcibly evolved because of the horrors within Waking. Experiments created in attempts to play God have now escaped and are wreaking havoc on the world. We are looking extinction in the face because scientists focused on if they could without ever considering if they should.
As strange new creatures emerge from Waking, echoes of these experiments can be seen in the horrors like the Necrophage, the terrors within Killhouse Prison, and all of the mutant monstrosities unleashed on the town last year. With this new lingering threat emerging, can you save the town from the disastrous consequences of unchecked evolution?
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 February event.
Overall, this next event focuses heavily on the themes of BODY HORROR, LOSS OF AGENCY, and TAX COLLECTION. These can be some serious themes, so let’s talk about some content warnings of note for WHISPERS FROM THE DEEP:
Body Horror, grotesque or disturbing mutations, visceral costumes and props
Certain creatures this weekend will have disgusting and visceral costumes and props that might require you to interact with sticky, gross, or terrible looking things. These props will change the features of certain threats, and should be repulsive and terrifying.
If a module requires you to interact with chemicals or substances that might stain your clothing or costumes, we will announce these aspects as a “SPLATTER MOD”. We will try to give you a fair warning before engaging with these challenges, but we cannot guarantee clothing or items may not be affected by the disgusting goo in our mods.
LOSS OF AGENCY, UNSTOPPABLE THREATS, Consequences AFTER DEATH
Some threats during this weekend will not be things you can truly kill. Much like the Tyrant in Resident Evil, while you may be able to defeat them temporarily, these are threats meant to survive and endure, not overcome. As evolution itself runs out of control, these threats will continue to return after being killed and continue the pressure of their attacks. You’ll need to run and hide, rather than trying to make a valiant last stand.
There will be mechanics during this event that return the recently dead back to play as a new threat. This is a powerful way to restrict your character’s agency after death, but will not be something you can avoid if you get put into certain situations.
Many horror stories involve this concept of loss of agency, where you are powerless to stop a monster that is itself a metaphor for the relentless advance of time, death, or war.
TAXES, RENT, AND DEBT COLLECTION
Each April we feature the Grave Council tradition of COLLECTION DAY. While this is on it’s face a way to represent the horrors of financial burden and mimic the real life stress of tax day, it’s also a big part of how the town continues to support one of the major factions.
There will likely be conflict over how the Grave Council attempts to collect debts incurred over the course of the season. If you notice on the bottom left corner of your character sheet, you might see a GRAVE TAX owed if you’ve died during this season. This is a monetary amount in Brass that your character may be expected to owe by the end of the event. While there are ways to ask for forbearance or have this debt taken by another, you may encounter NPCs asking to “check your contract” for their debt. Be prepared!
FORCED EVOLUTION & RAD DAmage
In our tradition of Radical Transparency, let’s discuss some key mechanics that could happen to your character during WHISPERS FROM THE DEEP.
If you are caught alone on the battlefield with certain threats, they may convert you to their cause by a spontaneous evolution before the Mortis Amaranthine takes you with a FORCED EVOLUTION.
Forced Evolution
Upon taking a “Forced Evolution” call, writhe in pain for 10 seconds before rising again and fighting for [REDACTED] with the following stats.
30 BODY, Strong Limbs (Immune to Mangle), Keywords: [REDACTED], Once per flurry/reload deal Radiation Damage. Radiation Damage inflicts both Mind and Body damage at once.
Upon death, report to Ops. Return from The Grave Mind with Radiation Sickness Stage One.
Similar to being devoured by zombies with Cannibalism, if this attack hits your character they will be D-E-A-D, slain by the [REDACTED]. After your death, instead of proceeding to Ops to get your death scene, you’ll first return to play as a NPC threat. You’ll join the horde of enemies, and try to kill your friends until you are stopped for good.
Let’s cover this attack in a bit more detail.
This attack counts as a Killing Blow. It’ll only be used on bleeding, helpless, and dying characters, so it’s not really something that can take you down in a single hit.
It’s not a Murder effect, so armor like the Striker’s Coat won’t prevent this effect. However, stuff that stops a Killing Blow can prevent this effect.
You cannot use most Skills, Equipment, or Abilities during this Forced Evolution. You are just a reanimated corpse, so you can’t do much other than attack.
You can use still use the basic damage of your weapons (even firearms!) during this brief return from death, but cannot use activated abilities of the item. Rad Bullets sound pretty scary to me! We will also have some white brawlers available for you should you fall to this effect without a weapon handy (or if your friends disarm you.)
Since your body isn’t really YOU anymore and you aren’t really dead yet, certain skills like Faithful Will won’t be very useful on the creature you become. This means it may be hard for your friends to prevent an Infection loss if get up and wander away.
Once this Forced Evolution has ended, you can collapse on the ground dead for a brief time before headed to Ops. Once this has happened will effects like Faithful Will or Necrokinetics be again useful on your corpse.
Let’s talk briefly about the other prominent mechanic during this event, Radiation Damage.
Rad Damage (P. 105)
This is a mechanical damage effect normally associated with radiation or irradiated creatures. Radiation damage cause an equal degree of lost Mind as it does Body.
This is a dangerous effect you might have seen before on Glow Boys and Toxic Terrors. When damaged by this type of attack you lose both Mind AND Body, so it’s particularly devastating. For example, if the threat calls “5 Rad!” on an attack that hits you, you lose 5 Body and 5 Mind from the wound.
Radiation Damage by itself doesn’t inflict Radiation Sickness, the disease most commonly associated with irradiated creatures.
These attacks can (and should!) be Avoided, and are generally delivered by a melee Strike or a Ranged Attack with a packet.
If the attack is called by an AOE or Sound of My Voice call, these effects cannot be Avoided, and must be prevented by mechanics that stop AOE effects.
Armor doesn’t stop Rad Damage. If your got hit by a “5 Rad!” hit while wearing 20 Armor, you would lose 5 Mind and have 15 Armor remaining.
Small attacks with Radiation Damage may not be worth using Avoid on, as spending the Mind on the defense may be more costly than the damage you’ll take. But, take enough of those small hits and you won’t have the remaining Mind to dodge the next big hit! Ouch!
wrap up
That’s it for today, Vados!
We hope that you will come join us for our next event, led by the very talented Noah Goodman. We have some fun surprises in store for you during this game, and we hope that you are ready to EVE-OLVE your tactics to fight the dangerous new enemies facing Bravado. Will you be able to help contain the danger within Waking? Will you fight for the soul of the Grave Council as they take steps forward into this brave new world? Will you pay your Grave Tax?
Next week we will recap some of the important events from our last game, and catch up to speed on all the story continuity you’ll need as we face the WHISPERS FROM THE DEEP! See you soon, Vados!
