It’s Jonathan’s Wednesday Rules Ramble!
Jonathan, your friendly OST here, and this week, we have some rules that may be important for our October event, CARNIVAL MACABRE. We have updated the DR:TX site with the relevant rules but I’d like to share some thoughts here as well as a brief summary.
Lone star Murderball Rules can be found HERE.
Back in 2.0, we had an in-game sport known as Dog’s Head. This game was inspired by the sport of “Jugging” in games like Amtgard, which is in turn inspired by a crazy 1989 B-movie called “Blood of Heroes” with Rutger Hauer. There are countless interpretations of this game, but it is at it’s heart a quick, crazy, and violent sports game so it’s a perfect addition to Dystopia Rising.
The original Dog’s Head rules in 2.0 required a lot of in-game equipment to function so it was really difficult to play effectively. The main purpose of LONE STAR MURDERBALL is to provide a framework for a no-holds sports game that allows anyone to play without a need for a huge investment of in-game currency and scrap.
The game is played with two teams, each with five players on the field, a sideline medic, and an alternate. The game is played by the team moving a ball called the MURDERBALL to the goal (usually a tire or marker on the ground), on a pitch known as the KILLING FIELDS. The game ends once a team scores 3 points, or has the highest score after 10 minutes. The games are designed to be quick, brutal, and fun.
The key mechanic at work for LONE STAR MURDERBALL is that instead of swinging a weapon for damage, you instead always swing for MANGLE.
This means that any player, no matter how much XP you have or how much Body, is just as good as any other. Each position on the field can be played by anyone, assuming you have the right type of boffer or prop for that role. The medic can even quickly get you back in play, so there’s no long-term penalty to playing in the game.
There are some major roles on the field:
The Knocker - Equipped with a Melee Standard and Shield, that can knockback an opponent. Slow and steady, hard to kill, but can’t really carry a ball.
The Arms - Armed with two Melee Standards, Florentine-style! Overwhelm the opponent with too many hits to block! With a longer reach, a ball carrier with only a Small weapon is an easy target!
The Jecter - Uses a Melee Small weapon and a single-use injector to make a teammate immune to Mangles for a short time. The Jecter makes a really powerful ball carrier, but with a risk! Do you use the injector on the ball carrier, or a fighter?
The Fixer - Uses a Melee Small weapon and most importantly - a Psion Crystal that can heal Mangled limbs (if the other team gives you enough time to use it!). A great choice for a ball carrier, but it’s hard to heal someone while you have the Murderball!
The Buckshot - Uses a two-handed shotgun that can knockback an opponent, and a backup Small melee for close engagement. Do you give up the field control with your gun to be a backup ball carrier?
Off the field, you still have a role to play:
The Sideline Medic can repair broken limbs over 10 seconds, so you can get a player back on the pitch after a short break. Can you hold off a power play long enough while your medic does their magic?
The Alternate is your only extra player that can enter the field. They can take over ANY role, so what position do you save them to fill?
Murderball is all about using limited resources wisely. Do you use your Jecter early to try for a quick score? How do you counter a Knocker and Buckshot keeping your ball carrier away from the goal? Do you rely on someone’s natural skill with boffers to hold the line and keep the other team at bay? Each role on the team has a natural counter, so it’s a bit like a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors trying to find the balance that can lead your team to victory.
During this upcoming October event, you’ll have an opportunity to play Murderball against teams like the KILLHOUSE PUNISHERS, and you’ll have opportunity to influence the outcome of the annual LONESTAR CUP. We are excited to see what kind of uniforms you might be able to come up with, what kind of strategies you’ll bring to the pitch, and what kind of memories you can make on the Killing Fields!
We’ve also added a few items of note you might see this weekend, HERE. Make sure you get in your Blueprint requests to Aesa as soon as possible so we can update your blue for the game!
See you in October, Vados! Next week, we’ll chat about some interesting mechanics that you might see from the main threat of the Indulgence - the LIFERS.
The reigning Dog’s Head champs of 2.0, Keegan’s Hammers
