Variant Crystal Candy Errata

Hey everyone, it’s Jonathan with a last minute update for VALLEY OF FEAR.

I previously released some mechanics for the Variant Crystal Candies on Wednesday, and we need to release a kind of ‘Day One’ patch. I’m very sorry for the confusion, but some very clever players pointed out some unfortunate loops in the mechanics that needed to be corrected.

Here is the NEW Crystal Candy Saturation rules!

This will be posted as a ZOM at the General Store and Depot, and another copy will be in the Post Office and at Ops. We will cover these mechanics during our Opening Announcements as well.

CRYSTAL CANDY SATURATION

• Variant Crystal Candy items carry the [ADDICTIVE] keyword and have the following effects:

  • Gain a ROLEPLAY BURDEN for the duration of the event:

    • You must consume an additional [ADDICTIVE] item each 12’s. 

    • Failing to fulfill a ROLEPLAY BURDEN inflicts a Fracture on your character.

• Gain a benefit such as restoring Mind or Body, but ONLY if you possess no Fractures. Each variety of Variant Crystal Candy has a different effect, so read your item card carefully.

• If this is your third [ADDICTIVE] item this 12’s you gain the [SATURATED] keyword.

• [SATURATED] characters must then make a choice each time they take a Variant Crystal Candy.

  • Indulge: Gain a 1-hour benefit and become [SUPERSATURATED]                                            - OR -

  • Backlash: Experience a serious downside and lose [SATURATED]

• Free skill uses granted by [SATURATED] mechanics may be activated even if the character does not usually possess the skill, and without paying that skill’s usual associated costs.

This has been updated on the website as well, on our Local Rules and Skills page.

See you soon Vados!

Valley of Fear - Rules You Should Know

It’s Jonathan here again with another Wednesday 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 going to discuss Rules You Should Know for the upcoming game this weekend, including new Illustrated Item Cards, Mysterious Ore, Variant Crystal Candy, new Roleplay Burdens, Clue Cards, and more!

Tickets are still on sale at the door for VALLEY OF FEAR! See you this weekend!

We had an amazing comic by Beau Lee and Aesa Garcia drop on Monday with a story update for this weekend, so check it out if you haven’t already!

You can also submit official Feedback about our events through our Feedback Form.

Rules you SHould know

TL;DR This is a bit of a long post, and it contains SPOILERS. Reader beware.

This weekend also has a new experiment for DR:TX - new ILLUSTRATED ITEM CARDS! We will be premiering SIX types of new Item Cards that are variations of the Local Plot Item cards. These card will be printed with the rules for the item on one side, and a custom illustrated back designed by Shan, one of our Directors. These cards will be very obvious and will stand out when you find them in play.

Let’s talk about these item cards first, and then we’ll cover a few quick new rules at the end.

Mysterious ore

This first one we are going to be a little coy about. It’s Mysterious Ore, after all. It’s literally in the name.

This weekend will be the first game where you can acquire this new type of limited currency in DR:TX. There will be a finite amount of these items in play, so they will have some value by scarcity alone. Mysterious Ore has no specific function by itself, and is the only Illustrated Item Card this weekend without rules on the card. But it WILL have a use at some point this season.

People that attend our NECROPHAGE National Event will have even more opportunities to gather Mysterious Ore as well. In fact, every person that pre-regs for PYROCLASM will get one of these items at Check-In! We’ll have more on this in our lead up to The Necrophage: Pyroclasm next week.

The primary way to find Mysterious ore this weekend is by helping out the game with some extra NPC time.

Guides, STs, and Players alike can participate in a new Zone of Mechanics that will be in the world somewhere. I’ve even included an image of the ZOM: A Vein of Mysterious Ore below. This ZOM will require you to go out of character and spend additional time as an NPC while you are “mining” inside the Morgue, and can even get you an additional FULL MIND REFRESH for completing an additional four hours of NPC time. September is always a bit lighter game for attendance due to the lingering summer heat, so the extra help will be appreciated and rewarded!

Mining in the Mortis Amaranthine sounds like a lovely idea though. I’m sure nothing bad will happen.

Probably.

In the words of a few new local characters in Bravado “ROCK AND STONE! It’s time for some DIGGY DIGGY HOLE!”

clue cards

Hmm.

These items are pretty self explanatory, but this is an important part of Ted LeBeau’s over arc story for VALLEY OF FEAR. Each DR: Texas game will often have some things we call “plot scaffolding” during the weekend. Sometimes, it might be a series of Research Challenges that need to be completed, or a series of Resource Sinks that require you to turn in herb or scrap, or sometimes you might just have a Monster of the Week to track down and kill (like Grandfather Nichols, or a Raider Queen!). This Plot Scaffolding is how the main plot is resolved, and it’s often a key mechanic of the weekend.

VALLEY OF FEAR is no different, and this takes the form of the CLUE CARD. These items will be found in certain situations and will be useful for understanding more about the nature of the weekend story. The new Warden of Killhouse is definitely up to something, but it’s up to you to find out how deep the rabbit hole goes…

There are two ways to use a Clue Card:

First, you can simply tear up the card and get a free use of one of three Skills — Avoid, Balance, or Basic Awareness. But, by collecting TEN of the Clue Cards, you can turn them into the Post Office for a piece of the puzzle — information about the mysterious Adam Moriarty, the Spider of Killhouse.

These items will be found throughout the weekend, and will have a bit of flavor text to describe the clue itself, but these might be in the pocket of some zombie you just killed, discovered while Foraging out in the woods, or even traded as a source of information with an NPC. Since it’s a Local Plot Item, you can even trade (or sell) it to others, if you so choose.

variant Crystal Candy

One of the big parts of this weekend’s game VALLEY OF FEAR is dealing with the new Law against Crystal Candy in the San Saba, and the backlash against a criminal underworld that is not only continuing to sell the drug, but releasing even worse versions of it. Like we first revealed in our Welcome to Season 4 blog post back in August, a new dangerous and addictive type of Crystal Candy has been flooding the wasteland.

There are three elements of this Crystal Candy plot during VALLEY OF FEAR you need to be aware of: Variant Crystal Candy, Roleplay Burdens, and Crystal Candy Saturation.

Variant Crystal Candy

There are FOUR types of new Crystal Candy items in play this weekend (Red, Green, Blue, and Silver), and they will be on unique, illustrated item cards. There will be no mistaking that the item you have is one of these Local Plot Cards, so it should be able to directly avoid them if you want.

The new drug trade of the San Saba has led to new and more addictive variants of the Crystal Candy commonly found on the Criminal Influence list. These Variant Crystal Candy cards will be printed on separate item cards with an illustrated back. If you encounter one of these items, they will have different mechanics than the common Crystal Candy gizmo. These items interact with the Addiction and Crystal Candy Saturation local rules.

Here’s the plain text of the one the Variant rules on the back so you have an idea of what to expect:

Each of the four variants has two basic mechanics:

• The normal function of the item is a more powerful healing effect than the normal Crystal Candy, but comes with the Roleplay Burden (Addiction). However, unlike normal Crystal Candy these items do NOT cost a Resolve, but they have NO effect once you have a Fracture. That means if the Roleplay Burden is not met, these items quickly become worthless.

• Each Variant Crystal Candy has a SATURATED effect that can be used once you have consumed three of the new Candies in a single 12s. These are powerful abilities that you must use within the next HOUR, or else a negative effect occurs.

Upon consuming a third Addictive Crystal Candy within the last 12s, you will become SATURATED. If you become Saturated more than once per 12s, become SUPERSATURATED. We will cover a bit more of this below.

Roleplay burdens

This is a new Fracture-like effect that will be in play this season, and the Addiction mechanic is the first of these uses. This is simply a mechanic that simply makes you need to do a particular role play activity or else it becomes a full-fledged Fracture.

ROLEPLAY BURDEN

• Keyword. A character can have one Roleplay Burden at a time. A Roleplay Burden must be fulfilled once per 12s, or else it will turn into a Fracture. Roleplay Burdens can be soothed or cured as if they were a Fracture, but does not count as a Fracture for preventing use of certain Skills. Players can opt-out of a particular RP behavior at any time, but must fulfill any required mechanical cost or effects. Roleplay Burdens expire at the end of an event, unless the player chooses to keep them longer.

  There are several types of Roleplay Burdens:

  • ADDICTION: When you consume an item with the Addictive keyword, you gain this Roleplay Burden. You must consume an item with the Addictive keyword once per 12s. If you do not meet this requirement, you gain a Fracture. This is normally found on Variant Crystal Candy cards.

At it’s heart, it’s a pretty flexible rule that can be adapted to a number of different stories, like hunger, fear, disease, or even faith. A possible Roleplay Burden for Starvation could include needing to eat a Meal every 12s, for instance.

You can opt out of any role play involved with roleplay burdens, and no NPCs will ever force someone to use an item that causes this behavior, or require a character to take this condition without consent.

Addictive items will require consent to use on another, just like using an Injection that costs Resolve on someone (DR Corebook, p. 169, 181). Using an item that causes a mechanical effect like this is a CvC action if attempted on an unwilling target. You can also use the OK Check In system to simply decline interaction with this CvC, the Addiction mechanic, or any scene you are uncomfortable with as always.

CRYSTAL CANDY SATURATION

Crystal Candy is bad. Past the horrific way it is harvested from a person, taking too much of it can cause strange side effects. It’s almost like cannibalism in a way, and can have similar effects on a person once ingested. This weekend, this takes effect as Crystal Candy Saturation. Here are the basic mechanics for this new condition:

• Crystal Candy Saturation

• Effect. Upon consuming a third Addictive Crystal Candy within the last 12s, an LC will become SATURATED. While Saturated, you gain the ability to use the Affix abilities of Variant Crystal Candy cards.

• If you become Saturated more than once per 12s, you become SUPERSATURATED.  While Supersaturated, you do not refresh Mind at the 12s, and cannot regain Mind points by any means except by using any variation of Crystal Candy. This effect lasts until the end of the event.

• In summary: When you take a THIRD Variant Crystal Candy, you become Saturated. When you use the Affix ability for the SECOND time in a twelves. If you do NOT use the Affix ability and take the penalty instead, you do not become Saturated.

Crystal Candy can be deceptively useful, but has a significant cost to being used. If you use too much too fast, you can make yourself unable to regain Mind points at all during the weekend.

You might even see a few common Threats like zombies and raiders this weekend that develop strange new psionic potential spreads from the wastewater and pollution left behind from the Crystal Candy manufacturing. A HELPFUL TIP —- Remember, every Psionic power except for Master Pyrokinetics (p.138) can be resisted with Basic Mental Endurance (p. 126)!

other rules of note

The last few rules of note are gonna be short and sweet. If you hear these calls this weekend, it will be VERY obvious what is happening. Sorry not sorry.

DEVOUR

Skill Call. This delivery modifier causes the attacker to be healed for an equal of Body as the attack deals. For instance, a creature might call “Devour 50 Body!”, which will deal 50 Body as the attack and heal them for 50 Body. This call can drain Body, Mind, Resolve, or Infection.

This Threat Skill might be seen in different variations during this season, but ALL of them are bad. Not only does it deal damage to a target, it can absorbs and drain the very health (or even Infection) from a target. Yikes! That seems like an attack to save an Avoid for!

PUrple Headbands

If you encounter an NPC wearing a PURPLE headband or light, this represents an encounter that is “UNSEEN”.

These characters are part of some space that is not your own, like a dream or a hallucination, or someone “out of phase”. They are not out of character but in a state that can only be observed or interacted with in specific conditions. It is possible for some characters to be able to see this condition, while their friends cannot.

Your LC cannot see the Unseen in-character or interact with them unless given specific instruction from the Unseen character or Guide. The Guide or NPC will place their hand on their head and inform your LC that you can interact with that character. Once given this instruction, you can see and interact with the NPC until you cannot physically see them anymore or they leave the scene. You will not be able to see them again if they reappear unless you are specifically told otherwise.

Certain ZOMs, item cards, and Skill calls can also reveal the Unseen.

The Unseen, huh? Just know that when you see a PURPLE headband or headlight this weekend, that.. person?… thing?.. isn’t quite THERE. Ignore them until something tells you otherwise. Just imagine it’s a Hunter using Stealth and you don’t have Basic Awareness.

New Death Procedures

This last new rule is kind of amazing, if I do say so myself. This is from the new DEATH LOG that will be used this weekend. We have a majestic bell in the center of Camp Kachina that we use to start and finish the game, but during the game it has another use entirely:

RING YOUR OWN BELL

If you should DIE during an event at DR:TX, a newly deceased character should walk to the Crossroads and ring the their own Death Bell three times and then report to Logistics, known in-character as the Grave Council Annex.

That’s right.

You finally get to ring the bell at Kachina yourself. It’s fun, I promise, and there’s nothing more chilling than the discordant three rings in the middle of the night telling you that someone just DIED. This bell will let our talented team of Groundskeepers know to meet you at Logistics to run your personalized death scene, and also lets folks with Faith skills, Necrokinetics and Death Brews know they have a chance to interact with a Gravemind scene.

If you are really excited about this rule, let me know at game and I’ll make sure a certain… eyeless… friend helps make that request a reality…

Medical and Safety Resources

One last reminder:

In previous years we had a few medical-trained folks marked out for assisting in emergencies. This year, we made it a dedicated team under Sadie Hawkins. Folks on that list are available resources for non-emergency/non-professional assistance. The Med Room in Kiva (back room past the the Post Office) will have a revamped and restocked medical supply box. These supplies are available for everyone, though, note we don’t have any consumable medications in there.

Mental and Emotional health are also included in our Medical and Safety resources. The Med Room can also be used as a safe decompression space if you need to step out of character and take time re-center or process something. Several of our medical staff are also mental health professionals, and can be tapped to help provide assistance if you need it.

If you do require assistance, and don’t know how to find someone to help, tap any Guide or Gamerunner and we will help you with finding that resource, or contact emergency services if needed.

wrap up

That’s the last from me this week folks! We will have a few opening announcements to cover at the start of the game, but these are the main things to be aware of before you show up.

I still gotta pack and get my own stuff ready for the game, so I hope I see everyone there this weekend. It’s been a LONG summer, and I’m ready to kill some zombies!

Characters & Stories of Note for Season 4

It’s Jonathan here again with another Wednesday 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.

Tickets are on sale until FRIDAY for our first event of the season, THE VALLEY OF FEAR!

Make sure you get your ticket before the end of the week, so we can have your pre-reg packet ready when you get to site. It’s been a long summer, so save your time catching up with your friends in Bravado instead of waiting in line at check-in!

Today’s blog post will touch on a bit of the narrative for Season 4, particularly with some Stories and Characters of Note for the story line this year.

We did a post like this last season, and it was a great way to help you know which characters and stories to pay attention to when they show up in the game. While each game will have it’s own distinct plot, there is also an overarching story running through the whole season. If you want to be involved in the big events, it’ll be easy to identify what is important by the people that are involved, and by paying attention to the big threads of story.

The Season 4 Premise

Every season, Shan & I start out with a Design Doc that lays out our intentions for the entire season arc. From there we build out each game, but this is the first bit of inspiration we shared with our STs for the new season, and today we share it with you.

New Bravado is built on old land, older than the towns that came before it, and older still than the San Saba Territories in which it resides. The land beneath New Bravado dates back to before The Fall of Humanity, when the world was heavy with splendid and delicate thing, before the Archons descended upon the works of men and before the Mortis Amaranthine or, at least, before we knew it existed and of the various and terrible Grave Minds that are like unthinking gods below. 

New Bravado is built on old land, and inscribed in the unbreakable firmament of the ancient and chasmic structures far beneath the arid soil is an ancestral site of unimaginable age, a Facility from before The Fall. Perhaps the lost cradle of Barogian myth, the underground campus upon which countless bodies of unwoken Semper Morts sleep in cryostasis. Ensconced in their intentions, these long-changed humans sleep beyond the fall of humanity and into its eventual rise. But, the Survivors who make a living on the surface above, beneath the apocalyptic sun, seek the deep knowledge and priceless artifacts of an age before. 

New Bravado is a boom town, but instead of mining gold and silver from the hills and steppes that surround it; Vados delve into the deep structures of the facility beneath the city and brave it's sometimes dangerous, and always bizarre, depths in pursuit of glory, riches or knowledge. In recent years, the slow but steady discovery of Grave Tech and Crystal Technologies in the halls beneath Bravado has lead to the formation of not only a governing body over the geographical area around Bravado, The San Saba Board, but also the formation and growth of sister settlements such as Drywater, Essex and Widow’s Peak. 

What truly lurks beneath New Bravado looms in the future, yet. But in Season 4 of DR:TX the town of New Bravado will need to take the reigns as one of the most advanced cities in the Lone Star, and, either allow the Greater Wastes to grow wild and free, or to move it’s educated, deadly population to becoming not simply a participant in the San Saba story, but it’s primary author.

Sounds exciting!

Stories of Note (Season 4)

Let’s take a look then at some threads from last season, plus a few more that we will explore during our games this season:

Waking is Falling?

We released a few WASTELANDER articles this summer, with some rather conflicting reports about the majestic floating city of Waking Prime. The capital of the San Saba, this monument of oldcestor technology is held aloft by the curious and misunderstood Capacity Engine. A mighty airship the size of a small city, Waking is the seat of the San Saba Board, the heart of the Railroad Conglomerate, and a testament to the power of the factions of the Lone Star.

While there are multiple points of view of what exactly happened in Waking in the last few weeks, some uncomfortable questions have been asked of the leadership of the San Saba. Is it wise to have the capital of the San Saba in a floating city that could crash to the ground? From a daring raid on the city two years ago by the Oxkillers, the nefarious Stormchaser raider clans that harass it in the skies, or just the radioactive waste it leaves in the wake of its passing, Waking Prime has had its share of challenges but emerged triumphant each time. What does the future hold for the capital of the San Saba?

The Fate of Tabitha St. Mercy

This season will decide the fate of the villainous leader of Killhouse, Tabitha St. Mercy. From the very beginning of our 3.0 story, the story of Prudence Penitentiary has been meant to reach a conclusion and an end. We’ve never shied away from difficult stories in DR:TX, but we do want to provide agency for players to dismantle or remove the various organizations and personalities that make up the evil of Killhouse. This season will continue the player’s efforts to bring a close to the story of Tabitha, one way or another.

Last season, Tabitha saw a challenge unlike any other as players stood up to the Warden of Prudence Penitiary in the middle of a public Gauntlet in May. They also passed a vote at the Stakeholder’s Meeting and held an armed negotiation with the Warden to step down from her post at the prison. Now, Tabitha hasn’t been seen in months, but it seems like her influence has not waned at all. How can you deal with a threat that is no longer as easy to find in her seat of power at prison? How can the concept of law and order survive in a society where death is not the end, and the violence of the zombie apocalypse renders folks hard and heartless?

The Crystal Candy Question

Crystal Candy seems innocuous enough at first. An easy to purchase Gizmo, capable of a cheap Mind restore available to characters with the Skill Criminal Influence. It’s a well designed item mechanically, as it is very useful when you first start out in a game of Dystopia Rising, but becomes less useful as you gain more ways to use your Resolve. It’s a cheap and effective item, and has remained a solid source of trade and regaining lost Mind points since the start of 3.0.

However, it was revealed that the primary way to “create” the drug is through the painful and deadly harvesting of psionic crystals from the very brains of kidnapped and exploited psions. Several Law Dogs even died during a raid on a “Candy Shoppe”, a temporary chop shop and charnel house set up to harvest the drug from helpless psions. Last season, the San Saba Board put their foot down, passing a law that makes the drug illegal throughout the Territories. In fact, this season you can’t even BUY the item from the Buy List any more (at least via the Post Office…).

However, opponents suggest that the vaguely worded new law could be a slippery slope to pursuing psions themselves as illegal. While the question of ethics has always been murky or crystal clear regarding the drug depending on who you talk to, this season will see the consequences of the war on Crystal Candy. How will the criminal underworld react, and will they chose to find new and more dangerous ways to create illegal substances to sell, or will they continue with business as usual?

Characters of Note (Season 4)

Like we did last season, we want to introduce a few new faces and remind you of a few characters of importance during Season 4. I’ve included some images of most of them, so hopefully you recognize a friend-shape in the mix. Two faces on here are the same as last season, but are still important in their own and unique ways.

Felicity Redfield, CEO of the RAILROAD CONGLOMERATE

As she was born into a lesser Pureblood House before the Hiway War, following its conclusion, Felicity Redfield found herself in a unique position of power. As one of the few remaining members of the extended Lineage League, Felicity used what remained of her clout and dowry to form the Railroad Conglomerate and spent the ugly, irradiated years following the Hiway War building train-tracks across what is now the Greater San Saba. 

Her crowning achievement is the settlement of New Bravado, which she owns down to the rocks the city is built on, followed shortly thereafter by the creation of The Iron Ox; a locomotive of monolithic proportions, designed to endure the threats of the Greater Wastes as it trucks goods between settlements at speed.  The tracks of the RRC Oxline stretch further each day as the influence of the rail system continues to grow. Felicity has spearheaded “delves” into the uncharted ruins underneath Bravado in search of some unknown goal, using resources found beneath to fund future endeavors.

Deeply motivated to create a more magnificent future in her image, Felicity is a founding member of the San Saba Board. Despite multiple assassination attempts this last year, Felicity’s can-do attitude and plucky persistence is symbolic of both the spirit of the Lone Star and the citizens of Bravado. Her company, thanks to a merger in 04” PHW, still retains two of the six votes needed to change San Saba Law, and her alliance with the Junkerpunks has ensured that only a tie-breaking vote from the Chair can prevent most of her efforts from passing. Though she has not always seen eye to eye with the Board and the Chairman, her ambition has continued to reap dividends for the RRC.

Tabitha St. Mercy, Former Warden of Killhouse

Tabitha St. Mercy, former Warden of Prudence Penitentiary (more frequently known by its moniker of “Killhouse”) is seen frequently in the company of her pet killers, the Lifers of the XXX Wing. This Retrograde Hedon is pragmatic, business-like, and always happy to make a deal. Tabitha St. Mercy can still offer a variety of social contracts. Need some unwanted parties disappeared? The sick, the broken, the marginally useful? Send them to Killhouse Prison! For a nominal fee, the former Warden is all too happy to cut out your blighted parts of society and relocate them behind tall walls where they can be used for her own means. Greed is her only master, and as she has lost power in Bravado and lost face on the San Saba Board, this impulse for restitution has only intensified. 

Tabitha is still a voting member of the San Saba Board and a supremely influential person in the Territories, though she has been recently suspended of her duties on the Board by the Chairman.  Each year after the great Indulgence, she gathers up her errant Lifers and returns them to the Prison, but each year she asks for them to be taken alive, not dead. With her no longer in power at Killhouse, it remains to be seen what will happen during the Indulgence this year. What will happen when the former master of Killhouse is no longer chained to her station?

The Rook, psion terrorist

The Rook is a powerful psion, marked by a massive growth of psionic crystal emerging from her forehead and left eye. Made infamous by a recent attack on the city of Essex, this powerful psion is a mysterious and mostly unknown threat to the San Saba. Branded as a terrorist and criminal, the Rook has been hell bent on going on the offensive to protect aberrants from any threat, real or perceived.

She has led several successful raids on Crystal Candy Shoppes of the San Saba, which both makes her a vigilante rival to the Law Dogs, but earns grudging respect from those she has freed or that are familiar with the horrors of the confectioner’s trade. Her message is divisive, but she speaks a truth to power in a way that few can ignore. Her stated ultimatum and goal is to not only give the San Saba a chance to protect the helpless and exploited, but to push them to do it in the only way she will accept. She is a vocal and outspoken opponent of the new laws against Crystal Candy, foretelling an escalation of “justice” that will turn on her people, those capable of wielding the dangerous powers of psionics.

The Rook is not a reasonable person, and is a general force of chaos despite generally enacting what could be considered by some as noble behaviors. However, the echoes and reminders of former vigilantes in the Lone Star’s past like Four or Sparrow cannot be ignored or forgotten. The recent violence in Essex has split her following, with some branding her a murderer of innocents like the others, while others insist that she was framed by her enemies in the government of the San Saba Board itself.

Adam Moriarty, The spider

The former Lifer and spy master has been named the new Warden of Prudence Pententiary in the wake of Tabitha stepping down from the post. Hand chosen by the former Warden, Moriarty is a known as the Spider of Prudence Penitentiary. Moriarty is a criminal influence in his own right. He deals in information, buying, selling, and trading, and always has a scheme under way.

Adam is a Tellingvisionary, and a member of the Nemesis Cult. He fashions himself after his namesake, looking for a worthy Adversary. When he finds this Adversary, he will do everything he can to destroy them, secretly hoping this will be the one who challenges him and perhaps rises above. Despite his faith, Adam has been considered one of the more “reasonable” Lifers.

No one knows where Adam comes from. He is a Pure Blood, but the family he claims is not one local, and no local families claim to know him. He claims his family came across the great sea a generation or two back, and that he had to remove them from his life. The smile he makes when he says that makes people think they did not live.

The Eightfold Mother

During the last Collection Day, the former leader of the Grave Council, Takheeta Firstborn died while attempting to cure the morgues of the San Saba. Takheeta was barely sane at the end and in the shattered psyche of the Gravemind, the shards of her and her acolytes combined into something terrible. Her machinations, zeal, and ambition in life would bleed into what is known as a Gravemind Shard — a manifestion of personality, id, and ego with all the powers of the undead hordes the Mortis Amaranthine could create. Takheeta needed what she sought most in her life and her journey on the Quiet Path — balance.

A lone and quiet voice reminded them of the sacrifice of Eight, a young and brave resident of Bravado. He was strong, resolute. He was determined. He could be the soldier to keep the tainted energies of Takheeta in check. He had emerged in the darkness, volunteering life, Infection, and their very being to save the town, to save the San Saba, and to provide some measure of balance to the Grave Mind. The sacrifice of Eight was redirected by the Cantankerous Matrix, becoming a way to contain the final energies that was formerly Takheeta to form a stable Gravemind Shard, their combined strength balancing out the inequity of that pairing.

The new presence in the Gravemind has been called “The Eightfold Mother” by the fanatics of the Grave Council, but they promise that the Shard remains dormant. However, the recently deceased all speak of a voice in the darkness of the Gravemind — a voice that reminds them of home and beckons them to stay with her. Small shrines to the Eightfold Mother are common now in Bravado, but are quickly cleared away by Groundskeepers and Graverobbers, intent on keeping the slumbering presence and her new followers in check.

Wrap Up

That’s it for today, Vados! I hope you enjoyed the sneak peek into the story this season. There’s so much to be excited for, from a collection of overarc stories written by our talented Storytellers, our first live National Game of 3.0 - THE NECROPHAGE, and a killer premiere game in December. We can’t wait to start Season 4 off with a bang!

There’s a few more characters of note left to be seen, but we’ll save some of them for a later post as the season continues. See you next week, as we get ready for our last teasers for the game, in the rules you need to know in your journey to the VALLEY OF FEAR!

Welcome to Season Four!

It’s Jonathan here again and it’s been a long summer, but it’s finally that time! It’s time for the start of our official SEASON FOUR, and that means a return of the weekly Rules Rambles you know and love. Finally, something to read on Wednesdays again!

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.

Today’s blog post will touch on a bit of things to keep in mind as we start our new season.

The Valley of Fear & The necrophage: PYroclasm

First off, tickets for our Season Opener just went on sale on MONDAY!

You can purchase your tickets for the event on our website or at the gate, but we’ve also got tickets for the NATIONAL EVENT after that one on sale too! You can also purchase your Advanced Memberships and even check out the Widow’s Fund if the summer has made attendance this season a bit harder.

We haven’t talked much about the Valley of Fear other than a few cryptic quotes we shared in an earlier post, so here’s a sneak peak of what to expect in our first game of Season 4:

The Valley of Fear

Before the Burning Season forced the San Saba into hibernation for the summer, dramatic changes to law and order in the wastes took root thanks to the work of the citizens of the tiny town of Bravado. A new law banning the sale and trafficking of Crystal Candy, new faces and new voting members on the San Saba Board, a mysterious accident in the floating city of Waking, and now — a missing Warden.

Tabitha St. Mercy - hounded, hunted, betrayed - caught off guard by enterprising people in Bravado, has disappeared from Prudence Penitentiary. In her place, a new Warden has taken control. Adam Moriarty, former Lifer, has stepped out from the shadows and the effects have rippled across the San Saba Territories. While major changes have been occurring at the prison commonly called “Killhouse”, life in the San Saba Territories has grown more dangerous.

People have gone missing. Roving bands of Vigilantes, often called “puppies” in a deriding fashion by some, try and help the Law Dogs. Their goal is to help enforce the newest laws, especially against Crystal Candy, and if a few skulls get broken, such is the way of things in the wastes. The Justices of Sin are more prevalent than ever, under the orders of Moriarty to help quickly pass judgement so that the Law Dogs can continue their crusade. Moriarty has even helped Wyatt break the backs of the Rotgut Family, former purveyors of the largest Crystal Candy pipeline in the San Saba and now they too sit in Prudence Penitentiary.

Despite the Board’s bold action against the drug trade of the San Saba, a prophecy of trouble has come true. Crystal Candy is still in abundance, and new pipelines are sprouting like weeds. There are even rumors of new and more addictive variations making their way to the marketplace.

And then there is Bravado - breeding ground for Saints and Miscreants - stuck in the middle of these wars between law and order, in a valley of fear…

We’ll go into more detail in the weeks to come about some of the story threads, characters of note, and plots you can expect for Season 4, so stay tuned and get your tickets locked in for our first event of Season 4!

Action Requests, Plot Requests, & PFAs

A new season means it’s time for a few pre-game activities. A few of these need to be submitted ASAP, so make sure you don’t wait until the last minute!

Action Requests

First up, if you have any Action Requests (pg. 13) like Master Criminal Influence, Hunting, Sailing, or Financial Influence it’s time to submit those requests! These need to be submitted BEFORE the game you attend, so you are already on the clock.

If you don’t know quite what these skills do, I wrote a whole blog post about them last season:

• Check out the blog post: Action Requests & Plot Requests

• submit your action requests here

Every game, our talented STs will work on making sure we have content for the major Action Request items but you might have a neat item or another reason to submit a request. We are hard at work on some upgrades to our boat mods for Season 4, and we have brand new STs this year to include into the machinations of designing devious Criminal Influence heists, or challenging hunts of a San Saba predator (this might apply to the Red Ledger too, now that I think about it)…

Remember, we won’t take Action Requests that are submitted the week of the game, so make sure you get these in ASAP! Don’t miss out on those Master Skill Mods and your rewards!

Character Backgrounds

It’s a new season, and I know a few of you have some new characters planned for Season 4. That means it’s time to submit a CHARACTER BACKGROUND, so we can know all the places to twist the knife and maybe even include something personal into our story lines for the season. What better way to help us understand your motivations and interests than literally telling us what makes your character tick?

You can include things like important Supporting Characters (SCs or NPCs) in your background and their name, such as family members, best friends, or mentors. Maybe you have some other Background Ties with other player characters that are tied to your story. What about an Important Location or some settlements and cities has your character visited previously?

• Submit your CHARACTER Backgrounds here

Remember, please be brief, submit in bullet points or key notation format, stay local, keep any NPC Groups in your background as small as possible, double check your submission, be patient, be willing to answer questions or adjust your background as needed. Be open to suggestions to change locations, names, and events to have more relevant links to our story!

personal plot requests

Maybe you picked up some fancy new skills by attending travel games over the summer? Maybe you got a new Social Influence skill or you want to submit a few new rumors yourself. Maybe you want to share that fun story that happened over the Burning Season. Remember, you can spend those hard-earned CAPS to create some Rumors & Gossip with a PERSONAL PLOT REQUEST in addition to fun things like Mind refresh meals and custom Zones of Mechanics.

You might even have a neat idea for a Personal Plot Request in the form of a custom mod or story written by our talented Storytellers. For a mere 200 CAPs, you can submit your request for the new season. Our STs need some time to write these, so the sooner you submit the request the more likely it is that we can include it during our games! Don’t wait until the last minute!

• Check out: Check-In Skills

• submit your own Personal Plot Requests here

• Read more about how you can spend CAPs here: Community Action Points

Remember, we won’t take Personal Plot Requests that are submitted the week of the game, so make sure you get these in ASAP! Our STs need some time to write these, so the sooner you submit the request the more likely it is that we can include it during our games!

Profession Focus Achievements (PFAs)

Maybe you want to use some of that XP you earned over the summer to purchase a new Profession Focus Achievement? Well, it’s easy enough to submit a Personal Plot Request, which is a require of the PFA process via our website, but I want to remind folks of a special DR:TX rule on PFAs:

In DR:TX you can have a PLAYER teach you a relevant PFA, but it still needs to be submitted as a Personal Plot Request so we can update your sheet and meet the rules in the book. We can still help with ST-led PFA mods, but we will only have a few spots each game to facilitate those requests. For instance, finding another player to teach you how to be a Graverobber can be a faster way to earn the PFA, and provide you neat roleplay and character ties at the same time!

• Read about: PFA Requests and Player Teachers

• Submit your PFA Request Here

Just like the other requests, we won’t take PFA Requests that are submitted the week of the game, so make sure you get these in ASAP!

wrap up

It’s great to be writing these blog posts again, and I have some plans for the upcoming weeks before the VALLEY OF FEAR! We have some exciting new changes this season, from new Work Orders, new Faction Buy Lists, a few location changes on our site, and more. We have a brand new team of Settings & Props folks working on ways to make our site and crafting areas more immersive, and maybe even a few new threats to hunt you in the moonlit darkness at Camp Kachina.

Next week, we will talk about some of the stories you should know, NPCs you might see, and important plot points that will be relevant throughout Season 4. After that, we’ll cover some of the changes in mechanics for Season 4, and as always, I’ll reserve a place for those last minute Mechanics You Need to Know the week of game. It’s coming up soon, and I hope you are ready!

Collection Day

We have two weeks left of advanced Ticket Sales for Pre-Registration for our April event, COLLECTION DAY! Today, I have a sneak peek of some of the story you can expect to see during this event. We will also discuss a BIG portion of the event’s premise - THE GRAVE TAX. Remember, there’s nothing certain in life but death and taxes!

Let’s first discuss the PREMISE of the April event, talk about some of the THEMES we will be exploring, and finally talk a little about the GRAVE TAX.

I also wrote a cool short story that I’m pretty proud of back in July of 2019 when we were first releasing hype about our factions in DR:TX. You read it on our FICTION tab, here:

Death and Taxes — Dystopia Rising: Texas (idratherbeinbravo.com)

Premise of the Game:

In the bloody wake of Holy Mother Queen Jasper’s final walk; Bravado’s Morgue is damaged beyond normal repair. Its delicate state, even prior to the extended use of the terrible ritual that interrupted Jasper’s connection with The Cycle, is indicative of a greater problem in the San Saba Territories, and that is the infrastructural deterioration of the morgue system; which has been ongoing since the cataclysmic damage it sustained during the final days of the Hiway War. 

The Grave Council, ostensibly responsible for the morgue system’s upkeep in the Greater Lonestar, is headed by the enigmatic spiritual leader and Mystagogue Takheeta Firstborn of the Imix Tribe and Commander Rampart of the Reckoners; the Grave Council’s military arm.  The Grave Council’s stated purpose, since its infancy in the wake of the Psionic Bomb, is to steward and to repair the deep structures of the morgue system; and to deliver to the San Saba people an uninterrupted and natural Infectious Cycle. 

To that end, Takeeta Firstborn has realigned the purpose of Collection Day; the historical holiday upon which the Grave Council collects its Death Tax with her greater ideal, and of stabilizing the morgue infrastructure the entire San Saba over. She, on behalf of the Grave Council, has agreed to accept not only Brass as the blood currency for her Tax, but Infection as well. In return for the lives of common farmers and delvers, she will pay their petty debts in full. Their biomass to her purpose, and their lives to her infernal engine of change.

Themes of Collection Day

Each game, when we start out writing content for the game we start by considering the major themes we want to explore. We generally couch these in some of the language of the 6 types of literary conflict, but we go a bit more specific than that for our starting design so some of these conflicts will deviate from the classics.

• Healing Wounds Older Than You (Man vs God) The Psionic Bomb was a sin committed by desperate people in desperate times, and many of them are dead now; or drifters who left the place they saved when it was rendered a hotbed of radioactivity and death. But still, the repercussions of those old sins fall at the feet of those who followed after, who live in the world that those old sinner’s birthed in fire and blood. It is not the Vado’s old grievances that keep the morgue system from bridging the rifts within itself to heal, but it is their responsibility. 

• The Grave Tax Does Come Due (Man vs Fate) In life there are only two things assured to us, Death - and Taxes. The Grave Tax is inevitable, it is necessary, and paying it yearly is as regular as a bowel movement. There is nothing glamorous or terrifying about the Grave Tax, so long as yours is paid on time and in full. Otherwise, the Reckoners; black-clad taxmen who specialize in wet work, will provide the only alternative known to Taxes; that being Death. 

• The Infectious Cycle Goes On (Man vs Time) The ecosystem in the Greater San Saba is a complex series of biomes that range from the ivory blast land of the Dune Sea, to the megaflora forests of Essex, and to the murky and miraculous sea life that thrives just off the Clutch’s oil-slick shoreline. But, in every settled mile of the San Saba, morgues persist; people die; and they are hacked out like tonsil stones from the meat of the Mortis. Morgues are but connections to something Beyond Death, and though individual channels may wither and die off - still the Eternity Beyond remains beyond the scope of any one life. The Mortis is huge, and we rarely see beyond the shores of the Near Death.

Now that you understand some of the themes of the event, let’s talk about the primary conceit of the game, the collection of the GRAVE TAX.

the Grave Tax

Much like the PREMISE and THEMES of our event above, our mechanic of the Grave Tax is centered in the story. This is the main way we approach things in the DR:TX world and it informs how we design everything from new blueprints, mods, new threats, and every story we tell.

You can read in full about the GRAVE TAX here:

• Grave Tax — Dystopia Rising: Texas (idratherbeinbravo.com)

Primary Themes of the grave tax

• Death has Consequences -  In a world where survivors can return from death, crimes like murder can run rampant unless some threat of punishment is enforced.  The Grave Tax is a method to prevent the needless deaths of shareholders, merchants, and Braves, and is assessed as a financial burden upon death.  Unnecessary death is frowned upon.

• Death Comes for All, Pauper or Prince - The Grave Council does not care for the status placed upon a person in the times within the Mortis Amaranthine. They pursue their due from every being that walks the San Saba wastes. They also treat the death of a Pureblood from an ivory tower the same as they treat the death of a wandering Rover.

• Story, not Punishment - The purpose of the Grave Tax is not to punish players for dying or to create an undue financial burden.  The Grave Tax provides a concrete way to involve yourself in the greater story of the Lone Star, interact with several powerful factions, and seek out assistance and roleplay with other characters in the game.  It is tied with the enforcement of law in the game and can be opted out if the player wishes to avoid a negative play experience by using the Pauper’s Fund.

The Grave Tax is meant as an avenue for story, not punishment.

What is the Grave Tax?

The Grave Tax is one of the enforced laws of San Saba Territories and a tradition of the Grave Council that helps cover the maintenance of the Morgues of the Lone Star.  This is a fee, normally paid in Brass notes, that a Groundskeeper is paid to retrieve someone from the Mortis Amaranthine and is tracked and collected by the agents of the Grave Council.  As part of an agreement with the recently formed Railroad Conglomerate, the San Saba Board has delegated authority over every Morgue within the San Saba territories and the Lone Star to the Grave Council and enshrined the Grave Tax into law of the Board. Even the Junkerpunks acknowledge the need to preserve the cycle of death through the Mortis Amaranthine.

“None shall interfere with the Delivery of the Post,
Nor the Collection of the Grave Tax.

- from the San Saba Charter of Laws

how much does the grave tax cost?

There are three classes of deaths that occur in the San Saba. This amount is assessed by the Groundskeeper that runs the death scene for a character, and it is recorded in our DEATH LEDGER and on your character sheet in the NOTES tab. You can always choose to have MORE taxes put on your sheet, if you like that extra spicy angst. (You know who you are!)

• Class 1: Accidental or Unpreventable Death (25 Brass)

  • Death by Zed, Raider, or a Creature of the Wastes

  • Death from the Environment, or Natural Disasters

• Class 2: Preventable Death (50 Brass)

  • Death that could have been avoided in some way.  Foolhardy, silly mistakes are normally classified in this manner.  Needlessly feeding the Gravemind is a threat to the delicate balance of the Mortis Amaranthine. This includes Duels, Crimes of Passion, and Violations of the Laws.  If an action of the deceased could have been avoided by upholding the laws and contracts of the San Saba, this level of fine is normally assessed.

• Class 3: Intentional Death, or Murder (100+ Brass)

  • Purposefully feeding the Gravemind is the most grievous crime, particularly through MURDER. This can include collateral damage and actions that lead to the death of others in addition to themselves, particularly in ways that can be proven by the recently deceased or other witnesses. This is the starting amount of a fee for this type of death but can escalate accordingly to the severity.  

why is the grave tax necessary?

When a person emerges from a Morgue in the San Saba after death, there is a significant threat of a dangerous wasting disease being contracted, known as the Plague of the Unfinished. The Groundskeepers of the Grave Council have developed a number of procedures to limit this spread, and when they or a Sanctioned Graverobber is involved, the threat of this disease is minimal.

The Plague of the Unfinished: This extremely fatal disease was first discovered by Sanctioned Graverobbers of the Grave Council in the Lone Star. While the cause of the disease is unknown, the symptoms are quite obvious. During the process of rebuilding of a survivor’s body after a death, the body is ejected from the Mortis Amaranthine in an unfinished state. The process of regeneration is left incomplete, and the body begins a quick return to the Gravemind as it literally melts and rots away. The process is extremely painful, horrifying to watch, and has very few known cures if not caught quickly. When the victim emerges from the Gravemind after dying to this disease, they are cured if they can survive a second loss of Infection. Thankfully, the disease does not seem to be infectious in this form.

If you die and return without the assistance of the Grave Council, you can lose more than one Infection. This disease is no joke! This disease might even be relevant during the next event…

the Pauper’s Fund

Ultimately, the story of the GRAVE TAX is an OPTIONAL one. You might not enjoy roleplaying owing a debt to a shadowy organization of Graverobbers and Gravemind Cultists. That’s perfectly fine! The Grave Tax is meant as a way to create a cool story behind each death, not a burden or punishment. 

No player is required to have a Grave Tax added to their character sheet when they die. Period.

As an in-game reason for how this happens, The Widows of the Lone Star maintain an account with the Grave Council that helps alleviate the debt of the unfortunate or those that cannot afford to pay.  This fund normally pays the Grave Taxes of those that ask for assistance and is collected by the various charitable works of the Widows. The Pauper’s Fund can be used in the cases where a player wishes to opt out of this mechanic, within reason.  

The sole exception to this option is MURDER. If you kill another character and cause the loss of Infection in CvC Conflict, you’ll have to suffer the consequences for breaking the law… if you get caught!

We hope you will join us for COLLECTION DAY! Make sure to get your tickets early so you can have your character sheets pre-printed at the door. You can always buy you tickets on site if you miss out, but we appreciate the folks that can pre-register. This lets us know how many NPCs to expect for a shift (so we know when we can send out more zombies!), which players are planning on coming for Personal Plot Requests and PFA Requests, and helps us prepare an even better event for you!

Register — Dystopia Rising: Texas (idratherbeinbravo.com)