Emerald Gala: Rules You Should Know

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.

As we get ready for our next event this weekend, THE EMERALD GALA, I'm going to be covering a bit about Rules You Should Know. We have a number of special things happening during this game, and we want to make sure you have a head start on any particular mechanics to watch out for. This week, we are going to cover a bit more about some changes to our game schedule, some ways to earn a new Blueprint, Alone in the Dark, and the dangerous abilities of the Archons your character could face like Devour Imprint, Abyssal Rift, Aberrant Consumption, Sever Imprint, and Frequency Inversion.

TICKETS ARE still on sale at the door starting at 5pm on Friday! DON’T MISS OUT ON THE NEXT DR:TX EVENT!

Photo credits in this post are from Max Pohlmeier, Lainey Weiss, and Noah Goodman. Gauntlet posters were made by the talented Aesa Garcia.

Culinary requires a certain amount of patience… and charcoal.

Changes to the Schedule

This month, we are testing some changes to our game schedule to accommodate some feedback we’ve received over the past few months, and to really allow our EMERALD GALA to be an event that is pretty special.

Extended Siesta

First, we’ve extended the AFTERNOON SIESTA. The afternoon break will be EXTENDED from 12:00 pm-4:00 pm on Saturday. This is an experiment to allow for spookier late-night content by shifting our STs and NPCs to better times. Plus, Texas tends to get a bit hot in the afternoon if you didn’t notice. During this four-hour window, we will have very few or no combat mods in play so this is a perfect time to schedule that player event, potluck, gang-up, or just get some crafting done in peace and quiet. Now, this is still a DR game, so it’s not always entirely safe during these hours (especially for a few folks below...), but there won’t be hordes of zombies at least.

Post office closed from 7pm-9pm

Secondly, to make sure that ALL players and staff can attend the Emerald Gala festivities, we will be CLOSING the Post Office from 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm on Saturday night. You will still be able to complete projects using the One Job Policy (p. 174) during this time and turn them afterwards, but we will not have Postal Workers to issue cards during this time. Enjoy the Gala and save the crafting and farming for later!

The Emerald Gala Events

Lastly, the Emerald Gala will be trying something a bit different. During the two-hour window of the Gala on Saturday night, we won’t be running many NPCs or events of note. Instead, we will be allowing folks to join together in the Winter Lights spirit, enjoy music, food, and games during the party. We will have some face NPCs present, some opportunities for contests and fun, and generally lots of opportunity for showing off your best outfit and not worrying about running to grab that shield or brew.

We can hunt you down with the Archons at the end of the party after all, so enjoy the nice, safe fun while it lasts! And hope they get the Emerald Arsenal ready in time!

Again, Boris?

Spicy! Maybe the Butcher will finally answer for their crimes…

NEW NATIONAL RULES UPDATES

There has been an update to the National Lexicon and the Undead Threat Guide since our last event. They didn’t really advertise this change outside of a post on the Discord channels and the updated site on November 16th, but here’s the details in case you missed it:

RANGED REDUCTION (UPDATED FROM THE BOOK)

Possessed by many zombie threats and some exceptionally armored critters, Ranged Reduction reduces the amount of damage taken from firearms, bows, and thrown weapons to the target. Ranged Reduction (Minor) means that the target reduces incoming damage by 5 from a Ranged Attack, minimum 1, while Ranged Reduction (Major) means that the target reduces incoming damage by 10 from a Ranged Attack, minimum 1. Ranged Bane attacks do normal damage to the target, but do not double their damage.

• TL;DR: THE BIG CHANGE HERE IS THAT RANGED REDUCTION for the undead HAS BEEN SPLIT INTO TWO VARIETIES, MINOR (REPLACES mINIMAL) AND MAJOR (REPLACES iMMUNE)

Previously, most dangerous Rank 3 Undead had Ranged Reduction (Immune) while lesser threats had Ranged Reduction (Minimal) instead. This meant that most firearms or ranged attacks were worthless against most Rank 3 zombies, including the iconic Tank. This has long been a point of contention for all those NERF gun lovers out there, as they would have to switch to a melee weapon to deal with most zed.

With this change to Ranged Reduction, it is a brand-new day for firearms. Basic Zombies still reduce damage by 5 unless it’s from a source of Undead Bane or Horde Bane, while higher ranked zombies now simply reduce damage by 10 instead of being completely immune to ranged.

That means that upgraded attacks from some ranged weapons like the Candlepin Flame Belcher, the Mountain Rifle, and the Al Buquerue's Left Turn can be useful against the most powerful types of Undead. If you can deal more than 10 points of damage, you’ll get some damage past the defenses of the zombie. And it’s even better if you have Undead Bane, since the damage won’t be reduced at all.

Enjoy!

Now I gotta make a new gun to kill my first Tank at range…

National Blueprints & Local Blueprints

During this weekend, you will have an opportunity to earn a chance at a BRAND NEW BLUEPRINT. We talked a bit about this in my post on the Emerald Arsenal, but there will be a custom Zone of Mechanics in play this weekend called EMERALD INVESTMENTS.

emerald arsenal blueprints

During the event, our players will choose which of the seven Emerald Arsenal items they are interested in making into reality. The top winners will be incorporated into the next National Blueprint to fight against the impending Archon threat. This item will be useful in facing Outsiders during future encounters and will be themed around the winning Emerald Arsenal items.

Zone of Mechanics: Emerald Investments

You may pay 10 Brass to the Post Office in order to receive a copy of the Emerald Arsenal blueprint when it becomes available.  This item will be delivered by postal worker or placed in your LIT inventory.

Characters with Master Society Membership in a San Saba Faction may pay 100 Brass to the Post Office for a crafted item in addition to the Emerald Arsenal blueprint once it becomes available. This will have an expiration date starting from the event you receive the item.

Players that complete this Zone of Mechanics will receive a copy of the new National Blueprint generated by the Emerald Arsenal during the next event in February (if it’s ready!). If you are a traveling player, this item will be placed into your LIT inventory instead, or I’ll find a way to get it to you once it releases.

I can’t reveal exactly what this item will do yet, but the first way to get access to this new blueprint is attending our Premiere event. If you interact with the Emerald Arsenal ZOMs this weekend, you might get a taste of what might be in store.

local blueprints

This weekend will also see the release of several new Local Blueprints. These are DR:TX ONLY local plot items that will allow you to make new Local Plot Cards through crafting. These Local Blueprints will be printed on a different color of paper than the traditional blue of normal blueprints to mark them as unique.

They will use the normal rules for blueprints, including being able to be copied, used for crafting, or even stolen. These blueprints will commonly require Society Memberships with the San Saba Factions to use or create. However, these blueprints (or the items they make) cannot leave play from DR:TX or impact other games at all.

Since they are Local Plot Items, they are only usable at our game. Sorry!

These new Local Blueprints will be one way we play test potential future submissions for national blueprints during Premiere games and the like, and we look forward to your feedback on these new prints.

“Hey there Tenderhorns! Have you heard about Blood Ghosts yet?”

Alone in the Dark

DR:TX will be releasing a new global mechanic for this event, borrowed from our friends in DR: Virginia, originally designed by Phil Grau. This mechanic also saw use in DR: Michigan, and we will be including our own DR:TX take on the concept below.

ALONE IN THE DARK

At any time after the sun has set that a player finds themselves alone and without the ability to see another person, that person is considered to be Caught Alone.

That player must, at their next convenience, drop out of character and report to Ops.

Results for being Caught Alone vary wildly and could be a slight scare or a grievous consequence.

Players under the effect of Basic Stealth may move after dark as they wish, but should beware anything that would cause them to become seen.

If you are caught alone at night, one of the many things lurking in the shadows may find you first. You might wander through a weak part of the veil between the worlds or get too close to some early abyssal incursion. Maybe you just got caught alone by one of the Longwalkers or experienced some strange time dilation as you get lost in the woods. Perhaps some local terror like a Nemesis or Murder Goat Deer found you as prey in the darkness. Maybe it was nothing at all. Whatever the result, it’s best to walk in groups or be able to evade prying eyes in the darkness with Stealth during this event.

NOTE: Several of the events you can encounter with this mechanic may offer unique consequences, conditions, Roleplay Burdens, local plot cards, or even Body damage or Mind loss. Not all of the potential consequences are negative, but they all represent an encounter during the Long Night that marks your character in some indelible manner. If a particular condition is something you are not comfortable role-playing, you will always have an option to re-roll for a different consequence or you can use the OK Check-In System to let us know to calibrate the results.

Better yet, the candle lights and altars of the Lovelace Family are said to protect you from the darkness, provided you can convince them to part with their lanterns to protect you. There will be access to certain Local Plot Cards during this event that can interact with this mechanic and perhaps even give you a way to avoid the consequences of wandering alone in the dark…

The Buddy System isn’t just a good idea, it’s a lifesaver!

Archons 201

apocalyptic Threat Skills of NOTe

The ultimate threats of the wasteland have a host of skills that they can employ while within our reality. We talked a bit about the known lore about the creations in my post on Archons 101, but let’s dig a bit into the mechanics of what they can do. To be clear, I’m not covering EVERYTHING an Archon can do, but I’m going to cover some of the major ones to worry about.

Archons have three major modes of interacting with you violently: Attacks, Abyssal Attacks, and Global Effects, and they have several unique Defenses.

Attacks & Defenses

Archons have Attacks & Defenses like most threats, of course. They have some innate defenses based on their unique physiology and even active defenses like Defend, Balance, and Mental Endurance. Archons have a number of deadly basic attacks including Scattershot, Knockbacks, and Strikes. Like many Threats (even the lowly Shambler), they even have attacks they can make every flurry of blows. This means that even if they use all their active skills, they still have some dangerous attacks for the entire fight.

• Rend: [Damage Type]. If a Threat hits you with this type of basic attack, you lose points from both your Armor AND your body with the same swing. For instance, a call of “Rend 5!” will deal 5 points of damage to your Armor and 5 points of damage to you directly. If you are not wearing armor, this call simply deals Body damage. These types of attacks are brutal, and even armor will not save you!

• Psionic Stun: This is a melee strike frequently called by an Outsider. This can be Avoided OR can be resisted with Mental Endurance. Since this ability only deals a Stun, it can also be countered by Balance. If you get hit, you’ll crumple to the ground (or take a knee), be unable to move, and will be unable to use skills or use any equipment except for Armor for 5 seconds while stunned. (Stun, p. 107)

The last common defense of an Archon is their hefty slate of immunities:

• Invulnerable State: Immune to all Damage. The Outsider will declare “Immune” periodically during the fight. This is the default state of the Outsider until it has fully crossed into this plane of existence or been rendered vulnerable.

• Unnatural Physiology: Strong Limbs (Immune to Mangle), Immune to Stun, Immune to Knockout, Immune to Blinding

Like I mentioned in my blog post, Archons are completely immune to all damage and most effects until they’ve been made vulnerable in this world. Hopefully the Emerald Arsenal will do the trick, but it might be necessary to simply RUN from an Archon if you don’t have the means to hurt them. You’ve been warned!

Abyssal Attacks

These are unique attacks to the Outsiders, and they have devastating potential to be lethal. These attacks often bypass common rules, break the laws of reality, or are completely unique and deadly methods of eliminating their foes. They have many (or even unlimited) uses of these abilities and can often refresh their uses by killing an enemy.

• Abyssal Strike: The Archon will call “50 Damage” with an apocalyptic melee strike. This can be combined with Scattershot for full damage, for this monster only. Normally Scattershot is capped at 20 damage, and most big hits can’t be used with Proficient Combat Tactics (p. 114). For the Archon, the laws of reality don’t apply so they can deal massive amounts of damage to a large crowd of targets. Yikes!

• Devour Imprint: Upon the next successful strike to an LC, the Archon will declare “Devour Imprint: Absorb 6 Resolve”. This skill can NOT be modified by Scattershot. This skill can (and should) be Avoided.

  • If you get hit by this attack, you immediately lose all of your remaining Resolve, and the Archon regains their lost Resolve. In addition to not being able to use any and ALL equipment, ZOMs, and injectable brews that requires Resolve (p. 95), this attack will inflict a FRACTURE upon the hit (since you hit zero Resolve). That means it will also turn off several useful Master Anomaly skills and impact your total maximum Mind pool as well.

  • Like I said, save Mind for an AVOID!

• Abyssal Rift: The Archon will declare a countdown of 3 seconds, then call “Abyssal Rift”. The Outsider can go OOG and take a willing or incapacitated individual in physical contact with them into the Mortis Amaranthine. This leads to a Grave Mind Scene in which the target does not lose Infection. The Outsider observes the scene until the Gravemind notices and ejects the individual violently. Make a player note that the next Grave Mind scene will be intense and malevolent. This rift allows the Archon to escape (or ENTER) virtually any area by transporting themselves through the Abyss.

These are incredibly dangerous attacks, and you’ll likely get a chance to experience them firsthand if you encounter the Archons this weekend. Certain items in the Emerald Arsenal can offer defenses to these attacks, so choose wisely!

global effects

The last mode of attack are unique to the Archon. When an Archon enters play, it will be with the NPC or ST representing the creature itself, but they will also be accompanied by a Guide wearing a green headband. These Guides will periodically call out these global effects.

There is no limit to how many times an Archon can use these attacks, but they all have a brief cooldown after use. We won’t be calling multiple Sever Imprints in a row, but you could see several of these abilities over the course of an encounter with the creatures.

• Sever Imprint: The Archon will call “By My Voice, Lineages in Bleed Out, Sever Imprint, Murder”. This is an incredibly deadly attack. Characters in Bleed Out when this skill is called immediately DIE. Do not pass go, do not collect 200 Brass. And a BMV is a 50-foot radius of effect, so this will cover most of the battlefield and even passes through walls, doors, and obstacles.

  • As this is a Sound of My Voice effect (p. 106), very few abilities can stop this attack. You can’t Interfere it, because you won’t meet the requirements to be a target. You can’t use a Sosweet Kopis to avoid the effect, cause that only stops Area of Effects (p. 102). You can’t use the effects of a Phalanx Doyen and the OOPH Barrier Shield for two reasons — first, you can’t use a Shield or an effect while in Bleed Out (p. 103), and the Shield specifically excludes effects “called by a Guide”.

  • The Murder effect CAN be stopped, and this is the ONLY way to survive this attack other than not being Bleed Out in the first place. Anything that prevents a Killing Blow also stops a Murder effect. There are THREE major effects (outside of plot items like the Emerald Arsenal) that stop this: the Striker’s Coat armor, the use of Proficient Faithful Spirit (p. 136), or being inside the Master Biogenetics (p. 137) area of effect.

• Aberrant Consumption: The guide will periodically call “By My Voice, Aberrant Consumption, Devour 5 Mind”. Anyone in the area loses 5 mind points, and the creature gains a benefit. The haunting aura of the Archon saps your will and constantly draws from Lineages and enemies nearby. These frequent attacks will drain your Mind and make it harder to Avoid and fight back against the monsters. Remember, very few abilities make you immune to By My Voice calls, so this is something to watch out for.

• Frequency Inversion: The last global effect is the skill that you WANT to hear the Guide call out. Upon Archon being made VULNERABLE by some plot mechanic, the Guide will call “By My Voice, Frequency Inversion, Archon Vulnerable for 30 Seconds.” This means you will have a limited amount of time to hurt the Archon, so make those precious seconds count!

That’s a lot to remember, so we will also cover some of these Skills during our opening announcements and you’ll get some chances to experience them in person soon enough. Like the Abyssal Attacks, several of the Emerald Arsenal effects can offer protection against these Global Effects — if they are ready in time!

Nope, nope, nope, nope…

OTHER THREAT SKILLS OF NOTE

Oh, did you think that the Archons were the only dangerous thing in the darkness? The Long Night draws forth all manners of the creepy and unexplained, and they often have some peculiar abilities and dangerous skills to use against their prey. I hope you aren’t caught ALONE IN THE DARK.

• Anomaly Response Healing: Any use of Psionic Abilities within earshot of the [REDACTED] declares “Anomaly Response: Healing”. Heal all Body.

• Discorporate - [REDACTED] can declare “BLINK” and leave a scene as they fade out of reality. The [REDACTED] can leave an area at any time, even if someone uses a “No Escape” effect.

• Invulnerable - In short, [REDACTED] can never truly be “killed” in any way that we can recognize.  They have no Body, no Armor, or any other way to be physically harmed. They are threats to survive, not kill or defeat...

  • Ranged and Melee Immunity - Call “No Effect” or “Reduced” to any damage calls or similar effects.

  • Unnatural Creature - Call “No Effect” to any use of Mangle or Knockout. These creatures can never be killed, outside of plot effects

• Alluring Visage (Psionic Mutation): The [REDACTED] can attract any Lineages near it, who must immediately proceed within melee range of the threat. Once they have reached that point, they may leave. Call “PSIONIC: By My Voice, Alluring Visage, Attract all Lineages”. Countered by Mental Endurance for a 5-minute period.

• Stunning Strike: The tendrils of the [REDACTED] are coated in a neurotoxin. Call “10 damage, STUN!”.  The [REDACTED]can use OVERPOWER once per strike attempt if this strike is Avoided. The Stun effect may be ignored with Balance, but you still take the damage unless Avoided.

It’s time for Winter Lights!

wrap up

That’s it for today folks! We have a cool event planned, and Maenad and the team have been hard at work this month getting some surprises and dangers ready for the Premiere event. We can’t wait to show you what we have in store, and we are excited to see each of you in just a few days. See you soon Vados!

The Emerald Gala

It’s Jonathan here with our first weekly blog post for the upcoming event, THE EMERALD GALA. This is our December DR: TX Premiere Event written by Maenad Wilder and Shan Lind. Today we will talk a bit about some story teasers, some core mechanics and concepts for the event, and a reminder of some of the benefits of attending a Premiere Event. This month is going to also include a formal party, so we want to give you enough time to prepare for the social event of the season!

Our last event was a smaller, more intimate event and provided some amazing roleplay opportunities, but this event is going to really dig in the METAPLOT of the season, and some consequences from decisions and events last season. This post will discuss a few light STORY SPOILERS for our next event, so we hope you enjoy what we have in store!

Photo credits in this post are from Max Pohlmeier, Lainey Weiss, Crystal Louise Remy, and Noah Goodman.

PRemiere EVENt Tickets are on sale NOW!

First off, the EMERALD GALA is a DR:TX PREMIERE EVENT.

Premiere Events are special events run by chapters to give their players the Special Event feel in their own chapter and telling their own stories. These are heightened events meant to be used with unique mechanics, one of a kind plot items, and an opportunity to push the limits of the game to give the community something really big to experience. These events are perfect opportunities to involve National level plots, mechanics, and items, and are a way to “blow the roof off the joint and make people’s heads spin.”

What do they offer?

• MORE XP — Premiere Events off more bonus XP options! You can purchase up to FIVE (5) additional experience points for each of your characters during a Premiere Event. This is awesome for saving up for that point of Infection or a new PFA.

• NATIONAL CONTENT— National items like Festering Crystals, Imprint Crystals, and National-level currency can be distributed during these events. Premiere events give out less of these items than a National game, but they will still be available through mods and events.

• BIGGER PLOTS, BIGGER THREATS — During a Premiere Event, we can also use unique National-level threats like Archons! I’ll cover a bit more about these apocalyptic threats in a future blog post. In general you can expect a more intense threat than a normal DR:TX event during a Premiere game, including our very own breed of mysterious threat - the LONGWALKERS.

• SELF TEACH — You gain the ability to Self Teach ANY non-PFA Skill that you are able to learn, on each of your characters that are checked in. If you have an Advanced Membership, you can Self Teach a Skill for each of your three characters! This is a trick that normally costs 50-300 CAPS to get a teacher, so this is a great value. Have you been struggling to find a player that has that particular Skill you want? Look no further!

• These events can also be held over 4-days, but we’ve elected to keep our Premiere Events to our normal 3-day duration, both to save our own sanity and not stretch our team thin.

These events can be held once per season, and December is our chosen month! We have a lot of travelers planning on attending this event, so we hope to have a killer experience to share with y’all.

You can also check our Content List here, before you purchase a ticket.

Let’s talk a little bit about the story of the next event…

A personal invitation from Felicity Redfield for the Emerald Gala

The Premise of the Emerald Gala

The Inventor’s Ball, otherwise known as the Emerald Gala, takes place on Waking Prime every year in the lofty penthouse levels of Eureka Tower. Technocrats and debutants trade gossip and trade-secrets over thin flutes of Pre-Fall champagne as they soar above the San Saba, and all its rugged candor. But Waking is Falling, inch by inch. And as the megalithic blimp-city descends below the cloud layer, its streets will fill with the same noxious fumes that give the Lonestar Sky its vibrant, blood orange hues. 

Dispossessed, the Board turns to Felicity Redfield of the RRC. The owner of the lands Bravado has agreed to host the Emerald Gala here, in Bravado proper, in exchange for a very public favor.  Saving face for the San Saba Board and Waking Prime means drawing their wealth, resources, privilege, and knowledge to Bravado Station, all in the hopes to stop the the greatest threat known to the San Saba and perhaps, the Greater Wastes - the unnatural outsiders known as ARCHONS.

A year ago to the date of the Inventor’s Ball, Archons descended upon New Bravado through the throat of the Monolith and ravaged the town before being beaten back by the combined might of the San Saba Territories and a signal that rendered the normally untouchable beasts, temporarily capable of sustaining harm. On that fateful night, Reckoner-General Rampart proclaimed that the Archons would return, a year to the day, according to the arcane mathematics of the Midnight Orrery, which reads the currents of the Mortis Amaranthine as if it were a rotating sphere of constellations. 

And so, Felicity Redfield suggests a kind of exchange, not of gossip or trade-secrets, but of munitions capable of destroying the greatest threat known to the San Saba and perhaps, the Greater Wastes — the Emerald Arsenal. The greatest minds of the San Saba have been hard at work testing and creating new gizmos and machinery to meet this threat. These untested weapons must be capable of not only stopping this threat when it emerges but protecting all of the people in Bravado from this otherworldly incursion, lest the Archons rage through the Territories, unleashed in their predatory hunger. The Inventor’s Ball will be a premiere of their genius, on the one night that an incursion of the Archons can be predicted.

For, on the night of the Gala itself, the Archons will surely return dressed in their sharpest carapaces, wholly prepared to eviscerate the well-coiffed attendees of the Wasteland’s fanciest party, and the denizens of Bravado should be equally armed as they are prepared to meet this threat from beyond death itself, while ready to dance the night away in their finest Emerald Regalia. Gather your finest clothes, your deadliest arsenals, and prepare for a party at the end of the world.

So, there’s a few things mentioned there we need to talk about.

The emerald Gala

It wouldn’t be the party of the century if you didn’t come dressed in your very best. For this event on Saturday night of the game, we want to encourage you do something special with your costume. From 7PM to 12AM, we will be hosting the Emerald Gala during the event, and it will be a party with music, food, and fun. At the end of the Gala, it will culminate in a ballroom blitz when the ARCHONS arrive. How will you dress to impress?

What is your character’s idea of “ballroom formal”? Do you have a cute outfit you’ve been dying to wear? Have you been eyeing a costume update? We want to give you a heads up as soon as we can so you have time to prepare and decide on what formal wear means to your character. We are excited to see what you can come up with, and we hope you’ll buy in to the idea of a party in the zombie apocalypse.

We will also be introducing a new Local Blueprint, the Emerald Regalia, that allows you to benefit from the protection of Armor, while not having to give up a certain sense of style. Perfect for parties and Galas alike, this armor can even afford a certain bit of CHARISMA to the wearer, ideal for making friends or playing politics. And, since it adds a bit of armor, it can be useful if something… terrible decides to attend your party.

Nope. Nope. Nope.

The archon threat

During our last Premiere event in Season 3, THE LONG NIGHT, three terrible creatures emerged from the Monolith. These apocalyptic threats nearly defeated the town of Bravado until a signal from within the obelisk rendered them capable of being injured and repelled. However, in the wake of that event, the weapon they used to hurt the creatures was destroyed by the feedback, and now the town is unable to deal with the creatures should they return.

The Archons are a truly dangerous threat, with abilities capable of sapping your Resolve in one blow, strikes that can kill you where you stand, and even devouring your very imprint should you lay bleeding. I’ll be covering more about what to expect from these terrible monsters in a future blog post but know that THEY ARE COMING (to use the last words of the late Dr. Nichols).

I hope you are prepared but know that this will be a HIGH-RISK game.

The best way to survive an Archon is to run away, if you can. They are truly threats to be survived, not defeated. Until a weapon can be developed to face them, they are nigh-impossible to injure, much less kill. A big element of the story of this event will be trying to uncover and choose which weapons to bring to the Emerald Gala in the hopes of stopping these immortal terrors.

The Night is dark and full of terrors

Speaking of night terrors, we will be releasing a new global mechanic for this event, borrowed from our friends in DR: Virginia, originally designed by Phil Grau. This mechanic also saw use in DR: Michigan, and we will be including our own DR:TX take on the concept below:

ALONE IN THE DARK

At any time after the sun has set that a player finds themselves alone and without the ability to see another person, that person is considered to be Caught Alone.

That player must, at their next convenience, drop out of character and report to Ops.

Results for being Caught Alone vary wildly and could be a slight scare or a grievous consequence.

Players under the effect of Basic Stealth may move after dark as they wish, but should beware anything that would cause them to become seen.

If you are caught alone at night, one of the many things lurking in the shadows may find you first. You might wander through a weak part of the veil between the worlds or get too close to some early abyssal incursion. Maybe you just got caught alone by one of the Longwalkers or experienced some strange time dilation as you get lost in the woods. Perhaps some local terror like a Nemesis or Murder Goat Deer found you as prey in the darkness. Maybe it was nothing at all. Whatever the result, it’s best to walk in groups or be able to evade prying eyes in the darkness with Stealth during this event.

Better yet, the candlelights and altars of the Lovelace Family is said to protect you from the darkness, provided you can convince them to part with their lanterns to protect you.

Festive lights in the Dive for the holidays

Winter lights, a DR:TX Tradition

Winter traditions have been part of the human experience since we're clawed out of the primordial muck using thumbs and thought to ourselves "I ought to buy my child nine pairs of socks”. First thing we did with those dexterous extra digits was to throw up a pine tree in the den and shove some well smoked meats under it to give to people on a specific day but not before. We’ve been doing that for about thirty thousand years, give or take. So let’s try something a little different?

We started this tradition WAY back in 2019 as a way to be more inclusive on our holidays around this time of year, and we are pleased to once again share this tradition with our new players and guests.

The setting-specific holiday we focus on in Bravado is Winter Lights, a Quiet-Folk holiday focused on the notion of Ritual and Tradition, honoring the beliefs of the varied many across the Lonestar. The Lovelace Community celebrates this season every year not on a specific day, but as a kind of blanket period during which they assume and honor the traditions of their neighbors. What that looks like in the playspace, in terms of decoration, is a ton of tea lights all over the camp. So if you want to buy into this tradition and thusly the attentions of the Quiet Folk who celebrate the soft and quiet light of community, you should put tea lights all over your personal areas. 

In addition, the Nomads who travel the Long 360 out of Essex have their own tradition of decorating “Loop” trees along the highways. What was once a seemingly out-of-place garish display of garland and lights that has slowly become an important cultural touchstone of the Winter season in the Lonestar. We can’t wait to see how our players bring the trees of Bravado to life with festive in-genre decorations (that of course, can be easily cleaned up after game off).

Similarly, The Junkerpunks celebrate Cargo-Net Day, another “new/old” tradition based on holiday themes. This holiday and its rituals have been completely designed by our amazing players, and we are excited to support it by honoring the related plot requests they’ve put in to our writers. We love the tales of Nopalito Joe and Kelpie. 

We encourage you to put your brilliant minds to work to come up with amazing holiday traditions to fit within our shared story. Something from your character’s past? Something entirely new? Winter Lights is all about discovering and celebrating tradition, and we are excited to see the creativity our players bring to that.

We’re attaching a link here to a useful article that we hope will give you something to think about when designing holidays for the LARPspace that are clever and respectful. 

The long Night & Longwalkers

Every year the town of New Bravado experiences a period of total night. From sometimes late December to early February - the sky above the township goes utterly and oily black. Whether it is a result of the bombs of the Hiway War or smog and radiation buildup from Waking Prime, the result is the same — a time of darkness descends on the San Saba. And in that night lurks something… strange and foreboding.

LONGWALKERS, denizens of that Long Night, stalk the blackness between settlements and play wicked tricks on those foolish enough to wander into the blind eternity beyond the circle of their firelight.  This gallery of cryptids stalk the darkness of Widow’s Peak and beyond, even venturing as far south as Bravado. Shadowy, half-real entities that are considered folklore by much of the greater San Saba, nonetheless stalk the bleak between. Zed or creature, it is hard to tell. But the Longwalkers have been the subject of local legend for generations of Lovelaces before the Long Night came to New Bravado. 

Some in search of prey, others absolution, most - with opaque motives. Are they strains gone mad in the blind eternity of the Long Night? Are they expressions of our terror made manifest in the chaos of sensory deprivation? Are they the Gravemind itself dreaming in the siesta between seasons? It depends on who you ask. Some Longwalkers have strange tells that indicate they are present. Water running backwards, the scent of rotten fruit, the sound of tinkling chimes. These mysterious entities stalk the Long Night looking for something. The No-Face Man, the Midnight Jellyfish, the Behemoth, the Gardener, the Nite Owls, the Shadow People, the Lady of the Long Night, and The Click - these figures sometimes derive from folktale and myth - and others are the inspiration for the same.

Can you count all the Longwalkers in this picture of Widow’s Peak?

wrap up

That’s it for today Vados!

I hope you’re excited to play with us in December! This is a special time of year for DR:TX and we are excited to present our Premiere Event for this season with some of the biggest, baddest enemies seen in the world of Dystopia Rising.

Next week, I’ll dig a bit deeper into the Archon threat, with some more information on their particular abilities and a bit more into the lore you might want to know. See you soon!

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“When the haunted Hallows moan,

And the Long Night looms so near,

Remember child, dog, and delver,

That the dead can smell your fear.


Remember always to carry a light,

To ward off the fearful zed,

To remind them that they have no business here,

And that it is you that they must dread.


So in these small and quiet days,

When the world beds itself down,

Protect those who would bear your light,

Through the tired streets of town.


Plant a torch and be the Light,

That leads your family home,

In the last and frigid nights,

Come home to Bravado.”

— A Lovelace Winter Carol, PHW 02’

Pyroclasm: Logistics Reminders!

Today is the day for our first in-person NATIONAL EVENT of 3.0 - THE NECROPHAGE!

Let’s cover the last minute Logistics Reminders for travelers and Vados alike. We are going to cover LIT inventory, our Vaccination policy, a run down of the weekend itinerary, how and when people can come on site, and some other important reminders for game including a special guide on how to get better PHOTOS of your character during this event!

I wrote a bunch for this game on preparing for the event, so check out my previous blog post on National Event Expectations for a full list of some things to keep in mind, as well as my post on the Culture Differences in DR:TX.

Let’s get started!

Schedule of Events

The link above covers the standard start times and such of our game, but here’s the basics:

friday

• 3:00pm Site Opens and Players may enter site from the Parking Lot. Note: You cannot drive your car onto site. There are a limited number of carts on site that you may use to transport your items, or just carry them to your bunk.

• 4:00pm Logistics Check-In Opens for Pre-registered players at the Post Office/Kiva

• 5:00pm Logistics Check-in Opens for Everyone at the Post Office/Kiva

• 6:00pm New Player Guides are on hand to help New Players in Kiva

• 9:00pm Opening Announcements on the porch of Kiva

• 9:20pm New Player Orientation and Module begins immediately following Opening Announcements

• 10:00pm Bell Rings for Game On! Past this point, all spaces in camp are full-immersion and in-character except for bathrooms/showers, the Parking Lot, The Grave Bureau Annex | Logistics, and the side check-in window in the Post-Office.

• 10:00pm Post Office opens for in-character transactions

Sunday

• 12:00pm Bell Rings for Game Off, Post Office Closes

• 12:15pm Closing Announcements for everyone at the Bell at the Crossroads. Guides meet after Closing Announcements for Cleanup Assignments.

• 12:30pm - 1:30pm Personal Site Cleanup Everyone cleans up their sleeping areas and moves all their stuff to their transportation in the parking lot. This is done by area and group. Once everyone in the area is done, a Guide who stays in your sleeping area will inspect the area and sign off on your Character Sheet that you have completed your personal cleanup. Then the group will proceed to the Porch of Kiva for Camp Cleanup assignments.

• 1:30pm - 2:30pm Camp Cleanup With your sleeping area group, you will help to clean up a general space of the camp. Once you have finished, you will have your sheet signed off by your Guide and you will turn your sheet in to the Gamerunners. After this point you are free to go!

Parking Lot

We will have some volunteers helping out in the parking lot starting at 3:00 PM, but please remember to be courteous when parking your vehicles.

• Please follow the directions of the staff to ensure that everyone has a place to park their vehicles. Carpool if you can, or plan to share a ride with a friend!

• Do not double park, or block in other cars. We might have players attempting to leave site early or they may have to leave for emergencies.

• We cannot block the main road into camp. You can park on the side of the road, but you must leave space for an emergency vehicle to get onto site.

• Please practice safe driving in the parking lot and watch for pedestrians!

smoking policy & Burn ban

Camp Kachina is a non-smoking campus. Players cannot smoke cigarettes, pipes, cigars, or charcoal hookahs while on the camp grounds, which includes the parking lot. Players are able to smoke if the means is electronic, such as a vape or an electronic hookah.

If you want to smoke otherwise, you must completely leave the property and go ALL the way to the main road entrance off Morgan’s Point Road. We recommend taking friends, cause it’s a long hike.

In addition, Bell County (where we are located), is under a BURN BAN until the end of October. That means no open burning is allowed on our site, so you’ll need to plan for some other method of cooking than a campfire.

kitchen policy

• Remember, the industrial kitchen located in the Dining Hall requires a Food Handler’s License to use the equipment. You can email food handling licenses to info@dystopiarisingtx.com.

• Storing your food in this fridges and using the microwave is fine without a license. There are limited fridges to store cold items in, so bringing your own ice chests and coolers are a good idea if you have a lot of stuff to store.

• Please do not take up too much in the space in the fridge. Save room for others!

• You will need to plan on bringing your own plates, silverware, etc. for meals on site. There are limited access to pots & pans for the folks with food handler’s licenses, but plan according for meal plans with paper plates, cups, and napkins.

• Clean up your own trash and dirty dishes immediately. Don’t leave stuff in the sink hoping someone else will clean it up for you. We don’t need the wildlife investigating your leftovers. Plan to clean up after meals and don’t leave it sitting around. Our Safety Guides will be checking on our kitchen use throughout the event as well.

MEdical information

If there is a medical emergency during game, we use the words "SAFETY HOLD" to pause all action in our immediate vicinity. We use an OOC symbol of our hands on our heads to indicate we are out of character and anything we say out of character is effecting the 'real world' and should be taken seriously. So if my friend falls and hurts themselves, I will yell "SAFETY HOLD!" and place my hand on my head. Then I will send myself or a runner to get the nearest Guide and say 'This is a real-life emergency. Someone is hurt.'. If there is no Guide nearby, send someone to Ops. Where possible, never leave the person alone. If the injury is serious or life threatening, find the nearest phone and call for emergency services.

Limited Medical and First Aid supplies are available in the Med Room, located in the back room of Kiva. This is also a rest, recovery, and decompression room as needed. A copy of our Emergency Handbook is available in this room as well, and in Ops.

covid-19 Vaccination policy

All players attending DR:TX events, including PYROCLASM, must show either proof of Covid-19 Vaccination or a negative Covid test result from within 72 hours prior to the event start. You can email those to info@dystopiarisingtx.com. You will also need to sign agreement to this policy and agreement to our liability waiver before entering play. You only need to do this once!

Read our full Covid-19 Policy here

If you are feeling sick, please stay home!

LIT Inventory

If you have items in LIT Inventory, PLEASE EXPLICITLY ASK FOR A LIT ITEM LOG during Check-In. These LIT Inventory sheets will be printed for folks that request it with items in their online inventory during check-in, and you will be able to mark transactions off your totals on the sheet. At the end of the game, you can simply turn in this sheet to record your item uses. If you can use these sheets for your item card needs, this is the BEST way to do so.Players will have some limited ability to remove items from your LIT Inventory that you will need during this event.

We will have Joscelyn & Lauren, and others in the kitchen WINDow in the DEPOT from the hours of 10am - 6 pm on Saturday to help with LIT transactions.

This LIT inventory window is at a DIFFERENT place than the usual Post Office, in the small kitchen window within the Depot by the back door. Please be kind and patient, as this is one of the most time-consuming tasks the Post Office has to do for a player, and we have several visiting directors helping with this task. Rumor has it, being mean to a Postal Worker is the leading cause of Grandfather Nichols visiting your cabin in the middle of the night…

Sleeping Arrangements

This webpage explains more about the areas of our campsite and what sort of bunks are available. The Camp Kachina site easily sleeps at least 150 folks, plus tents brought by players. All bunks are first-come, first-served, with the exception of the Medical Sleep Cabin where priority should be given to folks who need electricity for CPAP and other machines, or who must be undisturbed during sleep. The medical cabin, labeled The Dogrun/Wigwam on our camp maps, is also a non-combat zone after dark due to the large amount of rocky terrain around this building.

Because we can’t guarantee medical cabin bunks will be available, players who need to sleep out-of-character can get a note on their character sheet at check-in. We recommend placing a sign above your bunk with a green or orange glowstick at night to indicate that you would prefer not to be targeted during nighttime combat and other modules. If you require additional accommodations, there are several hotels and airbnb locations nearby in Belton.

• Some cabins have limited access to electricity. Plan to have a battery pack for your phone, or bring a surge protector for multiple devices. Have a plan if power is not available nearby your sleeping areas or crafting zones.

• The Kachina bunks have a camp pad or mattress on them, but it’s useful to have a set of sheets or a sleeping bag to use as well. I heartily recommend additional blankets or padding past the mattress, if you can afford the space in your vehicle or packing.

• We have limited buildings with AC available, but there is always floor space in the Depot to sleep indoors if it gets too hot or cold. Depending on the weather, Texas can be especially hot, or surprisingly cold.

• There are no RVs allowed on the site, and the parking lot does not have a lot of room for larger vehicles. Please plan accordingly.

• We will have an NPC shift starting at 3:00 PM on Friday to help with managing the Parking Lot as players arrive. Please follow the directions of the staff to ensure that everyone has a place to park their vehicles. Carpool if you can, or plan to share a ride with a friend!

Tenting Incentives

The Survivor’s Guide to Wasteland Modeling

By Poeregard

It’s a National Event! You’ve spent a metric Oxload of time working on your kit, you’ve been working on your character posing, possibly traveling for MILES out of state and you’re ready to kick-ass at a huge game! Now what?

You want to get that sweet-sweet kit caught on camera, preferably while interacting with some other cool kits and rad players in the Wasteland, of course!

So many of us love photography time, and with the help of Max Pohlmeier, Lainey Weiss and Crystal Louise Remy this upcoming trade, you’ll have the chance to do just that.

However! There are some ways you can make that moment even better for you AND the photographer.

• Slowing down!

  • Getting the right photo takes time, getting the angle, getting you and others in the scene interacting. If you see a photographer lining up a shot near you, take a few moments to slow down your movements, hold that pose a little longer, make that expression a little longer. This will help get that perfect shot of you and those around you.

• “Cheating the Camera”

An example of some of our AMAZING players “Cheating the Camera”

• Cheating the camera is a modeling term, where your body is kept mostly forward while your head is turned towards your subject. This helps get more of you, your kit and include others in the scene!

• On the note of posing, if you want to seem like you’re looking into the distance, look at about 15 degrees to the right or left of the photographer. This will make it seem like your character is looking somewhere off in the distance, either at a friend, a looming threat, or contemplating if they should grab their next drink at the Swaying Anker or the Sin-Sa-Bar.

• Food and Drink

  • Eating and drinking during game is GOOD, and self-care is GOOD. You’re a survivor and surviving in the wasteland is what we do- but! If you see the photographer around, they may avoid grabbing a shot of you while you’re slamming back that cup of hot brown or chompin’ on those Beaver Nuggets. If you see any of our photographers coming through, place any food to the side, and continue the scene until the photographer has moved on. It will only be a few moments though, so don’t worry about your Saturday Morning Cartoon cereal getting soggy!

  • Also! If you see the cameras coming through moving cans, modern food containers, and other non-genre’d bits out of the frame does WONDERS for a shot and immersion. Please do so if you have the chance!

• Facial Expressions!

  • There is a LOT of drama out in the wastes, and it’s AMAZING when it happens. Pushing that moment can be amazing for the camera, so ham it up! Whether it’s in the heat of an argument, crying over the loss of a loved one, or weeping in joy over that DELICIOUS bowl of elote a couple of folks in the Depot just sold you, pushing that expression looks AMAZING on camera! Your characters are POWERFUL and their expressions can be too. This isn’t just for your face either- if you play a masked character, or anyone with a covered face, bring that expression into your body! Drop your shoulders, gesticulate with your hands, get big, get small - let that moment show with your WHOLE self. It’s amazing for both the scene, and the photo, so don’t be shy!

• OPTING OUT OF A PHOTO

  • We know that not EVERYONE wants their photo taken, and that is 100% okay! If you see a photographer lining up a shot of you, show them a thumbs-down. This will tell them that you don’t want a photo, and they will do their best to make sure you aren’t the focus of a shot! It is completely okay to be uncomfortable with having your photo taken, and we will do our very best to respect that.

  • Thank you so much to everyone coming out this weekend, we’re excited to have you and have the opportunity to mark your kit in wasteland history.

See you on site Vados for the PYROCLASM!!!

Pyroclasm: The Anatomy of a Disease Plot Kit

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:

• Part One: Introduction to Disease Mechanics

• Part Two: Introduction to Disease Mechanics

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.

Welcome to Pyroclasm!

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 starting with our four-week countdown to our first combined virtual AND in-person NATIONAL EVENT of 3.0, covering some details on what you get for attending this event, new Blueprints that will be released, and our Content List for this event, as you get ready to experience …

THE NECROPHAGE

What is it?

THE NECROPHAGE is the First Virtual + Live Dystopia Rising Crossover Event — a joint production of DR: Texas and DR: Connecticut. We will be running TWO linked games, one online with our friends at DR:CT - STORMWALL, that starts the story of Grandfather Nichols and the creation of the Necrophage virus, and then we will finish that story in person, at Camp Kachina, for our first LIVE National Event of 3.0 - PYROCLASM. The events that occur in the virtual game will directly effect the resolution of our live event!

This is an exciting opportunity to invite folks to a game as BIG as Texas, and show our friends across the network some good old San Saba hospitality. We get to tell a BIGGER story, use BIGGER bad guys, and help you experience a BIGGER event!

Let’s talk a little about what to expect…

The Story:

Something wicked this way comes...

Grandfather Nichols and the evil forces of Killhouse Prison’s extended network of murderers, candymen, maniacs and machinators, have come home to roost in the Lonestar at last.  From the necrotic swamps of the Wailing Shores, the mad Nemesis doctor brings with him The Necrophage, a powerful mutagenic disease that turns anyone who breathes it into pliant supersoldiers and eventually, living bombs.  Nichols seeks to destroy the system that betrayed him twice, by immolating the San Saba Territories with the very brains of the people who committed each layer of badly broken faith. 

Nichols sieges Killhouse Prison; lair to the most foul and murderous personalities in the Lonestar Wastes, recruiting an army from within. The Necrophage spreads out before him like a black carpet, but in his way is the township of New Bravado, where the Oxline pulls into station. When Nichols steps off the train, with his newly Necrophage-infused soldiers in tow, it will be with the intention to complete the genocide of the San Saba people, a feat denied to him one year ago. With the successful test of his mutagen on Bravado, Nichols will be able to market The Necrophage to tyrants and warmongers across the Greater Wastes as a tool to create armies from enemies. 

As the Necrophage creeps across the Blastlands, rendering common strains into vicious and merciless killers, it must be to be the will of the Survivors that rise up to meet the ardent monsters who stride across the San Saba unshackled. Left unchecked, The Necrophage will first infect everyone in the San Saba and then beyond.  In an act of ironic Indulgence, the Survivors must team up with the new Warden of Killhouse Prison one last time to cleanse the waste of criminal filth once contained within, and thereafter choose the ultimate fate of the unlawful in the San Saba. 

A cell, or a coffin.

wHERE cAN I BUY TICKETS?

Pre-Registration: What do I get?

Once you’ve bought your ticket (or if you are still on the fence), let’s talk about what you get.

If you can, we hope you can get your tickets early and help our team with some advanced ideas of how many players to prepare for, what kinds of NPC shifts we can expect to have for big fights, and help craft our plans for cabins and tenting. Pre-registration helps us with all of these things and more, but it even offers some nice advantages for you as well..

Save time on site!

While you can still purchase a ticket for PYROCLASM on site, it’s a National Event so there could be a bit more traffic to get checked in when there are many more players on site. The BEST advantage to getting a ticket early is that we will have your Character Sheet pre-printed and ready to go so you can save time in line. Spend that time claiming a bunk, setting up your tent, plot out your item builds for the weekend, grabbing dinner with your friends from all over the country, or just use it to take your time getting into that neat upgrade to your costume.

Opt in to the story

In the pre-registration questionnaire, you will have your FIRST opportunity to OPT IN to the Necrophage plot kit in person. You can choose to try out a terrible fate for your character, and get opted in for a deadly and harrowing experience. I’ll cover a bit more about this below in our Content List. This is a guaranteed way to get a jump start into the action at the National Event, but it is still OPTIONAL — there will be other ways to OPT OUT of the disease plot at the event as well! Do you have what it takes to survive THE NECROPHAGE?

mechanics and items:

I know, I know. Let’s get to the good stuff, why you are really attending a National Event:

• EXTRA XP — National Events allow you to purchase up to TEN (10) more Experience Points for each of your characters. This is a huge leap forward, allowing you to buy that next Skill a few months early, or even pay the points for a new Infection or a PFA Action Request.

• SELF TEACH — You gain the ability to Self Teach ANY Skill (Non PFA) that you are able to learn, on each of your characters that are checked in. If you have an Advanced Membership, you can Self Teach a Skill for each of your three characters! This is a trick that normally costs 50-300 CAPS to get a teacher, so this is a great value. Have you been struggling to find a player that has that particular Skill you want? Look no further!

• ONE MYSTERIOUS ORE — Your Primary Character will earn ONE (1) Mysterious Ore, a brand new DR:TX Local Plot Item printed on a neat illustrated item card. These new items will be crucial during our National Event, and are a new collectible item that will surely be a prize for folks that like to collect currency and other unique items in game. There will be other ways to earn these in game, but this is one guaranteed way to get your hands on this new item.

• ONE FESTERING CRYSTAL — Your Primary Character will earn ONE (1) Festering Crystal, a National Event Resource available at National and Premiere Events in limited quantities. This item can be used to activate certain powerful Murder Incorporated blueprint items, as well as being used in several new injectable brews called Byproducts.

• NARRATIVE CROSSOVER — If you have purchased a ticket to the Virtual DR:CT event the previous week, there will be a direct narrative crossover between the characters, places, and plots of these two events. While it won’t be necessary to attend both games to enjoy the plots of PYROCLASM, there will certainly be more context to certain events happening in game if you attend both events.

An example of what Mysterious Ore looks like!

Festering Crystals

New Blueprints!

Oh yeah. My favorite part.

We have at least FIVE new Blueprints coming your way, featuring some of the San Saba favorites you might have seen as Local Plot Cards in previous seasons. We’ve got a fan favorite item that was MUCH requested by folks all over, as well as some unique items with a bit of Texas flair. These will be new NATIONAL BLUEPRINTS available throughout the network after our event, but attending in person to our PYROCLASM event will be the FIRST opportunity to get one of these new items. We will be previewing these items over the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

If you are like me, you gotta catch ‘em all! Don’t miss out on a chance to keep your collection of blue paper up to date!

Content LIST

Based on feedback from our last game, we’d like to make sure we are providing some advanced notice about themes and elements in the upcoming National Event to allow you to to decide whether or not a DR:TX event will be something you enjoy. 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.

We’ve had up a Content List on our website for a while now, but I’d like to bring your attention to some of the common elements of a DR event, while also focusing on two major things to expect in this upcoming game, PYROCLASM.

This concept is in the DR Corebook, on page 13:

A content list is Dystopia Rising’s use of a technique known as innehållsförteckning, or “ingredients list”, which was first created by Nordic game designer Karin Edman. A content list is a series of focuses that are expected to be regularly occurring at a local branch. It is not the same as a content warning in that a content list provides a wide array of information about the nature of an event’s intended design and not just items that the writers of an event may see as “warning worthy”. Since it is impossible to know what might be triggering for all potential participants, we have decided it is better to provide a listing of content (or ingredients) that participants can use to make educated decisions regarding their participation at an event.

Past the Content List, there are two major elements of the next game that need to be specifically mentioned, and I’d like to talk about them in turn.

Content List: infectious Disease & Weaponizing Diseases

The story of the zombie apocalypse is at it’s heart a story of disease. Zombie stories involve pandemics, viruses, and the deadly consequences of what that disease turns survivors into. You could argue that “fear of disease” is the key trope to any story that involves zombies and the undead. During our PYROCLASM event, we will be using a new dangerous Disease into the world of Dystopia Rising.

Given the state of the global pandemic and the impact Covid-19 has had on us all, we understand that this topic isn't for everyone. Each of our lives have been impacted by this crisis and each person is dealing with this trauma in different ways. Our goal is not to minimize the impact of this disease nor it’s effect on our community, and given that we have staff members who have lost a family member to Covid-19, we empathize with anyone that has suffered loss during this pandemic.

Last season, DR:TX explored this concept in depth during our game BLOOD FEAST. During this event, we released a terrible disease known as Gutscourge, and introduced the villainous Grandfather Nichols for the first time in a live game. I included a similar warning about this topic back then and it’s worth repeating for this event.

During our upcoming National Event, we will be using a brand new in-character disease known as NECROPHAGE. This disease has the strong potential to be character deadly, especially in it’s later stages as it can remove Infection itself from your character. I’ll be going over these specific mechanics in a later blog post in detail called The Anatomy of a Disease Plot Kit, but since it’s a possibility I’d like to make sure everyone knows how to avoid this up front.

• Necrophage can be character deadly and your character can permanently die from this disease.

There will also be SCs and NPCs that will be actively attempting to spread and weaponize this disease in game. These villains will be trying to purposefully infect your character with this disease as part of their dastardly plan, so there will be some potential danger of your character contracting this disease during the course of the event. There will also be some chance of contracting the disease through environmental exposure like Zone of Mechanics or particular unique props.

Contracting Necrophage may NOT be for you, so this disease is unique in the fact that you can OPT OUT at any time. You may not want to risk Infection, or maybe your story of your character isn’t finished yet.

With our Natural Immunity rules, you can simply declare yourself IMMUNE to this disease at the start of the game, and you will be mechanically safe from the effects of the disease for the entire game, even if Grandfather Nichols himself tries to infect you. This won’t necessarily protect you from a Killing Blow from a bad guy or raider, or a being devoured and Cannibalized by a pack of zombies, but I can promise that you contracting a disease won’t be the reason your character dies.

It IS still a survival horror game, after all.

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.

I’ve wrote a lot of information about this disease and some of our philosophies on approaching this topic on our National Event Website several weeks ago, and you can find a link to explore more here:

• Disease in Dystopia Rising

• Necrophage Mechanics

Content List: Loss of Control & Compulsion

One of the curious side effects of the Necrophage disease is one that Grandfather Nichols has worked to weaponize with his allies in the Wailing Shores. During this event, victims of the Necrophage virus will be extremely vulnerable to a local DR:TX mechanic called COMPULSION.

This mechanic will be in play on limited NPC threats portrayed by STs and Gamerunners, but it offers a powerful way to cause a Loss of Control to your character. Many horror stories involve this concept, where you are powerless to stop a monster that is itself a metaphor for the relentless advance of time, death, or war.

Here’s the mechanics to expect:

Compulsion

Effect. When an NPC calls “Psionic: Compulsion, All <KEYWORD>, [Insert Command]”, the affected target must follow the next single command until the task is completed or nullified (such as being compelled to defend someone who then dies). The target must complete the command to the best of their ability. When the target enters Bleed Out, the effect immediately ends. Characters under the effects of Compulsion remember the actions they take, but are not in control of them. This ability is normally resisted by Mental Endurance, but some effects may prevent this resistance.

You can already do similar things to this Skill on zombies and raiders with Telepathy, but this Threat Skill allows them to use a similar ability on YOU. That last line is important, though, because one effect that prevents this resistance is being inflicted with an advanced stage of NECROPHAGE.

Characters with Stage 2 or beyond of Necrophage will NOT be able to spend Mind points to resist these Compulsions. This means that if your character is infected with this disease, it could put you into situations where your character is no longer in control of their actions. This is a unique form of mind control that might allow the bad guys to COMPEL you to help them. The bad guys might order you to defend them, hurt your friends, abandon your crew, or do other terrible things that your character might not normally do.

If you were playing in 2.0, you may remember similar abilities that monsters could use to turn you into a Body Puppet, and it can be a great challenge and intense scene when one of your friends suddenly turns on you and it’s not just the monster that’s after you in that combat.

However, you have TWO ways to avoid this mechanic in game.

First, you can decide that your character has a particular quirk that makes you completely immune to the Necrophage virus. If your character is Naturally Immune (see above) to the Necrophage, then you will be able to resist these effects as per a normal psionic attack. You might need to save some Mind points for a use of Mental Endurance, but you can avoid some of the terrible commands like “kill and eat your friends”, for instance. There will even be other items in game that can help you resist this ability if you don’t have the Mental Endurance Skill too.

Secondly, you can choose to use the OK Check-In System to opt out of a scene entirely by using the “thumbs down” gesture and exiting the area.

SIMPLY PUT: The COMPULSION mechanic DOES NOT override the OK Check-In system.

Our ultimate goal with THE NECROPHAGE is to tell a story about villains spreading a dangerous disease on purpose, recruiting others by force and compulsion to help their cause, and causing significant damage to the San Saba and your characters unless YOU can stop them from their evil machinations. We want you to consider a world where DEATH is finally the end, where you need to come to grips with not coming back when you die, and the consequences that erupt when the very cycle of Infection you’ve come to understand is under threat.

It’s a high risk, high reward type story, and we hope you are as excited as we are.

If you have already purchased a ticket for this event and would like a refund based on this information, please email info@dystopiarisingtx.com.

where can I find out more about the event?

We’ve had a lot of resources up already for the Necrophage events, and our friends at DR:CT have been hard at work with an ARG event through Discord, cool new videos, and a lot of interactive content already. Over the next few weeks, we will provide even more details about this event, but for now we have a few resources to use:

• Necrophage: The Storm Wall — Most Improbable

• Interlude — Dystopia Rising Presents

• Dramatis Personae — Dystopia Rising Presents

• Necrophage Mechanics — Dystopia Rising Presents

• FAQ - Pyroclasm — Dystopia Rising Presents

Upcoming Blogs:

Over the next few weeks, I will be focusing on topics related to our upcoming National Event. 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: Anatomy of a Disease Plot Kit - The story of Pyroclasm involves a new and dangerous disease known as The Necrophage. I’ll discuss some expectations for this disease, how you can avoid it, how you can opt in, and some ideas of what to expect if medical research and science is your idea of a good time.

• 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!

It’s an exciting time for DR:TX, so make sure you get your tickets to THE NECROPHAGE: PYROCLASM today! See you soon travelers to the San Saba and Vados alike!