Theft and CvC

It’s time for another Rules Ramble with Jonathan! Each week, I’ll introduce a topic in the DR rulebook in a deep dive that focuses on explaining it more detail than the book alone can provide. There are four core pillars of the DR game in my mind: Combat, Roleplay, CvC, and Economy, and today’s series delves a bit deeper into the logic behind some of the things involved with CvC, or Character vs. Character behaviors. Our specific topic this week is THEFT.

TL;DR: Theft is super complicated. This is a bit of a LONG blog post, and these rules are all over multiple places in the DR: Corebook, so it’s natural for a bit of confusion on this topic. I’ll try to break it down like I always do into more manageable sections, but you’ve been warned. :)

CvC in Dystopia Rising, Part 2

Last week, we talked a bit about the Wasteland and the Four Pillars of Play, which you can read about in my blog post here. The rules for CvC start on page 159 in the DR: Corebook.

Remember, there are four levels of possible CvC interaction in Dystopia Rising:

• Non-Wasteland CvC - Normally, CvC behavior is prohibited outside of the Wasteland zones. However, the book makes a key exception to this rule, and that will be the focus of discussion today. Any CvC in a non-Wasteland zone requires explicit consent and discussion in advance, other than the skill LARCENY or in-game theft of unattended items.

• Wasteland CVC - While in the Wasteland, you do not require consent for CvC. We talked about this in the blog post last week. While a Guide is not required, it is recommended.

• SES System - This is a sign up list you do as a player out of game, affecting all of your characters in the game. You effectively give consent to CvC interactions in advance and “opt in” to a more deadly game.

• CvC Faction Membership - While the SES system covers OOG behavior, there are several factions that provide ready opportunities for CvC actions, including the Red Ledger, Murder Inc., and the Widows of the Lonestar.

Theft in Dystopia Rising

While the easiest to imagine scenario for CvC is simply a fight between two people in the Wastelands, THEFT holds a unique position in the world of Dystopia Rising. Unlike violent forms of CvC, you are consenting to theft by simply existing in the world. It’s the only type of CvC that you cannot easily opt out of and the only type of CvC you can commit outside of a Wasteland without consent.

It’s a overlooked part of the rules found on page 163 (emphasis added):

“Always remember that the player is more important than the character; just because your character is a master thief doesn’t mean you should try and steal every single item from someone you know may become upset. You do not need to check in with another player prior to using a thieving skill on their character, but you should prioritize the mental and emotional health of the player representing the character you are stealing from over your character’s fiction desire to steal.”

HOWEVER, the rules ALSO say that EVERY theft outside of the Wasteland requires a Guide, on p. 162 (emphasis mine):

“If CvC escalates to one character attempting to take an Infection from another or the stealing of in-character property outside of the Wasteland, a Guide must be involved.”

So what does this mean?

• You can steal an appropriate item without asking the other player in advance, but you must always involve a Guide.

However, you should always consider the other player in a theft, as losing items can be one of the most devastating forms of CvC. In some cases, those items can represent hundreds of hours of playtime and crafting! You should always prioritize the mental and emotional health of a player behind the character over your character’s fictional desire to steal.

USING A GUIDE

Whether you use Basic Larceny or pick up an unattended object you will need to have a Guide present to monitor the Theft. The Guide will help you oversee the situation and, if needed, help you gauge the other player’s reaction. When you use the Larceny skill, the Guide will notify the other player and retrieve the card for whatever you stole. If it’s an unattended object they’ll help you register it in the Theft Log that is found inside of the Post Office.

Most importantly, getting a Guide involved helps to meet the intent of the theft rules by ensuring there is a neutral third party considering the other player’s feelings. Generally for ANY form of CvC, I recommend getting a Guide involved, but for Theft it is specifically required. And, it’s just good practice in my experience, even for those in the Wasteland!

Finally, if you steal something from another character, you have “flagged” yourself for CvC in return and they can also grab a Guide to get back at you for stealing their gear (p. 163):

“The individual who has been stolen from has license to take a Guide with them in order to beat down the thief and take back their item.”

So this seems like a big thing to watch out for, right? There are only a few specific ways to reduce your chance of Theft in game, so let’s first talk about how you can steal items in game, and the specifics of what can be stolen and what can’t be stolen.

HOW can you Steal Items?

While outside of the Wasteland, there are a few ways to get items in an illicit manner from another character:

The Larceny Skill

On page 118, you can find the basic rules for the Larceny skill. This is the core mechanic that allows you to steal items that are currently in possession of another character. This skill requires you to place a black clothespin on a targeted piece of equipment or Supply Bag without your target noticing. Unlike a lot of other Skills in the game, this actual requires a bit of player talent to pull off effectively. A few reminders for this Skill:

• You MUST perform the placement of the clothespin in the presence of a Guide.

• The clothespin needs to be placed near the item being stolen or on the Supply Bag itself.

• If your victim notices you place the clothespin, they know that you picked their pocket and can act on that information accordingly — usually violently!

• Because the Skill requires Active Roleplay (p. 102), it is also visible to anyone nearby if they notice you place the clothespin. They can also act on that information — usually through blackmail or violence!

• You must still be mindful of a person’s boundaries when placing a clothespin. If they have a brew attached to their chest, you can instead attach the clothespin on the arm nearest the brew.

• Basic Larceny rewards you with ONE random item card from the Supply Bag. The Guide will retrieve this item card for you and can deliver it to you discreetly.

• Proficient Larceny rewards you with the highest value item card from their Supply Bag (which is at the discretion of the Guide, not the thief!)

Remember, this is the ONLY way to steal an item in another person’s possession without consent. The only other person that could be targeted outside of the Wasteland is someone registered with the SES, but they’ve effectively agreed to the risks of Theft by signing up.

Looting a Corpse:

The rules for looting a fallen opponent are on p. 158. Let’s cover the basics:

• You can only loot another player character that is within the Wasteland, a registered member of the SES system, or with explicit consent.

• You must spend 30 seconds of Active Roleplay on a Subdued (p. 107), Unconscious (p. 108), or Dead (p. 208) target. The body must still be present if they are dead!

• You can loot any item cards, blueprints, currency, or in-game generated items.

• You must still check with the player for permission to touch them!

• You can also take items directly from the hands of a Stunned (p. 107) enemy to disarm them.

Stealing an Unattended Item:

This topic in the book is woefully incomplete, and only mentioned in passing in basically one line (p. 163). I really wish this was spelled out more clearly, as it’s probably one of the most misunderstood parts of CvC. However, if we apply some context we can see a few rules that apply to these items. Let’s break down a few points of importance that we can infer from the other sections of the book.

• You may steal an item from an active play area (see below) that is left unattended.

• The item must have a phys-rep, or be something that is itself a phys rep like Blueprints, currency, weapons, shields, armors, or brews.

• You must have been in play for 4 hours prior to the theft, and must stay in play for 4 hours after the theft.

• There are certain items you cannot steal, by the nature of their condition.

So since this is such an unclear section on the process of thievery, let’s explore each of these restrictions below…

Where can you not steal from?

While areas inside the Wasteland are obvious targets for theft, let’s talk about the places that cannot be targeted for theft:

• You cannot steal from a person’s personal sleeping area (bed or bunk). (p. 163)

• You cannot steal items from a bathroom or shower area. (p. 163)

• You cannot steal items from a character not currently in play (p. 29)

  • This includes items for secondary characters and while you are on NPC shift!

• You cannot steal items from places on a person other than their Supply Bag. (p. 163)

  • NO digging through pockets or clothing!

IMPORTANT NOTE: Every character should bring a section of black fabric (a black sheet or something similar works well) that you wrap around your out-of-character items that are stored out of sight in main play spaces (p. 29). This lets Guides and other players clearly know those items are out of play. This is a perfect way to protect your items and props for a secondary character that you will be playing later in the weekend or while you are on shift as an NPC or Guide. You can even include a handy sign that marks the equipment “Out of Character” if you like.

However, you cannot use these places to hide in-game items on purpose. If you are caught using a car, your cabin, your sleeping area, or another out of game location to store items you are using in game, you could receive a warning from a Guide or even potentially lose the item cards involved (p. 163). If it has an in game function, keep it on you or in a visible place that’s not a bed or bathroom! You can still hide something physically in the active play space, but if it’s found it can be stolen.

What can you steal?

So the book outlines a few items and locations that you can steal from. I’ve attempted to clarify a few places here as well as include some items from the blueprints that have specific mechanics involved as well.

• The most important rule: you can only steal IN-GAME ITEM CARDS!!!

If there is a prop involved, that prop MUST be returned to the player after the theft. This is the main reason we use a Theft Log and require a Guide - we want to make sure your super cool phys rep makes it back to you! You obviously cannot steal wallets, purses, iPads, phones, or anything else like that either. That’s a real-life crime and you will be immediately removed from our game, reported to the police, and banned from ever returning.

Let’s break down all the eligible targets for a robbery in Dystopia Rising:

Items you can steal:

• Items inside a Supply Bag or a carried phys rep with an successfully attached black clothespin

• UNATTENDED in-game tagged items with a prop (weapons, shields, brews, etc.)

• Currency (Brass) and Blueprints are their own phys rep, so these items can be taken if they are found unattended and can be kept outside of a Supply Bag.

• Items inside a Supply Bag from a defeated and helpless opponent inside the Wasteland or that is a registered member of the SES.

  • If your Supply Bag is looted, the DR: TX staff asks that you should surrender any unprotected Currency or Blueprints you have on you as well! We want to encourage folks not to look in other pockets, but these items can still be taken when looting a target.

Items you cannot Steal:

• Item Cards NOT in a Supply Bag - Because Item Cards are not phys reps by themselves and must have a phys rep to be outside of the Supply Bag (p. 168), you can’t really steal a stack of loose item cards like Herb or Scrap unless they have an attached prop. These should probably be inside a Supply Bag and not left unattended anyways.

• Supply Bag - Because a character must have a Supply Bag as part of their costume, you cannot steal a Supply Bag. You can take the items INSIDE the bag, but you cannot take the Supply Bag itself. You must leave it behind after a robbery.

• Vehicle Item Cards - Because Vehicle items are normally impossible to represent in character, they are considered to be just outside the play space and cannot be stolen. These rules are printed on every Vehicle item card.

• Crew Tattoos - This is a unique gizmo item from the Sailing buy list, and can’t be stolen for obvious reasons - it’s part of the character!

• Costume Pieces (p.158) - Sorry, you can’t take that cool hat or scarf without specific consent.

• Starter Weapons - These are items marked with a WHITE tag, and represent non-item card equipment. Since you can only steal item cards, this isn’t an eligible target. While you could technically steal one of these props, you can get these weapon tags at any time from the Post Office for FREE. So, there’s really no reason to steal one. You can still turn these into the Post Office as lost items, but there’s not an item card that can be stolen.

When can I get my cool loot from theft?

One of the often overlooked rules of CvC involving Theft or Infection loss is the TIME requirement. You must be in play long enough to be confronted after the act of CvC, as well as been your in play for a period of time before the event. The person that has been stolen from also has the license to hunt you down and respond in kind because you have been “flagged” for CvC in the act of committing the crime.

• When you steal from another player or remove an Infection, you must have been in play for at least four hours before the act of CvC, and remain in play for four hours AFTER the fact (p. 163).

This means there are a couple of obvious moments when you can’t steal. We can extrapolate that you cannot steal in the following examples:

• Your NPC shift is due in less than 4 hours. If you go on shift, you’ll be out of play.

• You just switched into your secondary character. That character has not been in play for at least 4 hours.

• You just came off of NPC shift. Sorry, you haven’t been in play for at least 4 hours.

• If you just stole an item, you cannot leave the site, go to NPC shift, or switch into another character until 4 hours after the incident.

• The end of game on Sunday is less than 4 hours away. This means Sunday morning is pretty safe from thievery, especially after 8:00 am, as game ends at 12:00 pm noon in DR:TX.

• You just entered game on Friday night. You can’t start to steal until 2:00 a.m in DR:TX, because our game on call is at 10:00 pm on Friday night. Sorry, not sorry!

• This means that unless you have a No Casting ticket, there is a very narrow window of when you can steal, with a 12-hour break in the middle (4 hours before NPC, the shift itself, and the 4 hours after). If you switch characters, it becomes even more restricted.

Finally, let’s explore exactly how you get your ill gotten item cards from a victim:

In the case of an unattended item:

• You must keep a stolen phys rep item on your person for 30 minutes after the theft. This gives people a chance to notice the item is missing and catch you in the act.

• You must surrender the phys rep to the Post Office after that 30 minutes, so the victim can retrieve their prop later.

• The Theft will be reported in the Theft Log at the Post Office

• When the victim comes to the Post Office, they will need to surrender the item card of that phys rep to the Post Office, and you can pick it up at a later time once the theft has been noticed and the item card turned in.

In the case of Larceny:

• The Guide will bring you your item card after the theft has been reported to the victim. Ideally, they will bring this item to you discreetly but I’ve always found it helpful to set up a place in advance to meet the Guide later to get the stuff that’s out of sight of your victim.

“Hey, That item looks like mine!”

So, you’ve successfully taken an item from another, spent your 30 minutes with the prop, and gotten away. Now what?

• When you retrieve your stolen item at the Post Office, the stolen Item Card will be marked with the player number of the character it was stolen from on the back.

• This theft will also be recorded in the Theft Log for later reference if a Guide needs to check on the people involved in a theft.

• Stolen goods are still identifiable to others, particularly notable or recognizable items like weapons, shields, or armor. These items will have the original owner’s player number marked on the weapon tag using a letter in from of it. This will look something like “S-4337” on the tag. The “S” means the item is STOLEN.

• In order to remove this marking, you can sell the item through the black market to have it “washed” using the Proficient Criminal Influence skill (p. 119). When you do, you will be able to get the proceeds from the sale discreetly and your buyer will be able to get a card or item without the stolen Player Number on it at the next Criminal meeting.

Can I protect myself versus Theft?

So we’ve talked a lot about the how’s and why’s of thievery, but is there any hope for folks that don’t want to be robbed? Yes!

There are quite a few items that interact with Theft and can offer some measure of protection. Clearly, the best way to avoid theft is to keep your items on you and stay out of the Wasteland, but sometimes you want that extra peace of mind. Remember, under normal circumstances an item you have on you can only be stolen outside of the Wasteland using the Larceny skill and a black clothespin, and that’s generally limited to only 1-2 item cards at a time.

Here’s some important items to consider:

• Freeiron Dry Pack - This is the perfect tool to deter a pickpocket. It can protect your more valuable item cards by giving them an unexpired herb instead or even MANGLE the limbs of the would-be thief.

• Hidden Wallet - This item from the Trade Connections buy list lets you protect 50 currency cards from being looted or pickpocketed. Always have a stash of money safe!

• Document Case - This item can stop people from being able to access up to 25 blueprints from being pickpocketed.

• Dead Man’s Hand - the PFA ability of this item protects a small weapon, firearm, or thrown item from being looted or pickpocketed for a short time.

• Containers - There are several of these items in the game, but all allow you to lock or place traps on them to prevent a thief from gaining access. The Merchant’s Stall Heavy Lock Box can be acquired from Master Trade Connections buy list or a Locking Box can be bought from the Criminal Influence buy list. The Entertainer's Kit and Angry Anchor Storage Box also counts as a Container that can be trapped.

• Traps! - While these don’t so much prevent a thief from actually stealing something, it can make it so they have a bad day. Particularly deadly traps might even make sure the thief is in Bleed Out before they can get away. There are several varieties available from blueprints, including the OOPH Room Trap, the Toothpiq Box-Trap, the Slappi Snap-Trap, the Daline Smart-Trap, or the Greenlight Grave Trap.

There’s also some items that even IMPROVE your ability to steal from another!

• Steelpaw Finger Mitts - This set of gloves lets you place TWO clothespins instead of one.

• Sosweet Clay Replica Mold - This item can get into a locked container by making a temporary key, and even delay a trap from going off so you can evade it!

• G. G. Locksmithing Tools & Lock Poppers - These items can speed up the process of lock picking so you can get away more quickly. The Lock Popper single-use items are available from the Criminal Influence buy list.

• Mountain Trap Snapper Kit - This item lets you quickly disarm a trap by destroying it.

We might even see some more items soon once the Augment prints are released, so keep your eyes out for neat items that can help you out against the criminals out there.

Remember the law!

Remember that Stealing is currently a crime in the San Saba Territories! Just because you were successful in taking that item from another player doesn’t mean that they are the only one that can come after you! If you are particularly brazen with your crime, you could have Law Dogs like BOSS WYATT on your trail, or even earn the distrust of other criminal types by drawing too much attention to them. Particularly visible crimes could even earn a bounty or honor hunt with the Red Ledger or Murder, Inc.!

Common courtesy - Honor amongst thieves

While this next part is not specifically part of the rules in the Corebook and I can’t make you follow them, I think this is a common sense rule when approaching CvC that helps control emotions regarding the loss. Consider this a best practice, heavily recommended by the staff of DR:TX.

• Steal or Kill. Not both.

Theft is one of the most brutal ways to affect another character in Dystopia Rising, matched only by the loss involved with losing Infection, or losing a Character for good. Items made in game can take hours to build and can be difficult to replace. Infection costs 10 XP to get back, and requires a complicated and risky process to even be able to get it back.

Don’t add insult to injury by murdering another character and then stealing everything they own. It’s just not a good idea. It’s a punishing way to commit CvC, and I promise it will earn a response in return. Always make sure to check in with the other person before committing CvC, and make sure you are considerate of their feelings as well.

Our in-game CvC faction of the Red Ledger will actually encourage this paradigm and look to build a culture of behavior around this point. We want to reward the folks that want to get into the violent side of CvC, but we want to make sure it stays fun for everyone!

Wrap up

Next week, we will wrap up this series on CvC and talk a little about Bleed, Conflict in the Moment, and Long-Term CvC. See you then Vados!

Timing and Damage Calls, Part 3

It’s time for another Rules Ramble with Jonathan! Each week, I’ll introduce a topic in the DR rulebook in a deep dive that focuses on explaining it more detail than the book alone can provide. This week we are wrapping up the final discussion of the Anatomy of a Damage Call in Dystopia Rising. There are four core pillars of the DR game in my mind: Combat, Roleplay, CvC, and Economy, and this series delves a bit deeper into the logic behind some of the things you say during a combat.

Catch up with Part 1 here. We introduce some key terms for each part of the Damage Call and break down each component. There’s even a handy dandy graphic!

Catch up with Part 2 here. We discuss some example Damage Calls, and break them down in turn. These range from simple to complicated calls, and we cover one of each type of attack.

Aesa also covered some really important Logistics announcements yesterday for the February game here, so take a look. Go on, this will wait!

Ok, so we’ve spent some time talking about Damage Calls and gave you some examples, so now let’s look at a Damage Call in motion and where Defenses come into the picture.

The key part of these essays so far is that there is an inherent logic to how a Damage Call is organized.

This logic also explains the order and timing that we use with a call, so we are going to discuss timing and defenses, and how they apply to a Damage Call. This is a longer post, so fair warning!

Defenses And Damage Calls

So someone has attacked you and made their Damage Call. One of the first instances of TIMING when it comes to a Damage Call is the reaction that is called in response to being targeted by an attack or Skill. Once a call has been made, you have a brief window to declare a DEFENSE. Let’s look at p. 157 in the DR Corebook for how to call a defense.

• Once your opponent has made a Damage Call and successfully hit you, you have a window of Roughly THREE SECONDS to declare a DEFENSE.

You must interrupt what you doing to use these Skills, so using a Defense while working on a Full Engagement RP skill interrupts that skill use (p. 103-104). There are several Defensive Skills in the game:

• AVOID - This skill is the most versatile Defense in the game, as it stops almost every melee Strike or Ranged Attack in the game. The only type of physical attack not stopped an attack that uses the phrase “No Avoid!” OR the Skill Proficient Malicious (aka MANGLE!) when it is delivered from behind you. This skill is also the most taken Skill in the game for this reason — It’s the surest way to protect yourself in a combat, even as a non-combat player!

• DEFEND - This skill is almost always used by NPCs. This works the same as Avoid, but only protects in the front 120 degree arc. If they are behind you, you cannot call this Defense and this cannot be used against an attack that uses the phrase “No Defend!”. This skill is designed to reward you for good positioning and flanking in a fight against NPCs.

• BALANCE - This skill protects against any effect that causes you to lose your footing, fall down, be knocked back, or any STUN effect. This counters Knockback, Stun, Takedown, and even Area of Effect versions of these skills. Important note here is that Balance stops the EFFECTS, but not DAMAGE. If someone declares a “10 damage, STUN!” attack, declaring Balance only stops the Stun, not the 10 damage.

• MENTAL ENDURANCE - This skill protects against any PSIONIC effect that directly Targets you, except for Master Pyrokinetics. This is sometimes useful against other skill effects like Agony or Terror. This is also one of the few skills you can use while in Bleed Out.

• INTERFERE - This is a strange Defense, as it’s not so much avoiding the attack as redirecting to another. The person that calls Interfere takes the attack instead, and cannot reduce or defend against the damage under normal circumstances. You must qualify as a Target to use this as a defense, so no taking a Mangle to your leg when it’s already Mangled! (This also cannot stop a Killing Blow on someone, as you are not in Bleed Out when you use the skill!)

• Other Item/Skill Defenses - There are several items that offer new defenses against attacks, make attacks automatically miss, or provide a more narrow Defense to particular calls. There are far too many different types to cover them all here. Generally items that make you immune to an attack will have a specific Counter to call out like “OOPH, Blocked!” or something similar to “No Effect!” followed by the Defense name. For instance, most Zombies are immune to Mangle effects on their arms and will call “No Effect, Strong Arms!” in response, or you might call “No Effect, Phalanx!” while participating in a shield wall called by a Phalanx Doyen.

The main reason I want to focus on the idea of Defenses is that these represent the concept of an INTERRUPT to the flow of a Skill call. If I can react to an attack BEFORE the effect is applied, that means there are some kind of hidden “pause” steps in a Damage Call where we work out some basic logic. It also means there is a distinct order to how things are applied in a fight, and an order to that timing.

TIMING IN DYSTOPIA RISING

I’m a bit of a Board Game nerd, so in a lot of games the Order of Operations can make a big difference in understanding the interactions in a game. Dystopia Rising is no different, though we don’t have an official ruling on Timing in the game. What I’m going to attempt to discuss here is the flow of a Damage Call and how all that information is there, if you know where to look.

a Damage Call is generally applied from the beginning to end, left to right.

This is why the order of a DAMAGE call matters! Following our discussion last week, the way a Damage Call is designed with a Delivery Method first, Damage Amount next and any modifiers, and finally an Effect that informs this order of operations. An attack sequence can be broken down into a few key steps:

• Declare the attack as a DAMAGE CALL, spending any items or Mind needed

• Make a Successful Attack, on a valid Target and location

• Declare any Defenses to the attack

• Apply Damage from an attack

• Apply Effects from an attack

When I think of the “flow” on an attack, there are natural points in this where you look for Triggers, or instances where you can call an interruption or Defense against the attack. These interrupts happen Instantly, and can Interrupt the flow of an attack. A great example of these types of phrases used in other games can be found in systems like Magic: The Gathering, or Warhammer 40K. You may not always use a Trigger to activate a Skill, but that doesn’t mean it’s not still there!

This example of the timing behind an attack is pretty simple, but let’s dig a little bit deeper and explore all the separate logic steps of the sequence. Most of the time, these steps happen pretty quickly so you may not have stopped to think about the steps much.

Let’s look at that in text, and not just my silly Paint project.

Timing of an Attack:

Declaration of Attack

• Declare the Damage Call or Skill out loud where your target can hear (p. 157).

• Spend your Mind or other Resources to power the attack. You always spend for resources at the START of a Skill use or attack.

  • If your attack is Countered, Interrupted, or misses, you still spend the Mind and items!

  • You must always Declare the attack BEFORE actually making the physical attack!

Attack Step

• Make your physical attack against the Target.

• If your target is a Non-Combat Target (marked with an Orange Headband), DO NOT physically attack them, but instead point at them and declare your effect or damage (p. 155). This is an automatic hit, but they can still declare Defenses like Avoid.

  • Strikes will use a contact-safe boffer and need to hit a valid location

    • Remember the FLURRY rules - You may not swing more than 3 times in a row, unless you are using Florentine weapons (p. 156).

    • The 1st and 2nd strike in a Flurry cannot hit the same target to be a valid location. You got to change up where you hit them each time! No “machine gunning” the same spot!

  • Ranged Attacks will use a packet or NERF gun bullet, and they need to hit a valid location

    • First, check if you can still use a Nerf Gun against your target. If they are within TWO PACES, you must use a Packet instead.

    • If the attack is a red packet or bullet and contacts a shield, it is not blocked by a Shield and the attack is considered a hit unless they use some other Defense.

    • If the attack is a thrown weapon, a blue packet or arrow, and contacts a shield the attack ends and it is considered a miss.

    • Remember your RELOAD rules - After 6 shots, you must pause for a moment to simulate a reload of your weapon. Some items have longer Reload times (p. 156).

  • Psionic Attacks use a white packet and are always accompanied by the “Psionic!” call at the start of the Damage Call, but must still hit a valid location.

    • If the psionic attack contacts a shield, the effect still works. Shields can’t normally stop Psionics.

    • You CANNOT use a Psionic Attack while Blinded!!

  • Area of Effects, Sound of my Voice, and Line of Sight all automatically hit if they are in range.

    • Very few Defenses can be used against these delivery methods, but Balance can be used against any AOE or Sound of my Voice attack that uses the STUN mechanic.

• Check if your attack hits AND contacts a valid location (p.155). If you successfully hit, you proceed with the application of the attack and its effects.

  • If you miss your swing, it contacts a non-valid location, or is blocked the attack ends.

  • If your attack or Skill is Interrupted, it has no effect (p. 104).

Defense Step

• If you successfully hit, your Target can declare a DEFENSE. The Target has 3 seconds to declare a counter and spend Mind or Resources for that Defense (p. 157).

  • If the appropriate Defense is called, the attack is ended and is considered a miss. NONE of the effects of the attack apply if it is appropriately countered. A proper defense stops the entire Damage Call.

    • Avoid/Defend - stops melee Strikes or Ranged Attacks

    • Balance - stops Knockback, Takedown, or Stun effects

    • Mental Endurance - stops Psionic Attacks

    • Interfere - changes the Target to the user of Interfere, and it is considered an automatic hit that cannot be Defended against.

  • You cannot exchange a series of blows and THEN call a Defense. You must immediately interrupt to declare a Defense before continuing other attacks.

• Check for effects that trigger on Defenses.

  • OVERPOWER - This is the primary Keyword that activates on a successful Defense. You can spend 1 Mind and declare the same attack again as a new attack. The Target will have to declare ANOTHER defense to that second attack. Go all the way back to the beginning.

  • Some items give you a temporary buff to other skills once a Defense is used, and would activate at this step. This includes some Augments and weapon effects.

Damage Step

• Check for Damage Resistance or Damage Immunity.

  • If Resistant, the Damage is generally reduced to 1.

  • If Immune, the Damage is generally reduced to 0.

• If the attack is not countered or Defended against, you apply the damage of the attack to the target’s Armor (p. 169).

  • Check to see if their armor is broken, and activate any effects that happen on armor break. Unique undead threats like Rimebound Dead would explode at this step.

    • If the attack uses a Body effect, apply the damage to Body first instead. Body SKIPS Armor completely, so any effects that would happen on Armor breaking are not triggered.

  • Apply any remaining damage to the Target’s Body pool.

• Check for Bleed Out (p. 208).

  • If the Target hits zero Body, they enter Bleed Out.

    • Activate effects that trigger on entering Bleed Out. The primary example here is the Striker’s Coat call of “Immune to Killing Blow, 1 Minute!”.

    • This is an important Timing consideration, because this is how a Striker’s Coat protects vs. Murder. First you apply the damage, they enter bleed out, the armor activates, and then the killing blow is applied.

  • If they still have Body remaining, the damage step ends and you proceed to apply any effects at the end of the call.

    • Some effects won’t really impact a dying Target, but most can carry over.

Effect Step

• Apply any instantaneous Killing Blows, like MURDER.

  • If the Target is in Bleed Out and receives a Killing Blow, their Bleed Out timer ends and they immediately die (p. 208).

  • If the Target is under the effects of Proficient Faithful Will, protected by a Striker’s Coat, or protected by Master Biogenetics, they can declare their immunity in response to the Killing Blow.

• If still eligible, apply other Effects of the Damage Call

  • This is the most broad step of an attack, as there is the most variation in effects from Damage Calls during this step. I can’t possibly predict every effect here, but I’ll cover the basic interactions.

  • If the Target has some unique Defense to an Effect that would activate, they can declare a reaction to the trigger of taking the Effect.

    • For example, a target protected by Basic Faith Vessel could declare “No Effect!” to the first Break Armor effect they take during the 12s.

  • If a Target is IMMUNE to some portion of the Effect, they can “No Effect!” or the appropriate Skill call and ignore that particular Effect.

    • Unless specified by an item or Skill, you only avoid that portion of the effect. If someone had a protection versus Mangle and was hit by an effect that called “Mangle, Stun!”, they would stop the Mangle but NOT the Stun.

• Defenses that prevent specific Effects only defend against that single effect, not anything else included in the Damage Call.

• The threat Skill Cannibalism (used by most Zombies and Raiders) has a specific unique counter to its call of “Reduce Bleed Out to 1 Minute”.

  • If under the effects of Proficient Faithful Will, the Bleed Out timer is NOT reduced, but stays at the extended time of the Skill effect.

• Lastly, any effects that would Trigger from taking a particular Effect take place. This might include certain abilities that allow you to use an item, or trigger a counter attack back at the opponent. There’s a few of these in play, particularly on Threat skills on monsters. The threat skill Anomaly Response allows a monster to heal themselves in response to a Psionic skill being used near them, for instance.

Wrap Up

WHEW!

That was a lot. Sorry for the wall of text, but it’s a pretty complicated subject. I’ve spent three weeks digging into the details of the Damage Call, and we still didn’t even address Bane and Resistance (that’s a topic for another day!). Next time, we are going to pivot a bit and discuss THEFT in Dystopia Rising.

Tickets for our February Event "BEYOND THE HORIZON" go on sale on MONDAY, JANUARY 17th at 1PM! We hope you’ve enjoyed your Long Night!

See you later Vados!

Damage Call Examples, Part 2

Good morning Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with the second part of my discussion on the rules on how we declare attacks and skills in the world of Dystopia Rising. I started this discussion last week with my first blog post, but we also had a really neat story written by Shan detailing some important events for some of our casted characters (in case you missed it!).

FAQs and Feedback

First, I’d like to address a few comments on my last post before we get it into it! Thanks for all the feedback, as I love hearing how these posts help you better understand the rules of DR.

• It was mentioned about some confusion with the Poison keyword in the DR Corebook (pg. 105) and how I described Poison Damage. Threats in the wastes have access to other skills and abilities that are not listed in the Corebook, in materials that are provided to the Guides and STs of the local games. While the Poison keyword in the Corebook covers most of the mechanics for how ITEMS that deal with Poison function, there are several attacks and abilities used by monsters that all use the same phrase of “poisonous strike” or something similar. While I called this damage type “Poison” damage, it is actually officially called during an attack as “Mind” damage instead. The monsters will declare “10 Mind Damage” as an attack, instead of using the phrase “Poison”. I’ve edited the previous blog post to be more specific about this Damage Type.

• While I outlined some cool things in my nifty chart I made last week, I used some phrases like Damage Modifier, Delivery Modifier, etc. It should be noted that none of these things have an consistent official name in the book, but is simply the phrase I used to describe them. It’s clear from the mechanics that each step of a Damage Call follows a certain logic, and these terms are just my way to describe each step. If you’ve heard it called something else, that’s entirely fine! I think my terms are pretty elegant and clearly describe a thing we can see in the book, and I hope you agree. :)

• The rules of DR are in a constant state of interpretation and flux at the moment. We have an expected FAQ due from our DR National team soon, so some of these things I’ve described here may change in the future. There are also several skills and abilities that appear on Blueprints and crafted items that do not have an official ruling on how they work yet. I’ve updated our DR: TX Rules Page with the most recent updates that I have, and I’ll make sure we have a solid repository for these kinds of clarifications for our local game.

The Damage Call in Practice

Now that FAQs are done, let’s talk a little bit more about how the Damage Call works in the game with some examples of how easy or complicated this can be. Remember, I covered the breakdown of each step of the Call in my previous blog post, but I’ve included the handy dandy chart from last week below to describe the six parts of a Damage Call.

The example above is a rather complicated call that includes every part of the Damage Call, so let’s look at some breakdowns of other calls.

MELEE ATTACKS

• Toothpiq Chopper - The Toothpiq Chopper is a great example of a crafted item that allows a character to deliver a Spike Damage Call (any attack that does MORE than base damage). The blueprint rule with Master Melee Standard states that “Spend 10 Mind to do 15 damage on next attempted Strike.” Let’s examine the Damage Call for the weapon by itself first:

  • The Master effect while using this item effect is declared simply as “15!” or “15 DAMAGE!”. It’s not necessary to declare ‘damage’ as this is assumed to be the Damage Type unless you say something different.

  • Since we use a boffer to make this attack, the Delivery Method is assumed to be a melee Strike and isn’t declared out loud. Since it’s not a Psionic attack or Unique ability, we have no Delivery Modifier or Skill Name used either.

  • The only parts we declare for this strike are the Damage Amount of “15”. Since it’s just basic damage, we don’t need to declare a Damage Modifier and there is no extra Damage Affix or Effect.

  • Even though a Spike Damage Call does way more damage than a normal swing, it still applies to Armor first, then Body unless a different Damage Modifier is used. Spike Damage is a great way to break through armor to soften up a target if you don’t have easy access to BODY damage types.

• Let’s discuss some common complications to an attack like this:

  • The Piercing Strike (p. 113) skill allows us to change the Damage Modifier or Damage Type to “Body” instead. If you paid the Mind to use this skill, you could STACK it with the Toothpiq Chopper effects to declare “15 BODY!” as your attack. Because we’ve changed the Damage Modifier, it’s important to include that in the Damage Call. Since the attack is Body damage, it skips past their Armor and deals damage directly to their Body pool.

    • Remember, BODY damage supersedes other damage types. If you were using a weapon that normally swung for BANE damage, the BODY damage type would be applied, and it would lose the BANE type for that swing. (p. 113)

  • The Proficient Combat Tactics skill (p. 114) allows us to change the Delivery Method to attack more than one target in range. When you use this skill you can change the Damage Call to “SCATTER SHOT! 15 DAMAGE!”.

    • Scatter Shot is a Delivery Method. Instead of needing to make a successful hit with your boffer, you simply declare up to FIVE targets within 5 feet of you that are automatically hit. They can still use Avoid to prevent the attack. Most folks will make this Damage Call, then point at the 5 targets in range immediately after the call.

    • Important reminder on Scatter Shot is that it has a unique rule that the Damage Amount cannot be improved above 20. If you use an item that deals 30 Damage on a swing and use Scatter Shot, it is reduced to 20 damage instead.

RANGED ATTACKS

Let’s look at a pretty common Ranged Attack next:

• The Mountain Rifle blueprint allows for a skilled Projectile user to make shots at incredible range. With the Profession Focus Achievement, or PFA, (p. 144) of Marksman, you can use this weapon to brutal efficiency. The call for the PFA ability of this weapon is declared as “Line of Sight, 30 Damage, No Defend!”.

  • Line of Sight is a Delivery Method, and the rules for this are found on p. 104. This allows you to declare a target out to about 50 feet from you and automatically hit with your attack.

  • IMPORTANT NOTE! An important clarification to Line of Sight effects is that the type of defense used to prevent the effects is the SAME as the weapon it is used by. In almost every case, this is a Firearm so the normal instance of this will be prevented by the Avoid skill. In the rare types this Delivery Method is used in other ways, it’ll usually be accompanied by the “No Avoid!” effect to make it very clear.

  • The Damage Amount of this attack is 30, and there is no particular Damage Modifier. Unless there is some listed restriction, you could stack an attack like this with Piercing Strike or other Damage Modifiers.

  • The final statement of this call is the Damage Affix or Effect. The call of “No Defend!” means that an NPC cannot use the Defend ability to prevent this attack. This weapon is brutal against NPCs that only have Defend, but can still be Avoided by another player or an NPC that as the Avoid skill.

PSIONIC ATTACKS

Finally, let’s talk about a Psionic attack that uses the Area of Effect rules to hit everyone in a nearby area.

• Master Pyrokinetics (p. 138) - This is a very powerful Psionic skill available to characters that can purchase Master tier skills. This Skill is declared as “PSIONIC: 3 Steps - 30 Body, Self Break All Brews and Injections”. Let’s break down each part below:

  • The first part of the call is the Delivery Modifier — “Psionic”. This lets us know the power is a psionic ability and be resisted with the Mental Endurance skill. Remember that Psionic is the only Delivery Modifier at the moment.

    • However, one weird complication here is that Master Pyro can ONLY be resisted by MASTER Mental Endurance and this isn’t part of the call. This is a great example of an exception to this rule, but it’s basically the only exception that I can find in any published materials.

  • The Delivery Method is declared in the call as “3 Steps”. This means that this attack is NOT delivered with a white packet like most psionic attacks but rather is a small area of effect attack. This is also one of the few exceptions to the common range of Area attacks - any attack that uses the Area of Effect call hits everyone within 10 feet of the user.

    • IMPORTANT NOTE! Unless otherwise specified, Area of Effect attacks always hurt you as well as your opponents. This attack targets EVERYONE, including you, your friends, and anyone nearby. If an AOE effect would exclude you as a target, it will generally involve the phrase “SELF IMMUNE” in the call.

  • The Damage Amount and Damage Type is declared in the call as “30 Body”. This means you take 30 points of damage, and it skips your Armor to hit your Body pool directly. Ouch! This is one of the bigger attacks that you can easily get access to as a player and it’s pretty brutal.

  • The Damage Affix, or Effect is declared last, and this one is uniquely targeted against the USER, not the target. In this case, any item with the Brew or Injectable keyword is immediately BROKEN and destroyed. Better hope someone nearby can pick you up from Bleed Out, cause you are in some serious danger!

WRAP UP!

That’s it for this week, but we will be continuing this discussion next week in Part 3 as we explore how the Timing of Attacks works, and how Damage Calls interact with various defenses. We’ll also tackle the dreaded “Why is MURDER stopped by my Striker’s Coat?” question!

BONUS CONTENT: Here’s a sneak peek for our eventual discussion of how BANE and DAMAGE REDUCTION work, illustrated in a cute zombie doodle done by Shan.

The Anatomy of a Damage Call, Part 1

Howdy Vados!

It’s still our Winter Break, but Rules Rambles don’t stop for silly things like time off! It’s Jonathan here, probably doing more than I should to bring you another installation of my discussion on the rules of Dystopia Rising. This week, we are gonna break down exactly what goes into a DAMAGE CALL, grade-school style!

The Basics

The rules for the contact-safe combat in DR start on p. 155 in the DR Corebook. It’s pretty easy to skip past this section cause it’s pretty short in length. I’m including a bit from page 157 in the book here, as a reference for this ramble.

Normally, if a monster swings a claw, hits you with a rusty nailbat, or shoots you with a rifle, the damage is assumed to be “base damage”. Melee weapons normally do 2 damage, ranged weapons deal 5 damage. When you use a Skill or a special ability that does something other than base damage, you call out the effect of that ability as a DAMAGE CALL.

Monsters (and characters!) will use a damage call to let you know what just happened to you in combat. Much like a Skill Call, the format of these calls is standardized, even though this part is mostly implied in the text and not spelled out directly. So today, we are going to examine the parts of a Damage Call and what it means, bit by bit.

The Damage Call

The structure of a damage call includes a few core elements. Most damage calls will be a short phrase or instruction, generally less than 10-15 words. The longer a call is, the harder it is to remember, so most Damage Calls are short and sweet.

The reason that this standardization of structure is important is similar to the Adjective Rule that we use in normal grammar. TL;DR, there is a normal way to use adjectives in a sentence, otherwise it sounds weird when you say it (the difference between saying “a new guitar folding” versus “a new folding guitar”). There is a natural way that the Skill Call flows to make it easy to understand, in a similar fashion. When we use the same format for all of our Skill Calls, it ensures that we can clearly communicate the rules of what is about to happen to our target.

Let’s look at an EXTREME example:

A sample Damage Call. Reminds me of those old grammar classes in elementary school…

There are SIX major mechanical parts of a Damage Call:

• Delivery Modifier

• Skill Name or Keyword

• Delivery Method

• Damage Amount

• Damage Modifier (or Augment)

• Damage Affix (or Effect!)

You can have a Damage Call that is simply just the Damage Amount, you can have a call only have Damage and a Modifier, or you can have a complicated call like we see here. (I’m sure you will have fun when you meet the monster that can do this.)

Important Note: Not all Damage Calls will include every part you see above.

The most common Damage Call is simply known as a SPIKE DAMAGE CALL. In these cases, the main effect is simply a larger amount of damage. This will sound something like the NPC saying “30 Damage!” when the monster contacts you with a boffer or packet.

The functional parts of a Damage Call are actually exactly the same as the parts of a Skill Call, but for this article we are going to focus on abilities used in combat.

Parts of a Damage Call

So let’s talk a bit about what each of these elements means for your character.

Delivery Modifier

The very first part of a Damage Call can be considered a Delivery Modifier. This lets you know that the effect is resisted with a different skill than normal. Normally, if an attack is delivered with a boffer or ranged attack, you can use the Avoid skill to resist the effect unless a Delivery Modifier is called. The only real Delivery Modifier at the moment is “PSIONIC”, but there could other abilities or items in the future that use this position in the call. This call lets you know that regardless of how the attack was delivered, it is a Psionic Attack (p. 105) and it can be resisted with Mental Endurance INSTEAD of the normal means of defense. This could be also considered a form of Delivery Method, but every time this is used it is as the FIRST part of the call and can be combined with other Delivery Methods so it really deserves a classification of its own.

Skill Name or keyword

The Skill Name is probably the rarest part of a Damage Call. It’s sometimes optional, depending on how complicated the Call is to say out loud. This part is used simply to identify the effect that is targeting you in a narrative fashion. This will generally sound something like “Impale!”, “Cannibalism!” or “Anomaly Response!”. The main function of this is to help you understand that the call that follows is part of that thematic effect so you can role play accordingly.

Delivery Method

The Delivery Method helps you know how you can resist the effect. The primary delivery method is a successful melee or ranged attack called a Strike (p. 107) or Ranged Attack (p. 106), which can both be countered by Avoid or Defend. If this is delivered with a weapon, a packet, or a NERF dart, you don’t actually have to say anything as part of your attack. It is assumed that the Delivery Method is either a Strike or Ranged Attack based on the physical attack you use. The main examples of a Delivery Method that matters in a Damage Call are OTHER forms of delivering an attack or Skill, like “Area of Effect” (p. 102), “Sound of my Voice” (p. 106), “Line of Sight” (p. 104), or even other weird ranges like “3 Steps” (p. 138, Master Pyrokinetics why are you so weird..). We will go into further detail about some weird interactions with delivery methods in the next blog post.

Damage Amount

The Damage Amount is probably the simplest and easiest part of the Damage Call. This is simply how much damage you take from the attack. Remember, unless a Damage Modifier is called you apply damage to your Armor first, then to your Body. Spike Damage strikes normally occur in 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, and 50 damage (yikes!) increments. A common strategy to buying Body points for your character is to have 1 more Body than these common attacks. You’ll see a lot of characters with 21 Body or 31 Body so they can survive one surprise attack without immediately dropping into Bleed Out. The beefiest of characters in the game with over 51 Body can survive an Apocalyptic Strike (50 Damage in a single blow!).

Damage Modifier (or Augment)

The Damage Modifier is sometimes also known as a Damage Augment. This is probably the second-most common part of a Damage Call, as this changes HOW the damage is applied to you. The most common Modifier is “Body” damage. Several Crafted Items allow you to change your damage type to Body, as well as the skill Piercing Strike. Other modifiers include:

• Body - skips Armor and deals damage directly to your Body.

• Bane - deals DOUBLE damage if you qualify for the type of Bane Damage

• Mind (Poison) - deals damage to your Mind instead.

• Rad (Radiation) - deals damage to both Body AND Mind in the same attack.

• Rend - deals damage to both Armor AND Body in the same attack.

Damage Affix (or Effect)

The last part of the Damage Call is the Damage Affix or an Effect. This effect is applied last, after damage is dealt and lets you know what else the attack does to your character. This is probably the most varied thing that can be included into a Damage Call as this can be virtually anything! Most commonly, this is a Skill or keyword effect like Blinding, Stun, Knockback, or Break. Other times, this could be a short instruction like “Reduce Bleed Out Time to 1 Minute!”, “Lose 6 Resolve!” (ouch!), “No Escape!” or “No Defend!”. In our example above, if the attack’s Damage Amount would drop you into Bleed Out, the MURDER effect happens immediately — killing your character D-E-A-D!

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That’s it for this week! Let me know what you thought about this article in the comments below or on our social media posts! Next week, I’ll break down some examples of each of the types of Damage Calls in more detail and explain how the order of operations works for a Damage Call.

As an extra special bonus teaser, you might notice a few updates to the Events page for the last half of Season 3…