Characters & Stories of Note for Season 4

It’s Jonathan here again with another Wednesday Rules Ramble! Each week, I’ll introduce a topic that will be important in an upcoming game, explain some new mechanic or system for DR:TX, or discuss a particular rule from the DR Corebook. In each ramble, I’ll focus on explaining that topic in more detail than the book alone can provide and help provide one place to reference all the various errata or rulings that might be relevant. Sometimes I’ll even drop a few Story Teasers or provide a summary of the last game in a Game Recap.

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

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

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

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

The Season 4 Premise

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

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

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

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

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

Sounds exciting!

Stories of Note (Season 4)

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

Waking is Falling?

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

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

The Fate of Tabitha St. Mercy

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

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

The Crystal Candy Question

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

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

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

Characters of Note (Season 4)

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

Felicity Redfield, CEO of the RAILROAD CONGLOMERATE

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

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

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

Tabitha St. Mercy, Former Warden of Killhouse

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

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

The Rook, psion terrorist

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

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

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

Adam Moriarty, The spider

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

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

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

The Eightfold Mother

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

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

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

Wrap Up

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

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

Welcome to Season Four!

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

Each week, I’ll introduce a topic that will be important in an upcoming game, explain some new mechanic or system for DR:TX, or discuss a particular rule from the DR Corebook. In each ramble, I’ll focus on explaining that topic in more detail than the book alone can provide and help provide one place to reference all the various errata or rulings that might be relevant. Sometimes I’ll even drop a few Story Teasers or provide a summary of the last game in a Game Recap.

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

The Valley of Fear & The necrophage: PYroclasm

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

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

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

The Valley of Fear

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

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

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

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

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

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

Action Requests, Plot Requests, & PFAs

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

Action Requests

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

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

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

• submit your action requests here

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

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

Character Backgrounds

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

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

• Submit your CHARACTER Backgrounds here

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

personal plot requests

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

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

• Check out: Check-In Skills

• submit your own Personal Plot Requests here

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

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

Profession Focus Achievements (PFAs)

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

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

• Read about: PFA Requests and Player Teachers

• Submit your PFA Request Here

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

wrap up

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

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

Rules for The Cicatrix

Hey there Vados! It’s Jonathan here with another Rules Ramble! This week we are going to cover updates for our game this weekend - THE CICATRIX. We are going to talk about some rules you should be aware of before game, and things you might see during our upcoming event. As always, the purpose of these Rules Rambles is to cover a topic in the DR rulebook or something that might show up in game in more detail than the book or ZOMs alone can provide.

While advanced ticket sales for the event are closed, you can still get tickets at the door!

Let’s get into a few topics that might be important for this upcoming game, including Death During a Morgue Crisis, The Stakeholder’s Meeting, and a few THREAT SKILLS that you might want to brush up on before the event.

Premise for “THE CICATRIX”

Let’s first look at the premise for the next event, a sneak peek into what is in store for our characters during the game:

The morgues in Bravado have stopped working. The dead have not returned for the better part of a month. Small shrines to the missing dot the long roads between settlements and the aberrant population reports that the wails of the dead, so often cacophonous in the psionically demented mind, are silent. 

Takheeta Firstborn has been killed, cut low at the penultimate moment of her triumph, and transfigured into a Gravemind Shard; a kind of semi sentient intelligence that occupies a greater portion of the gestalt that is the local “Gravemind” itself. Her death has made way for General Rampart, new leader of the Grave Council, to impart policy. But, in evoking the Cantankerous Matrix to heal the Morgues across the San Saba, instead the Grave Council has metastasized a fatal threat to the Lonestar, and the Infectious Cycle itself. Over the past several weeks, tumorous protrusions have formed like a layer of scar tissue, cutting off the exit for the newly returned from the Grave. 

Now, General Rampart has formulated a scheme to re-open the morgues across the Lonestar Wastes, not by punching through the thick layer of cutaneous tissue that has formed like a plug over every morgue the entire municipality over, but instead by treating the aberrance from the inside; by delving into the abyssal depths of the Mortis, through layers of skin and skein, to where the heart of the cancer pulses in darkness and filth.

In the midst of this emerging crisis, the politics of the San Saba Board still looms. The annual Stakeholder’s Meeting is scheduled for May, despite the threat of the broken morgues. During the Meeting, each of the contracted members of the various factions get to weigh in on the upcoming changes to the San Saba Charter, though some chafe against the law and protest the carnival of capitalism. Surrounded by machinations and manipulations, conspiracy and chicanery, wheeling and dealing, politics and persuasion. the leaders of the Board and their many plots stirs something dark beneath the ground.

Deep below New Bravado, and deeper still than the thin layer of biomass where the Gravemind, The Eightfold Mother supposedly lurks. Against resonant and bloodghast, recollection and reaver, the denizens of Bravado will need to combat the lurking memories that have pooled beneath the morgues like so much sump dump, and press upwards towards the surface until the scab breaks, and the biomass and blood may cleanly osmote between reality, and the Grave.

Hype Recap

We also had a few articles released from THE WASTELANDER, the premier newspaper of Essex, as well as multiple, amazing vignettes written by some of our talented STs.

• Obstruction of Justice, by Beau Lee

• Empty Hands, by Ed Sampson

We also had a recently announced GAUNTLET, featuring a bit of a contentious defendant:

We will also be enforcing our Local Rule of modified ARMOR COVERAGE rules to account for the extreme temperatures we expect to see this weekend:

Sounds like we are going to have a bit to deal with during the Finale, so let’s talk a two of the major things to consider for this game.

Death During a Morgue Crisis

During our last event, COLLECTION DAY, the final actions of Takheeta Firstborn achieved the unthinkable: a cure for the Plague that has wrecked the morgues. But in doing so, she has caused the morgues of the San Saba to scab over, a “cicatrix” that has healed a little too well.

Currently, EVERY morgue in Bravado is sealed with a thick scar tissue, preventing an exit from the Mortis Amaranthine. This prevents people from returning to life, as they are trapped in the NEAR DEATH, unable to escape. We even wrote a story about one such unfortunate soul in our hype.

The side of Takheeta’s ritual performed in April, the CROSSROADS, in the dead center of Bravado, has been cordoned off as part of the Grave Council’s efforts to try to fix the morgue. For this event, this new “morgue” will be the location that characters can emerge from, if the conditions are right. If this is made possible by in-game actions, I can assure you the escape from the morgue will be… messy.

What does this mean for your characters?

Without spoiling too much, if you die during the May event coming back from the closed-over Grave Mind will be… impossible. Starting on Friday night (Friday the 13th, if you are a TV that celebrates!), if you die in game you will NOT be able to return to play until they are able to find a way to try to fix the morgues of Bravado.

That’s right. For the moment, death is pretty damn final.

Your character will be stuck in the Mortis, compressed and twisted in with all the imprints of our survivors, zed, raiders, and more that were unable to escape. It’s a hellish existence, and you better hope your friends are able to find some way into the Mortis Amaranthine to try to retrieve you. It’s a good thing ya’ll didn’t do something like trap a terrible monster in the Grave Mind to share that same space with you.

If you die early, you will be able to switch to a different character or spend some time earning CAPS for extra NPC time. Either way, we recommend bringing an extra set of NPC clothes with you to Ops should your character get “stuck”, as we have gone all out on some extra goop, slime, and terrible things for you to deal with inside this new proto-morgue. You’ll be able to opt of the splatter if you want, don’t worry. For everyone else, I’d recommend a change of clothes.

Here’s a copy of the Zone of Mechanics that will be in play at the Crossroads at the start of the game, though this will get updated periodically throughout the weekend as the condition either worsens or improves.

As the weekend progresses and certain actions are taken, the process of returning from the Near Death will be made possible, but it will still remain incredibly taxing and difficult and it will have some… consequences. It’s up to you to determine if we can resolve this crisis before the end of the weekend, but I’m sure our RESEARCH folks are already on the task!

I even hear our friends up in the Sequoia Wastes have already sent a bit of help our way…

The Stakeholder’s Meeting

One of the side events of the upcoming game that I’m particularly proud of is the STAKEHOLDER’S MEETING. This is an annual event that we never got to explore when live games ended. It was always intended for one of the last games of the season, so now we get a chance to revisit the concept in the live game.

While the San Saba Board is tasked with day-to-day decisions, each year the Stakeholders of the various factions are given a chance to voice their interests in the Stakeholder’s Meeting. During this event, new laws can be considered for addition to the charter, new factions may seek entry to the Board, and major decisions can be weighed by the populace. Only those that hold a Contract may participate.

Let’s explore a bit how this will happen. I released a bit of a teaser on Monday on this, but I want to clarify some of the questions and make it very clear how the process will work.

Starting at game on, STAKEHOLDER’S BALLOTS will be available to pick up at the Post Office at the General Store. The Ballot will allow you to case your vote towards THREE big changes to the Laws of the San Saba that have been proposed by the Board. This all will be on a Zone of Mechanics at the Post Office and listed on the Stakeholder Ballots as well.

This is part of the actual ballot you’ll see in game.

• Each character with SOCIETY MEMBERSHIP in one of the EIGHT San Saba Factions will be able to cast ONE vote. That means if you have an Advanced Membership, each of your alternate characters can vote!

• Each vote cast counts for an amount based on your level of Society Membership. Basic Membership is 1 vote, Proficient Membership is 2 votes, and Master Membership is 5 votes.

• Each character chooses a FACTION they will represent, and their HIGHEST Society Membership to vote with.

  • This means if you have Basic RRC Membership and Master Grave Council Membership you can choose either faction you like, but your final vote will count for FIVE votes!

• Based on player feedback, there will even be a way for PLAYER Factions like the Ramguard, Road Royals, Rev Resupply, Lucky 7 or others to be formally recognized by the Board so that your Membership in those factions can count as well!

  • You can use the blank on the Ballot form to “write in” your local faction, but only those factions that complete the Zone of Mechanics will be able to count their votes. Player Faction votes will count as Basic Society Membership

I’ll be tabulating votes after the SIESTA, so make sure your vote is in before 2:00PM Saturday!

Ok, so now that you understand how to fill out the Ballot, what exactly are you voting on? There are THREE amendments being considered during this year’s meeting.

• Each of these laws can be voted on either YAY or NAY. If you don’t want the law to pass, choose NAY! If you want the law to pass, choose YAY! ヽ(^o^)ノ

• These laws will change the world of our game for the next season in measurable ways, so this is way for your player agency to really matter!

• Each law has a certain amount of support from the Board, and a certain amount of opposition. YOUR votes will determine which way they lean, and you can do RESEARCH in game or simply talk with the Board members in person to ask about where they stand. Some votes will be harder to overcome than others, particularly if they are popular with the people of the San Saba.

• The surviving members of the San Saba Board (poor Felicity) will be in town at 10:00 AM on Saturday to meet their constituents. They will leave that afternoon to cast their final votes from the opulent towers of Waking Prime sometime later (after I’ve finished counting the player votes).

• There will be a way to possibly ADD a new Law or Amendment to vote on provided you can complete a very challenging Zone of Mechanics task, but you gotta have someone with a MASTER SOCIETY MEMBERSHIP in a San Saba Faction to do this. Make sure you find out from your friends if someone is trying to work on this task, and there’s already several players that have planned on trying to make this happen. It’s going to be VERY difficult to complete, but if you don’t succeed, you’ll have some chances to make this easier next season.

Lastly, let’s look at some of the Skill Calls you might hear this weekend:

Threat Skills of Note

I’ll cover these during the opening announcements as well, but there are a few skills you might see on monsters and enemies to keep in mind for this next event.

drowning & DEEP WATER

If an area is marked as a DEEP WATER area, you might have to contend with the Drowning mechanic. We first introduced this during BEYOND THE HORIZON, but you might encounter this effect during the event.

Effect. The Drowning effect immediately drops you to 0 Body, regardless of what you had left, and you immediately enter Bleed Out. This condition is normally inflicted by Aquatic enemies, included in DARK WATER zone of mechanic effects, or the threat skill Dark Water Strike. The Saltwise strain and Full Dead strain are immune to this effect.

Stampede

Given that the Morgues have been closed for a little over a month, many of the zombies that normally plague the Lone Star have dwindled. Creatures that FEED on the Undead like Murder Goat Deer are now looking for new food sources… like YOU! A skill you might see on a certain horned critter might be useful to understand before the game:

Skill. Generally found amongst herd critters, the call of “All <Critter Type> Stampede!” causes all such critters within sound of voice to all charge in a single direction for up to 10 large steps. During these 10 large steps the critters affected by Stampede have up to 10 uses of “Takedown” as a skill during the 10 steps that can be used on those in their way. If struck or affected by any damage or skills during Stampede all animals may call “No Effect: Stampede.” Stampede may not last for more than 10 seconds.

Ranged Reduction

Some [REDACTED] are especially hard to kill, particularly from weapons like guns. Ranged Reduction is a skill common to some of these threats, and makes them very difficult to deal with at range — Guns only deal 1 damage instead of 5! When they are also terrifying and lethal up close, this is an especially deadly combination. Special note here, if you can find [REDACTED] BANE ammunition, you can deal normal weapon damage to the threats with this ability:

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 (Minimal) means that the target only takes 1 damage instead of 5 from a base Ranged Attack, which Ranged Reduction (Immune) means that the target does not take any damage from a base Ranged Attack. However, burst damage called would still have full effect on a target with either form of Ranged Reduction. Ranged BANE attacks do normal damage to the target, but do not double their damage.

Wrap Up

We have a great finale lined up for y’all and we can’t wait to see each of you for our last game of the season. Remember, you can still get tickets at the door if you didn’t pre-register!

Also, come prepared for the HEAT. It’s gonna be a hot one, so make sure you are hydrating early, wear a bit less armor, and try to be careful of overexerting yourself in the middle of the sunny day.

See you soon, Vados!

Disguise 101

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 in more detail than the book alone can provide. Today’s blog post will touch on a bit of things concerning ONE particular skill: PROFICIENT STEALTH, aka DISGUISE. This can be a confusing Skill, but I’m here to suggest some best practices and explain some rules mechanics you should know.

Tickets for our next event, THE CICATRIX, are live now and pre-reg ends on FRIDAY!

This blog post also touches a bit onto concepts of STEERING, which you can find a much longer write up about in our blog post on the topic. Disguise straddles the line between ethical and unethical steering, so it’s worth a consideration to be familiar with this concept first.

Disguise in Dystopia Rising is a bit of a tricky subject, because the book doesn’t really cover much of the common uses of the Skill, because a LOT of it is on Blueprints, or implied elsewhere instead. This is a complicated skill and a long blog post, so sorry in advance!

Let’s look at what this Skill does, the implied rules of the Skill, what items modify the use of this skill, and some of Jonathan’s best practices for better disguises.

The “Disguise” Skill?

First, let’s discuss the elephant in the room. There is actually no Skill named Disguise in 3.0. There are only 8 instances of the word “disguise” in the DR Corebook (and one refers to Artisanal Cuisiners disguising contents in food, so it doesn’t really count). Any time you hear a player refer to this ability in this manner, it’s a holdover from the world of 2.0, where Disguise was a separate Skill.

Instead, this is a secondary use of the Skill PROFICIENT STEALTH.

For ease of reference in this blog post, any time I refer to a “Disguise” skill, I really mean Proficient Stealth. Let’s take a look at the rules that are actually in the book, but there’s really only three major sections of note (emphasis mine):

Proficient Stealth, p. 129

An individual with this skill [Proficient Stealth] may also do a full costume change, including heavy makeup or face covering, and may spend 5 Mind points to be in disguise for a total of 30 minutes. The user must make every attempt to keep players from recognizing them out of character. While in disguise, the user must craft an alternate persona with a different Strain, personality, and mind-set that does not mimic another LC, SC, or Extra. At the end of the 30 minutes, the person may expend another 5 Mind points to continue acting as the same persona for another 30 minutes. While in disguise, other Extras, SCs, and LCs cannot recognize the character for who they are. The Awareness skill does not counter the disguise.

Character Costumes, p. 28

Your character costume identifies you as the persona you are portraying. Due to to the fact that the same person (you) may be portraying multiple personas over time, it is important to create a visual identity that allows players to identify a character a glance. This kit (or costume) can evolve over time, but you should not change the way your character dresses or acts drastically without using the Proficient Stealth skill (which allows participants to disguise themselves) due to the fact that this muddles the meta-concept of who are you playing instead of properly representing your character.

Supply Bags, p. 107

You can only have one Supply Bag on you at at time, and you cannot use other bags or items to disguise your Supply Bag… Those who disguise themselves are encouraged to use a secondary Supply Bag with their new costuming.

That’s not really a lot. Its only one paragraph in a big book, and is only referenced a few other places. I think this is one of the main reasons why folks get confused on the Skill, as most of the common uses of this Skill involve crafted equipment from Blueprints, and NOT THE SKILL ITSELF.

So let’s break all that down into some key rules from the book:

• This is a Proficient Skill, so you must have at least 50 Spent Experience, and already have the Skill Basic Stealth to buy this Skill.

  • We will talk about the big way around this rule that even Dusters can use in our section on Equipment!

• It costs 5 Mind points per 30 minutes you are in costume.

  • IMPORTANT NOTE: You don’t pay the next 5 Mind points until AFTER the 30 minutes is ending, so you CAN drink a brew, eat a meal, etc. before that happens in order to have enough Mind points for the next “touch-up” of the disguise.

• This skill requires a full costume change, including makeup OR a facial covering.

• You must make an attempt to conceal your identity out of character. A disguise can’t just be a pair of silly glasses and fake mustache. This also means your disguise needs to be capable of fooling the player as well as the character.

• You cannot disguise as the SAME Strain. You must portray a different Strain, and include a bit of acting with a new personality or mind-set.

• You cannot mimic another character or NPC. Sorry, no pretending to be Felicity Redfield — she’s too iconic!

• Other characters or NPCs cannot recognize you while in Disguise.

  • Similar to the use of Basic Stealth, this requires a bit of ethical steering on the part of the other players. They may recognize the you-shaped person behind the Disguise, but they cannot use that info. Just because you know who they are out-of-character doesn’t mean you can act on that info in-character.

  • If someone seems unsure, just tell them you aren’t that character, or you can simply place a hand on your head and remind them “Clarify: Disguised”.

• The Awareness Skill does NOT counter this secondary use of the Stealth Skill.

• You cannot drastically change your character’s costume WITHOUT the Disguise Skill.

  • IMPORTANT: This means that unless you use this particular Skill, no amount of scarves, fake mustaches, elaborate costumes, disguising your voice, etc. can provide you a way to hide your true identity as a character.

  • In other words, you gotta use a Skill or item for a disguise, not just a clever mask or outfit.

• You cannot disguise a Supply Bag, so you should have a different, secondary Supply Bag for your disguise costume.

As written, this skill can be challenging to use effectively, so let’s first consider some other implied rules of the Disguise skill.

inferred rules of disguise

As we dig a bit deeper into some things that are inferred in this skill, some of these things are not readily obvious. These are important clarifications, but some of these are not specifically stated anywhere so you gotta apply a bit of logic. Some of this is also going to be using rules from Blueprints, but I’ll discuss those specific interactions in more detail below.

• There is no time to use this skill, other than the time to put on another costume. This is the rare skill that has no activation time, other than real life speed at changing clothes.

• This is an instant effect of a Skill, and not an active Skill like Artisan or Medical. Once the Skill has been used, it is in effect on you for the duration and you can do other actions, including Active Roleplay (p. 102) skills.

• This is not an active Skill use, so it cannot be Interrupted (p. 104). Thus, it is not immediately removed or stopped by being Subdued or Unconscious.

• You cannot use this Skill while Subdued (p. 107), as it does not specifically state that you can. That means you will no longer be able to reactivate the skill at the end of 30 minutes while Subdued, so all your captor has to do is wait until it expires to discover the person behind the mask. Roh roh, Scooby!

• The book does not state when a disguise ends, other than the duration in the skill. That means there is no mechanical way to remove a Disguise.

  • “But, Jonathan, Combat Goggles state…” The goggles specifically state that it counters New Papers Camouflage (the Shadow PFA Skill use) only, and NOT the Proficient Stealth Skill.

• For our purposes in DR:TX, unless the Disguise is removed by the user on purpose, the Disguise skill ends upon character death and sinking into the Mortis Amaranthine (as there is no body left to disguise). This was clarified, per the Community Forums.

  • This means Widow’s Tea can help protect your identity if captured, as you can use it while Subdued!

• If you die while wearing a Disguise, you will NOT be Disguised in the Mortis Amaranthine scene (unless you are using other equipment I’ll talk about below). Folks with Necrokinetics or the like will be able to see the “real” you in the Grave Mind.

• Because the Disguise is simply a LIE, if someone uses the “Interrogate” function of Basic Malicious, Proficient Mental Endurance, Telepathy, Combat Goggles, or other methods to get you to tell the truth, your Disguise won’t help you — you will have answer as your true identity.

  • You must have another item or Skill to let you evade these types of questions, such as the PFA use of Moulen Rouge Camouflage, an “Oh Shit!” Shoe Tack, or Basic Mental Endurance.

  • This also means something like a Daline Death Measure Osteotome can ask questions of your corpse after your die and get answers from the REAL you, unless you’ve used the Camouflage item before your death.

Blueprints & Disguise

So the Skill itself has some limitations, so let’s look at the ways to modify this skill using EQUIPMENT. There’s only really three pieces of equipment that modify the Disguise skill, so let’s look at them each in detail (other than the few related items I’ve mentioned above, like Shoe Tacks and Widow's Tea).

I’ve included a link to the database in each title so you can see the rules for yourself.

Moulen Rouge Camouflage (GIZMO)

This item is the most commonly used item with the Disguise skill. Even after the release of the Many Faced Mask at Dead Water, this item still has some important uses that are not replicated.

• This is a single-use item. Once you use it, it’s gone.

• Basic Mechanics: Doesn’t impact Disguise at all. Sorry. Craft it to a higher level.

• Proficient Mechanics: This changes the duration to 1 hour, and it only costs 1 mind. You can still reactivate the Skill later, but it will be at the 5 Mind cost as usual (and only last 30 minutes per use after that). You would have to use ANOTHER one of these gizmos to get the longer duration and cheaper mind cost. This is great for newer players that don’t have a lot of Mind yet and still want to put on a Disguise.

• Master Mechanics: This is important for our Dusters, or folks that don’t have this Skill at all. Since the Skill is normally only usable on yourself, this allows you to apply a Disguise for 1 hour to another character. Just because you don’t have Proficient Stealth doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the sneaky plays around being in Disguise. This is a great way for even new Dusters to participate in Murder Incorporated…

• Achievement Mechanics: This is probably one of the most unique uses of the Skill, using the Shadow PFA. This changes the duration to 24 hours, allows you to answer Interrogate questions as your alternate identity, and even persists past death. Be wary, though, as this effect has a specific counter in the Combat Goggles item that can reveal your identity.

This blueprint had a notable change in November last year, gaining better uses of the Disguise skill and being reduced in cost to make (it no longer costs Plastics, just Scrap and Herb). If you haven’t gotten your blueprint updated, it’s worth checking to make sure it has the right date on the bottom right corner of the print. It should say “Revised 11/23/21”.

Combat Goggles (GIZMO)

This item is primarily notable as it is the only counter to the Disguise skill, but ONLY the use of the skill with the Achievement Mechanics of the Moulen Rouge Camouflage.

• B/P/M Mechanics: The basic item doesn’t require a Skill to use, but only the PFA ability interacts with Disguise. Everything else is used to protect you from the Blinding skill.

• Achievement Mechanics: This allows a Veteran PFA to not only detect if someone is lying, but it also specifically counters the “New Papers Camouflage” PFA ability of the Moulen Rouge Camouflage.

• This item does NOT actually counter the Disguise of a Many Faced Mask or the actual use of the Disguise skill by itself. However, it can be used to detect lies at the end of the 10 minutes, so it functions very similarly to uncover a disguised person as Malicious or Mental Endurance. If you want to stay in Disguise, remember the motto of the Criminal Influence Underworld: “Eyes Open, MOUTH SHUT”.

The Many Faced Mask (MURDER INC GIZMO)

This is now the premiere Disguise item in the game, but it’s not without it’s own quirks. If you aren’t part of Murder Incorporated, it could be character deadly to be caught using their equipment without their blessing.

• This item takes Proficient Stealth to use. It only requires Basic Criminal Influence and Murder Inc. Society Membership to CRAFT, not use.

• This item is ALWAYS recognizable as a Murder Inc. item. The goal is to hide your specific identity as an assassin, NOT the identity of your employers. Murder Inc. kinda wants their victims to know it was them…

• Unlike most Murder Inc. equipment, this does NOT have the “Wasteland-Only” keyword, so it can be used anywhere in our DR:TX game.

• This mask requires a specific phys rep. While it is generally in the shape of the three sub-faction identities (bauta, plague mask, featureless), it can be other shapes depending on which Family you are part of. You find some specifics on our website.

• Basic Mechanics: This is a rare Basic item that modifies a Proficient skill use. This makes the Disguise last until the END OF THE EVENT, or until you remove the mask or reveal your identity. That’s pretty huge. You don’t have to worry about spending lots of Mind to stay in Disguise, but if you are tied up or Subdued, someone can just remove the mask off of you.

• Proficient Mechanics: This is a solid upgrade to the Basic effect, because now if anyone removes or breaks your mask except you, the Disguise continues until the next 12s. This is one good way to keep a Disguise on for a long time, even if you are Subdued since you won’t have to reactivate it for a while. Just make sure you have some time until the next 12s, cause if they take your Mask off at 11:55am, this effect only lasts 5 minutes!

• Master Mechanics: The mask’s disguise ability at Basic or Proficient now persists beyond death. This is similar to the PFA use of Moulen Rouge Camouflage, and can protect you from snooping folks using Necrokinetics. However, it can cause some… interesting modifications to the Grave Mind scene, as the rumors behind your Disguise can influence the Mortis Amaranthine itself.

• It’s worth noting that this item does NOT allow you to LIE about your identity when questioned. You’ll have to rely on other items or Skills to stay quiet.

These three items are the main things you should be aware of when using Disguise, but there could be Augments or other Local Plot Items that interact with this skill in the future. This is a complete list for now, but it could change!

Jonathan’s Best Practices for DisguisE

As part of our Radical Trust and steering, we want to make it even easier for folks to buy into the disguise and that means maintaining the illusion of disbelief as long as possible. Sure, they might recognize you as a player, but let’s give them something worthwhile to roleplay with and a potential for a fun reveal later! No matter if you want to control the information about your true identity or carefully reveal it at a dramatic opportunity, a better disguise can aid either type of roleplay.

If you see someone that you recognize and suspect they are in a disguise, play along. Buy into their roleplay, and give them the benefit of the doubt. This is the best type of ethical steering in my mind, as it gives you a fun scene but also says “yes, and..” to the other player. I promise that if you make a habit of trusting your fellow player to play along, you’ll be surprised with how often they do.

Using a Disguise can be a really fun experience. It’s a thrill unlike any other, and it’s often a very useful tool in CvC to try to avoid consequences for illegal activities like theft or murder. If the Law Dog doesn’t know who to arrest, you can’t be dragged to the Gauntlet after all. With our new CvC factions of Murder Inc. and the Red Ledger and all the plots they have in store for next season, there’s a lot of new opportunities to engage in a bit of the more dangerous side of the game, provided you can conceal your real identity.

We’ve also recently introduced a new Zone of Mechanics during Criminal mods called the “PANOPTICON”. This is a yellow sheet of paper that will be flagged by the Guide at the start of a mod where you should probably have a Disguise. You will sign the sheet, record your player number and whatever “name” you are claiming at that time, and state whether or not you are currently in Disguise. If you see this sheet and don’t have the ability to put on a Disguise with a Skill or item, this means you are “opting in” to consequences if something goes wrong because someone is always watching. You can also choose to “opt out” of the mod or go in knowing that your identity may be learned by some bad folks (or Law Dogs).

With that in mind, there’s a couple of practical and physical considerations for using the Disguise skill. This is a list of my best practices recommendations, but I’m sure others have some great suggestions as well. If you need help in figuring out a Disguise, talk to your friends or look for other players engaged in the Criminal play in the game for other ideas.

Change your identifiable features & Clothing

It may seem a little obvious, but it’s worth mentioning. Don’t wear a visible costume piece that might immediately give you away. Ideally, this is an entirely different costume than your normal outfit, and not just a blanket or set of scarves over your face. A good disguise makes you indistinguishable from your true character at a glance.

Don’t wear that fancy flag or patch, and try to conceal things about you that are uniquely noticeable. If you are very tall, try to walk with a hunch or slump. If you are tiny, consider pillows or padding to simulate a different shape or size. I’ve seen some folks even use things like prosthetics or stilts to change their profile. You can also use baggier clothing, or change your normal fit. Use flowing, form-concealing clothing to hide your profile. If they can’t see or recognize your normal body shape, it can be hard to identify you.

Remember to make sure that even parts of the REAL YOU that are identifiable like tattoos, hair, beards, body jewelry, or even exposed skin are hidden in your disguise. If someone notices something like this out of character, it can make it hard for them not to associate that disguise with you. Something like a wig can go a long way to concealing your identity, particularly if you have colorful or notable hair colors, for instance.

Wear a Mask

Like I mentioned before the best disguises prevent someone from recognizing you out of character. The best way I’ve found to do this is through the use of a MASK. While items like the Many Faced Mask are also mechanically useful in game, a mask could be purposefully recognizable or iconic, or just something very common like a Raider or Retrograde mask. Keep in mind that a full face mask can be challenging to fight safely in, as it can affect your peripheral vision. Make sure you find something that is comfortable to wear and easy to breathe in, particularly if you plan on staying in disguise for a longer time.

Additionally, there’s something primal about not being able to see a person’s eyes or face. It’s a big way to inspire horror and fear, and there’s a reason why some of the best villains like Raiders or Nemesis conceal their faces with a mask — it hides who they are! It’s the main reason that Murder Inc. uses iconic masks — they want you to feel that dread as you recognize them as an agent of the shadowy assassin’s guild.

Keep your mouth shut

The best way to have a great Disguise is to simply NEVER TALK. Be silent and mysterious. No matter how good your costume is, your voice can give you away. You might be one of those people that can make a neat accent, but that’s definitely not one of my talents. If they can’t recognize your voice, they can’t identify you later. Use hand symbols or gestures, or if you are talented enough you can use actual sign language. Write down your threats in a book for them to read. If you must talk, use a whisper. But, when in doubt, just don’t say anything at all and do your best to roleplay the brooding, silent spy.

have a different set of Gear for your disguise

The Disguise skill doesn’t change the look of that unique boffer weapon that you had specially made by a talented crafter. If they can recognize your gear, someone might be able to determine your real identity. This means that while you are taking care to conceal obvious parts of your costume, don’t make the mistake of using the same weapons, shields, and armor. Get a different boffer, different phys reps, and even different injectibles or brews.

Remember that you can’t Disguise a Supply Bag, so have a secondary Supply Bag to use in your disguise. It can also help to keep a completely separate set of gear for use in your disguises. If you can, try to even have a different type of weapon that you normally rely on. If always have a Shield when not using a disguise, sometimes something as simple as using Florentine instead can change your profile in a big way.

develop a new persona

Develop an identity with a background, a hometown, a name and a family, and thoughts and feelings about the world. Make sure you put some thought into how you might answer normal questions about Faith, local politics, or the events of the weekend. Be careful about pretending to be part of a crew or faction that you don’t know much about, as it can be a quick way to out yourself as an impostor. If you can hold a conversation with another character while still in the role of your disguise, it can go a long way to selling the deception.

Remember things like Society Memberships for Factions can be a great way to separate the identity too — if you are a diehard RRC member, maybe working on a Supply Order for the Junkerpunks could be a good way to stand out as someone different.

accessorize your outfit

The more complete your outfit is while in disguise, the more easily people can steer into accepting this new face as a different person than your normal character. The best disguises are almost as elaborate as a costume for your secondary character or alt. Accessories can be a great way to accomplish this, so think about something like a Faith patch or symbol of a San Saba Faction to sell the story. Things like hats, jewelry, or other gear like medical kits or crafting tools can be a good way to create a new identity. Stuff like trophies, small trinkets, or keepsakes can help create that complete persona. Accessories help build layers for your disguise.

If you can, you can even try to have a few items with item cards ready for your identity. That medical kit sells your identity as a small town doctor better if it’s actually a Candlepin Medical Kit. Think about popular Gizmos or equipment that people like to use, and try to use actual in-game items as accessories.

details matter

Think of the little things that might give you away in your disguise. Be careful about pulling out your character sheet in view of others, or using your character name at the Post Office. Try using a foreign currency if you purchase things while in disguise to add to the mystery. Have some unique trappings of your outfit that makes it a complete costume, and not just a black sheet you’ve draped over your shoulders. Practice not answering or flinching when someone calls you by your real character name. Try to think through every little detail that might give away your identity while in disguise, and be prepared for surprises.

Some advanced ways to make details matter are to develop and use a Skill that you don’t normally use in character. If your sneaky identity learned to use Culinary in secret, it can go a long way to selling the disguise if it’s not a Skill that people might recognize you having. If you have XP to spare, it can be useful to keep a few tricks hidden up your sleeve.

The anti-disguise

While something like a mask can be an obvious tool for a disguise, don’t overlook keeping it simple. After all, Clark Kent simply put on a pair of glasses to hide his identity as Superman. Something simple like a pair of glasses, a beard, or a wig can make a big impact. Makeup can go a long way to change your look, particularly if you lean into something like pretending to be a Retrograde or Full Dead. If you’ve always wanted to try a different Strain, a Disguise can be a good way to try out something like LED glow to pretend to be a Iron or Unstable.

Try picking a Strain that is drastically different than your normal Strain to create a clear separation between your Disguise and your character. Treat your disguise as if it was a different character, and try to just be “normal”. Sometimes, wearing a scary black outfit and a spooky mask does more to attract attention than simply being just another “Duster” in the background of the Depot.

THE NPC Disguise

This piece of advice is not for the timid. We have a peculiar habit in DR that can sometimes get the better of us. We get used to seeing that person in black sweat pants wearing a bad cowboy hat and a plaid button up shirt walking into town selling brews, asking for help, or simply getting in trouble. When they show up, we generally try to play along. You know it’s an NPC, and it’s hard not to treat them like one. A clever player can try to lean into this effect by keeping your disguise a little TOO obvious. A pair of black sweatpants and a simple boffer that could be mistaken for an NPC weapon can build the illusion.

However, this can backfire. If someone is really fooled by your disguise, they might assume you are an NPC and try to attack or rob you if you aren’t careful. The “murder-hobo” LC can be a big danger if you are pretending to be a random townsfolk or merchant. If you wear a scary Raider or Nemesis mask, they might just kill you to get your “loot”. You might get a little more push back than normal if they think you are just the random pickpocket NPC walking into town to make trouble, or that bandit trying to lure people off into the Wastelands. Be warned!

Limit your Exposure

Even the best disguises can be broken if folks have enough time to notice the inconsistencies. Keep your interactions with other characters short and sweet. Don’t give them enough time to really dig into who you are or what you are doing. When you can, avoid people and keep focused on your mission or task. Keeping moving, and don’t stay in one place for long. If you are out to attack someone or plant that black clothespin, keep your eyes on the prize and limit the time folks have to notice that you are wearing a disguise.

Remember, the only real way to identify someone in a disguise is to capture and question them, or to spend 10 minutes with a Veteran and a pair of Combat Goggles. If they don’t get 10 minutes, they can’t break your disguise!

stay in character longer

This is kind of the opposite advice of the point above, but it’s worth mentioning. One particularly powerful way to sell your disguise is to let people assume that you are playing an alternate character. We have lots of people that play multiple characters during an event, and you can lean into this assumption by pretending to be an alt instead. Remember, anyone with an Advanced Membership can play up to three different characters during an event, so what if this disguise was just one of those characters? Wink, wink

This means you need to stick around for about 4 hours, since you can’t switch between your characters that fast under normal circumstances. Try to attend social events in your disguise, or make trips to the Post Office. Complete a project at the workbench or kitchen, or help tend to the wounded at the Infirmary. Interact with people, and stay in your chosen role as long as you can. This gives you a strong “alibi”, as your character was clearly not there when that heist went down, officer. Just remember that you cannot mechanically LIE in character without specific equipment that allows you do so. You can roleplay a lie all you want, but if they start using Skills on you the disguise won’t help. Be prepared to evade that Interrogation, or find somewhere else to be when the Veteran shows up.

Plan an escape route

So the hardest part of wearing a disguise is when you eventually get caught. It’s honestly not a matter of IF you get caught in a Disguise, but rather WHEN you get caught. Make sure you have a way out. Be aware of exits out of buildings, and make sure you are close to an exit if stuff seems like its turning against you. Take advantage of distractions like zombie or raider attacks or player events to fade into a crowd and away from pursuers. Most importantly, make a plan. The more ready you are for someone catching you, the better you will react when the time comes.

Items like the Widow’s Tea, or skills like Master Stealth can be quick ways to get away, but if it’s at night even Basic Stealth can be handy for a quick getaway. Sometimes, simply outrunning your opponents can be a great way to survive, so practice that cardio! Or simply kill them. It’s hard to be identified if no witnesses survive!

P.S. Sorry, not sorry if I just made you want to reinstall Team Fortress 2.

Wrap up

That’s it for today, and it was a doozy! Sorry for the length of this post, but it was a LOT to cover. There’s still a second part to this discussion, particularly related to Steering and Criminal Play, but that’s a blog post for later.

We have a fun event in store for you during THE CICATRIX, including our recently announced POOL TIME at Kachina. Tickets are on sale through Friday, but you’ll still be able to buy tickets at the door at the game!

Next week, I’ll be covering some of the last minute rules to consider for the event, including information about the Stakeholder’s Meeting and how you might find a… messy… way OUT of the Mortis Amaranthine if you die…

See you next time Vados!

Action Requests & Plot Requests

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 in 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 blog post will touch on a few last things concerning Roleplay. This week is a discussing the differences between a PLOT REQUEST and an ACTION REQUEST.

We also previously covered Chasing Plot in a blog post, specifically dealing with some best practices for how to be involved in plot. This was published in a series of guest blog posts by Heather Halstead, which you can find here:

• Chasing Plot, Part 1

• Chasing Plot, Part 2

So let’s get into the differences between the two types of PLOT REQUESTS that you will see in Dystopia Rising, and some best practices for each.

Action Requests

Before we go into best practices for PERSONAL PLOT REQUESTS, let’s briefly cover the difference between the other more common type of plot request: ACTION REQUESTS. You can find the specific rules of Action Requests on pg. 13 of the DR Corebook:

A number of skills require communication between the event team and a participant before an event occurs. These skills may influence the direction of story, create specific scenes that Guides will then organize, or require a certain degree of planning. When a participant needs to communicate to the team before an event, they put in an Action Request. An Action Request goes through an outlined medium (often a web page form or email) and is then handled by the employees who oversee a specific branch. This process ensures that there a standing log of all requests that are made so that if there is an employee change for the branch, there are multiple individuals who have access to your request.

Action Requests are simply a plot request centering around the use of a Skill or an Item.

• You can submit new Action Requests via our website.

This is going to be the primary way that most players interact with plot requests, particularly once you’ve unlocked Master-tier Skills that open up regular modules each month, like Criminal Influence, Hunting, Sailing, and Financial Influence.

Here are the Skills and items that let you submit an Action Request:

• Master Criminal Influence (p. 122)

• Master Financial Influence (p. 123)

• Master Hunting (p. 130)

• Master Sailing (p. 131)

• Proficient Necrokinetics (p. 135)

• Pallor Mortis (Blueprint)

• Other Item Mechanics (items like the Imprint Harvested Avontuur Map)

• Retirement Arc Requests (p. 22)

  • SPECIAL NOTE: We’ve actually moved this option to our Personal Plot Request site in DR:TX, as it feels more appropriate there, but this is actually listed as an Action Request in the book, for the record.

Remember these must be submitted ASAP before a game! If you get these in too late, you may miss out on your chance!

Action Requests are likely to be bundled with other players who have requested the same type of request.

This means that if we have 5 players enter a request for a Master Financial mod, we will simply involve each of those players in the SAME MOD. This way, we can maximize our resources as the ST staff, and we can ensure that a module gets run during that next event. It’s far more rewarding to write one mod instead of trying to build out 5 individual mods.

Action Requests will be prioritized versus other types of plot requests, as many of these have very specific ways they are fulfilled. In fact, in DR:TX, we ALWAYS plan to have the four main types of Action Requests (Criminal, Financial, Hunting, Sailing) scheduled in advance. Even if you are a traveler, you can easily find a way to be hooked into these types of mods.

If you just want to be hooked into whatever mods are running for those skills each month, you can indicate that non-specifically on your ticket registration.

So let’s talk about the other type of Request.

Personal Plot Requests

FUN FACT: Personal Plot Requests are not in the DR Corebook. In fact, there’s only 6 mentions of “plot request” at all in the book, and most of these really refer to Action Requests instead (p. 22, 123, 135, 143, 144, and 164 for those that are interested..). Instead, these types of requests were first introduced in the National CAPs system introduced at the start of 3.0 to reward out-of-game behaviors that help our your local game.

I’ve included a list of the relevant points from the National site below.

We’ve set the standard amount of CAPS required to request a Personal Plot Request to 200 CAPs. These CAPs can either come from one player, or several players can pool their CAPs for a Group Plot Request.

The DR:TX team has also added a few additional types of Personal Plot Requests, particularly in the form of Faction Interviews to earn Proficient Society Membership and the ability to have another player teach you a Profession Focus Achievement. You can find all of these options on our website:

• Faction Interview

• PFA Request (Player- or ST-Driven)

• Retirement Arc Request (p. 22)

• Personal Plot Request (Individual) - 200 CAPS

• Personal Plot Request (Group) - 200 CAPS

Because of the high-volume of requests, those who are spending CAPs will be prioritized over those who do not. Don’t worry, plot requests for PFAs or Faction Interviews do not require CAPs.

As you can see, there’s quite a few ways to request a Plot, and we’ve done our best to make this process easy and stream-lined on our website. So let’s talk about how the process works from there.

The Plot Request Process

Once you’ve submitted a request on our website, our wonderful Admin team will get an email about the request that we post to our writers and STs. If you chose to put your non-generic request into your check-in form, this is also where we collect those requests as well.

Each month, we plan on running four different Action Request mods, and we will assign these out to members of our ST staff during the first few weeks of our production cycle. We generally like to have a good idea of when or if these events will be run pretty quickly, so we can give our STs time to plan something special. The earlier you can complete the check-in process, the more likely it is that we will run that mod!

An example of a plot request we get from the website form.

For plot requests outside of Criminal, Financial, Hunting, and Sailing, we then look for submissions that have spent CAPs. We also compare how recently it’s been since you requested a plot request, as we will prioritize those that haven’t had a recent plot request over those that submit more regular requests. We want to get to as many players as possible within a given game or season!

We request that you allow for a cool-down between personal plot requests (of any type, including ST-Driven PFAs) of 4 months.

Generally our Storytelling Senate chooses from the list of plot requests those stories that speak to them and spark their creativity. We work our way down the list, so it may be a few games before we get to you. If no one picks up your plot request after a few months, go ahead and re-submit it. We’re looking for compelling stories that fit well into our setting and sometimes a story is just hard to translate to compelling mods and NPC interactions.

You do not need staff permission to plan your own scenes among friends or to say that something fun and exciting (or traumatic and dramatic!) happened off screen to your character. If you feel like you might be stepping on something that needs plot approval, just drop us a line.

There’s nothing worse then preparing a big mod and then the player not being there for it! We reserve the right not to schedule personal plot for events where the requestee’s attendance is in question, so please pre-register, and contact us if you have a pending request and won’t be attending!

writing better plot requests

I’ve actually already covered some of the best advice I can offer for plot requests in my last blog post on Writing a Better Backstory. I’ll adapt a few of the best pieces from there today, but most of the big principles are the same.

The number one rule of a getting your Personal Plot Request or unique Action Request noticed is simple:

Make it Interesting

We empower our STs with a lot of agency in DR:TX. The job needs to be as fun for them to tell stories as it is for you to experience them. There’s an element of service to the community, to be sure, but we also want to avoid burnout in our staff as well. If an ST is interested in your story, they will WANT to spend time writing a compelling story for you. Think about the pitch for your plot request, and let us know why it is important to you. I spent hours crafting a story for our last game about how a player could boil a tree all because I found it hilarious to write.

Think about your request as if it was a PLOT HOOK. This means you need to include a few things into the request:

• Who’s involved? A good hook tells us immediately who the protagonists are. Even if this is for just for you, let us know who might also be interested in the story. The more people we can include into the pitch, the easier it can be to write a compelling story. Think of the people near you that might also care about your story. A story that only involves one person is still possible, but we are also looking to tell stories for an entire game worth of players. The more people your request involves, the more likely we are to pick this plot request to run. A story about Romeo isn’t the same without Juliet, after all.

• What’s the conflict? We need to know what problem or story you want to tell. Keep it simple, but focus on the big beats you want to see in your request. If you want a duel with your rival at midnight in the crossroads, TELL US! If we have a clear way to build tension or include a specific type of conflict, it can be a great inspiration for how to work your plot request into our story.

• What do you hope to achieve? What’s the payoff? What do you want to accomplish or what result are you looking for from your request? Tell us in broad strokes what you want the story to be about, and it will be easier to craft a satisfying conclusion to your story request. You don’t necessarily have to make it a defined answer, as a good hook can be a question — How will you overcome this challenge? Will Johnny catch the murderer? Will he lose the girl?

The next suggestions are variations from my Background blog post, so we will cover them quickly here:

Keep it Simple

Use bullet points, or just a few short paragraphs. The longer and more flowery the prose is in your request, the less likely we will be able to include everything into the request. Part of attracting the attention of a writer is to not fill in all the blanks for them. Paint us a picture, sure, but leave some of the painting to us!

keep it relevant

If you can find a way to make your plot request tie in with the event’s premise, I promise we can find many more ways to make sure it happens. We usually post our premise for the next event during the first week of ticket sales, so you should be able to use that blog post as a springboard for your request. A good plot request that ties into the overarc basically writes itself, and gives us a reason to help you find a spotlight!

Ground your Request in the Setting

We’ve written a lot about the setting, so requests that let us bring in characters, places, and things from the history of our game can be evocative ways to catch the ST’s attention. You can also apply ideas from your Background — don’t be afraid to reference characters or ideas from that to include into your request. That extra info can be valuable for us to create an interesting story. Names, identities, and figures of importance can be great ways to tie your plot request into the overall narrative of DR:TX.

Leave some Unanswered Questions

Part of attracting the attention of a writer is to not fill in all the blanks for them. Paint us a picture, sure, but leave some of the painting to us! Try not to answer every single plot thread in your request, but leave some unanswered questions that we can help answer. If you’ve outlined every chapter in your story and told us each twist and turn, it will be a little boring for the ST to craft into a story they want to run.

Keep Connections in Mind

I mentioned this above in my example of a plot hook, it’s important to consider the other people we can involve in your story. Often, an ST only has so many NPCs on a given shift, and has several other stories they have to include into the metaplot of the weekend. Between sending out raiders and zombies, backing up whatever big bad or research story we have, we need to be efficient with our resources. If I know that your story can involve and entertain an entire group of people, that’s just good math. Our job as an ST is to include as many people as possible, so let us know who else we can involve into the mod.

Be Flexible

Lastly, be prepared to make some changes. The best plot requests are FLEXIBLE. Let the ST have a bit of creative leeway with your idea, and we can tell a better story together. It takes a bit of trust, but when you let us create a story with a few of our own surprises, it’ll be a better experience for everyone. Being flexible is especially important if you are involving major NPCs or Factions into your story, as we might have to change or massage those ideas into something that works within the big picture of the game. We want to help you find a way to tell your story, so being willing to adapt and change is a great way to get an ST involved in writing your plot request.

wrap up

We’ve covered a lot today about Plot Requests, and I’m hard at work on a Story Recap for our last event, COLLECTION DAY. You might have seen some teasers posted on Facebook about the Morgues of the San Saba experiencing a bit of… difficulty. Tickets for our next event, THE CICATRIX are up now, and you can pre-reg for the event, sign up for your Action Requests, and get that Plot Request in for our finale! See you soon, Vados!