Rules Ramble

Bravado Bones

Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our August online event THE UNDYING PRINCE! Each week, I’ll discuss in detail an aspect of the upcoming event, compiling the rules and lore into one easy place to read! This week, we are going to discuss how our online rules system, Bravado Bones, helps tell better stories!

Over the last two weeks, we have covered a bit of the premise of the event and why your characters might end up in the lost city of Barogue, and how crafting works in online in our blog posts. Check it out!

Our photos for this post were taken from previous DR:TX events by our talented Photo Team.

a Ruleset for Online Play

It might be a bit obvious, but it’s hard to swing a boffer and call damage on an enemy in an online space. A lot of the Dystopia Rising mechanics are really meant only for live events, and they don’t translate well to an online space. So, to overcome this hurdle we first faced during the pandemic, we came up with a solution — a ruleset specifically for online games.

One of our talented staff members at the time, Sam Mars, designed the first round of our Bravado Bones mechanics, creating a way to adapt your existing DR character sheet into a new form for online play.

BRAVADO BONES is a Powered By The Apocalypse skin, originally adapted by Sam to use during our pandemic virtual game play. It is not meant to be a replacement for the Dystopia Rising LARP system, nor is it meant to replace the tabletop system published by Onyx Path. We use this ruleset during our online events, which we call “Lonestar Skies Virtual Events”. I’ve recently updated this ruleset to our new 1.1 mechanics, incorporating a few new ideas that have evolved over the years since we first designed the system.

Bravado Bones sessions are led by a Guide and are played by a 4-5 of Leading Characters (LCs). During play, the Guide will act as a narrator, storyteller, and referee.  This is a rules-light, collaborative Storytelling system, focused on the stories we tell together and not the mechanics.

Character sheets for Bravado Bones are generated from your Dystopia Rising character sheet and use your progress in game to represent your abilities in the virtual space.

Why bravado bones?

We believe that Bravado Bones captures the BEST thing about Dystopia Rising — the story we tell with our friends. During a module online, you will tell a story together, using the principles of “yes, and…” to tell an exciting, engaging story of how your characters survived the challenges of the wasteland. In the online space we get to do things we can NEVER do in live events.

As an ST, I can’t really pour a thousand pounds of sand on Camp Kachina to simulate a desert, and I certainly don’t have the budget to build a haunted lost city on our game site. In Bravado Bones, we get to explore areas of the San Saba we could never visit in game.

As a player, I might not be able to sprint across the battlefield in game thanks to an old injury, but in the Bravado Bones system, my character can speed into a fight in a way that I’ll never achieve in real life. I can do feats of daring that my old body could never accomplish in game.

As a character, I might imagine my character as this master sniper, but I know that Nerf dart will never fly 50 meters across the field to hit accurately on my target. But in Bravado Bones, I can be a marksman that never misses, or I can summon fire from my hands without the need for pyrotechnics.

In short, you get to be the HERO. And that’s really, really cool.

So let’s cover some important differences of Bravado Bones from the live events, past the obvious:

  • The rules are simple. There’s no huge rulebook, and only about 3-4 pages of actual mechanics for Bravado Bones. It only takes a few minutes to make a character, and your character sheet is only a few lines long.

  • You roll dice to determine your success during a scene. We will cover a bit more about this below, but the system is very simple, and uses a 2d6 mechanic to determine random rolls.

  • The rules system is designed for you to SUCCEED. Failure is boring, and the system is very forgiving, no matter how much XP your character has.

  • You get to be a bad ass. When you succeed on a roll in Bravado Bones, you don’t just kill a single zombie, you hack through dozens and decimate that horde with your awesome sword skills.

  • You cannot die in Bravado Bones. Unless you want to. Death is such a cool part of Dystopia Rising, and we can never do it justice in the online space. We want to reserve that experience for the live space, so unless you purposefully choose to die, you won’t lose Infection during a Bravado Bones game.

Let’s talk a bit about how this all works.

Bravado Bones Rules

We’ve posted all of the rules for Bravado Bones on our website, completely FREE! I’ll cover a quick summary, but there’s only a few things to read so take a look:

In Bravado Bones, we use your existing Dystopia Rising Character Sheet to build out your characters. You can find the complete rules above for how to do this and we will have some time on Friday before the event to help folks convert their character sheets. For now, let’s stick to the basics.

Each character in Bravado Bones has four main STATS. These will range from a score of [-1] to [+3], depending on how many total skills your character has.

  • COMBAT - This is the combination of all of your Combat skills, like Avoid, Combat Tactics, or weapon skills like Melee Standard or Firearms. You might use this STAT to change a scene with your combat prowess or skill at surviving a fight.

    • Because every character starts with 8 weapon skills to start, EVERY character in Bravado Bones has at least a [+1] in this score.

  • WASTELAND -This is the combination of all of your Wasteland skills, like Stealth, Foraging, or Enhanced Movement. You might use this STAT to change a scene based on your skill at surviving in the harsh environment of the wastes, or your ability to move about a location.

  • CIVILIZED - This is the combination of all of your Civilized skills, like Agricultural, Education, or Medical. This STAT might be used to represent your impressive skills at medicine or other useful trained skills, or even your general charisma and social prowess.

  • ANOMALY - This is the combination of all of your aberrant Anomaly skills, like Biogenetics or Telepathy, or faithful skills like Faithful Miracles. If you didn’t choose to be a psion, you might have a [-1] in this roll. This STAT is used to change things with the power of psionics, or to resist the foul influence of the Grave Mind.

You also have two POOLS, that you can spend during the session. You don’t have as many points overall to track, as every 10 points of Body or Mind equals one point in Bravado Bones. This keeps the math way easier!

  • BODY - This determines how much damage you can take during a scene. If you hit 0, you enter Bleed Out and will need healing, just like a normal game.

  • MIND - You can spend your Mind points to change the outcome of a roll in your favor. If you have a related Achievement, it works even better!

  • RESOLVE - This stat is not used in Bravado Bones, but instead gives you Freebie Points to customize your character. Maybe you think your character would be a bit tougher and have more Body, or maybe you feel like they are better at Wasteland than their STAT would suggest.

To use your STATs during a Bravado Bones session, you will roll some dice using the /roll command. You only have to roll for important actions, where the results matter.

You might notice that the STATS are the same as the four groups of Skills. Your STATS are determined by counting the total number of skills you have, less any PFAs you’ve earned.

A Bravado Bones character sheet is MUCH simpler by comparison.

At the heart of the Bones system is the dice rolls that make up a “Challenge”.  This is a series of rolls by the players to hit a difficulty number set by the Guide.

The core dice mechanic of Bones, for reference, is:

  • 2d6 + STAT (+/- Modifiers)

So, if you had a [+2] in your Combat STAT and you wanted to show off your skills with a rifle, you would roll 2d6+2 and describe how you use your Skills to impact the Challenge. Pretty simple, right?

To make a roll, you simply describe what your character is doing, and then make a roll using the STAT that the Guide tells you to use. The goal is to describe what your character is doing in a BIG way. It’s not simply a roll to see if you swing a sword at a zombie, it’s a roll to see how you CHANGE THE SCENE. You don’t throw a white packet at that Raider, your Pyrokinetics ignites the air around you with a bone melting fury, obliterating any foe that stands in your way.

Feel free to embellish, exaggerate, and generally tell us how you are being a bad ass. Bravado Bones is about these moments where you feel like a rock star, not about you rolling a bunch of dice to deal damage to a foe. Be extraordinary and tell a story that everyone will remember!

When you make a roll in Bravado Bones, there’s only a few possible outcomes.

  • Total Failure (2-6): You do not succeed at your narrative action, and your LC gets a consequence or complication.

  • Mixed Success (7-9): You succeed, but you have a cost or downside to the action, like a penalty on a future roll or losing Mind or Body.

  • Total Success (10-11): Your character achieved exactly what they set out to do, and you had no consequences or costs.

  • Heroic Success (12+): Not only do you succeed, you get to change the scene, and narrate what happens next! This is your chance to be a big damn hero!

There’s a few ways to improve your rolls by spending Mind Points or using your Achievements, gaining temporary bonuses to the roll through Advantage [+1] or Disadvantage [-1], or using things like [Pips] and [Tags], but that’s all pretty easy to learn as you go. The dice roll is the main mechanic you have to learn. You can read more in the Core Rules, if you want to learn more.

It’s pretty simple and intuitive, and our Guides will help you during each session, so don’t worry.

Bravado Bones is a simple, easy system to help you experience the terrors and mysteries of the Lost City of Barogue, and we can’t wait to show you more!

Can’t think why I posted a picture of Resonant Raiders. Weird.

I’ve Played Bones Before, What’s actually New?

Great question! Let’s cover the few main differences for our 1.1 Rule Set.

  • We’ve added [Pips] and [Tags]. In fairness, we added this at the end of the online season, but you might have missed the change. These are ways to modify rolls in Bravado Bones in your favor, past Mind points. Pips are a temporary [+1] bonuses that can be expended on a single roll, while Tags work like another PFA and allow you even better use of your Mind points. Both of these rules help simulate item cards and equipment in the online rules.

  • You can now gain [Threats], which are negative conditions that the Guide can use to create some risk in a scene. During a mod, the Guide can offer to refresh 1 Mind Point in exchange for you failing the next roll for dramatic tension. What kind of new stories can you tell with a dramatic comeback?

  • We’ve added a new type of permanent [Threat] called EXHAUSTED and INJURED. Our good friends at DR: New Mexico first pioneered these mechanics, so we’ve adapted them in Texas. When you enter Bleed Out during a mod, you get the [Injured] Threat. If you run out of Mind points during a mod, you get the [Exhausted] Threat. Each of these Threats creates a penalty to your STATS, but they can be healed in the soft role play rooms.

  • We have a custom mechanic for this event - [NIGHTMARES]. This might be a bit of a spoiler so reader beware, but I’ve posted the complete rules in our Temporary Mechanics.

  • In general, I’ve tried to provide a few more examples of what can happen in a Challenge in the core rules, and provided some neat examples of sample rolls and scenes. Maybe you’ll see a character name you know!

The Prince Undying, by Shan Lind

Wrap up

That’s it for today Vados!

Remember, Mod Sign Ups go live next week, on Monday! Don’t miss out on your chance to experience the nightmares and horrors of the Lost City of Barogue!

Next week we will cover some last minute Logistics before the event, and share some of the Story that happens as your characters begin the event. Stay tuned!

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The Undying Prince - Crafting & Econ

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Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our August online event THE UNDYING PRINCE! Each week, I’ll discuss in detail an aspect of the upcoming event, compiling the rules and lore into one easy place to read! This week, we are going to discuss how Crafting and Economy skills will function in the online event!

Last week, we covered a bit of the premise of the event and why your characters might end up in the lost city of Barogue, in our blog post. Check it out!

Our photos for this post were taken from previous DR:TX events by our talented Photo Team.

Crafting in a DR:TX Online Event

Let’s face it. We all know the real reason you are here. It’s all about the shiny item cards you can earn for your character. New gear, new loot, new blueprints, it’s all about the economy! The Econ game is one of my favorite parts of Dystopia Rising. I’ve even written a blog post on how to get better, and we’ve included a number of resources on our website like my Blueprint Checklist, the Skill Buy Lists, and even a Scrap & Herb Guide.

But with that said, let’s talk about crafting during THE UNDYING PRINCE.

Now, an online event has a few different rules that your standard live event, and the stakes are a bit different.

In an online event, you don’t have to worry about random monsters crashing your workbench, you don’t have to wait in line at the Post Office, and you can interact with the Discord server from the comfort and safety of your home, in your pajamas with a cup of coffee. Because the stakes are lower, it’s hard to offer the same crafting experience as a live game, and it’s frankly a bit easier to maximize your output when you don’t have to worry about waiting in a line for the Post Office to open in the morning.

During THE UNDYING PRINCE, we will have three main ways to interact with the economy of Dystopia Rising:

  • “Do Work, Get Paid”, our version of the traditional online crafting spreadsheet system.

  • Barogue Bucks, a replacement of the old Cali*Co points, and a way to earn scrap and herb from participating in our online mods and Discord spaces.

  • The Grab Bag, a way to get some additional Barogue Bucks, some actual item cards, and a neat new collectible currency card. Plus, we will MAIL your cards to you after the event is over!

So let’s cover how each of those systems work, and I’ll even some of the potential outcomes you might see from our online crafting.

“Do Work, Get Paid”

Our primary way to access online crafting is the “Do Work, Get Paid” system. This is a motto that’s been a staple of Bravado and Bravo before it, but the scrappy, can-do attitude of survivors in the Lone Star lends them to a bit more capitalistic mindset. This is definitely inspired by our friends in DR: Oklahoma and DR: Florida, but it all comes down to filling out a traditional CRAFTING SPREADSHEET. If you take the time to fill out this spreadsheet, you get the reward! Do work, get paid!

The Rules™

  • Players will have access to a SIX-HOUR block of crafting time, and ONE 12s worth of Mind points they can spend on any crafting, gathering, or production Skills.

  • This crafting doesn’t interact with Mind used in mods. You’ll still start each mod series with all of the Mind points you would normally have on your Bravado Bones sheet.

  • Players must RP the time they spend crafting in the appropriate #channel on the Discord. This time, as well as what is being crafted, will be logged in #crafting on our Discord server for reference after the event. 

  • Anything that uses a Blueprint can be crafted this way, and we will assume you have access to that blueprint for the event. If you didn’t have the blueprint, that’s fine. We have plenty of folks in Bravado with a full collection of prints, and we will just assume you borrowed a copy from them.

  • Players do not refresh Mind used for crafting but MAY use brews or meals they have in their LIT inventory to recover Mind. The time to consume those brews and meals counts as part of the six-hour block of crafting time. Remember, most meals take 10 minutes to eat and brews take at least 1 minute to use.

  • You must submit your work in a spreadsheet that will be provided prior to the start of the online event, courtesy of our Admin wizards Amber and Ren.

This is entirely optional. If you do the work of filling out the spreadsheet, you can gain the resources of crafting.

But, if filling out a spreadsheet sounds like a version of your own particular hell, that’s fine. We have several other ways to get your hands on some sweet item cards.

Barogue Bucks

Barogue Bucks are an online-only currency that we will use to grant mod rewards, benefits for interacting with online Zones of Mechanics, and other behaviors on the Discord server. If you attended our last online event, Dead Man’s Hand, you might remember a similar system.

During THE UNDYING PRINCE, you have access to our Supply Bag Bot. This bot will enable you to trade, gather, and even gamble your online currency during the event.

Let’s cover the ways you can earn Barogue Bucks:

  • You can earn 100 Barogue Bucks for attending a mod session, up to your max of 3 mods. If you somehow get involved with more than 3 mods, you are still limited to a cap of 300 total.

  • You can earn up to 100 Barogue Bucks by completing several econ-related Zone of Mechanics on the Discord server.

  • You can earn up to 50 Barogue Bucks for simply completing our first Roleplay Challenge when the event starts. Interact with another player in the Soft RP channels to earn some online currency!

  • You can gain a few Barogue Bucks by using the #gamble command in our Discord channels. This will activate a portion of the bot where you can risk it all!

These Barogue Buck mechanics will be posted in certain channels during the event, and you will have a limited time to interact with them. These will be in a pinned post on various channels and will have all the instructions you need to complete. Once you’ve completed the ZOM or mod, one of our room stewards or STs will add this reward to your Supply Bag.

Let’s cover what you can obtain with your Barogue Bucks, and how much they cost:

You might notice that most of these items are things that will greatly help you get an early start on crafting during our first LIVE event in September. These are common materials that are usable in all kinds of Blueprints, and are the building blocks of most equipment, gizmos, weapons, and more. Plus, we’ve included several useful Brews and Gizmos that make survival in the zombie apocalypse a bit easier, especially if you are a New Player!

If you attend all three mods during THE UNDYING PRINCE, you can easily earn 300 Barogue Bucks. That means you could get copies of SIX different blueprints, or SIX Alloy Metal, or THIRTY Basic Scrap, or FIFTEEN Rare Herb. Even if you don’t like filling out spreadsheets, this is an easy and fun way to earn a few item cards for your character to use later.

We have one last way to earn some item cards that we covered last week:

Grab Bags

Grab Bags are a special online-only add on to your ticket. Purchasing this ticket not only helps us prepare for the upcoming season with new props and more, but it also has some tangible rewards for your character! For only $10, you can get the following benefits for your characters during our online event:

OUR GRAB BAG THIS MONTH INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING FOR $10!

You get a few unique items that are usable during the online event:

  • 1x “Explorer’s Kit!” - 3 themed [PIPS] that represent adventurous and useful tools for your excursion to Barogue! These are one-use online items that give you a +1 for a roll of your choice! You can see how to use these in our Bravado Bones online game ruleset!

  • 1x Tag [Well Prepared] - This is an online-only item that helps your Mind points change a roll heavily in your favor! You can see how to use these in our Bravado Bones online game ruleset!

  • 200 Barogue Bucks - This is an online-only currency that will let you obtain herbs, scrap, blueprints, and more, similar to the Cali*Co Point system we used before!

Plus, you get some physical carded items that will start you out strong for our live events starting in September! While every character can earn items for their LIT inventory, the GRAB BAG includes an option to get your items mailed to you!

  • 1x Basic Red Mist - A handy Injectable brew that can be self-administered in Bleed Out. Handy for surviving the wasteland!

  • 1x Weapon Augment of your choice! - Augments are a new type of item that can be attached to a crafted Weapon. They last for 3 months and tend to be a bit expensive to craft. You can start out Season 5 with a shiny new Augment of your own!

  • 1x ‘SHARD OF THE RED CROWN’ Currency Card - This will be a brand-new collectible currency-style card for Season 5, a physical trophy of your trip to the Lost City. This will have some in-game effects for our DR:TX events throughout this next season, as well as being highly collectable!

  • Item Cards by Mail! - Have all the carded items made in our “Do Work, Get Paid” virtual econ system, items purchased with Barogue Bucks, and GRAB BAG items mailed to straight you by USPS!

Grab bags are limited to one per player, so don’t miss out!

wrap up

That’s it for today Vados!

Next week, we will cover a primer on Bravado Bones, the unique system we use for our online events! See you soon!

Don’t wait — Get your tickets today!

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The Undying Prince

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Lake Bravo boils.  

A lone white Obelisk stands undisturbed in the lake, the beacon that first drew delvers to the ruins underneath Bravado.  A blackened monolith in the Dune Sea, once used as a waypoint through the desert begins to hum.  A tree, formed of flowing stone in the center of Essex, begins to corrode.  Unborn throughout the San Saba wander into the desert, mindlessly following the ‘music of the spheres’, a song unheard by any other strain.  The melody seems to call them all to one place. 

Towards the West. Towards the lost city of Barogue.

Amid the new threat of these monuments is the rising tension from the North, from the rebels of Queensgrace and the fall of the Antler Tribe.  War is coming to the San Saba, and the new leader of the Oxkiller Alliance has declared Barogue a “profane monument of hubris that must be destroyed”. The technophobic zealots have moved their forces into the desert to deny the Board and the San Saba Territories a valuable route to the Broken Coast, a rattling saber heralding further conflict.

Legends and folklore still speak of The Prince Undying, the last leader of the lost city of Barogue before its fall, and whisper of his purpose in these strange objects. Something powerful. Something dangerous. The citizens of the San Saba, in the aftermath of the fall of Waking, are fearful of yet another world-ending catastrophe. The Railroad Conglomerate has demanded the phenomenon be investigated, and the potential threat neutralized, before it interferes with forging a bright new future.

Barogue is the answer. We must delve deeper, into the still hidden mysteries of the Lost City and The Prince Undying. To battle new nightmares, survive the horrors, and uncover the echoes of the fall of the Lost City, we must venture into the unknown.

An image of Barogue from our very first online event two years ago featuring this location, “The Lost City”! Our next event takes us back for a triumphant return to Barogue!

HOW-DY!

It’s that time again Vados, time to start SEASON FIVE! It’s Jonathan here with the first of our posts leading up the online event to kick off the season: THE UNDYING PRINCE. We have a lot in store for y’all in the coming weeks, but today we want to make sure you know a bit about what to expect, some commonly asked questions, and a bit of a story intro into the event.

We haven’t run an online Dystopia Rising event for a while, so let’s cover the basics:

  • Online events are held on our Lonestar Skies Discord Channel. The server will go live shortly before the event!

    • You can access the Discord server here: https://discord.gg/SA9eNNCa3Z

  • You buy your tickets on our online store starting as of Monday, July 10th!

  • Our online games use a slightly different set of mechanics than you might be used to, but you can find all the rules completely FREE on our website below. I’ll be covering these in detail in a future blog post, but if you like to get a head start on these things, here you go:

  • Our online event will include CRAFTING!

    We all know that’s what y’all are really here for, so I’ll be outlining how you can use these mechanics in a future blog post before the event. Don’t worry, you’ll be able to satisfy all your blueprint cravings and get yourself a head start on the live events starting in September!

  • Our online event will start on Friday night and end on Sunday afternoon, similar to a live event. Sunday will be primarily reserved for soft roleplay, so the main action happens on Friday and Saturday!

  • The online event will consist of two main parts:

    • ONLINE RP: We will have an online Discord server with chat rooms for soft Roleplay and even Voice channels. We will have a few activities you can complete in these rooms, places to use your various Skills, and even a few NPCs!

    • MODULES: Each full online ticket comes with an option to attend THREE small module events. This will be 2-hour events led by a Storyteller and they are limited to 4-6 players on each run. These modules will happen in SIX different acts throughout the weekend, and each act will tell as aspect of the unfolding story of the UNDYING PRINCE.

  • Mod Signups and a Sneak Peak into the story of the weekend starts July 24th!

  • You can earn XP from the weekend, play multiple characters, play cool personal mods with your friends, and get a headstart into the overarching story of Season 5!

Grab Bag Contents

For online events, we have a special ticket add-on called a GRAB BAG! Purchasing this ticket not only helps us prepare for the upcoming season with new props and more, but it also has some tangible rewards for your character!

OUR GRAB BAG THIS MONTH INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING FOR $10!

You get a few unique items that are usable during the online event:

  • 1x “Explorer’s Kit!” - 3 themed [PIPS] that represent adventurous and useful tools for your excursion to Barogue! These are one-use online items that give you a +1 for a roll of your choice! You can see how to use these in our Bravado Bones online game ruleset!

  • 1x Tag [Well Prepared] - This is an online-only item that helps your Mind points change a roll heavily in your favor! You can see how to use these in our Bravado Bones online game ruleset!

  • 200 Barogue Bucks - This is an online-only currency that will let you obtain herbs, scrap, blueprints, and more, similar to the Cali*Co Point system we used before! We will have more on this in a future blog post!

Plus, you get some physical carded items that will start you out strong for our live events starting in September! While every character can earn items for their LIT inventory, the GRAB BAG includes an option to get your items mailed to you!

  • 1x Basic Red Mist - A handy Injectable brew that can be self-administered in Bleed Out. Handy for surviving the wasteland!

  • 1x Weapon Augment of your choice! - Augments are a new type of item that can be attached to a crafted Weapon. They last for 3 months and tend to be a bit expensive to craft. You can start out Season 5 with a shiny new Augment of your own!

  • 1x ‘SHARD OF THE RED CROWN’ Currency Card - This will be a brand-new collectible currency-style card for Season 5, a physical trophy of your trip to the Lost City. This will have some in-game effects for DR:TX event as well during this next season, as well as being highly collectable!

  • Item Cards by Mail! - Have all the carded items made in our “Do Work, Get Paid” virtual econ system, items purchased with Barogue Bucks, and GRAB BAG items mailed to straight you by USPS!

Grab bags are limited to one per player, so don’t miss out!

The story of “The Undying Prince”

I’ve included the story teaser of our event at the beginning of this blog post, but let’s talk a bit about what to expect from the STORY of the online event in August.

Our online event concerns the LOST CITY OF BAROGUE. Long thought simply a legend, it was discovered two years ago in our game during the events of our last online event of the pandemic season. Barogue was a massive moving city, propelled through the deserts of the Dune Seas on mighty tracks to evade the hordes of undead, suspending an entire city on its back. Barogue is a wondrous relic of the past, from a time after the fall of man to the zombie virus, but at least two hundred years before our current age in Dystopia Rising.

When Barogue was first found by Felicity Redfield and the map bearers two years ago, the city was buried under a massive sand dune, with an Elder Leviathan coiled around it like a nest.  The first expedition fell through the opening at the top of the glass-like steel dome into the city, and the events of the first online event, “The Lost City” occurred inside.   At the end of that episode, the survivors ascended a tall spire they named the Altar of the Scion Vossa to escape the city, fashioning a temporary crystal matrix to power the crystal plinths of the abandoned titan city.  In the exodus they created a massive psionic blast that scattered the leviathans around the city.  When the giant sandworms fled, they left in their wake a crater that exposed the majority of the moving city.

Over the last two years, the Railroad Conglomerate and other factions have worked tirelessly to uncover the bulk of the superstructure of Barogue, peeling back the layers of sand that hid the city’s secrets.  In the shadow of the massive titan city is a small settlement fondly called New Barogue, the heart of the RRC operations at the Lost City.  Settlement is perhaps too strong of a word, but the ramshackle array of tents and mining equipment at the excavation site is always changing as new work crews arrive from Essex and beyond.

The primary focus of the RRC is on scavenging the Lost City for usable salvage, scrap, and metals they can bend towards their ever-hungering needs of expanding the Oxline across the wastes.  While most of the metal in Barogue is a very hard alloy similar to titanium, this crazy future metal is difficult to process with current technological levels.  Instead, scavengers focus on panels, bolts, wiring, and anything they can tear from the superstructure to box up and ship out on the Oxline.  Anything that can be melted down into a railroad tie is shipped back to Essex for processing, one more link in the chain of the Oxline network.

In their wake of this systematic dismantling are beleaguered archeologists from the RRC, the Grave Council and the San Saba Republic, uncovering new secrets of Barogue on a daily basis.  While they contend with brutish laborers that trample on their archeological digs, the scientists and researchers of the expedition are slowly finding new ways to access areas within the city and struggling to understand the strange crystal psi-tech that once powered the mighty titan city.

The city is a treasure trove of archaeological secrets, psi-tech, and raw resources that will fuel RRC operations for decades to come.  It is a deadly and mysterious site, but the risk of the city outweighs the rewards that await if the RRC can fully unlock the titan city’s many labyrinthine halls.

Here’s a sneak peek of one of the maps I made for this event! Take a look at the Lost City of Barogue!

We can’t wait to show you more of the Lost City of Barogue, so you can experience the horrors and mysteries within. Don’t wait to get your ticket, and make sure you are ready when Mod Signups go live on July 24th. These mods are first-come, first-served, so you’ll want to be ready to check in when they go live!

Next week, we will have more to uncover about THE UNDYING PRINCE!!!

See you soon Vados!

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Summer Break!

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It’s Jonathan here with a bit of a BREAK from the usual Wednesday blog posts and Rules Rambles! A Summer Break, if you will!

We just wrapped up VOX POPULI, our season closer event ran by Heather Halstead, and it was awesome. However, with the end of Season 4, we get a bit of a hard-earned break before we start back again for Season 5. We have a LOT to write and get ready over the summer, but it also means the cadence of my blog posts will change a bit, so let’s cover the details today!

From this point forward, I’m going to plan on releasing bi-monthly blog posts over the summer. The Admin team doesn’t get much of a break from the prep for Season 5, so I’m going to give myself a treat and have two less blog posts to complete in my long Summer to-do list.

Don’t worry, we will still have some regular content coming your way, just not as frequently as you see during the live game season!

Our photos for this post were taken from our VOX POPULI event by our talented Photo Team.

Save the Date!

We have a few important events happening over the Summer involving DR:TX:

  • SEASON 5 TEAM APPLICATIONS - May 29

    • Applications are due by May 29th!

    • Each year, we hire new Storytellers, Coord Guides, Rules Guides, and our entire support team of Medics, Settings & Props, Truck Team, and Photographers.

    • We are looking for new AND experienced folks to apply!

    • APPLY TODAY!

    • If you apply as a Storyteller, make sure you plan on being available for on July 14-16 for our Storyteller Retreat!

  • CAMP CLEAN UP WEEKEND - June 2-3

    • Earn CAPS for your attendance and get a chance to hang out with your friends out-of-character at Camp Kachina while doing a good deed for the Girl Scouts!

    • Each year, we help out the Girl Scouts prepare Camp Kachina for new visitors by helping the rangers with tasks around the site. This will include some manual labor, so come prepared!

    • Friday, June 2nd - Filming, Hangouts, Community Potlucks

    • Saturday, June 3rd - Camp Work Project, DR:TX will provide Lunch!

  • SUMMER DR:TX ONLINE EVENT! - August 4-6

    • We announced this at the closing announcements of VOX POPULI — We will be running our first DR:TX ONLINE event since Dead Man’s Hand!

    • Mark your calendars and join us as we explore the mysteries of BAROGUE, THE LOST CITY! What lies beneath the sands, and how has Barogue changed since we visited during the THE LOST CITY?

    • This event will include CRAFTING! Get a head start on your Burning Season econ projects for September!

    • This will be our first event of the Season 5 storyline before we start live games again in September. Don’t miss out on the introduction to our story for the season!

  • SEASON 5 LIVE EVENT - September 15-17

QUICK RECAP - VOX POPULI

We had some BIG choices and some BIG consequences during this event! I’ll recap the basics of the big events here in case you missed the last game, but these are some things to be thinking about over the summer.

Thank you so much to Heather, our entire DR:TX staff, and all the players and NPCs that helped make this one of the best events we’ve ever run!

The Fall of Waking

We held three votes over the course of the event to determine WHERE the city of Waking would end up in the descent. We had a handy map of the San Saba Territories to guide their choices during these STEERING EVENTS. Each time this happened, there was a vote to Steer West, Steer East, or they could Slow the Descent once, and once only. Each time they made a popular vote with the folks present in the Depot, and the results changed which Factions would be impacted by the fall of Waking.

  • During the Friday night vote, it was almost a tie! The final vote was to Steer West towards Widow’s peak, removing KILLHOUSE as an option for the landing.

  • During the Saturday morning vote, the town voted to Slow the Descent by a solid majority, keeping Waking mostly in place, and removing ESSEX and THE CLUTCH as options. A LOT of favors were promised by the Board to keep Essex out of the line of fire, though many of the town wanted to land Waking into the Clutch.

  • A crucial confrontation during the Widow’s Tea that afternoon changed many minds before the final vote, and revealed some powerful secrets for the first time, including the true identity of THE CHAIR!

  • During the final Saturday evening vote, the town voted in with a small majority to Steer East, and remove WIDOW’S PEAK as an option for the landing.

    • Fun Fact: the town made this final choice even though they didn’t know what the final result of the Crisis Center would be. Over half of the town was willing to risk Infection loss and destruction of ALL of their items to make this choice. Talk about bravado!

  • The final destination of Waking ended up over BRAVADO, much to our Storyteller’s surprise.

This was a close vote every time, and player actions made a BIG difference in protecting the various factions of the San Saba. Players that supported Killhouse made a big play on Friday night to remove Killhouse as an option right away, and it was their early moves that had a huge impact on the final resolution.

The Crisis Center

We had a massive board with over 85 different tasks to complete to determine HOW the landing of Waking would happen, either in a CRASH, a mostly “controlled” LANDING, or if against all odds they could keep it in the sky by completing REPAIRS! Players could complete a task, with the color of the task determining which result it would support. Some of the tasks even counted for more points than others, so a determined group of players could have a BIG impact on the final decision.

  • Waking was EMERGENCY LANDED near Bravado.

  • The final tally was:

    • 27 points towards Destroyed. This was the leader up until Saturday afternoon when it was clear that Bravado was very much still an option.

    • 75 points towards Landed. This was the final winning tally, with almost every single supporting task on the Crisis Center board completed.

    • 41 points towards Repaired. A last-minute push on Saturday made folks worry about the final results, as this jumped almost 30 points in a few hours.

  • These tasks involved all manners of activities, from convincing NPCS to sign a contract to accept refugees, performing CVC actions on other players, spending vast amounts of scrap and metal to craft new Airships, stealing (or protecting) air lifted supplies, and even requesting chances to board Waking and rescue (or liberate) valuable supplies and citizens.

The Groundskeeper Gauntlet

Saturday afternoon, a Gauntlet was held for several of the Groundskeepers in Bravado for breach of contract with the Grave Council. Each of the Groundskeepers was found guilty by the Justices of Sin and stripped of their titles and ability to perform Graverobber duties for 1 year. At the end, General Rampart declared that the town of Bravado was under AUDIT and QUARANTINE and removed the assistance of the Grave Council from Bravado. This means Bravado might be on their own from Grave Mind related crises in the future! Players worked to help the Groundskeepers find new employment and appealed for mercy on their behalf during the Gauntlet but were unable to sway the leader of the Reckoners.

The Stakeholder’s Meeting

In the midst of the chaos of Waking falling, most of the San Saba Board was in town on Saturday to make deals and listen to the people during the Stakeholder’s Meeting. The town got to see Boss Debs, Reckoner General Rampart, Tabitha St. Mercy, Felicity Redfield, Grand Admiral Sinker Swim, and The Chair’s Representative, a mysterious well-dressed man in a striped suit that spoke with the voice of the Chair himself. Even Clauthia Lovelace was seen in town for the Widow’s Tea, meaning players had a chance to interact in person with many of the most powerful NPCs in the setting.

Players could research where the Board stood on these votes, and politic with those NPCs during their appearance in town. Characters with higher levels of Society Membership had more influence on the votes than those that were simply Contractors, and some important deals were struck.

  • There were three votes for consideration during the Stakeholder’s Meeting, and all PASSED.

    • The proposal to form a San Saba Militia narrowly PASSED, providing the Board an option to increase their military to fight threats abroad and internal. One can hope they intend to use this new martial might to focus on their enemies, and not pesky rebellions from a tiny town on the Oxline. This vote resolved based on player decisions.

    • The proposal to allow the Board to choose new members PASSED, reducing the power of several Board members through the stalemate. This vote was heavily favored to pass by the Board and would only fail with significant opposition from the players. The town had a narrow majority vote against this law but did not acquire enough “nay” votes to change the Board’s decision.

    • The proposal to separate the Justices of Sin was PASSED by an overwhelming majority of votes. Tabitha St. Mercy loses a key part of her power, and the Justices will introduce new faithful members for Gauntlets next season. This vote resolved based on player decisions.

  • Four player-led groups were recognized by the San Saba Board, via The Air of Legitimacy ZOM. These groups will receive a custom Zone of Mechanics for their group for Season 5.

    • Ramguard, The Shields of the Lonestar, the Blood & Bone, and the Road Royals completed the required ZOM in time.

    • This ZOM will be available once more for other player-led factions to complete in Season 5 if you missed out!

  • TWO new laws were suggested by Trustees, along with 50 signatures from players (and a modest application fee, of course)

    • These new laws will be voted on by the Board over the summer, and we will reveal the outcome of these votes during our summer Storyteller prep. We always strive to include these proposals into our story, unless they create an unfun experience for other players.

    • The results of these new laws will be one of our settings reveals we cover before the next season, so stay tuned!

    • Player Proposed Law #1: A new proposal to separate the Law Dog Union from their Board Contract and make them an independent entity. This could have big impacts on the Law Dogs in Season 5!

    • Player Proposed Law #2: An amendment to require the new head of the new San Saba Militia to be chosen by the people in a popular vote, instead of being chosen by the Chair. This means that we will likely start out Season 5 with a vote on who should lead the new San Saba military force!

The Siege of the Depot

As the flying city of Waking begin it’s final descent, clouds of radioactive smog, debris, and hordes of undead poured from the city onto Bravado. The town took shelter inside the Terminal Station Depot and weathered the rad storm against the waves of zombies and environmental challenges.

  • Thousands of Zombies poured into the Depot and crashed onto the shield wall. Countless brews were consumed, and the doctors were kept busy. Countless Quick Events were survived, several Siege Challenges were completed, and multiple successful Away Missions were finished during the course of the 4 hours. Our NPCs kept up the pressure for FOUR almost non-stop hours of combat, and it was intense!

  • For the Away Missions, players literally had to break through a Drywall sheet to escape the Depot, and had to defend the new hole in the defenses from the incoming zed, and some of the Siege Challenges had players drawing our intricate ritual markings around a grave protrusion, propping up massive pieces of the building that fell on them, and racing against the clock and the deadly radiation outside to repair leaks in the windows.

  • Four characters permed and their zed were seen either during the siege or shortly before and after. Rumble, Tim, Ryssa, and Varis all met their final ends during VOX POPULI.

  • New Zed were seen and defeated including some classic threats like Bone Heads, Hates, 13th Story Ghasts, Golgos, Mercies, and Mortis Champions. Now that Waking has landed nearby, you can be sure to face these threats during Season 5!

The Voice of Killhouse

Somehow, the Voice of Killhouse, a mysterious Grave Mind connection with Prudence Penitentiary made at the start of the season was finally silenced. You might have encountered a mysterious voice during a Grave Dive or a death during this season, and the source of this problem was finally resolved. The exact details are a mystery, but something happened Saturday night after the siege that helped settle the morgue under Prudence Penitentiary and silence the voice under the Prison for good. This plotline wrapped up thanks to player actions, and the decision not to crash land Waking into Killhouse.

The potential Consequences of the fall of waking

Each of the potential landing sites for Waking could be Researched during the game for an idea about the potential consequences of this important choice. Here’s the information we revealed about the FINAL DESTINATION within Bravado:

  • The Railroad Conglomerate will be heavily impacted by the damaging landing, seriously impacting their political and financial standing.

  • The Junkerpunks will be impacted by the landing, as Drywater is harmed. This will have a minor impact on their political and financial standing.

  • It’s feasible that Lake Bravado will assist in lowering casualty rates, at the expense of polluting the water supply. 

  • Radiation levels will rise and be an issue in the coming year.

  • The Waking Morgue could become an issue with Bravado’s own Morgue System and might envelope it without extensive intervention.

  • Ecological impacts will affect surrounding water sources and farmland.

  • There will be mass casualties in the surrounding areas of farmland and in the town.

  • After everything settles, Bravado and Drywater will have access to what’s left of Waking Prime, which will represent a large political and material gain for the area, but also put the seat of the San Saba Board in their backyard. 

Now, not all of this will come to pass (and there could be some other unrevealed consequences as well!). There were several actions completed by the players to lessen and reduce the damage done by the fall of Waking, particularly with insulating the Bravado Morgue (and the Eightfold Mother) from damage. We will have some more details over the summer, as many of these specifics haven’t been written yet!

Once we’ve selected our new Storytelling Senate for Season 5, we will be hard at work on incorporating your choices into our Season 5 plots!

Wrap Up

That’s it for today, Vados! Short and sweet, but still full of useful content!

Summer Break is a great time to update your costumes, take a well needed break from DR, craft a new boffer, or just spend time with the people behind the characters you enjoy so much. Plan a board game day, or meetup with some of your new friends you met playing, and stay tuned for some awesome summer content!

I’ll leave you with some of my favorite pics from the first round of photos by the very talented Lainey Weiss that will be uploaded to our Flickr page soon! See you soon Vados!

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Surviving the Wake

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It’s Jonathan here with our last weekly blog post for the upcoming event, VOX POPULI! This is the leadup for our May DR:TX event written by Heather Halstead, Overarc ST for our Season Closer, and Operational Storyteller for Season 5. Today we will talk a bit about the SURVIVING THE WAKE and the dangers you will face during the FOUR HOUR SIEGE of the Depot, as well as some common Rules You Should Know during a big fight. We will also talk about our new Quick Events and Environment Dangers, some Threat Skills of Note, and some strange and unusual new undead you might face over the weekend.

We have a lot in store for the finale of Season 4!

  • Our next event will feature options to use the ZIPLINE and the POOL at Camp Kachina! Make sure to pack those swimsuits! If the weather turns against us, we still have some plans to handle our Zipline event!

  • We will have a real-life WEDDING happening at our event, at 12:30pm at the Depot! We are so excited to see two of our players, Karen and Farrell, choose our game for this special event.

  • We’ve added some new ways to spend your hard-earned CAPS from the last event. Check out the new items you can purchase with your Community Action Points!

TICKETS FOR VOX POPULI ARE still available at the door! DON’T MISS OUT ON YOUR CHANCE TO survive the fall of waking!!!

THIS POST WILL DISCUSS A FEW LIGHT STORY SPOILERS FOR OUR NEXT EVENT, SO WE HOPE YOU ENJOY WHAT WE HAVE IN STORE!

Our photos for this post were taken from previous DR:TX events by our talented Photo Team.

SURVIVING THE WAKE

One of the major set pieces of the VOX POPULI event will be a four-hour long assault on the Depot we have dubbed Surviving the Wake. From 10:00 PM - 2:00 AM SATURDAY NIGHT, the town of Bravado will be rendered unlivable as Waking, no matter the choice that was made, passes over, raining down smog, radioactive waste, zed, and other calamities. 

During this time, you will not be able to leave the Depot unless specifically instructed (or to use the restroom).

This fight will be long, hard, and completely exhilarating.

You will have a protracted fight with Zombies, including some old returning 2.0 favorites that the ST Senate decided we just couldn’t live without anymore.  But this means you should plan for that in advance.

What about the Post Office?

Expect to have limited or no access to the PO from 10pm - 2am. There will be an option for LCs to secure limited PO access during the assault depending on your choices, but you should assume you will have no access to farming, crafting, or econ during this time, just in case. Plan ahead, and make sure you have all the supplies you will need to survive.

Get those brews brewed, meals cooked and herbs farmed before 10pm Saturday night!

What If I die?

Death happens! And it is an extremely important part of our setting. But it can be a bummer to die early on in a long fight and feel like you missed out on the rest of the experience. We will have mechanics in play that will keep the fight interactive for anyone who might take an early, untimely death. If you die during the siege of the Depot, you will be returned to play pretty quickly in a “relapse” with no memory of your death along with some assistance in the form of some valuable named scrap that might be useful in the fight. After the fight is over, you will collapse dead once more and proceed to your Grave Mind scene as normal.

what about my cool room augments inside the Depot?

Shortly before the siege of the Depot starts, we will work with you to move your various crafting stations, room augments, and similar in-game items to the side and against the walls. We want to have some places for you to rest in between waves, so if that room augment isn’t taking up exactly a 10x10 space, that’s ok. You can still use the Artisan and Culinary crafting areas in the Depot, provided you have opened up access to the Post Office. Even if that doesn’t happen, you’ll still be able to use the workbench to repair armor and similar other activities that don’t require the Post Office.

What if I’m not a fighter?

That’s okay! A huge assault has need for many roles, including for non-com LCs. Equipment repair, healing, kinetic events, building reinforcement, and there will even be small STRIKE TEAM missions running during the conflict for things like supply runs, distractions, stealth missions, and rescue operations. There will be plenty to do while the phalanx holds the door.

Opportunity for Extra NPC time

We will also be taking a LIMITED number of NPC volunteers for additional time during the assault for perks. Our goal is to fill out a shift to give NPCs time to breathe while maintaining a constant pressure. We do not want to have most of the town on the NPC side of the conflict, so these extra hours will be limited, but if you’d rather weather the siege as a Zombie we have you covered!

How dangerous will this event be?

In order to answer this question, we want to discuss the philosophy of the dangers you’ll face during Surviving the Wake.

As you read below, you’ll notice that most of these abilities are effects that don’t leave a permanent effect. Instead of things like Mangle, we’ve chosen abilities like Stun or Nail. We’ve purposefully emphasized abilities that only temporarily inconvenience you, or provide minor damage for these challenges, but I think you’ll still find these tend to create some good, stressful scenes during a fight.

Heather and I want you to be able to participate in the fight, not sit in some corner nursing a Mangled Limb for an hour. While death is still a possibility, particularly if you make certain choices about where Waking lands, the goal is not to simply murder your characters over and over again.

The goal of a siege is ATTRITION.

It’s not one swing that gets you.

It’s the Shambler that connects once or twice during a particularly heavy push on the doors. It’s the slow and steady damage from radiation that wears you down over hours. It’s the dwindling Mind points as you Avoid a particularly nasty attack, or you Call the Phalanx once more. It’s running low on those Uncle Todd’s after you pick up your friend from a fight again.

The siege is designed to push your characters to the limit, and dig into those amazing moments of triumph, heartache, victory, and horror that can occur when you are out of options.

This fight will be long, hard, and completely exhilarating.

This is the big culmination of our whole season, and we hope that you will trust us, provide us grace if we make a mistake, and buy in. We want you to have a good time as you participate in the first event of this sort in DR:TX.

We can’t wait to see how you SURVIVE THE WAKE!

opting out of “surviving the wake”

While we hope you will take part of this unique siege event, let’s cover what happens if you need a break from our four-hour siege.

using the BREAKOUT Room

One of the important lessons learned from our friends in DR New Jersey during a similar siege event was the need for a place to go to take a break during an event like this, on an out of character level. The stress of a big fight can wear you do, and it’s nice to have a place to retreat. For this reason, we will have a Breakout Room setup nearby. This is one of the calibration and safety tools we’ve planned for the siege.

During this siege, you will be able to drop out of character and step next door to Wikiup to the Breakout Room. We will reserve the back door of the Depot for leaving the building out of character, and no monsters will use this door to the enter the building. If you find the noise, chaos, and stress of the fight getting to you, this area will allow you to find a quiet place away from the siege to chill out, cool down, relax, and give yourself a moment to catch your breath.

This area will be completely out of character!

We will have water and chairs set up here, and you can take as long of a break as you need to get back into the action. The building is air conditioned and will be a great place to cool off. Once you are ready, you will be able to use the back door of the Depot to reenter the play space and jump back into the fray.

What if I need to use the bathroom or need a snack?

If you find that nature calls, you can always step briefly out of character and use the nearby Shower House bathrooms. Just hurry back, so you don’t miss the next fight! The kitchen will still be available for access to the refrigerator, and we will have a water station set up inside the Depot.

wHAT IF i WANT TO OPT OUT completely?

We hope that you will participate in our SURVIVING THE WAKE siege event, as either your characters or an NPC, and do your best to survive the threats we throw at you. But, if you are tired or simply not in the right space to handle the stress of the siege, that’s okay.

During the siege, you can “opt out” of this even by going out of character and get to bed early. Find a Guide outside to mark your character sheet, and you can leave at any time. Easy. Get some rest, and we will see you in the morning for the resolution of the event and our Sunday morning shambles. You can return to play bright and early Sunday at 8:00 a.m.

A few notes about this option:

  • First, this opt out is completely “out of character”. You can’t farm, do other activities, or anything of the sorts. The town of Bravado will be blanketed in radioactive storms and will be incredibly deadly if you are not sheltering inside the Depot. If you are “off camera” for this fight, we will assume your character took cover somewhere else or fled the immediate vicinity with the other refugees.

  • The Post Office and Ops will be closed. We will be setting up a temporary Siege HQ near the Depot to speed up our attacks, and we will have all hands on deck for the siege. The siege is our focus for the entirety of the 10PM-2AM shift. If you are expecting the usual entertainment of Dystopia Rising, you’ll need to attend the siege. If you need a staff member for anything out of character, this is where we will be. Our med room in Kiva will still be open, of course, but this is our primary focus for the last shift on Saturday night.

  • Opting out of this fight doesn’t exclude you from town-wide consequences. If the folks at the Crisis Center decide to crash the hulk of Waking Prime into the town of Bravado, you’ll still die a fiery death like the rest. There’s no way to get far enough away to avoid the devastation if that happens. I hope you make sure not to let those crazy people crash a city-sized airship onto your home!

If you decide to take this option to opt out, don’t worry. There’s no shame in missing out, but we want to make sure you have the option to participate. We will have many other stories to tell over the weekend as you decide the final fate of Waking.

Rules you should know

Now, it’s the week of game so no blog post would be complete without covering some Rules You Should Know. In this “Surviving the Wake” edition, let’s talk about some common skills you might see during the fight, and some common confusions that come up regarding these abilities.

call the phalanx

This isn’t really a Skill at all, but rather this is a Profession Focus Achievement (PFA) ability of the OOPH Barrier shield. However, this is a very common skill used during a big fight, especially with how our Vados love the shield walls. I think one reason why this item gets confused is that there isn’t much actually written for the rules on shield walls. If I was King of DR, I’d love to introduce a Phalanx keyword or something similar, but for now let’s stick with the rules we have from the Blueprint:

Phalanx Doyen: Spend 1 Resolve and form a shield line with 4 to 9 others to call "PHALANX!". All members are immune to effects that would target or effect multiple players except by Guide call. Lasts 15 minutes but ends for any member that moves out of arm's reach of one other.

That’s not much to go from, but let’s break this down to the basics:

  • You need at least 5 people to form a Shield Wall. It says ‘4-9 others’ in the text, implying that these are in addition to the user with the PFA. This also means the most people that can participate in a Phalanx Doyen shield wall is 10 (you, plus 9 others).

  • The effect lasts for 15 minutes and costs 1 Resolve. This is an eternity in a common fight in DR, but for the siege of the Depot, you’ll need to space this out if you want to succeed. Since it costs a Resolve and needs a fairly rare Shield PFA, you’ll want to save these uses for the big threats that assault the Depot.

  • You must stay in arm’s reach of each other. If you leave this range, the effect breaks for you alone. However, if you fall out of formation you can risk losing the entire thing! But, as long as you stay in place, the effect continues. This means even if you are Stunned, Nailed, or Blinded you can keep your place in the line, provided the shield wall doesn’t move away from you.

  • You must have a Shield to stay in the shield wall. This seems obvious, but I’ll state it here. If your shield gets broken, the effect ends. One big thing to prepare for in a Phalanx is enemies trying to use the skill “Break Shield”. Make sure you save some Mind points to keep your essential equipment intact! A powerful way to be in a great shield wall is for folks other than the Phalanx Doyen to have Daline Bucklers as their shield. These items can become immune to Breaks for a short time, helping you keep in formation.

  • You are immune to effects that ‘target or effect multiple players”. Some common examples of attacks that trigger this is anything called by a monster with the “Area of Effect” ability, Skills like “Scattershot”, and even powerful psionic attacks like “Master Pyrokinetics”. If the attack targets multiple people, you are immune (with one exception below).

  • You can call “PHALANX!” in response to any multi-target effect. You can add “No Effect!” if the NPC is confused, but we will be coaching our Zombies during the siege to watch out for these calls.

  • The one exception to immunity is an effect delivered by a Guide call. This is an important distinction, especially for some of the rules we’ll mention below in this blog post. These will commonly be By My Voice or Area of Effect calls made by a Guide in a green headband. Basically, if it’s not a monster making the call, you can’t use the Phalanx to protect yourself. I’ll list out the particular attacks below that you’ll need to be ready for.

  • The big weakness of the Phalanx is the skill “Knock Back”. The big effects that will hurt a shield wall called by a Phalanx Doyen are single target effects that make a member move out of arm’s reach. As long as this Threat Skill isn’t called as part of an AOE or Scattershot, it means you will be knocked out of the shield wall unless you use the skill Balance! Make sure you save some Mind points to stay in formation!

One last thing to remember is that Shields CAN block melee strikes, thrown weapons, and blue packets from bows (p. 33), but CANNOT block white packets from Psionic Attacks (p. 105), red packets from a firearm, or projectiles from a Nerf gun (p. 33). Make sure if you see a zombie throwing a white packet to use Basic Mental Endurance instead!

Master Malicious a.k.a. “Death Stalk” (p. 131)

We’ve had a few recent encounters with this Skill that have left folks confused, so I want to address some of the bigger mistakes I see used with this ability. This is a core skill in the Malicious tree that is in the main DR Corebook, on page 131. I’ve included the relevant bits below:

“This skill can be used if the user currently has a Fracture (subdued or active). After spending 1 Resolve and pointing at a Target while saying “Death Stalk”, an individual using [this] skill may ignore 20 seconds worth of strikes and effects while stalking toward the Target. They cannot deviate from walking toward the Target and cannot attack or swing at others while walking toward the Target, and the Target must be no more than 15 paces away. One they reach their Target, they must strike the Target and then will begin taking damage and skill effects as per normal.”

Let’s break down the important parts:

  • This is one of only a few skills that need Resolve that can be used while Fractured. Even Scattershot can’t be used while fractured, but you can still Death Stalk!

  • You declare a target, call “Death Stalk” and walk menacingly towards them. While nothing suggests this can’t be a brisk pace, the skill specifically mentions walking. This skill is based on an old skill from 2.0 that prevented you from running, so this is a common interpretation of the skill, but it does not mention running either.

  • You can ignore 20 seconds of strikes and effects, or take 15 paces, whichever happens first. For this short moment, you are an unstoppable juggernaut, with bullets and swords alike glancing off your angry advance. Because you have to use it on a Target within 15 paces, once you reach them the effect ends.

  • You end the skill use with a strike against your Target, but you can’t strike anyone until you reach the Target. While you are protected from others strikes, they also gain a measure of protection from you! Don’t wade into the fray, keep your eyes on the prize!

  • You cannot deviate from walking towards the target. This is NOT an “out of character” teleport ability, and this is probably the single biggest confusion on Master Malicious. There was an ability back in 2.0 that worked differently that this, but this power specifically is in character. If you cannot reach the Target because of an obstruction like a door, wall, another LC, or something like a tightly packed shield wall, this effect fails after 20 seconds. Period. Make sure you have a clear path before you spend the Resolve!

Downsurge

This last ability will come up during the STRIKE TEAM EVENTS, a special type of mod ran during the siege event that includes leaving the safety of the Depot. This is a key mechanic added via the DR National website on the Lexicon. This is similar to an Upsurge, but is always a negative effect:

Countered by Basic Mental Endurance. Downsurge modifiers work as Upsurge (DR: LARP Evolved, page 109) modifiers do, but are always detrimental. They hold a separate ‘slot’ than Upsurge – that is to say, each character can have both one Upsurge and one Downsurge effect active at any given time. A new Downsurge effect called will override the current one if not resisted.

These will be negative effects that last one hour, and will stick with you regardless of how many Upsurges you use. Watch out!

Dangers of being Outside

One of the reasons your characters will be taking shelter inside the Terminal Station Depot during the siege event is that it is SAFER INSIDE…

During the SURVIVING THE WAKE siege event, being outside of the Depot will be CHARACTER DEADLY. There are three major effects you’ll need to worry about, but some of these only really apply for the folks that will inevitably end up defending the door from the invading zombies. Don’t worry if you can’t remember all of these, as it will be posted on the door nearby for anyone to read at the start of the Siege.

Choking Air

The choking smog outside makes it difficult to speak or even breathe.  A Guide will periodically call “By My Voice, Choking Blow, 5 Minutes!” during the siege of the Depot.  

This is an airborne effect, delivered by a Guide call, and cannot be resisted with “Call the Phalanx”. An LC with a Helscape Death Mask (Basic) may spend 5 Mind to call "Deathmask, No Effect!'' against a single instance of this event.

This effect might make coordination difficult inside. It’s hard to call for a healer if your lungs are full of radioactive smog, after all. Plus, all those neat Faith skills that need you to be able to shout supporting prayers for your friends aren’t so useful while you are coughing and choking.

During breaches into the Depot, this effect will be periodically called by a Guide nearby. Remember, effects called by a Guide like this cannot be ignored by the safety of a shield wall! If you are lucky enough to own a Helscape Death Mask, this will be one of the few protections from the deadly choking air during the siege.

However, choking clouds of smog won’t be the only danger outside.

Rad Storms

Standing at the Depot Door or within 10’ of any entrance exposes the LC to a toxic level of ambient radiation from the waste and fumes of Waking Prime.  A Guide will periodically call “Area of Effect, 1 Rad Damage, Mutants Immune!” near the doors during the siege of the Depot.

Rad damage inflicts both 1 Body and 1 Mind damage.

This is an airborne effect, delivered by a Guide call, and cannot be resisted with “Call the Phalanx”.  Mutants are immune to this call, due to their Strain resistance. An LC with a Helscape Death Mask (Basic) may spend 5 Mind to call "Deathmask, No Effect!'' against a single instance of this event.

Rad Storms will be one of the most common calls during the Surviving the Wake siege event. Radiation is insidious, and even the meager protections you erect in the Depot won’t stop all of the radiation from affecting you inside. There will probably be at least one door open, and for those folks holding shields and guns at the entrance, you won’t be able to avoid being exposed to this radiation, even with a Phalanx ready.

It doesn’t seem like much, but one point of damage will add up over time. Because Rad Damage impacts both Body and Mind, losing 1 point of Mind might mean you can’t use a handy Avoid any more. You will find yourself needing to cycle folks out off the front line for periodic healing and mind refreshes.

Thankfully, the Lineage advantage of the Mutants (Remnants, Retrograde, and Tainted) offers some decent protection from minor exposure like this. For characters of these Strains, you’ll notice that most of the radiation calls will include the phrase “Mutants Immune!”. If you hear this phrase, you’ll be strong enough to resist these effects. However, your mutated blood only protects so far — larger doses of Radiation will still require you to spend Resolve to ignore, and even a Retrograde won’t survive long outside.

Lethal Exposure

Any prolonged or repeated exposure outside (past the boundaries of the doors of the Cafeteria) for more than 1 minute is LETHAL, regardless of any gas mask or Strain resistance.  At the end of this time, you immediately DIE and lose an Infection unless you have specific protection as part of a STRIKE TEAM EVENT.

When the flying city of Waking crash lands nearby, or flies overhead, the only safety will be found INSIDE. Even a short period of time outside will be enough to kill even the hardiest survivor, no matter the Strain. Your Helscape Death Mask won’t protect you if there is no clean air to filter out. If you stay outside for too long, you will immediately die. Period.

There’s only one way to stay outside for a protracted period of time in character and that will be through our STRIKE TEAM EVENTS. Throughout the siege, there will be opportunities for small groups of survivors to brave the dangers of the outdoors on much needed supply runs, stealth missions, and reconnaissance. These small missions will have some special temporary protection from LETHAL EXPOSURE, but only for the small group of people on the mission.

However, these events will be timed.

If you don’t get back to safety in time, you could die in the choking clouds of radiation across Bravado, despite your temporary protection. Plus, each character will only be able to attend ONE of these Strive Team Events. Repeated exposure to the irradiated clouds will be deadly, especially if you try it more than once during the siege. The Infection in your bodies can only handle so many Rads!

Quick Events

One last complication to the fighting will be experienced in the form of Quick Reaction Events, a new concept for DR:TX that you see continue into Season 5. These were inspired by some clever skill uses in DR: Oklahoma (Fore!!), and by our very own Reaction Events during the Submarine mods written by Ed Sampson.

What is a Quick Event?

During the siege, you will occasionally hear a Guide start a Quick Event:

  • The Guide will describe the effect with a exclamation - “Shockwave!” This is largely flavor and is meant to help you understand in-game what effect is happening. We don’t have a Hollywood budget, so sound effects will have to do.

  • The Guide will call the keyword, then start a slow 3-count. - “Hit the Deck, 3, 2, 1!” When you hear this countdown, it will be a clear sign to do something!

  • You will have only a brief time to REACT to the event. If you perform an obvious behavior to protect yourself, you will avoid the damage or negative effect. This might be something like taking cover, covering your mouth, looking away from an explosion, or falling to the ground.

  • If you do not react in time, the Guide will call a “Failed Reaction”. This call will be alongside a temporarily inconvenience, like Blinding, Agony, or Stun. This is an unavoidable effect, and no use of Avoid, Balance, Mental Endurance, or even a Phalanx will stop this.

  • A few of the events cannot be avoided at all. There are two effects that cannot be avoided by reacting to the event and will simply be a thing you need to deal with.

In practice, these attacks will be pretty intuitive. After you’ve seen it in action a few times, you’ll understand what you need to do to protect yourself, and you can simply listen for the Guide to call or point to you for the effects. The first time you experience these Quick Events, you’ll even have a longer count to help you realize what is about to happen.

What if you are a little less mobile?

Don’t worry! The goal of these events is not to punish people that may have a lack of mobility or be a bit slower. I know I’m not the fastest person out there, but what we are looking for is EFFORT.

If you do something that a reasonable person could interpret as reacting to the event, the effect won’t hurt you.

This is largely a self-applied attack, so if you feel you avoided the attack our Guides will believe you! We want to have a fun, kinetic event to break up the monotony of a fight and to add a bit of tension to the siege, and this is not meant to force a strenuous physical activity.

What kinds of Quick Events Should I expect?

In our DR:TX tradition of Radical Trust, here’s the list of the effects you can expect to see during the fight. This will also be posted in the Depot, and we will have several NPCs to help telegraph these behaviors when they happen.

Pay attention, and you’ll survive the fall of Waking unscathed!

  • Shockwave! HIT THE DECK!

  • A Guide will call “Hit the Deck, 3, 2, 1!”.  If you do not obviously react and take cover, sit down, and/or fall to the ground (if able), you suffer an unavoidable “Failed Reaction: Stun, 10 seconds!” as you are disoriented by the collision of a shock wave.

  • Take a Deep Breath! GAS LEAK!

    A Guide will call “Gas Leak, 3, 2, 1!”.  If you do not obviously react and cover your mouth, you raise a scarf or face covering, you are wearing a Helscape Death Mask, or make some obvious attempt to hold your breath, you suffer an unavoidable “Failed Reaction: Choking Blow, 1 minute” from poisonous gasses quickly filling the Depot.

  • Watch Out! FALLING DEBRIS!

    A Guide will call “Falling Debris, 3, 2, 1!”.  If you do not obviously dive for cover, move from your current position, or take obvious attempts to dodge the debris, you suffer an unavoidable “Failed Reaction: 5 Body, Nail, 1 Minute!”. You may not move from your place for 1 minute following this damage, as you are pinned by falling debris.

  • Geiger Spike! RAD STORM INCOMING!

    A Guide will call “Rad Storm Incoming, 3, 2, 1”.  A Guide will call “By My Voice, 1 Rad Damage, Mutants Immune!”. This call inflicts both 1 Body damage and 1 Mind damage, unless you are of the Mutant Strain as the deadly radiation seeps into the building. This cannot be resisted by the “Call the Phalanx” ability. You can’t react to avoid this event.

  • Power Surge! LIGHTS OUT!

    A Guide will call “Lights Out, 3, 2, 1!”.  The lights of the Depot will be extinguished, and LCs AND Threats may use Stealth effects indoors for the next 5 minutes.  You may use Awareness to counter Stealth effects as normal. You can’t react to avoid this event.

  • The Undead Wail! PSIONIC RUPTURE!

    A Guide will call “Psionic Rupture, 3, 2, 1!”.  If you do not obviously cover your ears, muffle your sense of hearing, or make some effort to meditate or mentally protect yourself, you suffer an unavoidable “Failed Reaction: Agony, 10 seconds!” as the haunting screams of the Mortis Amaranthine overcome your senses.

  • Flash! Bang! BLINDING LIGHT!

    A Guide will call “Blinding Light, 3, 2, 1!”.  If you do not obviously cover your eyes, avert your vision from the windows and doors, or make some effort to protect your eyes with goggles, masks, or scarves, you suffer an unavoidable “Failed Reaction: Blinding, 10 seconds!” as the blinding flash of the nearby explosion overwhelms you.

That’s it for the Quick Events. I think these will offer some fun ways to interact with the fight that isn’t swinging a boffer and it will be something that anyone can do during the siege. Remember, it’s all about the effort, so just try your best!

siege challenges & needed materials

During the Surviving the Wake event, zombies won’t be the only challenges you’ll face while defending the Depot. While things like Healing Brews, Mind Restoring Meals, and Injectables will be useful during all of the fighting, that’s not the only resources that will be in demand while you SURVIVE THE WAKE.

During the fight, you will need to resolve several different SIEGE CHALLENGES. These tasks will require a kinetic activity to complete, like putting boards over the windows, or holding your breath to quickly hang a tarp outside. If you don’t complete these tasks within a certain time limit, it will create a bigger issue for the folks inside called a CONSEQUENCE. These Consequences will often aid the zombie hordes besieging the Depot, or make your efforts to defend the Depot a bit harder.

If this happens, you’ll need some materials to repair the damage to your shelter. We’ve kept the materials to items that can be gathered with BASIC skills, so even new players can pitch in to help patch up barricades and fight back the intrusions of the Grave Mind. But, since you won’t be able to leave the Depot during the siege, you’ll need to get your collecting done BEFORE the siege event starts.

Here’s the materials you can expect to use during these Siege Challenges:

  • BASIC TRADE CONNECTIONS:

    • Basic Scrap. If you have access to Uncommon and Rare scrap, you’ll be able to complete the tasks with a few less total Scrap instead. Good thing you can Smelt & Weld now!

  • BASIC SALVAGING:

    • Machined Components, Synthetic Fibers.

  • BASIC FORAGING:

    • Craftable Stone, High Grade Lumber.

  • BASIC TRAILBLAZING:

    • Alloy Metal, Conductive Metal. Metals will be used rarely, and never in the same quantities as the materials above, since they are harder to come by.

If you end up running short on critical supplies, there will also be several opportunities for small teams of survivors to venture forth into the choking radioactive wasteland on special missions. However, we want to give you some advanced warning of what you might need, just in case!

If you have some coordination and pay attention during the fight, you might be able to avoid having to spend resources at all!

New Threat Skills of note

One of the more particular side effects of the Waking morgue getting so close to the ground is a strange Grave Mind anomaly. Morgues have begun vomiting strange new Zombies, reminiscent of earlier times before the Hiway War. As such, new and dangerous types of Undead are to be expected throughout the weekend, but particularly during the siege of the Depot.

Some of our veterans of 2.0 may recognize some of these abilities and the Zed they represent, but we’ll save some surprises for the event. For now, let’s look at some of the NEW Threat Skills you might see this weekend:

SIGNATURE ABILITY: Overwhelming Strike

While most undead cannot use weapons, the [REDACTED] can make a single massive strike and call “15 Body, Overpower!”. This strike requires TWO uses of Avoid to ignore and ignores Armor.

Zombies with Melee weapons? Yikes! I hate that! I bet they get some other combat skills as well, depending on what kind of weapons they are equipped with. But, if it’s using weapons, you might be able to find something nice if you can manage to search the corpse in the midst of the melee…

SIGNATURE ABILITY: Triple Jointed

[REDACTED] can access any room by squeezing through impossible spaces. Place your hand on your head, go out of character, and spawn inside the space near a window, door, or small access point.  You may return to play in Whisper Walk, with the stealth symbol.  Do not use more than once per minute.

Zombies that can get into a locked room without using the door? That means no cabin is safe from these monsters, even if you are on the 13th floor! Whisper Walk has been used on some other threats, and it even means they can use Basic Stealth to hide in bright light or plain sight. I hope you have Awareness!

SIGNATURE ABILITY: Body Puppet

White Packet delivered, the [REDACTED] can call “BODY PUPPET: Psionic Compulsion!”  If the target does not resist, give the command to the LC to “Fight the Living for 5 minutes. Bleed Out ends!” This effect ends once the victim has been reduced to Bleed Out, or the [REDACTED] is slain.  This power is resisted by Mental Endurance.  Do not use more than once per minute.

Oh man. A Zombie that turns me against my friends? If I ended up getting someone killed, I’d feel like a complete bone head. Remember, items like the Grave Bell Shard and the skill Mental Endurance can protect you from Compulsion effects. Psionic Zombies are bad enough, and you gotta know that this isn’t the only aberrant trick these zed can bring to the fight…

SIGNATURE ABILITY: Mercy Paralyze

The [REDACTED] can call “Area of Effect, Psionic Stun, 1 Minute”. Functions as a very long stun, allowing the [REDACTED] to feed from the horrified and paralyzed victim at their leisure. Resisted by Balance or Mental Endurance.

Yikes. Imagine being frozen solid and still being aware of the zombies eating you but being unable to scream out for help. Whelp, guess I’m not going outside without a friend this weekend, because I might have to beg for mercy…

SIGNATURE ABILITY: Still as a Statue

While remaining motionless under direct observation, [REDACTED] gain Damage Reduction (Major).  They reduce all Melee or Ranged strikes by 10 to a minimum of 1 damage. Bane does normal damage, not double.

Ok, so all I got to do is keep my eyes on these zombies. Good think I won’t need to avert my eyes from a bright, blinding, explosion during the siege. I remember stories back before the Hiway War about zed that could scream and sap your will, but that’s probably a different type of zed. (There’s really no clever pun for these, the name is just too weird.. It rhymes with Golgos… Nope that doesn’t work either.)

Wrap Up

This was a lot to cover today, but don’t worry — most of these rules will be clearly telegraphed during the fights, and stuff like the Siege Challenges, the Environmental Dangers, and the Quick Events will be printed out and posted clearly at the Crisis Center during the fight.

We can’t wait to ring out the season with an epic fight, unlike anything we’ve ever attempted in DR:TX. Thank you for your buy in, and we can’t wait to push you to your limits during the events of VOX POPULI!

See you in a few days, Vados!