Rules Ramble

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The Oxkiller Alliance

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Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our September live event BENEATH THE CORPSE OF WAKING! 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 covering the OXKILLER ALLIANCE, a new type of Threat you’ll face this season.

  • We will have new limited-time Stickers available as a pre-registration reward for September! Buy your ticket early and earn some cool swag! Last chance for this bonus ends on Friday!

Let’s get started!

Who is the Oxkiller alliance?

In addition to the telegram above, here’s the information we’ve shared so far:

Far to the north, on the edges of the San Saba Territories that border the lands of the Sequoia Wastes, lies the new home to the displaced peoples of the OXKILLER ALLIANCE. While the two settlements of Star City and Fort Worthless are prominent parts of the territory, they have not been relevant to the success of the San Saba since before the Hiway War. Now, what resources remain go to fuel the war engines of the Oxkillers as they pursue a war against the San Saba Board and the peoples of the Lone Star.

However, no matter the tactical value of the provinces, the primary offense to the San Saba Board has been the blockade of the mighty Oxline running north into the Verdigrift Gardens and the Overgrowth of the Undying. Trade has slowed to a halt through the new Oxkiller Territory, as roving bands of tribesmen claim tribute and tax from any travel through their region. The affront to the power of the San Saba Board has not gone unnoticed, and a war is brewing in the Lone Star.

The Oxkiller Alliance is comprised of the former Antler Tribe and Oxkiller Tribe, two martial Natural One and Tainted clans that followed the former Tribes Disparate two years ago. With the death of Queen Jasper, and the formation of the new San Saba Republic, the Oxkillers abandoned their former allies in disgust at the changes they saw as weak.

Rumors suggest the former leaders of the Oxkiller Alliance, Prince Shale and Lord Hush, died in a power struggle last year. Now, a new figure has emerged from the warring tribes to unite them with a singular purpose and passion — the Breaker of Crowns. Under her guidance, the Oxkiller Alliance has become a new and present danger to any that live in the Lone Star.

The War of Antlers is coming to the San Saba…

The war with the Oxkiller Alliance has been brewing for quite some time, so let’s take a bit of look back at who and what they are, and how we reached this point.

the History of the Alliance

While this is a NEW faction for our story in Season 5, the core of the group has been in play since the start of 3.0.

Back at the beginning, the San Saba Republic was known as the Tribes Disparate. Thirteen houses made up the Tribes and the two mightiest of their number were the Oxkillers and the Antler Tribe. Before her final death during our QUEENSGRACE event, the leader of the Tribes Disparate was Holy Mother Queen Jaspar, of the Antler Tribe.

The Antler Tribe was one of the largest tribes, survivors of the Hiway War thanks to the intervention of the players during the final days of 2.0. Led by Queen Jaspar, the bearer of the Antlered Crown, the Antler Tribe consisted mostly of Natural Ones, Tainted, and a few Landsmen, but overwhelming followed the faith of the Tribes of Seasons. They were fiercely loyal, deadly fighters, and powerful allies against the undead and raider threats of the wastes. However, the Queen’s brother, Prince Shale, was jealous of his sister’s rule and had sought to undermine her power for years since the Hiway War began.

While the Antler Tribe was the family of Queen Jaspar herself, the Oxkiller Tribe had been set up as an antagonistic faction from the very beginning. Led by the mysterious “Path of Rust”, who later became known as “Lord Hush", the Oxkillers were a thorn in the side of the queen. This Natural One chieftain rarely spoke at all in the war councils composed mostly of loud Devoted, Tainted, and Landsmen fighters, but nonetheless he was understood to be ruthless throatslitter in battle and his whispers were what guided the House's bloodthirst.

While their military might was impressive and nearly the equal of the Antlers, their fundamental disdain for technology was a problem for the newly connected San Saba. The Oxkillers were zealots and technophobes, trusting in nature and their belief in the old ways to protect their tribe versus repeating the mistakes of the oldcesters by relying on technology.

Chief among the sins of the San Saba, in the eyes of the Oxkillers, was the creation of the OXLINE. The massive locomotive was responsible for spreading clouds of oily smoke in its wake, disrupting the natural terrain with railroad tracks, and scaring off the wildlife with the titanic sound of its passage. They had tried to stop the formation of the rail at first, but after a failed attack on Dr. Sung, the creator of the Ox, they decided their new goal was to the end the threat of the OX once and for all.

This created an issue for the Queen, with a number of her own people rebelling against the law and order within the wastes. When we first started the story of the San Saba at the beginning of 3.0, the Oxkillers were already a problem for the Tribes Disparate. A number of mods were run with the Oxkillers attacking the Ox, in defiance of the Queen’s order, and they were generally an antagonist for the first few seasons.

FUN FACT — the very FIRST Gauntlet we ever held in Bravado included a member of the Oxkiller Tribe that was accused of “vulgar property damage”.

This antagonism continued, and the Oxkillers were to be a big part of our March 2019 event before the pandemic shut everything down. Instead, the Oxkillers committed their next bit of treason during our online season, during the event THE SHINING CITY.

This event was set on Waking Prime, the new capital of the San Saba, during the Wastes Faire. Players dealt with exploring this space for the first time, and had to deal with an encroaching stormfront. This event was pivotal for a number of factions, including the Junkerpunks and the RRC, but the event culminated in an attack on Waking by the dangerous raider clan known as STORMCHASERS.

However, before the city could defend against the Raider threat, the Oxkillers appeared in the skies around Waking, led by Lord Hush, and they crippled one of the airships at the head of the defense of the airship city. Lord Hush’s plan was revealed, as he was the one to lure the deadly sky Raiders to the city itself. In the chaos that followed, Lord Hush led a small strike team of Oxkillers into Eureka Tower to attempt to kill the Chair and the entire San Saba Board. The Oxkiller champion successfully killed the leaders of the Hackard family during his raid, but was stopped short of assassinating the Chair and was repelled by the efforts of the players during the final act of the event.

For this ultimate act of betrayal to the Tribes and the new government of the San Saba, the Oxkillers were banished from the faction and declared enemies of the Lone Star.

Queen Jaspar, portrayed by Shan Lind

Queensgrace - the Fall of the Queen

In Season 3, we returned to Bravado and explored the next crisis to the Tribes Disparate. In March that year, we hosted the tradition known as Queensgrace within our humble town. You can find a full write-up of the event HERE.

During this event, the thirteen Tribes were called to Bravado to choose a new leader, as the ailing Queen Jaspar was near her end and sought a successor. As a surprise guest of the Queen, the Oxkillers returned. According to the tribal tradition, they still had a vote to cast for the new ruler, and Lord Hush came to attempt to claim the Antlered Crown for himself. Lord Hush wanted a strong ruler for the Tribes, and reminded the players of the history of bloodshed and war that had led the faction to victory during the Hiway War.

On the first night of the ritual, he challenged the Queen to hand-to-hand combat. It was an unfair match up against the sickly ruler, but the Queen accepted the challenge. Before Lord Hush could strike her down, an assassin’s bullet interrupted the ritual combat, denying him the crown at the last moment. After the brutal murder her zed was sealed within the Gravemind to prevent the Oxkiller leader from claiming the crown, and it set into motion politics that would determine the fate of the faction.

At the end of Queensgrace, a new trio of leaders was chosen for the faction rather than a single ruler, led by Queen Debs of the Local 727. In disgust at the choice he saw as weak, Lord Hush left the assembly in anger, taking with him the might of the Antler Tribe, led by Jaspar’s brother Prince Shale, and the Fallow Hope soldiers of House JaCintos. Though the Jacintos were later convinced to return, the Antler Tribe and the Oxkillers fled to the north, creating a formidable army of rebels that would need to be dealt with in the future.

Prince Shale, portrayed by Josh Jones

a new leader for the alliance

While there were rumors in the background during Season 4, it wasn’t until the Fall of Waking that the conflict with the Oxkillers became something the San Saba needed to worry about. Last season, during our May event, we even held a vote on forming a new San Saba Militia, sponsored by Queen Debs as an answer to the imminent threat of Lord Hush and the Oxkillers.

During most of Season 4, the Oxkillers and Antlers were caught in a power struggle and too busy with their own messes to do much else. Prince Shale, a weakling that had survived with the help of spies, cunning, and poison, was unwilling to share the leadership of the new army with his rival, Lord Hush. Prince Shale had previously attempted to poison his sister, but the Natural One was unable to find easy access to the leader of the Oxkillers. Valuing only raw might and combat prowess, Lord Hush was at work building a new army of killers to pursue his revenge against Queen Debs and the San Saba.

Lord Hush, portrayed by Sam Mars

In a move borne of desparation, Shale challenged Lord Hush to single combat. Despite his frail stature, the Natural One Antler chieftain was a talented chemist, and carried a deadly poison with him into the challenge. Lord Hush was only nicked by the blade, but it was enough to weaken the Oxkiller. Before he could succumb to the deadly poison, he cleaved Prince Shale into two with a final stroke of his weapon. Both died during the challenge, and the Alliance was left without a leader.

Sometime over the summer, a new figure emerged at the head of the newfound Oxkiller Alliance — the BREAKER OF CROWNS. Little is known about the new warlord of the faction, but she is known to be intelligent, deadly, and bound to the same goal as her predecessor — the death of Queen Debs and the destruction of the San Saba. She was known as one of the right hand killers of Lord Hush, equally deadly and full of the same righteousness and disdain for technology.

In a lightning-quick assault during the Burning Season, she formed the new Oxkiller Territories, claiming the cities of Fort Worthless and Star City in the north to her cause. In an overt challenge to the Board after the fall of their mighty capital, this new Oxkiller Alliance will not be easily stopped. Now they threaten passage to the north by Oxline, have the resources to supply and feed their armies, and the zeal to pursue a new war in the San Saba - the War of Antlers.

The Breaker of Crowns aims to break the Antlered Crown of the San Saba Republic, to deal with the sins of the Oxline, and to stop the relentless expansion of the San Saba Board’s mission to unite the wastes with technology. Will you be ready when she sets her gaze on Bravado?

The Oxkiller Alliance, today

So, what does this all mean for your characters during our September event?

The war is just starting to heat up, but the Oxkillers are clearly a threat that needs to be addressed. With the corpse of Waking Prime in your backyard, Bravado is suddenly ground zero for their attacks on the San Saba Board.

New Laws

First, the Oxkiller Alliance has been declared enemies of the San Saba, and that means the laws no longer apply to their members. You can freely attack, kill, devour, or steal from any Oxkillers you run across, and the Law Dogs won’t track you down for violating the laws. There will be some open bounties on Oxkiller members, and it’s generally a bad idea to get caught aiding them. After all, if you aid the Oxkillers, you become the next person guilty of treason!

New Threats & Threat Skills

The Oxkiller Alliance will be represented in game by a new series of Threats in DR:TX. The most dangerous thing about these foes is their intelligence. They are survivors, much like your characters, and they can use tactics, set an ambush, open doors, and generally react to your actions to stop them better than a common zombie or raider. The Oxkillers are true believers and merciless killers, and will stop at nothing until they achieve their goal.

There will be four classes of Oxkillers you’ll face during our Season 5 events:

  • Oxkiller Thugs - These dangerous foes will be deadly warriors of the Landsmen tribes, but they rely more on their numbers to be a danger. These Thugs will be the most common enemy you’ll face during the war.

  • Oxkiller Assassins - The ruthlessness of the Breaker of Crowns and the Oxkillers includes the ability to disrupt their foe with tactical, murderous attacks from within your ranks. Assassins will be stealthy and dangerous foes, capable of flanking and dispatching lone targets with ease.

  • Oxkiller Zealots - The faith of the Tribe of Seasons runs deep in the Alliance, particularly that of the Crow Eaters. Capable of healing their allies and using the power of Faith as a weapon, the Zealots will be an insidious force multiplier in a fight with the Oxkiller Alliance.

  • Oxkiller Commanders - The pinnacle of the Oxkiller threat will be the deadly Commanders. Capable of buffing their allies, bolstering the line, and just being a deadly, capable fighter overall, the Commanders will be the brains of the Oxkiller attacks on Bravado.

As if Radioactive Zombies weren’t a big enough risk in September, now you’ll have to deal with rogue soldiers of the Oxkiller Alliance. Better make sure you have an injectable on hand!

A new defense for bravado

The San Saba Militia has been formed over the summer, funded by a new addition to the Charter in May, but it remains leaderless. Thanks to some clever actions by some of our players, folks amended the law that was to be passed to require the leader be elected by a popular vote. Over this season, you’ll get to help the Militia develop new tools, new defenses, and recruit new allies to aid during the War, but first you’ll need to decide who will lead the defense.

In September, you’ll be able to cast your vote for a new leader to lead the Militia against the Oxkiller Alliance, provided you have Society Membership with a local faction. Here’s the current favorites, but you’ll be able to learn more in game, as well as how your own characters could be elected:

  • Tabitha St. Mercy - The former Warden of Killhouse is a powerful figure in her own right, with the fortress-prison of Killhouse being a valuable training ground for new soldiers, alongside her Fallow Hope allies.

  • Reckoner-General Rampart - A veteran of the Hiway War, the leader of the Grave Council is a natural fit for leading other soldiers into battle. A powerful psion, adding the powerful wealth of the Grave Tax would be vital assistance during the war.

  • Queen Lucy “Boss” Debs - The leader of the San Saba Republic was behind the creation of the Militia, and many of her people make up the ranks of the new force. She has the power of the people behind her, but some question her resolve in facing off against former allies.

This is the first step of the new war against the Oxkiller Alliance. As the conflict heats up, rest assured that these enemies of Bravado will have a role left to play in the story of Season 5.

Wrap Up

That’s it for today, Vados! Next week, we will cover our Rules You Should Know before the event, covering a bit more about our LIQUIDATION RUNS. Can you survive the radioactive dangers of Waking to save Bravado? We will see during our journey BENEATH THE CORPSE OF WAKING!!!

Tickets are on sale online till Friday, but you can still buy them at the door!

See you soon Vados!

The Regents of Queensgrace

Radiation 101

Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our September live event BENEATH THE CORPSE OF WAKING! 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 covering the insidious dangers of Radiation in Dystopia Rising, how Radiation Poisoning might kill you in September, and how to survive the WAKING EXCLUSION ZONE.

  • We will have new limited-time Stickers available as a pre-registration reward for September! Buy your ticket early and earn some cool swag!

  • We’ve add some cool updates to our website over the last few days! We have new maps of Bravado (seen below), new maps of the San Saba, and a few other easter eggs if you look deep enough. Let us know what your favorite resource on our website is!

Let’s get started!

What’s that green spot at the bottom of the map?

The Danger of Radiation

In the world of Dystopia Rising, it’s a little easy to discount the danger of Radiation. You are Survivors, after all, and even though the world is horribly irradiated, you’ve been just fine. Some of y’all Mutants might even be more confident about your ability to survive, but nothing can prepare you for the threat of Radiation that is now facing Bravado within the corpse of Waking Prime.

The world fell. Bombs shattered the earth and radiation blanketed the world. As humans looked up at the skies, they saw their destruction — and their faith shattered… (DR Corebook, p. 69)

In the real world, Radiation can be very dangerous, but it’s not really a threat to most people. Humans are pretty hardy, and most folks will never have any significant radiation exposure in their lifetimes. There’s a lot of misinformation about radiation out there, but in general it will never be a thing you need to worry about.

In the world after the fall, it’s an entirely different story.

The entire world was blanketed in radiation during the fall, and your Survivor has adapted to live in an entire world full of what would be lethal doses of radiation in the real world. So when you encounter something that can hurt you with radiation in Dystopia Rising, it’s an entirely different magnitude of radiation altogether.

In the real world, at very high doses, radiation can impair the functioning of tissues and organs and produce acute effects such as nausea and vomiting, skin redness, hair loss, acute radiation syndrome, local radiation injuries (also known as radiation burns), or even death. When you suffer from lethal amounts of radiation, the cellular bonds of your body cease to function, and you just kinda… fall apart.

In the game world, the symptoms of extreme radiation exposure in the world of Dystopia Rising are VERY similar. It can cause damage by burning, it can cause nausea and vomiting, and many of the symptoms of this poisoning from radiation is covered in a common disease known as Radiation Poisoning. And, just like the real world, it can also cause a slow and terrible DEATH.

Before I get into how this works in our game, I need to cover one conceit we use in Dystopia Rising.

Radiation isn’t actually Green

In various Blueprints, and throughout our network, we commonly use GREEN glowing effects to represent the danger of Radioactive threats. All of the Green Light brand blueprints do something with Radiation, and even the Darwins are always talking about “Savannah’s Green Glow”. Our map above has an entire area marked with green to mark radiation. Heck, there are even some Radioactive Zombies that are represented with green glow sticks to mark them in a horde.

It’s kind of ubiquitous with the concept of Radiation, but since one of our former Directors, Ryan Coogan, was literally a Nuclear Engineer that had VERY elaborate feelings on this concept, I feel compelled to offer one bit of clarity of the real world versus Dystopia Rising.

We may only be nuclear scientists in the Wasteland, but most of us are pretty sure about one piece of nuclear knowledge — we all reckon that "radioactivity has a green glow".

Most of us have seen the opening sequence of any episode of The Simpsons. Homer Simpson sets down tools when the bell rings at the nuclear power plant where he works. The radioactive material he accidentally flips down the back of his shirt is quite clearly glowing green — so there's one undeniable example of radioactivity having a green glow, but it’s largely a Pop Culture trope.

And even back in the real world, hospital patients will say that they've had so many X-rays that they glow in the dark. Indeed, the phrase "glow in the dark" is often used as a metaphor for radioactivity. Old radium-based watches would even appear green in the dark, so it’s easy to see the confusion.

In real LIFE, Radioactivity is invisible to us — it's not green, or any other colour, it's totally invisible. our eyes can’t detect it.

In summary, radiation isn’t green, it’s invisible to the naked eye. It’s a terrifying threat cause you can’t really see it, detect it, or even know it’s there until its too late.

But, that’s hard to represent in a LARP.

So, in Dystopia Rising, when we use GREEN GLOW to represent Radiation, it’s just an easy tool to communicate to our players that something is Radioactive. With love, please forgive us Ryan.

A warning from one of our games back in 2.0. Ah, nostalgia.

Radiation in Dystopia Rising

Radiation in DR can be a deadly killer so it’s important to know what you might face while BENEATH THE CORPSE OF WAKING.

There are four main ways your characters might encounter Radiation in the game:

  • Radiation Damage, from weapons or augments like the Green Light Gloves or the Green Light Bioform Destabilizer.

  • Radioactive Threats, like the Irradiated Dead or Luminance Raiders.

    • Glow Boys, Toxic Terrors, and Doom Fog Zombies are all types of rarer Undead threats (Until now, that is. Turns out we crashed a giant radioactive airship nearby and killed a bunch of folks).

  • Radiation Poisoning, or Rad Sickness, a common disease found throughout the Wasteland.

  • Radioactive Areas or Environments, or HOT ZONES, commonly represented by green glow sticks or areas clearly marked with a Zone of Mechanics, like the Waking Exclusion Zone.

So, let’s cover the basic things you need to understand about each of these threats.

Radiation Damage

Radiation Damage is a “Damage Modifier”, similar to Body or Bane damage. When you hear another player or NPC call this as part of a swing, they will call out “5 Rad!”. If this connects and you don’t use a defensive skill like Avoid, then you take that damage with the modifier. The modifier simply changes HOW the damage is applied.

  • Rad Damage deals damage to both Body AND Mind in the same attack.

  • This means if you get hit by “5 Rad!”, you take 5 Body damage and 5 Mind damage. Ouch!

  • Rad Damage can be dangerous in large amounts as it can leave you out of Mind and Bleeding to death in one swing!

Radioactive Threats

While there are some radioactive raiders called Luminance Raiders, the number one threat you’ll encounter near Bravado is probably the Irradiated Dead. Similar to Shamblers, these undead aren’t particularly dangerous by themselves, but each and every one is highly radioactive.

In game, this will be seen through three major Threat Skills:

  • Basic Spike Damage (Rad) - The zombie will call something like “5 Rad!” during a melee swing. If it connects, you lose both 5 Body and 5 Mind.

    • Since Avoid costs 5 mind to use, it might not even be worth dodging this one unless you are injured or the Rad damage is a much higher strike.

  • Inflict Disease (Radiation Sickness) - This strike will infect you with Stage 1 Radiation Poisoning. If you’ve already contracted this disease, it will increase your Stage by 1. Stage 5 is deadly, but it still takes a few months to kill you.

    • This strike can and SHOULD be Avoided.

    • Remember, Mutants can spend a Resolve to avoid a NEW instance of Radiation Poisoning, but once you are infected you can’t stop it from advancing.

  • Doom Fog - Periodically, the most powerful of the Irradiated Dead will call out an area of effect attack. They will shout “By the Sound of My Voice, 2 Body, Undead Immune”. This will hit every survivor in about 50 feet and there are very few ways to avoid AOE effects like this. It’s not a lot of damage, but it adds up!

  • Some Irraditated threats literally feed off Radiation, so be careful using items that cause Rad Damage against some of these threats. You might have an explosive revelation!

Radiation Poisoning

Radiation Poisoning is a terrible disease and it’s sometimes called “Radiation Sickness” or some similar variation. Regardless of the name, this disease is one of the most common diseases in the wastes, second only to Bad Brain. Since it’s a common disease there’s really no mystery on how to cure it or what it does to a survivor. Symptoms for this disease range from “feeling like shit” to “actually dying while feeling like shit". In DR:TX, this is the variant of the disease we use, based off one used by our friends in DR: SoCal.

Here’s the complete rules for the disease, and these will be posted on our website under the Local Diseases tab.

While Radiation Poisoning can be deadly if left untreated, it still takes two months to die once you reach Stage 5. You should have plenty of time to treat this disease, so actually dying from Rad Sickness is kinda tough.

The biggest danger of Radiation Poisoning is that it needs some Cross-Lineage herb like Cannabis and Khella to cure. If this is a one-off victim you are treating, it’s not that punishing. But if you get a LOT of people with this disease, you’ll need some friendly farmers to gather the appropriate herbs. Hope there’s no issue with radiation leeching into the Meadow!

Radiation in the environmenT

The last way you will encounter Radiation in Dystopia Rising is through environmental dangers. There are two places you will encounter Radioactive Areas in the environment during our September event and beyond.

The number one place you can encounter Radiation in the environment is within the WAKING EXCLUSION ZONE. This is the area known as Zuni on our campsite, and is part of our new NPC land. We will have some very visible signs posted here, so this is a completely avoidable part of the campsite, unless you choose to take part of a Liquidation Run.

While inside the Waking Exclusion Zone on a mod, the following rules apply:

WAKING EXCLUSION ZONe

The radioactive husk of Waking is extremely deadly, even to Strains normally resistant to such things. The lethal doses of radiation inflicted by remaining in the area will kill anyone, regardless of protections, given enough time.

If you remain in the Waking Exclusion Zone for 5 minutes, you contract Radiation Poisoning, Stage 1. This will increase your disease by one stage if you are currently infected.

If you remain in the Waking Exclusion Zone for 10 minutes or longer, you have reached a lethal dose of radiation. Within the next hour, your body will cease to function at a cellular level and you will die and lose an Infection. This loss cannot be prevented or avoided. Characters with Goat Gear Armor, Helscape Masks, or Mutant Strain Advantages cannot avoid this effect.

If you attempt to enter the Exclusion Zone for a second Liquidation Run in the same 12s, your character instantly dies from Lethal Radiation, regardless of Lineage.

As you can see, even Retrogrades can’t survive the lethal rads within the hull of Waking Prime. No matter your strain, no matter the protection, that much Radiation is deadly. Worse yet, you won’t just immediately die. You’ll have about an hour to say goodbye to your friends before your body melts away. There is no way to prevent this Infection loss, as even the Infection can’t regenerate from that level of acute radiation exposure. That’s horrifying!

We’ll talk a bit more about Liquidation Runs in a future blog post, but the main takeaway from this mechanic is that no single character will be able to complete every Run. If you try to do two Liquidation Runs within the same 12s, you immediately die. You’ll have to let some other characters help you complete the mission.

Hot Zones

You will see other pools of Radiation throughout the weekend through a Zone of Mechanics called a Hot Zone. These areas are heavily irradiated, but not to the degree of the exposure within Waking. The rules are mostly the same as above, but it will be in a smaller location. These areas will not always be in the same place, but they will be incredibly obvious. When we can, we will mark these with green glow sticks so they are obvious.

HOT ZONE: Radiation Poisoning

A character in this zone takes 1 Radiation damage every 30 seconds.

Any character in this Hot Zone contracts Radiation Poisoning (Stage 1) after 5 minutes. This will increase your disease by one stage if you are currently infected.

The boundaries of the area effect will be marked by green glow sticks.

As you can see, it’s not as deadly as the Waking Exclusion Zone, but that damage will add up fast. If an item can be used to avoid this effect, it will be listed on the Hot Zone mechanics, but it depends on the source of the radiation.

Protecting Yourself versus Radiation

Lastly, one of the big reasons Radiation is so scary in Dystopia Rising is that there isn’t much you can do to prevent it from hurting you.

Let’s cover a few of the items in game that might be useful for this:

  • Goat Gear Armor (Master) - This common armor doesn’t have much individual use, but the PFA ability of this armor allows a Free Radical to spend 1 Resolve and be immune to all ill effects and damage from radiation modified damage for 10 minutes.

    • In general, you will be immune to AOE and Sound of My Voice calls from a Guide within the Exclusion Zone during your 10 minutes of protection.

    • Prevents ‘Inflict Disease’ from Rad Zombies on strike while protected

    • Prevents BMV Rad Damage calls while protected

    • Prevents Rad damage from a Hot Zone ZOM

    • Does not stop Exclusion Zone mechanics for Lethal Radiation.

  • Helscape Deathmask - This common item for Graverobbers offers limited protection from some environmental calls, but offers no protection within the Corpse of Waking. This item lets you spend 5 Mind to call "Deathmask, No Effect" to a single environmental call related to poison, disease, or radiation.

    • In general, you can spend Mind to avoid AOE and Sound of My Voice calls from a Guide within the Exclusion Zone.

    • Prevents a single instance of damage from a Rad strike or AOE for each 5 mind spent.

    • Prevents a single instance of damage from a Hot Zone ZOM for each 5 mind spent.

    • Prevents contracting Rad Sickness from a Hot Zone ZOM for each 5 mind spent.

    • Does not stop Exclusion Zone mechanics for Lethal Radiation

  • Mutant Strain Advantage - The Mutant Strain offers some advantages during a Liquidation Run, but even their bodies are not immune to the lethal radiation.

    • Mutants will have some additional advantages during a Liquidation Run, but I’ll be covering those in a future blog post.

    • Due to their strain advantage, it will take their body longer to break down, giving an additional hour of horrific, painful decomposition before death if the Lethal Radiation is achieved. 

    • A Mutant can spend 1 Resolve to not be affected by a single source of Radiation Damage or contracting a NEW disease at time of contact.

      • Note, this does not prevent a disease they have from progressing, so you gotta stop it before you reach Stage 1.

    • Cannot die due to Radiation Poisoning advancing to Stage 5.

    • Does not stop Exclusion Zone mechanics for Lethal Radiation

  • Hijinks Harness - This new armor can allow an Avontuur to spend 20 mind or 1 Resolve to pause a timer on an environmental effect for 1 minute. This is the only native item that will impact the Exclusion Zone, as it pauses the timer completely.

    • The basic armor effect may be useful during a Liquidation Run, but it offers no protection to environmental calls or Radiation damage.

    • Relying too much on this Armor during a Liquidation Run could have unfortunate consequences, so user beware!

  • Master Enhanced Movement - This Skill has limited uses versus the Hot Zone Zone of Mechanics, as it can allow you to physically move from a zone out of character. You can only take 10 Steps OOC, so you can’t bypass all of the Exclusion Zone mechanics, but it may be useful for smaller zones of radiation or limited effects like a trap or a pool of radioactive sludge within Waking.

  • Vehicles - These expensive items will have some limited use during a Liquidation Run, but they won’t actually stop Radiation damage or disease. However, if you can drive up to the wreck of Waking instead of traveling on foot, you’ll spend less total time in the Exclusion Zone before you start the Run. Nomads and the like will also be able to use their Lineage advantage during a Liquidation Run if they use a Vehicle, so enjoy!

So, as you can see there isn’t much that can be done to prevent Radiation unless you have specific gear or the right Profession Focus Achievement. For most folks, you still stay quick on your feet and be ready to survive BENEATH THE CORPSE OF WAKING!

That’s it! Good luck out there!

wrap up

That’s it for today! Only a few weeks out till game!

Next week, I’ll cover a bit more about the Oxkiller Alliance, and some of the Lore behind this new antagonist faction in the San Saba. See you soon Vados!

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San Saba Update

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Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our September live event BENEATH THE CORPSE OF WAKING! 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 covering some of the in-game changes to the setting, faction changes, and a few important RULES updates your characters should know!

  • Our Admin team and some other DR:TX volunteers had a great time at ColossalCon in Round Rock this past weekend! It was a blast to spend time talking about our game with new players, so expect to see more of these con appearances in our future! Can’t wait to see some new faces at our first event!

Let’s get started!

The San Saba Territories, circa PHW ‘07, by Aesa Garcia. What’s that red spot in the north?

important Story events from last season

We covered a few out-of-game changes in last week’s blog post, but let’s cover a few changes that have happened in the San Saba since last season. This is information a returning character might know, and you can always choose to follow along or instead learn this info in game if you prefer.

Last season, we had a LOT of big events:

  • During VALLEY OF FEAR, Bravado shut down a dangerous crystal candy operation near the town. They dealt with dangerous diseased mutants and stopped Juliet Butcher from helping Killhouse spread poison into the town. Deadly variant Crystal Candy blends were stopped from being spread through the San Saba, though Juliet Butcher escaped.

  • During our National Event PYROCLASM, the San Saba successfully defeated a deadly disease known as the Necrophage. In doing so, most of the Lifer population of Prudence Penitentiary was killed, as was the titular villain behind the plot, Grandfather Nichols. The only real survivor within Killhouse was Tabitha St. Mercy and a few of her most trusted allies.

  • During IMPRINT BY DESIGN, the town experienced a means to change a person’s Strain to something else entirely. While the technology was ultimately lost with the death of its creator, Dr. Esgrove, several characters in town experienced some dramatic shifts in Strain, including revealing that CEO of the Railroad Conglomerate, Felicity Redfield, had been a Remnant all along.

  • During THE EMERALD GALA, Bravado survived an incursion from the mysterious entities known as Archons. The town developed new technology known as the Emerald Arsenal to combat the threat of outsiders, helping Bravado successfully repel the Archon threat for a final time. However, that destructive technology is now loose in the world for other uses, for better or for worse.

  • During CRISIS OF FAITH, the Red Ledger helped Bravado defeat a doomsday cult known as the Cult of the Tiny God. The Cult attempted a conversion by the sword of any that opposed them but were stopped by the combined faith of the town. Without the demogogue leader of the Cult, the cultists were scattered by the might of the Red Ledger and Bravado.

  • During THE RAGE THAT FILLS HER SAILS, the town defeated the undead fleets of Joanna Waves, the Strainscourge of the Seas. They survived the deadly Black Spot and broke the Amaranthine Armada with a desperate attack on Joanna’s flagship. The Junkerpunks and Bravado defended the town and recovered a massive cannon from the Juggernaut after it sunk.

  • During HELLS OF THE SAN SABA, the town dealt with deadly Resonance Raiders, the lethal heat of the San Saba, and a water crisis. Building a new water filter system for the town helped protect the town from the worst of disease and shortages, but the town uncovered that someone had been attempting to recreate the nightmarish Resonant first found in Barogue. With the strange laboratory shut down, the Resonant ceased their attacks on the town.

  • During VOX POPULI, the flying city of Waking was crashed near the town of Bravado. During the Waking crisis, the terrorist known as the Rook fired a shot from a massive cannon at the floating city. The town narrowly decided to land the massive city on their own heads, sparing Widow’s Peak at the last moment. While the emergency landing kept most of Waking intact and avoided the worst outcome, the devastation has forever changed the town of Bravado, bringing deadly radiation and new undead threats from within the wreckage of the city. The decisions made during the fall of Waking will have a BIG impact on the future of the San Saba.

  • During THE UNDYING PRINCE, mysterious Obelisks awoke across the San Saba, leading survivors to the Lost City. During our summer online event, players took shelter within Barogue during an Oxkiller attack, and awoke the Prince Undying, the last ruler of the Lost City of Barogue. With his help, they used the Shards of the Red Crown to silence the obelisk within Barogue and escape from a horde of Resonant Raiders, but were nearly trapped in a nightmarish realm beyond death. At the end, it was as if everything they had experienced was just a dream, and the Prince Undying was nowhere to be found.

Text: Declaration of War! A State of War exists between the San Saba Territories and the people and government of the Oxkiller Alliance. The San Saba Board is hereby authorized and directed to employ the entire military force of the San Saba and the resources of the Territories to carry on war against the Oxkiller Alliance and bring the conflict to a successful termination. Levying war against the San Saba, adhering to the enemies of the San Saba Territories, or giving them aid and comfort is an act of treason. The Charter nor Law of the San Saba shall levy punishment against those that spill the blood or bone, steal the Infection of the body or work of the hands of those that have committed treason.

Big story changes for Season 5

We told a year of exciting stories last season, but there’s some important consequences from last season that will matter for this upcoming event and Season 5.

  • The War of Antlers has begun. The San Saba Territories are now at WAR. The enemy forces of the Oxkiller Alliance, the remnants of the Okiller and Antler Tribes that left after the death of Queen Jasper, have claimed the territory of Star City and Fort Worthless as part of a new OXKILLER TERRITORY. This new faction is at war with the San Saba, and plans on using their superior military might to undermine the San Saba Board. Thankfully, the town elected to fund a new militia to match this threat, and the Board has named anyone that helps the Oxkiller Alliance a traitor in an emergency wartime change to the San Saba Charter.

    • During this season, you can freely kill Oxkiller Alliance enemies without worrying about being sentenced to a Gauntlet for murder or theft.

  • The Lovelace Family has withdrawn to Widow’s Peak. After nearly losing their family to a Bravado-based threat three times over two years, the Lovelace are through with risking their kin in Bravado. While they were spared from a death beneath the crushing weight of the skyship city of Waking, it was only in the last moments that the town redirected their efforts to avoid the Quiet Folk settlement. The Widows of the Lone Star have been granted ultimate influence over legal decisions, leaving the orphanage and charitable organization to manage their interests in town during their absence.

    • The Lovelace Family will no longer be an eligible Society Membership, and any characters with this membership will gain Widows of the Lone Star membership instead. However, all of the items on the Lovelace Family Faction Buy Lists remain available for players with Widows membership.

  • General Rampart and the Grave Council placed Bravado under a Quarantine and Audit. After risking the balance of the morgues to an entity known as the Voice Below and the reckless behavior involving Grave Mind Shards and more, the Grave Council has “quarantined” our community from the danger they represent. They will not offer official services in town as a faction, have fired all the groundskeepers, and the Reckoners will be performing an audit on any actions that impact the Grave Mind over the next year. Heavy fines and penalties will be placed on those that choose to use unlicensed graverobbers, particularly for life binding services, and Bravado is on their own should a morgue crisis ensue. Yikes!

    • Characters may not increase their Society Membership with the Grave Council past Basic without a specific plot request.

    • Any character that uses Master Faithful Will will incur a 100 Brass fine from the Grave Council during the duration of the Audit. This amount will be added to your Grave Tax, and could come due in April.

    • The Morgue will have additional mechanics for maintenance that must be completed by players during each game. If this is not completed, serious consequences could occur in the town.

  • The Railroad Conglomerate has been seriously impacted by the fall of Waking. The loss of their capital as a shining beacon of their power was a massive hit to the financial faction. In retaliation for Felicity’s role in the catastrophic crash, the Families of Waking Prime have claimed the second Board seat once reserved for the Railroad Conglomerate. This has served to weaken the influence of the RRC during Board votes, as the Families are much more likely to favor the Chair.

    • The RRC will experience several penalties to their financial and political influence during Season 5 based on the decision to land Waking Prime on Bravado.

    • The second RRC seat on the Board is now held collectively by the Families of Waking Prime, powerful allies of the Chairman that were introduced during the Emerald Gala.

  • The Red Ledger is focused on the war to the north. Their Strikers have been sent to aid the war effort alongside the San Saba Republic, and they have their hands full. Expect to see less of a Red Ledger presence in Bravado as the season continues, as they chase bigger prey in the war to the north.

    • The Red Ledger is no longer an eligible Society Membership. The Red Ledger Buylist will be added into the various Faction Buy Lists instead, and your Marks are still eligible to be earned and spent on SES-related items.

    • We will have some more information on this in the weeks ahead!

Text: Strikers of the Red Ledger should regroup on the northern fronts. Mercenaries and militias don’t mix. There’s no glory in small quarry and the Oxkiller War has plenty to go around. Let the San Saba folks handle the small stuff and let’s answer the call. Iron sharpens iron, Strikers. — Gustav Glasseyes

  • The Charter of the San Saba has been updated, giving new autonomy to the Law Dogs and the Justices of Sin. Thanks to a clever submission during the Stakeholder’s Meeting, the contract the Law Dogs signed with the Board has been renegotiated. Additionally, the Justices of Sin have become an entity of their own, gaining new freedoms from Tabitha and Killhouse Prison. However, the conflict between these three factions is sure to cause issues for justice in the San Saba during Season 5.

    • The Faction Buy Lists for Prudence Penitentiary and the Law Dogs have been updated. Several items once limited to one faction are now available to players of BOTH factions.

    • Players will have an opportunity to decide the final fate of these three Justice factions during our Season 5 events: Prudence Penitentiary, the Law Dogs, and the Justices of Sin.

  • The Bravado Morgue was successfully defended, and the Voice Below was silenced. Near the end of our May event, players successfully dealt with the Grave Mind entity known as the Voice Below, and the catastrophic consequences that might have occurred had Waking landed with the link still intact were prevented thanks to player sacrifice. However, while players successfully dealt with this threat, the Shard of the Grave Mind formerly known as the Eightfold Mother is still a growing problem within the Bravado morgues.

    • The Local Blueprint “Rite of the Indulgence” has been removed from play.

    • The Bravado Morgue has been moved to the Treehouse. Returning safely from death will no longer be as certain within Bravado. If you are not careful, you could lose multiple Infection when you die!

  • The mysterious Obelisks have quieted for now, but Lake Bravo is still boiling. Folks did something in Barogue to slow down the crisis of these strange monoliths that awoke over the summer all around the San Saba, but it didn’t fix everything. There’s something different about the strange white obelisk in the center of the lake, and its still wrecking havoc on Drywater, the Junkerpunks and anything that lives near or on the water. Plus, the Prince Undying is still missing after the nightmarish escape from Barogue. Where did he go, and what is he up to now?

    • Sailing mods this season will involve new threats, new enemies, and the Junkerpunk faction will have several penalties to their financial influence during the season.

    • Shards of the Red Crown are a new limited currency item introduced for this season. This item is an Illustrated Item Card, and will have several different uses over the season.

    • A new keyword “Attuned to Nightmares” has been added to our Local Rules.

  • The radioactive husk of Waking is on Bravado’s doorstep. The once mighty skyship was crash landed near the city, causing massive ecological devastation in the process. While the surface city is mostly intact, the interior decks of the ship remain dangerously irradiated. The town has cordoned off the radioactive approach to the airship into the new Waking Exclusion Zone. The seat of the San Saba Board is now directly involved in the future of Bravado.

    • Zuni has become our new NPC land. The entire area is severely radioactive and should be avoided in-character. Players may not enter this area unless on a mod, as they will quickly die from lethal exposure to radiation.

Text: To our Lovelace Family in Bravado. At the request of our Matriarch, Immacula Lovelace, and the town council of Widow’s Peak, it has become time to protect our values politely but proactively. The Lovelace Family has chosen to focus our public assets with the charitable organization of the Widows of the Lone Star. Our family will not grace the lands of Bravado until restitution for sins committed has been met. Rebuilding a community starts from the ground up, but our patience tells us when to prune the weeds from the blossom. Your deeds for the Family will not be forgotten and all the respect and honor of our family will be met by our siblings within the Widows. Live Quiet, Peaceful, and Connected Lives, Clauthia Lovelace.

A sneak peek at the future

We have a lot in store this season, but I’ll wrap up today’s post with a teaser into our season story. Here are the episode titles and Storytellers of the upcoming games of the season:

  • September 15-17 - BENEATH THE CORPSE OF WAKING

    • Overarc Storytellers: Heather & Jonathan

  • October 13-15 - CIRQUE DE DREAD

    • Overarc Storyteller: Matt Hoadley

  • November 10-12 - EMERGENCE

    • Overarc Storyteller: Maenad Wilder

  • December 8-10 - THE RED DEATH (Premiere Event!)

    • Overarc Storytellers: Heather & Jonathan

  • February 9-11 - THE BREAKER OF CROWNS

    • Overarc Storytellers: Heather & Jonathan

  • March 8-10 - GIFTS OF SUFFERING

    • Overarc Storyteller: Andrew Harper

  • April 12-14 - WHISPERS FROM THE DEEP

    • Overarc Storyteller: Brett Moulton

  • May 10-12 - THE ATROCITY

    • Overarc Storytellers: Heather & Jonathan

What could it all mean? Oh man, I’m so excited to tell the next chapter of the San Saba story. We have a lot in store for this season, and I hope you are as excited as we are.

Remember, tickets are still on sale for our September event. Skip the line at pre-reg!

See you soon Vados!

Text: Life Binding: Class 3 Offense. The Grave Council will enforce a 100 Brass bounty on each use of Life Binding to upset the balance of the Mortis. Robbing the Mortis Amaranthine in this way threatens our work in Waking and the San Saba and will not be tolerated under the Bravado Quarantine & Audit.

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Beneath the Corpse of Waking

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Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our September live event BENEATH THE CORPSE OF WAKING! 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 covering the premise of our event, some content warnings, and a few logistics changes for Season 5!

  • Our Admin team and some other DR:TX volunteers will be at ColossalCon this weekend! Stop by our booth in the Dealer’s Room for a chance at some sweet swag and a raffle for a cool prop!

Our photos for this post were taken from previous DR:TX events by our talented Photo Team. The art pieces for this post are some new sticker concepts featuring art designed by Shan Lind.

The original obelisk, within the boiling waters of Lake Bravo, by Shan Lind.

Beneath the Corpse of Waking

Here’s the premise and summary of our first event of the season:

The San Saba Board has been bloodied with the fall of Waking.  Never before has the San Saba Board’s power been challenged so successfully as the fall of Waking Prime.  Despite the threat of strange Obelisks and the impending struggle against the dangerous Oxkiller Alliance, the Board is focused instead on containing the crisis that is the barely landed wreck of Waking Prime.

The wreckage of Waking Prime lays burning with fire and radiation on the doorstep of Bravado, leaching into the water, the soil, the Gravemind and the hearts of people who rely on the land for survival. The devastation is immense, and the clean up efforts will need to be just as extensive to restore the land to its previous state.

But beneath the corpse of the once mighty flying city is a brewing problem.  The morgues are churning forth the undead in larger numbers than before, bringing back creatures that have been unseen since the Hiway War alongside the threat of radiation sickness.  Somewhere within the underbelly of the city is the answer to stop the horde of undead, but the radioactive husk of Waking is lethal to even Retrogrades.  

To fix the problem, the Railroad Conglomerate has contracted a series of Liquidation Runs into the corpse of the city for any brave enough to risk the delve.  Brave the deadly radiation, get out alive, and you will be handsomely rewarded.   However, the deadly threat of radiation kills more surely than the claws of a zombie or the cruel ax of a raider.  

A certain and insidious death awaits those runners that tarry too long on their mission, get trapped by the undead, or get lost in the maze-like pathways inside the city.  Stay too long on a liquidation run, and no amount of medical assistance or meals will save you.  If you survive the lethal radiation, you’ll still have to contend with the raiding parties of the Oxkiller Alliance trying to stop any from saving the monument of the Board’s failure.

Can you survive beneath the corpse of Waking?  Can you stem the tide of radiation and undead before it is too late?

Zombies! by Shan Lind.

A Radioactive Season Opener

Oh my. Radiation and undead sounds like a lethal combination, but that’s probably not all the dangers that are in store for your characters during our Season Opener.

If you attended our online event, THE UNDYING PRINCE, we will be continuing our saga of the San Saba Territories into a brand new season with new mysteries, new dangers, new nightmares, and new stories. We have new threats, new allies, new zombies, and more! We even have a brand new currency item this season to join Amaranthite, the Shards of the Red Crown.

Over the next few weeks, we will be covering more about this season opener event during our regular Wednesday Blog Posts, including an update on some important story changes for the season, new NPCs to watch out for like the Oxkiller Alliance and the Families of Waking Prime, some more traditional Rules Rambles on the dangers of Radiation, and more!

Content Warnings

The themes of Dystopia Rising often touch close to our real world in ways we cannot always avoid. The DR:TX team believes that we can still tell these stories about challenging topics, but we also believe we need to be transparent about our intentions, and allow folks to opt-out of any mechanics from those stories. In our tradition of radical trust, we want to also trust in each player that attends our game to know their own limits and be able to choose to avoid topics and situations that make them uncomfortable.

Its one reason we take our OK Check-In system so seriously! We understand that these may not be stories you want to participate in, and that’s okay!

You can always find a list of our Content Warnings on our website, but let’s talk about some of the specific things you might want to be prepared for during this first event of the season.

Disease & Radiation

  • Disease, infection, and consequences of diseases

One of the themes of this upcoming event is the consequence of crashing a giant airship powered by a nuclear reactor right next to Bravado. The choices made during our last event in May left a lasting effect on our tiny town, and many of the events of the weekend will deal with the insidious danger of Radiation. It’s a threat you can’t defeat with a boffer, it’s invisible to the naked eye, and it can be quickly lethal. One aspect of this threat will be in the form of RADIATION POISONING, a common disease associated with the dangers of irradiated threats in Dystopia Rising.

During the September event, you might encounter ways to contract this disease for your character, particularly if you purposefully enter irradiated Hot Zones, like the WAKING EXCLUSION ZONE, or encounter certain Radioactive Zombies. These areas will be clearly posted, so you’ll be able to see how to avoid most of these mechanics if you want, and we will have the mechanics and roleplay guidance for this disease posted near the Post Office.

This is a dangerous disease that can lead to character death if untreated, but this is a well-known malady. Any doctor with Basic Medical can treat and cure this disease, and the treatment is well known through the wastes. Next to Bad Brain, this is probably one of the most common diseases in the world of Dystopia Rising. It’s a pretty slow to progress disease if you avoid irradiated areas, so you’ll have many opportunities to seek out a cure before it spells an untimely end for your LC.

Liquidation Runs & Timed Events

  • Physically demanding activities, intense emotional situations, where characters may be pushed to their emotional limits.

During the September event we will be debuting LIQUIDATION RUNS. I’ll cover more about these in detail in a later post, but these will be high risk, high reward events during the game that you can participate in at set times during the weekend. These events will deal with delving into the corpse of Waking, the crashed airship outside the city limits, braving the deadly radiation in search of stemming the tide of undead flowing from the wreck. One of the intensely scare things about radiation is that when a person dies of exposure, they literally start to melt as the cellular bonds decay. It’s like you are being liquified!

These Liquidation Runs will involve potentially character deadly events that will be timed, repeatable mods, similar to the supply runs we ran last season during our closer. If you stay too long in the mod area, your character will DIE from lethal exposure to radiation. Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect 200 Brass. This risk will be telegraphed in advance, and these events will be entirely optional. You don’t have to enter the radioactive belly of the beast if you don’t want to.

Additionally, during these events you’ll have to complete a series of stressful challenges while dealing with undead and other threats of Waking. Many of these challenges will involve physically demanding activity (running, simulated fighting, etc.) or kinetic puzzle events. Similar to the quick events we used during the 4-hour Siege last season, these events won’t be so much about how many Mind points you can spend, but rather how clever, coordinated, or quick you are as a player. This makes these events perfect for characters of any tier of play, as it won’t be a matter of how much XP you have, but how well you can communicate and coordinate with your team and react to the dangerous events we throw your way.

Heather and I have some devious challenges in store for you, and we hope you decide to take the risk! Just don’t take too long, or you’ll be LIQUIDATED!

Another bit of obelisk art by Shan Lind.

logistics Changes for Season 5

We have a lot in store for the story this next season, but let’s make sure we cover a few big out-of-character changes that you’ll need to be ready for during our next season:

Zuni is now NPC Land!

The area of Camp Kachina known as Zuni (formerly The Breach) will be reclaimed as an NPC only space during Season 5. During our live games, this area will be off-limits unless you are participating in an away mod in the space, as it will now represent the heavily radioactive area known as the WAKING EXCLUSION ZONE.

We apologize if you had your hopes set on staying in the open-air cabins there, but we have a lot of cool events in store that will benefit from having a dedicated mod space. We appreciate your understanding and your grace as we make this adjustment for Season 5. We still have plenty of beds and cabins available elsewhere on site, including several climate-controlled spaces like Kiva, Wigwam, and Wikiup! You are always welcome to set up a tent in most areas on the site too, and there are many open-air cabins in Hopi and Yuma!

The Morgue is Moving! (again!)

Based on player and ST feedback, we will be moving the Morgue to a new location during Season 5. Last season, we experimented with the area behind the kitchen in the breezeway, but we found it to be easily disrupted by noise from players in the Depot despite the cool ambiance it offered. This year, we will be housing the entrance to the Mortis Amaranthine in….

The Treehouse (aka The Maw)!

This space is an exciting area that can be easily set up for a black box experience, and we have a lot of neat death scenes planned for this year with our new Specialized Storytellers. It is far enough away from the major population centers to be remote, but still close enough to Ops to allow us to include it into our stories for the season. The Treehouse will give us a space where you can experience the deathly quiet of the Grave Mind, and delve into the mysteries of what happens when we die and are reclaimed by the insidious forces beyond death itself.

ticket prices have been updated for season 5

We posted about this last week, but in case you missed the announcement from National, you can read up on how we are implementing these changes in our blog.

Saturday NPC Shifts & the Siesta

Based on player feedback and operating with a slimmer ST team this year, we are making a slight adjustment to our NPC schedule. Players appreciated having a low-threat time during the afternoon for our Siesta, but we had repeated feedback about how it disrupted the flow of the event and led to some boring afternoons. To fix this, we’ve changed up the schedule:

  • Our first NPC shift on Saturday will now start at 10:00 am, and run until 2:00 pm. That’s right, you can stay up late without worrying about a zed attack right at 8:00 am.

  • Our Siesta will run from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. This is a time where we will have little to no dangerous NPCs in the world, making this a perfect time to get lunch, take a shower or get a quick nap, or plan those fun player-led events. The Post Office will still be opened for all your crafting and econ needs!

  • Our second NPC shift on Saturday will begin at 4:00 pm, same as last season.

We appreciate all of your feedback, and we will continue to work tirelessly towards improving and iterating on our processes as we go. We are excited to try some new things this season and we hope that you will appreciate all the hard work!

Wrap Up

That’s it for today Vados!

Thanks for sticking around after a long, hot summer, and we can’t wait to get back into our favorite zombie game. Next week, we will be right back at it with some of the in-character changes you can expect for Season 5, including some monumental changes to the San Saba…

Remember, tickets are on sale now, so don’t miss out on your chance to return home to Bravado!

See you soon Vados!

This is a cool sticker we will be handing out at our booth at ColossalCon!

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The Obelisks of the San Saba

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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 covering a few last topics before the event this weeekend, including some lore about the mysterious OBELISKS!

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.

Remember, unlike a live event, you can buy your tickets up until the end of the online event!

Logistics for the Weekend

We have a few last minute reminders to cover!

You can head on over to the Lonestar Skies Discord server to get set up for the weekend event. We will have some early-bird activities starting soon, so don’t miss out on your chance to get a head start and earn a few Barogue Bucks while you are at it.

If you want to get a head start on the Econ game, you can begin to work on your “Do Work, Get Paid” spreadsheet. Remember, this is an optional way to access traditional crafting, gathering, and econ skills.

The Schedule of Events:

  • 6:00 PM, Friday night before the event: We will have folks ready to help you convert your character to Bravado Bones in advance of the event. If you need assistance with any rules questions, I’ll be available around 6:00 PM CST to answer any questions you might have.

  • Our Opening Announcements will take place at 7:30 PM CST.

  • Our first Mod Series for Act 1 “New Barogue” starts at 8:00 PM

  • Our second Mod Series for Act 2 “The Obelisk” starts at 12:00 AM.

  • Saturday morning, we start our first Mod Series of the day, Act 3 “The Prince” at 10:00 AM.

  • We continue our fourth Mod Series for Act 4, “The Shards of the Red Crown” at 2:00 PM.

  • We reach our penultimate Mod Series for Act 5, “The Path Beyond” at 6:00 PM.

  • Our final Mod Series for Act 6, “The Way Out” begins at 10:00 PM.

  • We will have a final text adventure wrapping up the story of the weekend for y’all in proper DR:TX Lonestar Skies online tradition starting at 12:00 AM on Saturday night.

  • Your “Do Work, Get Paid” spreadsheets will be due by Saturday night at midnight!

  • Sunday will be left open for soft roleplay and last minute Barogue Buck behaviors before we close down the server at 12:00 PM.

  • We will have our Closing Announcements at 12:00 PM on Sunday, and then I’ll be off with our Admin team to write some cards for our Grab Bag folks so we can get stuff in the mail as soon as possible.

We will have lots to do on the server through out the weekend, several trans-media events planned, some puzzles and challenges to participate in and more as the game progresses. Even if you don’t have a Mod planned, there will still be plenty to be involved in during THE UNDYING PRINCE!

Lastly, as a sneak peek at the rewards we have in our GRAB BAG, take a look at the new SHARD OF THE RED CROWN, a currency-style card we will be using during Season 5 and beyond.

Here’s a sneak peak at the new currency item, a “Shard of the Red Crown”. You can get your very own by purchasing the Grab Bag for this event!

The Obelisks of the San Saba

First, lets cover a bit of lore pertaining to an important part of the weekend event - the Obelisks of the San Saba. You might even find these are important through out Season 5, so let’s first talk about what you might know already.

  • From our very first story of 3.0, one of the primary reasons people traveled to Bravado was the mystery of a strange white obelisk that protruded from the lake nearby. It hinted at a strange facility under the ground that became the source of delving and fabulous resources for those willing to risk Bloodghasts and worse.

  • During our Essex Trilogy, a three-game arc during our online season, we dealt with the Fountainhead Incident, where a mysterious monolith called the Fountainhead grew in the center of the City of Light and Sound and caused all sorts of havoc. It was eventually stopped, leaving the city covered in trees and greenery, full of brand new life.

  • In the halls of Waking Prime, in the museum known as the Hall of Inventions, a plinth of unknown stone stands as a central exhibit, featuring the lost language of a people thought dead for generations. From here, Felicity Redfield was able to translate an ancient map found during the Dead Man’s Hand Tournament, and lead survivors to reclaim the Lost City two years ago.

  • During the race to find Barogue, survivors used a lone obelisk in the desert as a waypoint to find the Lost City, but any psions that drew near reports a strange sensation of nausea and sickness that kept them from lingering nearby.

  • During our December 2021 event, The Long Night, a blackened monolith grew in Bravado and trapped an Archon within. With hordes of undead swarming through Bravado, teams of survivors found a way to fight back against the Abyssal threat, silencing the threat of the monolith.

And when we started our lead up for the online event, we gave y’all this part of our teaser for THE UNDYING PRINCE:

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.

So, you see, these obelisks aren’t exactly NEW.

We’ve been hinting at them for a while now.

And now they are a BIG problem.

So let’s cover some current events, and explore what is happening throughout the San Saba.

A New Crisis

As of a few weeks ago, strange events started happening in the San Saba. It started out in just a few places, but it’s becoming a bigger problem by the day. Something must have happened, because now these ancient monoliths, stone pillars at least a hundred years old seem to be reacting to some new signal.

Even the hard-working reporters of The Wastelander, the finest newspaper office in Essex, find the timing a little too convenient:

Extra, Extra, Read all About It!

Well that sounds bad.

Why should your characters go to Barogue?

Well, the simplest answer is that shit is going wrong EVERYWHERE. Every character in the San Saba is being impacted by this event, whether they like it or not.

In Bravado, the lake itself is BOILING. It’s hurt the Junkerpunk port of Drywater and it is preventing most river traffic from reaching Bravado. The boiling lake is causing massive damage to the wildlife of the area, including the local Leviathan population. The heat is intense, and it shows no signs of stopping. Coupled with the radiation from the nearby wreck of Waking Prime, the environment is taking a beating.

Longwalkers, terrible entities that normally emerge during the Winter Lights festival of December are being reported throughout the regions around Widow’s Peak. These strange creatures are a nuisance during the Long Night, but they have normally been somewhat helpful as long as you followed a few simple rules. Now, it’s as if they are called to roam by something else entirely.

Throughout the San Saba, people have been going missing. Some of them have been sighted walking into the deserts of the Dune Sea, chasing some sound that only they can hear. If they are lucky, they simply die of thirst and heat exposure. If they aren’t lucky, the sand leviathans and Firebrand raiders get them first. Those that are asked only say they can hear “the music of the spheres” and try to walk west, towards Barogue.

In Essex, the Fountainheart seems to be waking up again. The last time this happened, the entire city was nearly wiped out as a faceless undead took over the city, and Archons escaped from within. Doomsday cultists are gathering at the feet of the strange stone tree, waiting for the end, and a strange decay seems to be spreading from the center of Essex. Anywhere there is scrap, metal, or any bits of industry, the metal itself seems to be rotting and rusting faster than should be possible. The Oxlines are taking damage from the spread of corrosion, and the RRC has had to limit train traffic to the largest city in the San Saba. If they aren’t careful, even the mighty Ox could be impacted by the strange decay.

Storms along the Spoiled Coast near the Clutch seem to be worsening, and terrible lightning, rain, and hurricanes are building on the coast. Even worse, the Cicatrix, the tentacled Grave Mind of the region, seems to be attacking ships that draw close the Lighthouse, the beacon that leads ship safely to shore. Those that get dragged to the murky depths of the ocean can’t seem to find their way back from death. Travel from abroad has slowed to a crawl, and ships bound for Gatorland and beyond won’t attempt the journey for fear of dying a final death in the bottomless grasp of the sea.

If something isn’t done soon, this seems like it’s going to be problem for Bravado and the entire San Saba Territories. However, there are some pretty smart people in the San Saba. It’s clear that these events must be related, and it’s clear that something is happening in Barogue. Someone has to stop this, and the Railroad Conglomerate is hiring survivors throughout the region to head to Barogue to help their teams find an answer to the problem.

But the answer seems to be these strange Obelisks. According to a report intercepted by the Wastelander, the Railroad Conglomerate uncovered a NEW obelisk, locked behind psi-tech doors within the city of Barogue. If you can find a way inside, perhaps you can find a way to silence this strange music, or discover someway to control or shut down these Obelisks.

HOW do you get there? Traveling to Barogue

Getting to the Lost City is a feat in and of itself.  The Dune Sea is an unforgiving environment and it makes simply reaching the city an endeavor few can afford or are willing to risk.  There are only a few reliable ways to reach Barogue, chief among them the momentous accomplishment of using the rail lines.  The act of laying a new rail line to the Lost City by the RRC over the last two years is a vital connection to the greater San Saba and beyond.

  • By Rail - The only truly secure way to travel to Barogue is via the Oxline.  Even so, the travel is slow as a “sweeper engines” must travel in front of the mighty locomotives to clear the tracks of sand and debris that gathers daily across the stretch of railway that runs towards the Broken Coast.  These smaller locomotives push giant plows through the sand, keeping the rail clear for the engines that follow in their wake.  The Oxline travel is expensive, but offers a mostly smooth journey to the Lost City.  However, your personal finances determine if you get to ride in luxury in an ice-cooled luxury car, or suffer with the laborers and less fortunate travelers in the blistering heat of the passenger cars.  Many travelers don’t make the trip to travel solely to Barogue, instead opting for passage to Oasis and beyond as the Oxline continues its journey west.

  • By Land - The second most dangerous journey to Barogue is braving the treacherous sands and the many threats of the Dune Sea by land.  Desert tribes of the Cali*co Caravan and the DJs of the Sweetwaters offer protected passage through the desert, following the trail set by the map-bearers and Felicity Redfield on their first journey to the Lost City.  Few travel on foot, but even vehicles need to be specially outfitted to survive the journey across the inhospitable sands.  Those that journey across the Dune Sea tend to use the only major landmarks that remain, starting from the oilfield camps of the RRC to the west of Essex before leaving major trade routes.  Two major points remain to reference on the journey – one a strange black Monolith that rises from the desert, and the massive metal behemoth known as the Frigate, a known raider stronghold within the Dune Sea.  Many that attempt the journey westward never make it to Barogue, as they are killed and eaten by Firebrands, dangerous Roughnecks, or even massive Leviathans.

  • By Air - The most dangerous way to attempt the journey to Barogue is attempting the passage by airship.  The bone-scouring sandstorms and superheated winds tend to combine for a lethal combination for those that try to travel by air.  The heat causes the air bladder-technology of most airships to expand out of control and burst, and the winds make straight navigation impossible.  Even in a ship rigged for the journey, travelers must make frequent stops to refit and repair, leaving them exposed to the same dangers of traveling by land, but with less ability to evade the threats.  Only the truly foolhardy attempt the journey to Barogue by air, and it is most often some DJ with a deathwish that is trying to make a name for themselves on the most dangerous stretch of the Dune Sea imaginable.

No matter the route, those that are lucky enough to survive the journey to Barogue soon find that getting inside the superstructure of the titan city is not as easy as it might appear. Hopefully, you will find assistance in the work camp outside the Lost City, commonly known as “New Barogue”.

What awaits you in NEW Barogue?

There is a saying among the work crews in New Barogue: “If the heat doesn’t kill you first, the desert, raiders, or leviathans will get you in the end.”  Simply surviving in the heat of the Dune Sea is a task not for the faint hearted or unprepared.  While the threat  of zombies and the undead is fairly low in the desert (but not unheard of), the other denizens of the dunes are more than enough for the camp to handle.

There are several major dangers to contend with while in Barogue:

  • The Heat - The temperatures in the desert can soar into the 120s at midday, so much of the work done at Barogue is done at night or in the cooler parts of the morning and evening.   Even still, it’s hard to sleep drenched in sweat and there are no real modern amenities at the camp.  Water must be carefully rationed, and only the access to regular shipments from Essex makes the camp even possible.  The few wellsprings the RRC have found are jealously guarded and sold as rations to their workers.  Heat exhaustion and heat stroke remain the number one killer of RRC teams, and daily safety briefs are given to the workers to keep the very real danger of the weather in mind.

  • Sandstorms - In addition to the heat, the very desert itself threatens to reclaim the Lost City if not constantly battled.  Periodically, the superheated winds of the Dune Sea carry enough force to scour flesh from bone in blistering sandstorms that wash over the titan city.  The only hope of survival when a coriolis sandstorm arrives, or “Aranae Ramleh” in the language of the Anneh Yaba desert tribes, is to take shelter within the superstructure of Barogue.  The mighty metal barricades allow for the survivors to withstand the biting sands and melting temperatures, though they must contend with the threats within the city.

  • Firebrand Raiders - A primary danger of the camp are the various clans of Raiders that make the Dune Sea their own.  The psionic Firebrand Raiders make their homes in the carcasses of Leviathans and seem to worship those of their kind that develop the spark of pyrokinesis that marks the leaders of the clan.  They can be a threat, but they seem to be largely spooked by the Lost City for some reason.  While some brave bands of Raiders periodically test the perimeter, the majority of the clan leaves the camp alone for the most part.

  • Resonant Raiders - The crystal-encrusted raiders first discovered two years ago remain a major threat from within Barogue.  There are several hibernation chambers that have been uncovered within the belly of the titan city that contain thousands of vessels where the unfortunate were kept as living batteries in the Resonant Choir.   Each of these victims is a potential Resonant, and early estimates suggest that there are still dozens of more chambers that are unopened.  From these strange hives and nests, the Resonant Raiders strike out into the world to drink in fear, terror, and anguish as the psychic vampires they are.  Anyone that braves the interior of Barogue must be ready to deal with the eerily quiet threats within.  Some ghost stories suggest that there are other predators within Barogue, but the Resonants are the true masters of the dead city.

  • Leviathans - The true natural predators of the dune sea, these giant mutated critters resemble nothing more than massive sand worms with bifurcated jaws.  Some stretch thousands of feet in length, and the most dangerous of their kind are called Elder Leviathans.  These mighty beasts are nigh-unkillable, and are a force of nature that must be contended with rather than overcome.  There are Leviathan nests that surround the perimeter of the Lost City, offering some protection from raiders and scavengers that would plunder the work camp.  The RRC has provided maps that mark out most of the major known nests, but they remain a regular threat to continued operation of the Oxline and the settlement of New Barogue.  The massive Leviathan that once protected the Lost City has been sighted in the desert nearby and it seems reluctant to return to the former nest, but it remains an ever-present threat in the minds of the laborers in the salvage camp.

  • The Oxkiller Alliance - The technophobic crusade of the new Oxkiller Alliance has threatened Barogue, strangely enough.  The soldiers of the Antler Tribe and Oxkillers strike out into the desert to deal with the “profane monument of man’s hubris” that to them is the Lost City.  In their traditions, the titan city is a sacred and forbidden territory that none must disturb, and the zealots are a constant threat to the Oxline and any that try to travel to the Lost City.  The few Oxkillers that have been willing to talk with the workers of Barogue have mentioned that they believe the city is cursed, and the RRC will doom the world if they are allowed to continue.

  • Roughnecks - Not quite Raider, but not quite civilized, the Roughneck clan is a tribe of DJs, Tainted, and other scavengers that have loosely allied themselves into a roving band of misfits.  From smoke billowing rides, they travel the Dune Sea as the nomads they are, seeking out travelers and raiders to salvage for scrap and resources.  They are bloodthirsty killers, and care nothing for the law and order of the San Saba.  They are known enemies of most San Saba DJ clans, including the Road Royals and the Sweetwaters.

  • Zombies - While zed are truly not much of a threat in the desert, the return of workers to New Barogue has awakened the Morgue within the city once more.  Most zombies that threaten Barogue tend to be shamblers and recently departed workers, but a few desiccated corpses have been encountered from within the dunes itself, victims of the treacherous journey to Barogue.

Life is tough in New Barogue, but the will of the Railroad Conglomerate is mightier.  The wheels of capitalism keep churning amazing amounts of resources into leveraging the treasures of the Lost City of Barogue.  No threat will truly slow the creeping expansion of the Oxline, and the continued successful salvage operations at Barogue are critical to the RRC’s plans of forging the future.

Wrap Up

That’s it for today, Vados!

We hope you will have fun this weekend during THE UNDYING PRINCE! We have some mysteries and nightmares to explore, some secrets to uncover, and some exciting stories told by our new team of Storytellers to start out Season 5 strong. We can’t wait to see you there!

See you this weekend!

 
 
 

The Last Words, continued.