Rules You Should Know - October

Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our October live event CIRQUE DE DREAD! This is our first ST led overarc of the season, led by Matt Hoadley, Ash Sexton, and Luka Drystan. 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 last-minute Rules You Should Know, featuring some Threat Skills that might be useful to prepare for, as well as some other Local Rules updates!

• TICKET SALES ARE CLOSED ONLINE, BUT YOU CAN STILL GET A TICKET AT THE GATE!

• Amber wrote about a bunch of Logistical Announcements in her last blog post. Did you get a chance to check out the announcements? Read about it HERE!

• We’ve updated our New Player Corner with a lot of great resources for new and returning players alike. Thanks to DR: Michigan and DR: New York for paving the way with excellent similar content!

• We’ve updated the SES Buy List, and we’ve allowed it to use your San Saba Society Memberships instead of requiring involvement with the Red Ledger. Check out what your Marks can earn you if you sign up for the Survival Ethos System last month!

• You might have missed it, but we updated our Local CAPS list last season. There are some brand new shiny rewards if you bought some items from our Wish List, or if you help our game with extra NPC shifts or spend time as a Guide. Check it out!

Let’s get started!

Rules You Should Know

We only have a few days left before our October event, CIRQUE DE DREAD. We are excited to spook you with our bloody raider carnival, creepy Nemesis in the night, and a whole lot more. While you are searching for your very own CIRCUS MEDALLION, let’s not forgot a few things that might be handy to remember this weekend.

Check-In Mod!

This weekend, there will be a Check-In module to complete when you show up to play, as part of “Entering Town”. This is a specific type of mod that might ask you to roll a dice with our Logistics folks when you pick up your character sheet to determine what happens next.

All you need to tell us is this: How did your character get to Bravado this weekend?

Your answer might involve some roleplay opportunities, some starting mechanics for your character, or some neat plot-themed choices. Remember, if you are a Nomad, you can use your Lineage Advantage to avoid these types of mods, and there are some items that can let you avoid them as well.

Otherwise, step right up and join the show!

New Threat Skills

If you check the website, you’ll find that I update stuff online pretty much all the time. I’m constantly tinkering with my Blueprint Checklist, or updating for Local Rules and Local Threats. Eagle eye readers might have caught these already, but let’s make sure everyone is on the same page.

Here’s the brand new Threat Skill that we’ve mentioned in other blog posts:

“STEP RIGHT UP!” (COMPULSION)

Effect. Various NPCs may call this unique Compulsion mechanic. The NPC will call “COMPULSION: STEP RIGHT UP AND JOIN THE SHOW!” When you hear this phrase, your character will be compelled to participate in the dangerous and deadly carnival events held by Colonel Rictus's Flying Circus. Proceed to the NPC that made the call and follow their instructions for the next TEN (10) minutes. This ability can be resisted with Mental Endurance.

That’s not entirely new, since I’ve mentioned in my last few blog posts, but let’s cover a returning favorite, inspired by some of our friends in the DR Network, but especially relevant for Halloween fun:

Slaughter:

This overwhelming strike is the pinnacle of what can be done in a single blow by a [REDACTED]. The creature will call “50 Body, Reduce Bleed Out to 1 Minute!”. This does not reduce the Bleed Out timer below 1 minute, even if used multiple times.

Ouch. Better save some mind to AVOID that strike. If you don’t, you’ll probably be knocked into Bleed Out, with a shortened Bleed Out timer as well!

• This is a Strike, so it can (and should) be Avoided, and it still needs to actually connect. A parry or Shield will block this attack just fine. It deals Body damage, so that skips right past your Armor. Don’t rely on that Striker’s Coat helping much against a Slaughter.

• This is a rare ability, so you’ll only see this attack a few specific threats. So, if something looks really big and scary, it might have this ability. Lesser raiders and thugs won’t be able to swing this hard.

• Abilities that change Bleed Out timers already exist in the world through the common Threat skill “Cannibalism”. However, don’t forget that Proficient Faithful Will actually EXTENDS your Bleed Out timer to 10 minutes and prevents this from being changed. That means that this ability will stop that part of a Slaughter call, but not the damage itself.

Now that the power attack is out of the way, let’s cover one more thing to watch out for, though this has been in play for a bit in the network-wide Threat Guides.

Tireless Tracker

The [REDACTED] can call: “No Escape” in response to the use of “Never Here”, negating it.

The “No Escape” call was added to the last update to the DR Corebook on page 104, and it is the counter to the powerful skill use in Master Stealth. Normally, folks can escape from a deadly threat pretty easily with this Skill, but this is a reactive threat ability that certain threats can call to stop their prey from escaping.

• If you use your last Resolve to declare “Never Here” and it gets countered in this way, you do not gain a Fracture for using your last Resolve like normal, but you still spend the Resolve (DR Corebook, p. 132).

• Unlike other No Escape items that might block Master Stealth for several minutes, this is a one and done ability. It doesn’t prevent you from using it again, provided you survive the surprise of the first attempt failing and you still have Resolve remaining.

Lastly, while you may be familiar with these next Threat Skills, let’s remind everyone a bit about what to watch out for with this common ability, Cannibalism:

Cannibalism

If a target Lineage is unconscious, subdued, or in bleed out, this [REDACTED] can begin 30 seconds of brutal cannibalistic roleplay. While roleplaying ripping out pieces of meat and consuming the target Lineage, the target must roleplay being in incredible pain. If uninterrupted for the full 30 seconds of the roleplay, the Extra calls “Cannibalism: reduce bleed out time to 1 minute”. If the target is already under 1 minute left in bleed out, their timer does not go up or decrease. Multiple uses of Cannibalism by one or more [REDACTED] will not reduce the count further than one minute.

Carnivals are my favorite place for fun snacks, like popcorn, corny dogs, fingers… I mean, cotton candy. Many of the threats this weekend will have various ways to consume their prey, so when something starts to gnaw on you while you are in Bleed Out, we want you to be prepared.

Devour

This delivery modifier causes the [REDACTED] to be healed for an equal of Body as the attack deals. For instance, a creature might call “Devour 50 Body!”, which will deal 50 Body as the attack and heal them for 50 Body. This call can drain Body or Mind.

The “big brother” to Cannibalism lets certain [REDACTED] literally eat you alive without having to wait for a pesky thing like knocking you into Bleed Out first. Those arms and eyeballs are looking mighty tasty …

rules updates

The last bit here is a few updates to some things on the website, particularly pertaining to some of our recurring mechanics.

• The bonuses from Player Led Faction ZOMs cannot be stacked, and you cannot be a member of multiple player-led Factions. You gotta show some loyalty to your crew, and only pick one!

• If you are interested in your player-led crew getting some neat abilities of their own, let us know! You can still complete the ZOM: An Air of Legitimacy outside of the Stakeholder’s Meeting, but it might take you a bit more work to complete.

We’ve also updated a few other pages:

• We released some cool Local Blueprints last season, but all of these prints had listed “Season 4” on them. While it’s on my list of things to still update, for now, if you have one of these Green-sheet Local Blueprints, you can assume that it applies for Season 5 too. I’ll have some more information on these print updates soon!

There are a few new Local Items of note:

• SAN SABA WAR SUPPLIES

• Local Plot Item. War Supplies are an item card that represents the food, water, medical supplies, and ammunition the San Saba Militia needs to prosecute their war against the Oxkiller Alliance. This item can be used with the War of Antlers plot kit, and is crafted with the “Bullets & Beans” Zone of Mechanics posted at the General Store. The new General of the Militia, Hargrave Moss-Iverspit, will likely be interested in these items!

• RRC LIQUIDATION VOUCHER

• Local Plot Item. When a character successfully completes a Liquidation Run during Season 5, they will earn a voucher from the Railroad Conglomerate. This item may be exchanged at the Post Office for crafted gear, or saved and turned in with other vouchers for larger rewards. You can only complete TWO Liquidation Runs during the same event for these rewards. These Liquidation Runs will continue through the season!

• MAP OF WAKING

• Local Plot Item. Single Use. A character with this item may use Master Stealth normally within a Liquidation Run, ignoring the global “NO ESCAPE” mechanic within. This does not prevent a “No Escape” call inflicted by a skill, threat, or item while within.

Did you find any other Easter Eggs I put on the website?

Wrap Up

That’s it for today Vados! Colonel Rictus’ Flying Circus is coming to town soon, and I want to make sure I can be first in line for the fun and festivities! We hope you survive your Friday the 13th, avoid looking at the sun during the Eclipse, and survive the Nemesis nightmare of CIRQUE DE DREAD!

Remember, you can still get tickets at the door, so don’t miss out on the bloody good time!

See you soon Vados!

Circus Medallions

Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our October live event CIRQUE DE DREAD! This is our first ST led overarc of the season, led by Matt Hoadley, Ash Sexton, and Luka Drystan. 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 strange Entry Medallions of Colonel Rictus’ Flying Circus, and about about the dreaded Nemesis Cult.

• TICKETS FOR OUR OCTOBER EVENT ARE ON SALE until friday! STEP RIGHT UP AND SEE THE SHOW!

• If you had a great experience at our last event BENEATH THE CORPSE OF WAKING or had some suggestions for how we can improve, we’d love to hear from you! Did you enjoy the Liquidation Runs? Did you survive the radiation? What did you like best? What memories did you make? How was your NPC shift? Did another player impress you?

  • Fill out our Feedback Form!

  • Nominate another player for a Community Achievement!

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

COMPULSION MECHANICS recap

I covered these mechanics during my first blog post, but in case you missed out here’s a quick summary about how this core mechanic works. As with all of our Local DR:TX Rules, you can find these on our webpage under Local Rules & Skills.

COMPULSION

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

As a reminder, the primary use of this Compulsion mechanic will be a call you will hear during this event that is circus themed:

“COMPULSION: STEP RIGHT UP AND JOIN THE SHOW!”

When you hear this phrase, your character will be compelled to participate in the dangerous and deadly carnival events held by Colonel Rictus's Flying Circus, for the next TEN (10) minutes. Proceed to the NPC that made the call, and follow their instructions. You’ll generally need to follow their instructions unless you spend Mind points to resist or use an item.

I covered how to resist these effects in the blog post on Cirque de Dread, and a bit about how Roleplay Burdens work, but now it’s time to discuss the curious Medallions of the Flying Circus. You can see our first mention of the Medallions in the teaser we posted the first week, and in the poster below.

Carnival Medallions

There are many stories of the traveling circus that travels from settlement to settlement across the wastes, but they all have similar elements. Before the settlement was wiped out by hordes of Raiders, the twisted carnival games of Colonel Rictus arrived in town first.

Each of these games will have ways to “win”, if you consider simply surviving a deadly contest a victory, but some of them will offer a different sort of reward - a Circus Medallion. The prizes that the raiders offer from their macabre games aren’t things most people would find interesting, but these Medallions seem to be a different story. In fact, several stories mention the destruction of the town happened because of the residents fighting amongst themselves over the medallions offered by Colonel Rictus.

The medallions are pretty decently sized, about 6 inches across and they are gold in color. you can see what they look like in the picture to the below. It should be pretty obvious what you’ve earned once you get a circus medallion.

So, you’ve done it. You earned a Medallion, but what was the cost? Let’s talk about what happens if you are unluck… I mean, lucky enough to earn one of these incredibly valuable prizes!

The Medallions have a couple of unique effects during our October event.

circus Medallion Mechanics:

• The owner of the Medallion cannot resist “Step Right Up” calls with Mental Endurance.

• You cannot attack or attempt to hurt Colonel Rictus.

• When you hear a “Step Right Up” call, you must REPEAT the call as an AOE. Call “Area of Effect, Step Right Up and Join the Show!”. This is an additional instance of the effect and can be resisted.

• Prized Possession (Roleplay Burden): The Medallion is precious to you. You may not hide this medallion and it must be prominently displayed at all times. You cannot willingly part with this Medallion and if it forcibly removed from you or lost, gain a Fracture.

• NOTE: You must own a Medallion to participate in the FINALE.

The real danger of the Medallion owners is the dangerous effect they have during the raider carnival games. If an NPC makes the call, you must repeat the call, becoming a second effect to resist. If there are multiple Medallions in an area, it can be exhausting to escape the effects of the Carnival Barkers. This is an insidious effect, so if your friends acquire one of the Medallions, you’ll need to be careful when you protect them from the carnival games, as you’ll be forced to join along.

While the Medallions can be claimed by someone else, remember that CVC rules apply — You still need to use the “C” symbol to ask consent, unless your opponent is in the Wasteland!

Lastly, let’s cover the true star of the show: Colonel Rictus and the Nemesis Cult!

The Nemesis

While the stories of devastation in the wake of the Flying Circus travel from town to town, the other recurring element of the tales are the murderous cultists that follow in Colonel Rictus’ employ. The masked killers are ruthless and predatory, and seem to blend in well with the throngs of Raiders held in sway by the Ringmaster of the Flying Circus. They are the deadly and terrible NEMESIS.

With Friday the 13th coming up during our October event, you might already be familiar with the deadly followers of the Telling Visionaries known as The Nemesis. You can find a mention of them on p. 81 in the Corebook, but I’ve included the relevant passages here to save you the trouble:

The Nemesis are often seen as a dangerous cult within the Telling Visionaries. However, their entire goal is to create heroes among the people of the world - by pushing them to rise to the task. Members don the clothes and faces of villains as they attempt to inspire people to be better. Unfortunately, there’s often a lot of collateral damage. The Nemesis are seen as heretics by other followers of the Telling Visionaries, since many members of the Nemesis are not only extremists but also devote themselves to acts of violence in the name of their faith. - DR Corebook, p. 81

The old tabletop books published during the 2.0 days have a bit more, and you can find some useful information on the Telling Visionary faith, including the Nemesis cult in the book “Echoes of Celluoid Dreams”. While the book is not really canon any longer, the information inside has certainly inspired some of this arc. You can still get a copy on DriveThruRPG, here.

Perhaps the most famous, and most antithetical religious sect within the Telling Visionaries, the Nemesis embrace villainy in all of it’s forms. While certainly couched in the genre of horror, you’ll find adherents of Captain Hook rubbing shoulders with Mean Girls and Schrutes among the Kreugers, Voorhees, and Draculas. The sect is supported by a bit of the founder’s writing that describes the "Beast of the Late Late Show”, a horror-movie monster that terrorizes humanity before the end of the Broadcast day. - Echoes of Celluoid Dreams, p. 26

The Nemesis have been repeated villains throughout the Dystopia Rising network, no matter which game you go to. They are cultists of fear, bent on spreading their particular twisted interpretation of their faith in a misguided attempt to cause terror and mayhem.

It’s a classic trope, of the movie villain like Jason Voorhees, the white masked Psycho Mike, Leatherface from the Chainsaw Massacre, or even Samara from the Ring. And October is their favorite month to prowl, just in time for This is Halloween, the annual tradition of the Telling Visionary faith. We’ve had a number of these killers in our DR:TX games, from Eyeless Jack and his father Grandfather Nichols, to the classics like Voorhees, Michael Myers, and Pumpkin Sam.

With Friday the 13th happening in game, we can’t miss out on the chance to run screaming from a chainsaw killer in the woods, saying “nope” to a band of creepy masked figures in the treeline, and herding together without really protecting ourselves, tripping on level and stable ground, and attempting to hide in obvious and dangerous locations, in classic horror movie tropes. We hope you will buy into the fear, and embrace the story we have in store for you.

Let’s cover some basics as it applies to the story of Cirque de Dread:

The themes of the Nemesis

The Nemesis Cult is an important villain of the weekend, and they are here to enforce a few themes during our event, particularly of SURVIVAL HORROR. There will be several of these villains in play over the course of the weekend, and we still have a few surprises as well as some returning threats.

The Nemesis are villains to survive, not to simply kill. You survive an encounter with a Nemesis by “playing along”. They are here to cause fear and terror, and if you stand in their way you will likely meet a brutal death. The surest way to anger a Nemesis is not reacting to their presence and trying to steal their spotlight. In addition, the Nemesis have strange defenses, powerful brews, and a few unique mechanics they might use against you. They are not simply enemies to hit a bunch of times, as they keep coming back, again and again until stopped, like the psycho killers of their TV stories. Each will have a particular way they need to be dealt with. It’s up to you if you want to go down that dangerous path, or simple decide to focus on survival for this brief time the Nemesis stalk the night. Choose wisely!

The Nemesis are zealots, and they are wrong. The Nemesis are insane, deadly zealots that want to spread fear and terror in the world on purpose. They believe that by becoming something so powerfully evil that they create good in the world instead. When a protagonist rises up to challenge them, that bit of heroism will outshine their evil deeds and inspire others to be better. In their twisted world view, they think of themselves as heroes doing a necessary and dirty job. They are branded as heretics by the TVs, and actively opposed in almost every civilized place in the wastelands. They are not allies, and helping the Nemesis will be a sure way to involve your character in deadly CVC from other players.

The Nemesis tend to adhere to some very stringent rules known as a “script”. The Nemesis almost never hunts other members of the Telling Visionaries — it’s a waste of their time to do so. Their own faith simply already knows what the Nemesis is there to teach, and they are evangelists through fear. They each pick a “script”, acting out what they believe to be the motivations of the classic killers from the Signal, and narrowing the focus of their “performance” in the field. Nemesis tend to think of themselves as professional actors, trying to bring the characters they portray to life by being true to the motivations and actions of that killer. Each often have a few types of victims they will not let escape, and if you can figure out what “script” in game they are following you might be able to avoid their attention.

Your character is probably not familiar with the “scripts” of the Nemesis. Movies don’t exist in the wasteland. Just because you’ve seen a horror movie in real life and recognize that mask doesn’t mean these killers will follow an entirely predictable pattern in game. However, the stories of movies and TV shows from before the fall of man have been passed down as oral traditions by the Telling Visionaries, and they have mutated and changed through the generations, just like the Survivors themselves. Your character has not seen a movie at all, and all you have is urban legends and spooky stories told by some lunatic at the bar. Sometimes, a Nemesis will blend several scripts together to achieve their perfect character, and this means they can be a bit unexpected at times. Each of the killers during this event has a story to tell, information to share, and maybe you can uncover the truth of their scripts by surviving encounters with the Nemesis.

The Nemesis are working with Colonel Rictus. Survivors of other settlements have reported that the Ringmaster himself is a villainous Nemesis, but for some reason he seems to attract other members of this murderous faith. Why they are working with the Ringmaster is unknown, but it may be related to the curious way that the Ringmaster is always followed by hordes of deadly Thrill Kill raiders. Regardless of their reasoning, if you see one of the Nemesis in town, you should assume they are an enemy and are simply “part of the show”…

Nemesis Rules

October is our annual Halloween game and is a time of high-stakes danger, visceral horror, and we strive to make the things that go bump in the night very, very, very real. In the tradition of classic Zombie films, the true horror of the apocalypse is not really the zombies themselves, but rather the depths of depravity that your fellow humans will descend into in order to survive.

The single most dangerous enemy you can ever encounter in Dystopia rising is another Survivor.

Unlike most Zed or Raiders, Survivors are a unique danger because they are intelligent, capable of using equipment and gizmos, and have motivations entirely different than you normally encounter from the common monsters. For this event, we will be featuring several unique “lineage” threats - threats that have a Strain and Lineage much like any other player in the game.

During the upcoming Carnival Games, the villains known as the Nemesis Cult will be in our town of Bravado. These crazed killers will be dangerous threats in addition to zombies and raiders, and you’ll need to be prepared for a deadly encounter. In our focus on radical trust, we’d like to share a few of the mechanics and systems we will be using this weekend to represent these threats.

Mechanics of the NEMESIS

The first thing to know about the Nemesis is that while they are dangerous threats, each of the Nemesis (like any other threat in our game) will honor our “OK Check-In” system for choosing to opt-out of a scene. We want this experience to be one of intense horror and danger, but our Nemesis just play the bad guys on TV - not in real life.

Named Nemesis are always portrayed by Storytellers and Guides and are generally “killing blow active”, which means they can use deadly force against characters in the game.

However, unlike most NPC Threats, we’ve put a few “guard rails” in place on these characters while they are in play in a narrative sense:

• First, all Nemesis have an agenda and a personality. They are sentient individuals, with their own backstories, motivations, and reasons for why they earned their reputation as a villain. At first glance, a Nemesis may be indistinguishable from another character, despite their horrific costumes. The cult is not just an excuse for wanton murder and mayhem: the Nemesis are in Bravado for a reason - to cause FEAR.

• Each Nemesis has a primary objective to complete their “script”. If they fulfill these goals, they will stop their rampage, satisfied in their goal of creating fear and terror. This means that not every encounter with a Nemesis has to end in bloodshed - if you can identify and understand their goals you may be able to escape their notice or even survive!

• In fact, EVERY Nemesis has a specific type of character they will avoid killing, based on their story and motivations. If you can find out this weakness, you may be able to avoid an untimely demise at the hands of a particular Nemesis. This doesn’t mean they won’t torture, maim, or injure you so tread lightly. And just because you might be safe from one Nemesis doesn’t mean they won’t have friends that don’t have a similar restriction. Likewise, they often have a type of victim they will purposefully seek out, according to the twisted scripts they follow.

Mechanically speaking, each Nemesis was built following certain guidelines:

• Each Nemesis has a monster sheet. They will have a set amount of Body, Armor, Skills, and abilities, but they will have distinct stats. They will be tough, but not immortal. However, unless a Nemesis is satisfied with their performance, they will keep coming back again and again till stopped, so simply hitting them several times with a boffer isn’t always the best way to deal with them.

• Nemesis will have at least one “Nemesis Ability”. This will be a special Local Plot Card that enables a particular mechanical trick. Many will be resistant to damage like the immortal monsters they portray, or they might be capable of escaping from a fight into the shadows, or they might be able to act in other unpredictable ways according to their role. These will be fairly simple mechanics, but they won’t always be a thing a player can do.

• For all intents and purposes, they must interact with the world in the same manner as other THREATS.

• Each of the Nemesis has access to a limited amount of Crafted Equipment. Honestly, this is probably the single biggest reason that Nemesis can be unique threats as they can use those nifty gizmos, weapon augments, and brews against you. If they are killed or captured, these powerful items can be looted or stolen (though they will have shortened expiration dates).

This weekend promises to be a dangerous and challenging time, but our goal is to create a unique threat that is a bit different from a zombie or raider. Each Nemesis has a different story to tell, and we can’t wait to hear about your favorite encounters with these psychotic sociopaths! Let us know what you think!

The Freddy Five are ready for the show!

wrap up

We have a few weeks left until game, and are so excited to show up the fearsome sights of the carnival, and Colonel Rictus’ Flying Circus. Matt and his team have cooked up some great events, some neat props, and some terrifying new villains. We can’t wait to go bump in the night, and help your characters tell the story of survival against all odds.

Tickets are on sale until friday, but you’ll still be able to purchase them on site. Save yourself a wait in line, and buy them today!

See you soon Vados!

Crime & Punishment, Part 2

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble! In these blogs, I’ll discuss in detail a mechanical aspect of Dystopia Rising, compiling all the rules and lore into one easy place to read! This week, we are covering a two-part feature on Crime and Punishment in the San Saba! Part one will cover aspects of how to do Crime in DR, while the second part will focus on what happens if you get caught by the Law Dogs. Let’s get started!

You can read more about the Criminal aspect of this type of play in the first part of this series:

• Read Part One - Crime Here

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

CRIME & PUNISHMENT OVERVIEW - the law

So, you want to be a white hat character? Maybe you want to join the Law Dogs, or you just want to make sure that person that robbed you answers for their crimes? Maybe you had a friend do something stupid and you just want to understand how to help them. Maybe you really really really like a certain Justice of Sin or Law Dog Union Boss, and have considered a crime to get a chance to get to know them better.

What’s the best way to get involved? What happens if you get caught? How does the legal system work within the game? How do the Law Dogs and Justices of Sin get involved? How does a Gauntlet work? I’ll try to cover the answers to these questions and more in our Crime & Punishment two-part series.

Being a Law Dog in the wasteland is one of the easiest ways to get involved in character-vs-character conflict, or CVC. This isn’t a path for everyone, as playing the “good guy” in a world of moral greys in the wasteland can be emotionally taxing. It’s easy to play a villain in DR, but it takes perseverance and grit to purposefully take the high road in a brutal wasteland. There are a few things to consider before we get started, but let’s say the quiet part out loud:

being a law dog WILL INVOLVE YOU IN CVC CONFLICT.

IF YOU want to pursue & question criminals IN GAME (ON AN NPC OR LC), YOU’LL NEED TO BE OKAY WITH CONSEQUENCES OF CVC THAT FOLLOWS.

We’ve covered a lot on CVC and similar topics in previous blogs on CVC Best Practices, and I’ve written pages and pages of rules blogs so it’s easy to have missed one particular week. I’ve compiled the “best of” into our OOC RESOURCES tab on the website, so here’s a few bits of reading to get started. I’ll refer to concepts within these essays during this series, but I’ll try to keep this blog focused on a high-level understanding.

The rules for CvC start on page 159 in the DR Corebook, in a section titled “Conflict Between Leading Characters”. I highly recommend people take a moment to read through this section in its entirety, as it is an often overlooked part of the book.

If you want additional reading, these other essays will be a great place to start:

• Introduction to CVC - An introduction to the basis rules for CVC

• CVC in the Moment - How to handle spontaneous CVC in the moment

• Long Term CVC - How to approach long-term CVC with another player

• CVC in the Wasteland - How the Wasteland works, and some rules to watch out for

• Thick as Thieves (CVC Theft) - Details on the theft rules in game, and some important considerations

• Disguise 101 - This covers useful rules for Disguises in DR and some tips for better disguises.

• Steering & the 10 Foot Rule - This is a must read before you consider CVC, and is a very useful reminder of how to ethically steer your roleplaying for fun for everyone involved

• Survival Ethos System - This is our DR:TX way to “opt in” to CVC in advance for all of you characters at the event. In exchange for this extra risk, you can access a brand-new list of items and resources for your characters.

With the CVC deep-dive part covered, let’s dig into how the justice system in the San Saba works in Dystopia Rising.

Justice in the apocalypse

The Laws of Settlements in the wastelands stand as an important contrast to the chaos of life in the zombie apocalypse. When people gather together for survival against the undead hordes, there needs to be some aspect of the social contract — that is, the shared understanding of what is right and wrong within that settlement. Most of the major settlements agree on a few cardinal sins, like murder, theft, cannibalism, and purposefully harming the Mortis Amaranthine.

But past the obvious societal breaches, every town in the wastes has some additional rules for keeping order, and it really varies from town to town. Some towns have a list of religious tenets they follow, while others prefer a system of fines and legalized bribery. Others might have powerful families that organize the area, while others might form town councils or similar structures to enforce stability.

In the San Saba, the mighty San Saba Board holds sway over the established order of the wastes. With vast resources and military forces that dwarf any that would oppose them in the region, the most powerful organizations have collectively agreed to enforce a peace. Together, they have decided what will be law and order in the San Saba. When the citizens feel protected and safe, they are more productive and ready to invest in the factions as a Stakeholder.

It’s just good business, after all.

But the wastes are a harsh place to live. While scrap and herb may be cheap enough, robbing someone of their last brew may inadvertently create a new zombie when they are left to die. When you are being pursued by raiders, you don’t have to be the fastest, but simply faster than your former friends. If they ended up with a mangled leg that slows them down, they should have learned to Avoid. Crazed religious cultists might decide to take on a role of a serial killer, in some twisted way of bringing fear into the world, and bandits might simply decide to make their wealth off others. In a world where death is around every corner, it’s easy to be selfish and it’s easy to drift into criminal behavior to survive.

NOTE: The San Saba Justice system is NOT the legal system of the real world, and certain rights we assume exist are not guaranteed. it is naturally unfair, and a product of the harsh wasteland and zombie apocalypse.

Thus, the justice system in the zombie apocalypse more closely resembles that of the Wild West. Brave marshals, dastardly villains, and face offs at high noon. You might have a Law Dog post a wanted poster on the doors of a saloon, and gather a posse to track down a killer that’s on the loose. However, as the world changed, so did the ability for the law to deal with criminals.

In a world where a person can simply return to life after being killed, simply hanging a cattle rustler doesn’t have the same impact. Fines can be useful sometimes, but those with enough wealth and resources can simply absorb the fine as the cost of doing business. With the massacre that happened at Killhouse last year, there is now no real way to imprison someone that commits a crime. But there still needs to be a way to hold someone accountable, so the Charter has outlined someone with the authority to be a check on the disorder of the wasteland.

The steps of justice in the San Saba are fairly simple, and the Law needs to handled in the field. When someone violates the social contract of the settlement, it’s up to someone to try to bring some justice and balance to the world. That’s where the Law Dog Union comes in, following their contract with the San Saba Board, followed by the Justices of Sin.

the focus of the San Saba legal system is on Contracts, and their connections to the Law of the san saba board.

Lastly, while some of our NPCs can be corrupt and evil, we generally assume positive intent when it comes to the Law Dogs. They are heroes in our world, the white hats in a world of greys, and the people that have chosen to protect the weak and helpless, and try to provide some measure of equal justice under the laws and contracts of the San Saba.

The Laws of the San Saba

Let’s first talk about what actually constitutes the Law in the world of Dystopia Rising. I covered this in a bit more detail in my first part of this series, but I’ll quickly cover the basics.

An important consideration - Assault isn’t against the law in the San Saba.

As long as they don’t die from their injuries, and you don’t take their stuff, you can still be involved with CVC without necessarily breaking the law. Remember the Bravado motto — talk shit, get hit!

The in-game setting has some enforced laws that come in two parts, the Laws and the Charter. You can click the links below to read more, but basically, it’s against the law to steal, murder, break contracts, traffic in Crystal Candy, and mess with the Morgues. If you violate the laws, you can be fined, killed, punished with a Gauntlet, or even made a Vagrant.

• The Laws - These are the main laws of the San Saba. These are the primary ways you can break the law in the game, and these are only updated with a lot of effort during the annual Stakeholder’s Meeting, held during our May events.

• The Charter - These are the secondary laws governing the Factions of the San Saba. These outline what aspects of life in the wastelands one of our local factions is granted authority over and serves as a secondary set of violations. These tend to be a bit rarer to enforce, but generally involve ‘breach of contract’ when they come up during criminal activity.

Let’s cover the major Law that deals with our protagonists, the Law Dog Union.

the Law Dogs

The primary law enforcement agency of the San Saba wastes, the Law Dog Union is empowered by the Laws and the Charter to uphold the law. The Union’s fundamental belief that laws are inherently fair and that equal enforcement leads to equal justice may also be fundamentally flawed. As the Board increases its power and passes more ordinances, the Union may come into conflict with itself but the core of the faction are true believers in law and order.

Their primary jurisdiction comes from one of the Laws of the San Saba:

In matters of Law and Order, the Law Dogs, Hell Hounds and Justices of Sin enact the will of the Board as their Voice and their Vigor, empowered to wield Death and Duty in their name.

Under their new contract with the San Saba Board, the Law Dogs represent the law of the San Saba, and some of their ranks, known as Hell Hounds, are even authorized to kill on behalf of the contracts of the Territories. Previously, the Law Dogs were under exclusive contract to the Chairman, but they now represent the entire Board instead of just one person. The Law Dogs choose their own leadership, and are currently represented by Boss Wyatt, a Reclaimer cowboy that helped form the Union after the Hiway War. The Law Dogs don’t hold an official seat on the San Saba Board, as the Union has maintained that the separation from politics helps them stay impartial.

The Law Dogs are governed by three basic rules:

• Protect the Weak — A Law Dog’s first job is to protect the people of San Saba and to end immediate threats to the health and livelihood of those who live within. To a Law Dog, there is no such thing as an “Over There Problem”, and all pleas for aid must be considered and answered where possible for anyone in danger.

• Provide Equal Justice Under the Law — For a people to believe in the laws and the social contract that keeps a society intact, they must believe in the fairness and equality of those laws.  The Law Dogs must create a safe society where all are equal. The Union focuses on rooting out corruption amongst their ranks and tries to honor the trust that citizens of the San Saba place into them.

• Enforce the Laws of the San Saba — Per their contract with the San Saba Board, the primary objective of the Law Dogs must always be to enforce the social contract of law and order within the San Saba Territories. This contract gives them absolute authority to operate as an armed militia in the region as well as the autonomy to pursue their charter. The only one that can speak to this contract is the San Saba Board itself, and the Law Dogs are not directly beholden to any individual voting member of the Board.

Let’s cover how you can prepare yourself to become a Law Dog yourself by understanding the three steps of Justice in the San Saba.

The Three Steps of Justice

First, none of this truly “new” information, but this is the first time that we’ve clearly spelled out each step of law and order in the wastes. From the very first event of 3.0, the law of the San Saba has always included Crime Scenes and Gauntlets, but it wasn’t always clear how each step worked. We’ve compiled most of the information on our website, and you can read more about each step below.

• Contracts - Contracts are the sum and whole of the law, and an important part of our setting. Most players will interact with contracts through their Society Membership.

• Enforcement - The Law Dog Union is charged with investigating, detaining, and questioning those found to have violated the law, and to bring that suspect to the Justices of Sin.

• The Crime Scene - Once in custody, the accused is given a trial of sorts in the form of a Crime Scene. This includes a one-on-one steering conversation with one of our Storytellers to help you choose your next steps.

• The Gauntlet - A public sentencing, once the accused is found guilty of a crime, they are brought by a Justice of Sin to hear appeals to mercy and other factors they should consider in their punishment.

• Vagrancy - The harshest punishment that can be leveled past death, Vagrants are stripped of standing in the San Saba and are no longer protected by the Laws. These outcasts often meet a quick and brutal end without the support of the settlements.

The goal of the Justice System in DR:TX is to tell a good story, first and foremost.

We want to work with you, the player, to make this a story we tell together.

Some players want to have their character publicly hung at the crossroads. Others prefer to have their character’s contract seized by a horrible antagonist faction. Some want to use this plot point to force a change of faith, or another narrative shift for their character. Some folks just don’t do well with crowds and would therefore like to avoid a public scene like the Gauntlet.

There will be consequences for breaking the Law in game, but they can (and should) be fun, and work to forward your narrative goals for your character.

This is not to say that the Justices of Sin are bastions of morality or that the San Saba Board is always going to be judicious in the laws they pass, but we wanted to let you know that no matter which side of the law your LC ends up on, we’re on your side to make sure that experience is still fun.

Let’s cover the three basic steps of justice in the San Saba.

STEP 1: The Investigation

Well, technically the first step is that a crime actually happens. But let’s skip past the obvious.

The first step of an Investigation is simply being made aware of the crime that happened when the crime is reported to a Law Dog representative. This often happens when a witness sees something and reports it to a Law Dog, or more commonly, when the recently killed or robbed emerges from the Morgue with a clear description of their assailant. In a world where you come back after death, the best witness is the person that was just murdered.

There are several ways that a Law Dog can confirm a crime that was reported.

Interrogation & Questioning

The staple of the Law Dog Union is simply questioning people with a discerning eye. There are three major methods of questioning another LC or NPC, though certain items and room augments can improve your ability to question and also improve the ability of a target to resist.

• Basic Malicious (p. 126) - This skill can be used to call “Interrogate” to make a target answer one question truthfully. There is some player skill involved in choosing the right question to ask, but this skill can be resisted with certain items and the skill Mental Endurance. This skill can also be used to tie binds and subdue a suspect, so it’s one of the primary tools used by the Law Dogs. This is a CVC action when used against another player.

• Proficient Mental Endurance (p. 128) - This skill can be used more generally after watching a target for 10 minutes to learn about current intent and mindset. You can ask one “yes” or “no” question, so you need to be precise with your questions, as it can’t tell you anything about stuff that happened in the past only what the suspect might attempt in the future. This can be a CVC action when used against another player.

• Proficient Telepathy (p. 136) - This psionic skill can force someone to speak without a filter for 5 minutes. While they still have some agency about what they say, any direct question must be answered without limitation. This can be resisted by Mental Endurance, and if the subject is hit with a Choking Blow they may not be able to communicate to answer. This is a CVC action when used against another player.

Stolen Items

In the case of item theft, item cards that are stolen are marked with a “S” and the player number of the person who originally owned the item. Unless the criminal takes steps to remove this mark with Proficient Criminal Influence, this is open information that can be seen on an item card. If a Law Dog catches a criminal with stolen merchandise, they can simply search them for contraband as their evidence. If the subject isn’t willing, they may have to be subdued and tied up so a proper search can be completed. Of particular note, Brass notes, scrap, and herb are not something that can be tracked easily as stolen, and these are often common choices for smart criminals to steal.

Contraband

This is a custom keyword in DR:TX included on some item cards and certain blueprints. These items are considered illegal, and simply having them on your person can be a violation of the laws of the San Saba. The most obvious form of Contraband at the moment is the ubiquitous Crystal Candy, as simply possessing the drug can be grounds for a fine or confiscation.

The Law Dog Report

Once a Law Dog has been alerted of a crime, they set out to investigate what happened, question witnesses, and build a story to give to the Justices of Sin. Once evidence feels good enough, the Law Dogs will request a Crime Scene from the Justices of Sin by submitting their Law Dog Report. This is a unique form of Action Request that can be submitted in writing at the Post Office using a form found at the Research Station in the General Store. The Law Dog Report can be a way for you to work with the Storytellers to set a Bounty on a target, and to let us know you’d like to pursue this story further.

WANTED POSTERS

If the accused doesn’t submit willingly to be questioned, they may have to be tracked down first. The Law Dogs may choose to issue a Bounty for the accused, offering a reward for anyone that helps them find and detain their foe. The Law Dog simply has to post a WANTED POSTER at the General Store letting everyone know who they are searching for. This can be completed in between events, or if a player feels particularly creative they can create one during the game. The Law Dog should work with the STs to craft a particular bounty amount, unless they are willing to offer the Brass out of their own pocket as a reward.

Law Dogs are generally chastised for taking the law into their own hands and bounties generally ask for the suspect to be brought in alive. Bounties that call for the death of the suspect can only be issued by the Union Boss or a Justice of Sin.

A player that has Master Society Membership in the Law Dogs can even acquire the unique item known as an Arrest Warrant. This item enables them to chase, pursue, and even prevent a target from escaping with Master Stealth. Sounds handy!

What happens if you can’t find evidence?

Often, crimes go unsolved in the wasteland. If the criminal used a disguise, was quick on their feet, or covered their tracks, it can be really difficult to get a concrete answer as to what happened. It’s entirely reasonable that the villain gets away with the crime. Sometimes, they just lie about what happened and no one thinks to dig deeper.

There is no real way in this game to really tell truth from fiction. While you can use torture to ask a few true questions or you can use psionics, the concept of “truth” will always be a bit murky. It’s easy to use a Disguise, use an item that allows them to lie under interrogation, use Mental Endurance to resist questioning or psionic manipulation, and a clever person can simply dance around the truth without actually admitting to a crime. If the criminals are particularly vicious, your key witness may suddenly disappear or refuse to share their testimony to a Justice.

There is no such thing as objective “Truth” in Dystopia Rising

The truth of a crime will always be subjective, and there’s no real mechanics for forensic science, fingerprints, or anything of the sort. While our Storytellers will strive to create some fun investigation roleplay from time to time, these will be local mechanics and nothing official in the core book. This is one reason why we believe Ethical Steering is so important to the act of investigation, as you’ll often have to work together with the other players to tell a good story about the search for the truth.

Sometimes you can’t agree on what actually happened, can’t find concrete evidence or a witness, or the accused may have simply kept their mouth shut about what happened. Sometimes the investigation just ends here, as a cold case that might never be solved.

But if the Law Dog has gathered enough hard evidence, they can take their case to a Justice of Sin. That’s where the Crime Scene comes in.

STEP 2: The Crime Scene

After the events of Justicalia, the Justices of Sin are now responsible for being Judge, Jury, and Executioner of any and all citizens of the Lone Star who violate the laws set forth by The Board and those who breach contracts that are backed by the Railroad Conglomerate. The person accused of breaking the law is known as a “Breacher”. In the Wild West metaphor, the Law Dogs are like the Marshals and Sheriffs, while the Justices are the Circuit Judges.

During a Crime Scene, the Law Dogs present to the Justice of Sin appointed to the region evidence of the accused crime, and detail the manner in which the LC has violated the Laws of the San Saba. They will outline their witnesses, any physical evidence, or testimony from other members of the Law Dog Union as proof of completing their contract to detain and present the accused for punishment. This normally happens with a Law Dog Report, but sometimes this can be a scene with the Justice in game.

The Justices of Sin can dismiss a charge on a character if they deem the evidence isn’t worthy of pursuit, or if they feel it was an accident or there is sufficient information obtained during their Crime Scene to dismiss. The Justice can assign penalties, fees, or acts of service directly to the character on the spot and doesn’t need to use a public Gauntlet. They can even grant a Law Dog permission to kill in the name of the law if a suspect is unremorseful or difficult to find or carry out the execution themselves.

There are four main Justices assigned to Bravado that you will see in play, though we may introduce others at a later date. Each Justice represents a Faith in the wastelands.

• Justice Titus (Joel) - Representing the Light of Hedon, Titus is one of the original Justices that served at Prudence Pententiary. An expert marksman and powerful psion, Titus is a consummate professional.

• Justice Locket (Ren) - Representing the Faithless, this Red Star justice instead focuses on the good with humanity itself rather than a particular faith. Locket is also one of the original Justices of Sin that served at Prudence Penitentiary.

• Justice Blayne (Heather) - Representing the Final Knights, this former radio broadcaster was recently recruited after the excavation into the Lost City of Barogue. They have an talent for obtaining the truth through pain and exquisite suffering.

• Justice Rogers (Jonathan) - Representing the Nuclear Family, this mild manner coach tries to see the best in folks and help them to atone for their sins, using good old fashioned family values. A newer recruit, they joined after the recent reorganization of the Justices.

The scene between the Justice of Sin and the LC who committed a crime is a personalized scene that melds the player’s goals and comfort level with the story and consequences brought about through their play.

This scene will always involve a member of our Storytelling staff or Gamerunners, and is an opportunity for us to steer the outcome of a Crime Scene. The normal player that portrays the Justice isn’t necessarily involved in a Crime Scene, as this is primarily a way for our staff to check in on both parties to help mediate a clear and satisfying resolution to crime and punishment. We will strive to have this conversation “off screen”, so we can help manage the emotions and disagreements that can sometimes occur from CVC interactions like this.

This may involve ‘closed door’ black box narration scenes, or public displays of punishment or atonement also known as The Gauntlet. However, not every Crime Scene resolves into a Gauntlet, and we want to work with you to tell a satisfying conclusion to the story of the crime that occurred and what happens next. Not every player is interested in a public accounting of their crimes, and we want to allow you to engage with your own level of comfort in the scene.

Step 3: The Gauntlet

The Gauntlet is a public tradition of the San Saba that functions similar to a “sentencing” in our modern justice system. When a person has been found guilty of violating the Laws and Charter of the San Saba during a Crime Scene, the Justices of Sin, roving representatives of the San Saba Board that assess their crimes and assign an appropriate punishment, will determine the punishment that will be levied on the accused.

The Gauntlet is normally called near noon and is held at the Crossroads in the center of Bravado. Because the original Justices were followers of the Light of Hedon, the process has a bit of ritual and pomp involved. It follows a few discrete steps:

• THE GATHERING

  During the Gathering, the Justice of Sin will establish the structure of the Gauntlet and explain each step of the process. All citizens of a town are invited to attend a Gauntlet, and they will generally be alerted at least one month before a Gauntlet is to commence. A poster warning of the upcoming Gauntlet will be distributed across the San Saba.

• THE PRESENTATION OF SIN

  During the Presentation of Sin, the Justice of Sin will introduce the evidence presented by the Law Dogs during the Crime Scene. They will outline why the decision of guilt was reached and the appropriate public evidence that should be considered by the attendees. New evidence cannot be presented during this step, as the word of the Justice is law and the accused has already been determined guilty.

• APPEAL FOR MERCY

  During the Appeal for Mercy, the Justice will consider any mitigating or aggravating factors in determining the sentencing for the accused. Character witnesses or past good behavior is commonly considered during this step, as is information that might confirm the evidence presented by the Law Dogs. Each contractor or stakeholder that chooses to do so will have 2 minutes to speak or may pass their time to another person. The breacher may also use their two minutes to ask for Mercy from the Justices, or appeal to logic or reason.

• SENTENCE OF ABSOLUTION

  Once all breachers have spoken, the Justice will determine the outcome of the punishment in the form of a Sentence of Absolution. The Justice will take into account the Appeals for Mercy and choose a sentence appropriate to the crime. Sentences can include fines, acts of service, public punishments leveled by their peers, or even death. In rare instances, a repeat offender may even be ostracized from the San Saba by being made a Vagrant — someone who is not protected by the laws and can freely be killed, robbed, or run from town.

Completion of either a Crime Scene or a more public Gauntlet is seen by the San Saba Board as absolving that character’s criminal strikes and all Law Dog Bounties will be nullified for those crimes. The crime is completely absolved, and they are free to continue about their business. The purpose of the Sentence is not to shame or hold them accountable forever but to give them an opportunity to seek atonement and move forward as a full citizen in the San Saba.

a Quick note on Punishments

Those that breach the Law suffer a punishment for their crime. This punishment can vary in game. Remember - there will be consequences for breaking the Law in game, but they can (and should) be fun, and work to forward your narrative goals for your character.

Violators can either be assessed a hefty fine of Brass or materials, assigned mandatory work tasks for factions of the San Saba or service within the San Saba Militia, assigned a collective punishment of their peers present, or be labeled a contract-breaker and Vagrant.  In rare instances, the Law Dogs may be tasked as Hellhounds, and simply remove the threat to the Board through sanctioned murder. This ability to kill is only granted by the Law Dog Union Boss or a Justice of Sin, and it is used sparingly.

In general, the Justice will assign a punishment equal to the crime that was committed. Breaches of Contract and theft are generally met with fines and restitution. If they cannot afford to pay, acts of service will be assigned, sentencing to serve in the Militia on the front lines or to perform an act for one of the major factions. More serious crimes like treason and murder are often met with a death sentence and the loss of at least one Infection. Only very serious and repeated offenses will be met with final death or vagrancy.

No character will be made a Vagrant without enthusiastic consent, as this is a challenging story to participate in and one that often leads to the final death of the character. These doomed souls are no longer protected by the laws of the San Saba and can be murdered, robbed, or driven out of town without recourse. These types of characters are better cast as a villain and not as a player.

The Gauntlet is a perfect place for a dramatic turn in your character’s story, and some of the best character memories can be made at a Gauntlet. If you get to take your place on stage, enjoy the moment, and let us know how we can help steer this event towards the next step for your character.

Tips for Being a Better Law Dog

Lastly, let’s cover some best practices for being a Law Dog.

Play the Role

One of the best parts and most fun about being a Law Dog is playing the “good guy”. Like we said earlier, it’s easy being a criminal in the wasteland. Being selfish is easy, but it takes effort to choose a better path in the dangers of the apocalypse. The Law Dog role can be a challenging and difficult path to walk, but it can also be very rewarding. A good Law Dog should assume the best in others, be a bastion of decency, and generally try to help those in need. They don’t have to be martyrs for the cause, but they should generally be upstanding citizens. It’s difficult to be respected as a Law Dog if you are consorting with criminals all the time.

Be ready for consequences

The first step is to accept that once you get involved as a Law Dog in DR you are accepting a certain amount of risk. As a good guy, you are an obvious target for the criminal underworld. Eventually, you will risk your items, your standing in the community, your health and safety, and maybe even your Infection. Generally, you should be ready for the consequences that could happen to your character if and when you get caught by the Underground in a vulnerable state. If you prepare yourself for this risk, it’s much easier to accept it when it eventually happens.

Get consent

Like I mentioned above, the best way to follow a lead and question your suspect is to first get consent from the other Player or even NPC. It’s not expressly required to flash a “C” at an NPC, but remember that they are people too. Unless they were told by the Guide to expect an intense interrogation, you might be surprising the actual player, and not the NPC. If they don’t give an enthusiastic “yes” to this type of question, steering, or conversation, you are better finding another route for evidence if possible. I know it may seem strange to “warn” a person of an impending investigation, but I think you’ll find more people are interested in this type of conflict than you may expect, especially if they can prepare themselves for the intensity in advance.

Learn Basic Malicious

This is the bread and butter of the investigation, and it’s one of the best skills for learning more about your target. It’s helpful in all kinds of situations, from questioning enemy Oxkillers about impending attacks, identifying which bandit stole that important relic, or even just finding out who robbed that merchant. You can complete the task without this Skill, but this definitely makes it easier.

Learn some Combat Tricks

Sooner or later, you’ll need to be able to subdue and capture your bounty in order to bring them in to the Justices of Sin. That means you’ll need to be able to defeat and subdue your foe.

Skills like Break, Blinding, and Take Down are all useful for controlling a fight. Defensive skills like Avoid and Mental Endurance can keep you in a fight, and advanced skills like Proficient Malicious to mangle a limb can quickly bring a fight to a close.

While Basic Malicious is useful for tying up your prey once they’ve been taken down, Basic Medical can be a life saver to stabilize them and prevent them from dying. Remember, you can’t kill a target as a Law Dog unless given specific permission as a Hell Hound.

Use Equipment Wisely

Don’t pass up on equipment either. You can obtain a cheap Dogrun Brew with only Basic Society Membership that will give you a powerful Upsurge buff, and the ability of the San Saba Social can give you an edge in a fight. Room augments like a Dungeon or certain weapon augments can make it even easier to question your criminal. Armor is a great way to give you an edge in a fight too!

If you have the funds, some of the Weapon Augments can be incredibly powerful at shutting down a fight. Items that grant No Escape like the Flower Scented Paint Rounds can prevent a foe from escaping, or the powerful weapon combos of the Spin to Win can quickly turn a fight in your favor.

Have a Plan for Questioning

Before you start the interrogation of a suspect, you should have a plan in mind. Try to write down your questions in advance, and workshop the best strategy to take with your foe. Give them some time to squirm, apply some pressure, or and maybe try to lure the truth out of them with kindness. Think about what their answer really was, and plan out your follow up questions. Try to have these discussions about strategy away from the suspect, so they can’t react and lead you down the wrong path.

While you should be gracious with your Steering, try to learn about your suspect and whether or not they may be able to evade your questioning in advance. This can give you time to bring in a psion to help, craft gear to give you an edge, or give time for a brew’s effects to fade. The more you know about your opponent, the easier you’ll able to build the case for the Justices.

turn in your reports!

The Law Dogs play an important role in the justice of the San Saba, but any actual punishments for a crime are decided by the Storytellers. Law Dogs shouldn’t take justice into their own hands without having a planned conversation about CVC first. Make sure you are turning in your Action Request so we can follow up with the players or NPCs involved to get the facts straight. Turning in your Law Dog Report is great tool to help us proceed to the next step.

Follow up OOC

This is probably the most forgotten step of CVC. Remember to check in on all the parties that were involved in the crime either after it happened, or once game is over. This applies to the other side as well, and if you get involved in an particularly intense interrogation scene with a criminal, it can be good to check in with all the players involved. CVC can come with a lot of emotions, so it’s important to remember the player behind the mask, as well as the victims in the crime. Even if the suspect was an NPC, it doesn’t hurt to check in with that person at Ops, or after their shift. You can offer apologies, ask for steering, and generally make sure they are still okay with the decision to be included afterwards. I’ve listed several ways to help with Steering in my blog post.

Tell a good story

Dystopia Rising is a survival horror game, but it’s also about telling neat stories with your friends. Being a Law Dog can be exhilarating, and deadly CVC is a roller-coaster of challenge. There are so many cool tricks, neat items, and unexpected player skill to consider in a fight against an intelligent opponent or an intense interrogation, and you can tell an amazing tale of the daring and skill that happens when you get involved in justice in the wastes. Remember, that if the criminal is never caught, that can be kind of a boring story and an unsatisfying conclusion. There’s so many connections and possibilities that come from this type of play, and I’m excited for you each to explore this deep and rich side of Dystopia Rising.

Wrap Up

That’s it for today Vados! I hope you enjoyed this summary of Crime & Punishment in the San Saba, and I hope I was able to provide some insight and guidance for your roleplay as a dastardly villain or noble Law Dog. Let us know what questions you might still have, and we hope that you will choose to involve yourself into an amazing side of CVC in the world of Dystopia Rising.

Tickets are still on sale for our next event, Cirque De Dread!

See you soon Vados!

Crime & Punishment, Part 1

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble! In these blogs, I’ll discuss in detail a mechanical aspect of Dystopia Rising, compiling all the rules and lore into one easy place to read! This week, we are covering a two-part feature on Crime and Punishment in the San Saba! Part one will cover aspects of how to do Crime in DR, while the second part will focus on what happens if you get caught by the Law Dogs. Let’s get started!

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

Crime & Punishment Overview - crime

So, you want to commit a crime in game? Maybe that merchant over there has been flashing some Brass and looks like an easy mark. Maybe someone left that weapon unattended, and you just so happen to need a shiny new toy. Maybe that Diesel Jock over there has been running his mouth and it’s time he learned a hard lesson.

What’s the best way to get involved? What happens if you get caught? How does the legal system work within the game? How do the Law Dogs and Justices of Sin get involved? How does a Gauntlet work? I’ll try to cover the answers to these questions and more in our Crime & Punishment two-part series.

Being a criminal in the wasteland is one of the easiest ways to get involved in character-vs-character conflict, or CVC. There are a few things to consider before we get started, but let’s say the quiet part out loud:

Crime will involve you in CVC conflict.

If you commit a crime in game (on an npc or LC), you’ll need to be okay with consequences of cvc that follows.

Even if your “victim” of crime is an NPC, you might eventually have to answer to a Law Dog about your breach of the law, and THAT encounter will involve CVC. Your crime might earn the ire of folks associated with that Faction, or even attract the attention of the criminal underworld or Murder Inc. So, regardless of the intent, crime generally involves CVC at some point.

We’ve covered a lot on CVC and similar topics in previous blogs on CVC Best Practices, and I’ve written pages and pages of rules blogs so it’s easy to have missed one particular week. I’ve compiled the “best of” into our OOC RESOURCES tab on the website, so here’s a few bits of reading to get started. I’ll refer to concepts within these essays during this series, but I’ll try to keep this blog focused on a high-level understanding.

The rules for CvC start on page 159 in the DR Corebook, in a section titled “Conflict Between Leading Characters”. I highly recommend people take a moment to read through this section in its entirety, as it is an often overlooked part of the book.

If you want additional reading, these other essays will be a great place to start:

• Introduction to CVC - An introduction to the basis rules for CVC

• CVC in the Moment - How to handle spontaneous CVC in the moment

• Long Term CVC - How to approach long-term CVC with another player

• CVC in the Wasteland - How the Wasteland works, and some rules to watch out for

• Thick as Thieves (CVC Theft) - Details on the theft rules in game, and some important considerations

• Disguise 101 - This covers useful rules for Disguises in DR and some tips for better disguises.

• Steering & the 10 Foot Rule - This is a must read before you consider CVC, and is a very useful reminder of how to ethically steer your roleplaying for fun for everyone involved

• Survival Ethos System - This is our DR:TX way to “opt in” to CVC in advance for all of you characters at the event. In exchange for this extra risk, you can access a brand-new list of items and resources for your characters.

With the CVC deep-dive part covered, let’s dig into doing some crimes in Dystopia Rising.

Crime in Dystopia Rising

Crime is an important aspect of CVC and roleplay within the Dystopia Rising universe. In DR:TX, we even have a Specialized Storyteller just for Crime related plots and roleplay. There are a few different ways to get involved with Crime in game, so let’s cover the basics on how you can get involved. It’s important to realize that you can choose how much you get involved with Crime in game, and that while skills and items are not necessarily needed, they can improve your chances of getting away with the deed.

Let’s first talk about what actually constitutes a crime in the world of Dystopia Rising.

An important consideration - Assault isn’t against the law in the San Saba.

As long as they don’t die from their injuries, and you don’t take their stuff, you can still be involved with CVC without necessarily breaking the law. Remember the Bravado motto — talk shit, get hit!

The in-game setting has some enforced laws that come in two parts, the Laws and the Charter. You can click the links below to read more, but basically, it’s against the law to steal, murder, break contracts, traffic in Crystal Candy, and mess with the Morgues. If you violate the laws, you can be fined, killed, punished with a Gauntlet, or even made a Vagrant.

• The Laws - These are the main laws of the San Saba. These are the primary ways you can break the law in the game, and these are only updated with a lot of effort during the annual Stakeholder’s Meeting, held during our May events.

• The Charter - These are the secondary laws governing the Factions of the San Saba. These outline what aspects of life in the wastelands one of our local factions is granted authority over and serves as a secondary set of violations. These tend to be a bit rarer to enforce, but generally involve ‘breach of contract’ when they come up during criminal activity.

Let’s cover how these breaches of the law occur, and some ways you can involved:

Criminal Influence

The skill Criminal Influence is the easiest way to get involved with crime. This ties your character into the criminal underworld of the game, has some cool check-in rumors you can access, gives you a neat buy list you can acquire illicit goods from, and even gets you invited to a criminal meeting that occurs during each event. Plus, you can even disarm traps and bombs! There’s a reason that this is one of the most popular skills taken by players in Dystopia Rising, and almost one half of ALL 4000+ characters in the database have this skill. I’ll go into more detail about organized crime below, but this is the easiest way to get involved with the crime aspect of game. All you got to do is to spend XP!

If you are interested in learning this skill in game but are anxious about trying to ask in-character, you can always ask for help from our New Player STs, a member of the Admin Team, and Chase Lira, our Specialized Crime ST.

Theft & Larceny

You don’t actually need a skill to get involved with crime. The simplest way to break the law in game is to simply STEAL something. However, theft is generally one of the crimes that’s illegal in pretty much every corner of the wastes. There are a few ways to do this activity, but you should always involve a Guide before you get involved with theft, as it’s one of the most damaging things you can do to another player in game.

• Larceny Skill - This skill is the only way to commit a theft in game without first obtaining consent (which we will cover in a moment). The rules for this skill are outlined on page 118, and I cover the detailed aspects of this type of crime in detail in my Thick as Thieves essay.

• Unattended Theft - This aspect of theft is covered within the core rulebook on page 163, and can be used to take items that are left in the game space. You can steal weapons, shields, brews, blueprints — basically anything with a phys rep in game. If someone leaves a prop behind, you’ll take this to the Post Office, and report the theft to the Guide, so they can make sure the actual phys rep boffer or item gets back to the player who owns it in real life.

  • NOTE: While white-tagged Starter Weapons CAN be stolen, they have no actual value in game, and the owning player can just get it reissued at the Post Office. These aren’t really good targets for theft, so make sure to check for the tag!

• Mugging & Robbery - Stealing and looting from a disarmed or subdued target is the last aspect of outright theft in game. Any NPC that enters the world has stats and can be interacted with, and that means many of them can be robbed, attacked, or even killed. You can steal from another character, but this generally requires consent before it can happen. However, remember that death is not the end in Dystopia Rising, and that these types of foes are intelligent. That means even if that NPC merchant is killed, they can remember your face and report you to a Law Dog for a breach of the law.

the Wasteland

About one half of our campsite in Bravado is considered “Wasteland”. Basically, any section of the campsite from the Crossroads towards the lake is covered. This means that the Meadow, Delvedown Camp, the Dive, Widow’s Walk, the Lake, the Morgue, and even the Waking Exclusion Zone lie within Wasteland territory. The only places that are not considered Wasteland are the Depot, the General Store, the Dusthouse, and the Dog Run.

In this portion of the campsite, you can engage in CVC combat, theft, and even murder without much fanfare. While we always recommend a Guide for these types of behaviors, it’s not actually required unless you are killing another character. You can read more about this in my essay on CVC in the Wastelands.

Murder

The killing and murder of another Strain is one of the most heinous crimes you can commit in Dystopia Rising. It feeds the Grave Mind, potentially creates a new zombie, and generally is considered a cardinal sin in every corner of the wastes. While characters can come back from the dead in Dystopia Rising, they only have a certain amount of Infection before it is their last, and there’s no real way to know if that character or NPC you just killed will even come back.

Sometimes it’s an accident or crime of passion, or maybe you’ve justified it somehow, but other times it’s for the “greater good”. But sometimes, a person just needs to die. And there’s a certain class of criminal in the waste that are willing to do the deed.

An important consideration — Murder is generally answered in kind in dystopia rising. Don’t play the murder game if you aren’t willing to risk your own infection.

If you kill another character, it is common for your character to die if they are caught. The wastes are a brutal place, and this crime is generally met with an eye for an eye. Murder shouldn’t be committed lightly in game, as it can have dire consequences for your character if (and generally WHEN) you get caught. The curious thing about Infection is that murder is harder to get away with when the person killed simply comes back a few hours later with all their memories of what just happened. This gives them time to build their own posse to come get revenge, or to report the crime to the authorities. Be warned!

Other Crimes

While the most obvious ways to break the law are theft and murder, let’s talk about a few of the other ways that you could run afoul of the law in the San Saba.

• Morgue Crimes - The Grave Council is very influential in the San Saba, and they have exclusive right to operation of morgues and the collection of the Grave Tax. They have recently added Life Binding, a powerful Faithful skill that can stop Infection loss, to the list of violations of their Charter rights.

• Postal Crimes - No, we aren’t talking about your econ behaviors, though our Coord Guides may consider those crimes sometimes. One of the other Laws in the San Saba prevents the interruption of the Post. Interfering with the mail, stopping a Postal Worker from doing their job, or attacking a Postal Worker carries serious penalties.

• Breach of Contract - One of the first laws of the San Saba involved the sanctity of Contracts. This is the general violation of the Charter rules of the Factions, and is a pretty broad category. If you break a deal with the RRC, or try to muscle in on the Junkerpunks right to the waters of the San Saba, you’ll break this law. This level of breach normally results in fines and punishments other than death but is one of the primary rules violations that earns the Vagrant status.

• Crystal Candy - A recent law outlawed the trafficking of Crystal Candy. This drug, obtainable with Basic Criminal Influence, is made by harvesting live psion crystals from the brains of helpless victims. Anything to do with the production, selling, or harvesting of Crystal Candy is illegal in the San Saba. It’s a shame that the item itself is such a cheap and useful source of Mind restoration. Surely no one will want to buy that?

• Treason - The newest crime in the San Saba, treason is largely done by “Aiding & Abetting” the Oxkiller Alliance. Luckily, these foes want you dead, so there’s little negotation to be had with an Oxkiller. This crime carries a harsh penalty during the war and will be swiftly and brutally enforced during Season 5.

Now that we understand what laws can be broken, let’s cover the most important step of crime and CVC: Consent.

consent & Crime

Dystopia Rising’s rules for Crime and CVC are all heavily based around the concept of Consent. Basically, no one can involve you in CVC and crime without your explicit and enthusiastic consent, outside of a few areas of play. You can always opt out of a scene by using the OK Check-In System — even crime.

Not only is this in the rules, but it is also just a good practice for keeping your criminal roleplay in game and respecting the players and Guides outside of game. Remember, not everyone at the game may be interested in this type of roleplay, and that’s okay.

This means that, in practice, it’s hard to commit a crime on another player character without their explicit consent.

Starting on page 160 in the DR Corebook, we can find the rules for CVC in the Moment, and I’ve elaborated in an essay about the topic. Because of this restriction, many crime behaviors are instead targeted at NPC threats.

There are four main ways to get consent for crime and CVC in game:

• OOC Conversations

• “C” Gesture

• Wasteland

• SES List

Let’s cover a bit about these below.

OOC Conversations

If your planned crime is against another player, the first thing that should happen is a conversation. This can set some boundaries for the planned action, decide where the story is going, and generally make sure both parties are on the same page. This should happen BEFORE the crime is committed, and this involves a bit of ethical steering. You can read more about that in my blog, but basically, you should check in with the PLAYER before you commit an offence against their character. By asking for consent before conflict occurs, you are showing your respect for the other player. Remember, you can always opt out of a scene by using the OK Check-In System.

This is a question: “Do you want to have conflict that does not involve Infection loss or item theft?”

“C” Gesture

Outside of the Wasteland, the main way to ask for Consent versus another player or NPC is with the “C Gesture”, seen in the photo nearby. You don’t need a Guide for conflict done under this agreement, and it’s a common way for folks to deal with in-character moments of violence.

This asks a question of the NPC or player and warns them that combat is about to begin. This is a courtesy and can help that person prepare to get hit by a boffer and be prepared for what happens next. If they decline, you should steer your behavior away from any combat or crime. While this isn’t strictly necessary for most combat NPCs, it can be a welcome courtesy that helps keep their anxiety and surprise to a minimum. Remember the person BEHIND the NPC when you start your criminal behavior, and let them get more involved in what happens next.

The Wasteland

When a character is in the Wasteland, they explicitly consent to CVC conflict. Simply being in this zone is “raising your flag” for CVC, and by extension, crime. While this is a big section of our campsite, you can still access all the necessary parts of camp like climate-controlled cabins, the Post Office, crafting zones, and bathrooms without ever having to step foot into the Wasteland. In practice, far less violence happens in the Wasteland than you might expect. At least, against player characters. You’ll often find planned criminal meetings take place in the Wasteland, and most mods that will provide these opportunities for crime on NPCs will happen there too!

You can still use the OK Check-In System even within the Wasteland, but you should consider if you are willing to take this risk before you take a long walk down to the lake with a stranger.

SURVIVAL ETHOS SYSTEM (SES)

This is our optional CVC system for DR:TX. With this voluntary “flag” for CVC, you can let other players know you are ready for lethal combat and theft at any time during the weekend. Like the Wasteland, this is explicit consent to CVC conflict. Effectively, it’s like you ARE the Wasteland wherever you go! These folks are great choices to involve in crime and CVC conflict, as they’ve opted into a new level of CVC for the weekend.

You can sign up for this list at the start of the weekend, and we will publicly post this list at the Post Office near the General Store. This is for ALL of your characters you play during a weekend. The SES List is not something to consider lightly, but you can always talk to a Gamerunner about removing yourself from the list if something changes during the weekend. You can read more about the rules for the Survival Ethos System and it’s rewards on our website.

Now that we’ve covered the basics of how to ask for consent for crime, let’s cover some ways to get involved in crime in a more direct fashion - with Criminal Influence and our crime factions.

organized crime

If your character takes the Skill Criminal Influence at any level, this represents a connection into the seedy underworld that exists in the San Saba, known as “The Underground”. You’ve made a tie in someway to one of the gangs or groups of organized crime in the world, and gain several advantages. Criminals, traffickers, smugglers, killers, and more call the Territories home, and business is good.

Why should I take Criminal Influence?

Criminal Influence gets you access to a few extra things past the obvious bits in the book, like disarming traps:

• You get an invite to the Underground Market, a meeting of fellow criminals that happens at each game. I’ll cover more about this next.

• You gain access to the Criminal Buy List. This is a list of items that can be gained at the Post Office in exchange for Brass. This is one of the few ways for items like Crystal Candy to enter into the game outside of a dangerous procedure.

• With Proficient Criminal Influence, you can gain access to a Fence who can sell your stolen goods. Normally, when you steal an item with item card it is marked as ‘stolen’. A Fence can “wash” the item and give you an unmarked item card.

• With Master Criminal Influence, you can gain access to a special series of jobs offered by the Inner Circle. These are commonly requested with an Action Request, but our team at DR:TX assumes one of these will be entered each game, so unless you have a specific request you can simply join and tag along on the planned event. These can offer rewards like Brass, Buy List vouchers, and gear, and often tie into the story of the weekend in some way.

• This skill works at travel events. If you attend another chapter’s games, you can also access the buy list, attend their criminal meetings, or even make Action Requests for Master Criminal jobs. Your connections with Murder Inc. also travel, but I’ll cover that a bit later.

Let’s cover one of the most prominent parts of organized crime:

The Underground market

Criminal Influence is one of very few skills in the game that comes with a guaranteed role play event that will happen at the game - the Criminal Meeting known as the Underground Market. You can gain access to this meeting during your check-in to game once you have at least Basic Criminal Influence. Ask the staff for the Criminal Influence folder at check-in and inside will be a series of rumors, information about items that can be fenced, information about any Master Criminal jobs, and a “passphrase” that can be used to access the meeting. This will tell you where to meet, when to be there, and how to gain access.

When you arrive at the Underground Market, you’ll be required to answer with the correct passphrase to a challenge, and this will always happen in an area of the Wasteland. You should be on guard for rogue Law Dogs and others that would seek to disrupt the meeting, and make sure to be careful who you trust. At the meeting, there will be a series of criminal jobs available to criminal players, and these can involve various tasks like information gathering, petty larceny, or even vulgar robbery and murder. Basically, any activity that could break one of the Laws is fair game for a job. Any pertinent information for the weekend will be shared, and you can make connections and trade deals with other members of the Underground, both NPC and LCs.

One of the cardinal rules of the Underground is “Eyes Open, Mouth Shut”. Talking about criminal jobs in the open, revealing what was discussed, or leaking information to the Law Dogs is a sure way to earn a death sentence from the Inner Circle. Remember, Criminal activity is generally CVC so you need to be prepared for the consequences.

We’ve mentioned a few proper names above, so with this in mind, let’s discuss the organization of the Underground and the Criminal Factions.

The Criminal Factions of the San Saba

There are four major groups within the underworld of DR:TX, but they are loosely organized into two sections - the “good” vigilantes, and the “bad” gangsters. The vigilantes are focused on serving the greater good and doing what is necessary to keep the most monstrous villains in check. The gangsters enjoy their freedom and prosperity that comes with working on the opposite side of the law. Neither group is truly blameless, but they will often find themselves in opposition. Sometimes, however, they might find themselves with a common foe and need to rely on each other to survive.

The Underground

The Underground is simply the common criminals of Bravado. This somewhat encompassing term, as anyone with Criminal Influence is considered part of the Underground, even members of the assassin’s guild. These will be the primary focus of most common criminal jobs that show up at the Market, and these tasks might range from Covert Ops, like murder or assassination, Black Market duties like theft and extortion, and other Esoterica, like rituals, illegal medicine or science.

San Saba Gangs

There are several NPC groups that claim territory within Bravado. Some of these groups were antagonists from past seasons while others are subfactions of more prominent San Saba Factions. Regardless of their reason for involving themselves with crime, the Gangs and the politics around them will be a big part of criminal stories in Season 5. Some of these gangs are fairly infamous like the Rotguts and the Volsteads, but others are a bit more secretive. You can learn more about the Gangs by attending an Underground Market.

Inner Circle

The “made men” of Bravado, the Inner Circle are characters and NPCs that have unlocked the Profession Focus Achievement tied with Criminal Influence. This title gains you access to the criminal elite, and elevates you into the deadly games and politics of the Underground, as well as the ability to use powerful criminal items. The Inner Circle will often be responsible for sharing criminal jobs, running the Underground Markets, or providing information to the various gangs in town. The Inner Circle will have a lot of agency in deciding the course of the Underground, but there will be a lot of responsibility at the same time.

Murder Inc.

The only “good” faction within the Underground, Murder Incorporated are the vigilantes of Bravado. This is a National faction within Dystopia Rising that can be accessed by committing yourself to the cause and tenets of this murderous cult. You can read more about Murder Inc on our separate page for this faction, but this is a high risk faction that often involves deadly CVC against the most dangerous opponents in the wastes. However, most of their violence is aimed at NPC threats, so they tend to stay away from the more mundane acts of murder.

Because they oppose evil in the world and work towards their own version of “the greater good”, Murder Inc. often finds itself in opposition to the Underground as a whole, and some of their members might be forced to make some uncomfortable choices about where their loyalty lies if they get a bit too greedy or successful at the cost of others. You can take jobs with both the Underground and Murder Inc, but you might find yourself helping one of the enemies of the cult.

There will also be a folder at Check-In that has a special set of information for players that are part of the shadowy Murder Inc. While any character can access this envelope with only Basic Criminal Influence, showing up to a Murder Inc. meeting uninvited is a sure way to earn a trip to the Grave Mind. Becoming a member of this shadowy cult is often a story in and of itself. Like Criminal Influence, connections with the guild are usable at different chapters when you travel, so you can commit sins for the greater good where ever you go.

best practices to commit a crime

There are some good practices from Jonathan to consider when you set out to get involved with criminal activities in Dystopia Rising. These are some tips and tricks we’ve learned over the years that can help you have a better experience

Be ready for consequences

The first step is to accept that once you get involved with Crime in DR you are accepting a certain amount of risk. Your individual skill may determine if you get caught, but I’ve found this is not a matter of “if you get caught”, but rather “when you get caught”. Eventually, you will risk your items, your standing in the community, your health and safety, and maybe even your Infection. Generally, you should be ready for the consequences that could happen to your character if and when you get caught doing the crime. If you prepare yourself for this risk, it’s much easier to accept it when it eventually happens.

Get consent

Like I mentioned above, the best way to do crime is to first get consent from the other Player or even NPC. It’s not expressly required to flash a “C” at an NPC, but remember that they are people too. Unless they were told by the Guide to expect a ruthless assassination, you might be surprising the actual player, and not the NPC. If they don’t give an enthusiastic “yes” to this type of question, steering, or conversation, you are better finding another target for the crime if possible. I know it may seem strange to “warn” a person of an impending crime, but I think you’ll find more people are interested in this type of conflict than you may expect, especially if they can prepare themselves for the loss in advance.

get a Guide (or don’t)

Remember, any time you are impacting another character in a permanent way, by changing their character sheet or removing item cards, via Larceny or Combat, you should get a Guide involved. At the start of every event we ask our Guides to identify themselves, and many will wear a button that marks them as a member of our staff. When in doubt, you can simply ask for assistance at Ops. While it’s not technically required in the Wasteland, it never hurts to have another set of eyes on your deadly conflicts and robberies. I’ve listed some best practices for thievery in my post Thick as Thieves, with some helpful tips to increase your chances of not being noticed.

Do the deed & be prepared for an audible

When you set out to do crime, you should have an expectation that something will go wrong. Someone will notice what is happening, they might use an Avoid on that Choking Blow attack, or you might simply not be able to defeat the NPC. When things go to shit, you’ll need to be prepared with a backup plan, or at least an escape plan. Think about what you will do if things go wrong, because the main reasons folks get caught during crime CVC is they forget this simple truth.

There are several items that can help disguise you, and you can read more in my guide on Disguise 101. If they can’t identify you as your LC, then it’s hard for the Law to find out who did the deed. Items like Widow’s Tea can even ensure you can escape a trap that is set for you, at the high cost of your own Infection. I’ll cover a bit more about what happens if you get caught in my next blog post in this series.

Follow up OOC

This is probably the most forgotten step of CVC. Remember to check in on all the parties that were involved in the crime either after it happened, or once game is over. This applies to the other side as well, and if you get involved in an particularly intense interrogation scene, it can be good to check in with all the players involved. CVC can come with a lot of emotions, so it’s important to remember the player behind the mask, as well as the victims in the crime. Even if it was an NPC, it doesn’t hurt to check in with that person at Ops, or after their shift. You can offer apologies, ask for steering, and generally make sure they are still okay with the decision to be included afterwards. I’ve listed several ways to help with Steering in my blog post.

Tell a good story

Dystopia Rising is a survival horror game, but it’s also about telling neat stories with your friends. Crime can be exhilarating, and deadly CVC is a roller-coaster of challenge. There are so many cool tricks, neat items, and unexpected player skill to consider in a fight against an intelligent opponent, and you can tell an amazing tale of the daring and skill that goes into your heist. Remember, that if you never get caught, never get to answer for your crimes, that can be kind of a boring story. There’s so many connections and possibilities that come from this type of play, and I’m excited for you each to explore this deep and rich side of Dystopia Rising.

WRAP UP

That’s it for this half of the Crime & Punishment series. Criminal behavior is one of my favorite ways to interact with the world of Dystopia Rising. We’ve provided a LOT of opportunities to get involved, and we have a lot of story moments ahead of us this season that will involve crime. If you are interested in participating, let us know!

See you soon Vados!

Cirque de Dread

Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our October live event CIRQUE DE DREAD! This is our first ST led overarc of the season, led by Matt Hoadley, Ash Sexton, and Luka Drystan. 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 some notes about our Compulsion and Roleplay Burden mechanics!

• TICKETS FOR OUR OCTOBER EVENT ARE ON SALE NOW! STEP RIGHT UP AND SEE THE SHOW!

• If you had a great experience at our last event BENEATH THE CORPSE OF WAKING or had some suggestions for how we can improve, we’d love to hear from you! Did you enjoy the Liquidation Runs? Did you survive the radiation? What did you like best? What memories did you make? How was your NPC shift? Did another player impress you?

  • Fill out our Feedback Form!

  • Nominate another player for a Community Achievement!

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

Cirque de dread

Here’s the premise for our next event, Cirque de Dread:

Times of trial and tragedy have begun to fall upon Bravado, after dealing with the brunt of Waking’s crash landing. Easy livelihood and a unified community have begun to feel increasingly lost, especially with open war with the Oxkiller Alliance erupting across the San Saba…The last thing this town needs is gangs of Thrill Kill raiders in garish clothes showing up, people running away from home or just straight up vanishing, Nemesis sightings, critters rampaging like mad, and best friends killing each other over random trinkets. It's too bad that that’s exactly what’s been happening to towns all over the wasteland. Even worse, all these problems seem to have a common denominator: each town was a stopping point for a flying carnival and none of this weirdness was happening before it arrived. 

But who cares about all of these rumors? Raiders and critters and people vanishing? That happens all the time in the wasteland. You know what doesn’t? The once in a lifetime experience that is almost at our doorstep: Colonel Rictus’ Flying Carnival! The Ringmaster and their carnival are making their grand debut in Bravado! Beneath the Big Top you can find compelling wonders from across the world: Exotic animals! Horrors from around the world! Games (that are definitely not rigged) for the whole family! You won’t be able to pull yourself away from the fun! And what sort of carnival would this be if it didn’t have a grand finale? A dull one, that’s what! 

Colonel Rictus has brought with them the ultimate prize: infection. Those interested need only obtain an entry medallion to earn their place in a grand game of skill (no luck involved) and a chance to extend their lives. How do you enter, you ask? Well, you’re in luck! There are plenty of ways for you to find to get your hands on one of these oddly entrancing Entry Medallions. Play some games, dig into the mysteries swirling around the carnival, or, if you’re very daring - or very desperate - you can put your own infection on the line. Just watch out for jealous folks trying to swipe your well-earned Medallion! Whether you hold one by skill, luck, money, or trouble, when the final curtain rises those eight lucky locals get a shot at the grand prize. And even should you come out with no Medallion, never fear!

There's plenty of compelling thrills for everybody at the carnival!

Carnivals, clowns, and carnage? Sounds like a bloody good time…

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 set proper expectations for our content. 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.

It’s 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! Remember, you can always use the OK Check-In system to choose to leave a scene, even CVC!

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.

clowns & scary Carnival themes

• Psychological Horror, Clowns, Carnival Themes, Creepy Masks, Blood & Gore, Body Horror

We haven’t really had any clown-themed threats for awhile in DR:TX. During our upcoming Halloween event, CIRQUE DE DREAD, we will have a number of enemies that will wear masks, makeup, and carnival style outfits, playing on that deep, primal fear we all have of circus clowns. It’s a popular trope in horror films, in video games, and more, and we are planning to dig into this phobia during this event. These threats will primarily be in the vein of Nemesis, our favorite Telling Visionary heretics, and Thrill Kill Raiders, creepy psionic raiders that wear terrifying masks and act a bit more clever than your usual raider enemies.

Coulrophobia or the fear of clowns is a real phobia, so we want to provide some advanced warning for this event just in case. Many of these specific encounters will be limited to our carnival location by the Totem Pole on the site, so there will be a specific section of the camp you can steer clear of if this is something you want to try to avoid. However, there will be no way to completely remove the risk of encountering one of these creatures, as they will be a big part of the story of the weekend.

There will still be zombies and raiders to run away from in the darkness, scrap to salvage, herb to farm, and blueprints to copy. We hope you will be excited to join us for this story, but we will have many other stories to enjoy in the future if this is a story you don’t want to experience.

Compulsion & Loss of Agency

• Simulated mind control, loss of agency, psionic compulsion, involuntary CVC

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

This means that if your character is interacts with a key item during this overarc, it could put you into situations where your character is no longer in control of their actions. This is a unique form of mind control that might allow the bad guys to COMPEL you to help them. The bad guys might order you to defend them, hurt your friends, abandon your crew, or do other terrible things that your character might not normally do.

If you were playing in 2.0 or have encountered our new Bone Head Zombies, you may remember similar abilities that turn you into a Body Puppet, and it can be a great challenge and intense scene when one of your friends suddenly turns on you and it’s not just the monster that’s after you in that combat.

Our ultimate goal with CIRQUE DE DREAD is to tell a story about dangerous villains bringing a deadly carnival to town whether you like it or not, recruiting townsfolks to play their twisted games, and generally holding the town hostage unless YOU can stop them from their evil machinations. We hope that you are excited to step right up, and join the show…

Let’s cover a bit more on the Compulsion mechanic…

Compulsion Mechanics

We’ve used these mechanics throughout last season, particularly during our Necrophage event, but in case you missed out here’s a quick summary about how this core mechanic works. As with all of our Local DR:TX Rules, you can find these on our webpage under Local Rules & Skills.

Compulsion

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

You can already do similar things to this Skill on zombies and raiders with Telepathy and an item, but this Threat Skill allows them to use a similar ability on YOU. That last line is important, though, because there will be one major effect during this event that will prevent you from resisting this ability. I’ve cover how our ENTRY MEDALLIONS work next week, though.

The primary use of this Compulsion mechanic will be a call you will hear during this event that is also circus themed:

“Compulsion: STEP RIGHT UP and JOIN THE SHOW!”

When you hear this phrase, your character will be compelled to participate in the dangerous and deadly carnival events held by Colonel Rictus's Flying Circus. Proceed to the NPC that made the call, and follow their instructions for the next TEN (10) minutes.

However, you have few ways to avoid this mechanic in game:

• Resist the call. First, the skill Basic Mental Endurance can resist this effect most of the time, for only 5 Mind. You can avoid some of the terrible commands like “kill and eat your friends”, for instance. However, each time you hear this command, you’ll need to spend Mind points. If this happens multiple times or is used by several enemies, you’ll need to either flee the area, deal with the threats, or make sure you have some spare Mind points.

• You can make yourself immune to psionics. There’s a few ways to do this. You can use the ability of the Master Steelpaw Shield to resist this effect, but you’ll need Master Shield to use this item. Master Mental Endurance can create a field where psionics may not function, but the NPC or the targets will have to stay in the 10’ bubble you create in order for this to keep working. If they get drug out of the field by a raider, they lose the protection.

• Use an expendable item. While you can use a Murky Black Byproduct to make it easier to resist the Compulsion effect, there is another item in game that can help you resist this ability if you don’t have the Mental Endurance Skill too, called a Grave-Bell Shard. This San Saba Sundry can be purchased by ANY character for only 1 Brass from the Post Office. You can only buy ONE per event, but you can buy this item even if you don’t have Society Membership.

• Thumbs down the scene. Lastly, you can always choose to use the OK Check-In System to opt out of a scene entirely by using the “thumbs down” gesture and exiting the area. The COMPULSION mechanic DOES NOT override the OK Check-In system.

Now that we understand a few ways to avoid this effect, let’s cover the last major mechanic for this weekend:

ROLEPLAY BURDENs

This is also a regular local mechanic we’ve used throughout Season 4 and beyond. This is an alternative to a Fracture, and it creates some fun opportunities for engaging roleplay as your character.

roleplay burden

Keyword. A character can have one Roleplay Burden at a time. A Roleplay Burden must be fulfilled once per 12s, or else it will turn into a Fracture.  Roleplay Burdens can be soothed or cured as if they were a Fracture, but does not count as a Fracture for preventing use of certain Skills.  Players can opt-out of a particular RP behavior at any time, but must fulfill any required mechanical cost or effects. Roleplay Burdens expire at the end of an event, unless the player chooses to keep them longer.

The primary way you’ll encounter this mechanic during CIRQUE DE DREAD is through the mysterious ENTRY MEDALLIONS. We’ll cover these items in more detail in a later blog post, but they inflict a particular Roleplay Burden. Once you’ve collected one of these items, you’ll be compelled to keep it secret and keep it safe. It’s not an effect that can be resisted as long as you have one of these items. These medallions will be a physical 3D printed item in the play space and will have a few other rules associated with them, but you’ll generally want to hang onto the medallion. If your friends try to remove it, or it gets taken by another player by force, you’ll end up with a Fracture (DR Corebook, p. 180).

survival vs problem solving

One of the horror themes of this upcoming event is the persistent danger in the dark and the cruel threats of Colonel Rictus’ Flying Circus. Like the movies and shows that inspired it, like Something Wicked This Way Comes or American Horror Story, the story of the deadly carnival is a common trope in horror tales and even the iconic slasher flick. But that brings up our last important aspect of the weekend to consider when purchasing a ticket — the issue of Survival versus Problem Solving.

Often in a DR plot for a weekend, there’s some problem to solve, a puzzle to uncover, or something that can be actively fixed. You might be completing Liquidation Runs, finding a way to save or doom a flying city, or even figure out a way to fix the water filtration system in town. Each of these things involves a different level of player agency than the story this weekend.

The story of the creepy carnival and the Thrill Kill raiders that follow in its wake is instead one of SURVIVAL. This is a threat that is meant to be endured, not solved. Bad Brain disease and raiders are as much a part of the world of Dystopia Rising as zombies, and it’s not a problem that’s going away any time soon. You need to survive this threat, not fix it.

During CIRQUE DE DREAD, the threats of the weekend will be an ever present danger in the world, from strange new zed, to masked Dolly Raiders, to the Nemesis stalking the woods during “sweeps week”. Each of these threats will be killing indiscriminately in their twisted ideas of terror and faith, and when the Thrill Kill raiders don their masks as the first leaves of fall begin to settle in, we hope you will be ready. We’ve explored this concept of Survival year after year during our October events, particularly with the story of the Indulgence over the last few seasons, but with the massacre at Killhouse last year by Doc Nichols it’s time for a new story.

While we hope that every character will survive the weekend’s terrors, it’s by no means guaranteed. How will your character survive the terrors of Colonel Rictus’ Flying Circus? Will you be able to hide from the Nemesis in the dark? Can you survive the insidious threat of the Thrill Kill Raiders?

Let’s find out together.

Regardless of the outcome, we can’t wait for you to step right up, and join the show….

Wrap up

That’s it for today Vados! Tickets went on sale on Monday for our October event, and I hope you’ll come join us for a scary good time. Our next event takes place on Friday the 13th (I’m sure that won’t be relevant), and it takes place during a Lunar Eclipse. Where else can you have fun killing zombies in the woods with your friends?

Make sure you get your tickets early and save yourself time at the door!

See you next week, Vados!