Rules Ramble

Downfall

Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our October live event DOWNFALL! This will be the first full game run under the new DR Live system and our first DR Live NATIONAL EVENT, led by Heather Halstead and Jonathan Loyd. It’s been a bit since we launched ticket sales for this event, so I want to make sure we are covering the basics as we hit the last few weeks before the game. 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 themes of our upcoming event!

I’ve already made quite a few blog posts on the topic of Downfall, so let’s compile some handy links all in one place:

  • DR Live: Where to Start - This is a handy guide on how to tackle reading the rules for the new system. TL;DR, there’s a LOT of books already for this edition, but the best place to begin is the Player’s Guide.

  • The Story of Downfall - This is a detailed look at the STORY of the event, including an introduction to the various factions and personalities you’ll meet while in Bastion.

  • Frequently Asked Questions - We’ve made a few updates over the past few weeks and we’ve tried to anticipate most of your questions.

TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW FOR DOWNFALL! GET YOUR FIRST LOOK AT THE NEW DR LIVE SYSTEM IN PERSON!

Our images for this post were developed by our talented Marketing Director, Kiara Everlen.

Event Announcement: DR Live Transition

Last week, the Network Advisory Board met to discuss and vote on the upcoming transition to Dystopia Rising: Live. After thorough discussions and collaboration across all branches, a unanimous decision was made regarding the following key dates:

  • January 15, 2025: All branches will sign new contracts.

  • February 1, 2025: Branches can begin transitioning from DR 3.0 to DR Live.

  • April 30, 2025: DR 3.0 will officially end for all branches.

This timeline accommodates seasonal calendars and allows sufficient time for teams to be trained on the new focus and mechanics of DR Live. We believe this phased approach will ensure a smooth transition for everyone involved.

Mark your calendars for February 7-9, 2025, as "Cradle's Lullaby" will officially kick off Dystopia Rising: Live for the Texas chapter!

I’ve included this on our Downfall page and in my story blog, but here it is once more for posterity:

THE PREMISE

“Every settlement in the wastes has a similar story – a spark of hope amidst the irradiated wasteland, trying to survive in a hostile environment that is the product of too many nukes, too many raiders and undead, and too much conflict.  Now, a new hope for survival has arrived – a way to cure the threat of radiation.

The Wells Society, a group of Sainthood that survived the fall of the Trade Union, have emerged with a solution — a breed of mushroom that feeds on radiation itself.  With the help of the Grave Mind scholars known as the Servants of the Undying, they have developed the “Liberum Radicalis”, or Glow Shroom, and promise that they can “cure” irradiated areas across the wastes.  In a few short months, the Society claims they can return an area back to a state where crops can grow and new settlements can form, free from the plague of the green glow.

Their first test of the strange blue mushrooms on a large scale has happened at a Fallow Hope fortress called the Bastion of New Dawn.  Built atop the wreck of a massive crashed airship, Bastion has been surrounded by lethal radiation and massive ZOMBIE HORDES that continue to emerge from the destroyed generator at its core and has served as an impenetrable fortress during the recent wars in the area.  The soldiers of the Mustang Loyalists, loyal to the one and only GENERAL MUSTANG, have opened the fortress to new settlers and travelers, with a promise that the radioactive threat is no more.  

With the help of the Wells Society, the first proof of concept for their new mushroom is ready for others to visit, collect spores to take home with them, and see for themselves what the Sainthood have brought forward for the greater good.  Invitations have gone out to every major settlement across the wastes, to visit Bastion and see the revelations of the great work that has been completed, and how it can benefit their own communities.

But their opponents with the Temple of Evolution suggest that the radiation is itself a reason for the survival of so many settlements.  Without the mutation of the Infection, none of the Strains would exist.  What will happen to the Infection that runs in your veins when not constantly bombarded with radiation from the wastelands?  What will happen to the Mortis Amaranthine when the source of its creation is gone and it is allowed to expand unchecked?  Even if the Glow Shrooms are safe, who will control these new fertile lands and decide who will benefit from the homes that are created in the absence of radiation? 

Come and witness the birth of a new era of the wasteland, survive the zombie hordes, and gather the promise of salvation to bring home to your settlements, courtesy of the Wells Society and the Bastion of New Dawn.”

Radiation, Mushrooms, and Zombies? Sounds like a great Dystopia Rising event!

The Themes of Downfall

Every game in DR:TX has a few themes we want to reinforce in the story. Here’s a few to watch out for during the National Event.

Greater Good vs Individuality

  • While solving a problem of radiation can present a benefit for the greater good across the wastes, as the Mortis is strengthened so does the sense of self fade into nothingness.  The Wasteland is a balance of radiation and death, and picking one or the other could be catastrophic.

Radiation vs the Grave Mind

  • Radiation is a useful tool against raiders and zed alike, offering powerful weapons and a natural enemy to the Grave Mind.  As radiation wanes in danger and the Grave Mind gets stronger, so too does the threat of undead.  If the glow shrooms are truly an answer to radiation, could this even remove the protective elements of the Infection such as quick healing and beneficial mutations?

Faith vs Order

  • The opposing faiths of the Darwin and Fallow Hope are placed in conflict during this story.  Mustang has a solution to help their people with new farmland, new safety, and the ability to help their faction grow.  The radiation leaks from Bastion have been a bane on the nearby settlements, and even the Darwins have precepts against unchecked evolution.  But, the glow shrooms represent the anathema of the Darwin faith, and a way to remove their faith’s holy focus from being a force of survival.

CONTENT WARNINGS - DOWNFALL

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 important to watch for descriptions, situations, or events that you might want to avoid. You may find new limits that are unknown to you because the matter never came up. We encourage you to take the necessary steps for your own emotional safety. We want you to be comfortable with the types of horror in our events so you can enjoy the thrill of the zombie apocalypse and the nightmare creatures we introduce into the game space.

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!

Overall, this next event focuses heavily on the themes of DR Live, particularly with the setting of the updated system. Our story for the weekend is heavily based off of the National Plotkit, “Illusions of Civility”, but it still has it’s own unique Texas flavor.

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 October event.

MISTAKES, RULES ERRORS, and CORRECTIONS IN FIELD

  • This is literally everyone’s first game. We will all be learning a new system at the same time. We will make mistakes, we will get the rules wrong, and so will you. While many of the new systems are intuitive and we’ve planned a number of workshops for Thursday, it’s still a lot of information to absorb at once. We must treat every moment of this event as everyone’s first game ever, and treat our fellow players as if they were tender-horns experiencing the world for the first time. For some of our players, it literally will be!

  • Please show your fellow players and our staff grace and forgiveness. For this event, we will especially ask for your grace, patience, and forgiveness as we experience the ups and downs of our first event ever under DR Live rules. Please be kind to your fellow players and especially our volunteer staff, as we all have the same goal — telling an amazing story in the zombie apocalypse. We will learn and explore this new system together.

  • Correct and Move On. If we make a mistake in the field, as either a guide or player, we will practice a strategy of fixing it for future encounters. We won’t try to reset or roll back any major rules calls, but trust our Guides to make the call in the moment. If we find an error later, we will correct and move on with the right ruling for any future instances. We might have to calibrate a combat encounter on the fly, so be prepared for sudden ends to fights, and generally expect us to continue to improve as the weekend goes on. We will try to avoid any major scene or continuity breaks, and try to keep everything in game as much as possible.

Resource scarcity, and the struggle to provide for yourself in the apocalypse

  • The DR Live economy is brand new. With the major change of Impact Skills, the Mind economy you are used to in the 3.0 system doesn’t really exist in this brave new world. It’s one thing to look at a proposed break down of blueprints and mind points and try to anticipate how it will function in a live space, and it’s an entirely different thing to actually do it live. Part of this event will include learning a new cadence to the flow of economy and crafting, and it WILL be different than the previous edition.

  • Items are less necessary in DR Live, and you may have less gear than you are used to in 3.0. Many of the tricks you needed items for in 3.0 are now included into the various Impact and Development skills. Other items only really function for Professions. Healing is significantly improved, and your combat skills don’t need a steady supply of Mind brews to stay ready. While cool items can be nice, they certainly aren’t a requirement for surviving in this new apocalypse. Many of the blueprints have very niche applications that won’t necessarily come up during this event, and you don’t have to worry about trying to build out a perfect set of gear — there’s still plenty of time until the DR Live transition.

  • Everyone will be on mostly the same footing. Your 3.0 items won’t function for this event, so we will give you a head start with some FREE items! One of your characters will receive a load out of useful items and brews, and our goal is to give everyone a fairly even start. There will be several ways to access new blueprints in game if you choose to pursue crafting. While we can’t account entirely for folks bringing in outside scrap, herb, and currency to the game, there will be plenty of opportunities to salvage, forage, and loot items during the event.

  • Item transfers won’t happen during this event. You won’t be able to transfer your existing 3.0 items, so you can leave these item cards at home. You’ll be able to do that soon enough when we transition to DR Live in 2025. Starter weapons are still a thing in DR Live, and you’ll still be able to use your props and craft new items during the game. But, any items you make, loot, or steal will be yours to keep for the new edition after you leave.

Religious conflict, corruption, and abuses of power (only in-game faiths - not real faiths)

  • The city of Bastion is a Fallow Hope stronghold. The Fallow Hope have graciously invited visitors into their home as part of the Wells Society Experiment, but it’s still a town led by the faithful. You might find yourself in opposition to some of their policies and rules, and that’s fine. The overall goal of this event is to create great opportunities for religious conflict with the authorities and residents of the town, but our primary focus is on role play and drama, not outright war games. The Fallow Hope will leave you be if you follow the rules and play nice. Despite these rules, many of the citizens of the town have purposefully chosen to stay here because of the security the Fallow Hope provide.

  • The leadership of Bastion is overtly a religious theocracy, but all are welcome. The Fallow Hope will be on their best behavior with visitors in their home, but they aren’t interested in forcing their agenda on visitors as long as they also behave. While the Fallow Hope religion is the primary faith of the town and granted certain lenience not extended to others, there are many residents in the town that practice other competing faiths. While they frown on open terrorism or attacks on their residents, there’s no specific rules against preaching your faith in town — you just might not find that many interested converts.

  • The Fallow Hope of the Lone Star have a storied past. The former General Mustang and the Mustang Loyalists have not always been allies of nearby towns like Bravado, and they have a long and dark history in the region. Corruption has long been a nuisance for the Loyalists, and they are hard at work trying to clean up their ranks. Not every Fallow Hope in town believes with the same fervor in the Wells Society Experiment, and there is potential for conflict and strife in their ranks.

Wrap Up

The DR:TX team has a lot of cool things planned for Downfall, and we can’t wait to meet our friends from around the wasteland. As we get closer to the first ever DR Live event and the eventual rollout of the new system next year, we have plenty to talk about to get ready for the event. Will you help the Wells Society with their strange mushroom experiment? Will you dive into the Grave Mind to help Bastion with a growing corruption? Will you brave the radioactive Exclusion Zone in search of useful items and treasures? Will you survive the DOWNFALL?

Over the next few weeks, we will cover a bit of the lore of the event, including the rules of Bastion, some of the major faces to meet, and some of the in-game events you can complete during the game.

See you soon Vados!

Rules You Should Know - September

Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our September live event THE FALL OF THE SAN SABA BOARD! This is our second part of our Season 5 finale, led by Heather Halstead and Jonathan Loyd. 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, including how our Last Hurrah will work.

Our photos for this post were taken from previous DR:TX events by our talented Photo Team, including Max Pohlmeier, Lauren Guzaldo, Sidney Betzina, Maddeax Cole, and Jason Dumas.

FIrst GAme of the season!

This weekend we get to return once more to our hometown of Bravado. I’m so excited to see your smiling happy faces and survive the wasteland once more, and I’m so ready to let you survive the rage of the Chairman and end the San Saba Board once and for all. This will be your chance to take part in the final story of Arthur Lovelace, and we want to give you an opportunity to deal with this villain in person.

This is going to be a combat-heavy game, and so far we’ve covered a bit about the Chairman and the history of his conspiracy to rule the San Saba, and how the Capture the Flag events will happen during the weekend. Today, we are going to cover a bit of our customary Rules You Should Know, including:

  • The Ongoing Assault - The Mechanics of the Board attack on Bravado

  • The War at Home - How to Use War Supplies and Combat Units in the Fight

  • The San Saba Board Forces - Threat Skills to Watch Out For!

Let’s get started!

The Ongoing Assault

During the September event, you’ll face all sorts of Lineage enemies that make up the forces of the San Saba Board in their all-out assault on Bravado. Throughout the event, you’ll see a few recurring attacks that I’d like to telegraph in advance.

Sniper Fire

The NPC may call “Line of Sight, 10 Damage!” or a Guide may call “Sniper Fire! 10 Damage!”. The NPC will use a green laser point to identify the targets, or have a Guide point at the victim.    Use a green laser pointer to ID targets.  NPCs will use this no more than once every 30 seconds.

The Chairman has brought aimed all the guns at Bravado, literally. In many of the fights, you’ll have to deal with the snipers and gunmen aiming from a distance, and you’ll need to take cover and break line of sight to evade their attacks. These will be LINE OF SIGHT attacks, which means they don’t need to hit with a packet or dart to count as a hit. However, Avoid still works on Sniper Fire, and can prevent the entire shot. However, the best defense is just getting out of the line of sight of the laser pointer. If the Guide can’t see you, you can’t be shot!

Air Raid Siren 

The NPC will hold a fist in the area marking the point of impact and play an air raid sound.  If you do not move away from the point, the NPC will call “Area of Effect, 20 Damage!”.  If you take obvious means to dive for cover or hide behind an obstruction, this attack will not affect you.

During the assault on Bravado, Mr. Lovelace will deploy a number of cannons and mortars to shell the town throughout the attack. These bombardments will be represented by a Guide or NPC calling an air raid, and inflicting an AOE attack in an area. The only way to avoid this attack is to HIT THE DECK, and dive for cover or hide behind an obstruction. If you properly respond to the attack, you won’t take damage, but remember this is a GUIDE CALL for an attack so even PFA abilities like Call the Phalanx won’t prevent this damage otherwise. So remember when you hear the air raid sound, take cover!

Sapper Tunnels

The San Saba forces have infiltrated the tunnels below Bravado.  They may appear and spawn inside buildings from Sapper Tunnels to overwhelm from the inside.  These tunnels can be closed with 10 Basic Scrap and time spent sealing the entrance, but characters with Artisan can complete the repair faster.

Throughout the weekend Red Ledger Sappers will join in the attack, “undermining” (get it?) the town from below. When these attacks occur, a large physical prop to represent the hole created by the infiltration will be set up in the area. These Sapper Tunnels will offer a new place for the enemy to respawn, even INSIDE a building behind the shield wall. While these tunnels can be closed, it’ll take a skilled Artisan and some Basic Scrap to do it quickly.

Sapper Bombs

Represented by a bomb prop carried by an NPC.  Counts as a timed trap, and takes 10 seconds to set.  After the timer expires, the NPC will call “By My Voice, 50 Body!”.  This trap can be disarmed if the timer has not expired.  This bomb can damage crafting zones and room augments and will lead to expensive repairs if successfully detonated.

Some conflicts over the weekend will involve large explosives deployed by the San Saba Board forces. These powerful shrapnel bombs will obliterate anyone nearby, but can also damage crafting zones and room augments nearby. When these bombs are deployed, you’ll only have a few minutes to disarm the trap before they detonate. If you fail to stop a bomb, you can expect a costly repair to lock down that crafting station or augment until it’s repaired.

Line of Battle - Lake Path

The line of battle has been marked on the Lake Road.  If you pass this point without a Guide, your character is dead from sniper fire and indiscriminate bombardment.

In the initial attack on Bravado, the Chairman will land his invasion force at Punkerport, near Lake Bravo. With the bulk of the Bravado Militia engaged in the fight, you’ll need to help them defend against the assault until reinforcements arrive. Until you’ve successfully fought back and held ground in the attack over the weekend, this area will be the heart of the fighting in town. While most of this fight will happen “off screen”, we will have several barricades erected on the Lake Road, and there will be a clear sign that marks the LINE OF BATTLE. If you cross this line willingly, it will be assumed that your character was slain by the chaotic fighting between the Bravado Militia and the San Saba Board. Only when the final assault on Punkerport commences will you be able to advance the line to the Lake for a final confrontation with the Chairman. Be prepared!

The War at Home

Last season, the War of Antlers gave our players a lot of ways to support the fighting across the San Saba by investing in War Supplies and Combat Units. Our player spent a LOT of time and resources investing in the Militia and we want that investment to still be useful for the final fight of the rebellion. For that reason, there will still be some ways to use any War Supplies and Combat Units you made last season.

Note: There won’t be new ways to generate War Supplies during this event, nor will there be any dice rolling mechanics like there were last season. everything will be focused on in-game conflicts instead!

Let’s talk about the final ways you’ll be able to use items you built last season during the FALL OF THE SAN SABA BOARD.

While there will be some other ways to spend your remaining War Supplies, that’s not necessarily something everyone is interested in. Some of those that built War Supplies last season may not care much about helping out the war effort, so we’ve provided a way to recoup some of your investment. This won’t refund all of the resources you might have spent, but it will provide some additional ways to generate Scrap and other items that could be useful in the future.

War Profiteering:

You can recoup some of your investment by divesting your War Supplies at the Post Office instead of aiding the war effort.  You may exchange one (1) War Supplies for one choice from the following resources:

5 Basic Scrap, 2 Uncommon Scrap, or 1 Rare Scrap

3 Basic, Uncommon, or Rare Herb

1 Named Herb or Produce

For those that want a way to ride off in the sunset with their favorite Combat Unit, some of the brave soldiers of the Bravado Militia will have the opportunity to go down fighting against the San Saba Board. There will be an opportunity to send your soldiers to obtain crucial intelligence about Arthur Lovelace’s plans for the attack. When these soldiers are sent into the fray, they will have a chance to acquire a SCOUTING REPORT, and earn you an advanced look at one of the conflicts of the weekend.

Heroic Sacrifice:

You may permanently expend one (1) Combat Unit in a risky maneuver to delay the Board Forces from advancing on Bravado and obtain a Scouting Report for an upcoming attack by the San Saba Board.  Record the name of the sacrificed unit on the back of this sheet, but each location can only be scouted once.  This is the ONLY way to obtain a Scouting Report.

A Scouting Report will provide an advantage during the next attack by the Chairman’s forces, and make the victory conditions easier.

There will be six opportunities to earn Scouting Reports with this mechanic:

  • Protect the Solar Panels

  • Defending The Devil’s Gorge Bridge

  • Defending the Morgue

  • Turning the Red Ledger

  • Defend the Water Supply

  • The Final Stand

These soldiers will need to give their all, but it’ll be up to you to decide which Combat Units (if any) are willing to make a name for themselves in the final battle. Completing this mission will reduce the difficulty of the upcoming fight, make the victory conditions a bit more manageable, or even reduce certain threat skills or enemies from being used in the fight.

For those that are a bit more attached to the Combat Unit they mustered during the War of Antlers, there will still be a way for them to offer concrete assistance without needing to make a last stand:

The Battle of Bravado:

Spend ten (10) War Supplies or send one (1) Combat Unit to defend Bravado from the Chairman’s assault at the lake. This Unit cannot be used for other actions, but will survive the Fall of the San Saba Board. You can call “Sound of my Voice!” and grant the following buff once during the next 12s:

You’ll be able to choose one of the following buffs you can gain during the event:

  • Upsurge, Allies gain 20 Armor 

  • Upsurge, Allies can Avoid or Balance for -1 Mind

  • Upsurge, all Allies gain Ranged Reduction (Minor)

  • Upsurge, Allies gain 10 Body and 10 Mind

  • Upsurge, Next 4 melee strikes deal 10 damage

  • Upsurge, Next Bleed Out, Heal 10 Body

Each of these abilities is an UPSURGE effect. You can find the full rules for Upsurges in the DR Corebook, on page 109. Some enemies may even apply a DOWNSURGE effect, which is just a negative buff instead of one that grants an advantage.

  • Remember, Upsurges last for a maximum of one hour once called, and you can only have one Upsurge and one Downsurge at a time.

  • Several skills, items, benedictions, and PFAs can apply Upsurges to other characters.

  • An Upsurge can take you ABOVE your normal stats for Mind, Body, Infection, Armor or Resolve. If you would use these stats, you instead use the ones granted by the Upsurge first. However, if you haven’t used those resources by the end of the effect, you don’t get to keep the bonus.

  • If you would be affected by a new Upsurge, you’ll can use the skill Basic Mental Endurance to resist the new call and keep your existing Upsurge. Otherwise, the new Upsurge ability “overwrites” the previous one.

  • Upsurge effects are tied to the character, and can’t be shared to someone else. If you have a buff to do additional damage on a melee swing, you can’t just hand off your boffer to someone else to let them use your remaining swings. It only applies to you!

  • There are a few rare items that can steal an Upsurge effect, but it’s only something an Overlord can perform.

The San Saba Board Forces

The Chairman of the Board, Arthur Lovelace, has poured his last resources (and some stolen from the RRC) into funding his war against Bravado. After his loss at the Battle of Essex, the Chairman retreated with his remaining forces and bided his time until after Burning Season to enact his revenge. During the September event, you’ll face a number of dangerous Lineage threats along with the normal dangers like zombies and raiders.

The two main parts of the Chairman’s forces consist of the mercenary legions of the Red Ledger, led by the new boss, Simon Blackheart, and the Chair’s personal elite army called The Praetorian Guard, led by Lawrence Graves. These forces will be intelligent enemies, capable of tactics, conversation, opening doors, and laying traps. They will be capable of basically anything you could do as a player and will use powerful crafted equipment against you in battle.

There’s a few threats to be aware of:

  • Red Ledger Strikers - The main force of Arthur’s attack are the thugs and strikers of the Red Ledger. Trained killers and soldiers for hire, they’ve taken a contract with the Chairman during the war and were once staunch allies of the Militia until the rebellion began. These horde threats will be the bread and butter you’ll face over the weekend and each is a dangerous combatant capable of using most weapons and combat skills in equal measure.

  • Red Ledger Sappers - The siege specialists of the Red Ledger have infiltrated the Facility below Bravado and have dug a number of tunnels into the town. Once used to siege Oxkiller fortifications, they’ve now turned their destructive tendencies towards our town. Capable of forward deployment with Sapper Tunnels and armed with powerful explosive devices, the Sappers will strike behind enemy lines to disrupt the town as much as they can.

  • Waking Intelligence Assassins - Lawrence Grave’s elite spooks will be present for the fight in Bravado, bringing their murderous skills to bear against our town. Stealthy and sneaky, the WIS Assassins will be responsible for sabotage, infiltration, and other more subtle strikes on the town. You can expect them to have powerful abilities in combat and the ability to fade into shadows or quickly get out of an ambush.

  • Praetorian Zealots - The Chairman’s personal guard are made up of some of the most talented killers and soldiers recruited from his years during the Hiway War. The Zealots are the healers and force multipliers of the attack on Bravado, capable of protecting their allies and returning dangerous threats back into the fray. You’ll need to quickly deal with them before they undo all the damage you’ve inflicted on the other Board forces.

  • Praetorian Commanders - The leaders of the Praetorian Guard are powerful generals, buffing their fellow soldiers in a fight and providing powerful Upsurge effects to their troops. They are also practiced killers, capable of breaking a line or holding their own in a fight. The Commanders will be some of the most deadly enemies of the weekend, outside of Lawrence and the other face NPCs, and will be a dangerous foe on the battlefield.

wrap up

That’s it for today Vados! We have a lot of cool fights planned for the weekend, and I can’t wait to challenge you on the battlefield as we bring the war home to Bravado. You’ll have a chance to deal with the Chairman and his allies, and change the future of the San Saba with one last stand. Will you carry the banner of Bravado into the fray? Will you survive the rage of the Chairman? Will you find a way to stop a wily foe with resources and back up plans to spare?

Remember, you can still get tickets at the door, so don’t miss your chance to take part in the final battles of the War of Antlers!

See you this weekend Vados!

The War for Bravado

Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our September live event THE FALL OF THE SAN SABA BOARD! This is our second part of our Season 5 finale, led by Heather Halstead and Jonathan Loyd. 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 one of the key mechanics for representing the War for Bravado, our Capture the Flag events.

Our photos for this post were taken from previous DR:TX events by our talented Photo Team, including Max Pohlmeier, Lauren Guzaldo, Sidney Betzina, Maddeax Cole, and Jason Dumas.

The war comes home

During the September event, the remaining Board forces will be launching an all-out assault on the town of Bravado. This will be a combat-focused event overall, but we want to have some fun, epic fights that involve a bit more than just swinging a boffer. During the event, there will be several set-piece CONFLICTS, where you will engage with the San Saba Board forces in town. During these attacks, the enemy will be attempting to damage key infrastructure in the town, and it will be up to your characters to stop them and protect your home.

During each fight, there will be several VICTORY CONDITIONS. In addition to weathering the assault by the Red Ledger Mercenaries and members of the elite Praetorian Guard, you’ll also have to achieve several objectives during the battle to claim victory from the Chairman. You’ll have a chance to learn about these victory conditions in advance provided you invest your Combat Units wisely, but each will be clearly communicated on a Zone of Mechanics at the battle site.

For some fights, you’ll have COMPLICATIONS, which will challenge you in new ways like adding a timer to the fight, an additional task that must be completed, or a unique mechanic for the fight. These will generally be something that must be overcome during the fight, but there will be some ways to mitigate these challenges through a “scouting report”, but we’ll cover that next week.

You’ll need to defend several key locations around the town over the weekend:

  • The Post Office

  • The Depot

  • The Meadows

  • The Morgue

  • Devil’s Gorge Bridge

  • Helios Solar Panels

  • Punkerport

While each fight will have some kinetic elements you’ll face like disarming a bomb, sealing a tunnel, or solving a puzzle, the primary Victory Condition feature of the weekend will be our CAPTURE THE FLAG events. Many of the major conflicts will include this feature, and it’ll happen in one of two ways. Let’s cover the first Capture the Flag event mechanics.

Capture the Flag

During the weekend, you’ll have to represent the Bravado forces in battle in the best way possible — by carrying the Bravado Flag into the fray and flying it over the battlefield. As both an example of the Bravado spirit, and a tangible and visible beacon of the town, a flag will help us represent the larger conflict for the town during our war games. As long as the flag is still flying, you’ll know Bravado stands strong.

During a Capture the Flag event, you’ll have to protect the Bravado Flag and make sure the flag doesn’t fall into the hands of the enemy San Saba forces. You’ll need to protect the character carrying the flag and defend the area while the Board forces attack while achieving any other objectives within the conflict. Here’s the specific details:

Victory Condition:

The Bravado Flag must remain in the same player’s hands in the contested area for a period of FIVE (5) uninterrupted minutes.  If the flag bearer leaves the area, the flag changes hands, or the flag bearer is knocked into Bleed Out, the timer is reset.  A Guide or NPC will generally keep track of the flag timer, and call out loudly the minutes as the timer is completed.

Once this timer is completed, you may loudly call “San Saba Board, GET WRECKED!” and claim victory at the battle, or cast down an enemy flag.  

The Bravado Flag (Unique Local Plot Item)

A Shining Beacon of Freedom - The Bravado Flag cannot be hidden and must remain visible at all times as a symbol to keep fighting.  If it is obscured or hidden, the timer is reset.

Carrying the Flag - The Flag is a one-handed item and is not a weapon. You cannot carry other items in that same hand or use a two-handed item.  It can be targeted with effects like Telekinesis but cannot be Broken with the Break skill.

The Burden of Duty - The bearer of the flag cannot run or move faster than walking while carrying the flag.

Till Your Dying Breath - If the Flag Bearer enters Bleed Out or is otherwise Stunned or Incapacitated, they drop the flag and the capture timer is reset. 

These Colors Don’t Run - The Flag cannot leave the area of engagement during the conflict.  If the flag leaves the area, the timer is reset and the battle can be considered forfeit.

So let’s break this down:

You can’t hide the flag or just try to outrun the enemies. Carrying the flag will slow you down and take up one of your hands so you can’t use certain items. The flag also needs to stay in the area and be visible, so the San Saba Board knows you are fighting back. If you flee the area with the flag, you’ll generally lose that battle and that might have some other consequences for the game. For instance, if the Chairman’s forces damage the Solar Panels, you won’t be able to rely on lights in the buildings at night, and we will only have the red safety lights up during nighttime hours.

The main way to lose the flag is if the flag bearer gets attacked. If the character holding the flag takes a Stun effect from a skill like Takedown, gets Knocked Out by something like Proficient Biokinetics, or gets knocked into the Bleed Out, they will have to drop the flag. This means the flag bearer should probably save some Avoids for defense, and make sure they have medics or psions close by to keep them from falling in combat.

Keep in mind, the flag bearer will probably be the number one target on the field, so carrying the Bravado Flag isn’t for the faint of heart and it’s definitely not a role for a non-combatant. You will likely get attacked and hit by a boffer if you carry the flag!

COmplications

The Capture the Flag mechanics adds a bit of a challenge to a fight, but that won’t be the only challenge that Arthur Lovelace has in store for the town of Bravado. At some of the conflicts of the weekend, there will be additional complications that will provide a new challenge during the fight. You’ll have to overcome these challenges in addition to securing the flag or defeating the Board forces.

Let’s talk about one of my favorite Complications for the weekend:

The Devil’s Gorge Bridge

A large chasm separates the battlefield and CANNOT be crossed by any means. You may not cross the marked area and close to melee range for any reason, even with Enhanced Movement, Never Here, or other similar movement effects.

If you enter into the marked chasm area for any reason, your character is immediately knocked into Bleed Out and is removed from the battle, likely to die far outside of the reach of your allies.

You will need to use RANGED attacks to deal with the enemy forces on the other sides, such as firearms, bows, exotic weapons, or psionic attacks. Until all of the enemy forces are defeated at range, you cannot claim victory during the conflict.

That’s right. It’s time for those NERF guns, baby!

I’ll be bringing a few extras to share with our NPCs, but this combat event is the perfect time to break out your favorite blaster for a shootout at the Devil’s Gorge Bridge! Time to take aim and prove that shield bros aren’t the only folks that can win a fight!

This is just one example of the Complications you’ll face during these big battles, but you can expect each to require some different tactics, kinetic events, or other means of interacting with the environment during the fight. You’ll have to adapt quickly, and plan your defense at the Chairman’s troops if you want to win the day.

advance the line

The final type of Capture the Flag event will take place at the start and the end of the weekend event. As the town enters the battle on Friday night and as they push towards the final conflict with Arthur Lovelace on Saturday night, you’ll need to advance the line of battle by completing a special type of Capture the Flag mechanic.

Advance the Line

This fight is a series of linked Capture the Flag events.  There are three different San Saba Board Flags that represent an advance into the enemy line.  At each point, the players must hold the line with The Bravado Flag for FIVE (5) uninterrupted minutes to capture the territory.  

The Bravado Flag must remain within AOE range of the posted San Saba Board flag to start the timer and cannot proceed further.  If the Flag or any Bravado forces advance past this line of battle, the Guides in the area will begin to call MORTAR and SNIPER attacks on the players until the flag is fallen or falls back behind the line of battle.

The Bravado Flag must remain in the same player’s hands in the contested area for a period of FIVE (5) uninterrupted minutes.  If the flag bearer leaves the area, the flag changes hands, or the flag bearer is knocked into Bleed Out, the timer is reset.  A Guide or NPC will keep track of the flag timer.

Once this timer is completed, you may loudly call “San Saba Board, GET WRECKED!” and prominently throw down the San Saba Board flag posted at the line of battle.

VICTORY CONDITION:

Once three (3) San Saba Board Flags have been cast down, you can claim final victory and rout the enemy forces or advance to the next stage of battle.

Advancing the Line is similar to the other Capture the Flag events, but this time we will have three flag markers for the San Saba Board Flag. In each part of the fight, you’ll need to advance with your allies up the field claiming territory, holding ground at the line of battle, and then casting down the enemy flag once you’ve asserted your tactical dominance in the area. Once three flags have been taken down in your advance, you’ll have won the day!

If you get too greedy and try to advance too fast, the cannons and mortars of the San Saba Board forces will punish your advance. You’ll need to be organized and advance the line across the field of battle as you hold your own flag. The same rules apply here, and if your flag bearer is taken out or stunned, you’ll have to restart the timer, so protect them at all costs!

These will be BIG, epic battles, and you can expect some of the major generals and leaders of the San Saba Board to be present for the fight. We hope you are ready at survive the war at home, and take the fight directly to Arthur Lovelace!

Wrap Up

That’s it for today Vados!

We have only a week or so until the first event of the season and we are so excited to see your shining happy faces again in our neck of the wastelands! Will you be about to weather the fury of the Chairman? Will you get your final revenge on Arthur Lovelace and truly break the organization known as the San Saba Board? Will you prove on the battlefield that Bravado will be the architect of its own future? Let’s find out together in THE FALL OF THE SAN SABA BOARD!

Get your tickets now for THE FALL OF THE SAN SABA BOARD!

Next week, I’ll cover a few of the Threat Skills you can expect to see, some of the mechanics to use War Supplies and Combat Units, and other Rules You Should Know the week of the event! See you soon Vados!

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The Chairman of the Board

,

Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our September live event THE FALL OF THE SAN SABA BOARD! This is our second part of our Season 5 finale, led by Heather Halstead and Jonathan Loyd. Each week, I’ll discuss in detail an aspect of the upcoming event, compiling the rules and lore into one easy place to read! This week, we are covering a bit of the background of the villain of the hour, Arthur Lovelace, the Chairman of the San Saba Board.

  • wE WILL REVEAL THE NEW dYSTOPIA rISING lIVE BLUEPRINTS ON tHURSDAY, 8/29! CHECK OUT OUR DISCORD FOR MORE INFO!

Our photos for this post were taken from previous DR:TX events by our talented Photo Team, including Max Pohlmeier, Lauren Guzaldo, Sidney Betzina, Maddeax Cole, and Jason Dumas, and with artwork by Beau Lee.

IN THE BEGINNING…

When Bravado rebelled against the Board last season, it started a chain of events that undermined everything the Chairman had been working for over the past three years. In a moment, his dream of a united San Saba shattered, and that future disappeared. The death of that future has driven him to the rage he’s now directing towards our town, but it’s important to reflect on all that has gone wrong over the past few seasons.

In the beginning of our 3.0 story, the San Saba was mostly a collection of various factions and personalities like Felicity Redfield, Mr. K, Tabitha St. Mercy, Sinkerswim, and others. While the factions have stayed mostly the same over the years, the idea of the San Saba Board was envisioned by one man in the shadows — Arthur Lovelace, the future Chairman of the Board. This story was first envisioned by Sam Mars, Shan, and Aesa, and debuted during our online Season 2, kicking off with the event THE SHINING CITY. This game saw several world changing events occur in the midst of the Waste’s Faire and an attack on Waking Prime by the Oxkillers.

  • The faction we recognize today as the Railroad Conglomerate first emerged during this event. Formed of two opposing factions, the Conglomerate and the Railroad Commission, they agreed to work together to forge a new future for the San Saba.

  • During this event set in Waking Prime, the various factions agreed to sign a larger contract between them they would call the San Saba Charter. The architect of this plan was of course chosen to lead the new organization, and the San Saba Board was born.

  • One of our other factions, the Junkerpunks, was purposefully excluded from the San Saba Board. The Junkerpunks were slighted and the Chairman cast the deciding vote to exclude them from the new government, despite a good faith attempt to attend the Waste’s Faire. From the very beginning, the Chairman was not interested in folks that focused on freedom over order.

  • The Oxkillers led by Lord Hush made an attempt to kill the Chairman and the new Board with a surgical strike on Eureka Tower during the chaos of a raider attack. While the attack was foiled, this breach ended up leading to the events of QUEENSGRACE, when the Oxkillers broke from the San Saba Republic and killed Queen Jasper.

The original San Saba Board was composed of the following powerful figures:

  • The Chairman, Arthur Lovelace (RRC)

  • Felicity Redfield (RRC)

  • Dr. Stewart, aka “the Scientist” (RRC)

  • Tabitha St. Mercy (Prudence Penitentiary)

  • Holy Mother Queen Jasper (Tribes Disparate, now known as the San Saba Republic)

  • Takheeta Firstborn (Grave Council)

This became the leadership of the San Saba for the next few seasons, with a few changes as members were killed, removed from power, or cast into obscurity. Several others joined the Board or represented their faction over the years, including:

  • Mr. K (Grave Council)

  • Adam Moriarty (Prudence Penitentiary)

  • General Rampart, replacing the slain Takheeta Firstborn (Grave Council)

  • Admiral Sinkerswim (Junkerpunks)

  • Queen Lucy “Boss” Debs (San Saba Republic)

  • While the Law Dog Union was contracted to the Chairman directly, Boss Wyatt never actually held a seat on the council of the elite.

We’ve never had the privilege of Arthur Lovelace actually appearing in person for an event until this upcoming game. He made an appearance during the online event HEARTHBOUND, for a few select folks, but most have never interacted with Arthur directly. You might have heard their voice over a certain red telephone in May, but this event will be the first appearance in the live space for this villain.

Our story of the San Saba Board has always been one of the consequences of the wealthy and powerful becoming more and more severe as the San Saba slipped further into authoritarianism and fascism. The lies and compromises to keep the elite in control have led to more and more people getting caught up in the web of capitalism and power at the heart of the Board. As the Chairman’s iron grip tightened, the rise of the Bravado Rebellion was only a matter of time. But just because he’s showing up for the first time in September doesn’t mean his presence hasn’t been felt up until now…

“Oh cold, cold, rigid, dreadful Death, set up thine altar here, and dress it with such terrors as thou hast at thy command: for this is thy dominion! Leave that which you would kill here with me, and I shall see it done.” —- a Lovelace prayer for vengeance

The first Board meeting, from a comic by Beau Lee.

The Machinations of the Chairman

It’s important to first understand that not much is actually known about the Chairman.

From his first appearance, he’s been a bit of a shadowy figure and it’s all part of his plan. His true name wasn’t actually mentioned in any blog posts, modules, or stories. He was only referred to as the “The Chairman”, and we purposefully kept any other references vague. We’ve always used a surrogate to stand in for the Chairman, in the form of his assistant Lawrence Graves. The few bits of information shared in game were always simply signed with a mysterious “A.L.”, but it wasn’t until the fall of Waking during VOX POPULI that this information became publicly known. While a few fortunate survivors experienced a psionic vision guided by the Curators during our HEARTHBOUND event about his past, the exact details of exactly what happened in Widow’s Peak are mostly lost to history.

Arthur Lovelace was long thought dead during the Hiway War, fallen in battle against the undead hordes of Hiway Robb. Some even say he died a final time and was resurrected by the mysterious events after the Hiway War when the Grave Mind returned the long dead once more to life. It is even whispered by a few of the less loyal Lovelace contractors that he broke a promise to his family to help outsiders instead. While the story varies from telling to telling, they all generally mention that he defied the Lovelace Family to go help the folks in Bravo fight back when the Quiet Folk community voted against interfering in the war. He had always stood for order and rules since he was a young man in his community, and thought it was more important to help neighbors outside of Widow’s Peak rather than his bonds of family.

When he “died”, Clauthia Lovelace, his former wife and the head of the Widows of the Lone Star, swore to prevent the type of events that led to the war by any means necessary. Little did she know that Arthur had come to the same conclusion. In his mind, the main way to prevent the destruction that Hiway Robb inflicted on the Lone Star was to unite the various people under one banner, and to bring law and order to a lawless wasteland. If one voice could unite the people together, they could strike down any opposition with discipline and structure. But before a future could be created, his past had to die. That’s where the Railroad Conglomerate came in.

The RRC was the means for Arthur to enact his vision for a prosperous future. If people could travel safely, then towns could become communities, and communities could become a civilization. With steel, sweat, and brass, he funded the first scientists that developed the OX, a marvel of technology that would enable them to connect the San Saba in a way thought lost. He poured resources into legitimizing the other factions, helping them weather disease, famine, and the threats of the wasteland. He empowered Felicity Redfield to pursue her goals in Bravado as the new CEO, and helped negotiate the alliance between the Conglomerate to help her access the floating city of Waking. As long as the money kept flowing, no one in the RRC leadership really needed to know who was signing the orders. The Chairman was hard at work preparing for his magnum opus, the San Saba Charter, and for a time his need for secrecy was respected by the factions.

Contracts have long been the law of the land in the San Saba, the sum and whole of the law at times. What Arthur envisioned was a new contract, a walking contract shared by any that simply stepped foot in the wasteland of the Lone Star, and agreed upon by the people that really mattered — the powerful factions that arose after the Hiway War. With a shared contract enforced by the will and wealth of the elite, a new era could begin for the Lone Star, an era of control and prosperity.

The San Saba Charter would create a new social contract for the Lone Star, and established laws, government, and rights for the powerful factions. Because each supported the others in their own sphere of influence, each of the factions had a vested interest in propping up their peers. In return, they got to have a seat at the table, in the room where it all happened, helping to organize the new San Saba Board. While the actual planning took years of work, the people joined together into a new community and for a moment Arthur’s dream was nearly reality.

The fall of Waking Prime

The conspiracy of the Board

Arthur Lovelace knew that the real problem with uniting the wasteland was simply logistics. There simply aren’t enough survivors left, and the wasteland is a dangerous place to just exist. Between zed, raiders, and other survivors, getting anyone to agree to the dangerous work of building a better tomorrow was going to need help. The conspiracy at the heart of the San Saba Board was simple — Generate new manpower to fuel the endless churn of a better future. While some details have emerged about these machinations, there are still big pieces unknown about the final plans of the Chairman.

Imagine a world where a body persists after death, and where that body could be propelled by psionic means to heroic feats.  To climb mountaintops beyond us, to plunge ocean depths that would kill a living Lineage - to dive into the bowels of the earth where the air is so hot and so humid it drowns us.

A halcyon world lies behind us, behind iron walls and thousands of years of progress gated by our own fragile bodies.  I dream of undying workers, eternal engineers, running cables through an ocean trench to supply power to a distant island.  A world built more quickly, a recovery and a revolution.

We are going to save the world. —- AL

(Excerpt from a heavily redacted letter, thought to have been penned by the Chairman)

The primary face of the Chairman has been his villainous accomplice, Lawrence Graves. For the past few seasons, Graves has been the “man from the railroad”, administering a calm and collected word in the right ears, and a knife in the back for others. Always prim and proper in his grey suit, Lawrence has been the terror behind the Waking Intelligence Service attacks, but it’s always been at the orders of the Chairman. When the town rebelled during THE SUMMIT, Lawrence was there to murder the Vados that stood in his path, and threatened the good works of the Chairman.

The Chairman was behind the plague known as the Necrophage, and the near destruction of the Lovelace Family. Tabitha St. Mercy was the first conspirator to be outed, fueling the research into a “super soldier” project with a plentiful supply of criminals locked away in Killhouse. With the help of her associates Juliet Butcher and Grandfather Nichols, they developed the NECROPHAGE, a dangerous concoction that threatened to end life across the wastes. The release of the disease devastated the Lovelace Family during emptied the halls of Killhouse and nearly killed everyone in Bravado. While Nichols was eventually stopped, dozens of vials of the Necrophage compound went missing before his death and are assumed to be in the possession of the Chairman even now.

The Chairman was behind the weapons of the Emerald Arsenal. Dr. Stewart and General Rampart were responsible for many of the advances of the Emerald Arsenal, debuted during the EMERALD GALA, at the direction of the Chairman. These weapons, first designed to combat the emerging threat of the Archon menace were quickly turned to more nefarious purposes in the service of control and “security”. Once the proverbial “Pandora’s Box” was opened, it was impossible to unlearn the knowledge that was created in pursuit of this goal. After Stewart’s death at the claws of the outsider threat, the Chairman used the missing seat on the Board to further his agenda. With the duty to break ties on the Board as Chairman, losing a seat on the Board increased Arthur’s influence over the day-to-day affairs of the San Saba.

The Chairman kept Queen Jasper alive long past her prime, through blackmail. While some of Dr. Nichol’s and Dr. Stewart’s research into the Necrophage was meant to save an ailing Queen of the San Saba Republic, this reliance on any means to stay in power began the fall of the Queen. The life-saving compound came with a catch, meaning the Queen Jasper was reliant on the next dose to stay alive, and was forced to sign off on many of the plans of the Board in exchange for simple survival. When she finally had enough, the Queen’s health quickly plummeted, but she managed to gather one last Summit of the Tribes during QUEENSGRACE to help secure her legacy. After her death at the hand of Nichols, (a former Lovelace associate of the Chair), the Chairman took advantage to leverage new more restrictive contracts against the new Queen, Boss Debs, as he continued his plan for domination.

The Chairman attempted to recreate the Resonant Choir and made contact with the Prince Undying. In the bowels of Barogue during THE LOST CITY, the RRC discovered the Resonant, psionically imbued Raiders with crystals implanted in their skulls. Based on the psi-tech they found in the ruins, Arthur believed they could create a new Resonant Choir, an eternal source of psionic energy that could fuel the next wave of expansion for the San Saba Territories. He dreamed of a more stable way to create his super soldier, by implanting Shards of the Red Crown into abducted citizens and creating the perfect worker for his new empire. This research likely led to the strange zed-controlling crystals used by the Reckoner Legions in their siege on Bravado.

One of the Chairman's conspirators, Malorous Mab

The Chairman used the Oxkiller Alliance threat to create an army for himself. The Oxkiller attack on Waking Prime had long been used to justify increased violence and brutal oppression by the Board, justifying the need for rules and laws by using the assassination attempt to gather sympathy from other powerful leaders. When the Oxkiller Alliance struck, Arthur forced a vote during the Stakeholder’s Meeting to form a new army for the San Saba through a declaration of war. While Vados narrowly stopped the leadership from being placed in the hands of Rampart or Tabitha, the Board instead funneled funds into forming a new private army for the Chairman known as the Praetorian Guard. For months, the Militia was forced to survive on their own while the lion’s share of the war supplies instead was diverted to his personal army.

The Chairman directed the attack by the Reckoners on Bravado during the peace talks. During the most recent Summit of the Tribes, General Rampart was discovered to be using the Emerald Gala weaponry to control massive hordes of undead in the service of the Reckoner Legions. He used the undead hordes to attempt to disrupt the peace talks with the Oxkiller Alliance, and attempted to assassinate the leaders with the psi-tech that whipped the zombies into a deadly frenzy. When General Rampart was eventually stopped, it was only after proving that no tactic was outside the depths of depravity the Chairman would pursue to hurt his enemies.

The Chairman provided the Prince Undying a chance to attack Bravado. While the exact details are unknown, it’s clear that some contact was made with the Prince Undying, likely through a strange black crystal known as the Trapozohedron. Last seen in the possession of General Rampart, the device was presented as a gift to the Chairman, and soon after the armies of undead marched once more on Bravado. Though General Rampart was found dead, consumed from within inside the strange Nightmare of the Prince Undying, some deal was struck. The undead hordes ignored Essex and Waking and swarmed past the seat of his power to attack Bravado instead.

The Chairman directed the bombardment of Essex in the final days of the rebellion. When the armies of General Hargrave marched into Essex to finish the Board during THE ATROCITY, the Chairman did the unthinkable — he turned the cannons of his flagship on his own city, causing massive destruction to the City of Light and Sound. Countless civilians and innocent lives were lost, in a scorched earth attack on the advancing armies. When the Rebellion routed the last forces of the Board in Essex, the Chairman had used the devastation to cover his escape. The city will be rebuilding for years to come and is a fragment of its former glory.

The true mastermind is Arthur Lovelace, the Chairman of the Board. While the entire Board was complicit in some fashion in the machinations of Arthur Lovelace, most of them did so only to further their own misguided interests. With the threat of invasion on their doorstep, the Chairman was able to rubber stamp almost any request from the Board in the name of security and safety. Behind every shady decision, every vote, and every order, the Chairman was working towards his insane plan of order in the wasteland by any means necessary. He manipulated each of the faction leaders, using their power to leverage hidden moves in the shadows, forcing votes during the annual Stakeholder’s Meetings, and pushing into a violent confrontation with the new Oxkiller Alliance.

When the Bravado Rebellion emerged as the unlikely end to his dream, it’s no wonder his anger has been turned towards our home. Despite the Chairman’s best attempts at establishing an authoritarian control over the San Saba, the residents of Bravado have been a repeated thorn in his side. In his final acts as Chairman of the Board, he has diverted every last resource in his possession into destroying the town of Bravado. Arthur has deployed mortars, airships, and countless soldier into the task of revenge, eschewing any chance of hiding and licking his wounds in favor of personally leading the fight home.

As Arthur Lovelace comes to Bravado for a final time, this time it’s not to bring aid against Hiway Robb in defiance of family, in the pursuit of a once-noble goal of uniting the wastelands. Instead, he brings anger, vengeance, and bitterness from a future denied to him, and he is intent on making Bravado pay.

The Gauntlet of Tabitha St. Mercy

The war comes home

That’s it for today, Vados!

Despite the volume of lore today, there’s still a few secrets left to learn about the Chairman during THE FALL OF THE SAN SABA BOARD. Will you be able to weather the rage of the Chairman as his last armies descend on your home? Will you be able to truly stop a tyrant in his tracks? Will you survive the assault of Lawrence Graves and the Praetorian Guard?

Tickets are on sale now for the FALL OF THE SAN SABA BOARD! Don’t miss your shot at defeating the Chairman once and for all!

Next time, I’ll dig into some of the mechanics of the weekend, from our “Capture the Flag” events to control the town, the weapons of war deployed against Bravado, and ways to use your Combat Units and War Supplies in the defense of your home.

See you soon, Vados!

The Fall of the San Saba Board

Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our September live event THE FALL OF THE SAN SABA BOARD! This is our second part of our Season 5 finale, led by Heather Halstead and Jonathan Loyd. 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 teasers about our upcoming event!

Our photos for this post were taken from previous DR:TX events by our talented Photo Team, including Max Pohlmeier, Lauren Guzaldo, Sidney Betzina, Maddeax Cole, and Jason Dumas.

The Premise

Revenge.

It’s been the only thought on Arthur Lovelace’s mind.  Brought low by the Bravado Rebellion, the Chairman has spent the Burning Season meticulously planning his last attack against the insolent town. There will be no offers of surrender. No place of succor.  

No stone can survive, no workstation intact, no land viable, and not a soul left alive.  He seeks to scorch the earth on which Bravado stands, so that the town cannot survive the new future they have created

In the last days of the War of Antlers, Arthur Lovelace turned his own firepower on the town of Essex, punishing them for daring to defy his iron-clad rule of the San Saba.   He rained shell after shell onto a helpless population, collateral damage be damned.  You know that he is capable of worse, especially for an enemy that denied him so long.  His revenge is long coming and has finally arrived on your doorstep.

Bravado is staring down the barrel of an all-out attack from the powerful Praetorian Guard, lead by Lawrence Graves, and joined by the mercenaries of the Red Ledger. Utilities, supply stores, helpless civilians, infrastructure - it’s all a target. The town will need to rely on its allies, the Bravado Militia, to hold the line against a brutal enemy.  Many of these soldiers will not return from this battle. But war demands sacrifice.

The ace card in your hand is Arthur’s white-hot rage.  He’s too focused on hurting the town, too focused on salting the earth, too focused on revenge to see what is right in front of him.  A town eager to break the back of the last remnants of the San Saba Board once and for all.  You can use his anger, and his memories, to your advantage, if you can survive the wrath of the Chairman.  He will be here in person to see this ending, and that’s your chance.

You get one shot to stop Arthur.  Make it count.

Inspiration & Tropes

This season in Bravado we have focused on bringing some new elements of Survival Horror to the forefront of the story. In our tradition of Radical Trust, we want to share some of the inspirational bits of media and movie magic that we feel help capture the themes and feelings of our upcoming event. If you are looking for a movie to inspire your role play for this event, here’s a list of our favorites to get ready for THE FALL OF THE SAN SABA BOARD:

  • Assault on Precinct 13

  • The Raid

  • Seven Samurai

One big theme of the weekend in September is “revenge”. For the Chairman of the Board, Arthur Lovelace, everything he had dreamed of has been taken away. His dream of a future is gone, and there’s only one person to blame in his mind - the town of Bravado. This attack on the town isn’t about ego or victory, but simple and petty revenge. Arthur doesn’t want Bravado to succeed, even if it costs him everything to ensure that it happens. His mission of scorched earth is something that must be achieved no matter the cost.

Many of the stories this weekend will involve our characters being outnumbered, outgunned, and attacked by a vicious enemy that has cast aside any forms of fairness, ethics, or rules in the name of simply hurting Bravado. He’s here to hurt the infrastructure of the town, kill his enemies, and find some way to sooth the burning rage he feels toward the town. All that stands between him and his goal of revenge is the plucky townsfolk that stand in his path.

Like many of the movies above, this story will focus on the fights of the weekend. Several events will occur throughout the game, forcing you defend key locations in town and prevent serious damage to the things that make life easier in the wasteland. If you can hold on long enough, it may be possible to stop the Chairman for good.

Concluding Stories & Finale Events

In our tradition of Radical Transparency, we want to be clear about some of the content of this next event as the architects of this overarc story. When Heather and I were faced with the idea of wrapping up the major loose threads and events from Season 5 and telling our BIG story, we reached that the conclusion to that the story was simply too big to try to cram into one event. With villains like the Prince Undying and the Chairman, Arthur Lovelace, we can’t really do them justice if we try to make them share the limelight. We’d have to cram way too much content into one event, and it wouldn’t really be the satisfying conclusion we want to see.

So, we won’t make them share the story, or the conclusion.

While the May event was PART 1 of the conclusion of these stories, and we told the story of the Prince Undying, Sister Mammon, and Felicity Redfield we started with the revelation of Barogue three years ago. In September, we will use PART 2 to tell the story of the War that finally reaches Bravado, and you’ll be able to personally see to the final end of Arthur Lovelace, the San Saba Board, and the final end to the Rebellion story. Instead of rolling dice and pinning item cards to a bulletin board, you’ll need to fight actual skirmishes against enemy troops, defeat dangerous commanders on the field, and challenge the power of the Board itself in a final conflict. You’ll need to fight against some intelligent foes that use tactics against you and defend points around the camp from dangerous attacks. We are very excited to let you face the Chairman in a way that feels worthy of this foe, and we want to allow it to be the entire focus of the story.

With the natural ‘break’ created by our National Event in October, our focus for September is to wrap up the stories we told last season and create a new beginning for the stories that happen after Downfall. Our new edition is coming soon enough, and these next few games are the last step of our transition of the story into the new world of Dystopia Rising Live.

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 important to watch for descriptions, situations, or events that you might want to avoid. You may find new limits that are unknown to you because the matter never came up. We encourage you to take the necessary steps for your own emotional safety. We want you to be comfortable with the types of horror in our events so you can enjoy the thrill of the zombie apocalypse and the nightmare creatures we introduce into the game space.

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 May event.

Overall, this next event focuses heavily on the themes of SUDDEN VIOLENCE, PHYSICALLY DEMANDING ACTIVITY, and WAR TIME STORIES. These can be some serious themes, so let’s talk about some content warnings of note for THE FALL OF THE SAN SABA BOARD:

SUDDEN VIOLENCE, JUMP SCARES, DEADLY SURPRISES

  • The Board threats this weekend don’t intend on fighting fair. They will use ambushes, artillery, snipers, and more to prosecute the Chairman’s final revenge on Bravado. The rules of war are kind of thrown out for this event, so the enemies aren’t interested in taking captives or prisoners of war, and are here to cause some damage.

  • These will be intelligent enemies, capable of opening doors, picking locks, and finding other ways to surprise our residents of Bravado. They might plan nighttime attacks, even on sleeping characters, and sudden bursts of violence should be expected as the attack continues.

  • While you’ll be able to mitigate some attacks through clever uses of Combat Units, War Supplies, SES Credits, and more, not every attack will be preventable. Some of these fights will be brutal and have a few surprises you’ll have to experience in game.

Physically demanding activity (running, simulated fighting, etc.)

  • The goal of this weekend is to bring the War of Antlers home to Bravado. That means instead of using dice-rolls or the War mini-games we used last season, we intend to instead have several large set-piece fights over the weekend. This is primarily a combat overarc, and will involve your characters surviving deadly threats over the weekend.

  • These battles will require a certain amount of coordination, planning, and adaptation to shifting tactics, and might stretch for longer than a normal combat encounter. Some of these fights will require kinetic events to be completed during the fight, providing some options for non-combat interaction, but these may be physically demanding activities.

War and War-time stories, particularly involving off-screen conflict against enemy forces.

  • When the Chairman attacks Bravado, he is intent on salting the earth and ruining the town for generations. This war has finally come home to Bravado, and the major threats of the weekend will be the soldiers and mercenaries still loyal to the San Saba Board. These will be stories of brutal conflict and heroic sacrifice, and there will be elements of the horrors of war.

  • The consequences of the battles this event could carry over into future events if unchecked and being you might find your characters actively involved in sending soldiers to their deaths, risking other settlements prosperity, or investing your valuable resources in the war effort. For many of the Combat Units, this will be a last chance for them to shine before they ride off into the sunset, so we want to provide opportunities to make big decisions over the weekend.

the last hurrah

One last part of the FALL OF THE SAN SABA BOARD will be the sunsetting of several in-game mechanics we’ve used over the past few seasons, as I discussed last week.

With a big shift for the new edition coming, our big focus this season will be on reducing the mechanical complexity in our games. Over the years, we’ve introduced a lot of custom mechanics, custom threats, custom blueprints, and more, and it’s time we get back to the basics. One big part of the new edition change is that we will not be able to introduce new custom mechanics for about the first year of play as part of our new license. This change means we’d rather start to wean our players off these custom mechanics early, rather than adding to the culture shock of the new edition.

The following custom mechanics will be sunsetted during our upcoming season. As of the end of September 2024, the following mechanics will be removed:

We are planning one last hurrah for these custom mechanics during our September event, THE FALL OF THE SAN SABA BOARD, including new ways to spend your remaining SES credits, use and purchase Faction Items, and use your other cool custom items. Here’s how this will work:

  • SES Credits will be able to be used to either trade in for items, currency, or powerful buffs over the weekend as part of a new temporary SES Buy List. If you want to instead change the outcome of the story and the final fights, there will be an opportunity to use your remaining SES Credits to pay off the mercenaries of the Red Ledger and convince them to abandon the cause of the Chairman. Without their help, the final fights could be much easier, provided you can coordinate with the other Strikers to pitch in and change the tide of the fight.

  • Player Faction ZOMs will be posted for FREE for this last event. You will be able to enjoy these unique buffs for the entire weekend without paying the usual 50 Currency to activate the ZOM. Bring the full power of your crew to fight Arthur Lovelace without breaking the bank!

  • Faction Buy Lists items will be available for purchase for anyone with Society Membership, regardless of the level. You’ll be able to buy a Basic, Proficient, and Master item from a faction of your choice for FREE, and you can even buy additional items for your other factions for Brass as normal (1 for Basic, 5 for Proficient, 10 for Master). These items are no longer limited to one purchase per event, but keep in mind these items will expire at the end of the year.

  • War Supplies and Combat Units will have unique uses during this event, and there will be ways to even ‘cash out’ your excess War Supplies from last season for Scrap or Currency. Your Combat Units will provide powerful Upsurge effects and allow you to hold the line against the Board’s invasion of Bravado. Any War Supplies or Combat Units not used during this event will simply be collectibles for the future, and have no further uses over the season.

Any existing local item cards or local blueprints obtained in September will still be usable through the end of the 2024 year, ending with our game in December. Since all Local Mechanic Cards normally have an expiration date of 3 months, this will mean that you can still use the items for all three remaining 3.0 games we have planned for 2024 (since our October National DR Live event won’t use 3.0 item cards). At the end of the year, these items will be fully removed from our game.

Our Work Orders and Research mechanics will continue through the end of the year, but you can expect a few updates to the Work Orders in the absence of the San Saba Board. We expect Work Orders to continue into DR Live, but the Research mechanics will be replaced with the rules in the Player’s Guide once the new edition launches. For now, you can still research your hearts out!

wrap up

That’s it for today, Vados!

We hope that you will come join us for our next event, our second part of the finale of the Season 5 story. We have some fun surprises in store for you during this game, and we hope that you are ready to try and ensure the FALL OF THE SAN SABA BOARD. Will you be able to help to finally serve justice to Arthur Lovelace? How will you protect those you love from the vengeance of a petty tyrant? Can you save your town from the imminent destruction?

Next week we will recap some of the important events from our last game and catch up to speed on all the story continuity you’ll need as we face the Chairman! See you soon, Vados!

Tickets are on sale for our september event now! Don’t miss out!