Story Recap: The Long Night

It’s still our Winter Break, but I’m here with a recap of our last event, THE LONG NIGHT! The goal of these Story Recap posts is to help fill in the blanks for those that might have missed an important mod, been at NPC camp or even sleeping, or simply were not able to attend the game. These are major points of continuity that might be important as our season continues, and I hope this will help with the FOMO feels.

This was our annual Premiere game, which is simply a special game where we can up the stakes, let players buy additional XP for their characters, and produce an even more special event. We had dozens of players from abroad travel down as part of an “invasion” event and we even ran special Zip Line passes for the event that were part of the Monolith experience. We also had members of the National Team including Kyle Elliot and Jeff Dahl at the event as well. This was also the largest live game run since the pandemic started, and we’re kinda proud and grateful to so many folks for attending. If you were not able to attend this time, we hope you will be able to join us in February.

There were a few major developments during the LONG NIGHT event. This was our mid-season closer, so it’s a bit of a read but I hope it’s worth it.

THE MONOLITH

At the end of the last game, a terrible MONOLITH emerged near the edge of town. It started to cause cold weather and attracted one of the largest zombie hordes since the Hiway War. The zed seemed hellbent on destroying the Monolith, and were held back by the combined efforts of the Tribes Disparate and the Grave Council until further help could arrive. When the players arrived to town, there had been sightings of terrible frozen zombies known as RIMEBOUND in the Horde, even more deadly than previous encounters with the frosty zed. These frozen enemies exploded into icy shrapnel once their outer armor was broken, but fire was a sure way to kill them without them exploding.

Players took turns “delving” into the interior of the Monolith with the aid of several Graverobbers from the Grave Council, but had to time their entrances to match the deaths of other people in town. The Monolith had become an impromptu Morgue, a place where the dead emerge from the Mortis Amaranthine. Inside, there were reports of a strange ancient Facility from before the fall filled with personalities bent on containing some kind of creature inside. It appeared as if the Monolith was like a wound inside the Grave Mind, causing an “infection” like it was some kind of weird splinter. The zed attacking the site must have been part of the response to whatever was inside.

The first to die reported their minds lost to memories of the past, as they took upon roles of the researchers in the facility called CRADLE. They talked about an Overseer, a Scientist, and government funding. They talked about a “Department of Future and Progress”, but every story inside repeated itself in a twisted loop describing the downfall of this facility. At some point far, far, far in the past, the researchers here had tried (and failed) to contain an entity from beyond our world, an outsider known to our current world as an ARCHON. Every story ended the same - the Archon was trapped inside by the efforts of the scientists, but only after a great sacrifice. The creature must have been the source of the “splinter” that caused the abscess to form around it, the wound that became the MONOLITH. Something must have awoken the MONOLITH, perhaps the tampering of the GRAVE BELL by the villainous Dr. Nichols during the last game.

ARCHON ASSAULT

The first teams inside found an unthinkable horror trapped inside - a creature from outside of our reality, known by some as an ARCHON. The entity was awoken by the first delve and escaped into the world outside to wreck havoc on the town. It’s screeching otherworldly cry was answered by another, as a second ARCHON emerged into our reality to lay waste to the Survivors in the town. Together, the two ARCHONS seemed to be focused on freeing a third ARCHON trapped within the Monolith.

The entities were unstoppable. They were impervious to any weapons used against them, and their hideous claws were capable of rending through armor and flesh alike. They could snuff out the life force of anyone around them, ending the bleed out of anyone that had fallen to their claws. They could even devour the very Imprint of a Survivor, sundering all of their Resolve in one swing. They leaked radiation in the area around them and were capable of stepping through reality into any place that had electricity, even past closed doors or barricades. They could even drag a helpless survivor with them into an ABYSSAL RIFT straight into the Mortis Amaranthine. Countless survivors died the first night, caught off guard by the terror of the Archons.

The last time a trio of these creatures emerged in Essex, it took the combined force of a runaway Oxline, a bottomless pit filled with Zed, and a psionic weapon that rewrote reality to deal with them. Unfortunately for Bravado, no such weapons of overwhelming force were available so the town would have to find their own way to make the creatures vulnerable. Luckily, the town was up to the task and begin an arduous process to uncover a way to keep the creatures in our reality long enough so they could be killed.

• A special ST note here - “Archons” are a National level Threat, and only encountered at specific events that involve the Mortis Amaranthine with National approval, like our Premiere event. They first appeared during the Greenhouse online event, and have been sighted at a few events since then. They continue to be a serious threat from somewhere beyond death and it’s possible you might see one again if you choose to travel up to a National event. There are even a few Blueprints that deal with these threats.

• FUN FACT: The Archon is the only creature in the Threat Book to be classified as an “Apocalyptic Threat”.

THE LONG NIGHT & LONGWALKERS

As if rampaging Archons were not enough, the town was also dealing with another force of nature that had emerged from the darkness, known to the Quiet Folk of Widow’s Peak as the LONGWALKERS. The cold of the MONOLITH had awoken the LONG NIGHT, a time of frozen, terrible darkness that spreads across the land during the deepest Winter months (also conveniently during our Winter Break in January). The legends of the Lovelace clan tells of chasing away the Longwalkers with candlelight, but the town soon found out that they were not simply legends to scare children.

Terrible creatures prowled the night, including the Nowhere Man, the Midnight Gardener, the owl-like Lechuza, and more. From three-headed abominations to mesmerizing glowing Jellyfish-like creatures, once the sun set the things began to hunt in the darkness. Much like the Archons, no weapon could harm the Longwalkers, and the only solution to their threat was to run or hide. A few survivors swore that they survived an encounter with a Longwalker, but each seemed to be deadly if you kept their attention for long.

In the midst of this, the supernatural cold of the Monolith and the Long Night began to create other problems. The Rimebound dead were emerging from the Mortis, the crops were withering and dying, and even the buildings themselves needed to be winterized against the cold. Some took the opportunity to flee the town while others turned their attention to surviving the Long Night.

Thanks to the hard efforts of the survivors, they managed to winterize each building in Bravado, deal with a blockade of mines in the lake that prevented trade via the rivers, evade the Longwalkers, and even created a technological marvel to protect the farmland from the cold. If the town could come up with a solution to the Archons and the Monolith, they would be able to weather the Long Night intact.

THE END OF THE MONOLITH

Repeated delves into the strange MONOLITH uncovered bits and fragments of how the original scientists of the facility were able to trap the original Archons. However, it appeared that the Archon trapped within was actually the Archon that was thought destroyed during the Fountainhead Incident in Essex last year. When it tried to escape from Essex via electrical lines, it’s escape was cut short by a breach in the line, near where the Monolith emerged.

The town discovered a means to build an sonic amplifier from pieces scavenged from the Monolith, shards of icy armor from slain Rimebound, and the strange Imprint Crystals found within the outskirts of the Monolith. Together, the brightest minds of the town pooled their resources to create a psionic device capable of temporarily stunning the Archons. While stunned, they would be trapped in our reality for a moment, about 15 seconds, and they could not simply ignore the weapons and firearms of the town. However, the town had to gather every able bodied fighter they could to lure the Archons near to the Monolith so they could be confronted.

After a moonlit walk down the quiet, dark paths of Bravado, seemingly escorted to the fields near the Monolith by the Longwalkers, the survivors set their trap. With a terrible scream, the two Archons descended into the fray to assault the living. Alongside the Archon attack, the zed breached the perimeter of the town, with Rimebound dead emerging into the fields by the hundreds. Caught between two unstoppable forces, the Survivors braced for a long fight.

After a few failed attempts to wound the Archons, it was eventually apparent that not only could the Archons snuff out the life force of any of the dying near them they could absorb any psionic energy near them to heal their wounds. With the help of a few stalwart shield walls and coordination to prevent unnecessary healing of the Archons, the fight became a race to deal enough damage to the Archons in the brief windows of vulnerability while surviving the constant assault of the zed and even a few of the Longwalkers that drew too close. It was a chaotic mess of a fight, but with a earth rending screech, the first of the Archons fell to the ground followed by its partner moments after.

An unthinkable feat had been achieved. Two Archons were slain in battle, and the imprint of the third Archon was consumed by the strange sonic device in it’s last moments. The wound that was sustaining the strange Monolith was gone, and the walls of the Monolith began to crumble. As if some hidden signal went out, the assault of the dead on the town began to wane and the forces of the Tribes Disparate, led by Queen Jaspar and the Antler Tribe, the Reckoners of the Grave Council, and the mercenaries of the RRC were able to push back the horde. With a moment to catch their breath, the Monolith was destroyed, the zed horde was dissipating, and the Archons were no more.

The Aftermath

While the Long Night looms on the horizon, the town weathered an apocalyptic threat and managed to create some measure of protection against the cold and merciless winter. Bravado will survive the Long Night intact, instead of taking a step back to repair the damage of the winter. Several survivors took the advantage of the treaty with ANTON ANASTASIA of REQUIEM to travel North away from the cold, while others settled in for a long winter break. In a few months, the cold will pass, the Oxline will start fresh, and the town of Bravado will prepare for the Spring.

That’s it for the story this time, and we’ll be back in February with our next event! Stay tuned!

What Happens When You Die? (Part 2)

It’s time for another Rules Ramble with Jonathan! This week, we are continuing the discussion on what happens to your character when they die during a game of Dystopia Rising. Last week, we talked about some of the mechanics of what happens to a character, so this week we are going to focus on the post-death experience. This is a bit longer, but it’s a complicated subject.

Characters in DR start with an Infection Rate depending on their Strain (p. 154, DR Corebook). In the post-apocalyptic world, this is the reason why characters can survive multiple gunshots, being eaten alive by zombies, or cut to pieces by a Raider. The Infection stat is effectively the number of times you can “come back” from death in one piece. This means that death is not the end for your character. However, the journey beyond death can be a strange experience, and coming back intact is never guaranteed. There are many stories of survivors not emerging from the Mortis Amaranthine even when they had Infection remaining.

Mono no aware

When you die, you lose one point of your Infection (unless you had an item or Skill used on you). You can gain back Infection through a few expensive and risky in-game procedures, but generally once this hits zero, your character is gone for good. Once all of your Infection is lost, the Grave Mind is no longer able to bring back that “spark” of what makes you a person and all that is left is the unthinking hungry zed.

However, losing Infection (or even your character) doesn’t have to be a bad thing. In fact, some folks think that Infection is a currency, and should be spent. We even have an entire faction in the game called the Red Ledger that dives into this idea, and the SES System allows you to sign up take risks as your characters on a out-of-character level. If you avoid dying, you miss out on a chance to experience what happens beyond death.

The idea that your character is impermanent is an important part of the story of Dystopia Rising, in the Japanese tradition of mono no aware. Awareness of the transience of all things heightens appreciation of their beauty, and evokes a gentle sadness at their passing. When your character dies, it gives you an opportunity to progress their story, experience change based on what happens during your Grave Mind scene, or even deepen your role play with your friends as they express sadness or emotions about your character’s final death.

Beyond Death

When a character is killed, their body is absorbed by the tendrils of the Mortis Amaranthine, sometimes called the Grave Mind. Their corporeal form is broken down, their Infection reclaimed, and their body is reformed within a place known as a Morgue, which is tended by the Groundskeepers (at least in DR:TX). The Groundskeepers help draw a person through the process of reforming and are the STs in charge of the Grave Mind Scene. The Groundskeepers are responsible for assessing the Grave Tax for the recently deceased. There are even places beyond the Mortis Amaranthine, entering into a state of being Beyond Death. Sometimes a Graverobber might conduct a Grave Robber Scene, restoring lost infection to a survivor.

That’s a lot of vocabulary words, so let’s take a brief look at what I consider the ‘cosmology’ of DR. You can also find more about this starting on page 209 in the DR Corebook. This is just one interpretation of these terms, and these are loosely summarized from materials in the book, tabletop materials, fiction novels, and plot kits.

• Infection - The infectious material that courses in your character’s veins is likely a blood-born fungal entity or virus, maybe even a mutation of the original zombie virus which broke the world. It is an organic, symbiotic host found both in Survivors, and the environment of the world itself. When you die, this Infection is reclaimed and absorbed by the Mortis Amaranthine. Eventually, when you have nothing left to be reclaimed you emerge as a zombie.

• The Mortis Amaranthine - This is not so much a place, as a concept. While it is true a rotting fungal mass exists under the ground, it is not as simple as that. When you die, your consciousness is temporarily stored within a psionic network of everyone and everything with the Infection running through it, including this fungal network. Collectively, this refers to the state of being that is responsible for the process of death and reconstruction that happens afterwards. Regardless of the source of your regeneration, the out-of-body experience of being rebuilt is maddening and is capable of fracturing mind and body.

• The Grave Mind - This is a bit of a urban legend, but many folks associate this term with a hungry intelligence within the Mortis Amaranthine. In fact, this could really just be considered the egoless space within the Mortis. There is no true sentience behind the Mortis and any voices heard within are simply fragments of their attempts to comprehend the experience. However, each settlement in the Wastes has different quirks and flavors of the death experience that seem to be unique to them so it’s easy to see how this legend has grown.

• Morgues - These are places where the dead return after dying. They are found in highly psionic areas or larger settlements and are often tended to by Graverobbers and other folks that are passionate about the Mortis Amaranthine. In Texas, there are several Morgues but the primary morgue we use is known as the Grave Annex, located within the Zuni pavilion behind our Logistics building.

• Groundskeepers - In the DR: TX setting, these are generally employees of the Grave Council, paid to maintain the morgues of Bravado and help the dead return intact. Out of game, these are the Grave Mind STs for our game, and are responsible for running the post-death experience.

• Grave Tax - In DR: TX, this is a fee paid to the Grave Council under the laws of the San Saba Territories after a person returns to the living. This generally starts at 25 brass, and can increase based on if the death was avoidable. This can be paid immediately or deferred until Collection Day (our April event). This is an entirely optional mechanic, and the Groundskeeper will explain your options for opting out of this if you choose.

• Grave Robber Scene - These are Action Requests generally created by a Graverobber LC that is attempting to “steal” lost Infection back from the Mortis Amaranthine. These are challenging mods set up in advance that allow players to risk their Resolve and future Infection for a chance at more time and new Infection. This is generally done via the Pallor Mortis procedure, a blueprint that can be found in game, and requires the player gaining Infection to spend 10 XP.

• Beyond Death - There are deeper ways to interact with the Mortis Amaranthine other than a Morgue, taking you into places and scenarios beyond the limits of what is normal.

  • Sunless Garden - These are areas of the Mortis where the skeletal remains of the consumed world of “the Fall” exists in a microcosm of reality. It is a physical space that functions almost like a stationary point in reality between the living world, the egoless space of the Grave Mind, and what lies beyond the Mortis. You will see these types of locations primarily at National events.

  • Abyssal Rifts - Several blueprints mention the concept of Abyssal Rifts and how to control them, including bodily entering into the Mortis. These were introduced during the online Green House event and these are effectively breaches into reality from beyond the Mortis Amaranthine. Threats like the “Archons” that nearly killed everyone in Essex during our online events are just one example of the threats that can emerge from beyond if these Rifts are not sealed quickly.

  • The Monolith - Other times, unique experiences can emerge from the Mortis like a foreign object stuck in a wound. The Mortis, or at least the rotting fungal mass below the ground, often exhibits medical-like scenarios akin to being infected or experiencing impacted foreign bodies or cysts. These can sometimes become an issue for a settlement, cause new diseases, or even exhibit strange new behaviors of the Mortis Amaranthine. One example was perhaps the Fountainhead during our online season in Essex.

Now that you understand the lingo, let’s talk about what happens for you, the player.

The Grave Mind Scene

Once you are ready, have had any Infection changes and Fractures recorded on your sheet, the STs on shift will summon the Groundskeeper, the local ST on call to handle Grave Mind Scenes. This person is our specialist in crafting a unique experience for a player after the death of their character and will work with you to craft a memorable scene.

First, the Groundskeeper will talk with you about how you died, how your character background or in-game actions might impact the scene, and help establish clear boundaries of what you will experience during the Grave Mind Scene. Consent is an important mechanic of DR, and we want to make sure you are able to have a great experience after death. If you have any questions, the Groundskeeper will make sure to help you understand your options going forward and this “interview” will help them personalize a scene to your character.

The Groundskeeper will also help you decide on a Fracture, since every person that experiences a Grave Mind Scene gains a Fracture as well as losing an Infection. Fractures cannot be soothed or cured for two hours after you gain them, so the shock of your psyche trying to understand what just happened will have an impact on your character after their death. The Groundskeeper will also explain your options for dealing with the Grave Tax, and ways to opt in or out of this mechanic.

Finally, the Groundskeeper will take you to a secluded location and run what we call a “black box” scene. This might be within our Morgue area in the Zuni Pavilion, or simply in a quiet area nearby. They will have you close your eyes, describe the last moments of your death, and then give a shared verbal (and sometimes visual) narration of the experience in the Mortis Amaranthine. After this, you will be allowed to return to play with full Body and 5 Mind points, unless you spend a Resolve (check out my blog post last week).

If you have a concern about where you emerge (say you are worried about an enemy trying to catch you emerging from the Mortis), the Groundskeeper can spawn you in another location if you like. However, the idea of trying to kill a person over and over again until they don’t come back is a terrible crime in EVERY settlement, and the Grave Council will violently respond to people trying to “camp” the Morgue. Murderers beware!

The Story of Death

Every one that dies has a different experience or story of what happens beyond, and what happens next is often dependent on how you died, how your mind attempts to comprehend the experience, memories of your past, or even a personification of your negative emotions. The Grave Mind Scene should be unique, but most of those that die describe some similar experiences.

Most describe a presence watching them or aware of them in the darkness, or disembodied voices talking to them. They might speak of a island in a vast sea, an empty wasteland with a lonely road stretching to the horizon, they might encounter people and places that they have seen before but are gone or dead, or feel a malevolent entity enticing them to stay within. Some settlements have unique experiences, such as people reporting that the Grave Mind demanding a single currency or else losing an important memory, or a hungering maw below that beckons them deeper.

Most describe a presence that “takes something” away from them, where it be a memory or an emotional connection. Sometimes as a survivor nears their last Infection, these cracks in their psyche manifest on their body when it reforms as greenish veins, scars, or skin discolorations where the Infection is visible. Ultimately, the experience after death is your mind’s attempt to comprehend and describe a completely alien and horrific experience, but you always emerged changed in some way.

The story of what happens next is up to you, but part of the “horror” of Dystopia Rising is the cosmic threat of how and why you return from the grave. How will your character react after being broken down to their very atoms and reformed again? Are they even the same person, or like the Ship of Theseus have they become something else entirely? Will this brush with death change in you some way, or force you to rethink the time you have left? Let’s find out together…

Next time, we will discuss some important rules you might want to brush up on before the game, particularly with some frostbitten zed lurking in the shadows. See you next week!

Story Recap: Blood Feast

Good morning! It’s Jonathan here with a recap of the major Story events of our recent November Game: BLOOD FEAST. The goal of these Story Recap posts is to help fill in the blanks for those that might have missed an important mod, been at NPC camp or even sleeping, or simply were not able to attend the game. These are major points of continuity that might be important as our season continues, and I hope this will help with the FOMO feels.

There were a few major developments during the BLOOD FEAST event:

Gutscourge

Over the last few weeks, characters that live near Bravado or travel there regularly started to feel HUNGRIER than usual. These symptoms might have come on suddenly, or gradually, over the last 4 weeks. The symptoms were a bit innocuous at first and if a person was not particularly observant, they might not have even noticed the changes! But starting on the first night of game, it was increasingly clear that something was wrong. A large part of the population had been infected with a terrible new disease that was quickly identified as GUTSCOURGE.

Victims infected with Gutscourge were irritable, feverish, and experienced intense pangs of hunger that can only be sated by eating.  They were increasingly focused on eating any food available or even eating raw meat, as as the disease progressed it turned them into voracious cannibals capable of devouring blood and flesh in lieu of food. Each step of the disease compounded the last and once normal food no longer satiated their hunger, the infected could frenzy at the slightest provocation. For those that rode the edge of oblivion, the advanced stages of the disease deadened their nerves and turned them into unstoppable killing machines capable of shrugging off bullets and blades alike.

A literal puzzle the players had to solve as part of the Research Challenge

The town collectively poured their resources into researching and understanding the disease. The horrifying resolution of Gutscourge was discovered - if a cure was not found, the infected would progress and become terrible BLOOD GHASTS and be lost forever, no matter how many Infection they had left. However, no matter what treatment the town came up with or how much food they consumed, they could not permanently cure the disease but only send it into remission temporarily. Some other factor was making the disease incurable and resistant to medical treatment.

The town eventually discovered an old family recipe of the Lovelace Family to create BLOOD SOUP that helped them combat the disease. This “meal” not only served to satiate the hunger of the infected, it could even reduce and contain the disease that was ravaging their bodies. However, since the Blood Soup required the players to spend Body points to create the meal by bleeding into the concoction, it was costly to prepare.

In addition, three strange side effects of the disease emerged, each too specific to have been naturally occurring but rather aspects of the disease that had been purposefully advanced and WEAPONIZED. It was clear that this disease was an attack on the town by some nefarious villain.

Widow Clauthia, after her “tea”

• For Whom the Bell Tolls - Each and every time the GRAVE BELL sounded in town, anyone infected with Gutscourge was sent into a frenzy of violence and hunger AND their disease would advance one Stage. The Bell is normally sounded by the Groundskeeper EVERY time a person dies, so each death caused by frenzies ended up causing more and more chaos through the weekend. Somehow, the necrokinetic energy of the Bell was sustaining and advancing the disease.

• Object of Veneration - The most insidious side effect of Gutscourge is that it made the infected susceptible to coercion and control by someone they respected and looked up to. Whenever an NPC made a call of “Object of Veneration”, players infected with Gutscourge had to either spend Mind points to resist the compulsion or follow the commands. The Widow’s Tea on Saturday afternoon became particularly bloody as Widow Clauthia ordered her loyal Widows to bring her victims to consume.

• Infectious - Gutscourge was purposefully very, very transmissible. Every time an advanced Stage infected fed on a target, they would also spread the disease to them. If that person was already infected, BOTH players would increase their disease one Stage. Particularly advanced patients were so infectious that even players using Medical skills on them could risk infection if they were not careful. The disease even seemed to be even more infectious on Landsmen, particularly the Quiet Folk of the Lovelace Family.

Dr. Nichols’ Revenge

Last month, one of the most infamous Lifers known as Eyeless Jack was captured by the town. This month, his father came to town seeking revenge on both the town that captured his son and the Family that made him an outcast from his home of Widow’s Peak. Jack’s father is a Quiet Folk doctor named Dr. Hannibal Nichols-Lovelace. He operated a small free clinic on the outskirts of the Lovelace lands, and was sometimes called “Grandfather Nichols” by the locals. He was thought of as mostly harmless, but was kept at arm’s length by the Lovelace Family because of the crimes his son committed.

Dr. Nichols, Quiet Folk villain

Nichols was being brought to Bravado to answer for crimes that he had been recently implicated in. It appears that the “good” Doctor had more of a direct hand in teaching his son Eyeless Jack to be a serial killer than was first known, and gory trophies of travelers that disappeared on their way to Widow’s Peak were discovered in his clinic. Alongside Daniel the Quiet, one of the Lifers still at large, Dr. Nichols was being brought to a trial at the Gauntlet. Accompanying the accused was the majority of the Lovelace Family, including the matriarch of the family, Immacula Lovelace. The stage was set for Dr. Nichol’s plan and betrayal of his former Family.

The night of his arrival, the fanatic followers of his son known as the APOSTLES OF EYELESS JACK attacked the Law Dogs escorting him into town, and freed both him and Daniel the Quiet. Witnesses even reported that Immacula Lovelace gave her weapon to the doctor as if compelled before he escaped into the night. For the hours that followed, Dr. Nichols prowled the night, purposefully spreading the disease of Gutscourge while talking about “experiments” and ambushing travelers on the roads. It was quickly apparent that not only was Dr. Nichols the mastermind behind the plague, but that he had lured his family to the town on purpose to infect and destroy them. As the bell tolled from early deaths in the night, Lovelace Maniacs set themselves on the town in a cannibalistic frenzy. While nominally still people, they couldn’t help themselves from feasting on those they attacked and put into Bleed Out.

The Cure & Project Mutagen

The next day, Research plans continued and uncovered a bit more about the depth of Dr. Nichol’s plan to destroy his family. During the Indulgence, the Unstable genius known as the Butcher tasked the Lifers with gathering biomass from townsfolk as part of something called “PROJECT MUTAGEN”. It was quickly evident that Dr. Nichols was progressing the project forward and was actively involved. The weaponized disease of Gutscourge was the culmination of these efforts, combining aspects of the Bad Brain Disease with parts of the Bloodscouge disease spread by Blood Ghasts. With the ability to infect and create powerful super soldiers that would follow the orders of those in charge, the plague represented a major step forward towards calamity for the San Saba Territories.

After collecting water samples from around town, testing various meals cooked by the chefs of Bravado, harnessing blood samples from captured Blood Ghasts, the inhabitants of Bravado were able to create a cure for these disease and a treatment plan to mitigate the threat. However, no matter much they tried, each time the GRAVE BELL rang the disease surged again and spread. Something else was sustaining the disease.

After their hard work continuing the research, they realized that the disease had introduced tiny psionic crystals into the victims. These psionic crystals were reacting to the Grave Bell and sustaining the disease. Based on intel gathered by the town, it was discovered that a SECOND Grave Bell was being used by Dr. Nichols in the sleepy corner of Widow’s Walk that needed to be stopped in order to permanently cure Gutscourge. At the same time, Dr. Nichols was again out and about capturing residents as “guests of honor” for something he called FAMILY DINNER. If the town was to solve the crisis, they would have to deal with both the cannibal Lovelace Family and neutralize the second Grave Bell.

Family Dinner & the Death of the Lovelaces

Dr. Nichols final masterstroke took place in the candlelit dinner area constructed within Widow’s Walk, the traditional sanctum of the Widows of the Lone Star, another aspect of the Lovelace Family in the San Saba Territories. Joining him for dinner were his family members, Clauthia Lovelace, one of the leaders of the Widows, Immacula Lovelace, the matriarch, Abby Lovelace, her daughter, and Daniel the Quiet, the black sheep Lifer of the family. Alongside a throng of the Lovelace Maniacs, the family came together to celebrate their “guests of honor” that would be served as the MAIN COURSE of dinner.

When the town tried to interrupt the ritual, they discovered that not only was Dr. Nichols mind controlling each of the Lovelace family members to do his bidding, that he was functionally IMMORTAL. As soon as he was hurt, the wound would heal and his family would cry out in pain and anguish. He kept mocking the assembled heroes, saying that “My family sustains me. You cannot stop me” while attacking from the darkness. With an immortal enemy, waves of Lovelace Maniacs, and powerful Lovelace leaders, the Family Dinner was a scene of chaos and danger.

Eventually, the town concocted a plan to free the gathered Guests of Honor from their manacles securing them to the dinner table and survive the attacks of the Lovelaces while a second group worked to disable the second GRAVE BELL. With the help of some clutch uses of Master Biogenetics and a coordinated rush on the bell once the guests were freed, the insidious bell was silenced for good.

Frustrated by the plan being stopped, Dr. Nichols executed Immacula Lovelace at the dinner table and nearly escaped into the darkness. He was finally caught and captured outside of the General Store, but not before killing several other townsfolk. He was questioned and executed, but not before a chilling proclamation that Project Mutagen had been a success and had been shipped to his mysterious client that afternoon. Someone out in the wastes now has a tool to create dangerous super soldiers or the ability to sell that technology to the highest bidder.

The town had successfully stopped the evil Dr. Nichols and found a permanent cure for the disease of Gutscourge, but it came at a high price. The Lovelace Family has been decimated by the disease, and while several members of the Family were rescued and cured of the plague, the once powerful faction is now in shambles. It will take effort, money, and new blood in the ranks to rebuild after Dr. Nichol’s plot of revenge, but the Lovelace Family will endure.

EPILOGUE - The Monolith

At the end of the event, as the town was wearily gathering themselves for the last moments of printing, farming, and playing silly games, a dire warning came from the outskirts. Rising from the ground, a MONOLITH of flowing black stone has erupted from the Mortis Amaranthine at the edge of town. The tower of strange stone beckons exploration, and agents of the Grave Council have quickly moved to secure the perimeter of the structure. Whatever this Monolith may be, the similarity between it and the Fountainhead in Essex cannot be dismissed and you know that the next crisis facing Bravado is ahead, in our December Game - THE LONG NIGHT.

Faction Work Orders are HERE!

Howdy Vados!

Jonathan here with a quick update for our November event, BLOOD FEAST! I know I said I was making one last blog post on Wednesday before game, but now you get a last-last blog post instead!

This weekend will be premiering the next stage of the Work Order mechanic in our game!

We’ve put most of this on the website, and you can find the details HERE.

The TL;DR of this is that there are three types of Work Orders now in the game:

• Starter Work Orders can be completed ONCE per event, and include tasks like exploring the site and doing basic behaviors of Dystopia Rising. These are the primary way you can earn Basic Society Membership with a Faction.

• Settlement Work Orders are released periodically at the General Store and involve an out-of-character task that must be completed, like refilling the water and ice for NPCs at Ops or cleaning up garbage around the camp. If you complete these, you’ll get a reward of Brass and CAPS for the group that completes them.

• Faction Work Orders can be completed by folks with at least Basic Society Membership in one of the Factions of Bravado. These will involve more complicated tasks that are thematic to the faction and they might involve combat, exploration, roleplay, or CvC. Once completed, you can get a reward based on your level of Society Membership. You can complete different Faction Work Orders, but only ONE for each faction and some rewards can only be collected once no matter how many you complete.

These Work Orders are designed as a kind of “silent ST” that can help give you direction to get involved in the game and story we are sharing. Since you can do them on your own, you get to control when and where you do the tasks. For those that might hit moments in the game where they aren’t quite sure what to do next, Work Orders can be a great way to kickstart off activities that will help you experience the world of Bravado and Dystopia Rising.

Some commonly asked questions about Work Orders:

• Q: Can I complete both a Starter Work Order AND a Faction Work Order in the same game?

• A: Yup. Once you complete a Starter Work Order you get Basic Society Membership, so that means you can immediately complete a Faction Work Order for the faction you just helped.

• Q: What are the favored skills of the Faction?

• A: These will be listed on the Faction Work Orders this weekend, and I’ll have these updated on the website soon. Only so much time until game and I still gotta pack!

• Q: Can I do a Work Order on each of my characters?

• A: Sure! Each Work Orders can be completed once per event, per character, so if you have another character invested in a faction have at it.

Plus, at the end of the game we will be tracking how many Faction Work Orders are completed. If you have a vested interest in seeing your favorite Faction or NPC group succeed, make sure you complete a Work Order!

That’s all for today! See you tomorrow!

Introduction to Disease Mechanics, Part 1

Good morning!

It’s Jonathan with another weekly Rules Ramble! Today’s blog post is going to be covering the first part of some key rules from the Disease Mechanics for Dystopia Rising. In a perfect world, everyone would read every page of the rulebook, but we all know that’s really why you enjoy my rules posts summarizing the basics.

The full Disease rules can be found starting on page 190 in the DR: Evolved Corebook. You can download a free copy of the rulebook HERE.

It’s a long section, so I’m going to focus first on the basics of diseases and how you can interact with them. In my next post, I’ll go more into how to cure and treat a disease in Dystopia Rising.

Each disease in Dystopia Rising has some similar components:

• Name - This is pretty obvious, really. Some diseases that have seen play are Blood Scourge, Bad Brain, Radiation Sickness, the Plague of the Unfinished, and Black Fungal Disease. Some of those sound pretty scary!

• Type - While most diseases have set mechanics, sometimes a disease can change or worsen during a game. There are two ways this happens - either as an Outbreak, where the disease mutates to becomes more contagious, or when a disease is Weaponized, where someone purposefully spreads the disease. This last type is ALWAYS a CvC action if done by a player.

• Transmission Vector - Each disease is spread in a specific way. This can include being bitten or wounded, contact with bodily fluids, consuming tainted water or food, being touched by an infected victim, use of Anomaly skills, airborne transmission, or even environment factors like exposure to radiation or some other SCIENCE! type effect.

• Stages of Illness - Each disease has a series of Stages. Each stage compounds on the last as the disease worsens. A stage of an illness will generally have roleplay notes for the symptoms of the disease and how it should be portrayed. Most diseases have between 3 to 5 different Stages. For many diseases, the last Stage is particularly deadly and can result in a character dying or even being transformed into something like a Raider!

• Duration between Stages - Most diseases increase in Stages at set intervals. This might be at the next 12s for fast-acting diseases, or for slow-acting diseases it could increase at the next event. Some diseases can even worsen depending on a trigger, like another exposure to that disease. It’s important to know how deadly the disease is and how much time you have left!

• Mechanical Impact - Each disease will have some kind of mechanical impact on your character. Some diseases might prevent you from using certain Skills, cause a Fracture, prevent the use of Resolve, or even impact your total Mind or Body totals. Some diseases even give you new Traits that come with specific keywords and abilities.

• Resolution - Each disease has some specific ways it can be cured and treated. Unfortunately, these ways to resolve a disease are hidden until they are discovered through Research in the game. I’ll cover this step in more detail in my next blog post.

There are a few key ways you can interact with a disease during the game:

• Characters can identify the symptoms of the disease and the stage with the Basic Medical skill, for zero mind using “Check Status” rules. The infected character should reveal the name of the disease they are suffering from and the current Stage of that disease they are suffering from.

• Characters with the Mutant Lineage (that’s Remnants, Retrogrades, and Tainted) can spend a point of Resolve to ignore an INFLICT DISEASE mechanic call by calling “Mutated Immune System”. This prevents the character from contracting a new disease, but does not prevent a disease you are already infected with from progressing.

• Death at any stage of the Disease generally has some impact on the character. Often, a disease is cured when the character passes through the Mortis Amaranthine, but particularly nasty diseases can persist even after death.

• If a character is using a Helscape Deathmask or Dr. Ottoman’s Disease Control Kit, they may declare “No Effect!” to any infectious mechanics that might risk spreading the disease to them by working on an infected patient by using their gizmos. Doctors need to be careful around particularly virulent plagues!

• Any custom disease introduced in our game may not transfer outside the DR: TX game area for any reason. If a character leaves play before a plot-related disease is cured (like say, you leave early), the disease effects mysteriously fades over the next 12 hours. National-level diseases like Bad Brain can persist on your character sheet though, and can be taken back to a different chapter. It’s generally a bad idea to eat a Raider in any game!

So that’s about it for this blog post, but next time we will talk about Remission, Inoculation, and Curing a disease, as well as how you RESEARCH about what a disease can do. See you next week!