Story

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Cirque de Dread

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Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our October live event CIRQUE DE DREAD! This is our first ST led overarc of the season, led by Matt Hoadley, Ash Sexton, and Luka Drystan. Each week, I’ll discuss in detail an aspect of the upcoming event, compiling the rules and lore into one easy place to read! This week, we are covering the premise of our event, some content warnings, and some notes about our Compulsion and Roleplay Burden mechanics!

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

Cirque de dread

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

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

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

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

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

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

CONTENT WARNINGS

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

It’s one reason we take our OK Check-In system so seriously! We understand that these may not be stories you want to participate in, and that’s okay! Remember, you can always use the OK Check-In system to choose to leave a scene, even CVC!

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

clowns & scary Carnival themes

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

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

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

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

Compulsion & Loss of Agency

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

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

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

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

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

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

Compulsion Mechanics

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

Compulsion

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ROLEPLAY BURDENs

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

roleplay burden

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

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

survival vs problem solving

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

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

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

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

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

Let’s find out together.

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

Wrap up

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

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

See you next week, Vados!

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The Oxkiller Alliance

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Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our September live event BENEATH THE CORPSE OF WAKING! Each week, I’ll discuss in detail an aspect of the upcoming event, compiling the rules and lore into one easy place to read! This week, we are covering the OXKILLER ALLIANCE, a new type of Threat you’ll face this season.

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

Let’s get started!

Who is the Oxkiller alliance?

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

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

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

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

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

The War of Antlers is coming to the San Saba…

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

the History of the Alliance

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Queen Jaspar, portrayed by Shan Lind

Queensgrace - the Fall of the Queen

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

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

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

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

Prince Shale, portrayed by Josh Jones

a new leader for the alliance

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

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

Lord Hush, portrayed by Sam Mars

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

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

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

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

The Oxkiller Alliance, today

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

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

New Laws

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

New Threats & Threat Skills

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A new defense for bravado

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wrap Up

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

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

See you soon Vados!

The Regents of Queensgrace

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San Saba Update

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Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our September live event BENEATH THE CORPSE OF WAKING! Each week, I’ll discuss in detail an aspect of the upcoming event, compiling the rules and lore into one easy place to read! This week, we are covering some of the in-game changes to the setting, faction changes, and a few important RULES updates your characters should know!

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

Let’s get started!

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

important Story events from last season

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

Last season, we had a LOT of big events:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Big story changes for Season 5

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A sneak peek at the future

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

  • September 15-17 - BENEATH THE CORPSE OF WAKING

    • Overarc Storytellers: Heather & Jonathan

  • October 13-15 - CIRQUE DE DREAD

    • Overarc Storyteller: Matt Hoadley

  • November 10-12 - EMERGENCE

    • Overarc Storyteller: Maenad Wilder

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

    • Overarc Storytellers: Heather & Jonathan

  • February 9-11 - THE BREAKER OF CROWNS

    • Overarc Storytellers: Heather & Jonathan

  • March 8-10 - GIFTS OF SUFFERING

    • Overarc Storyteller: Andrew Harper

  • April 12-14 - WHISPERS FROM THE DEEP

    • Overarc Storyteller: Brett Moulton

  • May 10-12 - THE ATROCITY

    • Overarc Storytellers: Heather & Jonathan

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

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

See you soon Vados!

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

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Beneath the Corpse of Waking

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Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our September live event BENEATH THE CORPSE OF WAKING! Each week, I’ll discuss in detail an aspect of the upcoming event, compiling the rules and lore into one easy place to read! This week, we are covering the premise of our event, some content warnings, and a few logistics changes for Season 5!

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

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

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

Beneath the Corpse of Waking

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Zombies! by Shan Lind.

A Radioactive Season Opener

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

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

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

Content Warnings

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

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

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

Disease & Radiation

  • Disease, infection, and consequences of diseases

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

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

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

Liquidation Runs & Timed Events

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

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

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

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

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

Another bit of obelisk art by Shan Lind.

logistics Changes for Season 5

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

Zuni is now NPC Land!

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

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

The Morgue is Moving! (again!)

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

The Treehouse (aka The Maw)!

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

ticket prices have been updated for season 5

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

Saturday NPC Shifts & the Siesta

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

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

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

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

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

Wrap Up

That’s it for today Vados!

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

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

See you soon Vados!

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

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Summer Break!

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

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

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

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

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

Save the Date!

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

  • SEASON 5 TEAM APPLICATIONS - May 29

    • Applications are due by May 29th!

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

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

    • APPLY TODAY!

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

  • CAMP CLEAN UP WEEKEND - June 2-3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • SEASON 5 LIVE EVENT - September 15-17

QUICK RECAP - VOX POPULI

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

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

The Fall of Waking

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Crisis Center

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

  • Waking was EMERGENCY LANDED near Bravado.

  • The final tally was:

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

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

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

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

The Groundskeeper Gauntlet

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

The Stakeholder’s Meeting

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Siege of the Depot

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

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

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

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

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

The Voice of Killhouse

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

The potential Consequences of the fall of waking

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Ecological impacts will affect surrounding water sources and farmland.

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

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

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

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

Wrap Up

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

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

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