Disguise 101

It’s time for another Rules Ramble with Jonathan! Each week, I’ll introduce a topic in the DR rulebook in a deep dive that focuses on explaining it in more detail than the book alone can provide. Today’s blog post will touch on a bit of things concerning ONE particular skill: PROFICIENT STEALTH, aka DISGUISE. This can be a confusing Skill, but I’m here to suggest some best practices and explain some rules mechanics you should know.

Tickets for our next event, THE CICATRIX, are live now and pre-reg ends on FRIDAY!

This blog post also touches a bit onto concepts of STEERING, which you can find a much longer write up about in our blog post on the topic. Disguise straddles the line between ethical and unethical steering, so it’s worth a consideration to be familiar with this concept first.

Disguise in Dystopia Rising is a bit of a tricky subject, because the book doesn’t really cover much of the common uses of the Skill, because a LOT of it is on Blueprints, or implied elsewhere instead. This is a complicated skill and a long blog post, so sorry in advance!

Let’s look at what this Skill does, the implied rules of the Skill, what items modify the use of this skill, and some of Jonathan’s best practices for better disguises.

The “Disguise” Skill?

First, let’s discuss the elephant in the room. There is actually no Skill named Disguise in 3.0. There are only 8 instances of the word “disguise” in the DR Corebook (and one refers to Artisanal Cuisiners disguising contents in food, so it doesn’t really count). Any time you hear a player refer to this ability in this manner, it’s a holdover from the world of 2.0, where Disguise was a separate Skill.

Instead, this is a secondary use of the Skill PROFICIENT STEALTH.

For ease of reference in this blog post, any time I refer to a “Disguise” skill, I really mean Proficient Stealth. Let’s take a look at the rules that are actually in the book, but there’s really only three major sections of note (emphasis mine):

Proficient Stealth, p. 129

An individual with this skill [Proficient Stealth] may also do a full costume change, including heavy makeup or face covering, and may spend 5 Mind points to be in disguise for a total of 30 minutes. The user must make every attempt to keep players from recognizing them out of character. While in disguise, the user must craft an alternate persona with a different Strain, personality, and mind-set that does not mimic another LC, SC, or Extra. At the end of the 30 minutes, the person may expend another 5 Mind points to continue acting as the same persona for another 30 minutes. While in disguise, other Extras, SCs, and LCs cannot recognize the character for who they are. The Awareness skill does not counter the disguise.

Character Costumes, p. 28

Your character costume identifies you as the persona you are portraying. Due to to the fact that the same person (you) may be portraying multiple personas over time, it is important to create a visual identity that allows players to identify a character a glance. This kit (or costume) can evolve over time, but you should not change the way your character dresses or acts drastically without using the Proficient Stealth skill (which allows participants to disguise themselves) due to the fact that this muddles the meta-concept of who are you playing instead of properly representing your character.

Supply Bags, p. 107

You can only have one Supply Bag on you at at time, and you cannot use other bags or items to disguise your Supply Bag… Those who disguise themselves are encouraged to use a secondary Supply Bag with their new costuming.

That’s not really a lot. Its only one paragraph in a big book, and is only referenced a few other places. I think this is one of the main reasons why folks get confused on the Skill, as most of the common uses of this Skill involve crafted equipment from Blueprints, and NOT THE SKILL ITSELF.

So let’s break all that down into some key rules from the book:

• This is a Proficient Skill, so you must have at least 50 Spent Experience, and already have the Skill Basic Stealth to buy this Skill.

  • We will talk about the big way around this rule that even Dusters can use in our section on Equipment!

• It costs 5 Mind points per 30 minutes you are in costume.

  • IMPORTANT NOTE: You don’t pay the next 5 Mind points until AFTER the 30 minutes is ending, so you CAN drink a brew, eat a meal, etc. before that happens in order to have enough Mind points for the next “touch-up” of the disguise.

• This skill requires a full costume change, including makeup OR a facial covering.

• You must make an attempt to conceal your identity out of character. A disguise can’t just be a pair of silly glasses and fake mustache. This also means your disguise needs to be capable of fooling the player as well as the character.

• You cannot disguise as the SAME Strain. You must portray a different Strain, and include a bit of acting with a new personality or mind-set.

• You cannot mimic another character or NPC. Sorry, no pretending to be Felicity Redfield — she’s too iconic!

• Other characters or NPCs cannot recognize you while in Disguise.

  • Similar to the use of Basic Stealth, this requires a bit of ethical steering on the part of the other players. They may recognize the you-shaped person behind the Disguise, but they cannot use that info. Just because you know who they are out-of-character doesn’t mean you can act on that info in-character.

  • If someone seems unsure, just tell them you aren’t that character, or you can simply place a hand on your head and remind them “Clarify: Disguised”.

• The Awareness Skill does NOT counter this secondary use of the Stealth Skill.

• You cannot drastically change your character’s costume WITHOUT the Disguise Skill.

  • IMPORTANT: This means that unless you use this particular Skill, no amount of scarves, fake mustaches, elaborate costumes, disguising your voice, etc. can provide you a way to hide your true identity as a character.

  • In other words, you gotta use a Skill or item for a disguise, not just a clever mask or outfit.

• You cannot disguise a Supply Bag, so you should have a different, secondary Supply Bag for your disguise costume.

As written, this skill can be challenging to use effectively, so let’s first consider some other implied rules of the Disguise skill.

inferred rules of disguise

As we dig a bit deeper into some things that are inferred in this skill, some of these things are not readily obvious. These are important clarifications, but some of these are not specifically stated anywhere so you gotta apply a bit of logic. Some of this is also going to be using rules from Blueprints, but I’ll discuss those specific interactions in more detail below.

• There is no time to use this skill, other than the time to put on another costume. This is the rare skill that has no activation time, other than real life speed at changing clothes.

• This is an instant effect of a Skill, and not an active Skill like Artisan or Medical. Once the Skill has been used, it is in effect on you for the duration and you can do other actions, including Active Roleplay (p. 102) skills.

• This is not an active Skill use, so it cannot be Interrupted (p. 104). Thus, it is not immediately removed or stopped by being Subdued or Unconscious.

• You cannot use this Skill while Subdued (p. 107), as it does not specifically state that you can. That means you will no longer be able to reactivate the skill at the end of 30 minutes while Subdued, so all your captor has to do is wait until it expires to discover the person behind the mask. Roh roh, Scooby!

• The book does not state when a disguise ends, other than the duration in the skill. That means there is no mechanical way to remove a Disguise.

  • “But, Jonathan, Combat Goggles state…” The goggles specifically state that it counters New Papers Camouflage (the Shadow PFA Skill use) only, and NOT the Proficient Stealth Skill.

• For our purposes in DR:TX, unless the Disguise is removed by the user on purpose, the Disguise skill ends upon character death and sinking into the Mortis Amaranthine (as there is no body left to disguise). This was clarified, per the Community Forums.

  • This means Widow’s Tea can help protect your identity if captured, as you can use it while Subdued!

• If you die while wearing a Disguise, you will NOT be Disguised in the Mortis Amaranthine scene (unless you are using other equipment I’ll talk about below). Folks with Necrokinetics or the like will be able to see the “real” you in the Grave Mind.

• Because the Disguise is simply a LIE, if someone uses the “Interrogate” function of Basic Malicious, Proficient Mental Endurance, Telepathy, Combat Goggles, or other methods to get you to tell the truth, your Disguise won’t help you — you will have answer as your true identity.

  • You must have another item or Skill to let you evade these types of questions, such as the PFA use of Moulen Rouge Camouflage, an “Oh Shit!” Shoe Tack, or Basic Mental Endurance.

  • This also means something like a Daline Death Measure Osteotome can ask questions of your corpse after your die and get answers from the REAL you, unless you’ve used the Camouflage item before your death.

Blueprints & Disguise

So the Skill itself has some limitations, so let’s look at the ways to modify this skill using EQUIPMENT. There’s only really three pieces of equipment that modify the Disguise skill, so let’s look at them each in detail (other than the few related items I’ve mentioned above, like Shoe Tacks and Widow's Tea).

I’ve included a link to the database in each title so you can see the rules for yourself.

Moulen Rouge Camouflage (GIZMO)

This item is the most commonly used item with the Disguise skill. Even after the release of the Many Faced Mask at Dead Water, this item still has some important uses that are not replicated.

• This is a single-use item. Once you use it, it’s gone.

• Basic Mechanics: Doesn’t impact Disguise at all. Sorry. Craft it to a higher level.

• Proficient Mechanics: This changes the duration to 1 hour, and it only costs 1 mind. You can still reactivate the Skill later, but it will be at the 5 Mind cost as usual (and only last 30 minutes per use after that). You would have to use ANOTHER one of these gizmos to get the longer duration and cheaper mind cost. This is great for newer players that don’t have a lot of Mind yet and still want to put on a Disguise.

• Master Mechanics: This is important for our Dusters, or folks that don’t have this Skill at all. Since the Skill is normally only usable on yourself, this allows you to apply a Disguise for 1 hour to another character. Just because you don’t have Proficient Stealth doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the sneaky plays around being in Disguise. This is a great way for even new Dusters to participate in Murder Incorporated…

• Achievement Mechanics: This is probably one of the most unique uses of the Skill, using the Shadow PFA. This changes the duration to 24 hours, allows you to answer Interrogate questions as your alternate identity, and even persists past death. Be wary, though, as this effect has a specific counter in the Combat Goggles item that can reveal your identity.

This blueprint had a notable change in November last year, gaining better uses of the Disguise skill and being reduced in cost to make (it no longer costs Plastics, just Scrap and Herb). If you haven’t gotten your blueprint updated, it’s worth checking to make sure it has the right date on the bottom right corner of the print. It should say “Revised 11/23/21”.

Combat Goggles (GIZMO)

This item is primarily notable as it is the only counter to the Disguise skill, but ONLY the use of the skill with the Achievement Mechanics of the Moulen Rouge Camouflage.

• B/P/M Mechanics: The basic item doesn’t require a Skill to use, but only the PFA ability interacts with Disguise. Everything else is used to protect you from the Blinding skill.

• Achievement Mechanics: This allows a Veteran PFA to not only detect if someone is lying, but it also specifically counters the “New Papers Camouflage” PFA ability of the Moulen Rouge Camouflage.

• This item does NOT actually counter the Disguise of a Many Faced Mask or the actual use of the Disguise skill by itself. However, it can be used to detect lies at the end of the 10 minutes, so it functions very similarly to uncover a disguised person as Malicious or Mental Endurance. If you want to stay in Disguise, remember the motto of the Criminal Influence Underworld: “Eyes Open, MOUTH SHUT”.

The Many Faced Mask (MURDER INC GIZMO)

This is now the premiere Disguise item in the game, but it’s not without it’s own quirks. If you aren’t part of Murder Incorporated, it could be character deadly to be caught using their equipment without their blessing.

• This item takes Proficient Stealth to use. It only requires Basic Criminal Influence and Murder Inc. Society Membership to CRAFT, not use.

• This item is ALWAYS recognizable as a Murder Inc. item. The goal is to hide your specific identity as an assassin, NOT the identity of your employers. Murder Inc. kinda wants their victims to know it was them…

• Unlike most Murder Inc. equipment, this does NOT have the “Wasteland-Only” keyword, so it can be used anywhere in our DR:TX game.

• This mask requires a specific phys rep. While it is generally in the shape of the three sub-faction identities (bauta, plague mask, featureless), it can be other shapes depending on which Family you are part of. You find some specifics on our website.

• Basic Mechanics: This is a rare Basic item that modifies a Proficient skill use. This makes the Disguise last until the END OF THE EVENT, or until you remove the mask or reveal your identity. That’s pretty huge. You don’t have to worry about spending lots of Mind to stay in Disguise, but if you are tied up or Subdued, someone can just remove the mask off of you.

• Proficient Mechanics: This is a solid upgrade to the Basic effect, because now if anyone removes or breaks your mask except you, the Disguise continues until the next 12s. This is one good way to keep a Disguise on for a long time, even if you are Subdued since you won’t have to reactivate it for a while. Just make sure you have some time until the next 12s, cause if they take your Mask off at 11:55am, this effect only lasts 5 minutes!

• Master Mechanics: The mask’s disguise ability at Basic or Proficient now persists beyond death. This is similar to the PFA use of Moulen Rouge Camouflage, and can protect you from snooping folks using Necrokinetics. However, it can cause some… interesting modifications to the Grave Mind scene, as the rumors behind your Disguise can influence the Mortis Amaranthine itself.

• It’s worth noting that this item does NOT allow you to LIE about your identity when questioned. You’ll have to rely on other items or Skills to stay quiet.

These three items are the main things you should be aware of when using Disguise, but there could be Augments or other Local Plot Items that interact with this skill in the future. This is a complete list for now, but it could change!

Jonathan’s Best Practices for DisguisE

As part of our Radical Trust and steering, we want to make it even easier for folks to buy into the disguise and that means maintaining the illusion of disbelief as long as possible. Sure, they might recognize you as a player, but let’s give them something worthwhile to roleplay with and a potential for a fun reveal later! No matter if you want to control the information about your true identity or carefully reveal it at a dramatic opportunity, a better disguise can aid either type of roleplay.

If you see someone that you recognize and suspect they are in a disguise, play along. Buy into their roleplay, and give them the benefit of the doubt. This is the best type of ethical steering in my mind, as it gives you a fun scene but also says “yes, and..” to the other player. I promise that if you make a habit of trusting your fellow player to play along, you’ll be surprised with how often they do.

Using a Disguise can be a really fun experience. It’s a thrill unlike any other, and it’s often a very useful tool in CvC to try to avoid consequences for illegal activities like theft or murder. If the Law Dog doesn’t know who to arrest, you can’t be dragged to the Gauntlet after all. With our new CvC factions of Murder Inc. and the Red Ledger and all the plots they have in store for next season, there’s a lot of new opportunities to engage in a bit of the more dangerous side of the game, provided you can conceal your real identity.

We’ve also recently introduced a new Zone of Mechanics during Criminal mods called the “PANOPTICON”. This is a yellow sheet of paper that will be flagged by the Guide at the start of a mod where you should probably have a Disguise. You will sign the sheet, record your player number and whatever “name” you are claiming at that time, and state whether or not you are currently in Disguise. If you see this sheet and don’t have the ability to put on a Disguise with a Skill or item, this means you are “opting in” to consequences if something goes wrong because someone is always watching. You can also choose to “opt out” of the mod or go in knowing that your identity may be learned by some bad folks (or Law Dogs).

With that in mind, there’s a couple of practical and physical considerations for using the Disguise skill. This is a list of my best practices recommendations, but I’m sure others have some great suggestions as well. If you need help in figuring out a Disguise, talk to your friends or look for other players engaged in the Criminal play in the game for other ideas.

Change your identifiable features & Clothing

It may seem a little obvious, but it’s worth mentioning. Don’t wear a visible costume piece that might immediately give you away. Ideally, this is an entirely different costume than your normal outfit, and not just a blanket or set of scarves over your face. A good disguise makes you indistinguishable from your true character at a glance.

Don’t wear that fancy flag or patch, and try to conceal things about you that are uniquely noticeable. If you are very tall, try to walk with a hunch or slump. If you are tiny, consider pillows or padding to simulate a different shape or size. I’ve seen some folks even use things like prosthetics or stilts to change their profile. You can also use baggier clothing, or change your normal fit. Use flowing, form-concealing clothing to hide your profile. If they can’t see or recognize your normal body shape, it can be hard to identify you.

Remember to make sure that even parts of the REAL YOU that are identifiable like tattoos, hair, beards, body jewelry, or even exposed skin are hidden in your disguise. If someone notices something like this out of character, it can make it hard for them not to associate that disguise with you. Something like a wig can go a long way to concealing your identity, particularly if you have colorful or notable hair colors, for instance.

Wear a Mask

Like I mentioned before the best disguises prevent someone from recognizing you out of character. The best way I’ve found to do this is through the use of a MASK. While items like the Many Faced Mask are also mechanically useful in game, a mask could be purposefully recognizable or iconic, or just something very common like a Raider or Retrograde mask. Keep in mind that a full face mask can be challenging to fight safely in, as it can affect your peripheral vision. Make sure you find something that is comfortable to wear and easy to breathe in, particularly if you plan on staying in disguise for a longer time.

Additionally, there’s something primal about not being able to see a person’s eyes or face. It’s a big way to inspire horror and fear, and there’s a reason why some of the best villains like Raiders or Nemesis conceal their faces with a mask — it hides who they are! It’s the main reason that Murder Inc. uses iconic masks — they want you to feel that dread as you recognize them as an agent of the shadowy assassin’s guild.

Keep your mouth shut

The best way to have a great Disguise is to simply NEVER TALK. Be silent and mysterious. No matter how good your costume is, your voice can give you away. You might be one of those people that can make a neat accent, but that’s definitely not one of my talents. If they can’t recognize your voice, they can’t identify you later. Use hand symbols or gestures, or if you are talented enough you can use actual sign language. Write down your threats in a book for them to read. If you must talk, use a whisper. But, when in doubt, just don’t say anything at all and do your best to roleplay the brooding, silent spy.

have a different set of Gear for your disguise

The Disguise skill doesn’t change the look of that unique boffer weapon that you had specially made by a talented crafter. If they can recognize your gear, someone might be able to determine your real identity. This means that while you are taking care to conceal obvious parts of your costume, don’t make the mistake of using the same weapons, shields, and armor. Get a different boffer, different phys reps, and even different injectibles or brews.

Remember that you can’t Disguise a Supply Bag, so have a secondary Supply Bag to use in your disguise. It can also help to keep a completely separate set of gear for use in your disguises. If you can, try to even have a different type of weapon that you normally rely on. If always have a Shield when not using a disguise, sometimes something as simple as using Florentine instead can change your profile in a big way.

develop a new persona

Develop an identity with a background, a hometown, a name and a family, and thoughts and feelings about the world. Make sure you put some thought into how you might answer normal questions about Faith, local politics, or the events of the weekend. Be careful about pretending to be part of a crew or faction that you don’t know much about, as it can be a quick way to out yourself as an impostor. If you can hold a conversation with another character while still in the role of your disguise, it can go a long way to selling the deception.

Remember things like Society Memberships for Factions can be a great way to separate the identity too — if you are a diehard RRC member, maybe working on a Supply Order for the Junkerpunks could be a good way to stand out as someone different.

accessorize your outfit

The more complete your outfit is while in disguise, the more easily people can steer into accepting this new face as a different person than your normal character. The best disguises are almost as elaborate as a costume for your secondary character or alt. Accessories can be a great way to accomplish this, so think about something like a Faith patch or symbol of a San Saba Faction to sell the story. Things like hats, jewelry, or other gear like medical kits or crafting tools can be a good way to create a new identity. Stuff like trophies, small trinkets, or keepsakes can help create that complete persona. Accessories help build layers for your disguise.

If you can, you can even try to have a few items with item cards ready for your identity. That medical kit sells your identity as a small town doctor better if it’s actually a Candlepin Medical Kit. Think about popular Gizmos or equipment that people like to use, and try to use actual in-game items as accessories.

details matter

Think of the little things that might give you away in your disguise. Be careful about pulling out your character sheet in view of others, or using your character name at the Post Office. Try using a foreign currency if you purchase things while in disguise to add to the mystery. Have some unique trappings of your outfit that makes it a complete costume, and not just a black sheet you’ve draped over your shoulders. Practice not answering or flinching when someone calls you by your real character name. Try to think through every little detail that might give away your identity while in disguise, and be prepared for surprises.

Some advanced ways to make details matter are to develop and use a Skill that you don’t normally use in character. If your sneaky identity learned to use Culinary in secret, it can go a long way to selling the disguise if it’s not a Skill that people might recognize you having. If you have XP to spare, it can be useful to keep a few tricks hidden up your sleeve.

The anti-disguise

While something like a mask can be an obvious tool for a disguise, don’t overlook keeping it simple. After all, Clark Kent simply put on a pair of glasses to hide his identity as Superman. Something simple like a pair of glasses, a beard, or a wig can make a big impact. Makeup can go a long way to change your look, particularly if you lean into something like pretending to be a Retrograde or Full Dead. If you’ve always wanted to try a different Strain, a Disguise can be a good way to try out something like LED glow to pretend to be a Iron or Unstable.

Try picking a Strain that is drastically different than your normal Strain to create a clear separation between your Disguise and your character. Treat your disguise as if it was a different character, and try to just be “normal”. Sometimes, wearing a scary black outfit and a spooky mask does more to attract attention than simply being just another “Duster” in the background of the Depot.

THE NPC Disguise

This piece of advice is not for the timid. We have a peculiar habit in DR that can sometimes get the better of us. We get used to seeing that person in black sweat pants wearing a bad cowboy hat and a plaid button up shirt walking into town selling brews, asking for help, or simply getting in trouble. When they show up, we generally try to play along. You know it’s an NPC, and it’s hard not to treat them like one. A clever player can try to lean into this effect by keeping your disguise a little TOO obvious. A pair of black sweatpants and a simple boffer that could be mistaken for an NPC weapon can build the illusion.

However, this can backfire. If someone is really fooled by your disguise, they might assume you are an NPC and try to attack or rob you if you aren’t careful. The “murder-hobo” LC can be a big danger if you are pretending to be a random townsfolk or merchant. If you wear a scary Raider or Nemesis mask, they might just kill you to get your “loot”. You might get a little more push back than normal if they think you are just the random pickpocket NPC walking into town to make trouble, or that bandit trying to lure people off into the Wastelands. Be warned!

Limit your Exposure

Even the best disguises can be broken if folks have enough time to notice the inconsistencies. Keep your interactions with other characters short and sweet. Don’t give them enough time to really dig into who you are or what you are doing. When you can, avoid people and keep focused on your mission or task. Keeping moving, and don’t stay in one place for long. If you are out to attack someone or plant that black clothespin, keep your eyes on the prize and limit the time folks have to notice that you are wearing a disguise.

Remember, the only real way to identify someone in a disguise is to capture and question them, or to spend 10 minutes with a Veteran and a pair of Combat Goggles. If they don’t get 10 minutes, they can’t break your disguise!

stay in character longer

This is kind of the opposite advice of the point above, but it’s worth mentioning. One particularly powerful way to sell your disguise is to let people assume that you are playing an alternate character. We have lots of people that play multiple characters during an event, and you can lean into this assumption by pretending to be an alt instead. Remember, anyone with an Advanced Membership can play up to three different characters during an event, so what if this disguise was just one of those characters? Wink, wink

This means you need to stick around for about 4 hours, since you can’t switch between your characters that fast under normal circumstances. Try to attend social events in your disguise, or make trips to the Post Office. Complete a project at the workbench or kitchen, or help tend to the wounded at the Infirmary. Interact with people, and stay in your chosen role as long as you can. This gives you a strong “alibi”, as your character was clearly not there when that heist went down, officer. Just remember that you cannot mechanically LIE in character without specific equipment that allows you do so. You can roleplay a lie all you want, but if they start using Skills on you the disguise won’t help. Be prepared to evade that Interrogation, or find somewhere else to be when the Veteran shows up.

Plan an escape route

So the hardest part of wearing a disguise is when you eventually get caught. It’s honestly not a matter of IF you get caught in a Disguise, but rather WHEN you get caught. Make sure you have a way out. Be aware of exits out of buildings, and make sure you are close to an exit if stuff seems like its turning against you. Take advantage of distractions like zombie or raider attacks or player events to fade into a crowd and away from pursuers. Most importantly, make a plan. The more ready you are for someone catching you, the better you will react when the time comes.

Items like the Widow’s Tea, or skills like Master Stealth can be quick ways to get away, but if it’s at night even Basic Stealth can be handy for a quick getaway. Sometimes, simply outrunning your opponents can be a great way to survive, so practice that cardio! Or simply kill them. It’s hard to be identified if no witnesses survive!

P.S. Sorry, not sorry if I just made you want to reinstall Team Fortress 2.

Wrap up

That’s it for today, and it was a doozy! Sorry for the length of this post, but it was a LOT to cover. There’s still a second part to this discussion, particularly related to Steering and Criminal Play, but that’s a blog post for later.

We have a fun event in store for you during THE CICATRIX, including our recently announced POOL TIME at Kachina. Tickets are on sale through Friday, but you’ll still be able to buy tickets at the door at the game!

Next week, I’ll be covering some of the last minute rules to consider for the event, including information about the Stakeholder’s Meeting and how you might find a… messy… way OUT of the Mortis Amaranthine if you die…

See you next time Vados!

Summertime in May!

It’s Amber here with an Admin update about the next game: THE CICATRIX!

Spring feels like Summer in these parts, and DR:TX plans to give you all the summer fun things to cool you off and cool you down! We have several wet and wild options provided by the staff this May game and here is everything you need to know about them!

Remember, ticket sales close on FRIDAY so make sure you pre-reg and let us know you are coming to the event!

water events

We will have two unique events to watch out for in-game:

• Splash Mods: These mods will have some avenue to get you wet, but only with water. This could be water balloons, water guns, a hose, a pool full of water, etc. The method of distribution might change, but there will still only be water on these mods. If you don’t want your kit (or blueprints!) to get wet, steer clear!

• Splatter Mods: Splatter mods also intend to get you wet, but with goopy, weird avenues that aren’t just water. It could be Fake blood, dish soap, water-soluble lubricants, etc, but these mods can involve any people- and environmentally-safe liquid we could acquire. Splatter mods may also involve chunks of guts and gore, so if you are looking to distress your outfit it could be a good start!

As a special note for THE CICATRIX:

Activity with the Grave Mind has an Opt In Splatter Mod this game. If you don’t want to get this stuff on your kit we suggest bringing a spare change of black NPC wear you don’t mind getting… messy.  Turns out physically crawling into the Mortis Amaranthine is a bit gross. Who would have thought?

Splatter Mods will be labeled appropriately before you engage with them, Splash Mods will not.

pool access!

Also this year – and for the first time ever – we are excited to let you know that we have organized with Camp Kachina to have access to the POOL for designated swim time! That’s right, you can get that special Junkerpunk Summer Beach Episode you’ve always wanted! (NO JOKES THIS TIME!)

The POOL will be available Saturday afternoon from 1pm-4pm, so get your in-character swimsuits ready because this space will be in character and there could be combat! Remember, Anyport is in the Wasteland too!

Following the Pool Rules of Kachina listed below– we will introduce “splash balls” to the game which are soft water toys for ranged combat and it will be the only combat allowed within the pool area. Mechanics to come in a future Rules Ramble probably.

The Lifeguard can only supervise about 20 people in the space at a time and we might only have 1-2 Lifeguards, so we’re asking each of you to rotate your swim time in good faith so that everyone has a chance to swim. Just be kind, courteous, and aware so that your pals can also have fun!

The Lifeguard on Duty has full authority to ask you to leave the pool area if you are not following the Splash Ball, Kachina Rules, or are just being unsafe! We trust you all to respect the really great opportunity that Kachina has given us because we have a good working relationship with them; we know our players also value that relationship. 

Kachina’s Pool Rules

These will be posted at the pool area along with any other game mechanics we introduce.

• No diving

• Food not permitted

• No glass bottles

• Don’t hang on the rope

• Walking around the pool only

• Hair must be pulled back while in the pool

• Generally no unsafe behavior (hanging on necks that will dunk another individual, breath holding games, etc.)

• We also note that jumping into the shallow end is not permitted due to the fact that the shallow end goes from 2.5 feet to 4 feet and jumping into that shallow end will cause a lot of real life injury.

• There are outdoor “showers” on the outside of the pool for people to rinse off really quick before entering the pool.

• Currently, the pool bathrooms are for changing only – please DO NOT use the toilets 

• There are chains that connect the rock wall to the fence….please do not go around/underneath the chains and behind the rock wall….for visibility and safety purposes, we keep the space directly behind the rock wall roped off.

• We typically ask that people don’t swim under the ropes as well

If we have enough lifeguards we will also be able to supervise use of the Rock Wall, and here are the rules for that. 

• We will set up a separate rope to mark off the rock wall area (so the pool will have 3 zones….shallow, deep, and rock wall).

• One person at a time on the rock wall and in the rock wall zone. We do not want someone coming off the rock wall to land on another individual in the rock wall zone.

• Please ONLY re-enter the pool feet first from the rock wall (do not push off the rock wall and attempt to flip, go head first, etc.)

Now that the fun Summer things are out of the way, let’s talk about the not fun things; the Texas Heat.

Summer Heat is SERIOUS

If you were at the April game you experienced how warm and humid it can get. We had a lot of people experience different stages of Heat Illness and we want to work together to prevent that. (This means YOU, Shan!)

Here is a poster from the CDC that can help you identify levels of heat illness and treat them appropriately.

This poster will be printed and located in major areas around the site.

It’s also important that you consult your prescribing physician about any medications you are taking – especially Psychiatric medicines – so you know their specific heat intolerance and water intake regulations as that might play a major role in preventing that. 

Other things to consider when joining us in the heat; make sure you are applying sunscreen regularly. We will be providing generic spray sunscreen for pool activities, but you will be responsible for your own for the rest of the event or if you have skin sensitivity! 

The back room of Kiva is always a good place to lay down and be cool if you get overheated. We will also have ice packs in both the freezer of Ops and Kiva. If you use them, please wipe them down with disinfectant wipe before putting them in. If you don’t want to use those, we will also have instant toss away ice packs in both the Med Room and Ops. Don’t be afraid to ask to use them! 

REMEMBER TO HYDRATE! Ops will also be providing Gatorade to drink and Electrolyte tabs if you need them, but make sure you’re sipping cool water when out in play! 

The DR:TX team is excited to bring you all of these cool things for our season closer, and we know that you’ll enjoy them all responsibility.  

See you in a few weeks, Vados!

Empty Hands; A Vignette following Collection Day

Two days after the Takheeta Incident

Calling it a town was being generous.  It had people who lived there, a Post Office, and not much else.  Meager crops were grown on the outskirts, and a shack barely standing served liquid that could be mistaken for hooch. Even its name, Temp, was a joke.  But the visitor who came that night wasn’t laughing.

His appearance was confusing for those who lived in the backwater settlement.  They knew who and what he was, and what his arrival usually meant.  But it was no longer Collection Day.  The people of Temp had paid all their Taxes.  So when the Reckoner walked through the middle of town that night, the citizens hid inside.  Bullets were loaded into rifles, but no one dared fire a shot lest he take it personally. 

Lanterns flickered, their dim light reflecting off of the scattergun on the Reckoner’s back.  A dark hood covered his head, but those who stared long enough could catch glimpse of bleached bone and sunken eyes.  His name was Solomon, and he had been walking for two days straight.  His path led him directly through Temp, past the sleeping and peering citizens, to what he sought.

Temp’s Morgue was a sad affair.  An Oldcestor building, with a heavy metal door that raised and lowered as the fallen returned.  Up until two days ago, no living thing would approach without a very real and urgent cause.  Those who gathered outside the Morgue to wait on their family made sure to stay far away.  But no longer.  Now, it was too quiet.  There was nothing here at all.

Solomon strode up to the heavy metal door and stopped, standing still.  The voices, the feel of the Morgue, were both gone.  They were replaced, not by nothing, but by their absence.  Solomon lowered his hood and rested his boney skull against the cold metal, silently begging to feel something.  But he was met with only silence.  It was maddening.  But more than that.  

He was alone.

“Fuck.”

Four Days After The Takheeta Incident

Solomon knew what he should have done.  He should have reported to Rampart, currently on his way to Essex to “assess the situation.”  He should find the Groundskeepers and assist in their efforts.  He should contact those contracted to the Council, research the problem and find a solution.  He knew he should do all these things.

Instead, Solomon had started to dig.

When the sun went down, Solomon had started to dig in the hard ground outside of Bravado.  He was seen, and whispered about, and reported on, but no one approached or questioned him.  The Reckoner had fought with the people of Bravado on that fateful night, but that didn’t mean he was trusted.  At best, he was tolerated.  At worst, he was watched.

But those watching just saw the Full Dead dig.

Slowly, some of the townsfolk began to follow Solomon into the soggy mud of the Morgue’s interior.  A shock of braided white hair.  Muted red glowing.  Tired faces and leather vests.  Fangs and small bats, slung rifles and newly grown ears.  Tunnel dwellers and hearty drinkers.  No one questioned Solomon, and after observing, they began to help too.  They dug through the night, taking breaks and talking amongst each other quietly. Through the muck and the blood they dug, trying to exhume the dead from their graves, and failing each time.

Finally, as the horizon began to brighten, a Graverobber approached the Reckoner as they gazed out at the sky.

“I don’t think we’re getting anywhere, Solomon.”

A quiet moment passed, as a tall Hellhound approached on the other side.

“We’ve got a real big fucking problem, Brother.”

Solomon remained quiet, his shoulders rising and falling.  With a grunt, he thrust his shovel into the dirt.

“Fuck.”
“What are we going to do?”

Solomon had no answer.  But worse than that, he feared there wasn’t one.

FIN

---

Don’t forget to Register for the DR:TX Season 3 Finale [THE CICATRIX]

Story Recap: Collection Day

Good morning! It’s Jonathan here with a STORY RECAP for the recent event, COLLECTION DAY. 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, 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.

Tickets for our next event are on sale NOW!! You can buy tickets for our season 3 finale event, THE CICATRIX today!!

You can also find our other game recaps from this season online here:

• Season 3, Episode 1: THE SECOND FOUNDING

• Season 3, Episode 2: CARNIVAL MACABRE

• Season 3, Episode 3: BLOOD FEAST

• Season 3, Episode 4: THE LONG NIGHT

• Season 3, Episode 5: BEYOND THE HORIZON

• Season 3, Episode 6: QUEENSGRACE

So once you’ve been caught up, let’s refresh our memories about the premise behind the event…

Premise for Collection Day

In the bloody wake of Holy Mother Queen Jasper’s final walk; Bravado’s Morgue is damaged beyond normal repair. Its delicate state, even prior to the extended use of the terrible ritual that interrupted Jasper’s connection with The Cycle, is indicative of a greater problem in the San Saba Territories, and that is the infrastructural deterioration of the morgue system; which has been ongoing since the cataclysmic damage it sustained during the final days of the Hiway War.

The Grave Council, ostensibly responsible for the morgue system’s upkeep in the Greater Lonestar, is headed by the enigmatic spiritual leader and Mystagog Takheeta Firstborn of the Imix Tribe and Commander Rampart of the Reckoners; the Grave Council’s military arm.  The Grave Council’s stated purpose, since its infancy in the wake of the Psionic Bomb, is to steward and to repair the deep structures of the morgue system; and to deliver to the San Saba people an uninterrupted and natural Infectious Cycle. 

To that end, Takeeta Firstborn has realigned the purpose of Collection Day; the historical holiday upon which the Grave Council collects its Death Tax with her greater ideal, and to the end of stabilizing the morgue infrastructure the entire San Saba over. She, on behalf of the Grave Council, has agreed to accept not only Brass as the blood currency for her Tax, but Infection as well. In return for the lives of common farmers and delvers, she will pay their petty debts in full. Their biomass to her purpose, and their lives to her infernal engine of change.

Let’s look a bit deeper into what happened next..

A dark ritual

Since the last days of the Hiway War, Bravado and all of the San Saba have been infected with a lasting curse, the Plague of the Unfinished. The recently returned could emerge with this terrible wasting illness if not brought back carefully by a Sanctioned Graverobber of the Grave Council, a symptom of the damaged morgues. Though treatable, the illness would continue to plague the cycle of death until the cause was addressed. In this manner, Takheeta Firstborn, high Mystagogue of the Grave Council, set into motion the first steps of THE GREAT WORK — a plan to cure, for once and for all, the Plague of the Unfinished and to repair the injured Mortis Amaranthine in the San Saba.

With the help of mystagogue and graverobber teams simultaneously enacting an ancient Imix ritual on the morgues across the San Saba, from Essex to Waking, from Widow’s Peak to the Clutch, the Grave Council could complete an unthinkable and monumental task. The task would require a phenomenal amount of effort, psionic strength, and the timely coordination of each group of mystagogues working together. Takheeta herself would lead the ritual from the site closest to the ancient wound, closest to the point that the psionic bomb ravaged the Mortis at the close of the Hiway War, the tiny town of Bravado, and home of our story.

In the early darkness of Friday, the Grave Council elite, including Takheeta Firstborn, Commander Rampart, and several of the locally contracted members of the Grave Council in Bravado, assembled for the eve of Collection Day, a grim and hopeful purpose in mind — to FIX the wounded morgues of the San Saba in one grand gesture. However, much like saving a deeply wounded person, it would be necessary to make sure that the patient didn’t fight back against the life saving surgeries necessary to repair the Morgue. In order to repair the Morgues, they must first put the Mortis Amaranthine to sleep.

However, influencing the Grave Mind is a tricky and uncertain thing. Gathering five new Dusters, fresh off the Oxline, a coat of thin San Saba dust still on their clothing, Takheeta planned to use new faces to town to offer a lullaby to the Mortis. Singing a song with voices that the Mortis had no memory of, no recollection of, and those than have never passed through the morgues of Bravado was crucial to begin the GREAT WORK. These five new Dusters, Clover, Katherine, Jackal, Wormy, and Bessie, became the heroes that the Grave Council needed to enact their ritual.

Intoning the ancient words of the Prince Undying, that “Imprint is Matter, Matter is Imprint”, Takheeta set into motion her boldest plan. With the ritual, she would temporarily “move” the Morgue to a new location, convincing the Mortis that each time a soul was returned from death it was returned to place of her choosing instead. By claiming a memory of peace and happiness from each of the gathered Dusters, they could sing the Mortis Amaranthine into a coma and allow the Council a chance to “operate” on the Morgue from a place close by, but still outside of the Morgues themselves: THE NEAR DEATH.

The Emergence of the Near Death

Takheeta’s plan centered around the use of a powerful artifact from the ancient roving city of Barogue — THE CANTANKEROUS MATRIX. This device was a curiously powerful psionic crystal, built with psitech technology from the oldcestors, once lost to the Dune Sea and recently found by intrepid explorers last year. The device had been used by Commander Rampart to create the RUSTED CAGE that imprisoned the Gutmother back in September and thought stolen in the early hours of the morning after that ritual. How it ended up in Takheeta’s hands afterwards likely involved a betrayal of the rival leader of the Grave Council.

When held, the crystal was capable of empowering a psion with limitless mind, an endless battery for the arcane workings of psionics. Whether this relic was truly a piece of the Scion Vossa, the ancient heart of Barogue, stolen so long ago by Sister Mammon in her great betrayal, it was still uncertain. Surely it would have been bigger, if it was that ancient battery? Regardless, the relic was center to the Grave Council’s ritual to lull the Grave Mind to sleep and repair the massive damage to the Mortis.

In Takheeta’s hubris, she decided that the Cantankerous Matrix was the key to her plan to fix every morgue throughout the San Saba, and so she did the unthinkable — she broke it. From the fragments, she assembled the shattered pieces of the once titanic battery into a new creation, the CANTANKEROUS MATRIX, REFORGED. This new device would enable her mystagogues to empower the rituals of the Imix tribe of Unborn, passed down for generations, connecting each of her servants across the San Saba back to one, singular point. The process of remaking the artifact into something new nearly exhausted the once-limitless energy source, so they would need a new pool of psionic power to draw from. But, having achieved the unthinkable, rebuilding a psitech device of the oldcestors, Takheeta’s plan to fix all the morgues at once didn’t seem so far out of reach.

The new relic was implanted into a shallow wound in the ground, akin to cutting into the torso of someone undergoing open heart surgery. Within this NEAR DEATH, a liminal place at once physical and beyond death, the Cantankerous Matrix would call to the sleeping Morgue nearby and redirect its efforts into the Near Death. The place was as cold as death, filled with the memories of those heroic Dusters, built around a shrine to the Barogian relic. From within, a powerful psion could continue the GREAT WORK. When someone returned from the dead, they would now emerge at the Near Death instead, and the Groundskeepers could draw them back across the threshold of death and return them to life once more, in a temporary morgue free from the corruption of the Plague of the Unfinished.

It was a brilliant plan to allow the mystagogues of the Grave Council unfettered access to the damaged morgue for their healing rituals, but it was not without its own… side effects.

the fragmented dead

The process of moving the morgue across the town of Bravado had unintended consequences. First appearing Friday night, a new form of undead began emerging from an exit of the Mortis Amaranthine. Broken and unfinished, filled with the cancerous diseases of the damaged morgue, amalgams of nightmares, the FRAGMENTED DEAD became a new plague on the town. These powerful undead exhibited curious traits of multiple zed in one form. The zombie might rush forward with the speed of a Burster, survive countless blows with the endurance of a Tank, and chatter maddeningly at you like it was a Lost Boy. The distance between the morgues, and the ritual wrought by the mystics of the Grave Council was creating these broken, fragmented dead.

This same issue began to spread. Critters that fed on the dead, like the infamous MURDER GOAT DEER, quickly mutated from the unlikely new food source. The diseased dead could also spread the Plague of the Unfinished at a touch, and even though the doctors of the town knew a treatment plan for the dangerous disease, it exhausted resources of Mind and Infectious Material quickly. Even the Gravehead Raider Clans, those raiders that “herd” packs of zombies to weaken their prey joined in, collecting new hordes of Fragmented Dead to drive into town. Bravado quickly had it’s hands full with new, dangerous, mutated zed, raiders, and critters alike.

It was clear that the NEAR DEATH was the cause of the newly Fragmented Dead, and that the process would continue until the GREAT WORK was completed. For now, there was no answer but to simply endure the new threats.

the Tax Booth & the theft of the ledger

Early Saturday morning, the next stage of the GREAT WORK took place. The Grave Council arrived, in full ceremony with their force of graverobbers, mystagogues, and groundskeepers to begin their collection efforts for the holiest of days - COLLECTION DAY. Each year, the Collectors travel to the settlements of the San Saba, settling the books for another year by collecting the debts owed for services rendered. This year, however, the citizens of Bravado were provided an alternative means of payment.

Despite an attempt the night before Collection Day to steal the Grave Ledger, the antique book that records the debts of those that have died, the Grave Council remained resolute in the face of those that opposed the collection of the taxes. For an organization of shifting bureaucracies and voluminous records, acquiring a backup copy of the Ledger from Essex created an annoying delay, but did not disrupt the opening of the Tax Booth in Bravado. Rampart’s elite Reckoners also accompanied the retinue into town, determined to keep the peace and preserve the sanctity of their collection efforts, as well as to track down the culprits that would threaten a holy relic like the Ledger.

At the newly opened Booth, a citizen of Bravado could pay their debts in alternate means, by offering up a literal “pound of flesh”, blood and bone, or even an important part of their memories. Each donation had a different rate, chosen from a “menu” of ABSOLUTIONS. These donations, oblations to the Grave Mind itself, could be offered in lieu of hard currency like Brass notes. Farmers and townsfolk alike flocked to the booth to settle up, each choosing a manner to pay their debts that they thought they could afford.

When someone gave up a memory or organ, the donor would be ushered beyond the veil of the Near Death by a nearby Groundskeeper or Grave Council affiliate. Within the chilly embrace of the Mortis, the donor would give of themselves beneath the altar to the Cantankerous Matrix, casting their imprint, their biomass, into the blasphemous well of the Barogian relic. Each offering empowered the psionic crystal, restoring its connection to the many rituals happening concurrently across the San Saba. The Grave Council had a quota to make, and they set themselves to gathering what they could from the town.

The San Saba Republic

Following the events of QUEENSGRACE, the Tribes Disparate were left with a choice that would be settled in the wake of the death of Queen Jasper. In the waning moments of the Summit, several Regents of the Tribes left the moot in anger, including the leaders of the Antler Tribe, the Oxkillers, and the JaCinto Militia. The remaining Regents signed a contract to elect Boss Lucy Debs, leader of the Local 727, as the new Queen of the embattled faction. However, they still had work to decide the specifics of their new government and promised to have an answer within one month’s time. The no-nonsense Iron leader arrived in Bravado during Collection Day, ready to announce the results of their hard work, but with a few surprising guests in her retinue.

Colonel Sabbath Jacinto, the principled leader of one of the largest Fallow Hope populations in the San Saba, had returned after leaving in disgust at the end of the Summit. Boss Debs, realizing that they could not afford the loss of the Jacinto military, had reached out to the militia commander to apologize and seek her guidance. Colonel Jacinto had been right — it was more important that the Tribes make something new, instead of simply repeating the many mistakes of Queen Jasper. They must forge something on purpose. And so Boss Debs, and her new Regents, did just that.

And thus, the SAN SABA REPUBLIC was born.

No longer would they be known as the Tribes Disparate, but rather a united nation of peoples brought together in one purpose. Representing fully 50% of the population of the San Saba territories, there is strength in numbers. The Tribes could not remain a scattered peoples recovering from the Hiway War, but must embrace being a people with a home in Essex, people with a political future in the San Saba, and people with a chance to do something different. But the leaders must work for the people, representing their interests, spearheading their faction with ethical leadership, and having very little to hide.

Moments of historical significance are, always in retrospect, defined by the decisive action of a few indispensable actors in times of flux. In the whirlwind weeks following the assassination of Holy Mother Queen Jasper of the Tribes Disparate, the election of the new Antler’d Queen, and the departure of several key figures from the Disparate tribal structure - the Tribes themselves had turned inward and sought to redefine their place in the San Saba without their departed Holy Mother, while honoring their promise to democratize their leadership and bring their faction into the robust and political future of the contemporary San Saba. 

The remaining Tribes, including the errant Jacinto Militia, had finally settled on a sweeping contract, to be signed by every participating member, that binds the Tribes together not under a monarch like the old Holy Mother; but under a Troika of power located in the municipal seat of Essex. The San Saba Republic would no longer be the tenuously strung together tribes, brought together during wartime under threat of annihilation; but a deliberate government designed to enforce the prosperity of its citizens. 

the Troika

Three leaders were chosen, each representing a branch of the Troika, each specializing in their own way for the future of the San Saba Republic. Each of the three Authorities would manage the day to day affairs of the faction, and they would be from whom policy and position would ultimately derive, not just a singular leader in Boss Debs. 

However, as the Chair refused to add new seats to accommodate the changes within the faction, they required the new government to choose a single face to be seated on the San Saba Board. Lucy Francis Debs, still preferring the “Boss” title over “Queen”, was chosen to represent the Republic, and to stand at the head of the Troika.

The Queen would hold the power of veto, and Lucy’s can-do attitude is generally understood to be the moral compass of the Triumvirate. With a focus on the infrastructure of the faction, particularly leveraging the deep pool of resources in Essex, Boss Debs now hopes to provide manufacturing to settlements across the San Saba, and in doing so, create an indispensable niche for her people. 

The leader of the Jacinto Militia was chosen as Justicar, the military leader of the San Saba Republic. Colonel Sabbath Jacinto’s renewed zeal following her return would continue to redefine the presence of the Republic in the wastes of the Lone Star. Sabbath’s next goal is to set forth to establish a military presence in Essex, and allow the Republic military to be able to modernize beyond anything the San Saba Wastes has seen before.

The last of the Troika, the Spymaster is a necessary role in the contemporary San Saba, where law is listless and contracts are made of words. The leader of the Cali*Co Caravan, and open Final Knight, Malorous Mab now stands as the Spymaster. Malorous Mab has been a shadow broker in Essex since before the Fountainhead Incident. In the verdant and misty years that followed, Mab has only further developed her network of beggars, brokers and bruisers. Now, with the formation of the Republic, it is in the best interest of her charges (and her own philosophy) that she pursues power for her people not just in Essex, but across the San Saba. 

With their new leadership, the Troika of the San Saba Republic set their sights on their real task in Bravado, seeing justice served for the death of their former Queen.

A very surprising Gauntlet

Shortly after the assassination of Queen Jasper, the villainous Grandfather Nichols, Nemesis plague doctor, escaped from an attempt to bring him to the Gauntlet to stand for the crime of Regicide. Marina La’Sander, leader of the Longberth fleets, struck him down, enacting the justice of the Tribes Disparate on the spot, rather than wait for the Law Dogs to do their part. However, this death enabled Nichols to slip from the grasp of the law once more.

Dr. Nichols, in a surprising move, simply returned once more to the town of Bravado, just in time for the Gauntlet, a man of his word. He had promised Jasper Cline, Vado Law Dog, he would simply report as directed should they go through the trouble to post a wanted poster for him. He had spent the morning leisurely mocking the Law Dogs in Bravado, walking brazenly through the town in open defiance of his impending trial. He repeatedly suggested that Tabitha St. Mercy, and the Justices of Sin, would simply let him walk free, ignoring his obvious crimes of murder and regicide.

Nichols, with an annoying and sarcastic grin, stood by as Tabitha read out his crimes, ready for the absolution he expected. However, his grin faded quickly as her dagger slipped between his ribs and stole his last breath in one swift blow, a few quiet words whispered in his ear as he died. He barely had time to express his surprise before the light faded from his eyes. Justice was served, despite the rumors to the contrary.

Next, the Regent of the Longberths, Marina La’Sander, stood defiantly against the Warden of Killhouse to answer for her crimes. With Boss Debs, Colonel Jacinto, and Mab nearby, she defended her actions in killing Nichols, citing his many crimes, his assassination of the Queen, and the foul control he could wield against the unwary. One of the townsfolk, Roux, tried to mediate on behalf of Marina, arguing that Junkerpunk law should apply instead, but Justice Tidus, the Justice of Sin officiating over the Gauntlet was unimpressed by Marina’s argument. With a single round from his ornate revolver, Marina was executed for her violation of San Saba law, proving that even powerful faction leaders could not escape justice.

Lastly, the criminal Valentina Systole, charged with the murder of several Law Dogs in Essex was brought forth at the Gauntlet. She was a former champion of the Local 727 during the Summit, and even Boss Debs and Mikhael the Red offered their infection to protect the young Red Star champion. Others still offered to stand in the place of the champion but Valentina refused the assistance, standing to face their punishment alone. Another shot, another body at the crossroads.

The grisly business of the Gauntlet was concluded, but it would not be the last death that day.

Broken Rituals

Agents of Murder Incorporated, following their zealous charge to remove threats from the Wastes, followed the corpse of Dr. Nichols into the Near Death in a foul MURDER DIVE. Within the temporary Mortis, they struck down the Nemesis once more, ripping Infection from him within the morgue itself, regardless of the disruption or consequences of bodily entering the Mortis to commit their task. It was over as quick as it began, their grim purpose complete. However, Nichols survived the attempt, having barely enough Infection to return from the Morgue after the murderous assassination. On his way out of town, cleared of his crimes by his death at the Gauntlet, Nichols spoke of traveling north to Requiem to start a new project far away from the San Saba. Unfortunately, his train never arrived in Requiem, and his whereabouts now are unknown.

The second interruption to the plans of the Grave Council was more direct. Masked assassins, faceless minions of the shadowy organization, struck directly against the leaders of the Grave Council itself. Both Commander Rampart and Takheeta Firstborn were targeted by bounties by the criminal organization, but Takheeta was the first to die. At first, it was thought that she was a victim of an attempted bombing of the Grave Tax Booth. Despite escaping the trapped booth, she was ambushed shortly after and her throat ritualistically slit, despite the threat to disrupting the ritual.

The warnings of the Grave Council became dire, as the Fragmented Dead began seeking out the Near Death, throwing themselves at the Tax Booth in an attempt to get at the powerful psionic crystal within. While Takheeta returned after the assassination, her focus had been broken, and it was clear something was wrong and time was running out. The groundskeepers and Auditors of the Grave Council stepped up their efforts to collect biomass and brass from the town, desperate to reach their goal before the sun set and the ritual to save the Morgues concluded. In the end, the town managed to not only meet the goal for donations and absolutions, but exceeded it! Hopefully, the additional resources would be enough to counteract whatever disruption the interference of Murder Incorporated posed to the Great Work.

Drawing her three most powerful mystagogues from Essex, Takheeta prepared for the final stage of her ritual. She brought forth the ancient relic, the Cantankerous Matrix, from its shrine within the Near Death, drawing upon the renewed pool of energy it held. Bastioned with the biomass and offerings of those that owed a Grave Tax, the psionic crystal was brimming with potential, a powerful tool towards the ritual’s requirements. With agents in each of the major morgues across the San Saba performing their part at exactly the same time, they would leech the poison from the Mortis Amaranthine, and heal the sickness that was plaguing them. A ritual circle was enacted at the Crossroads, at the heart of Bravado, a geographic singularity at the exact center of the town, exactly as the sun set — providing a way to synchronize the rituals across the San Saba. Intoning the words of the Imix Tribe, Takheeta attempted to conclude her great work, achieving the unthinkable. Her ritual would be the seal that linked each of the other cities together into one titanic effort, healing and banishing the wound within the Mortis.

But such a great working would require a sacrifice to fortify the ritual. A vessel for the energies of the Cantankerous Matrix, and a way to link each Grave Council ritual across the wastes.

A lone voice emerged in the darkness, volunteering their life, their Infection, and their very being to save the town, to save the San Saba, and to return some measure of balance to the Mortis. The Vado Unborn known as EIGHT, offered to sacrifice every last drop of their Infection to merge with Grave Mind. Despite the protest of his friends and family, Eight was resolute in facing oblivion, provided the town could defend the ritual from disruption. Takheeta ritually executed Eight, using blood and bone, flesh and form to bind and connect the Cantankerous Matrix with the wounded morgue, forming a construct known as a GRAVEMIND SHARD.

But something went wrong.

Whether it was the distraction or assassination, or simply arrogance on behalf of the Unborn cultist of the Quiet Path, the power of the ritual was growing out of control. Undead began swarming against the ritual circle, throwing themselves bodily against the defenders, while the very ground itself opened into a cavernous maw, consuming Takheeta, her three loyal mystagogues, the body of Eight, and anyone close enough and unlucky enough to be swallowed whole by the Mortis Amaranthine. It was if an immune response of the Grave Mind was reacting to the attempts to heal it, and the Great Work was undone in a terrible earth rending climax.

Takheeta and Eight were gone, along with the Cantankerous Matrix — bodily consumed by the Mortis Amaranthine.

The End, and beginning, of Takheeta Firstborn

Takheeta was dead, every bit of her last Infection consumed by the Grave Mind, torn to pieces by the power of the unholy energies she attempted to control. Her three acolytes were shattered, every last Infection consumed in the chaos, and their forms sundered and fragmented alongside the very soul of Takheeta. Their combined zed would emerge soon enough, fragmented, mutated, and unholy like the rest of them, as the ritual had been disrupted at its climax. Eight’s sacrifice was suspended and directionless under the ground, the ritual continuing to build in power without a way to discharge the energy.

Commander Rampart arrived back in town on the Oxline, fresh from the successful ritual in Essex, seeking to understand what had gone wrong in Bravado. The rituals had been completed in each of the other locations, but the final note of the melody that they shared had not been sounded. If it was not completed soon, all of the potential energy, all of the biomass and absolutions offered during Collection Day, the sacrifice of Eight would be for naught. After communing with the Near Death, the Rampart and the graverobbers of the Bravado isolated one last chance to recover the progress they had made with the ritual.

The Mystagogue leader had been sundered into three pieces, her id, ego, and superego shattered into psionic shards of memory cast across Bravado. Her shards had emerged, twisted into the broken forms of her former acolytes, three abominations each brimming with psionic power of Takheeta’s considerable gift. Each had been drawn near a site of a Morgue exit, one near the old miner’s shack at the head of the Oxline, one at the original morgue of the town at the Hallows, and the last at the edge of Widows’ Walk. The remnants of her personality were seeking out the psionic energy at each morgue, seeking to consume it in their ravenous hunger. Each shard was still a fragment of Takheeta, and that meant that it might be possible that their imprint could be recovered if the town could destroy each of the echoes of Takheeta simultaneously. The contained energy in the shards should be enough to complete the ritual, if they acted quickly. They split into three strike forces, spread out across the town, to fight the undead things that Takheeta had become.

Like clockwork, the horde of Fragmented Dead that had emerged within the shadow of Takheeta’s failed ritual answered the call of the mishapen copies of Takheeta. The wails of the mishapen zed became murderous as the hellish things screamed with psionic force, imbued the zed with adrenaline and speed, or even bolstered their numbers by reshaping and repairing the dead as soon as they were slain. The three zed hordes were held back by the brave citizens of Bravado, each strike team operating at each distant corner of the town at once, while they focused on stopping the shards from consuming the power of the ritual into themselves. It was a race to isolate and defeat the shard, before they could consume and destroy the morgues they emerged from.

The Takheeta clones were destroyed, and the congealed essence of their personality, formed that tainted Infection into shattered psionic crystals. Each crystal was brought back to the ritual site to complete the work Takheeta started. If the shards of Infection could be combined, they could combine her Imprint into something known as a GRAVEMIND SHARD, a gestalt form for the consciousness known as the Grave Mind. While many attribute a sentience to the Grave Mind, it is truly an egoless intelligence, shared between all of the imprints stored in the Mortis at that time. A Shard would simply provide an outlet for that ego of the person contained within, a voice for the grave, flavored by the person that they once were. Gravemind Shards like this were rare, but it would be a way to contain her essence for a time.

However, Takheeta was quite mad and barely sane, even while alive, and especially not now in the shattered psyche of the broken shards of her and her acolytes combined. If left unchecked her undeath would surely pervert and corrupt the Gravemind Shard and the final healing ritual of the Great Work into something terrible. Her machinations, zeal, and ambition in life would bleed into the Shard and simply create a problem for another day. Takheeta needed what she sought most in her life and her journey on the Quiet Path — balance.

A lone and quiet voice reminded them of the sacrifice of Eight. He was strong, resolute. He was determined. He could be the soldier to keep the tainted energies of Takheeta in check. He had emerged in the darkness, volunteering life, Infection, and their very being to save the town, to save the San Saba, and to provide some measure of balance to the Grave Mind. A hero. The sacrifice of Eight could be redirected, a way to contain the final energies that Takheeta was controlling, and perhaps it would offer the balance that Takheeta needed to form a stable Gravemind Shard, their combined strength balancing out the inequity of that pairing.

The energy was building out of control, and if they could not contain the force of the Cantankerous Matrix deep within the ground, something terrible could occur. The fragments of Takheeta had been called out by Eight’s sacrifice, their blood and bone an irresistible lure, remerging from the depths in the singular, empowered form of Takheeta’s zombie, whole and more dangerous than ever. An impromptu morgue emerged at the Crossroads, filling in the fiery collapse of the former ritual with the hate and rage of the fragmented dead as they emerged in a massive horde.

With the life sustaining power of the Barogian relic infused into her body, Takheeta rose with a cry, drawing a vast horde of the Fragmented Dead to her side, slaves to the dark will of her unholy power. The shard-thing that was once Takheeta Firstborn roared in defiance, empowering the dead further, turning even the lowly shambler into a mighty terror, with the power of a Hate, the speed of a Burster, and the endurance of a Tank. The dead crashed again and again into the line of defenders, breaking through occasionally as they took down with their mutated strength. Takheeta herself was a dark siren, singing a song of death and reincarnation, a living entity of energy and power corrupted by her inability to contain the awesome might of the relic she was infused with.

It would take three times to defeat Takheeta, dragging her corpse to the ground and into the center of the aborted ritual circle from before at the Crossroads. Each time, a team of aberrants slipped into the chasm left by the ritual, holding Takheeta down while the shard of her personality and Infection, imbued with the strength and personality of Eight, was driven back into her. Each time, the shard leeched some of the broken essences of her mystagogues, and solidified the intent and purpose of the ritual, pushing it closer to completion.

The roars of the dead grew in tenor, echoing the building crescendo of the ritual. With a final hissing blow, driving the wedge of psionic crystal into the screaming undead monstrosity that once was Takheeta, the force of the ritual rang out in a single clarion call. Thrown from their footing by the shifting earth, the quaking ground, and spasming Mortis, the defenders of Bravado were thrown back from the Crossroads as the battle was ended in a massive pulse of psionic energy. Echoing in the darkness, in each of the cardinal directions, the power of the synchronous Grave Council rituals answered the call, concentrating the healing energy of the Cantankerous Matrix and directing it into the wound of the Mortis.

Across the San Saba, each of the ritual sites directed the energy of the collection biomass and psionic power towards a singular purpose. The ancient memory of that psionic bomb that ended the Hiway War was sealed away for good. The destruction it had wrecked on the Mortis Amaranthine was reversed. The gaping, infected tear in reality that marked the weakness of the morgues across the San Saba began to close, growing and scarring over, rebuilding the missing pieces into a uniform and purposeful whole. The sacrifices, absolutions, and effort of Collection Day were salvaged, completing Takheeta’s mad dream, her legacy, and finally advancing the cause and charter that the founders of the Grave Council had envisioned.

The morgues of the San Saba were healed.

the silent morgues

The corrupted form of Takheeta had been slain, all three shards of her being killed and forcibly combined with the sacrifice of Eight to form a new Gravemind Shard. The Cantankerous Matrix was nowhere to be found, perhaps contained below, inside the Mortis Amaranthine, along with the imprints of Takheeta and Eight. The healing energies of the Grave Council ritual had worked.

But perhaps too well.

Psi-tech always has a cost. And that cost is often more than you realize, or were willing to pay. It was a lesson that the people of ancient Barogue and the Prince Undying had learned so long ago in the fall of the roving city. The psionic and faithful ritual of the Grave Council and the Quiet Path had healed the morgues, but the energy continued, pulsing repeatedly into the fungal growth of the Mortis, directing it to heal and regenerate any wound, even the very orifices that provided an exit for the reborn Lineages that emerged. The effect seemed to spread from the Crossroads, stretching out to each of the morgues in Bravado within the hour, sealing away any entrance or exit that could be used to enter the Grave Mind.

If you died in Bravado now, you couldn’t come back.

The scar tissue was forming quickly, and no amount of cutting, hacking, or chopping at the ground, at the fungal protrusions could arrest the healing power of the Cantankerous Matrix. It was a limitless battery, constantly healing the damage as fast as it was dealt. The last legacy of Takheeta Firstborn had been twisted into a curse, sealing the Mortis Amaranthine away from use. The Groundskeepers could not retrieve the recently dead. Necrokinetics proved useless to reach across the barrier of death, and even stitches to the Abyss proved fruitless.

The familiar wail of the dead, the psionic pull of the grave was silenced. Psions could feel nothing below them, in the depths of the Mortis, but for a singular, pulsing energy emerging from where the Cantankerous Matrix and the combined shard of Takheet and Eight must be interred, as in a final tomb. The sacrifices of so many seemed hollow, in that moment. The silent morgues stilled any conversation, as folks tried to grapple with the idea that any death may be the last.

By the morning, telegram communication revealed the strange scarring had progressed as far as Essex. At the rate of spread, it would cover the San Saba within the week. Several citizens of Bravado who died in the night didn’t return, and the phenomenon was spreading to much more heavily populated areas, where the loss would be felt even more deeply.

The silence of the grave spreads deep shadows across the San Saba.

other threads during collection day

• The crazy scientists of NASCENT became desperate for funding and enacted a last-ditch effort to blackmail new victims, in the form of “NASCENT’s Blow Out Sale”. By implanting strange “pyroclastic” bombs into a handful of individuals of the town, they attempted to charge Brass to remove the devices or else. They even managed to plant a powerful bomb at the Tax Booth that threatened to collapse the Booth, the Near Death and the hopes of the citizens of Bravado in one firey explosion. Thankfully, the bombs were disabled and the NASCENT scientists killed and run out of town.

• Multiple delves occurred throughout the Collection Day. One, led by the mysterious scientists of the Newton Institute, cracked into a newly discovered bunker in search of ancient treasures. The Ark Society returned when a sinkhole opened up underneath the Depot, employing those fool hardy enough to delve into the depths to repair the damage. Earthquakes from the Grave Council ritual provided new opportunities to access caverns below, and several valuable artifacts were discovered in the process. In each case, delvers emerged with treasures from the tunnels below Bravado, reminding all of the value in spelunking into the depths of the strange facility under the town.

• Old memories returned Friday night, called once more by the distracted Mortis. Several Nemesis of Old Bravo made an appearance, including Jason, Samara, Nonoez, Leatherface, and Scarecrow. Nemesis believe that by becoming something so evil they can force someone to embrace good in equal balance and rise up to stop them. While recent Nemesis like Eyeless Jack and Grandfather Nichols had been an issue, this was an echo of a past time when the Nemesis Cult ruled triumphant in Old Bravo. The crazed cultists of the Tellingvisionaries were responsible for murdering several townsfolk in their rampage through the town. Luckily the next trade weekend falls on Friday the 13th, so they are unlikely to return…

• Boss Wyatt, leader of the Law Dogs, was assassinated on Saturday, thought to be another victim of the murderous cultists of the Many Faced Masks. He was poisoned with a foul concoction that robbed his life in a heartbeat, but did not return from the morgue. He is thought to be still trapped within, another victim of the terrible consequences of the botched ritual. Without a leader for the Law Dogs, it would be challenging to keep peace in town if things continued to get worse.

• Later in the afternoon on Saturday, Commander Rampart and his Reckoners tracked down the culprits of the theft of the Ledger, bringing their crime to the attention of the Law Dogs, for a violation of the San Saba Charter itself. Based on an anonymous tip from a “concerned citizen”, likely someone who had inside knowledge on the actions of those that did the deed, the leader of the Grave Council was able to psionically interrogate one of the Postwalkers of Bravado, Abe Callaghan, and force a confession from them via telepathic control. It was a powerful crime indeed, as the Charter of the Board gives the Council specific authority to collect the Grave Tax. The young Postwalker would be brought up on charges of “impeding the Grave Tax” during the next month’s Gauntlet, though curiously it was clear that several must have been involved and only the single person was charged. Whatever deal Abe struck with the Grave Council must have bought clemency for their friends, but what punishment will be leveraged against them in May?

• Several Law Dogs were murdered in a botched raid on a Crystal Candy Shoppe late Saturday night. During the raid, they attempted to stop several criminals from harvesting Candy from their helpless victims, only to be ruthlessly struck down in turn by their opponents. Unfortunately, they died after the death of Takheeta and the silencing of the morgues, so they remain trapped within the morgue, further straining the power of the Law Dogs to enforce the law in Bravado. With Boss Wyatt and the majority of his men lost inside the Mortis, unable to escape, the criminals of Bravado are surely celebrating their surprise fortune.

Wrap up

It was a busy game, as you can see.

It all certainly sounds exciting. How will we resolve the morgue crisis? What happened to those that died and didn’t come back like Boss Wyatt? What happened to Takheeta and Eight? What happens if YOU die during the next event? How do you face a world where you might only live once?

Let’s find out together!

On my next Rules Ramble, we will narrow our focus to just one Skill that seems suddenly important for the 60% of our game with Criminal ties, DISGUISE and Proficient Stealth!.

Get your tickets TODAY and join us for THE CICATRIX, our SEASON FINALE, and check out a final melody to say goodbye to Collection Day, performed by our very own Kalen Lewis:

This Month’s Kalen S. Lewis Song:

When I Went Down to ‘Vado to the tune of This Song by Lost Dog Street Band

Teaser for “THE CICATRIX”

One last thing. It wouldn’t be a Story Recap without a glimpse into the future. Let’s look at the premise for the next event, a sneak peek into what is in store for our characters next game:

The morgues in Bravado have stopped working. The dead have not returned for the better part of a month. Small shrines to the missing dot the long roads between settlements and the aberrant population reports that the wails of the dead, so often cacophonous in the psionically demented mind, are silent. 

Takheeta Firstborn has been killed, cut low at the penultimate moment of her triumph, and transfigured into a Gravemind Shard; a kind of semi sentient intelligence that occupies a greater portion of the gestalt that is the local “Gravemind” itself. Her death has made way for General Rampart, new leader of the Grave Council, to impart policy. But, in evoking the Cantankerous Matrix to heal the Morgues across the San Saba, instead the Grave Council has metastasized a fatal threat to the Lonestar, and the Infectious Cycle itself. Over the past several weeks, tumorous protrusions have formed like a layer of scar tissue, cutting off the exit for the newly returned from the Grave. 

Now, General Rampart has formulated a scheme to re-open the morgues across the Lonestar Wastes, not by punching through the thick layer of cutaneous tissue that has formed like a plug over every morgue the entire municipality over, but instead by treating the aberrance from the inside; by delving into the abyssal depths of the Mortis, through layers of skin and skein, to where the heart of the cancer pulses in darkness and filth.

In the midst of this emerging crisis, the politics of the San Saba Board still looms. The annual Stakeholder’s Meeting is scheduled for May, despite the threat of the broken morgues. During the Meeting, each of the contracted members of the various factions get to weigh in on the upcoming changes to the San Saba Charter, though some chafe against the law and protest the carnival of capitalism. Surrounded by machinations and manipulations, conspiracy and chicanery, wheeling and dealing, politics and persuasion. the leaders of the Board and their many plots stirs something dark beneath the ground.

Deep below New Bravado, and deeper still than the thin layer of biomass where the Gravemind, and The Eightfold Mother supposedly lurk; against resonant and bloodghast, recollection and reaver, the denizens of Bravado will need to combat the lurking memories that have pooled beneath the morgues like so much sump dump, and press upwards towards the surface until the scab breaks, and the biomass and blood may cleanly osmote between reality, and the Grave.

SEE YOU NEXT TIME VADOS, JUST IN TIME FOR… THE CICATRIX!

Action Requests & Plot Requests

It’s time for another Rules Ramble with Jonathan! Each week, I’ll introduce a topic in the DR rulebook in a deep dive that focuses on explaining it in more detail than the book alone can provide. There are four core pillars of the DR game in my mind: Combat, Roleplay, CvC, and Economy, and today’s blog post will touch on a few last things concerning Roleplay. This week is a discussing the differences between a PLOT REQUEST and an ACTION REQUEST.

We also previously covered Chasing Plot in a blog post, specifically dealing with some best practices for how to be involved in plot. This was published in a series of guest blog posts by Heather Halstead, which you can find here:

• Chasing Plot, Part 1

• Chasing Plot, Part 2

So let’s get into the differences between the two types of PLOT REQUESTS that you will see in Dystopia Rising, and some best practices for each.

Action Requests

Before we go into best practices for PERSONAL PLOT REQUESTS, let’s briefly cover the difference between the other more common type of plot request: ACTION REQUESTS. You can find the specific rules of Action Requests on pg. 13 of the DR Corebook:

A number of skills require communication between the event team and a participant before an event occurs. These skills may influence the direction of story, create specific scenes that Guides will then organize, or require a certain degree of planning. When a participant needs to communicate to the team before an event, they put in an Action Request. An Action Request goes through an outlined medium (often a web page form or email) and is then handled by the employees who oversee a specific branch. This process ensures that there a standing log of all requests that are made so that if there is an employee change for the branch, there are multiple individuals who have access to your request.

Action Requests are simply a plot request centering around the use of a Skill or an Item.

• You can submit new Action Requests via our website.

This is going to be the primary way that most players interact with plot requests, particularly once you’ve unlocked Master-tier Skills that open up regular modules each month, like Criminal Influence, Hunting, Sailing, and Financial Influence.

Here are the Skills and items that let you submit an Action Request:

• Master Criminal Influence (p. 122)

• Master Financial Influence (p. 123)

• Master Hunting (p. 130)

• Master Sailing (p. 131)

• Proficient Necrokinetics (p. 135)

• Pallor Mortis (Blueprint)

• Other Item Mechanics (items like the Imprint Harvested Avontuur Map)

• Retirement Arc Requests (p. 22)

  • SPECIAL NOTE: We’ve actually moved this option to our Personal Plot Request site in DR:TX, as it feels more appropriate there, but this is actually listed as an Action Request in the book, for the record.

Remember these must be submitted ASAP before a game! If you get these in too late, you may miss out on your chance!

Action Requests are likely to be bundled with other players who have requested the same type of request.

This means that if we have 5 players enter a request for a Master Financial mod, we will simply involve each of those players in the SAME MOD. This way, we can maximize our resources as the ST staff, and we can ensure that a module gets run during that next event. It’s far more rewarding to write one mod instead of trying to build out 5 individual mods.

Action Requests will be prioritized versus other types of plot requests, as many of these have very specific ways they are fulfilled. In fact, in DR:TX, we ALWAYS plan to have the four main types of Action Requests (Criminal, Financial, Hunting, Sailing) scheduled in advance. Even if you are a traveler, you can easily find a way to be hooked into these types of mods.

If you just want to be hooked into whatever mods are running for those skills each month, you can indicate that non-specifically on your ticket registration.

So let’s talk about the other type of Request.

Personal Plot Requests

FUN FACT: Personal Plot Requests are not in the DR Corebook. In fact, there’s only 6 mentions of “plot request” at all in the book, and most of these really refer to Action Requests instead (p. 22, 123, 135, 143, 144, and 164 for those that are interested..). Instead, these types of requests were first introduced in the National CAPs system introduced at the start of 3.0 to reward out-of-game behaviors that help our your local game.

I’ve included a list of the relevant points from the National site below.

We’ve set the standard amount of CAPS required to request a Personal Plot Request to 200 CAPs. These CAPs can either come from one player, or several players can pool their CAPs for a Group Plot Request.

The DR:TX team has also added a few additional types of Personal Plot Requests, particularly in the form of Faction Interviews to earn Proficient Society Membership and the ability to have another player teach you a Profession Focus Achievement. You can find all of these options on our website:

• Faction Interview

• PFA Request (Player- or ST-Driven)

• Retirement Arc Request (p. 22)

• Personal Plot Request (Individual) - 200 CAPS

• Personal Plot Request (Group) - 200 CAPS

Because of the high-volume of requests, those who are spending CAPs will be prioritized over those who do not. Don’t worry, plot requests for PFAs or Faction Interviews do not require CAPs.

As you can see, there’s quite a few ways to request a Plot, and we’ve done our best to make this process easy and stream-lined on our website. So let’s talk about how the process works from there.

The Plot Request Process

Once you’ve submitted a request on our website, our wonderful Admin team will get an email about the request that we post to our writers and STs. If you chose to put your non-generic request into your check-in form, this is also where we collect those requests as well.

Each month, we plan on running four different Action Request mods, and we will assign these out to members of our ST staff during the first few weeks of our production cycle. We generally like to have a good idea of when or if these events will be run pretty quickly, so we can give our STs time to plan something special. The earlier you can complete the check-in process, the more likely it is that we will run that mod!

An example of a plot request we get from the website form.

For plot requests outside of Criminal, Financial, Hunting, and Sailing, we then look for submissions that have spent CAPs. We also compare how recently it’s been since you requested a plot request, as we will prioritize those that haven’t had a recent plot request over those that submit more regular requests. We want to get to as many players as possible within a given game or season!

We request that you allow for a cool-down between personal plot requests (of any type, including ST-Driven PFAs) of 4 months.

Generally our Storytelling Senate chooses from the list of plot requests those stories that speak to them and spark their creativity. We work our way down the list, so it may be a few games before we get to you. If no one picks up your plot request after a few months, go ahead and re-submit it. We’re looking for compelling stories that fit well into our setting and sometimes a story is just hard to translate to compelling mods and NPC interactions.

You do not need staff permission to plan your own scenes among friends or to say that something fun and exciting (or traumatic and dramatic!) happened off screen to your character. If you feel like you might be stepping on something that needs plot approval, just drop us a line.

There’s nothing worse then preparing a big mod and then the player not being there for it! We reserve the right not to schedule personal plot for events where the requestee’s attendance is in question, so please pre-register, and contact us if you have a pending request and won’t be attending!

writing better plot requests

I’ve actually already covered some of the best advice I can offer for plot requests in my last blog post on Writing a Better Backstory. I’ll adapt a few of the best pieces from there today, but most of the big principles are the same.

The number one rule of a getting your Personal Plot Request or unique Action Request noticed is simple:

Make it Interesting

We empower our STs with a lot of agency in DR:TX. The job needs to be as fun for them to tell stories as it is for you to experience them. There’s an element of service to the community, to be sure, but we also want to avoid burnout in our staff as well. If an ST is interested in your story, they will WANT to spend time writing a compelling story for you. Think about the pitch for your plot request, and let us know why it is important to you. I spent hours crafting a story for our last game about how a player could boil a tree all because I found it hilarious to write.

Think about your request as if it was a PLOT HOOK. This means you need to include a few things into the request:

• Who’s involved? A good hook tells us immediately who the protagonists are. Even if this is for just for you, let us know who might also be interested in the story. The more people we can include into the pitch, the easier it can be to write a compelling story. Think of the people near you that might also care about your story. A story that only involves one person is still possible, but we are also looking to tell stories for an entire game worth of players. The more people your request involves, the more likely we are to pick this plot request to run. A story about Romeo isn’t the same without Juliet, after all.

• What’s the conflict? We need to know what problem or story you want to tell. Keep it simple, but focus on the big beats you want to see in your request. If you want a duel with your rival at midnight in the crossroads, TELL US! If we have a clear way to build tension or include a specific type of conflict, it can be a great inspiration for how to work your plot request into our story.

• What do you hope to achieve? What’s the payoff? What do you want to accomplish or what result are you looking for from your request? Tell us in broad strokes what you want the story to be about, and it will be easier to craft a satisfying conclusion to your story request. You don’t necessarily have to make it a defined answer, as a good hook can be a question — How will you overcome this challenge? Will Johnny catch the murderer? Will he lose the girl?

The next suggestions are variations from my Background blog post, so we will cover them quickly here:

Keep it Simple

Use bullet points, or just a few short paragraphs. The longer and more flowery the prose is in your request, the less likely we will be able to include everything into the request. Part of attracting the attention of a writer is to not fill in all the blanks for them. Paint us a picture, sure, but leave some of the painting to us!

keep it relevant

If you can find a way to make your plot request tie in with the event’s premise, I promise we can find many more ways to make sure it happens. We usually post our premise for the next event during the first week of ticket sales, so you should be able to use that blog post as a springboard for your request. A good plot request that ties into the overarc basically writes itself, and gives us a reason to help you find a spotlight!

Ground your Request in the Setting

We’ve written a lot about the setting, so requests that let us bring in characters, places, and things from the history of our game can be evocative ways to catch the ST’s attention. You can also apply ideas from your Background — don’t be afraid to reference characters or ideas from that to include into your request. That extra info can be valuable for us to create an interesting story. Names, identities, and figures of importance can be great ways to tie your plot request into the overall narrative of DR:TX.

Leave some Unanswered Questions

Part of attracting the attention of a writer is to not fill in all the blanks for them. Paint us a picture, sure, but leave some of the painting to us! Try not to answer every single plot thread in your request, but leave some unanswered questions that we can help answer. If you’ve outlined every chapter in your story and told us each twist and turn, it will be a little boring for the ST to craft into a story they want to run.

Keep Connections in Mind

I mentioned this above in my example of a plot hook, it’s important to consider the other people we can involve in your story. Often, an ST only has so many NPCs on a given shift, and has several other stories they have to include into the metaplot of the weekend. Between sending out raiders and zombies, backing up whatever big bad or research story we have, we need to be efficient with our resources. If I know that your story can involve and entertain an entire group of people, that’s just good math. Our job as an ST is to include as many people as possible, so let us know who else we can involve into the mod.

Be Flexible

Lastly, be prepared to make some changes. The best plot requests are FLEXIBLE. Let the ST have a bit of creative leeway with your idea, and we can tell a better story together. It takes a bit of trust, but when you let us create a story with a few of our own surprises, it’ll be a better experience for everyone. Being flexible is especially important if you are involving major NPCs or Factions into your story, as we might have to change or massage those ideas into something that works within the big picture of the game. We want to help you find a way to tell your story, so being willing to adapt and change is a great way to get an ST involved in writing your plot request.

wrap up

We’ve covered a lot today about Plot Requests, and I’m hard at work on a Story Recap for our last event, COLLECTION DAY. You might have seen some teasers posted on Facebook about the Morgues of the San Saba experiencing a bit of… difficulty. Tickets for our next event, THE CICATRIX are up now, and you can pre-reg for the event, sign up for your Action Requests, and get that Plot Request in for our finale! See you soon, Vados!