character creation

YOU can find the complete rules for character creation in the DR Corebook starting on page 21-26

If you are a new player to Dystopia Rising, regardless of your level of experience with roleplaying games as a whole, the process of character creation is pretty simple. Building a character is as simple as choosing concept, deciding what Strain best matches your style of play, and what your costume might look like in the apocalypse.

Once you’ve put together the physical supplies and props that you will need for an event, you are mostly done! You don’t need to spend experience points on character creation if you don’t want to, and you can simply jump into the game ready to play.

If that seems a bit overwhelming, that’s okay too. Our friendly New Player Guides will be on site for your first game before it starts to help you with character creation in person and teach you what you need to know to play. We’ve even put together a brief summary of the rules you’ll need to know to start, but character creation is easier than you think.

Let’s talk about the basic things you’ll need for a new character before we get into stuff like mechanics and rules.

concept

Concept is simply your vision for what your survivor in the zombie apocalypse is going to be. This can be as simple as the role you want them to play or the experience that you want to have in game.

What does your character do?

Rather than focusing on a background right away, we’ll ask what you want to do during the event. Are you eager to try combat? Would you prefer to be a doctor, or maybe try your hand at the economy? Do you want to use psionic powers? Sneak around in the woods at night? Think of some of the activities you’re excited to try, and build your concept around those.

Character Name

You’ll need a name for your character! If you’re bad with coming up with names on the spot, you can always change it later. Simple names can be best, and try to avoid silly names that you might regret later.

starting experience points

As a new character, you’ll have 16 “Build” (Experience Points) with which to create your character. The only choice you need to make is whether there are Skills you want to start with, or if you want to learn these skills during play. If you have a strong idea of the skills you want, you can spend the build before entering play, otherwise, you can wait and see which skills you’ll actually use during the game. Don’t worry about making a “good” decision; you can rewrite your character after your first few games. 

If you are ready to get started, you can start right away. Click the link above to try our character builder once you’ve had a chance to look over the rulebook.

  • You can find some suggestions of how to build your character in the other links in the New Player Skills section on our webpage.

you are a survivor!

Remember, Dystopia Rising is ultimately a game about banding together with others to survive the apocalypse. While it can be tempting to make that bad ass lone wolf character, you’ll find it pretty boring if you don’t make friends. Instead, try to think of ways you can get involved into the story and setting of the world, and really dive in!

The most important resource you have throughout the event are the players you’ll meet: don’t hesitate to talk to everyone! They’re excited to meet you and eager to help. The best thing you can do is ask them this question: “Will you show me how?” You’re going to encounter a lot of new things, from combat to economics to religion. Ask another player to do something with you and show you how to do whatever activity you want; we were all new once, and that’s how we learned.

strain

You can read more about the Strains of Humanity on our website, or you can read the full rules on page 34 in the Rulebook. These are similar to a race or species in other roleplaying games like D&D, and it can be a big part of your characters appearance in the game. Some of the Strains have costume requirements you’ll need to consider before you get too involved with a costume and props.

  • If you don’t know what to pick, we’ve put together a neat Strain Quiz that can help you decide.

  • You can read a summary about how to Choose Your Strain here, and you can read about any Texas specific considerations for your strain on our Lineages and Strains page.

  • We recommend carefully considering how difficult portraying the following Strains can be, as they often have elaborate costume and makeup requirements that can be intimidating to attempt for your first game:

    • Reclaimer

    • Unborn

    • Retrograde

    • Full Dead

    • Semper Mort

    • Saltwise

Once you’ve selected a Strain, it’s time to think about your costume.

Costume

One of the cool things about Dystopia Rising is that you don’t have to have an elaborate costume to fit in. Since this is a world set in the post-apocalypse, even something as simple as a t-shirt and jeans can fit in with a few alterations. It’s a mostly modern setting, so as long as you avoid

Here’s a few suggestions:

  • Hit a thrift shop! Second-hand shops can be great for finding new costume pieces. Think about how you can build a core layer, and add small details from there. Little things like jewelry, scarves, or even some second-hand sports armor can be a nice touch. Think about trinkets, trophies, and other things you might have collected in the wastelands. Old bits of metal, keys, and worn plastic can give you that suitable apocalyptic look.

  • Distress and weather your gear. Survivors may not have a good change of clothes, so how can you make it look worn and repaired? Add some cuts or holes or consider picking at the seams a bit to leave some loose threads. Hitting cloth with some coarse sandpaper can quickly give it a worn look. You can even add some patches, or sew up some of the holes you made to give it that reused and abused look.

  • Break out the paint and make it dirty! It is the apocalypse after all. A simple watered-down brown or black paint can simulate dirt and grease, or you can get really elaborate with stuff like mineral oil, “clean dirt”, plastidip, and weathering effects. Add a little splatter of red paint to simulate blood, or rub a bit of grass into the cloth to stain it. You can even use a bit of orange or burnt red to simulate rust.

  • Add layers and bits of armor. Adding bits of protective gear like arm pads, shoulder plates, and bits of EVA foam painted to look like metal can add a lot to an outfit. Look to movies like “Mad Max”, “Fury Road”, or “Book of Eli” for ideas of good post-apocalyptic armor. You can even hunt down some tutorials on how to build your own on YouTube!

You can read about how to make your own weapons and armor on our Do It Yourself guide, and there’s some neat video tutorials for how to distress and “genre” your costume for the zombie apocalypse.

Background

First, you don’t need a background to start a new character.

However, having an idea of where you came from can be helpful for roleplaying as your new character. After all, it’s easier to portray your survivor if you have a little context.

Are you a caravan guard, a doctor, a sniper, or a powerful psion that can wield their mental energies as a weapon? Were you a soldier in a recent war, a mercenary for hire, or did you escape the destruction of your town to find your way to our settlement? Did you travel to the city in search of fame and fortune, or are you after some secret from your past?

Ask yourself some basic questions:

  • Where was your character born and raised?

  • What do you do for a living?

  • What brought you to Bravado, our small settlement?

  • How did you and your family survive in the Wasteland?

  • What unique thing about your character makes them part of the Dystopia Rising world?

  • What motivates and drives your character to keep going?

Make sure to leave yourself some space to move, grow, and adapt to the story of our world. A hero’s journey is never finished, and it’s much more entertaining to tell the story of your character as they grow and survive in the harsh wasteland of the zombie apocalypse.