Storytelling Roles

Storytellers (formerly called “Ops Guides”) for a Dystopia Rising Texas event are team members at our events who are able to assist you by answering questions, addressing problems, or making the experience of an event more enjoyable. Storytellers are responsible for producing and executing content during an NPC shift, acting as the manager of that volunteer NPC team, and directing the events that occur during their shift. Part writer and part producer, the Storyteller helps deliver an engaging experience to our players and NPCs alike.

The “Storytelling Senate” is our collected cast of volunteers that have a unique set of expectations above and beyond other Guides, including attending regular meetings between events. Storytellers are fired en-masse and re-hired every summer, to enable new players to join our team and to provide an opportunity for our existing team member to take a break from the role if they choose.

General Responsibilities

  • The total time commitment of this role outside of your 4-hour shift at game is approximately 6-10 hours per month.  We will strive to honor this estimate each month, but additional responsibilities or involvement will require additional time.

  • Be an upstanding member of the DR:TX community, espouse our community guidelines with gusto, and be able to speak to your content and ideas with enthusiasm, grace and tolerance for sweeping edits and feedback.

  • Possess and maintain detailed setting knowledge of setting materials, canon materials  and community-generated content.

  • Write, coordinate, and implement a four hour block of content for each live event

  • Produce sweeping content for each season and surrounding buffer content to cement it in-setting harmoniously with the rest of the Storytelling Senate.

  • Be present on our online platforms and attend a meeting every Wednesday at 7pm on Discord to discuss and write content. During these meetings, Storytellers must adhere to our Rules of Order, “yes, and..” your teammates, and generally be an affirming, principled collaborator.

  • Assist with all-hands-on-deck events such as big fights, premiere events, and national events hosted by DR:TX.

storyteller benefits

In exchange for their volunteer support of our game, each Storyteller receives the following benefits for their hard work:

  • Your game ticket; compensated for each DR:TX event, including “off” events.

  • You receive the standard Guide benefits, including 40 CAPs for each event you serve as a Storyteller.

  • One game “off” a season. No responsibilities. Just play your characters.

  • You get to be in the room where it happens!  You will have direct creative input in the direction of the game, our factions in play, and the world we build together.

  • The ability to apply for an OVERARC, one of at least four opportunities to directly craft the weekend story of DR:TX.

  • Invitation to our annual summer ST Retreat

Specialized Storytellers

Specialized Storytellers are an important type of Storyteller with a more narrow scope of duties and responsibilities, in exchange for a greater creative control of their content. These roles involve a slightly larger time commitment, but do not have a formal 4-hour NPC shift like the other Storytellers. Instead, they are fully responsible for their scope of influence and will often provide this volunteer time at other times during each event.

There are three types of Specialized Storytellers in our team:

  • Criminal influence

  • Grave Mind

  • New Player

Each of these roles is detailed below:

specialized storyteller: Criminal

  • In addition to the benefits and responsibilities of the general Storyteller role, the Criminal Storyteller will be heavily invested in our setting as well as knowledgeable about the lore, factions, and players who interact with the “criminal” side of our game.

  • The Criminal ST will be expected to provide storytelling arcs, mods, and face NPC roles to build and further establish the criminal world within Bravado, filling approximately the same 4 hour responsibility of other Storytellers.

  • Responsible for facilitating and executing the Master Criminal Influence module each game and planning any relevant Murder Inc. and other Criminal Influence related Night Market meetings for each event.

  • Update and manage the player facing Criminal Check In documents that are given to the players at the Post Office, including rumors, call and responses, and criminal Zone of Mechanics.

  • Be mindful of the progression of the over arcs and other under arcs in Season 5 so that you can provide continuity for your content to the Storytelling Senate and our players.

specialized storyteller: Grave Mind

  • In addition to the benefits and responsibilities of the general Storyteller role, the Grave Mind Storyteller is extremely invested in our setting, knowledgeable about the lore and processes of death, dying and rebirth, and who can provide evocative storytelling scenes to players that provide catharsis during Grave Mind scenes and other interactions.

  • This role is largely “on call” during the evenings, assisting with character deaths that occur during the most dangerous times of our events. The Grave Mind Storyteller must be available to report to Ops during high traffic deaths and assist the staff on shift with processing players through their Grave Mind scenes.

  • The Grave Mind Storyteller is responsible for training other Storytellers to effectively run and recreate the thematic design of DR:TX Grave Mind scenes in their absence.

  • Write and maintain Grave Mind content that builds on the existing Grave Mind themes of Dystopia Rising and reinforce stories that have already been established in the DR:TX lore.

  • Write planned solo and group Grave Mind Scenes that any ST should be able to run if they are provided with the training to do so.

  • Maintain continuity of the stories told about the Grave Mind and Mortis Amaranthine throughout the season.

specialized storyteller: New Player

  • In addition to the benefits and responsibilities of the general Storyteller role, the New Player Storyteller role will need to be filled by someone who can consistently be on-site and available to New Players from 6 pm - 11 pm on Fridays of each event. Attendance to every event during the season is the expectation for this role.

  • This is one of the most demanding Storyteller roles, as they work hand in hand with our Marketing Coordinator and Admin Team to recruit new players to our events.

  • The New Player Stoyteller will provide encouragement and help with any first-game jitters up through and including each new player’s third event on site (and often on social media), in a mentor role.

  • Additionally, the New Player Storyteller will be asked to help with New Player communication digitally between events as well, maintaining good communication with potential players for our events within 24 hours. You will receive emails for each new player and it is greatly appreciated if you can help with their on-boarding in between events to create a consistent support pipeline into play.

  • Must be able to speak knowledgeably and positively to a variety of play styles and factions within our setting. Be able to break down the basic rules new players must learn into manageable chunks and communicate them with gusto.

  • Assist new players with character creation, signing new player waivers, tagging weapons, handing out blue bandanas, and distributing any helpful new player documentation and flyers.

  • New Player Storytellers are responsible for crafting an opening New Player Module each month that fits in with the story, aimed at introducing our newest players to the world of Dystopia Rising in a positive and supportive manner. Storytelling experience and familiarity with leading NPC shifts is a plus in this role.