Collection Day

We have two weeks left of advanced Ticket Sales for Pre-Registration for our April event, COLLECTION DAY! Today, I have a sneak peek of some of the story you can expect to see during this event. We will also discuss a BIG portion of the event’s premise - THE GRAVE TAX. Remember, there’s nothing certain in life but death and taxes!

Let’s first discuss the PREMISE of the April event, talk about some of the THEMES we will be exploring, and finally talk a little about the GRAVE TAX.

I also wrote a cool short story that I’m pretty proud of back in July of 2019 when we were first releasing hype about our factions in DR:TX. You read it on our FICTION tab, here:

Death and Taxes — Dystopia Rising: Texas (idratherbeinbravo.com)

Premise of the Game:

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 Mystagogue 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 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.

Themes of Collection Day

Each game, when we start out writing content for the game we start by considering the major themes we want to explore. We generally couch these in some of the language of the 6 types of literary conflict, but we go a bit more specific than that for our starting design so some of these conflicts will deviate from the classics.

• Healing Wounds Older Than You (Man vs God) The Psionic Bomb was a sin committed by desperate people in desperate times, and many of them are dead now; or drifters who left the place they saved when it was rendered a hotbed of radioactivity and death. But still, the repercussions of those old sins fall at the feet of those who followed after, who live in the world that those old sinner’s birthed in fire and blood. It is not the Vado’s old grievances that keep the morgue system from bridging the rifts within itself to heal, but it is their responsibility. 

• The Grave Tax Does Come Due (Man vs Fate) In life there are only two things assured to us, Death - and Taxes. The Grave Tax is inevitable, it is necessary, and paying it yearly is as regular as a bowel movement. There is nothing glamorous or terrifying about the Grave Tax, so long as yours is paid on time and in full. Otherwise, the Reckoners; black-clad taxmen who specialize in wet work, will provide the only alternative known to Taxes; that being Death. 

• The Infectious Cycle Goes On (Man vs Time) The ecosystem in the Greater San Saba is a complex series of biomes that range from the ivory blast land of the Dune Sea, to the megaflora forests of Essex, and to the murky and miraculous sea life that thrives just off the Clutch’s oil-slick shoreline. But, in every settled mile of the San Saba, morgues persist; people die; and they are hacked out like tonsil stones from the meat of the Mortis. Morgues are but connections to something Beyond Death, and though individual channels may wither and die off - still the Eternity Beyond remains beyond the scope of any one life. The Mortis is huge, and we rarely see beyond the shores of the Near Death.

Now that you understand some of the themes of the event, let’s talk about the primary conceit of the game, the collection of the GRAVE TAX.

the Grave Tax

Much like the PREMISE and THEMES of our event above, our mechanic of the Grave Tax is centered in the story. This is the main way we approach things in the DR:TX world and it informs how we design everything from new blueprints, mods, new threats, and every story we tell.

You can read in full about the GRAVE TAX here:

• Grave Tax — Dystopia Rising: Texas (idratherbeinbravo.com)

Primary Themes of the grave tax

• Death has Consequences -  In a world where survivors can return from death, crimes like murder can run rampant unless some threat of punishment is enforced.  The Grave Tax is a method to prevent the needless deaths of shareholders, merchants, and Braves, and is assessed as a financial burden upon death.  Unnecessary death is frowned upon.

• Death Comes for All, Pauper or Prince - The Grave Council does not care for the status placed upon a person in the times within the Mortis Amaranthine. They pursue their due from every being that walks the San Saba wastes. They also treat the death of a Pureblood from an ivory tower the same as they treat the death of a wandering Rover.

• Story, not Punishment - The purpose of the Grave Tax is not to punish players for dying or to create an undue financial burden.  The Grave Tax provides a concrete way to involve yourself in the greater story of the Lone Star, interact with several powerful factions, and seek out assistance and roleplay with other characters in the game.  It is tied with the enforcement of law in the game and can be opted out if the player wishes to avoid a negative play experience by using the Pauper’s Fund.

The Grave Tax is meant as an avenue for story, not punishment.

What is the Grave Tax?

The Grave Tax is one of the enforced laws of San Saba Territories and a tradition of the Grave Council that helps cover the maintenance of the Morgues of the Lone Star.  This is a fee, normally paid in Brass notes, that a Groundskeeper is paid to retrieve someone from the Mortis Amaranthine and is tracked and collected by the agents of the Grave Council.  As part of an agreement with the recently formed Railroad Conglomerate, the San Saba Board has delegated authority over every Morgue within the San Saba territories and the Lone Star to the Grave Council and enshrined the Grave Tax into law of the Board. Even the Junkerpunks acknowledge the need to preserve the cycle of death through the Mortis Amaranthine.

“None shall interfere with the Delivery of the Post,
Nor the Collection of the Grave Tax.

- from the San Saba Charter of Laws

how much does the grave tax cost?

There are three classes of deaths that occur in the San Saba. This amount is assessed by the Groundskeeper that runs the death scene for a character, and it is recorded in our DEATH LEDGER and on your character sheet in the NOTES tab. You can always choose to have MORE taxes put on your sheet, if you like that extra spicy angst. (You know who you are!)

• Class 1: Accidental or Unpreventable Death (25 Brass)

  • Death by Zed, Raider, or a Creature of the Wastes

  • Death from the Environment, or Natural Disasters

• Class 2: Preventable Death (50 Brass)

  • Death that could have been avoided in some way.  Foolhardy, silly mistakes are normally classified in this manner.  Needlessly feeding the Gravemind is a threat to the delicate balance of the Mortis Amaranthine. This includes Duels, Crimes of Passion, and Violations of the Laws.  If an action of the deceased could have been avoided by upholding the laws and contracts of the San Saba, this level of fine is normally assessed.

• Class 3: Intentional Death, or Murder (100+ Brass)

  • Purposefully feeding the Gravemind is the most grievous crime, particularly through MURDER. This can include collateral damage and actions that lead to the death of others in addition to themselves, particularly in ways that can be proven by the recently deceased or other witnesses. This is the starting amount of a fee for this type of death but can escalate accordingly to the severity.  

why is the grave tax necessary?

When a person emerges from a Morgue in the San Saba after death, there is a significant threat of a dangerous wasting disease being contracted, known as the Plague of the Unfinished. The Groundskeepers of the Grave Council have developed a number of procedures to limit this spread, and when they or a Sanctioned Graverobber is involved, the threat of this disease is minimal.

The Plague of the Unfinished: This extremely fatal disease was first discovered by Sanctioned Graverobbers of the Grave Council in the Lone Star. While the cause of the disease is unknown, the symptoms are quite obvious. During the process of rebuilding of a survivor’s body after a death, the body is ejected from the Mortis Amaranthine in an unfinished state. The process of regeneration is left incomplete, and the body begins a quick return to the Gravemind as it literally melts and rots away. The process is extremely painful, horrifying to watch, and has very few known cures if not caught quickly. When the victim emerges from the Gravemind after dying to this disease, they are cured if they can survive a second loss of Infection. Thankfully, the disease does not seem to be infectious in this form.

If you die and return without the assistance of the Grave Council, you can lose more than one Infection. This disease is no joke! This disease might even be relevant during the next event…

the Pauper’s Fund

Ultimately, the story of the GRAVE TAX is an OPTIONAL one. You might not enjoy roleplaying owing a debt to a shadowy organization of Graverobbers and Gravemind Cultists. That’s perfectly fine! The Grave Tax is meant as a way to create a cool story behind each death, not a burden or punishment. 

No player is required to have a Grave Tax added to their character sheet when they die. Period.

As an in-game reason for how this happens, The Widows of the Lone Star maintain an account with the Grave Council that helps alleviate the debt of the unfortunate or those that cannot afford to pay.  This fund normally pays the Grave Taxes of those that ask for assistance and is collected by the various charitable works of the Widows. The Pauper’s Fund can be used in the cases where a player wishes to opt out of this mechanic, within reason.  

The sole exception to this option is MURDER. If you kill another character and cause the loss of Infection in CvC Conflict, you’ll have to suffer the consequences for breaking the law… if you get caught!

We hope you will join us for COLLECTION DAY! Make sure to get your tickets early so you can have your character sheets pre-printed at the door. You can always buy you tickets on site if you miss out, but we appreciate the folks that can pre-register. This lets us know how many NPCs to expect for a shift (so we know when we can send out more zombies!), which players are planning on coming for Personal Plot Requests and PFA Requests, and helps us prepare an even better event for you!

Register — Dystopia Rising: Texas (idratherbeinbravo.com)

Types of Characters in DR

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 bit of things concerning Roleplay; particularly the differences between different types of characters in Dystopia Rising. This is important considering we will have some Casted Characters in play during our next event with a bit more agency than usual.

You can read all about these characters and how you will be able to influence them to change the world of DR:TX in a blog post by Shan last week:

• Queensgrace; A New Leader for a New World — Dystopia Rising: Texas (idratherbeinbravo.com)

Our ticket sales close on FRIDAY! You have a few days left to purchase a ticket online and pre-register, but you’ll still be able to get a ticket at the door!

Types of Tickets

Speaking of tickets, my blog post today actually involves a bit of the ticketing process for our game. Each time you attend a game, you have a few options for choosing a ticket that are outlined on P. 92 of the DR Corebook. Each ticket type essentially allows you to modify the amount of time involved in your CASTING SHIFT.

NOTE: Only 4-hour Casting General Admission tickets are sold at the door. All other types of tickets must be purchased during pre-registration!

The Casting Shift is the time you spend in game helping us portray the antagonists like Zombies and Raiders, or even other Casted Characters like merchants, delvers, or residents of Bravado. Casted Characters are sometimes referred to as NPCs, or Non-Player Characters. This is also sometimes called your “NPC Casting Shift” or “NPC Shift”.

NPC Casting Shifts signups are filled on a first come, first served basis through our Check-In system. Once you have purchased your ticket, please Check-In under the correct Ticket Type. If you are a Guide, please purchase the 4 Hour General Admission Ticket. If you are buying a $0 Casting Only ticket, you will need to spend at least 12 Hours on your Casting Shift to earn XP for your character.

Some casting times have limited availability based on our anticipated needs to run a fun and engaging event. If you want a limited casting time, or the reduced ticket with increased casting time, we strongly recommend picking up a ticket in advance. You can see what tickets are still available on our REGISTRATION page!

As you can see, the Tickets for a game introduce a few terms regarding types of characters that can be confusing, so let’s talk about those in more detail.

Types of characters

There are three types of characters in Dystopia Rising: Leading Characters, Support Characters, and Casted Characters (also sometimes referred to as Extras). Other roleplaying games like D&D often refer to these types of characters as different terms, like PC or NPC. Depending on a person’s experience with games, you might hear these terms used interchangeably, so let’s talk about the differences within each type of character in Dystopia Rising.

For our game, we use some Hollywood terms to refer to our characters, as if we were making a movie or TV show together. Each type of character in our game has a similar example in a production like this. You might have the stars of your favorite show, the supporting actors or recurring guest stars, or even the extras in the background drinking coffee at the café or walking across the street. Collectively, they represent the CAST of that show, but each role has a different focus and impact on the storyline. We often include terms like “scene” to refer to a moment in a game as well.

Like a TV show cast, the main difference between types of characters in Dystopia Rising is their focus and agency. Let’s look at each example:

LC - Leading Characters

The Leading Character (LC) is the primary type of character in our game - played by our players! Other roleplaying games sometimes call this a “PC” or “Player Character”. When a character is in a leading role in a movie or TV show, the focus of our story is on them. We care about their backgrounds, their conversations, and the challenges they face. Since our players are the star of our show, LCs can do pretty much everything in the game, including combat, econ, roleplay, or CvC.

I [pause] am a [pause] leading character..

“These characters are used by standard participants for the majority of their engagement with a game. These are characters that players portray with full agency over the character’s decision-making process within the guidelines of community, shared story, and genre. A player’s ability to have 100% agency over their character shifts to a shared agency once a character engages other participants. This is the nature of shared storytelling, where all involved (staff and participants) share the authority over scenes engaging participants within the framework of genre, safe community and fair play guidelines.” (DR Corebook, p. 16)

An important emphasis here is that while your characters have full agency in most situations, situations involving other characters need to consider SHARED AGENCY. This is generally referring to CvC, but it is also a reminder to make sure that EVERYONE is having fun in a scene, even if it’s just roleplay and not involving combat. You also need to be mindful of our Community Guidelines, and make sure you are following the rules - that’s part of fair play!

One last consideration on agency as a LC — while you have a LOT of ability to impact the world and the characters around you, you must still consider this shared agency responsibility when it comes to the politics of our game. Characters in DR:TX can join one of our major factions, becoming a stake holder in the San Saba Territories (this might be useful next game, if you have Tribes Disparate membership). Once you reach Master Society Membership, you have a bit more influence than most on how the affairs of the faction resolve, and you’ll be involved in more choices that impact your role in the group.

However, this agency will never involve sole leadership in any faction. You can be influential, but you’ll never really be able to fill the shoes of someone like Felicity Redfield. We’ve found that small groups of players in political positions find it challenging to follow their own goals as an LC while ALSO creating engaging content for others. For this reason, we will always retain measures in game that mean staff can inject that drama and story in ways meant to engage with a much larger player base and story. For instance, no LC will be able to be the next King or Queen of the Tribes Disparate, but they CAN be leaders of a House, like the Cervaxi Tribe or the SCAdians. The primary position of leadership will be held instead by a Reoccurring Casted Character (see below).

SC - Support Characters

The Support Characters role is reserved for our Gamerunners and Directors. Shan and Aesa are the primary folks that hold this role in DR:TX, but this could also include members of the DR National Staff or other chapter owners that are visiting too! Like a director in a movie, their primary focus is on the game itself, not the actions of their individual characters. SCs can do most of the same things as an LC, but generally try to avoid things that might provoke a conflict of interest like non-negotiated CvC or being the leader of a crew.

“These characters are overseen by an employee or event owner. While SCs follow all guidelines of standard LC growth and the game rules, the focus and direction of SCs is restricted due to the fact that employees have a greater degree of knowledge and understanding of the world, operations, and story that occur. This greater knowledge and understanding means that the interests of an SC (as a character) will always take second place to the interests of other participants. Support Characters are restricted in what stories or engagements they may have, in order to prevent conflicts of interest and to not allow bleed of character actions to influence and affect a staff member’s station and position as a business owner or employee.” (DR Corebook, p. 17)

At DR:TX, we do try to make sure our Gamerunners have a chance to play from time to time. It’s important for Shan and Aesa to get some time to play their characters, as actually participating in the game is a big part of being able to enjoy themselves and prevent burnout. Luckily, we have a great team of Guides, Admins, and STs that can step in to fill their shoes to give them a much needed break!

Casted Characters (or Extras)

The DR Corebook refers to this last category as Casted Characters, or Extras depending on what part of the book you are reading. It’s a little confusing because both terms are used in the book, but only one is actually defined. But if you see one of these terms they effectively are the same thing. We will also sometimes refer to this type of character as an NPC, or non-player character. This is a bit of a holdover from roleplaying games and video games, but it’s easy to understand and most people can quickly grasp the term once it’s explained.

Any good super hero movie needs the faceless thugs and antagonists in the background of a fight, and our Casted Characters help fill in these roles. During the Casting Shift, our Extras serve a key role in Dystopia Rising by representing monsters like Raiders and Zombies, or other mundane characters as the STs and Guides require. One benefit of this allows us to field living, breathing opponents across the field from you, to really dig into that feeling of surviving the zombie apocalypse. When there are actually 20 zombies surrounding you it tends to thrust you into the moment and help with immersive roleplay.

“This is a character that is represented by a participant during a Casting Shift. A Guide informs participants what sort of persona they will be portraying based on the content the writers produce for the event and helps make sure their time as an Extra is an enjoyable one. These characters have a limited scope of interest, purpose, and history that is defined by the duration of an engagement or a series of engagements written as part of a staff-created plot and story. Extras are portrayed similarly to LCs, however, the interests and focus of the people portraying Extras are driven by story, plot, and enriching the experience of participants actively portraying LCs instead of making decisions based on the agency of the best interests of the character. Extras may reoccur; however, they only do so if dictated by story and plot requirements.” (DR Corebook, p. 14)

The key difference in this role for me is, as a Casted Character or NPC, you are meant to LOSE. Period. The other characters are the heroes of this story. You don’t “win” at an NPC shift when you kill a character, you “win” when folks are having fun. When you are on shift, your goal is to provide a memorable and fun experience for your friends, so that when it comes time for their turn as a NPC they can return the favor and provide that fun in the future.

One of our jobs as STs and staff is also to make sure we have interesting and engaging content on our shifts for the Extras, so that you can also have a bit of fun in the process. We strive in DR:TX to have varied types of mods during the Casting Shift, with options for both roleplay, econ, AND combat. We also strive to provide content for our non-combat players as well while they are on Casting shift. Some players even enjoy the NPC experience so much they sign up for Full Casting Shifts, and they don’t play an LC at all during the game!

Reoccurring Casted Characters (Face NPCS)

One last kind of “hidden” role within the Casted Character category is that of the Reoccurring Casted Character, sometimes known as a “Face” NPC. In our TV show analogy, this is a regular Guest Star or that named background character that stands out a bit more than usual. I think of folks like Nick Fury or Agent Coulson in the Marvel universe, when I talk about Face NPCs. While they still exist to keep the focus on the LCs, our Face NPCs have a bit more agency than a usual Extra. These characters also help establish continuity, as the same person plays them each time they appear and they can react in the play space based on those past experiences better than a random zombie or merchant.

Reoccurring Characters are actually alluded to in the book, in the same section on Extras:

Extras may reoccur; however, they only do so if dictated by story and plot requirements.” (DR Corebook, p. 14)

When a ST or Gamerunners has a particular story in mind, they might reach out to a volunteer for an additional role. The choice of who plays that role is mostly up to the ST, but if you are interested in being considered for one of these roles in the future you can let us know by submitting feedback or sending an email. While we often rely on our Guides and STs to fill these roles, we strive to vary our casting as the story demands. We look for folks with great acting ability, proven experience with the ruleset, and those folks that are an outstanding member of the community that we can trust to help fill this valuable role. This role will often earn additional CAPS for the volunteer time, and we generally work with that player to help them develop a unique costume and look for the role.

Some of the Reoccurring Characters in DR:TX include Faction leaders like Felicity Redfield, Tabitha St. Mercy, Commander Rampart, Mama Rabbit, Gustav Glasseyes, or Boss Wyatt. Each time they enter play, the same “actor” is behind them. Sometimes, this is a Gamerunner or an ST spending time in play outside of their normal shift, but sometimes we rely on the folks outside of the Storytelling Team as well, like in the case of our upcoming game.

In our next event, QUEENSGRACE, we will have a few new faces in our Reoccurring Casted Characters. Shan talked a bit about this concept in our last blog post! These Face NPCs will be in play for large chunks of the game and will be playing the role of the leaders of the Tribes Disparate. These 14 different characters will have a chance of interacting with you over the weekend, and your actions will determine the future leader of the Tribes Disparate. Our Reoccurring Characters have been very, very thoroughly coached on how to behave in the play space, but they will have objectives to achieve, motivations and reasons for their behaviors, and secrets you can uncover.

We are very excited to introduce some of these characters, and we can’t wait to show you more! Our hope is that this enhanced agency will allow these Casted Characters to provide meaningful roleplay opportunities, make them feel like a real character, and a give you a chance to directly impact the future of our story in Bravado.

wrap Up

No matter the role your character or NPC has, one last thing to keep in mind is that you are still in charge of your character actions in game, through a process called Steering. Next time, we will dive a bit more into the concept of Steering, how to apply it in game, and ways you can enhance your roleplay experience. See you next time Vados!

Long Term CvC

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 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 post is our last delve for now into the logic behind some of the things involved with CvC, or Character vs. Character behaviors. Our specific topic this week is Long-term CvC.

In my previous CvC themed posts, we covered an Introduction to CvC and then we covered the pretty dense Theft Rules of Dystopia Rising. Last time, we covered the rules for Conflict in the Moment. Our friends at DR:NY also had a great series on CvC you read about HERE. I highly recommend reading this before we continue our discussion here.

We also still have tickets for our next event QUEENSGRACE open! Make sure you can attend our next event — it’s going to be monumental for our setting!

There are a few core areas in the book on CvC, and we’ve taken a look at each part during this series.

• CvC in the Moment (p. 160) - Rules for spontaneous CvC encounters, and how to use the “C” symbol for conflict. I would consider this “unplanned” CvC.

• Long Term CvC (p. 161) - Suggestions for how to approach CvC that happens over several games or longer, including how to recognize your limits. I consider this “planned” CvC.

• CvC in the Wastelands (p. 162) - Rules for the WASTELAND, an area where consent to CvC is implied simply by entering. We covered this in Part 1.

• Thick as Thieves (p. 163) - Rules for THEFT in the world of Dystopia Rising, what you can steal, how you do it, and what consequences can look like. We covered this in Part 2.

In addition to the sections in the book on CvC, we also have some other additional resources for the game.

• Wasteland Map - You can find a map of the current Wasteland Zones within the DR:TX game space at Camp Kachina.

• Survival Ethos System (SES) - This is an out of character mechanic for “opting in” to CvC in advance, no matter where you are in the game.

So let’s cover what happens when you want to PLAN conflict with another character..

LONGTERM CVC

The Long Term CvC section in the DR Corebook is only 4 paragraphs long, so I don’t have much here to work with as we explain this section. However, I have some good advice and lessons I’ve learned in my years in DR to share with you. Hopefully, what this looks like in practice that may be helpful to you in your own CvC negotiations.

The book outlines a few steps in these paragraphs on p. 161 (emphasis mine):

• Have a conversation with the other person BEFORE you escalate into conflict

• Check if they are okay with that conflict in advance!

• Define what sorts of conflict you are comfortable with, and what CvC means to you

• If they are NOT okay with conflict, deescalate the situation, find an alternative path, or plan to avoid situations or people where conflict would occur.

The big takeaway from the book for me is that Long Term CvC is PLANNED CvC, where as Conflict in the Moment tends to be UNPLANNED. Long Term conflict is something you think about in advance and communicate with the other players on BEFORE it happens, while the more short term conflicts can often be a reaction to an event of some kind in game and need that communication on the spot instead.

The need for communication here is so very important. At first glance, it might seem like a good idea to want to initiate a CvC fight in game without talking to that person first because you want the attack to be a surprise. You don’t want to give them an edge in the fight if they know it’s coming, after all! This kind of mindset is really common for new players, players from other games like Vampire or Nero, or even veteran folks that might remember an earlier time of CvC in the DR 2.0 world. However, not only is that idea against the spirit of the rules, it’s a recipe for a bad time.

This style of conflict misses a BIG component of the CvC rules above because it lacks that element of communication. The only person or group that really enjoys this kind of surprise attack is the aggressor, in my opinion. When you don’t communicate your intentions in advance and set a social contract for the conflict you want to see in the world, it’ll be much harder for the other person to respond positively to the conflict. If you really want to see that ambush style event happen, TELL the other party about that! You don’t have to plan out every swing in a fight if you want to keep it organic, but you DO have to talk about it first.

• JONATHAN’S ADVICE: WHILE IT MIGHT SEEM A LITTLE COUNTERINTUITIVE, YOU CAN STILL HAVE ROLEPLAY THAT INVOLVES SURPRISES, TRAPS, AND AMBUSHES EVEN IF THE OTHER PLAYER KNOWS ABOUT IT IN ADVANCE.

Seeing a trailer for a movie, reading a synopsis of a show, or reading a cover of a book doesn’t necessarily spoil the content for me, but I can’t guarantee that another person will feel that same way. If we don’t talk about it first, it will just lead to resentment and anger because our social boundaries were crossed — all because we didn’t communicate them first! When expectations aren’t communicated and met, resentment and anger grow.

“If you can’t talk about CvC with someone without the potential for real-world drama, then the pairing of you two for CvC probably won’t work out.” (p. 161)

Lastly, sometimes people just shouldn’t CvC with each other. There are many reasons why a person would want to avoid CvC with a particular person, both in game and out of game. CvC is both a privilege AND a responsibility in DR. It’s not just about one player’s fun, but about BOTH player’s fun! Your focus in CvC should consider the benefit of the story versus the potential for real-world conflict. If it’s not going to be fun for everyone, it’s better to walk away and find a different story than potentially create a conflict that will hurt someone in real life.

Why should you consider Long Term cvc?

So, you’ve reached a decision that you still want to pursue long-term CvC and you’ve found a willing partner in crime to help you tell a great story. Great!

Long Term CvC can provide real consequence and a great story because it’s now an opponent with access to the same skills, same equipment, and same abilities that you have across the field. They might have friends to back them up, or a powerful political position. They might have more XP on their character than you, or better equipment. And when a fight has bigger stakes, you can have bigger stories. The main advantage of long term CvC is that it provides a way to push your character towards meaningful conflict.

A meaningful conflict applies pressure to a character to act, because if they refuse to take action, that story ends.

Meaningful conflict is conflict that reveals something about your character. A rival character is in play for much longer than that quick NPC encounter in game, so the possibilities to continue that story are endless. That fight doesn’t have to end with character death. With the Infection, even dying is temporary and that rival could come back for revenge and bring friends with them! CvC can present an engaging challenge but it can be a wider variety of scenarios than you might think.

CvC can really include ANY action that undermines the safety, stability, or security of another character or group, and it can take other forms than just combat. It might be an attack on another character directly with a boffer, sure. But it could also be a series of heated arguments about faith around the Depot, a price war between your crews as you try to sell some of your hard earned scrap and herb, or it could be a bragging contest between two master thieves trying to steal something more noticeable or important to that person when they aren’t looking, all while leaving a calling card to taunt them with their skill.

The most important part of Long Term CvC for me is to really decide what those stakes are in advance, and what you want that conflict to look like. It starts with an out-of-character CvC negotiation, so let’s look at some ideas of things to consider in this conversation.

CVC NEGOTIATION IN PRACTICE

The book is very lacking on actual examples of what kind of things you should discuss in a CvC negotiation, so I’ve built a list of some of the best practices I’ve seen over the years. Here are some boundaries you should look out for in a CvC negotiation, but I’ve probably missed a few to be fair. I’ve grouped these into two main categories — things that cause a change to your character sheet, and some of the common situations to consider for CvC.

possible Changes to your Character:

• How do you feel about short term effects like entering Bleed Out, or being Mangled?

• What about roleplay affects like being affected by a Hallucinogen or Intoxicant?

• How do you feel about poisons (particularly ones that can be secretly put into your food or drinks) being used in a conflict?

• What about long term effects like being inflicted with a Disease or story effect?

• How do you feel about Infection loss as a potential consequence?

• What about more than one Infection loss, or repeated deaths?

• What about permanent character death?

• What about items or effects that interact with your Grave Mind scene like Necrokinetics or Death Brews?

• How do you feel about losing items to theft like weapons, blueprints, or Brass? Is there a limit that you’d like to set on what is fair game?

• How do you feel about Larceny attempts to pickpocket you?

• How do you feel about gaining Fractures as part of the conflict?

Situations to watch out for:

• Do you want to arrange a Guide to observe the conflict in advance?

  • THIS IS SUPER IMPORTANT! It’s okay to ask for a Guide to observe a scene — it’s still CvC after all. If you cannot agree on this very basic situation, then maybe you shouldn’t consider CvC with that person. Long Term CvC ultimately requires trust between both sides!

• How much do you want to plan out the actual conflict scene in advance? Do you want to heavily script the encounter in game, or keep it in the moment?

• How do you feel about yelling, screaming, insults and other aggressive roleplay?

• How you feel about physical touch or boffer combat?

• Are surprise attacks okay? What about nighttime raids of your cabin?

• What about conflict during another scene or module? Is engaging you while you are fighting zed or raiders, or negotiating with that Face NPC going to be okay?

• Do you want to sign up for the SES System?

• Who is going to be involved in the conflict?

  • If it’s a violent conflict, it’s especially important to consider allies or a crew into the conversation too. Nothing can make a person change their mind about CvC like feeling overwhelmed or ganged up on!

• Are there any areas of the site that are off limits for conflict?

• How do you feel about indirect CvC against your character, like a whisper campaign to ruin your reputation or economic sanctions like convincing crews not work with you?

• If someone makes your favorite crafting area or cabin dangerous, how do you feel about that?

• Are there any times of day or night you don’t want to consider CvC conflict?

• Can you set up a safety system like a safe word to handle changes in the moment? What if you were ready for a conflict but something has changed? How will you communicate that change?

It’s also important to consider what happens AFTER the conflict. Say everything goes swimmingly with the scene, and it’s really rewarding for you and your CvC partner. What about onlookers that decide to jump in to help? What will your crew think about someone else starting conflict with one of their friends? How will you handle Law Dogs chasing you down for murder? One of the quickest ways a CvC encounter can spiral out of control is failing to account for ALL of the people impacted by the scene, not just the immediate actors.

Follow up AFter the CVC conflict:

• How will you handle spillover, impacting other characters in the game? Are there any limits you need to consider first?

• Does your crew know about the CvC Negotiation, or are they already involved? What about outside contacts like friends or members of your faith?

• How will you handle other characters being involved that you didn’t expect?

• How do you feel about social ramifications or consequences for the encounter?

  • Remember that theft and murder are breaches of the Law of the San Saba, even if you agree to the CvC encounter first or are in the Wasteland. These types of actions can earn the attention of the Law Dogs!

• What do you consider a Conflict of Interest?

• Is there any character or player that you don’t want to include in CvC?

I’ve attempted to cover a lot of the situations to watch out for in CvC, but I’m sure I missed something. This is not meant as a replacement for simply having a conversation with your CvC partner. You are going to make mistakes, but if you can be honest about your feelings and communicate with the other players it will go a long way to avoiding hurt feelings or bleed.

Remember: CvC is both a privilege AND a responsibility in DR. It’s not just about one player’s fun, but about EVERY player’s fun!

Next time, we’ll cover some of the things to look forward to during our next event, QUEENSGRACE. What does the SUMMIT mean for your character, and what should you expect? See you then Vados!

CvC in the Moment

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 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 series finishes up our delve into the logic behind some of the things involved with CvC, or Character vs. Character behaviors. Our specific topic this week is CvC in the Moment.

In my previous CvC themed posts, we covered an Introduction to CvC and then we covered the pretty dense Theft Rules of Dystopia Rising. Our friends at DR:NY also had an engaging series on CvC you read about HERE. The folks at DR:NY did a really fun series on Consent and CvC that I enjoyed, and I highly recommend reading this before we continue our discussion here.

There are a few core areas in the book on CvC, and we’ve taken a look at each part during this series.

• CvC in the Moment (p. 160) - Rules for spontaneous CvC encounters, and how to use the “C” symbol for conflict. I would consider this “unplanned” CvC.

• Long Term CvC (p. 161) - Suggestions for how to approach CvC that happens over several games or longer, including how to recognize your limits. I consider this “planned” CvC. I’ll cover this in my next installment!

• CvC in the Wastelands (p. 162) - Rules for the WASTELAND, an area where consent to CvC is implied simply by entering. We covered this in Part 1.

• Thick as Thieves (p. 163) - Rules for THEFT in the world of Dystopia Rising, what you can steal, how you do it, and what consequences can look like. We covered this in Part 2.

In addition to the sections in the book on CvC, we also have some other additional resources for the game.

• Wasteland Map - You can find a map of the current Wasteland Zones within the DR:TX game space at Camp Kachina.

• Survival Ethos System (SES) - This is an out of character mechanic for “opting in” to CvC in advance, no matter where you are in the game.

So with all that out of the way, let’s discuss one of my favorite ways to engage in CvC in Dystopia Rising: CvC in the Moment.

cvc in the moment

Starting on page 160 in the DR Corebook, we can find the rules for CvC in the Moment. This is a unique section because it covers a way to effectively “check for consent” before engaging in CvC activities by showing the Conflict Gesture. The key part of this for me is that this can be done ANYWHERE, even outside of the Wasteland.

The next big thing that separates this behavior in the moment from other CvC activities is that is it often UNPLANNED. It is simply a natural escalation of roleplay during a scene, a reaction to something that just happened, or simply a way to respond in-character in a way that you would like to ask permission to explore.

CvC conflict in the moment can be several different behaviors in game. It can be the obvious example of swinging a boffer, using an item, or activating a Skill on someone. But it can also be aggressive roleplay like yelling, insults, or screaming, or it can be more subtle such as economic CvC by undercutting someone’s business or taking action against a competitor, political CvC by taking actions against the town or the laws of that area, or simply other active or passive-aggressive behaviors that are designed to provoke a response immediately.

This is a question: “Do you want to have conflict that does not involve Infection loss or item theft?”

The Conflict Gesture is made by holding your hand in shape of a “C” near your shoulder, like in the picture of me here. This allows you to ask someone else in the game an out of character question: “Do you want to engage in CvC that does not involve Infection loss or item theft?”

You can respond to this question in a few ways:

• You can say “NO”, or simply shake your head. You DO NOT have to consent to CvC in the Moment if you don’t want. If someone gives this response, you should immediately deescalate the situation and adjust the roleplay accordingly.

• If you are a member of the SES System, you call “Registered” in response to this question. In addition to basically saying “YES” to the question, you’ve also said “I’m ok with Infection Loss and theft” in addition to the normal rules. You are simply reminding that person that you are indeed enthusiastically consenting to CvC by being a member of the SES.

  • You can still decline a request for CvC while on the SES, but doing so immediately removes you from the SES list for the rest of the event. You must speak to a guide or a gamerunner to be removed from the list ASAP! This is meant as a tool to help you avoid character conflict when you aren’t ready for it out of character, not as a way to avoid in-game consequences.

• You can say “YES”, or respond in kind with a “C” gesture of your own to confirm your consent. This gives temporary consent to CvC under a specific set of conditions.

If you say “YES” however, you’ve established some limits to what happens next. You’ve agreed to physical conflict, verbal conflict, etc., but ONLY as long as it does not result in:

• Infection Loss

• Item Theft

The other implied part of this agreement that can be quickly abused is that it’s generally between TWO people. Make sure you have the consent of EVERYONE that is going to join in on the fun. Don’t blindside another player with an unfair fight when your friends join in on the pummeling — they might be ok with a one-on-one fight, but not with being ganged up on!

While these are the only two things actually listed in the rules, I think it’s reasonable to assume this also includes any long-term effect that could impact a character, such as FRACTURES or serious long-term consequences like a loss of reputation, loss of a position of authority, or anything similar. You can heal a Mangled limb, or drink a brew to restore Body, but it’s hard to get something back once it’s lost if it’s not a temporary inconvenience.

• Jonathan’s Advice: If it’s not a TEMPORARY consequence, it doesn’t belong in “Conflict in the Moment” cvc.

The most important part of this is that CvC Conflict in the Moment can ONLY occur with enthusiastic consent. If they are not 100% in for that fight, YOU DO NOT START IT. Your job as a player is then to de-escalate, choose a different topic, or simply withdraw from the scene. And that’s perfectly fine. It’s just a question, and it’s always appropriate to be firm in your boundaries and say “NO” if you aren’t completely ok with what happens next. Simply have a friendly conversation and move on!

Bravado cvc best practices

One thing to keep in mind is that CvC in the Moment rules are really a pretty short section of the book. There’s a lot of nuance that should apply to CvC situations that isn’t necessarily directly in the rules. The book suggests to “defer to common sense”, but in case you are like me and that’s not always obvious let’s talk about some best practices for better CvC in the Moment.

Here’s a few of my suggestions for better conflict in the moment:

• While CvC in the Moment does not technically require you to observe the time requirement needed for CvC that involves theft or Infection loss, I think it’s still a good idea to purposefully observe these time requirements — particularly the 4 hour window at the end of the game. Attacking someone before the end of the weekend on Sunday doesn’t really give them a real chance to respond to that event. They might have to get started packing, or even need to wait in that dreaded last-minute Post Office line, or they might simply be more tired that usual after a whole weekend of running around in the woods.

“WHEN YOU STEAL FROM ANOTHER PLAYER OR REMOVE AN INFECTION, YOU MUST HAVE BEEN IN PLAY FOR AT LEAST FOUR HOURS BEFORE THE ACT OF CVC, AND REMAIN IN PLAY FOR FOUR HOURS AFTER THE FACT (P. 163).”

• A single negative comment or a loud noise doesn’t always need a check-in with the other player but you should always be mindful of their boundaries. Not everyone can separate someone yelling at them in character from the real thing. Don’t be afraid of asking for consent for conflict before you start that argument or aggressive roleplay!

• Using the “C” symbol to start a fight is not required in the Wasteland or against a person on the SES System, but it’s never a bad idea to check for consent in the moment. You never know when a person might have changed their mind on how they feel about CvC in that particular moment until you actually ask them!

• Know your own limits — It’s ok to change your mind about conflict. If you are tired, hurt, or just distracted it can make it difficult to really engage with a conflict in a positive manner. Don’t engage in conflict in the moment if you aren’t enthusiastically ready for that fight — remember it takes two to tango and enthusiastic consent includes YOU!

• Consent must be given enthusiastically EVERY time. Just because you’ve previously had an encounter where they responded positively doesn’t mean they are ready in this moment! Don’t assume!

• You can always “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” parts of a scene and ask for a calibration in the moment. If it’s getting to be too much, or you aren’t quite sure if that’s the player crying or the character crying, you can always check to be sure! Let the player tell you with a “thumbs up” if everything is going well so you can continue, or tell you to back off with a “thumbs down” and change the intensity or the activity a bit to a more comfortable level. You can read more about this in the OK Check-In System.

• If a conflict does cross that boundary in the moment, remember you can '“thumbs down” the entire scene, EVEN if you have responded positively to a conflict in the moment request. It’s okay to withdraw your consent at any time!

The neatest part about this CvC in the Moment system is that it is effectively a NEGOTIATION for better CvC conflict. This is a key part of healthy and fun CvC in my mind, so next time we will really explore some examples of long-term CvC and good negotiation techniques.

See you next time Vados!

Beyond the Horizon - Rules You Should Know

Hey there Vados! It’s Jonathan here with another Rules Ramble! This week we are going to cover updates for our game this weekend - BEYOND THE HORIZON. We are going to talk about some rules you should be aware of before game, and things you might see during our upcoming event. As always, the purpose of these Rules Rambles is to cover a topic in the DR rulebook or something that might show up in game in more detail than the book or ZOMs alone can provide.

While advanced ticket sales for the event are closed, you can still get tickets at the door!

Skills You should Know

You can read more about updated Rules and Skills not in the rulebook at the DR Lexicon on the national website. These are Skills not in the DR Corebook, but they are found on threats and items within the game. It’s important to understand how these might impact you during the event.

Let’s talk about two particular Skills you’ll see this weekend, including one from the Lexicon:

FEAR

Here’s the rules from the DR Corebook, p. 103

“Fear is a mechanical effect that prevents a Target from attacking the source of the Fear. Fear is broken if the Target is attacked by a foe, attacked by other non-Fear mechanics with the aim of harming the Target, or forced to attack by another effect that comes after the use of Fear. Fear does not make you leave the battlefield, but it does prevent you from crossing the line from verbal and secondary support to engaging combatant. While under the effects of Fear, you can still attack others on the battlefield who were not the source of Fear.”

Fear is a Corebook Skill, but one that can be a bit confusing. This effect can be a quick way to remove a powerful enemy from a fight by making sure they can’t attack you. When you are outnumbered, it’s a great way to buy yourself some time until you can dispatch another enemy. This effect is found on a few items in play, but it’s largely called by monsters at the moment.

As long as you don’t attack that target or hit them with a Skill, they are effectively “crowd controlled” like in a video game. Crowd control (commonly shortened to CC) is a blanket term used in some video games to describe abilities that remove or diminish the control a target unit has over aspects of itself. But, ANY source of damage breaks the Fear effect — even if that damage comes from an ally!

However, unlike other true CC effects like Nail or Stun, the effects of Fear can also be worked around simply by attacking a different target. It doesn’t take you out of the fight like those other skills, so if you are careful you can mitigate the enemies use of Fear by moving to a different part of the fight. However, when that creature is the only Target you can attack, it’s a pretty effective way of keeping a dangerous foe at bay while you catch your breath or drink a brew.

Additionally, the Sailing list has a large amount of items that offer a measure of protection from Fear effects, including Grog, the Crew’s Raiding Flag, the Crew’s Cabin Flag, and the Keg o’ Grog. Some crafted items can also protect against Fear, such as the Glitter Gulch Dartgun, the Trophy Room, and the Freeiron Guard shield.

TERROR

Here’s the rules from the Lexicon:

“Countered by Basic Mental Endurance. Often delivered as an area or Line of Sight effect, those affected by Terror are overcome by an urge to flee from the source of it. For at least 30 seconds (default; some uses may specify a different duration in the call) they must attempt to flee from the presence of the source of Terror, regardless of (IG) safety. If they cannot for some reason escape, they will cower as best as possible. The target may still defend themselves, but fleeing will always be a priority when possible. Effects and items that give immunity to Fear do not give immunity to Terror unless noted otherwise.”

Terror is effectively an advanced form of Fear effects. Our older players may remember this ability from the 2.0 days. Once this effect is called, you can’t do almost anything else but run in terror from the user of the skill. If you can’t get away, you have to cower in fear, but you can still defend yourself. The sole counter to this skill is Mental Endurance, the same Skill that wards off psionic effects. If you can steel your nerves, you can avoid the leg-shaking fear that makes you want to flee in terror.

There are a few items from the Master Sailing list that can protect you from these effects, but there aren’t many items that make you resistant to Terror otherwise. This is a different mechanic from the Fear effect in the rulebook (p. 103), so items like the Crew’s Raiding Flag that make you immune to Fear do NOT work against Terror effects. Better find that Master-tier Sailing Crew with a Crew’s Cabin Flag and hope you have the same Crew Tattoo!

Next, let’s talk about two new effects for the next game:

gravetouched

Here’s the rules from our Local Rules & Skills page:

• Keyword. A character with this trait is vulnerable to skills, abilities, and items that specifically target the Gravetouched keyword. This is a condition that afflicts characters that are suffering from a temporary, but painful closeness to the Grave Mind. It is known to be spread to those with repeated and acute exposures to the Mortis Amaranthine. This condition has no known cure at this time.

A few of you out there may already have this marked on your sheet (you know who you are). And let’s be fair, a few more of you will probably have this keyword after this weekend. You know what you did (or will do).

dark water

Lastly, let’s talk about a unique Zone of Mechanics, called “DARK WATER”. This location will be clearly communicated by BLUE LIGHTS in an area marked as water. If you’re unsure, ask the guide present what area the boundaries cover.

• Once you are in DARK WATER, you are DROWNING. The DROWNING effect immediately drops you to 0 Body, regardless of what you had left, and you immediately enter Bleed Out.

• There will be several abilities and items that impact your ability to survive DARK WATER. This includes Sailing, Enhanced Movement, the Saltwise strain, the Full Dead strain, and the Helscape Deathmask. These effects will be clearly communicated on the ZOM when you encounter it in game, so I’ll save the specific spoilers.

• This has the potential to be a VERY deadly mechanic. It’s probably better to avoid the deep water if you don’t know how to swim!

DR:TX Threat Skills

We’re still in the process of updating our DR:TX webpage, but I’ve been hard at work collecting various rules, skill calls, and such that you might see on unique threats while at a DR:TX game. You can find more out at our Local Threat Skills page. I’ve included a few of the relevant bits here for this weekend’s game:

DROWNED ONES

The strange raiders known as Drowned Ones are a menace of the Spoiled Coast and the river ways connecting to the gulf, and are known to raid inland. We first encountered these creepy raiders during our Junkerpunk themed online event, The Certainty of Tides. Local sailors tell stories that you can hear the beat of drums and the sounds of horns before an attack occurs, if you are lucky enough to get a warning! Raiding crews of Drowned Ones consist of several varieties, from the Drowned One Grunts to the spear wielding Fishers, and the terrifying leaders known as Wavemasters.

Seems like they’ve been getting feisty lately, and you might run into a few of these waterlogged freaks this weekend. Let’s cover a few of the weird rules and skills you might see on a Drowned One.

• Natural Armor: Drowned Ones do not wear “armor” in the traditional sense, but their skin and flesh have become waterlogged and hardened over their time at sea. They are highly resistant to damage from this natural armor, and can slough off blows like someone wearing plates of heavy metal. Drowned Ones have Armor points but are not required to wear physical armor.

• Raider Drum Beat: The Wavemasters carry large drums to announce an impending raid on their targets. The raider must spend 30 seconds of active RP banging a drum followed by the call: “By the Sound of my Voice, All Raiders Upsurge 10 Armor”.

• Spearing Strike: The Drowned One Fisher can call “Nail, cannot move for 1 minute!”. Countered by Avoid, but breaks on entering Bleed Out. The Target cannot use Enhanced Movement or be the target of someone else’s use of the skill. You cannot move from one spot or be moved for any reason, but can still pivot on one leg. (You can find the rules for Nail on the DR Lexicon)

• Wave of Terror: The Wavemasters can strike an imposing figure on the battlefield and few can stay in one place when faced by their battle cries. Call “AOE, Lineages run in Terror for 30 seconds!”. Countered by Mental Endurance.

• Creeping Dread: Drowned Ones are a ferocious enemy and strike Fear in the bravest of opponents. The Drowned One can call “AOE, Fear, 1 minute - cannot attack me!”.

[redacted]

There might be some other unique threats in play this weekend, but we’ll keep the remaining spoilers to a minimum. Once the game is over, we will cover a few of their mechanics for the future, and I’ll add them officially to the Local Threat Skills page. Rest assured, it’ll be pretty obvious when they show up, so let’s look at a particular set of Skills to look out for and the last place the new DROWNING mechanic can show up.

• Retaliate: [REDACTED] may not Avoid or Defend. Instead, any time a Skill or spike damage call is made on the [REDACTED] it may declare this skill as a reaction. This attack inflicts it’s normal melee damage on up to 5 targets within 5 paces. The [REDACTED] can perform this response once every 10 seconds, or every other flurry. Call “Retaliate [x]” and point to the targets in range. This attack may be Avoided, and counts as a Scattershot effect for purposes that avoid AOE damage.

• Stunning Strike: Call “10 damage, STUN!”. The [REDACTED] can use OVERPOWER once per strike attempt if this strike is Avoided. The Stun effect may be ignored with Balance, but you still take the damage unless Avoided.

• Dark Water Strike: On a successful strike, the [REDACTED] can call “Dark Water Strike! Inflict DROWNING!!!”. This may be Avoided, and has no effect on the Saltwise or Full Dead strain. This cannot be combined with Scattershot. DROWNING immediately drops you to 0 Body, regardless of what you had left, and you immediately enter Bleed Out.

See you this weekend Vados, BEYOND THE HORIZON!!!