It’s time for another Rules Ramble with Jonathan! Death and dying in the world of Dystopia Rising are tied heavily into the setting. The Zombie Apocalypse story means the concept of Death is always close by for our characters. In fact, when you character dies in Dystopia Rising, you actually get to enjoy an entirely different side of the game. So let’s talk about a side of the game that you may not know much about, particularly for those folks that are new to the game.

Life Cut short…

When your character finishes their Bleed Out count without getting healing, or gets a Killing Blow delivered to them while in Bleed Out, you are dead. D-E-A-D. But for characters with the Infection surging in their bodies, that’s not quite the end.

If it is possible, you should remain in play as a corpse for no longer than 10 minutes to allow for opportunities to interact with the dead character. (DR Corebook, p. 208)

There are a few reasons to stay behind as a corpse:

First, there is actually a Skill in game that can resurrect a character that recently died, known as Master Faithful Will (DR Corebook, p. 140) — provided they can Target you as a corpse. This is a rarer skill in the game, as it requires a veteran player with at least 75 XP to be able to select this skill.

This skill allows someone of your same Faith that gets to you before that 10 minute timer is up to throw a white packet, spend 1 Resolve and stop you from losing an Infection. There are even items that let them use the Skill on people not of their same Faith. Better make buddies with that friendly priest! You still experience a Grave Mind Scene if this skill is used, so we’ll talk about that next.

Lastly, staying as a corpse allows enemies or other players to take things from your Supply Bag (which is a CvC action), allows Gorgers to cannibalize the corpse to gain Body, or even let your friends experience a role play opportunity as they react to finding your body.

You can choose to ‘sink’ into the Mortis Amaranthine when you are ready, going out of character and holding a hand to your head or wearing a green headband. Any items you still have on you are taken with you into the Mortis Amaranthine. You don’t have to wait the entire 10 minutes (especially if no one is around to find you), but you should give a reasonable amount of time for folks to react and respond to your death.

After Death: The Mortis Amaranthine

When your character dies in game, their body is claimed by the Grave Mind and absorbed into the Mortis Amaranthine. This normally appears to your character as if murky tendrils are dragging your body beneath the ground, but this is mainly a trope to explain why you disappear out of character. In the fiction books of Dystopia Rising, the decay of the corpse happens much differently but we don’t have the SFX budget of Hollywood!

Once you’ve spent your time as a corpse, you’ll proceed to the Logistics building. In DR:TX, this is known as the Grave Council Annex and is located in the building known as the Hopi Lodge. This is the same place you’ll come for your NPC shift, so it’ll be easy enough to find. The first thing we do is congratulate or console you on your death, and make sure you have water and space to decompress. Death isn’t really a “lose scenario”, but sometimes you need a few minutes so the adrenaline can wear off. It’s important to take care of the player too!

From there, our STs and Guides will make sure that the GRAVE BELL is rung, signaling to the other players and designated Groundskeepers (Guides that specialize in running Grave Mind scenes), that someone has recently died. This also lets players that want to use a Death Brew or the Necrokinetics Skill know they have an opportunity to do so. These powers allow another player to sit in and observe the Death scene by your side, provided you consent and give them permission to be there.

Once the Groundskeepers arrive, they will walk you through the next steps and mark on your character sheet the changes that happen. The Groundskeeper will also have a short discussion with you that will help them build a better Grave Mind scene by understanding how you died, working with you to choose an appropriate Fracture, and helping them tailor the scene to your character and their backstory. Once you are ready, the Groundskeeper will lead you through a Grave Mind Scene tailored to your character.

Now, this is a Rules Ramble, so let’s address the mechanical impact of death:

The Price of Death

A few things happen mechanically upon death:

You lose 1 Infection. (p. 95, DR Corebook)
- If this leaves you with zero Infection, your character is permanently dead and will return as a zombie instead. The ST will work with you to create a unique undead threat to plague the town for what is known as your “last walk”.
- There are ways to regain lost Infection in game, including the Pallor Mortis procedure and the Candlepin Medical Kit. Gaining new Infection costs 10 XP per point and can only be done at your home game or a national cross-network event.
You gain 1 Fracture. (p. 180, DR Corebook)
- Remember, Fractures cannot be resolved for the first 2 hours after you gain one and they can prevent you from using certain Anomaly Skills and equipment while you have one.
If the character is not permanently dead, when the character finishes the death scene they emerge with full Body and 5 Mind points remaining unless there is a plot or mechanic that changes this amount. They can choose to spend 1 Resolve to return to play with full Mind points.
- If you do NOT lose an Infection (say, someone with Faithful Will was nearby), you may NOT spend an Resolve to return with full Mind Points.
[DR:TX ONLY] The Groundskeeper will assess your Grave Tax. This is an optional story element, reinforcing one of the laws of the San Saba. When someone dies in our game, the Grave Council normally assigns them a tax based on how they died. This is meant as an avenue for story, not as a punishment, so the Groundskeeper will help you understand how to opt in or out of this experience.
Dying also cures you of most diseases or psionic effects you might be suffering from, restores Mangled limbs and lost organs, and ends any other effects that do not persist after death.

One final oft overlooked rule is that if you want to OPT OUT of a Grave Mind Scene altogether, you can simply spend one Resolve and return to play with full Body, but only one Mind Point (p. 183, DR Corebook). You still lose Infection but you do NOT gain a Fracture as you did not have the traumatic post-death experience within the Mortis Amaranthine. (You also miss out on a neat personalized scene, but sometimes you gotta get back to your friends quick!)

Next week, we’ll talk a bit more about what happens during and after the Grave Mind Scene with the Groundskeeper. Stay tuned for Part 2!