Hey there Vados! It’s Jonathan here with another Rules Ramble! This week we are taking a bit of a brief interlude from the discussion on CVC to talk about some recent changes in the network. 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 alone can provide.
We also have a few days left to get tickets for our February event, BEYOND THE HORIZON, and we just announced the return of The Ark Society and the first chance at the unique currency known as an Ark since that National event two years ago! Tickets are available HERE!
So a few weeks ago, DR National released a couple of great new resources that I’d like to highlight and discuss in this Rules Ramble. There’s been some significant changes to the way a few Skills work, so I want to make sure everyone is on the same page before the next event. We also had some new items released during the Dead Waters online event that change the landscape a bit.
Errata & FAQ
Errata & FAQ — Dystopia Rising (dystopiarisinglarp.com)
The DR Rulebook, much like many gaming publications, has some flaws and mistakes in it. Companies often can’t or won’t reprint a book once it’s been released for final printing, so we need to rely on Errata and FAQ docs to fill in the gaps for mistakes in the book. A few of these are listed on the National page here, and it’s a short list so it’s an easy read. This will be a useful page that will be updated as new rules interactions bring light to some things in the book that need to be more clear.
A lot of these changes seem minor but are actually pretty important for avoiding some weird rules interactions. I’ve covered some of these in previous blog posts, but the errata on Resolve and Fractures are particularly important to cover.
Fractures - These do not heal after a game and persist on your character sheet if not healed. The ONLY way to remove a Fracture is via the Proficient Social Influence or Master Necrokinetics Skills. This isn’t really an errata, but simply one line that was confusing that was fixed in a later update. However, since you might have read this in a previous edition, it creates a lot of confusion. Our very own Aesa covered this topic in a blog post back in September, found HERE.
Resolve - Once you hit Resolve ZERO, you can no longer use the following:
items that cost or lose a Resolve (this includes INJECTABLE BREWS like Red Mist!),
Skills that cost Resolve (like most Master Psionic skills or Master Stealth)
anything that interacts with any local mechanics that needs Resolve, like on a Zone of Mechanics or Local Plot Cards (sorry, no Leviathan Salts for you!).
Make sure to save that last point of Resolve for an emergency!
Lexicon
Lexicon — Dystopia Rising (dystopiarisinglarp.com)
We’ve had something of a Lexicon on the Texas webpage with our Rules & Skills page for a bit. This is simply a list of common abilities, keywords, and skills that don’t really exist in the DR Corebook, but that you might see in play. A few of these are some common sense updates, like the inclusion of the Stabilized condition (weirdly, this was referred to in the Corebook, but never actually listed as a keyword). But a few of these are brand new Skills and keywords like Downsurge and Nail that have not seen before. I’d highly recommend checking it out, but I’ll cover a few of these interactions in later blog posts.
The bigger win here is that we finally have a PUBLIC listing of common THREAT SKILLS. These are abilities you will see on zed, raiders, or other monsters that we send out to try to kill you in game. Previously, these were only available to the Guides and STs but now we have a public location for the stuff you might want to look out for. This is a really neat resource, and I’m super glad it was added.
We are in the process of updating our webpage to account for these new changes, so stay tuned for an updated DR: Texas Lexicon that covers the stuff that’s not on the National page and only in play in our local game. I’ll definitely cover this in a future blog post.
New BLUeprints?!
Three weeks ago, the criminal-focused online event Dead Waters was ran by the folks at DR: Connecticut and released several new items into play. These new Blueprints are circulating now, so there’s a few new items to be aware of in the world.
There are TEN new Blueprints available in play. You can look up the details on these prints by searching their name on the DR Character Database. These prints require some combination of Criminal Influence and Murder Inc. Society Membership to craft and use, and they incorporate the new WASTELAND-ONLY keyword. These could also become contraband at some point in the future, as many of these items are CVC focused and could attract the attention of the Law Dogs…
The Many Faced Mask (Gizmo)
Miss Anthrope’s Blade (Florentine Weapon)
That Cursed Pitchfork (Gizmo)
Little Drop of Poison (Poison Brew)
Al Buquerue’s Left Turn (Exotic Weapon)
Brain Shudder Blade (Small Weapon)
The Big Hate (2-Handed Firearm)
The Hunter’s Secret (Gizmo)
Murder Dive (Procedure)
Living Autopsy (Procedure)
Festering Crystal (New National Scrap) - This is a new, uniquely numbered item that can only be obtained from National events or Premiere events in small quantities. These are an expendable resource used on many of the new Murder Inc. prints (particularly the procedures) and there won’t be a lot of opportunity to get one until next season for our local players. Luckily, almost all of the new prints that use these Crystals only need the Crystal to fuel the PFA ability. This means the items will still be usable even if you don’t have a Festering Crystal.
WASTELAND-ONLY (New Keyword) - This is a new condition for an item card that makes it only function while WITHIN the Wasteland. When a weapon with the Wasteland-Only tag is used outside of the Wasteland, it functions as a Starter Weapon (base damage) instead. However, a Gizmo with this tag has NO function at all outside the Wasteland. Remember, the boundaries of our Wasteland area in Bravado is outlined HERE.
New Society Membership?!
The Dead Waters event also introduced a new Society Membership in the form of MURDER INC., as well as three sub factions of that group - the Adherents of Betrayal, the Silent Knell, and the Watch of the Bone Chapel. We will have some more details very soon about how we will implement this into our local game, but it may have something to do with a certain tea time at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday if you are interested in joining right away…
Functionally, this Society Membership functions per the rulebook, on page 106. The applicable part of those rules are here:
“Society Membership requires being recorded on a character sheet by an existing member after completing listed membership requirements to be an official member of the group. Societies outlined by a Society Membership are specific to each branch (local game) and are not part of any canon group or organization.”
For those that played the game in 2.0, Murder Inc. isn’t a new thing but rather a reincarnation of a former group in Dystopia Rising. This organization was a secretive group of assassins that worked to remove the largest threats in the Wastelands — through MURDER. You can find some of the outdated 2.0 information about Murder Inc. in the old tabletop materials available on DriveThruRPG.
This new incarnation is less formally structured as a National organization and set up more by each chapter. There are some more materials on the current history of this organization available on the DR: Connecticut webpage here, but our final Society Membership will likely divert from the examples within.
Wrap Up
That’s it for this week! Next week I’ll cover a few of the game-specific rules you should be aware of before our February Event, and then I’ll probably return to my discussion of CVC in Dystopia Rising. See you next time Vados!