It’s Jonathan here again with another Wednesday Rules Ramble! Each week, I’ll introduce a topic that will be important in an upcoming game, explain some new mechanic or system for DR:TX, or discuss a particular rule from the DR Corebook. In each ramble, I’ll focus on explaining that topic in more detail than the book alone can provide and help provide one place to reference all the various errata or rulings that might be relevant. Sometimes I’ll even drop a few Story Teasers or provide a summary of the last game in a Game Recap.
We still have tickets on sale for our next event VALLEY OF FEAR! We hope you can make it out for our season opener!!!
Today’s blog post will focus on the CHANGES we’ve made for Season 4, particularly when it comes to new rules and features of our game!
Changes for Season 4
We tried a LOT of new things last year. We introduced Work Orders, Supply Orders, formalized some rules for joining our Factions, published some Local Rules & Mechanics including the infamous Leviathan Salts, ran Submarine mods, had our first encounter with the Archons, and we just ran one of our busiest seasons in DR:TX so far.
It was a lot of changes overall, so this season might seem a little tame in retrospect but it’s really about REFINING what we’ve done so far. These might not be huge changes, but it’s part of our process of continuous improvement!
New Site Layout
Last year, the Morgue got moved around a lot. Some of it was related to plot, but it was also about trying to find the best way to setup the perfect “black box” experience. If you attended our game in April for COLLECTION DAY, you got to experience the Near Death. We set up this morgue in the hallway behind the Kitchen, between the Depot and the Dusthouse. It has a regular source of electricity for cool lighting and sound effects, it’s pretty climate controlled for those hot months, and it’s pretty central to the game space. Based on the success of that game, we decided to double down on the convenience of the breezeway and just move the Morgue there permanently.
Additionally, the Library & Research Center we had set up in the Depot will be relocating to the General Store instead, rebranded as the LDU Library (Law Dog Union). This new space will allow you to more easily receive answers on Research questions, as well as give a different social point for our book nerds in the game.
Lastly, those players that need MED SLEEP have an option for sleeping at the Wigwam cabin, aka DOGRUN. This location is primarily aimed at folks that need electricity for things like a CPAP machine, but it’s first come, first serve. During our National Event, we’ll have a few more rules for this to keep it fair for our travelers, but for now this is our primary cabin for those that need Medical accomodations. This cabin will NOT be attacked at night, so if you are looking for the thrill of a survival horror, I’d recommend seeking out a different location to sleep.
If you don’t actually need physical accomodations, but still want to be able to sleep undisturbed, you can now simply request Med Sleep during your Check-In from Aesa & the team. We will write this note on your character sheet, so that means you can sleep in whichever cabin you like! Ideally, this will help conserve spots in Wigwam for those that need it most, while also taking care of our players that need to avoid random cabin raids at night.
We’ve updated the maps below and on our site with the changes:
New Local Mechanics & Rules
We introduced some new Local Plot Cards last year, including some illegal substances and a few unique items. We also codified all of this on our website, and I’ve been hard at work updating our public rules of note for our players and travelers to DR:TX. Here’s a few links worth familiarizing yourself with:
A few changes of note:
The custom DR:TX diseases of Gutscourge and The Plague of the Unfinished are officially in remission and decline. These diseases will no longer risk appearing in game thanks to the efforts of players last season. Great job!
Grave Ash and Grave Pigment have been removed from our local items. We are going to focus in on a few of the more popular drugs this season, along with a continuing story about Crystal Candy in the VALLEY OF FEAR.
Speaking of Crystal Candy, the Criminal Influence list has been… modified. You can no longer purchase Crystal Candy from the Post Office, as it has been banned in the San Saba Territories as our our May event. However, you can still purchase the illegal item during the planned Criminal meetings if you know who to talk to..
For those that didn’t attend travel games and are worried about finding a Blueprint that just got released, we have the new Redfield Invention Exchange, a permanent Zone of Mechanics set up in the General Store. This ZOM will allow you to generate a blueprint of your choice once per game, provided you give us a silly picture and spend a Resolve. Environmental Storytelling!
Last year, we used a new Threat Skill called “Object of Veneration”, particularly during our BLOOD FEAST event. This call has been cleaned up and rebranded as COMPULSION. Same great taste, same great flavor — just a new packaging! I have a feeling this mechanic will come up during our National event, THE NECROPHAGE…
Lastly, we have a new mechanic called “San Saba Social”. This is a unique type of Zone of Mechanics that is brought into play by our new Faction Buy Lists. This ability puts into play a Zone of Mechanics at the General Store that EVERYONE can access and use, but it only lasts for THREE HOURS. However, it can be REPLACED by someone else putting a different San Saba Social into play, but watch out because that’s a CvC action that might earn you a violent visit from an angry competitor.
That gets us into the next big change:
Faction Buy Lists & New Work Orders
Last year we introduced some updated Faction Buy Lists and Work Orders for interacting with the various factions of San Saba. We asked for feedback, and heard you loud and clear. Shan & I recruited the help of Sam Mars, the original designer of the Faction Buy Lists at the start of 3.0. Sam helped me kind of “remix” our ideas into the best of the best, and I’m proud to show off the newest version of the rewards you can gain by working with the Factions of the Lone Star.
Inspired in part by the great work our friends up in DR:NY have put into play, we wanted to revisit some of the items on the Faction lists. We had a few popular items on the list that people purchased regularly but by and large most folks didn’t really interact with the Faction Buy Lists. The new design philosophy you’ll see in these lists is a focus on environmental storytelling, and giving some big game-changing abilities to those that invest in a particular faction.
In general, the Basic tier items are focused on powerful and fun abilities for the individual that uses them. You’ll see that most of these are short term, single use items that require having the appropriate Society Membership. The Proficient tier is focused on buffs and effects that impact other people in your crew or faction and not necessarily yourself, and the final Master tier items are indeed paradigm shifts that will change entire stories. We want to reward those of y’all that bought in (sometimes literally) to the factions last season, and give folks this year a few new things to strive for.
An oft overlooked rule about the Buy Lists last year will be even more important now:
A CHARACTER MAY ONLY BUY ONE ITEM PER EVENT FROM EACH LEVEL THEY CAN ACCESS, NO MATTER HOW MANY DIFFERENT FACTIONS THEY REPRESENT.
That means if you buy that new super sweet Law Dog brew during our September game, you won’t be able to purchase the new Eye of Justice item from Killhouse. You gotta make a choice (and really come to terms with how you can support two opposite teams!)
Special note for the fans of the former Buy Lists: If you had a few items you loved on the previous lists that you don’t see here anymore, stay tuned cause I think you might see them again in a new and improved Blueprint form very soon…
Last season, Aesa and I designed a Starter Work Order as a way to create some story telling opportunities for new players. It was wildly successful, and each game we had 20+ work orders turned in to the Post Office. This Work Order gave you a monetary reward for completing various role playing tasks or exploring our site. It was designed as kind of a “silent ST” that could encourage players to do the four pillar behaviors of the Dystopia Rising game we found most rewarding - combat, role play, economy, and CvC. Later during the season, we also introduced Faction Work Orders, and eventually Supply Orders, created by our very own Andrew Harper.
However, it wasn’t without a few pitfalls. Some of the Faction Work Orders were VERY popular, but others were a bit confusing or sometimes hard to complete if a certain kind of monster never showed up in play. It could be impossible to complete if it was a weekend that had little to no Raiders, for instance. Others required Skills that a player may not have had, and it was just a poor experience all around. Additionally, the Work Orders required a LOT of yellow scavenger hunt pages to be posted, and it was a pain to hang up during the busy time before game on.
So, with the help of Sam, this season we’ve adjusted our old Starter Work Order and Faction Work Orders into the new CONTRACTOR WORK ORDER, which I’ll show you an example of below:
You can see the whole thing on our website as well (as well as the other rules), but this will be the new replacement for Work Orders going forward into Season 4.
Some notable features of this new Work Order:
You don’t have to complete all of the tasks on this Work Order. Finish as many tasks as you like, but remember you can only turn in the Contractor Work Order ONCE per game, per character.
Many of the tasks reward you for having a particular common Skill, by either reducing the time the RP task takes or providing an easier way to complete the challenge. These are all things even a brand new character could have, so you can complete one of these starting on Game 1!
The task that requires you to kill monsters is now more general, meaning ANY threat will work, not a specific type of zed or raider. Get out there and protect the town!
The Scavenger Hunt tasks will no longer have a ZOM that you are looking for in the field, and those that took time to learn Basic Awareness can even save themselves a trip to the lake!
One of the tasks even rewards you for participating in the amazing food culture of the DR:TX game, so treat yourself to a tasty snack while also completing a Work Order!
This is also a second way to earn a Blueprint choice, meaning a character can acquire TWO new Blueprints by participating in this mechanic, along with the Redfield Invention Exchange. This should give you a way to catch up on the over 80 new prints in play since our last season.
I’m excited to see what you think of these new additions to the game, so if you have any feedback on potential changes let us know!
That’s it for this week! Next week will dive a bit into the story of the season and some faces to look out for in our tiny town of Bravado. See you soon Vados!