Artifacts of Death
Howdy Vados!
It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to next penultimate Dystopia Rising Live event of Season Seven, ARTIFACTS OF DEATH! This game will be led by Jonathan Loyd and Fable Brown. Each post, I’ll discuss in detail an aspect of the upcoming event, compiling the rules and lore into one easy place to read! This week, we are covering the premise of our event, some content warnings, and some themes of our upcoming event!
Notes & Updates:
TICKETS FOR OUR april event ARE ON SALE NOW!
Our EARLY BIRD promotion continues for our April tickets! If you purchase your ticket BEFORE April 4th, you’ll receive a bonus XP for FREE! If you’ve already bought a ticket with additional XP, send us an email to info@dystopiarisingtx.com for more information!
Undated Scrap Cards expired on February 1st, 2026. Back at the start of DR Live last year, we set expiration dates for all undated cards and the day finally arrived. Read more about this and how to gather scrap here.
If you had a great experience at our last event FORCED TO EVOLVE or had some suggestions for how we can improve, we’d love to hear from you! We appreciate your high-fives and suggestions and always want to seek ways to improve our events.
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Our photos for this post were taken from previous DR:TX events by our talented Photo Team, including Lily-Jay Jones, Miranda Farmer, Heather Halstead, Noah Goodman, and Max Pohlmeier.
THE PREMISE - ARTIFACTS OF DEATH
With that out of the way, let’s get to our next event. Each season, we share a bit of a teaser about our upcoming event. It’s one part ‘movie trailer’ and one part ‘story time’, but it covers some of the important beats of our upcoming event.
The DR:TX team has prepared some fun stories ahead, so let’s see what is in store for our event, ARTIFACTS OF DEATH:
The infamous bandit Wildcat Kelly has been captured!
The news came haphazardly over a few days, first a telegram from the Grave Council, instructions from the RRC confirming the bounty had been claimed, then a few boasts from the Black Tide Hunters that were involved, contracted to capture the elusive prey. Kelly’s brazen heists, explosive Post Office standoffs, and her involvement in the theft of Grave Council property over the summer has finally caught up to the bandit leader.
The lost Grave Council relics, dangerous items once stored within the Vaults of Reckoning, are still missing – hidden by the bandit somewhere within the miles of ruins of Morgan’s Folly. Though many have thought to conquer the oldcestor ruins that once was known as Temple Station, the forested and reclaimed ruins are home to raiders, bandits, and worse. Time and time again brave settlers and RRC delvers have tried to make a fortune in the ruins, only to be swallowed by the relentless advance of the wasteland.
Appropriate to the season, the Grave Council has declared a new “Collection Day”, hiring teams of survivors to brave the traps, tricks, and threats left behind by the infamous bandit to recover their lost property. Recovering these lost relics won’t be easy, and some question their use of Wildcat Kelly as an impromptu guide on these collection runs. The Black Tide Hunters have promised that the bandit won’t be allowed to escape, but it seems a bit too convenient that Kelly has offered to lead her captors back to her ill-gotten spoils, but only if she is allowed to personally accompany the hunt.
The risk may be worth it, as one of the relics stolen by Kelly is too dangerous to leave in unknown hands. The treasure known as “Savannah’s Caress”, a strange radioactive core once thought to have been contained in the heart of Bastion, is the largest prize of this new Collection Day. But the relic seems to be a raider beacon of sorts, spreading the dangerous disease Bad Brain, and drawing deadly Haze Raiders to complicate the hunt further. Every lost relic is dangerous in its own way, but this one must be recovered quickly before the raiders are provoked onto the warpath.
Will you be able to brave the deadly raiders and traps within the ruins of Morgan’s Folly? Who else is in pursuit of these dangerous relics? Is this an elaborate ruse to help Wildcat Kelly escape her captors, or is there something else hidden in these deals and shadowy conspiracies? Will you be able to return the relics back to the safety of Pride’s Hold and once more in the protective Vaults of Reckoning? The hunt for these artifacts of death is on!
Sounds like a great opportunity for delvers and Jones in Bravado!
INSPIRATION & TROPES
In our tradition of Radical Trust, we want to share some of the inspirational bits of media and movie magic that we feel help capture the themes and feelings of our upcoming event. If you are looking for a movie or show to inspire your role play for this event, here’s a list of our favorites to get ready for ARTIFACTS OF DEATH!
Uncharted
National Treasure
The Goonies
Treasure Planet
Now, you probably recognize a theme in these inspirations, and it’s for good reason. These are all stories of high adventure, exploration, and dealing with nefarious forces in a race for a lost treasure. This month, you’ll be signing up for delves into Morgan’s Folly in search of stolen Grave Council artifacts, and testing your mettle against traps, threats, and even a few of the artifacts themselves. When you set out on a Collection Day run, you’ll need quick reflexes and sharp blades to survive the uncharted ruins in search of treasure.
Lost & Dangerous Treasures - While most of the relics collected by the Grave Council and the Ossuary Society are more scientific in nature, harmless curiosities, old religious paraphernalia, or other esoteric collectibles, a few of the strange necrology pieces and treasures can pose a threat to survivors. These pieces need to be safely contained and transported back to Pride’s Hold and the Vaults of Reckoning, and your survivors are just the person for the job! We’ll cover a bit more about this in a future blog post, but these will generally take the form of Zones of Mechanics, which outline the dangers of being near some of these relic. The basic function of the Collection Day runs will be to gather boxes of materials from dangerous locales and try to return to safety with your prize. Like the dangerous items in these movies, sometimes that unexpected danger can make the value of that item a bit questionable. It’s one thing to deal with deadly raiders, but how you safely transport a radioactive relic across the wasteland?
Dangerous Traps & Locals - Morgan’s Folly is a mostly uninhabited wasteland of ruins, old raider camps, critter dens, and bandit hideouts. Over the years, scroungers have set traps to protect their camps or valuable scrap piles, and many of those traps were forgotten when their owners met a bitter fate in the ruins. As such, not every threat in Morgan’s Folly is a creature or zombie, but some can be dangerous trip wires, room traps, or explosives left behind to stop anyone from getting away. Skills like Trap Dis/Arming and Precognition might come in handy during these Collection Day runs. The hostile environment of the wasteland is also a recurring theme of our DR Live events, as the struggle to find clean water, safe places to sleep, and protecting the ones you care for most can be a challenge. These runs will have other critters and threats like dangerous raiders that call those locations home, and trying to get in and get out with your recovered relics may be more challenging than you expect. You might need to have a plan for defending your claim while your friends carefully transport delicate cargo to safety.
The Danger of Your Fellow Survivors - The lost relics of the Grave Council were stolen by Wildcat Kelly last summer, but given the mercenary nature of this bandit, it’s likely someone else hired them for this job. Those people probably want to acquire the merchandise they paid for, so like in many of these films and story tropes, betrayal by those in your party could be a factor of a Collection Day run. How much do you really trust those around you not to grab the valuable relics and blame you for when it goes missing again? How suspicious is it really that your friend knows exactly what traps to expect? You’ll need to keep an eye out for betrayal and conspiracies when you head out into Morgan’s Folly during our search for the ARTIFACTS OF DEATH.
CONTENT WARNINGS
The themes of Dystopia Rising often touch close to our real world in ways we cannot always avoid. The DR:TX team believes that we can still tell these stories about challenging topics, but we also believe we need to be transparent about our intentions and set proper expectations for our content. In our tradition of radical trust, we want to also trust in each player that attends our game to know their own limits and be able to choose to avoid topics and situations that make them uncomfortable.
It’s important to watch for descriptions, situations, or events that you might want to avoid. You may find new limits that are unknown to you because the matter never came up. We encourage you to take the necessary steps for your own emotional safety. We want you to be comfortable with the types of horror in our events so you can enjoy the thrill of the zombie apocalypse and the nightmare creatures we introduce into the game space.
It’s one reason we take our OK Check-In system so seriously! We understand that these may not be stories you want to participate in, and that’s okay! Remember, you can always use the OK Check-In System to choose to leave a scene, even CVC!
You can always find a list of our Content Warnings on our website, but let’s talk about some of the specific things you might want to be prepared for during this February event.
IN game conflict, corruption, and abuses of power
The ARTIFACTS OF DEATH are valuable, and that means that there may be conflicting reasons and motivations for players involved in Collection Day runs. Not every character will be interested in helping the Grave Council recover their lost property, and not every person will be an authorized delver with the RRC. You’ll need to prepared for conflict with your fellow players during this event, as these opposing goals may mean only one group can collect a reward or payment for the delivered artifacts. The greatest danger in the wasteland is your fellow survivor!
You may find strange, ritualistic items, with unusual consequences that provoke CVC. Several of the zones of mechanics during this event may cause the “Betrayal” effect, leading to sudden shifting alliances and the need to defend yourselves against your former friends. Sometimes, this won’t even need a mechanical effect, as they may have ulterior motives or designs on acquiring the items in question. You’ll need to prepare for betrayal, and question everyone.
These items aren’t yours, and there will be consequences if you try to abscond with them. The Grave Council hired the Black Tide Hunters to track down Wildcat Kelly, and they have deep pockets to acquire the items they’ve lost. The Reckoners and the RRC characters won’t take kindly to people deciding to hold their precious cargo hostage, or trying to steal the recently recovered artifacts. These items belong in a vault, and you’ll need to be cautious about making decisions that put you against the town and other characters in positions of power.
Wildcat Kelly is a villain, but there will be people that identify with her struggle for freedom. Though Kelly is a murderer, thief, arsonist, and generally criminal personality, not every character has the same opinion on law and order in the wasteland. Expect big questions if you decide to take the “wrong” side against the Black Tide Hunters and the Grave Council, particularly if it means involving yourself in an attempt to free Kelly from her captors. This could lead to open conflict between PCs if you decide to get involved — be warned!
Resource scarcity, and the struggle to provide for yourself in the apocalypse
There are only so many relics, and so many Collection Day runs. Throughout the ARTIFACTS OF DEATH event, you’ll have the opportunity to join in a Collection Day run. These will be repeated events, and we will be prioritizing folks that haven’t had a chance to participate. If you want to get involved, you’ll need to be proactive about looking for these NPCs when they come into town for a “hook”, as there’s no real set schedule for these runs. These events will usually take plan in either the Honeysuckle Huts, Prickly Pear, or the Archery Range, so they will all be ‘away’ style mods. However, if you don’t get a chance to attend one of these runs, there will still be plenty of zombies, raiders, and other stories happening across the campsite to participate with and fight. Don’t worry!
Relics with an item card attached can be taken along with the prop. We’ve collected a number of curios and trinkets for this event to be included in the Collection Day events, and there could be ways to acquire a relic of your own. These won’t be anything actually unique in game, but they will usually be a prop or physical representation of an existing item within the Dystopia Rising Live database. While it may be a creepy looking relic, it’ll still use the published rules for our game.
The Grave Council is offering scrap and currency for assisting in the Collection Day efforts, but not everyone will get a payday. You may need to compete against other groups to acquire the items, and it will be possible to fail in these tasks. Traps and locks might make it difficult or impossible to access, and you’ll need to strategize to build a team with the mix of Skills, Lores, and Professions.
3.0 Scrap expired just a few months ago, so expect a scarcity of some resources. There’s still a LOT of folks building equipment or working with a bit less resources than they had before. Crews are still focused on copying new blueprints, making items for their team, and harvesting resources for their personal use. There could be some scrambling to use important workstations or getting access to places like the Helscape Mine. There may not be as many people selling the goods you need, particularly items that might be used during Collection Day runs to deal with traps, hazards, and locks, so plan ahead!
ZONES OF MECHANICS
During this event, you’ll likely run into something known as a ZONE OF MECHANICS. You’ll see a few of these during every event, in places like the General Store, or even on mods. Usually, these will be printed on bright yellow paper and they will include everything you need to know to complete a task or avoid a hazard. You can find the rules for these types of mechanics on our website (for recurring ZOMs you’ll find in game), or in the Player’s Guide starting on page 99:
A Zone of Mechanics (ZoM) is a designated in-play area where specific environmental mechanics are active. These zones introduce scenario-based challenges that are often physical, timed, or logic-based that require players to navigate the space using existing mechanics and personal strategy. Zones of Mechanics are immersive tools used to support scenes, not replace or override core rules.
Zones of Mechanics cannot:
Replace existing mechanics (e.g., healing, damage, condition removal)
Provide recovery or buffs (e.g., Mind, Body, Resolve, Infection)
Grant skills or temporary abilities
Generate resources, cards, or crafting materials
Offer any form of mechanical advancement or ongoing benefit
Circumnavigate existing genre, lore, and canon content.
Zones of Mechanics are used to create immersive challenges (e.g., timed navigation hazards, puzzle encounters, line-of-sight avoidance). They allow kinetic and creative engagement while requiring players to rely on their character’s existing toolkit such as professions, skills, and cooperation to succeed. In live play Zones of Mechanic must be clearly documented and visible before players enter the play space (this may include giving the disclosure of “Undisclosed Zone of Mechanic relating to X in play in this space. Only enter if you feel comfortable with learning the mechanics as you go.”
Simply put, these ZOMs just help us create dangerous effects that are part of the immersive Dystopia Rising Experience. These won’t be new items or ways to benefit your characters, and are usually dangerous or damaging in some way. These might need you to perform a certain task or roleplay, and will often provide options to finish the task with certain skills, items, or abilities. They will never restore Mind, Body, or Resolve, and they won’t generate any resource cards.
Our DR:TX zones of mechanics can always be completed by any character, regardless of XP or skills. However, some of these ZOMs might require you to expend an Impact Skill, have a certain Lore, or possess a Development skill. If you do, you’ll generally be able to complete that task faster or more efficiently. For instance, you might find a hole that needs to be sealed off by filling it with scrap and dirt. Any character can close the tunnel with two minutes of roleplay, but a character with Basic Artisan can get it done much faster. The goal of these mechanics is to reward you for certain choices with XP and skills, and give ways to highlight skills and Lores that don’t see much regular use.
Here’s an example of a recent ZOM that we used to represent a hazard in game
Dangerous Cargo
During this event, we will also be doing several variations of a “box mod”. You might have participated in one of these events during a previous game this season, as we’ve run one or two of these during each game.
DR:TX, with the help of our friend Weston Harper, has commissioned a fun kinetic device that we can use in several mods during this event. This device has an accelerometer built in and is designed to detect motion and speed. If you move your precious cargo too fast, or the path is too bumpy and you aren’t careful, you could see the device light up with LEDs in an ominous way. If it reaches a danger point, the box will play a dangerous sound and this will generally activate a negative effect like damage or AOE calls. The instructions for the device will be listed on the box you’ll be carrying, so pay careful attention before you try to move the item, as it contents could be extremely dangerous.
Here’s some of the mechanics you can expect while transporting this DANGEROUS CARGO:
This effect starts out small, but quickly ramps up the danger as you continue to transport the box to safety. This won’t be the only dangerous cargo you transport, so pay attention to the dangers you can expect before you try to move the box. A guide will be nearby in a green headband to help with the calls, but if you are careful you can avoid setting off the traps altogether. Hopefully you don’t run into any dangers that might need need you to speed up or quickly move away, like a raider or bandit!
Wrap Up
That’s it for today, Vados.
We hope that you will come join us for our next event, ARTIFACTS OF DEATH! Will you survive the dangers of Morgan’s Folly? Will you help the Grave Council recover their lost cargo, or will you have ulterior motives for collecting these dangerous relics? Will you help the Black Tide Hunters keep Wildcat Kelly in line, or will you be looking to help a known criminal escape justice? Will you help the town find the most dangerous of these relics before it is too late, or will a radioactive nightmare fall into the wrong hands?
Let’s find out together! See you soon, Vados!
