From The Ashes
Howdy Vados!
It’s Noah with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble about the opening event for Season 8, FROM THE ASHES! This game will be led by yours truly; Noah Goodman. This week, we are discussing the premise of our event, inspirations, themes, content warnings, and exciting things to come at our September event.
Notes & Updates:
TICKETS FOR OUR September event ARE ON SALE NOW!
Read about our recent changes for Season 8. TL;DR, our access to Bluebonnet has changed dramatically. It’s a challenging update, but we appreciate your support of our game and our community. Take a look!
Our EARLY BIRD promotion continues! If you purchase your ticket BEFORE September 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!
The Zombie Threats have been updated. Learn all about the most important changes to THE CORPSE CATALOG in our previous Blog Post from Jonathan!
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 - From the ashes
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, FROM THE ASHES:
The last flames of the Burning Season flicker in the distance and embers ripple across the warm ground as survivors return to Bravado. During this time, The Raiders of Pride’s Hold have kept busy with bloodshed. With a fortress of concrete and steel, The fires and heat barely slow them down. Former Allies from the War of Antlers are free to stalk the land and leave bodies in their wake.
Those that fell to the warbands have risen as undead bodies engulfed in flames, shambling across the wasteland hungry for flesh. The Sept-Embers are known for the sight of charred undead. These Wildfire Hordes consume the living and incinerate all that remains, leaving nothing but bones and ash.
Bravado must wipe away the soot of Summer and once again reclaim their town. The sound of The Oxline is a siren song to both raider and zombie alike. Can you withstand the heat? Can you rebuild From The Ashes as new fires of conflict ignite?
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 FROM THE ASHES!
Hunt Showdown: 1896 (Inferno)
Killing Floor
30 Days of Night
28 Days Later
You might have picked up a theme here… Zombies. The primary threat of our upcoming event will be the core of Dystopia Rising, The Undead Hordes. As an added twist, we’ll be dealing with environmental complications, namely fire. So be prepared to face zombies, fires, and zombies on fire. The Corpse Catalog, the Zombie Guide for Dystopia Rising Live, has also been updated over the Summer so familiar creatures might act a little different than you remember and you might see some less familiar shapes in the darkness this time around.
Those of you who were around for the finale of last season might notice a lack of raiders mentioned. Don’t worry, they’re still around! Our local military faction THE PEACEKEEPERS largely fell to Bad Brain in May and that will be an on-going narrative for the season. It’s just not a core theme of this event. Keep an eye out for a Blog Post detailing their involvement for both our in-person events and virtual games throughout Season 8!
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 May event.
Zombies and the endless horde
Zombies come in massive hordes. Expect long combats against waves of the undead. It’s not the single shambler you have to be worried about, it’s the 10 more coming in behind it. You’ll want to manage your resources well and plan around the Impact Skill Refresh System. (This means you Landsmen). Get ready for some grinder fights.
The Undead are different now. Almost every stat block has been reworked, if some only slightly, since last season. If you memorized the entirety of the Corpse Catalog for Season 7, you’ve got some reading to do. We also have a variety of new zombie types, including two (2) new Apocalypse Grade Threats (I’m sure those won’t be relevant).
Sometimes your friend is the zombie. The latest revision of The Corpse Catalog also includes a section on what happens when a survivor dies their last and returns as a zombie for a Final Walk. These undead still use normal stats as a base and appear amidst a horde but have their own special tricks depending on their lineage, how they died, the health of the local Mortis, and the character’s involvement with specific aspects of the game.
Fire… like a lot of it
The Burning Season is just now ending. That means brushfires and other flaming hazards are still to be expected. Those who have been around a few years are likely familiar with how dry foliage might just catch fire during the midday heat in Bravado. This time is known as the Sept-Embers for a reason. Keep an eye out for wildfires. Areas left unattended might burn to a crisp while no one is looking, if you’re not careful.
Even the Zombies are on fire! You’re not safe from the flames even in death. The dry and desiccated flesh and clothes of zombies can catch fire, making them even more dangerous. This is most common on the Rad Hunter given its already smoldering radioactive core. The sight of their burnt skin and ember laden bodies has earned them the local nickname “Cinders.” Look out for these irradiated, explosive zombies as they tend to glow in the night.
“Zones” of fire. The most common way you will see fire portrayed is through a Zone of Mechanics. This is usually denoted through a yellow sheet of paper near a prop or unique setting. This paper will detail the exact effects and how you might be able to remove the Zone of Mechanics. Emphasis on might.
Pathogens, Illness, & Disease
The Wasteland is full of disease. A core threat to surviving in Dystopia Rising Live is fighting off infections (not the good kind). The Pathogen Primer is an entire book that details various diseases in Dystopia Rising Live. While our event is not focused centrally on disease, there are definitely elements that include disease and the core rules of Dystopia Rising Live always include an amount of potential for contracting disease.
Smoke is bad for you! The constant burning has left a thick cloud of smoke and ash over Bravado. Careful how much of that you breathe lest you wind up with a bad case of ASHEN LUNG. This is a disease featured in the Pathogen Primer. It is notably Virulent to Wastelander variants. So if your character is a Wastelander Variant strain, you will contract this disease at one stage up from the inflicted call. Thankfully for the Full Dead, they don’t have lungs and cannot contract Ashen Lung by any means.
Various Threats can also carry disease. Different kinds of zombies, raiders, and critters are all potential carriers. Most of these are inflicted on survivors in bleed-out, so be careful what’s around when you go down in battle. You might leave combat with a lingering threat to take care of in the aftermath.
Some diseases to keep an eye out for. Given the threats we have selected for this event, here are a few of the diseases you might encounter at FROM THE ASHES. This list is not exhaustive but is a good starting point. Look out for the role-play prompts and mechanics of early stages as well as any possible “Virulent” notes that might impact you. Keep in mind, survivors do not intrinsically know the cures to these diseases even though the material is publicly available to players. You’ll need to do research or find someone knowledgeable to help if you happen to contract one of these in-game.
Ashen Lung
Bad Brain Syndrome
Radiation Rot
Wrap Up
That’s it for today, Vados.
We hope that you will come join us for our first event of Season 8, FROM THE ASHES! Will you beat the heat or succumb to the flames of The Burning Season? Will you fight off the Raider menace of Pride’s Hold? How will you prepare for another year in the Zombie Apocalypse?
Let’s find out together! See you soon, Vados!
