Rules You Should Know - February
Howdy Vados!
It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to next premiere Dystopia Rising Live event SEEDS OF CORRUPTION! This game will be led by Jonathan and Fable. 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 some of our logistical notes for the upcoming game and some RULES YOU SHOULD KNOW!
Notes & Updates:
pre reg is closed, but tICKETS FOR OUR february event will be on SALE at the door! don’t miss your chance to survive the zombie apocalypse!
We have our new Half Season Passes for sale before this event! Save $50 by purchasing tickets for all of our Spring 2026 events in advance. This functionally matches the discount you could have received on a Season Pass at the start of the season, so it’s a great way to save some money if you didn’t get a chance to pick up one last year. Your last chance to purchase these tickets will be at the door this weekend!
Undated Scrap Cards expire on February 1st, 2026, BEFORE our next event. Back at the start of DR Live last year, we set expiration dates for all undated cards and the day is finally here. Read more about this and how to gather scrap here.
If you had a great experience at our last event BLOOD IN THE WATER 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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Green, But Still Breathing? If your character recently dropped to 1 Infection, and sent us a message with the subject line "Project Green", make sure you check your email for notes for this event!
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.
Rules You Should Know - seeds of corruption
In Rules Ramble tradition, let’s cover some of the rules you should expect to encounter during our February event. I’ll try to include page numbers and books where relevant, but I’ll also try to provide some context and information I think you’ll find useful at game. Our main threats this weekend will involve the Undead, but we will be introducing a few variants that you haven’t encountered much before. It’s a bit strange that new undead threats are emerging from the Mortis, but perhaps there’s a reason you can uncover during our February event!
The Violent Dead (p. 32, Corpse Catalog) are a group of the undead threats that have a bit more specific costuming that the threats you are used to. Many of these props you may have seen on the Wahel Dead during our December premiere event, but when you see them this weekend, these props will be repurposed for these new types of undead. After all, it’s only a Wahel Dead if it’s from the sparkling region of the Mortis, otherwise, it’s just a regular Violent Dead! If you recognize a prop from a grave dive last month, it will likely be one of these Violent Dead subtypes. The Violent Dead are often spawned by certain conditions like Corrupted Morgues and certain Black Market procedures, so it usually takes the action of a player or NPC to summon these types of threats from the Mortis. Good thing there wasn’t a nearby deadly battle over a Corrupted Morgue recently!
There are four types of the Violent Dead - Maulers, Ragers, Abominations, and Mass Cadavers. Each are unique threats, but these are also some of the most powerful undead you’ll face that aren’t classified as “Apocalyptic”. In fact, the Abominations and Mass Cadavers don’t actually have Rank 1 variants, as every one of these threats starts at Rank 2! Each of these undead are TOUGH — they often have additional resistances like Sturdy Corpse and heavy armor from their Leathery Flesh ability, and they can be difficult to stop, using Pull Through to break through Nail effects and Breaks to shatter through doors and shields alike. Many are capable of scary skills like Abduct (similar to the Rescue ability of a Combat Medic), or even powerful Profession skills like Ground & Pound or Death Stalk.
On top of these effects, let’s cover some of the notable abilities you might hear called this weekend:
Bleeding Mark (p. 8, Corpse Catalog)
Bleeding Mark - Call “2 Lingering Damage!” on an attack. For 5 minutes, each step the target takes inflicts 2 Body Damage. Effect ends if First Aid is applied.
LINGERING DAMAGE (Keyword) - An effect that causes a Target to take a specific number of damage every time they take a step for the next 5 minutes. If a Target is impacted with mechanics that force them to run away, be knocked back, or move despite their desire to remain still, the Target still takes the damage per number of steps taken (such as if they are Knockbacked a certain number of paces). Crawling, hopping, and any other form of distance traversing movement still triggers lingering damage. Steps taken because of Enhanced Movement do count as steps taken.
This ability is exactly the same as the Assassin Profession Skill, and it’s something you can occasionally see used by your fellow players. This skill is one of the few ways to inflict the LINGERING DAMAGE ability on a target, a powerful debuff that harms them if they try to flee. Every step you will inflict Body damage, and it even triggers on abilities that make you move away from the threat, like Knockback or Terror. Since this damage punches through armor, it usually ends with the victim in Bleed Out. The only way to remove this effect is to expend a use of the First Aid skill, so that may be difficult to do in the middle of the fray.
Acid Spew & Acid Spray (p. 8, Corpse Catalog)
Acid Spew: Ranged attack that deals 10 Body Damage to a single target.
Acid Spray: Scatter shot attack that deals 10 Body Damage to all targets in the affected area.
These are simple enough abilities by themselves, allowing the undead threat to damage you at range. The most notable thing about this ability is the fact that it’s a ranged attack on an undead threat, who usually are limited to brawling attacks. This means that simply keeping the dead at a distance may not be enough to survive, so make sure you have cover! The most powerful form of this attack uses the Scatter Shot mechanics to automatically hit targets nearby the undead, dealing Body damage that melts through armor. Remember, Avoid can be used against Scatter Shot effects and ranged attacks, so keep a use handy when facing the Violent Dead!
Robust Rise Again (X) (p. 11, Corpse Catalog)
RISE AGAIN - This ability does not count as an Impact Skill. 10 seconds after being dropped to 0 health, or with both legs Mangled, a zombie regains full Body, all mangled limbs are repaired, all Impact Skills refreshed (except Rise Again), and is immune to damage for 5 seconds. A verbal growl/moan signals reanimation. If a “Double Tap” skill is used, Rise Again is negated. Physically moving a zombie that has a pending Rise Again may cause the zombie to be able to activate this skill in less than 10 seconds (NPC’s perogative). This includes, but is not limited to, carrying a zombie away before it uses its Rise Again. In the instance that a mechanic prevents the user of this effect from regaining body (I.E. - No Healing) their Body is set 5 Body instead of regaining Full Body.
ROBUST RISE AGAIN - This ability does not count as an Impact Skill. A zombie with a Robust Rise Again requires multiple uses (X) of Double Tap to be used in order to have Rise Again negated. All uses of Double Tap must be on the same instance of using Rise Again, and if the zombie returns to its feet, the counter resets. On each use of Double Tap less than X, the zombie NPC calls “Resisted” and groans to signify that more than one Double Tap is required to keep the zombie down.
If you’ve played a game of Dystopia Rising, you’ve encountered the RISE AGAIN ability of undead (and certain critters). This iconic ability represents the unceasing horror of the undead threat, enabling them to attack again and again, shrugging off lethal wounds and continuing to threaten your survivors. Particularly nasty undead threats have a variant of this ability called Robust Rise Again, meaning it takes MULTIPLE Double Tap skills to put down the undead. If you hear the zombie say “Resisted” to your Double Tap use, you’ll need to quickly use more to keep it from returning to life. This ability will usually require several survivors working together to keep the undead down. You only have a short window to use these skills (about 10 seconds after hitting Bleed Out), so make sure you have a plan (even if it’s just to run away!).
Delusions (p. 9, Corpse Catalog)
Ranged Attack - “30 Second Stun, Hallucinate”. Countered by Avoid.
STUNNED (Keyword) - A character who is Stunned cannot use any equipment (save for armor they are currently wearing or equipment that activates when the wearer is Stunned), cannot use any skills, crumples to the ground (or drop to a knee for safety needs), and is unable to move of their own volition for 5 seconds. Equipment may not be stripped off of a Stunned Target, but items in the hands of a Stunned Target may be removed.
Another one of the rare, ranged attacks on undead threats, Delusions is also found on some Critters, particularly ones that are touched by the Mortis. The main mechanical part of this call is the STUN effect, the Hallucinate phrase is just flavor for the attack. In my head canon, this is best represented by your character hearing a cacophony of voices from the Grave Mind or being overwhelmed by a sudden surge of emotions or pheromones. Regardless of the flavor, the main danger here is being Stunned. Like we’ve shared earlier, Stun is often delivered via skills like Take Down, but there are several skills and items that can cause this effect. While stunned you can’t use equipment (like injectables, shields, weapons, etc) and you can’t move away. This is a dangerous condition, as it often ends with you in Bleed Out or dead. While this ranged attack can obviously be stopped with Avoid, it can also be countered with the Balance (p. 38, Player’s Guide) impact skill, as this is a single target effect that deals the Stunned condition.
Fractured Meal (p. 10, Corpse Catalog)
This ability does not count as an Impact Skill. Can only Target Lineages in Bleed Out in Brawling range. Call “Terror, Agony, Cause 1 Fracture”. A Target can only gain 1 Fracture in a 6-hour period this way. This functions as Rise Again for the user.
This is probably the most dangerous ability possessed by undead threats, though it may be a bit subtle. It’s a bit of insult on top of injury, as it is used while you are already bleeding to death, but it is one of the few attacks that can inflict a Fracture. Remember, upon gaining your 5th Fracture, you are immediately and permanently dead. If you are running into a fight against the Violent Dead and you already have 3 or more fractures, you could quickly find that fight to be your last. Because this skill inflicts Terror and Agony, there are very few things that can stop this attack, as while in Bleed Out you can’t use most skills or abilities and these two abilities further limit your options. Agony shuts down Item Use, so even armor effects can’t be used to heal you in time. Because it’s not an impact skill, this isn’t something that can be Interfered, Avoided, or otherwise prevented. On top of this terrifying ability to inflict a Fracture, this is functionally an instant-use Rise Again ability, refreshing the threat’s skills and Body. You can only gain one Fracture this way over 6 hours, so this skill can’t just stack Fractures until you are dead. However, other sources that inflict Fractures like using your last point of Resolve on an Injectable or using certain Psionic abilities may catch you off-guard! This may even mean that certain skills that can prevent Infection loss are suddenly too dangerous to use on you, as the added Fractures could be fatal.
Corpse Bound Frenzy (p. 9, Corpse Catalog)
Call “Corpse Bound - Betray the Living”. All Corpse Bound attack the closest Lineage or Raider within arms distance with full ferocity. This counts as an Aberrant attack that causes the Target to attack, without holding back, the next closest Lineage Target. This skill can only be used in the Wasteland and is resisted with Mental Endurance. Use of this skill can lead to increased CvC tensions and role-play after the fact, but does not count as CvC directly as neither character Target has agency in the moment. This skill lasts for 10 minutes or until Target enters Bleed Out.
The last ability to cover in this post is one we’ve used before, particularly with certain Parasitic critters like the Behemoth Polyps. Corpse Bound includes every FULL DEAD in the area, so this skill is a bit more limited, but it does include other Zombies in the area. This can serve to kind of focus fire on a survivor, sending the zombies into a terrifying frenzy of violence. When this impacts a Full Dead (or another character that somehow has the Corpse Bound keyword for the moment), they also have to join into the feeding frenzy, attacking their friends in a moment of cannibalistic rage. This ability is only stopped by entering Bleed Out, so this becomes more dangerous depending on who is in range of the attack when it is used.
That’s it for the Violent Dead threat abilities for today! There’s a few more you may see in game, but if you have questions feel free to ask “Clarify?” with a hand on your head when you encounter a skill you don’t understand.
Wrap Up
That’s it for today, Vados.
We hope that you will come join us for our next event, SEEDS OF CORRUPTION. Will your successful survival of the Long Night come to a harsh and abrupt end when rampaging hordes of the undead swarm across Bravado? What new stories will be found as the first rays of daylight mark an end to the coldest parts of the year? Will you band together with your kin to remember the fallen, or lick the wounds of the past conflicts? What will happen to the Tri-City Alliance now that the biggest threat has been addressed? What consequences are left unseen after sealing the corrupted morgue for good? In the aftermath of a deadly battle in Drywater, will you discover the Seeds of Corruption that remain?
Let’s find out together! See you this weekend, Vados!
