It’s Wednesday, so it’s time for a Rules Ramble from Jonathan! This week, our last blog post before the October event is focused on the Lifers of Prudence Penitentiary.
The Indulgence
We’ve posted a bit of lore about the Indulgence before HERE, as well as a short vignette written by yours truly about Killhouse HERE. The storied history of Prudence Penitentiary in our game is marked by a disaster known as the Killhouse Massacre, and the agreement to release all inhabitants of the Prison once per year in an event known as the Indulgence. We even had an entire virtual event set in the halls of Killhouse known as Justicalia during the last Indulgence.
The Indulgence is our annual Halloween game and is a time of high-stakes danger, visceral horror, and we strive to make the things that go bump in the night very, very, very real. In the tradition of classic Zombie films and movies like The Purge, the true horror of the apocalypse is not really the zombies themselves, but rather the depths of depravity that your fellow humans will descend into in order to survive.
The single most dangerous enemy you can ever encounter in Dystopia rising is another Survivor.
Unlike most Zed or Raiders, Survivors are a unique danger because they are intelligent, capable of using equipment and gizmos, and have motivations entirely different than you normally encounter from the common monsters. For this event, we will be featuring several unique “lineage” threats - threats that have a Strain, Lineage, and a character sheet much like any other player in the game.
During the upcoming 5th annual Indulgence, for 24 hours (from Friday at midnight to Saturday at midnight), the laws of the San Saba are suspended. Tabitha St. Mercy, the Warden of Prudence Penitentiary, releases the most dangerous inhabitants of the XXX Wing, the villains known as the Lifers of Prudence Penitentiary out into the world for the duration.
At the end of this time, Tabitha will offer a bounty in Brass notes for those Lifers returned to her ALIVE, not DEAD (they have to be locked up again - you don’t really lock up a corpse.) It’s a weird stipulation, I know, but you’ll be able to learn more about this reason during our October event. If you can survive until the end of the weekend, there is a significant amount of currency that can be earned by those willing to risk everything to take out a major threat.
IMPORTANT NOTE: In order to collect the Bounty, you must bring your target to the Grave Council Annex (Ops) after midnight on Saturday night.
In our focus on radical trust, we’d like to share a few of the mechanics and systems we will be using this weekend to represent these threats.
Mechanics of the Lifers
The first thing to know about the Lifers is that while they are dangerous threats, the Indulgence is still an OPT-IN experience. Each of the Lifers (like any other threat in our game) will honor our “OK Check-In” system for choosing to opt-out of a scene. We want this experience to be one of intense horror and danger, but our Lifers just play the bad guys on TV - not in real life.
Named Lifers are always portrayed by Storytellers and Guides and are generally “killing blow active”, which means they can use deadly force against characters in the game.
However, unlike most NPC Threats, we’ve put a few “guard rails” in place on these characters while they are in play in a narrative sense:
First, all Lifers have an agenda and a personality. They are sentient individuals, with their own backstories, motivations, and reasons for why they earned their reputation as a villain. At first glance, a Lifer may be indistinguishable from another character. The Indulgence is not just an excuse for murder and mayhem: the Lifers are in Bravado for a REASON.
Each Lifer has a primary and secondary objectives to complete. If they fulfill these goals, they will leave play until the next Indulgence. This means that not every encounter with a Lifer has to end in bloodshed - if you can identify and understand their goals you may be able to escape their notice or even become a temporary ally.
In fact, EVERY Lifer has a specific type of character they will avoid killing, based on their story and motivations. If you can find out this weakness, you may be able to avoid an untimely demise at the hands of a particular Lifer. This doesn’t mean they won’t torture, maim, or injure you so tread lightly.
Mechanically speaking, each Lifer was built following certain guidelines:
Each Lifer has a character sheet. They have a large amount of XP to spend on Skills, Resolve, Mind, Body, and PFAs and must follow the normal rules for other characters in our game. They must have a Supply Bag, and use phys reps for any weapons, armor, brews, injectables, or other Crafted Items they possess.
For all intents and purposes, they must interact with the world in the same manner as players.
Each Lifer has certain Skills they must purchase with their XP, including at least one non-combat Skill up to Master tier. This means they can have a very focused combat build, but not everything they can do deals damage.
Each of the Lifers has access to a limited amount of Crafted Equipment. Honestly, this is probably the single biggest reason the Lifers can be unique threats as they can use those nifty gizmos, weapon augments, and brews against you. If they are killed or captured, these items can be looted or stolen (though they will have shortened expiration dates).
Periodically, the Lifers will be able to resupply and gain new items from SUPPLY DROPS. These in-game events will have a chance to be stopped (or aided) by the players. If these are successful, the Lifers will be able to get new crafted items, brews, and replace a limited amount of equipment they might have lost.
There will be opportunities to RESEARCH the backstories of the Lifers and gain clues as to their goals, abilities, and unique danger.
This weekend promises to be a dangerous and challenging time, but our goal is to create a unique threat that is a bit different from a zombie or raider. Each Lifer has a different story to tell, and we can’t wait to hear about your favorite encounters with these psychotic sociopaths! Let us know what you think!
See you Friday!
