Jonathan’s Wednesday Rules Ramble, 9/8

Hey there cool cats and kittens! It’s Johnny Atom here… uh… I mean, Jonathan, your friendly OST. Welcome back to another edition of our Wednesday Rules Ramble! Each week, we’ll focus on a new mechanic we are introducing for our third season in Texas.

  • Quick Reminder:  If you're using proof of vaccination to comply with our COVID-19 policy linked below, this is your reminder that you can email it in advance instead of having to bring it to site (and risk losing your card!) We will not be able to admit any player who cannot comply with our policy and show a negative COVID screening test within 48 hours previous, OR proof of completed vaccination. 

Our topic this week is Contracts and Society Memberships, and Work Orders.

If you’ve been particularly diligent, you might have noticed a few new things posted on this topic on our website this week. There’s been a few changes, so I’d encourage you if you are interested in the factions of our game to take a new look. 

I’ll wait!

Just kidding. I’m going to attempt a bit of TL;DR here to explain the basics.

(But seriously, check it out!)

In the DR: Texas game, the skill Society Membership (p. 106, DR Corebook) represents contracts you have signed with one of the NPC factions in our game.  When we refer to Society Memberships, you can assume the idea of Contracts is one and the same.   The Laws of the San Saba Territories can explain a bit more about why Contracts are important to the story of our game.

REMEMBER: Contracts = Society Membership.

Much like other skills and items, Society Membership in Bravado consists of three different levels - Basic, Proficient, and Master.  There is no XP cost for adding an NPC Society Membership to your sheet, and you can have it added by a Guide or a ST.

How do I get Society Membership, you say?

If you had a signed contract with a faction during Season Two, or really any major connection with a faction, it will be assumed you have the Basic Society Membership.  Talk to us during Check-In and we can add it to your sheet.  If you chose to get a Faction Interview with your Cali*Co Caravan Points during our online play, not only will you have the Basic Society Membership in your chosen faction added to your sheet, you’ll get the ability to earn Proficient Society Membership during our live games. 

What if I didn’t attend online events or this is my first game?

No problem! This actually brings us to our second concept - Work Orders.

There are two types of Work Orders that you will encounter in game. A Starter Work Order allows you to gain Society Membership with a faction and earn a signing bonus unique to the faction you choose.  A Faction Work Order requires you to have at least Basic Society Membership and often require the use of Skills or Profession Focus Achievements that are favored by that faction, but can offer greater rewards.

At our September game, EVERY player will have an option to pick up a Starter Work Order during Check-In and New Player Orientation, or you can pick up one in game from the Post Office at Kiva.  

What’s a Work Order look like?

Starter Work Orders are the primary means to join a faction for the first time.  Each one will have tasks that reinforce core behaviors of the Dystopia Rising game; combat, economy, CvC, exploration, and roleplay. You can complete only ONE of these per game, so it will take multiple games to join additional factions, but you get a neat “signing bonus” when you turn it into the Post Office.

  • Check out the actual Starter Work Order you’ll see in game here...

You’ll find out more about our Faction Work Orders in game. Lastly, you might have caught that I mentioned a Faction Interview above. 

How do I get a Faction Interview?

Faction Interviews are personal plot requests that you submit before a game so that we can schedule some face time with an NPC of that faction.  During this interview, you’ll have to explain why you think you would be a good fit for the faction and learn some more about their goals and objectives in game.  It’ll be a neat role playing opportunity to interact with our face NPCs, like Felicity Redfield, Takheeta Firstborn, or Sinker Swim.  

We will schedule these in advance for you and try to let you know when and where you need to show up to participate.  We need some time to plan for interviews, so you need to submit these ASAP if you want to be included in our plots for this game.  So far we have several requests already scheduled thanks to some of our earlier requests!

  • Submit a Personal Plot Request here...

One last thing to cover today, and I’ll let you get back to your mad dash to complete those last-minute crafting projects, that neat hype post or Spotify playlist (Aesa, you know you already made one), or just be one of those that can’t stop vibrating with excitement for the game (it’s all of us, promise). 

“I need to check your contract…”

Contracts are not only a cool way to access the skill Society Membership, it’s a new phrase you’ll hear in the game too!

When a Guide or NPC uses the phrase “I need to check your contract” within the game, this normally refers to the act of checking your character sheet to see if you have the appropriate Society Membership. This is partially an out of character behavior, but allows a narrative explanation for anything that refers to the character sheet in game. 

So, you might “check your contract” after a tough fight to write down those Mind expenditures, or you might need to check it after you finish that tasty crafted meal at the Dive.  Whatever the reason, try to refer to your character sheet as your “contract” whenever possible!

So that’s all for today, folks.  Next week, we’ll cover some final announcements before the game, and we’ll talk about Blueprints and Augments!