Hey there Vados! It’s Jonathan here with another Rules Ramble! This week we are going to cover updates for our game this weekend - BEYOND THE HORIZON. We are going to talk about some rules you should be aware of before game, and things you might see during our upcoming event. As always, the purpose of these Rules Rambles is to cover a topic in the DR rulebook or something that might show up in game in more detail than the book or ZOMs alone can provide.

While advanced ticket sales for the event are closed, you can still get tickets at the door!

Skills You should Know

You can read more about updated Rules and Skills not in the rulebook at the DR Lexicon on the national website. These are Skills not in the DR Corebook, but they are found on threats and items within the game. It’s important to understand how these might impact you during the event.

Let’s talk about two particular Skills you’ll see this weekend, including one from the Lexicon:

FEAR

Here’s the rules from the DR Corebook, p. 103

“Fear is a mechanical effect that prevents a Target from attacking the source of the Fear. Fear is broken if the Target is attacked by a foe, attacked by other non-Fear mechanics with the aim of harming the Target, or forced to attack by another effect that comes after the use of Fear. Fear does not make you leave the battlefield, but it does prevent you from crossing the line from verbal and secondary support to engaging combatant. While under the effects of Fear, you can still attack others on the battlefield who were not the source of Fear.”

Fear is a Corebook Skill, but one that can be a bit confusing. This effect can be a quick way to remove a powerful enemy from a fight by making sure they can’t attack you. When you are outnumbered, it’s a great way to buy yourself some time until you can dispatch another enemy. This effect is found on a few items in play, but it’s largely called by monsters at the moment.

As long as you don’t attack that target or hit them with a Skill, they are effectively “crowd controlled” like in a video game. Crowd control (commonly shortened to CC) is a blanket term used in some video games to describe abilities that remove or diminish the control a target unit has over aspects of itself. But, ANY source of damage breaks the Fear effect — even if that damage comes from an ally!

However, unlike other true CC effects like Nail or Stun, the effects of Fear can also be worked around simply by attacking a different target. It doesn’t take you out of the fight like those other skills, so if you are careful you can mitigate the enemies use of Fear by moving to a different part of the fight. However, when that creature is the only Target you can attack, it’s a pretty effective way of keeping a dangerous foe at bay while you catch your breath or drink a brew.

Additionally, the Sailing list has a large amount of items that offer a measure of protection from Fear effects, including Grog, the Crew’s Raiding Flag, the Crew’s Cabin Flag, and the Keg o’ Grog. Some crafted items can also protect against Fear, such as the Glitter Gulch Dartgun, the Trophy Room, and the Freeiron Guard shield.

TERROR

Here’s the rules from the Lexicon:

“Countered by Basic Mental Endurance. Often delivered as an area or Line of Sight effect, those affected by Terror are overcome by an urge to flee from the source of it. For at least 30 seconds (default; some uses may specify a different duration in the call) they must attempt to flee from the presence of the source of Terror, regardless of (IG) safety. If they cannot for some reason escape, they will cower as best as possible. The target may still defend themselves, but fleeing will always be a priority when possible. Effects and items that give immunity to Fear do not give immunity to Terror unless noted otherwise.”

Terror is effectively an advanced form of Fear effects. Our older players may remember this ability from the 2.0 days. Once this effect is called, you can’t do almost anything else but run in terror from the user of the skill. If you can’t get away, you have to cower in fear, but you can still defend yourself. The sole counter to this skill is Mental Endurance, the same Skill that wards off psionic effects. If you can steel your nerves, you can avoid the leg-shaking fear that makes you want to flee in terror.

There are a few items from the Master Sailing list that can protect you from these effects, but there aren’t many items that make you resistant to Terror otherwise. This is a different mechanic from the Fear effect in the rulebook (p. 103), so items like the Crew’s Raiding Flag that make you immune to Fear do NOT work against Terror effects. Better find that Master-tier Sailing Crew with a Crew’s Cabin Flag and hope you have the same Crew Tattoo!

Next, let’s talk about two new effects for the next game:

gravetouched

Here’s the rules from our Local Rules & Skills page:

Keyword. A character with this trait is vulnerable to skills, abilities, and items that specifically target the Gravetouched keyword. This is a condition that afflicts characters that are suffering from a temporary, but painful closeness to the Grave Mind. It is known to be spread to those with repeated and acute exposures to the Mortis Amaranthine. This condition has no known cure at this time.

A few of you out there may already have this marked on your sheet (you know who you are). And let’s be fair, a few more of you will probably have this keyword after this weekend. You know what you did (or will do).

dark water

Lastly, let’s talk about a unique Zone of Mechanics, called “DARK WATER”. This location will be clearly communicated by BLUE LIGHTS in an area marked as water. If you’re unsure, ask the guide present what area the boundaries cover.

Once you are in DARK WATER, you are DROWNING. The DROWNING effect immediately drops you to 0 Body, regardless of what you had left, and you immediately enter Bleed Out.
There will be several abilities and items that impact your ability to survive DARK WATER. This includes Sailing, Enhanced Movement, the Saltwise strain, the Full Dead strain, and the Helscape Deathmask. These effects will be clearly communicated on the ZOM when you encounter it in game, so I’ll save the specific spoilers.
This has the potential to be a VERY deadly mechanic. It’s probably better to avoid the deep water if you don’t know how to swim!

DR:TX Threat Skills

We’re still in the process of updating our DR:TX webpage, but I’ve been hard at work collecting various rules, skill calls, and such that you might see on unique threats while at a DR:TX game. You can find more out at our Local Threat Skills page. I’ve included a few of the relevant bits here for this weekend’s game:

DROWNED ONES

The strange raiders known as Drowned Ones are a menace of the Spoiled Coast and the river ways connecting to the gulf, and are known to raid inland. We first encountered these creepy raiders during our Junkerpunk themed online event, The Certainty of Tides. Local sailors tell stories that you can hear the beat of drums and the sounds of horns before an attack occurs, if you are lucky enough to get a warning! Raiding crews of Drowned Ones consist of several varieties, from the Drowned One Grunts to the spear wielding Fishers, and the terrifying leaders known as Wavemasters.

Seems like they’ve been getting feisty lately, and you might run into a few of these waterlogged freaks this weekend. Let’s cover a few of the weird rules and skills you might see on a Drowned One.

Natural Armor: Drowned Ones do not wear “armor” in the traditional sense, but their skin and flesh have become waterlogged and hardened over their time at sea. They are highly resistant to damage from this natural armor, and can slough off blows like someone wearing plates of heavy metal. Drowned Ones have Armor points but are not required to wear physical armor.
Raider Drum Beat: The Wavemasters carry large drums to announce an impending raid on their targets. The raider must spend 30 seconds of active RP banging a drum followed by the call: “By the Sound of my Voice, All Raiders Upsurge 10 Armor”.
Spearing Strike: The Drowned One Fisher can call “Nail, cannot move for 1 minute!”. Countered by Avoid, but breaks on entering Bleed Out. The Target cannot use Enhanced Movement or be the target of someone else’s use of the skill. You cannot move from one spot or be moved for any reason, but can still pivot on one leg. (You can find the rules for Nail on the DR Lexicon)
Wave of Terror: The Wavemasters can strike an imposing figure on the battlefield and few can stay in one place when faced by their battle cries. Call “AOE, Lineages run in Terror for 30 seconds!”. Countered by Mental Endurance.
Creeping Dread: Drowned Ones are a ferocious enemy and strike Fear in the bravest of opponents. The Drowned One can call “AOE, Fear, 1 minute - cannot attack me!”.

[redacted]

There might be some other unique threats in play this weekend, but we’ll keep the remaining spoilers to a minimum. Once the game is over, we will cover a few of their mechanics for the future, and I’ll add them officially to the Local Threat Skills page. Rest assured, it’ll be pretty obvious when they show up, so let’s look at a particular set of Skills to look out for and the last place the new DROWNING mechanic can show up.

Retaliate: [REDACTED] may not Avoid or Defend. Instead, any time a Skill or spike damage call is made on the [REDACTED] it may declare this skill as a reaction. This attack inflicts it’s normal melee damage on up to 5 targets within 5 paces. The [REDACTED] can perform this response once every 10 seconds, or every other flurry. Call “Retaliate [x]” and point to the targets in range. This attack may be Avoided, and counts as a Scattershot effect for purposes that avoid AOE damage.
Stunning Strike: Call “10 damage, STUN!”. The [REDACTED] can use OVERPOWER once per strike attempt if this strike is Avoided. The Stun effect may be ignored with Balance, but you still take the damage unless Avoided.
Dark Water Strike: On a successful strike, the [REDACTED] can call “Dark Water Strike! Inflict DROWNING!!!”. This may be Avoided, and has no effect on the Saltwise or Full Dead strain. This cannot be combined with Scattershot. DROWNING immediately drops you to 0 Body, regardless of what you had left, and you immediately enter Bleed Out.

See you this weekend Vados, BEYOND THE HORIZON!!!