It’s time for another Rules Ramble with Jonathan! Each week, I’ll introduce a topic in the DR rulebook in a deep dive that focuses on explaining it in more detail than the book alone can provide. There are four core pillars of the DR game in my mind: Combat, Roleplay, CvC, and Economy, and today’s blog post will touch on a bit of things concerning Roleplay; particularly the differences between different types of characters in Dystopia Rising. This is important considering we will have some Casted Characters in play during our next event with a bit more agency than usual.
You can read all about these characters and how you will be able to influence them to change the world of DR:TX in a blog post by Shan last week:
Our ticket sales close on FRIDAY! You have a few days left to purchase a ticket online and pre-register, but you’ll still be able to get a ticket at the door!
Types of Tickets
Speaking of tickets, my blog post today actually involves a bit of the ticketing process for our game. Each time you attend a game, you have a few options for choosing a ticket that are outlined on P. 92 of the DR Corebook. Each ticket type essentially allows you to modify the amount of time involved in your CASTING SHIFT.
NOTE: Only 4-hour Casting General Admission tickets are sold at the door. All other types of tickets must be purchased during pre-registration!
The Casting Shift is the time you spend in game helping us portray the antagonists like Zombies and Raiders, or even other Casted Characters like merchants, delvers, or residents of Bravado. Casted Characters are sometimes referred to as NPCs, or Non-Player Characters. This is also sometimes called your “NPC Casting Shift” or “NPC Shift”.
NPC Casting Shifts signups are filled on a first come, first served basis through our Check-In system. Once you have purchased your ticket, please Check-In under the correct Ticket Type. If you are a Guide, please purchase the 4 Hour General Admission Ticket. If you are buying a $0 Casting Only ticket, you will need to spend at least 12 Hours on your Casting Shift to earn XP for your character.
Some casting times have limited availability based on our anticipated needs to run a fun and engaging event. If you want a limited casting time, or the reduced ticket with increased casting time, we strongly recommend picking up a ticket in advance. You can see what tickets are still available on our REGISTRATION page!
As you can see, the Tickets for a game introduce a few terms regarding types of characters that can be confusing, so let’s talk about those in more detail.
Types of characters
There are three types of characters in Dystopia Rising: Leading Characters, Support Characters, and Casted Characters (also sometimes referred to as Extras). Other roleplaying games like D&D often refer to these types of characters as different terms, like PC or NPC. Depending on a person’s experience with games, you might hear these terms used interchangeably, so let’s talk about the differences within each type of character in Dystopia Rising.
For our game, we use some Hollywood terms to refer to our characters, as if we were making a movie or TV show together. Each type of character in our game has a similar example in a production like this. You might have the stars of your favorite show, the supporting actors or recurring guest stars, or even the extras in the background drinking coffee at the café or walking across the street. Collectively, they represent the CAST of that show, but each role has a different focus and impact on the storyline. We often include terms like “scene” to refer to a moment in a game as well.
Like a TV show cast, the main difference between types of characters in Dystopia Rising is their focus and agency. Let’s look at each example:
LC - Leading Characters
The Leading Character (LC) is the primary type of character in our game - played by our players! Other roleplaying games sometimes call this a “PC” or “Player Character”. When a character is in a leading role in a movie or TV show, the focus of our story is on them. We care about their backgrounds, their conversations, and the challenges they face. Since our players are the star of our show, LCs can do pretty much everything in the game, including combat, econ, roleplay, or CvC.
I [pause] am a [pause] leading character..
“These characters are used by standard participants for the majority of their engagement with a game. These are characters that players portray with full agency over the character’s decision-making process within the guidelines of community, shared story, and genre. A player’s ability to have 100% agency over their character shifts to a shared agency once a character engages other participants. This is the nature of shared storytelling, where all involved (staff and participants) share the authority over scenes engaging participants within the framework of genre, safe community and fair play guidelines.” (DR Corebook, p. 16)
An important emphasis here is that while your characters have full agency in most situations, situations involving other characters need to consider SHARED AGENCY. This is generally referring to CvC, but it is also a reminder to make sure that EVERYONE is having fun in a scene, even if it’s just roleplay and not involving combat. You also need to be mindful of our Community Guidelines, and make sure you are following the rules - that’s part of fair play!
One last consideration on agency as a LC — while you have a LOT of ability to impact the world and the characters around you, you must still consider this shared agency responsibility when it comes to the politics of our game. Characters in DR:TX can join one of our major factions, becoming a stake holder in the San Saba Territories (this might be useful next game, if you have Tribes Disparate membership). Once you reach Master Society Membership, you have a bit more influence than most on how the affairs of the faction resolve, and you’ll be involved in more choices that impact your role in the group.
However, this agency will never involve sole leadership in any faction. You can be influential, but you’ll never really be able to fill the shoes of someone like Felicity Redfield. We’ve found that small groups of players in political positions find it challenging to follow their own goals as an LC while ALSO creating engaging content for others. For this reason, we will always retain measures in game that mean staff can inject that drama and story in ways meant to engage with a much larger player base and story. For instance, no LC will be able to be the next King or Queen of the Tribes Disparate, but they CAN be leaders of a House, like the Cervaxi Tribe or the SCAdians. The primary position of leadership will be held instead by a Reoccurring Casted Character (see below).
SC - Support Characters
The Support Characters role is reserved for our Gamerunners and Directors. Shan and Aesa are the primary folks that hold this role in DR:TX, but this could also include members of the DR National Staff or other chapter owners that are visiting too! Like a director in a movie, their primary focus is on the game itself, not the actions of their individual characters. SCs can do most of the same things as an LC, but generally try to avoid things that might provoke a conflict of interest like non-negotiated CvC or being the leader of a crew.
“These characters are overseen by an employee or event owner. While SCs follow all guidelines of standard LC growth and the game rules, the focus and direction of SCs is restricted due to the fact that employees have a greater degree of knowledge and understanding of the world, operations, and story that occur. This greater knowledge and understanding means that the interests of an SC (as a character) will always take second place to the interests of other participants. Support Characters are restricted in what stories or engagements they may have, in order to prevent conflicts of interest and to not allow bleed of character actions to influence and affect a staff member’s station and position as a business owner or employee.” (DR Corebook, p. 17)
At DR:TX, we do try to make sure our Gamerunners have a chance to play from time to time. It’s important for Shan and Aesa to get some time to play their characters, as actually participating in the game is a big part of being able to enjoy themselves and prevent burnout. Luckily, we have a great team of Guides, Admins, and STs that can step in to fill their shoes to give them a much needed break!
Casted Characters (or Extras)
The DR Corebook refers to this last category as Casted Characters, or Extras depending on what part of the book you are reading. It’s a little confusing because both terms are used in the book, but only one is actually defined. But if you see one of these terms they effectively are the same thing. We will also sometimes refer to this type of character as an NPC, or non-player character. This is a bit of a holdover from roleplaying games and video games, but it’s easy to understand and most people can quickly grasp the term once it’s explained.
Any good super hero movie needs the faceless thugs and antagonists in the background of a fight, and our Casted Characters help fill in these roles. During the Casting Shift, our Extras serve a key role in Dystopia Rising by representing monsters like Raiders and Zombies, or other mundane characters as the STs and Guides require. One benefit of this allows us to field living, breathing opponents across the field from you, to really dig into that feeling of surviving the zombie apocalypse. When there are actually 20 zombies surrounding you it tends to thrust you into the moment and help with immersive roleplay.
“This is a character that is represented by a participant during a Casting Shift. A Guide informs participants what sort of persona they will be portraying based on the content the writers produce for the event and helps make sure their time as an Extra is an enjoyable one. These characters have a limited scope of interest, purpose, and history that is defined by the duration of an engagement or a series of engagements written as part of a staff-created plot and story. Extras are portrayed similarly to LCs, however, the interests and focus of the people portraying Extras are driven by story, plot, and enriching the experience of participants actively portraying LCs instead of making decisions based on the agency of the best interests of the character. Extras may reoccur; however, they only do so if dictated by story and plot requirements.” (DR Corebook, p. 14)
The key difference in this role for me is, as a Casted Character or NPC, you are meant to LOSE. Period. The other characters are the heroes of this story. You don’t “win” at an NPC shift when you kill a character, you “win” when folks are having fun. When you are on shift, your goal is to provide a memorable and fun experience for your friends, so that when it comes time for their turn as a NPC they can return the favor and provide that fun in the future.
One of our jobs as STs and staff is also to make sure we have interesting and engaging content on our shifts for the Extras, so that you can also have a bit of fun in the process. We strive in DR:TX to have varied types of mods during the Casting Shift, with options for both roleplay, econ, AND combat. We also strive to provide content for our non-combat players as well while they are on Casting shift. Some players even enjoy the NPC experience so much they sign up for Full Casting Shifts, and they don’t play an LC at all during the game!
Reoccurring Casted Characters (Face NPCS)
One last kind of “hidden” role within the Casted Character category is that of the Reoccurring Casted Character, sometimes known as a “Face” NPC. In our TV show analogy, this is a regular Guest Star or that named background character that stands out a bit more than usual. I think of folks like Nick Fury or Agent Coulson in the Marvel universe, when I talk about Face NPCs. While they still exist to keep the focus on the LCs, our Face NPCs have a bit more agency than a usual Extra. These characters also help establish continuity, as the same person plays them each time they appear and they can react in the play space based on those past experiences better than a random zombie or merchant.
Reoccurring Characters are actually alluded to in the book, in the same section on Extras:
Extras may reoccur; however, they only do so if dictated by story and plot requirements.” (DR Corebook, p. 14)
When a ST or Gamerunners has a particular story in mind, they might reach out to a volunteer for an additional role. The choice of who plays that role is mostly up to the ST, but if you are interested in being considered for one of these roles in the future you can let us know by submitting feedback or sending an email. While we often rely on our Guides and STs to fill these roles, we strive to vary our casting as the story demands. We look for folks with great acting ability, proven experience with the ruleset, and those folks that are an outstanding member of the community that we can trust to help fill this valuable role. This role will often earn additional CAPS for the volunteer time, and we generally work with that player to help them develop a unique costume and look for the role.
Some of the Reoccurring Characters in DR:TX include Faction leaders like Felicity Redfield, Tabitha St. Mercy, Commander Rampart, Mama Rabbit, Gustav Glasseyes, or Boss Wyatt. Each time they enter play, the same “actor” is behind them. Sometimes, this is a Gamerunner or an ST spending time in play outside of their normal shift, but sometimes we rely on the folks outside of the Storytelling Team as well, like in the case of our upcoming game.
In our next event, QUEENSGRACE, we will have a few new faces in our Reoccurring Casted Characters. Shan talked a bit about this concept in our last blog post! These Face NPCs will be in play for large chunks of the game and will be playing the role of the leaders of the Tribes Disparate. These 14 different characters will have a chance of interacting with you over the weekend, and your actions will determine the future leader of the Tribes Disparate. Our Reoccurring Characters have been very, very thoroughly coached on how to behave in the play space, but they will have objectives to achieve, motivations and reasons for their behaviors, and secrets you can uncover.
We are very excited to introduce some of these characters, and we can’t wait to show you more! Our hope is that this enhanced agency will allow these Casted Characters to provide meaningful roleplay opportunities, make them feel like a real character, and a give you a chance to directly impact the future of our story in Bravado.
wrap Up
No matter the role your character or NPC has, one last thing to keep in mind is that you are still in charge of your character actions in game, through a process called Steering. Next time, we will dive a bit more into the concept of Steering, how to apply it in game, and ways you can enhance your roleplay experience. See you next time Vados!