Hey there Vados! It’s Jonathan here with another Rules Ramble! Kinda. We are entering our Summer Break, so I want to cover some expectations for the Burning Season and a bit of peace of mind for myself over the break. I enjoy writing these as much as I know you enjoy reading them, so I’ll probably be compelled to share a thought or two with you over the summer, but it’s also a BREAK, so let’s talk about what that means for your friend Jonathan.
TL;DR — Rules Rambles won’t be as frequent, but I’ll probably still publish some content to keep you interested.
Before I get into the main story, I wanted to explore a bit of history of Rules Rambles from the last year.
The Humble Beginnings
We’ve just completed our first live season, and my first season as the Operational ST for DR:TX. This also means I did an entire first season of RULES RAMBLES. My very first blog post as the Operational ST was on September 3, 2021, prior to our first game of Season 3. (Technically, I did this on a FRIDAY, but I eventually got into the habit of posting on Wednesday.) It was the first time using the name for my posts, and my first foray into Squarespace and website editing.
These posts were originally an idea to cover major rules changes and stuff that we could show to our players in advance of game. I had been covering a few changes made in 3.0 as new material released over the last year on Facebook (before I was the OST), but I figured we could use our website to keep a better repository of the content I was writing. I made the pitch to Shan & Aesa to get access to the webpage, and the Rules Rambles quickly became a regular feature on our website and Facebook feed.
I’ve been releasing about FOUR rambles a month this entire season (save for a missed week in October 2021 — it’s the only thing breaking my record dammit…), and it’s been a fun experience to take a few deep dives into the rules with y’all. Each time, I attempt to explain the rules in a bit more detail than the rule book allows. I try to focus on providing context for the rules, track down all the weird related stuff in the book or blueprints, and help you wrap your brain around some complicated and scattered rules with some common sense language.
Every week, I try to improve my process, and I’ve gotten arguably better (if a bit more verbose at times) about how I present the concept. We added funny or interesting photos as the thumbnail for the posts starting in late September. I’ve thrown in a few easter eggs via links for those that like clicking on all the hyperlinks. We’ve had a few guest writers as well, and a couple of essays from Shan & Aesa to boot.
I’ve also kinda of adapted a good system that helps appeal to the ADHD brain, by using different fonts, different headers, and strategic use of bold text and CAPITALS. There’s a really good article you can read about the concept, found here: Responsive Web Design, by Laura Franz. We’ve also inspired regular blog posts or been inspired by other blog posts from sister chapters as well, including Arkansas, New York, Florida, and more. Our marketing has steadily improved over this last season, and our plans for the future keep getting brighter.
So bright you’ll need shades!
The Rules Rambles have gotten into a bit of a cadence since we started, too. We try to cover at least one post before each game to preview and cover any rules of note to be interested in (generally on the week of game), and starting after October 2021, I started writing a GAME RECAP each month to cover major story points from each game as well. While these aren’t technically a Rules Ramble, they still kinda count. I even covered some non-rules topics, like Steering or even complicated rules topics in multi-part series like Damage Calls, Death, Disease, or CvC.
Turns out, y’all really like regular communication. Rules Rambles have even been some of our most viewed posts on our DR:TX Facebook PAGE! :)
Each week (generally on Tuesday nights, like when I’m writing this..), I work on a Rules Ramble for the next day and I always have a few ideas burning in my head, or a rules topic that’s on my mind recently. While I try to keep them focused on some relatable content, I also want to make sure I address some of the common areas of the game that need clarification, or particularly convoluted or complicated rules in the book. A few topics I have in mind to cover in the future include Crafting with Artisan and Culinary, how Augments work, how to use Salvage and Forage cards, TRAPS!, an eventual longer series on Economy in DR, and more.
With that in mind, that gets us to the point.
Rules Rambles Over the Summer
Since I normally write a Game Recap after each game and a Last Minute Rules post leading up to game, it seems like I will have a bit less of those to do as we enter into the Burning Season. I’m hard at work on a Game Recap for our final event, THE CICATRIX, but I expect to have that ready sometime next week, once our photos have gone live (though I’ve added a few sneak peeks into this post, by the talented Sydney Betzina…).
I’ll try to publish a few Rules Rambles over this summer, but I’m aiming to keep it to about ONE a month.
I’ll probably fail in this and write more than intended, but that’s kinda what I do. I have other hobbies outside of DR, too, including some summer time trips with my partner, Riva, and of course time for a bunch of puppies. I also enjoy painting and assembling models, and I have more than a few Tyranids and Marvel Crisis Protocol models to paint on my workbench, and there’s always gonna be time made for some board games this summer. I’ll probably catch up on a few video games, or just play a lot of Sea of Thieves. I might even find a way to hit up a water park like Schlitterbahn… it’s summer break, after all!
On the DR-side of things, I’m going to be working on a few projects aimed at new players, so if I release some stuff over the summer, it’ll likely be targeted at some core concepts that may be more familiar to those veteran players. We also have a LOT of planning as the Admin Team for our upcoming season. We do a lot of planning for the next season over the summer, and I’ve got a few other DR-related projects on the side that we are excited to show off soon too.
We will still have a few things to explore over the summer, and ways to engage with DR:TX though.
Every two weeks, you can join along LIVE with our joint ST Meetings for the upcoming NATIONAL EVENT in October, alongside the DR:CT team on Tuesdays, on the Most Improbable Discord. This is a neat experience to get to listen into to a behind the scenes look at how we plan out our events, and get to goob with the original creators of Dystopia Rising.
We kinda just fired our ST team. Every year, at the end of the season we give everyone a break on the ST team, and we hire a brand new team to start out the next season. We will have the applications for the new team for our FOURTH SEASON up soon, so we hope that new and old faces alike will consider joining our team. We are also improving and reorganizing a bit of how we structure our writing and development for games, so we can continue to provide great content to our players next season.
Summer stories are coming! We had some HUGE events happen at the last game, and we want to continue the storyline over the summer. Just because we don’t have games scheduled over the summer doesn’t mean the NPCs and storylines stop. We might even experiment with some puzzles or even a bit of fiction if we feel so inspired.
I have an idea to release a FULL ISSUE of The Wastelander, our in-game newspaper in Essex, based on a old paper started by Merp Tastic’s character Milo. I want to include silly comics or opinion pieces I might be able to collect, but y’all will have to let me know if you have enough interest in seeing that happen. I’ve enjoyed sharing a few teasers about story this way, and we will continue to find new ways to engage and excite players about our game.
New Augment Blueprints are coming soon! I’ll probably write a bit about these, but I’ve got the blue fever, and it won’t stop over the summer.
Summer is a great time to try out other games in the network! Several folks are going to attend HONOR’S FALL, the premiere event up in New York in August, and there are plenty of online game options available during the summer if you can’t get your fix with live Texas games.
That’s it for today, so I hope you enjoy your summer break! Stay hydrated, wear some sun screen, and let us know how you are updating your costumes on Facebook, Discord, or other social media platforms!
See you soon, Vados!
