It’s Jonathan here again with another Rules Ramble! Each week, I’ll introduce a topic that will be important in an upcoming game, explain some new mechanic or system for DR:TX, or discuss a particular rule from the DR Corebook. In each ramble, I’ll focus on explaining that topic in more detail than the book alone can provide and help provide one place to reference all the various errata or rulings that might be relevant. Sometimes I’ll even drop a few Story Teasers or provide a summary of the last game in a Game Recap.
This week, we are continuing with our countdown to our first combined virtual AND in-person NATIONAL EVENT of 3.0 - THE NECROPHAGE! We have a lot of travelers coming out to our first live game in a while. Let’s talk about some culture expectations of our game, some major differences between our game and what you might see at your local events, and some resources to help you understand the differences.
Photos used in this post are from the talented Lainey Weiss and Max Pohlmeier, from our September event, VALLEY OF FEAR.
Welcome to Bravado!
First, let’s talk about the basic story setting. We have a LOT of information about our story, the characters, and the setting on our website. I encourage to explore and see what cool stories you can find online. We have fiction, we have local rules, and we have more information about our factions too. You can find out about places of note in the San Saba, major NPCs, and even our metaplot stories for the season.
Here’s a short blurb describing our setting’s core story:
New Bravado is a boomtown built on the promise of wealth, status, and discovery. The Blastlands that make up the San Saba Territories; the greater municipality upon which New Bravado resides, are irradiated and unforgiving to the fragile Survivors who brave them. Built by its own citizens, Bravado is a frontier town whose identity and relevancy are staked almost entirely on The Ox, the territory’s first locomotive built from the detritus of broken construction equipment, several
derelict train cars and a single jet engine that empowers the Ox to rocket across the Greater Wastes at ludicrous speeds to deliver raw products and finished goods to their respective markets.Beneath the city, in the ruddy clay of yesteryear, lie the bones of an ancient Facility - fossilized in the stratum below the surface by eons of disuse and quietude. Rare metals, blueprints written in arcane script, and weapons beyond the mortal ken of the Survivors of this Era rest uneasily in their tombs, waiting to be exhumed by the Delvers and Diggers working for the various holding companies who compete for the lion’s share of the whole operation. Below them all, below the bustling streets of New Bravado, beneath the Facility where the secrets of the world hang in delicate stasis, and below what lurks beneath that, the Mortis Amaranthine churns with all the whirling surety of a meat grinder, and it waits inevitably for its time and its turn.
It is the pith of man’s existence to be defined by what came before him. New Bravado has entered a tenuous epoch during which its future is unsure, but its potential is vast. It will be up to the citizens of this young town to shape the Blastlands around them, for the betterment of the Greater Wastes - or themselves.
radical trust
Our philosophy in DR:TX involves RADICAL TRANSPARENCY and RADICAL TRUST. We will trust you to do the right thing, and we will trust you to know your own limits and when you need to enforce your own boundaries. We will provide you the tools to be successful, and we will always attempt to give you the information you need up front. We will assume the best from you, particularly when it comes to rules in the field, on zones of mechanics, or during our fights.
We have a saying in DR:TX — It’s everyone’s first game sometime
Be kind to one another.
We are going to make mistakes, and it’s the first live game for someone out there. No matter your experience, no matter who you meet in the field, assume it’s their first game and give them the benefit of the doubt, grace when someone makes a mistake, and assume positive intent always!
combat is tough!
One common bit of feedback we hear from travelers is something we take pride in: our combat can be tough! Texas has a vibrant culture of “stick jocks”, as we have many of players that also participate in Amtgard, Dagohir, or other high-energy boffer LARPS in the area. This means that some of those zombies and raiders you face in the field might be more talented than you’ve come to expect in your local game. Texas is also one of the older games in the network, so some of our folks have been playing Dystopia Rising for 10 years or longer!
We also have a high combat tempo. We take pride in building our mod schedule around making sure there is always a “bump in the night”. While the daytime hours tend to be a bit lighter than normal, the nights can be deadly. Buildings aren’t always safe either. Often (and especially at night), threats can interrupt crafting, break through doors, and intrude on player spaces.
During a shift, we have regular combat threats we dub WHITE NOISE. These regular groups of threats are often in play with a turn around time of about 30 minutes. We cycle our NPCs to allow rest breaks and such, but we strive to have content for combat characters as well as roleplay characters. We might even have multiple groups of monsters in the wastes or longer lasting fights, with multiple spawns each time, or extremely dangerous local threats.
We do have one window of time that is completely safe - the SIESTA. From 12 pm on Saturday to 2 pm, we will have NO combat NPCs in play. While there can be a few individual Casted Characters that can still be dangerous, there will be no roaming hordes or raiders during this time. It’s a perfect time to enjoy a meal with your friends, take a quick nap, or complete that expensive Artisan project in relative peace.
“DO WORK, GET PAID”
One phenomenon of DR:TX is an embrace of the capitalistic hellscape of the wastes. The phrase “do work, get paid” is a common saying in our game, and it reflects that the folks of the area value the labor of a hard day’s work and the skills they can bring to the table. From contracts and taxes, to political intrigue, it dominates life in the San Saba. It’s even in our Laws:
Brass and Contracts are our Sacred Currency.
We’ve always had a vibrant in-game economy in Texas, harking back to tradition of “pulling ourselves up by our boot straps” in 2.0. We run various money sinks, Zones of Mechanics, and plots that work to remove Brass and items from the game, so players have had to become a bit more self-sufficient. You might find prices here different than you’ve come to expect in your home game. You might get asked to tip a crafter for a Repair, asked to pay up front for healing services from a medic, or even find additional ways to spend money with the Post Office. However, most forms of payment are accepted, and while folks might prefer Brass Notes, other currencies and Trade Notes are commonly accepted by our players.
There are always a few Sainthood or others willing to help a Duster, but barter and trade is the nature of the world in the San Saba. So, maybe you didn’t make a crafter, or an Elitariat, or maybe you are just new to town. What’s the best way to get by?
Simply participate in the game! We have neat Contractor Work Orders that can help any player earn some local currency, and we have various Financial Zones of Mechanics, merchants, and other ways to earn a living in the wastes. There’s always a way to earn a Brass for those willing to work!
casual violence & CVC
Another aspect of Bravado is a tradition of Casual Violence. In the spirit of the old westerns and outlaw stories, folks in these parts tend to walk around ARMED. The phrase “talk shit, get hit” is a common soliloquy, and non-deadly CVC is not only allowed, but encouraged! A good old fashioned tavern brawl can erupt, but just as often those folks are back at the bar afterwards buying each other a drink after the fun. After all, in Bravado, a “polite society is an armed society”.
Feel free to throw up a “C” to ask for consent, and be ready to defend yourself! You can read more about the rules for CVC in the Moment in an article on our website, and you can always use the OK Check-In system, but friendly duels and fights are part of our culture. In general, as long as you don’t break the laws, combat is simply another way of getting to know the residents of town.
We have the RED LEDGER, a National DR Faction, in town that even encourages and rewards this kind of play with a unique buy list, in game events, and casted characters like Gustav Glasseyes. Our Wasteland is also HUGE, covering almost half of the game site, so there’s plenty of opportunity to embrace CVC in the Wasteland as well.
However, in game theft does not happen in game as often, as a whole. That’s not to say it doesn’t happen, but it’s worth making sure you have the rules and the laws of the settlement in mind. We have several in-game Law Dogs, and characters capable of enforcing the laws of the town should a thief be caught, and those consequences can often be deadly. Thieves and assassins can attract the wrong type of attention quickly. Make sure you remember the rules of CVC regarding theft — I wrote a few sections on this in my guide on CVC Theft.
zones of mechanics & interactive play
We have a number of ways in our game of interacting with a “silent Storyteller” in the form of Zones of Mechanics, or ZOMs. These will be found throughout play, in modules, and even posted publicly in a few places on high-visibility yellow paper. This is a mechanic we use frequently, and we’ve developed some fun ways to interact with the story without needing Guides or NPCs.
These ZOMs will offer ways to interact with the story from a mechanical perspective and might require you to complete a certain task, spend Mind with a Skill, or gather certain items. The instructions for how to use these will be included on the sheet, and we’ve added a few lighted clipboards for those ZOMs out in the field at night.
We also have a number of crafting areas that have props and tools for kinetic roleplay while using skills like Artisan, Culinary, or Agricultural. Each of these zones has some neat things to incorporate, and we hope that you enjoy the hard work our Props and Settings team has put into bringing these areas to life.
Our Food culture is great!
We have some AMAZING culinary artists in Texas. Following that focus on economy and the idea of “do work, get paid”, another pillar of this type of play is frequently found in Bravado — FOOD. One of the surest ways to earn money and get rich in Dystopia Rising is to provide food, drinks, and treats in game in exchange for currency.
Turbo’s 3rd Rule of Getting Rich - Grilled Cheese Sandwiches Make Millionaires
“The single greatest way to earn money is by supplying food and drink in a moment of need. The richest folks I know got there not by farming herb or gathering scrap, but by selling a grilled cheese sandwich to a hungry survivor. I’ll spend way more Brass over a weekend on hooch and food that I ever will on scrap and herb.”
If you find a vendor for tasty snack in game, save a few Brass for a pick me up in the middle of the day, from ice cream, popsicles, pizza, cookies, pickles, and more. Make sure to compliment the character, pick up after yourself after you are done, and enjoy!
An actual charcuterie board from one of our games.
grave bell & groundskeepers
In Texas, we use a team of trained Guides to run our Gravemind Scenes call Groundskeepers. These Guides will lead you through your death scene just like an ST would in another game, help you calibrate the scene to your character and your comfort level, and provide you the tailored roleplay experience of the Mortis Amaranthine.
In game, the Groundskeepers of the Grave Council are responsible for the common task of helping guide an unfortunate soul through the Mortis Amaranthine and provide the support necessary to complete the transition in one piece. When a person sinks into the Mortis, the Grave Bell at the Crossroads tolls three times. This alerts the Groundskeepers, and the town, that someone is imminently passing through the Morgue.
If you yourself sink into the Mortis, please proceed out-of-character to the Grave Bell and ring it three times, then proceed to the Grave Council Annex (Ops) to await Groundskeeper (and/or Storyteller) assistance.
When the Groundskeepers help you emerge unscathed, the Grave Tax is assessed. This fee is assigned based on the nature of the death, and can also be deferred or transferred by the Justices of Sin. If the death was unpreventable or accidental, the fee is negligible and normally absorbed by the Pauper’s Fund, a collection of Brass maintained by the Widows of the Lone Star. Collection of the Tax is normally deferred until April every year during Collection Day, and failure to pay the Grave Tax is considered a heinous crime.
The Laws of the San Saba
Like many of the settlements in the wastes, our town has several Laws in place. These laws are enforced by both NPCs and PCs, so be warned about participating in deadly CVC. We talked a bit about the casual violence of the setting and our town, but the cardinal sins of murder, theft, and tax evasion are also things to consider.
The spilling of Blood and Bone is the prerogative of the Wastes, But to steal the Infection of the Body, or the Work of the Hands is forbidden.
Brass and Contracts are our Sacred Currency. Thems that break a Contract are a Breacher and are subject to the Gauntlet. Anyone not holding a Contract is a Vagrant and has no voice in Company Affairs.
None shall interfere with the Delivery of the Post, Nor the Collection of the Grave Tax.
In matters of Law and Order, the Law Dogs, Hell Hounds and Justices of Sin enact the will of the Board as their Voice and their Vigor, empowered to wield Death and Duty in their name.
The growth, harvesting, trafficking, and consumption of psionic crystals and their byproducts is hereby considered dangerous to San Saba communities and is forbidden.
Generally, don’t steal, don’t kill, and pay your Grave Tax and you’ll be fine.
The San Saba Trade Network
Local Plot Items from any participating San Saba Trade Network settlement are generally approved for use in connected settlements. We have several linked games that are part of this in-game and out-of-game network, in addition to the other in-character settlements in the San Saba:
Bravado (DR:TX)
Requiem (DR:NY)
Mourning Glory (DR:MI)
In addition to the standard buylists for Criminal Influence, Trade Connections, and Sailing, in Bravado the Public Works Office has additional Buylists available. These produce “San Saba Sundries”, “San Saba Social ZOMs”, and “San Saba Keystones” items, local plot items that generally last a few months. Some require Basic, Proficient, or Master level Society Memberships with DR:TX Factions, but other items are more universally available.
While traveling characters won’t have access to Master Society Memberships unless you are a frequent guest, you can earn a Basic Society Membership with a faction of your choice by completing a Contractor Work Order in game. This will allow you access to both the Sundries and the use of the San Saba Socials other players put into play.
Note that due to the illegality of trafficking in psionic crystals and byproducts, Crystal Candy is only available through criminal connections and cannot be purchased normally at the Public Works. You must attend a Criminal Influence meeting to be able to purchase this item.
Wrap Up
That’s it for today folks! Tomorrow, I’ll have the usual “Rules You Should Remember” covering a few teasers, a few mechanics, and few threats to watch out for during the event. See you soon Vados!