Howdy Vados!
It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our December Premiere event FORGOTTEN IN THE DARK! This will be the last game under the 3.0 system, led by Andrew Harper. Each week, I’ll discuss in detail an aspect of the upcoming event, compiling the rules and lore into one easy place to read! This week, we are covering our Rules You Should Know as well as some updates from our recent Network Advisory Board meeting.
TICKET Sales are closed for now, but you can still get your ticket at the door FOR OUR DECEMBER EVENT! Will you BE FORGOTTEN DURING THE LONG NIGHT?
Buy Back for 3.0 Events ends on December 15th!
Any local DR:TX player can still retroactively buy tickets for past events they missed, or for any past XP you didn’t add to the ticket since your character has been created. Travelers can still purchase for old DR:TX Premiere events too! If you missed an event there’s still time to make sure you don’t miss out on the XP! This is a great way to both support our game and add some XP to your roster before the transition to DR Live. After December 15th, our new contract will prevent this purchase and you will no longer be able to buy XP for any past 3.0 events. Don’t miss out!
Our photos for this post were taken from previous DR:TX events by our talented Photo Team, including Lily-Jay Jones, Miranda Farmer, Noah Goodman, Seth Kahler, and Max Pohlmeier.
Q4 Board Meeting
The day before Thanksgiving the assorted owners and directors of DR chapters across the nation met for our fourth quarter Board Meeting. You can watch the meeting yourself if you’d like an inside view of some of the upcoming plans for DR Live, or you can read a bit of a transcript below.
Network Advisory Board meeting 2024 q4 — Dystopia Rising Live Larp
This meeting was mostly a recap of the previous year’s prep for DR Live and Michael covered a lot of the upcoming projects that are due before the end of the year. There’s a few relevant bits of information for our players as get ready for the transition to DR Live in 2025. Remember, our first DR Live event will be held in February, “Cradle’s Lullaby”, and tickets will go on sale in January.
Feedback Opens 1/2/2025
On January 2nd, the National Network team will be re-opening feedback for mechanical aspects of the Lineages Book, “Strained Ancestry” as well as any questions or feedback regarding the upcoming “Animals Almanac”. They will be closing the feedback cycle again on the 15th of January.
The new Virtual Play Guide and Animals Almanac should be released before the end of the year on the national website.
DR Live Item Transition
We received some guidance on how to handle the item conversion for DR Live. Here’s the basics, but I’ll have some more information as we approach the February event on how the logistics of the transfers will work. This information will be handy for any last minute crafting decisions during the December event.
Any item that has a 1 to 1 named equivalent will be provided with an equivalent item card in DR Live. You can choose to keep this item, trade it to another player, or you can choose not to receive the item.
Some items may not be useful to your character without a certain Profession, so we will be planning some swap meets at the February event to try to trade and swap items to others.
If the item didn’t have an expiration date, it will be treated as if it were crafted on February 1st 2025.
If the item has a changed expiration date in the DR Live rules, it will receive the lesser of the two expiration dates (the original, or, the new expiration date as if it were crafted on February 1st 2025).
Not every item in DR Live will have a direct 1 to 1 match. Some blueprints will not make the transition, and we will have a list of these items before the launch of DR Live.
If an item has drastically changed in the new edition, it can be replaced with a similar item or you can choose to receive the materials that would be used to create that item in DR LIVE MECHANICS. These are the new crafting costs, not the old.
Any item without an expiration date (scrap, herb, produce, etc) will be given a 1 year expiration date. Any items not on a new item card expire February 1st 2026. This does not apply to currently expired items.
Blueprints will be transparent and visible to all on the Juno database before the launch of DR Live. Database printing at the Post Office will be able to document what login printed it, what game they are from, and what date and time it was printed on, so you’ll always have the most up-to-date version of the print.
We know you will have some more questions as we get closer to February, so stay tuned!
rules You should Know
With the Long Night quickly approaching, let’s talk about some different rules we will be telegraphing during the December event. Knowing what to expect might be a bit hand if you find yourself CAUGHT ALONE. Remember, the new Cannibalism and Rise Again rules will be in play for undead threats during this weekend, in preparation for DR Live!
TERROR
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.
This skill often gets confused with Fear, but the simple instruction for Terror is to RUN AWAY! If you don’t counter this with Mental Endurance or an item, you simply need to move away from the creature for at least 30 seconds. Pick and direction and move!
Terror is a separate ability than Fear. Many items that protect from Fear do not often the same protection from Terror, and often the two defenses are mutually exclusive.
Like Agony, the Battle Hymn is an excellent defense against this ability, and if the right Upsurge is chosen it protects from both Fear AND Terror.
One of the items purchased from the Master Sailing buy list can be used to defend against this ability, the Crew’s Cabin Flag.
The item Scales of Ezra makes the wearer immune to Fear and Terror, provided you can use a Faithful Anomaly skill and two baptized members of your faith are in sight.
If you are chased out of line of sight of your friends by Terror, you can be CAUGHT ALONE. If this happens and is called on a Guide or you realize you are alone in the dark, then you will proceed to Ops, and find out what happens next.
Sounds terrifying!
Fear
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, affected 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 the Fear.
Fear is an insidious ability, as it can be used by intelligent threats to lock you out of a combat and there are not many ways to prevent it from affecting you. Be careful while walking in a pair, because if the predator is particularly cunning, you might have to just watch your friend die while you are stricken in fear and unable to help them.
Unlike Terror, you cannot use Mental Endurance against Fear. The only thing that really breaks Fear is that creature attacking you by mistake.
Remember, being an ‘engaging combatant’ is a bit vague, but if you try to use a Skill on a friend or otherwise involve yourself in the battle against that creature you may not be able to intervene. This means you can’t really use skills like Interfere or and you can’t make an attack on an enemy to prevent a Killing Blow. It doesn’t stop secondary support like healing through Biogenetics, but it does stop most active skills that could stop the enemy.
Like Agony, the Battle Hymn is an excellent defense against this ability, and if the right Upsurge is chosen it protects from both Fear AND Terror.
Sometimes, a big fucking gun can give you the courage to fight back against paralyzing fear, particularly if you have a Rebel’s Ridiculous Receiver. A solid shield like the Freeiron Guard can be handy in a pinch, and can be used on others. You can also rely on chemical stimulation with a Glitter Gulch Dartgun, if you have the right PFA. For everyone else, you can always use a Trophy Room too to resist fear, if you can get a bedtime story from an Avontuur.
A new blueprint from up north that’s handy against Nemesis works in a pinch versus fear, the Cullingwood Blade, if you are Bad Ass enough..
There are many items purchased from every level of the Sailing buy list can be used to defend against this ability, such as Grog, Crew’s Raiding Flag, Crew’s Cabin Flag, and Keg O’ Grog. This is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to get immunity to Fear.
Anomaly Response (Healing)
ANY use of Psionic Abilities within earshot of the threat activates this ability. The threat will declare “Anomaly Response: Healing” and Heal all Body. This effect can trigger each time a Psionic ability is used within range.
This is an ability common on certain types of undead and other threats that feed on aberrants, like many of the threats that go bump in the night during the Long Night. This is an insidious ability, as if your friends don’t quickly stop using helpful skills like Biogenetics in time, the monster will continue to heal and ignore any damage that you’ve done so far. Since some of these threats have LOTS of Body, this could end up undoing a bunch of damage at a rate that’s probably much faster than your crew can recover from the brutal strikes of [REDACTED].
There is NO number of uses for this ability, and this can happen EVERY time you use a Psionic ability in range. In general, the threat will listen for the keyword “Psionic” in your calls, but this will work on even beneficial abilities or even attacks.
Ground and Pound
Call “Grapple” on a brawling strike. If successful, the Target is Nailed for 10 seconds, and both stay within 3 feet. The Grappler can keep using Grapple at no additional cost if they land more unarmed strikes during the duration.
The basic shambler can be a deadly foe due to a particular skill known by the most common Zombie threat. The Profession skill normally possessed by a Shock Trooper can let the zombie pin you in place with a Nail effect, and prevent you from using shields and two handed weapons. If the zombie grabs you, they can simply restart this effect by hitting you with another brawling attack. If you get pinned by a shambler, you’ll likely be hearing the Cannibalize call soon after!
Wrap Up
That’s it for today Vados!
We hope that you will come join us for our next event, our last DR:TX event using the 3.0 rules for Dystopia Rising. We have some fun surprises in store for you during this game, and we hope that you are ready to try and survive the looming Long Night. Will your memories fail you as you wander the lonely woods of Bravado? Will something terrible find you in the shadows, or will you discover the answer to the strange happenings and disappearances? Will you be forgotten in the dark?
As a reminder, we will be taking at least a week off from regular blog posts and such as we approach the Christmas break. This is one of the few times of the year that our volunteer team can rest and relax, and we want to enjoy the time with our families just like you do! Please be patient with us, but we will be finishing as many of the Back Buy requests as we can before the December 15th cutoff! Don’t miss out!
