Howdy Vados!
It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our April live event WHISPERS FROM THE DEEP! This is our next ST led over-arc game, led by Noah Goodman. 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 recapping the story of our previous event and updating you on a few continuity updates and changes you should know about going into April.
TICKETS FOR OUR APRIL EVENT ARE ON SALE NOW! CAN YOU SURVIVE WHAT EMERGES FROM WAKING?
CLEAN UP IS CHANGING! We will be experimenting with a new process for Clean Up at the end of the event during our April and May games. Immediately after closing announcements, we will start with our Camp Cleanup first, and then complete our Personal Cleanup last! We will have some more details on this soon, but we appreciate your flexibility as we try some new ways to speed up how fast we can get off site after game and still keep our friends in the Girl Scouts happy!
Our photos for this post were taken from our March 2023 DR:TX event by the talented Heather Halstead.
Recap - Gifts of Suffering
You can read more about the Premise of our last event, Gifts of Suffering, if you’d like to catch up, but we’ll cover some of the highlights of what happened if you missed out!
At the start of the event, Brother Agony, a Final Knight holy man came to town bearing several RELICS of unholy power. Each of the relics was a powerful psionic artifact, each with an insidious geas that encouraged those that claimed the crown to blaspheme the faiths that they were designed to mock. In all, there were TEN crowns released into the wild during the March event.
Crown of Stagnation (Church of Darwin)
Crown of Anarchy (Cult of the Fallow Hope)
Crown of the Hellwrought (Final Knights)
Crown of Moderation (The Light of Hedon)
Crown of Solitude (The Nuclear Family)
Crown of the Lost Signal (The Telling Visionaries)
Crown of the Extinguished (Sainthood of Ashes)
Crown of the Broken Wheel (Tribe of Seasons)
Crown of the Discordant (Virtues of the Kings & Queens Court)
Crown of Fresh Blood - This last crown only functioned in the hands of a character with less than 50 XP, meaning it quickly fell into the hands of a new player!
Each of the crowns offered boons like damage reduction, the ability to use various skills for free, resist AOE effects, and even use Faith Bane against their enemies. But, if conflict was not created, often requiring the wearer to commit a sin against the faith tied to the crown, they would slowly bleed and kill the wearer until they died. But if this compulsion was completed, the Crowns gained new and impressive new abilities, but required the wearer to take the life of another every 12 hours to satiate their lust for blood.
However, the Crowns offered a potential boon for the town of Bravado. If the town would fully ascend and empower the Crowns of Suffering, Brother Agony offered to teach them a benediction that could reinforce and shield the town from the terrible Prince Undying. As the night continued, the comforting blue light of the monolith at the crossroads began to bleed crimson, as the attacks from the Grave Mind grew worse.
Coupled with these psychic attacks on Bravado was the very real challenge of a Reckoner Blockade and the damaged docks that were destroyed by the pirates of the Clearwater Accord after the February event. While folks worked to repair the damage done and ensure the town could reopen a connection with Drywater and other cities along the riverways of the San Saba, the forces of the San Saba Rebellion deployed against the mighty armies of the Reckoners and the Board.
Throughout the day on Saturday, various forces attempted to claim the Crowns for themselves, whether it was rogue Reckoners of the Grave Council, agents of the Waking Intelligence Service, or even simply victims of Brother Agony’s gifts that destroyed towns that were torn apart by the infighting created by the relics. Cassiopeia, a Mystagogue of the Grave Council, heir apparent to the seat held by Rampart offered to help the town understand more about the relics of power with the resources of the Grave Council.
Saturday afternoon, a Gauntlet was held for the villainous General Rampart, leader of the Reckoners, but his military forces were set to keep the Justices of Sin from reaching the trial in time to pass judgement. With the help of Justice Blayne, the town snuck past the Reckoner Legions to bring the Justice to the Gauntlet, where she pronounced the General guilty of the crime of Murder and executed him on the spot. While a few of the townsfolk pried into his brain for a few final questions before he was taken by the Grave Mind, they were all shocked with inky black nightmare tentacles instead drug the corpse to somewhere else.
As the evening grew near and the incursion from the nightmares continued to threaten the town, Brother Agony proved true to his word. He returned with a Benediction to seal the monolith with Seals of Faith, reinforcing and securing the monolith against the influence of the Prince Undying. For every priest they could get to perform their part of the ritual, they could reduce the impact of the nightmares that came to break the strange crystal at the heart of the town. With help from priests of the Hedon, the Seasons, the Sainthood, the Fallow, and the Final Knights, the ritual was enacted as the night fell on Bravado.
Hordes of strange nightmare creatures swarmed the center of Bravado, intent on disrupting the Monolith, but the Crown bearers used the influence of the crowns to sway the tide in their favor. While common attacks to deal with the dead were useless, the seals of faith were useful in driving back the shadowy horde. As the faith of the town held strong under the assault, the crimson light faded from the monolith as it returned to the pure blue light that marked the town under its protection.
While the Crowns of Suffering could have been kept by the bearers, each of the crowns was surrendered and destroyed, removing the threat of them forever. Only time will tell if this was a hasty decision, but the strange GIFTS OF SUFFERING are no more.
UPdates for bravado
Let’s cover the nitty gritty of what has changed since last month:
First, the Blockade of Bravado has been lifted thanks to the efforts of the brave soldiers of the Rebellion. They broke the back of the Reckoner Legions outside the town and have lifted the immediately consequences that was affecting Trade Connections and other Skills at the PO.
Anyport was repaired and access to the riverways was restored thanks to a monumental effort of scrap, resources, a trip to sail against the Blockade, and a fierce battle with the Clearwater Accord. The penalities against the Sailing skill have been removed.
Despite the Blockade being lifted, the town is still being isolated by the San Saba Board. The Ox is forbidden from being sent to the town, telegraph lines need to be repaired, and connections to the greater Wastes are still limited under threat of treason and enemy forces of the Board. While the immediate danger of the Blockade is gone, work yet remains to gain access to the greater railways. You can expect to see ZOMs and other similar repair efforts continue as we end the season, and Battles will continue to fight against the Board.
We’ve always referred to the “Ox” in a general sense of the RRC network around the area, but there’s more than one locomotive in use by the RRC. While a few “misplaced” locomotives from the lesser fleet of trains that the RRC and the Hackard Family manages can now return to Bravado, the crown jewel of the fleet, the jet-powered Ox, is much too valuable to send into contested territory. Players can once again arrive via the train, but it’s assumed to be a hijacked or mis-purposed train car, a handcart, or some other lesser form of rail access. Players will have an option to claim the Ox for the town of Bravado in the coming events.
The new MORALE BOOST effect continues until the end of the season. The fire in the heart of the Rebellion is still strong and ready to claim a new future for Bravado! Yeehaw!
The NEw Bravado Charter
One of the important threads from this event that will show up again during April is the question of Law and Order in a town that has rebelled. During the March event, the Law Dogs met to consider a new Bravado Charter, a set of common-sense laws that the town could agree to enforce as a community. Much like the laws of the San Saba Board were created as part of a charter between the powerful factions of the area, the town of Bravado would instead draft their own charter as part of the rebellion.
The Law Dog agents worked to whip up support for their organization, but also to sell the need for some structure in the face of Anarchy. In the end, the town gathered an overwhelming majority of the town to consider the following laws. In April, the town will be able to sign the Bravado Charter, ushering in a new sense of justice in the wastes, and ensuring that the Law Dogs and Justices of Sin can help keep the worst excesses of anarchy and lawlessness at bay.
The laws suggested by the Law Dogs are as follows:
The act of Murder is illegal, regardless of actual Infection loss.
Theft of property, labor, or Infection is illegal.
The possession, harvesting, distribution, and manufacture of Crystal Candy is illegal.
Contracts between parties do not absolve of violations of these laws.
The protected rights of assault, post, press, or radio shall not be infringed.
Most of these laws are similar to the ones that have been in place before now. You shouldn’t trade in Crystal Candy, kill, steal, or prevent the Post Office from delivering the mail. But, the Law Dogs have chosen to enshrine the right of a good old fashion brawl with Assault as a town tradition, and protect the nascent rights of the press and radio to bring news to town. Lastly, instead of saying that ‘contracts are the sum and whole of the law’, like in the San Saba Charter, they made sure to close a loophole to prevent contracts from being used as an excuse to escape the long arm of the law.
During the April event, you’ll have a chance to consider any final modifications to these laws before they are enshrined by the new Bravado Charter. As we reach the end of Season 5, we want you each to have a say in the laws of the town as we move towards Season 6. With law and order in sight, the Rebellion takes another step towards building a bright new future for the tiny town of Bravado.
rebellion updates
We introduced a few new updates to our Rebellion mechanics that you can read for yourself on our Discord, but the fight against the enemies of Bravado continued in the month of March. Several folks took the opportunity to draft and muster new Combat Units, and the forces of the Rebellion swelled as they set to defend their hard-earned freedom from the the forces of the San Saba Board and worse. The town defended far away locations by deploying their Units to various battlefronts near Bravado.
There were three battles that took place, with the brave soldiers of the Rebellion striking back to claim territory and break the back of the Reckoner Legions that had laid siege to the town for a month.
Regaining Control of the River
Eager to liberate Roy’s Rest, the Rebellion struck eastward against the forces of the Clearwater Accord and the treacherous pirates that follow Carina Astora. The enemy forces were made up of Clearwater Accord pirates, prowling the waterways trying to prevent reinforcements from reaching the Junkerpunk Port.
Fighting against D’arcy the Dark, the Rebellion reclaimed the riverport as part of their campaign to provide aid to the embattled Junkerpunks. D’arcy was a powerful psion and opportunist, and she turned on the Oxkillers after Carina offered a better paycheck and a disregard for her preference for cannibalism. She claimed that eating the hearts of her victims let her steal their psionic potential for her own, and was prepared for a feast, but was instead met with an devastating loss.
With the town of Roy’s Rest firmly in the control of the Rebellion, they can now strike along the rivers to rescue ships and citizens that are under siege by the pirates of the Spoiled Coast, and will be able to provide aid to the Clutch during the April event.
Reinforcing Tremorsands
Before the Militia disbanded in February, General Hargrave made the sound decision to provide additional support to the oilfields of Tremorsands Post, one last stop at the edge of the Dune Sea. Thanks to the timely assistance, Tremorsands was prepared for a new and terrifying enemy as the forces of the Undying Empire moved out from Barogue, their undead hordes intent on destroying the living.
Through it was the hardest fought battle of the weekend, the forces of the Rebellion narrowly persevered against the terrible nightmarish legions of the Prince Undying. A wave of foul blackness sweeps across the desert, resembling shadowy cavalry with skeletal features. A shrieking chorus rose across the sands, breaking the nerve of even the most stalwart defenders.
The Rebellion overcame the terrible Maja’sulum Nabat, the Consort of the Tentacled Depths, the leader of the undead hordes, and stopped the advance from the desert. However, as the wave of nightmares rolls into the heart of the San Saba, the next bastion of defense will need to be the brave soldiers of the Ramguard as they attempt to defend Falken Castle from the Prince Undying.
The battle of bravado
The final battle of the weekend took place as the Rebellion mustered their forces against the Reckoner Legions, intent on breaking the siege of Bravado. The Battle of Bravado took place Saturday night, with the Rebellion breaking the back of the San Saba Board as they tried their next attempt to reclaim the town.
The enemy forces were made up of allegiant Reckoner Legion units wielding psi-tech weapons and leveraging the Undead hordes still riled up by the strange rituals they used to control the dead from afar, led by Commander Grant, one of the last followers of Rampart. While his forces had been battered during their defeat in February, they still presented a danger to the town and needed to be stopped.
The Rebellion was victorious, pushing the Reckoners back to Essex, and opening a path to reclaim the fortress-prison of Killhouse, a personal goal of General Hargrave. With Tabitha and her Board soldiers separated, it will be up to the combined forces of the Oxkiller Alliance and the Rebellion to break the fortress that has stood firm for the entirety of the War of Antlers.
Looking Forward
There will be FOUR (4) Battles during April, based on the outcomes of the Battles that were fought during the March event.
Liberating Widow's Peak
Evacuating the Clutch
The Conquest of Killhouse
Defending Falken Castle
Will you be able to claim a bright future for the Rebellion and break the San Saba Board once and for all? Can you hope to stop the Prince Undying, and can you provide aid to your allies in their hour of need? I hope you have your War Supplies ready!
Wrap Up
That’s it for today, Vados. We have a few weeks until our April event, WHISPERS FROM THE DEEP, and we still have a few surprises in store. While evolution may have run rampant in the depths of Waking, what will that mean for your characters as they discover the dangers of Project Eve? Will your be forced into a new evolution, or will you survive the evolutionary leap into the a bright new future for Bravado?
Let’s find out together! Next week, we cover some of the Rules You Should Know, and we will cover some of the important mechanics that might be useful to survive what emerges from Waking.
Tickets are on sale until Friday, but you’ll still be able to reserve your spot on site next week. Don’t miss out on the next chapter of our story!
See you soon Vados!
