The Futility of Evil

Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our penultimate 3.0 event THE FUTILITY OF EVIL! This is one of the last events of the 3.0 rules system before we launch DR Live, led by Jared Schlabra. 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 the premise of our event, some content warnings, and some teasers about our upcoming event!

• TICKETS FOR OUR November EVENT ARE ON SALE NOW! Will you make the right choice?

• If you had a great experience at our last event DOWNFALL or had some suggestions for how we can improve, we’d love to hear from you! We appreciate your high-fives and suggestions, and always want to seek ways to improve our events.

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• September pictures are live! Sorry for the delay, but we had a National Event to prepare!

Our photos for this post were taken from previous DR:TX events by our talented Photo Team, including Lily-Jay Jones and Max Pohlmeier.

PREMISE

You hear a threatening radio broadcast on a nearby frequency:

“Bravado, your strength and ruthlessness are admired, but are you not tired of this facade? For I Am The Cannibal Crown! I am The Voice Howling in the Trees telling you everyone lives and dies alone. I have seen what you and yours do, and you make me so very happy. Is it not the only law of this land of ours that ‘The Strong should Devour the weak’? Is that not the weak’s sole purpose?

My Malefactors See you, Know you, and Love you.  Oblivion has seen your flying beacon of progress brought low.  Vengeance has seen your Monument to the repeated injustices of the so-called Board.   Avarice has seen your resources thrown into the fires of war so quickly.  As the Cannibal Crown approaches, your defenses pale against our numbers.  I am The Blood Upon the Ashes of those who committed the sin of existence upon my path. I am The Dream of Deafening Silence. I am The Dancer Upon the Grave of The End. I am Th-….”

A crackle of static, and the voice shifts in tenor.

“Ar-are they gone? Great. I’m in way over my head and I need your help!”

“Listen, we all make mistakes.  My ‘followers’ wanted to ‘devour the strength of Bravado’, and I couldn't exactly tell a RAVENING HORDE OF CANNIBALS ‘no’ could I?!  I know, I know.  A ‘responsible person’ would have stopped when their merry band of bandits became a merry band of Cannibals, or when some seriously unstable individuals started calling themselves Malefactors, or when they started building A FREAKING FLESH PILLAR! Instead of doing what I did, which was double, triple and quadruple down.”  

“But how many times has your town been attacked by some unstoppable threat and survived? Undying Psi-Kings? The Board? Tax collectors???  These jerks are pretty much doomed.”

“So. Here's my offer:  I’ll help you stop this rampaging horde of cannibals before they can hurt other, less dangerous people.  The Malefactors, the FLESH PILLAR – all of it. And in return y’all can help me escape this ever spiraling series of events that I have long since lost control over.”

“It won't be easy. You're going to have to make some hard choices, sacrifice a lot of blood,sweat and treasure and maybe even your very morals. All to benefit people you may never meet and may never know the good you’ve done for them.  

I mean, unless you’d just rather take the quick and easy routes and just kill lots of folks. I’m sure that will have no repercussions whatsoever.”

“So Bravado, what do ya say?”

The radio cuts short, leaving the peculiar request ringing in your ears…

INSPIRATION & TROPES

This season in Bravado we have focused on bringing some new elements of Survival Horror to the forefront of the story. In our tradition of Radical Trust, we want to share some of the inspirational bits of media and movie magic that we feel help capture the themes and feelings of our upcoming event. If you are looking for a movie to inspire your role play for this event, here’s a list of our favorites to get ready for THE FUTILITY OF EVIL:

• Tucker and Dale vs Evil

• Wrong Turn

• The Hills Have Eyes

One big theme of the weekend in November is “choices” and “consequences”. When the Cannibal Crown arrives in Bravado, their leader has an interesting offer for the residents. He is offering a solution to the rampaging horde of cannibals threatening the area, if you help him escape from the choices he’s made. But can the Cannibal Crown be trusted to do as he says? Will you take the easy path or the road less traveled?

But, at the heart of this weekend is a bit of humor. The leader of the Cannibal Crown is a bit out of his depth, much like the heroes in Tucker and Dale vs Evil. Comedy and horror are interlinked in many ways, so a bit of the lighthearted feel will help underscore the monstrous undertones of this story. The leader is a bit erratic and his behavior questionable, but one reason we chose this over arc was for the subversion of the usual monster-of-the-week stories. We hope that you will agree.

Finally, the viciousness of the cannibal horde is echoed in movies like Wrong Turn and the Hills Have Eyes, with terrifying flesh-eating cannibals as the primary threat of the weekend. These will be intelligent threats, survivors that took the quick and dirty answer to survival in the wastes. Eating and devouring those weaker than you means they never have to look hard for their next meal, but cannibalism is ultimately a self-defeating philosophy as the cannibals eventually turn on each other.

CONTENT WARNINGS

The themes of Dystopia Rising often touch close to our real world in ways we cannot always avoid. The DR:TX team believes that we can still tell these stories about challenging topics, but we also believe we need to be transparent about our intentions and set proper expectations for our content. In our tradition of radical trust, we want to also trust in each player that attends our game to know their own limits and be able to choose to avoid topics and situations that make them uncomfortable.

It’s important to watch for descriptions, situations, or events that you might want to avoid. You may find new limits that are unknown to you because the matter never came up. We encourage you to take the necessary steps for your own emotional safety. We want you to be comfortable with the types of horror in our events so you can enjoy the thrill of the zombie apocalypse and the nightmare creatures we introduce into the game space.

It’s one reason we take our OK Check-In system so seriously! We understand that these may not be stories you want to participate in, and that’s okay! Remember, you can always use the OK Check-In System to choose to leave a scene, even CVC!

You can always find a list of our Content Warnings on our website, but let’s talk about some of the specific things you might want to be prepared for during this May event.

Overall, this next event focuses heavily on the themes of BODY HORROR, SUDDEN VIOLENCE, and CHOICE POINTS. These can be some serious themes and decisions, so let’s talk about some content warnings of note for THE FUTILITY OF EVIL:

Body Horror, grotesque or disturbing mutations, visceral costumes and props

• Certain creatures this weekend will have disgusting and visceral costumes and props that might require you to interact with unnerving, or terrible looking things. These props will change the features and silhouettes of certain threats and should be repulsive and terrifying. You might have to stick your hands into things best not described, or interact with some… interesting… kinetic props.

• If a module requires you to interact with chemicals or substances that might stain your clothing or costumes, we will announce these aspects as a “SPLATTER MOD”. We will try to give you a fair warning before engaging with these challenges, but we cannot guarantee clothing or items may not be affected by the disgusting goo in our mods.

SUDDEN VIOLENCE, JUMP SCARES, DEADLY SURPRISES

• The cannibal horde is comprised of skilled killers. They will use ambushes, traps, and more to capture their prey for the feast. The dumb cannibals were eaten long ago, and the Cannibal Crown has collected a menagerie of cruel, twisted, and twisted followers. The ones that face Bravado are the survivors, the ones willing to do anything to survive.

• These will be intelligent enemies, capable of opening doors, picking locks, and finding other ways to surprise our residents of Bravado. They might plan nighttime attacks, even on sleeping characters, and sudden bursts of violence should be expected as the attack continues.

• While you’ll be able to mitigate some features of the cannibal horde through the choice point mods, these enemies might have dangerous equipment and blueprints they will use against you, as fellow survivors. This also means they will usually have scrap or other items if you can manage to take a few down in combat.

choice points & Consequences

• There will be several key modules during the event that will require you to make a choice. What decision you reach in these moments will depend on the folks that choose to attend the mod, and these decisions may have lasting consequences for the cannibal hordes attacking
  Bravado. Will you be able to end their threat for good, or will you chose to save your own skin instead?

• These choices will be telegraphed in advance, usually with an OOC sign that reads “CHOICE POINT” and will generally consist of an EASY choice, and a HARD choice. While violence is Bravado’s usual answer to their problems, it’s not always the best solution. Facing the cannibals with violence probably won’t end their threat, but if you can undermine the things keeping the horde united, you may be able to answer the larger looming threat. Much like completing a challenge or achievement in the game, the harder decision will require some coordination from your group and incur a much higher risk if you fail.

• The big choice is simple — If the horde is defeated at Bravado, they will simply emerge from the Morgue ready to hunt and eat other easier targets in towns close by. Will you be willing to risk others safety for your own ease? Or will you try to stop the Cannibal Crown for good?

The real content warning

Real talk.

When we ran the first ever DR Live game last month, we started a timer. While the new edition is still a few months away and we will officially start with our February 2025 event, that means our next two games are going to dive back into the 3.0 rules for one last time. But, that means that some folks may be more interested in the new system than the one we are using for these next games. There’s going to be a pressure and momentum building to move to the new edition, and we need to complete these next two events under the current 3.0 system.

It’s gonna be weird.

We just helped you learn the ropes with a new system, and now we are asking you to forget all that and go back to 3.0 rules. I know, it’s a lot to take in.

You might miss Impact Skills, or feel the age of the 3.0 system as we wrap up these next two games. Healing might not be as easy as it is in DR Live. You won’t have certain new blueprints. You will still get to use the 12s for a few more events, and refresh your Mind points in different ways.

This is a time of transitions.

And that’s okay.

We want to ask for your patience.

While we have two games left in the 3.0 system, that means you’ll still have time to earn XP that will carry over to the new edition. You’ll still have time to farm some herb, make some blueprint copies, build some gizmos and armor, and get ready for the transition. Remember, when we get ready for the edition change, many of your non-expired items will get converted to new DR Live items. If you have something that’s about to expire, it might be worth it to build a new one in advance of the February event.

These next events also have some unprecedented freedom to try new things as you’ll get to completely rewrite your character for the new edition. Let’s talk about some key things to remember as we finish out this year’s games:

People will make mistakes, and confuse the editions

• Remember our DR:TX tradition of “it’s everyone’s first game”. We will all be unlearning a new system at the same time. We will make mistakes, we will get the rules wrong, and so will you. We must treat every moment of this event as everyone’s first game ever, and treat our fellow players as if they were tender-horns experiencing the world for the first time. For some of our players, it literally will be and DR Live will be here soon enough.

• Please show your fellow players and our staff grace and forgiveness. For this event, we will especially ask for your grace, patience, and forgiveness as we experience the ups and downs of our last events under DR 3.0 rules. Please be kind to your fellow players and especially our volunteer staff, as we all have the same goal — telling an amazing story in the zombie apocalypse. We will learn and say goodbye to this system together.

• Correct and Move On. If we make a mistake in the field, as either a guide or player, we will practice a strategy of fixing it for future encounters. We won’t try to reset or roll back any major rules calls, but trust our Guides to make the call in the moment. If we find an error later, we will correct and move on with the right ruling for any future instances. We will try to avoid any major scene or continuity breaks, and try to keep everything in game as much as possible.

We will be transitioning a few DR Live Rules into our 3.0 games

• During these next two events, you can expect to see a few familiar rules from the DR Live books. You’ll see a few threat skills you might recognize, maybe some item mechanics, or abilities from certain blueprints. Our goal during this time of transition is to familiarize you with a few key rules from the upcoming edition, and what better time to start than right now?

• You will see some DR Live Threat Skills in play. As such, you might start to find familiar loot from monsters similar to DR Live, hear calls like ABERRANT SUFFERING, or even see strange Benedictions in play. More of our zombies may suddenly start to RISE AGAIN, and you might encounter some strange FAITH abilities that feel familiar. We want to incorporate some of the most common new items from DR Live, and pave the way for the new year.

• We started this last season, actually. We introduced LINGERING DAMAGE last season with some local blueprints, so remember you still have a few months to use those fancy Local Plot Cards and custom items before the changeover to DR Live.

Take some risks, try something new

• At the start of the new edition, everyone will be allowed to completely remake their characters. This also means you’ll start with at least three Infection, no matter what you ended with in 3.0. This means that as long as you don’t use your last Infection, you’ll get a new lease on life in the next edition as you suddenly regain some Infection for the new world. It’s not so bad to die over the next few games!

• Try something new, take some risks, and step outside of your comfort zones. For the next few games, very little changes to your character will continue past the December event, so take advantage to try some new things or explore some fun new experiences like a grave mind scene, or CVC.

• Some PFAs or items may not exist in the new edition, so enjoy them while they last! These are the last few games to do some cool Techno Savant stories, to use some Local Items, and to build certain blueprint items. Not everything will make the change to DR Live, so take advantage of this last hurrah to have some cool moments and stories with your friends.

Goodbye, O Faithful RPG!

Wrap Up

That’s it for today, Vados.

We hope that you will come join us for our next event, one of our last two events 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 cannibal hordes of THE FUTILITY OF EVIL. Will you help the Cannibal Crown escape from the choices he’s made for power? Will you help the Malefactors recognize the folly of their philosophy, or will you answer their threat with violence? Will you survive being eaten alive by vicious cannibals?

Next week we will recap some of the important events from our last game and catch up to speed on all the story continuity you’ll need as the Cannibal Crown nears Bravado! See you soon, Vados!

Tickets are on sale for our NOVEMBER event now! Don’t miss out!

The Night Before Downfall

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our October live event DOWNFALL! This will be the first full game run under the new DR Live system and our first DR Live NATIONAL EVENT, led by Heather Halstead and Jonathan Loyd. 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 some RULES YOU SHOULD KNOW and few last minute reminders before the big event this weekend.

• Non Attending Tickets will be available until the end of the event this weekend!

  You can purchase extra XP for your characters and help out your friends at DR:TX at the same time! After this event, you’ll have to purchase back buy through the National website, so we appreciate if you want to support our chapter by purchasing a ticket this weekend.

• Glow Shroom Pins are on sale while supplies last! This amazing collectible pin was designed by the talented Poe Popek and can be yours for the low price of $10! You can place an order on the Downfall Tickets page and pick up one during check in. Don’t miss out!

• The Corpse Catalog has been updated! The Zombie Threat guide for DR Live has been updated as of Tuesday night. There are several more threats included and some interesting new threat skills to be found inside. While not every one of these threats will be seen in Bastion, there are several examples of the powerful undead foes you will face as we move towards the new edition next year. Spoiler Warning - If you want to be surprised by big scary things at DOWNFALL, be cautious with reading this one.

Our photos for this post were taken from previous DR:TX events by our talented Photo Team, including Lily-Jay Jones.

Here’s the schedule for Thursday night workshops! (*Fire if there is no county-wide Burn Ban)

Last Minute Logistics

Let’s cover a few reminders as you make your plan to arrive at Camp Bluebonnet Shores for our DOWNFALL event. You can follow along with our

Arriving on Site

Our site will open to the public at 3:00 pm! You can wait in the parking lot if you arrive before this point, but please do not come onto site until after this time. Our truck team and settings crew will be hard at work setting up the areas during this time, so you might see a few trucks and such around the site before this point.

The Girl Scouts only allow approved vehicles to drive onto the site, so cars need to stay in the Parking Lot! Please be courteous of other vehicles and don’t park your car directly behind other vehicles if possible. If parking reaches a premium, you can park alongside the road, completely off the pavement. Emergency vehicles will need a clear path to reach the camp in the case of an emergency, and we’d hate for your car to be damaged by a fire truck.

Med Sleep Cabin will fill up quickly!

The Oak Cabin is our chosen destination for medical sleep requests. This will be a low-combat zone through the weekend, and has climate controls, a fridge, and a separate bathroom. This location will likely fill up fast, but has several bunk beds available. Make sure you leave the upper beds empty of gear and props so other folks can choose to sleep in this cabin.

For our locals, if you don’t have a medical reason to sleep here, consider moving to another cabin if you can for this event to leave room for any travelers that would like to use the facility. If this cabin fills up, you can still get your sheet signed off on by Ops and marked for med sleep, but you’ll need to post a sign and an orange glow stick on the bunk you choose.

NPC Shifts will need to be adjusted - sorry!

The conversion to the new Juno Database impacted how we could collect folks preferred NPC shifts. and a large game means some of our estimations might be off. Instead of capping a particular shift, we had several folks that were able to sign up for shifts that have far too many folks, while leaving other important shifts mostly empty. We will be readjusting the NPC shifts during check in, so we appreciate your patience and flexibility to make sure we have good coverage for monster camp for the weekend.

We will strive to honor as many requests for a specific time slot as possible, but we may have to ask you to participate in a different NPC shift than you might have expected. Sorry for the confusion on our part!

We will not be Rewriting existing 3.0 Items

There is a bit of misinformation out there on a few private discords, but we will NOT be issuing new cards for existing 3.0 items. We are not transferring items from LIT inventories, nor are we planning on any conversions of existing blueprints or other item cards.

You can feel free to leave most of your item cards at home. While HERB, SCRAP, CURRENCY, and some BLUEPRINTS can be still be used during Downfall, all equipment cards issued during the event will either be made during the game or acquired as part of your initial loadout. You won’t be able to use 3.0 cards and we won’t convert them.

Your existing 3.0 blueprints CAN be used on a 1:1 basis as if they are DRL prints if they have a direct equivalent in the new system, but we won’t be reprinting your existing collection. You’ll simply ‘count as’ an existing DRL print for these common items, but you’ll need to reference the DRL rules via the post office or your mobile devices. We clarified this on our Frequently Asked Questions page. Sorry!

Game ON - Friday!

Game starts when you wake up on Friday morning! Our first NPC shifts will start promptly at 10 AM on Friday. We will ring the camp bell at the start of the NPC times as a reminder, so you’ll know that danger time is officially begun. If you’ve chosen this first shift for your NPC times, please try to be a bit early, as we’d love to start off the show with a big shamble. Remember, the secret to zombie game is zombies!

No npC shifts on Sunday, but the Post Office will be open

Our last day in Bastion will be reserved for any of your last minute crafting projects, role play, and clean up of the site. There will be no scheduled NPC shift for this morning, but we could have a few Face NPCs in play. Most importantly, the Post Office will be open for all of your econ crimes up until shortly before game off at Noon.

Big events in Bastion

Over the weekend, we will have several tentpole activities that are planned about once every four hours. Our goal is to provide ways to get involved in the story if you want, through dangerous Liquidation Runs, mysterious Morgue Dives, and even big roleplay events with powerful new NPCs. At the end of the weekend, we will be capping off the show with a massive SIEGE, where we will strive to really stress test the new DR Live system and give you a fight to remember.

Let’s cover some of the specifics of these big events over the weekend.

Morgue Dives at Downfall

During Downfall, we will be running some MORGUE DIVE content at the event to investigate the intricacies and mysteries of Bastion’s strange morgue system as it begins its inevitable collapse. We encourage people to check out the Necrology Station through-out the event for research tasks specific to this unique problem, even if you don’t have the ability to do the Master Education level of research (which is also welcome, of course!). 

This will NOT be the type of morgue diving as outlined in the Grave Diver’s plot kit.

While Bastion’s morgue IS under threat of collapse, it is not a corrupted Morgue space yet. While we are extremely excited to run this content in the future, we wanted to ease everyone into the new ways of interacting with the morgue and the Mortis that DR Live provides in the base book and A Grave Place.

A corrupted morgue, by definition, is one you may only access through extremely limited means, via death, or lancing casket.  These Necrology items tend to require very rare resources that can only be made by players, and we don’t want you to spend your first DR Live game ever frantically trying to come up with enough Necrology Resources to make required equipment for a Grave Dive. Save your cool new resources for a future event!

So if you’re curious, poke around and see what you can find. This is not the main plot point for the weekend, but ignoring problems with the morgue is never without its consequences. 

Glow Shrooms!

During the National event, you’ll be able to collect GLOW SHROOM SAMPLES from various activities like Liquidation Runs, from merchants and other NPCs, and even from certain monsters. At face value, these items are effectively just local plot cards.

They have no function outside what is listed on certain Zone of Mechanics, but these can be an excellent way for you to talk to your local game about introducing the Illusions of Civility plotkit to your game. Perhaps you can be the original emissary that introduces the strange blue mushrooms to your hometown, provided you can find a sample of your own. This is up to your local game runners, of course, but if you want to be involved in the greater plot of the weekend, finding glow shrooms is a great start.

Glow Shroom Sample - Local Plot Card

A curious blue mushroom.  Connected with the National Plotkit “Illusions of Civility”.  Handle with care!

Glow Shrooms can also be traded for currency, blueprints, equipment, and even NATIONAL CURRENCY like the brand new Wells Society Membership Card, the ARK Society Note, or the Ottoman’s ABC currency. If you manage to find some spore samples, you can even follow a custom DR:TX research tree to understand more about how the mushrooms function, what risk they might pose, or how they could impact the environment. If you’d like to know more, make sure you seek out the Wells Society representative on Friday night at the Edison Solarium!

Wells Society Membership Cards

The new Wells Society Membership Card is our collectible currency for this event. This card will not be available outside of this event, so it stands to become a valuable item to add to your stash. Every player that attends Downfall will receive one of these new currency during check-in.

What’s more, is that each “favor” can be signed as a mark of debt. If you sign the Wells Society Card with your name, you agree to a powerful blood debt that can be called against you at a later date by anyone with that card. This debt may not be one you are prepared to repay, especially if the card you sign gets traded away to an enemy. Make sure you pay attention if you receive a signed Wells Society Card!

This also means you could find a very rare Wells Society Card signed by General Mustang themselves! What important characters or NPCs can you get to owe you a debt during DOWNFALL?

The Exclusion Zone

One of the main defenses of the Fallow Hope citadel known as Bastion is the lethal zone of radiation that surrounds the city. Inside this Exclusion Zone, a lethal mixture of radioactive isotopes have rendered the area around Bastion unlivable. The radiation is still spilling out into the surrounding area and any exposure could have lethal consequences, regardless of protections.

Throughout the weekend, you might be tasked to enter this deadly area in pursuit of Glow Shrooms, enemies, or even fame and glory, in an recurring event called a LIQUIDATION RUN. This area will be clearly marked with signs, green glow sticks, and a prominent Zone of Mechanics. It will be near impossible to accidentally enter this zone, so any journey into the Exclusion Zone will happen because of your own decisions.

While you are in this Zone of Mechanics, a few things should be considered:

HOT ZONE

Any character in this marked zone takes one (1) Radiation Damage every one (1) minute.  Rad damage causes an equal degree of lost Mind as it does lost Body. If Armor would prevent the loss of Body, Mind is not lost.

Radiation exposure literally burns you in the wasteland. Every minute, you’ll take Radiation Damage (p. 78, Player’s Guide) while in the zone. For most short incursions, this won’t be enough to kill you, provided you have some measure of Armor on. If you don’t have Armor, every point of damage will also drain a point of Mind at the same time. Staying 10 minutes in the Exclusion Zone will result in 10 body and 10 mind damage. Ouch!

There are even some more lethal HOT ZONES that increase the timer to 30 seconds. Be careful where you stand in the Exclusion Zone!

ACUTE RADIATION POISONING

Any character in The Exclusion Zone contracts Radiation Rot (Stage 1) after 5 minutes (p. 70, Guide’s Guide), or increases their current level of the disease by one Stage. Mutants increase this timer to 6 minutes. Retrogrades cannot contract this disease, but other Mutants may spend 1 Resolve to avoid contracting a new instance of the disease with their Lineage advantage (p. 26, Player’s Guide).

If the active radiation wasn’t enough to be dangerous, most Strains will begin to suffer complete cellular degeneration in a matter of minutes within the Exclusion Zone. As your body’s cells begin to die, your skin literally sloughs off as you are slowly LIQUIDATED. After only 5 minutes in the Exclusion Zone, you’ll contract the Rad Rot disease. If you are a Retrograde, nothing happens — they are used to surviving in radioactive zones, but other Mutants will need to spend Resolve to stop the disease from occurring. Remember, Mutants also extend the timer for environment effects like this, so finding a few Remnant or Retrograde buddies will be important to surviving a Liquidation Run.

Each time this timer ticks down, it advances your disease by one step. Stage 1 Rad Rot isn’t too deadly, but staying 10 minutes in the Exclusion Zone will start to have serious mechanical effects for the unprotected. Make sure you finish your Liquidation Run before 10 minutes expires!

ORGAN FAILURE

If you remain in the Exclusion Zone for a total of 15 minutes or longer, you have reached a lethal dose of radiation.  Mutants increase this timer to 16 minutes. This timer starts when you first enter the Exclusion Zone. 

Within the next hour of lethal exposure (two for Mutants), your body will cease to function at a cellular level and you will die and lose an Infection.  This Infection loss cannot be prevented or avoided.

The final stage of radiation poisoning becomes DEADLY, even to Retrogrades. Note, this requires that you remain inside the Exclusion Zone for 15 minutes, taking 15 damage, three levels of Rad Rot, and generally overextending your bodies’ ability to recover. At this point, even Mutants will begin to succumb to the intense levels of radiation in the Exclusion Zone. If this timer is reached, you’ll have an hour or so to say goodbye to your friends before dying a brutal and painful death.

What’s more is that the Rad Rot you picked up while staying in the Exclusion Zone that long is a disease that isn’t cured by dying, so you’ll likely come back from the Mortis Amaranthine with some complications. This means that most folks will want to be in and out of the Exclusion Zone before they reach the 15 minute mark (or even the 5 minute mark!). If you don’t get out in time, you’ll be one of the folks that gets to experience a death scene inside Bastion’s radioactive morgue.

While the Exclusion Zone can be deadly, the rewards for risking the Zone can be great. These runs will have many opportunities to collect Glow Shrooms, which can be traded at the Post Office for currency, blueprints and gear. If your team can be coordinated, work together, and solve puzzles quickly, you can get in and out before anyone needs to call a doctor. If you are slowed down, can’t solve the problems inside the Zone, or run into pesky undead threats while inside, you may find that the zed are not the only danger in Bastion.

The Siege of Bastion

We are thrilled to invite everyone to join us in a prolonged SIEGE EVENT Saturday night from 10pm to 12am. Inspired by the epic 4 hour siege that was run in New Jersey at the end of 2.0, and the siege we ran in May of 2023 in Bravado, this is a second iteration of our local flavor of this fun and intense style of combat and role play. 

We wanted to run this style of event again to really experience the way Impact Skills affect how we do combat in DR: Live. A long, grinder style fight requires survivors to fight in waves - allowing some to rest up and regain the uses of their Impact Skills to then relieve their comrades and rejoin the fray. Remember, you can’t refresh your Impact skills unless you spend 20 minutes using NO Impact skills - including default weapon skills.

From 10pm - 12am Saturday night, all content will be focused around The Siege of the Hall of Inventions. There will be an in game rationale for massive waves of zombies crashing against the doors of the Hall of invention, but for now, just know that the conceit is that being outside the barricaded Hall is a death sentence.

The siege is designed to push your characters to the limit, and dig into those amazing moments of triumph, heartache, victory, and horror that can occur when you are out of options.

This fight will be long, hard, and completely exhilarating.

But what happens during a Siege?

What if I’m not a combat character? Is it just endless fighting? No! We have designed different events that will happen periodically throughout the encounter, that require more than just Impact skills to solve. A huge assault has need for many roles, including for non-com LCs. Equipment repair, healing, kinetic events, building reinforcement, and there will even be small AWAY TEAM missions running during the conflict for things like supply runs, distractions, stealth missions, and rescue operations. There will be plenty to do while the phalanx holds the door.

What if I DIE early in the Siege?

That’s okay! We have a plan for that too. You have the option of having your scene run in a secondary blackbox morgue location close by, with the sounds of violence in the background, only to stumble back and rejoin the fight once you’ve clawed our way back from death, or, you can opt for what we call “Death Relapsing”- This is when you come back immediately into play, with no memory of your death or Mortis encounter, only to “relapse” into death at a later time (provided by a Storyteller), falling over dead again in front of your friends and proceeding to your death scene as normal once the Siege is over. 

What about the Post Office?

Expect to have limited or no access to the PO from 10pm - 12pm. During the Evacuation Drill, the soldiers of Bastion will move all civilians into safe shelters as the zombie wave arrives. You should assume you will have no access to farming, crafting, or econ during this time, just in case. Plan ahead, and make sure you have all the supplies you will need to survive.

Get those brews brewed, meals cooked and herbs farmed before 10pm Saturday night!

Decompression Space and Opting Out

Events like this are extremely loud, chaotic, and intense. It is very easy to get overwhelmed and overstimulated. We will have a quiet out of game space that players can retreat to at any time if the chaos becomes overwhelming. This is strictly for out of character decompression. There is no role play in this space. 

You may also Opt Out of the Siege at any time, simply by leaving and remaining out of character until the siege is over. You may leave to use the bathrooms, which are located outside the Hall of Inventions, at any time. Simply use the Out of Game symbol and exit the building to the bathhouse.

Opportunity for Extra NPC time

We will also be taking a LIMITED number of NPC volunteers for additional time during the assault. Our goal is to fill out a shift to give NPCs time to breathe while maintaining a constant pressure. We do not want to have most of the town on the NPC side of the conflict, so these extra hours will be limited, but if you’d rather weather the siege as a Zombie we have you covered!

Quick Events

During the final Siege, not every danger will be a NPC monster (though most will be, to be fair). There will also be various environmental changes that you will need to survive. These are brief environmental complications that have a physical cue that must be performed to avoid a consequence. These are not affects to use Impact Skills to avoid or balance!

Each of these effects is an AREA OF EFFECT attack called by a Guide or NPC. If you are within 10 feet of that call, you will be in the impact zone. The Guide will make the call and the short countdown, and you’ll need to react quickly. If you make a good faith attempt to respond to the call, you’ll avoid the negative effects. The goal isn’t to create a demanding physical task to do, but rather a way to provide challenges that aren’t delivered via a boffer. Make an attempt, and you’ll evade the worst of the Quick Events.

Here’s some examples of what to expect:

Shockwave! HIT THE DECK!

A Guide will call “AREA OF EFFECT: Hit the Deck, 3, 2, 1!”.  If you are within the AOE range, and do not obviously react and take cover, sit down, and/or fall to the ground (if able), you suffer an unavoidable “Failed Reaction: Stun, 5 seconds!” as you are disoriented by the collision of a shock wave.

Watch Out! FALLING DEBRIS!

A Guide will call “AREA OF EFFECT: Falling Debris, 3, 2, 1!”.   If you are within the AOE range, and do not obviously dive for cover, move from your current position, or take obvious attempts to dodge the debris, you suffer an unavoidable “Failed Reaction: Nail, 1 Minute!”. You may not move from your place for 1 minute following this damage, as you are pinned by falling debris.

The Undead Wail! PSIONIC RUPTURE!

A Guide will call “AREA OF EFFECT: Psionic Rupture, 3, 2, 1!”.  If you are within the AOE range, and do not obviously cover your ears, muffle your sense of hearing, or make some effort to meditate or mentally protect yourself, you suffer an unavoidable “Failed Reaction: Agony, 10 seconds!” as the haunting screams of the Mortis Amaranthine overcome your senses.

These quick events will be clearly outlined on a Zone of Mechanics prominently posted during the Siege, just in case.

Rules you should know

Yesterday, the updated Zombie Threat guide was released to the public, and so in our DR Texas tradition before each event, let’s talk about some Rules You Should Know.

This section could be pretty immense, since we are playing a new edition. I’ve written a bit about “DR Live: Where to Start” in a previous blog post, but for today let’s stay focused on THREAT SKILLS you might encounter while in Bastion.

Aberrant Suffering

Call “Aberrant Suffering”. Suffering is a mechanical effect that prevents an effected Target from using Impact Skills for 10 seconds. This specific skill only effects Aberrants and requires a Brawling strike.

The first skill on the list is an example of some of the dangers of taking Aberrant skills on your character. Once you’ve taken your first psionic skill, you’ll be vulnerable to attacks like this. Note that Aberrant Suffering is a Brawling Strike, so it can be AVOIDED, but if you are out of Impact Skills you won’t be using any other skills for 10 seconds. This will generally be a set up into a much more dangerous attack similar to the Blinding skill, because you won’t be able to use handy skills like Mental Endurance, Avoid, or Balance if the blow is landed.

This is definitely a threat skill to watch out for, especially if you are Aberrant!

abduct

Allows the user to drag a non-willing target, similar to the Drag Handle skill.

Certain zombies aren’t content to devour their prey where they lay. Some of the more agile and dangerous zombies will drag your corpse away to be eaten somewhere else, far from the helpful medics and far from rescue. This threat skill allows the zombie to grab and take you away as if it was the Drag Handle skill. This will break Nail effects and let them take 10 steps away. While they are dragging you away, they can’t be targeted or impacted by other skills. This will be a deadly combination with Cannibalism, as seen below. Scary!

betrayal

An Aberrant attack that causes the Target to attack, without holding back, the next Target the user of this skill gestures to. This skill can only be used in the Wasteland and is resisted with Mind Resist. Use of this skill can lead to increased CvC tensions and role-play after the fact, but does not count as CvC directly as neither character Target has agency in the moment. This skill lasts for 10 minutes or until Target enters Bleed Out.

This powerful skill will only be seen on a few select zombies, but it’s sure to make an impact. When Betrayal is used, the targets will turn on their allies and fight until they enter Bleed Out or 10 minutes has passed. The only counter to this ability is Mental Endurance, but this threat skill lets you have a bit of CVC as a treat. Remember, most of the DR: Texas site is considered Wasteland, so this can be a dangerous attack basically anywhere on the campsite.

Cannibalism

When a target enters Bleed Out, zombies call “GNAW” and role-play consuming the target. Upon 10 “GNAW” calls, the zombie calls “Killing Blow,” refreshing all Body and Impact Skills and moving on to the next target. Multiple zombies can consume one target, but the count is not accelerated.

The staple threat of zombies in DR Live is that every single zombie, from the lowliest of shamblers to the scariest of Maulers is functionally capable of killing you quickly. If a zombie successfully completes this call ten (10) times while gnawing and ripping at your bleeding body, not only will they fully heal and reset their skills, but it will also count as a Killing Blow. The NPC will call the Killing Blow after the last call, just in case you lose track of how close you are to death.

The main way you will hear and interact with Cannibalism is simply a loud and obvious roleplay from the zombies as they tear your friend to shreds, not a slow and steady count like in 3.0.

Important Note - There is no “gnaw 1, gnaw 2, gnaw 3..” style count any longer in DR Live, simply multiple calls of “GNAW!”.

This change is an active and intentional design choice by the author to break up a bit of the ‘meta’ around cannibalism in previous editions. There is no audible timer while you are being devoured, nor do you have the ability to gauge exactly how much longer you have until your friend is dead. If you weren’t nearby when that person hit the ground, you’ll need to act fast and make the decision to charge into the fray with a use of Rescue or an emergency brew!

This new Cannibalize threat skill will probably be the number one cause of death in DR Live, so if you hear zombies gnawing on a corpse you better hurry!

Corpse Bond

Mechanics that Target both Lineage: Full Dead and Zombies. Commonly used in Area of Effect calls made by Zombies.

Corpse Bond is a keyword you might have missed on the last few pages of the Player’s Guide. For Full Dead, you’ll want to pay attention. In general, this is a way for beneficial zombie skills to only affect the other undead. For Full Dead, it’s both a blessing and a curse. While you will benefit from powerful buffs and you will be completely immune to some Corpse Bond effects, you’ll also be vulnerable to a number of attacks that use this keyword. If you hear Corpse Bond and you aren’t a Full Dead or a zombie, then these skills usually have no effect.

Certain raiders even use TAINTED BOND, which works similarly for the Tainted Strain.

Dead Switch Detonation

Upon hitting Bleed Out, call “Area of Effect 20 Radiation Damage”.

A signature ability of dangerous bloated zombies known as Mass Cadavers, the Dead Switch Detonation will likely end up with several of your friends also bleeding to death after the zombie enters Bleed Out. This can be especially dangerous combined with Rise Again, as the zombie will be able to stand up and start feeding on the helpless victim the radioactive explosion just incapacitated.

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!

Rise Again

10 seconds after being dropped to 0 health, or with both legs Mangled, a zombie regains full Body, all Impact Skills (except Rise Again), and is immune to damage for 5 seconds. A verbal growl/moan signals reanimation. If a “Double Tap” skill is used, Rise Again is negated

Robust rise Again (x)

A zombie with a Robust Rise Again requires multiple uses (X) of Double Tap to be used in order to have Rise Again negated. All uses of Double Tap must be on the same instance of using Rise Again, and if the zombie returns to its feet, the counter resets. On each use of Double Tap less than X, the zombie NPC calls “Resisted” and groans to signify that more than one Double Tap is required to keep the zombie down.

Almost all zombies have the ability to stand back up after being defeated, the undead corpse lifelessly rising again to devour the living. The Rise Again ability is a powerful ability you will see throughout any DR Live event, and this skill lets the zombie stand back up with full health, all of their skills, and a 5 second damage immunity. This gives the zombie time to stand back up and get back into the fray without being simply beaten down before they regenerate.

The only way to stop this is to use Double Tap in the 10 seconds before they reanimate. Certain powerful threats like Flesh Tanks and worse will even have Robust Rise Again, and this version of Rise Again will require multiple uses in that 10 second window to keep them down. Make sure you invest some XP in Double Tap!

Swarm Break Door

Zombies can break locked doors. After a 30-count or 5 zombies strike the door, they call “BREAK DOOR,” ignoring standard break restrictions.

The last skill we will cover today is a new one for DR Live. Most zombies are now capable of defeating their most hated foe of 3.0 — the humble locked door. While they may not be capable of turning the door handle, they are capable of bodily smashing the door to smithereens and finding the juicy targets inside. Every horde is capable of breaking past even locked doors, provided they have time to break through your defenses. This means that the smaller cabins might not be as safe as they once were to roaming shamblers, so make sure you have an escape plan!

Wrap Up

Just a few short hours until DOWNFALL!

As we approach our first ever DR Live event, I can’t wait to share some of the cool stories, terrifying monsters, and deadly scenarios we have planned. From debates over faith, to daring ventures into no man’s land, to overwhelming hordes of dead, DOWNFALL is sure to thrill. We can’t wait to have you participate in this historic event, and your attendance and feedback will be crucial as we develop this new system for next year.

Remember, this is literally everyone’s first game. We will all be learning a new system at the same time. We will make mistakes, we will get the rules wrong, and so will you. While many of the new systems are intuitive and we’ve planned a number of workshops for Thursday, it’s still a lot of information to absorb at once. We must treat every moment of this event as everyone’s first game ever, and treat our fellow players as if they were tender-horns experiencing the world for the first time. For some of our players, it literally will be!

Please show your fellow players and our staff grace and forgiveness. For this event, we will especially ask for your grace, patience, and forgiveness as we experience the ups and downs of our first event ever under DR Live rules. Please be kind to your fellow players and especially our volunteer staff, as we all have the same goal — telling an amazing story in the zombie apocalypse. We will learn and explore this new system together.

See you in Bastion!

Downfall Update

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our October live event DOWNFALL! This will be the first full game run under the new DR Live system and our first DR Live NATIONAL EVENT, led by Heather Halstead and Jonathan Loyd. 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 some updates to our event that have developed since we began ticket sales in July.

Don't miss out on our limited run Glow Shroom pins, designed by the talented Poe Popek!

As a reminder, we’ve covered a LOT on Downfall so far:

• Downfall Introduction - You can read about our content warnings and expectations for the National Event.

• Character Creation Guide - We’ve provided a step-by-step guide for creating your first character on the DR Live Database, Juno.

• DR Live: Where to Start - This is a handy guide on how to tackle reading the rules for the new system. TL;DR, there’s a LOT of books already for this edition, but the best place to begin is the Player’s Guide.

• Frequently Asked Questions - We’ve made a few updates over the past few weeks and we’ve tried to anticipate most of your questions. We’ve updated this as of October 1st!

• What’s Different in Texas? - If you are traveling to a Texas event for the first time, I’ve readied a guide for what to expect from our local game culture. Check it out!

TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW FOR DOWNFALL! GET YOUR FIRST LOOK AT THE NEW DR LIVE SYSTEM IN PERSON!

Our photos for this post were taken from previous DR:TX events by our talented Photo Team, including Lily-Jay Jones and our marketing guru Kiara Everlen.

Changes for the National Event

It’s hard to believe that Downfall is happening next week. We are only a few short days from our first DR Live National Event and I’m so excited. We launched our ticket sales way back in July and there’s been a lot changes since then!

We’ve had multiple books revealed by that Network Support team, we’ve had a Blueprint Unboxing, multiple Discord hangouts, and we’ve kept a chat running in our DR:TX Discord over the past few months. That’s a lot of places to make some clarifications and to decide on some changes as we literally get new information from our national team. Players have asked some awesome questions, and we want to make sure y’all are caught up with some updates for Downfall.

Let’s cover some of the big changes we’ve made to the Downfall event since we began:

You can play your Alts!

After hearing the feedback from our players, we’ve clarified that you can absolutely bring your alts to play at Downfall. There was some confusing language in our FAQ, but it’s been corrected.

You can absolutely bring your favorite LC! While you can play alts at Downfall, we recommend focusing on just one character. You’ll be learning the new rules in person, and we believe it’ll be easier to adapt to the changes with just one character at first. But, if you want to have fun as your alternate character, go for it!

However, you will only receive one set of Gear Loadouts (the starting items, plus your two choices of role items) in total, regardless of how many alts you check in. You can split these items between characters if you choose.

Bring Your Blueprints!

During our Blueprint Unboxing, we showed off all of the prints we will be using during the DOWNFALL event. I’ve collated the lists at our Downfall Blueprint Checklist, but we probably won’t have access to Blueprints on our Juno server until after our event. With that in mind, we’ve revisited our Blueprint item suggestions from the FAQ that once recommended leaving the blueprints at home.

With the lack of easy Blueprint access in the DR Live database, we have made the decision to honor blueprints that have a 1:1 equivalent in DR Live. You can bring your current 3.0 blueprints and they will ‘count as’ the equivalent blueprint in DRL for purposes of copying or crafting.

Keep in mind there are many brand-new blueprints for DRL that will need to be acquired through other means, such as a Zone of Mechanics or interactions with a NPC. We won’t be doing any conversion of existing blueprints for this event.  You’ll need to either reference the DRL material needs for the print from a digital source at game, or check at the Post Office.

Here’s what is in your survivor Packs:

We were waiting on the final blueprint release to confirm, but here’s what to expect from your starting gear packages. As we’ve mentioned before, we won’t be doing conversions of existing 3.0 items into DR Live versions for this event. As such, we want to make sure that we help folks test out a new system at mostly the same level of resources, so we’ve elected to provide some starting gear.

This equipment is complete FREE as part of your ticket. No mind, no scrap needed. You can read the complete list on our Frequently Asked Questions page. Here’s what you get:

• Starting gear loadout

  • 1 weapon

  • 1 suit of armor

  • 1 gizmo

  • 1 Lineage specific healing Injection

  • TWO Choices of additional Loadout Options:

    • Artisan, Cook, Criminal, Melee, Gunslinger, Shield, Criminal, Priest

• Survival Pack

  • If you bought your ticket prior to August 30th, you also receive:

    • DR:TX Currency Collection:

      • 1 Brass, 1 Lead, 1 Tin, 1 Amaranthite, and 1 Shard of the Red Crown

    • 1 Lineage Specific Recovery Brew

    • 1 Lineage Specific Healing Injection

    • 1 random Scrap or Herb

You should get a survey in your email asking about your preferred items for the loadout. Check your junk box just in case! If you have no preferences, you can choose “RANDOM”, and we will provide you with one of the brand new items available for DR Live in that slot.

Honeysuckle Huts will be used as “NPC Land”

Our Storytellers have had some awesome ideas for mods and such, and we want to continue to have a space that allows us some ‘away’ mods during the game. While we have previously suggested that camping will be allowed in the Honeysuckle Huts area (previously known as Zuni), we will be keeping this area as a limited access space for Downfall. We have plenty of other climate controlled cabins and open air cabins across the Bluebonnet Shores site, so we will have plenty of camping places for every attendee.

Starting XP is now available on the Juno Database

When we held our Character Creation Discord event last week, we shared that the additional 50 XP for character creation would not be functional on the Juno Database. As previously mentioned by Michael Pucci, all existing 3.0 characters will receive 50 additional ‘creation XP’ at the launch of DR live in 2025. This will help smooth out the start for most folks and remove some disparities for new players that start shortly before the transition. However, the Juno database didn’t really have a way to make this happen. At first.

Thanks to the hard work of Gloria, our network support genius, the Juno database has now been updated to reflect this starting XP! If you already have created your experimental slot character, you should be able to see the additional XP now. Plus, if you haven’t checked in yet, the time frame to convert your character to the new database is now around 12 hours. Amazing!

We’ve updated our Caps list for DR Live!

We’ve posted the Wishlist for our Downfall event via Facebook and Discord, but you can still earn some local Texas CAPs for the big event. We’ve updated our list of rewards to also include some DR Live specific items, so check it out on our Community Action Points Page.

Check out the downfall Wishlist!

Community Action Points is a system of thank-you and rewards that exists to give to players that work to make the community of Dystopia Rising a better place. These points can be turned in for things that will enhance their in-game experience. This program aims to offer a way to show our DR:TX team appreciates people who want to make things better for those around them and want to reward them with the thing that we all came here for: fun!

Character Creation is due on October 5th

We’ve opened up the Juno database for you to start building your characters for the event last week. You still have until this weekend to finish up your builds to make sure we have a printed character sheet ready for you on site. You have until October 5th at midnight to finish up this task.

Any character sheets completed after this point will instead be printed on site during registration.

Non attending Tickets will Be available end of downfall

If you can’t make the trip down to Texas, you can still access the extra XP for your characters for DR Live later this year. We are leaving up the ticket page for non-attending tickets all the way until the end of our event. You’ll be able to purchase your ticket at the door as well in person, as usual.

Based on our current license agreement, we won’t be able to sell Back Buy XP for Downfall once the event is finished, so if you’d like to support our local game and get some tasty XP we’ve love to have you support our chapter. Our ticket sales help us pay our teams, invest in cool props for DR Live, and manage growing site fees. After this event, your money will instead be spent through the National website to purchase Back Buy XP.

Here's a sneak peek of some of the in-character events to watch out for during the Downfall event!

Wrap Up

That’s it for today Vados! Short and sweet!

Next week I’ll cover the few unique rules we will have for this event, including the dangerous Exclusion Zone, how you can unlock some new blueprints with the RRC Invention Exchange, and other Zones of Mechanics to watch out for during the Downfall event.

Will you side with the Wells Society or the Temple Evolution? Will you have an opinion to share with the infamous General Mustang? Will you survive the strange new undead and deadly raiders in the world of DR Live? Let’s find out together next week!

Downfall tickets are on sale now, so don’t miss your chance to make history!

Life in Bastion

Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our October live event DOWNFALL! This will be the first full game run under the new DR Live system and our first DR Live NATIONAL EVENT, led by Heather Halstead and Jonathan Loyd. 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 some more of the lore of Bastion and the Fallow Hope that call it home!

• wE WILL BE HOSTING OUR Last dYSTOPIA rISING lIVE HANGOUT before downfall ON FRIDAY, 9/27! CHECK OUT OUR DISCORD FOR MORE INFO!

  • Bravado After Party Discord

I’ve already made quite a few blog posts on the topic of Downfall, so let’s compile some handy links all in one place:

• Downfall Introduction - You can read about our content warnings and expectations for the National Event.

• DR Live: Where to Start - This is a handy guide on how to tackle reading the rules for the new system. TL;DR, there’s a LOT of books already for this edition, but the best place to begin is the Player’s Guide.

• The Story of Downfall - This is a detailed look at the STORY of the event, including an introduction to the various factions and personalities you’ll meet while in Bastion.

• Frequently Asked Questions - We’ve made a few updates over the past few weeks and we’ve tried to anticipate most of your questions.

• What’s Different in Texas? - If you are traveling to a Texas event for the first time, I’ve readied a guide for what to expect from our local game culture. Check it out!

TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW FOR DOWNFALL! GET YOUR FIRST LOOK AT THE NEW DR LIVE SYSTEM IN PERSON!

Our photos for this post were taken from previous DR:TX events by our talented Photo Team, including Max Pohlmeier, Lauren Guzaldo, Sidney Betzina, Maddeax Cole, and Jason Dumas.

We’ve covered a lot about Bastion on our Downfall site, but let’s cover a bit more about the day-to-day life inside the Fallow Hope community.

The Mustang Loyalists

From the high walls of STAR CITY to the north, the Mustang Loyalists have been a power in the San Saba for decades.  Following the leadership of the one and only GENERAL MUSTANG, the Loyalists have spread the faith of the Fallow Hope across the region.  Uncovering weapons and munitions from oldcestor facilities around the Lone Star has given them firepower that is virtually unmatched in the region, but they’ve largely kept to themselves.  Multiple wars throughout the region have tested their resolve and left the forces of Star City mostly in disarray, but the Loyalists have kept true to their faith and unwavering dedication to their demagogue leader.

After the crash of Waking, the honorable General Mustang, last of their name, heir to Star City and Fort Worthless, conqueror of the Wastes, Champion of the Lord Commander, and First General and Prophet of the Sky Temple, has offered their loyal soldiers of the MUSTANG LOYALIST ARMY to assist in the divinely appointed annexation of the settlement that formerly housed the powerful elite of the region.

Mustang has always had their eyes set on Bravado since before the Hiway War, and reclaiming the fortress-city in the name of faith has only reinvigorated their cause.  The tenets of the Fallow Hope warn against the dangers of hellfire, the deadly radiation that led to the fall of mankind when the zombie virus first emerged.  For Mustang, conquering the city of Waking meant conquering the ancient foe of their faith, and they are finally able to ready plans put into motion before the fall of the Trade Union so many years ago.

Under the day-to-day command of General Mustang and Minister-General Marcus Remington, the Loyalists have become a powerful faction within the region and have now consolidated their might within their new home of Bastion.  They have been hard at work reinforcing the city, restoring what areas they can for homes and housing, and solidifying the defenses.

The Infamous General Mustang

General Mustang has been a leader of legend in the Lone Star.  Responsible for the success of Star City as a settlement in the northern region, leader of the faithful from the Sky Temple, and general tactical genius, they have been involved in the affairs of Bravado for over a decade.  General Mustang had a big part to play in the years before the Hiway War, their forces of Law Men standing as an extension of Star City’s power.  However, much of this fame and infamy is bound more to a name than a single person.

The old saying of Star City that ‘there must always be a General Mustang’ holds true even to this day.  More a title than an actual true name, the figure of Mustang was the savior that united the people together in safety behind the thick walls of Star City.  Thought to be a vessel for the Lord Commander, the General is a symbol of faith for the Loyalists, a reminder of their holy cause, and a reason to keep fighting.  Because of Mustang, their families are safe, they have food, water, and shelter, and they have a sense of safety that is hard to find in the apocalypse.

The current General Mustang has served in the role since shortly after the Hiway War. She was a commander in Star City, and a rising star and pupil of the former leader when she served over the congregation.  When the former General Mustang was defeated at the Washbourne Plantation, their forces disintegrated by the detonated nuclear device that ended the Loyalist attack, she was quick to step into their place as the supreme leader of the Fallow Hope, taking on the new mantle of the Lord Commander’s Avatar.   

While she fought alongside the former General against Hiway Robb and even the people of Bravo, her focus was generally on the smooth operation of the faction and home base while they were away at the front lines.  She is a clerk and organizer at heart, skilled at administration and the actual day-to-day talents of a settlement leader.  In the wasteland, every settlement tends to coalesce around individuals like Mustang for simple survival and she was no different.  She has a way of making sure every person in her command works together towards a common goal, and she inspires those around her to loyal service and faith.

The new Mustang’s faith is a beacon of piety and simple confidence.  She believes in the mission of the faith, the structure that order brings out of chaos, and the need to serve others in a dangerous wasteland.   She radiates a calm confidence, and works to keep her soldiers disciplined and loyal.  While she doesn’t think of herself as a priest, her firm insistence on sharing the mantle of leadership with her command earns her more respect by the day.  She is fiercely loyal to her cause, and sees the Wells Society Initiative as a means to carry the example of their leadership to more settlements in the Wastes.

Mustang knows that the former holder of the title had a bit of a reputation to overcome.  Despite their actions, none can doubt the success that it created for Star City and their people.  As one of the only settlements in the area to successfully erect and maintain thick walls to protect themselves, it is one of the few cities in the Lone Star that stands firm no matter what threat emerges from the wasteland.  With Star City firmly in hand, the new Mustang has turned her eyes to the south, to Bravado and the San Saba region.  The Vados stood up against the Chairman and the San Saba Board in a way that she was never capable of, and she knows and respects the power of a town to stand united in the face of adversity.  With that goal in mind, she has moved the center of her command to the Bastion of New Dawn, to oversee the tenuous relationships with the power that was capable of toppling a giant like Arthur Lovelace.

As the vessel of faith and war for the Fallow Hope of the Mustang Loyalists, she is held on a pedestal of awe and respect by the common soldiers and corpsmen of the faction.  Mustang is a powerfully charismatic leader and incredibly confident in her faith, her people, and the role she plays for the settlement of Star City and Bastion.  While the recent war has decimated many of the more powerful enemies of her faction, under her leadership the faction has claimed a new fortress in the fallen sky-city of Bastion and grown even stronger.

travel to Bastion

Bastion is now one of the safest towns in the Lone Star, thanks to a commanding military presence and the natural defenses of the wreck. The city deals with a sizable zed presence that emerges from inside the city, but the Exclusion Zone keeps the most dangerous threats at bay on the ground.  The Loyalists are still focused on reclaiming the city block by block and dealing with the dangerous underbelly of the crashed vessel.  Every citizen in Bastion is expected to do their part, conscripted into service of the Mustang Loyalists.  Every day, residents and Loyalists alike patrol their home, man the walls and main approaches to the city, and work to continue the restoration of the crashed wreck.

Most trade arrives in Bastion via airship, evading the worst of the Exclusion Zone but only if expected by the Loyalists.  Deadly scrap cannons will make short work of most unannounced airships, but should any be durable enough to survive a volley from the walls of Bastion, the Spindrift Navy is quick to board and disable the vessel before they can reach the city.  The airspace is heavily patrolled, and the height of the wreck means it's nigh impossible to approach undetected.  Most of the necessary ammunition, supplies, and gear is shipped to Bastion via skyship, and many Cloudskippers have made pacts with the Loyalists for safe passage in exchange for ferrying shipments into the city from abroad.

Travel by rail to Bastion is possible, but much more dangerous.  Some supply shipments are made via railcar, as the RRC had built a functional extension of the Oxline that ran towards Bravado before the War of Antlers overtook the region.  A single shoddy rail line runs up a makeshift ramp into the wreck on the east side of the city, but the actual Ox would never survive the ascent due to its massive size.  Instead, smaller locomotives or hand carts must make the journey through the Exclusion Zone, and few survivors outside of Retrogrades survive the journey without planning and protection.  Most rail shipments are unmanned for the ascent, instead ferrying the personnel by airship into Bastion.

Part of the wrecked ship that makes up the raised hull of Bastion is underwater in Lake Bravo, but most of the submerged sections lie fully in the radioactive Exclusion Zone to the south of the city.  The waters are intensely dangerous, swarming with irradiated critters that make any real landing challenging.   There are no real docks or other permanent structures to aid river traffic, but smugglers and dissidents will occasionally build a makeshift pier for an attempt to enter the city by stealth.  Due to the challenge of surviving the radiation while arriving by water, the Loyalists have simply sealed off the avenues and roads that led to the edge of the Magnolia District, and watch for any new faces that haven’t been checked in for processing.

While the city operates in a constant state of alert and military readiness, there are still moments of peace for the residents of Bastion.  General Mustang has done what they can to help provide entertainment and improve the morale of their citizens, even opening up a few non-Fallow Hope bars in the Magnolia District to provide some managed privacy.  The Loyalists are used to dealing with citizens that don’t share their faith, as Star City is equally as diverse as Bastion hopes to become.  Some neighborhoods of survivors have banded together in the less hospitable sectors of the Magnolia District, building a new life for themselves a bit further away from the Fallow Hope barracks.  Though it might be a bit more dangerous, some are willing to risk the distance for a sense of independence.

Life in Bastion

As more citizens flock to the supposed safety offered by the Loyalists, new arrivals are assessed and cataloged for useful skills and equipment before being assigned a bunk and work shift.  Fallow Hope Quartermasters and logistics experts take careful notes of new arrivals, particularly if they have useful skills and knowledge to aid the town.  Skilled crafters and engineers are highly valued among new arrivals, as Mustang knows and appreciates the value of skilled labor for the reconstruction.  Some have been authorized to open their open shops and services, provided their mandatory work shifts in service to Bastion are completed.  Any arrivals that wish to make a home in Bastion must swear fealty to General Mustang, but very few seek to challenge the new status quo of the community.  One set of laws is as good as another for most residents, and as long as they do their part, the Fallow Hope are content to let them be.

Food and clean water is strictly rationed in the city, as most of the farmland nearby is either irradiated, too small, or too distant to serve the needs of the growing community.  Mustang hopes that as enough of the glow shrooms mature, the impacted lands around the city can once more be made arable enough to support the city on its own.  It will likely be several months before the first farms can open, but the Wells Society seems confident enough in their timetables.  The Loyalists’ strict logistics has kept the citizenry functionally fed and alive, though many of the Elitariats that once enjoyed finer dining and cuisine while under Board rule still bemoan the spartan accomodations.  Rations and carefully portioned protein and bread allotments aren’t the best of fare, but it beats having to scavenge or hunt for a meal in the wasteland.

Every morning is met with a trumpet fanfare, the drills and preparation of the Loyalists never stopping.  After physical training in the morning, various work shifts begin around the city, hauling rubble, tearing down dangerous structures, and continuing the repairs to the city.  Spare rubble and scrap is hauled to the edges of the Magnolia District to reinforce the new walls that were erected by the Loyalists, or to serve as grapeshot for the scrap cannons.  Heavily armed patrols are ready to respond to zombie or raider incursion, though the Loyalists close and weld shut any new entrances into the hull of the city as soon as they are found.

Threats can bubble up from within the radioactive depths of the city, from raiders to zombies, and even dissidents and agitators of former residents that are unhappy with the occupation.  While the rule of law in Bastion is mostly fair, if a bit draconian, some of the unofficial residents of Bastion still lurk in the radioactive halls below the surface.  The Cult of Savannah’s Light has found new friends in the Temple of Evolution, arming their revolutionaries that are attempting to restore access to the massive steam reactor that once lurked at the heart of the vessel.  

Many of the labyrinthine tunnels that make up the hull of Bastion are collapsed and difficult to traverse, and few remaining residents truly know their way around the interior of the ship.  While the lower decks once housed the common workers and RRC employees that maintained the gilded state of life on the surface, most of those residents were evacuated before the city crashed.  New entrances into the lower hull are discovered every day, often by zed that crawl from a new crevice and emerge into the city.  Sealed bulkheads and submerged sections flooded from the nearby lake make opening random doors below a dangerous endeavor, and the Fallow Hope have bigger issues to deal with than trying to return function to the decks below.

The new Morgue of Bastion is functional, but Mustang hopes that some of the visitors for the upcoming Wells Society launch can be leveraged to find a permanent solution to the ailing Grave Mind.  Though the Grave Council successfully integrated the morgue of Bastion after the crash, lack of true maintenance during the following schism has only delayed the inevitable corruption that is spreading steadily from within the city.  Though many residents may not realize it yet, several of the emergency bunkers stationed in the various streets of the Magnolia District are actually part of General Mustang’s preparation for a morgue failure.  Mustang knows action must be taken soon to stabilize the morgue, before the threat grows critical.

Overall, the Loyalists are preparing and bracing themselves for the next catastrophe to face their new home.  Many of the Loyalists are wary about inviting former enemies into their city, but most of the residents believe more in Mustang’s planning and leadership.  If Mustang is convinced that the city can weather the influx of new arrivals, they will do their damndest to be on their best behavior and weather the incitement that is certainly to arrive with their “guests”.  The standing orders of the Fallow Hope are to keep the faith and avoid conflict, and no resident is interested in facing court martial by throwing the first punch.

The Laws of Bastion

While under Loyalist occupation, the city has established several rules and structures to help bring order to the settlement.  However, despite the reputation that some bands of Fallow Hope have earned, the Loyalists have established common-sense edicts for enforcement.  None of their laws are particularly draconian, but the residents in the town are generally willing to accept a bit of loss of freedoms in exchange for security.  The Mustang Loyalists have generally upheld their end of the bargain, and as long as major crises don’t strike the settlement few will see the need to be a dissident.

The Fallow Hope have adopted a chain of command that ensures the orderly rule of the city, and use a code of rules that have served Star City in the past.  While there are many addendums and additional texts on the administration and enforcement of the laws, the general rules of the settlement are as follows:

The Military Code of the Lord Commander’s Justice

• Fealty to the Lord Commander and General Mustang are required for permanent residence in Bastion. All residents and visitors alike must abide by the laws of Bastion or face court martial.

• Do not kill the living.  All in Bastion must work together for our common survival.  Save your blade for the undead.  Murder of a Lineage will be punished by court martial.

• Do not disobey a lawful order of a superior officer.  Order is a balm against chaos, and dereliction of duty will be punished by court martial.  

• Challenge of the Military Code or assault of any Fallow Hope officer is forbidden.  Respect the chain of command of Bastion, or face court martial. 

• Do not steal or destroy the possessions of others.  If there is a need for additional rations or equipment, please inform the Quartermaster.  Theft will be punished by court martial.

• All residents or visitors to Bastion will meet the Challenge of Arms, and will serve in the defense of the city.  Mandatory service in the defense of the city will be met during residence.  Report useful skills or equipment to your local Section Commander.  Desertion of duty will be punished by court martial.

• Heresy against the Tenets of the Fallow Hope by the faithful is forbidden.  While all faiths are accorded appropriate respect inside Bastion, the faith of the Fallow Hope is held to a higher standard.  Deviation will be met with court martial.

• Aiding and abetting the proliferation of hellfire and radiation is anathema.  Willfully risking the safety of Bastion by spreading the taint of radiation will result in court martial.

• There are no third chances.  Survival of a Court Martial or Captain’s Mast will offer a second chance to a resident or visitor of Bastion, but further dereliction of duty will result in permanent expulsion from the Bastion of New Dawn or final death.

Most of the laws of Bastion are similar to other towns, but the primary means of enforcement of the Military Cody is known as the COURT MARTIAL. Given that the Fallow Hope pride themselves on readiness and combat worthiness in a fallen world, their law generally punishes violations with a unique trial-by-combat.

Court Martial, aka The Captain’s Mast

Mechanics: None, but Basic Faithful Patterns is frequently incorporated.

Details: The chain of command is not only a suggestion, but part of the very faith of the Cult of the Fallow Hope and the citizens of Bastion. Violations must be punished. All participants and targets must be Fallow Hope or reside in the settlement of Bastion.

Basic Instructions: The performer of this benediction must give a speech or sermon for the first five minutes of the duration about the crimes of the soldier and the lessons that should be learned for the community to survive.  The accused is tied to a ceremonial structure by at least one hand in the Exclusion Zone and a prayer issued for their souls, and an entrance to Bation’s lower hull is opened nearby.  The accused is traditionally given a small knife or one-handed weapon to defend themselves, or hasten their own demise.  If the accused survives alone the wave of Zombies that likely emerges before the radiation overwhelms them, the Lord Commander has seen fit to absolve them of their sins by their service to Bastion.  

Wrap Up

That’s it for this week Vados!

The DR:TX team has a lot of cool things planned for Downfall, and we can’t wait to meet our friends from around the wasteland. As we get closer to the first ever DR Live event and the eventual rollout of the new system next year, we have plenty to talk about to get ready for the event. Will you help the Wells Society with their strange mushroom experiment? Will you dive into the Grave Mind to help Bastion with a growing corruption? Will you brave the radioactive Exclusion Zone in search of useful items and treasures? Will you survive the DOWNFALL?

TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW FOR DOWNFALL! REMEMBER YOU CAN BUY A NON-ATTENDING TICKET AND STILL GET YOUR EXTRA XP LOCKED IN BEFORE THE NEW EDITION LAUNCHES.

Next week, we will cover a bit of the Zone of Mechanics you might encounter in game as you explore the radioactive wasteland around Bastion in search of the marvelous GLOW SHROOMS.

See you soon Vados!

Downfall

Howdy Vados!

It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, leading up to our October live event DOWNFALL! This will be the first full game run under the new DR Live system and our first DR Live NATIONAL EVENT, led by Heather Halstead and Jonathan Loyd. It’s been a bit since we launched ticket sales for this event, so I want to make sure we are covering the basics as we hit the last few weeks before the game. 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 the premise of our event, some content warnings, and some themes of our upcoming event!

I’ve already made quite a few blog posts on the topic of Downfall, so let’s compile some handy links all in one place:

• DR Live: Where to Start - This is a handy guide on how to tackle reading the rules for the new system. TL;DR, there’s a LOT of books already for this edition, but the best place to begin is the Player’s Guide.

• The Story of Downfall - This is a detailed look at the STORY of the event, including an introduction to the various factions and personalities you’ll meet while in Bastion.

• Frequently Asked Questions - We’ve made a few updates over the past few weeks and we’ve tried to anticipate most of your questions.

TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW FOR DOWNFALL! GET YOUR FIRST LOOK AT THE NEW DR LIVE SYSTEM IN PERSON!

Our images for this post were developed by our talented Marketing Director, Kiara Everlen.

Event Announcement: DR Live Transition

Last week, the Network Advisory Board met to discuss and vote on the upcoming transition to Dystopia Rising: Live. After thorough discussions and collaboration across all branches, a unanimous decision was made regarding the following key dates:

• January 15, 2025: All branches will sign new contracts.

• February 1, 2025: Branches can begin transitioning from DR 3.0 to DR Live.

• April 30, 2025: DR 3.0 will officially end for all branches.

This timeline accommodates seasonal calendars and allows sufficient time for teams to be trained on the new focus and mechanics of DR Live. We believe this phased approach will ensure a smooth transition for everyone involved.

Mark your calendars for February 7-9, 2025, as "Cradle's Lullaby" will officially kick off Dystopia Rising: Live for the Texas chapter!

I’ve included this on our Downfall page and in my story blog, but here it is once more for posterity:

THE PREMISE

“Every settlement in the wastes has a similar story – a spark of hope amidst the irradiated wasteland, trying to survive in a hostile environment that is the product of too many nukes, too many raiders and undead, and too much conflict.  Now, a new hope for survival has arrived – a way to cure the threat of radiation.

The Wells Society, a group of Sainthood that survived the fall of the Trade Union, have emerged with a solution — a breed of mushroom that feeds on radiation itself.  With the help of the Grave Mind scholars known as the Servants of the Undying, they have developed the “Liberum Radicalis”, or Glow Shroom, and promise that they can “cure” irradiated areas across the wastes.  In a few short months, the Society claims they can return an area back to a state where crops can grow and new settlements can form, free from the plague of the green glow.

Their first test of the strange blue mushrooms on a large scale has happened at a Fallow Hope fortress called the Bastion of New Dawn.  Built atop the wreck of a massive crashed airship, Bastion has been surrounded by lethal radiation and massive ZOMBIE HORDES that continue to emerge from the destroyed generator at its core and has served as an impenetrable fortress during the recent wars in the area.  The soldiers of the Mustang Loyalists, loyal to the one and only GENERAL MUSTANG, have opened the fortress to new settlers and travelers, with a promise that the radioactive threat is no more.  

With the help of the Wells Society, the first proof of concept for their new mushroom is ready for others to visit, collect spores to take home with them, and see for themselves what the Sainthood have brought forward for the greater good.  Invitations have gone out to every major settlement across the wastes, to visit Bastion and see the revelations of the great work that has been completed, and how it can benefit their own communities.

But their opponents with the Temple of Evolution suggest that the radiation is itself a reason for the survival of so many settlements.  Without the mutation of the Infection, none of the Strains would exist.  What will happen to the Infection that runs in your veins when not constantly bombarded with radiation from the wastelands?  What will happen to the Mortis Amaranthine when the source of its creation is gone and it is allowed to expand unchecked?  Even if the Glow Shrooms are safe, who will control these new fertile lands and decide who will benefit from the homes that are created in the absence of radiation? 

Come and witness the birth of a new era of the wasteland, survive the zombie hordes, and gather the promise of salvation to bring home to your settlements, courtesy of the Wells Society and the Bastion of New Dawn.”

Radiation, Mushrooms, and Zombies? Sounds like a great Dystopia Rising event!

The Themes of Downfall

Every game in DR:TX has a few themes we want to reinforce in the story. Here’s a few to watch out for during the National Event.

Greater Good vs Individuality

• While solving a problem of radiation can present a benefit for the greater good across the wastes, as the Mortis is strengthened so does the sense of self fade into nothingness.  The Wasteland is a balance of radiation and death, and picking one or the other could be catastrophic.

Radiation vs the Grave Mind

• Radiation is a useful tool against raiders and zed alike, offering powerful weapons and a natural enemy to the Grave Mind.  As radiation wanes in danger and the Grave Mind gets stronger, so too does the threat of undead.  If the glow shrooms are truly an answer to radiation, could this even remove the protective elements of the Infection such as quick healing and beneficial mutations?

Faith vs Order

• The opposing faiths of the Darwin and Fallow Hope are placed in conflict during this story.  Mustang has a solution to help their people with new farmland, new safety, and the ability to help their faction grow.  The radiation leaks from Bastion have been a bane on the nearby settlements, and even the Darwins have precepts against unchecked evolution.  But, the glow shrooms represent the anathema of the Darwin faith, and a way to remove their faith’s holy focus from being a force of survival.

CONTENT WARNINGS - DOWNFALL

The themes of Dystopia Rising often touch close to our real world in ways we cannot always avoid. The DR:TX team believes that we can still tell these stories about challenging topics, but we also believe we need to be transparent about our intentions and set proper expectations for our content. In our tradition of radical trust, we want to also trust in each player that attends our game to know their own limits and be able to choose to avoid topics and situations that make them uncomfortable.

It’s important to watch for descriptions, situations, or events that you might want to avoid. You may find new limits that are unknown to you because the matter never came up. We encourage you to take the necessary steps for your own emotional safety. We want you to be comfortable with the types of horror in our events so you can enjoy the thrill of the zombie apocalypse and the nightmare creatures we introduce into the game space.

It’s one reason we take our OK Check-In system so seriously! We understand that these may not be stories you want to participate in, and that’s okay! Remember, you can always use the OK Check-In System to choose to leave a scene, even CVC!

Overall, this next event focuses heavily on the themes of DR Live, particularly with the setting of the updated system. Our story for the weekend is heavily based off of the National Plotkit, “Illusions of Civility”, but it still has it’s own unique Texas flavor.

You can always find a list of our Content Warnings on our website, but let’s talk about some of the specific things you might want to be prepared for during this October event.

MISTAKES, RULES ERRORS, and CORRECTIONS IN FIELD

• This is literally everyone’s first game. We will all be learning a new system at the same time. We will make mistakes, we will get the rules wrong, and so will you. While many of the new systems are intuitive and we’ve planned a number of workshops for Thursday, it’s still a lot of information to absorb at once. We must treat every moment of this event as everyone’s first game ever, and treat our fellow players as if they were tender-horns experiencing the world for the first time. For some of our players, it literally will be!

• Please show your fellow players and our staff grace and forgiveness. For this event, we will especially ask for your grace, patience, and forgiveness as we experience the ups and downs of our first event ever under DR Live rules. Please be kind to your fellow players and especially our volunteer staff, as we all have the same goal — telling an amazing story in the zombie apocalypse. We will learn and explore this new system together.

• Correct and Move On. If we make a mistake in the field, as either a guide or player, we will practice a strategy of fixing it for future encounters. We won’t try to reset or roll back any major rules calls, but trust our Guides to make the call in the moment. If we find an error later, we will correct and move on with the right ruling for any future instances. We might have to calibrate a combat encounter on the fly, so be prepared for sudden ends to fights, and generally expect us to continue to improve as the weekend goes on. We will try to avoid any major scene or continuity breaks, and try to keep everything in game as much as possible.

Resource scarcity, and the struggle to provide for yourself in the apocalypse

• The DR Live economy is brand new. With the major change of Impact Skills, the Mind economy you are used to in the 3.0 system doesn’t really exist in this brave new world. It’s one thing to look at a proposed break down of blueprints and mind points and try to anticipate how it will function in a live space, and it’s an entirely different thing to actually do it live. Part of this event will include learning a new cadence to the flow of economy and crafting, and it WILL be different than the previous edition.

• Items are less necessary in DR Live, and you may have less gear than you are used to in 3.0. Many of the tricks you needed items for in 3.0 are now included into the various Impact and Development skills. Other items only really function for Professions. Healing is significantly improved, and your combat skills don’t need a steady supply of Mind brews to stay ready. While cool items can be nice, they certainly aren’t a requirement for surviving in this new apocalypse. Many of the blueprints have very niche applications that won’t necessarily come up during this event, and you don’t have to worry about trying to build out a perfect set of gear — there’s still plenty of time until the DR Live transition.

• Everyone will be on mostly the same footing. Your 3.0 items won’t function for this event, so we will give you a head start with some FREE items! One of your characters will receive a load out of useful items and brews, and our goal is to give everyone a fairly even start. There will be several ways to access new blueprints in game if you choose to pursue crafting. While we can’t account entirely for folks bringing in outside scrap, herb, and currency to the game, there will be plenty of opportunities to salvage, forage, and loot items during the event.

• Item transfers won’t happen during this event. You won’t be able to transfer your existing 3.0 items, so you can leave these item cards at home. You’ll be able to do that soon enough when we transition to DR Live in 2025. Starter weapons are still a thing in DR Live, and you’ll still be able to use your props and craft new items during the game. But, any items you make, loot, or steal will be yours to keep for the new edition after you leave.

Religious conflict, corruption, and abuses of power (only in-game faiths - not real faiths)

• The city of Bastion is a Fallow Hope stronghold. The Fallow Hope have graciously invited visitors into their home as part of the Wells Society Experiment, but it’s still a town led by the faithful. You might find yourself in opposition to some of their policies and rules, and that’s fine. The overall goal of this event is to create great opportunities for religious conflict with the authorities and residents of the town, but our primary focus is on role play and drama, not outright war games. The Fallow Hope will leave you be if you follow the rules and play nice. Despite these rules, many of the citizens of the town have purposefully chosen to stay here because of the security the Fallow Hope provide.

• The leadership of Bastion is overtly a religious theocracy, but all are welcome. The Fallow Hope will be on their best behavior with visitors in their home, but they aren’t interested in forcing their agenda on visitors as long as they also behave. While the Fallow Hope religion is the primary faith of the town and granted certain lenience not extended to others, there are many residents in the town that practice other competing faiths. While they frown on open terrorism or attacks on their residents, there’s no specific rules against preaching your faith in town — you just might not find that many interested converts.

• The Fallow Hope of the Lone Star have a storied past. The former General Mustang and the Mustang Loyalists have not always been allies of nearby towns like Bravado, and they have a long and dark history in the region. Corruption has long been a nuisance for the Loyalists, and they are hard at work trying to clean up their ranks. Not every Fallow Hope in town believes with the same fervor in the Wells Society Experiment, and there is potential for conflict and strife in their ranks.

Wrap Up

The DR:TX team has a lot of cool things planned for Downfall, and we can’t wait to meet our friends from around the wasteland. As we get closer to the first ever DR Live event and the eventual rollout of the new system next year, we have plenty to talk about to get ready for the event. Will you help the Wells Society with their strange mushroom experiment? Will you dive into the Grave Mind to help Bastion with a growing corruption? Will you brave the radioactive Exclusion Zone in search of useful items and treasures? Will you survive the DOWNFALL?

Over the next few weeks, we will cover a bit of the lore of the event, including the rules of Bastion, some of the major faces to meet, and some of the in-game events you can complete during the game.

See you soon Vados!