What to Bring to Dr

When you’re out in the wasteland, scrounging for your most basic supplies, bartering what scrap you find for produce and herbs that you can try and make into something resembling a meal... make sure you don't starve yourself for real at game! What are you to do?

Here are some helpful tips about providing for yourself at the event. 

This is a list of items we recommend bringing with you to a Dystopia Rising event. This list is not all inclusive, but this is a good start. You are the best judge of your own comfort and needs.  Please consider what additional items you need to take care of yourself and set the scene for your own sleeping area. 

important Legalities

  • Signed Release Form - You’ll need to sign a Liability Waiver and Photography Waiver when you show up to play. We will have copies available for you at Check-In!

  • Game Fee (cash or card) - If you don’t buy a ticket online in advance, we can take most credit cards and cash to purchase your ticket on site.

  • Leave the Expensive Electronics at Home - Bringing expensive, delicate, or meaningful items is a recipe for disaster. We strive to keep a safe site free of out-of-character theft, but the best prevention is to simply remove the temptation. Keep your wallet, cell phone, and any valuables secure on you at all times. Dystopia Rising Texas is not responsible for the safety of your property if it is broken or stolen.

Basics

  • Clothing - Remember to bring plenty of clothing. Things like socks, underwear, shirts, pants, and so on. Weather can go from a sunny day to thunderstorm so having changes of clothing for all seasons is a great idea to keep from being miserable and will help you stay healthy.

  • NPC Clothes - Bring a second set of dark, non-descript, or tattered clothing. This needs to be something that you won’t wear as your character, so no one will get confused when you are portraying a zombie during your Casting Shift.

  • Water Bottle - While there are many places to get water on site, it’s easier to either bring some disposable water bottles or a water bottle you can carry with you. Hydration is important to surviving the wasteland!

  • Red Flashlight - It gets dark at night and at some parts of the site it makes it hard to see. For safety reasons we ask that you bring a red lens flashlight, so you are still able to see without blinding anyone and prevent yourself from getting hurt.

  • A Working Pen (or several) - You’ll need to periodically write down things on your character sheet. Make sure you have a writing utensil handy. The Post Office Workers get angry when theirs walk away!

  • Remember your:

    • Water Bottle, Prescription Medicines, Pen, Flashlight, NPC Clothes, Underwear, Pajamas, Socks (like a LOT of socks!), Towel, Hair Elastics, and anything else YOU the player needs.

Costume

  • Character Costume - Make sure your costume is not only safe for running, jumping, crashing through the woods, slipping in mud and swinging combat-safe weapons, but also rugged and cheap. There is no doubt that at some point during a Dystopia Rising event you could end up with fake blood on you and some fake blood stains on your clothes.

  • Contact Safe Weapons or NERF Gun - We are a Lightest Touch system, and most survivors carry a trusty weapon with them into the wasteland. Remember to pack your boffer weapons, your NERF guns, your shield, and any packets or Foam Darts you might need.

  • Supply Bag - Characters are required to have a “Supply Bag” on them to carry any in-game item cards and gear. This is a small backpack, a tote bag, or pouch that needs to be able to close while holding six refillable water containers, six syringes (needle-less!), all your item cards and be clearly labeled as a supply bag.

  • Do not bring or wear anything to Dystopia Rising that you would be heartbroken to find damaged, stained, or destroyed.

    • Sometimes zombie faux blood splatters make a costume cooler, since it now has history to it. However, if your costume is something you don’t want stained, then don’t bring it. Dystopia Rising is not responsible for the safety of your property if it is broken or stolen.

Food & WATER

  • Remember to Eat & Drink! - During the weekend, you're going to be doing a lot of hiking, running, and fighting, so your activity level is likely to be much higher than you're used to. To make sure you’re able to enjoy all that activity, it's important to stay well-fed and hydrated.

  • Eat a Solid Breakfast - Breakfast, they say, is the most important meal of the day. With a camp burner, campfire, or a sterno you can easily prepare oatmeal or similar warm breakfasts. Oatmeal is particularly good because it's dry-stored and quick to make. For those who prefer other breakfast options, consider breakfast bars and rice cakes with preserves or spreads to help get those important starches and sugars into your body to give it long term energy through the day.

  • Trail Mixes and Energy Bars - The easiest way to stay on your feet and healthy is to keep a stash of energy bars and a trail mix of your choice. Nuts, dried fruits, and simple sugars help keep your body going, and having some trail mix in a food bag or some protein bars makes it super easy for you to eat on the go, so you don't miss out on adventures in the wasteland!

  • Fruits and Vegetables - Simple fruits like apples and oranges are fantastic camping foods. Naturally packaged and requiring no refrigeration, these fruits provide lots of excellent options for quick wasteland snacks.

  • Keep it Simple - It's the wasteland. In the end, it's up to you to make sure that what you have prepared for yourself is easily stored, easily prepared, and easy to clean up. You don't want to lose hours of play time to complicated food prep and clean up. Big, heavy meals and caffeine can also reduce your ability to avoid heat stress during hot weather.

  • Keep it In Game - Wasteland cuisine is a marvelous opportunity for characters to share an experience, bond over a meal, and perhaps make new friendships. Keep your cooking and eating process in game and use it as an opportunity to interact with your fellow players. If you're a giving sort (or perhaps playing a cook or farmer...) you also can consider bringing extra food to prepare in game to share or sell!

  • Hydration - Invest in a decent water bottle or canteen, something you can scuff up with some sandpaper or steel wool to look a bit more genre appropriate, and make sure you keep it filled and regularly partake of it! Winter, summer, spring, or fall, hydration is a big part of what keeps you healthy through a Dystopia Rising event. Coffee, tea, and sugary drinks drain your body of precious water, and you need to be sure you are regularly replenishing.

  • Remember your:

    • Food and Water for the entire event, Water Bottle, Plates & Cutlery, Quick Snacks you can carry with you, Trail Mix or Energy Bars, Protein Bars, Gatorade or Electrolyte Drinks

Toiletries

  • Hygiene - Remember to bring things such as soap, towels, toothbrush/toothpaste, and hand sanitizer. This is to help from getting sick as well keeping clean and comfortable. Things like taking showers and washing your hands after using the bathroom prevents you and others from getting sick. Also remember to cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough and wash your hands afterwords.

  • We have a number of open-air showers and a large shower facility at Camp Kachina. You can simply roleplay being a stinky Diesel Jock without actually having to be stinky!

  • Remember your:

    • Toothpaste, Toothbrush, Deodorant, Shampoo, Conditioner, Bodywash or Soap, Facewash, Makeup Remover, Sunscreen, Bug Repellent, Makeup, Hairbrush, Tampons/Pads, Prescription Medications, Towel, Flip-Flops for the Shower

sleeping & Camping Gear

  • Sleeping Gear - Everyone has to sleep sometime. With that being said it’s always good to bring a sleeping bag rated for the season/weather or bed linen to sleep with. It provides warmth as well as comfort. Sleep also keeps you healthy as well as helps give you energy for a full weekend.

  • We have many climate-controlled cabins to sleep in at Camp Kachina, but we have several open-air cabins and tents, and there is always plenty of space to set up your own tent.

  • There are lots of Girl Scout bunk beds on site with a simple mattress on them, but you should bring something to sleep on, like blankets and a pillow. Many folks find it helpful to have a camp pad or air mattress as well.

  • Remember your:

    • Sleeping Bag, Linens, Pillow, Blankets, Glowsticks to Mark Tent Lines, Chargers or Portable Backup Batteries, Air Mattress, Portable Air Pumps, and any other genre touches for your sleeping space.