Surviving DR:AR Summer

Howdy Wastelanders!

Everyone survive this weekend? We alive? Hope ya’ll have recovered/are recovering well! As you noticed, this game was a little warm and sunny. Which is fantastic! The sun is burning, the birds are singing, the bugs are biting, the chafing is kicking in…ugh. It’s not fun. Real talk - with the season steadily turning from spring to summer, we’re going to be experiencing not only some potentially high temperatures but the fight with ticks, mosquitos, scorpions, and so much more. If this is your first time, let’s talk about surviving our game out of character in the summertime. 

I know I’ve introduced a lot of folks to you in the pro-tips this season alone. But there’s yet one more group that is very important for you to familiarize yourself with. And that is our medical staff. We have three folks at our game who are trained for medical emergencies. We have Nyx Carvello (he plays Grimm and Charlie), Ciann Turner (she plays Harmony of the Red Rovers and can be found tending the bar), and Greg Eckhoff (Kokotni and can be found in Frown Town in the wastes). Combined they have a rich medical background as a military medic, ICU nurse, and a paramedic. If you don’t know who they are in game, please find a guide or employee and they will be happy to point you to them.

Let’s talk about Heat Advisory Hours. Nearly 98% of our game takes place outdoors. You are very exposed to the elements that mother nature has to offer as well as the elements that the Experience Design team has in store for your character. That’s why as the weather gets warmer, our chapter practices Heat Advisory Hours. During 1PM - 5PM on Saturday, no mods go out. Since it’s the hottest time of the day, that’s the best time to NOT be running or fighting for your character’s life. We want everyone to have some in character down time to cool off and stay out of the beating sun. 

Heat exhaustion is no joke and something we take very seriously. If you or anyone around you are experiencing any of the symptoms of heat exhaustion, please notify at the very least a guide. If you can’t find one of the medical staff members at first, notify a guide and ask them for medical help. We have roughly 20+ on our team who can assist you. Then go straight to medical cabin and cool down. I’ve attached an informational document from the CDC about the signs of heat-related illness and what to do if you’re in that situation. Please listen to your body and keep an eye on your friends. Curtis wrote some wonderful tips and tricks on how to prep for summer games in AR! Check it out here - https://www.dystopiarisingar.com/unvarnished-truth/2022/7/7/pro-tip-thursday-7-7-2022nbsp-hail-hydrate

Finally, the pests that IRL that you’ll encounter at game. As stated above, our game is very exposed to the elements of nature. Even though Larry (shout out to the best ranger ever) and his family treat the site for wasps, ticks, and so on, the probability of you still experiencing bug bites, stings, etc. are high. Make sure you are checking yourself constantly for ticks and spraying yourself regularly. In addition to preparing for bugs, we’ve got critters that are running around. Here’s some steps to take to when potentially encountering wildlife:

1. Try not to go on trails solo - take a friend or check-in with the Post Office when going out on trails for an extended period of time. Check in with them upon your return.

2. If you hear rustling in the woods and you’re unsure if it’s an animal or not, call out “Clarify - are you a mod?”

3. Wait for a response. If there’s no response, move around it or back away.

4. If you see an animal that could potentially be a threat, get away from it calmly.

5. Notify a guide immediately. 

And there you have it! Hydrate, know what the symptoms of heat exhaustion looks like, apply sunscreen and bug spray religiously, and keep an eye out for the wildlife.

Post Office Engagement (prt 2)

Howdy Wastelanders!

That’s right. There’s an immediate second pro-tip released this week! If you haven’t read the previous pro-tip released yesterday, I highly recommend reading that first before launching into this one. While the last pro-tip focused on expectations on interactions between you and the postie you’re working with, this one is focused on post office etiquette. Prior to writing this fun piece, all my knowledge of how to treat the post office have been verbally shared. And while that’s fantastic and highly appreciated, I recognize that maybe not everyone got the same experience. That’s why I reached out to our fantastic coordinator team and together, we compiled expectations for the post office. Thank you team for your assistance with this!

Post Office Etiquette Guidelines - 

• Posties are Posties, not the person that’s portraying them nor their character. If your friend is behind the post office desk, they’re there as an NPC with no relationship to your character. That means that their regularly played LC cannot give you resources, provide insights into a situation, or have access to their skills/knowledge. Wait until their character is back in play before having that conversation. I stated that in the previous post but it doesn’t hurt to be repeated again.

• You can send a letter to the post office stating that someone has access to your LIT. Just be sure to state who has access with their player number, what they have access to, and sign with your character name and number. If you’re at game, you can write this letter on a piece of paper and send it with the person who is needing access. If you are an Arkansas local player and you know you won’t be at a game but your crew needs access to items in your LIT, you can send an email to logistics@dystopiarisingar.com with the same information as listed above.

• Can’t use the post office as a safe harbor to avoid conflict. Now, if you’re in the middle of a transaction and an NPC comes storming around to find you, you can complete your transaction and then go deal with that. Otherwise, don’t be hiding in the post office.

• Keep the volume down. There’s a lot of conversations that take place and your postie worker is trying to help the person in front of them. It’s incredibly difficult to concentrate on the task at hand when there’s a million loud conversations happening around them. Try to keep it down.

• If you don’t need anything from the post office, stay out. There’s a fantastic and roomy porch outside, equipped with benches that you can use to wait for folks. If your friend wants you to stand in line with them and you don’t need anything from the post office, stay outside. 

• Postal workers reserve the right to request you leave the post office if you’re being disruptive or to quiet down.

• Try to have all your things together before getting in line. Bring your blueprint, your materials, have your character sheet out, currency in your hand, an action plan of how to use your 5 card transaction (or 1 LIT transaction) limit. 

• You have access to a player information binder and laptop. You can use the binder to get rumors, meeting locations for specific factions, CAPs buy list, local faction buy list, and more. The laptop is available for you to check your LIT. That way, if you think you have something in LIT and you aren’t fully sure, you can check before you get in line for the post office transaction. These resources are here for you to use before you hop in line.

• Off to the side of the desk setup for the post office is a letter basket. That’s not for you to rummage through. That’s for the post office workers to hire folks to send letters. Please do not go digging into it WITHOUT permission from the working Postie.

• Do not reach behind the desk. Unless you are an Arkansas trained coordinator guide, there should be absolutely no reason for you to reach past the laptops or go behind the desk of the post office. 

And that’s it!

Post Office Engagement

Happy Thursday, Wastelanders!

And once more, welcome back to our next segment of Pro-Tip Thursday. There’s a group of people that I’d like to take a moment and recognize. Our Coordination Guides - aka Posties. If you’ve been to our game this year, you’ve met and interacted with a majority of the Posties by now. However, I’d still like to introduce you to the team!

Lead Coordinator Guides

• Nikki R.

• Beth B.

Full Time Coordinator Guides

• Ashlynn M.

• Cydney C.

• Cydney O.

• Gaby W.

• Kaci L.

• Sarah M.

Part Time Coordinator Guide

• Stephanie S.

What a fantastic group! That’s why this week’s Pro-Tip is dedicated to them. This is going to be a two-parter on Post Office Interactions. Today’s topic is how your character interacts with the post office!

How many times have you gone to the post office in a weekend and you had to wait a really long time for a semi-exasperated Postie to assist you? I think it’s safe to say that we’ve all been there. It can be overwhelming for yourself, your Postie, and others around you to have to navigate a bit of a post office chaos. I’m here to give you tips and tricks on how to ensure your encounter with your Postie goes as smoothly as possible to reduce stress for you, for your Postie, and ensure you get in and out in a timely manner. 

First, let’s cover some rules and expectations for the moment you sit down and begin your exchange with your Postie. 

1. Treat the interaction with the Postie as though you are under a HIPAA contract. Focus only on your information, don’t eavesdrop  on other Postie and player’s transactions UNLESS you are asked to. Don’t blab what you overheard someone purchasing in the line next to you. On the flip side, whatever your interaction with the post office stays with the post office. For example, if you purchased basic thieves juice from the criminal buy list as your character and Dana Mangles was your Postie you worked with, Dana Mangles will NOT speak of it to other LCs, NPCs, or Posties. That information stays between them and you. 

2. On top of that, if your friend or member of your crew is on Postie shift, they are there as that NPC. Not as your crewmate. Any conversation that is to be had with them needs to relate to post office business and not crew business. For example, if Nikki is on her shift Friday night and Sierra rolls into the post office, Lauren can’t look at Nikki and say “Hey Shelagh, I need 500 basic scrap. Can you send me some from your LIT?” That bird don’t fly. Don’t do it. 

3. Know your production time. In DR: AR, a character can spend up to 2 hours of consistent production (i.e., crafting, agricultural, cooking, etc.) to get multiple items. HOWEVER, it has to be on the same skill set you’re cashing in on (no 1 hour of salvaging and then 1 hour of basic agricultural and then go to the post office to turn both in).

4. If you are a cook or artisan, this next rule is important. While yes, you can spend two hours crafting/brewing, you cannot spend that two hours crafting an item/brew that goes into another item/brew. Let’s say that Sierra sat down at the crafting bench. In the end, she wants to craft a basic goat cycle. It takes a simple mechanical engine, a simple mechanical fuel system, simple mechanical iron alloy, and 5 basic scrap. I can spend the 80 minutes crafting all the simple mechanical parts (20 minutes per part). But I have to go cash all those parts in (with the blueprints and materials) before I can craft the goat cycle itself. 

5. Have an idea of what it is you’re needing on your turn. You can do a 5 physical card transaction on your turn OR 1 LIT pull on your turn. If you need to do more, complete the current transaction, stand up, and go to the back of the line. 

6. If you are crafting or brewing an item, please be sure to approach the post office line with the blueprint and the materials sourced. If you do not have the blueprint, you will not have an item. The post office does contain the cards for the production areas in play! So if you used the production area to reduce crafting time or increase the quantity of something you’ve crafted, let them know and they can check it. 

7. If you are utilizing a vehicle or gizmo to increase productivity outcome, ensure you have the cards on you and ready to go. Otherwise, you cannot gain the perks of those cards.

8. Check your cards before you stand up. Ensure that the correct level item is on the card, it’s dated, and it’s signed. The moment you stand and walk-away from the desk, you are signifying that you are satisfied with the card and accept it as it is. It’s incredibly disappointing to spend an hour crafting an item, spending the resources for said item, only for it to be invalid because you didn’t check for a signature. I’ve done it and I cried because of it. Don’t be like me.

9. When you’re done with the interaction, either leave out of the correct door or get back in line.

And there you have it! Those are just basic things to start utilizing for a smoother post-office experience. Stay safe in the wastes!

May National Fund Raiser for Rodgers Scout Reserve!

Greetings Friends and Family!  

I am coming to you today to announce an awesome opportunity that’s being offered by Dystopia Rising National during the month of May. They’ve challenged each chapter to give back to our communities and find a way to help out a local charity. Our choice was simple - we want to give back to Rogers Scout Reservation.  

RSR has been fundraising all year to improve the camp. Some of you have already donated and we vastly appreciate you! But we wanted to be more intentional and set an achievable goal. After speaking with Larry, we’ve decided to raise money to refurbish the cabins. While refurbishing the cabins is a multi-step project, we’re helping with the first part of the project by raising money for new windows. Real windows with screens! In order to get the screened windows, we need to raise $2,600. That will be our first goal. If we exceed the $2,600 goal, the rest of the money will be pooled together and used towards flooring for the cabins, power and AC.

To help us raise this money, National will post an event that we can sell XP for. Typically when we sell extra XP for our game, the extra XP is sold for $15/XP. For this event only, the price has increased to $20/XP. Up to 10 XP maximum can be purchased. If you have an advance membership all the extra XP will go to all your characters. If you don’t have an advance membership, you will have to choose which character will gain the XP. All the money from the extra XP purchases will go to RSR.

There are some very specific rules we have to follow. We will collect the money and provide receipts that show the donations where made. You will be able to give money for this during the entire month of May. There’s going to be a link on our website to process this purchase/donation. You can only participate in one chapter’s fundraising event.

This is amazingly cool for National to do and we are looking forward to it!

Now money is a great thing. However, we recognize that our current economy is a bit rough and want to offer an additional way to earn extra XP without spending more than necessary. Larry needs some help. Ripping out 18 windows and installing new ones is a lot of work! 

So Truate and I have decided that we’re going to have a work weekend where you can earn 3 XP for coming to help work. We’ll pay for tickets for everyone who shows up and works for the camp. If enough folks show up to help with the windows, Larry has asked for additional help on projects that need to be completed. The honey-do list includes: installing windows, putting real flooring in the caboose, painting the interior of the caboose and deep cleaning the kitchen. You can purchase the 10 XP then participate in the work weekend for an additional 3 XP.   

Current plan is to schedule this during the off months of July and August. Yes, I know it will be hot but we will be safe and take safety measures in the heat. Also, we shall have a food plan. I will cook for you for $20 per person. Yes… Brisket is most likely on the menu!  

A survey will be released soon to determine what weekend is the best for those months. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to drop them in the discord server, comment on the post, or send an email to contact@dystopiarisingar.com and we will get it taken care of. Larry’s been amazing to us! Let’s show him the level of support our community can bring.

What is Bleed?

Hello Wastelanders!

Today’s topic touches on a heavy subject. In our LARP, you may have heard the term “Bleed”. And not in a “my character is bleeding out and dying” form. But “my emotions from myself are bleeding into my character” and/or vice versa. For this topic, I want to help everyone understand what bleed is, utilizing the okay check-in system, and fostering a positive play environment for everyone. Now, I know you’re probably thinking/saying “I always do the check-in system!” And that’s awesome! We still want to give you a run down of how things can escalate, how you can handle them, and tips for keeping it smooth.

Sometimes, there will be weekends where we’re not playing at our 100% or when it’s incredibly difficult to remove yourself from your character. This is a common phenomenon known as “bleed”. “Bleed is when emotions bleeds over between player or character, in either direction.” (E.Boss, Ropecon 2007). It’s something that’s heard in the world but difficult to define. We are pulled into an immersive world; it only makes sense that our emotions and decisions are influenced by the world we just spend 3 days playing in. Or leading up to game, it’s been an absolute shit show and your character isn’t at 100%. Then, they make decisions that they typically wouldn’t make. That's completely okay! Bleed isn’t inherently evil but on the flip side, it isn’t always positive. If you don’t recognize when you’re experiencing bleed, it can not only impact yourself, but the players around you. And that’s when it becomes an issue. The important thing is being able to recognize bleed, knowing how to navigate it, and taking steps to ensure you and those around you are having the experience you want at LARP.

Now that we’re all on the same page as to what bleed is, let’s talk about management tools. 

Check-In System

Dystopia Rising chapters have various check-in systems that are utilized at their games. The one we implement at Arkansas is simple. When you’re initiating a check-in with someone, look at the person you’re wanting to check-in with (try to make eye contact with them if you are able to do so) and throw a subtle thumbs up gesture. As a response, you should receive either a thumbs up, thumbs down, or a “so-so” hand wave. On the thumbs up, continue running the scene as is. For the thumbs down and “so-so” hand wave, back off and go out of character (placing a closed fist above or on top of your head). There, you and the person you are checking-in on can have a steering conversation.

Debriefing

You can do this in many forums, honestly. In our Discord server, we have a channel dedicated to debrief chat. There is also a channel called bleed discussion. You can utilize either of those spaces exactly for that! Or at Afters while eating delicious pizza offers a safe space to have those debrief conversations as well. There will have been some tense moments throughout the weekend and that’s a great time to check in with other players. “Hey, my character was an absolute ass to you. On an out of character level, I’m so sorry. Would you like to talk about what happened?” What I like to do is find my debriefing buddy. 90% of the time it’s Nikki (thank you for your services). If there was a scene that just didn’t sit right with me, I run my experience by her and we hash it out.

Writing

Also in our discord server, we have a channel dedicated to writing game hype or writing prompt responses/funsies. That is also 100% a way to decompress and navigate some of those intense emotions you may have experienced throughout the weekend. Writing about events that took place in your character’s point of view, reliving that moment can be a way to help understand why the bleed took place.

Boundary Setting

Setting boundaries is a great way to protect not only yourself, but others from bleed. If there’s particular scenes that are taking place that you KNOW you’re going to have an issue with on an out of character level, set a boundary that benefits all involved. It can be something as simple as “Hey, I’m not comfortable with your RP interrogation methods. If this is something that you’re set on doing, please let me know so I can step away from the scene for a moment.” Setting those proactive boundaries can make or break your entire experience for the weekend.

At the end of the day, we want everyone to engage in the experience they want from this game as long as they’re being safe about it. Knowing what bleed is and how to navigate it is an incredibly useful tool to have on hand at an event. To understand more about Bleed and its impacts in and out of game, please go check out this fantastic article that deeps dive further into it. https://nordiclarp.org/2015/03/02/bleed-the-spillover-between-player-and-character/

Thank you for tuning in this week and we’ll see you next time. Remember, stay safe in the Wastes!

Wasteland Threats

Howdy Wastelanders!

And welcome to our next segment of Pro-Tip Thursday! Today’s Topic - Wasteland Threats. 

Dystopia Rising is historically a post-apocalyptic survival horror game. While each chapter has their own flavor as to what type of encounters you’ll face or what those horrors look like, one thing is certain; it is inherently more dangerous at night rather than in the daytime. At DR:AR you may find yourself fighting for your fucking life the hardest on Friday and Saturday night where as in the daytime, you may be in a political game with factions or intercepting caravans for their goods. 

At night, it is designed and intended to be more dangerous. Creatures of all types would rather utilize the shadows of the night to execute and hunt. There is a reason you’re more likely to see specific types of zed at night, like a hunter or buried occult, than in the daytime. However, there are some exceptions to this rule. If you find yourself saying “oof, it’s really weird that these creatures that typically show up at night to hunt are all of sudden attacking in the afternoon”, there may be a story reason for it. And part of that is to prompt players to dig into the why. 

Whereas in the daytime, the threats may look different. Raiders and regular zed both will appear in the daytime but their behaviors may be slightly different. In Quiet Hollows, you’ll find that we have more critter encounters in day time (unless it’s Murdeer or Whoop Ass Crane mating season), more factions actively seeking assistance Saturday morning/afternoon, and more strain encounters than we do at night.

That being said, lately it appears that at a specific time frame on Friday nights, specific characters leave town and when they do, a massive threat marches in and rolls the town. It can come off as a punishment for not leaving when the specific characters did, even if that wasn’t the intent. That’s where our rules guides step in. As you may have noticed at our recent game, we have a lot of rules guides this season! The job of the rules guide is vast but one of the main things they’re responsible for is adjusting the encounter to match the challenge that the town has to face. If you find yourself in a particularly over powered encounter, once it’s done you can find the rules guide for that encounter and check in with them. They should be able to provide insight into why a particular situation happened, as long as it doesn’t interfere with the story. 

Remember at the last game Saturday night when Lunos was preparing everyone for buried occult zed to roll into town? They showed up, engaged with the town for way less time than anticipated, and fucked off. Then roughly 30 minutes later, the tank army showed up. Not gonna lie, it did feel like a punishment! It wasn’t until Sunday afternoon when Truate clarified to everyone why that happened. It wasn’t evident to us at first. But that clarification drastically changed my outlook on the situation.

This is a survival experience. Sometimes we find our characters and their friends in tough situations that warrant making complicated and controversial decisions all in the name of survival. It’s not always going to be black and white when it comes to those decisions. But sometimes you do have to ask yourself - what would my character do to survive? Not every choice is going to paint your character as a hero, no matter what actions you take. However, those can make some of the most exciting and compelling stories.

I’m excited to see how this season progresses. There’s a lot of exciting things going on with our experience design team and hopefully, you’ll get to experience them soon. As always, we want your feedback. Please don’t hesitate to use our feedback form or send an email to contact@dystopiarisingar.com.

Stay safe in the wastes!

Non-Combat Engagement

Howdy Survivors!

And welcome to my first Pro-Tip Thursday. I hope you're all recovering well from trade and getting those muscles stretched out after an action-packed weekend. Speaking of which, I had a blast, and I hope you did too! Now, let's talk business. While this is my very first Pro-Tip, I was excited to collaborate with Josh Jaques (AKA Delpho) for today’s segment. Today's topic is something we noticed needed addressing at the last game: non-combat player engagement.

In Dystopia Rising, we use three primary colors of headbands throughout the weekend. While there may be exceptions on some weekends (which will be communicated in opening announcements), you'll typically see the following colors:

- Blue bandana: Indicates a brand new player or "Bluebird."

- Green bandana OR holding a closed fist to the top of the head: Designates a Guide, wind, or out-of-character interaction.

- Orange bandana: Signifies non-combat status.

There are numerous reasons why a player may choose to wear an orange bandana, and it's important for everyone to respect that decision. However, despite being labeled as "non-combat," these players are not exempt from taking damage. Damage is administered in a safer manner without physical contact from a boffer weapon. The initiator of combat must stand approximately 10ft away from their target, point their boffer at them, and call damage in a calm cadence. Environmental effects, areas of effect calls, and “by my voice” calls still impact those wearing an orange headband.

That being said, our local ruling is that orange bands cannot participate in ANY physical aspect of the combat system. They must attempt to avoid the physical aspect of the combat system. Skills can still be used to help out friends and assist in the fight but cannot directly contribute to the combat portion. The exception to this rule is if non-combat players get trapped in a situation where they have no choice but to participate. At that point, we players and NPC’s must engage in the non-com combat system as described above.

We’re making this call because combat is inherently physical in the game and if there are active participants in the combat, there is a high chance to be physically struck despite the orange headbands. In this case, safety will triumph over fun.

Now, what about non-combatants using aberrant abilities to defend themselves or cause damage to a threat? The answer is that non-combat players can use their aberrant/psionic skills using the same point and call system,but must do so to get out of the combat and we still ask them to leave combat as quickly as possible. When I say “leave combat”, run away from the danger. For example, if you’re a non-combat player in the bar when raiders hit it, you should duck and weave to escape. That can look like getting out a door and hiding in the woods and watching from a distance or taking shelter under a table in the bar. If you’re on a mod when combat happens, while you do not have to leave the mod, you should seek to get away from the combat as quickly as possible or to avoid hits. While staff always practice safety checks and monitor combat to ensure safety, accidents can still happen. But what if you're non-combat and want to support friends in combat? I’ve tapped on our veteran non-combat player Josh to help provide some insight! 

To take a Universal approach there are 4 ways an Orange band player gets involved.

1. Gathering resources: This is our bread and butter, since we don’t really focus on combat skills as an Orange band we should be looking for ways to get resources the town needs. Our battle field is in the dirt, trees, water, and frankly anywhere else we can get our hands on those juicy nuggets of materials.

2. Refining resources: Well you just got all those rectangles, what do we do with them? We make shit! Yes, we make shit, and frankly we either give it away or sell it (do this *wink*). The world needs goods, and here is our arena, this is our war. We supply the town! An Army does not march unless their stomachs are full and their boots are well made. 

3. Town recovery: This partially goes hand in hand with Refining, but this aspect is where an Orange band can get in the middle of things. Where we can sit at the edge of a fight and use our resources to heal, or after the fight is done triage the wounded, and help recover the mind, and repair those pesky fractures. Orange can really save the day when we come running back in and spend our resources to power back the fighters so they are ready for the next wave!

4. Research: With the new rules of 1 question per trade you can pick up where others have left off, and get more info to help the town out, or the person, or crew.

There’s a lot of elements that players can encounter in our game that are NOT just combat based encounters. Our Experience Design team has been working on finding ways to allow a safe combat experience in the future for our non-combats who wish to engage more. Much like on the walk-in mod, a majority of the players who were non-combat were able to ride in on some sexy DJ rides.

We’re excited to see you at the next game! Please always feel free to provide feedback on ways we can improve your experience.

Stay safe in the wastes!

A Friday Edition of Pro-Tip "Communciation Flow Chart"

Communication Flow Chart for Dystopia Rising AR. 

Finding the correct answer to an issue can be a difficult task during a game or during the time between games. The same can be said for finding out who you need to speak to solve an issue.

Our goal this year is to be able to speak as one voice.  Too many times in the past communication has been muddied because it is coming from too many different sources which might not have the full story.

So we are going to break this us into two sections to help the flow of information.  We are going to start with the “at” game flow of  responsibility 

The “at” Game flowchart resembles an upside down pyramid 

Guide: 

The Guide in the field is the first line of communication and therefore the most important link in the communication chain.   They are the boots on the ground during the event and can answer a lot of questions.   One thing that we want to remember is that guides are players as well and may be engaged in the story.  So to signal them that you need to ask a question, tap the area on your body where the guide has their guide pin.  So they will know you need help. 

We also want to remind everyone that guides need to eat and sleep as well. So be respectful of their time.

The guide may not know the answer, when that happens they will refer you to the next level of escalation.  The ops desk or the Post Office

Ops Desk /  Post Office: 

During an active game these two locations are information hubs.  The guides at these locations are well versed in their separate realms of control of the game.   

The Ops desk is where to take questions of Rules or Plot.    They also have a radio to reach out to owners/directors if it’s an issue they cannot handle.

The Post Office is where to go to ask about blueprints, materials or other logistic issues. They also have a radio to reach out to owners/directors if there is an issue they cannot handle. 

Employees:

The following employees are responsible for specific information.   

Nikki Robertson is the Lead Logistic Employee.  She is the head postie! 

Ian McReynolds Is the Lead Guide Employee.   Running Ops desk during the weekend and making rules calls  

Beth Bearden is our Lead Settings Employee.  She is responsible for making the camp look good! Ask her about props or settings. 

Cody Padgett is our Lead Writer.  If you have questions about the story. He is your guy! 

Lauren Meyers is our Marketing lead.  Her work is the marketing info you see during the month. 

Like our guides, our employees are players as well.  So remember they need to eat and sleep as well.   

Owners/Directors: 

At the bottom of the pyramid we find our owners and Directors.  

Truate Bearden is our Experience Design Director.  He is the final word on story and rules and anything in-game.

Curtis Haines is our Community management director and customer service director.  He is the one who deals with the interpersonal problems and problems that arrive with the physical camp.
He is on call all weekend.  He is the one to wake up if there is an issue that needs to be solved. 

During the time between games we do not want guides or employees to have to field questions because they may not be in their wheelhouse. So we have two out of game communication channels. 

If you have concerns about your character sheets or a logistic question.  Please Email 

Logistics@DystopiaRisingAR.com 

If you have questions about rules, story or anything of that nature. Please Email 

Story@DystopiaRisingAR.com

If you are unsure which of the two categories are the best choice. Please Email 

Contact@DystopiaRisingAR.com

If you have concerns about a community Issue or safety issue please contact me directly at 

Curtis@DystopiaRisingAR.com 

You can also ask questions in our discord which is an easier and faster way to get information.

The discord channel is being monitored all the time by Truate and I.  Employee’s often hang out there as well, so someone will get an answer for you.


The most important thing to remind everyone that this is no one’s full time job.  Please have patience and understanding while we are working on things for you.

Hopefully this will help us all get better at making sure we are all on the same page. There has been many changes in our community and the game in general.  So if you have a concern or an  issue that you want an answer to. Please let us know.  You can still hit our feedback button on our website or even use the anonymous feedback as well.

Our motto is, “ IF we don't know, we can fix it.”   

Till Next Time survivors!! 

See you in the waste!

Pro-Tip Thursday " Live from the Experience Design Desk!"

Today you get a special gift! As a Birthday Present, I have been given the day off. So, Today’s Pro-Tip Thursday is from Truate at the Experience Design Desk! Take it away Truate!


Good morning survivors! Today's Pro-Tip Thursday is coming from your Experience Design Director Truate. Over the last 8 months we have been making a lot of changes to make our experience better for you all. Well, what does this mean? It means we have several changes that we will be going over today.

Research:

Moving forward we are implementing a new system for all research. Any character with Basic Education will be able to do research once per event. To do so you must spend 10 Mind and 20 minutes of Active Roleplay looking into the subject you are planning to research. If you are asking a question using Lore Infection / Mortis Amaranthine you’ll go to the Morgue. If you are asking a question using Lore Animal about a sea creature you will go to the Docks. If you are asking a question using Lore Wasteland Science you will go to the Artisan Area.

Once you have completed your 20 minutes you’ll fill out a research form and turn it into OPs. This form will be divided into 3 sections where you put the same question you are asking and what lore you are specifically using for your question. Once this is turned in OPs will do one of two things. If they can’t answer the question they will tell you to come back in X number of hours for the answer. If they can answer the question they will answer it with the most direct and limited answer possible. At that point you can spend 1 Mind each asking clarifying questions about the answer you were given. NOTE: Not clarifying questions about the question you asked, but instead the answer you were given. 

Once this process has been completed we will then ask you if you are keeping this research a secret. If the answer is yes, then we will cut out 1 of the research form sections and give it back to you with your answer and take the other 2 and keep it at OPs. If you say no, then we will cut the research form into 3 sections, give 1 to you, keep 1 at OPs, and put 1 on the town board so that others can see what research has been done and who was the researcher.

Can you share lores? Absolutely, although I would encourage you to do the research as well, so you get to ask 2 questions and get 2 answers.

What happens if everyone has done research, and we need to ask more questions? We have built other safety nets in place so that you can have other ways of gaining information about ongoing plots without only relying on research. Lores on Mods are being changed to be more direct about their information and to act as small research bites that when combined will paint a clearer picture. Also anyone can use a Faction Favor Token to ask them to do research on your behalf. You can give them what question you want answered and they will utilize their resources to get you an answer back. 

Why the change? Well for starters this is to encourage more sharing of plot and getting other players involved. By creating this limitation this will naturally cause more players to have to be involved in order to discover what eldritch horrors I’m cooking up in the kitchen. Also this is to fix certain weaknesses in our story design that caused research to be the only way to solve certain plot lines. Moving forward there will be multiple ways to discover answers to your questions without only using the research mechanic, but it will always be a useful fallback for those that want to engage in research roleplay.

Player Agency:

Moving forward Player Agency is going to be more important than it ever has. This means that what you do as your characters is going to ripple out and affect the story a lot more than it has in the past. This means that new plot lines can open up based on the decisions that you make. This is both a blessing and a curse. This means that what you do affects our story to a greater extent, but it also means that you’ll see more responses to the actions you’ve taken. Which brings me to my next point, Consequences. 

Moving forward the story will focus on player choices and Consequences. Consequences can be positive, negative, or neutral. Do you help out a stranded NPC from a disliked faction? Well they are gonna remember that and you may see aid offered to you at an unlikely time. Did you murder a farmer who was asking you to help fix his barn? Well maybe you start seeing higher costs for items you purchase. Do you prevent two NPC’s from fighting? Next time you see them they may have made a deal to not compete with each other due to your intervention.

This system is going to be pretty flexible depending on what you as players do. To give an extreme example of some of the extent the story will respond and the Consequences that can happen. Let's say we have a plot where Murder Inc is targeting characters that don’t help X faction in their time of need. Murder Inc is a heavy CVC and high combat faction. Now let's say that Delpho is specifically going out of his way to not help X faction in their time of need. Josh is a Non-Com and doesn’t engage in CVC, what does this mean?

This means that Murder Inc (The Story) will start to turn its attention to Delpho, and Josh is going to have this story start aggressively engaging with him. If Delpho continues to go out of his way to not help X faction after warnings from Murder Inc NPC’s then we as the Experience Design team are going to send out NPC’s to deal with Delpho the way Murder Inc would. We will still use the Non-Com combat system and not let other players involved Murder Inc engage in this CVC, but the story itself will respond and Consequences will happen. 

Ways to Engage:

One of the things the Experience Design team has been working on is multiple ways for players to engage in any ongoing plots. We’ve already discussed how we are reworking our Lore Interactions with Mods to make them more engaging, but we are also opening up our PFA/CEA Interactions to allow a greater focus of inclusion. 

Many of these will be so that a veteran player can allow newer players to use an ability normally only they would have access to, but to a lesser extent. You can see Shepherds of the Land supervising non-farmers on how to pull up Uncle Bill's farmland. Techno Savants instructing non-crafters on how to bend this metal tube back in place so the generator keeps on working. 

Along with the redesign on mods, we are increasing our passive storytelling. Some examples could include finding a bird prop in the woods with wounds showing marks of MethGators in the area. ZOM’s and Hazards out there with a set of mechanics that also show that the Radiation in the area is increasing. NPC’s with burn marks from the town that blew up a mile away, even though they are there for a completely different reason. 

As we continue this year we will be making even more ways for you to engage in our stories and have agency on where they end up. Depending on how the Scouts improve the camp we could even see such things like a kayaking mod, or swimming mod for specific rewards. All great things to look forward to!

There are many changes coming down the pipeline and we will announce those as they get closer. I do ask that you take the time to thank Cody and Ian for their help in this endeavor as I have been working them to the bone! If you have any questions about these changes or need clarifications feel free to reach out to me to discuss. 

Red Ledger and CVC Content:

Each player is going to be reset for which faction they are taking jobs from. When a character gets involved in Red Ledger they will choose which faction they are taking jobs from. Each player will receive info on each faction on an out of character level. This will give them clear guidelines of what types of roleplay they can expect out of each faction. Once this decision is made they will get it added to their sheet and it can’t be changed easily. To do so will require multiple months of effort and lots of consequences for this change.

War Party will primarily be a chaotic faction that does jobs that can target any faction. These jobs can even target other War Party members. They will gain points for jobs performed and can spend these points on specific items. Many of these items are shady and focus on escape or murder.

Skybreakers will primarily be a lawful faction that does jobs that target the War Party. They will also have jobs that target criminal factions. They will gain points for jobs performed and War Party capture and can spend these points on specific items. Many of these items are law-abiding and focus on catching criminals and helping the town.

This system is designed to intentionally cause conflict between Red Ledger players. This will allow the players that have been craving CVC the ability to participate in multiple avenues of play. 

Conclusion:

Like I said above, lots of changes, but change is a good thing! We will continue to change and evolve as time goes on and do bigger and better things. As always if you have any questions or concerns about this please feel free to reach out to me at Truate@DystopiaRisingAR.com or on discord and I’ll be happy to chat!

Pro-Tip Thursday: Renewing The Social Contract

Greetings Survivors!!! 

Welcome to another addition of Pro-Tip Thursday! 

Today, I am here to do something a little different than the normal shotgun approach at getting useful information into your hands.  For the last two years of me doing pro-tip Thursday we have covered a lot of topics. Some fun, some serious and hopefully they have been helpful overall.   

Today, I want to renew our Social Contract for the new season. To help you understand what I mean when I say this,  let me introduce my friend Seth Skorkowsky and his Youtube channel.  He has a brilliant video on the RPG Social Contract,   I apologize for it being 20 minutes long. But it's a very helpful conversation to have. 

The RPG Social Contract (Revisited) - RPG Philosophy

Ok yes that was a long video.  And yes He is talking about Tabletop Gaming. But, a lot of what he says resonates with us as well.  Now, I can say that I disagree with the statement that the DM is the most important person at the table.  But the core issues remain the same for us.  

Every season we make this social contract with each other.   On one side of the contract we have The guides, writers, employees and director/owners who prepare everything so we can put together a great world to build stories from.  On the other we have you as the player who buys a ticket and comes to the game to embrace the opportunity to tell stories together.

The guides, writers, employees and director/owners come together to bring a great game together for our players to enjoy.   We have to come with an attitude that we are going to have fun helping everyone have an opportunity to work together to tell a great story and enjoy the game. That is what we are here for.  We have been working during the off season to plan out the upcoming year.  We believe that we have done our part of the contract. We are ready to bring a great game to you, the player. 

As a person who started his career in DR as a player, I also understand how hard it is to come to the game with a positive attitude as well.  It's easy to get sidetracked with personal issues, dating issues, medical issues, family issues, work issues, friend issues…  We can be suffering from bleed that is affecting our real life from the game or have our real life issues bleed into what our characters are doing making it harder to tell good stories together.   It's really hard sometimes to leave all that at the gate and come into a game with the right attitude.  But the idea is to remember this is supposed to be fun.  So as a player you want to remember your side of the social contract.

1. Come with the attitude I am going to have fun.
2. I am not going to hog the limelight. Let other players play. 

3. Learn the rules that affect my character

4. Be receptive and Include others.  

5.Remember that our guides are volunteers who are playing the game as well. 

This is where we diverge from Seth’s view of the Social Contract of Gaming.  We are a very large Larp that requires many people to make sure the game runs well and good stories are being told.  Our guides are volunteers that have stepped up and taken on the extra responsibilities required to make the game run smoothly.  It is important to remember that when they are not in their preferred guide role they are players.  Be respectful of their time when they are in character.  Now our guides are awesome people and will try their best to answer questions and help you. But be aware of what is happening for them.  To engage them as a guide. Remember to signal towards their guide pin.  That gives them time to disengage from what they are doing to help you.  But again be respectful of their time.  IF you see them trying to eat or going to bed, give them a break.  You can always go to the post office to ask logistic questions or head down to the ops desk for a rules or story conversation. 

Now there is a part of this contract that both sides have to agree to. That is the most important thing. Communication     

Communication flows both ways, the game runners have to talk to the players and the players have to talk to the game runners.  We need to know what's good and what's bad.   You have often heard me say “If I don't know, I can't fix it” This is the key to making things better.  We have a feedback link on our webpage that you can click on and fill out.  It has a method of being completely anonymous.  What is not communication is people complaining to a guide or each other about an issue.  The guides have all been instructed to tell you.  “You should fill out a feedback form” Because it's not fair to the guides to carry that burden to fix a problem.  IF it's an immediate problem, come find me. That is my job.  It never stops.  I am always the final person who this gets to.  It's my job to manage our community base.  I am always available to help solve a problem the best I can.  I promise I do not bite, and I will be as fair as possible.  I will always err on the side of safety and protecting our players.

The hardest thing that I do is mediate between people who are in a disagreement with each other.  We have a very specific process of escalation, and how we deal with these issues. However, before things get to my level. You have to have an ADULT conversation with Each other! That is the key.  We are all agreeing we are going to play this game together and if there is an issue the first step is we will have an adult conversation between the people involved.  Before it ever gets to my attention.  We are all adults, and we should be able to solve most issues between ourselves by talking to each other. 

However, there is one job I take most seriously. Protecting our players and our community.  If there is a player exhibiting behaviors that threaten any of our players, I need to know immediately.  That is my promise to everyone that this is going to be a safe place to be.  You don't need to engage that person beforehand.  That is an immediate “Talk to Curtis” or if you are scared to tell me personally, please use the anonymous feedback. But please let me reach back out to you for questions.

This has been a very long Pro-Tip and it's a pretty serious one. I promise fun and light hearted stuff for the rest of the year.  But Tickets go on sale Tomorrow at 6pm for our opening game on March 15th-17th.  So it's time we come together and renew our social contract as a community.  I have already renewed it by working with our guides, writers and employees to prepare an awesome season for you.  Now we wait for you to agree and join us at the game.  Then we will tell great stories together.

One of the continuing mentalities that DR Arkansas has embraced during the entire life of the chapter is:
” We are because You are” This has not changed.    

Till Next time my friends…

See you in the waste!  

Ticket go Live Feb 16th

Greetings Survivors!!

IT IS TIME TO START THE NEW SEASON!!!

We will open Ticket sales to our opening game on Friday Feb 16th at 6pm!!!

Our season opener will be on March 15th-17th and we hope to see you there!

First Pro-Tip For the 2024 Season!!!!

Greetings Survivors!!!     Welcome to the afternoon edition of Pro-Tip Thursday!  

This is our First pro-tip of the New SEASON!!!!!!!  

Hopefully you are as excited as I am for the year that we have coming up! 

We have been working like crazy behind the scenes during this break to get things ready for the new year!  I also took a good long break to make sure I was ready and able to bring to you the best pro-tips in the waste!    

In case you are not aware, our first game is going to be on March 15th!  We are risking the weather gods on having a march game!  If the weather is too cold, we won't have water at the lower camp. Keep your eyes on the discord and Facebook for information on camp conditions!  

But let's get to why you are really here!  Pro-Tip time!  Today our topics are going to be about weapons and weapon safety!    I want to lead off with this topic because its time to dig out that gear and start making sure things are in good condition and we are ready to whack each other in safety!  

This information I am about to go over will also help serve as a reminder what it takes for your weapons to pass inspection to be used in game.   Safety is always the first rule.  So if you are bringing in something new to use or just checking your current weapons for the new year you will know what we expect. 

To start off, let's talk about melee weapons.  These are the basic requirements for melee weapons.  

Checking Melee Weapons

• Is it padded two inches on either side? 

• Does it sting you when you are struck?

• Does it have enough foam on the striking surfaces?

• Does the weapon bend too much when swung?

• Is the core dangerous?

• Does it need maintenance?

• Does the weapon meet size requirements?

• Does it meet genre requirements?

Any weapon we have in our game that makes contact with a person needs to pass this check.  We get some pretty awesome looking weapons made by people that we have to decline every year because they can't pass this list.  When buying a premade weapon ( nerf or other)  sometimes they will not pass because they are too hard. Or have a breakable core inside the weapon.   So either new or old,  make sure you check these basics before bringing them into the game.  Some new weapons just need to be broken in so they are not too hard.  Taking it outside and beating it against a tree is a good way to break in a weapon. 

Now we move on to Projectile Weapons! 

One of the fun things we get to do in our game is shoot people with nerf guns.  Who doesn’t like that????   Most nerf guns that have not been modified can pass the following check list. 

Checking Ranged Weapons

• What is the FPS?

• Does it hurt when shot?

• Does it look illegally modified?

• Does it meet genre requirements?

Since you can NEVER use a gun to block a melee strike it does not have to be contact safe.  It is only used for shooting projectiles.    Most Nerf guns fit the FPS requirements. The following is an excerpt from our national book on projectiles

The basis for measuring Dystopia Rising safe blasters will be shifting to FPS limits moving forward and FPS limits will be based on projectile type.

• Full length & half-length darts 130 FPS

• Rival rounds - 110 FPS

• Mega Rounds - 90 FPS

Ammo / Projectiles will have an approved list. Projectiles on this list meet the criteria for what is considered safe at the above posted FPS limits.
Homemade projectiles and at home cut down darts will not be allowed.

The current approved list of projectiles/ brands is as follows.

Full Length:

• Nerf Elite (NE)

• Nerf Accustrike (NA)

• Koosh Darts (KD)

• XShot (XS)

• Dart Zone Bamboo (DZ)

• Adventure Force (AF)

• Worker (W)

Half Darts:

• Worker Gen 1-3 (W1, W2, W3)

• Dart Zone Bamboo (DZ1/2)

• Adventure Force (AFI / 2)

• ACC Gen 3 (AC)

Rival Like Ammo:

• Nerf Rival (NR)

• Headshot (HS)

Mega:

• Nerf Mega

• Nerf Mega Accustrike

These guns are what are already approved.  If you have something else in mind bring it and we will check it out.  The key thing to remember is the following: “ DOES IT HURT WHEN SHOT AT ME FROM 5 feet away?”   

That is the key for both styles of weapons.  Does it hurt?  Most of us know we are a lightest touch combat system.  But that does not stop us from feeling our adrenaline during a fight and whacking someone harder than necessary.  If someone is telling you to check your swings then you are causing pain.  So be aware of this.  

To wrap this up.  Bring out your weapons and make sure they are ready to go.  Make sure they are safe for people and props.   

We can answer a lot of questions in discord and Facebook about weapons, but most often we will tell you it will depend on when we check it at game.     

Hopefully this will encourage you to pull your gear and start checking things!  

Till next Time Friends! 

See you in the waste!!!! 

Final Pro-Tip Thursday of the year!!!

GOOD Morning Survivors!   Welcome to the Final Pro-Tip Thursday of the Year! 

It has been a great year for us here in the Riverlands and we are already looking forward to next year!   We have our new staff ready to start training in February!  We are making plans to introduce a new system in our Ops to help things run smoothly! There are a lot of good things getting ready to roll!  

But that is a few Months away so our Topic today is going to be some suggestions for you to fill some time while you wait for March 15th to arrive!  

First suggestion is to bring out your kit and clean it well!  Take this time to pull out your costume and weapons. Check for damage and make sure that it's clean and fresh.  Also,  while you sit there looking at it.  Add another hole and repair it to give your costume some more Genre. Think about what it needs to take it to the next level.  

This is also good time to craft up some Physical Representations (physreps).  Physical Representations give the game more depth.  So, if you use an item that should have a physrep then the down time of the break is a great time to make those! 

Also, while we are cleaning stuff,  bring out your tents and air them out.  Make sure there is no dirt or mold damaging your tent.  Like your costume you can use this time to think about how to make it look more genre.  I also recommend that you spray another coat of water sealer on it for rain.  Just make sure all your gear is clean and repaired.  And make sure it’s all in one place when you put it up to make sure you can find it all! 

Finally.  Take a break.  Yes we love Dystopia Rising. But take a break, rest your brain.  Relax.   Come to discord and chat with people for fun.  Rest your mind and body to hit the ground running in March!   

We are going to have a great year next year.  I am personally looking forward to what we are planning to bring out for your enjoyment!  

We hope you have a safe and enjoyable new year!   

Till next Year!!!  (intentional Dad Joke!!) 

See you in the waste!

Friday Pro-Tip!!! Morale

Greetings Survivor’s!!    Welcome to another Friday Edition of Pro-Tip Thursday! 

Yes, I will allow you all to collectively sigh and shake your head at the dad joke I continue to tell when I am not actually writing on a Thursday.  The bad news is like all dad jokes, I love saying it so you just have to keep hearing it!  

Since I am in the mood to tell dad jokes, this is my current favorite!!!

What do you call a boomerang that doesn’t come back? A stick.  

What? Did you say you want to hear more?  Ok… One more…

What kind of noise does a witch’s vehicle make? Brrrroooom, brrroooom.

Ok.. I know you are enjoying the jokes and I have made your day! Your Morale has improved!!!! You are ready to go forth and face the world!!!  Do your best and Make good Choices!!! WOOHOOO You can do it!!!! 

LOL… ok I promise I have not had a stroke nor am I under the influence of anything. That is the Topic for Today’s Pro-Tip!  We have a new element that we are introducing to our Online Event next weekend! 

MORALE!!!  

We are introducing a new system that creates a Morale bonus or negative depending on what the players do.  We have many players that are not into the combat options of the game. So we are creating some special Zone Of Mechanic (ZOM’s) that will increase the overall Character Morale of players by participating in those ZOM’s.   

As the event goes the Moral level will fluctuate based on the Characters actions and choices.  The effect will look like the following:

Morale System. 0-125.
0-25 Players suffer -3 to all skills.
26-50 Players suffer -2 to all skills.
51-75 Players suffer -1 to all skills.
75-100 Players suffer no penalties.
100-125 Players gain a +1 all skills.

Players who are not actively in a Mod, can create positive Morale for everyone all weekend long.  The better the overall Morale the better everyone does! The Morale Score will be updated every hour!  So anyone can help increase that score! 

We are adding this on top of our Normal Riverland Roll’s rules that can be found here! 

Riverlands Rolls — DR: Arkansas (dystopiarisingar.com)

We ask that before games start next Friday that you hit this website and have your basics ready to go!    

We expect to have a fun weekend full of challenges, puzzles and many opportunities to engage with many different things.  The character choices will reverberate through our season next year!  So make good choices!   

We are looking forward to seeing everyone next weekend! 

Till then!  See you in the waste!!!

Pro-Tip Thursday.. Friday Edition! Community Empowerment Achievements!

Pro-Tip Thursday- Friday Edition!  

Welcome Survivors!   Yes, this is a Friday edition of Pro-Tip Thursday.  Yesterday was super busy for me so you get a topic today.  And yes, as I went to sleep yesterday, I felt the disappointment of Sorento that I have failed to produce a pro-tip Thursday.  So, I woke up this morning with the determination to actually get it done!    

 Today’s topic is one that I enjoy, and I am looking forward to talking about!  

One of my most favorite things we have here in Dystopia Rising Arkansas is a community of people that care for each other.  We come together to play this game and tell stories with each other.  Like any community we argue with one another from time to time, but overall we care about each other and try to uplift each other.  

Every game we play together, we see our players go the extra mile for each other. This is the power of our community.  We see the players who uplift each other and I know that you do as well.  Luckily, we have a way of saying thank you to these players.  That method is called Community Empowerment Achievements! 

Let's begin this conversation by going to the book and checking out page 138. 

Community Empowerment Achievements (CEA’s) are achievements that can only be awarded if you are nominated for them by your community.  At the end of our November game, we awarded some to players who we felt were going the extra mile. Those were nominated by the staff. But YOU can nominate players as well.  

This can be done on our website at: 

https://www.dystopiarisingar.com/achievements

There are Six CEA’s that can be awarded. 

1. Natural Leader:  

2. Combat Veteran 

3. Wasteland Mentor

4. Oh Captain

5. Friend To All 

6. Compassionate Guard

Now I could type all of the descriptions out or… Or..  you can go read them on page 140 in the book…   That is a lot of typing for me.. And I am lazy…  so go read… 

Once you have read the descriptions. Think about who in our community fits that description. Then refer them for it. 

Every game you read about awesome things that people do for each other at the game. This is another way to say thank you and you are awesome. 

Now you all know that We are looking for people to be guides for next year. All guides automatically receive a CEA.  It's part of the national guide award program. Because guides are just so super awesome they just naturally help the community! Hint Hint… 

So these CEA’s come with perks that you can use with specific items just like the Professional Focus Achievements (PFA’s) you can earn through game play.  So they are worthwhile to earn.  

It's hard to not get super sappy about how awesome I feel our community is. We are not perfect but we are trying to get better every game.  These awards help show we see what people are putting into our community.   This is the icing on the cake of playing to uplift each other.    

It has been another great year here in DR Ark.  

As always, “ We are, Because you are.” 

Till Next time my friends! 

See you in the waste!! 

Tickets are live for our Online Event December 15th-17th

It’s time to spend some time in the River Lands!

Come see what we have prepared for you in our final online game of the year!

https://www.dystopiarisingar.com/tickets

Pro-Tip Thursday Talking about guides!

Good Morning Survivors!   Welcome to a Friday Edition of  Pro-tip Thursday!  Hey, I am still recovering from our last game!  

Today we are going to talk about the role of Guides in our game!  At the end of our last game I announced that it's time for us to start building our guide team for next year.    

Our tradition is that we select our guides for one year at a time.  We do this to give everyone a chance to choose to take a break.  When you become a guide you are committing to coming to 80% of our games.  This year we are going to have 7 live games. Which means we expect each guide to be at least 6 of those games.  So we make it so that our guides choose to come back.   Sometimes life makes it so that people need to step away.  Our tradition allows people to step away with no stigma or guilt. Now trust me when I say we sit with baited breath hoping that our guides choose to come back, because our guides are awesome and they help us so much! 

But invariably, we always need new guides!  So today we are going to discuss the types of guides we have that help everyone have a good time.

Today we are going to pull back the curtain and tell you how the Sausage gets made. 

Our Guide staff is split into 3 different types of guides: Rules, Coordination (Cord) and Operations (ops).   

 Up First we have our Rules Guides, These are those brave souls you see taking the NPC’s from place to place controlling the mods as they interact with our players.  They also help make sure CVC interactions happen per the rules.  They are the eyes and ears of this institution my friends, and without them we live in chaos!   They are the front line of delivering the story to our players.   

Secondly we have our Coordination Guides.  You call them Posties!  These individuals keep this game running smoothly!  While this game is played in live action and we whack each other with Foam Sticks, The post office keeps the paperwork business of the game flowing!  Printing blueprints, writing cards and giving us all paperwork we use to play our game.   

The final level of Guides are the Operations Guides (ops).  The Ops guide is the Dystopia Rising version of the Game Master.  They control the tone and speed of the game.  Our brilliant writers create the mods, but the Ops guide decides when the mods are run.  They take the temperature of the players to determine when they need a break or when they are bored.  These guides are usually our most trained guides we have.  

This is the team we use to run the game.  We have writers and employee’s that do the work between games, but without guides we cannot run the game.  

So after our December online game, we will say goodbye to this year's team. They have been a fantastic team of people dealing with a bunch of issues to make this a great game for everyone. We thank them all for their time and efforts!  

But then it becomes my job to start encouraging people to sign up for next year's team!  We hope our amazing guides choose to return to help us next year. But we always need new people to join the team.  

When you become a guide with us you start as a rules guide or a Coord guide.  If you like to be up and moving, Rules is the place for you.   Now the term Rules guide scares a lot of people, because they  think you have to be an expert in the rules of the game.  This is not true.  We can teach you everything you need to know on how to run mods and rules calls.  Passion is more important than knowledge. 

If you are the type of person that prefers to bring order to chaos, then being a Coord guide will make you happy!  I am sure you have spent time waiting for a postie to help you.  These saints deal with all the paperwork of the game and it comes with a nice chair!    Like our rules guides, we will teach you everything you need to know! 

So I am sure you are asking, “Gee Curtis, what do I get for doing all this volunteering?”  Funny you should ask that!    

There are National benefits for being a guide.  They are the following: 

• One Community Achievement awarded at 3 months service each game year (as they reset at Downfall)

• Marshals can bring one new player to every home game for free.

• 2 free months added to their Advanced Membership

• 10% discount on all Dystopia Rising Merch

Now these are perfectly fine rewards from National, but we have Local guide benefits!  They are:  

• 1 Free Blue Plate Special. This is extra on top of the two you can purchase every game. 

• 1 extra free character change per game.

• 50 caps per game. (an increase from last year) 

• And this year we are introducing a brand new perk. If you are a guide next year we will pay for one of your games next year!  You will still need to pay for extra XP but we will pay for your 4hr ticket!  

If this interests you, go here and fill out the application.

https://www.dystopiarisingar.com/marshal-application

Feel free to reach out to me with any questions you may have!  

Till Next time my friends!!! 

See you in the waste!

2024 Date Announcement!!

Happy Day after Game everyone! I hope everyone had a great game and now feeling that satisfying glow of pain and tiredness mixed with a dash of "lets Do it AGAIN!!!!" If you were not able to make this weekend, allow me to say that you were missed!

We gave everyone this weekend a sneak peak at the following information, But for those who missed it.... WE HAVE OUR DATES FOR THE FIRST HALF OF NEXT YEAR!!!! Due to how the Scouts plan their calendar wont know Sept, Oct and November will fall yet. But our Premier Event will be in November again Next year!

So here we go!!

We are going to open our season in March this year!!!

Opening Weekend March 15th-17th

April 12th-14th

May 10th-12th

June 7th-9th

July ONLINE 12th-14th

August Online 9th-11th

then we will be live in Sept , October and ending our season with our Premier Game in November!

Now our Last game this year will be our Online event on December 15th -17. That means after that game we will Give a hearty thank you and we love you to all our Guides!!! Then we will fire them... Ok not really Fire them.. Our tradition is to ask all of our guides to re-submit their applications to be a guide for the next year.

This tradition gives our Guides the opportunity to choose to not come back to staff. This provides an easy path to choosing to take a break without feeling obligated to keep coming back. Our guides are awesome but we always promote self care. IF a break is needed please take it. You can always re-apply later.

That being said we need guides! DESIRE is more important than experience. We can teach you everything you need to know! So we are looking for Rules Guides and Cord guides (posties)!! If you want to answer the call, Please hit our webpage : https://www.dystopiarisingar.com/marshal-application

Pro- Tip Thursday 11-2-2023

Pro-Tip Thursday the Anniversary EDITION!!!  

Good Morning Survivors!!!    Welcome to the 2 year Anniversary of Pro-Tip Thursday!!

Yes, you poor people have been listening to me ramble on for 2 years now…  

During that time we have covered lots of topics!  Some big and some small. I hope you have found them worthy of your time!  If not… well like I have said before… Its not like you can fire me…  ;-) 

So what is our topic on this auspicious occasion?   What deep, thought provoking and information filled topic do I have for you today?   

Uhhhhhh….   Hang on… I am sure I have one….  

OK,  actually I have few things to say about the Upcoming  Premier Event. 

First,  Ok, the camp is going to be cold during this game.  The forecast is looking like it will be down in the 40’s every night while warming up during the day.  So Layers are going to be your friend!  Make sure you are prepared to add and remove layers during the weekend.  

I highly suggest warm beverages to help keep off the cold.  But no matter what you are doing… STAY HYDRATED!!!!  We always watch each other in the heat to make sure we are drinking.  The same vigilance needs to be in place during these cold days as well.    

Second,  we are having our BIG THANKSGIVEMAS FEAST!   We shall sit down for Dinner Sat Night at 5 pm to 7 pm.  If you have signed up for our Potluck, Make sure your dish is ready to go at 5.   EVERYONE will be at this feast.  So Ops and the Post office will be closed during this time. 

And Finally.   Thank you all for sticking with us.   It's been a bumpy road for the last two years as we have worked so hard to make our game a good time for you guys. Our community survived some pretty big changes and we continue to roll with whatever pops up to deal with.   It is a team effort.  We have continued to lift each other up and strengthen our community bonds.  That is the key that will help us throughout the future no matter what may change.   

As always… “ we are, Because you are”   

Thanks for hanging with us.  

Till next time my friends… 

See you in the waste!

Weekend Pro-Tip Edition

Pro-Tip Thursday the Weekend Edition! 

Greetings Survivors!!!   Welcome to a rainy day  weekend edition of Pro-Tip Thursday!!   

Our topic today is about you and your character!  The game we play is a full immersion role playing game.   When the game starts we drape our concept of who our character is to interact with our fellow players.  Yes, we have a rules-based game where we have to understand how the mechanics work, but the Characters we play are created in our minds.   

Creating the character in our minds can sometimes be a difficult task.  When we are new we are working hard on remembering the rules and figuring out how to interact with other characters. One of the best tools to do this is to create your character's back story.  

A simple definition of a back story is:
back·sto·ry

/ˈbakˌstôrē/

noun

noun: back-story

• a history or background, especially one created for a fictional character in a motion picture or television program.
  "a brief prologue detailing our hero's backstory"

A classic example of a back story is the Amazing Spider Man.  Peter Parker is bitten by a radioactive spider.  He enjoys new powers using them for selfish reasons.  Until his actions lead to the death of his uncle.  This causes Peter to learn the lesson that with great power comes great responsibility. This shapes the growth path for his character from that moment on.  

It is the same for our characters. Each character has to have a starting point. A place to grow from while interacting with the game space and other characters.  As a personal example, I wrote the backstory of Mi’tok to explain why he was, why he took part in the civil war in the tribe and why he is all about gathering resources.  As a character Mi’Tok grew and changed over the course of the years of playing him and telling his story, but it all comes from the story I created in my mind to explain his core.  For an example, Here is the backstory I wrote for Mi’Tok.  

Mi'Tok Back Story

Once you have a solid understanding of your story we invite you to share it with our writers!   Giving our writers access to your character's past helps us drop flavor into our plots that affect your character specifically.  Also it helps them write PFA’s or Personal Plot Requests.   There is often some debate about sharing information with the writers because some believe that hiding from plot is better than getting deeper involved in the story.   That is always your choice, but I believe those who get deeper involved with the story enjoy the weekend better.    

You can submit your characters back story Here!

https://www.dystopiarisingar.com/background 

This page gives some good guidelines for submitting backstories and a link to inappropriate concepts that we do not allow.   

Having a solid back story helps you see how your character is growing and evolving as you play.  It gives you the foundation to how your character thinks and how they would react to things in game.  It also helps you think about how the events of the game helps you to engage with other characters both during game and between games.   

So during this rainy day, It's a good time to sit back and think about where you character actions and motivations come from!  

Till next time Friends!!  

See you in the waste!!