Protip Thursday

Antagonist Guide - Critters

Howdy, Wastelanders!

Critters, raiders, and zed, oh my! There are so many creature encounters one can experience when visiting Quiet Hollows. And not all threats are strain related! During the fall, the levels of radiation have drastically changed not only humans' genetics to adapt to the new world, but creatures as well. There are a handful of different types of critters that can be found in the Riverlands. For today’s Pro-Tip Thursday, we’re going to explore the different types of critters that call the Riverlands their home.

Fire Ants

Boo.

Fire Ants are absolutely a newer critter threat to Quiet Hollows. But they make sure you can’t ignore them. These massive creatures are aggressive in nature and quick to kill threats in their way. Currently, Quiet Hollows is dealing with an ant infestation and they are the primary threat at this moment. Watch out if they bite at you! They tend to infect people with a Fire Ant Poison upon biting. Their chitin exteriors matched with their shitty attitude makes them a threat to be reckoned with. 

Iron Boars

Iron Boars were one of the first critters that we encountered in the Riverlands. These massive boars are incredibly difficult to stop and even harder to put down. When going toe-to-toe with the Iron Boars, be ready for a fight for your life. But be careful - the sounds of gunfire just pisses off the cantankerous beasts and will send them into a frenzy. Approach with caution.

Maneater Croc/Methgator

In the swamps of Quiet Hollows resides a couple of threats. One of those being a Maneater Croc and another is its cousin, the Methgator. These savage creatures have evolved to be even more ferocious than crocs or gators. Big difference between Maneater Croc and Methgator is the size and aggression level. Not only can they blend in well with their surroundings, they can resist having their limbs broken. Avoid the jaws of either creature - it will engage in a death roll with its prey.

Mindrender Murdeer

We all know aberrant or psionic usage attracts the weird and abnormal. One of those things is a Mindrender Murdeer. Take a slightly larger than normal deer, slap some crystals on it’s antlers, give it glowing eyes and a “fuck you” attitude, and you have a Mindrender Murdeer. They are incredibly territorial and absolutely abhor non-aberrants. If you use psionic abilities, they’re more likely to ignore you whereas if you have none, they’ll attempt to live up to their name and murder you.

Night Whooper/Longstrider

At night, you may hear a series of “whoops” that echo in the forest. This is the call to our local Night Whoopers. They’re also referred to as Longstriders to some! These bipedal creatures tend to show up only at night. However for dire situations, they will show up in the daytime. And as long as you’re super chill with them, no harm will come to you. However, if you attack and kill one, you will be marked for death from the creatures. 

Red Fox attempts to console a nervous Nightwhooper in the middle of day.

Racbears

Take a raccoon and a bear and smush it together. Congrats! That’s a Racbear. They are racoons the size of bears. Despite the fact that they are cute and cuddly, they are somewhat intelligent enough to steal from unsuspecting victim’s pockets. Every now and then, one will wield weapons like a raider!

Swampstrider

There is a semi-reptilian version of the Night Whooper known as a Swamptrider. Where the Night Whooper is fuzzy and looks like Bigfoot, the Swampstrider takes on a much more reptilian look, with sparse patches of fur. Much like the Maneater Crocs, this creature resides in the swamps and uses its natural surroundings as camouflage. It’s able to launch a ball of sludge at its targets, slowly burning the skin upon contact. Hope you’ve got great dodging skills if you wander the swamp!

Whoop-Ass Cranes

Be wary of whooping in the middle of the day. It is shortly followed behind the aptly named “Whoop-Ass Cranes.” Night time whoops, more likely Night Whoopers. Whoops in the day? Whoop-Ass Cranes. They love the color red and will collect it for their nests. Depending on the time of year will dictate their level of aggression. While these birds are a pain in the ass, they are incredibly delicious. 

A flock of Whoop-Ass Cranes make their way menacingly to the soon-to-be aware residents of Quiet Hollows.

And that’s all the critters you may encounter at our game! Who knew the Riverlands was home to so many different critters. For a deeper look into the critters and what characters know about them, you can visit https://www.dystopiarisingar.com/critters

Which critter is your favorite one to interact with?

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!



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!