Category Archives: Dystopia Rising

Dystopia Rising Northern California, Season 2 Opener Review

DR, Dystopia Rising, LARP, Post Apoc, Review, ,

TL:DR

  • -Fun game. Planning on going back
  • -Player base is still great
  • -Working well under new ownership
  • -Site could be better but in Northern California, options are very limited

[Note: As this is a review about my experiences at a game, it will focus a lot on my headspace and feelings as well as what actually happened. Writing this, I have found it to be a bit of a guide to how to get involved in a game so sorry for combining that with a review. If you want just a synopis of my thoughts, scroll down to the section under the bunny. The reading time for the whole thing, including this, is roughly 13 minutes.]

Before I begin there needs to be a little history. If you want to read my review of Dystopia Rising NorCal’s first season opener, read it here although it’s not germane to this review. Season 1 ended and plans were being made for Season 2. It was an incredible game with a well running team, some of whom are professionals in the practical effects and prop making industry. The site was an abandoned military housing complex with two dozen two story barracks which was an amazing setting in which to play.

However a series of events at the end of 2019 had the site unavailable, the owner had to sell the franchise to someone else – with the core 3 people at the top also retiring from it – and a massive rules change was made at corporate headquarters that was used to run over a year’s worth on online games due to the pandemic. Comparing the old chapter to the new I do not believe would be fair. My opinion about the old chapter is seeded in a year’s worth of memories that definitely highlight the positives without remembering any of the negatives and a huge amount of nostalgia is there.

As always, this is my opinion from my observations and experiences and I will be drawing on 30 years of experience in the US larping community, having run a very successful game in Northern California from 1994-2001. If others remember events at DRNorCal differently, feel free to comment but these are my recollections. So enough preamble, let’s begin:

The event took place at Kowana Valley – 160 miles/4.75 hours from my apartment near Berkeley, CA. The DRNorCal community spent over a year looking for a new site for a post-apocalyptic game but with the US’s litigious tendencies and the home office of DR setting the prices on tickets without taking into the costs for renting property in California, pickings are slim. This place had very little in the way of natural shading from the sun, no buildings available to the general player base (with the logistics department working out of two large carports) and site lines that sometimes had encounters happening within view of the town camp proper. However, it had been a long time since a game was run, the players were resourceful and we soldiered on. The drive, though long, was a beautiful one and I even got lost on the trip home as I was following the scenery more than the roads.

One of the views I had on the way to the game

I set up my canvas tent, got myself checked in and then headed over to the settings department where I handled makeup and costuming for the NPC’s from 9pm-1am. We had very few NPC’s but they did a terrific job of heading out into the game and starting the ball rolling on the stories for that weekend. I had worn 4 layers that night but I had not brought a winter coat. So even with thermals and a hoodie, by the time my shift was over, I had to make a conscious effort not to have my teeth chatter. I was looking forward to my cot, sleeping bag and blankets. Though I had forgotten something about group camping and I spent the night awake until around 4am due to the snorers nearby until I finally passed out. I have trouble sleeping for any period of time normally but this had me up every hour, realigning my covers to fix the cold spots and try to get my phone with its white noise generator near my head. My morning came around 10am during this fitful night and I ate ‘in genre’ which meant a cold can of Beanie Weenies (not a sponsor) and some crackers. Got dressed in my kit I made during the downtime and headed out into the game world.

Proud of the kit, not of the background

Most of my time was spent saying hello to old friends and listening to what was going on around town. I’m not a very ‘in your face’ type of player and prefer to just listen. There were the zombie (zed) raids hitting the town from time to time but I wasn’t really finding a story. Granted, I probably could have asked but between the drive, lack of sleep and doing my best not to freeze that night (I should note that the weather service had said a low of 47 F so it was only around that), I wasn’t in the best of moods. I decided to head off on my own, do a little exploring and gathering of in-game resources to try and get myself realigned in a better frame of mind.

I got back just in time for the town meeting. Normally I avoid these but this time I felt I needed a refresher on what this town (which had been played via online Discord (not a sponsor) games) was facing and all about. Found out there was a mining operation not far from town and that this was most likely the source of not only the uptick of zed but also some minor tremors as well. They did a sort of roll call of “Who can do this?” and people raised their hands. I put up mine for the two things I could do then talked to some people and said, “Hey, I can help you with X, just let me know when.” I got the head bob and then was left to my own devices for another hour.

I could not salvage anything more due to my character being out of mind energy so I headed back to my (now too warm) tent, plopped on my cot and began playing a game on my phone. I had begun to regret coming to the game. My head was going through all the costs – gas, food, kit, ticket, etc. – that got me here and how I’d be more comfortable in my climate controlled apartment and probably have more excitement playing on an MMO. Then I remembered one of my rules of larping: You get out of a game what you put into it. I had always played with increasing the experience for others above my own and had found that that really increased mine as well. So, forcing a mind shift that I knew would only last for perhaps 30 minutes before my old friend apathy came back, I headed out.

Every game has a few of those players/characters who everyone likes and tends to be in the middle of the mess. The character I targeted is called Del. I told him my skill set and I wanted to help the town. He told me he had been looking for a proficient salvager to teach the trade to a new arrival at the town. He introduced me to the character Ahti and we spent the next half hour talking about the differences of salvaging on land versus that at sea (our area is known as the Broken Coast – basically the west coast of the US that succumbed to its tectonic ways and fractured into a massive archipelago). With the new skill, Ahti headed on out, hopefully to make a fortune. I found Del again and told him everything was done. He nodded and told me that people were looking to copy some prints and as I was a master educator, I could help with that. So I got paid to make some blueprints then worked to gather enough supplies for someone to make a special med kit and suddenly I was back into the swing of things. Meeting people, using my skills where I could and helping others use theirs to get to their goals.

Del, the man who knows what’s happening some of the time


Now that I had my groove back, I began to talk to people with more confidence. That night, I was asked to help with a couple of NPC’s. There are plans for a railroad to be built near the town and two different factions wanted to do it. There’s a lot of stuff about the two but either one sounded to me (at the town meeting) like a good deal. So I was going to let those in charge decide. However, none of those in charge were around that night. Apparently my work that day had given people the idea that my character was higher in the pecking order than I expected. And, being the helper that I am, I went to help. Unfortunately, I negotiate like a brick negotiates with a pane of glass. So I left there thinking either I gave the leaders some time to come back into game, learn what was said and get things ironed out or I just started a railroad war. Either way, I was nice to be ‘in charge’ even for a short bit.

The rest of the night consisted of a revel, tremors and a massive push of zed wearing our arch nemeses’ armor and using their tactics. I’m simplifying as I looked back on this review and realized I am already over 1,500 words into it. Suffice it to say, I was having fun. Though I do have to mention one more thing. A son of an owner of the above train company came into town to talk. I cannot really put into words the emotions that happened during this though it struck me as a little savage. The way they talked to him slowly became more of an interrogation to the point of torture. It was one of the more heavier things I’ve seen players do at a game.

The part that really got me is that when he was leaving, a small group of zed ‘kidnapped’ him. While most of the older characters there simply shrugged a ‘good riddance’ to him, the new players leapt after the guy, realizing that we’d be blamed for his death. Despite the odds, they managed to bring the son back alive. Kudos to the new players. Not sure how much goodwill that will bring as baddies are notorious for twisting a good deed into a bad thing but still – well done.

I decided to sleep in my car that night, having moved all my bedding to it earlier in the day. However, my final trip was cut short when I was jumped out of nowhere by an NPC that took me down in under two seconds. One bad thing about my new kit is that my peripheral hearing is dampened. I was eventually rescued but every time I wanted to go to bed, I’d get part of the way there, see that little stinker hiding in the shadows, and I’d run back to the safety of the group. Though I finally made it to my car safely and slept a wee bit better than the night before.

The next day there were only 3 hours before game was to be called but I was asked to help research the tremors that had opened small fissures in the ground and were producing flammable gases that could blind and make people lose their mental strength (needed to perform most tasks that weren’t simple). After working with a group for almost an hour and coming up with the questions we could ask, we found out that there was most likely a snake-like creature burrowing under the ground and that perhaps the mining activities have pissed it off.

Side note: When given new information about a plot hook, don’t immediately say, “Oh, just like X.” Maybe the writer intentionally or subconsciously was influenced by Tremors but it’s never nice to make that comparison in front of the creator. Show some tact.

The rest of the day was spent saying my goodbyes, breaking down my tent and doing a quick cleanup of the site. Then it was a 5 hour drive home to say hello to a very ignored and irate rabbit.

Don’t care about game, give me treats!

So there’s my journey. What are my thoughts on the game? It seems to have a good structure. There was more fighting than I prefer but that’s what most people are there to enjoy. The story lines I encountered seem solid with just enough mystery to keep things interesting and it’s always nice to see a game where they put a reason behind the plethora of attacks on the town. As always, the player base is the most important part of a game and this one is very helpful and inclusive. Unlike a lot of other larps, they understand knowledge is power but only if that knowledge is shared and put to use. I have yet to encounter a player who wasn’t helpful and welcoming (in their character’s way).

Would I recommend the game to a new player? Yes, though I will point out that this was the first event under a new story group and owners. Also need to take into account the travel time and costs related to that. It usually takes a couple of events to get all the bugs worked out. It’s also why I rarely do a review of a first game but as it was run by people who have a lot of experience within the game world, I figured it was fair to do it. I know I plan on returning to the game next month.

Sinn & Conn Valley – Review Dystopia Rising, Northern California

DR, Dystopia Rising, , ,

TL-DR:

  • The players made the game – all 217 of them
  • Higher immersion than most US games I’ve played
  • Had to do a lot of talking to finally find my niche
  • I liked it and will be going back

 

As always I will start off with a few caveats:

  • I have played DR twice, once for 24 hours in Southern California about 4 years ago – the review of which can be found in the blog history – and once for 6 hours at a convention
  • There has been some talk about DR overall that has been less than sterling – I am not going to touch on that here. I am only going to be reporting on the chapter/game I attended. If you want to know more, google is your friend
  • I will probably do some soapbox/ranting in areas. Deal with it.
  • I’m a grumpy old LARPer. Expect me to be a little more critical of things.

  

The Good

These are the things that stood out for me in the game. There was probably more but this is what resonates with me.

Players
This is a tie between the first and second thing people experience when attending an event – with logistics/check-in being the other. But it is what players will have the most interaction with at any game. Not plot, not NPC’s but other players. As such, this really sets the tone for a new player (which I felt I was as I had not played in this chapter or in any DR game for more than half a decade). I have played in games where it is set up so that players form groups and cliques where a new player has very little recourse to get involved in the game unless they come in with a friend already established in a group. I have played in games where it is all about the singular player. I must be the leader, I must be the best fighter, I must have all the cool treasure flow through me, etc. Both of which turn me off rather fast. As a new player I shouldn’t have to struggle to enjoy the game.   Either the GM’s need to tailor the game to benefit/include new players as equally or even more so than existing ones or the players or the existing players need to seek out the new players and help them along.

Although the staff did some of the first (you can read it in my ‘timeline’ at the bottom) it was really the second that was amazing. You walk up and talk to any long term player and they will be more than happy to help you with any aspect of the game. And if they see that you’re lacking in something, they will readily give it to you without asking. “I see you’re a fighter. Here’s a better weapon to use. You’re a crafter? Here’s some stuff to craft with.” They will be willing to sit down and talk for over an hour (this happened to me) about options for your character and which paths to consider following based on what you want to do. And I should note that this was all done in character – although the DR system lends itself to it.

There were 217 players at this event and I didn’t come across one that wasn’t willing to help me with whatever question I might have.

One more thing to add. The opening of a new chapter is often called a “Trade Meet” or something similar where players from all over the US attend. Hence the large number. These veteran players remember how hard it was to get their games going, leveling up, finding out how things worked, etc. just like every other game. However, unlike other games, they don’t have the mentality of “Since I had to do it, everyone should have to do it.” Instead they are of the opinion of “I know how much it sucked, so let’s not have it suck that bad for new players.” They did a lot to jumpstart the chapter as far as setting up crafting, networks to other chapters, explanation of skills, abilities, unknown things that you can only find out in game, etc. Just from what I learned in this game, I cannot imagine playing on further without having been exposed to this information.

Props/Costumes
I believe that the person who owns the game is a professional prop maker from LA. The stuff he made was amazing and the stuff that was store bought was also incredible. You rarely didn’t know what was about to beat down on you. Combining this with the setting meant staying immersed was almost as easy as breathing.

The Setting/Location

The game is set in a post apocalyptic world and as such they found a great location to have it in. Roundhouse Productions is an airsoft company that rents out a portion of the decommissioned living quarters of Fort Ord in Marina, CA. These buildings are old – as being built before or during WWI. As such, dilapidated barely describes them. However, most of them are safe to walk in and some are even safe to occupy for overnight sleeping. Yes, there are airsoft pellets everywhere, but I just envisioned them being large pieces of sea salt from the nearby coast. There’s also a lot of graffiti on them which led some players to write various slogans (both in and out of game ones) that Roundhouse wasn’t too happy about. It seems though that the staff has smoothed things over with promising to cover up all unauthorized tagging. Despite that though, it worked great to keep you immersed in the game unless you had to use the bathrooms and had to head to the parking lot or happen to be on a second story of a building that you could see the outside world from.

There was some dangerous buildings we weren’t allowed into and some that we couldn’t occupy due to structural issues and a LOT of broken glass. But again, a very good site that needed literally no changes to it to set it up. But players did add their flare with props, set pieces, etc and it helped to make things look a lot better.

Choices
The game has 131 skills that can be allocated via your choice of 16 strains (aka races in other games – although some were not allowed and others required special permission), and 37 professions (classes). And then there are advanced professions that require players to meet a certain set of criteria (usually class and expenditure of XP in certain skills/abilities) above and beyond those. And yet, I never felt like this was overly burdensome. Those that affect combat are quick to understand or explain (in my experience) whereas those out of combat may be a little more complicated but you don’t have to call a hold to deal with it. Speaking of which.

1 Hold Call
That’s all I experienced in the weekend. There may have been more but that’s all I heard.

New Player Mod
All new players have to go on this, and should. It is an in game introduction to the setting, the current situation within the setting and even gets you a small taste of how combat works. Not to mention when you look around, you know it’s the first time for everyone there and so you can sort of help one another. Very well done. ((Full disclosure, I did not go on this game’s new player mod but I had been on one before and it works very well).

New Player Lodging and Armbands
Although not required to do so, a building was set aside for new players to set up camp in (you can use self standing tents in the building or simply sleep on a cot in the room) and if you wear a blue armband, it alerts others to you being a new player. This is helpful in a couple of ways. First, staff will be a little less ‘lethal’ on you (although not always – see Timeline below) as well as allowing veteran players know who might need a little extra help if they start to flounder.

Online Check-in
That’s right. You don’t have to email logisitics and hope everything gets handled. There’s a national database, you log in, say which game you’re going to, choose all the bells and whistles (updates to skills and characters are done in the game not between them) and you’re all set to go. There is a second step after you register for a game where you then click through much of the same stuff again to check in, but still it’s better than trying to find out through email if something was taken care of. This Online Check-in stops the Sunday before the game.

Consequences of Actions
I have rarely seen this happen at LARPs. Usually the staff leave crime and punishment up to the players but that just results in the strong ruling the weak. In this game, everyone is weak compared to what plot will bring into the game if someone messes up big time. As such, a character’s actions will have consequences if they act without the greater good in mind. Doesn’t mean you can’t be a sneaky, thievey, greedy person – just make sure that when you do it, it is also benefiting the town and not just yourself.

The Bad

I am usually more harsh in this section but to tell you the truth, most of the stuff below was spelled out in the rulebook so I knew it was coming and really wasn’t that big of an inconvenience. I should note that all of them are literally written into the rulebook so by going, I accepted that these things would happen. They will also all but mirror the issues I had with Hell Dorado five years ago in Southern California

Mandatory NPC Shifts
When you have 217 players showing up, I can completely understand the need for this. And I can also simply pay $30 more and be exempt from it – if I buy that option early enough (I didn’t). But 4 hours out of the 48 hours, less than 10% , it’s not so bad.

Have To Sleep In Game
I like having my 6 hours. But unless I bring a doctor’s note (not kidding) I have to sleep in game. I understand their reasoning but I’d be just as happy to leave my sleeping bag there with all my stuff and say, “Leave me a note that I was killed in my sleep if you take anything” and get rest in my car. Now, with that being said, I was woken up only once each evening so it wasn’t a major issue.

Lot of Downtime for Non Combat Characters
Apparently I made an oopsie making a Mad Scientist for a new chapter as the skills I had chosen were absolutely useless – except for me being able to read a chalk board so someone who couldn’t talk could communicate with someone who couldn’t read. In addition, crafting requires the use of Blueprints – although copies can be made by various professions in the game. However, one of the simplest of items (a drink that restores 2 mind points) takes 20 minutes at a proper workstation and making a copy of the Blueprint takes an hour at another proper workstation. I’m sure that there’s ways to batch or expedite this but that’s totally Find Out In Game (FOIG).

Lots of FOIG
Every game has this. But when I was going over a new profession with someone, my ghasts were literally flabbered with the things that I had no idea were in the game. Profession specific weaponry, Strain specific armors. Every chapter has a local only resource that can only be found in that chapter (it can travel though) For Sinn & Conn it’s Lithium for Scrap and I never did find out what the Herb one was. The good news is that a couple enterprising veteran players have put together lists of things so you can look at what you can get your hands onto – if you can find someone willing to part with such a list. Or you have to talk to someone who knows the craft (such as Farming) to learn the tricks and what it offers. They say this is a game mechanic to force interaction between players and it does work, but I hate being forced to interact with people – curse of having social anxiety. Luckily as per my first “The Good”, the players were amazing people.

Lack of Story?
So first off, the opening of a new chapter is often called a “Trade Meet” or something of that nature. It’s a time and place where people from all over the US come to meet up, trade stories, trade resources, trade Blueprints and basically have a good time seeing old friends while playing the game. But as far as a story goes, I didn’t see one other than “Keep your head down, show your papers to the Children of Abaddon and don’t get killed by any NPC.” If there was some plot happening, I couldn’t find it. I found a lot of things players were putting on though (magic shows, parties, etc) and to me, that’s a plus. Player driven plot can be some of the most fun and interesting plots of all and I hope to add more of them to this game in the future.

Timeline

This is a timeline of my involvement with the game, including character creation until I drove off the site.

So, first off, I had played DR before, so I had a character on the books. He was not one that I enjoyed playing (way too extroverted for me) and was a restricted class for this chapter so I asked for a rewrite (you can do this up to your third game). I asked the staff if there was a certain strain or profession they’d like to see or something that was missing that they would want and I got the usual answer “Play what you’d like to play.” Well I like to play a character that can help out the other characters as a whole but not too keen on healers. After going back and forth for a bit with myself, I came up with a Bridgewalker Mad Scientist called Professor Lawrence. I went with Baywalkers because they can learn stuff quickly, their main defining feature is visible tattoo(s) and lots of pockets on their characters. In addition, in the setting, a huge colony of them live at the Stanfjord Citadel and many are book learners. So that played into my Mad Scientist choice because – well there’s not a lot of games I know of or can attend that have Scientists.

They gave me the beginning number of XP and I asked why this was since I have an older character. They said that all new characters start with the same XP but I have 8 extra XP (12 once game starts) that I can spend in game when another player teaches me something. So I chose what I would as a beginning character. I took Literacy so I could read. Then I took Repair so I could help repair people’s items and I took SCIENCE! as this allows me to lend my mind points to help with massive science experiments. Oh, and I had to spend my remaining points so I put them into my mind pool so I had 8 health and 12 mind.

I made an appropriate costume, had no combat abilities so didn’t need a weapon, loaded up my car and drove the 3 hours to the site. When I got out, I walked up and saw someone holding a bunch of papers. I said “I’m a new player (technically), where is the new player lodging?” She pointed to a map and showed me the building and then asked if I had completed online registration. I said I had, she looked through her stack of papers, handed me my character, found out I had no weapons to check so said, “Have fun!”

I made 4 trips from my car to the building I was staying in, choosing the farthest back corner on the second story, hoping I would be safe. Foolish me (later). And I ran into a person I larp with at another game so my social anxiety lessened as I latched onto him.   Then about an hour behind schedule (SOP for many games I’ve attended and I expected it with a brand new chapter), the opening announcements were made. They were succinct, simple and we were off. And, in my case, that meant to NPC as I chose first shift to get it out of the way.

I was going to play a soldier of the Children of Abaddon – basically the people who were currently ruling Sinn & Conn Valley as an authoritative regime/police state. They kept the zombies (zeds) at bay and we did what they told us to do. Even had a list of laws we had to obey. Most carried penalty of death. We were to help out with the new player mod with helping the players experience some combat. So we waited for the zeds to be made up. And waited. And waited. I think it took them over an hour and a half to make up a dozen zombies. Now granted, the main makeup artist was also the person running the game and we couldn’t find where his makeup stuff was and being a makeup artist, there is pride that goes into the work – but as a long time larper, I learned that the nuances detailed work on zombies that are appearing at 10pm at night without any outside light source is lost to the players. Especially when the zombies respawned only 3 times and then the players left. But the zombies would be used again and again that night.

I then went back out as a Raider – think Mad Max crazy raiders – that hid in a mine shaft and we waited for the players to open it, then ran out twice trying to cut them down but they bottle necked us at the mine opening so it was nothing. I then sat around for the rest of my time, left, headed to my cot and went to sleep.

And was woken up by someone swinging into my gut for 7 points of damage. Startled and incoherent, I managed to hear someone ask to see my identification papers. I held out my wrists and said, I’m Professor Lawrence. I’ve been a resident of Sinn & Conn Valley for the last 7 years. My lab blew up last night taking almost everything I own with it – including my papers.” One of them recognized me as a resident and told me I had until noon to get my papers or else I would be executed. I nodded and eventually went back to sleep.

When I woke up, I went to the Post Office (aka logistics for many games) and told them that apparently I needed papers but wasn’t told that since I was in the first wave of NPC’s. They quickly wrote me out my papers and I was back into game. I gave some simple introductions to players as to who I was and what I could do for them however there was no SCIENCE! happening at this game apparently and people already had other people that could repair their items. So… I went back to my cot and slept, walked around seeing what was happening, investigated some buildings, built my mad scientist lab (that doesn’t do anything IG) and so on for most of Saturday morning. Basically lacking any usefulness (aka fighting) abilities, there really wasn’t anything for me to do that I could find. Granted I wasn’t talking a lot because I was still a little sleep dep from the waking up in the middle of the night and mixed with my normal aversion to talking to strangers, I wasn’t putting myself out there.

Mid afternoon, I finally approached someone named Bremmer (or Bremerton) who seemed locked into the game and told him my woes. That I was a scientist that didn’t seem to have anything useful to contribute. He told me that I should become a Farmer. He then rattled off a lot of things that I could do with that combination as well as the benefits of being a Farmer. I asked another person, they too said Farmer. I found THE Scientist of the game – the one everyone knows throughout the chapters whose name is currently escaping me – and the second thing he suggested (I again forget the first) I do is become a Farmer. I should note that my conversations had more than just this.  We talked about how to do Science, the weakness that come with being a mad scientist, that I need to get a long white coat, etc. But I then walked into a building and asked if there was a farmer who could teach me how to farm.

There I met Rico. I’m not going to say that he’s THE Farmer of the game but he sure seemed like it to me. We spent over an hour talking about farming, how to maximize production and yields, what boosts I need to get to get even more out of farming and how working in conjunction with another farmer can, through other buffs, double both our yields. This man knew how to play the system. I am, however, years away from being able to do this (unless I buy a lot of XP) but at least I had a new direction and spent 10 of my 12 XP getting my second of a maximum of three professions. Now I had a goal!

And then some players killed some Children of Abaddon soldiers. The town went on lockdown and we were stuck in our lodgings for over an hour as the CoA searched for the murderers and even tortured some of the new players as they were using their lodgings as their base of operations. They killed one visiting player who surrendered and executed another publicly (which the townspeople thanked them for) and the lockdown was lifted.

Most of this time I spent paling around with my friend from the other game who was playing a large meat shield named Misha. So he hit things and I ran to get other people to help him hit things. But during this time, something hopped out of the darkness, hit me once and dropped me to the ground. Luckily I remembered I could speak while down so people found me and healed me up with a couple minutes of RP doctoring.

Then some other people killed some more CoA. This is something that gets my goat at many games. People bring in 21st century American/Democratic ideals into a non-21st century American/Democratic game. The Children of Abaddon may be militant asshats who will execute you for loitering but they are the ones in charge and the ones who are defending the town against hostiles. Not doing a fantastic job but doing it nonetheless. The other players are playing people who come from different lands with different ideals and decide that we need to fight these fascists. That’s all well in good, IF they are going to stay in town from now on and help not only fight the Zed and other invaders but any reprisals from the Children of Abaddon. Someday we may get to the level where we don’t need them but the town isn’t there yet (or at least we the townsfolk don’t feel we are). So you may kill the baddies but then you leave and we’re left with the repercussions. Whether or not people want to believe it, in a post apoc setting, democracies will always fall to militant regimes. Strict obedience is required to survive or else someone else with more fire and stricter structure will simply overrun and absorb you. It’s either that or be on the run all the time. But nope, we hate it in modern society so we much rise up against it in fictitious societies.

As I was trying to make my way back to my lodging without being arrested, I came across a group of players outside. One of them mentioned that they had broken the law 17 times so far and that he did it so much that the CoA just shake their head and walk away from him at this point. I told him that was not good but left him alone as I headed home. However, I got sidetracked to the bar in town and while there, the CoA came in with that 17 law breaking character in tow, stated that his flagrant disregard for order of this town would not be tolerated and he was executed on the spot. So I decided that it was best if I turn in for the night. During the night, I was woken by soldiers to be told I would be needed for a major offensive the next day. I told them I couldn’t fight nor heal. They asked what I could do, I said “Science!” and they responded with that I couldn’t Science something to death so I was useless. Yay! Validation!

I woke up the next morning and ran into Rico who gave me a Blueprint for a mind healing brew and a lot of herbs to get me started. I then ran into Bremmer again and it turns out he was the person who surrendered and was executed the day before. I had come across his box of Blueprints while he was dead and had turned it over to a friend of his and through some sleuthing, we figured out who it was and managed to get it back into his hands. He then introduced me to a major trader within the game world. The trader said he needed someone who wasn’t out killing things to help run a new branch of his business here so I volunteered. He paid me a credit as a new employee and wrote on my character sheet that I had a new faction I belonged to. He also promised to send me a care package (have no idea how that works) to help get me started. So after laying the groundwork Saturday, I have found a couple of different angles now to work within the game and not feel so useless.

After that, I had to leave early so I packed up my crap and did my required cleanup of policing trash on the outskirts of the site for 20 minutes. Turned over my character sheet and headed home.

Review of Dystopia Rising – Hell Dorado

DR, Dystopia Rising, Hell Dorado, LARP, Post Apoc, Review

I attended SoCal’s Dystopia Rising (DR) event this past weekend (March 13th – 14th, 2015) and here’s what I thought of it.

TL:DR
Rating it a 7 out of 10. Will play in a chapter that opens locally to me. Has its ups and downs like most games.

BULLET POINTS
Pros:
– A game with real fear of death
– A lack of any obvious power gap
– Community building built into the game setting
– A pleasant mixture of combat and non-combative encounters
– A good number of players working on making their own entertainment

Cons:
– Incredibly long time to check in
– Unimportant encounters
– Encounters that could only be completed if someone had a specific skill
– Unable to leave early without permission
– A way to engage new players into the world/setting
– A few other things that most US boffer LARPs suffer from

DETAILED REPORT

I want to put in the following caveats:

1) I attended this game as a new player with the mindset of not knowing a lot about LARPing. I only read areas of the rulebook relevant to my character. I didn’t pre register nor did I have a character sheet in hand. I wanted to see how things went in this way as I’d say half of people attending a game for the first time arrive at the game this way. Many things I recount could be lessened or avoided entirely with pre-registration, reading the rulebook multiple times and researching all data online.

2) These are my opinions and observations made at one chapter of one game in one 24 hour period. There may be things I did not know about, things that I missed and so on and I’ll stipulate to all of them. However, this is what a person playing a game for the first time walked away with – for good or bad so no matter the reasons for what I gleaned, I gleaned it.

3) I tend to be more critical about LARPs than others. I’ve been doing this for over 20 years from building my own game to attending dozens of different systems and hundreds of different events. As such, I try to look for things that I don’t see at other games as the only real positives while pointing out continued errors that all other games seem to make. Call me an elitist or hard ass, but at 47 years of age, my time and funds are limited and I don’t have either to waste on things I don’t enjoy.

Timeline Of My Game Experience and a Few Thoughts With Them

After a 7.5 hour drive down from San Francisco, I arrive at the address at night for the game (15 minutes before the game is scheduled to start). As the area seemed like a vacant alleyway, I wasn’t sure I was in the right spot. But I find a sign saying “Event Center” and an open gate so I’m assuming this is the place and begin driving in. After half a minute driving, I see a singular tent lit up and find out it is the OOG/medical area where people set up when they have to (for medical reasons) be away from the action. The person there instructs me to continue down the road further and there I find over three dozen cars parked. It turns out that the location is actually a site for a Renaissance Faire. But a few DR signs at the gate and along the way would have helped out a great deal.

I get into costume and head into the place but as most people know about fairs, it is big and there isn’t any light. So once again I’m hoping I’m heading in the right direction. I finally home in on some talking and light and find my way to the main meetup area. Once found, I head out to find a portajohn (I did just finish driving 8 hours) and on my way out, a person in what I felt was somewhat of a gruff tone yelled at me “Hey, you. Human. Listen up. Move it.” So I head into the listen up. This is a 20 or so minute talk about the game. Some of the important parts covered were:

It is an adult game
It is a game that will push you to some limits – emotionally, physically, mentally
It is a game that will kill your character
It is a game where running away is not only an option but often the first option
It is a game that will not tolerate any sort of harassment or discrimination
If anyone has any issue at any time to contact the staff immediately

I felt that the talk took a lot of time to say “Act like an adult and don’t be a dick” but these days it is something that apparently has to be told to people… repeatedly. Then with a wrap up of where the various important stations were (medical, logistics, NPC areas, etc.) and sending off all the old players to their beginning areas, all the new players were taken away to go through new player orientation.

The orientation covered basic combat and basic rules, some history of the world around us, how to get explanations of effects while in game and that the game was a very lethal game. That when dropped to zero, you are still conscious, can still talk, scream, yell and that you should do so all the time. We then went off to participate in a new player module. A little less than an hour of 35 new players walking into town with a little bit of combat happening so we could get used to the way things flowed and so on.

Then, just as we entered the town, we got hit with a big bad guy. This thing was swinging enough damage to drop any new player outright. Old LARPing programming kicked in to the players and people began to try and take down the creature. It took three people being dropped and my screaming from the ground, “Run, you fools!” (yup, turned into Gandalf for a moment there) to get the rest of the new players to turn tail and run.

Luckily I was picked up by someone and pulled into the town proper. There someone else ripped open my button down shirt and began using a real staple gun (sans staples) on me to close up my wounds. That alone was an amazing experience and adding to the triage that was happening around me, it really got my blood pumping. For clarification purposes, I had an undershirt on and sheasked if I accepted physical roleplay – which is something else people take seriously – and in my opinion, sometimes to extremes. One person asked if I accepted physical roleplay just to shake my hand and, while doing so, heal me of my wounds. But I feel it is better to err on the side of caution then to violate someone’s personal space.

Shortly after this initial encounter, I had to go and register for the game. It took nearly an hour for me to be processed with three other people due to some issue with loading the database, speed of the computer, etc. Once it was up though, I was processed quickly and the people were very helpful. So now with my weapons approved and a character sheet in my pocket I was ready to get back into the game.

I quickly learned that night that this is a game of community. If you were out on your own and came across a bad guy, your chances of surviving were slim. This is not a game of being the lone hero mowing down several baddies – it is a game where if you manage to find someone to drag you back to a healer before you bleed out, you had a good day.

In addition, there will be creatures that require a specific skill to defeat. During the first night, a group of creatures could only be defeated by someone with the “Refuse” skill. Others required an “Awareness” skill to see them coming and yet another required the “Double Tap” to keep them down permanently. In addition, I came across a skill that made no sense where a ‘feign death’ made it impossible to kill the NPC. In my mind, I was thinking, “Feel free to fake that you’re dead, I should still be able to slice you up into little pieces.”

I went to bed around 2am and got back into it around 8 (I slept in my car so I missed out on any terrors of the night). The day was fun. I’m not going to list all of the encounters I had during it as there were many. However, it seemed that there were three basic types of combat encounters. One was the crunchies; where there were just a lot of things that everyone could kill. The second was the toughers – took a lot to take down or had the singular skill to kill them and I tended to run from those. And the third were those that everyone simply ran away from because unless you were able to defend against multiple special attacks, knew the rules really well and had the right people with the right skills with you, you were all doomed. Unfortunately my character’s strain (a strain is like a race in other LARP games) was one that was always happy to jump to the front and that’s what I did a lot.

But it wasn’t just combat. There were a lot of interesting diplomatic situations and situational puzzles to figure out. In addition, there were a couple of parties held, presents given out to players by NPC’s at them and, in one instance, enough cookies to even make Cookie Monster say, “I’m full.” Most of the ones that dealt with long term plots/plans for the chapter I opted out of since I wasn’t going to be a recurring player in the chapter so I didn’t want to become too engrained into it.

There were also plots that happened between players. And that’s a second part of the community aspect. The various strains have built in likes and dislikes of other strains and communities of the strains begin to pop up. The Vegasians have their own gambling house and area, the ‘Mericans have their campsite and so on. So when a Red Star walks into the bar with his Russian accent, all the ‘Mericans begin to tell “How many Red Stars does it take…” jokes, somewhat loudly. ((BTW, the answer is always Zero because Red Stars can’t do jack!))

There were also a few encounters that didn’t make much sense to me. Two I recall were first an NPC worshipping bombs and blowing themselves up and the second was duel between two NPC’s that, to my knowledge, had no significance to the group or game.

At noon came my mandatory 4 hour NPC shift. I am of two minds about this. I am normally strongly against it. I am paying a price to be entertained and I hope my normal PC interactions help increase other player’s entertainment. My travel is 15+ hours of driving round trip, paying $45, I’ll be lucky if I can get a total of 30 hours of game time and 4 of that has to be as an NPC. However, when your game has over 100 players in it, it’s hard to have an NPC staff large enough to handle those numbers effectively. I went out as a zombie twice and was one of the dueling NPC’s I mentioned before. Then I headed back into game.

I had a great time meeting the other players/characters, interacting with them and learning about their town and how things worked. Then Saturday night came around and once again there were some very tough NPC’s pulling players off into the dark and killing them. Meanwhile, the PC’s reaction to it was to sit in the well lit tavern area and not help out. Fair enough but unfortunately not my strain’s way of doing things. Went in to help and when I was dropped, I decided to go ahead and keep quiet and die – unless the PC’s decided to actually help out which they didn’t. I don’t hold it against them as it is a survival game and one way to survive isn’t to go towards the thing eating people but at the same time if you don’t offer help, help won’t come to you either.

Death was done rather quick and simple – met something called the Gravemind and had a little chat about her feelings about the people in the town and what it was trying to accomplish. Lasted maybe 10 minutes and then I was sent back into game at the graveyard. My character’s background felt that if no one was willing to back him up, he wasn’t going to risk his life any longer backing them up and I left. I also decided that the strain I chose wasn’t fitting with my play style so it was a good time for me to quit until I could read the rules better and get a character concept I could use better.

I went to turn in my sheet and leave but I was informed that I couldn’t leave early without authorization from a director. So after 15 minutes, they assigned me a cleaning task to clean up the NPC area and then could check out.

Some Further Thoughts

Power Gap – Although there are different levels of power in the game, it doesn’t seem too obvious as it does in other long term games.  Some people inflict more damage, some people can take more damage.  However, this isn’t always character level based.  Weapons can be modified, armor can be reinforced, etc.  To me, it wasn’t as noticeable as it tends to be in other games.  Sure, there’s a difference between something swinging 20 instead of 2, but because running away is acceptable in this game, it isn’t as huge of a hurdle as long as you stay ahead of them.

Resources/Building – This is one thing that should make this game fly.  I didn’t get a chance to experience it since I wasn’t going to be playing in the chapter anytime soon, there was no reason for me to begin gathering resources, making deals, increasing the abilities of items and powers and so on.  This is where real community will begin to build and where I feel the crafters are really necessary for the game to be at its best.

For me though, two of the major issues in a post apoc game are food and ammo.  In DR, you don’t have to worry about going hungry (although some food stuffs can be turned into special healing items) and for every combat, you have 20 bullets.  When you pick them up after the fight, you’re considered to be repacking your rounds.  To my knowledge, there is no end to the supply of bullets.

This can be a good thing though since no one would play with a major skill that could possibly be useless for the entire game.  Just wish I had known this beforehand as I spent all of Friday night without any bullets.  But still having something simple like a ’20 bullet’ tag that needs to be built by the builders would, IMO, go a long way for things.

Encounters without meaning – One thing about writing a good story is that you don’t put anything into it that has no relevance to that story. Even without having any impact upon a story directly, some things are put forth to help create the atmosphere or clarify a character’s personality or disposition. So whenever something happens at a LARP, I wonder “What bearing will this have on telling the story?”

This is something that has plagued me from day one of LARPing. Back in my original days, it was tiny bugs that bit you to make you relive your worst nightmare to everyone shifting suddenly two feet to the left. These things never happened again nor were they ever explained as a byproduct of something else happening. So when I attend games, I am on the lookout for these things. Putting forth effort for something that doesn’t impact the story in even a minor way is wasted effort.

So when it was announced there would be a wet t-shirt contest, I did a double take – not only for what I was assuming was a useless encounter but a step towards some inappropriateness. But as things progressed, I found out that the NPC’s hosting it were asking for “Men, Women and anyone else! We don’t care, we just want you to strut your stuff!” I thought, “Well at least it was being universally sexist.” But then it hit me. This was happening in the middle of the day, during 90+ degree heat and the staff was finding an IG way to cool people down. OK, kudos to them for completely snookering me on this.

Then someone came in worshipping a bomb. Telling us all about how we must work for the bomb and once we complete the work, we will be rewarded with a transformation to greater power through explosion. And then boom when the dynamite. I asked a couple of people if these types of worshippers were around often but they said it was the first they saw it. So I shrugged and assumed that there is a demo cult out there but in my mind, it will be a short lived one since, well, they’re blowing up their own followers.

Next was the one I NPC’d in – an honor duel between two NPC’s that a PC had to judge. We did it, left and that was it. I was never instructed as to any sort of family I came from, what my character did for a living, etc. so I assumed that there was no purpose for this other than to use up a required slot for the Story Teller.

I found out that the Story Tellers (ST) have to work a six hour shift and in each hour, they have to produce one combat, one skill based/puzzle and one roleplay mod (not every one may be used but they still have to write them up). Although I applaud anyone for trying to keep the players entertained, I also feel that having a quota causes completely irrelevant thing happening within a game. Quality should trump quantity. I had actually thought about volunteering to help with a chapter if/when it opens up in the San Francisco region but I’m not keen on the idea that all of my stories have to take place during one 6 hour period of the day.  I like to have them build over the weekend – a tease Friday night, a couple of encounters Saturday building to a climax that night and then a resolution on Sunday with perhaps some teasers for next event.  I feel that this restriction hampers things unless other ST are willing to use some of their time and work to further other ST’s plots.

And yet it can also be a boon.  Besides having a lot of entertainment put forth, if the ST’s shifts are known, PC’s could schedule their NPC time so that they are NPCing with ST’s they like to work with and also be free for the modules of the ST’s that they like to play in as PC’s.

Community – The community aspect with the game I feel is one of its biggest strengths and weaknesses as well. The strains do begin to flock together and when the crap hits the fan, everyone throws in to get things done. Looking at the casino that the Vegasians had set up and the ‘Merican’s camp and their own society they’ve created makes me realize that this is a great way to get people into the game, have a good support structure already in place and help build the community at large.

But this only works if the groups are open to others of their own strain. New players may not know people, be a bit shy about approaching and so on. And the strains tend to have some rather identifying traits to them. So such groups should invite others into their fold – which is somewhat counter intuitive since in such a setting, resources are low and suspicion is high.

I entered the ‘Merican camp but was never welcomed as a ‘Merican – although I was quite obviously dressed as a ‘Merican.   Only NPCs ever noted I was such and offered the hospitality that ‘Mericans (from what I read) offer to one another.   I was talking to one “Natural One” who was left out of the Spirit Walk that every other Natural One was partaking in.   And the only reason he could come up with was that he was a new player. I didn’t investigate the other side of it but if indeed every Natural One should have partaken in this religious event, simply because they’re a new arrival doesn’t mean they should be shunned from it. And now a new player has missed out on what I assume would have been a major part of his character’s background/belief system.

Adult game and acting like an adult – There’s a difference of course. An adult game means that there will be themes and actions of a nature that may not be suitable for younger people and/or some more sensitive ones. But this doesn’t give people carte blanche to throw away social etiquette. Here’s an example that hit me just as I was leaving that night. I came across three people dealing with a female NPC. I’m not sure what type of monster she was but I’m pretty sure she was some sort of powerful zombie type. I came into the middle of the encounter so I’m not sure what transpired before but what I heard as I approached was one female PC saying to the NPC, “Let’s try another tactic. Hello you ugly, little whore. Well we tried saying how pretty you are but you attack us, so if we say the opposite, maybe you won’t attack us.” (this may not be the precise words used so will apologize in verbage but not in intent/energy of the conversation). While I was stunned by this, something happened and she ran away (I’m assuming IC and not due to the verbal exchange) and had another player running after her screaming, “Come back here you bitch!”

Now I’m all for the rough, gritty life of a survivalist world but that world doesn’t exist. Our present does. And that other world will disappear in a few hours. Other words could have been used, or not said at all. “Come back here you corpse!” could have worked just as well.

Conclusion

Despite what may seem like a mostly criticizing review, I did enjoy this game – much more so than what is currently available to me out there. But I found it still has many of the same trappings other LARPs have that I feel is holding back the possibility for some really incredible experiences and events. I want to say it has potential to get there but all games out there have that potential.   I feel that this is due in part to what the majority of the LARPing community wants and expects from games and that’s understandable. You have to tailor your product towards your consumer.

In the end, I’d give it a 7 out of 10. It is a game that I will play in if/when a chapter opens up in the area – assuming of course that I’m not banned from that game due to this review.