User:GumbaRumba/DystopiaRising

NOTE FROM THE WRITER: Hey y'all. If I sent you a link to this, then it means that I would sincerely appreciate your input! I am writing this article because I love the game and the universe it creates, and wanted to create a light-hearted and satirical page about it. It is never my intention to portray any players or chapters of the game in a negative light, so if there is something you would like me to revise, please feel free to let me know what changes should be made and I will get right on that. The page is currently not public on the wiki, so the only people who will see it are the fa/tg/uys and neckbeards mashing F5 on the Recent Changes page or any people who I link this to. I especially want to hear from you if you are the organizer of any chapters mentioned, because my home game is Pennsyltuckey and it is really the only game I know well. The rest I am poking fun at based on their websites.

Dystopia Rising is a game universe created by Michael Pucci, set at least four generations after the zombie apocalypse. Humanity has evolved into a variety of strains (D.R. speak for race) and basically live in a world that manages to outclass Australia in the sheer number of things that wants to kill its inhabitants. Seriously, this world is fucked beyond repair, and you're basically handed a wedge of scrap metal and wished the best of luck. There are two versions of this game, a tabletop and a LARP. Since the LARP is much more popular than the tabletop version this article will focus mostly on that, though the LARP is widely considered to be DR's final form anyway. If you ever wanted to know what it felt like to be murdered by the assholes you thought were your friends at 5 in the fucking morning, run for your life from a giant super-mutant who can turn you into paste with its thumb, fight massive hordes of zombies, or even just learn what it is like to simply survive against all odds with zombies everywhere you turn, go to a DR event. Since the game is run 24/7 in character and NPC shifts run around the clock, there is never any shortage of things to completely fuck you over at any time of day. Planning on going to work the Monday after an event? Good fucking luck with that.

The cool thing about DR is that your character is not just another nameless murderhobo in a sea of murderhobos. Story Telling staff at DR events actually take the time to consider individual character actions and will usually set up situations on the fly that either help or hinder your character. Did you knock over an NPC slaver for his money? Yeah, expect that to bite you hard later when his buddies come looking for you. Help out a Rover to repair his caravan? Most likely that same Rover will be back to do trade with you.

The World

As stated before, Dystopia Rising is set four generations after the zombie apocalypse. After the military managed to completely fail at their jobs, the government took the nuclear option and nuked nearly every major city in the country. The first generations after the fall of humanity basically got fucked over in every possible way, and never mind the nuclear radiation that every major city in the United States now had. By the second generation, that's when the weird shit started to happen. A combination of the zombie infection and the nuclear radiation caused the living to rapidly evolve into the specialized strains that you as the player get to play as.

And you thought 40K was a crapsack world.

Making a Character

You like professions? You like class choices? Holy fucking shit does Dystopia Rising have them. While there are plenty of strains to choose from, the strains exist more to guide roleplay than to serve a real gameplay purpose. Each has different base stats, but those stats can be augmented as the player's character grows, so it really doesn't matter what strain you choose so long as you are happy with it. After that, you choose your profession (or professions if you are making a Remnant).

The Strains

Baywalkers

Pretentious assholes, Baywalkers hail from areas close to the bays of the North American region. While the flooding of their cities means they are protected from shamblers and other weaker forms of zed, it only means that they get subjected to nastier, more specialized zed. They're typically calm and composed because an adult Baywalker has seen some serious shit in their life. Though the tabletop and LARP sourcebooks differ here. While the tabletop sourcebook states that Baywalkers have a slow burning fuse and explosive tempers and are generally more observant of their surroundings (free awareness check at the top of combat rounds? YES PLEASE!), the LARP sourcebook states that Baywalkers are calm and collected. Where they remain consistent though is in their rivalry with the Yorkers. Baywalkers hate Yorkers, and Yorkers hate Baywalkers. Basically, you can play a Baywalker either way, though most people will mistake you for a Yorker if you are always running full steam into combat. If a septic rolls around spitting poison damage though, you're pretty much fucked because poison attacks deal double damage to you. If you like pissing off Yorkers and are a pro at dodgeball, play a Baywalker.

Iron Slaves

Don't call an Iron Slave a Slave unless you want your shit kicked in. Irons are tough customers who are distinct in that they glow in the dark. Seriously, their skin glows in the fucking dark, rendering all stealth skills useless. Iron Slaves, as their name implies, evolved as a strain that was basically bred for slavery in the mines, and as such evolved a red glow that emanates from their neck, hands, and wrists. If you like having slavers constantly looking to kidnap your character and Pure Bloods looking down their noses at you, then play an Iron Slave. You can also help crafters by cutting crafting time down by acting as an assistant.

Lascarians

This strain evolved in the tunnels of the post-apocalyptic world, and as such, Lascarians that find themselves on the surface keep their heads, faces, and pretty much every part of their body covered. And they're cannibals. Yeah, they eat people and can regain Health from it. Play this instead of Full Dead if you want to fight and be able to heal yourself without worrying about your character perming the minute you drop into bleedout. Lascarians can range from creepy as fuck to heart attack inducing levels of adorable.

Mericans

Do I need to write it out? Mericans are basically every American stereotype cranked up to 11. Rowdy, unsubtle, and annoying, the best and most entertaining way to play a Merican is to put on your best fake western accent, act like a jackass, and do the dumb every fucking chance you get. And flannel. All of the flannel. Seriously though, players who play a Merican this way make for some of the most fucking hilarious stories you will ever hear out of a DR event.

The Red Star

Communists. A recent clarification of the 2.0 rules by the writers regarding the character disadvantage "Reject Free Enterprise" says that they can't do trade with people outside of their cell. This has been an enormous source of skub for players since it basically fucks their chances of getting supplies unless they create a cell specifically designed to be self-sustained (which is, you know, the purpose of a Red Star cell to begin with). Usually you'll find non Red Stars in a Red Star cell for just this purpose.

Remnants

Basically those who have deviated from the rest of the strains. It mostly happens when strains interbreed, and as such, they have no real innate abilities and massive inferiority complexes. The upside is that you get to choose a second profession at character creation. Downside is you have to be baptized into an in-game religion by your sixth event or you will lose that second profession while your character goes emo. The other downside is that Remnants always have some sort of physical and/or mental mutation.

"I swear to all that is holy if I see another tailed Remnant/Psion I will fuckmurder them OOG!" is the only acceptable reaction to seeing such a player.

Psions became a restricted profession though, so that's good.

Retrogrades

If the Fallout 3 Ghouls had hair and wore masks, you'd have the Retrogrades. They're tough, but have the unfortunate disadvantage of their fucking faces falling off (which requires the player to wear makeup if they plan on playing without a mask of some sort, and at least minimal makeup if the mask doesn't cover their full face) . The only way to properly roleplay an encounter with an unmasked Retrograde is to shoot on sight. Considering most Retro players in Hayven go unmasked, you should be going hog-wild.

Rovers

Basically a pile of scarves and hospitality, but so help you if your cross one. Those guys can really hold a grudge.

Vegasians

The bane of every DR player's existence is the dreaded call of "Buddy Fucker". Vegasians are cowards, cheats, and all-around assholes who everyone fucking hates. They are probably the most trolltastic strain next to the Full Dead. "Backstab/Murder? Buddy Fucker". Always be sure to stammer like Curly while you run away. Exhibit A.

Yorkers in a nutshell.

Yorkers

Like playing a perpetually pissed off combat junkie and living the thug life? Play a Yorker. Remember to add three to your first damage call when you get taken out of bleedout, you sick fuck.

Diesel Jocks

The gearheads of the Dystopia world and basically Rovers if Rovers were complete assholes. Diesel Jocks are restricted in chapters whose regions do not have large areas of flat land.

Full Dead

Meeting a Full Dead means encountering a living time capsule. Full Dead were alive before the fall of humanity and are basically sentient zombies. Like most of the more broken strains, Full Dead are restricted to those who have either been playing for a while or possess a natural British accent. Playing a Full Dead means investing in makeup in exchange for being the second most trolltastic strain. Full Dead don't benefit from conventional healing abilities like Medical Genius, Brews except for injectables. The only viable way for a Full Dead player to regain lost health is to nibble on an incapacitated living player (either PC or any NPC except for zed) or have a Priest zap you back to full health with Call the Almighty. This leads to amusing situations where you will see a dying raider getting his flesh gnawed off by a hungry Full Dead player. They also have the troll-fucking-tastic ability to make the undead ignore them. Good if you want to fuck over your friends when the Tanks roll in without using Buddy Fucker (see Vegasian). Also, you could totally play as a zombie in a top-hat and a monacle. Seriously, do it.

Full Dead are good for players who want to play the role of the teacher more than the fighter. They have relatively high base stats, but they have the severe drawback of being able to die only once before the character perms. If you want to play a strain that can self-heal by nomming on people that you actually have a chance of keeping for a while, check out the Lascarians instead.

Genjian

Every game needs a weaboo character type, and the Gengian are that character type. Like the Full Dead and Diesel Jocks, this strain is also restricted in most chapters due to their prevalence being on the west coast. You'll sometimes find traveling Genjian in Hayven and some of the larger chapter and they are abundant in Hell Dorado and Wahoo.

Pure Bloods

If there was ever a strain more pretentious than Vegasians or Baywalkers, it's these fuckers. If you like being that guy with all of the money and toys, play a Pure Blood. They aren't restricted in every chapter, but playing them properly requires pretty extensive knowledge of who's who in the world, so you won't get to play one until after you know enough of the world and earn the AP to create one. They still are not as big of assholes as Vegasians though.

Reclaimers

Canadians with massive fucking arms restricted to chapters that are either in Canada or within 100 miles of the Canadian border.

Semper Mort

Gotta have vampires somewhere. People who were cryogenically frozen before the fall, they thirst for blood and suffer a serious case of permanent amnesia. Tons of fun to fuck with if you play a Full Dead. Just say you knew who they were before the fall and make up the most bullshit story you can think of.

The Professions

Did I mention there were professions? Holy fucking shit this game has a lot of professions to choose from. As of the 2.0 ruleset, there are 38 professions to choose from as well as 27 advanced professions which are damn difficult to get. Seriously, don't plan your character around getting an advanced profession or you will railroad yourself.

The professions in Dystopia Rising cover pretty much every kind of character you could ever want to make from Spies to Gun-Slingers, Priests to Scoundrels. Wanna make a rogue type of character? Pick up the Assassin profession and watch your ass. Expect the guild to be knocking on your door. And good luck if you make a Psion and brag about how awesome your mindbullets are! Want to make shit for people and be universally loved? Play a Tinker. Seriously, those fuckers are a combat junkie's best friend. There are too many to go over each of them individually, so read the rules if you want to learn more about them.

Religions

The biggest source of skub and inter-character rage in the game, there are also several religions that you can choose to join. Seriously, I can't do the religions justice in this article. Read the rulebook, because that shit is pure fucking gold.

The Chapters

There's games all over the country, and even two in Canada, each with a plethora of things to to kill you and scare the shit out of you and each with its own unique flavor.

Hayven

Under heavy revision

Hayven ST staff when they come up with a new mechanic. Starvation and famine? Why not?!

It's a fun place and you should totally visit.

"Welcome to Hayven! What's your shoe size?*BLAM*"

Gatorland

The "loot piñata" of Dystopia Rising, players go to Gatorland to get overly rare and blueprints that other games are skittish of spawning. Not at Gatorland. At Gatorland, it's like Oprah handing out prizes "HERE IS A KNIFE THAT BREAKS THE GAME, AND HERE IS ONE FOR YOU, AND ONE FOR YOU." (Wanna fight a bunch of Gators that made Hayven people run for the hills? Be my guest.)

Their currency is called Fat Rats, which usually go for 5 to 1 ratio in other games. It's common to joke about Fat Rats in other areas. Example in Bravo : "I'll give you 200 Fat Rats for that Hooch." "NO WAY, that's like... 2 brass. It took me 3 to make this." (This is a poor example due to the Bravo War Debt).

Pennsyltuckey

Typical Pennsyltuckey native. There's a what in the mine?

Pennsyltuckey (run at campsites in Pennsylvania) is a pretty cool chapter if you like living in an area constantly getting fucked over by anything and everything. From hostile Natural One tribes and renegade militia who want their workforce back (read, shanghied PCs) to giant fucking radioactive snakes. Yes, snakes. Plural. Multiple giant fucking snakes that will literally swallow your sorry ass whole. Pennsyltuckey natives are always getting fucked over by something. The players love it.

Seriously, here's a list of the towns that got fucked over.

• Boulder Run, where they set off a mother fucking nuke to kill one of those giant snakes, only for them to come back a few months later and find that the fucker still wasn't dead!!! They killed it though, so all is as it should be.
• Cullivers Stead, where really the Orricks Mill Militia just used the people as slave labor and were general assholes.

Their current town is called Snakes Bend, for obvious reasons, and that town got fucked over multiple times before they even got there.

In reality, this is actually a very clever way of explaining in-game that the game is a traveling game that sometimes changes campsites due to either scheduling conflicts with the Girl Scouts of America (who are amazing for allowing the games to run on their property to begin with) or other unforseen circumstances.

Fields of Iron

Deezus' Landing it's a town full of pissed off refugees from the southern iron works.

Come hungry. They will feed you.

This town is in the middle of the wastes so most everything travels through here and once some blue splashes here it's splashes everywhere.

Cascadia Rendezvous

"Vampire", the DR chapter. Rains almost every meet. Keeps moving around, just follow the smell of coffee and the sound of murder hobos. You only need 11 Body to live in the Rend - enough to survive a murder attempt. Being "Rend Strong" is important.

Bravo

There is a term in DR called "Bravo Hard." Which means you lasted longer than 1 game in Bravo. Probably should work on it. Set in the Wild West, the most economically stable game in DR because everyone has nothing, violence is punctuation. Players from other games are scared of the NPC combat mods, while they are worried about Player Character Psion Hunters and Assassins, ain't nobody got time for that in Bravo, we are too busy worrying about killing the super Zed that keeps respawning.

Everyone's an asshole. Everyone fights everything. Which means when these players go to other games, they scare everyone by jumping at the mention of a fight.

Example: Other games : We will have to fight you if you make us grumpy. Grr grr grr. Players : No no, here, have the thing.

Bravo : We will have to fight you if you make us grumpy. Grr grr grr. Players : (Started attacking before the end of the NPC sentence) I DONT EVEN LIKE THE THING BUT ITS MINE GO AWAY DIE. EXTRA DIE. WE DONT LIKE SLAVERS.

Quickest way to identify a Bravo player.

Say the word "Chop." If they perk up like the Seagulls from finding Nemo, you know you have a Bravo player. Say the door has chop and watch them wreck the door.

Or accuse the local constable of being a commie. See how well that works for you.

Hell Dorado

Also known as El Dorado by the psychos that live there. A place where the politics is as deadly as the zed that surround it. Hell Dorado is an actual run downed city infested by the undead hordes, armies of Raiders, and cheesy infomercials. Hellions as they are called, live right next to Holywood and Vegasia. So slavery bullshit is abundant and either people fight it or make easy money in secret. It's also the best place to get drugs, shit that'll fuck you up. You think Bravo is hard, you haven't been to Hell Dorado.

Right now the area that most trade weekends are held has a budding new secondary town rising up, called Lo-town, but it's still in its infancy, and is over a mile from Town Hall, plagued by hunters and zillahs (giant swamp frogs that can swallow you whole), it's one main advantage is natural walls forming a defensive area, and a single bridge bottleneck for entering the little swamp town. But everyone else see Lo-town as a little brother that tries get out of it's big brother's shadow but it never will.

Never forget the motto for the town: 'Hail Hydrate!"

TL;DR

Dystopia Rising is fucking amazeballs and you should go.