Get Ready For Honor's Fall

Photo by Ian Havens

It’s time for our game of the year. Tickets go on sale tomorrow for Honor’s Fall. We have a couple of things we want you to know… so read on for more information about August’s game.

What Is Honor’s Fall?

Honor’s Fall is the annual event that defines Requiem. For one night, from sunset to sunrise, all laws are suspended, and this town of outcasts, criminals, and killers has a chance to settle all the scores from the previous year. What’s more important, it’s a chance for political change, as Families can rise and fall, and even the authority of the High Lord Executioner can change. We’ll announce more details as we approach the event, but the bottom line is this: all night long, killers will roam the streets, and violence will determine the future of Requiem.

But it’s not just a night of violence… this is the most important weekend of the year. So it starts with a party, and on Friday night, we invite you to the Bacchanal. From game on until after midnight, we’ll host you in the Great Hall with music, food, and vendors. We’ll be putting out an all-call for people who want to sell food and wares next week and are working on the night’s entertainment. However, we would like to invite all players to host an After Party… pre-planned events of drinking and debauchery as those about to die the next night celebrate. The High Lord Executioner purposely goes to bed early, so that faiths (particularly the Light of Hedon) can organize parties as long as they’re indoors and not in the Great Hall. So if you want to have a faith-themed party early Saturday morning, this is your chance. 

The Festering Crystal Lottery

This year, we find ourselves with some leftover Festering Crystals and national currency from our premiere event. We also find ourselves in need of player support for this event, so we’ve decided to hold a lottery for these items (and more) on Sunday. This is an out-of-character lottery to thank you for your support and encourage you to get engaged in Honor’s Fall. We’ll give out details on the prizes and logistics closer to the event, but here are some ways you can get tickets:

• Volunteering for extra NPC shifts Saturday night beyond what’s in the database (we’ll do a sign-up after the Early Bird) - one ticket per two hours (plus the normal CAPs).

• Being a food or item vendor for the Bacchanal.

• Organizing a room party.

Getting tickets will require coordination with staff prior to the event… watch our announcements to learn more. 

Consequences

You all did an amazing job of taking care of business at Dogs of War and focused on eliminating immediate hazards through intelligence and crafting. However, everything’s a trade-off, and there will be some consequences of focusing on the battle at hand, and not long-term political consequences. Here are some of the “special effects” you can look forward to at Honor’s Fall, and perhaps throughout the Fall…

• The Zodiac diverted resources they’d normally use to keep their experiments in check. In the coming months, the Gravemind will be “clogged” again. As a result, our “No Room In Hell” mechanic will return at Honor’s Fall and last through the Feast of Flesh. 

• The Boone-Helm took heavy casualties and now can’t keep the local Raider population under control during Thrill Kill season. As a result, all Warpath and Thrill Kill raiders gain the Raider Rush ability through October. This ability does not affect Warband Tainted in any way. 

• The Tarrarians built many tunnels for this war and can’t keep tabs on them all. Undead have a tendency to come out of the tunnels. As a result, through October, room augments and gizmos that lock doors will not keep out undead that come through the tunnels.

Honor's Fall Recap

Photos by Shawn Smith

Over two hundred survivors descended upon the town of Requiem, as the Families observed their annual tradition of Honor’s Fall. While murder and death cast a shadow on the event, there were also fortunes found in the Hot Zone, revelry at the Bacchanal, and a very special concert. Here’s what you encountered this past weekend.

Food, Merch and Music

Honor’s Fall kicked off with the Bacchanal, where residents and visitors alike saw the best entertainment Requiem had to offer. Vendors filled tables with weapons, gear, and mementos, as others sold food as varied as pho and pizza. The entertainment for the night included an original dance, “The Honor’s Fall Le Ballet,” followed by burlesque dancing from our own Asriel Graves. Then, the electric guitar duo Asmodeus and Rev put on a five song set of metal and hard rock to set the mood and prep us for the main event. Finally, at the end of the Bacchanal, The Mary Lous played a full set of original and cover songs, capped off by a fireworks display. Of course, the fireworks drew a giant horde, but six or seven deaths were a small price to pay for such fine entertainment.

The Hot Zone

Throughout the weekend, survivors climbed to the far reaches of the Fold to explore the Hot Zone, a nuclear, chemical, and biological hazard site under the auspices of the SLOSHA - Slaghound Occupational Safety and Health Agency. In truth, the “agency” was actually Slaghound Salvage, an opportunistic group of scavengers, who took over the site from a group of actual scientists and were grifting visitors into doing the dangerous salvage for them. Despite the unsavory situation, those who entered the Hot Zone found all sorts of valuable items, ranging from cooking components to radioactive metal to all sorts of usable poisons. However, by far the most valuable were the festering crystals that brave and sharp-eyed survivors managed to take home.  

Careful investigations revealed someone had deliberately caused the spill by setting up explosives and sabotaging containment doors at an NBC disposal site. Some of the survivors engaged in a late night mission to disarm more bombs and fix the control panel at the site, and researchers managed to find a cure for the disease caused by exposure to the wastes. However, research into who made the bombs is inconclusive so far…

WARPATH LIVE!

Saturday morning, those attending Honor’s Fall received a surprise concert hosted by a raider clan who somehow learned to thrash. WARPATH LIVE continued their tour through the Fold with a return to Requiem. Fans subsequently lost their figurative minds (while seven lost their literal heads) and the band promises it will return one day.

Honor’s Fall

Of course, the most important event was Honor’s Fall itself, from sunset on Saturday to sunrise on Sunday. The violence began in earnest, and the Boone-Helm were quickly repulsed by the Devils, who took Polaris’ head as the first trophy of the night. The death peaked when the Zodiac Order made their way through town, turning half of the population into the undead and controlling them to take part in their necromantic experimentation. After that, Family heads rolled throughout the night, until there was but one left: Anton Anastasia. As the Families gathered in the Wilted Rose at sunrise, they affirmed the Patron Family status of the Devils and Lonely Streetz, and welcomed four new into their number: the Anderson-Ambrosios, the Blood Wraiths, the Stevensons and the Tarrarians. However, Honor’s Fall was not complete, as just when it seemed to be over, Anton Anastasia surrendered his own head to his second, Essex, who then claimed the title of High Lord Executioner.

For the record, as per Essex Anastasia, here are the Thirteen Families of Requiem:

• The Anastasia Dynasty

• The Anderson-Ambrosios Family

• The Blood Wraiths

• The Boone-Helm Collective

• The Brokentooth Clan

• The Devils

• The Lonely Streetz

• The Molon Collective

• The Stevenson Family

• The Tarrarian Party

• The Volkov

• The Warren Collective

• The Zodiac Order

Prepping For the Big Game

Photo by London Belli

It’s finally here… Honor’s Fall is tomorrow! As you get ready to join us for our game of the year, we wanted to offer you some tips for how to prepare for the game. Some of these are very practical, while others are emotional: pre-gaming for moments of frustration or anxiety will help you manage your experience at the event, and help you enjoy it.

1. Anything You Can Do Now, Do It Now

When you wake up tomorrow, you’re going to have a big journey ahead of you. You’re probably going to need to go to camp, drop off your stuff, set up your bunk, and get food for the weekend… and that’s not considering eating, resting and drinking water. If there’s something you can do now, the night before, do it. Your future self will thank you.

2. Everything’s Going To Take Longer When You Get There

We’ll have twice as many people on site as we’ve ever had. It’s going to take you longer to drive on site, twice as long to pick up your character packet… you’ll have to either wait twice as long or walk twice as far to go to the bathroom. Think about those things, and remind yourself that everything will take longer with all the extra people.

3. Check Your Essentials

Here’s a list of things we often see people forget (think PIST, because you’ll be pissed if you forget them): your Pillow, Item Cards, Shoes (this happens more than you think) and Toiletries. Make sure they’re with your kit so that you don’t forget them.

4. Anticipate Your Low Point

We all have parts of the Dystopia Rising experience that upsets us. Maybe you hate being hot and sweaty. Maybe you hate it when the showers run out of hot water. Maybe someone in your crew wakes you up at 9 am every morning. Whatever it is, ask yourself “what pisses me off every game?” Because with 200 people at Honor’s Fall, it will happen. Anticipating it, and realizing “wow, I’m really angry right now,” will help you identify your low point and work through it.

5. Plan Your Meals, Then Add Two Snacks

Normally, we’d advise you to add one snack, but Honor’s Fall is an extra day. It’s important to have a plan for putting calories in your body, and once you make that plan, back yourself up. Make sure it’s something you like to eat… get something easy and prepackaged that you consider comfort food. When there’s no hot food around, being able to grab that snack will make a difference.

6. Get Some Sleep Tonight

Seriously. Playing Dystopia Rising from Friday to Sunday can be exhausting. Not only are we starting Thursday, but we will be running mods all night Saturday.  Don’t start the event sleep deprived.

Confusing Calls, Made Simple, Part 3

Photo by Allana Marie

This is part of a series of articles that attempts to make some of the more confusing rules calls simple. In this one, we look at some reminders from our Rules Guides. Don’t forget to check out Part 1 (particularly for damage reduction) and Part 2 (about ways to incapacitate someone).

Reminders

A couple of reminders from our previous parts:

• If you call “Bane” on a damage call against a creature with damage reduction, they just cancel out. Pretend it’s a normal damage call… it doesn’t get increased or decreased.

• We talked about untying someone’s bonds in a previous blog, but don’t forget: if you want to untie someone quickly (5 seconds), it takes 1 Mind to cut their bonds. Otherwise it takes 1 minute but no Mind. 

• If you’re Stunned (including Takedown), you have to crumple to the ground for 5 seconds. You can’t just stand there. 

Bleed Out

So… you’re reduced to 0 Body.  Congrats! You’re in Bleed Out. First, realize that you can’t fake Bleed Out, so if you take a hit, fall over, and start acting like you’re dying, you’re going against the rules. There’s no real reason to lie down in a fight if you’re not in Bleed Out, so don’t do that. Bleed Out ends when your Bleed Out timer expires (typically 5 minutes, but some items or skills can change that) or you receive a Killing Blow.  Once it ends, you’re dead and should lie on the ground for 10 minutes before going to Ops.

What’s a Killing Blow? Generally it’s a strike that takes three seconds, that you then declare. While you have to role play it, you don’t have to count out loud (although it’s a good idea if you’re an NPC to count to create a compelling scene). Murder acts as a Killing Blow as part of a strike, so effects that prevent Killing Blows prevent the effects of Murder. 

The Lexicon

We have some terms in the Lexicon that you should know; it collects a number of rules into one place.  Some highlights:

• Agony - This call is countered by Basic Mental Endurance if it’s an Area of Effect or By My Voice call, or by Avoid if it’s delivered via a Strike or Ranged Attack.

• Nail - This skill is countered by Avoid unless it’s an Area of Effect or By My Voice call, then you’re just stuck. It just forces you to keep your foot in the same spot on the ground for 1 minute or until you enter Bleed Out - you can still use skills and defend yourself.

• Terror - This skill is countered by Basic Mental Endurance, and makes you flee for 30 seconds. It’s different than Fear, which just prevents you from attacking the source of your fear.

On the topic of Fear, please note you can’t use Basic Mental Endurance to counter it, and it is broken when you’re attacked by any foe; it doesn’t have to be the creature that caused it, but it can’t be your buddy tapping you for 2 damage.

Other Notes

Some other notes our Rules Guides asked us to pass on:

• You can’t target yourself with a skill unless it says otherwise.

• When you use your last Resolve, you can’t use items that cost or make you lose Resolve for the remainder of the event (this means no injectables!)

• When you’re Blinded, you can’t use skills you’ve spent build on, so you can’t use Florentine. 

• If you Break something trapped, or the trap itself, you trigger the trap. Breaking containers Break the contents.

Big Event Larping

There are games, and then there are games. A Dystopia Rising chapter typically runs between 8 to 12 games a year, and for the most part, they’re relatively uniform: a chapter has a typical level of attendance that remains constant, plots players can expect, and plenty of time for socializing. However, once a year we all get to host a premiere event, and when we do, we want to make it into an event. It is, after all, our game of the year. And so we’ll promote it, offer more build, and do everything we can to attract players. But doing so makes a problem for our players: with great hype comes great expectations. How can a large event live up to expectations?

As many players are new to large events (or worse, have had bad experiences), here’s some things you can do at a premiere event (such as Honor’s Fall) to make sure your big game is one to remember.

Big Means Big

Big games run differently than smaller events. For one, there’s a lot more people, so combats tend to be either very large or over very quickly. If the staff send out a role-play mod, it’s less likely to touch all the players. And anything with a line (like the post office) gets a lot longer. So a lot of the things you might enjoy at your regular game become more difficult to enjoy, simply because of the number of people involved. 

It’s important to remember that the staff will design mods and events for many people to enjoy at once, and between these events, there might be less to do. This is especially true for an event like Honor’s Fall, where not only are we running for 150 to 200 people, we’re also focused on running all through Saturday night. To accommodate, we’ve planned a couple of big surprises throughout the event, and also have special events (like the Bacchanal) and special areas (like the Hot Zone) where many people can engage. Take the time to engage with these planned events, so that you can experience firsthand what the premiere event has to offer.

Have a Good Plan, Then Toss It Way

Since there will be more scheduled events, you’ll probably find many demands on your time. Not only do we have two Bacchanals, the chance to enter the Hot Zone, and a full 11 hour horror-spree planned for Saturday night, we’ll still have things like your criminal meeting and other regular events. In addition, with all the travelers, you’ll probably make plans to spend time with people of your faith, friends from out of town, and, of course, the Requiem Families who have a lot to do Saturday night. And this is before we interrupt you with things like the return of our merry band of raiders. There’s a lot to do.

Closer to Honor’s Fall, we’ll release a schedule with everything you need to know about the event. Use it, make plans… then be prepared to scrap them. The important thing is that the act of planning makes you aware of what you can do, and what you want out of the event. Stuff will pop up that will ruin your plans, and you won’t be able to do everything you want to do. Having a good plan, and then being prepared to deviate, will help make sure you hit the events most important to you.

The People Are The Biggest Part

For all the modules we write, props we make, and stories we tell, the most important and engaging part of Dystopia Rising are the other players. As we approach larger numbers on site, more players will be creating content - cooking food, playing music, holding faith gatherings - and that is the content we really want to showcase. The reason we’re holding a Bacchanal is to present some of the best our game has to offer in terms of food, entertainment, and crafting. However, this player-created content isn’t limited to the Bacchanal, and we encourage you to create an event (or distribute pamphlets, or just jam out with your instruments) on your own.  

As the size of the game increases, the focus of the staff broadens and diffuses, so it’s important to realize how you fit in, and to lean on your fellow players. While we’re going to hit you with everything we’ve got (and believe us, our NPC shifts have never been this big), we also want to make sure you find time to engage with all the activities you can, and remember that the best part of any event are the other players.

Something For Everyone

Photo by London Belli

As we prepare for Honor’s Fall, we spent a lot of time talking about Saturday night, when our players and NPCs all settle a year’s worth of scores between sunset and sunrise. But just as big an event is our Hot Zone, the special event mod we’re running that weekend. While we’re sending out dozens of mods and have a couple of staff shambles planned, the Hot Zone will be central to the event, and we want to make sure everyone gets a chance to enjoy our Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical (NBC) wasteland. So how do we take what we learned with our previous Special Event mods, like our Train Job in April or our Jonestown Run last month, and scale it for a game that might reach 200 people? Read on to learn more…

Use Your Resources Well

The reason we love doing special event mods is because they use our most valuable resource well… our people. During a special event mod, our players split into two groups, with one group playing the antagonists and the other playing in the mod, and then they swap. This does a couple of things. First, it means we can engage a large number of players with relatively few staff members… we just need one guide to run the mod, and the NPCs take care of themselves. However, what makes them fun is that you’re fighting your friends. While some people enjoy their NPC shift, others consider it a chore. However, when you get the chance to fight your friends (particularly after those friends just wailed on your character), we’ve found you all enjoy that much more. 

Plus, having a reusable mod space means we can go all out and make it different. For the Train Job, you got to see some of the 3D printed traps we’ve been making. For Jonestown, we used a part of the camp you might not have seen before. For the Hot Zone, we’re building special effects… unique lighting, smoke effects, and new props… to make sure it really feels like you’re walking into an NBC hellscape. We’ll combine this in a new contamination mechanic; that means the environment itself is trying to kill your character (and, of course, give you toys to help you survive it). 

Something For Everyone

As we’ve grown more experienced with our special event mods, we’ve managed to expand it beyond just combat. For the Hot Zone, we’re putting non-combat skills front and center. Not only will you have to use real world skills to avoid contamination, we’re also placing science stations throughout the Hot Zone, where your characters will have to perform tasks to figure out what’s going on and how to end the contamination. If wasteland engineering or research are your character’s focus, you’ll be able to engage in these tasks in a real-time environment, while your friends hold off the irradiated threats that are coming to kill you. Instead of research being something that happens before the big fight, in the Hot Zone it’ll be the main event.

In addition to the science you’ll get to do on your individual runs, we’re planning a couple of big mods that allow large groups to return to the Hot Zone to solve the problem once and for all. During this time, there will be lots of fighting, but plenty of opportunities for those with Civilized skills, including Education and Medicine, to get their chance in the spotlight. We’re working on challenges like you haven’t seen before, so that you’ll be fully immersed in the problem you’re trying to solve. 

High Risk, High Reward

In the Hot Zone, everything is trying to kill you, so there has to be a high reward. Luckily, we’ve gotten 50 festering crystals to give away throughout the event, and all of them can be found in the Hot Zone. We’re actually placing the physreps of the crystals throughout the space, where you can find them and take them back. If you’re an Early-Bird participant, you can then convert these physreps to actual festering crystals at the post office with your crystal harvesting perk that you receive in your packet. In addition, there will be plenty of other resources (and perhaps more) to be found throughout the Hot Zone.

Some of you might be thinking, “we can only harvest one crystal, but can we grab more than one physrep while we’re in the Hot Zone?” The answer: absolutely. But remember, taking more than your fair share of crystals is considered CvC, and remember the punchline of this joke:

If a Yorker and a Baywalker go into a Hot Zone with five crystals, and the Baywalker takes all five crystals, how many crystals does the Yorker have?  Answer: five crystals and a dead body.

Mechanics

Note! We’re still writing this mod, and the mechanics are subject to change. Check back before Honor’s Fall for updates.

• Containment Level - Players will need to manage their Containment Level to survive. Containment Levels are lost whenever a player goes into Bleed Out, is hit with Break Armor, or is hit by one of the Splash mechanics of the mod. When you reach 0 Containment Levels, you enter Bleed Out immediately and must activate your Emergency Beacon. 

• Emergency Beacon - Activating your Emergency Beacon allows you to survive at Containment Level 0 for five minutes. The only way to save a person after they activate their Emergency Beacon is to move them to the Decontamination Zone.

• Decontamination Zone - The only way in or out of the Hot Zone is through the Decontamination Zone. Players who reach the Decontamination Zone may request extraction at any time. If you use Master Stealth or similar skills in the Hot Zone, you’ll reappear elsewhere in the Hot Zone: you must reach the Decontamination Zone to get out. 

• Recovery - Players will be able to recover crates, canisters and other objects from the Hot Zone. They must place them in the Decontamination Zone, where their contents can be safely revealed.

• Samples - Samples are recoverable props that can be obtained in the Hot Zone through various interactive puzzles and challenges. They contain materials required to do experiments in the Science Lab. 

• Science Lab - Hope you like real-world chemistry. Note: for safety reasons, the lab will be in the Decontamination zone, but don’t worry, you’ll be able to collect the samples under attack.

• Mutants - Mutants may activate their strain advantage to delay the effects of the Hot Zone for 30 seconds, as long as their Emergency Beacon has not been activated.

• Protective Items - The Hot Zone requires protective items which will be provided by the kind folks at Slaghound Salvage. Equipment not specifically designed for the Hot Zone (i.e. death masks) do not provide adequate protection.

Who are the folks at Slaghound Salvage? Don’t worry, you’ll meet them, and they’re eager to help you. 

The Hot Zone will run between 10 am and 5:30 pm Friday and Saturday, with the last run beginning at 4:50. Can’t wait to see you there!

Honor's Fall - What You Need To Know

Photo by Allana Marie

For the past twelve months, we’ve talked about Honor’s Fall… it’s the climax of the year for Dystopia Rising New York. However, every year, Honor’s Fall changes a little, and it’s important to understand the “rules of the game.” We want to make sure all players, both in- and out-of-character, know what to expect this August.

In-Character Justification

For players who have attended Honor’s Fall in the past, you know there are always small changes as the staff adjusts to lessons learned. In-character, these changes are due to the authority of the High Lord Executioner, who has a great deal of influence over the process. Last year, we saw Anton Anastasia at the height of his power effectively control all aspects of Honor’s Fall, as he slipped into authoritarianism and was ultimately killed by Jones. This year, with Anton taking a step back, his second-in-command, Essex, has asserted his personality on the event. As a result, one can expect less pageantry and intrigue, as Essex favors the direct approach.

This is just a justification: your staff made changes to promote gameplay. We appreciate your buy-in on this: we’re being as transparent as we can, and would appreciate you steering your character towards acceptance of these changes. 

How Honor’s Fall Works

At sunset, the Treaty of the Fold is suspended, and everyone in town can do as they will. By tradition, the Heads of the Patron Families of Requiem hunt each other to retain their position and choose the High Lord Executioner. While the activity is simple, we have several rules in play that the Families are expected to follow:

• All Families of Requiem, Patron and Ward, standing and perspective, are expected to participate in Honor’s Fall. 

• For the sake of clarity, “participate” means the Family Head has to be “on the field”: visibly participating in Honor’s Fall. They should spend significant time (at least three hours) undisguised and out in the open where people can find them.

• Families fight to collect “trophies,” the severed head of the leader of one of the Patron Families.

• This year, as there are only 9 Patron Family Heads, there are only 9 trophies. To correct for this situation, the six remaining original families (Anastasia, Boon-Helm, Molon, Volkov, Warren, Zodiac) do not need to collect a trophy.

• The three more recent Patron Families (Brokentooth, the Devils, and Lonely Streetz), as well as any prospective Family, must collect a trophy and place it in the Wilted Rose by sunrise to retain or gain Patron Family Status.

• If there are more Prospective Families with trophies than there are available positions, the existing Families vote on who will become a Patron Family.

• Family Heads can’t make deals to trade their trophies. They must be taken by force. After a trophy is in one’s possession (i.e. taken from the corpse of a Family Head), deals can be made.

• Other than that, Families can do whatever they can think of to keep their Family Head safe. If they violate the spirit of the rules, they might find there are severe consequences.

• The last Family Head standing in the Wilted Rose by sunrise will be declared the High Lord Executioner (there’s a catch, however, see below). 

• Once a Family Head is killed, they no longer need to participate in Honor’s Fall, but they still need to show up at the Wilted Rose with a trophy.

The High Lord Executioner

The political purpose of Honor’s Fall is to pick the High Lord Executioner, who will enforce the Treaty of the Fold for the next year. Traditionally, the High Lord Executioner was the “last one standing,” which led to a great deal of wheeling and dealing throughout the night. Contrary to popular belief, the High Lord Executioner doesn’t have to be the only Family Head who survives the night… they have to be the last survivor who is standing in the Wilted Rose at sunrise. Some specific points:

• Only Family Heads can become the High Lord Executioner.

• If a Family Head dies during the night of Honor’s Fall, they can’t become High Lord Executioner.

• Unlike the collection of trophies, deals to determine who becomes High Lord Executioner are very common. If a Family Head hasn’t died, they simply step out of the Wilted Rose before sunrise if they don’t wish to oppose the claimant.

• If there is more than one Family Head in the Wilted Rose who hasn’t died by sunrise, it’s likely to end in a great deal of bloodshed. This hasn’t happened yet, and all the Families will do whatever it takes to avoid this sort of war. 

How To Enjoy Honor’s Fall

You have three options to enjoy the night of Honor’s Fall: political Character versus Character (CvC), political Character versus Enemies (CvE), or survival CvE:

• If you’re heavily involved in Family politics, you can actively hunt (and be hunted by) other players. If you play a high-ranking member of a Family, you’ve opted into this already; other players may choose to get involved in the CvE aspects of Honor’s Fall.

• If you want to get involved in the bloody politics of Honor’s Fall, but prefer less CvC, you can hunt and oppose the NPC Patron Families, who will all be out in force. Remember, they’re often as dangerous as other PCs.

• If you want to stay out of the politics of Requiem, you can just try to survive the carnage, and help others to do so. The battles of Honor’s Fall are known for their collateral damage, so there are lots of challenges for you.

All Night Long

We’ll be running Honor’s Fall plot from sunset to sunrise (7:50 pm to 6:14 am… almost 11½ hours). How do we expect you to manage that? 

First, to set expectations: after it becomes apparent who the High Lord Executioner will be (i.e. all the other Family Heads have died), the violence dies down. We’ll go all night, but realistically, NPC threats will be rolling back around 4 am (like a normal Dystopia Rising New York game). While you’re not “safe,” you can probably find someplace to sleep if you're not affiliated with a Family whose Head is still alive. 

That said, a lot of you will be up at sunrise to see how events pan out at the Wilted Rose.  First light is 5:45 am, and there will be important events that occur at this time. We expect you pace yourself on Saturday, and understand the staff are pacing ourselves as well. This includes a 4-hour siesta on Saturday, where no events will be scheduled. This includes player-driven events: please do not schedule anything during the Saturday siesta… this is time for you to relax and hopefully nap.

Trophy Hunting

Collecting heads is very important to Honor’s Fall, and we have a local item to do so. It’s the Boone-Helm family item, the Blood Covered Artist’s Toolkit:

A kit used to make trophies. Requires 30 seconds of role-play. When combined with any level hooch, allows the taking of a non-mechanical trophy. If used on a recurring named NPC, or local unique high level threat, it will produce a Creature Comfort card. The card produced lasts 3 years.

So to collect a head, you need this item and a bottle of hooch, and take 30 seconds roleplaying collecting a trophy from a dead Family Head. For Honor’s Falls, we have some special things we’re doing to make this easier:

• First, the Boone-Helm are happy to support the artistic endeavors of all this Honor’s Fall. You can buy a Toolkit at the Post Office for 5 wagers or 1 wager signed by Polaris Boone-Helm.

• You have to have some sort of physrep for the kit… it doesn’t need to be elaborate, but it should be something you’re carrying around. Additionally, you should have some sort of physrep for the trophy you collect with it, if at all possible.  

• Family Heads (including PCs) will have a creature comfort card on them representing their “head.” This item card can’t be used, traded or stolen until someone kills the Family Head and uses the Toolkit on them. The Family Head will then hand the person who used the Toolkit the card.

The Contenders

If you pay attention to the politics of Requiem, you’ve probably heard someone mention “the Thirteen Families.” The problem: there aren’t Thirteen Families. The number shifts, and depends on how you count them… so we’ll just talk about Patron Families that exist right now. As of the summer of 2022, we have nine Patron Families - six Families with NPC Heads (Anastasia, Boonhelm, Molon, Volkov, Warren and Zodiac) and three with players leading them (Brokentooth, Devils and Lonely Streetz).  So with only nine Patron Families, what happened to the other four, and where do we go from here?

Why Are There Not 13?

The short answer: there were 13, and then things changed. Families die, vie for power, lose their position and evolve over time. Often, they meet bloody ends (like the Jones Collective at our last event). We also want to make sure there is room for player-created Families, and make sure there are significant stakes at Honor’s Fall. 

When we returned from the Pandemic in August of 2021, we re-evaluated every Family, and ended up with eight: seven NPC-led Families and Brokentooth. Over the last year, we added two player-led families, and saw the demise of Jones, which lands us at our current number. During this Honor’s Fall, we’ll see the number grow to 13 again, as the players help decide which groups will enter the ranks of the Patron Families.

Who Are the Contenders?

During Honor’s Fall, the Families will vie for power in Requiem, and try to ensure their own survival as a Patron Family.  While they do, a number of contenders will jockey for power, hoping to be elevated to the their status. If you’ve played in Requiem this year, you might have met many of these groups, but here’s a refresher:

• The Anderson-Ambrosias - A player-led Ward Family, the Anderson-Ambrosias are led by the Faithful of both the Sainthood of Ashes and the Nuclear Family. After the fall of the Jones Collective, they seek to position themselves as the “tenders of the Faithful” in Requiem.

• The Bloodwraiths - A mercenary company who made it a practice to pursue “big game”; they entered the Fold tracking the undead creations of Zodiac. They believe that the “weak can become strong” and seek to help people defend themselves, but as a mercenary company, they’re also known to be more than a bit greedy.

• The Dioscuri Bloodline - A family of psions who deal in a strange sort of “crystal-tech” that they manufacture with their abherrent powers. While little is known of them, rumor has it that they seek to protect the “Gifted” from the “Unworthy,” although it’s not entirely sure what that means.

• The Doctorium - At their core, a group of well-guarded Doctors, this faction seeks to develop a panacea for all diseases. In Requiem, they offer medical treatment in exchange for compensation. However, beneath such noble goals, there are rumors that they’ll perform less-than-ethical experiments on “volunteers” - individuals who failed to pay their contracts.

• The Knite Council - Newcomers to Requiem, most people of the Fold haven’t had much interaction with this group except with their pig-faced leader (prophet? god?) Argor. Concerned primarily with cleaning the corruption they find blighting the land, Argor’s followers have begun to reach out to the Families, seeking to join them. 

• The Stevensons - A collection of Landsmen… heavily influenced by faith the Nuclear Family… the Stevensons have a long history in the Fold but have avoided entanglements with the politics of Requiem until the Reckoning. Farmers by trade and soldiers by necessity, they want to assert themselves as the voice of the common folk.

• The Tarrarian - This faction believes in self-control and rehabilitation; they dwell in the tunnels beneath Requiem, and are actively attempting to make their living space accessible and hospitable. Of course, a clan of gorgers has some obvious… conflicts of interests cohabitating with those who could also be their food supply.

Other contenders might still emerge, including player-led Families who meet our requirements (if you’re interested in contending for Family status at Honor’s Fall and have the appropriate number of people, make sure you give us at least 30 days notice with an action request).

What Happens Next

With Honor’s Fall coming up, there will be openings for new Patron Families… but not enough room for all the aspiring and current powers-that-be. Player actions will determine which families remain after Honor’s Fall, and who gets to take their place.