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

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.

Should Preaching Be Allowed In Requiem

Photo by London Belli.

As we approach The Anarchy, there’s a question about one of Requiem's most controversialsdecrees: should the faithful be allowed to preach their religion in Requiem and the Fold? Rather than answer that question, we’re presenting arguments for and against.

First, however, background: the High Lord Executioner outlawed the preaching of religion in Requiem and the Fold. Religion isn’t illegal, but it’s illegal to proselytize and publicly gather. Obviously, this is a problematic edict, and unpopular in-character. However, this debate is going to be out-of-character, with a focus on player experience.  Let’s keep it out-of-character when we discuss the question: should preaching be allowed in Requiem?

No, it shouldn’t

Faith is still an important part of Requiem, what's more, being forced “underground” makes it uniquely Requiem. While certain faith motiffs repeat around the network, perhaps to the point of cliche, in Requiem, it allows players a unique opportunity to interact with their faith.

While a character may join the Sainthood at a meeting in another faith, in Requiem, it’s a one-on-one secret baptism. One’s a large scene, potentially with pomp and ceremony, the other is an intimate conversation. We want to steer the role-play in the direction of the latter. Further, the prohibition allows for a form of role-play not found elsewhere in the network. This is a place where priests and other faithful can be heroic, standing up to an unjust law and representing the struggle.

Yes, it should

Faith is a vital part of Dystopia Rising. The in-game religions bring additional character depth and have always been prominent in the setting. While the edict against preaching doesn’t remove faith from the game, or prevent characters from displaying symbols or using faith powers, it does prevent faith from playing a prominent place in the game. 

This prohibition prevents storylines like Nemesis stalking the night at Ween, Kings Court concerts, or open Fallow Hope armies. It also pushes faith into the background, potentially preventing newer players from finding out about a faith to join. As can be seen from other chapters, these role-play elements add a great deal to the Dystopia Rising game.

What’s your take? We want your perspective as a player, not as your character: we know of several people who play priests who prefer Requiem to continue the edict and disallow preaching, so they can continue to role-play the struggle. What do you think?

Enemies and Rivals

Photo by London Belli.

We’ve talked about Character versus Character (CvC) conflict (several times), but we never really addressed the role-play aspects of in-character rivalries. In a setting like Requiem, our focus on CvC doesn’t mean that we just have to deal with the direct conflict between characters, but the role-play of having another player character as an enemy. How do two players… who we expect to cooperate out-of-character… play bitter enemies? Here’s a few pieces of advice to help you navigate this dilemma.

Your Character Isn’t the Good Guy…

And your enemy isn’t the bad guy. 

Here’s a quick gut check: do you think you play a good guy? Are you engaging in violent CvC? Because you can’t really answer “yes” to both questions. Batman, for example, isn’t a “good guy,” he’s a billionaire who beats up low-income criminals, putting them in a hospital because he won’t see a therapist. That said, he’s not really a bad person either: he at least uses his skills and abilities with restraint (refusing to kill) and to oppose murderous forces like the Joker at great personal risk. So Batman is a mixed bag. So is your character.

Your enemy is also a mix of good and bad - and most likely isn’t much worse than you. The first thing to accept when you’re role-playing a rivalry is that you are not the main character; nor is the other character your personal villain. 

You Should Be Friends With the Other Player…

Or at least friendly. 

Think about the characters with whom you have conflict. Now look at that player. Have you ever sent them a text or a message about something other than the larp? Have you hung out in real life away from the game? Then be careful, because you really don’t know the other player, except for the character you’re trying to defeat in CvC. 

People generally make friendly ties with their friends, and find enemies through role-play. Often, the conflicts arise organically, as two players find that their characters are at odds. However, this is an explosive situation, as there’s no relationship of trust and respect between the players. If you have a rival in-character, consider reaching out to the other player, acknowledging the rivalry, and perhaps having a conversation about something other than the fact your characters hate each other. 

Role-Play at Game, But Don’t Trash Talk Online

Role-playing conflict can be intensely rewarding. Seeing someone talking about how they’re going to kill your character rarely is. CvC is anxiety-inducing - you don’t know what’s going happen, and you might want to joke or even posture in front of your friends. But while your role-play is in character, talking about how your character is going to smash another is an out-of-character action: now you’re addressing the person. 

A better way to do it is to remember that game happens at game. If you want to reflect on the rivalry, focus on memories, and share them with the player of your rival. Building camaraderie between the two of you will result in a better story, and less stress on everyone involved. 

A rival can, in a way, be the closest and most interesting character tie you can make. A long-term rivalry can end in defeat, but that relationship can also evolve, like Professor X and Magneto. By making sure you don’t let the CvC develop into a conflict between players, you open yourself up to a healthier and more engaging story.

Leadership in Larp

Photo by Brittany Zweir.

The problem with leadership in larp is that a good leader in character is very different from a good leader in real life. We all know people who we consider good examples of what a leader should be… perhaps a boss or a mentor, or even a family member. What we don’t do is ask ourselves: would this person’s leadership in the context of a story make the story better. In real life, leaders minimize conflict, unite groups, and make sure their people are healthy and happy. In a dystopian larp setting… those aren’t things we really want.

We don’t want happy characters… we want happy players. And players enjoy conflict, and being the center of attention, and often want to make bad decisions. For example, a good parent might make sure that two children don’t scream at each other, but when in a larp, family members screaming at each often makes for memorable scenes. Similarly, a good boss will make sure that tasks go to the people best equipped to deal with them: in larp, we might call that gate-keeping. Ironically, a player who is a good leader for a larp knows how to play a less-effective leader in a larp.

So what does this look like?

Efficiency is the Enemy of Story

Let’s say you’re the mayor of a small town, and every morning your townspeople bring you a dozen problems, and by noon, you’ve solved them all. That makes you a pretty good mayor, right? But let’s say you’re playing a weekend long larp, and your storytellers present a dozen plots on Friday night, and by noon on Saturday, you’ve led your people to solve them all. What do you do now? Efficiency is fun, but it can be a problem in larp: if you’re too good at it, then you actually make the game less fun. The solution? Have an agenda - something that’s not just “the good of the town.” Have a faith that’s problematic, loyalties to sketchy people, or just a character flaw that makes your leadership more interesting. It’s not that you don’t care about the town, it’s just that without something to give you pause or lead you to a bad decision, your efficiency is just going to be a bit… boring.

Charisma Creates Clumps

“Charisma” is a tricky word… to some it’s a gift or a natural talent, while others consider it a learned skill that includes empathy, attention to your people’s needs, and effective communication. Regardless, charisma helps cement groups together, and helps them grow. A charismatic leader in a larp can easily draw a large number of people into a large group… which then creates its own problem. First, a single large group displaces the smaller groups around it: it demands the attention of the storytellers. Further, the larger the group, the more likely someone is to be lost inside of it. The solution isn’t to stop being charismatic - people playing charismatic roles is good for the larp. What’s important is that as they make friends, they also make enemies: people who don’t like them. A charismatic leader needs rivals to keep them in check, and those rivalries are essential to the game.

Good Leaders Gatekeep - Don’t Be a Good Leader

In an organization, people develop specialties, and as they develop these specialties, the gain experience and expertise. The best thing a leader can do is put the “right” person in the “right” place, while training others to eventually take their place. This includes having training programs, where people learn how to do their jobs. Which is great for real life, but players don’t necessarily want to play a trainee when they come to a larp, they want to play a central character. Saying “you have to wait your turn” is a form of gatekeeping, as well as picking the “optimal” person to do a mission. Instead, make some mistakes. Force yourself to send the “wrong people” because some players want to do a mission, or ignore a player who’s “doing the dumb” and having a great time. Mistakes are more interesting: don’t gatekeep players from taking cool actions just because you don’t want them to make a mistake.

Playing a “good leader” in character doesn’t make you a bad person or a bad larper. It’s a choice, and it’s a fun one! You’re probably not going to ruin anyone’s larp, and if it means you have a good time, that’s okay. However, if you want to be a leader out of character, consider that you might want to make sure your character has flaws - ulterior motives, enemies, and a tendency towards mistakes - in order to make the larp better for the people around you.

Requiem Realpolitick

The High Lord Executioner. Photo by London Belli. Pictured - Tom Kelly

The town of Requiem and the settlements of the Fold are said to be “balanced on the edge of a razor” (there’s a reason we have one in our logo). We’ve talked before about the Families of Requiem and the Treaty of the Fold, but the setting we design only matters if the players know how to engage with it. Requiem offers a distinct perspective on politics and powers, with a tremendous gulf between what is said and what is done. When playing in Requiem, remember that the setting favors “Realpolitik” versus the “Rule of Law.”

Forget the Rule of Law

Some people stop at stop signs when no one is looking. They don’t rip tags off of the mattresses. They follow the law. Further, when we’re playing a game with rules, we expect people to follow them - when you’re playing Dystopia Rising, we trust you to spend mind when you use a skill and rip up the item card when you drink a brew. However, when it comes to setting… the rule of law breaks down. Just as in the real world, the powerful people of Requiem say one thing and do another. This is because the people of Requiem… particularly the powerful… are corrupt. 

There’s a difference between our local mechanics (which are rules the players must follow) and the local setting documents, such as the Treaty of the Fold (which our NPCs… and Leading Characters… sometimes ignore). So while you still have to follow the game rules, you can kind of forget about the rule of law in Requiem: it’s more “what can I get away with?”

Realpolitik

Instead of the Rule of Law, realpolitik is the norm in Requiem. Realpolitick emphasizes amoral pragmatism over principles or ideals - think Machiavelli. What matters in Requiem isn’t so much the “law,” it’s the people who enforce it. And while they say their rules are absolute, the truth is much less clear-cut.

The best example of this is Anton Anastasia, the High Lord Executioner. Tom, who plays him, does an excellent job of presenting someone confident of his absolute power. However, as you interact with the NPC, you realize that he’s balancing his relationship with the family heads, and needs to make a number of deals and concessions to maintain his position. For example, the Treaty of the Fold changes over time - and those changes aren’t always announced. If you and your character remember there being different rules in regards to Honor’s Fall, you’re not wrong: they were changed as part of a back-room deal.

So What?

So what does this mean if you’re a Requiem player? It means that in-character institutions such as the Treaty of the Fold or the office of the High Lord Executioner are not absolute - they change over time, and respond to the pressure your characters put on them. If you want things to change, you can interact directly with the NPCs - Anton, the family heads - and other players to make things happen. What’s important is leverage - what can you do to pressure these NPCs to get them to do what you want.

This month at Requiem, you’ll begin to see some consequences of player characters applying this leverage. Anton has made some questionable decisions in the past year, and people have noticed. Don’t like the current political system in Requiem? The next few months will give you the power to change it. Just be careful what you wish for.