A Fresh Take on Honor’s Fall
The Static of the radio flares, and the voice of Sinclair rings out from every station within the region of Requiem on repeat.
“A service announcement from the Vox Requiem. This year has been full of conflict and struggle, our town barely holds together what it has while its people in-fight. This year I propose a change to Honor’s Fall. I challenge the Families of Requiem to stand and survive those who wish to challenge their authority. Many of the small groups that have passed through our town have seen the potential and power a family head holds. To protect what we have made this year and prevent further back pedaling. Survive till sunrise so that we can sit down, share a drink, and prepare for the coming threat of zed that plagues our lands this time of year. To each and every Family I wish you the best of luck until we see each other at the meeting before the sirens.”
Over the years we’ve seen Honors Fall run a variety of ways. A chance for the families to prove themselves, pick off the little ones, and stand firm in their decisions. Every year things change a little. Some of those being larger changes, some being little adjustments. This year’s Honor’s Fall is no different. After a long time deliberating, we decided to try implementing a few changes in hopes of reducing bleed, encouraging more roleplay, and focusing on a different aspect of the tradition: What comes after?
Let’s start off first with rules and expectations for families and family heads
Family Head expectations:
All family heads attempting for a position of Matron family must adhere to the following:
Must be in character for a minimum of 4 hours not in disguise and check in at the Great Hall every hour your head has not been claimed.(more about this below)
You cannot lie about your head being claimed or not(this is an OOG clarification for the sake of progressing the plot of the night)
You must make it to sunrise with your head unclaimed OR another family head’s head for your family to continue being a matron family
The loss of infection must stick for your head to be claimed(this is a story requirement no one is meant to rule forever)
Only 9 Families can be Matrons/Patrons at one time
Matron family rules
7 Characters plus the family head that have visited Requiem no less than twice within the past calendar year
Alts are allowed to add to rosters however only one character per family or Ward family under the Matron’s rules
1 Clear cut major responsibility you will take on for the town(Morgue Observation, Critter/Zed/Raider Control, Infrastructure ect.)
An OOG submitted roster the latest a week before game for the storyteller’s records and plot resources. THIS IS MANDATORY
A Matron Family may only have 1 Ward until all families available have a Ward.
Family Heads Must Be Requiem Locals
Ward family rules
4 Characters plus a Ward Head who will work directly with their Matron Family head
Alts are allowed to add to rosters however only one character per family or Ward family under the Matron’s rules
An OOG submitted roster for the storyteller’s records and plot resources.
New family rules
To become a Matron family you must show up at sunrise with a current family head's head (infection loss must be confirmed for the head to count)
All Matron Requirements apply
An OOG submitted roster the latest a week before game for the storyteller’s records and plot resources. THIS IS MANDATORY
We’ve also created a few mechanic and OOG updates for how Honor’s Fall will run.
The Great Hall:
The Great Hall will be a Neutral Zone during Honors Fall this means:
Photo by Wren Tello
No Combat will be conducted by Strains during Honors Fall in this building (It doesn’t keep you safe from raiders or zed)
There will be a Guide or Director present to record your check ins for family heads
You challenge another player by declaring the phrase “I Challenge you to a duel.” and report it to the guide/director on duty.
IF CHALLENGED you must leave the Great Hall within 5 minutes of the Challenge.
You cannot be Targeted upon leaving the Great Hall within those 5 minutes
If you fail to leave and are observed by the director/guide staying longer than your 5 minutes your protection is revoked.
PvE Heavy Focus
PvE will take the main stage at this year’s Honors Fall! Fringe factions that have built up over the year will be vying for the families to steal their spots or conduct other plans they’ve been saving up for. Players will have to work together to protect the family heads they wish to keep in power. And maybe even sabotage the ones they want to lose their power.
PvP will still very much exist within Honor’s fall. Settling grudges is a tradition that will stand strong, Players are still encouraged to do what they must to settle old grudges be it challenging them in public, leaving traps in their beds, or catching them off guard during power hour. So settle your debts before the sun rises and leave your frustrations behind for a fresh start to the new year. As a friendly reminder “Morgue Camping” PCs is heavily frowned upon and will incur repercussions
Date and Time changes
In the past we’ve held the Bacchanal on Friday night and had the sirens go off Saturday evening. This year we will be swapping the two. Beginning Friday night at Midnight and go until Sunrise(Or 6am) we will start the siren and begin Honor’s Fall. This was a decision we put a lot of thought and a lot of debate into over the past few months. We know sudden change can be intimidating which is why we wanted to prepare this post for everyone.
“But what about prep time? I don’t even have injectables!" I’m sure many of you are asking, and it’s a fair question because we won’t see each other again until Honor’s Fall.
To tackle that, we’ve come up with a few solutions.
If you have the ability to travel, we recommend visiting another event. DRCT will be hosting a special room during their event ‘The Engine Room’ just to speak about Honor’s Fall. You may even see some of our own family heads popping through.
No ability to travel? No problem! There will be NPCs available before the sirens with all sorts of goods that may just save someone’s life
There will be in game conversations with the Vox of Requiem before the siren to ask questions, make requests, and do whatever politicking you need before the night begins.
The NPCs will provide a variety of combat and political roleplay. All family head face NPCs will be in play during the head hunting portion of Honor’s Fall and follow all rules of PC family heads. You will have time to talk with them, make deals, have honor duels, and so forth.
We chose to wait on this announcement in order to put our full attention towards creating the circus that rolled its way through The Fold. We didn’t want to shift the focus away from the work our writers and clowns were putting into creating that experience. Honors Fall is also a conversation that needed the time and focus it deserved. We wanted to give it our full attention so we could make the most impactful changes.
The ‘why’ behind this year’s changes:
In recent years, Honors Fall has bubbled over into bleed that goes unresolved until the next month. From assassinations that didn’t feel great to grudges that didn’t end at Honor’s Fall, our goal is to help mitigate unwanted feelings. Our characters are more than just the clothes we put on once a month, and we want their Honor's Fall death to feel glorious, not disappointing.
Our goal with changing the start time is to allow for decompression in game. Make sure the beefs are squashed, gather back up the family heads for a nice sit together and smoke around a perfectly normal hookah while deciding who needs what to start the year on a good foot.
We’ve also shrunk down the overall time because we saw many players burning out half way through and believe that reducing the time frame may help prevent this in a small way.
We understand that there may still be some uncertain feelings, and we are here to work through those with you. We encourage you to submit feedback and questions when we host our honors fall Q&A (details will be available after our general Q&A on July 16). We hear you, we are listening, and our goal is to create an event that is both deadly and leaves everyone walking away feeling good about what they did over the weekend. Honor’s Fall is a time honored tradition that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon but it does need to change and adapt just like Requiem has.
