Agricultural Zone
March's Agricultural Zone will be in/near the area between the disc golf basket and totem pole, near the Squirrel cabins. If that sounds confusing, we can probably make way more sense once we get to camp and see it.
There are several trees that came down in a recent storm. While the Camp certainly does not expect us to deal with the actual fallen trees, there's a lot of small branch debris that can be picked up if you're looking for something to do while "Farming." Please pile it on the nearby firepit, or if folks want to light a fire over the weekend we can't imagine they’d mind it going up in smoke.
Camp Weather
Sinawa reports that the site is likely to be very muddy with possible standing water in areas. They've had a lot of rain this week, even before the midweek storm.
Change & Self Care
Change can be hard for many folks, and things can take time before they feel more natural. Please keep in mind that we're all doing this together, and to be kind to each other. We'll have to make rules calls in the field, that may or may not turn out to be correct afterward. Guides will be learning new workflows and processes. Some things may be frustrating; some things may not make sense; some things may take longer than you're used to. We say Be Kind often as a reminder, but we're also all adults, and we would like to set that expectation now. The world's shitty enough these days; please don't add to it in a moment of frustration.
If a Guide needs to make a Rules Call in the field, the Guide overseeing the NPCs has jurisdiction and final say in the moment. Please roll with that decision so the scene can continue, and we can all go look it up afterwards.
Crafting and Coord and You
When you are being actively helped at the Public Works, you are technically OOG and are safe from being murdered so you can get your cards and go back to playing. However, because it's more fun, Public Works will still be staffed by your absolute favorite NPCs. It is preferred if you stay In Character for RP purposes as much as possible. Give Wrigley shit; make fish faces at Tetra; tip your favorite Intern. It's LARP; have fun with it!
Those still in line, waiting to be helped, are not OOG, and are welcome to leave the line and help defend Town Hall and/or die as they see fit. The job was finished once you finished your crafting RP, so it's cool.
Live Cards
We may be using a mix of 3.x and Live cards as we transition over to only Live cards. Mostly because we can't get past how incredibly wasteful it feels to just trash the thousands of cards we already had on hand. The Public Works has label printers now, so we can attach the new mechanics to existing cards. Way faster, too!
The new Live cards look different and are more streamlined for writing in many places. Their expiration date fields also include a spot for the day it expires on. In order to address a large amount of rounding inconsistency across the Network, Live was written so that expirations would be consistently exact across the Network and not rounded off to various end of months. Example: A 6 month Item created on March 8th, 2024 would expire on September 8th, 2025; ie, 6 months.
Please double-check your Cards for accuracy before leaving the Public Works desk.
3.0 LIT Debts
As mentioned in previous announcements, these need to be cleared if you still owe Items from another online game. I will accept expired cards, IF they were valid for the Event where the debt occurred. We can also deduct it from your transitioning items.
We reserve the right to withhold transitioning some or all of your Items to Live until those balances are settled.
The Live (Juno) Database does not support 3.0's LIT. You won't see any old balances there. You'll have to look at the old Database at https://characters.dystopiarisingnetwork.com/ to see what your 3.0 LIT balances are.
Live Virtual Inventories
Going forward in Live, when you craft or produce an Item you have the following options:
Public Works gives you the relevant card, like normal
You can choose to deposit the Item into your Live Virtual Inventory, for use in online games you may attend
This deposit is one-way. Only the pre-game Crafting in virtual games can now result in physical cards, and those will be mailed to you by the hosting game.
Check In - Transitioning Items and Prints
When you arrive on site, please bring your Item Cards and Blueprints to Fogle/Check In as soon as you can. It would be most helpful if you separate them by character. We will baggie them with your name, begin processing, and get you your things as fast as we can. Transition Form Submissions will have priority. For those who are not at game this month, we will reopen the Form for next month.
So, What happened since December?
The high levels of radiation seen after the helldive have now largely vanished due to the active clean up efforts, the embracing of Liberum Radicalis- the glowshroom, and the destruction of an irradiated zed-filled cyst that threatened to degrade further into a corrupted Morgue if left intact.
The Wells Society has continued its work in this area reclaiming irradiated agrifields over the winter and undoing much environmental damage, seeing many through a cold starving season. Their more extreme members however, particularly the Servants of the Undying, have become emboldened by the good will and lack of oversight present over the quiet winter month to act less conservatively than the rest of the faction. These disagreements seem to have become severe enough to form a hard split, with the Servants parting ways though they both remain present in town.
The Wells Society is working with Bloom and local farms to continue improving things. Slightly ironic that it now includes spore mitigation initiatives to keep areas from being overrun by the L. Radicalis they developed themselves.
Even while the supply of excess radiation dwindles, the Servants continue to spread and cultivate the glowshrooms including integrating them further with the local 'Friendmoss' and within local Morgues directly. They also fight against those attempting to remove them. Some tracts of land are choked with glowshroom spores to the point of becoming seas of blue light at night.
But, for what it's worth, under their care the Mortis Amaranthine is thriving and there have been no new reports of folk emerging from the Morgue with parts missing for a couple of weeks now. No word on ‘Charlie’, the half-formed body that emerged in Town Hall though. They seem to have gone missing.
In other good news, the recently finished dam and power plant has weathered the cold months without incident. After the aging Ironworks-era furnace failures of the previous winter, plans were drafted for a new system. After months of negotiation, and digging, explosions, and the effort of many townsfolk, a hydroplant was built in the local Lascarian tunnels allowing Steel Horse Crossing to keep the lights on and supplementing the underground's supply of fresh water. The whole contraption is certainly not impervious to problems but regular maintenance and diligence will keep it in good shape as long as no one gets, well, power hungry.
Deep-rooted factions and institutions like the Helldivers and the Labor Union and newer influential faces like DA Hunting Lodge all still remain in Steel Horse but their structures and agendas have begun to change.
Election Results
Congratulations and Condolences to our newly elected government!
Town Council: Alex, Boz, Grace, Hester, and Juice.
Sheriffs: Mallard and Yemi
Judges: Jimothy and Yara
Eternal Unquestioned Mayor: Tofu
OTHER USEFUL INFORMATION AND REMINDERS AND STUFF
Story
We are continuing to utilize the Illusions of Civility plotkit alongside our other local plots so you may see mechanics that are not part of the core rulebooks including threat options and zones of mechanics specific to IoC, a temporary route for changing strain narratively, and a disease called Spore Sickness.
Information Gathering
DRWI’s Local Research mechanics are no longer in play. Instead your primary options will be Limited Research and Focused Research. There are forms available in Town Hall. These require possessing Lore and Master Education respectively.
There is an option specifically for researching Diseases (Guides Guide 74)
Occasionally in general play space and/or on mods you might come across Lore cards. They will come in the form of slips of paper inside goldenrod colored coin envelopes about the same size as Item cards. The requisite Lore to access will be written on the envelope.
A number of other abilities may yield useful information depending on your situation including Basic Medical, Master Medical, Master Lockpicking & Security, Basic Biokinesis, Spoilers, Malicious Discussion, the Civic Landsmen traits, Benedictions and other items
Writing to NPC individuals or organizations is also still an option. Sometimes they know things!
Currency/Items
NPCs may only use or accept local currency, Lug, except where Trade Notes are specifically permitted by the Rulebooks. Player characters are still free to utilize whatever currency they wish between themselves.
Bank accounts are no longer available to Societies, except for the funds used by Town Council.
Items on 3x5 index cards from December’s playtest are not valid.
Zones of Play
All of in-game space is Wasteland
We are trying out different placements of mechanical zones. These are subject to change. If you have suggestions for a better configuration, please let us know.
Culinary - main Fogle kitchen, require
Artisan - Dorms common area and porches.
Morgue - Whitetail cabin
Agriculture - Near field in front of Town Hall. Specifics will be given at Opening Announcements. After March this will rotate to another area.
Public Works Proxy System
For the crafting Zones, such as Artisan, Culinary, and Agriculture, we are offering a proxy system for those who may have short or long term difficulties making the walk to the Public Works to get your Item Cards. Instead of taking the walk yourself, you may instead send your character sheet, Resource Cards, and the Blueprint (if necessary) with a proxy to take the walk for you. You may not begin crafting a new Item or use any Development Skills until they return with your sheet and Item Cards.
