Long ago, just after the Fall, there were only a few Dystopia Rising games. Those few games grew into a small network, where things worked for the collective groups involved. During that time, those large national events we’ve seen over the years worked really well. As the network grew, those events were harder to work into every branch’s schedules, and it was harder to get everyone into one place to have fun together.
Today, we have so many branches running every weekend that the concept of a single national event conflicts with the goals of having so many local games available. Players must decide where to spend their time, money and weekends already – a national event just added to that strain. Each branch voted on whether to change that format up in order to better serve our community, and we unanimously decided to implement a new format for the network. Today, we’re announcing a change to how things work with PREMIER EVENTS!
Premiere events are special games held once a year by each game. Those games are now split into regions, so that each region can have these special games available to them. Each premiere event is a blend of a larger game with nation-wide plot arcs and local flavor. Regions look like this today:
Region One
Current Games: Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut
Region Two
Current Games: Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Florida, Georgia
Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, North Carolina
Region Three
Current Games: Wisconsin, Michigan, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio
Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, West Virginia, Virginia, Minnesota
Region Four
Current Games: Washington, Oregon
Wyoming, South Dakota, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota,
Region Five
Current Games: Northern California, Southern California, Colorado, New Mexico
Nevada, Utah, Arizona
These events will replace the national event format we’ve see in the past, and opens up the door for us to dig into our plot arcs locally and share our flavor with visitors. At the same time, we’ll still have plot running through the network that we’ll also have access to in these events so we can continue to tie all the chapters together.
Additional information about these events includes:
Premiere events can be three OR four day events. A fourth day would add $25 to the overall cost of the event.
Premiere events offer an optional five (5) additional build, similar to other event games. That build would $50 to the overall cost of the event.
Premiere events start in 2019, scheduled with every effort to not overlap other event games. In the case of DR: Wisconsin, our Premiere event for 2019 is the November game at Camp Evelyn.
In 2020, all branches may run 1 Premiere even per year as long as they keep up with all the obligations in their contracts. We will announce the date for a 2020 Premiere game as soon as all branches schedules are submitted, and we have that date!
Premiere events help tie regions together with plot, opening the door to having players work across multiple games to invest in story and activities even beyond the premiere events.
Overall, this opens to the door to a lot more opportunity, both in focusing on our local communities and our interactions between each branch, which will hopefully bring all our players closer together as well! We won’t be ignoring branches and regions beyond our own – we can absolutely work with them too – but we want to ensure our focus is on our local communities and the quality we can provide you each game.
This shift also opens the door many future options to focus locally and allows our players to directly support their local branches! A few more changes that you’ll see as we make this shift include:
Advanced Memberships will be sold locally, starting around the mid-September time-frame.
All branch merchandise will shift to the branches directly, and will be sold locally and online, with expanding options for customization.
Other changes may occur, and we’ll keep you up to date as any new information rolls out!
With the above changes shifting our current practices, it was also decided to cancel the 2019 Downfall event. More information can be found in the link below, which will also include instructions for anyone that pre-registered for the event. The goal of every branch, and INC as the company presenting this event, is to ensure you have outstanding customer service through this process. Please read the link and follow any steps that apply, and know that we will ensure you do not suffer due to this change. If you have any questions or concerns, we will help you navigate whatever comes up – please do reach out to us for assistance at any point.
http://www.imaginenationcollective.com/downfall2019
We hope you see the benefit and potential for these new changes, and join us for new ways to tell stories with you and your friends as our continued focus.
Heather and Mike Surma