Character Creation: Dystopia Rising

Weird to look at my post list and see three chargen posts in a row, but Michelle's out of town so we're not watching movies, it's Xmas so there's no gaming to write up, and likewise board games. So here we are.

The Game: Dystopia Rising
The Publisher: Eschaton Media
Degree of Familiarity: None.
Books Required: Just the one.

 

So, I am aware that Dystopia Rising, as a LARP, is a Whole Big Thing. I am, however, largely unversed in the ways of LARP (not my thing, thanks, as Big Chris says), and so I am unaware of how this Big Thing works. I'm vaguely aware that there are controversies surrounding the game, I think? But like, if you pressed me I couldn't tell you what they were or why, so I'm just gonna make a character for this tabletop version of the game.

(Like, I know that Onyx Path is making a new tabletop version of the game, but I don't know what led to that or why it needs a new edition.)

Anyway, I've read through much of this book, and it's a post-apocalyptic game keying off a zombie apocalypse plus a nuclear holocaust. We're a few generations into the anarchy that follows, and there's new churches and factions, and also "strains", which are basically your "race" (in the RPG sense). I have some issues with strains as presented.

The in-universe justification is that the nuclear radiation plus the zombie virus altered people and gave them different genetic traits, which, like, OK, that's pretty sci-fi. But one of the strains is the Mericans (that is, Americans), and their genetic - genetic - weakness is culturally insensitivity. Some of the racial traits that the strains get make sense, and some of them just make my teeth hurt. But, as always, I haven't played the game, and games tend to make more sense in context. (I ain't making a Merican, though. For one thing I don't like the strain weakness and for another thing the name sounds too much like "merkin".)

Really I'm supposed to come up with a concept first. I haven't done a whole lot of post-apoc, actually, particularly in this Mad Max kind of style. Of note, too, is that this isn't someone who remembers the time before, this is someone born and raised in this ick.

Well, you might have seen a post on the 'tubes that talks about humans as pursuit predators, and I think I kind of like that. I want to play someone who can follow prey forever, until it's exhausted, and then shoot it. Seems like he'd need foraging and tracking skills, as well as a lot of endurance. That's a pretty good place to start, I think. Gonna resist the urge to name him "Strider" because that's gooby as hell, and instead get weird with his name. He's called D'Macibn, which you might notice is just three ways to say "son of." He must have parents, but he doesn't know them, and as far as he remembers he's from nowhere. And that eats at him (this is a flip on the "loner from nowhere" trope - this is guy is a loner from nowhere but dearly wants to be from somewhere).

Next up, I choose a strain. There are a million of these splats, so lemme see if anything makes a lot of sense. Well, Lascarians aren't bad, but they're more about living underground. Remnants make sense because they're culturally pretty much blank, but I think Rover is the most in-concept for D'macibn. (Would it have killed ya to put these in alphabetical order, guys?)

As a Rover, I get +2 to all Navigation and Scrounging checks, and I don't tire easily. On the minus and nonsensical side, if someone "bests" me I get a -2 to Social checks with them until I can one-up them. Also if I'm off the road for too long I start to get itchy (-1 to Survival). Sounds good.

And now we buy Building Blocks, which are basically Attributes (Agility, Appearance, Brawn, Endurance, Knowledge, Luck, Wiles). I get one free in each, I get 14 points to spend. It's one-for-one up to 5, and then 1-for-2 after that, but I can't go higher than 6 at chargen anyway. I know I want high Endurance, and it feels like Wiles might be good, too. I'll pump Endurance to 5 and Wiles to 4; that's 7 points spent. Putting everything else up to 2 eats 5 of my remaining points. 2 left. Y'know, what the hell. I'll put 'em into Endurance and start with 6.

Next up is Secondary Characteristics. I rather suspect these should go last, but I'll trust the book. Health is (Endurance + Brawn) x2, or 16. Defense is half my Wiles + Agility, or 3. Resolve is half my Knowledge + Wiles; also 3. Infection rating is equal to my lowest Building Block (2), Movement is 4, and then goes up from there depend on how fast I'm going. Fatigue is Endurance + Wiles, or 10 (nice!). Funds is (Luck + Knowledge) x 10, or 40.

And now Skills! I get 20 points, and they cost the same as Building Blocks, though of course I don't start with any dots. I want Athletics, Avoidance, Animal Handling, Awareness, Crafting, Doctoring, Firearms, First Impressions, Navigation, and Scrounging. That's 10, but I don't think I want to spread them evenly. I just want one in Animal Handling, Doctoring, and First Impressions - he's got the basics of that stuff. That means I can have ratings of 3 in 3 of threes Skills and 2 in the rest.

I'll take my 3s in Scrounging (which is what I'd use for tracking), Athletics (long distance, baby), and Avoidance (getting hurt sucks).

And now Advancements and Disadvancementsadvantages. I get 5 points to spend on Advancements (they vary in price), and I can take up to 10 points in Disadvantages to boost these or Skills (Building Blocks are pretty much locked).

Well, Long Haul is obvious (bonus to Survival checks involving long distances). That's 3 points. Iron Stomach (+2 against poison and disease) is 2, and that's in-concept, too.

Now, do I want any Disadvantages? Wait, hang on the, the header calls them Detriments. Eh, what's a few synonyms between friends? Amnesia! Perfect! I'll take Motion Sickness, too, just because it amuses me. Ooh, and Orphaned. I'll just take that at 4, so it'd be very difficult to find what happened to my parents (doubly so because I'm amnesiac).

So that gives me 10 more points to play with. I think I want more Skills, first of all. I'll pump up Scrounging and Firearms to 4. I'll pick up the Deadly Aim Advancement for 4 (no penalty to called shots). That leaves me 3 points. I'll put Athletics and Avoidance up to 4 and First Impressions up to 2.

And that's it, actually. I'm surprised there's not a step for buying gear; it feels like that kind of game. In any case, for D'macibn I'd want sturdy travel clothes and some kind of firearm (doesn't much matter what kind because his usual MO is to exhaust whatever he's hunting and then walk up and shoot it in the head).

Appearance-wise, I think D'macibn is tall and stocky, black hair and a pronounced nose. Facial hair grows in uneven and stubbly, but shaving is a waste of time. His teeth are surprisingly all intact, and he takes that as a point of pride. He wonders if he got his teeth from his mother or father...whoever they were.