It’s finally here… Honor’s Fall is tomorrow! As you get ready to join us for our game of the year, we wanted to offer you some tips for how to prepare for the game. Some of these are very practical, while others are emotional: pre-gaming for moments of frustration or anxiety will help you manage your experience at the event, and help you enjoy it.
1. Anything You Can Do Now, Do It Now
When you wake up tomorrow, you’re going to have a big journey ahead of you. You’re probably going to need to go to camp, drop off your stuff, set up your bunk, and get food for the weekend… and that’s not considering eating, resting and drinking water. If there’s something you can do now, the night before, do it. Your future self will thank you.
2. Everything’s Going To Take Longer When You Get There
We’ll have twice as many people on site as we’ve ever had. It’s going to take you longer to drive on site, twice as long to pick up your character packet… you’ll have to either wait twice as long or walk twice as far to go to the bathroom. Think about those things, and remind yourself that everything will take longer with all the extra people.
3. Check Your Essentials
Here’s a list of things we often see people forget (think PIST, because you’ll be pissed if you forget them): your Pillow, Item Cards, Shoes (this happens more than you think) and Toiletries. Make sure they’re with your kit so that you don’t forget them.
4. Anticipate Your Low Point
We all have parts of the Dystopia Rising experience that upsets us. Maybe you hate being hot and sweaty. Maybe you hate it when the showers run out of hot water. Maybe someone in your crew wakes you up at 9 am every morning. Whatever it is, ask yourself “what pisses me off every game?” Because with 200 people at Honor’s Fall, it will happen. Anticipating it, and realizing “wow, I’m really angry right now,” will help you identify your low point and work through it.
5. Plan Your Meals, Then Add Two Snacks
Normally, we’d advise you to add one snack, but Honor’s Fall is an extra day. It’s important to have a plan for putting calories in your body, and once you make that plan, back yourself up. Make sure it’s something you like to eat… get something easy and prepackaged that you consider comfort food. When there’s no hot food around, being able to grab that snack will make a difference.
6. Get Some Sleep Tonight
Seriously. Playing Dystopia Rising from Friday to Sunday can be exhausting. Not only are we starting Thursday, but we will be running mods all night Saturday. Don’t start the event sleep deprived.