The Grave Mind is the weirdest part about Dystopia Rising, and players love weird stuff. It’s where our world becomes unique and unpredictable. Picture this conversation between a New Player Guide and newcomer:
Guide: So, this is a zombie larp.
New Player: Got it.
Guide: It takes place years after the fall of humanity, so no one remembers exactly what happens. Also, we’ve all evolved into slightly different strains of humanity.
New Player: Got it. Different strains of humanity. Got it.
Guide: Also, inside everyone and everything is a fungal strain we call Infection, and it’s why when you die you get resurrected; but it’s also why there’s a psychotropic hell you have to go through each time, and it makes weird stuff appear every now and then.
New Player: ???
Can it be confusing? Yes. Does everyone have a different opinion on how the Grave Mind should work? Seems like it. But if you’re new to Dystopia Rising and someone mentions there’s a fungal strain that creates a psychotropic hell, how many of you would make a beeline to any plot that had to do with it?
Now you get our player’s obsession with “grave-diving.”
What Is Grave-Diving?
“Grave-diving” is a slang term we use for when players purposely seek to interact with the Grave Mind. This includes everything from using Death Brews to the Necrokinetics skill to being a full-on Graverobber, using the PFA with the Pallor Mortis procedure. Basically, if you’re having a Grave Mind scene and you didn’t just die, you’re Grave-diving.
Let’s be clear: grave-diving is a fun and encouraged activity. We want you to engage in this part of the setting. So, before we talk about some of the problems with grave-diving, we’re going to give you a some of the more common ways to do it:
The easiest way to grave-dive is with Basic Necrokinetics. Using this skill, you can (with permission) listen to another character’s Grave Mind scene.
More resource intensive, but still affordable, are Death Brews. Depending on the quality of the brew, you can be an unseen observer, be seen but not heard, or even fully interact with another character’s Grave Mind scene.
When we’re talking about grave-diving, we’re usually referring to the Pallor Mortis procedure, particularly the master level procedure, the Infectus Mortis. This is where you venture into a Grave Mind scene with the intent of regaining lost Infection.
If you want to be a really proficient grave-diver, we’ve got two PFAs to recommend to you, and associated equipment:
Grave Attuned (Necrokinetics) - With this PFA, you can “rescue” people who came into a Pallor Mortis scene with you: it’s essentially a ripcord that says “we’re getting out of here.”
Graverobber (Medical) - There are two pieces of equipment that every Graverobber covets. First, a Superior Helscape Deathmask not only lets the user spend 10 Mind to avoid Resolve lost in a Pallor Mortis scene, but it also allows a Graverobber to remain in the scene 10 minutes longer with one additional target. Even better is the Forged Helscape Suit, which allows a Graverobber to give another character a Resolve during a Pallor Mortis scene.
These last two advantages speak to the problem with grave-diving, however: it takes a lot of build and in-character resources to be very good at it. Which means it’s supposed to be hard.
The Two-Fold Paradox of Grave-Diving
Grave-diving has two problems, from a design standpoint. First, because it takes a lot of effort to be good at it, it stands to reason that it’s supposed to be hard. Expert Graverobbers have invested in the ability to spend Resolve for other characters (see below for more on that) and to safely escape in case of emergency. They should be able to assist and save their patients in a Pallor Mortis scene. But… that means the scene has to be difficult enough that their patients need their help. Herein lies the first paradox of grave-diving: for an adept grave-diver, the difficulty of the scene relies on the people you’re escorting being challenged, so that you can help them. The grave-diver themself actually has very little control over the success of the scene… their abilities only prevent (or delay) failure.
However, success or failure in a Pallor Mortis is completely different from any other experience in Dystopia Rising. Most of our challenges either use an accepted set of mechanics (i.e. you get hit with “Takedown” and call “Balance”) or are “what you see is what you get,” where you physically encounter a challenge (i.e. you have to find a box in the woods). A Grave Mind scene, however, is always somewhat freeform, requires some sort of narration, and is extremely subjective in terms of success or failure (you succeed when the storyteller decides you succeed). So this is the second paradox: you have something that’s supposed to be very challenging, and no accepted way to represent that challenge.
How do we overcome these paradoxes? We need to set expectations.
What To Expect When Grave-Diving
When you go grave-diving, particularly when you perform a Pallor Mortis, the staff at Dystopia Rising New York wants you to have some expectations. This will help you make your decision to engage with this aspect of plot at our events, and also make these engagements more enjoyable. Here’s what we want you to remember:
1.Less Is More
We have a large and growing game, and a lot of people who want grave-dive. At our January event, we’re expecting 14 Graverobbers, not including unplayed alts. If every one of them wanted to do a Pallor Mortis every six months, we’d have more than two scenes to run each event. Running a Pallor Mortis should probably be a once a year event for most Graverobbers, so we can make it special and memorable each time.
2. It’s Supposed To Be Hard, But Not Impossible
The Grave Mind is more powerful than you: you’re not mugging the Grave Mind and taking its Infection; you can’t overpower the Grave Mind and there should be a lot of risk. The trait we’re looking for in a Grave Mind scene is grit: we want you to try a tactic, fail, then try again, and fail, and maybe at some point you succeed. But you’re not going to get what you want from the Grave Mind by being clever or strong. That’s why the Pallor Mortis saps your Resolve as you encounter difficulties: it’s a matter of will.
3. Someone’s Going To Fail
If it’s hard, someone is going to fail. If you’re in a Pallor Mortis scene with five people plus the Graverobber, someone is probably going to fail to get their Infection back, maybe more. If you’re a patient, be prepared that “this might not work.” If you’re a Graverobber, assume that this dangerous procedure probably ends with you spending a ton of Resolve for your patients or yanking them out of the scene. That’s why you have the PFAs you do, after all… it’s not to help them succeed, but save them from the consequences of failure.
4. It’s Going To Cost You (Resolve)
The cost of going grave-diving is Resolve. How much Resolve? That’s up to you. If you’re in an Infectus Mortis with five people, assume one person is going to succeed pretty quickly, and one person just might not get it. Everyone else is in a fight, a contest of wills. If you’re willing to spend everything you have, including taking fractures, you’re more likely to get what you want. But realize that going in: when you come out, you’re going to be tired, possibly fractured, and definitely have less resolve than you went in with.
5. The More You Give Us, the More We Can Prep
Grave-diving scenes are hard to run. The more time… and the more we know about your character… the better we can run it. At the very least a two month head’s up is preferred. If you want a personalized scene and the storytellers don’t know your character extremely well, the best thing you can do is offer a reference: another player who knows your character well enough to know what elements might make for a memorable scene. The more we have to work with, the more personal and memorable your grave-diving scene will be.