At Dystopia Rising New York, we have an amazing player base who’s always asking us “How can we help out?” Unfortunately, at events we’re often so busy we don’t have a good answer other than “Um, pick that thing up and put it down over there.” So between events, we came up with four things our players can do if they want to help out the staff.
Phys Reps
We’ve had this come up multiple times and it’s actually caused a couple of larger issues: you have to phys rep any item not stored in your supply bag. Further, some items need phys reps - typically weapons and armor, and some of these require specific phys reps. In addition, you have to have a phys rep for any injectable or brew you use. If you don’t have a phys rep for an item, it can be “stored” in your supply bag, but you still have to take the item card out to use it. We’ve gotten lax on this, because honestly, it doesn’t ruin the staff’s game if you don’t use a phys rep… but when other players are watching and reacting to what you do… they need to know you did something.
Mess Up, Fess Up
Whenever we do card checks after a big fight, there’s a tremendous number of characters who happen to have used exactly all their Mind. In a way, this makes sense - you use Mind until you’re out - but we’re also pretty sure some people are losing count and afraid of getting “in trouble.” Please, if you make a mistake, it’s a mistake… you’re not a bad person or a cheater. Let us know, and we’ll make a note and try to help you out (perhaps with coaching, if you want it, on how to keep track of skills during combat). If you tell us “Hey, I messed up” we’re not going to give you a warning, unless it’s particularly egregious (i.e. “Hey, I messed up and accidentally spent 12 Resolve in that fight).
Light Discipline
We emphasize the use of red flashlights and everyone is pretty good about using them… but every now and then we have a problem. Red light doesn’t interfere with night vision, but having a light shined in your eyes still interferes with your ability to focus on anything other than that light. Please, carry a flashlight, use a flashlight, but never shine a flashlight at another person's face. (We don’t know if our guides get flashlights shined at them more often than other people… maybe it’s to see the green headband… but it happens a lot).
Read This Chart
We have five calls that confuse players more than any others… so we made a chart. Remember, if something is delivered via a strike, you can call Avoid, so the counters on the chart below are in addition to Avoiding a physical strike.
