As we prepare for Honor’s Fall, we spent a lot of time talking about Saturday night, when our players and NPCs all settle a year’s worth of scores between sunset and sunrise. But just as big an event is our Hot Zone, the special event mod we’re running that weekend. While we’re sending out dozens of mods and have a couple of staff shambles planned, the Hot Zone will be central to the event, and we want to make sure everyone gets a chance to enjoy our Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical (NBC) wasteland. So how do we take what we learned with our previous Special Event mods, like our Train Job in April or our Jonestown Run last month, and scale it for a game that might reach 200 people? Read on to learn more…
Use Your Resources Well
The reason we love doing special event mods is because they use our most valuable resource well… our people. During a special event mod, our players split into two groups, with one group playing the antagonists and the other playing in the mod, and then they swap. This does a couple of things. First, it means we can engage a large number of players with relatively few staff members… we just need one guide to run the mod, and the NPCs take care of themselves. However, what makes them fun is that you’re fighting your friends. While some people enjoy their NPC shift, others consider it a chore. However, when you get the chance to fight your friends (particularly after those friends just wailed on your character), we’ve found you all enjoy that much more.
Plus, having a reusable mod space means we can go all out and make it different. For the Train Job, you got to see some of the 3D printed traps we’ve been making. For Jonestown, we used a part of the camp you might not have seen before. For the Hot Zone, we’re building special effects… unique lighting, smoke effects, and new props… to make sure it really feels like you’re walking into an NBC hellscape. We’ll combine this in a new contamination mechanic; that means the environment itself is trying to kill your character (and, of course, give you toys to help you survive it).
Something For Everyone
As we’ve grown more experienced with our special event mods, we’ve managed to expand it beyond just combat. For the Hot Zone, we’re putting non-combat skills front and center. Not only will you have to use real world skills to avoid contamination, we’re also placing science stations throughout the Hot Zone, where your characters will have to perform tasks to figure out what’s going on and how to end the contamination. If wasteland engineering or research are your character’s focus, you’ll be able to engage in these tasks in a real-time environment, while your friends hold off the irradiated threats that are coming to kill you. Instead of research being something that happens before the big fight, in the Hot Zone it’ll be the main event.
In addition to the science you’ll get to do on your individual runs, we’re planning a couple of big mods that allow large groups to return to the Hot Zone to solve the problem once and for all. During this time, there will be lots of fighting, but plenty of opportunities for those with Civilized skills, including Education and Medicine, to get their chance in the spotlight. We’re working on challenges like you haven’t seen before, so that you’ll be fully immersed in the problem you’re trying to solve.
High Risk, High Reward
In the Hot Zone, everything is trying to kill you, so there has to be a high reward. Luckily, we’ve gotten 50 festering crystals to give away throughout the event, and all of them can be found in the Hot Zone. We’re actually placing the physreps of the crystals throughout the space, where you can find them and take them back. If you’re an Early-Bird participant, you can then convert these physreps to actual festering crystals at the post office with your crystal harvesting perk that you receive in your packet. In addition, there will be plenty of other resources (and perhaps more) to be found throughout the Hot Zone.
Some of you might be thinking, “we can only harvest one crystal, but can we grab more than one physrep while we’re in the Hot Zone?” The answer: absolutely. But remember, taking more than your fair share of crystals is considered CvC, and remember the punchline of this joke:
If a Yorker and a Baywalker go into a Hot Zone with five crystals, and the Baywalker takes all five crystals, how many crystals does the Yorker have? Answer: five crystals and a dead body.
Mechanics
Note! We’re still writing this mod, and the mechanics are subject to change. Check back before Honor’s Fall for updates.
Containment Level - Players will need to manage their Containment Level to survive. Containment Levels are lost whenever a player goes into Bleed Out, is hit with Break Armor, or is hit by one of the Splash mechanics of the mod. When you reach 0 Containment Levels, you enter Bleed Out immediately and must activate your Emergency Beacon.
Emergency Beacon - Activating your Emergency Beacon allows you to survive at Containment Level 0 for five minutes. The only way to save a person after they activate their Emergency Beacon is to move them to the Decontamination Zone.
Decontamination Zone - The only way in or out of the Hot Zone is through the Decontamination Zone. Players who reach the Decontamination Zone may request extraction at any time. If you use Master Stealth or similar skills in the Hot Zone, you’ll reappear elsewhere in the Hot Zone: you must reach the Decontamination Zone to get out.
Recovery - Players will be able to recover crates, canisters and other objects from the Hot Zone. They must place them in the Decontamination Zone, where their contents can be safely revealed.
Samples - Samples are recoverable props that can be obtained in the Hot Zone through various interactive puzzles and challenges. They contain materials required to do experiments in the Science Lab.
Science Lab - Hope you like real-world chemistry. Note: for safety reasons, the lab will be in the Decontamination zone, but don’t worry, you’ll be able to collect the samples under attack.
Mutants - Mutants may activate their strain advantage to delay the effects of the Hot Zone for 30 seconds, as long as their Emergency Beacon has not been activated.
Protective Items - The Hot Zone requires protective items which will be provided by the kind folks at Slaghound Salvage. Equipment not specifically designed for the Hot Zone (i.e. death masks) do not provide adequate protection.
Who are the folks at Slaghound Salvage? Don’t worry, you’ll meet them, and they’re eager to help you.
The Hot Zone will run between 10 am and 5:30 pm Friday and Saturday, with the last run beginning at 4:50. Can’t wait to see you there!