We’ve just released a Save-The-Date for our June Premiere Event, The Dogs of War, where we’ll spend the entire event telling the story of the Battle of Requiem. While this is far from the first time a Dystopia Rising chapter has simulated a battle, we want to approach this event differently. Often, larps about war focus on big battle scenes… that’s not what we’re going for. We want to bring you the tension and intensity of a wartime scenario, punctuated with brief and brutal episodes of violence.
So what does this mean when DRNY runs a war game?
The Base Mechanic: Hurry Up & Wait
“Hurry up & wait” is a common complaint in a war zone. You don’t know when the enemy will attack or reveal themselves, but you have to be prepared when they do. So there’s a lot of work to do, and you have to get it done fast to be ready… and then you wait. And while you wait, the work piles up again: the act of waiting expends resources. This creates tension where you always have something to do, but you’re also always waiting for something else to happen.
This is our focus during Dogs of War. Some people want to be out in the dark, stalking their enemies, or on the front lines fighting all the time (and we’ll have plenty for those people to do). But we also have a lot of crafters and cooks, researchers and spies, and those people will be the focus of the story most of the time. This game will demand a tremendous amount of supplies… and those supply needs will be time-critical, forcing you all to work together and prioritize. Further, you’ll have the chance to gather intelligence and dictate the course of the war by the information you collect and the decisions you make with it. In fact, these decisions will be central to the event.
The Focus: Decision-Making In War
We’re not going to line up your enemies in a shield wall all weekend and send wave after wave crashing down on you (although you can expect at least one pitched battle). This is a guerrilla-style war, where you have to put up patrols and test your enemy's defenses. This means that you’ll need scouts willing to sit out in the dark, waiting for an enemy to show themselves. When they do, you’ll need runners willing to bring the information back to your base, alerting the rest of your forces. And most importantly, you’ll have to decide what to do with that information.
We’re going to develop scenarios that force you to make interesting choices. They won’t be terribly complex, but they will be time-critical and important. When do you attack? Which resources do you conserve? We’ll give you some of the information you need to make a call, as well as an idea of the consequences of your decisions. And those decisions will have lasting effects during Honor’s Fall and the future of Requiem and the Fold.
The Fighting: Nasty, Brutal, and Short
We’re expecting well over 100 players for this event… even for our stronger NPCs, we know you can overwhelm your enemy with sheer numbers. So we’re going to spread you out, and make you watch different areas of the camp. And when we attack, it’s going to be sudden and hard, making targeted strikes that end quickly. If you’re mobile, and run to the sound of combat, you’ll probably get there on time. If you don’t, you better hope your comrades are ready for a nasty fight. This will make scouts, stealth, and reinforcements more important than just getting all the fighters together and charging.
That said, you can expect some big fights as well. Without giving away our plans, we have some ideas to challenge you and give you some of the most memorable combats you’ve had in Dystopia Rising. And of course, we’re planning on the biggest fight Requiem has ever seen to cap off the weekend.
Our Secret Weapon - The Return of the Trained Survivors
We’re going to be offering some special incentives to get you to take some extra NPCs shifts over the weekend, but we have one we’re really excited about. Old Timers might remember way back in 2015, when Dystopia Rising recruited military veterans at a national event to run special mods against their friends. These were called the “Trained Survivors,” and we’re bringing them back for our June Premiere.
The Trained Survivors will be asked to do two additional NPC shifts, one Friday night and one Saturday during the day. In return, we’ll comp their tickets and offer full Build, along with a very special “thank you” gift. Your characters will also get special plot consideration, operating “far behind enemy lines” to bring back special intel. We will prioritize people with military experience and similar training for this crew, and you’ll be assigned your Guide to travel with you for your shifts.
We’ll be posting more about The Dogs of War with our War Games blog posts in the months leading up to the event. Also look for information on our AMA events, where you can bring your questions and concerns directly to the staff.