This past weekend, players in Dystopia Rising New York (DRNY)’s January event witnessed the beginning of a major plot arc we’re calling The Reckoning. It started with the assassination of Anton Anastasia and could lead to major changes for the setting of Requiem and the Fold. At the start of this arc, we want to offer our players some out-of-character expectations, as well as the chance to provide feedback about their excitement, their goals, and their concerns in regards to this arc. We’ll go over three of our expectations, and then explain the best way to offer feedback.
You’re Not Going To Settle This Quickly
This is a plot arc that should last well into the Spring. It could go longer, it could be shorter - a lot of it depends on your actions as players. However, this isn’t a problem you should expect to wrap up quickly in one game. You have agency as players to decide your character’s actions; we have agency as storytellers to tell you about the consequences. As you respond to these consequences with more actions, we’ll respond in kind, creating a feedback loop that will work itself out over the course of a few months. But don’t expect to walk into the game in March, kill a few characters, make a new treaty, and call it done. Those actions will elicit responses. Which brings us to our next expectation…
Player Characters Are The Central Thing, But Not The Only Thing
This is a larp about your player characters, collectively. You have a central place in the story, and you’re a persistent element of the setting: Essex Anastasia might only be out for an hour or so, but you all are always there. So you’ll have a lot of say in what happens over the course of this plot arc. However, you’re not the only group that has a say in what happens. You should expect opposition from NPCs, that they’ll say “no” to you, and that they probably will try to kill you at some point. This is us representing the conflict for the heart of Requiem, not us telling you that you shouldn’t try a particular course of action. Don’t mistake “this is going to be hard, and the storytellers will present opposition,” with “don’t do this thing.” Expect that whatever you want to do, some NPC faction will try to stop you. However, also remember…
You Have Freedom, But We Still Have Boundaries
This is a plot arc, not a setting reset. There are key elements to our setting that if we changed, it wouldn’t be DRNY anymore. This is a larp about a town founded by criminals, outcasts and the dregs of society - expect that whatever happens, there’s still going to be a strong underworld influence on this town. Similarly, the Families of Requiem are extremely morally ambiguous: don’t expect the majority of the families to be PC driven and definitely not “good guys.” Finally, expect us to push hard to keep certain key motifs - Honor’s Fall, the Treaty of the Fold, the “razor’s edge” political situation - in the setting. These are important tools to your storytellers; just like you wouldn’t be comfortable if we took away key pieces of your character’s equipment without justification, it would be hard for us to run DRNY without these setting pieces.
We Want Your Input
We want your opinions! You’re invested in the Requiem setting, so we want to know what you want and expect. Since this is more of a conversation, we encourage you to discuss this on our Discord server; however, if you prefer, you can also email us at info@dystopiarisingny.com.
When you talk to us, we’re interested in three things in particular:
What you’re hoping will happen over the course of the Reckoning - what changes you’d like to see in the setting, what NPC you’d like to see more of, etc.
What you’re excited to experience - we’re presenting an ongoing political conflict… what kind of scenes do you expect to have?
What you’re worried about - whether is CvC, drastic changes to the setting, or just political role-play in general, we want to know what hesitations you have about the Reckoning.
So please, keep our three expectations in mind, and let us know what you think about the Reckoning!