New to Dystopia Rising, but not to LARP?

If you have LARPed before, chances are you may have some set expectations about how games are run that Dystopia Rising does a little differently.  This list is not exhaustive, but these are the most prominent distinctions that you might observe, so read on to be prepared before your first event!

Difference #1: Participant roles

Chances are that if you’ve played in a fantasy boffer LARP or any number of Nordic-style LARPs, you’ve seen that participants are broken down into separate categories (ordered from highest number to least number):

  • Full Time PCs

  • Full Time NPCs

  • Staff (e.g. people producing sets or preparing food)

  • Organizers (e.g. a few people running plotlines and logistics) who only ever PC at other game or chapters

Dystopia Rising, however, has incorporated the motto, “Everybody shambles.”  This means that participants don’t choose just one role; everybody at the game has the opportunity to participate in different ways.  This means that most PCs will also take on a NPC or staff shift, but also that staff and organizers will also be able to play their characters over the course of an event!

So with Dystopia Rising, you’re more likely to see the following (again, ordered from highest number to least number)

  • PCs who take a NPC shift

  • Staff who also get to PC for significant portions of the game

  • Organizers who get to PC at their own game

  • Full time NPCs (maybe one or two)

  • Full time PCs (almost no one)

In fact, the distinction between PCs who take a NPC shift and Staff who also PC is pretty blurry at Dystopia Rising.  Staff and organizers are referred to as “Guides”, and we have many different Guide roles, including some that don’t require any combat, such as the Public Works workers.

As with most LARPs, NPCs come in a variety of forms, from allies and neutral parties to enemies and threats.  “Face NPCs”, or recurring characters, are common and are usually coordinated between the writing team and the person who portrays that NPC, rather than being in-character all weekend as that role.  The prevailing threats in Dystopia Rising tend to be mindless (undead, plant creatures), simple-minded (mutated animals, raiders), or intelligent (cultists, hostile factions, members of the underworld)

Difference #2:  Player-driven economy

At other LARPS, the economy tends to be driven by the acquisition of treasure or loot from combat.  Some LARPers cheekily refer to this as the “murder based economy”:  you kill an ogre, then search its body for coins and spell components, then use those coins to acquire items that make you more powerful or heal your wounds.  Otherwise, there are skills for PCs that also produce items or coins, and those items are dolled out at the beginning of the event .  In some games, magical items are created by PCs using spell components during the game.

In Dystopia Rising, the economy is driven by PC actions while in play.  PCs can learn skills to acquire the resources during the game through a variety of different means, such as exploring the woods, working a farm, engaging in offboard commerce through the Public Works, or conducting research.  Others will sell their services as a bodyguard, cook, farmer, doctor, or crafter; work businesses as a bartender, card dealer, or merchant; or accept donations as a priest for giving sermons.  They take those resources to make helpful game items in real time, preferably behind a barricaded door and surrounded by armed guards to prevent interruption!  These items then help the PCs survive their next encounters with zombies and other threats.  Some of those threats may have items on them, so be sure to search them after they’ve been dispatched.

Because item creation is essential to survival, many PCs engage with the economy and can grow wealthy in the game setting while rarely ever needing to be involved in combat.

Difference #3: Negotiated conflict

While many games encourage participants or teams to engage in character vs character (CVC) conflict, Dystopia Rising has taken a page from Nordic style LARPs and requires negotiated or “opt-in” conflict between characters.  This means that instead of just engaging in in-character combat, theft, bullying, or intrigue with other PCs, players check in with others before engaging to make sure that this sort of interaction will be entertaining and enjoyable for everyone involved.  If you and your crew approach another crew and ask, out-of-character, “Hey do you want to start a gang war?”, then the other crew can choose to accept or decline.  This is done to ensure that the experience of all attendees is the experience they come to the game for.

In addition, you may have the opportunity to opt-in to a not-so-secret mini-game where the PCs have elected to be attacked or killed by the other PCs who have also elected to participate, much like an in-world game of Assassin.  Because this is opt-in, you won’t ever target or be targeted by PCs who are not participating, just like you wouldn’t shoot a squirt gun or throw a water balloon at a random stranger on the street. 

Difference #4: Lightest Touch combat

Many boffer LARPs call themselves “Light Touch”, meaning they use foam-covered boffer weapons and tend to use that foam as a strong buffer between pipe and body.  Damage is called with each strike as PCs have different strengths or item effects.  Packet attacks (e.g. little balls of birdseed wrapped in cloth) are valid against all targets and go through shields.

At Dystopia Rising, things are a little different.  With “Lightest Touch”, we don’t swing for the fences, we only strike hard enough for the hit to be acknowledged, which in most cases feels like a tap.  Most attacks are “silent”, meaning we don’t need to call damage except when performing a “spike” attack that does more than the normal hit.

Here are some general guidelines for combat in Dystopia Rising:

  • Consecutive attacks are called a “flurry”, in strikes of three.  You attack one part of the body or target, then a part that’s different from the first strike, then a part that's different from the second strike, and then you pause or step back.  That pause should feel about a second long.  You do the same thing if you are using “brawlers” (which represent fists or brass knuckles), even though you have two hands.

  • Florentine attacks with melee weapons (small or standard size), once you learn the skill, allow for a flurry of six strikes before a pause.  Some players call this the “flow blender” and can show you how to do it.

  • Two-handed weapon strikes require you to pull the prop back at least 45 degrees between strikes.  All other weapons, including brawlers, require you to pull the prop back 90 degrees.

  • Bullets (nerf darts or red packets) go through shields, while arrows (blue packets) do not.

  • Without a spike call, all melee attacks do 2 damage and projectiles do 5 damage.

  • Head, hands, feet, genitals, and breasts are all invalid targets for all attack types.

Be sure to check out the rulebook or ask a Guide for additional differences, including the rules about firearm combat using Nerf blasters or red packets (pausing, reloading, allowable distances).