So you wanna join the zombie apocalypse?
Dystopia Rising is a post apocalyptic Live Action Roleplay with several chapters set up around the United States and Canada with a absolutely massive and amazing community. It’s set approximately 600-800 years after the fall of man the rise of zed and other unsavory creatures. It’s a wonderful LARP for anyone from people who’ve never LARPed before, to veterans who’ve been LARPing since they could walk. It’s a highly inclusive and loving community who all adore getting scared shitless and have a bunch of fun getting murdered in the woods for a weekend.
Things you will need for your first event:
First things first, download the rulebook http://drivethrurpg.com/product/144562/Dystopia-Rising-LARP-Survivors-Guide-20 It’s free unless you wanna get a physical copy!
The chapter websites have a REALLY good list of what you’ll need, but I’m making a quick guide that’s a little easier to digest. If you wanna check out their stuff here is a link to the Dystopia Rising Massachusetts’ site, http://www.dystopiarisingma.com/new-player-materials/
-You should come to your first even with a character concept. You have three games to solidify your character but it’s good to go in having a pretty good idea of who you want to play. There is plenty of resources on character creation but the biggest and probably most crucial is the core rule book.
There is also an incomplete wikia, that’s super useful for cross referencing profession/strain lists quickly and I look at these pages like twice a day or more I swear.
http://dystopia-rising-larp.wikidot.com/strains
http://dystopia-rising-larp.wikidot.com/professions
-Costuming. This ties right in with with character concept, once you figure out who you want to play, start coming up with an outfit that would fit in the apocalypse. Here are a few good resources, https://www.pinterest.com/DystopiaRising/ and https://www.youtube.com/user/NuclearSnailStudios/videos See also: Mad Max and Turbo Kid.
- FOOD AND WATER. You need it. Your body needs it to function. If you are going for the full game, you will be staying on site and eating and drinking IN GAME. You need easy to prepare foods, things that are okay eating cold. There is a microwave you can use, there is a fridge you can store your things in, but unless you cook over a fire or have a serve safe certification you cannot cook in the kitchens.
- SOCKS. This is another one that you cannot fool around with. Bring like four more pairs of socks than you think you need, then throw in another two pairs just to be safe. Nobody likes trenchfoot.
-Sleeping Gear, you will be sleeping in game. Every site I’ve been too has a bunch of cabins, some better than others, and tenting is ALWAYS an option (sometimes you even get extra Assistance Points for tenting, AP can be spent to buy in game things or extra XP)
There are a whole lot of things to learn when you start DR. I got a little lost at first, but the learning curve is VERY quick and everyone around you is more than willing to lend a hand.
The main two things to know are how Skills work, and how Combat works. It IS good to note that you can create a NON combat character. This doesn’t mean you will never be hit*, but if you are good at staying out of things you’ll be fine.
Skills: There are two places you can learn skills from, either your professions (of which you can get up to three and then go into advanced professions and concentrations, but that’s for a later day) or the Open skill list. You can either come in game with them or you have to find a teacher to show you how to do it. These can often lead to great RP moments and are very fun. You use XP or build to ‘pay’ for these skills.
Combat: We use a lightest touch flurry system. This means you will never get hit twice in the same spot twice in a row. Your local chapter will go over this more in person. But as for the basics, When you hit something you call out the number of damage your weapon does. If you come into game with a weapon skill and a phys rep you will get a item card for it and they will tell you how much damage it does. Everything else you get in game.
*If you do need to not be hit for medical reasons then you have the option of being completely non-combat and this means no one will be able to directly strike you at all.
As always your first game is only $20 for the whole weekend, after that it’s $45
The Massachusetts branch is holding a new player drive right now, if you come to the July game the weekend of the 15th you’ll be in for a fucking awesome time.
Please feel free to shoot me any questions you may have, or if you wanna make up some characters and need some help I’d be down for that too! Either here or over at my email, [email protected]