Local Custom Mechanic: Lights Out
As part of our two-part June and July plot, we'll be running a custom mechanic called Lights Out. Here's how it works:
A guide will enter a building and call “By This Zone: Lights Out.” All characters not immune to blinding will be under the effects of Blinding and Stun until the guide specifies otherwise, calling “Lights Up.” All players affected by Lights Out will be asked to cover their eyes until tapped by a guide or NPC.
Any character that is not blinded does not have to cover their eyes during this time, and does not take the effects of the Stun. They are considered to have needed cover for Stealth, and can move to intercept NPCs as long as the NPC is not under the effects of Basic Enhanced Movement or Stealth.
If an NPC is intercepted, play will briefly pause while the combat is moved to an open space. Any players that are needed to be moved for safety will be informed by the guide. Once a combat space is cleared, play will resume.
Why would something kill the lights to a building? To snatch helpless victims, of course!
There will be times during our June and July events where NPCs may attempt to abduct your character. If you wish to opt out of being kidnapped, inform a Logistics Guide to receive an opt-out wristband.
If your character is abducted, your kidnapper will attempt to take you to a certain checkpoint. If you are rescued or use the Larceny skill to slip your binds before this checkpoint, you're free! Otherwise, you and the NPC will go back to Ops, where you will be presented with 3 options:
If you have Basic Larceny and the mind to do so, but chose not to slip your binds while being taken, you may escape and return to town without drawing enemy attention.
If you don’t have Larceny and are OK with your kidnapped character being "offscreen" until one of the rescue missions run the next day, you may NPC for CAPs or play a different character during this time.
If you don't have Larceny and don’t want to be offscreen until the next morning, a guide will spin up an escape scenario for you, and you can find out how you managed to escape and what state you find yourself in as you make your way back to town.
We hope to create a tense game with a sense of danger lurking in the dark. Will you find a way to hold back the darkness?
A New Tree for 2023: Updates to the Overgrowth Pinemaw
With the resurgence of last November’s apex Overgrowth threat right around the corner, we want to tell you all about some of the changes we’ve made to refine and balance the Pinemaw into the challenge we always dreamed it to be: it will still pose a deadly threat, but our hope is that these changes will bring it from being just a hard fight to a hard and fun fight!
With the resurgence of last November’s apex Overgrowth threat right around the corner, we want to tell you all about some of the changes we’ve made to refine and balance the Pinemaw into the challenge we always dreamed it to be: it will still pose a deadly threat, but our hope is that these changes will bring it from being just a hard fight to a hard and fun fight!
The Pinemaw WILL still require the feeding of a special Herbicide to harm it. The Print for this Herbicide will be seeded several times throughout the coming event and will be used for further Pinemaw encounters in the future.
The Pinemaw WILL NOT require a count of Root NPCs to be killed to knock it into Bleed Out. Instead, the puppeteer inside the Trunk will have a Body tally, and players will be able to attack the monster directly with Ranged Attacks and Strikes to the puppeteer’s arms, shoulders, and torso. Attacks to the exterior of the puppet will have No Effect - beat the player, not the prop!
Pinemaw Roots WILL still be present, but they have been very heavily nerfed to better serve a role as small harassers of PCs attempting to engage the Trunk.
The Pinemaw WILL still have a mix of Pheromone and Psionic calls. We have refined them, however, to be distinct in their functions, and more heavily favor Psionics. Pheromone calls are, as before, resisted using the Proficient ability of the Helscape Deathmask, while Psionic calls are resisted with Mental Endurance as normal. If an AoE or BMV call does not possess either of those carriers, it follows other resistance and counter rules as normal!
These changes are OOC knowledge related to what is fundamentally a mechanics patch; in-character, survivors are not intended to take this as a cue that the Pinemaw has mutated, evolved, or changed in any way.
Thanks for reading! Good luck out there, Survivor, and happy hunting!
Memetic Fixations: Need to Know
Our July event, POWDER KEG, introduces a new threat to Lorado: Memetic Fixations. These are more potent and easily spread versions of the original Fixations that have plagued the residents of Barker Meadow. Memetic Fixations are intense, destructive, and maladaptive intrusive thoughts that characters must confront throughout the event. Their effects will be more specific, brutal, and swiftly resolved than before. Possible vectors now will include the terrifying potential of it spreading through discussions with the Fixated about the individual's mental state or the phenomenon itself, sprawling out through Lorado as a virulent idea.
Our July event, POWDER KEG, introduces a new threat to Lorado: Memetic Fixations. These are more potent and easily spread versions of the original Fixations that have plagued the residents of Barker Meadow. Memetic Fixations are intense, destructive, and maladaptive intrusive thoughts that characters must confront throughout the event. Their effects will be more specific, brutal, and swiftly resolved than before. Possible vectors now will include the terrifying potential of it spreading through discussions with the Fixated about the individual's mental state or the phenomenon itself, sprawling out through Lorado as a virulent idea.
Designed for characters who enjoy medical, psychological, and resource-based gameplay, Memetic Fixations will be a pervasive threat beginning with a module on Friday night in-game. They are not a "coming-into-town" mechanic for the purpose of mechanical interactions.
Fixations follow a Prompt and Resolution format. To be considered Fixated for mechanical purposes, you must have an active Prompt. Roleplay of being Fixated should convey being plagued by intrusive thoughts and desires, but giving in to fulfilling Fixations is a combined in-character and out-of-character choice.
The physical Fixation Prompts can be picked up at a location that will be central in the playspace and may be drawn if desired to swap out or when receiving redundant pulls from available Fixations, when receiving Fixations in the course of play.
Note that detection and treatment of Fixations is challenging since they are not Fractures or Diseases and do not respond to traditional methods known in the Wastes.
Players will need to discover methods to detect, treat, and eliminate the threat of Memetic Fixations throughout the weekend. Players can opt their characters out of Memetic Fixations during play or start with immunity if they wish. We are also offering an option to begin the weekend with an experimental inoculation having been applied to your character by shadowy forces, an opportunity we’ll be providing more details on in the coming days. What could go wrong with that, right?
Join us at our event by purchasing tickets on sale HERE.
P.S. Contact Emily B. on Discord if you have the [LATENT] tag on your character or believe you should. No reason, just checking!
Don't You Want to Be Wanted?
With the inauguration of The Wardens, lawbreakers all across Lorado are seeing their golden age of chaos drawing to an end. But formidable though they are, there are only so many Wardens to go around, and far too many slick lowlifes and dastardly outlaws dot the Western Wastes for the most tenacious law dogs to attend to them all; thus, the honored tradition of cash bounties returns - and the target: you!
With the inauguration of The Wardens, lawbreakers all across Lorado are seeing their golden age of chaos drawing to an end. But formidable though they are, there are only so many Wardens to go around, and far too many slick lowlifes and dastardly outlaws dot the Western Wastes for the most tenacious law dogs to attend to them all; thus, the honored tradition of cash bounties returns - and the target: you!
Bounty Hunting mechanics in Lorado are intended to provide a dynamic experience that’s one part Where’s Waldo, one part pseudo-CvC that allows you to take on your friends’ characters not as a mindless zombie or berserk Raider but as a crafty and determined Strain of your own design who will do whatever it takes to get the best of the PCs. You’re encouraged to play your Bounty NPCs as if they were player characters: fight to win, and use every trick in your arsenal to survive. Whether you’re a face in the lineup of a bandit gang or working as a guard for a merchant coming into town, it’ll be up to the PCs to spot you, figure out how to take you down, and test their wits and skills against yours in the name of collecting that sweet, sweet payday. And best of all, this all happens during the course of your regular NPC shift!
To create your Bounty NPC, go to NPC Camp and create a unique, distinctive Strain outfit from the costume items there. (Bringing your own is also acceptable!) Pay special attention to the head and shoulders, as your NPC should be recognizable in play from the sketch on their Bounty Poster! Once your look is complete, a Guide on shift will take your picture in front of a plain background. Then, you’ll fill out a Bounty Registry sheet in Ops with some additional information:
Your Name and Player Number
Bounty’s Name and Strain
If you don’t want to come up with a name, you can be assigned one.
Bounty’s Payout and Crimes
Roll a D6, reroll if you get a 1. Your result is your number of Crimes, and multiplies by 10 to determine your Payout as well as your Body and Mind.
Your Crimes determine what Skills your Bounty has:
Assault: +10 Body, Take Down, Break
Grifting: +10 Mind, Basic Mental Endurance, Proficient Social Influence
Evading Arrest: Basic Enhanced Movement, Balance, Proficient Awareness
Burglary: Proficient Larceny, Basic Stealth, Proficient Criminal Influence
Armed Robbery: Break, Choking Blow, Proficient Combat Tactics
Kidnapping: Blinding, Master Unarmed, Basic Malicious
Murder: Master Malicious, Bounty is Killing Blow Active
Assassination: Piercing Strike, Master Criminal Influence, carry 2 Glass Stilettos
Malicious Witchcraft: Proficient Telekinetics, Proficient Telepathy, Basic Pyrokinetics
Arson: Master Pyrokinetics
ALL Bounties have Avoid and all Master Weapon Skills (not Unarmed)
Wanted Status
Dead or Alive? Or only one of the two?
Bounty’s Signature Item / Proof Of Kill
This is a Local Plot Item card unique to your Bounty NPC, to be looted if your Bounty is killed; this is delivered to the Post Office for payment. It CAN be a visible item on the costume, but doesn’t have to be. If you’re only Wanted Alive, you won’t need this.
We will then use your picture and other information to create a Bounty Poster, which will be posted up on site and in the Public Works Bounty Ledger.
You’ll receive a copy of the stat block and the reference pictures of your Bounty NPC costume, as well as your choice of one of the four Ace Card Local Items to bring into play on your PC.
Starting the following event, once per event, you can play your Bounty NPC in place of an unnamed Strain character on an eligible mod! Mods that can support Bounty NPCs will be marked as such, and the Ops Lead will notify the NPCs when prepping a mod of this type to go out. If your Bounty NPC returns from a mod without being killed or captured, depending on actions you may have taken in play, your Payout might go up!
Bounties are always equipped with Strain Loot cards for any one Proficient Armor, one Master Weapon, one St. John’s Tincture, and may consider any one Augment of their choice to be equipped to their weapon. You will also go out with your Signature Item card.
The Wastes are your oyster, outlaw - give ‘em hell.