Dystopia Rising to Trinity

[LordHeru]

Sooo the book (and pdf) just came out for Dystooia Rising Evolution and I just bought it, both in print on demand and on pdf. Going through it there is much to like, very much to like indeed, and a few things that have me going 'okay, I see why, but nah!' which, honestly, I think is normal. For example, I really like the survival rules and stuff, those sorts of systems are quite enjoyable, as is the whole post-apocalyptic nature of thing.

That all said the basic point of this post is to see what people think on the whole time honored practice of 'yoink', that is, you know, taking stuff in Dystopia Rising and bringing it over to TC. I'm talking about Edges and powers and other such mechanical features.

I just got the book an hour or so ago which is why I don't really have much actual suggestions at this point, besides me stating I am glad to have bought it.

[Mateus Luz]

The 4 first things that popped to me when reading was Stress, Traumas, Hungry (and thirst) and Diseases.

They are pretty easy to adapt, as they are just conditions that you gain for reasons, but the way they worked is pretty smooth.

[Florin]

I've been waiting for the teleporter in my game to botch so I can plop them into the DR world. I ran a one-shot of DR a couple of weeks ago, and it went really well. The system worked great for it. Now I just need to figure out how the Grave Mind and psions would interact. Luckily, none of them are telepaths in my group.

[Penelope]

I had the same idea!!! I’m gonna buy DR soon, so I’ll have more to say once I read it. Most of my ideas will probably be setting ideas though (I really suck at rule mechanics).

[Mateus Luz]

I had the same idea!!! I’m gonna buy DR soon, so I’ll have more to say once I read it. Most of my ideas will probably be setting ideas though (I really suck at rule mechanics).

That’s the good part, the mechanics are pretty much the same. It’s actually closer than Scion, at least in the chargen and options in general.

[Penelope]

Awesome 😊. Thanks. Maybe this weekend I’ll post something.

[Penelope]

I read the book. The setting looks pretty cool, but I don’t really have any crossover ideas. I’ll wait and see what you guys come up with.

[Mateus Luz]

I read the book. The setting looks pretty cool, but I don’t really have any crossover ideas. I’ll wait and see what you guys come up with.

DR is not a standard Zombi Apocalypse setting, there are a few special effects that make it unique, like the fungal infection, the grave mind, the fact that characters come back to life and a few others. You can use some of those ideas in other games, but honestly individually they are better explored in different settings, DR itself explore the combination of Apocalypse with lots of fantastical stuff.

I think the best part to incorporate into TC is the rules, specially is the part dealing with survival in general (scraps, diseases, stress, etc). There is also the Faight Edges that bring a interesting gifts to Talents (they think their faith cause the effects, but its actually their unconscious will), and maybe a different set of psi powers, particularly Necrokinesis that is really interesting effect if you are trying to create a TC setting in the dark ages, with witches, sorcerers and necromancers as varieties of Psiads with different powers.

Honestly DR is not my favourite setting, and the biggest reason I went after it is to check how the devs deal with the more gritty setting, as both TC and Scion are pretty powermonger. Yet I really end up liking the book and setting (while I do prefer the YOLO version of apocalypses), the same way I like Gamma World (since Alternity) and Omega World (from the Polyhedron magazine from early 2000s), I like the ideas and would play it, but I would not GM it due to my lack of interesting ideas related to it.

[Penelope]

Cool. I heard about Gamma World, but I never read it.

[MythAdvocate]

Cool. I heard about Gamma World, but I never read it.

Oh, its a hoot. There is a game of a similar sort called Mutant Crawl Classics by Goodman Games. Its a great deal of fun. Along the lines of DnD 3e, but less filled with rules. Mutant powers and the tech is full of a random element that can get pretty wild pretty quickly.

Overall, I prefer a storytelling approach to such games, without too many rules to choke the game. I will check out Dystopia Rising.

[Penelope]

MythAdvocate awesome 😊. Me too. I found the setting of DR a little gritty, but it might be fun for a one shot.

[LordHeru]

Honestly I'm the same. There are multiple elements in DR that I like, either piecemeal or wholly, and some things I don't (the whole gravemind thing is nope honestly) but that all said I am VERY glad I bought it, both in pdf and physical. It will fit well in my collection, especially when I do stuff post-apocalyptic and also when I need some additional Storypath stuff.

[MythAdvocate]

After looking through the book, I have some thoughts on psionics. Overall I think that for use in the Trinity Continuum, I would say that the "Psionicist" Edge (and subsequent minor powers) would be considered a Powered Edge, while the "Psi" Edges (Biogenetics, Egokinetics, etc) would be considered Enhanced Edges in Trinity Continuum/Talent terms.

Does that sound right?

[Penelope]

I do like the idea of the Grave Mind.

I’m not sure why they made such a big deal about there being no supernatural elements in DR (they went on for like a page about this) when Faith powers by their very nature are themselves supernatural.

[Mateus Luz]

After looking through the book, I have some thoughts on psionics. Overall I think that for use in the Trinity Continuum, I would say that the "Psionicist" Edge (and subsequent minor powers) would be considered a Powered Edge, while the "Psi" Edges (Biogenetics, Egokinetics, etc) would be considered Enhanced Edges in Trinity Continuum/Talent terms.

Does that sound right?

I agree on the Psionist Edge as a power edge, but the Psi edges cant be enhanced because enhanced doesn’t have dots, and the powers do. I would mark them as powered edges too with requisite in the Psionist edge of same rank.

Still, I prefere the way Aeon deal with Psionics, while I understand why they used a fairly more simple psionics system. If I was going to translate Necrokinesis to Aeon, I would make it a new Aptitude, with 3 modes, one for dealing with undead, one for interacting with spirits and one for interacting with bodies.

Another option is to add a new mode for each aptitude, dealing with spirits would be Telepathy, dealing with bodies Vitakinesis. Maybe it’s even more interesting...