At Midwinter, Onyx Path revealed that I am the lead developer for Dystopia Rising: Evolution, the next edition of the Dystopia Rising tabletop roleplaying game. For those that don’t know, Dystopia Rising is a post-apocalyptic roleplaying game that quickly grew into a live-action sensation. The DR community is passionate and friendly, and I had a wonderful time talking to many of them at Midwinter about what they love (and don’t love) about the DR universe.
Things are very early in the process — as I write this, I need to gut and rewrite my preliminary outline based on the wonderful feedback and input I got both from Eschaton Media (the licensors) and the DR community. But there are a few things that I can talk about at this early stage.
First, we’ll be using Onyx Path’s Storypath system as the bones of the game. In early discussion, I offered a few options to consider, but we all quickly agreed that Storypath adds some great qualities that will help DR:E stand out as a distinct post-apocalyptic experience.
Second, this won’t be a one-off book. While I can’t go into future plans, we are definitely thinking of support materials for DR:E. We’re not in this just for a year to kick a book out — Dystopia Rising will be shambling down the Onyx Path for a while to come.
Which leads to my final point: writers. I need them! Onyx Path certainly has a deep bench of talented freelancers, and a number of excited pros have already reached out to me to offer their support, but I want to bring some fresh blood in as well. I’m particularly interested in seeing submissions from women, people of color, disabled and LGBTQ folks, and other minorities. Even if I don’t have room on the core book, I’ll need writers and designers for future books.
Onyx Path has a perpetual open call on our submissions page, so we’ll be rolling DR:E into that. One wrinkle is, well, we don’t have mechanics yet. But the wasteland demands innovative solutions. When you send your submission, use whatever mechanics you like — just put in your submission a note about which system you’re using, so I can get a sense of what you’re trying to accomplish.
I’ll probably start hiring writers in early February, so try to get your submission in before February 1st, 2018!
For those of us who are unfamiliar with DR, could you make a blog post that delves into the general setting as well as your vision for this new installment?
pre selecting on demographics is something that risks coming at a cost of quality. not because people from these demographics are ill suited but merely because you are fishing from a smaller pool. a blind application process might be better suited since it does not risk quality of writers while still addressing certain hiring biases.
In what way is this open call “pre-selecting on demographics”? If you have had doors shut on you your whole life, it’s a good thing when somebody opens that door and specifically waves you to come in.
Encouraging diversity to apply is not the same as pre-selecting. As someone who is of a lot of these minorities, it’s encouraging to hear my work will be looked at equally instead of wondering if it’s going to be tossed aside due to bias as I’ve had happen many times before. Looking forward to applying!
Not pre-selection. Just encouraging other folks to apply!
“I’m particularly interested in seeing submissions from women, people of color, disabled and LGBTQ folks, and other minorities.”
You know, in years past, I would likely have gotten annoyed at this quote; or even considered it to be pandering and/or virtue signaling.
But not anymore. I understand why, sometimes, these things need to be said. And I also understand it’s not discouraging people like me NOT to apply. Rather, it is simply encouraging those who may not have a voice, or may feel as if their voice is not being heard–to then be heard. And also to understand that there are companies accepting of them and inclusive(as companies should be).
Looking forward to see what you guys do with the license.
– Luis
Glad you understand my intent, Luis!
I’ve been a Dystopia Rising LARP player for four and a half years, and I’ve soaked up a ridiculous amount of knowledge of the world in that time.
I know that the current expansion materials for the world are written for the table top game, and most of that information carries over into the LARP. My question, though, is whether the DR:E core book that’s being discussed currently is for a table top (which desperately needs a mechanics overhaul) or for the LARP update. It’s two very different styles of writing because the gameplay is so wildly different. This one piece of knowledge will help determine how I write the submission.
As mentioned on this post, Dystopia Rising: Evolution is a tabletop game, and will effectively be the second edition of that game. While we will naturally be drawing a lot of inspiration from the LARP, it isn’t intended as a LARP book.
…I apparently should not try to process information right after I wake up. Thanks for restating something that I read right over.
As someone who has never written professionally, but does enjoy writing, before I even bother trying to find out if my writing is up to snuff with the awesomeness that OPP puts out, may I ask what “not exactly specifically” you might be looking for from a disabled person?
Just do your best!
We are asking for writing submissions and specifically mentioning those folks who we think might not have applied in the past because they have felt it wasn’t intended for them. That is a bit of extra effort and spotlight to be more welcoming to those who might need that. We’re not disparaging anyone, nor discouraging anyone from applying, nor are we judging anyone’s submission on anything more than the writing quality of the submission. Increasing our pool of possible writers for us to pick from, so we have more potential for more good writing in our books, is good for all of our customers, regardless of game line.