No one knows how long it’s been since the world was blasted with nuclear radiation and became infested with the undead. The survivors of the Fall were the first strain of deviation of the human condition and were able to make it through the rapidly spreading epidemic. Small communities come together in a world where concepts such as democracy, freedom, and government are newly reborn. Finding a community of decent size in this world is rare; finding one that has any concept of equality or morality is rarer still. Oh, and people have the unnerving ability to come back from the dead, regrown from the very virus that destroyed the world. The world is broken. It is up to you to pick up the pieces and make a new world from the remains of the old.
Dystopia Rising: Evolution is a gritty action-adventure survival game powered by Onyx Path’s Storypath system. It’s an update of the popular live-action setting, presenting a fresh and exciting take on the post-apocalypse genre, but even if you aren’t familiar with Dystopia Rising, everything you need is here in Evolution. That includes rules for creating characters for 24 different Strains, variations on humanity that survived the Fall; details on the powers of faith and psionics; advice on running action-adventure stories, webs of personal intrigue, and procedural investigations; and dozens of antagonists, including a variety of zombies and raiders to use in your series.
Dystopia Rising: Evolution was published by Onyx Path between 2020 and 2025. With the end of our license, our DRE titles are no longer available, but you can still see a list of our Dystopia Rising: Evolution products!
Trouble on the Steel Pier: A Dystopia Rising: Evolution Jumpstart, our first release for Dystopia Rising: Evolution, is now available in PDF and print from DriveThruRPG! The jumpstart includes an introductory adventure, taking you characters through the Big A.C., and a collection of ready-made characters to get everyone started. Below is a preview of one … Read more
Now available in PDF and print via DriveThruRPG: Trouble on the Steel Pier: A Dystopia Rising: Evolution Jumpstart! “Welcome to my humble palace in the Big A.C. Don’t mind the blood.I’m sure you’ll be much better at your job than he was.” — Maajida, Head of the A.C. Black Market Welcome to the Big A.C., … Read more
Hello, survivors! This is Eddy, with a peek into Dystopia Rising: Evolution, as well as the design process. After the Kickstarter, I added the concept of Flaws. If you’re a Storyteller / Storytelling veteran, these aren’t what you think. In DR:E, Flaws are effectively the same as Conditions, but they apply to Gear instead of … Read more
We’ve been getting a lot of questions about Scale: what it is, when it applies, and how we adjudicate it. Hopefully this post will clarify that for those of you wondering how to use Scale in your game. Scale is a narrative term that is used as a shorthand to describe large differences between two … Read more
In Dystopia Rising: Evolution (available for preorder), characters are one of eight Lineages. These are a kind of “meta-Strain” that allows us to organize all the possibilities, and build new ones in future products. The core book offers three Strains for each Lineage, and each of those Strains comprised a Strain Path, which is a … Read more
The main “character class” you choose in DR:E is called a “Strain.” I’ll talk a little about Strain Paths in another update, but I wanted to give you a bit of an in-world explanation of what they are. Just remember — while the people you play may be physically (and in some cases mentally) different … Read more
The tug boat growls as the captain kills the engine. For a moment, Kai thinks they’re busted, and she nocks her loose arrow. But nothing stirs this far out on the river. Exhaling, she relaxes her arm and glances towards the stern. In their wake, the Plunge, skeletal buildings glimmering with a thousand small fires, … Read more
Red vaulted the cement barricade and landed hard in cover, any remaining breath driven out in a coughing gust by the impact, the howling of the raiders so loud on her tail she was amazed she hadn’t caught a spear in the back already. As if on cue, a long, wicked looking metal spear flew … Read more
As always, we’ve been keeping ourselves pretty busy over the last month: Games Scarred Lands: Dead God Trilogy 1: Forsaken (in print) Scarred Lands: Dead God Trilogy 2: Forsworn (in print) Scarred Lands: Dead God Trilogy 3: Forbidden (in print) Exalted: Hundred Devils Night Parade part 17: Gravehound and Tiger’s Eye (PDF) Exalted: Adversaries of the Righteous part 12: Meimuna … Read more
Now available via our RedBubble storefront: Hardcover Covenant journals for Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition! These blank journals can be purchased with your choice of lined paper, grid paper, or blank pages. Whether you’re planning on writing prose, drawing diagrams, or creating art, these journals have you covered. Requiem Covenant Art: Carthian Movement (journal) Requiem Covenant … Read more