Rules Changelog: Difference between revisions

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'''This is where all rules edits are tracked'''
'''This is where all rules edits are tracked'''
==== 20/07/2023 - Changes to: Psykers, Supplies, Ranged Traits and PvP guidelines ====


==== 29/08/2022 - Tidying Rules and Reorganising them on the Site ====
'''[[Resources|MISSION SUPPLIES]]'''
A few updates to the site with a handful of changes to the rules.


* Exorcist Warded circles have been updated by a brief that encourages the use of Decagrams and encourages Exorcists to avoid wards associated with 6/7/8/9 (if you know you know).
The "Mission Supplies" entry has been updated to divide supplies into: Ammunition/Explosives/Chems/Esoterica following feedback that many enjoyed the flow of these being separated from each other - with the return of Ammunition the "abundant ammo" rule has been removed entirely as all characters with a ranged weapon now start with Ammunition for their ranged weapon.  


* [[Wargear & Equipment]] has been removed from the top of the wargear traits section and moved into the core rules
Traits that previously gave you “access to the mission supplies pool” will now give access to 5 of the appropriate supplies. Multiple choices of the same type of supply do not stack. I recommend checking out Tech Powers and Weapon of Old Night especially as these now represent their unique ammo by relying on Esoterica (of the Machine Cult) to fire.


* [[Card Decks & Lore Sheets]], [[Medical Treatment (Medicae & Chirugeons)]], [[Interrogations (Explicators)]], [[Alchemistry (Chems and their Creation)]], [[Exorcism (Exorcists)]], [[Psychic Powers (Psykers)]] and [[Technoarcana (Tech Priests)]] have been moved to their own rules section.
'''Trader''' now gives you access to 5 ADDITIONAL supplies, of any type you like. This does not need to be a type you normally have access to.


* [[Technoarcana (Tech Priests)|Technoarcana]] Feedback-Curses that specified you did '''Mass Shock''' previously also now specify that you yourself suffer '''Haywire'''
'''[[Starting Stats and Abilities|RESPECTING THE HUMBLE FLASHLIGHT AND BOOMSTICK]]'''


*  '''Ammo-Jack''' and '''Trade Connections''' have had their supplies pools lowered to 5 - they and other traits that use supplies all increase supplies to the same pregame amount from 0 to 5.
The "Starting Stats and Abilites" page has been updated with a few more "selections" of "basic ranged weapon" - this is because the humble lasgun is at risk of becoming extinct in the player party and, as a result has had a bit of a tune up, as have Autoguns, and Stub Guns, Shotguns have returned to the basic ranged weapons but you will notice they have lost being able to fire in melee or do rend in this configuration - this is because if you selected Special Weapon Training you now have access to the superior Combat Shotgun instead.


* '''Trade Connections''' now allows a character to ask the game team if they can rustle up a local contact during the game to trade with - this 'trader' may offer additional supplies or it may offer something else in exchange for supplies (and other favours).
'''[[Ranged_Combat_Traits#Special_Weapons_Trooper|SPECIAL WEAPONS TROOPER]]'''


* Supplies have been clarified that they can be acquired ingame and exceed this pool
As well as loosing its expanded ammunition pool. This trait has had a few entries updated:


* Weapons that simply call Blam have been clarified that if you do not have a supply to reload them with at the end of a fight where they are '''reloaded''' then they cannot be used again until you '''Recuperate''' - representing laspack recharging or scrounging up common bullets.
The Hellgun has been brought in line with the new Lasgun as a straight upgrade granting use of '''Rend''' forever as a high-powered las-weapon but also letting you call '''Bolt''' for Ammunition as it did before.


* The Character Creation section has finally been updated all the previously 'free' traits have been compiled under [[Building_a_Character#Starting_Stats_and_Abilities|Starting Stats and Abilities]] but there are no changes to this section.
The Combat Shotgun replaces the regular shotgun


* Assault Weapons has been reformatted to match Heavy Weapons and Special Weapons
The Crossbow, gains a bit more sanctic, but also a familiar friend returns...
** Omnissian Axes must now hit someone 3s after 10s praying to the Omnissiah to call Sunder so they are not just straight-better than Chain Weapons.
** Shock Mauls have been split off from Shock Cutlasses and get to call Repel because we want to encourage their use over the more rare/esoteric Shock Cutlass.


* Medical Treatment rules have just been clarified that after 30s of medical roleplay the Medicae/Chirugeon just simply calls '''Get it Together''' if no complication has been found - making it in line with all other healing abilities.
'''[[Calls#NULL|GUESS WHOSE BACK? BACK AGAIN? NULL IS BACK, TELL A (PSYCHIC) FRIEND]]'''.


* Boom, Burn, Bolt and Sunder (the deadly BS) now all have had their hit recovery rules unified to: You cannot recover Endurance (except to recover to 1 from '''Bleeding''') until treated by a '''Medicae''' or '''Chirugeon''
Yeah the NULL call is back, the crows actually told me to do it. This time it is also not a friend to people using Warp nonsense who aren't psykers - great for disrupting those Sorcerors you keep handwringing about.


* The [[Medical Treatment (Medicae & Chirugeons)]] section has been tidied up to make things clear and Chirugeons have gained the ability to redraw Power Tests when they are in a medbay (once per recuperation).


* [[Lore_&_Investigations#Investigations|Investigations]] have been streamlined - if you have spare plastic chinese take-away boxes then the Game Team will always appreciate them for this purpose
'''VIGILATOR:'''
** Verispex have now been granted the ability to know if Hidden Clues exist.


* Avaunt/I name Thee/I call upon the Emperors Light - have been replaced by a single modifier call '''Sanctic''' - this permits people to keep calling Avaunt for fun and games without it meaning an IC effect;
* <s>Sharpshooters Rifle</s> '''Sniper''': Following feedback about how restrictive this was to use, this has had a few changes.
** Upgrading to '''Rend''' from your standard call now triggers on 3s standing still and lasts until you move - this removes "Cover" as a requirement for this which did not feel right.
** The sniper shot has been re-written to be more forgiving, taking 10s to wind up and not being spent if the call is missed, and not requiring a second windup if it is - like above it also now only requires you to be static, not need cover.
* '''Master Scout''' has been added, making explicit something I should have made clear that "Vigilator" is a thing we expect to use on relevant Clue Cards for spotting traps, but also that, if in doubt (because we didn't have enough time to prepare clue cards for it for example) you can always ask a ref.


'''SANCTIC'''  
'''VERISPEX:'''
If struck by a ranged call with this attached, it has no effect on you unless you have been briefed otherwise.


If struck by a melee blow and this call is used, unless briefed otherwise, treat it as uncalled melee.
This has had Master Detective added just to clarify this for Verispex's as well


==== 28/08/2022 - Exorcism Update ====
'''[[Psychic Powers (Psykers)|PSYKER]]'''


The Rites of the Ordo Malleus have been removed from Exorcism. These represented am easy way for PCs to access point and click powers that were incongruous with our narrative and setting metaphysics that lacked the complex risks of psykers and in some ways subverted them in ways that did not fit the setting or the power level drop we made.
The number of powers this can freely select has been reduced from '''Four''' to '''Three''' - this skill was woefully undercosted in its current state offering an immense amount of freedom and options with minimal risk - this, plus additional changes, are intended to provide some ways to make it feel a bit more focused and costed fairly.


Things like '''Sorcery''' remain better locked behind ingame achieving access to forbidden grimoires and other things not by purchasing a trait. The necessitaty of faith has also been made clearer and the structure of circles with it.
'''Psychic Perils'''  


==== 28/08/2022 - Exorcism Update ====
The old guides for testing have been replaced, many powers now have had "push" removed and now mention either spending Will to do higher level abilities, or "opening your mind to the warp" to unlock them.
A new section on Warded Circles has been added to the Exorcisms section;


https://www.deathuntodarkness.org/Exorcism_(Exorcists)#Warded_Circles
'''Psychic Powers'''


In addition performing '''[[Psychic_Powers_(Psykers)#Auto-Seance|Auto-Seance]]''' has been included as an example of a Psychic Ritual known by PCs in service to the Inquisition.
Many powers have been updated in line with the change above to help them flow better.


==== 25/08/2022 - Card Deck Updates ====
'''[[Player Character Conflict|PVP]]'''


[[Card Decks|ALL THREE CARD DECKS]] are out of date and need updating a notice has been posted on the page but do not waste time printing them until new ones are released.
We've been back and forth with these, in the end I have opted for the more traditional hands off approach to PvP violence by taking away mechanical restraints around it - now this page simply outlines that there are IC risks for doing so due to you having superiors you answer to.  


For players sensitive to this, the page highlights the fact that being murdered by a "friend" who has gone insane is a risk you have to accept as part of DuD gameplay even if you avoid conflict with other players to the greatest of your abilities.


==== 25/08/2022 - Exorcism Rework ====
I've added a welfare note, and an additional note (thanks to Jay) asking people to avoid using violent aggression to win debates and minimise others because this IS something that some of us have to deal with on a daily basis and not something we want to deal with at LRP.


In line with the updates to Psykers and Tech Priests, [[Exorcism (Exorcists)|Exorcists]] have been given a facelift as well - they do not get to do anything without expending willpower as before but they have now got a much clearer framework for doing Exorcism's and Banishments as well as some facelifted Rites that reflect the arrival of Lord Inquisitor Aetos to the system and the unsealing of certain Ordo Malleus tomes and training being made available to more servants of the Inquisition.


They can also get Cursed now.
==== 29/02/2023 - Exorcism clarifications ====


The fluff of both the [[Willpower_Traits#Exorcist|Trait]] and the page has been updated to reflect this and it is now '''mandatory''' for Exorcists to have '''Malleus''' lore and close ties to the Inquisition unless the Game Team says otherwise - this is because the playtest draft of Exorcism did not make it clear as to the origin of these abilities and it was ALWAYS intended that they represent special training that few can offer.
We've done a series of clarifications that we hope will make Exorcism flow a little easier and be a little less confusing as well as trying to cut down on the wording on the page, there are ostensibly few actual changes to these rules just hopefully they are now better worded.


Please do consider that before you take them as they should be an important core of the character.
The primary change has been to remove the unnecessary ritual circle rules in the section which were frankly a bit too confusing for their own right and to improve the workflow of the exorcism rituals themselves - combat exorcism has also had the ability to SANCTIC KNOCKBACK added.  


Mention of Banishing daemons has been removed as this is more appropriate as a set piece for an event narrative rather than a thing people can do freely.


==== 25/08/2022 - Psyker Rework ====
We also removed the rule temporarily in place to limit these to once-per-day.


Psykers have been reworked from the ground up both reflecting the desire to reign in the power level of the game but also simplify how they work - in a reverse of the Technoarcana revisions Psykers have gained flexibility representing the sheer variety of how each one interacts with the warp - a lot of powers have been moderated with new drawbacks and an increased cost in willpower or power tests needed to operate them. Psykers now select four powers (in addition to '''Psyniscience''' and '''Deny the Witch''') representing how their character manipulates the warp.


The pages [[Psychic Powers (Psykers)]] and [[Psychic Powers List]] cover all the changed rules.
==== 28/02/2023 - Scan simplified and CLEAVE added ====


'''Designer Note:''' All the powers have suggested fluff for how they work, how a player chooses to represent their psyker using their abilities is entirely up to them for example the Smite power might represent a psyker firing bolts of fire and lightning, but it might equally represent hurling psychically charged playing cards at ones opponents - the goal of removing the traditional 'disciplines' is to increase flexibility in how each Psyker roleplays their abilities.
After some Post-E8  analysis the Scanning rules have been reworked again - ultimately after E8 we didn't feel that SCAN was how we wanted it to be offering fine-tuned detection and identification of foes - as such we have removed the section on scanning and reworked the call entirely to function with no further keyword interactions as a 'sonar ping' ability - which achieves our goal in retaining it of giving players a way to notice threats non-visually with auspexes - the new version is designed to represent a more Aliens-like motion-tracker rather than a reliable tricorder-like device. The new call is as follows:


However changes have not stopped here;
'''SCAN'''
''This call represents someone using an auspex or (if accompanied by WARP) a Psyker using their extrasensory perception to see the unseen.


'''Astropath''' is no longer a trait, it is simply a flavour of psyker allowing you to trade your character's sight (which is now vulnerable to Weaken, Shock and Haywire) for '''The Sending'''
''If you hear this call and you have either no ability to resist it, or are not behind cover and unmoving when it is called (this cannot be avoided by diving into cover) - you must respond by loudly shouting PING.''


'''Psi-Meditation''' is no longer a trait it has been replaced by [[Willpower_Traits#Rites_of_the_Black_Ships_(Requires:_Psyker)|Rites of the Black Ships]] which increases willpower but encourages Psykers to be punished in order to aid them regaining lost willpower - essential given that a Psyker now has 75% chance of failing a power test whenever they have no willpower.
''If you hear this call as WARP SCAN then you must call PING unless you explicitly have an ability that lets you resist this combination or calls with WARP attached. If you are a Psyker you must respond with PSYKER instead of Ping.''''


'''Ritual Sacrifice''' has been removed as it represented esoteric knowledge that was not really appropriate to know before a character enters play if you had designs on it it would fit better as a '''Unique Trait'''
Due to the nature of how calls were reorganised following E7 "BOLT" represented the highest damage in the system other than SUNDER, this worked well for ranged weaponry as a call but did not represent very well the presence of powerful melee weapons and attacks, as such the call CLEAVE (which is identical to bolt mechanically) has been added for melee. While I appreciate that many people will find it unusual to have two calls for the same thing the impact of appropriate-sounding calls to designate appropriately terrifying different foes audibly has its advantages in combat.


In addition I have added some revised wording to the top of the Outsider Traits section;
There are no plans to insert any melee weapons capable of calling CLEAVE outside of Unique Traits at this time.


'''OTHER ABHUMANS AND XENOS'''
With these edits completed we will be producing a rules feedback form that will go to all E8 players and crew in order to capture areas in which people are not confident they understand the rules and areas where players are finding it confusing.
''The traits beneath represent abhumans that are common enough in the Prosperitas Sector that we are happy for them to be present in the game in greater numbers - however there are many abhumans that they do not cover and they do not cover aliens (Xenos). We are not in principle against including other abhumans and even the occasional xenos but these would be Unique Traits and only approved by the Game Team. Be aware that some Abhumans are intentionally excluded, such as Navigators which hold too much political sway to be viable characters, and Ogryns that would be too impossible to physrep without descending into comedy that would detract from the aesthetic of the game - so do not be disappointed if we offer a no in response to your request.''


''Space Marines exist outside the power level of our game and will not be approved as Player Characters.''
==== 10/02/2023 - Rules Clarifications ====


* It has been clarified in [[Corruption and Faith]] that you can -always- skip to Tempted and that it ends '''all''' ongoing negative effects including some Call Effects, Madness, lower levels of Corruption and other dramatic effects - but not '''Bloodied''' or '''Near Death''' or lost Endurance.


==== 25/08/2022 - Subtrait Revision ====
* All traits that grant '''Sunder''' have had it added to their write-ups that regardless of how many SOURCES of Sunder someone has they can only use it '''once''' per '''recuperation''' not multiple times from multiple sources - this was already in the rules but was missed due to being only in one section so this is just for clear communication


'''Strong as a Grox''' and '''Hammer of Wrath''' have been combined into a single subtrait.
* The order of testing for rituals have changed, now they draw BEFORE the ritual RP rather than midway.


'''Strong as a Grox:''' You have particularly impressive strength, you may call '''Rend''' with a two handed melee weapon even if it cannot do so normally and make calls of '''Repel''' and '''Drag'''  with your melee blows with similar weapons every 10s. In addition if you have the '''Heavy Weapons''' trait you may reduce your maximum '''Endurance''' by one at the start of a scene, for the duration of that scene you may lift, carry and fire a heavy weapon alone without aid, and without bracing but you cannot move faster than a slow walk while firing.
* '''Moritat''' has added a clarification added that it only effects pistols with its subtraits.


* [[Calls#YOUR_SOUL/SANITY_IS_TESTED!|Your Soul/Sanity is tested]] has been added to the calls, it was found at e8 it was just easier to have a universal cue rather than trying to speak it as refs/crew.


==== 24/08/2022 - Call Revisions ====
* [[Your_Character's_Background#Your_Decline|Your Decline]] has been revised with new questions based on our experiences in planning these tracks at E8


Wording around Weaken, Dread and Haywire have all been united as the 'shut down traits' calls and Haywire has moved back to being a single-target call (unless paired up with MASS).
==== 16/01/2023 - Rules Clarifications ====


All pages are finished


==== 24/08/2022 - Technoarcana, Techpriests and Info-Executioners Revised ====
We have clarified because we put it in announcements but not the text that the starting bonus trait "Tough Enough" was intended to represent people recruited for brawn not brains - this was added because players wanted the option to opt out of the lore game and not for people buying lore skills to add an extra endurance to their build. So it has been clarified that for new characters this means it locks you out of gaining lore until you gain lore in game.


A complete overhaul of the [[Technoarcana (Tech Priests)|Technoarcana]] has been implemented - this update removes the need for Tech Priests to use card decks and instead gives them Tech-Curses based on their specialisations with technology - it also diversifies Tech Priests out to six potential areas allowing them to be more distinct from each other and less flexible by a direct result of this design.  
We removed Would You Kindly from Interrogation effects because it was confusing players as to if it indicated unnatural compulsion to obey or was just a mundane social soft skill call. These skills interact with willpower skills exactly the same just with the confusing use of the cue/call removed. DuD has no social soft skills for uptime play.


Info-Executioner has been overhauled to be a specific type of tech-shaman who isn't of the Mechanicus (unless you want to be) it now grants access to its OWN [[Technoarcana of the Info-Executioner|technoarcana]] to make sure its abilities fall in line with the removal of the mechanicus deck. It also now excludes you from taking '''Tech Priest''' - thanks to all the Mechanicus players who engaged over this change.
==== 24/10/2022 - Rules Locked In ====


It is recommended that Psykers and Exorcists have a look at these revisions as these powersets will be revised along similar simplified lines (however as they both involve interaction with the Warp they will retain card decks).
Apart from Minor Typos we will not be making changes to the rules, the following pages:


==== 24/08/2022 - Dread Updated ====
* [[Your Character's Background]]


The original wording of Dread made it quite a bit more devastating then intended, it has now been revised as follows;
* [[Building a Character]]


''You are overtaken by supernatural fear - becoming Shaken. While in the presence of an individual or object that has called this you may not make active use of your traits - though still benefit from passive effects such as increased willpower/endurance or effects representing armour or innate toughness that do not require you to make calls or roleplay actions to benefit from - you may still make melee attacks in self defence, but these must be uncalled.''
Are not finished yet - I am working hard on them but have been down with Covid-19


''You may not move closer to a source of Dread willingly, and must either cower if it draws nearer to you or attempt to flee - this effect ends after a character spends 1 minute gathering themselves from the shock of what they've seen. If they are attacked during this time, all progress is lost.''
==== 24/10/2022 - Cards Updated ====


We've updated the cards in line with the update [[Rules Downloads]]


==== 22/08/2022 - Balancing Sweep ====
Medicae has also had '''Stimms''' added.


There are two sub-traits (True Grit and Martyr's Gland) that grant the ability to get up from Bleeding - these have now been associated with the call '''I Will Not Die!''' - I will not die in turn has been specifically set up that it may ONLY be used ONCE per scene regardless of how many sources you have access to.


Similarly the calls '''Sunder''' and '''I am a Knife in the Dark''' have been balanced capped at a shared Two-per-Scene cap - this is to control the number of instant-death effects available to players.
==== 15/10/2022 - Scum ====


Similarly the new Oaths from Preacher have added clarity that you cannot be under more than one Oath and you cannot leave an Oath until you '''Recuperate'''.
We've updated Scum as it was seeing some clearly wrong attention for what we wanted it to represent in-game in terms of the social class of characters choosing to take it, I've updated it with a design note as follows:


'''Design Note''': If your social status in background is anything other than absolutely lowest of the low scrabbling for survival and despised by all, this trait is not suitable for your social background; people should expect having this trait and being seen to use it to result in significant class prejudice.


==== 20/08/2022 - Rules Clarifications ====
In addition it has had vulture modified to include the fact that you must now do a Power Test (with a 75% chance of failure.


The chem '''Mortalitas''' has been clarified that it is capped at ONCE per scene, like other 'instant kill' effects.
It has also gained an optional feature;


==== 18/08/2022 - Rules Clarifications ====
'''Mutie (Optional)''': This trait is highly appropriate for characters who are looking to play the lowest of the low in the Imperium - Mutants - you may choose to add cosmetic mutations to your costume - this has no mechanical aspects unless interacting with certain environmental effects.


Continuing to sweep the rules for any areas where effects say to 'ignore the roleplaying effects of Bolt or Rend' this should do the following - "The call Rend no longer disables your limbs and Bolt now only removes 2 HP when it strikes your chest (though you still cannot recover hits after being struck by it)."
And a new drawback:


'''Preacher''' was a little underwhelming as it only allowed the user to speed up rest periods OR do something call - now it default speeds up rest periods if you do a speech and for a point of Willpower you can enable those who listen to you to take a Oath (because Sword Oaths are cool) you can find its revised version on the page. I welcome anyone who has suggestions for Oaths that are NOT about smiting the unbelievers but this is what we have now.
'''Born at the Bottom''': Due to the environments they grew up in Scum characters are more vulnerable to developing minor mutations at the discretion of the Game Team.


'''Duellist''', '''Darkborn''' and '''Knife Fighter''' (under Scum) have all been updated to include that blows with WARP attached to them cannot be deflected on the forearm in line with the dodge stuff
==== 15/10/2022 - A Note on Medical Treatment - Triage ====


==== 17/08/2022 - Rules Clarifications ====
We noted in some feedback it was reported that characters were not attempting the full 30s of medical roleplay during combats at E7 - the Game Team would like to stress that this is ''incredibly disappointing to read'' - the danger of performing medical aid while under fire is a feature rather than a bug of the system.


Folks have started to build their characters and have started to notice errors in the rules so we are making the following updates;
It is not an ''optional'' component of the DuD game to simply ignore it in order to save your own skin and is there to be followed as a rule - we do not like to get in the business of monitoring player adherence of rules but given this was highlighted in a complaint about the length we feel it is important to inform players that we will be monitoring this in future.


Failing to follow treatment times is ''cheating''.


'''Adept Mortis'''
Adept Mortis now includes the ability to acquire Needle Weapons this is to compensate for the fact that there is no way to take Specialist Ammo now and not wanting to add an extra trait for 'can fire toxins at range':


''In addition you can acquire '''Needle Weapons''' these are one or two-handed firearms that reload after 5-shots can otherwise call '''Blam''' but consume '''Supply''' tokens when reloaded (they are intended to deliver toxins).
==== 15/10/2022 - Rules Mk.3 ====
''
With the feedback from E7 we have finalised the Mk.3 (return to Grimdark) rules - these will not be touched after a period of feedback from players ending 25/10/2022 - we strongly recommend re-reading the rules in full during this period as there are many small changes that would be impossible to track here.


The goal has been to iron out some of the overly complicated parts of the game that needed tidying up to make the rules get out of the way of roleplay - especially combat rules.


'''Militant'''
'''All Traits''' have been reworked for balance and consideration
Wording on Disciplined has been cleaned up to specify that you cannot use it on missile launchers or relics to get additional Sunders.


'''''Disciplined Shooter:''' If you are in '''Overwatch''' you gain three additional shots before you must Reload. You may only use this ability once per scene - this has NO EFFECT on single-shot weaponry such as Missile Launchers or weapons that call '''Sunder''' as default.''
'''All Calls''' have been reworked for balance and clearer simplified rules.


'''Outsider Traits''' have been removed, playing an abhuman is better done via a unique trait with Game Team approval in order to achieve a high visual standard for these.


'''Ammo-Jack'''
The '''Alchemy''' and '''Interrogations''' sections have been removed as they are now nested under relevant traits.
Has been reworded to increase its supplies (I do not believe there is a way you can read it that suggests it stacks with Trade Connections if you already have it) to compensate that its original role of trading supplies for ammo has no use - it has also been slightly nerfed in that its special issue ammo trait allows you to trade 1 supply for two calls rather than freely upgrading weapons. It also only upgrades Special Weapons that can fire solid slug.


'''Scan'''
There is now a formal [[Scanning]] page covering keywords for this ability as well as constraints on its use this is to;
* Reduce the amount of repeated area-effect SCAN calls and pings in the callspace.
* Spread the jam by making it advantageous for different people to be looking for different things and multiple people to be scanning at once.
* Allow people to still use lots of scans for small, conversation-volume normal roleplay


'''Ammunition'''
'''Design Note - Things you cannot do with this, on purpose.'''
The section on Ammunition consumption has been reworded because we'd already seen people talking of dumping their five supplies on their gun bunnies and in fairness that didn't feel like the kind of game we wanted to create so now you MUST have a supply to make ranged calls with a weapon, and weapons that call '''Blam''' consume a supply after every fight (representing the fact these weapons have abundant ammo or las-packs so they chew through resources slower). This does still mean a character who is pure melee can dump off supplies onto someone else but that comes at sacrificing ranged damage and is considered fairly useful - please do note that supplies do also represent a form in-game currency so do consider that pooling them all on one person might have consequences if they are stolen from by NPCs or taken out in the field as you may loose the ability to bargain with certain NPCs;


''To this end, after expending 5 shots with a 1-handed ranged weapon or 10 shots with a 2-handed ranged weapon you must reload. Whenever you reload, if you have used any call other than Blam, you must consume a Supply token, if you have no Supply tokens on you then you cannot make ranged calls. Weapons that call Blam consume a Supply token after every fight. This does not apply to the ability to make calls provided by non-wargear traits unless those traits use your weaponry.''
* '''Scanning for the Noosphere:''' This didn’t work well in practice. If a techpriest wishes to connect to something through the Noosphere to interact with it, they are better off asking the NPC, examining any clue card attached to it, or asking a ref directly. In general, characters can assume there is background noospheric activity - ie, wi-fi, a mobile phone signal, etc - in highly technological places, and less or no activity in remote or low-tech places.


* '''Scanning for the Undead:''' There are a vast array of things that might cause what is essentially a corpse to be moving around: Servitorisation, possession, telekinesis, and all manner of alien or warp phenomena. There is no unifying feature to categorise them as “undead”.


'''Moritat and Hellgun Changes'''
* '''Scan everything, all the time, as a single character.'''
With the changes to ammo above both Moritat and Hellgun got similar buffs allowing them to only consume Supplies when they call '''Rend''' (and '''Bolt''' in the case of Moritat) after a scene where they have been reloaded more than once - both have also had their 'spray fire' options ammended to clarify that they do consume a Supply after they've Dakka'd.
* Hellguns have gained the added bonus that they can call Blam endlessly without ever consuming supplies so long as you have the backpack.
* Moritat has had its pistol range reduced to pistol range again rather than unlimited range.


 
'''Corruption''' has been altered, it now progresses through successive roleplaying effects up to a level of '''Tempted''', where the boons of Chaos are offered, instead of offering benefits at every level.
'''Overwatch'''
You can now re-enter Overwatch in a scene - just takes slightly longer - this was because there was weird thing that meant heavy weapons couldn't be reset in a scene now they have to be lugged to new cover.
 
 
'''Knife Fighter/Scum Merged'''
Knife Fighter has been merged into Scum to make Scum a more equal equivalent to the Adept Mortis trait.
 
 
==== 17/08/2022 - Interrogation Revised ====
 
[[Interrogations]] have been heavily revised to make them less complex and a lot easier for NPCs to be given a briefing sheet for them - they're a little more abstract for NPCs but players have ways to respond differently if they end up in the chair.
 
==== 04/08/2022 - Changes to Madness ====
 
The Madness system has been overhauled, it is now no longer a four-card progression track but a series of RP effects that are triggered by certain circumstances the page for [[Madness]] has been revised.
 
This has necessitated some trait, call and drugs changes;
 
===== Calls =====
 
'''Dread'''
''You are filled with complete and utter dread, as a supernatural fear takes over your mind. You become Shaken, and while you stay near whatever causes you to come under this effect, you may not willingly approach it, and must cower and do nothing, or actively move away from it if it comes closer to you. While under the effects of Dread, you may not use traits - including Wargear Traits - as you are overcome by fear; you may still call Blam with a pistol, and strike Uncalled Melee blows - but only against other foes, and not the source of your Dread.
 
This effect ends when you spend 1 minute unable to see or hear the source of your Dread, while roleplaying gathering yourself mentally''
 
===== Traits =====
 
'''Exhorter'''
 
Reword the subtrait Let His Name '''Bolster Your Will''':
 
''Once per scene, you can use your understanding and insight into the fears hidden in the human heart. This allows you to use your words and actions to calm the minds of others. You may either suppress the effects of Shaken on a character, or one of their active Madness effects.''
 
Reword the subtrait '''You Can Do This''':
 
''Prior to or during a combat, by roleplaying inspiration or encouragement, you may bolster the minds of those around you. Grant yourself and up to three other characters the ability to recover from or ignore the Dread call for a scene. Characters still become or remain Shaken and can still Descend into Madness in response to Dread calls while under this effect.''
 
The traits '''Iron Within''' and '''Adamantium Will''' have been extensively re-worded - the most significance balance change here is that '''Adamantium Will''' no longer enables people to use willpower to bounce the '''Warp''' call.
 
'''IRON WITHIN'''
''Stubbornness is a common trait found within Imperial Citizens, but some Agents seem to function out of sheer spite. This allows them to suppress instinctive fear reactions, as well as make them incredibly hard to compel.This ability to suppress the innate instinct to obbey drilled in via most Imperial education would be considered an undesirable trait - and is found in as many willful rebels as it is in iron-willed fanatics.''
 
''You gain +3 points of Willpower. Furthermore, you can expend 1 point of Willpower to call Ineffective against the call Would you Kindly? or to recover from the effects of Dread - however, you will still remain Shaken if you do this..''
 
'''Adamantium Will (Requires Iron Within)'''
''You have incredible mental fortitude - so much so, that it is rare for it to come from natural means. Most who have such willpower are either calling upon Psychic training or (if unmutated) likely benefitting from the result of mindwipes, mental wards or other blocks placed on them by their Inquisitor. You gain +3 points of Willpower and can never be broken by any form of Interrogation both conventional and Psychic. In addition any attempt to compel you to surrender information, such as by use of a Would you Kindly? command automatically fails (call Ineffective).''
 
'''Flagellant and Chem Trooper'''
Both traits are updated to make it clear they ignore Dread while Berserking
 
'''CHEM TROOPER'''
''Bezerker: For the duration of the scene, you ignore calls of Blam and take no damage from Uncalled Melee; Rend does not disable your limbs, and you are not affected by Dread (though you still become Shaken at the end of your rage when you begin to process what you have seen). The chems rushing though you have inured yourself so much to pain that you do not recognise the damage they are causing. You are also near-mindless: complex tasks are beyond you, and you crave violence above all else.''
'''FLAGELLANT'''
''Faithful Rage: You (or a Figure of Authority you are connected to) may whip up your rage and faithful fury at any any point during a scene gaining the following effects;
''
For the duration of the scene, you ignore calls of Blam and take no damage from Uncalled Melee, Rend does not disable your limbs, and you are not affected by Dread (though you still become Shaken at the end of your rage when you begin to process what you have seen). Your self-inflicted suffering has so inured you to pain that you do not recognise the damage they are doing to you. You are also near-mindless, complex tasks are beyond you and you crave violence above all else. Your self-inflicted suffering has so inured you to pain that you do not recognise the damage they are doing to you. You are also near-mindless, complex tasks are beyond you, and you crave violence above all else.
 
'''Bionic Enhancements'''
Update the subtrait Neural Failsafe with the following wording:
 
''Neural Failsafe: Twice per scene, when affected by a call or effect that would cause you to become Shaken, or if Would you Kindly or Command Override cues are used - you may call Ineffective - before writhing in pain unable to do anything for 10 seconds, as your brain implants activate.
 
When you recover, you are not Shaken nor are you affected by any additional effects of the call that caused this to activate. However, you may experience short-term blank spots in your memory. In situations that call for it (such as being captured and interrogated), you can overload these to voluntarily go to 0 hits and become Subdued and unconscious - you may also voluntarily choose to fatally overload them.
 
You may opt to transfer control of your implants to another character who may use an agreed-upon (with yourself) word to trigger them - in some agents, this is used as a method of discipline. A character with control of your implants can only overload them to the point of you becoming Subdued.''
 
 
Update the subtrait Volitor Implant with the following wording
 
''Volitor Implant: No true servant of the Inquisition would be given a volitor implant - a character with these is little more than a slave. There would be no reason to install these unless their loyalty to the Imperium was suspect. Normally used in working beasts like cybermastiffs, the volitor implant preserves intelligence while giving a suite of tools to ensure they are incapable of disobedience.
 
 
A character with a Volitor Implant is unable to disobey the individual who they are imprinted with obedience to - thoughts of disobedience can happen, but are always punished with pain from the implant. Most of the time, the characters are also unable to admit having them - although some Inquisitors have been known to allow penitents to be able to say they have the implants, as a form of humiliation or if subtlety isn’t required (in this case, it must be discussed with the Game Team first)
 
Before an event, the implant will be loaded with 2 unbreakable commands agreed by the game team. These are not obey-only-to-the-letter commands: the orders embedded must be followed loyally, and to the genuine best of a character's ability to achieve them.
 
If a call of Would you Kindly? or Dread would directly impede the ability of a character to fulfil one or both of these commands, or force the character to divulge information about the individual to which they are bound - you may call Ineffective to that call.
 
A character with a Volitor Implant cannot be broken by Interrogation unless the implant is first deactivated by a use of the Command Override call.
 
If you break one of your commands, you will suffer continual jolts of pain until you have corrected the error, returned to task and reported the failure to an assigned handler (if you have one).''
 
 
===== Chems =====
 
A new Chem has been added to dose people up with, should they lose their minds:
 
'''Torpor'''
''The drug of choice of the League of Black Ships, this cocktail of narcotics and neural-inhibitors are used to render psykers docile and unable to use their psychic powers. The Holy Ordos maintain supplies of the drug for similar reasons, but have also found that, in low doses, is very effective at suppressing mental traumas.
 
Suggested Physrep: Blue Liquid or Pill
 
Cost: 1 or 3 Supplies
 
 
Effect:
A 1 Supply dose can suppress either the Shaken condition, or the effects of a Madness card for the duration of a scene.
 
A 3 Supply dose can render a Psyker unable to access the warp (and therefore use their powers). This can be used only on a Subdued psyker unless they willingly take the drug. The drug can be used for benign reasons, shutting a Psyker’s mind and body, thus preventing it from becoming a conduit for creatures that may have latched onto it in the warp. This effect lasts for a scene.
 
Repeat Use: If, for any reason, a character takes more than 1 dose of this at the same time, they will become sedated, in a hallucinatory state. This makes them unable to focus enough  to use any of their traits, especially psychic-based ones for the duration of a scene.
 
Roleplaying Effect: Torpor in low doses provides a pleasant buzz and positivity - high doses result in sedative states and hallucinations. The comedown afterwards is incredibly rough - the effects on an individual can vary massively, but are universally unpleasant.''
 
==== 04/08/2022 - Changes to Corruption and Faith ====
 
The [[Corruption and Faith]] page has been re-written to provide a clearer flow.
 
The Faith and Fire Trait has been updated;
 
''Though all have Faith in the God-Emperor, Omnissiah, or whatever aspect of the God-Emperor they give worship to, yours is more fanatical and driven. Your path is one of suffering, but through it you have the strength to silence permanently the whispering voices of that which would corrupt others.
 
You do not have Corruption cards. Instead, you have a set of Faith cards; the full details can be found in the Corruption and Faith section of the rules. In addition, when afflicted by an effect representing the warp corrupting or mutating your character's body, you may expend 1 point of willpower to resist it. When afflicted by an effect that would corrupt your character's Soul, you may resist it automatically and at no cost, for your soul belongs to another.
 
You can give up your Faith at any time - you get the trait slot back, and the Chaos Gods will reward you far more handsomely than those who have not walked the path - for your soul is stronger, and will make a far finer reward when you go to them.
 
If neither Emperor nor Omnissiah (or their merged form)feel like an appropriate focus for your character, please feel free to contact the game team to discuss focusing your Faith on another god-like being.''
 
 
==== 29/04/2022 - Toning down Power Level ====
After some debate the original vision we had for the return to DuD has changed and we wanted to return the game to something closer to the power level of the pre-Covid game - as such a lot of wargear that had been released to players has now been removed as we decided to keep things simple.
 
* Patron System has been removed, this was just confusing players and had lost most of its reason for being in place as we wrote - as such it is no longer a thing players need to worry about.
 
* The [[Wargear Traits|Wargear Section]] has been entirely overhauled to remove options for anything more powerful than a Boltgun that can be easily carried by a player. If you have invested in Wargear Traits I would suggest reading the section again as the changes are significant.
** Power Armour, Power Weapons, Specialist Ammo and Familiars have been removed.
** Special Weapons have been rationalised to Boltweapons, Hellguns, Crossbows and Flamers
** Heavy Weapons have been expanded to (in addition to Heavy Stubbers) Heavy Stubbers, Heavy Bolters and Missile Launchers
**Ammo rules have been reintroduced, Special and Heavy weapons consume Supply tokens every time they '''reload'''.
**Carry limits have been reintroduced because they fit our Aesthetic better than people hauling tonnes of weapons around.
 
* [[Endurance_Traits#Militant|Militant]] has been reworked.
** Militant's sub trait 'Armoured' has been renamed 'Battle Hardened' just to avoid the assumption it requires physrepping armour. It now prevents Bolt from killing you outright if it hits centre mass.
** The Subtrait Prepared (now not useful due to the rework of Wargear) has been replaced with a selection of three options(
 
* After some debate grenades have been entirely removed from the system as they were just not adding value to the combat and were very hard to balance and get right.
 
* The '''Saboteur''' trait has been removed entirely.
 
* '''Moritat''' has been moved to the Specialist Traits section so it is not effected by the Ammo rules in the Wargear section and has had its final effect reworded:
** Deadeye: If you are in Overwatch then you may call Rend instead of your weapons normal call after 3s aiming at a target. If you are in Melee then you may call Rend every 3s with your pistol if it is a LARP-safe prop.
 
* The "Maimed" effect has been removed and the '''Bolt''', '''Boom''', ' and '''Sunder''' calls now specify that they shut down '''all healing''' unless their effects are removed by a Medicae.
 
* '''Quake''', '''I Test Thee''' and '''Blind''' have been removed and '''Drain''' and '''Weaken''' have appeared.
 
** '''DRAIN''' Lose a point of Endurance as your life force or blood are drawn from your body - you cannot move other than to shudder and convulse on the spot so long as the individual targeting you continues to call Drain and roleplay with you - should they stop then you will recover immediately.
 
** '''WEAKEN'''For twenty seconds your character cannot make use of any traits or abilities as your body is wracked by sudden tiredness and overcome by sloth or lethargy, you cannot move faster than a slow stagger for the duration of this effect.
 
'''The Psychic Powers have had this power lists reworked as they were well overdue.'''
 
* [[Psychic Discipline: Biomancy|Biomancy]]
* [[Psychic Discipline: Divination|Divination]]
* [[Psychic Discipline: Telekinesis|Telekinesis]]
* [[Psychic Discipline: Telepathy|Telepathy]]
* [[Psychic Discipline: Astropathy|Astropathy]]
 
An overhaul of the Tech Powers is underway as they are massively out of sync.
 
<hr>
 
==== 01/04/2022 - Adjusted Description of Damnation and Faith and Fire ====
 
With blight gone we have now redesigned Faith and Fire to be 'Corruption only it's the God Emperor and you can't 'repent' from it' - cards will now be increasing faith 'powers' that also come with roleplaying downsides (mostly mental) it is possible to become 'Overwhelmed' (Transfixed) by this power, several players already are, which is a Unique Trait IN ADDITION to your ten traits.
 
So is Damnation btw, if you wanna go to the 'fall to chaos' route.
 
==== 01/04/2022 - Removed Blight ====
 
Blight was providing an unnecessary addition to the rules as it created the expectation of something to move the 'plot tracker' of Faith and Fire along mostly whereas Corruption was serving its purpose as representing the insidious temptation of giving in to Chaos. 'Warp Radiation' effects will simply be left to per-game effects where they are relevant rather than having an whole additional mechanic. Faith and Fire tracks will become more like Corruption tracks going forth, representing the mental and spiritual price of loosing yourself entirely to your Faith in the God Emperor/Omnissiah (or any other non-Chaos God) rather than being reactive to corruption effects (which have largely vanished).
 
==== 01/04/2022 - Re-arranged Traits ====
 
All trait packages have been broken down into individual traits to allow flexibility and combinations of abhuman mutations where it is relevant.
 
Unnatural Endurance has been broken up, with Supernatural Reflexes going to Outsider Traits to be an Abhuman mutation, and Inhuman Toughness is also an Abhuman trait (that makes it impossible to wear armour) - if a non-abhuman wants it that is best used as the result of a Scar or a Unique Trait
 
Bestial frenzy has been removed because it replicated Chem Trooper and Flagellant without any of their downside/requirements and too many bezerker variations was a little hard to track.
 
Supernal Reflexes has been added for the benefit of those who want to play humans who have honed themselves (or are on enough drugs) to have such a level of reflex but comes with some downsides due to pushing the boundaries of what is humanly possible - yes this can be stacked with supernatural reflex and chem trooper if you want to swing into being a dodge-tank.
 
'''Dodge''' has been added back as it feels better to call it when you are dodging rather than deflecting a blow just from a immersion PoV - it is otherwise the exact same call as deflect.
 
==== 12/10/2021 - Simplifications ====
 
Version 2 of the rules had become complex, as a result we have re-visited the rules during lockdown in order to provide a more simplified set of rules that are (hopefully) easier to stomach - credit largely goes to  James Blackshaw as my consultant on this - Gwen
 
The changed/cut down pages are:
 
[[Core Concepts]]
 
[[Combat and Injury]]
 
[[Medical Treatment]]
 
[[Calls]]
 
* Tough subtrait has been taken off of Veteran Warrior for now as it relied on a non-existent version of the rules, what it would translate into in real terms would be a bonus once-per-event fate which did not feel cosmetically correct.
 
* Wording slimmed down and fat removed from a lot of verbose rules, thanks Jim, these ‘core’ rules are now only 17 pages long rather than 23.
 
* Overwatch has been added to the rules for 2Handed-Ranged weapons this is a condition that is awarded after spending 5 seconds setting up in cover and gives certain bonuses to certain traits when active.
 
* Uncalled Melee is now back under the 1s rule, all hail standardisation.
 
* Locational hit effects are back, but locational hit effects at range no longer hit center mass as default, instead the player being shot at chooses where it lands. This fits our heroic tone and was stolen from WN, thanks Jim.
 
* There is no endurance for OC traits, so no bonus vs Nurgle for being double vaxxed but well done you if you can and have got it done.
 
* Rend has got locational damage back (all hail standardisation its Empire Cleave), it also just drops you if it hits your torso and you are not Prepped for Combat. Don’t @ me, PD takes my ideas sometimes.
 
* Bolt is like rend except it is rude and doesn’t care if you’re Prepped for Combat, it just drops you if it hits center mass, also a limb hit by it will just be messed the hell up until the end of the scene cos you now need to Recuperate (or use chems) to repair those limbs (all hail boneweld and its glorious return)
 
* Unsurprisingly you need Militant, Power Armour or Unnatural Endurance (Inhuman Toughness) to avoid these horrors.
 
* The writer considered including new traits based on how fabulous you have styled your lockdown hair, but was immediately reminded that was unfair.
 
* Don’t worry though because now you have been cursed with Fate - the ability to spend points to avoid death, or other things - this semi replaces Scars which are now the terminology for “Cool traits you get for nearly dying” and no longer have to be decided on at the event.
 
* Have you considered spending your Fate on Dark Fate? I hear Tahiti is a magical place.
 
* If you do cheat death you will end up with an Impediment, a lingering card chosen from the Complications, Perils of the Warp or Exorcism Perils deck.
 
* My impediment is I am cursed to keep needing to tweak rules, but I resisted super hard this time to make any massive shifts.
 
* I’m taking you in, alive! may now be declared whenever the fuck you feel like, ending the Bleeding condition and making you Subdued - this just makes it easier to go ‘oh actually I wasn’t trying to beat you to death I want to horribly torture you instead’.
 
* Ammo-jack no longer eats resources to buff your mates guns, and also gets to carry around a ridiculous backpack filled with ammo and get bonus calls from rooting around in it.
 
* Ammo-dave knows what he’s done and will only be allowed back if he apologises.
 
* Unnatural Endurance (Supernatural Reflexes) now lets you dodge sniper-bullets again because it's unnatural and that’s what I want it to feel badass doing. Still cannot dodge mind bullets.
 
* Unnatural Endurance (Bestial Frenzy) now lets you keep fighting for the first minute of your bleed count instead of being a bit wank.
 
* Unnatural Endurance (Best Frendy) is a broken skill available to many LARPers.
 
* Why give your friends death bed roleplay when you can have the camera pan to show that half your face is missing before you collapse?
 
==== 19/05/2020 - Relics become 'Unique Traits' (but remain in play) ====
 
This change does not effect people who already have a relic, the 'Unique Trait' option is simply to open up the concept of having a 'unique' thing about your character without requiring players (especially those on lower incomes) to feel forced into buying a 'cool prop' in order to participate in such shenanigans.
 
The guidelines have simply moved [[The_Basics_of_Creating_A_DuD_Character#Unique_Trait_.28Requires:_Ref_Permission.29|here]] - as noted above existing 'Relics' are not being changed and altered by this, this is simply a broadening of the scope going forwards and improving access to the game.
 
'''A clarification has also been added to the traits section in the same page that reads;'''
 
''The fluff and physrepping guides around every trait are designed to create a framework to help players not familiar with the setting have an easy time comprehending the purpose of each trait, but they are not designed to stifle creative ideas - '''if you have a concept that an existing trait could mechanically represent but the fluff does not fit it feel free to talk to the Game Team about the idea of 're-skinning' it to fit your concept''' - in most circumstances we can make this work with some potential added drawbacks where relevant, where we can't make it work a Unique Trait (see beneath) might be more appropriate.''
 
'''A note has also been added to the [[Character Background and Questions]] page;'''
 
'''''I want to play something unique…''' if you want to take one of the trait packages but be something else, or you have an idea for a character not currently covered by the rules and think you could pull off additional physrepping requirements then you are always welcome to ask. Our primary goal is to constrain the social power of a character, Player Inquisitors would, for example, have total control over the party by their power alone, and as such we are not inviting them because of that - social power and authority over other players is more disruptive to a group dynamic - so if you are looking for an idea for a unique concept be aware that we are likely to say no if it comes with this kind of narrative influence. Navigators, for example, are incredibly powerful politically, so while we would not accept a fully-fledged one with full house backing as a concept we might entertain one that has fallen from grace. In most of these circumstances a unique trait is recommended as part of your build.''
 
----
 
==== 23/02/2020 - Major Rules Updates ====
 
The best way to comprehend these changes is to re-read the relevant sections of the rules as these bullet points are only summaries.
 
===== Combat and Endurance Rules =====
 
* The Combat and Endurance Rules have been updated to remove all wound conditions and create a simpler and more traditional combat flow - you now treat endurance as "hits" in a traditional sense and when you run out of them you become '''Bleeding''' or '''Subdued''' depending on how you are attacked.
 
* '''Uncalled Melee''' has been clarified to remove any mention of heroic blows to simply only do damage if you are able to continuously land blows on the target for three seconds, the occasional blow between parries is not sufficient to harm a PC. You take a pont of damage every three seconds
 
* '''Reloading''' is now required every time you fire off ten shots with a weapon, it doesn't necessarily need to be 'reloading' but can be cooling a weapon and so on.
 
* Due to some near-misses we have felt it necessary to codify that solid pistols and props should NOT be wielded in melee and that ever effort for safe combat should be taken.
 
* '''Second Wind''' has been added as an ability that allows you to duck out of a fight to recuperate some hits.
 
* '''Maimed''' has been added as a condition that shuts down effects that get people instantly to their feet.
 
===== Resources =====
 
All resources bar '''Willpower''' and '''Endurance''' have been merged into the singular abstract '''Supplies''' these can be traded with other characters as well as powering individual abilities. Wanna give your precious chems supplies away to NPC Gangers in order to bribe them Alchemists? Well now you can...
 
===== Calls =====
 
* A section has been added talking about the difference between PC and NPC reactions to calls in order to allow people to make a better judgement about their trait and weapon choices. Examples have been added to each call for generic NPC types and their reactions to calls.
 
* All mentions of previous injury states have been removed.
 
* '''Bolt''' has returned from the 1.0 rules offering the iconic setting weapon a place above others.
 
* '''Rend''' now does 2 damage and a crippling effect.
 
* '''Shock''' is no longer nonlethal unless you fight to Subdue someone using the I'm taking you in, alive! cue.
 
* '''Null''' has had its effect on Psykers ratified.
 
* '''Warp Bolt''' has been removed
 
* '''Warp''' no longer bypasses Endurance
 
* '''Dakka''' now refers to being 'one meter' from cover to make it about distance from cover rather than speed of movement which we feel will be better for not penalising players with movement issues.
 
* '''I'm taking you, alive!''' has now been added, this triggers a PC or NPC to know they are being struck with nonlethal damage.
 
===== Alchemistry =====
 
'''Combat Drugs''' have been removed from Medicae's as this allowed an incredibly cheap way to access something chem-troopers had to pay an entire trait for and had no medical applications.
 
===== Traits =====
 
===== Wargear Traits =====
* Wargear Traits have been overhauled to remove the '''Ammo''' resource which no longer exists, this is mostly to accommodate the changes to combat. They now rely more heavily on the '''Ammo Jack''' trait.
 
* All traits bar Plasma/Melta and Power Weapons traits have had their prerequisites removed.
 
* Plasma/Melta and Power Weapons no longer have quirk decks and now have overheating on Plasma/Melta and nothing on Power.
 
* Trade Connections, now grants you additional '''Supplies''' in addition to its other benefits.
 
===== Endurance Traits =====
 
* '''Veteran Warrior''' has had several subtraits updated to correct them to the new combat system
 
** '''Grit it Out''' now allows '''bleeding''' characters with the '''Maimed''' condition to remove that condition while bleeding out, enabling them to be affected by calls that will help them recover.
 
** '''Second Wind''' has become '''True Grit''' and now makes a lovely companion to '''Grit it Out'''
 
** '''I Like These Odds''' and '''Victory Momentum''' now trigger a -for the scene- endurance boost if you accomplish their trigger - this means when you trigger them your endurance is boosted by two FOR THE SCENE which means tanks get tankier from hitting things or being outnumbered.
 
* '''Unnatural''' has had several subtraits updated to correct them to the new combat system as well as;
 
** Ironskin now makes you immune to the RP effect of '''Rend''' (but not '''Bolt''') and grants immunity to '''Maimed''' condition (you're too tough to keep down if someone helps you out).
 
** Supernatural Reflexes has been upped to three times per scene in line with what it offered before.
 
* '''Militant''' has been adjusted to remove previous references to Grisly injuries, it now also confers resistance to Rend.
 
* '''Power Armour''' has been adjusted to remove old wound state references, it has also been updated to note it is -not- immune to the effects of '''Bolt''' (given these weapons were designed to kill people in power armour and player power armour is the lighter end of the spectrum). And it allows you to do damage with normally ineffective melee weapons as well as carry heavy weapons.
 
===== Willpower Traits =====
 
No changes except for '''Flagellant'''
 
* '''Flagellant''' has been strengthened a little to allow it's bezerk rage to require a rest period after it is used before it can be used again. It has also been freed from certain economies.
 
===== Expertise Traits =====
 
Where necessary everything has been updated to mention Supplies or remove mention of old traits.
 
* '''Chem Trooper''' has been freed from Chems and returned to something closer to what it used to be in 1.0 now requiring you to have a ten minute rest after activating your berserker rages - but also granting you the ability to dodge bullets while in them. You also are just constantly on drugs allowing you to use even the smallest knife to devastating effect, and smash people with Repel
 
* '''Ammo Jack''' has been updated given its role as a support character for gun users.
 
===== Bionic Traits =====
 
Some rules tidied to remove mention of non-existent conditions, and mention of Chems to now become 'Supplies'.
 
===== Outsider Traits =====
 
Some rules tidied to remove mention of non-existent conditions
 
==== Psychic Powers ====
 
The Psychic Powers section has been moved into its own section and rules for Willpower drained psykers have been added.
 
----
 
==== 01/06/2020 - Major Rules Updates ====
 
The best way to comprehend these changes is to re-read the relevant sections of the rules as these bullet points are only summaries.
 
===== Endurance, Injury and Medicae Rules =====
 
* '''Endurance and Injury''' have been updated with the conditions Staggered and Wounded being removed from the rules entirely - Staggered was intended to provide a ‘video game’ esque moment of being shaken and about to die rather than death but it didn’t work. To this end the state has been merged with Wounded to create a new state Shaken which combines elements of the both of them. Quick Time Moments have been removed.
 
* The Largest Update has been to the '''Endurance''' resource, after five years of this being on ‘per scene’ refreshes we have decided it is no longer doing its job and is preventing characters from getting worn down even when players are. You are now required to Recuperate (a ten minute rest) before your Endurance recovers to full, meaning in situations where you are not finding a chance to take a rest you will find yourself losing the ability to recover above half as GiT’s run low.
 
* '''Grisly Injuries''' have been introduced as a consequence of being struck with the call Rend as part of the general rules update, these are a status condition that makes the character vulnerable - they clear if a character becomes Grievously Wounded, in that they become part of the general mess making you Grievously Wounded.
 
* '''Grievously Wounded''' has been kept with the same name so it doesn’t cause weird dissonance between people describing themselves as having been wounded, and the mechanical status.
Scars have been reworked. The reason for requesting them in advance from players was only simply to encourage planning rather than cause stress and confusion but has failed to do so, Scars have been re-written and clarified and will have a separate page of ‘example scars’ so that people have a quick reference list of examples. Otherwise they will be something you agree with a member of the Game Team at an event.
 
* The condition '''Normal''' has been changed to Fine. This enables characters to respond to IC checks of ‘How are you?’ with ‘I’m Fine/Shaken/Grievously Wounded’ or ‘I’ve got a grisly injury’ without breaking immersion.
 
* '''The Medical Rules''' rules have been rewritten to try and get their flow working better ‘Complication Checks’ have been replaced with Triage Checks and the system has been reworked a little (mostly a reskin) to follow a more immersive medical narrative using triage cards as inspiration.
 
* With the introduction of changes to conditions. The time taken (for the added risk of causing a complication) to get someone on their feet who has been Shaken to them has been clarified to 20s making it more efficient to do then letting people recover from Shaken but with the risk of complications to compensate that it is resource-free and unlimited unlike sources of Get it Together.
 
===== Changes to Resources =====
 
* '''Grenades''' have been removed as a resource, and from basic builds, all characters will now spend Ammunition on these to reduce numbers bloat.
 
* '''Chems''' have been revised as a resource to make it clear that when you unlock access to chems through an appropriate route you gain Five Chems and these do not stack together you get five to spend to use all your abilities before they run out.
 
* As a note both Chems and Ammo numbers (5 regardless of what you have) are subject to change and something we are actively playtesting we may change the maximum pool of these resources based on feedback in the future if we feel that players are running out faster than they should..
 
* All other resources have been revised mostly in small ways to increase clarity but also to incorporate certain new risks like the chance of getting ‘dodgy ammo’ effects from a ‘bad’ ammo dump.
 
* '''Willpower''' has changed as noted beneath in the changes to Willpower traits
 
===== Changes to Calls =====
 
* '''Calls''' Because of a huge number of minor (untracked) changes due to the change in the endurance economy and rebalancing other elements, the calls section has had to have extensive reworks.
 
* The call '''Rend''' now applies Grisly Injuries
* The call '''Warp''' now cannot be soaked by endurance making it incredibly dangerous to anyone who can’t defend against it (it remains blisteringly rare for NPCs to use)
* The call '''Stun''' now ceases to affect a character if you are not able to hit them with a second stun in a scene.
* '''Null''' has been significantly changed away from what it was doing before, it is no longer “Haywire for Psykers” but has different effects depending on the target, this is more in keeping for how it was intended to appear but does mean that you will need to do your research (hey look Venators) to know what effect it’ll have. Psykers are rare so its way to simply end their threat didn’t fit with what was desired.
* The calls '''Mass''', '''Burn''' and '''Haywire''' have been reworked to read easier, the call Boom and Blind have returned to the game because of the challenges making things work without them. The call Frag Out! Is no longer a call but just a thing people yell. The Calls page has been reworked to make things clearer this and is now at the bottom of this update
 
* '''Sunder''' no longer causes two wounds when it puts you down, this is to simplify combat flow.
 
 
===== Changes to Wargear Traits =====
 
* '''Rend Changes''': We were beginning to notice an emerging trend where because we had simplified the ammo rules the call Rend was becoming disturbingly common because of the simplification meaning it was fairly easy to spend a scene emptying your bolter downrange. This did not feel right with the themes of the universe so we have increased the resource cost of doing so which has affected a few traits including Assault Weapons, Purifying Weapons and Heavy Weapons which now pay for a number of calls-per-scene depending on the weapon. This does not apply to melee weapons that require someone to hard-skill strike their foe.
 
* Throwing Grenades now requires at least the Combat Weapons trait to do, and with that trait can only be done once per scene.
* The new '''Demolitionist''' trait replaces both Lay Mechanicus (for defusing/setting explosives) and grants the ability to spend as much ammunition as you want on grenades, it also grants incendiary grenades and explosives.
* '''Special Issue Grenades''' as a trait have been removed, Incendiary Grenades are now granted via Demolitionist, Haywire Grenades are now granted via Venator (Xenos specialism) and Null Grenades are now granted via Venator (Mutant Specialisation).
* '''Alternative Firing Mode''' has been renamed Special Issue Ammunition for aesthetic reasons, it’s sync with Vigilator has been removed and now it syncs only with Venator as this more appropriately represents a specialist loading the right ammunition for the job. It can also now access Boom and Blind now to represent underslung grenade launchers or explosive ammunition. It has also had wording tidied up about how many times it can be used per scene. It has lost Haywire as that’s an exotic effect best related to aliens and Techpriests.
* '''Artefact Firearm''' has been updated to remove its ability to call Dakka or Burn as these can be accessed via Special Issue Ammunition however it now grants you one call you can access freely per turn similar to militant. Its Sunder however now requires a short ‘cool down’ in line with other ranged Sunders in the game having RP around them.
 
 
===== Changes to Endurance Traits =====
 
As one might expect given the shifts to the rules for calls and damage a number of traits have had to be rewritten to reflect this.
 
* The trait '''I Will Not Die!''' Has been removed and its component abilities returned to the Veteran Warrior trait.
 
* '''Supernatural Reflexes''' subtrait of Unnatural Endurance has been reduced to Once per combat scene reflecting the rebalance of other traits in that set.
* '''Hulk Smash''' subtrait of Unnatural Endurance has been renamed Bestial Frenzy and now activates only if the character is reduced to Grievously Wounded.
* Second Wind no longer works if you are Grievously Wounded the condition is rare enough in the game now that the durability it grants no longer makes sense.
* '''Power Armour''' now requires a Tech Priest to help them when they become Grievously Wounded - with all its vulnerabilities if PA armoured characters do enter that state it means they have been Brutalised or hit by Sunder and as such we think they should fear that.
 
 
===== Changes to Willpower Traits =====
 
* The big changes here are moving '''Get it Together, Trooper!''' from this section and detaching it from the Willpower economy and the removal of the '''Armour of Contempt''' trait entirely which has been reworked into a new expertise trait.
 
* As GITT is no longer a source of Willpower, the WP provided by several abilities has been increased so these are the main changes and '''Ritual Sacrifice''' (which was previously under Outsider Traits) and '''Psi-Meditation''' have been changed/introduced to provide alternative routes to gaining WP rather than through Faith and Fire.
 
'''The quick breakdown of the Willpower economy is now:'''
 
* '''Iron Within''' grants +3 WP (up 1)
* '''Adamantium Will''' grants +3 WP (up 1)
* '''Faith and Fire''' Grants +1 WP
* '''Ritual Sacrifice''' Grants +2 WP (cannot combine with F&F)
* '''Psi-Meditation''' Grants +2 WP (Characters with Psyker trait package only)
 
 
===== Changes to Expertise Traits =====
 
* '''Loremaster''' has been removed and replaced by '''Lorekeeper''' a very similar trait that also includes the most important power we have ever introduced in DuD...the ability to get your hands on paperwork.
* '''Whispers''' has been removed and replaced with '''Spymaster''' a very similar trait...yadah yadah...that now grants the second most powerful ability in the game, the ability to play cluedo with NPC 'sources’ to get info from them.
 
* The '''Venator''' trait has been introduced replacing the old '''Armour of Contempt''' trait  representing specialist hunters of foes.
 
* The '''Get it Together, Trooper!''' Trait has been moved to this section and reworked to remove its connection to willpower and it has been renamed '''Exhorter'''.
 
* '''Vigilator''' has also been revisited to put it in line with other changes.
 
* '''Lay Mechanicus''' has been removed from the rules, as it has no longer got a place in the game. If you want to represent the advanced technical knowledge of a member of the laity of the Machine Cult who has been educated in this then you simply need Mechanicus Lore (which you can obtain for free when you create your character). Traits that previously required the aid of someone with Lay Mechanicus now either require the assistance of someone with Mechanicus Lore or a Tech Priest.
 
* The trait '''Alchemist''' has been introduced for all your mad science needs (can also make molotov cocktails and is currently the only trait that lets you get ammo calls by spending chems.
 
* '''Alchemistry''' has become the ‘powers’ of characters with Medicae, Chirurgeon or Adept Mortis and has different costs depending on what you are trying to achieve, the Alchemist archetype also has access to these.
 
* '''Chem Trooper''' has been fairly heavily reworked to flow better with various changes to the system it now ignores the Alchemistry system and uses the Chems resource to power its own abilities.
* The trait Explicator has been updated to work clearly with the new changes to chems
 
* The trait '''Savant''' has been introduced offering the ‘Giles’ to the Venator’s ‘Buffy’ a combat scholar who helps in combat by reading books and buffing their friends with what they’ve found in them.
 
* The trait '''Info-Executioner''' has been introduced offering the ability to sit back and plug in and help your allies with your L33T H4X0R skills.
 
* The '''Preacher''' trait has been introduced to the game, this allows for another non-combat role to be granted a place in the game without the quite game-breaking ability of the old ‘For the Emperor’ trait - but serves as a spiritual successor.
 
* '''Verispex''' though not included beneath, has had the UV torch removed as we have never got this feature functional, we are exploring better options for using tech to give this trait a unique insight.
 
===== Changes to Bionics Traits =====
 
 
'''Some tweaks and adjustments to some of the subtraits of Bionic Enhancements have been made.'''
 
* '''Neural Failsafes''' and '''Volitor Implants''' have been updated to fit with the metaphysic around Will and Martyr’s Gland has been updated to match the wording of similar traits.
 
* '''Inbuilt Sidearm''' and '''Baleful Eye''' have been combined to become Neuro-linked Firearm.
 
* '''Exoskeletal Implant''' and '''Psi Amp''' have been removed.
 
* Enhanced biology has been altered and its endurance benefits baked into the trait.
 
*  Martyr’s Gland no longer works if you are Grievously Wounded the condition is rare enough in the game now that the durability it grants no longer makes sense.
 
'''In addition:'''
 
* '''Servant of the Omnissiah''' has been renamed '''Tech Priest''' for aesthetic reasons in line with the renaming of Mechanicus Protector to Tech Guard. It now has the Secrets of the Machine trait which allow it exclusive action to Tech Puzzles and other ‘high technology’ elements of the game.
 
* The '''Tech Guard''' trait has been updated to bring it in line with various changes and improve it as it’s old main trait has lost meaning.
 
 
===== Changes to Outsider Traits =====
 
* '''Force Weapon''' has been removed from the basic Psyker trait, it is now recommended as an option for Assault Weapons and Power Weapons or just as a plain Relic. It has been replaced in the Sanctioned Psyker trait with the Empyreal Shield ability.
 
* The trait '''Ritual Sacrifice''' has been moved to Willpower Traits.
 
===== Changes to Powers =====
 
* '''Psychic Powers''': As a result of the change to Warp that make it a lot more deadly, we’re making some adjustments to various powers as follows.
 
* '''Divination''': Because of how lethal Warp is now, Guide has some added costs to using it that we think will actually make it more fun to roleplay. Boon of Good Fortune has changed in line with other changes to have a different effect and Unerring Defence has been updated.
 
* '''Telekinesis''': This has been revisited extensively in light of how things have changed with the sections above. Empyreal Blade nowworks for the Psyker and on force weapons only and has been revised in light of changes to Force Weapons. The new major rote Telekinetic Shockwave has been added. Empyreal Conflageration has been removed. Smite has been moved to a Greater Rote and revised in light of how horrific Warp Rend is now...repeat after me...Kameh….hame….
 
* '''Taghmata''' and '''Biologis''' Canticles have been removed as they didn’t really feel ‘right’ in the game and a lot of what they did is replicated by taking Alchemist and Chirugeon in the first place. Taghmata’s power has been replicated in the Tech Priest and Tech Guard abilities to preserve it, it now runs off of Get it Together rather than simply having a group.
 
* The '''Enginseer''' and '''Secutor''' canticles have been reworked to flow better and update them to season 2
 
===== Other Changes: =====
 
* '''Opia’s''' rules have been clarified to state that it is needed for Surgery unless you’re going to restrain someone, or to deal with Complications and effects which have lingering pain roleplay effects.
 
* '''The following line has been added to Investigations rules;''' We encourage you to limit yourself to reading only a few clue cards in a scene, this allows for multiple characters to participate in an investigation scene and creates a more collaborative roleplaying experience for all involved.
 
----
 
==== 29/04/2020 - Changes to Chem Trooper ====
 
The use of GITT has been set to 'once per scene' as it is one of the few risk-free ways to use this call on yourself.
 
----
 
==== 29/04/2020 - Changes to Scum ====
 
In line with the update to '''I Am A Knife In The Dark''' for Adept Mortis, Scum has had its wording changed too;
 
* You may use the cue '''I Am A Knife In The Dark'''. You must be within reach to be able to hit your target with a dagger, you must be behind them and they must be unaware of you, '''this cannot be used on a character already fighting in melee'''. If, you are able to use this call without making hostile NPCs aware of your presence, you may use it again, otherwise you may not use it for the rest of the scene.
 
** '''Physrepping:''' Only reasonably stealthy weapons may be used; knives or pistols with physrepped silencers/flash suppressors are suitable, but bolt pistols are not, you do not need to land a melee blow on the target unless you are using a melee weapon.
 
----
 
==== 29/04/2020 - Changes to Deathtouch ====
 
In line with the removal of Toxic, Deathtouch has a new effect;
 
'''Once Per Scene''' you induce your body or anothers produce toxins, if you are able to get an NPC to willingly enter physical contact with you such as a handshake (do not force physical contact ''ever'') or ingest something within a few seconds of you roleplaying poisoning it with the Warp and ''personally'' handing it to them. You may then, after a while inform them, "Feel the warp poisoning your body, for '''I am a Knife in the Dark'''." - this has the effect of Knife in the Dark however it is important for characters who have Adamantium Will and other traits to mention the warp as it can almost be resisted by this.
 
----
 
==== 29/04/2020 - Changes to Adept Mortis ====
 
In line with changes to '''I Am A Knife In The Dark''' Adept Mortis has had the rules for how it uses that call revised.
 
* You may use the cue '''I Am A Knife In The Dark'''. You must be within reach to be able to hit your target with a dagger, you must be behind them and they must be unaware of you, '''this cannot be used on a character already fighting in melee'''. If, you are able to use this call without making hostile NPCs aware of your presence, you may use it again, otherwise you may not use it for the rest of the scene.
 
** '''Physrepping:''' Only reasonably stealthy weapons may be used; knives or pistols with physrepped silencers/flash suppressors are suitable, but bolt pistols are not, you do not need to land a melee blow on the target unless you are using a melee weapon.
 
I line with the introduction of Toxic Alchemistry (coming soon) to simplify Poisons, Adept Mortis has had its rules changed;
 
* You can carry five '''Chems''' on you at a time, you gain five Chems which you may use to deliver any of the [[Alchemistry (Chems and their Creation)|Toxic Alchemistry]] effects
 
----
 
==== 29/04/2020 - Arch-Chirugeon changed to "Primus Medicae" ====
 
Literally because it's the better IC term for the rank of Chirugeon.
 
----
 
==== 29/04/2020 - Explicator clarified ====
 
Explicator's wording has been updated to clarify how it uses chems.
 
----
 
==== 29/04/2020 - I am a Knife in the Dark altered ====
 
In addition to other rules shifting in anticipation of changes to Adept Mortis; I AM A KNIFE IN THE DARK has been altered.
 
'''I AM A KNIFE IN THE DARK [Optional addition: NONLETHAL]'''
Fall to the ground as silently as possible and become '''<span style="color:#DC143C">Grievously Wounded</span>''' (this usually instantly kills most NPCs). If ‘NONLETHAL’ is tagged on, collapse unconscious to the ground until someone spends 5s bringing you around or the scene ends.
 
----
 
==== 29/04/2020 - Poison Removed from Alchemistry, Toxic removed from calls ====
 
In anticipation of updates to '''Adept Mortis''' (coming soon) Poison has been removed from the general Alchemistry list available to medicae and chirugeons.
 
----
 
==== 28/04/2020 - Aegis Training Clarification ====
 
Two changes:
 
This first covers the fact that people can use people with shields as cover;
 
* '''One individual''' able to hide wholy behind you and your shield may use you as '''Cover''' but they must move away from you to new cover to reset their cover benefits, rather than their cover resetting when you move five long steps.
 
The Second are clarifications regarding Shields vs '''Sunder''' largely to improve the language used;
 
* The call '''Sunder''' will destroy a non-relic shield, but protect the bearer from the call that destroyed it if they take the blow on the shield, or they would have received cover from a ranged '''Sunder''' and were aware of the individual making the call.
 
* You may use smaller shields to defend yourself in melee as well, but these confer none of the above benefits and are not only destroyed by '''Sunder''' but you will take the call as if it hit you.
 
----
 
==== 28/04/2020 - Adamantium Will Clarification ====
 
We have added a line to clarify that Adamantium Will does not allow you to bounce '''Warp Sunder''' as per the '''Sunder''' rules that specify that it can only be defended against by a trait that specifically says it can be defended against..
 
----
 
==== 28/04/2020 - There's no Need for All this Bleeding and Get it Together Clarification ====
 
We have added a line to clarify that you cannot use '''Get it Together''' calls on yourself if they come from this subtrait of '''Get it Together Trooper''' - '''Get it Together''' can be used on yourself via Chems or via Biomancy.
 
There was some question about whether you could use it on yourself while Wounded or Greviously Wounded but as both these states state you cannot use traits while you are in them unless they say otherwise, the answer should be clear.
 
----
 
==== 24/04/2020 - Haywire Clarification ====
 
Clarity has been added to [[Calls#HAYWIRE|Haywire]] to confirm that:
 
All weapons that make calls are considered to be technological items, but '''strike safe''' weapons may continue to be used to perform ''uncalled'' melee attacks while disabled, unless those calls are sourced through supernatural means.
 
----
 
==== 05/04/2020 - Telepathy Changes ====
 
The rote 'Pre-empt' has been removed from [[Psychic_Discipline:_Telepathy|Telepathy]].
 
Divert has had the restriction 'outside of combat' removed
 
----
 
==== 04/04/2020 - Flagellant Change ====
 
[[Willpower_Traits#Flagellant_.28Requires:_Faith_and_Fire.29|Flagellant]] has been reworked to make it less restrictive then it's previous iteration, this is a complete re-work.
 
----
 
==== 04/04/2020 - Biomancy Changes ====
 
Each of the healing powers in the [[Psychic Discipline: Biomancy|Biomancy]] list now requires you to make draws from the Biomantic Healing Perils deck depending on how potent it is.

Latest revision as of 16:18, 20 July 2023

This is where all rules edits are tracked

20/07/2023 - Changes to: Psykers, Supplies, Ranged Traits and PvP guidelines

MISSION SUPPLIES

The "Mission Supplies" entry has been updated to divide supplies into: Ammunition/Explosives/Chems/Esoterica following feedback that many enjoyed the flow of these being separated from each other - with the return of Ammunition the "abundant ammo" rule has been removed entirely as all characters with a ranged weapon now start with Ammunition for their ranged weapon.

Traits that previously gave you “access to the mission supplies pool” will now give access to 5 of the appropriate supplies. Multiple choices of the same type of supply do not stack. I recommend checking out Tech Powers and Weapon of Old Night especially as these now represent their unique ammo by relying on Esoterica (of the Machine Cult) to fire.

Trader now gives you access to 5 ADDITIONAL supplies, of any type you like. This does not need to be a type you normally have access to.

RESPECTING THE HUMBLE FLASHLIGHT AND BOOMSTICK

The "Starting Stats and Abilites" page has been updated with a few more "selections" of "basic ranged weapon" - this is because the humble lasgun is at risk of becoming extinct in the player party and, as a result has had a bit of a tune up, as have Autoguns, and Stub Guns, Shotguns have returned to the basic ranged weapons but you will notice they have lost being able to fire in melee or do rend in this configuration - this is because if you selected Special Weapon Training you now have access to the superior Combat Shotgun instead.

SPECIAL WEAPONS TROOPER

As well as loosing its expanded ammunition pool. This trait has had a few entries updated:

The Hellgun has been brought in line with the new Lasgun as a straight upgrade granting use of Rend forever as a high-powered las-weapon but also letting you call Bolt for Ammunition as it did before.

The Combat Shotgun replaces the regular shotgun

The Crossbow, gains a bit more sanctic, but also a familiar friend returns...

GUESS WHOSE BACK? BACK AGAIN? NULL IS BACK, TELL A (PSYCHIC) FRIEND.

Yeah the NULL call is back, the crows actually told me to do it. This time it is also not a friend to people using Warp nonsense who aren't psykers - great for disrupting those Sorcerors you keep handwringing about.


VIGILATOR:

  • Sharpshooters Rifle Sniper: Following feedback about how restrictive this was to use, this has had a few changes.
    • Upgrading to Rend from your standard call now triggers on 3s standing still and lasts until you move - this removes "Cover" as a requirement for this which did not feel right.
    • The sniper shot has been re-written to be more forgiving, taking 10s to wind up and not being spent if the call is missed, and not requiring a second windup if it is - like above it also now only requires you to be static, not need cover.
  • Master Scout has been added, making explicit something I should have made clear that "Vigilator" is a thing we expect to use on relevant Clue Cards for spotting traps, but also that, if in doubt (because we didn't have enough time to prepare clue cards for it for example) you can always ask a ref.

VERISPEX:

This has had Master Detective added just to clarify this for Verispex's as well

PSYKER

The number of powers this can freely select has been reduced from Four to Three - this skill was woefully undercosted in its current state offering an immense amount of freedom and options with minimal risk - this, plus additional changes, are intended to provide some ways to make it feel a bit more focused and costed fairly.

Psychic Perils

The old guides for testing have been replaced, many powers now have had "push" removed and now mention either spending Will to do higher level abilities, or "opening your mind to the warp" to unlock them.

Psychic Powers

Many powers have been updated in line with the change above to help them flow better.

PVP

We've been back and forth with these, in the end I have opted for the more traditional hands off approach to PvP violence by taking away mechanical restraints around it - now this page simply outlines that there are IC risks for doing so due to you having superiors you answer to.

For players sensitive to this, the page highlights the fact that being murdered by a "friend" who has gone insane is a risk you have to accept as part of DuD gameplay even if you avoid conflict with other players to the greatest of your abilities.

I've added a welfare note, and an additional note (thanks to Jay) asking people to avoid using violent aggression to win debates and minimise others because this IS something that some of us have to deal with on a daily basis and not something we want to deal with at LRP.


29/02/2023 - Exorcism clarifications

We've done a series of clarifications that we hope will make Exorcism flow a little easier and be a little less confusing as well as trying to cut down on the wording on the page, there are ostensibly few actual changes to these rules just hopefully they are now better worded.

The primary change has been to remove the unnecessary ritual circle rules in the section which were frankly a bit too confusing for their own right and to improve the workflow of the exorcism rituals themselves - combat exorcism has also had the ability to SANCTIC KNOCKBACK added.

Mention of Banishing daemons has been removed as this is more appropriate as a set piece for an event narrative rather than a thing people can do freely.

We also removed the rule temporarily in place to limit these to once-per-day.


28/02/2023 - Scan simplified and CLEAVE added

After some Post-E8 analysis the Scanning rules have been reworked again - ultimately after E8 we didn't feel that SCAN was how we wanted it to be offering fine-tuned detection and identification of foes - as such we have removed the section on scanning and reworked the call entirely to function with no further keyword interactions as a 'sonar ping' ability - which achieves our goal in retaining it of giving players a way to notice threats non-visually with auspexes - the new version is designed to represent a more Aliens-like motion-tracker rather than a reliable tricorder-like device. The new call is as follows:

SCAN This call represents someone using an auspex or (if accompanied by WARP) a Psyker using their extrasensory perception to see the unseen.

If you hear this call and you have either no ability to resist it, or are not behind cover and unmoving when it is called (this cannot be avoided by diving into cover) - you must respond by loudly shouting PING.

If you hear this call as WARP SCAN then you must call PING unless you explicitly have an ability that lets you resist this combination or calls with WARP attached. If you are a Psyker you must respond with PSYKER instead of Ping.''

Due to the nature of how calls were reorganised following E7 "BOLT" represented the highest damage in the system other than SUNDER, this worked well for ranged weaponry as a call but did not represent very well the presence of powerful melee weapons and attacks, as such the call CLEAVE (which is identical to bolt mechanically) has been added for melee. While I appreciate that many people will find it unusual to have two calls for the same thing the impact of appropriate-sounding calls to designate appropriately terrifying different foes audibly has its advantages in combat.

There are no plans to insert any melee weapons capable of calling CLEAVE outside of Unique Traits at this time.

With these edits completed we will be producing a rules feedback form that will go to all E8 players and crew in order to capture areas in which people are not confident they understand the rules and areas where players are finding it confusing.

10/02/2023 - Rules Clarifications

  • It has been clarified in Corruption and Faith that you can -always- skip to Tempted and that it ends all ongoing negative effects including some Call Effects, Madness, lower levels of Corruption and other dramatic effects - but not Bloodied or Near Death or lost Endurance.
  • All traits that grant Sunder have had it added to their write-ups that regardless of how many SOURCES of Sunder someone has they can only use it once per recuperation not multiple times from multiple sources - this was already in the rules but was missed due to being only in one section so this is just for clear communication
  • The order of testing for rituals have changed, now they draw BEFORE the ritual RP rather than midway.
  • Moritat has added a clarification added that it only effects pistols with its subtraits.
  • Your Soul/Sanity is tested has been added to the calls, it was found at e8 it was just easier to have a universal cue rather than trying to speak it as refs/crew.
  • Your Decline has been revised with new questions based on our experiences in planning these tracks at E8

16/01/2023 - Rules Clarifications

All pages are finished

We have clarified because we put it in announcements but not the text that the starting bonus trait "Tough Enough" was intended to represent people recruited for brawn not brains - this was added because players wanted the option to opt out of the lore game and not for people buying lore skills to add an extra endurance to their build. So it has been clarified that for new characters this means it locks you out of gaining lore until you gain lore in game.

We removed Would You Kindly from Interrogation effects because it was confusing players as to if it indicated unnatural compulsion to obey or was just a mundane social soft skill call. These skills interact with willpower skills exactly the same just with the confusing use of the cue/call removed. DuD has no social soft skills for uptime play.

24/10/2022 - Rules Locked In

Apart from Minor Typos we will not be making changes to the rules, the following pages:

Are not finished yet - I am working hard on them but have been down with Covid-19

24/10/2022 - Cards Updated

We've updated the cards in line with the update Rules Downloads

Medicae has also had Stimms added.


15/10/2022 - Scum

We've updated Scum as it was seeing some clearly wrong attention for what we wanted it to represent in-game in terms of the social class of characters choosing to take it, I've updated it with a design note as follows:

Design Note: If your social status in background is anything other than absolutely lowest of the low scrabbling for survival and despised by all, this trait is not suitable for your social background; people should expect having this trait and being seen to use it to result in significant class prejudice.

In addition it has had vulture modified to include the fact that you must now do a Power Test (with a 75% chance of failure.

It has also gained an optional feature;

Mutie (Optional): This trait is highly appropriate for characters who are looking to play the lowest of the low in the Imperium - Mutants - you may choose to add cosmetic mutations to your costume - this has no mechanical aspects unless interacting with certain environmental effects.

And a new drawback:

Born at the Bottom: Due to the environments they grew up in Scum characters are more vulnerable to developing minor mutations at the discretion of the Game Team.

15/10/2022 - A Note on Medical Treatment - Triage

We noted in some feedback it was reported that characters were not attempting the full 30s of medical roleplay during combats at E7 - the Game Team would like to stress that this is incredibly disappointing to read - the danger of performing medical aid while under fire is a feature rather than a bug of the system.

It is not an optional component of the DuD game to simply ignore it in order to save your own skin and is there to be followed as a rule - we do not like to get in the business of monitoring player adherence of rules but given this was highlighted in a complaint about the length we feel it is important to inform players that we will be monitoring this in future.

Failing to follow treatment times is cheating.


15/10/2022 - Rules Mk.3

With the feedback from E7 we have finalised the Mk.3 (return to Grimdark) rules - these will not be touched after a period of feedback from players ending 25/10/2022 - we strongly recommend re-reading the rules in full during this period as there are many small changes that would be impossible to track here.

The goal has been to iron out some of the overly complicated parts of the game that needed tidying up to make the rules get out of the way of roleplay - especially combat rules.

All Traits have been reworked for balance and consideration

All Calls have been reworked for balance and clearer simplified rules.

Outsider Traits have been removed, playing an abhuman is better done via a unique trait with Game Team approval in order to achieve a high visual standard for these.

The Alchemy and Interrogations sections have been removed as they are now nested under relevant traits.

Scan There is now a formal Scanning page covering keywords for this ability as well as constraints on its use this is to;

  • Reduce the amount of repeated area-effect SCAN calls and pings in the callspace.
  • Spread the jam by making it advantageous for different people to be looking for different things and multiple people to be scanning at once.
  • Allow people to still use lots of scans for small, conversation-volume normal roleplay

Design Note - Things you cannot do with this, on purpose.

  • Scanning for the Noosphere: This didn’t work well in practice. If a techpriest wishes to connect to something through the Noosphere to interact with it, they are better off asking the NPC, examining any clue card attached to it, or asking a ref directly. In general, characters can assume there is background noospheric activity - ie, wi-fi, a mobile phone signal, etc - in highly technological places, and less or no activity in remote or low-tech places.
  • Scanning for the Undead: There are a vast array of things that might cause what is essentially a corpse to be moving around: Servitorisation, possession, telekinesis, and all manner of alien or warp phenomena. There is no unifying feature to categorise them as “undead”.
  • Scan everything, all the time, as a single character.

Corruption has been altered, it now progresses through successive roleplaying effects up to a level of Tempted, where the boons of Chaos are offered, instead of offering benefits at every level.

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