Live Action Role Playing Game
Style Guide
Cyberpunk, Steampunk, or Dieselpunk.
What Out of the Ashes is NOT:
What Out of the Ashes is:
A dystopian post-apocalyptic world 100 years after an apocalypse where humans are trying to survive other humans, the elements, and monsters. Clothing and gear in this world is made from found, reused, scavenged, and repurposed things. Aging, de-stressing, and weathering of your costume and gear is strongly encouraged. However, while this world is being built from the remnants of the old, that doesn’t mean that all things aren’t well made or are ugly. Even in the grim reality of the world in Out of the Ashes, there can be beauty in the recycling.
Clothing:
Out of the Ashes takes place in the north eastern corridor in the area that used to be southern Maine. Although the world has changed greatly since the apocalypse, the local climate is still a fickle one and as such players should dress accordingly. We highly recommend considering layers for your character designs to allow for removal of layers when the temperatures are high and the sun is direct as well as protection from the elements when the nights get cold or a storm is passing through. An acceptable outfit could be as simple as a pair of pants and a tank top, but an outstanding outfit will include a means of breaking the sun or rain, shoes meant for rugged conditions, and a coat or poncho to help regulate a steady body temperature throughout the weekend.
Additionally, we ask our players to consider clothing colors and recognizable brand imagery before finalizing a costume. As part of a deeply immersive living world experience, both the cast of players and game runners will have opportunities to be filmed and/or photographed during the weekend and certain noticeable logos and bright, un-saturated colors will stand out even in the background of a wide shot. We highly encourage all participants to look over our guides on weathering and distressing layers of your garb to avoid clashing with the world we are building, or at least consider opting for more drab colors (olive, beige, gray, green, brown, etc) for their first costume. When in doubt, opt towards a more washed out tone as opposed to a clean solid color for designing purposes and leave bright colors for smaller props.
Brand / IP Names:
While Out of the Ashes takes inspiration from a number of well known intellectual properties and franchises we strive to have our own clean identity develop over the course of the game and frown upon in-game references to anything that would detract from our original concept. Subtle references to popular culture are OK and as a player you will encounter some easter eggs and nods towards other media, but we ask that players avoid blatant use of trademarked or copyright protected materials as a core concept in their character build. This line is a difficult one to draw, but please consider the following examples and don't be afraid to reach out to the game running staff if you have an idea that you would like to see but aren't certain whether or not it would be be acceptable in the setting:
EXAMPLES:
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Vault Tech / Pip-boy: Let's say you have an amazing outfit based on the Fallout franchise and you'd like to use it for an original character in Out of the Ashes. Depending on the outfit, large portions of it would likely be ready to use but bear in mind that concepts like "vaults" and arm-mounted smart devices do not exist in our universe and neither does the internet. Your player's sanity would be brought into question if you hope to introduce small-arms nuclear weapons or ran around in a bright blue under suit with golden numbers on the back because there is no existing precedence for a player background to include this lore. On the other hand, other items like makeshift ranged weapons and armor fit our aesthetic perfectly well on their own.
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Time Travel: The Out of the Ashes universe is a large one with many anomalies waiting to be discovered by the players. Science, while important, will not explain everything that exists in this world but some things can be safely ruled out and this includes items/people that are out of place in time. Players looking to carry props that are borrowed from other media can do so at their own discretion with the caveat that these props do not contain any inherent magical or technological qualities outside of rumor. In practice this means that if you have a mechanically handy character and want to sport a sonic screwdriver on your hip, that's OK provided the player understands that the "sonic" bit has never and will never function. If a player is a huge fan of melee and wants to carry an energy sword hilt, that's OK provided the player understands that the hilt they possess neither has nor will be able to produce any energy blade.
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T-Shirts & Athletic Wear: All manners of clothing that is widely available in 2020 will still be there a century from now, albeit in worse shape than it is today. That said, we encourage 'clever' use of known brands, art work and logos on your character but ask that some small modification be made to any identifying intellectual property larger than 6" x 6" in size. Holes in clothing, paint or stain over lettering and clothing layers can mitigate the overt appearance of your chosen garb but bear in mind that it is highly unlikely that many survivors in the Out of the Ashes world would recognize your favorite TV show, movie series or cartoon character. However, a cult of player characters who choose to research what type of creature "Nike" was and why they gave their blessings to so many shoes and pants might be fun to run with.
Tech Gear:
Items like cell phones may still exist, but the internet is no longer functional. Some places have electricity, but it is not widespread. You are permitted the use of your cell phone in-game but are not permitted to make calls, send messages or emails in-game, unless you have the necessary skills and infrastructure to do so. You may use your phone to play games, take selfies, check the time, etc. If you are taking photos please be conscious of your surroundings and be courteous to your fellow players. NEVER photograph or video someone without their permission. If you need to make an out-of-game call, please go to a designated out-of-game area to do so.
When thinking about tech gear for your character, please be mindful that Out of the Ashes takes place 100 years after an apocalypse. Would that item still be functional? If so, how?
Restricted Tech:
Players are allowed (and encouraged) to provide their own means of lighting for navigating trails and play fields in the dark, however, we ask that illumination be kept to a single lamp, lantern or flashlight that produces around 50 lumens or under for use while in-character. More powerful light sources are permitted for camping and general town usage with clearance from the game runners. We encourage players to age or paint their light sources to match the aesthetic of the game and to avoid providing unfair advantages or blinding NPC's during roleplay / combat mods. Remember - the vast majority of in-game items are at least a century old and while batteries do exist we are favoring a more "worn in" world where nothing works as well as it would have before the end of the world.
Safety:
Unlike a convention or other theatrical post apocalyptic events (hey there Wasteland Weekend!) your chosen costume for the weekend should bear in mind that close quarters contact is a possibility should your player choose to engage in combat. The rules in place for melee in Out of the Ashes spell out the life safety and material requirements for lightest touch contact competition but it is important to remember that any part of your body that can accept a legal 'hit' needs to be able to take a hit without harming the prop or player dealing the damage. This safety requirement also applies to you, the wearer.
At no point in time is a 'live' blade, fire arm or sharpened instrument to be present inside the game site. There is a zero tolerance policy on this rule as it pertains directly to the physical and emotional safety of the players, site keepers and game runners. This rule also extends to any armor or hardened props that a player wears while on site. Whenever possible, we encourage players to use EVA foam and latex in lieu of metal when it comes to sharp decorations to avoid damaging game and player props in combat. The community spends a great deal of time and resources to create and purchase their character kits and we respect the right to protect one's property from unnecessary wear and tear while playing the game. This does not mean that you cannot use metal, harden plastics and other materials in your costume, but understand that your full kit should be presented to the game running team at check-in and the Burgundar management team and Out of the Ashes game crew reserve the right to ask that certain costume pieces remain in the camp site if safety is a concern.
Playable Faction Aesthetics:
LoSPOEs Aesthetic (the survivalists): LoSPOEs can be commonly seen wearing highly functional (for survival) type repurposed clothing and gear in black, green, tan, and brown shades, but mostly browns and greens. While they are militaristic in structure and tradition, which often comes through in their style of dress, they have no set uniform due to the difficulty it would be to have one in this world. Many members of the faction partake in some ornamentation by marking or decorating their clothing and gear with scavenged items they could not find another use for. It is also common for different settlements of LoSPOEs to have a traditional marking like a warpaint design or tattoo or signature accessory like a hat or scarf.
Boogeymen Aesthetic (the warriors) : The Boogeymen having lived on the edge for so long are used to making do with whatever they have. They wear a wide variety of scavenged clothing items and many try to emphasize their mutations with their attire as a point of pride. They once dressed specifically to make themselves look intimidating during the Boogey War, but in recent years they are often trying to present a less threatening appearance. One common theme among all Boogeymen is to wear something red to show their loyalty to Queen North, who famously wore a red ribbon tied around one of her horns during the war for Burgundar.
Renegade Aesthetic (the healers): The Renegades mostly wear a lot of muted blacks, muted dark blues, and various shades of grays. It is also common to see them wearing hoods, decorative masks, gloves, and/or wraps of fabric wrapped around their arms/wrists/hands and legs. To visually represent that they are no longer part of the Saints Faction, they dress more simply and don’t ornament their attire with spikes, studs, or painted religious text as they used to. Occasionally Renegade attire will have the telltale signs of Saint Aesthetic having been removed, covered, or altered.
Resources:
How to: Ways to Age Fabric (pdf)
Nuclear Snail Studios Youtube Channel (A channel about Post-Apocalyptic or Dystopian crafting.)