We’re sure you have questions, which is awesome, because we have answers! Here is information on where to find other information about the game, how we’re running it, and how to play. If you think of something not covered here, please feel free to contact staff with your questions.
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Q?
What would a typical PC know about other cultures?
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A.
Generally, a PC would have access to as much information about any given culture as is provided on this website.
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Q?
What is the likelihood of having traveled widely in my character’s lifetime?
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Travel, as explained in depth here, is very difficult during this era. Coming to Carrion Creek might have been the most extensive travel of your character’s life.
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Why would the PCs have come to Carrion Creek to begin with?
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There are myriad reasons why folks might travel to Carrion Creek - looking for gold, escaping the Civil War or the war between Texas and the Aztec Empire, to find work, to research what might have befallen the West during the Calamity, to make a fortune.
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Where and when does the game take place?
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Calamity takes place in an alternate world version of 1877. It is physically located in Carrion Creek in the Whispering Hills. Take a look at this blog post for more information!
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Q?
What are Buttons? How do I use them and how do I get them?
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A.
Buttons are a reward for players and volunteers for participating in Rule of 3 games. They can be spent on PC creation in a number of ways and are fully transferable between games. Since the rules are still in development, we do not have a full list of button uses available yet. However, you can see how they can be applied at Eclipse and at Dust to Dust. More information will be available on the Volunteering page soon. You can get buttons by volunteering! There’s many forms such volunteering can take, whether it is full-time NPCing, doing extra monster time as a PC, or making props, weapons, and/or costumes. Feel free to contact us, watch for posts on the G+ and FB communities, or check the out of play boards on the forums to find out our current needs. Also, you can donate money to the game for various purposes on the Donations page, in return for Buttons. We also maintain a donation wishlist through Amazon.
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How do I volunteer full-time for a game?
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Email staff and let them know that you’re interested in full-time volunteering/NPCing. You will be asked to sign a safety waiver at your first event, and a sportsmanship agreement. Take a look at the Volunteering page for more information.
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Q?
What happens if my character takes a wound in battle? Can I be healed?
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It depends on where you get hit. The Calamity world uses a hit-location system, meaning that your character’s body is split into five hit locations. Your right arm, left arm, right leg, and left leg each count as a single “limb” location. Your chest is called a “torso” location. When you take a hit to one of your locations, and you don’t have things like protective effects, maneuvers, or armor to negate it you take a wound to that location. Some wounds are more deadly than others and multiple locations being wounded causes different results. Taking a wound in your left leg, for example, would mean you would need to take a knee to represent your leg being injured and thereby unusable. More information on wounds, their effects, and how to heal them can be found in the Rulebook.
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Q?
I hate the skills I bought at creation! Can I change them?
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New players are allowed to re-spend their characters after the first event that they attend, if desired.
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Q?
How many starting points do I get and are there restrictions on how I spend them?
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As the rules are still in development, the number of starting points is currently unavailable. Character points may be spent in any way that the player desires. There are exceptions regarding mysticism as these are restricted to specific cultures. Players are encouraged to build characters that “make sense” rather than “min-maxing” or “powergaming” for a perceived best build. Some abilities have a different cost, or are even unobtainable, once a character is created.
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Q?
Is the culture description I see on the website the only information I get about my culture?
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No! Once you pick a culture, you will get a much more comprehensive culture packet, which contains (hopefully) everything you will need to understand where your people come from. This packet is only available once you have firmly decided upon a culture, however. You may express interest to the staff by emailing them; we ask for general details such as name, preferred culture, and a very basic concept. A single paragraph description is sufficient.
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Can I play a character from multiple cultures?
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Within reason, yes. Be aware though that players generally have an easier time integrating the more they indulge in the template of a single culture. Also, you have to choose your dominant culture as you can only receive one culture packet. Beyond that, just play what you think you’ll have the most fun with.
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Now that I have this awesome concept, how do I go about fitting it into the game?
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You can join the discussion on G+ or FB to see who else is playing your culture, concept, or the like. Once you’ve got your Culture Packet from plot (you’ll receive it after emailing plot with your basic, single-paragraph concept), the Staff is happy to help players develop their stories. Please note that all culture packets are still in development.
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How to I get started making a character?
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The Character Creation page is a good place to start. You may also want to check out the Setting pages for information you can use to start building your character concept. Questions about characters should be directed to Calamity Staff.
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Where can I learn about rules?
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The Calamity rules will be available on the website soon, under System. These will be links to Google Docs. In addition, we will be offering a fundraiser of a deck of custom Calamity cards with a rules effect cheat sheet as a special additional playing card. If you have questions after reviewing the system documents, you can contact staff or reach out to the community via G+ or FB.
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Who are the staff members?
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A full list of staff along with photos and bios can be found here. Information about the game owners can be found here.
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Where are game held? How do I get there? How do I register?
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Our primary site will be AH Stephens in Crawfordville, GA with additional sites from time to time. You should check the Events page to verify which site the game you want to attend is being held. Directions to sites will be available here. Otherwise, you can look up directions on the sites for each of the relevant state parks. Pre-registration will be available on the Events page as events are booked.
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What do I do at an event? After the event? How much build do I get?
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Check out the Event In Brief page for a basic overview of how an event goes, and what to do once you’ve arrived on site. After the event, go fill out your Checkout and Feedback forms, whether you are a PC or an NPC. We want to know how your event was! As the rules are completed, we will let you know the policy for event build.