Character Creation and Rules

Divided We Fall Core Rulebook
V.02
November 2024

Once, humanity stood united, or at least that was the claim. Civilisations grew and spread like tumours across the earth with wealthy nations stealing whatever they liked in the name of Empire. Rifts opened up between nations over the tiniest differences, or sometimes nothing at all, while at the same time unspeakable cruelty went unpunished. At the dawn of the Twenty-first century, human industry stood ready to destroy the planet and a third World War looked all but inevitable. Nature, however, had other plans.

The year is 2044 and nothing has been right for a very long time. Society collapsed when a mutated strain of the cordyceps fungus found a way to infect human hosts and turned their bodies into little more than breeding grounds. Infected hosts became violent and before anyone was able to mobilise a search for a cure, billions across the globe were already dead or infected. Governments crumbled, communications infrastructure fell apart and the power stations went offline. The world went quiet and dark, and only small pockets of survivors remained. Of the roughly sixty-six million inhabitants of England, Scotland and Wales at its peak, perhaps one million now remain.

Of course, the ultra-rich and the mega corporations survived, in a way. Hoarding supplies in their giant warehouses, Colossus bosses turned the apocalypse into a profitable business opportunity. Power, influence and authority comes with Titan membership.

This is a world where the most resilient survive, not the most physically able. In fact, over reliance on physical strength is more likely to get you killed than anything else. Those who last the longest use their wits, their skills and their innovative thinking. This world often favours the neurodiverse, the chronic pain sufferers and people with disabilities. Those who were excluded before the end of the world learned to cope in a world set up with no care for their needs, and they adapted better and faster when society crumbled.

No one makes disparaging comments about the person in a wheelchair: they have obviously survived for a reason. No one cares about anyone else’s weight: if a larger person has survived it’s almost certainly because of, not in spite of, their size. No one asks how the blind person makes the best bandages: they just buy them.

Setting

History

No one really knows how the catastrophic fungal mutation happened, or what triggered the rapid infection. Some speculate that it may have been a biological weapon which escaped from a research facility, while others believe it was the result of intensive farming methods. Others still believe that the combined effects of pollution and climate change provided the extreme conditions needed for the fungus to mutate. Many think it doesn’t really matter now anyway.

What is known is that in October 2024 everything was fine. By the end of 2025 nothing would ever be fine again, with government and law enforcement becoming a thing of the past as the infection took hold in major population centres. The island made up of England, Scotland and Wales lost meaningful contact with the rest of the world in 2026 and Cardiff, Edinburgh and London stopped talking to each other not long after.

The largest towns and cities became overrun by Infected in the early days and most survivors moved to isolated rural areas in small groups. Any attempts to clear out Infected from urban areas came far too late and the sheer volume was overwhelming. Some groups did manage to clear space in smaller towns and villages, and maybe ten years after the infection began, some communities numbering into the hundreds had started to form, albeit in isolation.

Present Day

Larger groups of survivors have started to band together forming tight-knit tribal networks. Where these groups come into contact there is often competition for the increasingly scarce resources not controlled by the mega corps. Raids are a part of everyday life for those who live in the largest settlements, and while cooperation between groups is not unheard of, it is rare.

A group known as the Ghost Moths has recently risen to prominence in the East Midlands, facilitating an uneasy peace between the disparate settlements from Bedford in the east to Coventry in the west. It is the largest known organisation in England, but very little is known about its leadership. What does seem clear is that it is an attempt to recreate the structure

of life before infection through working together. The Ghost Moths are directly contrasted by the large raider group known as The Keepers who operate in and around the shattered remains of South Derbyshire and Stafford. Their leader is a ruthless fighter, famed for their brutality and known only as Toast.

A group of raiders drawn together around a corrupted version of old Norse mythology and Arthurian legend have set up an outpost in the ruins of Tintagel in the south. The group has very little to do with 10th century Scandinavian history or 6th century British culture and far more to do with violence and theft. Most stay as far away from them as possible, but what started as a tiny band of aggressive fighters has grown into The Faithful: a group large enough to be seen as a credible threat.

Infected

The process of infection is a long one, starting not long after a victim is bitten by an Infected. In the early stages, a newly-turned Infected becomes vacant and aggressive, losing all sense of self in return for all-consuming rage when faced with living humans and utter passivity at

all other times. These early stage Infected are colloquially known as Runners because they move quickly over long distances. At any point between around two weeks to a year, Runners become Stalkers, capable of fixing themselves to walls with biological matter. By this point, the fungal coverage makes them much harder to kill.

The next stage of infection produces the Clicker. Clickers have lost the use of their eyes and so produce a clicking sound to echolocate their prey. They seem to develop an increased intelligence at this stage alongside even greater resilience. After a significant number of years, although no one really knows how many, a Clicker will become a Bloater: a hideous abomination covered in fruiting bodies of the fungus and swollen past the point of recognition. Bloaters also echolocate and are significantly slower than Clickers, but vastly more deadly and impossibly resilient.

Other distinct groups of Infected, including the water-based Shamblers, are starting to be seen more frequently, and it seems likely that the evolution of the fungus is not limited to the above.

Rules

This world is a hostile and exceptionally dangerous place. It’s worth bringing a backup character or two, especially if you’re playing a fighter. Infected attacks, raider incursions and things exploding without warning are a daily occurrence. This is a world where so much knowledge has been lost that crafting medicines can be fatal and losing power can mean death.

Game Time, Referees and OOC Mechanics

Key Points:

24 hour time in (ish!)
Referees go to bed at 1am… mostly!
Don’t be Out of Character (OOC) in In Character (IC) areas.
Referees wear yellow high vis jackets, vests or wristbands.
“Safety” call means someone has been OOC hurt and needs help.

Divided We Fall runs from 8pm on the Friday to around lunchtime on the Sunday. Time In on the Friday may be pushed back if travel conditions are likely to impact a significant number of people attending.

The main in-character player camp is always a low combat zone. This means that NPCs will not come in for a fight, but it is entirely possible to upset an NPC enough that they will attack. The only Infected that will ever enter this area are sightless Infected, so staying still means you will be safe.

There is no “Time Out” during the event, and anyone in an IC area is expected to stay IC: there should be no OOC conversation in IC areas at any time. If you need a break from the game or want to have OOC discussions, please use the OOC areas.

Some of the best roleplay moments happen in the quiet times, and Divided We Fall is all about creating shared stories of survival. A grim sunrise where two bitter rivals make a pact to save the group even if it costs their lives doesn’t need referees, but it could be completely spoiled by background noise about what happened at a different event.

Referees will be available between 9am and 1am (with a handful of our referees and crew volunteering some extra time until 4am), unless an event explicitly states otherwise. Anything which requires the presence of a referee must take place between these times. If you only need a referee at the start of something, like crafting, you may start at 12:55 with a referee and carry on roleplaying making your item through the night. Attempting to avoid explosions by only crafting things late at night when referees are about to go to bed will almost certainly be met with bigger explosions in the morning.

Referees can be identified by yellow high-vis vests. Some referees will play NPCs who stay in the game area: they will wear yellow high-vis armbands over their kit. Please do not use yellow high-vis as part of your kit, as this is an OOC identifier.

Aside from Time In and Time Out, Divided We Fall uses the “Safety” call. This means someone has been injured and requires OOC medical attention. Monsters will always move away from a Safety call. If you hear a Safety call, but the person you are fighting does not, you should move away to create space and to avoid further injury. You will never be penalised for reacting sensibly and proportionately to a Safety call, and if you feel that your character has been unfairly impacted by a Safety call, you should talk to a referee when it is safe and reasonable to do so. Safety calls should never be used unless there is a genuine injury or threat of injury.

Combat

Key Points

Most humans have 3-6 health points plus armour and a 30 second death count.
Infected have more health points than humans.
Bite damage might do extra damage if you get given a Bite Card.
Most attacks do a single point of damage. Your armour always takes damage before your body until it reaches 0 Health Points.
If an Infected bites you, it might be fatal.
There are four main calls: Collapse, Fatal, Rend and Shatter.
Blaster Weapons inflict 3 points of damage.
Coloured smoke is damaging. If in doubt, take a point of damage every 3 seconds it touches you.
Please refer to the Weapons Safety Guidelines for detailed blaster and melee weapon safety details.
You may never block with guns, bows or any other non-LARP safe items such as cameras or OOC crutches.
Rival, Ultra, and Vortex rounds are not allowed.

Combat is exceptionally deadly, and a line fight against Infected will almost certainly result in death. Bodies are fragile and life is precious, so most characters will start with the knowledge that sneaking around or through Infected is the better plan. The risk of death in any open combat significantly outweighs the chance of survival.

All bite, melee and ranged attacks do a single point of damage unless otherwise stated. When you drop to 0 health points you become wounded. You can only move at a slow walk. If you use any skills or abilities, attack, defend yourself or take any further damage, you become unconscious and start your death count. Fatal bypasses this state and starts your death count immediately.

When unconscious you fall to the floor or slump in a way that is safe for you and those around you. You cannot communicate or use any skills or abilities. You become unconscious when you start your death count. Once you are treated with Adrenalin, returned to a wounded state, or return to 1 health point or more, you regain consciousness.

If you reach 30 seconds on your death count, you are dead. Adrenaline and the First Aid skill will stop your death count.

Bite Damage

Bite damage does not always result in infection, but does always inflict damage. Bite damage is represented in the game by an Infected touching you with both hands. If this happens, you take a point of damage then a further point of damage for every subsequent three seconds they touch you. If you are bitten, you may be given a bite card by a referee: this will detail any additional effects.

There is no mechanism for a touch-free bite: by playing Divided We Fall, you agree to being the recipient of touch-based damage, although monsters who inflict bite damage will never hold any area or deliberately touch the face, chest, groin or bottom.

Unusual Damage

Some weapons or attacks inflict unusual damage and will be accompanied by an additional call. The main calls are:

Boom Targets within 1 metre of point of origin take 3 points of damage and Collapse
Collapse Your back or torso must make contact with the ground or nearest wall or similarly flat surface. If it is not safe or possible to achieve this, you must become dazed for five seconds, meaning you cannot move, attack or defend yourself in any way.
Fatal Your body’s Health Points are reduced to 0 and you start your death count even if you are wearing armour. Armour Health Points are not affected by Fatal damage.
Rend Any armour you are wearing is reduced to 0 Health Points and must be mended by an Inventor before being useful again.
Mega Affects all targets within 3 metres of point of origin. Any call can have MEGA added.
Mega boom Targets within 1 metre of point of origin take Fatal, and targets within 3 metres of point of origin take 3 points of damage and Collapse.
Shatter A melee weapon and/or shield which is hit by another weapon calling Shatter is broken and unusable. It must be mended by an Inventor before being useful again. This does not affect guns, bows or crossbows.
Stagger This call makes you stagger back 3 steps
Stealth Shiv These one-use crafted items are used to kill enemies in a quiet and stealthy manner. They will be available as blueprints and will affect clickers, but not bloaters.
Stun You cannot move for 10 seconds
Subdue Indicates non-lethal Blows. When a player loses their last hit to a Subdue call, they become Unconscious. This lasts for 30 seconds, or however long your death count is.
Suppressing Fire A special type of ammunition for Heavy Weapons. Suppressing Fire lasts for 30 seconds. Everyone within 10m of the front of the user takes 1 point of damage every 3 seconds they remain in the line of fire.

Grenades and Coloured Smoke

Enemy grenades are represented by different coloured smoke. There will never be smoke in the main player area. The effects are as follows:

Grey or white Smoke grenade. No damage. Anyone inside the smoke cannot be seen unless you are within 1 metre of them.
Blue smoke Stun grenade. You may not attack, defend yourself or talk for ten seconds upon contact with blue smoke. After ten seconds you may act normally. NOTE: At sites where we cannot have pyro, this will be replaced by the call Mega Stun.
Thrown weapon phys rep Targets within 1 metre of point of origin take 3 points of damage and Collapse
Green smoke Spore grenade. Take a point of damage for every three seconds you remain touching inside green smoke, plus you may receive a bite card if you are not wearing something which stops you inhaling the spores. NOTE: At sites where we cannot have pyro, this will be replaced by areas of Green Light simulating spore filled areas. This is the exact same (bar one adjustment) and will result in med cards, but not damage.

If you move out of a smoke-filled area then back into it you take the full effect again.

Accessibility Note: If processing colour is an issue for you, please let us know in advance so we can find the most appropriate way of letting you know what colour the smoke is and how to react. This may vary from person to person as the best resolution for someone with colour blindness may not suit people with sensory processing issues or significant visual impairment. If we know there is a need for this, we can brief you in advance. This might involve the referees all wearing badges with the smoke colour written on or a verbal description before an encounter.

Death

If you reach 30 seconds on your death count without being injected with adrenaline, you are dead.

Particularly cool, cinematic or traumatic deaths may result in a bonus for your next character. This is at a referee’s discretion, and they will give you a Death Card to represent this. This might confer an extra skill, useful components or weapons or plot information. Not every awesome death will result in a Death Card, but the more memorable the death, the more likely you are to get a Death Card. Death Cards are not inherently fair.

At the end of each event, one death will be given a “Best Death” card which will grant the owner a more significant benefit.

You must use each Death Card on your next character or a different current character. You may not store them for later. Each Death Card expires when the character using it dies. Best Death Cards stack with regular Death Cards if you wish; otherwise, you are limited to one Death Card per character.

Other combat rules

You may never use a bow indoors or after sunset. There is no mechanism for shooting indoors or at night: it is simply assumed to be too dangerous and not worth the risk.
To remove an unconscious body from combat, say “I am dragging you” to the person you intend to move. You both then move together to the selected location and the dragged person positions themselves safely and comfortably. You do not need to touch someone to drag them, but you cannot engage in combat or self-defence while dragging. You should hold your hands over the person you are dragging.
You may not parry melee attacks with guns, bows or any other non-LARP-safe items such as cameras or OOC crutches.
You may not block ranged attacks with anything other than a shield. You may not engage in simulated fist fighting or grappling unless you have explicitly agreed it with the person well in advance of the act.

Character Generation, Archetypes and Progression

You may have as many active characters as you want, but you cannot swap between live characters at an event. New characters can know anything your old character knew if you can think of a reason why, as remembering what you don’t know is boring.

Health Points

Divided We Fall operates a global hits system. Each character has a pool of Health Points which represent the physical toughness and fortitude of their entire body rather than tracking hits on individual body sections. It is worth noting that Health Points are divided into two categories: Body Health Points & Armour Health Points.

Body Health Points are your character’s innate physical resistance, as described by your archetype and any other traits you may acquire. Lost Body Health Points can be restored by a Medic.

Armour Health Points represent the protection afforded to your character by the armour they wear. Armour Health Points can be restored by Inventors.

When taking damage, Armour Health Points are lost first, then Body Health Points. In some cases damage may bypass your armour. In this case you must ignore any Armour Health Points your character has remaining and reduce your Body Health Points by the appropriate amount.

Universal Skills

All characters can have as many of the below skills as desired. You do not have to have any Universal Skills that would not fit your character: you are able to have all, some or none.

Armour
Bow use
Gun use
Melee weapon
Moneymaking
Musician

Character Archetype

When you create your character, you select the archetype that fits them best: you then have access to all the skills of that archetype. There are no restrictions on how you use an archetype. For example, your character may be an army medic: you could select Military Training, Scientist or Wanderer as your archetype. The available builds are:

Chef
Inventor
Military Training
Scientist
Wanderer

All archetypes state a number of Health Points: like armour, these are global. once your body is reduced to 0 Health Points, you must start a 30 second death count. If you are not injected with adrenaline inside of this 30 second window, you are dead.

For diagrams, flow charts and examples on how to generate your character, please see our document Character Generation V.01.

Chef

Chefs range from those who worked in fine-dining restaurants before the world ended to those who can work magic on a pack of Pop Tarts and a can of squirty cream. They might be mixologists who can turn a 40-year-old bottle of vodka and a crate of rotting fruit into a moment to celebrate or they might understand how to extract cyanide from apples and how much to put in a cup of tea to kill someone.

You have Three Health Points.
You may use components found in game to create food and drink items with beneficial or harmful effects detailed on the A La Carte menu.
Each chef may select a culinary speciality. This could be anything from pastry chef or mixologist to toastie master. Preparing food or drinks linked to your speciality may confer a mechanical benefit in a similar manner to the Musician skill. This does not require carded items but does require significant roleplay and the presence of a referee. You could, for example, actually make a toastie, or roleplay making a toastie with appropriate phys reps. The culinary equivalent of hitting leather armour with the pommel of a dagger definitely won’t work.
You are able to research new beneficial and harmful food and drink items.
You start the game with a selection of carded crafting components and beneficial and harmful food and drink.

Inventor

Inventors have an understanding of how weapons work and more importantly, how to inflict as much damage as possible. Some worked in the weapons industry before the world ended; others are just the type of people who really want to know what happens when you hammer railway spikes into a baseball bat then come out swinging.

You have Three Health Points.
• You may use components found in game to upgrade melee weapons and guns in the ways detailed on the Weapons Upgrades list.
You are able to research new weapons upgrades.
You are able to mend armour.
You can create traps, disarm enemy traps and loot spare parts from traps.
You start the game with a selection of carded crafting components and one upgraded melee weapon of your choice.

Military Training

No government- led military organisations survived the end of the world, but individual units certainly did. Some made their new life keeping civilians safe, while others became elite raider gangs. All have recruited new members and trained them in the old ways. There are occasionally lone survivors or those who didn’t agree with the direction of their units and took to the road alone.

You have Six Health Points.
You may start the game six bullets and:
- One pistol, or
- One rifle, or
- One shotgun style weapon
You may use any gun you find including specialist weapons and grenades.
You may start the game with:
- A shield, or
- A two-handed melee weapon

Scientist

Scientists are a varied group, ranging from those employed by governments and centres of education before the world ended to those who got good by blowing things up in a shed as quietly as possible. Some have years of training and expertise; some were simply born to wear a white coat.

You have Three Health Points.
You may use components found in-game to create drugs and medicines found on the Scientific Discoveries sheet.
You are able to research new drugs and medicines.
Can dissect bodies and harvest components. This always requires the presence of a referee.
You can either use:
- The First Aid Skill, or
- Create & Use Explosives.
You start the game with a selection of carded crafting components and at least one item from the Scientific Discoveries list.

Wanderer

Wanderers are the resilient survivors of the post-apocalypse. Not necessarily trained in a specific area, they pick up skills as they go, finding ways to adapt and improvise. They are the most versatile survivors.

In addition to one of the three options listed below, you may start the game with six food tokens instead of three and twelve bottle caps of any kind instead of six.

You have three Health Points plus any THREE other skills listed under different archetypes, or
You have six health points plus any TWO other skills listed under different archetypes, or
• You may select either of the two above options and replace one skill with the ability to start with a bow and two arrows and/or a blaster style crossbow and six darts. If you select this option you may also retrieve arrows but not crossbow darts. In the world of Divided We Fall, crossbow bolts always break on impact.

Character Progression

There is no mechanical character progression system at Divided We Fall. In fact, given the benefits of Death Cards, it is likely that dying will provide greater mechanical benefit than surviving in a number of instances. The only benefit to surviving is being able to say you survived.

We encourage everyone, including those not planning to engage in high com encounters, to bring spare kit in case of character death. We will always endeavour to help with kit if your character dies and you either don’t have spare or you’ve run through all your spares already. We may not have your first choice of kit, but we recognise that the high-risk nature of this system can represent a barrier to entry and we will always do our best to mitigate that if we can.

Crafting

Key Points:

Anyone can know the types of thing different crafters are likely to produce. These items are common.
Each different type of crafter has a standard list. As that type of crafter you automatically know as much as you want from that list.
All crafters can research new and/or similar items to anything they already know. This is dangerous and can result in character death.
Crafting anything needs a referee.
All crafting resources can be looted and scavenged in game and are clearly labelled. If it’s not labelled, it’s not usable for crafting.
Some crafted items need a referee to use.
If you want more information on what crafted items do, read the crafting rules. You don’t have to be a crafter to read or know the crafting rules.

As soon as a new item has been created by a crafter of any type, they can immediately share the knowledge so that everyone else can know how to make that item. We will update the crafting lists between events accordingly. If you would like to keep the knowledge secret for any reason, you must tell the crafting referee who approves the new item as soon as it is approved.

You may roleplay not wanting to make certain types of item or not knowing how if you like, even if you have the required skill. It’s entirely possible that a scientist might refuse to make spore grenades out of principle or a pizza chef have absolutely no clue about poisons.

Phys-Rep, Roleplay and Time Requirements

Crafters will have access to a list of things they can craft. These can be found in the Crafting Guide (V.01). All crafters can craft all items on their list if they wish or may roleplay knowing some but not others.

All crafting requires the presence of a referee before you start. In addition to the components required, you are expected to roleplay making the item. There is no time limit on this, but it should be vaguely convincing.

For example, crafting Hyperburn might involve roleplaying crushing up suspicious rocks with a hammer, dissolving them in battery acid, filtering the mix then evaporating it into a final product. This might take 10 minutes or an hour, depending on how much you enjoy this type of roleplay. Please do not bring any harmful substances or potentially hazardous items to use as phys reps. Please remember that real batteries are extremely dangerous if damaged.

You may use props to make the process more interesting if you wish, but you are not obliged to as this can be expensive in addition to the other requirements. The only thing which will limit the amount of crafting you can do is the number of IC resources you have. All IC resources can be found in game and will be clearly labelled. Any item you make should be suitably phys-repped, so consider carrying a stash of potion bottles, grenade phys reps, food packets or whatever it is you plan on making. When you craft any item, you must give the specified IC resources to a referee who will give you an item card in return.

Any crafter may research new items similar to those on their own crafting list. There is no guarantee that research will be successful or that the outcome will be better than anything currently available. It takes two days to research a new item, but you can spend as much or as little of those two days roleplaying the research as you wish. Any successful new item requires a minimum of three ingredients (IC resources) and a clear idea of what effect you are hoping to achieve. You must spend the components even if the research is unsuccessful. If the research is unsuccessful you will be told as soon as possible and can try something new, but be aware that multiple unsuccessful attempts or wildly over-ambitious projects are likely to result in explosions, injury or even death. Just putting a random selection of ingredients together with no clear idea of what it will do will definitely result in an explosion, probably localised to your own face. Research attempts must start in the presence of a referee.

There will be a dedicated crafting referee NPC in the player area. They will be identified during the pre-game briefing and will exist primarily to facilitate OOC crafting admin without taking you out of the game and to talk through ideas for crafting projects and related plot in an IC fashion. We will allocate further referee presence to support crafting if we feel it is needed.

Crafting is a dangerous business, and just as likely to get you killed as a combat build if you’re not careful. Wildly mixing components without research carries the same level of risk as trying to fight a clicker with a crowbar.

The areas of crafting are:

Scientific Discoveries
- Drugs
- Medicines
- Explosives
Upgrades
- Upgrade Kits
- Melee Weapon Upgrades
- Gun Upgrades
- Bow Upgrades
- Heavy Weapons Upgrades
- Shield Upgrades
Traps
A La Carte Menu (Chef)
- Beneficial Food & Drink
- Ingested Poisons
- Blade Venoms
- Culinary Specialities

For more on these, please look at the Crafting Guide (V.01).

Crafting Weapon/Armour Upgrades

Inventors can create upgrade kits in advance and apply them in the field with 10 seconds of roleplay.
When applied to a weapon, upgrades last for 6 uses. Melee attacks using an upgrade should be role played with big, cinematic blows. This allows the monsters to react appropriately and helps the effect to resolve as intended.
The weapon user may choose when a call is used: it does not have to be the first 6 hits or consecutive hits. Uses are not lost at the end of the fight, the end of the day or the end of the event.
If your armour has been upgraded to resist a call, it is used as soon as it is hit by the relevant call and cannot be saved for later.
Upgrades can be applied to bows.

Looting

All lootable items are clearly marked. Anything which isn’t clearly marked is not lootable and is considered worthless. You may pick up items which your character cannot use and give them to a character who can use them, but note that the more intricate the item, the more risk is involved. For example, picking up explosives if you have no knowledge of explosives is unlikely to be a great plan, and picking up specialist weapons with no knowledge of how to handle them might result in breakages. Only those with the skill to retrieve arrows may retrieve arrows: anyone attempting to retrieve arrows without the skill automatically breaks them.

Dead NPCs and monsters may be carrying lootable items. When they die, if they have lootable weapons or items, they will drop a Weapons Card or marked Item Card on the ground nearby. You may not take phys-reps from a dead monster, only Weapons Cards and Item Cards. The one exception to this is specialist weapons which do unusual damage, where you may use the phys-rep for the remainder of the weekend if you wish. A specialist weapon without a Weapons Card is not lootable and should be assumed to be broken beyond repair.

You do not need to roleplay searching dead monsters: all useable items and weapons which can be looted will be Weapons Cards and Item Cards visibly dropped near the body. Once you have a Weapons Card, you must provide your own appropriate phys rep for the weapon. When you die, you may drop any Weapons Cards and Item Cards you have on you at the time for others to find, but you are not obliged to. You may not keep weapons or resources from a dead character to use as a new character. There may be some spare guns and melee weapon phys-reps to borrow, but you should not rely on it.

Accessibility

Making the game as inclusive and accessible as possible is our priority. There will be things we can improve and we always want to know what will improve your experience. We can’t promise to make everything happen but we are always open to feedback. It shouldn’t be down to affected groups to make anything better, but it’s a huge help if we hear what you’re struggling with so we can include everyone as much as possible. In any situation where a rule comes into conflict with an accessibility issue, we will try our best to prioritise accessibility.

Our designated Accessibility Lead (including Mental Health lead) is Becki Budd, however, all of our referees are responsible for accessibility.

There will always be a designated low combat zone where the main player base is established. No monsters except sightless Infected will be directed to fight in this area. This does not mean combat is impossible, but it is significantly less likely, as you’ll have to really try to turn a friendly merchant into a combat risk. Sightless Infected will never attack motionless targets in this area.

All encounters taking place outside the low combat zone will be designated low com or high com in advance. You may always ask the referee taking you to an encounter whether it is low com or high com and your character may absolutely roleplay getting a bad feeling about an encounter. You do not need to be exclusively low com to use this mechanic: anyone can opt in and out of combat at any time. Many encounters will involve smoke effects: you can also always check with a referee if there will be smoke effects.

Low com is not the same as non-combat: it simply means that the encounter has not been designed with the intention of a physical fight. We do not ask people to define themselves as combatant or non-combatant as we recognise that sometimes people want and are able to have a fight, and sometimes they are not. We define all encounters as either low com or high com to allow people to make informed decisions about which encounters they want to engage with at any given time.

Low com encounters may involve risk of character death and the possibility of slow moving, sightless infected who ONLY inflict bite damage by touching you with two hands. This means staying still until the threat has passed will keep your character safe. You will never be expected to move quickly, fight or navigate obstacles at pace to survive a low com encounter, but low com does not mean low risk.

High com encounters may involve risk of character death and are likely to include fighting with melee weapons and/or projectiles. They may involve combat which is extremely deadly but easier to survive if you can move at pace or navigate obstacles.

All skills, abilities and encounters which give you information will be written down where possible. Where information is not written down and it would help you to have it written down, please ask a referee. If verbal communication is not ideal, you may ask any NPC to engage in written communication instead and they will deliver the same information but written: all NPCs will carry notebooks to facilitate this, including the most belligerent and unpleasant NPCs. If you are likely to benefit from this, consider carrying a “written comms” card so you don’t have to ask verbally. Written communication does not mean the NPC will stop what they are doing or become less hostile; they will simply communicate without saying the words out loud. After all, a middle finger doesn’t need a verbal explanation.

Psychological safety can be hard to gauge in this sort of game which deliberately inflicts psychological discomfort. As such, it is up to each individual to manage their own psychological safety. We use the look-down gesture and Nope Cards to show that you do not wish to engage with the in-character events. If you use the look-down gesture or show a Nope Card, NPCs and monsters will not engage with you at all for the duration of that encounter.

Nope Cards at Divided We Fall are simply a piece of paper with a large, visible X which you show to the people you do not wish to engage with. If you are likely to benefit from a Nope Card, you are encouraged to carry one with you. The look-down gesture involves looking down while covering your eyes with both hands. Both these mechanics will be briefed at onsite briefings.

Nope Cards will never be used for anything other than an OOC psychological safety feature. It is entirely possible to avoid taking damage and even character death by using a Nope Card or the look down gesture. This is never cheating unless you deliberately put yourself in danger and use the mechanic in bad faith to survive. No one will police the use of these mechanics and there is no limit to the number of times they can be used, although if you find yourself having to use them frequently, you should consider whether continuing to put yourself in similar situations is appropriate and how it may impact others.

Safeguarding and Expectations

The world of Divided We Fall is awful, but we are not. This is designed to be an inclusive, safe environment where everyone is able to express themselves fully. We operate a zero tolerance policy on behaviours that put players or crew at physical or mental risk. As such, everyone should feel free to use any of the facilities that are most comfortable for them. We believe that trans women are women, and trans men are men. We believe that Non Binary folk are who they say they are.

Default to neutral they/them pronouns until you know. Make a habit of asking people their pronouns rather than assuming. Wearing a badge with your pronouns is a great way of letting people know.

Physical contact with the exception of the bite mechanic must be based on recent and explicit consent. If you’re going to touch someone, ask first, even if they were fine with it earlier in the day. If touch is problematic for you, please check with a referee whether the encounter you will be going on will include bite damage so you can make an informed decision about whether you engage.

There will never be sexual violence, violence against children, misogyny, racism, homophobia, anti-trans narrative or animal cruelty in the game. These are not valid topics for discussion at any point. It is not acceptable to play a character who discriminates against or is intolerant of any protected characteristic or physical characteristic. To be explicit, this includes fat-phobia.

There is no space for cultural appropriation, blackface or racist accents in this game.

You are encouraged to calibrate IC relationships outside of the game before you start roleplaying them. For example, discussing physical contact boundaries or whether someone wishes to roleplay a romantic relationship or not. An IC wedding can be huge fun, but it’s always worth setting boundaries.

It is entirely possible that player versus player (PvP) actions including theft, fighting and even death will occur and can form an exciting and enjoyable part of the narrative. Divided We Fall is primarily a player versus enemy (PvE) system, but PVP is allowed.

You should never engage in PvP actions against someone with whom you have OOC conflicts. You should never engage in PvP actions of any sort, no matter how minor, if you would find any potential consequences too distressing to roleplay happily. If you would not be comfortable being put on trial or losing your character, avoid engaging in any PvP actions, even if you think extreme consequences would be unfair. This is a horrible world, and the consequences for small transgressions are likely to be disproportionate.

Any PvP action which will negatively affect another player, including theft, sabotage and murder must happen in the presence of a referee or they will be assumed not to have happened.

Please refrain from wearing recognisable animal pelts, particularly anything with a face. This doesn’t mean no leather: it just means be considerate.

Your Responsibility as a Player at Divided We Fall

You must not:

Discriminate against another attendee on any grounds, for example:

Age
Body type or physical appearance
Gender or sex
Nationality
Sexuality
Ethnicity
Religion
Sexually or physically harass an attendee, either IC or OC.
Use illegal substances.
Get drunk to the point where you are not in control of your actions or fight while drunk.
Smoke in confined areas: please smoke away from groups who do not consent.
Film any part of our events without explicit permission from the event organisers.
Photograph participants who have indicated that they do not wish to be photographed.
Remove or interfere with other attendees’ personal belongings.

If you see something that you deem to be uncomfortable or detrimental to yourself or another person’s wellbeing, do not hesitate to warn a referee, or if you think it is safe to do so, ask the attendee if they are ok out of character.

If you are found to be in breach of policy we can:

Offer you a warning or discuss the situation with you
Ban you from attending our events
Ask you to leave our event
Report you to the police in more serious cases.

Glossary

Skills

Armour
All characters can wear armour. Wearing armour on at least 2 locations gives a character 1 additional global health point. 4 covered locations offers 2 additional global health points and all 6 locations gives 3 additional global health points. Armour locations are head, torso, left arm, right arm, left leg and right leg.

An area does not have to be fully, or even mostly, covered to count as being protected: it must just be obviously armoured. For example, a set of roller derby knee pads would provide just as much protection as a full leg harness.

When armour is reduced to 0 health points from any type of combat it must be repaired with roleplay by an Inventor before it becomes functional again. There may be other ways to repair or improve armour in the game. Rended armour and Shattered weapons require an Inventor and repair kits.
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Bow Use All characters can use bows. You do not start the game with a bow unless you have a skill which specifies it. You may not retrieve arrows unless you have a skill which specifies it.

Anyone who uses a bow must pass an OOC bow use test to ensure safe usage. These will be conducted before time-in at each event.
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Distract
All characters can use coreless thrown weapons to create a distraction. All human and infected monsters will react to a thrown weapon by investigating the area into which it has been thrown, which may give you time to sneak past. Intelligent monsters may become more alert to a threat after being distracted even if they have not seen anyone. You may start the game with as many thrown weapons as you wish. Thrown weapons do not inflict damage.
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First Aid
With 30 seconds of appropriate roleplay you can stop an unconscious person’s death count so they become conscious and wounded. With a further 30 seconds of roleplay, you heal them to 1 health point and they are no longer wounded. If a person is simply wounded, you can still use 30 seconds of roleplay to heal them to 1 health point so they are no longer wounded. This skill has no effect on a person with 1 or more health points. It does not require any resources.
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Gun Use
All characters can use pistols, rifles and shotgun style weapons. Specialist weapons will be clearly marked to show that they require a skill to use, and you may not use these without a skill. You do not start the game with any guns unless you have a skill which specifies it.

Divided We Fall uses standard and Mega darts. Rival, Ultra, and Vortex rounds are not used, so you should not bring any guns that use this type of ammunition.
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Let’s Take it Outside
You tell a Single NPC “Let’s Take it Outside.” They are compelled to follow you outside of the safe zone. This mechanic is intended to allow players the opportunity to initiate combat with NPCs who are currently in the safe zone. This skill only targets and compels a single npc, but does not stop any of their mates joining them! A particularly strong-willed NPC might be able to resist this skill. They will call “No effect.”
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Listen
All characters can Listen carefully and hear the movements of nearby people or infected. To Listen, an already hidden and unobserved player may move one step out of cover while showing a closed fist and look around without moving further away from their initial position. If you can see any enemies, you are not unobserved.

Monsters will not notice the Listening player as they still count as hidden and in cover. Listening does not make a person invisible, but it represents a person staying hidden while the mechanic makes them visible OOC. If a monster moves into a position where they could see the Listening player in their hidden position, Listening offers no protection. You cannot Listen and move unobserved into a position, then attack, as in the game your body would not have moved. If a fight breaks out where your body should be, you must return immediately. Listening has a range of 10m.

To roughly gauge the number of enemies in an area including Stalkers in the walls, put your fist in the air. Roleplay listening for 20-30 seconds, say “Listen.” any nearby hidden enemies must reveal their location allowing you to attack.
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Lucky Escape
This is a call intended for use as an accessibility feature and must not be used to gain a mechanical benefit. It is to allow everyone to participate in high combat encounters which would otherwise be fatal because of OOC considerations.
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Melee Weapons
Any character may start the game with one single-handed melee weapon and one dagger. You may swap the single-handed weapon for a second dagger if you prefer. You are not required to have any melee weapons and can have fewer than the maximum allowed number. All melee weapons do a point of damage per hit unless they have been upgraded. You may not use shields or two-handed weapons unless you have the appropriate skill. Any character may use their single-handed weapon in one hand and dagger in the other, if they wish.
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Moneymaking
The official currency is food tokens. All characters may start the game with three food tokens. To represent the wide range distributed by various agencies, you are encouraged to design and bring your own, but you are welcome to print off the example at the back of the Core Rulebook.

The unofficial currency is bottlecaps. These are split into two types: unmodified and modified. Modified bottlecaps (also known as mods) are worth roughly five times the value of unmodified bottlecaps (also known as non-mods). In order to count as modified, your bottlecaps must be significantly changed from the original. This could include scratched or painted artwork, adding ornamentation or any other complex design change. Simply spray-painting them one colour does not count as modification.

Modified bottlecaps are worth roughly half a food token, although some which have been extensively modified and obviously represent many hours’ work have been known to command similar value to food tokens. All characters may start the game with six bottlecaps of any type. You are encouraged to design and bring your own.

Currency	Value
Food Token	1 Unit
Modified Bottlecap	0.5 Units
Unmodified Bottlecap	0.1 Units

Musician
Music is powerful. A rousing chorus as you stride towards a desperate last stand might just give you the will to survive, while a warhorn and war drums can strike fear into the heart of your enemies. That said, playing a flute at a clicker is only ever going to get you killed, and disturbing someone’s concentration while they’re working with explosives is probably unwise. Music is far from an exact science, it’s just that sometimes it might tip the scales.

Calls

Boom
Targets within 1 metre of point of origin take 3 points of damage and Collapse
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Collapse
Your back or torso must make contact with the ground or nearest wall or similarly flat surface. If it is not safe or possible to achieve this, you must become dazed for five seconds, meaning you cannot move, attack or defend yourself in any way.
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Fatal
Your body’s Health Points are reduced to 0 and you start your death count even if you are wearing armour. Armour Health Points are not affected by Fatal damage.
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Rend
Any armour you are wearing is reduced to 0 Health Points and must be mended by an Inventor before being useful again.
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Mega
Affects all targets within 3 metres of point of origin. Any call can have MEGA added.
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Mega Boom
Targets within 1 metre of point of origin take FATAL, and targets within 3 metres of point of origin take 3 points of damage and Collapse
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Shatter
A melee weapon and/or shield which is hit by another weapon calling Shatter is broken and unusable. It must be mended by an Inventor before being useful again. This does not affect guns, bows or crossbows.
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Stagger
This call makes you stagger back 3 steps
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Stealth Shiv
These one-use crafted items are used to kill enemies in a quiet and stealthy manner. They will be available as blueprints and will affect clickers, but not bloaters.
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Stun
You cannot move for 10 seconds
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Subdue
Indicates non-lethal Blows. When a player loses their last hit to a Subdue call, they become Unconscious. This lasts for 30 seconds, or however long your death count is.
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Suppressing Fire
A special type of ammunition for Heavy Weapons. Suppressing Fire lasts for 30 seconds. Everyone within 10m of the front of the user takes 1 point of damage every 3 seconds they remain in the line of fire.

Medicine & Drugs

Adrenaline
Takes the recipient from 0 to 1 Health Point if administered within 30 seconds of reaching 0 Health Points.
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Health Bandages
Returns a conscious wearer to full health points in 60 minutes. This does not affect armour.
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Hyperburn
Once ingested, last for 3 uses or 30 minutes, whichever happens first. Uses resist any call and you can chose which calls to take or ignore.
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Muse
The edges of reality blur giving you insight into a single problem, puzzle or scenario. This may take the form of hints, suggestions or something you have the tools to unlock being unlocked for you. You must tell a referee to get the benefit from this drug.
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Overdrive
Allows the recipient to act normally for 60 seconds after reaching 0 Health Points. After those 60 seconds the recipient is dead unless they are injected with adrenaline within a further 30 seconds. Overdrive lasts for 30 minutes from when the recipient is injected. After the ability has been used once, Overdrive offers no further benefit.
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Rocket Fuel
Any NPC merchant will offer you a better price than others for a trade. There is a small chance that they will take an immediate dislike to you and refuse to trade at all. This may be influenced by how you act. When under the effect of Rocket Fuel you should show the card to the NPC immediately so they can react accordingly.
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Download the Rules document:

Core Rules V.02 Download