Author Topic: Red Markets Inspiration  (Read 309652 times)

Jace911

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Re: Red Markets Inspiration
« Reply #120 on: October 04, 2015, 01:59:37 PM »
Planning on making a random Taker name generator there Jace?

That's not a bad idea, actually. Right now I just have a notepad list on my phone that I pull out and add to whenever a cool name enters my head.

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Re: Red Markets Inspiration
« Reply #121 on: October 17, 2015, 02:23:28 AM »

Alethea

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Re: Red Markets Inspiration
« Reply #122 on: October 17, 2015, 07:47:15 AM »
Need an enclave location or score? http://www.core77.com/posts/41622/Luxury-Communal-End-of-the-World-Shelters

I think I rather work at one of those places than plunk down the money to live there. Other than probably not having a skill set their looking for...
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Twisting H

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Re: Red Markets Inspiration
« Reply #123 on: October 28, 2015, 03:18:59 AM »
Hey, look what I found.  Another post apoc scene with a Big Dog.




http://carlosnct.deviantart.com/art/Coast-Of-The-Beast-463427012


And another

« Last Edit: October 28, 2015, 04:21:52 AM by Twisting H »

Twisting H

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Re: Red Markets Inspiration
« Reply #124 on: October 28, 2015, 04:27:45 AM »
Planning on making a random Taker name generator there Jace?

That's not a bad idea, actually. Right now I just have a notepad list on my phone that I pull out and add to whenever a cool name enters my head.

That is a really good idea actually.  Generators on an official game website or a fansite I think drive traffic to that site.  They certainly increase page views.

Examples are 7th Sanctum and Chaotic Shiny

http://www.seventhsanctum.com/

http://chaoticshiny.com/

Pretty sure the owner of Chaotic Shiny is (or was) a Something Awful member

I think both write their generators in php.

Cthuluzord

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Re: Red Markets Inspiration
« Reply #125 on: October 30, 2015, 03:00:22 PM »
Playtest Update and Reminders

Hello everyone,

I’ll start by saying thank you. The amount of time and dedication you’ve spent reading, critiquing, and playing Red Markets is one of the most encouraging things to happen in my short game design career. I’m so grateful for everyone that’s taken the time to write up their sessions on the forums. It’s really great to see, and witnessing how you guys are interacting in-character online has given me a dozen more ideas for future products and features.

We are entering November, meaning there is little over a month left in the beta. I’m already compiling playtest reports and my own notes into a master change log.  Here’s a reminder of the plan:

•   Get all the playtests in by the Dec. 20th deadline
•   Use Christmas break and (hopefully) snow days to do a massive revision of the rules text
•   Run a second playtest campaign with the RPPR crew in late Winter/Spring to test the post-Beta revisions. Revise the book as I go and plan the Kickstarter campaign.
•   Ross posts the first playtest campaign as we start playing the second, hopefully building up some hype.
•   Kickstarter launches in early Summer, sometime after school lets out and man the comments section full time.
•   If the book doesn’t fund: cry forever.
•   If it does fund: do a jig. Perhaps even a “Carlton.”
•   After my jig, distribute Beta 2 to backers.
•   Complete the setting stuff, edit, layout, art, etc.

But all of this hinges upon you – the noble playtesters – turning in the playtest reports. I’ve noticed more participation in the game than I’ve received feedback…by a much larger margin than expected. I understand some of this is inevitable, and many of you are merely waiting to get more games under your belt in order to make an informed decision, but we are quickly approaching the point at which I need those reports back.

The audio is priceless, and listening to you guys play my game every day on the ride to work has deeply informed my revision plans already. But whenever possible, I still need as many detailed playtest surveys as I can get. The audio is great for in-depth analysis, but Red Markets is a big book in need of big changes. In short, I need breadth as well as depth, and while I can drop a hundred playtest reports on my office floor and collate revisions all at once, I can’t listen to a dozen AP’s simultaneously.

So as we enter the final month, that’s what I wanted to say. Thank you to everyone that’s reported in so far. For everyone else, thank you and PLEASE email in November if you have not reported in yet. I need all of you if I’m going to help make the game better.
My address is stokes353@gmail.com.

Happy taking,
Caleb

SynapticError

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Re: Red Markets Inspiration
« Reply #126 on: October 30, 2015, 03:57:39 PM »
I started creating an Enclave for the Cape and Islands region as well as some of Eastern Massachusetts.  It’s nowhere near complete, but any critiques are welcome.   It’s not exactly Lovecraft Country but it’s weird and isolated enough to leave a mark on anyone who live here, for better or for worse.   

THE CAPE


Nobody in the Massachusetts enclaves like to go to Cape Cod.  Anyone can tell you that if you ask them, and they always have a good reason, from shit loot to bad weather.  The stories and reports are never promising, and nobody who tried to build an outpost there lasts more than few months before going giving up or dying. It’s empty, they say, just lonely beaches and abandoned towns, and if you know what’s good for you you’ll stay away from the place, understand?  Just don’t ask them who keeps the lighthouses running into the night, don’t ask where the clams in you chowder come from, and don’t ask who the silent men watching from the dunes are or how they actually built that ship you bought up north.  You won’t like the answer.     

Location

Jutting into the Atlantic from Southeastern Massachusetts, Cape Cod is a small artificial island separated from the mainland by a large canal.  It has quite a few islands surrounding, all of with were populated before the Crash and often privately owned.       

Defenses

The Cape is protected from the mainland by a steep and rocky canal with notoriously choppy waters, and most of the coast is inaccessible by sea due to the incredibly dangerous shoals surrounding it.  When nature isn’t enough, the locals apparently built rudimentary fortifications out of old beached boats and a wide variety of guns, from civilian arms to honest-to-god cannons scavenged from the multitude of naval museums in the areas.  People who make it farther inland note that many of the buildings are very solidly built brick and lumber and sturdy stone walls have been put up around some of the larger towns, built with what appear to be historic methods.  The poor bastards who try and swim anywhere find out the locals somehow filled the area with sharks from Martha’s Vineyard.  Oddly, very few reports of these fortifications actually being used are rare, as nobody can ever recall anyone actually wanting to invade the Cape.         

History

People used to love Cape Cod.  It had everything that a tourist could ever want: Smiling faces, lovely beaches, great food, and enough history to mean something to enough people that the population quadrupled every summer.  The Cape was rustic, quaint, and rural.  Yes, time had left it behind, but things were modernizing slowly, and people were happy.   The Crash changed that.  Most of population died quickly, leaving the towns abandoned and the ships rotting at the docks, but those who survived were the other majority of people on the Cape.  They had stayed on their boats and in their lighthouses, waiting for the fires to die down.  These people were hard and grizzled, the salt of the ocean flowed through their veins and the crafts of the old world lived through them: Clamming, shipbuilding, fishing, hunting, the forgotten arts of New England the world forgot it needed.  These older folks, some approaching seventy, took in the younger and the uninformed and allowed the Cape to survive.  Now, a majority of the Cape has been reclaimed but not settled, with a majority of the population living in well-hidden communes or isolated shelters.             

Top Exports

Specialty Food— Fruit is very hard to grow in Massachusetts, so the Cape Cod art of the cranberry bog has allowed the Cape to produce large amounts of an easily stored and transported food item at any price they care to name.  Scurvy isn’t something people want to come back.  Clams are also valued, but they require heavy refrigeration to transport and are often only sold to the major Enclaves in Massachusetts like Beantown.  The massive surplus of alcohol due to the tourist trade tends to pad out transactions nicely. 

Old Knowledge/Items — Find someone who can build a signal cannon or clean wood with sand and rope.  Exactly.  The elders who lived on the Cape have large amount of knowledge sealed in their heads, as do the unusual amount of museums and libraries in the area.  Selling their knowledge has allowed some of the less well-off Enclaves survive with a much lower level of technology than expected.   

Science: The Cape is somewhat of a paradox.  Old world can mix with high tech bizarrely easily depending on where you end up, and a few settlements in the Cape know exactly how make it.  If the Cape and Massachusetts were a country, it would have the third best education in the world, after all.  Wood’s Hole is home to WHOI, and several ecological foundations including IFAW are based there. 

Top Imports

Advanced Weapons and Ammunition: Other than the supplies stolen from Otis AFB, any sort of military production is nonexistent.  The people of the Cape will gladly trade for weapons and armor so they can travel safely from town to town.   

Electronics and Chemicals: Again, no real industry existed on the Cape before the Crash, so there is no choice but to fill the gap through trade.  WHOI and the other scientific enclaves will pay through the nose for the chance to maintain their gadgets and projects.

Competition

The general attitude about the Cape is to pretend it doesn’t exist until you need something from it.   People just tend to find the place so unnerving that they ignore it.  Trade is mostly on an Enclave-to-Enclave level and diplomacy is never face-to-face. 

The Armory:  When the Crash came, people need guns.  Lots of them.  So, a group of machinists reclaimed the famed Springfield Armory and got it churning out enough M14s and 1911s to arm the entire city of Springfield with a few hundred to spare.  They quickly absorbed some of the weaker Enclaves and began trading their weapons to other areas, with trade routes stretching as far as Maine.  Now a military power rivalling Beantown itself, the Warlords of the Armory have turned the city of Springfield into a trap-infested, gun-filled citadel of fire and lead.  The often hire the people of the Cape as guides or transport along the East Coast.  They don’t attempt to invade the Cape because they honestly have nothing of value to them.

The Whalers: New Bedford had an important place in the Era of Wooden Ships and Iron Men, and the Crash gave it a chance to revitalize that image.  The great naval power of New New Bedford (as some call it) now makes its living hunting the rebounding whale population of New England and selling the parts for profit.  Having updated their ships from wood to metal (although some of the more eccentric captains repurposed the historic ships kept at the wharf), they provide the vast majority of oil and meat to the Eastern Massachusetts region.  Occasional scuffles over naval transport and fishing rites crop up occasionally between the Cape and the Whalers, but they tend to be resolved amicably.   

Beantown: Boston reborn.  To say this Enclave is powerful can’t be understated.  They’ve got power, plumbing, an actual military, and enough industrial production to have a very high standard of living.  Very few people actually make it past the walls, and even fewer get to report on what it is like inside.  Boston doesn’t accept outsiders, you see.         

Social Structure

Cape Cod has very decentralized system of rule, with each small settlement ruling itself, from the anarchic artist-leaders of P-town to the Plutocracy of Nantucket Sound.  Each leader has to attend meetings at Barnstable, the de facto capital of all of the Cape to discuss serious matters such as war.  The vast majority of the Cape, however, is a loose collection of family clans with social ties to everyone in the immediate vicinity.  Everyone knows everybody on the Cape, after all. 

Neighborhoods

WHOI: The technocracy of WHOI is very hesitant to share anything about themselves, but everyone knows they have the best tech of anyone on the island.  Wood’s Hole is their sovereign territory, and anyone invading can expect liberal usage of chemical and electroshock weapons. 

P-Town: The mad bohemian paradise of P-Town can literally drive people insane.  From makeshift Sake bars to parades espousing the wonders of every fetish under the sun, P-Town is going down in a blaze of sex, narcotics, and modern art.  An LGBT haven before the Crash, people seeking asylum there for social reasons will almost always be given it and treated nicely.   

Martha’s Vineyard: Sharks.  So many goddamn sharks.  Nobody knows how they got so many goddamn sharks in the goddamn water but nobody ever tries to go there because fuck sharks.
 
Nantuckett: A peaceful and pristine island community.  Go there for safety, supplies, and lodging.   One of the ferries there still works but the lines are long, so most people just take their own boats, if possible. 

The Gardens: Heritage Gardens was a wonderful tourist spot back in the day.  A massive botanical garden and museum, it supplies a huge amount of lumber, seeds, and fine art.  You can’t get them to admit it, but they drive the vintage cars they keep there whenever possible.  Also, ziplines.

The Compound:  The Kennedy Compound fortified and incorporating all of the other coastal mansions in the neighborhood.  People are pretty sure an actual Kennedy runs it but nobody on the inside is talking.  All people know is it’s well-guarded, well-off, and they buy as much as they can with as much as they can. 

The Lighthouses: A network of mini-citadels that guard the coastlines, often manned by grizzled older folks who just want to be left alone.

The Sag: Sagamore Bridge, now literally sagging due to it being ridiculously old and unmaintained.  Specifically built high to accommodate warships, one of which is underneath it and stopping the bridge from collapsing.  A large battleship apparently recommissioned out of desperation, it suffered a hull breach directly under the bridge.  Nobody knows the name of it, since most of it was actually stripped off, including any readily accessible identification.   The original crew was long gone but it is now settled by about 100 people, who have to deal with the fact the ship was never meant to actually work again.  Leaks and system failures happen with unfortunate regularity.  The cannons still work, but absolutely nobody aboard is willing to fire one.           

VIPs

(I’m still working on this)
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trinite

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Re: Red Markets Inspiration
« Reply #127 on: October 30, 2015, 04:23:52 PM »
The Cape is awesome, SynapticError. I wonder how it would be affected by the (in-canon) nuclear war on Canada during the Crash?
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Re: Red Markets Inspiration
« Reply #128 on: October 30, 2015, 05:50:35 PM »
It's not totally finished but w/e here's the enclave my playtest group is using:

The Rock


Location

Alcatraz Island.  Following the ideas of Max Brooks, survivors decided to hole up inside a prison on an island 2000 feet from land.  As the crash got further away and more people got to the island the community expanded beyond the prison to the greater island area, making use of its 22 or so acres to set up farmland.  San Francisco to the South, Berkley/Oakland to the East Ocean to the West and the greater Bay Area to the north.
North: http://i.imgur.com/pkiQAoE.png
West: http://i.imgur.com/PAcOOjQ.png
South: http://i.imgur.com/BxcT6Mt.jpg

Defenses

Alcatraz is a fortified installation on an island that is mostly steep cliffsides.  Nothing had to be too heavily modified to make it more defensible as it’s great at keeping people from coming or going.  Guard towers were reinforced and a greater guard force was set up near the singular port as well as some watchers around the bay to keep an eye on any incoming trouble.

History

Alcatraz has been maintained for decades after its closure as a popular tourist attraction in the Bay Area.  When the Crash went down, everyone with a boat immediately went for the island and struggled to make camp until a carrier who didn't report a bite turned vector and wiped the whole place out.  The place was written off until some new settlers came with a few months more wits and experience about them and cleared out the remaining casualties on the island.  These second founders would not make the mistakes of their predecessors, and this time security would be valued above philanthropy.  Alcatraz screens all potential comers for what they can bring to the community and keeps all new migrants in a separate section of Little Alcatraz until such time that they would have turned.

Top Exports

  • Guaranteed Casualty-Free Travel (Surplus of boats) - the one thing every survivor that reached alcatraz has is a reliable motor boat.  Moving up and down the coast is considerably easier at sea than it is over land.
  • Courier / Delivery Service - since the time of the crash the enclave has been able to rig up some barges and make use of their existing boat assets to move freight along the coast.
  • Whiskey aged in gunpowder barrels (We call it Firebomb) - grain surpluses go bad, so they take the rest and ferment it in a submarine still and age it for a short time in old gunpowder kegs.  It’s an acquired taste but one that has caught on in the Bay Area.

Top Imports
  • Fuel - Lots of boats and lots of travel means everyone is consuming fuel at a regular pace.
  • Water - Ironically despite being surrounded by water the enclave has little access to any that is good for drinking. Water reclamation methods were experimented with in the early days (rain barrels, condensation methods, desalination) but none were efficient enough to be sustainable and ultimately it was easier to trade for water shipments with the surrounding enclaves.
  • Weapons / Ammo - Alcatraz has an arsenal but it was cleaned out when the place became a tourism destination in the late sixties.  The place has solid walls but residents only had weapons allowed by California’s highly restrictive gun laws

Competition / Neighbors

Drone Town USA (UC Berkeley)
Brief History
Started in the nearby California Memorial stadium, a huge structure with good sightlines and very few entrances and exits to block off.  Expanded out slowly to the university campus (originally a very soft target with no walls or fortification), took advantage of the experimental silicon valley alternate energy solutions, pretty much sustainable from an energy perspective thanks to solar and wind power and kept surveilled by a big swarm of robots
Trade
Exports: Biofuels, Engineering Expertise, Food
Imports: Weapons, Water, Building Supplies

Treasure Island (Coast Guard base at Yerba Buena / Treasure Island)
Brief History
Military installation, well armed and easily defended with plenty of sea-faring vessels on-hand.  Survived initially through internal water reservoir, weaponry and training as well as access to boats.
Trade
Exports: Water and Guns / Ammo, Delivery Service
Imports: Food and Fuel probably, Delivery Service

Truck Stop (inland, closer to concord)
History
Truck Stop was (and I guess still is?) a former service repair center.  It boasts a massive 30 truck bays, spare parts, an on-site gas pumping and storage facility, in addition to storage of numerous shipping containers, and a water reclamation center literally next door.  In the wake of the Crash, its incredible repair services and stock of tools made it highly valuable to a number of automotive and big rig owners who used their vehicles and skill to establish a safe zone inside the area.  As the carrion economy bloomed, Truck Stop has slowly grown into a major shipping and transportation hub.
Trade
Exports: Water (houses a major reservoir), and mechanical expertise, supply chain stuff
Imports: Food, Fuel, other supply chain stuff

Chevron (Richmond Refinery 37°56′32″N 122°23′43″W)
History
Oil Refinery in Alameda that was quickly abandoned during the crash (dead weather there was severe).  In recent years some enterprising engineers have taken it back and gotten it working, working with the millions of crude barrels still on-site and importing what they can from SoCal.
Trade
Exports: Gas, plastic, synthetic fibers, motor oil
Imports: Pretty much everything else

Social Structure

Structure: Representational Compromise by way of a leadership council.  Leadership also works within the Enclave as there’s just not enough hands for them to do desk jobs (We ran some numbers and found that at its peak efficiency, all of the farmable area on the island can only sustain about 270 people tops, so Alcatraz only has about 175-200 people).
  • Security - A dedicated guard and watch team maintains a killing field near the singular entry point.  Regular watch is kept over the rest of the island but since most of it is cliff face they’re mostly just looking for anyone who would be climbing the cliffs.
  • Farmers / Brewers - A sizeable percentage of the population tills the acres of farmland (mostly grain / soybean rotation patterns).  Surplus is distilled into Fire
  • Bomb Whiskey which is sold off.
  • The Boat Men (Ferrymen / Couriers) - Trade and transit is one of the chief exports of the enclave.  Boat drivers are the second largest labor force on the island and are second to takers in terms of risk.
  • Fishermen - Technically part of the Boat Men but a different variation.  Supply the rest of the food for the enclave.  Some go a little ways out into the bay area to fish but never too far.
  • Takers - They go out and take things.  You know what these guys are.
Economy: Communalist / Collectivist.  The community is small enough that resources are shared around as needed.  Anyone who doesn’t want whatever part of their share is can barter it off or sell it to others in the loss for things they do want.

Neighborhoods

Neighborhoods are defined and owned by the different factions of the social structure.  Largely these all coinhabit different floors of the Alcatraz prison as it has capacity for about 300 prisoners and is in the best shape on the island except for the museum.  Other blockhouses have been converted to fit necessary purposes of the workforce.

Latent Ghetto is a small settlement on Little Alcatraz connected by a bridge, immunity is on a sort of “don’t ask don’t tell” scheme and the island doctors are expected to maintain their confidence.

VIPs

Work-in-Progress, but one representative from each of the major work groups (excepting the Takers) is part of the council and stays back at the island doing logistics work and sometimes farming.
Boat Leader: Ahab

Twisting H

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Re: Red Markets Inspiration
« Reply #129 on: November 01, 2015, 03:40:10 PM »
http://1ver4ik1.deviantart.com/art/Urban-blocks-523249032



Quote
When I started this piece I was inspired by Brazilian favelas and Chinese tower blocks. I’ve done a lot of photo-bashing and overpaint here. That was a lot of fun and I'm quite happy with this one. And this piece wasn't be so cool without the help of Artem (motloch.deviantart.com/) He's done a bunch of awesome graffiti for this work.

This made me consider that humans, no matter how small their living space, continually strive to make their environments individualistic. Whether it is a small box of brightly colored flowers on a tiny tenement balcony, garish graffiti, or the utilitarian emptiness of a Spartan lifestyle; each of these is a choice. Makes me pause and muse about the genesis of cave paintings.   

Anyway I could see a small seed bag of colorful flowers, cans of spraypaint, an pristine can of house paint or even specialized cleaning supplies (we all miss the scent of pine sol) as being items in high demand from the Lost.   Of course this leads to possible confrontations in a overgrown former (plant) nursery, a Sherman-Williams and of course the ubiquitous Home Depot ruins. 

Then maybe just maybe a player contact wants part of a sign to cheer up his part of the Enclave.

http://1ver4ik1.deviantart.com/art/Zombie-Distraction-566221671



How are you going to get that "A" off of the wall?



I really like the emotion on this character's face.

http://stayinwonderland.deviantart.com/art/16-3-15-Get-money-get-paid-520526658




More art



http://blakez.deviantart.com/art/landscape-35-383552954












Twisting H

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Re: Red Markets Inspiration
« Reply #130 on: November 01, 2015, 08:21:12 PM »
Cybernetics / Bionics

Regarding the near future approach that Red Markets is taking (mentioned in the last GDW) how much information do you want about the technology that is being developed now? 

I have a small archive of news articles, primary articles, and reviews of advancements made over the past few years. If you want something like that I could organize it and set up a drop box.

Here are some of the research projects walking out of the Berkeley Robotic and Engineering Laboratory: http://bleex.me.berkeley.edu/research/

Everything from Exoskeletons to robots modeling the movement of animals to "Magic Gloves"


Art


http://datem.deviantart.com/art/Poisoned-Sebastian-2-488948367




Recent interview about nanomaterials (biogels and holographic sensors) and their potential applications.

http://scholar.harvard.edu/yetisen/publications/nanomaterials-designer

Quote
Q&A Ali Yetisen

The nanomaterials designer

Ali Yetisen’s research includes using nanotechnology and biosensors to make environmentally responsive materials for clothes, tattoos, accessories and contact lenses — materials that could be the future of fashion. Here, Yetisen, who works at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital in Cambridge, talks about mimicking the diffraction in butterfly wings, transforming gowns, and what fashion designers and materials scientists can learn from each other.

Tell me about your materials.

I make photonic materials that change colour in response to the environment — to, say, stretching, temperature or moisture. I also work on holographic sensors that change hue in response to chemical parameters, such as pheromones, glucose or salts. It is biomimicry, really: inspired by the iridescence of butterfly wings. Rather than pigments, butterfly wings have layered structures that diffract light to produce different colours. I create structures from layers of silver particles in a hydrogel. The gel swells or shrinks in response to what it is sensing, altering the spacing of the layers. That shifts the wavelength of the diffracted light, and the material shows a different colour.


How would these be used in clothing?

We foresee printing these materials on fashion items instead of dyeing. Or they could be used to reveal the presence of a harmful gas or unhealthy levels of ultraviolet light. In contact lenses, they could make eyes look brighter. Other researchers, including Juan Hinestroza at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, are also merging textiles with nanoparticles. Nanoparticles can change a material’s colour (because particles of different sizes interact differently with light) and can be superhydrophobic and antibacterial, giving clothes stain-repellent or odour-control properties.


Where is technology currently having the greatest impact on fashion?

Sportswear companies have been the first to embrace electronics and biosensors, with wearable technology and devices. Adidas and Ralph Lauren have introduced lines in which conductive fibres in the fabric measure heart rate, calories burned and breathing rate. In photonics and electronics, the London-based company CuteCircuit has made a dress that displays real-time tweets, and architectural fashion label Chromat has produced a ‘fight-or-flight’ dress that expands into an imposing structure when temperature and sweat levels suggest that adrenaline is pumping. We are likely to see more of this. Intel is now a patron of the British Fashion Council, and plans to work with designers to weave more smart products into clothing and accessories.


How can nanotechnology enter fashion?

We are at a very early stage. Our team has had some conversations with Google, which is interested in intelligent materials for design. But many questions remain. If we make a garment with nanoparticles, the particles have to stay within the textiles and not get into the skin, air or food. Nanomaterials also need to be manufactured at scale, which means standardizing the quality of raw textiles to a whole new level and controlling, for example, the surface charge and oxidation levels of cotton, as well as fibre length and strength.


Can science learn from fashion?

Scientists start from fundamental building blocks and understand how materials or a technology can be constructed by putting parts together. In art and fashion, it works the other way. Usually, the big picture is there and designers will look for materials to make it happen. Because of that, fashion is really good at thinking outside the box. If fashion designers and scientists make a conscious effort to understand each other’s way of working, they can build sympathy between these very different schools of thought.

Do you follow fashion?

I watch fashion weeks and events to see how creativity evolves outside basic sciences and technology, and I am in a minority of scientists who want to make technology more accessible using new forms of expression. Do I buy designer clothing? No. That is for the red carpet at the Oscars. What is the point of wearing designer clothing in the lab? ■

INTERVIEW BY ELIZABETH GIBNEY
This interview has been edited for length and clarity

The Lost Carol

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Re: Red Markets Inspiration
« Reply #131 on: December 15, 2015, 10:08:01 PM »
Don't forget, only five days left for our reports!

To borrow a quote from Matt from The Drunk and The Ugly:

BWOOP BWOOP

DECEMBER ALERT

ALL HANDS TO DECEMBERSTATIONS

5 DAYS LEFT TO FILL OUT RED MARKETS HAPPENINGS

THIS IS NOT A DRILL

Playtest Update and Reminders

Hello everyone,

I’ll start by saying thank you. The amount of time and dedication you’ve spent reading, critiquing, and playing Red Markets is one of the most encouraging things to happen in my short game design career. I’m so grateful for everyone that’s taken the time to write up their sessions on the forums. It’s really great to see, and witnessing how you guys are interacting in-character online has given me a dozen more ideas for future products and features.

We are entering November, meaning there is little over a month left in the beta. I’m already compiling playtest reports and my own notes into a master change log.  Here’s a reminder of the plan:

•   Get all the playtests in by the Dec. 20th deadline
•   Use Christmas break and (hopefully) snow days to do a massive revision of the rules text
•   Run a second playtest campaign with the RPPR crew in late Winter/Spring to test the post-Beta revisions. Revise the book as I go and plan the Kickstarter campaign.
•   Ross posts the first playtest campaign as we start playing the second, hopefully building up some hype.
•   Kickstarter launches in early Summer, sometime after school lets out and man the comments section full time.
•   If the book doesn’t fund: cry forever.
•   If it does fund: do a jig. Perhaps even a “Carlton.”
•   After my jig, distribute Beta 2 to backers.
•   Complete the setting stuff, edit, layout, art, etc.

But all of this hinges upon you – the noble playtesters – turning in the playtest reports. I’ve noticed more participation in the game than I’ve received feedback…by a much larger margin than expected. I understand some of this is inevitable, and many of you are merely waiting to get more games under your belt in order to make an informed decision, but we are quickly approaching the point at which I need those reports back.

The audio is priceless, and listening to you guys play my game every day on the ride to work has deeply informed my revision plans already. But whenever possible, I still need as many detailed playtest surveys as I can get. The audio is great for in-depth analysis, but Red Markets is a big book in need of big changes. In short, I need breadth as well as depth, and while I can drop a hundred playtest reports on my office floor and collate revisions all at once, I can’t listen to a dozen AP’s simultaneously.

So as we enter the final month, that’s what I wanted to say. Thank you to everyone that’s reported in so far. For everyone else, thank you and PLEASE email in November if you have not reported in yet. I need all of you if I’m going to help make the game better.
My address is stokes353@gmail.com.

Happy taking,
Caleb
Need more Actual Play goodness? Visit http://www.technicaldifficultiespod.com/ for Red Markets Beta, Call of Cthulhu, Eclipse Phase, and more!

trinite

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Re: Red Markets Inspiration
« Reply #132 on: December 16, 2015, 03:14:14 PM »
Whoah, new art since the last time I read this thread! Thanks, Twisting H.
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Twisting H

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Re: Red Markets Inspiration
« Reply #133 on: January 08, 2016, 11:39:05 PM »
So I think these were meant to be cybernetic horrors but for some reason the image feels to me like it belongs in Red Markets as aberrant zombies.





http://salvadortrakal.deviantart.com/art/T3A-GANG-BIKER-CONCEPT-346685441

http://www.behance.net/gallery/6238771/THE-3RD-APPEARANCE
« Last Edit: January 08, 2016, 11:42:32 PM by Twisting H »

Twisting H

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Re: Red Markets Inspiration
« Reply #134 on: January 11, 2016, 07:27:04 PM »
Red Market's isn't a tactical post-apoc game, but someone may want to run it like one sometime.

But where do you get cool maps?

Courtesy of some generous Anon on 4chan.

http://boards.4chan.org/tg/thread/44711992/tactical-battle-maps




















Maybe an aerial view of the Fallouts and Skyrims could be captured as well?
« Last Edit: January 11, 2016, 07:28:59 PM by Twisting H »