Red Markets Alpha Playtest

[Straggler]

I've got a regular group with a few people who are always micro-managing their supplies and logistics. I think they'd really enjoy red-markets so I'm throwing my name into the hat to get a beta-PDF. I'd be happy to fill out playtest surveys as well.

[Dradis]

Not sure if I am a bit late. Getting caught up in the podcast. If you still need more playtesters I have a group I can run it for. Promise to fill out the surveys.

[lightpagoda]

I dont know if my group will finish our current campaign in time to run the playtest rules but I would also like to get my hands on the rules so I can make the attempt.

[Grey_Stranger]

If at all possible I would love to get in on this play-test shenanigans.

[Wooberman]

Please add me to the list of Wannabe Playtesters!

[Sir William]

Would love to help out with the play test. Planning on recording a mini adventure actual play. 

[Morbid]

After listening to the last Game Designer's Workshop, does anyone have their own playmat that they'd like to share?  That idea (plus keeping track of things with poker chips and/or coins) sounded very cool.

[Tomsawyer]

After listening to the last Game Designer's Workshop, does anyone have their own playmat that they'd like to share?  That idea (plus keeping track of things with poker chips and/or coins) sounded very cool.

Here is the one that they were talking about, my group really likes it because it lays everything out in front of us.

[Morbid]

That's awesome!  Thanks for sharing, I think it will make things way easier for my more visual and less number-y players.

[Alethea]

After listening to the last Game Designer's Workshop, does anyone have their own playmat that they'd like to share?  That idea (plus keeping track of things with poker chips and/or coins) sounded very cool.

Here's a jpg of the play mat if anyone wants to print it out. I have the Gimp file version if anyone with actual graphic design experience wants to play with it, just PM me.

[Mox313]

Is it too late to receive a playtest copy? Pretty please?

[vincorine]

Probably way too late for this, but on a recent trip I binge-listened to all the GDW episodes and now want help alpha/beta playtest. Caleb, if you think another group's feedback of realistically 3-4 sessions will help, send along a copy.

Here's my personal character concept if you're still looking for them:

Isaac Huxley was a scientist working for a large pharmaceutical organization when The Crash happened. His company saw The Blight as a market opportunity, and immediately began working on a formula to delay infection (because curing the infection isn't economically viable, you must make sure people need your product for life). His brother was bitten soon afterwards, and he stole a lab sample of the lead anti-Blight compound. Unfortunately, it had not been safety tested on humans, and administering the compound killed his brother. His brother's infected wife fled, and now roams The Loss trying to put her out of her misery, and collect enough money that he'll be able to care for his niece and nephew...

[Cthuluzord]

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

[Morbid]

I just finished up the "No Bouncing Back from this" job with one of my playtest groups.  (The holidays interfered with doing so earlier.)  I enjoy reading the other ones, so here are the highlights:

They really loved Spots and kept making more trouble for themselves.  Even when it wasn't quite enough to get the Will point, everyone enjoyed playing to the Spots.  ("I'm externalizing my frustration on this crazy old lady!")

- They sent the Chinese army troops to their enclave, reasoning that the troops would have useful skills.
- Banhammer (the latent) got chewed up during the locust/casualty combo in the second leg.
- In the third leg, they killed all the Slavers and then debated a lot about what to do with the Immunes.  In the end, they decided to send them somewhere safe and figure it out later.
- No luck catching horses in the final leg.

Then we had a case of breaking math once they got to the actual job site.  Something like 7-8 failures in a row just to get over the fence without attracting the casualties inside.  They finally got inside and immediately split up (a gift to any Market).  Banhammer tried to go through the vents, but they hadn't been quiet enough and the two Meek knew they were there. 

Pa drops one of the doorjam things down the vent to try and fix Banhammer in place.  Banhammer dodges, but when the doorjam punctures the walls of the vent, Pa fires the rifle at that spot.  He only hits BH in the leg but fills it up, damage spills over to the body and gets him within 4 boxes of going Vector.  Meanwhile Mal and Gnat climb up to the catwalks and run into Ma who is claiming to be a Shepherd.  Gnat immediately gets suspicious but all those weird cults run together for her (failed Sensitivity). 

In my favorite part, Gnat introduces herself as the ubiq admin who saved a ton of people.  Then Mal comes up with a lie to distract Ma - saying that they need some of the expired antibiotics stockpiled there as part of a new potential cure.  It was a good line and a good roll.   Now Ma (who believes that the Blight is divine punishment and should affect everyone) has to choose what to do.  Trying to kill either blows her cover but here is one person who saved thousands of lives from the Blight and another who claims he can stop it entirely.

She ultimately tries to shove Gnat off the catwalk and stab Mal with a casualty-blood covered knife.  It doesn't go well, but the tensest moment of the night was when they realized that they didn't check her for Latent veins before shooting her in the chest. 

Banhammer manages to drag himself out of the vent and hammers Pa down to the babies below. 

During all of these, Grizz is sneaking around below.  First he finds the canned food that Ma and Pa have been living off of.  Then he manages to find some of the rubber, enough to technically complete their contract.  Basically, Grizz has a totally professional time gathering supplies.  They meet up and limp home, forced to leave behind a lot of supplies due to the milling casualties attracted by the rifle fire on the catwalks. 

In each session I ran, I noticed players getting more serious as their charges dwindled.  They really did want a horse or to do more looting at Bounce but didn't feel confident enough about getting away with their limited resources. 

Most of the other feedback matches what I heard discussed on GDW; frustration with no defaulting (they felt it should be possible but at a higher cost of some kind) or losing track of what you can spend rations to boost, initially.  I had noticed that players mostly used the Playmat in combat, so I made a version with Twitch/Tactic/Multitask/Focus in addition to the Endurance and Rations.  Then I made a (slightly busier) version that listed the example actions under each so it was both a reference sheet and playmat.  I've attached it to this post in case they are useful for anyone else.

Everyone seemed to have fun and expressed an interest in playing more in the future. 

And to finish on headcanon, my wife has decided that Gnat is short for Gnatalie Portman.

[FHRegulus]

So we're gearing up for our Red Markets minicampaign and we put together our Enclave, the surrounding areas and two characters. The concept was put together by Kat as a "Latent Hospital/Society" so we built on top of what she had and I think it ended up really cool.

Latent Mercy General
Latent Mercy General is located in what was once the LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City. The surrounding buildings have been rolled in to LMG's territory to make for a considerably sized enclave. The vast majority of the population resides within the hospital proper.

2. Location
Salt Lake City.

3. Defenses
The strictest of quarantines helped LDS transition into LMG. Add to that the barricading of the surrounding area comprised of the many, many vehicles people drove their loved ones to the hospital in and LMG's autowall is more than enough to keep the majority of casualties at bay. The buildings that were brought into the fold of LMG are connected by bridges that allow its inhabitants to walk from building to building without ever having to head to ground level.

4. History
LMG has its roots with the Latter Day Saints. When the Crash came they were prepared. The hospital fell fairly quickly during the chaos with a handful of doctors and other staff barricading themselves in the upper floors to protect themselves from the vectors. One of these doctors believed he received a vision from Jesus instructing him to find a cure for the disease ravaging the world.

Little did he know that it was simply the fever dreams of a man going septic after a scratch from a vector. The greatest miracle came soon after the others realized he was infected. He didn't turn. The doctor was what would later be referred to as a latent. The others took this as a sign from God on High. They held on long enough for a group of travelers desperate for medicine to clear the hospital. It is from these two groups that the LMG was formed.

5. Top Exports
Medicine and medical training. LMG is known around the area as the place to secure new meds. They produce them in-house and medical supplies make up the vast majority of their income. Also of note is that they aren't above training outsiders in the medical arts for the right price.

6. Top Imports
Medicine isn't grown on trees. It takes raw materials to manufacture them and the LMG is happy to buy what they need from outsiders.

Additionally, due to their unfavorable location in the city they import a great deal more water than others with direct access to the springs or Salt Lake.

Finally, weapons of all manner are in short supply within LMG. Guns, crowbar, and crossbows are all highly sought after goods within the enclave.

7. Competition
Salt Wave Station is a rival enclave built around a local radio station that is still broadcasting. The people of SWS are almost all young and headstrong. They watched their friends die just like the rest of us but it lit a fire in them. They're more than willing to provide free entertainment to the city but distributing actual, important information through them comes at a high price. Additionally, they employ an incredibly dangerous group of Takers, The Risk Jockeys, who undertake incredibly dangerous jobs and then tell stories about them on air (with an Ubiq simulcast).

The Station is a strange group of survivors that have made a portable enclave. Built on the skeletons of train cars, the Station dominates the rails of Salt Lake City. Some cars have been converted into what can only be described as mobile weapons platforms while others are open air agricultural boxes. It is thanks to the completion of many proposed lines that the Station is able to circle Salt Like City without having to reverse and they've engineered a machine/system to 'quietly' move the trains with man-power (in order to save their fuel reserves for when they really need to boogie). The Station is known as a large trade hub that services any group in the city with enough bounty to barter and follows a schedule of where the will be. Nothing prevents the Station from arriving on time. They also employ the Taker group known as The Rail Walkers to those willing to pay.

The Repository survives in the re-purposed Salt Lake City Library and is an incredibly technophobic organization. They believe that Ubiq and those who use it (namely Takers) are criminals who must be punished. For a group run by former librarians they are incredibly cutthroat but their well-learned nature gives them an edge over others as they possess a great deal of information not on Ubiq that they withhold from others unless bribed. Many traps built around the city are the result of someone from the Repository trying out something they've learned recently (like a homemade claymore or ankle-catch).

8. Social Structure

LMG runs in complete contrary to almost every other enclave in the Loss. It is ruled by the Latent and being a Latent is considered an honor within its walls. The Convalescence are a group of willingly Latent doctors and researchers that shroud themselves in simple robes detailed with black lines while they pursue the ever mythical cure for the Blight. The society as a whole has adopted a bastardized evolution of the conservative ways of Mormon culture. All members of the Convalescence remain covered up while in public (making things like gender and race irrelevant) and are convinced that if there is a way to force the virus into latency then there must be a way to cure it. The final task for a doctor or researching seeking to join the Convalescence is to willingly infect themselves with the Blight and then inject themselves with Supressin K-7864 to become Latent themselves as "only those truly invested in finding the cure have any hope of doing so."

The Convalescence is opposed by the other major party within LMG. The Claim consists of uninfected members who act as the driving forces behind LMG in order to ensure its continued existence. Run by a former health insurance specialist, the Claim is an absolutely cutthroat organization dedicated to "the Bottom Line." They higher Takers, they arrange trade, they direct the vast majority of the Orderlies, and they make sure the Convalescence can continue to pursue a cure that most high ranking members of the Claim are sure is never coming. Just like insurance companies in real life, the Claim is a group dedicated to taking every piece of Bounty they legally can from the working man.

On hand to prevent the spread of infection and to put down Vectors are the Orderlies, the security forces of LMG. The Orderlies answer to both ruling factions and are split by those who are and aren't infected so it is rare that a Latent Orderly will ever interact with an uninfected Orderly. To become an orderly you must be "processed" by the Claim. Individuals undergoing processing are bunked up in the Evaluation Room (or ER) over the course of their trial period.

The vast majority of the population are Latents and are known as "Patience" (something they must show and a clever play on words). They live above the non-infected individuals of LMG. Many of the uninfected brought their loved ones here believing that LMG would be the best chance at a cure they could find. The uninfected live in the areas collectively referred to as "The Waiting Room."

Anyone who is unable to work in LMG is "Discharged" from the hospital and released into the world.

9. Neighborhoods
The Morgue: The area directly outside the barricade. Casualties are few and far between but it is a stark reminder of the dangers outside LMG.

The Waiting Room: Comprised of the uninfected that wait to hear if the cure has been found for their loved ones. Also individuals with no interest in the cure live within the sprawl of ground level buildings.

The Adjustment: Where the Claim exists. It's next on the upward stack of locations after the Waiting Room.

Pediatrics: Where the large orphan population lives. They are required to work the bridge farms and perform other tasks in order to prevent themselves from becoming discharged.

ER (Evaluation Room): Where Orderlies in training live. Many Takers also make use of the ER as their home.

The Walkways: The Walkways contain many rooftop gardens and the bridges that connect the various buildings to LMG proper.

The Quarantine Zone: Where the Patience and the majority of the Convalescence live. Higher quality of living for Latents than for the uninfected.

The Operating Room: This is where the Convalescence and Caduceus do their good work. Almost no one has ever been this high up. The rooftop of LMG is a large rooftop garden where the Convalescence can go to calm their nerves without interacting with the uninfected.



10. VIPs
Caduceus: The doctor who was the first Latent. Extremely reclusive and utterly devoted to finding the cure.

Chester Ploughman: The head of the Claim. A stubby fat man who has a nasty attitude.

Selene Winter: An uninfected engineer responsible for maintaining the security the carpool perimeter affords LMG.

The rest are TBD.




Finally the first two characters of the Taker group known as the "Hearse Practitioners" are:

Tristana ? (Kat): A Latent who just recently became a member of the Convalescence. Her official appointment was to the Takers as a liaison between the Convalescence and the Claim. Occasionally she is tasked with recovering certain things while on a run. A very eccentric young woman, Tristana is easily excited by the prospect of Aberrations being real. Though she has never seen one she is very sure she will be just as enthused if she manages to confirm the rumors. We'll see about that...

Seung Eom-Dae (Kyle): A 12 year old child who was "conscripted" by a "general." Served as a soldier for three years before his "general" was summarily killed in an operation gone bad. Several of the surviving children were badly wounded. Seung Eom-Dae came across LMG while looking for medicine for the others. Due to his lack of education and his only applicable skill being murder, he volunteered to perform the duties of a Taker in order to support the others until they grew. He's armed with an incredibly poorly made zip-gun rifle.

Super pumped to play.