Messages

1

RPGs / Re: Red Markets Inspiration

« on: September 11, 2015, 11:40:37 AM »

For the first contract of the Campaign beta the takers are going to be looting around an abandoned neighborhood in the mountains where only stray casualties bumble about as synapses trigger hauntings of places they may have occupied in life. As a bonus to fulfilling the contract (simple closure) there is ample loot to be scored in the various houses, so long as the takers can avoid a large ruckus and the attention/generation of a mob. I thought about just making the characters roll sneak and athletics, as well as scavenging but these seemed too tame. Instead they can spend 30 endurance (split between all participating takers) to buy in to a general scavenging effort.

To resolve the success/degree of success I'm going to be using the children's puzzle game chairs. The tension created by the simple game is more gripping (imo) than calling for rolls that not everyone can make or would lead to a narratively unsatisfying end.
http://www.amazon.com/Ideal-Chairs-Stacking-Puzzle-Game/dp/B00005JCNZ

Each chair stacked represents one bounty (max of 24 chairs), the takers can quit at anytime and take however much they have accumulated. However, when the chairs topple it represents a taker making a loud noise and the Market rolls for Mob generation as if an unsilenced weapon was used.

The buy in makes it a gamble, if they succeed they'll still be down 30 endurance but up (potentially) 24 bounty. and if they fail they will be down 30 endurance plus resources spent dealing with the casualties. It also turns what would otherwise be (imo) boring roll off to an intense and thrilling scene where all the players can contribute.

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RPGs / Re: Red Markets Inspiration

« on: September 04, 2015, 04:49:19 AM »

Eclipse Phase has the Eye. Red Markets needs a killer fan site too.

Great work Jace!

UBIQ someone goregister that URL!

3

RPGs / Re: Negotiations in game

« on: September 02, 2015, 08:04:24 PM »

I think that just about cracked it for me. I hadn't been seeing the NPC as using skills and so had no handle on their tactics during negotiation.  It makes a great deal of sense now that it has been spelled out like that. Initially I was more concerned with making sure I had the rules of negotiation down (according to play-test feedback they thought it was simple and fast moving), than I was with making sure I could RP a good negotiation scene. Using the skills as angles of approach or coding their rhetorical tactics is going to make a big difference, especially depending on the personalities of different NPCs.

Wealthy Grandma's boy is of course more concerned with the professionalism of the taker group he contracts with since price is almost no object. Just wants to make sure their willingness to take the job at a lower price isn't indicative of their amateur status.

Other Market Characters are going to negotiate differently based their aims, pocket depth, and personalities.

I think other RP challenges could be handled by me using Fixers for the Market Characters more often and give me a chance to develop them as characters as they would remain the same depending on where the job is coming from.

4

RPGs / Re: Negotiations in game

« on: September 02, 2015, 12:02:33 AM »

You can use mechanics to make it easier, like Red Markets does. Even if you're not going that crunchy, maybe let the players roll skills to get good suggested lines of argument. If you have time to prep for it, make sure that your GM-side negotiating person has some weaknesses or complex angles to their position. What *specifically* do they want, beyond simply the best price number? Maybe they want to build a relationship with the PCs, or express a particular emotion, or they have a particular aspect of the product or service that they are especially interested in. Work on expressing those thoughts and feelings in dialogue.

Use these tools to think of the negotiation not just as a conflict, but as a story. The conversation and negotiation can reveal information, open up plot points, explore character motivations, and more in addition to settling on a price.

In my example (RMbeta) The NPC wanted someone to ease the passing of his grandmother from casualty to pile of dust. He wanted it done quickly because he wanted to leave the enclave and move north as soon as possible. Spots were If you're On time You're late, Grandmas Boy and He wanted to be sure that it was done professionally and not an amateur butcher job.

But when it came to the negotiation I just kind of flubbed around. Is there some standard banter? Or what makes a good negotiator, like as a vocation? by trying to withhold the elements of the job that he needed the NPCs service for I felt I didn't have enough to say to make it a good scene. It was only three rounds, and mechanically everything went splendidly and during the scams I was able to RP the references with more personality than the plot dispenser/task master/negotiator.

Do you have any example negotiators? or films I should watch for inspiration? My reservoir is currently dry.

5

RPGs / Negotiations in game

« on: September 01, 2015, 12:32:10 AM »

Dear RPPR,

Long time fan, and lover of Tom. I've a question that stems from my recent Red Markets Beta but could be applicable to almost every RPG.
Negotiations in games.I find myself having trouble adopting a stance other than the usual Default Price for Default Service that I've grown up with as someone who doesn't haggle or really negotiate much at all in real life. As a GM I want the back and forth to make sense, not take too much time, stay on point and communicate terms, give the players enough story, immerse the players, and not devolve into rehashing any of the above information. Any tips on how to role-play either a NPC Quest giver, either direct or proxy, or Hostage-taker, or other negotiator types to achieve the best negotiating scenes?

6

RPGs / Re: Red Markets Inspiration

« on: August 08, 2015, 11:54:09 PM »

@Shallazar 3D Printed guns or materials seems like one of those things that seems obvious now. Especially with how much better things would be in a near future setting. Great idea.

After looking into other improvised firearms, rigged nail guns, zip guns, burp guns, autofire hell machines, I was struck with the Duh. and google provided some good pointers.

http://gizmodo.com/3d-printed-guns-are-only-getting-better-and-scarier-1677747439

http://www.wired.com/2014/11/atlas-314-3-d-printed-guns-bullets/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/23/3d-printed-bullets_n_3322370.html

Much more sophisticated and the speed of reproduction, with plastic and a printer they seemed a much better idea to run with than the impractical improvised firearms. Durability is improving. The man who was making some in Japan got arrested after posting youtube videos, but I'm sure he inspired others to be more discreet. The only thing that really limits them is available ammunition. Getting the components to make a supply of bullets would acquire the purchase of illegal materials (in this happy police state). No habeus corpus, and no warrants means raids on a whim.  But I can seem them being used in the default setting as well, but there isn't really a need what with the second amendment and all.

Heck even swords need to be licensed and registered (anything over 13 centimetres)  and can't be worn, wielded or used.

7

RPGs / Re: Red Markets Inspiration

« on: August 08, 2015, 10:29:30 AM »

First game will be the 30th of August, wrangling expats is hard work.
We're going to vote on either Japan or my hometown of Lansing, MI.
Due to limited time we will be running more Boom than Bust.
I have my recorder with me so I'll try to get you a recording.
Heading into Tokyo to get Red and Black dice for the group next week.

I've been doing lots of research on the Japan angle. Gun control laws have made the ready availability of firearms as appears in the default setting kind of not a good (realistic) option. However, Japan's actual military projects and other tech have given me some interesting options. (.6 firearms per 100 people, handguns completely illegal, only guns a citizen can actually obtain are shotguns and air rifles, after  a course, mental and physical health evaluation and yearly police inspections, every location of a citizen gun logged, heirloom rifles turned over to the police for impoundment etc)

HULC suits, prototype mechs, (they have developed one that shoots water bottles and BBs out of gattling guns), and 3D printed guns are some of the ideas I'm playing around with.

3D Printed Guns have In Demand, Hungry, Fragile, Loud, Wear n Tear. With upgrades able to buy them off, they start at normal handgun Upkeep with all the Qualities.

Currently you face horrendous jailtime for owning 3D printed guns but after The Crash, it wont matter and the 3D printed infrastructure is already in place and the blueprints will be available on lifelines and others in high demand.

Regular bullets fired through a 3D printed gun eventually wear out the piece but there are schematics for bullets designed to be fired in the fragile guns, but these have to be machined with metal and cannot be 3D printed.

As for what happened during The Crash, Okinawa and Hokkaido are the current government stronghold. The main island fell quickly and once vectors made it onto a ferry bound for the other side, both Kyushu and Shikoku also similarly fell. The Japanese government has absorbed the US troops stationed on Okinawa after the US deemed their retrieval financially unsound. The train tunnel to Hokkaido was destroyed and currently the Japanese DHQS, National  Quarantine and Infrastructure Agency wages a naval battle of that ebbs and flows with the seasons and is working on establishing footholds on the smaller islands before assaulting Honshu. Hokkaido is the promised land but some societies hail back to their island roots and set up enclaves on highly defensible fortress islands dating back to WWII.

Wake Island, Iwo Jima, and Midway have been revived as military and civilian assets. Everywhere old castles have developed into the war fortresses of old.

Smaller mountain towns fared the best but any lowland areas were quickly overrun due to the high concentrations of people.

A neat feature I like to think about is the Salaryman Stampede. A millions strong stampede of casualties that migrates with the weather up and down Honshu. Those casualties at the back drop off going one way and are swept up or trampled by the stampede going the other way. Though less and less every year it is still one of the largest and most dangerous spots of Dead Weather.

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RPGs / Re: Red Markets at GenCon/Upcoming Beta

« on: June 12, 2015, 09:50:07 AM »

I'm blowing minds over here with the wide array of RPGs that aren't d20Fantasy. I'd be down for a playtest and proofing other sections, if you are amenable.

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Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: Red Markets Alpha Playtest

« on: June 11, 2015, 12:07:18 AM »

Don't  feel too bad about missing GenCon now. And looking forward to running it (maybe???) next year.

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Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: Volunteer?

« on: June 10, 2015, 09:41:11 AM »

Sheet. I would proofread. Put me on the list boss.

11

Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: Red Markets Alpha Playtest

« on: June 08, 2015, 11:32:54 AM »

So, I was think about bounty. And how in my room right now I have about five distinct pieces of ID. My passport, my international driver's license, my alien registration card, my driver's license and my birth certificate. Is it worth 5 bounty?

What about people who manufacture fake IDs? Is everything RFID?

Otherwise my concept is a forging sniper. Used to make fake IDs and sell them to high schoolers, and other minors. Used to live out in the country untill casualties broke down his fence and trampled his farm. He was able to make it out with his rifle.

12

RPGs / Re: Japan Meet-up

« on: March 28, 2015, 05:14:57 AM »

Guess I have no choice but to become an RPG Missionary.

13

RPGs / Japan Meet-up

« on: March 27, 2015, 07:55:11 AM »

This is a shot in the dark but I've recently relocated to Japan for work and I was wondering if there were any RPPR fans in the country. There is a convention and we could do a satellite meetup or whathave you. Anyways..

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Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: RPPR Community AP Podcast site

« on: November 02, 2013, 11:38:22 PM »

Uploaded RPPR-CP-Ashen-Stars-Divine-Fire.mp3


YEahhh boiii

15

Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: Why I Love Tom Church

« on: October 28, 2013, 09:46:42 PM »

Running an hommage of  the masterpiece that is Divine Fire.
I'm running it in Ashen Stars for our Halloween get together.
I am so excited I will try to do the man proud.

Suffice to say it takes place on a space station recently "remembered" to have been constructed during the Mohilar war for purposes of trans-light research. Due to the Bogey Conundrum no one has been able to recall it even existed until an acquaintance of one of the doctors found an old degraded hologram while cleaning out his spacecloset. The Lazers, crew of the goodship Lazerbass, have been contracted to rescue the Doctor and bring back any research material found there. IF THEY SURVIVE!!!!!