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Messages - SJLee

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RPGs / Re: Red Markets Inspiration
« on: October 23, 2016, 11:39:20 AM »
Golden Parachute is a cool job! It could be used as a "tutorial" to help convey the whole concept of Retirement to a group, too. Thanks, SJLee.

It played out really well too, in my opinion. The complication wasn't obvious so the players got sunk deeper and deeper into paranoia until it revealed itself. I stole the idea to have the job teach something about the game from a helpful fellow who is sharing sample jobs, it seemed a smart approach.

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RPGs / Re: Red Markets Online Gaming Group
« on: October 19, 2016, 10:58:21 AM »
I got together with a group. I am pleased to share that my first one-shot as the Market went relatively well. I was a little rough with some aspects, but I think the players had fun, I know I enjoyed myself. Here is an after action report.

A trio of takers get ready to find work in Trabajo. They take on the crew name Ingress, after the ARG, which they play at jobsites.

A player character created character, Valkyrie (social/negotiator), and two pre-gens, Smoke and McStuffins do some prep work to find some jobs in the area. I had prepared two job for their consideration. With a small crew though once one was uncovered they double down on it. The job  was titled "Golden Parachute" (Details: here. A veteran taker by the name of Tick-Tock recently hit her Mr. JOLS and is ready to retire. She is hiring a group of takers to clear out a small municipal airport three legs away so that a small airborne smuggler can take her to the Recession. The job is to clear out the airport, hold it, radio in to Tick-Tock and wait for her to arrive and receive payment.

The negotiation goes quite well and Ingress manages to land at 100% Mark-Up. A highlight was that a joke about alternative Red Markets social media/internet companies led to the app LatentIn. Smoke used a reference to contact a fellow latent on a job, he was happy to help for a bounty and an endorsement for Networking on his LatentIn account. The job works out to 45 bounty, not bad for what on paper is a pretty straightforward job, right?

Ingress hits the road and encounters their first leg. From the random table they stumble upon #49, the military checkpoint. The Market informs them that they're standing on an overpass, below are casualties. The military checkpoint up the road seems abandoned. They send Smoke ahead to check it out. His awareness fails to pick up anything out of the ordinary, except that many of the casualties below are in military uniform, meaning that it was overrun, not abandoned. The zombies in the APC respond to Smoke's presence and accidentally hits the brake and it begins to roll towards the takers. He doesn't get out of the way in time, but only takes a small wound to his shoulder. McStuffins is less lucky and ends up taking six stun to the chest. Valkyrie dives out of the way. The APC careens over the side of the guardrail and crashes below. A failed scavenging check means that they only find rusted materials left up there. McStuffins patches himself up and they move on.

Leg 2 is a real challenge to the crew. From the random table it's number 58. After the disaster on the highway they decide to switch to country roads. They come across an old farmhouse on a hill. There is a well defended path leading up to it with traps. Valkyrie tries to contact the house with his Ubiq specs. There's a set up there, but no one answers. They're still too curious. They inspect the first set of traps, a barricade of barbed wire. No one is eager to get chopped up. They ask if there is a way to get a better look. The Market suggests they can climb a tree across the road to get a sense of the traps. Valkyrie uses athletics to successfully climb and spots the three traps: barbed-wire, ground spikes, and a pit.  She fails her resistance to climb down and falls. Smoke, the latent, manages to succeed and break her fall. Valkyrie desperately checks herself for exposure. Eager for more information they burn a charge on the glasses for a reference, One Nut, who conducts geosurveys and maps the Loss. He reports that the house belongs to the McCarthys, a religious group of Christians who want to stay away from the threats (moral and physical) of enclave life. He assures them that they aren't dangerous and hospitable to strangers. The crew cannot find a way in and don't want to risk it, so move on.

Small highlight, McStuffins is an immune but no one in game knows it. The player role plays it as a slightly paranoid germ freak, constantly harping on hygiene and exposure. He also talks like a quack, making that "Profession: Doctor" questionable.

Leg 3 is #44, the crashed Taker vehicle. They recognize the logo on the side of the SUV, it's the Accountants, a rival taker crew from Trabajo who went missing a few weeks ago. They roll self-control for seeing their fellow takers dead in the wastes. The cold-hearted Ingress crew feels nothing - less competition. After investigating the car Smoke wakes up the casualty in the driver seat when he tries to open the locked door. Valkyrie kills the belted in zombie after two shots. They find 3 haul of medical supplies, the Market rolls it at 9 bounty a piece (an error in hindsight). The take it off their unlucky fellows and head off to the airport.

They arrive and the paranoia begins! There are four buildings and the runway. There are twelve casualties on the tarmac that they will have to take out so that the plane can land. A Cessna doesn't do well when a casualty runs into the prop. They decide to take the airport building by building. An awareness check from the road tells them that someone has been in the area lately, there are tire tracks and boot prints. They enter the civilian hanger. A lone casualty stands in the middle. Smoke takes it out with his axe easily. They scavenge and find a bunch of pilot licenses, which can be redeemed for (rolled) 10 bounty.

They enter the hanger for Cloud-Skimmer Charters after a critically successful lockpick by McStuffins. The casualties are in there at 2, 4, 6 and shambles away. Smoke continues his slaughter and takes them out. They don't turn up anything in the hanger and move onto the office. There's nothing of interest in the office, just mildewed papers and soggy carpet. They enter the terminal and find more evidence that five people were walking around from muddy boot prints. The crew begins to panic OOG that there must be an aberrant around the corner or something. The Market calmly reassures them with their awareness/foresight checks that nothing seems other than it seems. The crew sets up a choke point at the gate in the terminal (a pair of glass doors). The silence shooters try to pick them off without drawing attention. However, after two failures the zombies catch on and start to approach. Skilled shooting and a melee rush by Smoke takes out the casualties. After hesitating Ingress calls in Tick-Tock. She says she'll be there in a couple of hours and so will the pilot.

They burn time playing cards, but the paranoia strikes again. Valkyrie and Smoke decide to scout up the road McStuffins holds down the terminal, inspecting the expired vending machine goods. The paranoia pays off. In the grass off the road, well away from the airport, they spot a red light. Smoke investigates and finds a camera with an antenna on it. They switch it off. They call Tick-Tock, but they don't have any details. They discuss calling it off, Tick-Tock tells them that if the rendezvous is called off they don't get paid - failure of contract. The threat of no payment raises the stakes dramatically.

The trio decides that they will wait in see. They hunker down in the terminal and wait. An hour before Tick-Tock is to arrive a pick-up arrives. Climbing out of the back is four men in eclectic gear carrying rifles. They get ready in the office and behind the terminal counter. The raiders pry open the sliding glass doors, while the leader and another takes shelter behind the truck. Valkyrie calls it in to Tick-Tock who tells them they're raiders. They will have to hold out for reinforcements from Tick-Tock and her crew, the Black Sheep, 30 minutes out. Smoke and Valkyrie open fire. Ingress' cover is good so the trio who enter are forced to flank while exposed. One of the raiders takes it in the neck and is out of the fight. Smoke manages to hit the two working on a flank and dodge their shots. McStuffins sits tight, waiting for them to come into his line of sight. They hear a low buzz as the plane comes in for a landing. When one of the raiders outside tries to rescue neck-wound Valkyrie nearly kills him. McStuffins and Smoke kill one of the guards inside and get another down to one health. The leader calls the retreat. They finish off neck-wound once and for all and take another captive. The leader and final survivor get in the truck to get away. Valkyrie jumps out onto the road and with a called shot blows out the leaders brains. The truck crashes into a ditch and the passenger goes flying and breaks his neck.

They briefly interrogate the lone survivor and learn that they plan was to rob Tick-Tock when she made her flight to the recession. Tick-Tock and the Black Sheep arrive on the scene. They survey the damage. Ingress successfully scavenges the dead for 5 more bounty. Tick-Tock's Mr. JOLS was not a well-defended secret, the raiders used the same rumours the takers did to get the job, to plan their ambush. Tick-Tock thanks them for their work, pays them in cash/bounty, boards, and flies off to her retirement.

The crew, grateful to have come out of it unscathed (mostly) count up their 87 bounty and head back to Trabajo with the Black Sheep.

Summary: The crew got very lucky with their rolls. I was hoping that the second leg would end up with them stuck with the toddler and an added complication during the airport portion. The casualties were not that fearsome for them, again, largely to spending and good rolls. Two of the players had never played Red Markets and so I didn't wanted to go total grim dark. I thought the raiders would put up a bigger challenge, but sometimes things actually end up working out well for the players. Overall a really good experience.

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RPGs / Re: Red Markets Inspiration
« on: October 19, 2016, 10:54:39 AM »
I just ran this for a one-shot and I think it worked quite well as a job.

Golden Parachute

Goods/Service: Only a small minority wants to spent the rest of their days in the desperate danger of the Loss. Most takers are risking their lives because they want to make a big payday and escape to the Recession. The Recession may be an autocratic, fascist semi-refugee camp, but at least there aren’t casualties on the other side of the wall, raiders around the corner and cults preparing for the end of the world. Tick-Tock is a legendary taker in the community and after a big score she is ready to smuggle herself over the Mississippi to the Recession. A pilot has been hired to fly her east, but they need somewhere to take off from. Tick-Tock wants to hire some takers to clear out a nearby municipal/hobbyist airfield. After the crew clears out the airport they will contact Tick-Tock who will drive out with her own team, liaison with the pilot and fly off to the east to her retirement.

Equilibrium: Roll for local conditions (add red and black).

Economy: Based on local Markets.

Client: Tick-Tock is a legendary taker in the enclave and region. She has been a taker since before there was a name for it. For the last few years she headed the crew The Black Sheep. A couple months ago they pulled off a Mr. JOLS. Now Tick-Tock has enough to smuggle herself back to the Recession and set herself up in style. Tick-Tock is nobody’s fool and she hasn’t survived the Loss for years without cunning and instinct. T-T is a tough woman. Her hair is always kept in a tight bun. She possesses an easy charm on the exterior, but doesn’t mess around in the field.

Weak Spot: Three Days from Retirement - The end is incredibly close. The struggle is nearly over. By this time next week she hopes to be sitting on a balcony, sipping a beer and enjoying the fruits of her labour… but anything could go wrong. The enclave could fall, she could get exposed to the blight, the DHQS could kick in the door or the plane could crash as she flies east. This fear causes her to wake up some nights in a cold sweat.

Soft Spot: Veteran Taker - Tick-Tock has seen it all. She has been working the Loss for years and has worked with dozens of different takers and taker crews. In most circumstances she is the most experienced person in the room. She has taken a lot of men and women under her wing and seen a lot of people broken by the job that she loves. She wants to see all the takers do well and come home in one piece. She has an affection for the fellows in her profession not unlike to the way police feel about their ‘brothers in blue’.

Tough Spot: Blood on Her Hands - A person who has worked the Loss and has had as many jobs as Tick-Tock has done some things she isn’t proud of and has made enemies. Locally Tick-Tock is somewhat of a folk hero, but elsewhere groups have cursed her name, like the Meek or DHQS.

Gift Spot: A fully upgraded, silenced rifle.

Competition: Depends on local Market.

Travel Time: 3 Legs 

The Site: Located not far from the enclave is a small municipal airfield. Airports were attractive targets for takers. Located on the edge of nearby city the municipal airport is relatively intact. The aircraft fuel is long gone, but there might be valuable equipment left behind. The real prize is the runway for Tick-Tock’s pilot can land and take off. There are casualties in the area of unknown number.

This is a municipal airport, not a regional hub or international airport. It catered to small charter flights and hobbyist pilots. There’s only one runway. It is surrounded by a simple chainlink fence and barbed wire, which is hardly secure from takers and infected. There are four main buildings on the site: the small airport terminal, the office and hanger for Cloud-Skimmer Charters (logo is a smiling cartoon cloud), and two hangers for private owners.

A Foresight check will tell the takers that it’s likely the obvious and easy scavenging will likely be gone, but there might be some valuable materials left behind. An Awareness check will tell the takers that someone has been in the buildings recently. An extremely diligent/paranoid crew can spot a camera rigged to monitor the airport setup off the road to watch the airport.

Complication: Tick-Tock’s plan to escape must not have been kept tight enough. Someone talked and now a group of raiders want to set up at the airfield to ambush her and make their own Mr. JOLS. The Market can determine whether the raiders strike before the buildings and airfield are cleared of casualties or after.

The raiders consists of somewhere between 6 part-time enemies and a full-time enemy for on-going story. If the takers manage to push the raiders back the full-time leader should flee and provide the basis for a job line. Tick-Tock and her escort can be called in for back-up before her flight arrives. The crew can just try to hold out for the cavalry. If the crew flees it’s a broken contract and they don’t get paid.

Job Line: In the Tall Grass. The leader of the raiders is none too pleased that you killed his/her men. He dedicates himself to revenge and can provide rivalry, competition and complication to jobs and legs going forward.

Tick-Tock can act as a valuable reference in the Recession with extensive knowledge of taking in your region.

Please let me know if you run this and how it goes!

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RPGs / Re: Red Markets Online Gaming Group
« on: October 07, 2016, 06:37:46 PM »
After multiple enclave generations and subsequent group dissolutions, I'm pretty sick of teaching newbs the setting and system irl. I'd be willing to play online, weekday evenings, excluding Friday-Sunday. No more than once per week.

I would normally offer to GM, but another busted group might kill my enjoyment altogether. I'd rather be a player for once.

So, SJLee, looks like you have a player for your game. Ball is in your court.

I will PM you directly.


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RPGs / Re: Red Markets Online Gaming Group
« on: October 03, 2016, 02:31:38 PM »
I've listened to the APs (Fallen Flag is sooo good). I think the biggest trouble I've had with negotiations was the Sway Tracker, namely, I suspect, because it wasn't included in the preview. I'm fairly confident that if I make one myself and play out a scenario (or listen to an AP group do it) I'll figure it out.


Seconding the points about listening to the AP's - it's a good way to internalise how the game should "flow" and "feel", as wanky as those terms are. Brutalists uses an older rules iteration, but the negotiation mechanics it uses are basically identical.

As for job lines, I think the GM section does a fairly good job of breaking down all the important bits and rolling up a basic framework is easy. When I was running an IRL demo game it was an hour's work on a laptop in a Starbucks to churn out the basics of three jobs (services, prices, competition, legs and complications) with fleshing out taking a little longer but being a pretty painless process. The main issue is probably just navigating the very early document. Also, listening to the (many, many) podcasts will help you get an idea of what sort of thing a job could be and, again, how you can structure things etc.

(I'm actually working on a bundle of 'demo jobs' right now, which Aletha has been giving me some great help on, for exactly this purpose. If you'd like I could PM you a Google Doc link.)

I'd be happy to take a look at the demo jobs, thank you very much for the advice. :)

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RPGs / Re: Red Markets Online Gaming Group
« on: October 02, 2016, 08:21:16 AM »
Here is my two cents worth on finding groups to play with. 

"Everyone wants to play but no one want to run the game.  Game Masters always find players"

So if you really want to start a group, offer to run the game.  At least to run the first game.  It's far more likely to work.

Also.  Timezones.  Tell people when you want to play and in what time zone that is in.  So that people know if they can play with you.

Thanks for the advice, I am considering going the GM/Market route. However, I've never GM'd before so it is intimidating. Ultimately that might be the path I choose.

I am in the Eastern time zone. Late weekday evenings or weekends would probably be best for me.

Even though I can't play, I would advise you that Red Markets is a pretty easy game to run as a first-time GM. The formula of a typical session -- vignettes, negotiation, legs, job site -- helps you structure a game very easily. And since the mechanics are mostly player-facing, you can let the dice do a lot of your creative work for you. Greg, our GM for our Reformers campaign at Technical Difficulties, was a first-time GM and he did great.

I too am a fairly new GM and found I could learn the game well enough to run my first convention game with a scenario I wrote. Remember to call for Self-Control checks often. You'll do great.

Thanks for the votes of confidence. :) I think the trickiest parts at the moment for me is wrapping my head around the negotiation process. I was re-reading yesterday and may finally get it. The other aspect is creating jobs/job lines the players would enjoy.

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RPGs / Re: Red Markets Online Gaming Group
« on: September 30, 2016, 11:57:31 AM »
Here is my two cents worth on finding groups to play with. 

"Everyone wants to play but no one want to run the game.  Game Masters always find players"

So if you really want to start a group, offer to run the game.  At least to run the first game.  It's far more likely to work.

Also.  Timezones.  Tell people when you want to play and in what time zone that is in.  So that people know if they can play with you.

Thanks for the advice, I am considering going the GM/Market route. However, I've never GM'd before so it is intimidating. Ultimately that might be the path I choose.

I am in the Eastern time zone. Late weekday evenings or weekends would probably be best for me.

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RPGs / Red Markets Online Gaming Group
« on: September 16, 2016, 02:22:53 PM »
Hello RPPR Community!

Having listened to the Brutalists, 12/13 of Fallen Flag and played a one-shot of Red Markets I really want to find a group to play with. I don't have a role-playing group in real life so I was hoping to find some people online to play. I made a thread on Reddit, but it was none too successful. People would express interest and disappear. I'd be happy to join an existing group if you have one. I believe I have at least one other player who wants in too.

If you're interested in playing or GMing please reply!  ;D

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General Chaos / Re: Introduction
« on: September 12, 2016, 09:47:27 PM »
Hello, my name is Steven, I am from the Greater Toronto Area. I have been listening to RPPR for years but have only ever lurked on the forums until now. I signed up in part because I badly want to put together a group to play Red Markets and figured I might find some folk here.  :D

Hi Steve.  Good luck with the groupfinding.

Would posting in the RPG section be appropriate?

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General Chaos / Re: Introduction
« on: September 11, 2016, 08:42:27 PM »
Hello, my name is Steven, I am from the Greater Toronto Area. I have been listening to RPPR for years but have only ever lurked on the forums until now. I signed up in part because I badly want to put together a group to play Red Markets and figured I might find some folk here.  :D

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