Author Topic: Red Markets Alpha Playtest  (Read 274108 times)

Dom

  • Oregon Trail 13 Superstar
  • *****
  • Posts: 641
    • View Profile
Re: Red Markets Alpha Playtest
« Reply #75 on: April 28, 2015, 10:40:59 AM »
My new PS4 came with a digital code to download The Last of Us : Remastered, so I decided to give it a go. And, well, it's pretty much what I envisioned Red Markets to be like. Even the main characters keep talking about a "gun shipment" that will make them rich, and they bribe with ration cards distributed at government-run refugee centers. Makes me very interested to see how Red Markets will play.

Tadanori Oyama

  • Extreme XP CEO
  • *******
  • Posts: 3897
  • The Full Time GM
    • View Profile
    • Full Time GM
Re: Red Markets Alpha Playtest
« Reply #76 on: April 28, 2015, 11:54:05 AM »
Joel is the quintessential murder hobo. Problem in my life? Kill it with gun. Or pipe. Or arrows. Or shivs. Or shrapnel bombs.

Twisting H

  • I dream in graph paper lines
  • ****
  • Posts: 384
    • View Profile
Re: Red Markets Alpha Playtest
« Reply #77 on: April 28, 2015, 04:27:08 PM »
Listening to Dungeon Crawl Classic game I hope there is a Character Funnel like feature for Red Markets. It can be called Free Market Character Creation, the character you play is decided by the market  ;D

This is a cool idea.

You could have a pool of random early survivors like CEO, Human Resources, Public Relations Officer and they would start off with class appropriate gear like that stupid executive ball-pendulum toy, "You Don't Have to Be Crazy to Work Here; But It Helps" mug, or ten cellphones with no batteries because they were all playing candy crush, respectively.

The characters who managed to survive the first zombie dungeon get the opportunity to get a real job like mechanic or woodworker.

On a more serious note,  roll up a number of characters equal to the players with random stats and attributes/disadvantages.  Then roll up a random amount of equipment. Everything from toothpicks to hunting rifle.

Give each player an equal number of poker chips, then have the players bid with each other for the right to play a specific character like a draft. Then do the same with the limited equipment pool.

So you could spend all your chips on a character with good stats but you only have like rags and a shiv while someone else has a dude with a club foot but a flamethrower.

Something like how Amber has the players barter over which character gets the best stats.

Edit: So I was thinking about the flaw in a competitive barter-for-your-character-and-then-your-equipment system.  The issue I can see is that the guy who gets the Ubermench, eventually turns on the other players and loots their equipment.

To encourage cooperation after this competitive draft, one solution could be to enforce distribution of specialization in the party.

You could do this by bundling skills + the appropriate equipment.  So in the first round of the draft, you bid for your randomly statted character.  In the second round,  you bid for your specialized skill set + equipment.  So in this case the equipment really isn't as random as I first suggested.  For example there is ONE skill bundle "IT guy" which includes a multitool, a PC and the skills to use both.   

So the guy who spends a bunch of points on the Ubermench has a few skills at the end of the draft, while the guy who spent fewer points on a disadvantaged character with sub average stats has more skills.  This should encourage interplayer reliance and cooperation.

It also would make everyone valuable to the team and increase tension if a character dies/is threatened with death.
« Last Edit: April 28, 2015, 05:02:48 PM by Twisting H »

trinite

  • I dream in graph paper lines
  • ****
  • Posts: 474
    • View Profile
    • Technical Difficulties Gaming Podcast
Re: Red Markets Alpha Playtest
« Reply #78 on: April 29, 2015, 10:07:58 AM »


On a more serious note,  roll up a number of characters equal to the players with random stats and attributes/disadvantages.  Then roll up a random amount of equipment. Everything from toothpicks to hunting rifle.

Give each player an equal number of poker chips, then have the players bid with each other for the right to play a specific character like a draft. Then do the same with the limited equipment pool.

So you could spend all your chips on a character with good stats but you only have like rags and a shiv while someone else has a dude with a club foot but a flamethrower.

Something like how Amber has the players barter over which character gets the best stats.

That's an interesting idea, but it might be hard to get the players to actually competitively bid, since they're all going to be on the same team anyway. I know that if I were in that situation, I'd probably try to reach a consensus on an optimized party rather than trying to get all the best stuff for myself. Especially since the rewards of successful gameplay jobs are collective rather than individualized (at least they were when we playtested last year).

That said, I do think some random chance during character creation would help add to the sense of struggle for the characters. In keeping with the "everything is about money" theme, maybe you could roll a debt pool at character creation, and then randomly assign fractions of the pool to each character, which they could choose to buy off with disadvantages, swap to other players for gear, or just live with. That could be fun.
Check out the Technical Difficulties Gaming Podcast!
http://www.technicaldifficultiespod.com/

Shallazar

  • Oregon Trail 13 Superstar
  • *****
  • Posts: 610
  • I AM TOM!
    • View Profile
    • Never do Nothing
Re: Red Markets Alpha Playtest
« Reply #79 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.
I wish I was Tom.

Granted, you are now Tom.

Jace911

  • I am worth 100 points in GURPS...ladies
  • ***
  • Posts: 160
  • The President of Burp Head
    • View Profile
Re: Red Markets Alpha Playtest
« Reply #80 on: June 08, 2015, 12:08:01 PM »
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.

Is he a 19 year old Japanese kid? He better be.  >:(

Cthuluzord

  • Global Moderator
  • I dream in graph paper lines
  • *****
  • Posts: 385
    • View Profile
Re: Red Markets Alpha Playtest
« Reply #81 on: June 08, 2015, 02:01:53 PM »
Quote
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.

The unhelpful answer is that bounty adjusts however it needs to in order to remain a stable game currency. Everything could be un-spoofable RFID tags, or perhaps the DHQS adjusts the price of bounty to include an average number of attempts to defraud them per ID per person, shorting the valuation of an average adult's pre-Crash assets (and thus devaluing the currency and lowering overhead) to make up for losses due to fraud. Maybe that's why they pay out bounty for repeat IDs; more IDs equals more certitude that the person is indeed dead and their assets are available for seizure or probate upon reclamation.

As far as being a forger/ sniper, that makes more sense in Red Markets. One could have gotten into forging after the Crash as a means of survival, or a forger could find incentive to learn marksmanship once the dead rise. Rural fake ID forger even works at the outset, so long as the setting is in the USA.

Being a Japanese kid that just so happens to be the best sniper AND the best forger in the world, despite only having ever lived with his mom and having zero military or espionage experience...well...that's just...just Tom's character concept.

Dear GOD that was a stupid character....(stares into the middle distance, having NBA flashbacks)

Kamen

  • I dream in graph paper lines
  • ****
  • Posts: 334
    • View Profile
Re: Red Markets Alpha Playtest
« Reply #82 on: June 08, 2015, 03:35:02 PM »
Being a Japanese kid that just so happens to be the best sniper AND the best forger in the world, despite only having ever lived with his mom and having zero military or espionage experience...well...that's just...just Tom's character concept.

Dear GOD that was a stupid character....(stares into the middle distance, having NBA flashbacks)

(the sounds of tazers and... ebola(?) echo in the distance)

Cthuluzord

  • Global Moderator
  • I dream in graph paper lines
  • *****
  • Posts: 385
    • View Profile
Re: Red Markets Alpha Playtest
« Reply #83 on: June 09, 2015, 04:17:39 PM »
I actually updated the blog! As apology for the long hiatus, please accept a preview of the Red Markets cover.

http://hebanon.blogspot.com/2015/06/red-markets-update.html

Jace911

  • I am worth 100 points in GURPS...ladies
  • ***
  • Posts: 160
  • The President of Burp Head
    • View Profile
Re: Red Markets Alpha Playtest
« Reply #84 on: June 09, 2015, 05:57:56 PM »
I actually updated the blog! As apology for the long hiatus, please accept a preview of the Red Markets cover.

http://hebanon.blogspot.com/2015/06/red-markets-update.html





[screaming eternally]

Shallazar

  • Oregon Trail 13 Superstar
  • *****
  • Posts: 610
  • I AM TOM!
    • View Profile
    • Never do Nothing
Re: Red Markets Alpha Playtest
« Reply #85 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.
I wish I was Tom.

Granted, you are now Tom.

Tadanori Oyama

  • Extreme XP CEO
  • *******
  • Posts: 3897
  • The Full Time GM
    • View Profile
    • Full Time GM
Re: Red Markets Alpha Playtest
« Reply #86 on: June 11, 2015, 01:28:47 PM »
Blog is being difficult so I'll post here: really like the cover, very Night's Black Agents but bleaker.

Kamen

  • I dream in graph paper lines
  • ****
  • Posts: 334
    • View Profile
Re: Red Markets Alpha Playtest
« Reply #87 on: June 11, 2015, 03:44:59 PM »


I'm so hyped! I already mentioned this on the facebook page, but if we can back this to the point that it's hardback it'd be really sick to do a 2-texture finish on the cover, similar to the D&D 5ed books. From the market line up would be a matte finish, minus the lettering, and everything else would be gloss.

Also, if one were to want to donate or fund some pre-kickstarter money, would the No Security pay-what-you-want scenarios be the best route?

Twisting H

  • I dream in graph paper lines
  • ****
  • Posts: 384
    • View Profile
Re: Red Markets Alpha Playtest
« Reply #88 on: June 17, 2015, 01:10:33 AM »
I actually updated the blog! As apology for the long hiatus, please accept a preview of the Red Markets cover.

http://hebanon.blogspot.com/2015/06/red-markets-update.html

I like the cover.

A few critiques.

- My first thought was "why is the market going up?"  How does it look if the stock ticker is declining or crashing?
- It is a little subtle, so given your focus from the last GDW, have you considered going full Marxist with the "Red Market"'s font?
- I like the Latin motto. If the motto is strictly separated from the game world then it looks great as it is. If the motto is encountered in the game world then I had some thoughts.

Thinking out loud, a Latin motto could be encountered on a university, the seal of a government organization or a military unit's patch.

Generally most institutions of higher learning (pre outbreak) focus on acquisition or glorification of knowledge. I do not see "Out of terror, we profit" being the motto of a university, even a post outbreak one UNLESS you are going full dark gallows humor for tone and then it fits really damn well.

The motto could work for a post outbreak government agency. I imagine the original motto was something more noble but the first wave of takers shortened/corrupted it to "Ex Terrorem, Lucrabamur."  This would imply that the taker movement has a common origin.

Generally I think most military units have their own motto/like to invent their own heritage and history. If you decide that all takers have a common military origin (even if spiritual successors rather than direct) maybe takers use this Latin motto as an identifier for their community, though not all bands of takers include it on their insignia, if they even have one. Or as luck maybe. For example maybe it is a ritual to say the motto before going beyond the safe are into the zone.  In Roadside Picnic the main character mentioned all STALKERS had some sort of ritual before they went into the Zone.  I imagine there would be a great diversity between military patches/insignia and mottoes of taker bands based on their origins (state militia, local police, formal US Army, inbred family, local brewery, union etc.), accomplishments or whim.

Now that I think about it, I wonder if a taker group would arise from the KVWN channel 4 news team. Or what was the name of that man-rooster fighting rppr news team?

Twisting H

  • I dream in graph paper lines
  • ****
  • Posts: 384
    • View Profile
Re: Red Markets Alpha Playtest
« Reply #89 on: June 17, 2015, 01:36:07 AM »
Since the revelation of the dronkey, looks like Caleb is going for near future tech. 

Here is some more tech in development.

Clothing with integrated wireless electronic device interfaces.

Smart clothing from Google ATAP. Project Jacquard.

http://singularityhub.com/2015/05/31/forget-google-glass-its-all-about-google-smart-clothes/

! No longer available


And yes, you have to plug in your pants.

Immaterial electronic device interfaces

Google ATAP. Project Soli

Project Soli is developing a new interaction sensor using radar technology. The sensor can track sub-millimeter motions at high speed and accuracy. It fits onto a chip, can be produced at scale and built into small devices and everyday objects.

! No longer available


Hoverbike prototype

Drone adapted motorcycle. Nothing says safety from zombies better than going vertical!

! No longer available


Proof of principle by a German team in 2011 with a different design.

! No longer available (Embedding disabled, limit reached)