Red Markets Alpha Playtest

[Twisting H]

A discussion on Red Markets Beta: The Brutalists episode 10 that is worth expanding.

http://actualplay.roleplayingpublicradio.com/2016/06/genre/horror/red-markets-beta-the-brutalists-episode-10/#comments


Chados

My first thought when they found the plane was- “Get an idea of what’s worthwhile inside it, tag its GPS location, and sell the info to someone!”

Cheap, even. And continue on with the mission. Caleb would find a good way for it to bite the Brutalists in the ass somehow, though. 😉

Hell, even their current missions have a good chance of some really hinky shit going down.

Ethan C.

Chados, I’ve thought about that previously, too. For example, when they found those extra winch motors (or whatever they were) next to the bridge to the Recession. That’s some useful hardware; more valuable to some groups than others, but certainly sellable.

I find myself imagining a special board on Lifelines dedicated to selling tips on loot-worthy locations. You could set it up as an Ebay-style auction system, with the highest bidder getting the exclusive tip, with the promise from the seller not to give anyone else the info for a set period of time. The seller crew would mostly be relying on their reputation for honesty, and on how many high-quality previous locations they’ve sold. I would imagine that rating sellers would be an important feature.

Chados

Yeah, a rep score system on LifeLines would be a good thing for Takers. And their contacts.

Maybe post a teaser image of the plane, or some of its contents- grant some legitimacy to their sale, as well..

Twisting H

@Ethan C. and @Chados your Ebay-style board for tips of loot locations in the Loss and a Lifeline Rep score are great ideas.

With an Ebay-style loot location lifeline board this opens up a number of gaming possibilities.
–this is another great opportunity for a new random chart of hooks. some legitimate, some Stokian death traps.
–when takers take a main job this could be a great mini game to see if they find another reason to search one of the legs.
–instead of the Negotiation mechanic, this could be a bidding war mini game with opportunities for computer hacking, DDOSing, making fake auction accounts, etc. The danger for too many computer related scams is that the Moths find your identity and reduce your rep, doxx you or ban your account.

As I am envisioning it right now, there is a Quest then multiple Legs of a quest.  Legs are opportunities for Bounty but with additional risk. Vehicles allow legs to be skipped.

Purchasing a Loot Location adds a permutation to a Leg.  Roughly additional potential reward plus additional possible risk.

I have been reading the Dev Blog for Six Ages, the upcoming spiritual successor to the computer game King of Dragon Pass, written by Robin Laws.

Refs:
What is King of Dragon Pass?: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/10/17/king-of-dragon-pass-retro/

Six Ages game news: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/10/30/return-of-the-king-of-dragon-pass-six-ages/

Six Ages Dev Blog: http://sixages.com/


Back to my main hairbrained argument.

I'm thinking of this in terms of Legs as encounters with scene tags and Loot Location as permutations to encounters that add/remove scene tags. Kind of like the following:

http://sixages.com/blog/index.php/2016/05/scene-tags/

Since Six Ages is our second iteration of a storytelling game, I wanted to make sure it would be easier to do certain things. Being able to categorize scenes was something that was easy to improve on, since in King of Dragon Pass, everything was a special case. For example, when we wanted to make sure you got to deal with tribal disputes when you were a king, we had to list them all.

...

So I came up with the idea of tagging scenes. Here’s what the OSL documentation says:

"Tags begin with @. They can be any word (e.g. @help, @hurt, @tutorial, @actThree, @endgame, @notEnd, @codeTrigger, @frequent, @infrequent). Tags can be purely informational, only a few have predefined meanings. Feel free to invent tags. Tags could be used when triggering scenes at random. (For example, if the player is doing poorly, there could be an increased chance of an @help scene. If the player is very wealthy, it might be time for an @hurt scene.)"

So there could be an @kingly tag and an @rumor tag.

...

Robin extended the idea with what I call dynamic tags. For example, he came up with a scene which could have a variety of outsiders. So he wrote, “scene gains tag @dwarves.” The implementation is

AddSceneTag(ThisScene, "@dwarves")

Obviously, making sure a scene has the right tag for a random outsider is important when there are blessings that are tied to tags.

I’m also making use of tags to help ensure correctness. For example, sometimes a scene wants to trigger another scene years later, but perhaps a character in the scene is off exploring when the time falls due. We handle this by triggering a code fragment, which can handle whether the character is exploring, died, or whatever.

[Twisting H]

Hey guys. I know someone detailed an Enclave or two based around Theme Parks but I can't find the posts.

If someone could link them I would appreciate it.  Thanks in advance.

[Twisting H]

Really fantastic Post Apoc music video. Watch it!

! No longer available

How does a traveling band survive in the post apocalypse.  If they are all mutants, what mutations do they have to allow them to harmonize/synergize? 

Alternatively imagine a musical group stuck on the Borderlands world of Pandora.

Alternatively imagine this group as "The Incident" in Red Market's podcast with One Shot.

http://oneshotpodcast.com/podcasts/one-shot/150-red-markets-part-1/

[Twisting H]

Caleb mentioned The Girl With All the Gifts as an inspiration for one of the more recent Brutalist Red Market Podcasts.

Guess what they are turning into a movie?

Warning. Trailer has spoilers.

! No longer available

[Twisting H]

Is there a compiled art list of the DHQS and "Red Markets in game world posters"?

Every piece of art that is similar to "a bite equals a bullet". I was going to explain by example a thing about world building that a game dev was doing and cross promote at the same time. 

[clockworkjoe]

Is there a compiled art list of the DHQS and "Red Markets in game world posters"?

Every piece of art that is similar to "a bite equals a bullet". I was going to explain by example a thing about world building that a game dev was doing and cross promote at the same time.

No. I would just check the KS updates, Caleb's blog,  and images I use on the AP site.

[Twisting H]

I suppose it was inevitable.

In bizzaro Red Markets land...

"We are the Walking Debt"



http://ktla.com/2016/11/15/cal-state-students-plan-to-disrupt-board-of-trustees-meeting-amid-proposed-tuition-hike/

When the California State University Board of Trustees headed into their meeting chambers in Long Beach at 8 a.m. Tuesday, more than two dozen students marched outside in protest of a controversial proposal to increase tuition for the first time in six years.

Repeated chants of "students not customers!" and "the more we pay, the longer we stay!" pierced the early morning silence. Many had arrived before 5:30 a.m. from Dominguez Hills, Fullerton and other campuses across the state to set up a dramatic "graveyard" on the lawn, decorated with tombstones depicting the system’s 23 campuses. "R.I.P Fresno State," read one. Another one, covered in fake cobwebs, declared: "Here lies San Diego State."

The students, playing off the popular apocalyptic TV show “The Walking Dead,” donned zombie face paint, wore shirts covered in fake blood and carried signs that said, "We are the Walking Debt."

“We’re going for something big, something visual. Our concern is that the Board of Trustees and Chancellor White are not listening to us," said Courtney Yamagiwa,  a member of Cal State Long Beach’s Associated Students Inc. and the grassroots activist group Students for Quality Education, which is leading Tuesday’s protest. The group pledged to “shut down any plans to increase student tuition that will force more students to drop out of college.”

[Twisting H]

Given Ethan's use of Red Markets for a Call of Cthulhu scenario in the Civil War, I was wondering if anyone had hacked Red Markets for use in WW1 or 2.  Specifically WW1 trench warfare. 

[clockworkjoe]

Not to my knowledge. Given the economic emphasis of RM, how that would work out? I don't see WW1 frontline battles as a good setting for Red Markets.

[trinite]

Not to my knowledge. Given the economic emphasis of RM, how that would work out? I don't see WW1 frontline battles as a good setting for Red Markets.

I dunno, I could see it working in some situations, converting the economic horror aspect into low-resource survival horror in a war theater-setting. I don't know if WWI trench warfare would be a good setting, as (so far as I know) running out of supplies and operating in very small teams (like a PC group) were not major features of the trench experience, at least on the Western Front.

I could see it working better in more isolated settings, such as WW2 pacific island combat, or behind-the-lines special forces work in Vietnam or the GWoT.

Either way, it would be a pretty major system hack, probably just keeping the resolution mechanic and the gear system and removing almost everything else.

[clockworkjoe]

Well, I could see a WW! themed Red Markets game where the PCs are European villagers near the frontlines. They can be black marketeers trying to survive or maybe just villagers who take jobs from both sides to survive. Jobs would include informing reporters about battles (requires getting close to a dangerous battlefield), carrying supplies to one side or the other, looting destroyed buildings, and so forth.

[Gorkamorka]

I can imagine a game about a soldiers wartime economy.   But it would have to be about an army that is under-supplied.

You would play a team/squat/platoon that is sent on random missions.  The economy part would be to barter with other soldiers/teams to get what you need to survive.  Foot, ammo, special equipment.  There would also be an aspect of the game trying to snag the good jobs that have low risk but high looting potential. 

A typical thing would be to get a crooked motor pool captain to give you a jeep for the job in exchange for picking up a particular painting said to be in the mayors house in a occupied village. 

[trinite]

Well, I could see a WW! themed Red Markets game where the PCs are European villagers near the frontlines. They can be black marketeers trying to survive or maybe just villagers who take jobs from both sides to survive. Jobs would include informing reporters about battles (requires getting close to a dangerous battlefield), carrying supplies to one side or the other, looting destroyed buildings, and so forth.

Oh, that's a great idea.

[constructacon]

if you are looking for good WW2 battles for a scenario or short campaign there's always Bastogne
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Bastogne

[Twisting H]

Not to my knowledge. Given the economic emphasis of RM, how that would work out? I don't see WW1 frontline battles as a good setting for Red Markets.

trinite basically articulated the idea I could not.

You might even say he called me by the stole my thunder.