Author Topic: Red Markets Inspiration  (Read 364990 times)

Jace911

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Re: Red Markets Inspiration
« Reply #240 on: December 09, 2016, 12:29:17 PM »

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RadioactiveBeer

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Re: Red Markets Inspiration
« Reply #241 on: December 18, 2016, 02:48:44 PM »
Bend The Knee: A Campaign Framework

"The new world order is this, and it's really very simple, so, even if you're stupid, which you may very well be, you can understand it. You ready? Here goes. Pay attention. Give me your shit... or I will kill you. You work for me now. You have shit, you give it to me. That's your job." - Negan, The Walking Dead

Enclaves get by, just about, with maybe a little wiggle room for small, stained luxuries - and to pay for Takers to get what they can't source otherwise. But that wiggle room has competition. Raiders, Randians, LALA's. There's plenty of people out there living Darwin. Instead of farming, they run what is essentially a protection racket. Roving bands of professional assholes travel the Loss, preying on travellers and smaller survivor groups. Larger enclaves might put up a fight, but more likely they pay small fees to keep them away.

In the "Bend The Knee" campaign model, your enclave and most enclaves in the local area have a common enemy: Darwin. Darwin is the biggest, nastiest son-of-a-bitch anyone's ever seen in this neck of the woods. Every Taker has some story about seeing Darwin personally rip a Vector's arm off and bash it's skull in with the wet end, or some other badass half-myth. What makes this even worse is Darwin stands at the head of a huge Raider band that travel between enclaves. They say they're keeping trade routes clear of Casualties, that they hunt the Meek and bash their heads in with golf clubs. Part of that's even true. But they're bleeding the enclaves under their "protection" dry with their tithes. Don't pay your dues and the next Taker group that leaves the enclave, funny enough, doesn't come back.

This represents a general campaign frame, with the specifics being up to your own group and enclave. The fundamentals are that Darwin and his boys are a big, dominant force most of the enclaves hate but have to put up with. They're large enough that most enclaves have essentially decided it's cheaper not to fight them - but, of course, player characters don't think like that and are inevitably going to want to fight him.

As Takers in Darwin's country, your profit margins are down and that's bad news. Providers just don't have as much as disposable income to throw your way if they also need to make Darwin's next tithe. That means you need to grift and grab even harder if you really want (Market: When rolling the pay for a job, roll Equilibrium twice and take the lower result. The higher represents how much it would have been without Darwin's depressing effect on the location.)

Next, vignettes work a little differently. Each session, one Taker does not get a regular Humanity healing vignette. Instead, the Market and Taker act out what would have been a vignette involving a Dependent - and then Darwin or one of his raiders comes in and ruins it. It's date night and then here's someone with a baseball bat smashing the plates and asking for this week's cut. These vignettes should serve to reinforce that Darwin is in charge, but also keep the resentment going.

Finally, the default retirement scheme for a Bend The Knee game model is tontine. The ultimate plan is, of course, to take down Darwin and his organisation. But such a job is not to be undertaken lightly. Darwin's crew is large, well armed, has a lot of vehicles and strong defences in their home base. Resources need gathering. Meeting milestones in this model represent actions that would undermine Darwin's organisation (such as sabotaging some vehicles, causing an outbreak in one of their forward camps) or somehow improving your odds in the eventual attack against Darwin (laying in extra ammunition in a secure location, getting the support of additional combatants etc.) Mr JOLS is, of course, the final battle or the assassination mission.

Other retirement options are of course entirely valid in this campaign model; your Takers may just want to get away from Darwin and his raiders and get into the Recession, or even just flee to another state and join another enclave away from Darwin's influence.

Once Darwin is dead (no easy task, bringing down a well-trained and dedicated Latent), the question is of course what to do with the political and economic vacuum that creates. If Darwin's raiders weren't wiped out in the battle, what stops them from just moving to a new neighbourhood and setting up the same scheme? Do decentralised raider bands now prey the roads that were formerly policed and kept clear of the dead by Darwin? Do the Takers assume Darwin's mantle and become the new legendary badass extorting the local enclaves?

Alethea

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Re: Red Markets Inspiration
« Reply #242 on: December 18, 2016, 09:21:08 PM »
I wrote some Red Markets drabbles off of visual prompts from Tumblr:

Drabble the first off of:



Drabble the second off of:



Drabble the third off of:

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Teapot

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Re: Red Markets Inspiration
« Reply #243 on: February 09, 2017, 10:10:06 AM »
Here is Simon Stalenhag's gallery, images of a failed place that might just be a in the quiet of the Loss.
http://simonstalenhag.se/

Gorkamorka

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Re: Red Markets Inspiration
« Reply #244 on: February 13, 2017, 10:31:39 AM »
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Gorkamorka (Fridrik)

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Re: Red Markets Inspiration
« Reply #245 on: February 26, 2017, 08:02:49 PM »
The jobs I have on hand for our first session of Red Markets next Saturday. If anyone has suggestions or comments I'd love to hear, I prerolled the equilibrium so I knew how intense I wanted to make the complications. Love to hear some input.

Job 1 Equilibrium 19
-James Cubed has managed to recruit another scientist to come help run the Frakking operations near town. Needs team to pick up and escort the scientist from 4 legs away.

Complication: The latent scientist is a Moth defector. They don't want to give her up, and the DHQS caught wind of things and are trying to capture her for interrogation.

Both groups will be gunning for the group, hard.

Job 2 Equilibrium 16
- Tin Hat Tom needs someone to lure a hoard of walkers to a specific warehouse. To test out his new barriers before implementing them on the walls of Stockpile. The groups job will be to lure at least 3 groups of at least 5 mass each to a defensible position, then use the provided “siege” defenses to take them down.

Complication: The number of Casualties grows quickly after the initial pull of groups. The defenses have a malfunction chance since they are still prototypes. The team has to make sure the cameras are set up to watch them use the equipment.

Job 3 Equilibrium 13
- The ruling council hires a woman named "Mullet" to negotiate with Takers to loot a local Ikea, they need several haul worth of lightweight furniture to furnish the local clinic with better beds and supply storage. Will gift a Dronkey with 1 upgrade of the groups choosing. 3 Legs away

Complication: Weather turns really bad. Group must hold up in the warehouse for multiple days or risk the storm, the stress of running low on rations and hiding out couped up damages self control. If the players hold up another group attempts to take shelter in the warehouse as well, can the party trust these newcomers? And if they decide they don't trust them they risk humanity damage of a violent conflict to turn them away.

Job 4 Equilibrium 3
- Eugene a local mechanic sends the group out for the supplies to convert vehicles from standard to diesel/biodiesel vehicles. Needs to bring back at least 4 haul worth to get paid. The supplies are 3 legs away

Complication: The auto supply warehouse served as a hideout for some workers. They are now casualties. Also there is an alarm on the building that is still working, if the party doesn't break in using criminality they will set off an alarm drawing in hordes.
« Last Edit: February 26, 2017, 11:23:55 PM by Flawless P »
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