Caleb and I discuss the possibility of creating a second edition of Red Markets and Base Raiders. It’s a major task, so examining the pros and cons is a necessary first step. Updating the mechanics, revising the lore, and improving the information design are all big challenges, not to mention the logistics of getting a game funded by crowdfunding.
Check out Hebanon Games to see Caleb’s latest game design work.
News: I started a new bonus podcast on the RPPR Patreon. Recommendizer is focused on media recommendations. In episode zero, we talk about two new horror video games, Signalis and Scorn and some underwater horror movies.
Song: Dotlights – Come In And Stay on Chillhop Essentials Winter 2022
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:00:06 — 41.5MB)
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It’s not like I wasn’t already 100% sold on Red Markets 2e, but the idea that the Lore chapter would be the DHQS version of events is absolutely pure genius. Great idea.
I’m keen on the Crusader perspective / Blight timeline idea myself. I’ve not watched a whole lot of random Red Markets games, but the one twitch stream I dropped by they were somewhat unsure of the mechanics of the Blight and had to be thrown lore at them by stream commenters.
Case in point of nobody reading the monolith book, especially for throwaway games. Quick-start guide is manageable though, I’ve had some success with getting people to get through those.
I’m glad to hear that I’m not the only one whose players didn’t engage in the negotiation mechanics
Power creation was kinda clunky, but I did enjoy as the idea itself.
I’ve had great success in getting people to absorb the quick start guide and/or just throwing down lore bits from the main book as part of the intro spiel to Red Markets, then adding more during play.
Agree that it’s a great big spiel that most won’t slog through, but the setting really makes the games what they are, and without the big book you wouldn’t have half the setting.
I’m optimistic about the changes proposed in the episode for both games.
I suspect Red Markets 1e was playtested more thoroughly than the vast majority of RPGs, including RPGs made by multi million dollar companies.
Besides fixing power creation, the thing that would really improve Base Raiders is some Red Markets style generation tools for superheroes and bases. For a game that was supposed to be about looting abandoned bases, the corebook was distressingly light on helpful mechanics for creating them. Something like the dungeon stocking rules in the Basic/Expert set, with example traps, monsters and treasure would go a long way.