Economies of Scale FTW!
almost 8 years ago – Mon, Jun 13, 2016 at 11:40:56 AM

And it’s all thanks to you wonderful backers. At this point, we’re 400% over the goal, with nine stretch goals reached, five social goals unlocked, and 13 days to go.

 

This has truly been one of the most amazing experiences of my life. You people are just amazing!

I explained what the offset run means for everyone in the post that announced the stretch goal, but I’ll sum it up again here for any newcomers. 

• The hardcover book will no longer be Print On Demand. 
• Believer-level and above backers no longer have to pay print costs. Backers owed hardcovers now only have to pay shipping through a fulfillment service. 
• Red Markets will get distribution and be available in stores.
• All backer levels cheaper than Believer still receive their rewards exactly as promised.

I can’t overstate the level of quality and value the offset run has added for everyone backing Red Markets. Furthermore, the longevity and depth of the game has grown exponentially now that we can have a robust online community AND a presence in local game stores.

 

What's Next?

If we make the 52K goal, Red Markets will be available in full-color for backers at every level. Softcover backers can pay a higher print cost to upgrade to color through DTRPG, and all hardcover backers get color books for free.

Frankly, I’m banking on color. The last time I posted about the possibility, I said we’d need a minimum $500 a day in order to hit the goal. I published that update … then y’all promptly quadrupled our daily numbers. I have faith, and I’m drafting color contracts right after I finish typing this up. 

But it would be irresponsible for me to send out those contracts before we actually hit the goal. I’m confident we can do it, though. And soon. Statistically, color is almost a certainty. Hell, if all the softcover backers upped their pledges now, we’d hit the color goal today. After factoring in the newly discounted hardcover printing, softcover backers would be paying roughly $6 to exchange a color book for a color, hardcover book.

But many a Taker has died betting on “sure thing” numbers, and money is money. I’m grateful for every backer on every level, and I’m so lucky to have the support we’ve already received. 

So rather than mathematical projections and up-selling, I’ll instead put my faith in the continued promotion and enthusiasm of the fantastic backers that have already made Red Markets such a success. Let's bring as many people into the enclave as we can before we shut the gates on this Kickstarter! 

New Stretch Goal Unlocked: The Trades PDF 

With “The Carrion Economy PDF” taking the setting worldwide, the Recession's corporations must constantly maneuver to position themselves for the prophesized reclamation. How can a Taker keep track of all the movers and shakers when it’s already so hard to see the big picture past those zombies trying to break down the walls? Easy. Takers read “The Trades.” 

“The Trades” is an in-setting publication put out by the Moths: the world’s most successful Taker crew. This PDF, formatted like a webzine, greatly expands the list of corporations, cults, factions, and governmental agencies seeking to profit from the Loss. Each new addition comes with its own plot hooks, job leads, and rumors for use in your home game. The whole document is interspersed with in-setting advertisements, Taker-memes, and catalog entries for equipment that expands the game’s already sizable gear list. Written by Ross Payton, “The Trades” is the ultimate handout for groups utilizing the rules for collaboratively-designed scenarios. Email your players an issue of “The Trades,” then pour over the classifieds in-character and plan your next score at the table. 

If we unlock enough funds to commission “The Trades,” we’ll be able to reuse the layout template for future projects. This means that it might become financially feasible to publish new issues on some regular interval. How cool would it be for an RPG setting to have it’s own professional journal for the characters? 

Social Stretch Goal Update

We’re 77 backers away from unlocking the Designer Commentary essays and scanned journals. Let’s make sure no one is short for players in their play-by-post and online games! Keep up the great work getting the word out, and, unbelievable as it may seem, we can take this thing even further. 

Alright, that’s all I have right now. All of you continue to astound and humble me every day. It’s a joy to get up in the morning to work on this project, and I’m forever in debt to you for the opportunity.  

The Dice Mechanic: Red and Black
almost 8 years ago – Wed, Jun 08, 2016 at 06:39:30 PM

How does the Profit dice mechanic work? Well, let's take another look at Smoke, our lovable Latent from the character sheet tour. 

The dice mechanic interacts with Skills first, so let's re-familiarize ourselves with the character's resume.

One of the first skill checks a character has to make in a session of Red Markets is the prep work required to find a contract. Smoke isn't very good at such things, but he figures he'll give it a shot. Smoke goes to the enclave's public Ubiq terminal, and the player rolls Research to see if he can find any leads on work.

He rolls the dice and gets Black 7/ Red 10. Players only ever add numbers to the Black in Profit; the Red stays just as it lands. So Smoke's player adds the character's Research skill and gets Black 8/ Red 10 (B 7 +1/R10).

Ouch. That's a failure. Smoke can't find anything online besides pop-up adds and porn. 

But why not roll again? He's in the safety of his home enclave, right? Why not just keep trying until there's a success?

Because that would be tedious. If there was no chance of failure, the GM shouldn't have asked for a roll in the first place. That's why Profit employs the One-and-Done Rule: the dice can only be rolled once for a check. Additional skill checks can be made if the conditions change (as in fluid situations like combat), but nothing is changing for Smoke. It's assumed that he's already wasted a bunch of time failing Research. More time will just have him failing longer.

A more interesting question to ask is...how much is the character willing to pay to succeed? This is the crucial question of Red Market and the Profit system.

In this instance, since Smoke isn't about to be eaten or blown up, he can seek help from someone else. After all, he's lived in the Loss for five years; he knows his way around. This means the player is about to tap one of Smoke's References.

A Reference is an NPC that's makes their living consulting on a specific expertise. Takers can have a number of References equal to their Charm in play at any one time. If the roll could easily be retried without time or resource constraints, that's when players can use a Reference to succeed automatically (NOTE: you can't call a Reference to escape from a zombie eating your face; no advice is that good).

However, References cost. In order to roleplay the scene that allows the Reference to do the work for them, Takers have to pay the NPC's fee.

After some consideration, Smoke's player says the Latent knows a data miner that goes by the name of T.T. She would definitely have the information he needs. The Market (GM) quickly assumes the roll of T.T. and plays a scene with Smoke where they talk about what he needs. It turns out that T.T. has juicy intel on a contract just now up for bid in the enclave, but the information doesn't come free. Meanwhile, on the Character Sheet, the player writes in the following:

The name and description will help everyone remember how to roleplay that character in the future, and the tic mark indicates the Reference is owed one Bounty at the end of the job. If Smoke doesn't pay, interest accrues. If Smoke never pays? None of his other acquaintances will return his call, and he'll lose the ability to use References in the future.

Now, Smoke was lucky there; the enclave had a Ubiq terminal he could use for free. Since the materials were free and the action was mental, that's what the Profit system calls an intrinsic check. Intrinsics are rare; most of the time, characters pay for the privilege of players touching the dice. This rule is called Buy-a-Roll.

Let's look at an example of buying rolls. It's later in the session. Smoke wants to shoot a zombie. That's going to use...well...Shoot.

Smoke's pretty good with a gun, but only WITH a gun. He can't just make finger-shooty noises to kill the thing, and he's out a bullet whether it hits or misses. In order to use Shoot, Smoke has to Buy-a-Roll. For this, he'll have to look at his gear sheet.

Now, that's a lot to take in at once. Don't worry; all the qualities and whatnot will be explained in the gear chapter. For now, focus on the little circles in every piece of gear's stat block. These are charges.

Charges are an abstract measure of how much utility a piece of gear still has. For the axe, the charges represent the blade's sharpness and the handle's durability. For the greaves, it's the remaining ability of the armor to stop zombie teeth. For the flashlight, it's batteries. In the case of Smoke's gun, it's bullets. Charges aren't exact measurements of voltage, ounces, doses, or rounds; every piece of gear has ten abstract units of utility for three reasons: RPGs are not reality, it minimizes bookkeeping, and a unit of ten scales well with the d10s.

Obviously, handgun is the way to go for a Shoot check. So Smoke's player spends a charge to Buy-a-Roll. But trained soldiers in the real-world have something like a 20% hit rating against moving targets. Scoring a headshot is difficult work, and if Smoke can put more rounds down range, he'll increase his chance of success. The only problem is that bullets can't be called back into the barrel during the heat of battle. Those charges are going to have to be spent before the dice are rolled. After some deliberation, Smoke's player decides his Latent needs a little bonus. He spends one extra charge to add an additional +1 to the roll. After he fills in bubbles for charges, his sheet looks like this: 

So whatever Smoke rolls, he'll add his +3 for Skill and +1 for extra ammunition. The player casts the Red and Black...

Good thing Smoke spent that extra charge! That's all that got him "in the Black." 

But another zombie got close while Smoke was dispatching the first. Smoke needs to dodge, so that's an Athletics check.

Normally, the ability to move quickly would be considered intrinsic, but Takers live in a calorie poor environment. The intense aerobic exercise required to survive in the Loss is not recommended for those on a starvation diet. All strenuous physical activity requires Smoke Buy-a-Roll using his rations.

Rations represent the cost of staying fed and healthy in the Loss. They are NOT cans of spinach the Taker eats in the midst of pitched battle like Popeye: all actual consumption is understood to take place off-screen, either before or after the climactic moment. However, the rations are always spent in the moment. It makes things more tense, and this is a horror game, after all...

Smoke really doesn't want to get eaten. Rations are "charged" gear, so he can overspend for a bonus like he did with his Shoot check. Smoke really overexerts himself here, spending three rations in addition to the one required to Buy-a-Roll. The player marks the spent charges on the sheet, which looks like this just before the roll:

The dice land B6/R5. Modified, they look like this:

Smoke wasted a lot of resources on a roll where one charge and his skill would have sufficed. But when you're trying to stay alive, it's better to be a try-hard than to fall short.

Still, Smoke's player is feeling more frugal next time he makes an Athletics check. This time he's trying to dodge a raider's shotgun blast, yet he only spends a single charge of rations to Buy-a-Roll. His sheet now looks like this... 

So he rolls, and gets....

Ties always go to the Market. The check is failed and Smoke is hit.

Black is always damage and Red is always location, so the damage for that failed check would 5 Kill damage to hit location 8 (the chest). However, this is a friggin shotgun blast. That weapon is going to deal bonus damage, knock Smoke back, and seriously ruin his day. Smoke's player really, really wishes he had gambled more rations...

But wait! He still has his Will left! Unlike other Potentials, Will can be spent. It represents a Taker's intangible knack for survival: an odd combination of luck and determination. Spending a point of Will can do many things, but the most powerful ability is to flip the numbers on the Red and Black. Smoke's player decides now is the time. He records his Will as spent for the session on the character sheet.

 As a result of that, the failed check now succeeds. The new result looks like this.

But at what cost?

To succeed in the four checks mentioned in this example, Smoke now owes a bounty to T.T., in addition to bounty for Philly's food, his own rent, and his own needs. His gun and his belly are half-empty; to refill both requires at least 3 bounty. And by spending his Will point, he's lost his only bit of insurance midway through the job. Who knows what danger still lurks ahead?

Only time will tell if Smoke spent wisely, and that's the Profit system in a nutshell. Players must constantly weigh risk, cost, and reward against some imagined future payday that may or may not come. Maybe it will work out. Maybe it won't...in a big way.

Welcome to Red Markets, kid.

One Shot and AMA
almost 8 years ago – Wed, Jun 01, 2016 at 10:30:33 AM

Hello all,

No major news for the campaign today, but I thought I'd post some useful resources for those of you working diligently to gather the social bounty.

A lot of people don't feel there is enough material available online to determine if they will like the mechanics of Red Markets. I've posted updates attempting to remedy the situation, directed people to our podcast dedicated to development diaries, and linked to the 40+ hours of actual play podcasts already available online. But a lot of the people that want more information about how the game plays find the sheer amount of info already online too daunting to wade through.

Luckily, Ross Payton and I recently did an actual play with James D'Amato of the One Shot Podcast. One Shot, as many of you may know, is the podcast dedicated to giving every RPG a shot, one adventure at a time. I'm pleased to say that our game of Red Markets is up and ready for your earholes. Not only does this game represent the latest version of the rules (complete with all post-Beta revisions), it's a tightly edited, high-quality recording that is succinct enough for listeners that don't normally go in for AP podcasts.

So if you see people on the net that still need to hear the good word of Red Markets, the One Shot AP series is a good place to get them started.

In other news, I'll be available to answer any questions you may have about the game tonight at 7 pm CST. Dan Davenport has been kind enough to invite me to an AMA on the #rpgnet forums. If you have questions about the game -- or anything else, for that matter -- don't hesitate to drop on by and ask. I'll be on for a little over an hour before I'll have to sign off to do...another podcast!

The work of a game designer is never done, especially when the work is promoting a game he designed.

Anyway, I hope you to speak to some of you tonight, and I hope everyone enjoys the new APs. Thanks again for supporting Red Markets!

300%
almost 8 years ago – Tue, May 31, 2016 at 10:33:24 AM

It’s 200% more than I could have hoped for! This is great!

Don't Mess with the Masters of Business Association Crew
almost 8 years ago – Mon, May 30, 2016 at 01:45:04 PM

You guys have done it again. I never cease to be amazed!