17...going on 18...Stretch Goals Unlocked
almost 8 years ago – Fri, Jun 17, 2016 at 07:35:29 PM

You think after nearly a month I'd get better at keeping up with this runaway train, but that just ain't the truth. We blew open "The Trades" stretch goal early yesterday morning, now we're less than 2K away from the "Gaming the System Guide." It's been a wild ride, and Hebanon Games certainly has its work cut out for the next few years. I'm so proud of this campaign and everyone that has contributed to it. This is what a Kickstarter supposed to be: a community project that increases value to backers even as it increases the quality of the art. 

And man, have we ever increased value and quality! Let's go over a list of of everything unlocked so far.

Unlocked Goal Summary

Added to the corebook:

• The Loss (16K)
• Best Practices (24K)
• Pregens and MBA (32K)
• Color (52K)

PDF Releases (for everyone at Ubiq and up)

• Trabajo (20K)
• Le Corbusier (28K)
• War (40K)
• The Carrion Economy (44K)
• The Trades (56K)

Community Enhancement

• Lifelines (36K)
• Off-set (48K)
• Playmat (Social)
• GM Screen (Social)
• Lost Radio (Social)
• RPPR Preens (Social)
• Taker Journals (Social)
• Designer Commentary (Social)

Like I said, we're not quite 2K from making it 18 stretch goals unlocked...or maybe even 19?

New Stretch Goal Revealed: 80/20 PDF

Red Markets is largely about the ways unrestrained capitalism can pervert our behavior and drain the life from our relationships. But the system can handle all sorts of economic horror. At 64K, Kyle Carty writes up an enclave that challenges Takers with a planned economy that might be even worse than the lassiez-faire nightmare that rules the Loss. 

The enclave of 80/20 is ruled by the Pareto Principle. Named after the 19th century Italian economist of the same name, the theory is also called "the law of the vital few." Put simply, it hypothesizes that 80% of every outcome in an organization derives from 20% of its inputs. 80% of the sales come from 20% of employees, as do 80% of the problems. 80% of progress comes from a 20% of the effort. 80% of the crime comes from 20% of the population.  

Like all management principles, the Pareto Principle is often abused to the point of absurdity, and it's no different in this enclave. The leadership of 80/20 believe that Vilfredo's law is the only reason they've survived this long, and their entire economy is designed to incentivize the top 20% of earners...while neglecting everyone else. This PDF is stated out like other pregenerated enclaves, including a full description of the setting's location, politics, economic needs, and the variety of contracts ready for bid (and play). But in addition to the typical enclave opportunities, the 80/20 PDF includes rules for the enclave's specific tax plan. Takers that earn in the bottom 80% get their every payday leeched by the brutal taxation. But earn enough to reach the top 20% of earners in the enclave? Suddenly the tax burden is alleviated by the enclave paying for rations, supplying gear, and actively helping in negotiations. In the 80/20 enclave, crawling out of the gutter has never been more difficult, and making it to the top stirs up more controversy about the Taker profession than ever before. Can your crew survive in such circumstances? Come to thrive in them? Or do you try to overthrow the whole system? Play through the 80/20 PDF to find out.

Four Days to Go

As always, I'm excited about these new projects and confident about the goodwill of this community. Keep linking Red Markets wherever you can and let's finish strong! I already owe you wonderful backers all the gratitude, talent, and time I can provide; the only thing the remains to be seen is just how much game we can squeeze out of it.

Double Unlock and a New Stretch Goal
almost 8 years ago – Mon, Jun 13, 2016 at 11:31:40 PM

We did it! Full color!

I'm am so unbelievably psyched for this. I wanted to post an update the second we hit 52K, but I was trapped out of town with only my phone. I didn't want to see what an iPhone keyboard's autocorrect could do to my already shaky first drafts, so I decided to wait until I got back home. When I got there, my inbox had all these emails from fantastic artists with headers like "Re: Color Contract?" So I've spend the last two days responding with an emphatic "Re: YES!" and drafting up the necessary legalese.

Lo and behold, I look at the clock and I'm something like four days late for an update. Ouch. Sorry everyone. Let's get back up to speed.

What Does Color Mean?

All of these details have been mentioned in previous updates, but now that we've unlocked a full color print run, some points bear repeating. 

• All hardcover books no longer charge for printing. All backers receiving hardcover books will get their products for the cost of shipping alone.
• All hardcover backers get books upgraded to color for free.
• All softcover books will still be fulfilled through Lightning Source LLC (which you probably know as Drive-thruRPG and subsidiaries). Softcover backers will still have to pay the cost of printing the book plus shipping.
• Softcover backers now have the option to upgrade to color. B+W versions of the book will cost roughly $10 + Shipping. Color versions will cost roughly $14 + Shipping 

This is exciting stuff! And that's not all!

Designer Commentary Unlocked

Since we've hit 1000 backers, the last of the social stretch goals has been reached. Everyone now gets my designer commentary for free. This means I'll be polishing up drafts of my Market Projections essays as well as scanning all the pages in my design notebooks.

Though I don't expect everyone to study my handwritten notes like Talmudic scholars, I'm really glad we hit this goal. The design of Red Markets has always been about being as transparent as possible, and I think a great way to cap off that effort is to have an archive of literally everything I've ever written about the game available for those that are interested.

What's Next?

We are well on our way to "The Trades" being unlocked. Written by Ross Payton, this PDF is an in-character professional journal shared amongst Takers that discusses the latest developments in The Loss. Full of plot hooks and setting expansions, "The Trades" is the ultimate handout. GMs can distribute copies to the players, design scores based of the material contained within, and run an entirely improvisational campaign of Red Markets.

I'm hesitant to commit to regularly publishing new issues of "The Trades" as of right now. This Kickstarter has certainly given me plenty to do already, and I want to ensure the corebook remains the priority. However, I can promise to distribute all the InDesign elements used in the layout of The Trades. It will be that much easier for enterprising Takers to write their own issues of the publication catered to their personal campaigns, or to distribute their issues on the LifeLines forums. 

Speaking of open-sourcing...

New Stretch Goal Revealed: Gaming the System Guide

I didn't need to give gamers permission before they started hacking my game. Hell, I didn't even need to publish the game first...as seen here, here, and here. Translating the Profit System to other settings has always been a long-term goal of Hebanon Games, but the runaway success of this Kickstarter is obviously going to keep us busy fully defining the Red World for quite some time. That's no reason the rest of you can't get to work, though.

At 60K, I'll personally write the Gaming the System Guide. Part style-guide and part meta-analysis, I'll take everyone on a tour through the Profit System. It won't be a prescription or how-to (the gaming community doesn't need my help being creative), but rather a schematic. I'll go over the different success ratings, the probability curve, and ways to alter both. I'll discuss other systems that influenced Profit's design and what hackers can learn from them. We'll get into the guts of the gear system and discuss how to create a list of items that reflects the material reality of your world. We'll talk about how the game's meta-economy works and how to alter it to adjust the game's difficulty. Finally, I'll perform a short hack of my own as an example of the principles previously discussed.

Hopefully, the Gaming the System Guide will save setting hackers a lot of time and playtesting by providing an insider perspective on the core mechanics, all in the hopes of getting your cyberpunk/steampunk/fantasy versions of the system out on LifeLines all the faster.

Thank You

That's all I have for right now, and there's plenty of work calling my name on other tabs besides this update screen. Please continue your fantastic work of promoting the Kickstarter in your various networks. I owe you all so much and will remain forever grateful for this dream you've all made come true. 

At this point, all our backer boats rise on the rising tide of this fantastic campaign. Red Markets is already shaping up to be a better product than I could have ever hoped, but my capitalist upbringing has trained me to never be fully satisfied.

Let's see how far we can take this thing, Takers.

Stepping Up Our Game
almost 8 years ago – Mon, Jun 13, 2016 at 11:41:25 AM

In the four years I’ve spent working on this game and planning the Kickstarter needed to see it made, I never expected this degree of response. To see that we’ve come this far with 21 days to go? It’s absolutely mind-blowing. Thank you so much.

We’ve unlocked the War PDF. Red Markets now has the mass combat rules necessary to expand the game up to an epic scope. It also had its third PDF supplement to go along with the three additional chapters already added by this fantastic community.

I also got some sweet art for the inventory section in today, so excuse me if I pepper this update with pictures of nifty stuff.

What’s Next?

The Carrion Economy PDF brings the Red Markets setting global. Learn which nations survived, how they did it, and where to set the enclaves and Taker groups of your international campaign. This will be the fourth PDF expansion to the game, and it brings the supplementary material unlocked by the KS to over 40,000 words!

New Stretch Goal Revealed: 48K Off-Set Run

Alright. It’s time to talk about the realities of printing an RPG. If you don't trust me to do the subject justice, here's the breakdown from Publisher's Weekly.

Offset printing means using a commercial printer to create a large number of books at one time. It requires a lot of technicians to make the customized lithograph plates, assemble the pages, and pack the books for shipping. In short, it costs a lot of money. But once those big presses get rolling, the process becomes easier to perpetuate. Offset printing gets cheaper the more books it prints at once. Using even relatively small runs, it’s possible to decrease the price-per-unit to less than 50% of what it would be if you paid to print only one book.

The Print-on-Demand (POD) model we are currently using prints directly from a digital file every time an order comes in. The economies of scale never materialize, and the book costs the same amount every time. But POD works for small-scale publishers that can’t afford to print a ton of books at once.

As an example, a book that cost $15 to POD might cost $6 in an offset run…provided you can afford the $15,000+ required to print a couple thousand at once.

As of this moment, we currently have 304 hardcover book pledges. We have 203  softcover pledges. That’s 508 books total. If they were the same edition (read: same cover type), I’d officially be insane not to switch over to off-set run right now. But considering the smallest commercial print runs come in groups of a thousand, that would mean 1000 hardcover and 1000 softcovers. I can’t afford that much printing, expect to sell that much product, or house that many books. There’s no way to have it both ways without utilizing POD, which is why we designed the Kickstarter that way.

But if we get roughly 100 more hardback backers, offset starts to make sense again for hardcover all by itself. And it’s certainly looking possible. Hardcover is our most in-demand physical reward; it has nearly as many backers as the digital tiers and is 34% more popular than softcover. The math looks good, and I’d be a fool to underestimate the power of this community to improve Red Markets after the week we’ve had.

So here’s the deal: at 48K, after-KS costs for Believer backers and above are reduced to shipping only. I’ll cover the cost of printing the hardcovers entirely because it allows me to secure distribution and grow the business. In exchange, everybody at $50 and above gets the same rewards, but at a much better price after the campaign ends.

Nothing changes for softcover backers. All Takers, Scavengers, and Hustlers still get DTRPG codes that provide the book for print cost + shipping. You'll get Red Markets as the same high-quality softcover always promised. I’d love to provide increased value across the board, but while POD for multiple editions isn’t a problem, it’s not financially possible to do offset print runs for both soft and hardcover.

But hopefully, 48K is just a stepping-stone towards the goal that does increase value for everyone ….

 

ANOTHER Stretch Goal Revealed: 52K Full Color

The reduction in per-unit cost achieved by doing an offset run puts us within striking distance of full color. That’s right. FULL COLOR. Every piece of art. Every margin. Every sidebar. All of it in glorious CMYK.

When I dream about Red Markets, I dream in color. I commissioned nearly all the KS preview art up to this point in color, knowing we’d likely never be able to afford it. When I asked Kyle and Kat to get started early designing the look of the interior, I told them to do it color… just in case. It didn’t make any economic sense at the time – I paid thousands extra out of my pocket for something that would likely never happen – but I wanted to see at least a small sample of color if I couldn’t make the big, gorgeous monster I had in mind. And now it might actually happen.

Here’s a sample of what a color interior would look like. Along with the complete Combat rules for the Profit system.

If we hit 52K by the end of the campaign, all hardcover backers get automatically upgraded to a color book. Softcover backers get the option to print in color. Since the softcover is still POD, printing in color will increase the cost before shipping. But don’t worry! B+W versions of the books will remain available at no increased cost, so there’s no up-charge for anyone that wishes to stick to the initial backer reward. The only thing that changes is that now the art of Red Markets can be seen as originally intended.

I hope we get there, but if anybody can do it, it’s you fine backers.

Social Bounty Update

All this and a social stretch goal? Sheesh!

• We added 294 people to the Facebook group 
• We added 173 to our G+ community 
• I have 107 new followers on Twitter 
• #RedMarkets has been retweeted 140 times as of now 
• The subreddit enclave has 89 new survivors 
• We’ve gotten 8 blog posts for 800 Bounty total 
• We’ve scheduled 8 podcast interviews for 1600 bounty total 
• Social Bounty: 3203 

We’ve unlocked the RPPR Pregens! Keep up the great work, Takers.

Always On Grind

Whew…that was a doosey of an update. I’ve got to get back to writing the book we’re all so excited about. If any of you have questions, don’t hesitate to hit me up in the comments, messages, or on your Ubiq specs. I’ve always got time for my fellow enclavists.

Back to work!

More Dice Tins, Social Stretch Goals, and a Novella Preview
almost 8 years ago – Mon, Jun 13, 2016 at 11:41:04 AM

Hello all,

I haven't added an update since our exciting print run/color goal announcements, so I thought it was about time to get caught up on Red Markets news. 

As of right now, we're still working on the 44K stretch goal for "The Carrion Economy" PDF. We're a little less than $300 away from taking the setting global. Over here at Red Markets HQ, I'm getting the preview draft ready for backers. 100K words of the "Playing Red Markets" section have been compiled, sent along to the editor for another pass, and annotated with art direction so I can contract artists the second the campaign funds. Right now, I'm working on entering the last of the beta playtest revisions into the "Running Red Markets" section. I want to make sure backers get the most playable game possible in their preview PDF to tide them over until the full release.

I'm not the only one keeping busy. Sara is hard at work on the dice tin rewards for Immune backers. Which reminds me...

WE'RE UNLOCKING 15 MORE DICE TINS FOR IMMUNE-LEVEL BACKERS. If you were disappointed they were all sold out before, now is the time to up your pledge.

Considering how fast these things got snatched up in the first day of the campaign, I have a feeling we'll be unlocking "The Carrion Economy" PDF later today. Then we can focus on spreading the word and reaching the stretch goals that make the book cheaper to print and even better to look at.

EDIT: I was right; that did not take long at all. THE CARRION ECONOMY IS UNLOCKED.

Speaking of spreading the word....

Social Stretch Goal Update

I won't bother giving an exact count, but we were at 3203 social bounty as of last update. Since then, we've had a really touching blog entry about the Red Markets playtest and another livestream podcast interview scheduled for tonight over at Microphones of Madness (8:30pm CST). That's 300 social bounty for those two items alone, not to mention all the dedicated social media work everyone has been doing in the mean time. This means the Taker Journals are Unlocked! Find a dead Taker in your crew's journey across the Loss? Now you can have handouts detailing the contents of the their pockets ready-to-go, chronicling the NPCs life...and maybe a job lead or two.

What's next? Honestly, I'm still trying to figure something out. I don't know what it will be yet, but hitting a 1000 backers is a big deal for any Kickstarter. Whatever the new social stretch goal is, it'll be attached to that milestone number. Have suggestions? Let us know in the comments. 

Novella Preview

Before I sign off, I thought I'd post a preview of what everyone can expect from the Home Team novella reward. Keep in mind, this is an incomplete draft that is subject to change, but this early chapter introduces one of the book's main characters. Ever wonder what the job interview to become a Taker looks like? If you guessed "slightly worse than usual," you were right.

Check out the first chapter of Home Team here.

As always, thank you so much for your support. I appreciate your generosity and hard work helping Red Markets grow into the best game it can be.

Fallen Flag Preview and a New Social Stretch Goal
almost 8 years ago – Mon, Jun 13, 2016 at 11:41:00 AM

Hello all, 

We're inching towards the off-set print run goal, cheaper hardcovers, and a shot at full-color books for everyone. Keep up the hard work promoting the game in your social media circles. Backers spreading the word is what's gotten Red Markets this far, and it's the only thing that's going to carry us to that next exciting stretch goal announcement.

All Kickstarters slow down in the middle of campaign, so the added time it takes to reach these latest stretch goals is to be expected with 14 days left in the campaign. We may be in the "doldrums" right now, but don't lose the excitement that got us here! Keep in mind that new backers typically jump onboard much faster nearer the deadline. Even if we don't see the uptick typical of the KS "U-curve," I'm confident we can make the new stretch goals. To make the 52K goal, we have to make less than $500 a day from this point forward, and we haven't dropped beneath than number in two weeks. We can do this.

And if we hit a color run earlier? Well, I have more stretch goals waiting for just such an occasion....

Fallen Flag Preview

In addition to the Red Markets campaign already available for free the AP site, RPPR runs a Patreon page where patrons can pledge to get exclusive content and previews. Ross Payton has been nice enough to post a preview of the first session of our Fallen Flag campaign on his page for FREE. Backers can get a tease of the drama they can expect when the KS ends and the complete episodes become available.

Check out Episode 1 of Fallen Flag here. 

Even if you're not an AP fiend that listens to whole campaigns, this episode might be worth your time. First off, I get to play in it! Besides being really proud of my character (Want me to tell you about him? HUH? DO YOU?!), Fallen Flag was a great stress test to see how the game handled under a different GM style. I learned a lot from the experience as a game designer.

Fallen Flag also uses a more current draft of the rules than the one we had available during The Brutalists playtest, so it's the best audio representation of the rules as written in the preview PDF heading out to backers on the 22nd.

New Social Stretch Goals:
1000 Backers = Design Commentary

Speaking of game design, I prefaced the initial playtest draft of Red Markets with a series of essays commenting on the game's design and my influences in creating it. In hindsight, it's a project I needed to do just to get in the headspace required to make the game, and it's one I've continued throughout the various iterations. I use the essays to hone my focus and try to prevent mission creep.

The initial plan was to include them in the corebook, but 10,000 words of philosophical rambling on game design and the nature of economic horror isn't exactly something most people want getting in the way of their rules. However, some people enjoyed the essays, and I figured it an in-depth look into the design process might be a good extra to join all the other great stuff you wonderful backers have unlocked.

So, rather than keeping track of social bounty (which, though much appreciated, is kind of a logistical nightmare to track), let's focus on the ultimate goal of that system: new backers. If we hit 1000 backers, I'll polish up the old essays, type up the new additions, and release the entire collection of "Market Projections" design papers for free. I'll even scan all my handwritten design notebooks so the really hardcore collectors can see just how crazy the development of RM has been. 

FYI

I just found Craig Campbell's Murders and Acquisitions RPG on Kickstarter a few hours ago or I would have mentioned it earlier. Whereas Red Markets tends to focus on the bleakest aspects of capitalism, it seems Craig is taking a more satirical approach and I love what I see. I backed it and can't wait to attack my game's themes from a completely different angle. I figured some of you might be interested as well.  But hurry, as of the time of this update, it's only go 19 hours left! 

Anyway, I've got to get back to listening to vaporwave and writing until sunrise. Thanks for supporting Red Markets! Hit me up in the comments if you have any questions.