Red Markets 2nd Edition is in Development
patreon.com/posts/announcement-red-84178504?u...Posted Jun 19, 2023, 5:40 PM UTC
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Really? That’s surprising. The first edition only came out in like 2019 and I don’t think it got much in the way of support after it came out.
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They had really bad luck. As soon as COVID hit, their game suddenly became unpleasantly topical.
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Something similar happened with Twilight 2000 4th Edition. It was released like 4 months before Ukraine was invaded, and I've seen a lot of people that were not in the mood to play in a world war-related game because of it. The default setting is even on eastern europe.
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This is exactly my experience of T2K4.
I got it. Got very excited about it. Then it became too close to reality.
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Yeah, I was in the middle of a campaign when COVID started.
We did our Mr. JOLS remotely.
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Just One Last Score. Did your characters make it out of the Loss?
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Yes. The party had two immune, so they were being hunted by StopLoss relentlessly. After a particularly nasty battle, they came into possession of a helicopter and directions to the StopLoss hospital nearby that had vats and vats of Suppressin.
They managed to hack the GPS on the helicopter so they couldn't find it and hid it for a week as they rested up and then launched a surprise attack on the facility. They broke in, killed a bunch of guards, stole a container of suppressin, and got out before the rest of the guards could show up. Helicopter took a few hits on the way out but not enough to take it down. It was hundreds of doses of suppressin, enough to live like... well, not kings, but middle class, in the Recession.
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2017 according to the book and I doubt we will get a second Ed print until 2025 at best.
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Yeah I'm kinda tired of games on my "plan to play when I can convince people" getting new editions before I can play. Same thing is happening to UVG and happened with Torchbearer (although to be fair I played TB1e quite a bit).
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Well you know, the first edition isn't going away. But part of the reason Caleb is doing 2e is because there are almost no print copies of 1e available for purchase anywhere. That, and after five years of game development and writing experience, he thinks he can improve the design.
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Jump on the discord. There are games being played every now and then.
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I know WotC gets a lot of hate, but the fact that they waited ten years before releasing another edition reboot One DND whatever the heck the 2024 books are considered is pretty impressive.
Indie RPG devs are pumping out new editions in half the time it takes Hasbro. You'd think it'd be the other way around!
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I think the other way around, this is just like indie videogames. Indie developers are the pioneers, they are the ones who must stick out their heads and make something new to actually sell something. WotC and other giants can afford to wait and save up on game design costs for updates. After ten years they can update their mechanics in bulk, pump some money into ads and profit.
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Ironically the companies with more money to spend on design and development also have that much more to lose/risk. So they prioritize managing risk instead of innovating and experimenting. Not to mention many have stock holders to consider.
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There's a good discussion between Caleb and Ross on Role-Playing Public Radio about Caleb's work on the new edition (talking about the Scene and the Obscene).
During the interview, Caleb talks a lot about the feedback he got about the first edition. And he mentions multiple times, defensively, people's criticism of the size of the book.
As one of the people who's critical of the size of the book, I think Caleb missed the point.
First, at 500 pages, the book is incredibly DENSE and INACCESSIBLE. This is a barrier to people playing the game. The thing starts with 170 pages of lore. That's a lot to grok.
Second, and perhaps more importantly. When I open the book, I am scared that it will break. I don't trust the binding of this book, and therefore I am reluctant to USE the book to play the game. Thus, it goes on the shelf and never gets played.
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First, at 500 pages, the book is incredibly DENSE and INACCESSIBLE. This is a barrier to people playing the game. The thing starts with 170 pages of lore.
Believe me, I hate to be this guy. But as someone who skips the lore section in just about every RPG he plays, I found the Red Markets lore absolutely gripping. I read through that shit straight through and I'm not even a huge zombies fan.
I was disappointed that the game itself didn't really grab me...it had some neat ideas in it but nothing that made me feel like I wanted to drop whatever I was doing and play this right now which is generally my standard for going through the effort of running a new system.
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This is the first I’ve seen that the book is 500 pages, really wish people would mention that when they recommend it.
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It’s considered personal armour in some states, certified to stop 7.62 NATO rounds at a 100 feet.
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1e is the Coolest RPG I've read, though seems like it would be very difficult at the table.
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It's not particularly difficult at the table.
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I guess if you have a few spreadsheets. Feels like you had to track everything!
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Just on the character sheets. The character sheet has everything on it.
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It’s actually really easy to run. You build 3 jobs, partially by rolling some dice. Then the players go for one. You keep the other two in your back pocket and only generate one more job for the next play session. Repeat as necessary,
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I loved 1e, and only had a few minor quibbles.
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1e brought some interesting ideas to the table, played a few games. I liked the abstractions of Shuffle, Loot, etc. Bargaining for the contract sub-game was ok, but so different from the rest of the game. I had some issues with the setting, that you can buy your way out of the Apocalypse. Also some of the weapons were unbalanced. Otherwise, it was an ok game that brought in some fresh ideas.
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"Buying your way out of the Apocalypse" is just about the coolest most dystopian setting idea ever. That's what makes me want to play Red Markets
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People getting up and moving around after dying is pretty patently absurd from a medical perspective, but I suspend my disbelief to play a fun horror game with my friends.
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Caleb Stokes has announced that Red Markets 2nd Edition is in development with plans to go into a beta playtest early 2024.
He’s already releasing some early play test material on the patreon.