Table Of Contentred
Markets
First Printing July 2017 by Hebanon Games in cooperation with Asian Pacific Offset Inc.
Contact us at [email protected] via redmarketsrpg.com, or search your favorite social
network for “Red Markets” or “Hebanon Games.”
Red Markets is the intellectual property of Hebanon Games and sole proprietor Caleb Stokes.
Game Design: Caleb Stokes
Writing: Caleb Stokes, Laura Briskin-Limehouse, Ross Payton
Editing: Laura Briskin-Limehouse
Art Direction: Caleb Stokes
Cover Art: Kim Van Deun
Back Cover Art: LuigiStudio
Interior Art: Kim Van Deun, Patsy McDowell, James Beatham, Christopher Cirillo, Michael
Plondaya, Darrell Claunch, Ean Moody, Przemek Lech
Graphic Design: Kathryn Carty, Kyle Carty
Special Thanks: Role-playing Public Radio, Technical Difficulties, Thrilling Intent, Faust Kells,
Tom Church, David Dobelman, Aaron Carston, Shaun Greenwald, Nicolas Marjanovic, Adam
Briskin-Limehouse, 1148 Kickstarter backers, and Sara Hann
Creative Commons License;
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International License.
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3) you license any derivatives under the same license.
table of contents
IntroductIon
5
HIstory of the Crash
10
The (Un)death of History 11
The Failed State 13
The Crash 32
Reaction and Policy 56
Retreat Becomes Recession 68
Writing Off the Loss 82
Rise of the Carrion Economy 87
The Taker’s Role 110
The Loss
116
A Guide 117
Lost Places 120
Lost People 137
Lost Things 157
PlayIng The Market
171
Profit System 172
Character Creation 181
Upkeep: Paying the Bills 223
Materialism: Bounty, Gear, and Vehicles 232
Combat 272
Blight: Casualties and Vectors 293
Humanity 310
Negotiation 320
RunnIng The Market
351
Shades of Red 352
Job Creator 358
Long-term Investments 406
MBA Rules 424
Loss Encounters 446
AppendIx
485
4
5
the wrong end of the economy. It’s about
characters deciding how much they’re willing
to pay for sanity, love, freedom, and other
things that should be free. It’s about struggling
with cutthroat capitalism when its knife is on
your neck.
What Is an Rpg?
Google it.
Look, we’re not trying to turn you off here. If
Red Markets is your first RPG, everyone who
worked on this book is genuinely flattered.
Welcome! But you can either read this whole
book to get the gist of it, or check online for
literally thousands of faster explanations. You
can listen to dozens of Red Markets games on
podcasts like Role-playing Public Radio, One-
Shot, or Technical Difficulties. Or ask fans
of the game directly at redmarketsrpg.com
or any of our social media sites. The book is
already this goddamn long and we’d love to
make it longer, so let’s not waste any more
space pretending the internet doesn’t exist.
Furthermore, Red Markets is basically a
poverty simulator that uses zombies to keep
What Is Red Markets? its theme from getting too real. We really
appreciate people playing the game (and their
Red Markets is a tabletop RPG about money), but there are sunnier, happier games
economic horror. with which to tour the magical land of RPGs.
In Red Markets, characters risk their lives We understand that books are products,
trading between the massive quarantine products are meant to be sold, and this
zones containing a zombie outbreak and maybe isn’t the best way to do that. But the
the remains of civilization. They are Takers: purpose of consuming this particular product
mercenary entrepreneurs unwilling to accept is to create a unique story-telling experience
their abandonment. Bound together into with your friends: an experience that can’t
competing crews, each seeks to profit from be commoditized, co-opted, or cheapened.
mankind’s near-extinction before it claims Creating something that special is going to
them. They must hustle, scheme, and scam as require some work out of you.
hard as they fight if they hope to survive the It starts here.
competing factions and undead hordes the
Market throws at them. Takers that are quick, How To Use ThIs Book
clever, or brutal enough might live to see
retirement in a safe zone, but many discover The book is split into six sections.
too late that the cycle of poverty proves harder The Introduction, which you’re reading
to escape than the hordes of undead. now, gives the basic gist of the game, the
Red Markets uses the traditional zombie book’s content, and a glossary of terms useful
genre to tell a story about surviving on for understanding the setting and rules.
6
History of the Crash is a setting chapter Charges: an expendable resource that
dealing with the world before the Crash, how abstractly measures a piece of gear’s
the Blight came to ravage mankind, and the remaining usefulness. Charges can be spent
dystopian Carrion Economy that resulted, to buy-a-roll or to provide a bonus.
trapping the players’ characters to fend for Check: rolling the dice to determine the
themselves in a hell known as the Loss. success or failure of a character’s actions.
The Loss details the various places, people, Default: checking a skill with a rating of zero
and things that Takers may run across as they is called defaulting. It is an optional rule. The
work. The wasteland is a new world with new Market can veto any and all default checks.
rules. It can make people rich, but it mostly Dependents: non-player characters in the
makes them miserable, insane, or dead. Taker’s life that must be supported financially
Playing the Market explains the rules of and heal Humanity when maintained. They
the game. It covers how the Profit System’s are portrayed in the game by the Market or
dice mechanic works. It explains how to another player.
write characters, equip them, and have Gassed: a character that is out of rations is
them fight for their lives. It also details the considered gassed and may not take rigorous
social/financial combat system known as physical action until recovered.
Negotiation, which Takers must use if they Gear: objects or tools that make certain
hope to keep their crew and families alive. actions possible and/or easier to achieve.
Running the Market contains tools for Haul: the measure of how much a character
people hosting games for their friends. In can carry. Each unit of Haul represents a
addition to general advice, it has procedures unit of supply the Taker can carry, unless the
for collaboratively building settings, Market dictates otherwise.
adventures, and entire campaigns, as well as Market: the person who runs the game and
pre-built encounters. There are also a variety writes the story of each job; the game-master.
of alternate rules to keep the game interesting Responsible for playing NPCs in the story,
for advanced players. determining encounters, and setting prices.
Finally, the Appendix has copies of all the Market Forces: any enemy NPC intent on
papers needed to track a game session and an harming the player characters. In combat, the
index for speedy reference. Game materials Market declares what actions the forces are
ready for download and print can also be taking but does not roll for them.
found at redmarketsrpg.com. Non-player Characters (NPCs): secondary
characters played by the Market or
Game TermInology
temporarily by another player at the table.
One-and-Done: some skill checks cannot be
Here are the basic terms used in the Profit
attempted more than once. One-and-Done
System and what they mean.
rolls are mostly social or mental actions.
Failed one-and-done rolls can be made
“Buy-a-roll”: Some actions are only possible
successful if the player petitions the Market to
with the use of gear and spent resources.
succeed at cost.
Buying a roll means spending a charge to
Player Characters (PCs): the protagonist
allow a skill check.
characters controlled by players at the table.
Black: the die that represents the player’s
In Red Markets, all PCs are Takers.
chance of success. This can be modified by
Potential: natural aptitudes that can only
skills and charges spent on gear.
be improved through rigorous, disciplined
Boom: a rules variant that makes the game
practice. Potentials serve as the limit of skills.
easier and more action-packed.
Red: the die that represents the variable
Bust: a rules variant that makes the game
difficulty of performing an action.
more challenging and grim.
7
References: professional contacts in the Bounty: the currency between the Loss
setting with access to goods, services, and and the Recession. Bounty is provided by
expertise. References perform favors for the DHQS for the retrieval of identity and
Takers but must be paid back with bounty or property documentation dating before the
other favors. These non-player characters are Crash. Bounty is rewarded on delivery, based
played by the Market or another player. on the average value of a pre-Crash adult’s
Refresh: the term used for replacing spent total property and financial holdings.
charges on a single piece of gear. Carrion Economy: generalized term for the
Skills: training and practice in performing a world economy. While new goods and services
specific task. A Taker’s skill cannot exceed the are still in production, worldwide trade is
Potential associated with it. largely focused on looting the corpse of the
Succeed at Cost: If a player fails a one-and- Loss to recover value and infrastructure.
done roll and doesn’t want to spend Will, they Casualty: A zombie; a cadaver puppeted by
can choose to succeed at cost. The cost of the parasitic nervous system characteristic of
success is determined by the Market, but it “cold” Blight. The term hails from bloodless,
often involves tapping a Reference or learning sanitized news reports during the early days
the truth through a painful mistake. of the Crash used to prevent panic, now used
Upkeep: the cost, in bounty, it takes to stay ironically by Takers. “Taking casualties” can
alive, retain shelter, and keep tools in working now mean killing zombies for money or dying
order between sessions. in the process.
Citizen: pejorative term for a person
SettIng TermInology
living safely in the Recession or one of its
Below you’ll find some jargon used to settlements.
describe the world of Red Markets. Crash: the initial emergence of the Blight and
the resulting panic, chaos, and death.
Aberrant: blanket term for a number of
Crew: the collective noun form of Takers.
casualty sub-types with special abilities.
Crews assemble to bid on jobs and brand
Bait: nickname for a citizen of the Recession
their services.
that left for financial, political, or religious
DHQS: the Department of Homeland
reasons to live out in the Loss.
Quarantine and Stewardship, the new agency
Believers: collective term for the religious
in charge of maintaining the United State’s
sects and philosophies that sprang up after
borders and eventually reclaiming the Loss.
the Crash. Each cult has unique beliefs
They are responsible for the bounty system
that can range from benignly comforting to
and the inept enforcement of the underground
terrifyingly fanatical.
economy resulting from it.
Blight: the mysterious infection responsible
Enclaves: pockets of surviving civilization not
for the Crash and all its terrors, so called
officially recognized by any of the surviving
due to its anomalous medical classification.
state powers, but large enough to have some
Like its victims, Blight has two stages: living
economic impact. Allowed to survive because
and undead. Living Blight is the single most
they draw casualties away from the borders
infectious disease ever encountered by
of safe zones or maintain vital infrastructure
mankind. It creates homicidal Vectors in a
points.
matter of minutes, and its exponential growth
Free Parking: derogatory term for the
rate can bring conversion time down to
shantytowns that developed in the wake of
seconds. After a victim succumbs, the Blight
the evacuation, so named because of the
pathology changes completely, becoming
numerous derelict cars that make up their
more fungal/parasitic and building unearthly
dwellings.
black sinews that puppet dead flesh and slow
cadaver decay.
8
Homo Sacer: Latin for “the accursed man,” retreat behind natural borders and the
the term refers to a person banned from resulting safe zones. If someone is “from
civilized society and not afforded protection the Recession,” they live in a safe zone
under the law. Anyone outside the Recession’s marked by geographical fortification and
borders without expressed federal consent is run by a surviving national government.
considered Homo Sacer. Early government communications used this
Immune: a rare person that, for reasons term exclusively to refer to symptoms of the
unknown, is completely immune to Blight Crash because everything except economic
infection. They are subject to “conscription news was being censored to avoid panic. It
into medical service” (read: kidnapping, stuck due to its ironic inadequacy after the
medical torture, and bone marrow harvesting) American government abandoned many of its
in the Recession and its settlements, in order citizens and “receded” to the East coast.
to produce Suppressin K-7864 from their The Red Markets: the underground economy
bone marrow. Takers and certain enclaves exploiting the Loss as a resource and trading
often attempt to kidnap the Immune for a between enclaves and the Recession. The
sizable reward. market is “red” because it is not legal, but as
Latent: a carrier of the Blight that somehow nearly everyone participating is considered
remains free of cannibalistic urges. It occurs legally dead already, the trade isn’t technically
when the virus infects a host but transfers too illegal either.
quickly into its undead state. Necrotic Blight Supressin K-7864: a drug cocktail derived
sinews wind painfully through the victim’s from the bone marrow of an Immune
tissues (making Latents instantly identifiable), human, extremely powerful antibiotics, and
but the dead strain cannot affect living brain dangerously caustic antiseptics. Though it
tissue. Latency can be natural or achieved cannot kill infection, injection within a few
by injecting Supressin K-7864 shortly after minutes after a bite can cause the Blight to
infection. Those infected by a Latent become enter its dormant state and reduce a Vector
Vectors as if bitten by a casualty, as the Blight into a Latent human. Supressin is the single
reanimates itself without the intervention most valuable substance in the Loss.
of drugs. Due to this danger, enclaves, T-minus Never: slang for the day of
settlements, and nations often shoot Latents reclamation, generalized to mean false hope
on sight or detain them in isolated camps. or foolish wishes. Derives from the fact that
LifeLines: the secured forum launched by DHQS has claimed reclamation would begin
Gnat to coordinate evacuation and survival in 20 years from the date of announcement...
for civilians during the Crash. It’s now an for five years running.
invite-only community for Takers and other Takers: name for the outcasts, smugglers,
inhabitants of the Loss. and survivors that work the Red Markets.
The Loss: as in “written off as a Loss.” Simultaneously references “undertakers” and
Everything outside a safe zone surrendered to a reputation for theft.
the dead and the home of the Red Markets for Ubiq: massive internet start-up responsible
five years. for the free global wi-fi network exploited
Lost: anybody left behind as the remainder of by the Moths and the only reliable from of
civilization pulled back to the Recession. communication the global economy can
The Moths: the world’s largest Taker crew, rely on. Ubiq servers both enabled and
made up of the survivors of the Operation sabotaged the Recession by providing a stable
Utility mutiny and former Ubiq employees. communications network during the Crash.
The Moths are based out of the Ubiq campus Vector: a recently infected human unhindered
in the Colorado Mountains. by decay or rigor mortis. They are fast,
The Recession: the term for humanity’s infectious, and deadly.
9
hIstory OF THE CRASH
10
