Red Markets: A Game of Economic Horror

401 “I don’t see why not...” the Market replies. “Oh my god!” Melissa jumps up from her chair: “We could use the map from last year’s Gen Con! That would be so cool!” She sprints into her bedroom, looking for her old convention catalogue. The Market asks if that’s okay with everyone else, but they’ve already joined Melissa in frantically searching the house. Don’t fix it if it ain’t broke. RandomIze and Extrapolate Finally, groups stumped for ideas can always consult the Contract Generator for prompts. The elements are equally useful for Scores and might spark creativity regardless of the method being used. Mr. JOLS: A SpecIal Case The concept of “Chasing Mr. JOLS” and its mythic stature amongst Takers has been Example Consensus Lindsey, Melissa, and Clementine have decided they want their characters to steal educational curriculum packets and sell them to a homeschool guru operating out of their enclave. But they’re currently stumped as to what interesting and challenging site would contain their loot. After some thinking, Clementine asks, “Maybe the curriculums could be located at a big convention center? And nobody looted them because there was this, like, huge education conference going on when the Crash happened, so the place is crawling with casualties and in the middle of the city, which is also crawling with casualties. So there’s like double zombies and a big search area.” Lindsey perks up, “Could we model the convention center after the one in Indianapolis?”

402 Choosing to risk it all chasing Mr. JOLS means succumbing to years of temptation. It simultaneously speaks of greed, recklessness, naivety, idealism, entitlement, and grim determination. It’s a selfish move that sets up loved ones for life. It’s alternately foolish and heroic, and where it lands depends on the same thing everything depends on: the bottom line. Since it’s such a defining moment in a character’s life, Mr. JOLS needs to be planned in-character. The in-character collaborative (Rumor Mill) or in-character opposed (Strategic Thinking) methods need to be used. Which one? Let the Market decide. It’s also possible to do both, switching back and forth between methods for different elements. For instance, it makes for good heist narrative when a crew goes after a single good (Strategic Thinking) at a site that is varied and unpredictable (Rumor Mill). RetIrement Party But why does everything have to be done in-character? Because there shouldn’t be any competition for deciding the elements of a retirement Score. After all, it’s a secret hope the character has been harboring for literally the entire campaign; we shouldn’t trust it to a dice roll. So the in-character methods of designing Scores are used. The only change is that, in the case of a singular retirement plan, it’s always treated as if the retiree won the skill check that establishes initiative: Foresight for Rumor Mill or Research for Strategic Thinking. First proposal privilege doesn’t travel clockwise as it does normally. The exiting character defines the basics of every element, and the other players contribute by augmenting the element with rumors. In the event of a tontine, use the procedures as written. Since everyone is retiring off this one job, everyone has an equal chance to define it. Secret SensItIvIty The other modification of Rumor Mill for Mr. JOLS is that the Secret Sensitivity Option (see discussed earlier in the book (see p. 217). In general, Mr. JOLS is a Score like any other; the only difference is that the Market makes things harder to represent the struggle of rising from rags to riches. This section specifically gives the Market advice on how to build meaningful (and/or bloody) exits for retiring characters. Plot Pay There is no equilibrium price for a Mr. JOLS. It pays enough... however much enough is. For the one player retiring, Mr. JOLS pays enough to launch them into a life a luxury. The retiree doesn’t just escape the Loss; they become rich is such a way that would only be possible in a partial apocalypse. Since retiring players come up with the plan — likely plotting it over the course of years — they get the bulk of the pay, but no one can catch Mr. JOLS alone. Any player that helps gets their costs paid, plus 10 bounty. It doesn’t matter how much health, Humanity, or ammo the non-retiring players expend helping their friend get rich; that cost is reimbursed, plus a 10 bounty profit. This, in addition to the free reference provided by a retired PC, encourages Takers to help out, even though they aren’t the ones about to get rich. If the group is utilizing the tontine rules, Mr. JOLS is enough to make everyone rich. Just remember that everyone has to reach their final retirement milestones before the final Score can be planned. It’s one thing to get yourself killed in a fit of ambition, quite another to watch a friend get eaten alive for it. IC Mandatory Chasing Mr. JOLS is all about character. Even the choice to go after it signifies a major story moment. Remember, Takers can retire the instant they hit their final milestone, but they only have enough to go back to their regular lives. Escape is possible, but only back into the lower middle-class drudgery that probably defined their existence before the Crash. After all that blood and terror, a life of swing shifts and 40-hour weeks may definitely be better, but it won’t ever feel fair.

403 The Dream VIgnette If it’s time for Mr. JOLS, it’s nearing the end of a campaign... or at least nearing the end for one character. One of the segments of Red Markets specific to extended play is vignettes (see “Long-term Investments” p. 406). If the Market is utilizing vignettes to flesh out and characterize the setting, a new type gets added before a Mr. JOLS session begins. This segment is called “The Dream” and, whereas players choose one of the three types to role-play at the start of a job, role-playing “The Dream” is mandatory for all retiring characters before any other scenes are acted out. What is “The Dream?” It’s exactly what it sounds like: it’s the fulfillment of all the Taker’s frustrated desires. In this scene, retiring players are going to describe their Taker’s perfect day after they retire. In effect, the story is flash forwarding past the Mr. JOLS job and to the happy ending. Using all the funds from their former life as a Taker, how is the PC living now? Are they retired in the Recession? What’s their new identity, or did they get their old name back? How do they fill their days if they no longer have to work? How are their Dependents doing? Is the Loss a distant memory, or has the scarcity of the Loss left scars on their personalities? How does their new community react to their presence? Is the Taker respected on account of wealth, deemed suspicious as an outsider, or unconcerned with the opinion of a bunch of spoiled citizens? If the retirement plan is outside the Recession, where? Is it just the Taker and Dependents, or have others flocked to the haven purchased by Mr. JOLS? What does everyone do to sustain this new, separate peace? Is the Taker a client now, hiring out crews to support their new home, or have they left the life completely behind? How do they deal with the threats of the Loss, and what walls, real estate, or protection keeps them above the fray? p. 400) is required. This job is supposed to be tough. One of the ways to increase challenge is to keep the players guessing about what is actually going to happen up until the last moment. Markets should take notes on each rumor, check each character’s Sensitivity in a roll behind the book, and develop the job based on the results. The SIte: It Goes Wrong, or I Make It Go Wrong It’s suggested that even if every other aspect of the site is decided upon by Strategic Thinking, Market’s should use the Rumor Mill method to decide the Site. The object of a Mr. JOLS is a nexus of legend within the Loss. There are many, many reasons people know that the Site is a no-go zone. Some of those reasons may be true, or the reality could end up being much worse. Markets facilitating the design of a Mr. JOLS need to pay extra special attention during discussion of the Site. Recall that every proposal for the site needs to hurt or hinder Takers, and Markets have veto power over any softball proposals that don’t pass muster. Once the site has been defined by the retiree and all the rumors proposed, roll secret Sensitivity like normal... ...But for every false rumor, add another complication. The number of complications at a job site always equals the number of players. Either one of the proposed obstacles ends up being true, or the Market throws an unpredictable disaster at the Takers in place of the false lead. Two failed Sensitivity checks means two complications that blindside the crew. The only way to get fewer complications than players is for someone to critically succeed one of the Foresight checks. In that instance, the rumors they heard were accurate, but they’ve since been resolved by some happy accident of fate. However, there is no way for the Taker to know this until they arrive. There are many good reasons no one chased this Score until now: either the Takers can guess them, or they find out the hard way.

404 The Loss Doesn't Let Go Contrary to what it might seem, the point of Chasing Mr. JOLS is not to kill all the characters. The point is to show that the Loss — with all its death, poverty, and despair — does not merely let people go. Those who manage to escape are forever marked. In the best cases, the scar is an act of heroism: a former Taker’s memory of an insurmountable obstacle somehow overcome and the knowledge that nothing a quiet life in the Recession has to offer can hope to surpass that sublime moment of triumph. Or perhaps it’s the faces of those left behind — the ones not strong enough to climb out — and the bitter certainty that you could have helped more. More often, the wounds run much deeper: friends killed, infected, and crippled; minds torn asunder by madness; fortunes of fool’s gold bought with blood. Regardless, let the player narrate a perfect day after the nest egg is secure and the nightmare left behind. But the dream isn’t just a monologue. It’s not even real. It’s the dream that’s driven the Taker through all the horrors of the previous jobs and, now that salvation is in reach, the anxiety of being so close has turned it into a nightmare. The Market is responsible for reminding the Taker that it’s not over yet. They turn the dream into a nightmare at the last moment, narrating the character’s abrupt, sweatdrenched awakening into another day trapped in the Loss. When and how this nightmare manifests is at the behest of the Market and should touch on the story of that character. The Dream sets the mood for Mr. JOLS and lays out the stakes. At the end of the session, either the player’s vision of what happens to the character comes true, or the Market’s tragedy does. Example Dream Vignette Kowloon’s life as an architectural student got cut short by the Crash, but he put his studies to good use defending his home enclave. After his retirement, he intends to be recognized for his quarintechture designs and leave the dark years of Taking behind. Kowloon’s player: “...and after going out to the bar for a couple of drinks with my friends, I go up to my highrise apartment overlooking the Mississippi and stare out the panoramic window across the border. I have a nightcap of pure grain alcohol standing there every night - anything else tastes like a rip-off, watered-down and dusty like everything that didn’t come from Bessie’s still. Drinking to forget has never worked, but I keep trying a little harder every year. I think about-” The Market: “A hand slaps against the window. Rotting. It leaves a bloody handprint as it slides down the glass. Then another.” Kowloon’s player: “What? We’re thirty stories up...” The Market: “No. You’re not. It’s ground floor. And on the wrong side of the river. You see that tower you dreamed of living in one day looming on the horizon until more of them come, blocking the view. There’s dozens of them now, hundreds. All your defenses, all your funnels and deterrents, they did nothing. The horde is here. Your sister is among them, as is your crew. Everyone you ever cared about, but they’re not screaming apologies. You are. You failed them. That’s your last thought as the glass breaks and they come pouring in and over you... until you wake up. Covered in a cold sweat in your cot underneath the concrete rafters of the parking garage. The same way you’ve woken up every day for the past five years, but maybe this is the last time.”

405 Regardless, the extra complications assure the scope remains suitably epic, and the consequences hauntingly permanent. Anyone who escapes the carrion economy richer than they started owes the Loss a great debt. They’ve become perfect capitalists, reborn into a blood-soaked luxury, crawling into the light over a mountain of corpses, awakened to the beautiful, rational cruelty that defines the world. Such transformations do not come cheap, and the Loss always takes its due.... A generous and noble spirit cannot be expected to dwell in the breasts of men who are struggling for their daily bread. -Dionysius of Halicarnassus

406 specialization increase the chances of survival. The enclaves that are still around five years after the Crash have developed into diverse economies operating under their own autonomous political systems. While a one-shot of Red Markets can take place at any location or travel nomadically between a variety of locations, campaigns focus on the fate of a single enclave and its people. Takers don’t just live there; they are part of the community and a major part of the economy. Campaigns typically start and end at the enclave, and the jobs Takers do have lasting effects on their home. Procedure Enclave Generation should be performed using the Out-of-Character Consensus procedure from “Designing Scores” (p. 400). In-character methods are great for scores, but the economic horror of Red Markets is based in materialism: the logistics of the place come first. Campaigns, therefore, work better if the players know where their Takers will live and work before they develop character concepts. A solid character concept can easily be altered to fit almost any setting, but building setting around character concepts can sap the story of conflict and make for contradictions the Market can’t explain in the economy. Markets should ask the following questions of the players and take notes on their proposed answers. Vote to decide on contradictory ideas (i.e. it can’t be located in a jungle and in a desert), but encourage players to augment each other’s ideas by using “yes, and…” whenever possible. Strive to include as much as possible so long as it doesn’t directly negate some already established fact about the setting. It should be noted that the Market is not solely a facilitator of enclave generation. Markets should actively participate in the process with their own ideas. After all, the Market has to write a lot of Contracts and Scores based out of this enclave. Make sure it’s a setting everyone is comfortable playing in. Long-Term Investments So the group tried out a Contract or two — maybe they already designed a Score — and now they want to see if they can hustle hard enough to retire from the Loss permanently. What now? How do we string these stories of day-to-day survival into a larger narrative? This section details everything the Market and the players need to run a campaign of Red Markets. Enclave GeneratIon Enclaves are town-to-city sized communities where survivors have banded together for protection against the undead. Though initially defined solely by whatever natural fortification provided protection against Casualties during the Crash, each enclave slowly evolves beyond its arbitrary geographical founding. Trade and skill

407 • How have the defenses been added to or altered since the Crash? • Does anyone keep watch on the walls? Or are the defenses strong enough that they take care of themselves? • Is there some sort of enclave police force or militia? If so, how does one join up? • How do people bypass the defenses? If it’s a gate, how do they distract, herd, or kill the casualties waiting outside? A system of airlocks and checkpoints? If it’s a secret entrance, how is it kept secret? HIstory A lot of people holed up and survived the Crash…before dying of starvation, disease, and infighting in the years that followed. The enclaves that have made it this far did so by evolving. • What was the first group of people to see this place as a chance for survival? Did they secure it by being smart, ruthless, or just first? • Did other groups come later, or has everyone been here since the Crash? Were these additional populations recruited to meet the needs of the enclave’s founders, or were they desperate refugees that managed to insert themselves? • What past conflicts, between interior groups and outside threats, came to define how the enclave operates today? Top Exports No man is an island, and neither is his enclave. Total self-reliance is a myth; the enclaves that survive trade with each other. Determining what an enclave can afford to sell off is a great way to help the Market generate ideas for jobs. • What surpluses does your enclave have to trade? • What goods can be produced or salvaged from the geography? • What forms of industry can be undertaken without undermining the defenses? Name Ummm…what’s the name? You probably want to leave this one until last, and that’s okay. It’s only included first here because it’s at the top of the enclave sheet. LocatIon Where, geographically, is the enclave located? You can set the enclave in a familiar area, inside a state or city everyone is interested in, or leave exact geography vague. Whatever you choose, try to limit yourselves to descriptions of the landscape around the enclave. Other questions deal with the enclave’s interior features, but the community’s surroundings are going to play a big role. Remember, geography determines economy. • Do the enclave have access to water? How? Is there a river or lake? Is there a manmade waterway nearby? • What’s the landscape like? Hills and rocks? Flat plains? Forests? Mountains? Urban? • Is there arable soil outside the enclave, or do crops need to be grown inside the fence? Is agriculture feasible at all? • What was the population density like here before the Crash? Higher density means more survivors to feed, or more casualties to eat them. Lower density means less danger, but more scarcity when it comes to scavenging. • What’s the climate like here? Cold? Dry? Hot? Rainy? Are changes seasonal, or has climate change made fluctuations unpredictable? Defenses It wouldn’t be an enclave if it couldn’t keep the casualties out, especially back when they were sprinting, climbing Vectors. • Were the defenses natural, like an island, a mountain, or a peninsula? Repurposed from some other building, such as a prison, a train yard, or a military base? Hastily constructed during the Crash, like an arrangement of shipping containers, a moat, or a rag-tag flotilla of ships?

408 • What kind of structures and groups could provide for your enclave? What kinds of structures and groups would need your enclave to survive? • How are these other communities different from yours in size, belief, economy, or political structure? • What if some of the competition isn’t from an enclave at all? Does the DHQS have any settlements nearby? Has a corporate interest set up shop in the area for some research or salvage operation? • What do citizens deployed in the Loss need from those left behind? What riches from the Recession can they provide the people of the enclave? SocIal Structure Social structure is perhaps the most important part of enclave generation. Economy implies inequality. Inequality creates conflict, and conflict is the heart of your campaign. Look at the answers to the previous questions on the list. How have these answers stratified the culture, and how does that hierarchy perpetuate itself? If the questions below aren’t enough to spark ideas, take a look at the economy section of the Contract Generator (p. 379). • How does your enclave govern itself? Is it a general democracy, or some sort of representational compromise? • Is it monarchy, socialist ideology, or total anarchy? • Is there an executive or court system? • Does anyone have veto power? • Does religion play a role in the enclave’s political struggles? Is it a traditional faith, or one of the believer cults resulting from after the Crash? • Has the enclave always done things this way, or is the current system the result of some past struggle? NeIghborhoods Humans like cliques. Break them into tiny cliques and they immediately start making tinier cliques. Bounty will be the biggest • What skills and expertise can the population sell for what they need? Top Imports The same things that define a surplus imply a deficit. The enclave can’t be all things to all people. Listing the necessary imports is an even better way to help Markets generate ideas for jobs. • What does the enclave need to keep operating? • What do people need that the local geography can’t provide? • What forms of industry are made impossible by the necessary limitations of the defenses? • What skills and expertise are lacking in the population? CompetItIon Zombie movies existed in the world of Red Markets before the zombies actually came. Things got really bad, but a surprising amount of people knew how to survive. These groups condensed into enclaves in the following years, but most areas in the Loss can’t support a full-blown metropolis. The smaller groups compete with each other for resources and bounty. When talking about competition for the enclave as a whole, we aren’t talking about competing Taker groups (though they may come from other enclaves). Competing Taker crews will come and go in any campaign, but local enclave competition remains a consistent concern. These competing enclaves use the same transportation routes and natural resources. They scavenge in the same ruins, but hold different beliefs and ideologies. Getting some ideas for competing enclaves down on paper should spark ideas for job lines and other serialized storylines. • Where have other groups settled in the area? When thinking about this question, remember your enclave’s top imports and exports. Do these other communities feed your needs, or worsen shortages?

409 players have all the information, they can decide where their characters fit into the different factions in the enclave. Markets should then take time between game nights to elaborate on the enclave generation notes as much as necessary. Give the documents to the players so they have a reference document. Write a few Contracts or design a Score. The next session starts with the Takers starting work and meeting their neighbors. Example Enclave 1. Enclave Name Troutfitt – so named for the letters on the sign that survived military shelling (TROU. ..TFITT...) 2. Location Troutfitt is located in the former national headquarters of Trout Outfitters in Feldspur, MO. 3. Defenses The national headquarters of Trout Outfitters is a massive complex of interconnected buildings. Rather than large show windows typical of retail stores, the company constructed the five-story tall walls of the shopping complex to depict baroque, concrete-and-plastic murals dedicated to scenes of wildlife and rural pastorals. What windows are located in the place are huge, cathedral-sized vertical slits that rest at least seven feet above the sidewalks outside. Though located in a dense urban area, the surplus of the weaponry inside and the quarantinable corridor system (traffic was regularly rerouted within the complex as new, gaudy tourist attractions were built) meant that the building survived the Crash. Slowly, survivors recaptured and reinforced every inch of the Troutfitt compound, turning the location into an impenetrable fortress against the undead. 4. History The gun room (more like “gun gymnasiums”) formed the beachhead for separator, but that doesn’t mean race, religion, politics, gender, language, and every other petty consideration won’t be turned into dividing lines as well. • What are the major demographic zones of your enclave? • Is there a rich neighborhood and a ‘bad part of town’? Are living arrangements determined by occupation, political identification, or other signifiers of class? • How does the enclave quarantine Latents? Are their sections comparable or little more than ghettos? • Are Immunes allowed to walk free, or must they hide their diagnosis least they be sold into medical slavery? • Do different sects of believers live in cloistered groups, do they mingle with the population, or do they have to hide from some dominant ideology? VIPs At this point, there are a lot different places for characters to interact with and alter the story. But who represents those places? Now it’s time to provide the campaign with a cast of NPCs the Takers can talk with. This is also a great way to generate clients for future Contracts the Market can offer. • Who are the movers and shakers in the enclave? Did they get power through first come; first serve? Or have they elevated themselves through sheer force of will? • How do their positions reflect their agendas? What’s their endgame? Are they Lost for Life, or do they have a retirement plan too? Is this enclave their retirement plan? If so, what did they do to earn it? • How do the VIPs exert control over the enclave? Do they wield economic power, the threat of violence, or some other persuasive force? FInIshIng Up Once the enclave is created, finish off the session with character creation. Now that

410 misguided effort to reduce casualties. The plan failed, of course, but it did manage to destroy untold amounts of valuable salvage in the area. Troutfitt lost a few buildings in the bombing and many lives. Reclamation has become an unpopular subject with the residents of Troutfitt ever since, and the DHQS will have a hard time retaking Feldspur if the T-Minus Never comes. 5. Top Exports Weapons: It was a full-blown armory before the Crash. After local survivalists pooled their resources and got the machining equipment running, there was no greater surplus of arms and ammunition in the whole Loss. Survival Equipment: the camping showfloors and warehouses were full to bursting when the Crash came down. Vehicles: gargantuan indoor show-floor of ATVs, boats, bikes, and jeeps make Troutfitt one of the leading providers of transportation in the area. the initial militia groups, military, law enforcement, and desperate refugees that made up Troutfitt. Rather than succumb to infighting as more and more desperate survivors poured in, a work exchange policy quickly calmed inter-factional conflict. New groups were required to take back one of the many sub-buildings in the Troutfitt complex: if they agreed to risk their lives to secure the compound, that section of compound would be theirs to keep and the gun room would supply the attempt. This had the knock down effect of creating a meritocracy of power. Those able to survive against the undead were rewarded with their own tiny fiefdoms. Those that failed, died. Though initially holding out for government rescue, even after news of the Recession began to circulate, Troutfitt skewed heavily towards Rebel politics after the bombing of Feldspur. Deemed too close to the Mississippi line and too populated to ignore, the early DHQS firebombed much of the city in a

411 in your party... In fact, they pay such a high price for their “communion” that Immunes are in more danger in the region than anywhere else besides Scrape. The Underground: The 2.4 million square feet beneath the city makes up a massive city of traders in its own right. However, multiple outbreaks have left blocks of the tunnels sealed and uninhabitable. The shifting and constant war against the undead as the populace tries to retake the complex makes trading with the underground unpredictable, dangerous, and profitable. 8. Social Structure Troutfitt can’t really be said to have a “government.” Those that are actually in charge would bristle, if not attack, if slapped with the label of bureaucrat. The whole system runs off a shifting alliance of anarcho-capitalist interests and quite a bit of spontaneous collectivism. This system — either due to disruptions in trading or spats of selfishness — often breaks down, leading to frequent famines, blackouts, economic recessions, and minor riots. Ironically, these failures of civic organization continually contribute to the anti-governmental attitudes that cause them. 9. Neighborhoods There are dozens of unique cliques within Troutfitt, but some of the most influential are: The Fountainhead: the fountains served as the main entrance of the complex and its primary thoroughfare. It also has access to the pump station and provides water to the majority of the complex. Fountainhead is, aptly enough, run by an “agreement” of Randian merchants eager to profit off every Water: the city of Feldspur gifted the massive complex its own pumping substation and filtration equipment for the purposes of its onsite fisheries and fountains. It’s been repurposed with rainwater collectors to become a self-sustaining water system. Fish: once maintained as mere decoration, the complex of interconnected aquariums has become a commercial fishery. 6. Top Imports Food: Troutfitt’s fishing can’t feed its whole population, and the structure is made of excessive amounts of concrete. It is difficult to grow food in the lightless fortress. Fuel: even with solar and wind retrofits, it’s nearly impossible to supply power to the massive complex. Many sections of Troutfitt are lightless, frigid dungeons in need of combustible fuel like wood, coal, and petrochemicals. Medicine: Troutfitt’s population is one of the densest in the Loss. The local hospitals were priority targets in the DHQS bombing; Troutfitt needs all the expertise and medicine it can get. Electronics: sophisticated electronics capable of computing and Ubiq access were all claimed within the first few months of the enclave. The bloated population has a huge demand for connectivity devices. 7. Competition FOB Liberty: One of the DHQS’s first settlements was set-up outside Feldspur on the flat, high-visibility plains of the Ozarks plateau. The city-sized armed camp requires trade to keep its civilian population happy, but the proximity to the Recession means that such trade must be secretive lest the wrong officer decides to enforce the “everyone is infected” policy. John’s River Assembly (aka Dracula’s Castle): The mega-church survivors now make up the single largest congregation of the Church of the Holy Blood in the Loss. They’re actually fairly reasonable and fair traders. Just don’t let them know if you have any Immunes The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosopher as equally false; and by the magistrate as equally useful. -Edward Gibbon

412 the buildings, they found that the former restaurant was already occupied and picked clean. A small band of desperate survivors, led by a local college rock climbing team, had scaled the walls of Troutfitt and occupied the restaurant from the top down. The survivors were grateful for the militants of the gunroom ending their zombie-barricaded isolation, but they were not about to give up their place at the top. Resentment has only grown in the following years for violating the unspoken “kill to earn your place” policy of Troutfitt. “The Welfare State” has been ghettoized ever since, its residents forced to hustle among the other factions to survive despite their prime real estate within the compound. The Dark Alleys: Many sections of Troutfitt are cut off from natural light but too unproductive to justify the power it would take keep them in working order. These lightless shopping concourses are referred to collectively as “the Dark Alleys,” as in “wouldn’t want to meet X in a dark alley one day.” Many desperate survivors have gained access to Troutfitt only to find themselves shuffled off into the alleys, where predation and banditry to rival the Loss itself are the only hope for survival. 10. VIPs Bill Baxter: Conservative talk radio host that serves as the face of the Armory. Bug Eyes: Reticent, aging gunsmith given diplomatic privileges for the workers of the Forge. Kyle: stoner and college dropout responsible for The Welfare State occupation during the Crash. Martha: aging trans socialite operating the enclave’s valuable textile trade. (R)Ann: middle-aged businesswoman most often seen exploiting the tolls at Fountainhead. Elah: freerunner and possible Valet that’s considered one of the only trustworthy personalities living and navigating the Dark Alleys. financial interaction in the city. The Armory: The gunroom is the primary haunt of the rebel and militia groups that first saw Trout Outfitters as their salvation in the Crash. Their weapons and history in the community make them serious power players in Troutfitt, but fractious ideologies amongst the initial survivors neuter their potential for control. The Forge: The machine shop and reload stations in the subterranean maintenance tunnels produce new weapons and ammunition for the enclave. Though obviously allied with the Armory, demands on power, space, and raw materials have seen an influx by members of other groups. This makes the Forge one of the more egalitarian and professional of the groups in Troutfitt. The Closet: While the materials in Trout Outfitters’ clothing section are ideal for the harsh conditions of the Loss, many of the patterns (woodland camo) and aesthetics (pink woodland camo) were liabilities in an urban survival situation. The advanced textiles knowledge necessary to repurpose Kevlar weave and water-resistant polymer fabrics was not something anyone in the enclave possessed — until Martha came around. The aging trans socialite leveraged her skills into control of the old department store: she keeps the textile operation earning in exchange for controlling her own bohemian utopia. The Flotilla: While the outdoor pontoons and speedboats remain accessible and fenced off, the interior showroom doorway opens up onto an indefensible urban street. Unable to sell the fleet of freshwater craft locked inside the showroom, “the flotilla” is the largest residential area in Troutfitt. Large, gothic windows provide a lot of natural light, and the boats have been retrofitted into a four-story favela. The Welfare State: Ernest’s Fishing Hole was a giant, open-seating buffet before the Crash, located on the fifth floor of the complex with an overview of the city. As the other factions reclaimed fallen sections of

413 Italics are for rare or one-time events. • E: Essential • C: Contract-specific • S: Score-specific • L: Long-term • +: And/Or (scene can be included in addition to the scene of the above type, used to replace it, or put in any combination) • - : Or (scene can be included instead of the scene of the above type) • Enclave Generation (L) • Character Creation (E) • News (L) • Vignettes (L) + MBA Options (L) + Buying Supply + Hiring + Troubleshooting + Gouging Consumers + Securing Loans + Investments and Speculation • Upkeep (E) • Finding a Job (E) - Designing a Score (S) - Prep Work (C) - Job Line (C + L) • Fixing a Price (E) - Negotiation (C) - Finding a Wholesaler (S) - Market Fiat (E) • Embarking (E) • Travel Time (E) + Market Fiat (E) + D10 Encounter Themes (E) + D100 Encounter Table (E) + Interludes (L) • The Site (E) • The Complication (E) • Return (L) + Legs (E) • Book-keeping (L) • Mr. JOLS (L) - Individual Retirements (L) - Tontine (L) Structure of a CampaIgn We’ve discussed the Workplace Essentials that make up nearly every job and the difference between Contracts and Scores (see p. 359). We’ve also talked about how to create an enclave collaboratively (see p. 406). These elements remain constants in extended play. But what differs, besides length? What makes a campaign of Red Markets different from a one-shot are the options the Market has for scenes that operate like connective tissue. But these options are just that: optional. The story remains solely in the hands of those playing at the table; this section merely seeks to expand the toolbox the Market has to tell it. Keep in mind that the order of these scenes — and even their very inclusion — isn’t prescribed. Since campaigns follow character arcs episodically over time, most of the mechanics specific to extended play focus on roleplaying prompts and procedures for defining dramatic scenes. Groups that are more action-oriented might want to skip past the roleplaying stuff, or even use Market Fiat to set a price, skip negotiations, and get straight to taking casualties. And that’s fine. As the structure of a campaign is discussed, always keep in mind that these sections are modular. Use them all, rearrange the order, add scenes of personal design, and skip the ones you don’t enjoy. Any answer that gets the group playing and having fun is the right answer. Structure At-a-Glance The elements that occur in a session of Red Markets and their suggested order are listed below. Each scene has been coded with the type of play it’s designed to facilitate, and interchangeable scenes have been indented to show what they trade with. Remember: these are suggestions. Markets are encouraged to rearrange and alter the list to fit their tastes.

414 gives the PCs some space to role-play this rare instance of leisure time, offering a free Humanity heal as a consequence of that Taker’s altruism. As another example, maybe the Takers pulled a big Contract securing weapons for some local raiders. The next session might start with a group of refugees desperately knocking on the enclave’s door. Their community was sacked by the newly emboldened raiders. They’ll die without refuge, but that’s a lot more mouths to feed with winter on the way. The Market presents the news, then sees what the Takers contribute to the debate about whether the enclave should allow entry. Self-Control checks are called for to measure how the PCs handle the consequences of their actions. Or the news could be a consequence of inaction. If every crew in the enclave refused for weeks to deal with the escaped zoo lions hunting local travelers, the session could start with bloody screams as one jumps the fence and starts slaughtering enclavists. This “news” scene would be about combat and Enclave and Character CreatIon Both have already been covered previously, but most people committing to a campaign of Red Markets will enjoy the game more if they’re playing in their own setting with their own characters. It’s not recommended that groups dive straight into a full campaign without at least trying out a one-shot Contract or Score, possibly with some pregen characters. One of the main pleasures of campaign play is the shared ownership of the narrative; make sure everyone wants to invest in that story before the group starts down that path. It’s suggested that those ready for campaign play design an enclave first (see p. 406), then move on to character creation (see p. 181). Players find it much easer to flesh out a Taker’s personality and how they fit into the different factions in the enclave once the materialist circumstances of the home enclave are defined. Markets should then take time between game nights to elaborate on the enclave generation notes as much as necessary. Write a few Contracts or design a Score. The next session starts with the Takers starting work and meeting their neighbors. News In long-term play, the Market may need some time to establish broad, sweeping changes in the setting. While each enclave’s economy is comprised of a variety of races, ethnicities, beliefs, and motivations, some events do affect everyone equally, and a news scene is where the Market presents those changes to the players. Starting the campaign session off with news is a powerful method for conveying the consequences of player action. If, for instance, one of the Takers refused to turn in an Immune musician for the bounty his slavery would earn, the next session starts off with a short scene where a number of enclave families gather around for an impromptu music festival. The tunes loosen everyone up and the whole enclave ends up having a pretty good time. The Market

415 One VIgnette per Taker Since CHA is used to determine how many Dependents a PC can support, does that mean a Taker with CHA 3 has to have three separate role-playing scenes before we even start picking a job? No. Remember, vignettes aren’t even required. If the group prefers the challenge of negotiation and combat to role-playing, Markets can skip vignettes altogether and make Dependents purely mechanical. Heal however many columns worth of Humanity equals the number of supported Dependents, and move on. But if the group does want to do some role-playing and establish the stakes of their crew’s struggle, only one scene per Taker is required to receive the full mechanical benefit of all Dependents. One Taker might have up to five family members to support, but there is only one vignette per Taker per session. It’s understood that the other relationships were less eventful and took place “off-camera.” The amount of Humanity healed from financially supported Dependents doesn’t change so long as a single vignette takes place. So Takers are limited to one scene with Dependents per session. This doesn’t mean that Vignettes can only be one-on-one. Perhaps one scene calls for a family dinner, with every other player at the table assuming the role of one Taker’s relatives. This would still count as a single vignette. If two PCs were lovers in the setting, a player might call for a vignette where the couple had a post-coitus conversation. In this instance, the player that called the scene has used the one vignette she’s allowed. The other player could choose for the pillow talk to serve as his vignette (thus healing all the Humanity allowed), or he could call for a different scene with a different Dependent. Market as DIrector Besides playing NPCs, the Market’s main responsibility during vignettes is to cut the scene. Each vignette in Red Markets has a very clear dramatic purpose. When that fleeing, but it’s a necessity affecting everyone regardless of economic class, so it would fit as a news opener. Regardless of tone, updating the players on what’s changed in the setting as a result of the character’s actions is the purpose of starting a campaign session off with the news. VIgnettes Vignettes define why Takers put themselves under such risk. The vague explanation of “financial need” in a one-shot grows thinner and more fragile the longer a character is exposed to the true horrors waiting outside the enclave. What’s needed is firm motivation to establish why these characters would regularly expose themselves to the torture of “adventure.” Like most of us in the real world, the real concern isn’t money, but the people we’ll lose if the bills aren’t paid. In Red Markets, Takers fight for their Dependents, eating the sin of the Loss so their loved ones don’t have to, fighting its nightmares so they might afford to one day flee from them. Vignettes are scenes where PCs interact with Dependents to establish the stakes risked in a campaign. As such, it’s recommended that every session of a Red Markets campaign start with vignettes. DetermIne Work/LIfe Balance If the group isn’t using the MBA rules (see p. 424), skip to the next section. If the group is using the advanced play rules, PCs first need to figure out if they can afford enough time to have a scene with Dependents. Calculate the Work/Life Balance each crewmember needs to strike in order to troubleshoot, gouge, invest, hire, borrow, Scam, and/or negotiate for the group’s finances that session. If time recovering with the family isn’t going to work out, sacrifice the vignette scene and resulting Humanity heals for an extra work scene now. That way, everyone can still take turns performing scenes going around the table because everyone knows what scenes they need to call.

416 this session. He does a fantastic job and no one is comfortable taking over that part. The Market asks Half’s player if there is some other scene he’d maybe like to try. After some consideration, it’s agreed that Half could reconnect with his son, Wes. The player that covers Wes is present for this session and game for anything. The two go about setting the scene. But what kind of scene should they play? The two could say and do literally anything. In order to make sure the scene has a point, they need to pick a theme for the vignette. Cope The most obvious goal of a Taker’s interaction with a Dependent is to cope. The Loss is a terrible place; any scars it fails to leave on the flesh it writes on the soul. The snippets of normality a Taker can grab with family and friends are usually the only things keeping them going. Mechanically, there are three roles in a vignette designed to cope. The player calling the vignette plays the Taker Another player or players assume the role(s) of the Dependent(s) The Market controls any other NPCs present in the scene... and the waking nightmares that haunt all Takers. Essentially, the two players can to have a pleasant, conflict-free interaction, but the Market injects conflict and drama into the scene by playing the PTSD-like reminders of the terrors the Taker will face again. It’s up to the player calling the vignette to determine whether they resist the errant fears or let them sour the interaction. Either way, the Taker gets to heal Humanity, but the Dependent has a harder job to do if the job is coming home with the Taker. Example: For the sake of convenience, we’ll refer to both player and character by the character’s name. The sections in quotes are spoken in character. purpose has been fulfilled, the Market stops the vignette and moves on to the next player. Try not to cut people off, but improvisation can become ponderous if allowed to go on too long. There’s also a bunch of game left to run and other characters that need spotlight time, so Markets should keep vignettes brief whenever possible. Who plays Whom? The Market has the responsibility to play other NPCs in a vignette, no matter the theme. It’s up to other players at the table to play Dependents. It’s up to the PC having the scene to assign who they want to play Dependents. Make sure everyone knows what they’re getting into before parts are assigned, though. The goal of assigning other players to play Dependents is to surprise the character who is the focus of the vignette, not to surprise the person taking on the Dependent’s role. The vignette player should announce what theme they’re planning to pursue (see the next sections) and the gist of the scene before assigning parts, or at least hash out a general idea with the other roleplayer before speaking in character. The easiest way to assign parts is to ask for volunteers the first time the Dependent makes an appearance and have that player take over the role whenever it comes up again. Or, people can trade roles between sessions and chock it up to fluid personalities resulting from living under the pressures of the Loss. It might be easiest to make a table rule that says the player to the left of the person having a vignette always plays the Dependent. The only hard and fast rule for assigning parts in a vignette is that no one should have to play a scene with a Dependent if they are uncomfortable. If no one can be found that wants to do that part, the Market can take over or the gist of the scene can be rewritten. Example: Half-off’s player is up for a vignette. He says he wants to do a cope scene with his ex-wife, going over the fight they had the previous session. The person that usually plays Half’s ex-wife is absent for

417 has a huge smile on his face. Half-Off: Awww yeah. Half’s the best dad ever. Market: But they just keep tearing away at it. Greedy handfuls shoveling into icing coated moths, teeth gone blue and black with the frosting... Half-Off: Oh, damnit... Market: They’re tearing into it just like those things tore into Drift. And then you’re back there, seeing him get turned inside out by their filthy hands as the jeep speeds away. You can hear his screams again. Half-Off: Whelp, that’s enough party for Half. I excuse myself before I throw up. Wes: “But I want you to stay for recess and meet my friends!” Half-Off: I make up a lame excuse about having to get back to work, kiss him goodbye, and get the hell out of there. End: Half-Off heals Humanity; he did, after all, make his son happy and steal a few moments of normal fatherhood. But the Market used the NPCs and memories of the Loss to insert some dramatic tension into the scene. Support The burdens of love aren’t a one-way street. In a support vignette, the Taker has to be there to solve a problem for a Dependent. The issue could be emotional, financial, or physical, but the Taker is needed to resolve the issue. The three roles in a support vignette are... The player calling the vignette plays the Taker. Another player or players assume the role(s) of the Dependent(s) in need of help. The Market controls any NPCs involved with the Dependent’s problem. Support vignettes exemplify the rationale behind having other players at the table play Dependents. Family and friends can now surprise the main PC with their needs; needs that hint at an inner life the Taker is missing out on when on the job. Some players Setup: The players decide that, after the loss of a teammate in the last session, Half-off needs to cope this vignette. Half-Off: Alright, I figure I spent my bounty supporting Wes to buy him a cake for his birthday. It takes quite a bit of work to bake an honest-to-god cake out here, so I’m going to surprise his whole class. I walk in unannounced to the schoolhouse and say “Happy Birthday, Wes!” Wes: “Dad! You’re home!” Half-Off: “You bet I am buddy! And I brought a present.” I reveal the cake from behind my back. Market: The kids, even the older ones, stare dumbfounded. None of them can remember the last time they tasted anything as sweet as icing. Even the teacher, Mrs. Beavers, looks at the cake hungrily. She eventually sputters and says, “My! That’s so generous of you, Mr...um...Wes’s Dad. What do we say class?” Wes: The whole class says thank you. Wes whispers to his friends that his dad can beat their dads in a fight cuz he’s a badass Taker that fights monsters for a living. Market: Mrs. Beavers continues, “But I didn’t know you were coming. We don’t have any plates or silverware. I was going to have the kids take recess soon, so I suppose they could wash up in the stream, but... it’s such a beautiful cake. It would be a shame just to tear into it...” Half-Off: “Well, it’s Wes’s birthday. Do you want to eat it now or later?” Wes: Hmmm. I look around torn. On the one hand, I really want that cake. On the other hand, I really don’t want to share it with anyone... Half-Off: I recognize that face and give Wes my best I’m-just-disappointed Dad stare. Wes: “Okay...I guess we can eat it now. Happy Birthday to me!” Market: The kids open the box and start grabbing handfuls of cake. Mrs. Beavers tries to get them to take one handful at a time, but she can’t resist taking some icing for herself. The kids are already on a sugar rush and Wes

418 in the past, but now she can’t imagine a complete education that doesn’t involve shooting practice. The class joins the Fencemen clearing casualties off the chainlink with the class .22. The problem is that Wes is still too small to handle the rifle well. His hit percentage isn’t high enough to get regular practice time because the enclave only grants the school so many bullets per week. All the kids make fun of him for his bad shooting, and the teasing is getting downright cruel, going so far as to imagine how Wes’s mother would be torn apart in an outbreak. School has become torture for the boy. So Half has a problem to solve. It’s up to him how he approaches it. He could spend bounty or scavenge to find Wes a personal .22 that he can handle, or he could donate more ammo to the class on the condition his son get to practice more. He could use a CHA skill to scold the bullies into leaving his son alone, convince his ex-wife to homeschool the boy, or dissuade Mrs. Beavers from the barbaric combat training for children. Regardless, the Market has to play any NPCs that come into play in Half’s solution. Engage Rather than resolving a dramatic conflict, the goal of an engage vignette is to engage the community. The scene can be nothing more than a pleasant conversation because an otherwise dull interaction can be used to flesh out the enclave. Scenes of comic relief or emotional fulfillment are welcome in Red Markets (they make the lows seem that much worse). In this scene, neither the Taker nor Dependents have any need, but they must interact with their neighbors and environment. The three roles in a support vignette are... The player calling the vignette plays the Taker Another player or players assume the role(s) of the Dependent(s) The Market controls any NPCs… and reserves the right to complicate the interaction with them. might find support vignettes easier to roleplay because the conflict experience by the Dependent provides an immediate, tangible dramatic goal for the character to pursue. This may or may not involve skill checks, but unless playing with the Bust Rule: Uncertain Vignettes, Takers heal Humanity just for the attempt. Example: For simplicity’s sake, let’s stick with Half-Off and his son Wes. Let’s imagine what would happen if he chose to do a support vignette instead. In this instance, it’s up to Wes’s player what the character needs, and Half has to fulfill that need. This may or may not involve skill checks, but unless playing with the Bust Rule: Uncertain Vignettes, Half heals Humanity just for the attempt. Wes needs to fit in with the rest of his classmates. Mrs. Beavers now includes marksmanship in her class lessons. Arming children with firearms is something the elementary teacher would have balked at

419 MIlestone The last type of vignette only occurs when a Taker fulfills a retirement milestone. Notably, fulfilling a retirement milestone heals no Humanity. In fact, paying that much money at once to set up a retirement plan provokes a Self-Control: Stress check. The Market might dictate mechanical benefits or penalties depending on the exact retirement plan. For instance, in the standard plan (see p. 216), it would be fair to say that Dependents no longer count against break point once they’re smuggled to a safe house in the Recession. But it would be equally fair to say that they no longer heal Humanity for the remainder of the campaign, as contacting them would only put them at risk. Markets should cater the results to the Boom/Bust Example: It’s been a rough few sessions on Half-Off. The Taker needs some baggage-free downtime. The Market reminds everyone that they can engage. In exchange for helping define the enclave more, the Market will hold back on flashbacks and Dependent requests. After some thought, Half says that he wants to go see Wes’s soccer game. There are enough kids in the enclave to field two half-strength squads. They play on the concrete floor of an abandoned warehouse. Normally, so much free space would be used for farming, but the roof collapsed years ago and the concrete is too thick to remove. The kids play on a field outlined with chalk with the enclave’s one precious soccer ball. Wes scores a goal. The father and son role-play their celebration. All-in-all, it’s a perfect case for Half-Off healing Humanity. But the Market is dissatisfied with the scene. Suddenly, Half’s is asked to assign the rest of his Dependents roles at the table: his ex-wife and her new husband, Chad, have shown up to watch the game too. Half’s still better off for having come, but the scene just got more dramatically interesting. Best of all, everyone at the table now knows about an abandoned factory floor turned soccer field upon which they can stage their own vignettes. Support: Humanity recovery depends on skill checks required to meet Dependent’s needs, but it can only be healed after the job. This is because the Dependent needs something that can only be found outside the fence (medicine, personal keepsakes, etc.) The Taker needs to bring the item back in order to keep the family happy and healthy. CrITICAL FAILURE Support: Humanity recovery depends on skill checks required to meet the Dependent’s needs. FAILURE Cope: Humanity recovery depends on succeeding a Self-Control check when the flashback hits. SUCCESS Engage: No checks are required for Humanity healing, and the Dependent has a gift for the Taker (Market retains veto power: your sister didn’t get you a cannon for your birthday). CRITICAL SUCCESS RESULTS VIGNETTE Bust Rule: UncertaIn VIgnettes We can’t control other people, and we can only sometimes control our reactions to them. Retaining Humanity becomes more challenging when the rules acknowledge this. In this Bust variant, vignettes become high-stakes gambles. Takers still only get one vignette, but now the dice determine the type. It’s now possible for the scene to go so badly that the Taker loses all free columns of Humanity healing; receiving the benefits of Dependents now depends on financial support and skill checks. To use uncertain vignettes, the Market rolls Black and Red. Check the result on the table and follow the instructions.

420 Those comfortable thinking on the fly and utilizing the book’s random generators can design a Score in the moment. Since the session has already started, the in-character methods are suggested, as they keep everyone engaged with the narrative even as they step outside the setting a bit to engage in some group game design. Prep Work If negotiating a Contract, the prep work phase preceding negotiations would go here (see p. 324). Job LInes Job lines allow a campaign to grow beyond its episodic job-of-the-week structure. Each line, offered by recurring NPCs, enclaves, and settlements, represents a major opportunity for players to shape the setting and steer local politics by doing their normal jobs. Creating a job line is simple. The Market thinks of a major change they would like to see in the campaign setting, splits the work required to enact that change into jobs, and offers Contracts to the PCs using a notable NPC or group of NPC clients. Assuming the first job is completed to everyone’s satisfaction, the client offers the next job in the line to the Takers first; the crew is their trusted provider, and competition isn’t entertained unless absolutely necessary. For example, consider grimecloth: the cheap, patchwork textile made from clothing salvaged off zombies and sterilized. If the grimecloth industry wants to expand their operations with a casualty slaughterhouse near the PCs’ area, there’s a lot of work to be done. Locations need to be scouted, perimeters secured, laborers escorted, casualties lured — all these tasks require the assistance of Takers, and the grimecloth folks are willing to pay extra for reliable operators. Completion of a job line means more than another payday. Such a big operation in the area is going to bring a lot of trade to the local enclaves, but it could bring just as much hardship. The grimecloth industry’s leanings of the game, but losing out on a vignette and taking a Stress hit is often challenge enough. As for role-playing, the retirement milestone defines the dramatic situation. Perhaps the Taker is negotiating with a document forger over Ubiq, or hiring a competing Taker crew to exterminate anything at the site of her future enclave. Remember, the Taker has been working for this goal for the entire campaign; assume that grunt work of setting up the plan has already been done. The Taker needs not role-play anything but the final preparations for that step. Keep things brief and focused on the character’s goals. MBA OptIons There are a number of other vignette-style scenes available to groups diving into the MBA rules (see p. 424). The specifics of those mechanics can be found in that chapter. For now, suffice it say that all MBA scenes are played after the vignettes standard in campaign play. Upkeep Upkeep is dealt with on p. 223. It’s important to note any changes in sustenance and maintenance upkeep early in a game session. It allows players more information with which to select a job, and it can affect the price in Contract negotiations. It’s a good idea to get any changes to the book-keeping done and recorded on the crew sheet early, especially if utilizing the NBNB Rule. FIndIng a Job Finding a job is a workplace essential in both one-shots and campaign. This is where those scenes fit best. DesIgnIng a Score If the Market isn’t comfortable with improv, it’s still suggested that designing Scores be done at the end of the previous session instead. This gives ample time to plan intriguing complications.

421 variety without sacrificing the satisfaction of a lengthy, interconnected narrative. And, ultimately, crafting a job line isn’t so different. Just remember, job lines... • Exist to facilitate a momentous change in the campaign’s setting. • Require the PCs to execute, prevent, or alter the change. • Offer every Contract after the first successful one with no competition. • Remember spots between negotiations, both for the Takers and the client. • Can interact and oppose the goals of other job lines. FIxIng a PrIce Once a job is found, the next step is fixing a price for it. For Contracts and job lines, negotiations would come next (see p. 320). For a Score, someone might need to have scene with a wholesaler (see p. 394). Finally, those itching to get straight to the action could skip the whole thing and name a price with Market Fiat (see p. 379). EmbarkIng Not so much a scene as a reminder to be sure to give PCs a chance to stock up on anything they might need before they leave for the job. With the negotiations done, this is the best opportunity they have to make an informed decision on what gear to pack. Travel TIme Travel time is made up of legs. These narrative encounters provide much of a job’s challenge, factor into price fixing, and characterize the omnipresent danger of the Loss. Examples of legs and prompts for writing your own can be found in the tables at the end of the book. But there are a few concerns for legs in extended play a Market might consider. There, and Maybe Back AgaIn Takers only get paid for the journey to a job site, never the journey back. Clients don’t dependence on casualties for production is going to flood the area with undead, and their success could lure vital workers away from other enclaves that depend on them. By progressing along a job line or choosing to cease doing business, the players should always being making moral choices and determining the fate of the setting around them. Completing a line means the Takers want to see a change in their community... Or that they can’t resist the temptation of extra profit. One of the mechanical benefits of a job line is that the client might be someone that the Taker already knows. Knowing a client’s spots before haggling frees Scams up to push a price even higher. Of course, the client remembers the Takers’ spots too, and their previous dealings mean they’ll be more likely to bring persuasive gifts and do homework on the crew’s reputation. In this regard, job lines offer increasing challenge to experienced Red Markets players. Negotiations become more tactical and highstakes than ever before as difficulty increases the chance for reward. There can be multiple job lines going at any one time, and they can be at cross-purposes. If both the DHQS and the Moths want to secure a political foothold in the region, they both want to use the most accomplished Takers available. If that happens to be the PC crew and they’ve worked for both factions before, they can have job lines open up on both sides of the conflict. However, clients are bound to recognize being played at some point. Eventually, one side will realize it’s more profitable to eliminate their opponent’s tool rather than keep borrowing it. At that point, the side the PCs helped more becomes a very important factor in shaping the setting as market forces shift their allegiances to the crew and their entire enclave. Job lines are the main reason the person running the game retains the right of Market fiat. It’s difficult to craft lasting, highstakes stories by randomizing everything. By using tools for random one-shots and designing lines, Markets can offer the group

422 to exit the area. If the enclave is secured on an island, there might be a ferry ride at the start of every job. If nothing bears repeating a leg encounter besides geography, Markets are encouraged to skip these scenes and not register them as legs. On the other hand, if the leg has a particularly dangerous obstacle, variable cast of NPCs, or a particularly interesting NPC guards that particular crossroads, Markets might make a campaign leg that serves as a rite of passage for every job. However, the only reason to have a campaign leg is to look forward to how it will change in the next session. If the same interaction happens every week on the same stretch of boring road, just skip that scene. Remember: legs are a narrative measurement, not a physical one. The only reason to repeat a campaign leg that doesn’t change is to build scheduled downtime into every job. In this instance, an interlude would be a good idea. Interludes and LImIts Interludes are moments where the players trade character exploration in exchange for a break from physical danger (see p. 446). Interludes are conversation amongst the crew during a quiet stretch of road, sparked by roleplaying prompts or proposed by the players. The scene gets Takers some alone time amongst their peers and relieves them from the uncertain danger of the world outside the enclave. However, Takers are limited to one interlude per job. This doesn’t mean they’re only allowed one scene of role-playing — talk in-character as much as you like — but an interlude can only replace one leg encounter. So, if the crew reminiscences about a movie they all loved, that interlude replaces the raider ambush the Market had planned. If they proceed to recite the entire movie from memory, then the players are just making the game longer. That aberrant is still waiting for them over the horizon. care about your problems, and getting home alive is strictly your problem. Furthermore, it makes narrative sense to only do legs on the way to a job site; considering the danger, a crew would most likely retrace its steps rather than risk new disasters. Lastly, skipping the legs on the way home keeps the game from ending on an anti-climax. Legs are the rising action of the plot while complications at the job site make for dynamic, exciting conclusions. Turning legs into a denouement can extend the game past its welcome. Still, if something exciting or challenging happens after a job is complete, make it a leg and surprise the players with it. But unless the event is specifically climactic or tied to events at the job site, try to keep travel time scenes strictly on the way to the job site. CampaIgn Legs It might make sense to have certain legs repeat across different jobs. If the survivors are located in a mountainous basin, there might be legs specific to the pass they choose

423 The Crew Sheet The Crew Sheet is a character sheet for the Market. It’s the vital statistics of a campaign. If using the MBA rules, the Crew Sheet is a vital tool for everyone to use at the table to keep track of their various investments and business ventures. Even in more basic play, the sheet remains very useful to Markets. Having things like the Break Point prerecorded make price fixing much faster. A catalog of previous jobs, Scores, and job lines improves role-playing as both NPCs and players have a written record for callbacks. Finally, a well-maintained Crew Sheet is vital for Markets seeking to fine-tune their campaigns. If the players have been getting shafted a lot lately, it might be time to throw them a bone during the next job’s leg. If they’ve been rolling in bounty, it’s probably time to engineer a brutal setback. The Crew Sheet is the tool Markets use to engineer the story arcs they want to see in the next session, so keep it up to date. The SIte and ComplIcatIon Nothing changes about sites and complications during extended play. Markets should keep in mind that complications are a good place to reinforce job lines. It’s excellent narrative placement for a recurring antagonist to rear its head. Return The return journey back from a job is the easiest section to cut. Still, if the Market has a delayed complication or climactic leg to throw in, now is the time. Book-keepIng Complete what little accounting is required by the game at the end of a session. It’s easy for players to say they’re going to get their numbers recorded, forget about it, and come back to the next session with a character sheet in complete disarray. It’s much better to calculate incidentals, make purchases, pay debts, and assess penalties while the session is still fresh in everyone’s mind. In the same amount of time it takes to clear up snacks and gather coats, the group can ensure everyone arrives at the next game ready to play. There are a few concerns regarding bookkeeping specific to the Market. Learn to Delegate You are not your players’ accountant. You are not the IRS. Concerns about cheating are a communication and expectation issue, not an additional responsibility for the person running the game. If something is brazen, call it out, but otherwise let players keep their own books. Best-case scenario: keeping track of every item in every player’s inventory takes away valuable processing power that could be spent writing better jobs. Worst-case scenario: getting nosey in a character’s books is seen as a breech of trust at the table. The only numbers a Market needs to record go on the Crew Sheet. Those who steal from private individuals spend their lives in stocks and chains; those who steal from the public treasure go dressed in gold and purple. -Cato the Elder

424 WorkIng a Double Experienced campaign players eventually come up with the idea of doing two or more Contracts at once, or designing a Score that just so happens to be on the way to a client’s job site. This is especially likely in campaigns that utilize a lot of real-world locations and mapping software. When the group sees that Job A and Job B are right next to each other, it’s natural to ask, “why not do both?” The Market should encourage this type of thinking. After all, maximizing efficiency is the cornerstone of economic success. But the group needs to understand that there are no labor laws in the Loss, and when you are your own boss, you have to play the exploited worker before you get to be the fat cat. The Danger of SplIt ShIfts If players want to work two jobs at once, they may do so. The only requirement is that the MBA Rules The core activity of Red Markets is risking death for profit in the Loss. However, realworld economics promotes a much more diverse labor pool. Perhaps the group wants to explore business opportunities other than the Taker model, or maybe a group’s ethics require supplemental income to make up for Contracts declined. It could be that the players are experienced enough with the Profit System to know that diversifying portfolios will get them out faster. But always remember the game is about being a Taker, not a business-owner. Focusing too heavily on other forms of capital can detract from the experience if the Market doesn’t carefully consider which activities fit into the group’s expectations of the narrative. MBA rules are for players that have already mastered the basic structure of Red Markets and want to dive deeper into the game.

425 Small BusInesses Risk is factored into any successful business model. Many PCs might decide the risk of going over the fence isn’t worth the reward. Why not try some occupation besides Taking? After all, there would be no clients hiring Takers if other endeavors in the Loss weren’t seeing at least some success. What’s wrong with traditional retail? It may take longer to reach retirement, but the chances of living to see that day go way up. The problem with founding non-Taker small businesses in Red Markets is the role-playing challenge they present to players. Working a 9-to-5 certainly constitutes economic horror (hell, it inspires it), but keeping a character’s life interesting when the only antagonist is the grind of daily labor can be difficult. These struggles compound exponentially with the ensemble cast represented by a gaming group. An RPG designed for characters that do nothing besides run a hot-dog cart in the Loss could just as easily be designed to simulate running a hot-dog cart in real-life. There’s definitely horror to be found in the do-or-die mentality of mundane capitalism, but it’s much harder to wring the catharsis of horror fiction from the same source. Still, small businesses — both real and fictional — encourage innovation and help define entire communities. Markets should avoid vetoing a player’s entrepreneurial schemes outright; the trick is to allow creative economic solutions without letting the game descend into banalities. Risk can be minimized, but never eliminated. rules must reflect the economic situation: namely, the reward only doubles if the available resources are halved. What does this mean? When working two jobs at once: 1. Both have to be negotiated using the same number of Scams that would be used for a single job. This means that a group of four would only have three Scams to split across negotiating two jobs (one Scam is lost for the negotiator, and the three remaining players can’t Scam both clients at once). 2. All the normal refresh and replenishment that occurs between jobs is delayed. Haul doesn’t refresh until the end of both Contracts and/or Scores. Will doesn’t refill unless spots are played. First Aid in the field is the only healing available, and Dependents only heal Humanity once at the beginning of the session. 3. There’s always at least one Leg tacked on to the travel time that won’t be compensated by either client, unless the jobs are located at the exact same site. It’s up to the Market to decide exactly how far the two job sites are apart, but clients are never going to pay for their employees to go moonlighting. 4. Failing to perform some aspect of a Contract due to moonlighting earns an automatic -Rep spot “Checks the Ass Can’t Cash.” 5. Upkeep remains the same no matter how many Contracts a crew is working at one time. About the only thing that doesn’t get harder working a double is upkeep — that’s the entire point of doing two jobs at once. Even working a double where both jobs are unqualified successes, Takers are going to stumble back to the enclave physically and mentally drained. Hopefully, it ends up being worth it, but that’s everybody’s gamble, isn’t it? Gold alone does passion move! Gold monopolizes love! A curse on her and on the man Who this traffic first began. -Abraham Cowley

426 quality of the employee mark-up. As long as the employee is paid, this is the standard mark-up. Mark-up is added to equilibrium to make the final price per unit. 4. Determine liquidity, or number of units that can be sold per session. a. Liquidity is determined by the Supply/ Demand chart. The price (Black + mark up) offered sets the Demand. Supply (normally the Red) is determined by the number of units left to sell. b. Supply/Demand and Liquidity − Flooded = 0-1 units per session (Market rolls; if Black beats Red, one sale was made) − Subsidiary = 1 units per session − Scarce = 2 units per session − Volatile = 3 units per session 5. Takers’ calculate Work/Life Balance 1. Takers working Sales costs one work vignette. 2. Interviewing and hiring potential employees costs one work vignette. 3. Maintaining employees costs bounty every session, and mark-up remains constant. 4. Manipulating equilibrium requires a work vignette, just as a Scam that would affect equilibrium in negotiations. 5. Troubleshooting costs a work vignette. Score Supply Businesses need a steady source of supply in order to operate. Manufacturers need raw materials. Distributors need transportation. Retailers need goods. Everyone needs labor. But five years into the Loss, any reliable source of supply has already been snatched up and commoditized. The lucky few with their hands on the economic reins make up the wholesalers and clients that employ Takers in the first place. Players that want a steady, constant revenue stream despite the chaos of the Loss should realize that such sophisticated operations require experience When Takers want to start a small business besides Taking, refer to the following rules and record the results on the Crew sheet (see p. 488). Just make sure everyone understands that a lot of small businesses fail... which was true even before the zombies came. Small BusInesses At-a-Glance 1. Score Supply: a. Run a Score to supply the business. The number of units recovered determines the Supply. The Market rolls Black to determine value per unit. b. Convince a wholesaler, using Persuasion and a +Rep spot, to provide initial assets at cost. The Market rolls Black to determine the price per unit. Takers may buy however many units that are offered (the Red die) and they can afford; investing up front always calls for a Self-Control: Stress check. c. The Takers start with a supply, gifted to them through a Pro Bono job or found during a particularly lucky (crit. success) Leg. 2. Market rolls on the Troubleshooting table and interprets what happens. a. At least one Taker must sacrifice a work vignette (see “Work/Life balance” p. 434) to deal with Troubleshooting. 3. Gouge Customers (roll equilibrium) a. The Black is the bounty per unit. Mark up is determined by... − Takers: Doing sales personally requires a Work Vignette scene. The modified Black # on a successful Persuasion check by whomever is working the business determines mark-up. Mark-up is added to equilibrium to make the final price per unit. − Employees: Hired Help must be interviewed in a Work Vignette scene. The modified Black # on a successful Sensitivity check made by the business owner indicates the

427 Step One: Find a Wholesaler: The group needs to find a wholesaler that specializes in what they need (trucks, protein powder, livestock... whatever). More details on creating wholesaler NPCs can be found in the section on Scores (see p. 396). Step Two: Generate the Wholesale Price The asset’s equilibrium needs to be generated. Roll Black/Red. The Black is the amount Takers have to pay per unit. The Red is the maximum number of units the wholesaler can sell to them. The number isn’t added together when initially investing in a business because it A) represents a wholesale price and B) the number of units Takers buy determines their initial supply. What’s a unit? It depends on whether the PC business offers goods, services, or some combination of the two, as well as the bulk such businesses typically deal in. It could be price per trip for a trucking service, or the price per truck to start a trucking business. Equilibrium price could be 10 repairs at a garage, or price per 100 rat kebobs sold. Narratively, the group can describe whatever fits. The point of a unit price is that it establishes how much supply Takers can afford to buy initially; later, equilibrium and units factor into Liquidity (see p. 434). Keep in mind: the price might be higher or lower in the community where the wholesaler operates than it is at the Takers’ home enclave. If the price is too steep, they need to find another entrepreneurial opportunity (buy low; sell high). Furthermore, if the Takers move the goods to another marketplace, the Red die sticks at the number of units they bought, while Black fluctuates with where they go in the setting. Step Three: Ingratiate Yourself Getting the wholesaler to agree to sell the goods at cost requires three things: A. A successful Persuasion check, to be role-played between a PC and the Market (playing a wholesaler, of course). to run and a hefty initial investment. In short, those that want a “sure thing” should make joining the wasteland’s business elite the focus of their retirement plans. By their very nature, any other endeavors remain fleeting. Stealing and salvaging supply from the Loss is the quickest way to start a small business. Most Takers need to run a Score before founding a business. The only difference between a mission to establish a small business and a regular Score is that, once the goods are acquired, Takers use them to start their own endeavor rather than offloading the package onto a wholesaler. Essentially, this means running a Score without hope of profit, with the intention of ensuring a more reliable revenue stream in later games. Scores to secure supply don’t have to be planned beforehand. If the group manages a huge windfall of goods or accidentally captures a means of production during an unrelated Score, they can certainly hold back and sell only enough to keep the wholesaler from getting suspicious. However, once the Takers go into business for themselves, the wholesaler is going to be pissed. Skimming off the top of a Score to start your own business earns a -Rep spot “Schemer,” and that NPC becomes a direct competitor. AlternatIve Supply: BuyIng Wholesale Perhaps the Takers think the mortal danger of a Score isn’t worth it without immediate payment. They might want to buy their initial supply by securing a wholesale price from another distributor, then marking up their own prices to secure a profit. Not a bad plan — it’s certainly how things were done before the Crash. But here’s the thing: wholesalers don’t stay in business if they give their goods away. Getting someone to provide start-up supply at cost is a huge favor to ask, typically reserved for friends and family. For groups that want to skip the physical effort required to secure supply, use the following rules:

428 provoke a level-2 Self-Control: Stress check, regardless of whether or not the group is pooling resources. Small businesses were gambles in the best of times and it is not the best of times. Anxiety remains part of the price to play. Once the check is made, the Crew can buy as many units of supply as they can afford. Step Five: Distribution Depending on where their wholesaler was located, the Takers must now either transport their units of starting supply back home (a dangerous adventure, all by itself) or start the next phase, “Gouging Consumers” (see p. 432). AlternatIve Supply: GIftIng Supply Leaving a golden opportunity just lying in the middle of road is one of the ways the Market can interpret a critical success when randomly generating Legs. The crew can B. Burning a +Rep spot. Nobody is going to consider such a massive discount unless trust has already been established between the Crew and wholesaler. If you don’t have one, earn one. C. Taking a -Rep spot “You Owe Me.” This spot is specific to the wholesaler, but it can be used at any time. If the PCs are negotiating with another Client that knows the wholesaler, the Market can say the debt got sold off and it can be used for additional Sway in negotiations. If the wholesaler wants a small job done pro bono, the -Rep spot can call in that favor. Step Four: Doing the Deal Once the wholesaler agrees to sell at a discount, the Takers need to make the initial investment. This surplus is going to have to come from their professional development budget, retirement plans, or a loan. Any funds that don’t come from Pro. Dev. Budgets

429 mistakes rather than fate. The anxiety over how to keep a surplus from turning into folly is a great opportunity for meaningful role-play. TroubleshootIng Murphy’s is the only law the rules the Loss. Even the most mundane concerns are plagued by extraordinary problems — somebody has to be there to run things. Since it doesn’t exist unless it’s played out at the table, working a shift at the store needs a scene with at least one of the Takers. Before any vignettes regarding a small business play out, the Market rolls 1d10 on the troubleshooting table. The result determines what has changed in the enclave’s economy since the last session. Most problems that arise can be solved, but doing so demands resources from the PCs (see “Work/Life Balance” p. 434). hide it and smuggle the goods back into the enclave after they finish whatever Contract/ Score was originally being worked. A supply of goods big enough to start a business could also serve as a powerful Gift spot in negotiations with an NPC client. Either way, gifting Takers with enough free supply to start a small business is a risky proposition for those that seek to control player behavior. There’s no reason the crew can’t offload the stock to a wholesaler and treat their luck as a one-off lump sum. In fact, that’s probably the safest thing to do. Markets should therefore gift supply to provoke interesting character choices; it is not a tool for forcing players into trying the MBA rules. If Takers have no obligations to use their jackpot any specific way, it makes for a better narrative: future success results from virtue rather than luck and future failures are An Example of Gifting Supply As the crew crests a hill, they find an overturned caravan. The carts are upside down, and the horses pulling them have been gutted and gnawed upon. Likewise, all the guards and merchants are dead, their mutilated bodies long ago looted by some other passing crew. The mob or creature responsible for this massacre has long since left the area. All that remains are the coffins the caravan was hauling, unopened and undisturbed. If the Takers open the coffins, they find that the coffins don’t contain dead bodies, but rather “Real Dolls.” These elaborate silicone mannequins served as luxury items for a certain demographic before the Crash, and now the crew has (the Market rolls B10/R7) seven of them valued at 10 bounty a piece. So what to do? Getting these heavy bastards back to the enclave is going to be a pain, and hiding them so they can be recovered after the Contract they are currently on might be just as hard. If they do get them back, there are certainly enough lonely men left in the Loss to make some serious money off these things, but is that how the Crew wants to brand itself? The folks who kill casualties when they aren’t pimping robots? Alternately, the Crash created a new demand for faux funerals: burial services for loved ones still wandering as casualties or otherwise assumed dead. If the crew could heat and reshape the latex faces into the likeness of a dead loved one, the crew could provide a valuable psychological service for families at the enclave... for a bloated price that now includes all these free coffins. But, in this instance, now there’s the problem of finding and hiring someone capable of turning a doll meant to look like a double-D porn-star into some approximation of Grandma. Maybe it’s all too unsavory and the crew leaves them lying in the road, or perhaps they offer that creeper Felt-Touch Phil a discount and sign everything over to his wholesaling operation. There’s no choice players can make that doesn’t reveal something about their characters, which is the best justification for gifting supply.

430 Something completely outside the Takers’ control threatens the supply, employee(s), equilibrium, or another essential aspect of the business. Lightning hits the shed. The company or its employees are falsely accused of a crime. A shift in politics or inter-enclave relations crashes the price. Whatever the Market describes, the risk is always the permanent shutdown of the business. To prevent this, Takers must risk their own physical, mental, or financial health in addition to the usual cost in Work/Life Balance. For example, they could risk entering a burning building to save the supply. They could stake their reputation and defend an employee in court. They could address the entire enclave to calm the financial panic. The more Takers that work to save the business, the less severe the consequences for failed rolls. However, the cost in work/life balance remains constant. When is it better just to accept your losses? 1 Act of God Though bad in the long run, slight economic downturn can be a boon to small operations. As employment opportunities dwindle, employers can lower wages safe in the knowledge that few better opportunities exist. If the crew employs anyone to run the business, a Taker can make a Deception check. On a success, the wages per session lower by 2 bounty as the Taker feigns “poor me” and encourages belt-tightening. On a failure, employees understand they’re being screwed, but the Taker can still lower wages 1 bounty by being a dick about it. This latter tactic doesn’t require an additional roll to work, but shafting workers always provokes a Self-Control: Detachment check. Of course, a crew can choose to waste this opportunity to reduce costs. In that case, check Self-Control: Stress. Markets might also doll out some + or -Rep spots for exceptionally generous or miserly role-playing. 2 Wages Stagnate Though good in the long run, an economic boom at the enclave can hurt costs in the short term. Lots of new ventures mean lots of employment opportunities. Takers have to compete to retain valuable employees. If the crew employs anyone, they ask for a raise. Resisting this request requires a Deception check. On a success, the workers believe that the Taker is struggling and only asks for a 1 bounty raise. On a failure, the workers recognize the Taker’s greed and demand a 2 bounty raise. Without a Deception check, the workers automatically ask for 2 bounty because they sense a pushover. Role-play accordingly. Refusing to give out any kind of raise results in the employees quitting. The Market can give out + an -Rep spots accordingly for generous bonuses and exceptionally nasty resignations. Liquidity is stable. Price is fixed. Mark-up is working. Employees are happy. Everything is going according to plan. For crew’s with employees, just pay wages as normal and apply the typical mark-up. If a Taker wants to work a shift, calculate work/life balance normally. Subtract units of supply, add bounty, and move on with the game. Nothing goes wrong. The minimum effort keeps things going. 3 Wages RISE 4 BUSINESS AS USUAL TROUBLE DESCRIPTION

431 The number of units goes down without any sales. The Market rolls a 1d10: 1-3: Lose one unit 4-6: Lose two units 7-9: Lose three units 10: Lose four units It’s up to the Market why this happens and who is responsible. Perishable stocks can spoil. Goods can be stolen by employees or burglars, and assets can be sabotaged. The Market should always provide an opportunity to recover at least some of the lost supply, but doing so always costs in work/life balance or additional risk. 5 SHRINKAGE The invisible hand of the Market raises the value of what the small business offers. Roll 1d10: 1-3: Add one bounty to demand (Black) 4-6: Add two bounty to demand (Black) 7-9: Add three bounty to demand (Black) 10: Add four bounty to demand (Black) Mark-up is still determined by the skills of the Taker or employee in charge, but increased demand means it’s that much easier to profit. Liquidity is based off the new price. There doesn’t need to be an established reason for the shift in demand. Economies are often too complex to explain fully. Markets are free to come up with narrative reasons, though. 6 DEMAND RISES Capricious fate devalues the business’s bread and butter. 1-3: Subtract one bounty from demand (Black) 4-6: Subtract two bounty from demand (Black) 7-9: Subtract three bounty from demand (Black) 10: Subtract four bounty from demand (Black) Mark-up is still determined by the skills of the Taker or employee in charge, but decreased demand means it’s that much harder to profit. Liquidity is based off the new price. There doesn’t need to be an established reason for the shift in demand. Economies are often too complex to explain fully. Markets are free to come up with narrative reasons, though. 7 DEMAND FALLS Images of agency are increasingly distortions of a world of merchandising so subtle that the consumer is consistently helped to believe that he or she is an actor, where in fact he or she is at best a chooser. -Arjun Appadurai

432 is a Scam and costs in terms of work/life balance (see p. 434). Example: Securocrat, a Taker from the Oxford Crew, has given up time with his family to run the group’s rat kabob food truck between jobs. If he fails a Persuasion check, the most he can sell the kabobs for is their starting price, which is currently B3/ R2, making for a price of 3 bounty per unit (apparently, rodent foodstuffs are a subsidiary good). If he makes a Persuasion check, Securocrat hawks his wares and makes raton-a-stick seem more delicious than it has any right to be. Securocrat’s player role-plays the best pitch for rat cuisine he can think of and rolls the dice. They land B5+1/R1. That means he’ll be able to sell each unit for three times the initial price, at 9 bounty a piece! Apparently, Securocrat is the only Michelin-star gourmet rat peddler in the Loss. Jumping up demand that high changes the Gouge Consumers Whereas the Black and Red are usually added together in Scores and Contracts, only the Black counts towards equilibrium price in a small business. This is because no stable business operating on a daily basis inside an enclave can withstand the sort of scarcity and risk Taker jobs undergo. (It also keeps Red Markets from descending into a game entirely about bean counting and keeps things scarce enough to encourage the regular cycle of desperate adventure). But profit must be made, even by narrow margins. The goods or services must be priced high enough to compensate for the capital it took to secure them. How much of a price mark-up the players can get away with depends on the social skills of the person running the business. The added mark-up is the modified Black # on a successful CHA check, made by the PC running the shop. Taking time to run the shop Though equilibrium remains stable, liquidity increases. It’s up to the Market why this occurs. Perhaps the population came into some disposable income, or maybe the weather is just nice. The change occurs regardless of the narrative around it or what Supply/Demand chart would normally describe. Whatever the economic condition, increase liquidity by one for this session only. 8 LIQUIDITY INCREASES Though equilibrium remains stable, liquidity decreases. It’s up to the Market to explain, but it’s more than likely that the enclave is either entering an economic depression or the populace begins to realize it has a surplus of whatever the business offers. The change occurs regardless of the narrative around it or what Supply/Demand chart would normally describe. Decrease liquidity by one. If the business is already flooded, no sales can be made this session. 9 LIQUIDITY dECREASES Someone is trying to offload a surplus of exactly what the business sells. It could be the result of an inheritance, or a going-out-of-business sale. Whatever the reason, everything must go. The Market rolls Red. The result is the number of new units of supply available. The price per unit equals the latest demand price (the Black die). There is no mark-up. The NPC needs to offload the material fast, offering it at cost. Do the Takers pull money from retirement in order to replenish their supply at a discount? Borrow it? Do they let the opportunity pass? They can worry about budgets or wonder about what may have been; either way calls for a Self-Control: Stress check. And keep in mind, more units means that the Supply/Demand situation has changed as well. 10 WINDFALL

433 the learn pantsuit lady is a meth addict when she’s found smoking rocks in the storage room. Finally, pay needs to be negotiated. Unlike more serious Contract negotiation, this can be determined by a single Persuasion check. The price to pay the employee equals the unmodified Red on a success. On a failure, the cost to pay is Red PLUS the Taker’s Persuasion skill. Cost is to be split as evenly as possible amongst the Crew. Employees are assumed to remain loyal and hardworking until supply runs out or the troubleshooting table (see p. 430) says otherwise. Employees can be narrated as a single worker or the foreman of a group of hired help. Regardless of the workforce, the price negotiated for wages stays the same. No business large enough to subdivide wages over dozens of workers can be maintained while still working as a Taker. businesses liquidity (see “Liquidity” p. 434), jumping rat from subsidiary to scarce on the Supply/Demand chart. With only two units of rat left to sell (R2), the crew will run out this session. HIrIng Help What’s the point of being the boss if you have to work all the time? A Taker’s potential is not realized cooking, cleaning, or waiting behind a counter. Skills can be put to better use over the fence, securing big profits from wealthy clients or hunting lost treasures. Why not give some of the many impoverished enclavists some much-needed employment? Because good help is hard to find. Finding qualified, reliable people in need of work requires a Research check for every applicant. Failure means no one wants the work or that a Reference is going to have to help find someone. After that, the person in charge of the crew’s HR has to interview the applicant. This requires a Sensitivity check and some role-playing. Failing the check means the employee is a loafer, but the Taker won’t learn this until the business underperforms by selling units without mark-up. Success determines how good the employee is a selling the product. Unlike gouging customers personally, the mark-up earned by a hardworking employee depends on the manager’s ability to identify that employee. The modified Black # on a successful Sensitivity check made by the business owner indicates the quality of the employee mark-up. This rate remains constant as long as the person is employed. It’s suggested that the Market and the PC role-play the interview process after the roll. That way, the NPC’s personality can be determined by the numbers on the Sensitivity roll. If it’s B10 +3/R5, the Market can say the lady shows up in a pressed pantsuit despite it being the apocalypse. Conversely, on a B1+1/ R10, the Market gets to play a transient on a meth-binge that accidentally stumbled into a job interview. On a B5/R5, the Taker only gets

434 check means each unit is selling for 13 bounty. The liquidity in volatile marketplaces is three, which means Sanguine just moved 39 bounty in product! However, with three units gone, the bike shop’s supply has dropped to four, and the price drops back down to its equilibrium of five once Sanguine stops hustling. Next session, it remains to be seen whether they’ll be able to bump bikes up to scarce or if conditions depress into subsidiary goods. Work/LIfe Balance Red Markets expresses the time between jobs in terms of work/life balance. This means that each Taker gets one short scene detailing a typical professional activity and one scene to establish a typical home life. In the core game, work is always whatever Scam the Taker pulls before or during negotiations. If negotiations don’t last that long, or if the crew is doing a Score, the work scene is ignored entirely: after all, real Taker work is done over the fence. The Taker’s domestic life is always represented by a vignette with a Dependent (see “Vignettes” p. 415). On rare occasions, the life scene has to be dedicated to fulfilling a retirement milestone, but that’s as varied as vignettes get in basic play. MBA rules don’t change the work/life balance so much as give players the tools to screw it up. When running a small business, the options for the work scene go far beyond Scams. 1. A Taker gouging customers and working the business Working retail, cooking food, running invoices — none of these help recover from the last job or prepare for the new one. If a Taker wants to work at the business and use Persuasion to secure a mark-up, that replaces the work time typically dedicated to Scams or engaging in negotiation. For a business to be successful without driving any Takers nuts, the Crew needs to cover shifts in turns or hire help. LIquIdIty Liquidity is the rate at which an asset can be sold without drastically altering the asset’s price. In Red Markets, liquidity is measured in the number of units that can be sold per game session at the current price, including markup. A game session is defined as one Contract or Score, regardless how much actual time it takes to finish. Liquidity is determined by where the price falls on the Supply/Demand chart. Liquidity (increases clockwise around the Supply/Demand chart) Flooded = 0-1 unit per session (Market rolls; if Black beats Red, one sale was made) Subsidiary = 1 unit per session Scarce = 2 units per session Volatile = 3 units per session The combination of liquidity, equilibrium price, and mark-up are responsible for turning hard-won supply into bounty. However, liquidity can be affected by the Troubleshooting roll and the mark-up. Example: The Troubleshooting roll is anticlimactic. It’s just another day in the Loss. Sanguine works her shift at the crew’s bike shop: “Ace in the Spokes.” She gives up valuable time with her Dependents to do so because she doesn’t want to lose a Scam in future negotiations (see “Work/Life Balance”). Instead, the player uses her Life vignette to describe the sales pitch Sanguine gives out in the streets about the benefits of an 8-gear shifter. Sanguine rolls B7+1/R3 for her Persuasion test. It’s good advertisement and she’s getting onlookers interested. The demand rolled was B5, and the crew has a supply of 7 units of bikes. That puts the bike business on the line between Flooded and Volatile. Sanguine’s charms have caused a rush on bikes though; everyone wants to get those road bikes before they’re stuck slogging up a hill on a gearless. The marketplace is now Volatile, and Sanguine’s Persuasion

435 6. Insider Trading Similarly, putting a “finger on the scale” when speculating in financial futures takes time. Anyone engaging in insider trading spends a work vignette to do so. Again, see “Investments and Speculation” for more information. 7. Fulfilling a Milestone Once characters have enough to fulfill a milestone in their retirement plans, they need to role-play a scene in which that aspect of their Dependent’s future is actually secured. This takes time. 8. Selling Gear It takes time to find the right buyer for the excess equipment the Taker wants to sell. In order to off-load unwanted gear in the MBA rules, a Taker needs to use a Work action to do so. Life vignettes, or scenes with Dependents, remain mostly unchanged in MBA rules. However, the one exception is that Takers have the option to convert “life” scenes into “work” scenes. This makes it possible to both run a side business and Scam for negotiations, or to take two work vignettes dedicated to the business. However, losing the balance means that the Taker has spent every available moment since the last job hustling, neglecting all other family responsibilities in the pursuit of bounty. Skipping vignettes with Dependents has the following consequences. 1. Exchanging life for work cannot be reversed; work vignettes cannot be converted into life vignettes. If you agree to work, you’re working. Nobody is going to give up their precious time with loved ones because you personally miscalculated. For instance, let’s say a Taker converts a life vignette into work so that she can troubleshoot the business and Scam the next Contract negotiation. But the Leadership check to start negotiations fails and talks don’t go on long enough for her Scam to have effect. 2. Interviewing and hiring employees Whoever has to hire an employee to run the business while the Takers are over the fence has a lot of work to do. Curating a pool of potential hires, ensuring their qualifications, and negotiating salary takes time — time that can’t be spent researching a client’s spots or intimidating competition. Contracting someone outside the Crew to run the business in its owners’ stead is discussed in “Hiring Help” (see p. 433). 3. Manipulating the Supply/Demand equilibrium of goods and its effects on liquidity Working to alter Supply/Demand takes up time that could be spent on Scams focused on a future client. Messing with the equilibrium of a small business’s goods or services means that character cannot do the same for any other Contracts in consideration that week. With small businesses, the price manipulation has the trickle-down effect of altering Liquidity. 4. Troubleshooting Anyone that has ever tried to run a business knows that something is always going wrong. The troubleshooting table simulates this state of perpetual collapse (p. 430). Takers always have the option to let the market shift happen, but taking action to correct course always costs Work/Life balance. The PCs working to counteract a roll on the troubleshooting table must either sacrifice that session’s Scam or their life vignette with Dependents. There’s never enough time to heal from the last job, prepare for the next, and keep the business afloat. 5. Pursue an Investment If a Taker is working to research and vet a possible investment opportunity, that time can’t be used to play with one’s kids or pursue more immediate financial gain. Role-playing scenes with possible business partners takes up the work vignette. For rules on how do to this, see “Investments and Speculation” (p. 436).

436 complaint is that they don’t own it yet. Loss speculators bet their lives in the hopes of owning huge swaths of the country when the T-minus Never rolls around. If the world’s governments want their land back when the last casualty turns to dust, they’re going to have to negotiate with the robber barons that saw opportunity in the chaos and survived long enough to seize it. The blessing and the curse of investing in the carrion economy is a total lack of regulation. Recession trading amongst the surviving nation states still battle against all forms of oversight. But in the Loss? A tiny seed fund can grow unrestricted profits but the risks are equally boundless. BuIldIng an OpportunIty Investments can be proposed by the Market or by the Taker. If the Market thinks a player would enjoy role-playing through a certain opportunity, an NPC comes by looking for investors. Player-designed investments should be treated with equal enthusiasm, so long as nothing proposed drastically alters what the Market has planned for the campaign. So what opportunities are available in the Loss? A Taker could invest in another crew’s small business. Providing the upfront bounty needed to buy initial supply can earn an easy revenue stream that requires little or no work. However, it’s just as easy for Takers to piss bounty away on a doomed concept, or get scammed out of their savings by the Loss’s many con artists. Enclaves seek investors to improve infrastructure. In most locations, this looks similar to a war bond system. Let’s say orbital satellites suggest a front of dead weather headed towards the enclave. The enclave leadership needs funds fast if they’re going to upgrade defenses in time, faster than their taxes allow. The solution? Get loans from private citizens, and pay the interest with taxes collected after the renovations. Of course, these lucrative deals require the next administration to honor the promises This doesn’t mean the Taker now has time to go to her daughter’s piano recital; it means she spent the time trying to find leverage on a client and either failed or had her work squandered by the negotiator. 2. Skipping a vignette with Dependents forfeits all Humanity healing that all Dependents provide. Though vignette scenes are typically with one Dependent at a time, those scenes are representative of the Takers entire domestic life in the nebulous time between jobs. Skipping the scene means forfeiting all the restorative benefits Dependents have on Humanity. 3. Dependents don’t get Needy any faster, but the Taker’s next scene must be in the support theme and make mention of the extra work in the previous session. Many a marriage and childhood has been ruined by working too many hours. Skipping time with loved ones makes them even more reliant on the Taker’s presence, not less. Next the Taker has a scene with a loved one, roleplay the Dependent as in need and, perhaps, resentful of the neglect. Investments and SpeculatIon Don’t think of it as Wall Street. Think of it as micro-investment and small business loans: the kind of financial speculation the World Health Organization uses to draw people out of generational poverty. The amount of bounty a person needs to get a business off the ground in the Loss is minuscule compared to the capital that moves around the Recession’s remaining financial markets. A successful Taker crew can easily make its breaking point, engage in some professional development, and still have enough left to buy shares in a new venture. For a few people, the idea of smuggling themselves across the border only to become a pauper in the Recession holds no appeal. Some like the Loss just fine; their only

437 “Becoming a backer” ties these investors to the fate of the group, floating their fortunes on a full house or sinking them with empty seats. Shorting other investments is common practice in the Loss. Takers, as the economic wildcards in their enclaves, have the power to cause drastic economic swings. And they talk to each other. If one crew reports that the vitamin salvage trade is about to hit its expiration date, another crew can “short” vitamin stocks (or invest in “scurvy futures.” Whatever.) They could sign a contract to buy an incoming crop of bananas, hoping the enclave leaders have to purchase it to keep the population healthy. Of course, this plan presumes the news of a vitamin shortage isn’t bullshit and that people won’t just seize the supply by force. Hell, if the nutritional deficit is even a little late in arriving, the crew could find itself broke with nothing to show for it but a pile of rotting fruit. No matter how the Market and players narrate the investment, remember: there is no such thing as a sure thing. IndIvIdual or Broker? The first thing a group has to decide before investing is whether they’re acting individually or under a broker. Individual investment is exactly what it sounds like: each Taker antes up an initial investment, and the return depends on how much each pays up front. The risk of the initial investment is still determined by the roll of a single Red (see “Assessing Risk” p. 438), but each PC gets their rate of return calculated separately. The plus side of going in alone is players manage their own comfort-level and risk. The downside is that the Market has a lot more bookkeeping to do, especially if Takers pass on one opportunity and invest in something different than their colleagues. Keeping track of the risk, liquidity, returns, and narrative for different investments across the entire group can be a pain. Markets should feel free to veto any individual investing that gets in the way of the core activity of being a Taker. The Market of the old. And those that object might find themselves out in the cold, left to wonder if austerity was really worth it as they get eaten alive. Crowd funding remains viable in the Loss. Do-it-yourself attitudes and collectivist movements are the only way anyone survived in the first place. It makes sense the same ethos would be fiscally popular. Imagine a group of actors that travel the Loss, putting on plays for enclaves and providing some much needed analog entertainment. How would such people feed themselves, not to mention hire Taker crews to escort them between jobs? To risk such a “frivolous” endeavor despite the grim pragmatism of the Loss, they’d need to secure costs up front. Takers providing an initial investment could dictate terms, requiring a percentage of the door from each performance they enable.

438 d10 roll. The result is the number of sessions until the investment pays off. For shorter campaigns, the Market can choose to divide any result by two and round down. Liquidity is recorded on the Crew Sheet. It is the Market’s responsibility to track of the number of sessions until the investment shows a return. Mechanically, the investment is effectively over. The Taker checked Self-Control: Stress and paid the money. The risk has been determined. Now it’s just a matter of waiting. InsIder TradIng Insider Trading is an action taken to make sure the investment is successful. Between jobs, smart investors do everything they can to make sure their gamble pays off. What the Takers have to do depends on the narrative of the investment. For instance, getting everyone to shop with a new vender of 3D printed firearms might require some online advertising, or the Taker could attract more casualties to the fence to increase demand. They could also film themselves using one of the guns out in the Loss as a testimonial, or launch a propaganda campaign against the competing gunsmith. There are only a few rules to govern Insider Trading: 1. If the player can’t come up with an idea to help the investment out, they need to make a Foresight check to get an idea from the Market. Financial speculation isn’t easy; if the player isn’t creative enough to do it, better hope the character’s skills can pick up the slack. 2. You can’t do the same Insider Trading twice. In order to improve the chances for an endeavor to succeed, investors need to hit multiple fronts. 3. Insider Trading always involves at least one skill check. More, if the Market deems it necessary. The risks associated with failure depend on the plan (i.e. screwing up an advertisement is less severe than screwing up casualty chumming), but failure is always a possibility. is there to make sure everyone at the table is having fun and experiencing a good story, including the Market. If individual portfolios are too much to track, Market’s can demand a broker system. Under a broker, the whole crew goes in together. Each Taker needs to put in an equal investment, and each gets an equal share of the returns. While less realistic, the broker method keeps bookkeeping simple enough for the Market to focus on telling a compelling story. AssessIng RIsk Markets start off investments by introducing the Takers to their possible business partners. Every potential investor present must make a Sensitivity check. If no one succeeds, a Red die is rolled in secret and the result recorded as “risk” on the Crew Sheet (see p. 488). The NPC’s description of the opportunity can be whatever the Market wishes. On a success, at least one of the investors sees through the sales pitch to the truth of thing. The Market rolls one Red in the open: this is the investment’s risk. The risk is recorded on the Crew Sheet. When it comes time to calculate the investment’s return (if any), the risk is the number the Black has to beat. When Takers see through the bullshit, the Market should try to role-play the NPC’s pitch according the risk result. On a one, it sounds like a sure thing. The NPC is confident, smart, and prepared. On a ten, the Market should be shifty, uncertain, and eager to promise things that sound too good to be true. This is the Taker’s last chance to get off the boat. If they don’t like how it sounds, they can walk away free and clear. But if they don’t walk, it’s time to pay. Regardless of the investments size, all speculation requires a Self-Control: Stress check. It’s never pleasant to hand over bounty with no promise of reward. LIquIdIty Instead of being determined by the Supply/ Demand chart, Liquidity in investments is a

439 business is still open though, and every Insider Trading charge spent adds one bounty to the return. It just wasn’t enough to turn a profit. Call for Self-Control: Stress checks. • Critical Failure (natural odd doubles) = All gone. Nothing is left. The business went completely bust, or the owner skipped town with all the profits. Whatever the narrative reason, the investors loss everything. Call for level-4 Self-Control: Stress checks. Pro Bono “...what’s the use you learning to do right when it’s troublesome to do right and ain’t no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same?” —The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Huck Finn almost had a point, except the wages aren’t the same: it’s more profitable to do wrong. By far. There’s a lot of injustice in the Loss. Those that fight the dead for a living see more of it and are better equipped to fight it than most. But downtrodden and exploited masses don’t tend to have a lot of disposable income. Some client might occasionally drop a Contract for 4. Insider Trading costs on the work/life balance, regardless of success or failure. The time used improving the chances of a future gamble can’t be used to ensure the success of a current negotiation. Nor can it be spend with friends and family. There’s always an opportunity cost. 5. Success adds +1 to the investment tracker on the Crew Sheet. Each successful instance of insider trading stacks to provide a bonus to the Black (Return) check that occurs once liquidity hits zero (see below). Rates of Return Once liquidity counts down to zero, it’s time for the investment to pay out. The Black is rolled and the result is recorded under “Return” on the Crew Sheet. The return is compared to the risk, just as if a regular dice check had been made, with both Black and Red rolled simultaneously instead of weeks apart. Instead of adding any skills to the Black, add the number of successful Insider Trading actions the Takers completed between the initial investment and the payout. Look at the results of “Return + Insider Trading/Risk” as if it were a normal check of “Black + Charges/Red” The results are as follows. • Critical Success (natural even doubles) = The investment doubled! Even better, each charge of Insider Trading adds 10% of the initial investment to the jackpot. • Success (Return beats Risk, before or after Insider Trading) = 50% profit! Take half of the initial investment, add it to the result, and give it to the Taker(s). For example, an initial investment of 40 bounty would return 60 bounty (40/2 + 20. 20 + 40 = 60). Furthermore, add one bounty per Insider Trading charge spent to the return. • Fail (Risk beats Return, after Insider Trading) = 50% losses. Things didn’t turn out as planned. An investment of 40 bounty only comes back as 20 bounty. The Gambling by Another Name Before rolling for Return and narrating the result, it’s important that both the Market and the Takers understand that once the Black hits the table, the results are final. Criticals are criticals. Results are results. Will cannot be spent on an investment roll because the investor only provided money, not skill and determination. No success can be upgraded. No failure mitigated. The dice dictate what happened to the bounty, and the Market’s interpretation of events becomes canon. Those that don’t anticipate liking the results shouldn’t gamble in the carrion economy.

440 rescue or slow dehydration. Whichever comes first. The wrong way to present this pro bono job to players would be to say Nova Lucre had an alliance with their enclave and that the crew must go or be evicted. This turns the PCs into hostages and the Market into a bully. The right way would be to have the enclave’s leadership ask for volunteers. Meanwhile, the typical collection of Contracts and Scores stays on offer (business can’t stop for every little disaster, after all). Sure, the crew could try to save some kids by risking their lives for no reward, but they can make the “responsible” choice as well, absolving themselves of Nova Lucre by repeating the sacred mantra: not my problem. If they don’t go, it’s Self-Control: Detachment checks all around. As they count their bounty from some other job, they get to think about those kids slowly dying in a metal tube. A new group of ghosts joins the horde following them about the Loss. If they say yes and succeed? They’re heroes. Other enclaves have opportunists, necessary evils that exploit as they protect. But this crew? They’re champions. And if they go and die? Well, that’s the Loss for you. They’re as likely to be remembered as fools or martyrs. And the carrion economy steamrolls onwards.... Human CapItal Pro Bono jobs shouldn’t be without reward, but, unlike Contracts and Scores, Markets hold no obligation to let characters know what those rewards may be beforehand. Taking on a job for free need not end a campaign as the characters begin financially bleeding out the moment the session is over. It just needs to feel as if that’s possible. Firstly, Takers can always hustle for their bounty. Scavenging the environment and pulling cards from casualties en route is a great way to alleviate the costs of a pro bono job. The Market can also present opportunities at the job site. For instance, defending this a noble cause, but, more often than not, moral compromise is required. Like Huck, perhaps the players are unable to ignore human cruelty, or maybe their characters’ Humanity can’t handle doing it one more time. These crews might be tempted to eat the cost of a job just so they can stomach looking themselves in the mirror. That’s good... literally. But that’s all it is. A sense of self-worth doesn’t put food on the table or bullets in the chamber. A clean conscious is a luxury not many Takers can afford. For those willing to subsist on heroism alone, here are the guidelines for taking work pro bono. Scruples are a ChoIce Markets should avoid forcing Takers to work for free at all costs. Upkeep doesn’t go away. Dependents still need to be supported. The anxiety of watching retirement plans stagnate and gear break doesn’t dwindle. Taking a job for no pay is an enormous burden to throw at the PCs. So make it a choice. Nobility comes from a willing acknowledgement of the sacrifices one is making for others. Let the players know how hard free work will be on their characters and Dependents. Let them know the dangers. If they say no, make Self-Control: Detachment checks and move on. If they say yes, move forward knowing full well that even making Sustenance cost is going to be a struggle. Either way, the choice informs the structure of the rest of the campaign; the player’s just experienced a turning point in their relationship with each other and the community. For example, let’s say the nearby enclave of Nova Lucre has succumbed to an outbreak. The last transmissions reported Vectors inside the walls, and nobody has heard from anyone in days... that is, nobody except the schoolteacher. Nova Lucre’s one-room schoolhouse was housed in a disused grain silo. The walls and the door held when the outbreak started, leaving everyone inside to scream helplessly into Ubiq, waiting for

441 No traditional credit exists out in the Loss. No one is about to underwrite a home loan or credit card to a legally dead person in a zombie wasteland. A big part of Taker work involves recovering documents necessary for the Recession to maintain the structure of debt slavery that ran the world before the Crash, and the desperate governments of the world aren’t about to risk that system by accepting literally apocalyptic levels of liability. This isn’t to say that loans aren’t possible in Red Markets. Usury is the oldest profession in the world after prostitution, and it’s twice as unsavory. There are plenty of people willing to loan bounty out in the Loss, but they don’t stay in business long unless they get paid back... by any means necessary. Loans At-a-Glance 1. Find a loan shark: someone that survives primarily off lending bounty and collecting interest 2. Know the conditions: − The shark is not afraid of you. Why? − You will pay them back, in full and on time. How do they assure this? − Everyone knows what happens to those who don’t pay. Who was made an example, and how did you learn about it? 3. Check a CHA skill to set interest: − Critical Success: interest free (10b loan/10b payment) − Success: 10% interest (10b loan/11b payment) − Failure: 50% interest (10b loan/15b payment) − Critical Failure: 100% interest (10b loan/20b payment) 4. At the end of the session, pay up... 5. ...Or else FInd a Shark Everyone in the Loss is hustling to survive. Wealthy clients with enough bounty to hire out Contracts do so to maintain their status amongst an enclave or gain the upper hand tiny enclave from a horde of raiders might have seemed dumb initially, but capturing that truck-mounted mini-gun they’re wielding could make all the effort worth it. Lastly, never ignore the human capital of performing a good deed. Takers willing to risk their lives selflessly are rewarded with +Rep spots as the story becomes legend amongst the Lost. Someone they rescue could turn out to be a useful Reference (over their CHA Potential) or a future client. A reputation for honesty is a rare commodity that could end up paying big in the long term. Loans Sometimes Takers need bounty fast. A piece of gear might be essential for the next Contract, or a Dependent could come down with a serious illness. If there’s nothing in the bank or retirement plan, where’s the bounty come from?

442 The CondItIons These aren’t Contract conditions; these are unspoken realities of the Loss that every character would know. Talking about them at the table prevents the player from feeling tricked if things don’t go the character’s way. More importantly, they help define the group’s vision of Red Markets more clearly. Before giving out loans to a Taker, Markets should communicate the following conditions to the group. Then, collaboratively answer the attached questions and the build the shark’s business model into the setting. 1. The shark is not afraid of you. Why? Takers fight monsters for a living. They do what no one else in the Loss is willing to risk. Any dispute not handled in negotiations usually resorts to gunfire. In short, Takers are scary people. But not to the shark. Why? Well, it could be because no one lends in the Loss without a muscle of their own. Maybe they have the back in the Recession. Even the lowliest Dependent, completely devoid of marketable skills, is in a constant struggle to get ahead. Profit or die. This means that if someone can be screwed over, they will be screwed over. Maybe you can lend a family member a few bounty and expect to see it back, but anyone that makes a habit of generosity is soon going to need charity themselves. In the contest between kind-hearted banker and starving child, few feel bad about screwing over the former for the latter. This tragedy of the commons means there’s not much lending in the Loss; people hoard their bounty and exchange it for concrete goods. Promises of repayment might mean something under the rule of law, but what is an enclavist to do if someone reneges on a loan? Kill them? For the loan sharks, the answer is yes. Five years after the Crash, there is only one way to survive in the loan business: Everyone pays. On time. With interest. Or else. For a shark to ensure that rate of return, they have to be more unforgiving and deadly than the poverty of the Loss. And that makes for a monstrous person indeed. So that’s first question a Market should ask Takers asking for money: who in the enclave is unscrupulous enough to do this for a living? How do they approach the grim realities of their business? Are they depressingly pragmatic regarding breaking kneecaps? Or do they seem to enjoy feeding family members to the casualties over the fence? Example: The Market wants the enclave to be as defined by the players as possible, so she asks who would be the loan shark in this part of the Loss. After some debate (the “Out-of-character Consensus” model p. 400), the group decides on Ted Hancock, former manager of a privatized student loan fund before the Crash. When Ted convinced Leroy’s Boys, the cartel of local Stim Sauce dealers, they were leaving money on the table, he was brought into the syndicate to manage their new money lending enterprise. Factoring Loans into Enclave Generation Acknowledging that characters might need to take out a loan early in a campaign creates a big opportunity in enclave generation. Every society has elements of the criminal, the underground, and the taboo. The extreme measures required of Loss loan sharks undoubtedly makes them part of that element. Talking with your players about how the enclave combats, condones, or encourages the loan operation is a great way to define the community everyone is about to play in. Perhaps the unsavory loan practice is built into the foundation of the enclave, dating back to the history of its development. Or maybe the shark also holds a monopoly on the community’s defenses and is given carte blanche? At the very least, it can be fun to have a roguish, “mob boss” character to fill out the VIP roster and offer future Contracts.

443 entering default? Are there penalties — either financial or physical — for late payments? If someone gets behind, can they “work off” debt by performing tasks the shark can’t otherwise accomplish themselves? Interest rates are negotiable, but certain parts of the shark’s business model will remain constant. Establish these business practices before getting into the details of this specific loan. Example: Ted wears a polo shirt tucked into khakis even now. He maintains an office in a disused storage container and still has customers fill out extensive contracts. He’s happy to answer any questions one might have, and he’s even managed to put some of the consequences into safe, legal language: “Hancock LLC reserves the right to seize of one or more of the lendee’s bodily extremities for use by Hancock LLC in local advertising. Hancock LLC cannot be held responsible for any medical treatment or consequences resulting from seizure of assets forfeited as a result of delinquent payment.” Once the agreement is done, Ted likely won’t see the customer again. Leroy and his brothers handle all the collections. They decide when to arbitrarily hike the interest rate and whether late charges are to be paid in bounty or pounds of flesh. 3. Everyone knows what happens to those who don’t pay. Who was made an example, and how did you learn about it? When someone refuses to pay up, the shark has to turn a loss into an opportunity. The only way to do that is to increase future rates of return by motivating customers to get their payments in on time. In the past, this was done through the court system and the garnishment of regular wages. In the Loss, methods have to be more direct and bloody. Everyone in the enclave knows what the shark is capable of if not paid. On dark nights, most imagine they can still hear the screams. What do Takers down on their luck have to look forward to? Example: Marta took out a loan from the Leroy brothers to start her new sewing Takers outmanned and outgunned. Or maybe they’re used to being the one who is feared, on account of their tendency to torture the family members of those who don’t pay up. Maybe they run the whole enclave and they can just keep the gate shut if the Takers piss them off. Whatever reason the group comes up with, the shark is not afraid of the Takers, and they have no reason to be. There’s no bullying their way out of the loan. Example: Ted Hancock surgically removed his empathy even before the zombies came. Back in the old days, his company exclusively used him for the “tough cases,” though Ted could never understand why they were considered so tough. He once sued a woman for defaulting payment on a two-decades old Art History degree. She’d lost her secretary job when she got diagnosed with cancer, and Ted got his first promotion when he convinced the court to seize the money she’d set aside to pay for chemo. He slept fine that night; if she didn’t want to pay, she shouldn’t have gone to college. Really, he sees his current job as no different. Sure, now he works with meth dealers instead of business majors, but that just means there’s less paperwork. Either way, you pay Ted or you die slow. 2. You will pay them back, in full and on time. How do they assure this? Loan sharks don’t directly profit off savagery and intimidation. They want to be paid back, and they want the return business of reliable customers. As such, communication is key; the shark makes certain that everyone knows exactly how much they owe and when it is due. Who delivers these terms to customers? Does the shark do so personally, or is there a designated representative? Is there a hierarchy of employees, with some dedicated to administering loans while others collect payments? Do they send representatives along on Taker jobs to garnish wages and protect investments? Are customers allowed a certain number of warnings before

444 Payment can be set whenever the shark wishes, but most sharks want payment once the Taker gets back from their next job. Takers don’t have the best life expectancy, and even the good ones have a volatile income. Better to get the money sooner than later, in a lump sum rather than installments. After the interest is set and the repayment arranged, the shark hands over the bounty. Now it’s up to the Taker to repay it. business, despite pleading from her neighbors to just keep begging in the street. When she defaulted, the Leroy brothers couldn’t decide what to do: they were starting a brothel across town and needed “workers,” but they had publicly promised to feed whomever crossed them to the Casualties over the fence. Marta had a son. Which one should they turn into food, and which one should become a slave? In their indecision, the drunken Leroy brothers dragged a screaming Marta and her boy through the streets. They knocked on Ted’s door and asked him what to do. He wasn’t pleased to see them (he was with customers), but he quickly informed them that they he had no right to make a choice. Hancock LLC was only entitled to remuneration; it was the responsibility of the customer to choose where it came from. So, in front of the entire enclave, Ted made Marta choose. Since then, no one has been able to forget what she finally said... or when their payments are due. Set Interest Sharks are reasonable monsters. After the group has built their villain, the Market roleplays the shark and sits down with the Taker to negotiate terms. This isn’t a full negotiation à la the Negotiation Rules: sharks, by their very nature, have some inflexible business practices. However, interest rates can be set higher or lower, depending on how confident the shark is that the Taker will pay on time and become a repeat customer. The Taker picks a CHA skill, role-plays a pitch, and rolls the check. The interest rate is set according to the result: − Critical Success: interest free (10b loan/10b payment) − Success: 10% interest (10b loan/11b payment) − Failure: 50% interest (10b loan/15b payment) − Critical Failure: 100% interest (10b loan/20b payment) Loans as Story Opportunities Markets should keep in mind that the purpose of loan conditions is not to create a monster the PCs cannot defeat. The goal of Red Markets’ loan mechanics is the creation of a worthwhile antagonist. That antagonist can be defeated at the end, but it will cost characters dearly and establish more of the world in the process. If Takers could secure loans from pushover NPCs and murder them to avoid having to pay it back, it would break the economy of the game and the heroic nature of the PCs’ struggle. However, by going in debt to a powerful shark, the mechanics trade some temporary currency for a long-term investment in the narrative. One more fight scene is nothing for the average player to gamble, but the life of a Dependent they’ve come to enjoy creates stakes at the table and in the fiction. Sharks test the characters. How much are they willing to let slide for the sake of family? Where is their breaking point? The players might just want to buy a piece of gear they can’t afford, but the Market wants answers to these questions in return.

445 At minimum, failing to pay a shark makes for a nasty vignette, but the consequences are better dealt with as a Pro Bono job or new Contract. The Market has a lot of options of where to take the story so long as someone ends up paying the price. Pay Up...Or Else If the Taker gets a loan, does a job, and pays it back, that’s the end of it. Sharks don’t stay in business by murdering people; they murder people to make sure enough people pay them to stay in business. Sharks are happy for repeat customers and perfectly courteous as long as the agreement is fulfilled. However, if payment is short, or late, or missing altogether, things are going to get ugly really quick. And it’s up to the Takers how to respond. Does the whole crew get involved or leave the debtor to their fate? Does the shark go after the Taker, or their coworkers, or their Dependents? Do they leave out the physical coercion altogether and demand payment in gear or free Contract work? Since usurers sell nothing other than the expectation of money, that is to say, time, they sell days and nights. But the day is the time of clarity, and the night the time of repose. It is, therefore, not just for them to receive eternal light and eternal rest. -Tabula Exemplorum

446 a couple of games, but the tools are always here, ready to help speed up the process of writing an encounter. D10 Interludes Before we get to the agonizing uncertainty of randomized Legs, let’s talk about the one reliable method players have to escape them: interludes. Interludes are scenes that tell us more about the relationship of Takers within a crew. Think of them like vignettes between people that may have more casual relationships than those shared by Dependents. Groups that want to have Takers share each other as intimate loved ones are encouraged to do so — those dramas can happen during Legs just as well as within an enclave — but one’s relationship to coworkers typically runs a much wider gambit of affection than their relationship to family and friends. Quite Loss Encounters Loss encounters are about the uncertainty of the Loss. The fear of uncertainty is a very real force in the world, enough to collapse entire economies. Evidence of actual risk isn’t even necessary; currencies have folded overnight over nothing but rumors. It’s a fear the Market should be bringing to both the players and characters. A group of players could have the most predictable Market ever running a group-designed Score, but with randomized Legs off the Loss Encounters tables, no one can be certain everyone’s going to make it through alive. Rather than force Markets to internalize the basic tone of the game’s narrative and how it can be used to improvise exciting scenes for players, this section provides ready-made examples and writing prompt tables. Most Markets start designing their own Legs after

447 differently than the rest of us: when things get slow, they shoot the shit with the person next to them. Mechanically, interludes allow players to trade their characters’ suffering for the one thing Red Markets finds more interesting: character development. If the last Leg was brutal and the thought of another one is too much to bear, PC’s can skip it by role-playing out the conversation their characters have about that event. Or about a different event. Or about something completely unrelated. The scene can last as long as the Market allows and be about any subject the PCs wish to talk about. There are only a few actual rules governing how to use interludes: 1. Interludes can only be used to skip a single Leg. If the Takers are working a Contract that pays for three Legs, they can reduce frankly, the carrion economy doesn’t give a damn whether Takers like each other. Crews are assembled from those available with the mix of fortitude and skill required for the job. Personal hatreds, passionate love, and everything in-between can never be more than a distraction while working. The demands of the Loss can punish anything more than that with a death sentence. Interludes also reinforce the sheer emptiness of the Loss. Legs only represent narratively interesting things that happen between an enclave and job site. Without a vehicle, most of a crew’s time is spent silently trekking across a barren wasteland, nervously scanning the horizons and silently listening for the sounds of shuffling feet. Red Markets skips narrating these scenes because they aren’t interesting, but most of the time spent at real-world jobs isn’t interesting either. Takers spend their downtime at work no

448 3. If no one has an idea how to start the interlude, roll on the interlude table and think of what the character would say. The table is there to help prompt the players to improvise a scene fitting for each character’s personality. Groups are encouraged to improvise on their own topics. That’s it. Interludes are pure role-playing. Use them to get to know the characters. When things get dire later in the job that much more is going to be on the line. it down to two Legs and an interlude. There’s nothing to stop the group from role-playing more interlude scenes, but they don’t reduce the number of Legs by more than one. 2. Interludes only occur if at least two players are willing to role-play the scene. Every interlude needs one person to start the scene and at least one person to react to that character’s words. More may participate, but no one is allowed to monologue all the way to site. 1 Agonize over... 1 ...the history of the Crash 2 Express confusion about... 2 ...a moment of personal epiphany 3 Seek absolution for... 3 ...becoming a Taker 4 Challenge someone’s opinion of... 4 ...someone or something at the Enclave 5 Sow doubt about... 5 ....a retirement plan or Mr. JOLS 6 Ask a question about... 6 ...an aspect of pre-Crash life 7 Mock or make light of... 7 ...a member of the Crew 8 Express appreciation for... 8 ...a client or job, past or present 9 Find solace in... 9 ...an aspect of the Carrion Economy Try to impress with your knowledge of... 10 10 ...some aspect of the Blight Religions are born and may die, but superstition is immortal. . . Only the fortunate can take life without mythology -Ariel and Will Durant Black Result Red Result

449 1 Uncomfortable 1 Disquieted 2 Helpful 2 Encouraging 3 Sympathetic 3 Friendly 4 Annoyed 4 Critical 5 Skeptical 5 Suspicious 6 Wise 6 Advising 7 Concerned 7 Curious 8 Shocked 8 Offended 9 Amused 9 Joking 10 Apathetic 10 Dismissive black Result Red Result black Result (Cont.) Red Result (Cont.) Bust Rule: Asshole Coworkers Some Markets might not like the idea of chatting your way across the Loss. To make matters more challenging, “Asshole Coworkers” trades the uncertain physical danger and psychological trauma of an encounter for the uncertain psychological trauma of talking to your coworkers. In this variant, everyone rolls for prompts to improvise the scene. The person that starts the scene begins a conversation according to their prompt, but then anyone responding rolls for their character’s reaction. If that reaction is unfitting — or even cruel — too bad. The Loss screwed with the heads of everyone in the crew, and everyone’s baggage constantly makes interaction a social minefield. The Takers may be able to keep things together around the enclave, but over the fence? Surrounded by people that have seen them at their best and worst? Raw nerves can make some interactions downright abusive, and the Market can call for Self-Control: Detachment checks. If the response is kind and caring? Humanity might be healed. It all depends on what the other players roll for reactions. When rolling for reactions, one responder can roll Black and role-play straight across the row. A really skilled improviser might roll Black and Red, and then try to role-play a response that works in both adjectives. Or two people might involve themselves in the conversation, the Market divvying up Black and Red results. So how does this play out? Let’s say Refurb rolls B3/R6: “seek absolution for...an aspect of preCrash life.” Refurb’s player thinks for a moment before launching into a heartfelt rumination on how he never gave enough to charity before the nightmare began. On his walk to his tech support job, he would dismiss the homeless as weak and deserving of their plight. Now, with his sister in constant need of medication and struggling to make ends meet, he hates the man he used to be. Creed’s player rolls for how to react to her coworker pouring his heart out, and Market decides how the resulting scene might reflect on Refurb’s Humanity damage. A B3 would see her be a kind and supportive friend, maybe healing some Humanity as Refurb feels better about nagging personal doubts. However, a B9 could provoke a Self-Control check as Creed regards her partner’s white guilt in the wake of a zombie apocalypse ridiculous. If Creed’s player rolled B2/R8, she might role-play a bit of tough love that points out Refurb’s current privilege and urges him to keep striving for empathy. The Market could call for a Self-Control check that heals on a success or does Humanity damage on a failure, thus suggesting Refurb’s reaction to the unsolicited scolding. The “Asshole Coworkers” rule certainly makes the game more challenging for role-players and gambles more on interludes, but it does so by sacrificing control of a character’s reactions. If the players aren’t comfortable resting so much of their characters’ personalities on the dice, Markets should skip this rule.

450 The Legs in Red Markets all follow basic themes, each based off one of the four resolutions possible in Profit. All Markets should try writing a few Legs of their own and inserting them into the mix, if only to keep sneaky players reading ahead from getting too comfortable. Once you get the gist of the little episodic struggles Legs create, it’s hard not to think of more of them as you “zombify” your surroundings. To get started as a writing prompt, Markets can roll Black and Red, then try to design a scene based off the essential questions listed under each theme. Four Encounter Themes The map is not the territory. Every bit of data Takers have regarding the route to their next job is plagued by expired intel, disinformation, and shit luck. For these reasons, Red Markets doesn’t measure distance in units of length. Legs are units of narrative distance that convey the slog through the Loss. They’re factored into pricing during negotiations because they tax and challenge Takers before they even get to the hard stuff at the Site. This is a lose-lose scenario. It’s unavoidable. There are two essential questions in this type of scene. Either/or? Do the Takers want to risk health or Humanity? Do they lose equipment or time? Do they sacrifice a friend or a client? Something is getting hit; where do they take the damage? How much? How much will this hurt? Or will it kill? How much is this setback going to cost? How hard is this moment going to bite the crew in the ass later in the campaign? The encounter can explore one or both of those questions. What it can’t do is offer a chance for profit. There’s nothing good about what’s happening here. The Loss is a cruel, capricious landscape ruled by callous chance. Sometimes all you can do is survive; this is one of those times. CrITICAL FAILURE This is a bad situation that Takers can avoid or overcome. What remains to be seen is... Is it enough? Is the scout’s Awareness check enough to spot the ambush before the crew walks into it? Is one Taker’s Self-Control complete enough to stifle a shout? Is Persuasion enough to talk down the bandits? Is the crew strong enough to push the dead car until it rolls safely away down the mountain, or smart enough to get it running? If the answer is yes, the crew can avoid or mitigate what would otherwise be a disaster for a lesser crew. If the answer is no, they deal with a situation that is draining and possibly deadly. However, if they take a hit, there is some possibility profit may result. FAILURE Result Larger Theme