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Ex terrorem, lucribamur - [i]Out of [color=ed1c24]terror[/color], we [color=ed1c24]profit[/color][/i] 

[i]When the end came, it came as a biting horde. Of course it did; a century of pop-culture inertia behind the zombie meme, I think we wouldn't have accepted any other doom. All the problems of life in the 2030's - climate change showing its teeth; the political instability - that all lost relevance damn fast when people started eating each other. We called it the Blight. It appeared without warning, without clear epicentre. Spread like wildfire. People infected lost their minds, turned into sprinting, blood-vomiting cannibals who would scream apologies as they smashed your head against the wall. People they bit, scratched, bled on - they got the Blight too. One infected could turn a thousand in an hour. The cities became graveyards quickly. 

The government fought it, of course. Poured research into fighting the disease, poured soldiers into fighting the infected. But the CDC simply couldn't decipher the strange black substance that seemed behind the epidemic that was eating the human race whole. And there are only so many trained fighting men, so many guns, so many bullets. It was never going to be enough. They knew that. They did the math. They draw a line down the map and said 'this far, no further'. Secretly, they pulled key officials, business people and other people deemed 'high value' to the designated quarantine zone, started building a wall to stick the rest of us behind. Except it didn't quite go entirely as planned. There was a leak, people heard about the secret evacuation of the western United States. They flooded east in their huddled millions towards the Mississippi. The lucky ones made it before the government blew the bridges over the Mississippi and started shooting anyone who came in rifle range of the border wall. The rest of us, we got left behind. Left to the dead. 

This was our life for the last five years. The government declared us legally dead to maintain quarantine and set about burning the infection out of their territory. We call their part of the country the Recession, where they retreated. We live in the Loss, because we were written off like a business writes off bad investments; written off as a loss. The boundary is the Mississippi river. Those of us left behind, we gathered together anywhere we could in secure enclaves and tried to weather the storm. Tried to stay alive, tried not to break. Not all of us made it.

Over time, the rage died away from the infected. Turns out having your nervous system hijacked by a possibly-alien pathogen is bad for your health. They keeled over, died for a while when their ape-rage overwhelmed them or made them break their own limbs trying to murder an orphanage. But there's the problem. They got up again after a while. But they were slower, shambling, like poorly-made puppets. Still infectious, still driven with cannibalistic hunger, but more manageable. Small blessings, right? We call these ones Casualties, the dead that walk around. They work like you think zombies work, more or less. Aim for the head, like movies taught you.

But here's the problem with being in the apocalypse: you run out of stuff, fast. Self-suffiency is a myth. After five years, almost everything we haven't used is about to expire - from the gas in the tank to the meds in the bottle or, hell, even the nastiest of MRE's. People aren't making more ammo, more medicine, more tech. Or at least, they aren't in the Loss. In the Recession, industry and capitalism survives. This is where what we call The Carrion Economy comes in. Say you're sitting pretty over there in the Recession, right? You got out, but the rest of your family didn't and you can't bear that Granny Dearest is out there as a Casualty, eating brains and generally decomposing. You get in touch with someone in the Loss, you make a deal. We put Granny out of her misery and you pay us in Bounty, our cryptocurrency of choice. That Bounty buys us stuff we can't get over here by scavenging, everyone wins. (Except Granny. She gets to die twice.)

The world ended, but capitalism lives on. The government is pushing for a big reclamation effort in the next decade or so; that means they need to be able to prove who died in the Crash - harder than it sounds, lot of information infrastructure collapsed - and who inherits what, what the State can seize. That means papers. So while the government legally doesn't recognise its existence, they've been speculating in the Carrion Economy to get them. It's gotten to the point that the Bounty system is so inter-linked with that government backing that "one Bounty" has set value of "one proof of death" (usually a driver's licence). There's a bubble. It'll pop eventually - but before that point, there's a fortune to be made. And the fastest way out of the apocalypse is to buy your way out of it. 

Let's go make some money, people.[/i]

[color=ed1c24]Red Markets[/color] is a game about trying to turn a profit out of being a survivor in the zombie apocalypse, based on an upcoming tabletop game by Caleb Stokes. Players will take the role of Takers, people who aren't happy to just subsistence farm and hope the zombies all fall down one day - they want to buy their way into a better life and that involves heading out into the wasteland and trying not to get bit.

[hider=The Blight][img]http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/r777/patrick_harkin/redmarketsconvert_zpsxwyu0ryr.png[/img]

The term of the agent responsible for the zombie outbreak that wiped out 50% of humanity is [b]the Blight[/b]. The Blight in its purest form resembles a black oil-like substance. No-one knows where it came from and its origins and nature are not understood in any meaningful capacity. There are many theories, of course - wrath of God, alien disease, rogue nanotech weapon. No-one knows why it only infects humans and kills animals. It is the agent that makes a person into a monster and, when that person dies, turns their corpse into a shambling zombie. 

The Blight essentially goes in two phases. The first stage, called the "hot" or "live" stage, is the most infectious. When hot Blight infects a living person it hijacks their nervous system and floods their brain with rage hormones before slowly wiring its way into their brain entirely. During this time, the infected person is an irrational monster sprinting, biting and screaming. The infected person in this stage is referred to as a [b]Vector[/b] - as in, "vector of infection" because of how easily they spread the Blight. It's worth remembering that at this stage the Vector is still a living human and not undead, and can be killed like a regular human (albeit one that doesn't seem to feel pain). Someone turning Vector is an "oh shit" moment for everyone in the immediate area.

Eventually, a Vector will die on their own, usually because the sheer mindless rage the Blight forces them into causes them to severely injure themselves in their attempt to spread the Blight - running through windows, slamming against barricades and the like. Others die because their brain has been totally hollowed out by the Blight. At this point the Blight seems to die with the host - but not for long. At this point the Blight enters its "cold" or "undead" stage and spreads from the brain down into the rest of the body. It wires itself into the muscles like puppet-strings and proceeds to command the broken, dead body to walk. At this point, the creature is referred to as a [b]Casualty[/b]. Casualties are generally less dangerous and infectious than a Vector, but are harder to kill as only destroying the central Blight mass in the skull will finally end them. Five years on, they're also much more common than Vectors and the majority of the infected in the world are Casualties.

Next, you have [b]Latents[/b]. A Latent is a human who was lucky enough to get bitten by a Casualty - or otherwise exposed to the Blight - but they have not gone Vector. Like any disease, the Blight seems to have some asymptomatic carriers. Normally, the "cold" Blight in a Casualty's bite will turn hot when reintroduced to a live host - but not always. A Latent is someone who has had the fun experience of the cold Blight stayinc cold - and burrowing into their muscles, as if they were a corpse. It hurts beyond words - many going Latent die of shock - but if they come through it, they remain under their own control. The Blight has not entered their brain. They are human - mostly. Latents are immediately obvious due to the black vein-like lines of Blight under their skin and are treated as social pariahs due to their still being infectious and turning into Vectors when they die. But their skills are highly in demand for Taker crews because, hey, can't get infected twice!

Finally, you have the Immune. Yes, immune. Some people, for whatever reason, can get bit and scratched and bled on by an infected person and not turn. (I mean, it still hurts to get bitten, obviously. So, take that with a pinch of salt.) People who are immune tend to keep it a secret (if they know) for a very good reason - they're prime medical specimens and worth their weight in gold on the black market. The Recession will pay hundreds of Bounty for a live Immune, who is definitely not going to enjoy what will be done to them once the doctors get started. Suppressin, the only known treatment for Blight infection, forces hot Blight to go cold, guaranteeing a person will become a Latent instead of a Vector - and it's made from Immune [i]bone marrow[/i].[/hider] 


[hider=The Enclave]
[img]http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/r777/patrick_harkin/enclave_zpsfvh4bdpl.jpg[/img]

The Enclave is your home, your base of operations. It used to be a bus depot outside of Hastings, Nebraska. The land around it is used for farming potatoes, grain, boring staples. The people drink primarily water and Kool-Aid, from local stockpiles of the powdered sugary beverage. Medicine and technology are in short supply at the Depot.

[MORE TO COME HERE - SUGGESTIONS WELCOME FOR FACTIONS, NPCs, ETC.]
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[hider=Rules]
Red Markets is going to have a few rules that work a bit differently from other freeform RPG's. These rules are to create a feeling of scarcity and risk, rather than get in the way of fun or story, so they will be fairly light - but they are required reading. 

First, each character will have stats between 1 and 5 in a number of attributes (Strength, Speed, Adaptability, Intelligence, Charm and Willpower). For instance, a character might have STR 2 SPD 3 ADP 2 INT 1 CHA 1 WILL 2. 

Some actions will require a dice roll of 2 d10; one dice is "red" and one is "black". If black beats red, the character succeeds at what they are trying to do (they are "in the black"). If red and black tie, or red beats black, the character fails ("in the red"). Your character adds the value of the relevant attribute to the black dice; for example, if the example character above is trying to outrun a Vector, they have SPD 3. So they would roll and add 3 to the black dice. 

Natural doubles (i.e. if both dice show 1 before the bonus is added) are critical. Double odds (1/1, 3/3 etc.) are critical failures; double evens (2/2, 4/4 etc.) are critical successes. Obviously, a critical failure is worse than a regular failure and a critical success is better than a regular success, both of which are highly contextual based on what you're rolling for.

Characters have Will points equal to their WIL attribute - in the above example WIL 2 means 2 Will points. You can spend a Will point three ways: first, you can guarantee a basic success without having to roll. Second, you can upgrade a success into a critical success. Third, you can downgrade a critical failure to a regular failure. You regain Will by following your Weak or Soft spots into trouble, such as a character with the Weak Spot "easily angered" getting into an unnecessary fight.

Some dice rolls will be done in the open. Others will be done in secret, including rolls for infection. Yes, I'm a monster. 

Inventory will be restricted with a points system, to represent the material scarcity of being in the post-apocalypse (and to stop anyone having a billion guns with limitless ammo, a magic katana and an Iron Man suit). Over time I will award extra points to players according to good roleplay or if the story might justify them gaining new gear but for the most part what you have is what you have - and you have to make do with it. For example, if they don't have the points to buy a gun, your character is just going to be finding broken and busted or empty guns they can't use. This is fairly harsh, but it's to prevent people "stumbling over" everything their character could ever want that just happens to be lying on the side of the road etc. etc.   

I won't be keeping track of every individual bullet you all have - that's why I'm just being a bit of a stickler over gear - but just remember that ammo is a limited resource and if you start spraying and otherwise acting like Rambo, the narrator might decide you suddenly hear an ominous "click".

Oh, and general decorum rules: don't power-game, don't generally be a dick. Violence, profanity and mild sexual content are all par for the course, but "fade to black" on anything that would be too explicit for post-watershed TV. 
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[hider=Gear]
[IN PROGRESS]
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[hider=CS Skeleton]
[b]Taker Name[/b]: (Often Takers use codenames more than their real names)

[b]Age[/b]:

[b]Gender[/b]:

[b]Appearance[/b]: (Images can be okay, but please include some text also.)

[b]Tough Spot[/b]: (What gives them an edge in the Loss? If your character is Latent or Immune, put it here.)

[b]Weak Spot[/b]: (When someone is complaining about you, this is what they're complaining about. No, "too badass" is not a Weak Spot.)

[b]Soft Spot[/b]: (What pre-Crash belief does your character have that might get them into trouble during the apocalypse?)

[b]Attributes[/b]: STR: 1  SPD: 1  ADP: 1  INT: 1  CHA: 1  WIL: 1 (Distribute an extra 5 among these.)

[b]Gear[/b]: (GEAR LIST PENDING. 10 Gear points to distribute.)

[b]Dependants[/b]: (What NPC's are you looking after or supporting? Does your character have friends or family in the enclave?)

[b]Retirement Plan[/b]: (What's your character's idea for a "way out" of the apocalypse? Get a boat? Smuggle themselves into the Recession?)

[b]Backstory[/b] (At least a paragraph. Who were you before the Crash? How did you get from there to here?) 
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