Ep.18: freemarket
Next in our first line-up of sci fi RPGs, we get to play a really exciting game in our catalogue – Freemarket by Luke Crane and Jared Sorenson. This is a system-forward, reputation-driven game that’s brilliant and notoriously opaque, at least at the outset.
FreeMarket runs like an open-world sandbox. Your choices broadcast to the network; the network pushes back. Stakes aren’t hit points but status, access, and who will work with you tomorrow. The game excels in long-form play, but this session spotlights the core loop: scenes framed by goals, conflicts resolved without binary pass/fail, and consequences that reshape what you can credibly do next.
We run a short actual play to show that loop in action while Scott lays the groundwork so you can see how it operates. We close with tools you can lift for any RPG: treat social capital as a resource, let player-defined objectives pull content, and use mechanics that reward collaboration while still pricing trade-offs. If the setting or rules feel unintuitive, this episode makes them legible—and immediately useful at your table.
For more on the discussion of System and Style check out our written articles and Scott’s additional thoughts on specific systems on our YouTube channel.
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Topics discussed:
00:00 Character Creation
16:25 Scene Development
24:00 Initial discussion about “The Brand”
42:30 “The Hand That Feeds You”
70:20 “Party With Dodger”
85:25 “Desperate Search for Attention”
98:50 “Right Place, Right Falafel”
110:55 Endgame
121:00 Reflecting on Freemarket
