▼ MARKETPLACE ~ a holding pattern ~
▼ YOUR STASH
▼ ACTIONS
Travel
Select your next venue
Each advances one week · debt compounds
Incoming · Research Commission Offer
A vendor wants a white paper
The offer
The risk
For 4 markets after publication, there is a 25% chance per market that someone notices the funding disclosure on page 12. If it fires: cred-debt +3, visibility −1. If it does not: clean money.
Prophecy Builder
Name your prediction
The more specific and confident, the more valuable. And the more exposed if wrong.
Timeframe
—
Metric
—
Direction
—
Cost: $800 · Accountability check fires after 8 markets · Resolution event: vindicated or exposed
Pay Down Debt
Current debt: $5,000
Available attention: $2,000
How much to pay?
EVENT
Arcade cabinet unlocked
A foolish game
~ a cabinet glows · you may now play ~
Something you did in this run unlocked a foolish game.
"In an era of fragmented attention, even the foolish games matter. Especially the foolish games." — anonymous keynote speaker
The unlock is permanent — your browser will remember.
Opens in new tab · your run is preserved
Sponsor offer · #2
A new sponsor wants in
~ a B2B SaaS company wants to support your work ~
An email arrives. Polite. Effusive. They have been "loving your output." Their proposal includes a one-time activation payment and a multi-quarter commitment.
"We love your voice. We think there's a real story to tell together."
Bonus
Now+$2,000
Added to debt+$4,000
Each new sponsor also creates a future obligation event — a webinar, a quote, a logo placement.
Sponsor obligation
A sponsor is calling in a favor
~ this is the cost of the partnership ~
Fulfill$0 attention
Refuse+1 cred-debt
Ascendancy Event
Launch your own conference
~ stop appearing on others' panels · start controlling the room ~
Choose your format
What you're building
Select a format above
"Every analyst eventually decides the way to fix the conference circuit is to add another conference."
Industry duel
A rival pundit disagrees
~ a public disagreement awaits ~
Challenge the duel
· Pay $500 attention (lawyer review, comms support)
· 50/50 die roll determines outcome
· Win: +$2,500 attention, +1 chart, +1 coined term, cred-debt −1
· Lose: Cred-debt +2, lose 1 chart, overexposure +3
If you stay silent, no cost — but the discourse moves on without you.
⚀
Result
Sponsor clash
Two sponsors collided
~ both want a word ~
Your options
· Appease both · $1,500 — joint partnership refresh, +4 overexposure, no sponsors lost
· Drop one — lose 1 sponsor, −$800, +2 cred-debt
· Stay quiet — both contracts lapse over the next month, lose 2 sponsors + 5 cred + 6 overexposure
Opposition research
You have intel on a rival
~ use it · or sit on it · or watch the clock ~
You have assembled a dossier. A pattern of retroactive claims, conflicting positions, a sponsorship arrangement that looks ethically uncomfortable on review. The question is not whether to use it — it is whether the discourse will reward or punish you for being the one who went there.
"You don't make enemies in this industry by being wrong. You make them by being right at the wrong time." — a source, off-record
Possible outcomes (weighted)
Landed clean · 30% — rival takes the hit, you gain cash and credibility
Landed softly · 30% — mild benefit, rival survives
Fizzled · 20% — nobody cared, $2,500 gone
Came back to you · 10% — their team traced it, cred damage
You became the story · 10% — the press ran the wrong angle, expensive
Costs $2,500 attention + 1 cred-debt. 4-week cooldown per deployment.
Fact-checker raid
A fact-checker arrives
~ a senior reporter wants comment by Friday ~
Fight — pay $500 attention to lawyer up. Cred-debt −1. Story dies in editing.
Run — refuse comment, take the hit. Lose 30% of inventory. Cred-debt +2 (silence reads as guilt).
Act II · The sponsor is satisfied
A larger prize emerges
~ the debt is repaid · the work continues ~
You have repaid the debt. The sponsor sends a polite congratulatory note. A junior account exec follows you on LinkedIn. You are no longer a debtor — you are a brand.
But the upfront has not yet arrived. There remain weeks to fill, panels to book, charts to drop. The smartest analysts do not stop at "paid off." They press onward.
"Now that you've broken even, the real work begins." — your sponsor's reply, which you will misread as a compliment
New goal
Reach $100,000 attention by week 52
— ascend to Opus Magnum
FASTMaster Intelligence, LLC · Run Complete
ENDING
Weeks
0
Final Attention
$0
I Called It
0
Peak Cred-Debt
0
The Ledger of Ascended Pundits
Take Wars
Commodities
| Hot Takes | $120 base · saturates at 5 · best at StreamTV, CES, SXSW |
| Cold Takes | $200 base · saturates at 4 · best at Galaxy Tour, MIPCOM |
| Prophecies | $300 base · saturates at 3 · accountability check after 6 markets |
| Charts | $250 base · saturates at 5 · best at Cannes, Upfronts |
| Industry Jargon | $1,700 base · saturates at 5 · rare, high-margin |
| Leaks | $400 base · 2 slots · saturates at 2 · fact-checks follow |
Actions
| ★ I Called This | +$250 · pumps 2 commodities +75% for 2 markets · cred +1 |
| ✎ Issue Correction | $400 (escalates +$200/use) · cred-debt −2 |
| ✦ New Look | $300 (escalates +$150/use) · charts/terms +25% next market · vis +1 |
| 🔇 Stay on Message | $500 · 5 weeks contradiction immunity |
| ✎ Publish Substack | Free · week +1 · cold +20%, proph +10% (2 markets) · cooldown 3 |
| ◈ Post to LinkedIn | Free · week +1 · vis +1 · hot +10% · cooldown 2 |
| ◈ Coin a Term | $1,200 · generates named term with traction · sell before it fades |
Key mechanics
Cred-debt reduces sell prices 5% per point. Hits 25 → cancelled. Decays −1 per 4 markets without dark arts.
Overexposure reduces all sell prices. Resets to 0 at The Substack venue.
Market saturation — hold too many of one type and sell proceeds are reduced.
Venues unlock by visibility: mid-circuit at 2, major circuit at 4.
Prophecy accountability — 6 markets after selling, a 50% chance someone checks the call.
Keyboard
T — Travel
I — I Called This
C — Issue Correction
D — Dark Arts
P — Pay Debt
? — This screen
The Dark Arts of Media Punditry
Each action has consequences. Some are immediate. Some compound.
Pundit's Lab
week 20+Combine two dark arts. The synthesis is more powerful. The backfire costs a sponsor.
First art
+
Second art
Select two dark arts to reveal the synthesis.
Jargon Generator
The Coined Terms Engine
$1,200 per spin. The term is yours. Its value depends on how well it lands.
Modifier
—
Core
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Vehicle
—
Spin to generate your coined term.