The game last night started with a mission that was a cross between and heist and a data substitution. It involved a plot to covertly install a data device in a shipment of sex dolls (in the Ghost in the Shell definition of doll) and ‘fail’ to hijack the shipment as a cover. The shipment was going from Japan to China via ferry although we didn’t find that out right away.
So the employer approached the one guy who had previous employment with the corporation doing the shipping and offered him the job for 2 creds a head. He checked Get the Job and got job pays well, identifiable employer and +intel. The Infiltrator used Declare Contact to bring a transport section employee from his old corporation (the one doing the shipping) into play. Meeting him in a karaoke bar the Medi-tech (whose cover was a fast food truck
salesman) offered him some ‘special’ sauce in exchange for the information about the route the truck was taking and the actual date of travel. Rolling Hit the Streets the Medi-Tech got a result of takes some time, unwanted attention and costs extra making it 2 cred for the information. This is when we found out that the truck was travelling by ferry to China.
We then did some checking for extra equipment and the Breadboarder checked his Storage unit and found 3 +gear (electronics) that he thought would come in handy. One of these was
determined to be a close range EMP device that would cause the shipping truck’s engine to fail via radio command. The Medi-Tech didn’t get anything useful from his Storage unit.
Boarding the ferry we found out that the shipment was the transport truck, a command car and a some sort of armed and armoured ‘protection’. We too had three vehicles and brought them along, an ambulance/fast food truck (Medi-Tech), a sedan and a armed vehicle owned by the Driver.
Using Assess we worked out the guard routine which involved at least three guards with the vehicles on the vehicle deck all the time. The truck had a hand print device securing the rear door so we needed a guard’s hand to open it and gain access to the cargo. The Medi-Tech
and his fast food franchise was our way in and he dosed some food with laxatives and sold it to some of the guards. While waiting for this to take effect the Driver decided to make a distraction for the guards in the cafeteria. Approaching their table he tried to stumble in to it and cause some problems. He failed his Act Under Pressure roll and got tasered for his pains leaving him immobilised (lousy Harm roll).
Back on the vehicle deck our Infiltrator was sliding along under the three vehicles trying to damage each a little bit to slow them down or stop them travelling too far once they got off the ferry. Failing his Under Pressure roll he was spotted by one of the poisoned guards who was standing by the truck hopping up and down needing the bathroom. The Medi-Tech tried to jab the guard with a fast-acting sedative but missed his Under Pressure roll leaving him vulnerable. Two other poisoned guards were at the foot of the stairs with a fourth one ascending to the cafeteria deck. The Breadboarder Tech used Under Pressure to toss a gas grenade to take out the two at the bottom of the stairs (one unconscious and one choking (lose track). The one on the stairs got hit by the Killer and the one by the truck tasered by the Infiltrator.
At this point we had to halt as we were out of time at the club.
Some comments: most of the players had not done any more than skim their individual Playbooks at chargen, one had played Dungeon World before and most were experienced role players. As far as I could tell only myself and the MC had read any cyberpunk material
although the majority had at least seen Bladerunner or another relevant film. That much was obvious when setting up the world and corporations at character generation. The mission format could have been better stressed by the MC as most people didn’t understand the
mission format (Get the Job, Legwork, Action, Get Paid) as they had not bothered to read the rules and got confused about how to proceed so some heavy handed direction was needed to get on track. Once we got going the concept of use a Move and test for a result was easy although one player, a notorious min-maxer, kept trying to use class moves he hadn’t actually chosen, not sure if it was deliberate or not though. The Countdown clocks function wasn’t brought out by the MC so I don’t know if the other players were mechanically aware of the problems that were going to arise by the clocks being incremented or indeed why they were there. There wasn’t, as far as I could see, any suggestion of an amount of Cred to offer or ask for for a mission and as yet no example mission to provide clues so that is something to consider.
Summing up: The game plays well and has a good foundation but needs buy-in from the players and our format of 4 GMs pitching something and players voting to join particular games may
not work well for players who couldn’t see past the Cyberpunk label and were thinking that
The Sprawl is something it isn’t. Some of our players were trying to play it like a Spycraft v1 game as they didn’t understand the stuff about clocks or have an in-depth understanding of the Cyberpunk background.
Thanks for the report and the feedback Nigel Clarke!
There will an example mission in the rulebook, but I’ll make sure the sections on Cred and Missions mention cred gained through missions.
I’ll follow up with more next week as the game continues Friday. Any chance of a response to the questions about ICE in the Discussion area? The MC material on setting up missions ought to have something about how much to offer. With only one game I have no idea if the two cred per head that was offered is high, low or pitiful.
2 cred each is what I usually do. I’m surprised it’s not in there, but I’ll make sure it is.
I didn’t see the ICE question, I’ll take a look.
The MC missed out on much of the Corporation, mission structure and clocks, ‘cos he was unclear how the game should flow. Ho-hum, let’s allow him the hesitant start as long as he gets his act together in the next session. Thinking about the Cred stake for the job, I wondered if portraying it as a bidding war amongst the prospective street gangs to get the job, would fictionally account for the payment? Elsewise, I think the characters should get some *gear or *Intel to carry forward into the job. Although I realise that may duplicate some legwork moves. The issue without such, as pointed out by one of the players is; it feels like they are having to pay to do the work and why should they?
If they had read the rules they would know why they put up some cash. I see it as putting something it to fund small things that don’t get purchased directly that will help provide a better result. We spent 2 Cred on the Contact to get the time and place of the shipment but got 3 *gear (electronics) for free with the Tech’s Storage Move so we have 2 *gear left to use for Produce Equipment when we need it later. I think that you’ll need to push the use of Assess, Research, Declare a Contact and Hit the Street to show the players the right way to get stuff. Everyone should have some *gear or *intel to use during the Action Phase and that will allow other players to feel useful (like the Driver) when their guy is not actually doing something directly.
It’s important to realise that Cred isn’t just money, it’s also reputation, so the characters are literally putting their reputation on the line” on every job.
The MC rules say to tailor jobs to the characters skills, so it seems a bit odd to force such a mobile group into a confined space where they can’t use that mobility. A transportation intercept job should be awesome for a driver, not an opportunity to force him out of his car.
It was our choice to stage the attack on the ferry rather than the open road. There was a long stretch of open road from the port to the destination. We had intended to put the data package on the truck covertly on the ferry and then stage the fake attack on the road after the ferry had docked. Best laid plans etc.
Ah, I see.
Just realised, whilst performing my Easter perambulation, Cred is a mixture of financial credit and reputation, soooo, what the characters are actually staking on the job is their Reputation, ne c’est pas?
That’s how Hamish explained it earlier.
+Hamish Cameron Any comment on the ICE material/question over in the Discussion thread here? I’m also finding odd things that are explained in two different ways in two places. Where do you want me to post that sort of thing? Direct email or on G+?
Hi Nigel, sorry, I’m recovering from illness at the moment and I’m only really able to use the mobile app, which is not great for replying to complex messages. I’ll try to get to that as soon as I’m better.
Direct mail is probably easier for things like that, although if you think there’s a community discussion to be had about it, then G+ is fine too!
Wasn’t aware you were ill. I’ll wait until you’re better before bugging you too much 🙂
Trouble is I’m fired up about the game and really like the work you’ve done so far. Just need a little more filling in some places.
That’s fine, I hadn’t mentioned it!
Im glad you’re excited about it. The areas your spotting are exactly the kinds of things I want feedback on. Thanks!