Hello I’m new to the Apocalypse Engine (haven’t bought a game using it yet) and am interested in either The Sprawl or The Veil. I know I want a game that can support long term campaign play. Published adventures are definitely a bonus. Which of these 2 games would fit my needs more?
Thanks
What kind of game do you want? They’re wildly different games. The Sprawl is mission-based runs on corporate overlords — it’s your Shadowrun, Cyberpunk 2020 sort of game. High octane. Kind of the D&D (or DW?) of cyberpunk PbtA. The Veil is almost literary science-fiction; it is high high high concept with super weird playbooks, and the GM preps material by asking big deal sci-fi novel style questions with their prep. It’s like the Shock: of PbtA in some ways.
What do you mean by “long term campaign play”. It might be hard to find any PbtA game which matches some definitions.
Most PbtA games feature campaigns which last 8-20 sessions.
Most advancement mechanics don’t really support multi–year campaigns (especially as the same character).
That being said The Spawl and The Veil are similar but different games. You should pick one on which flavor of cyberpunk story you are more interested in. Not on their campaign length suggestions.
As far as I know neither have published adventures, like you would find for D&D. That’s generally not a thing for PbtA games. You can find TONS of starters, but they are definitely not the same as Adventure Lines.
I saw Aaron Griffin ask a similar question earlier and he got some great responses.
Tor Droplets, do you mean this post: plus.google.com – This gets its own thread. +Fraser Simons’s The Veil is out now alongside…
Alfred Rudzki shit “Shock of PbtA” just sold me more than that whole thread.
wow thanks for all of the posts. I’m so new to PbtA games I don’t even know the lingo yet. For example I don’t know what is meant by “Starters”.
After reading all of the posts I think The Sprawl would be more my style as I’m literally looking for a Shadowrun/Cyberpunk replacement. The Veil sounds very cool as well but perhaps something I would need to try later.
Gary Huddleston When folks say “starters,” they’re talking about brief — usually just one page — scenarios that put players into dramatic situations and demand answers from them. They’re very popular with Dungeon World players!
Okay, so if you’re looking for Shadowrun style play, you may also be interested in Headspace. It is also a cyberpunk game, and it is also about going on missions to take down The Man, but it has an entirely different flavor. It’s mentioned in Aaron Griffin’s thread linked above, and it’s basically Ghost in the Shell by way of Sense8? The PCs are all ex-corporate employees who have played a hand in breaking the world, and they’ve banded together to try and make things right. You run ops, not for money, but to protect the little guy, and you do it by networking your brains and sharing your skills/memories.
Sprawl will definitely do what you’re interested in! But if you were interested in a different flavor of “crew runs ops,” you may be interested in Headspace at some point in the future.
Aaron Griffin: I confess I’ve only read some of the Veil beta from a little while back, but Shock: feels like the best comparison to how smart it wants to be. It wants you to explore the answers to weird, meaningful sci-fi questions, yeah? Sounds like Shock:!
Most PbtA games don’t have a strict setting. No specific places or names, or problems. You create these as part of play. In the first session (but also in later sessions, it doesn’t ONLY happen in the first session).
Starters are short pre-generated settings, with places, names, problems, and all the stuff to get a session/campaign “started”. They can get you going, but since one of the core elements of PbtA is to “Play to find out what happens”… the starters only get you so far before your story no longer matches what they have. This is good. This is also why you won’t get any “Adventure Lines” like you do in more traditional games, too much of PbtA is designed to through those pre-set plans out the window.
Some people call PbtA “Low PreP”… they’re really not… they are just “different prep”. You can’t plan out whole scenes and plot lines, but you can think about Characters, threats, places, set pieces, prophecies, future badness. Still prep, just not scripted.
Anyone have a link to Sixth World?
scribd.com – Sixth World Revised
I thought I would weigh in here….Sprawl is defo closer to a ‘traditional’ gaming mindset than Headspace or the Veil which are both more high concept and so perhaps less immediately accessible.
Incidentally, by that I mean they are both focused on how those settings make your character feel. It’s kind of like Sci-Fi Arthouse vs Sci-Fi Heist/Action movies. They all have a tonne of action regardless, it’s just that Headspace and the Veil are a bit more introspective.
You won’t find much joy with prepared modules to print and play with any PbtA games. The closest I have seen to those are the Monkeyfun Studios games written for Spirit of ’77. (I love me their Shakespeare riff done 70’s style mash-up).
Headspace does come with two pre-gen scenarios in the main book which are excellent. So if you are stuck because you feel that the GM/MC/whatever’s role is to lay out the setting then maybe that would be a good game for you? The Sprawl does have a very good system for the whole group defining the scenario within the first 30 minutes though so it’s not a daunting as it sounds to someone who isn’t yet used to collaborative narrative game styles.
Anyways, just my 2 creds.
Great thanks everyone. That’s a lot to think about. I’ll also check out the PDF Sixth World revised.