//Monday Night Sprawl (Campaign Name In-Coming): Session 0//
Background: Most of the players (Antoinette, Ben, and Rachael) and myself were in a Monday Night game of D&D that has been put on “indefinite hold”. We all wanted to continue to play so I asked what they wanted to play, they said Shadowrun…So of course I had to introduce them to one of my favorite RPGs, The Sprawl. After they got their hands on the playbooks they all jumped on-board. The fourth player (Rebecca) was invited by the group because she wanted to play “my partner’s RPG waifu” and wanted to see why I love this game so much.
Worldbuilding: We spent a good hour talking about the world. None of the players had played Cyberpunk tabletop RPG games, but they were all very familiar with the genre. A good amount of Deus Ex and Ghost in the Shell was discussed and everyone agreed they wanted the game like this. Rachael was interested in looking at environmental issues (i.e. global warming gone rampant), space travel, and terraforming. Antoinette wanted virtual k-pop idols and legalized prostitution. Ben incorporated his love of Deus Ex and look into deeper thoughts of transhumanism. Rebecca followed up with looking at sentient AIs and the classic “what makes a human…human?”. While I proposed an idea about brand loyalty to corporations as a score (see Sesame Credit in China). Our game is set on a man-made island where almost all of the corporations have based their shipping/transport to the other Sprawls. Think of it as a major base for shipping around the world or going into space.
Corporations: Voyage Technologies (Space Travel and Terraforming), Typhoon-Shadow Manufacturing (Military/Civil Augmentations Manufacturing), Felix Oscar Xavier News Network [I’ll let you guys have fun with that one] (News/Propaganda/Entertainment), Googapple (Advertising/Information Brokers on the Matrix), Locksafe Inc. (Insurance/Personal Security).
Rachael selected the Reporter Playbook and ran a story against Voyage Technologies and how they were paying off news reporters in covering up stories on their questionable business practices. Only Antoinette joined. Her directives are Compassionate and Revealing Felix Oscar.
Antoinette selected the Fixer Playbook (to go against what all her friends expected her to do: Killer or Infiltrator) and lead a daring heist against Locksafe. Rebecca and Ben joined. Her directives are Deceptive and Protective of “her girls” (No wonder why she wanted to make prostitution legal).
Ben selected the Killer Playbook and followed through with creating a better version of Deus Ex’s Adam Jensen (His retractable blades do 6-harm, I will never put any enemies into melee range against him…). He assassinated an executive from Googapple. Rachael and Rebecca joined. His directives are Intimate with Antoinette’s character and Protective of Typhoon-Shadow. [MC’s Note: Ben’s character is +owned by Typhoon-Shadow, Antoinette’s character is +hunted by them…this should be fun smirks]
Rebecca selected the Tech Playbook (she’s a Breadboarder) and she’s planning to take the “Jack-In” move from The Hacker as her first advance. She ran an information heist against Felix Oscar. Everyone joined. Her directives are Deceptive and TBD (she couldn’t make her mind up so she’ll select later).
Character names will be decided throughout the week by the players along with their first contact. Everyone is excited about the game and they cannot wait until next Monday.
Corporate Clocks:
Voyage Technologies (Space Travel and Terraforming)- 1500
Typhoon-Shadow Manufacturing (Military/Civil Augmentations)- 1200
Felix Oscar Xavier News Network (News/Propaganda/Entertainment)- 2100
Googapple (Advertising/Information Brokers on the Matrix)- 1800
Locksafe Inc. (Insurance/Personal Security)- 1800
Now time to make all their gear with corporate branding and set them up with their first mission…