Database Sub-system
Just finished MCing my first game of The Sprawl. Overall it went well and the three players said they had a great time, but there were things I could have handled way better. That will come with more experience.
One thing that stumped me was gathering information in the matrix during the Legwork phase. I ran the Kurosawa mission, and the players discussed hacking into either the arcology or the airport to discover their target’s travel plans. Ultimately they decided to go another route, but it raised a question.
The information they wanted would naturally be in a database sub-system. That means Logging in to the system and then using compromise security on the database sub-system. But I’m not seeing an option to just read the info contained in a database. I’m seeing copy, modify, or delete records as options.
Does that mean the hacker can access and read all info contained in a database once they’re in? It makes sense, but it might be a lot of info to sift through, and I could see act under pressure or tell them the consequences and ask being moves here.
Also, do hackers have to make the login move for each sub-system they access?
I think reading and researching are both covered under non-matrix moves.RESEARCH and ASSESS moves both do this and would be required to sift through data like that. But the other MC moves are also applicable.
“Also, do hackers have to make the login move for each sub-system they access?”
Depends on how complex you want to make the particular system they are in. There aren’t really cookie cutter system configurations in real life, doubly so in the chromed out future. Personally I’ve got about a dozen passwords to keep track of at work and they are all “inside the same network”…
Two things. First: Be generous with information. The Sprawl is a game about acting, and acting requires information to act upon. The more difficult you make getting essential information, the less likely the mission happens in the time allotted. So don’t feel the need to require 5 moves from the hacker when all he wants is the essential information the game needs to move forward.
Two: Follow the fiction. Is the database massive and is your hacker racing against the clock because an alert is active? Than make him act under pressure. Does he need to read the itinerary and get out without anyone knowing he was there? Maybe he needs to delete that entry on the access log. Does he need to find a spot to ambush Kurosawa using just the information present? Maybe some research is in order than. The moves flow out of the fiction, not the other way around. There doesn’t need to be a move for every possible action.
I’d agree with others. The hacking moves get you access to the information… but finding that information is covered by other moves, notably, the database subsystem move “search for paydata” (for finding profitable info) or the general “research” move for more mission-oriented info.
As a note, the “sift” program gives you + 1 to both these moves when searching in a secure database…
Thanks for the comments. I know that both ASSESS and RESEARCH can be done while in the Matrix. It also makes total sense that needing to LOGIN or not depends on what system is being accesses. I’m also an old hat with PbtA games (Monsterhearts and Dungeon World mostly), so know the importance of providing info and playing fiction first.
I certainly wasn’t trying to be stingy with the info the characters started with. Their Corp contact gave them their target (Mitchell Kurosawa), some basic info (he’s a mid-level Jinteki executive), the target’s location (he lives in the offshore Gila Hands Arcology, a Jinteki property), and an approach vector (he only leave the arcology for work, but that’s frequent travel to the New Angeles International Airport). I figured that would give them a decent starting picture and point them in a direction to find out more.
What happened though was a lot of discussion (both in and out of character) about what info the team wanted and how to go about getting it. The Hacker alternatively suggested accessing arcology, airport, and company databases, but backed off when he saw the questions in the RESEARCH move. They all felt those questions didn’t provide the info they wanted; travel schedules, flight numbers, and itineraries.
But every time the players seemed to have decided on a course of action and I was about to say, “Great. Sounds like you’re [MOVE NAME]” to get things moving, someone either suggested a new plan or pointed out an issue and they all went back to discussing plans again. The Pusher finally went to a street doc contact and found out that Kurosawa frequents the New Angles Golf Club, the Killer then went to go scope out security there, and the Hacker found out the Jinteki exec has a standing golf game the third Saturday of every month. They decided to snatch him during a golf game later in the month, but it took a long time. Character creation and the Legwork Phase alone took about 5 hours.
Only after the game on the train ride home did I realize I had messed up by forgetting about the database sub-systems the Hacker could have accesses. That would have contained travel schedules, flight numbers, club member records, etc. depending on where they went digging around.
But as the players noted that neither ASSESS nor RESEARCH answered their questions, I just wanted to get other people’s opinions. It seems like that once in a database sub-system, a Hacker can read any and all data in that system. Of course depending on the system, there may be multiple database sub-systems for different information (which may or may not require LOGIN attempts to move between them) or it may take a long time to search through the data (which could be several different moves).
So while it did take a long time, the upside is that we all have a better grasp on things.