I think Simon has asked another really interesting question that Hamish Cameron can answer, or anyone else can as too.
What does your Sprawl look like or how would you change the game if you wanted to focus more on what the characters are doing between missions?
Sprawl by design is very mission focused, characters are living paycheck to paycheck and they really don’t do much with their downtimes, and their is almost no focus on the downtime between missions.
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Make a new custom set of downtime moves that reflect the kind of game play you’re interested in seeing.
Assuming it’s pretty individual (not all the PCs doing things together) make sure the moves are abstract and the scenes brief, so you can move the spotlight around the table quickly. Use them as a chance to showcase more about your PC- where does she live? What does he love?
Make sure your new moves tie into the economies of the game- their downtime should burn Cred, introduce trouble from their backstory, and put both PCs and NPCs in a tough spot, which leads them back to the missions.
You might look at other games (such as Blades in the Dark) for ideas about downtime moves.
Would love to see the custom moves people come up with for Downtime. I’m looking over some of them for BitD and I can definitely see some transferring over.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1aAZ1qiqdVGM2M1TDlfdk5zejA/view?usp=drivesdk I forgot where I found this but here you go
Cody FromSideThree That’s awesome! Thanks 🙂
That’s a great idea. I feel some playbooks are too peripheral in their specialties to the mission structure. Fixer, Tech, Reporter and Pusher, for eg. A downtime phase and moves could make these playbooks shine more.
Just had this idea for a downtime move:
“Find the Job”: when you hit the clubs to look for a job, roll Style. On a hit, tell the MC what kind of opportunity it is (wetwork, extraction, etc), the employer (an existing corp/threat or something else) and the overall location (tech complex, jungle, underwater, etc). You get one extra option on Get the Job for it. On 7-9 you also attract unwanted attention: the MC will advance the relevant corp or threat clock.
Now you just passed to the players the choice of setup and color for next mission. Besides it, the Fixer just got more important, as he is usually the Style guy. Right?
Cody FromSideThree This rules, I’d consider it an amazing addition to any game. Certainly would help the game feel less like it’s constantly pressing it’s knife to your throat.
Nathan Camp Interesting you say that, I find that constant feeling of danger is what I love about The Sprawl.
Cody FromSideThree I played out downtime moves this week in my twitch game and it only added danger rather than subtracted and built out a whole mission without my intervention 😀
Yep, we played with some downtime moves too (the Find the Job, above) and it was a blast. A mission was generated by the players alone, and the GM just went with it. I think downtime moves are orthogonal to the presence of danger.
Variable, Fleasball, Miguel Torija Cosillas interesantes por aquí.
I’m just starting The Sprawl next month or so. But I’ve played/run AW. I think I would add and encourage the PCs to choose “leader” playbooks like in Apocalypse World: Hocus, Hardholder, Chopper, etc. Then I’d map out their neighborhood, roughly.
I’d edit the existing playbooks – Fixer’s +Crew would get name suggestions, for instance. And then I’d focus on non-corp Threats more than Corps. Corps = Missions, so I’d zero in on two or three corporations that are close to the PCs’ home base.