Just bought The Sprawl pdf and really like it.

Just bought The Sprawl pdf and really like it.

Just bought The Sprawl pdf and really like it. I have not read the entire book so I apologise if this is a silly question but how and when do npcs attack? I don’t see a section on combat.

I know this is sacrilegious but is it possible to run the Sprawl as a standard rpg instead of narativly?

I’m not sure I get my players…or myself into the narrative game play style.

Thanks for any info.

23 thoughts on “Just bought The Sprawl pdf and really like it.”

  1. Quick answer: NPCs attack as a result of a GM move. Most often resulting from a player rolling a 6- on one of their moves.

    As for running the game as a “standard RPG”? You could, but then why use The Sprawl as opposed to another game?

  2. Chris Stone-Bush​ thanks for the clarification. Why use the sprawl as a standard rpg? I REALLY like the mechanics, the game looks like it would play very fast and easy. The game seems lethal which I think Cyberpunk should be. I love the compact character sheets and character creation. I love the feel of the game. I love how compact and portable the book itself is. I Love how the game requires very little prep work from the GM/MC.

    with that said how would you recommend I run it as a standard rpg?

    Thanks

  4. The problem is that the virtues that you identify exist mostly due to the PbtA playstyle. So, if you try and remove the playstyle you will likely just set yourself up to fail.

    On saying that, IME the playstyle of PbtA is pretty forgiving and I have found that you can play it more or less like a trad RPG as desired. I started with Dungeon World running AD&D modules, but have since moved to running Dungeon World almost freeform. The system worked fine for both.

    Its also worth noting that PbtA RPGs also run a spectrum from those with high narrative to those that feel more trad in nature. Dungeon World, Uncharted Worlds, and Tremulus are good examples if you prefer to stay closer to the end of the trad spectrum IMO.

  5. Aaron Griffin​ hello. while I would classify D&D as a standard rpg I would also classify

    Call of Cthulhu

    Trail of Cthulhu

    Warhammer fantasy roleplay all editions

    Rolemaster

    Vampire

    Werewolf

    Wraith

    Channeling

    Mage

    Cyberpunk 2020

    Shadowrun

    interface zero

    Shadow of the Demon Lord

    Star Wars Edge of the Empire

    Lamintations of the Flame Princess

    Paranoia

    Savage World of Solomon Cane

    I would consider all of the above off the top of my head and thousands more to be standard rpgs.

    I guess the part that makes them standard imo is that they all have a designated Game Master.

    Hope this helps. thanks for any tips on how I could run The Sprawl as a standard rpg. I really like so much about it and hope to get to run it soon.

  6. If you mean identical player-facing and GM-facing mechanics, i.e. the GM makes the same sorts of rolled moves the PCs do… it doesn’t work that way, and I wouldn’t recommend trying to make it work that way.

    The back and forth that kind of thing creates in other systems is already baked into the way GM and player moves work. Trying to use it on both sides of the screen just results in a hot mess.

    Edit: The Sprawl has a designated GM too. I don’t really get what you’re trying to say, unless maybe you don’t like the players having narrative input or you don’t like improv heavy systems. In either case, you’re probably better off with another system; this one will fight you if you try to run it like that.

  8. That said, don’t take it as discouraging you to run. Take it as encouraging you to internalize the GM philosophy and run it as intended. The apocalypse engine blew my mind wide open and made me a much better GM when I got it. I encourage you to have an open mind and try it yourself.

  9. I think it’s the player narration that throws me off. I have watched several hours of narrative games on YouTube and it feels like the players spend more time discussing the game then playing the game…thats just how it looks from the outside looking in. If I had played a narrative game 1st I might feel very differently. As a gm i like the player facing rules and don’t care if I ever get to roll dice. Trail of cthulhu is very player facing and that’s brilliant.

  10. You are correct Narrative facing games are a whole lot of the players discussing the game and defining the narrative and then moving forward with that shared narrative…that is actually the point.

  11. These kinds of games are meant to be a communal social experience more than an storyteller directed experience.

    You can still run it in a slightly more traditional way by planning out the whole arc and have them roll, and just reduce their narrative input by planning in more detail…but the Apocalypse World Systems just arent really intended for that, and you may find the system not really working as you expect.

    James Etheridge has solid advice in trying to process and read through the GM section of the system and really think about how you could change your perspective on how you GM and try to run games in a new way.

  12. IMO narrative discussion in a PbtA RPG depends on the GM inviting it from the players. On saying that, the virtue of being easy to prep and GM is actually built on inviting such discussion. So if you close it down, expect to have to do more work in return.

  14. TBH I’ve had a GM who has tried to run The Sprawl as a trad game and it’s crashed and burned from my POV each time. Try running it as it was meant to be run and you’ll find that it sings. Watching RPGs really doesn’t showcase any system as our minds focus of very different things compared to actually playing. Compare a D&D game on YouTube/Twitch to one you take part in and you’ll see the problem.

    Do you attend any UK based cons? If so I’d be happy to run a game to show you how a PbtA game runs.

  17. Gary Huddleston try and get to play a PbtA game at a US con and see how the structure of the system really makes a game move very quickly. There isn’t, or doesn’t have to be, a huge amount of narrative involvement any more than there is a narrative in a normal game but the narrative that does occur is resolved by the GM taking what is said about the character’s actions and transferred into the move most appropriate from the playbook where it is resolved by the 6-, 7-6 or 10+ mechanism common to the game system.

  18. Gary Huddleston

    Youtube videos are only indicative of a particular group’s GM/Player dynamic.

    If you have played in traditional games, run by several different GMs, you’ve notice that all GMs don’t run games identically and that player’s don’t engage identically either.

    As the GM of a PtbA game, you don’t have to insist players fill in EVERY single detail. You can ask leading questions; so you are doing the bulk of the work but still allowing the players to have some input (which is automatic buy-in and engagement since they are the ones who contributed it). It’s also allowed for you to come up with some details all on your own with player input; you have to find the balance that is right for you and your players.

  19. Gary, I think the consensus seems to be that it would probably take work to run The Sprawl as a traditional RPG. The Powered by the Apocalypse system allows players to decide their characters’ moves and they roll, the GM does not roll. If NPCs attack it’s interpreted as a need for characters to defend themselves and so again the players roll.

    PbtA is a daring and powerful methodology, it offers players simple rules information on their choices up-front, in the character sheets and in the “playbook” for the character type (make friends with someone who has a free photocopier). The GM never rolls and so is freer to make notes and plan the reaction of the “world” to the player actions.

    Try to run it as-is. If you try to adapt the setting to a traditional rules system then the whole weight of what PbtA avoids comes due at once: additional stats for NPCs, the GM has to plan a tighter script with stats for things and must roll more, it slows down combat and makes it more meticulous.

    There is a game called INTERFACE ZERO 2.0 and it is a setting full of cyberpunk goodness and a world map with regions described (although the most detailed setting is the city of Chicago). This game has been adapted in separate editions for Savage Worlds, Fate Core, and now Pathfinder. Fate Core is also a kind of non-traditional RPG focused more on narrative, so a setting does not necessarily have to go with a traditional RPG set of rules if it started that way. It all depends on how much adaptation work you want to accept.

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