MC’d for the first time a few nights ago. The team legworked the f*** out of it and I hardly had a chance to use any moves. Seriously epic rolls that made me want to confiscate their dice.
We had to end the session quickly so I decided to use Conduct an Operation instead of action. The roll was another good one. Then came the roll for getting paid: Snake eyes with a +4 from legwork clock slots open means a 6.
Here’s my problem: none of the corporation clocks are above 15:00. I can’t think of what to do because hard moves don’t seem appropriate yet? It doesn’t seem right to have the payment meet go totally FUBAR…
Advice?
Sometimes, even when everything goes right, the corp still dicks you over. Cutting operating costs, tying up loose ends, you know… The zaibatsus ruin anonymous lives all the time. Just this time, it’s you.
This is the sprawl! It’s not fair or pretty. Hit the players hard, make them hate their employer. You might get some great new directives or even missions out of this. Put special emphasis on how this is “nothing personal”, or tie in someone’s hunted tag to explain why everything’s fallen apart.
And remeber, you don’t always need to make the hardest, nastiest move possible. You need to make the move that complicates the story in the most interesting way. Give the players what they want, with a complication… that’s the good stuff!
So this sounds like a similar problem I had when I ran my first few sessions of Dungeon World. My players aced the majority of their moves and I was under the impression that I couldn’t make any moves myself. Players would batter some enemies and I would just sit there kinda going…..well i can do nothing so make another move guys!
I got some fantastic advice which definitely applies to The Sprawl as well and in fact all PbtA games.
Even if your players roll the dice well you still definitely get to make a move.
Recall the triggers for the MC making a move-
1) The players miss one of their rolls
2) The fiction demands you make a move (in other games referred to as a golden opportunity)
3) When the players are waiting passively for something to happen.
Number 3 is the important one here. Even if everything is going right for the players almost every move will end with the conversation moving back to you, the MC and the players waiting for something to happen. Even if the players get a 10 on their Mix it Up roll to escape the arcology or the hacker gets a 10 to melt some terrifying ICE the conversation will end up going back to you.
Then you make a move.
Of course in these situations you make a soft move rather than a harder one. The players mix it up and escape but you “show them the barrel of a gun” and describe how the guards are still chasing after you. The ICE is gone but you describe that it took a while so you “put a (different) player in a spot”. This is the crux of how the game snowballs. Even when rolls are succeeded you still build the action – usually using the soft moves I just mentioned here.
Hopefully this is helpful and actually what you were referring to about not getting to make any moves. Like I said I had a very similar problem with Dungeon World. Basically whenever your players look to you…..screw with them a little bit 🙂
You don’t actually have to give them anything bad but where’s the fun in that?
Maybe the fixer is playing straight but the target corporation sent a quick reaction force after the team and they arrive at the time when PCs are getting paid.
Now, the fixer might think the the team led the opposition to the meeting, or even gets caught in the crossfire or something like that. This way PCs might not get paid at all or only partially or whatever.
Here is an example of solution : they’ll get paid… but they have to do “a little extra” before.
The PCs did everything so well that word gets out about how good they are. Rival corps approach them for opposite sides of the same job. Ambitious but newbie NPCs desperately want to join the PCs’ group. Jealous gangs try to make a name for themselves by taking down a PC or two.
Ran the second session last night. We decided to treat the first session like the TV pilot episode. I’d missed so many things and made a few key mistakes so we started fresh with a new mission.
Things went great last night and by great I mean we ended the session on a dramatic cliffhanger and the PCs’ lives have been filled with complications, pressures, debts, problems, issues, etc. It’s gotten complicated and completing the mission will be a real pain in the ass. I made more moves that weren’t dependent on dice fails. I saw more opportunities to integrate Directives.
I’m starting to really love this game. It’s the cyberpunk I’ve been waiting for all my gaming life.