The Sprawl – Page 30 – Powered by the Apocalypse G+ Archives

New account as my other one doesn’t seem able to post to G+ Communities.

New account as my other one doesn’t seem able to post to G+ Communities.

I’m working on a set of occult playbooks for The Sprawl. My take on a supernatural sprawl. Here are some playbook images I’ve been working on between writing sessions.

Threw together a little logo for The Neo New England Nukes today and thought I’d share.

Threw together a little logo for The Neo New England Nukes today and thought I’d share. I’m running a game tomorrow where one of the central set pieces is a BLOOD BALL Championship game where the players are hired to fake the death of the half time performer and smuggle her out of the arena without getting caught. Should be fun!

What’s your favorite meet location for Getting The Job?

I’m trying to come up with some options for fun and evocative locations/set pieces to drop my Mr. Johnsons in that aren’t your typical wild cyberpunk night club, dive bar, or penthouse apartment.

So. just MC’ed my first session and I have some questions:

– My players where using help all the time, sometimes after the main char had rolled (usually badly). How exactly should I deal with the Help move?

– Sometimes the moves have weird effects. My Pusher tried to use Vision thing on a quick talk, and I ruled that you need more than a few phrases to gain some weight on it.

– How exactly the reporter works? Does he have to declare an specific story he’s researching?

Also, Pusher/Tech/Reporter group totally threw my planned mission off since they are not really the combat based group I thought they would be. Tips and example missions would be great.

Thanks!

“The First Day of Someone Else’s Life,” by John Schoffstall, in the May/June issue of F&SF (sfsite.com) is solid…

“The First Day of Someone Else’s Life,” by John Schoffstall, in the May/June issue of F&SF (sfsite.com) is solid cyberpunk. Highly recommend it!

http://sfsite.com

So, just finishing to read the main book and planning a Monday game, I have some questions:

– Has anyone written something in the way of races? I am thinking less fantasy more androids/transumans/clones (I am coming from Interface Zero)

– I noticed that there are no drawbacks of using cyber implants. I was thinking something like NAS (from Johnny Mnemonic) or loss of Essence

– Is there a good recorded session in audio or video so I can see how the game is ran? First time running a PBTA game, could use some examples.

Thanks, and troll the respawn Jerry.

“Pixie Dust” – DNA confusion makeup.

You powder your face/hands with a foundation makeup that includes significant trace DNA from thousands of local residents. Make DNA identification from skin cells far less likely to succeed.

I don’t doubt it extends to hair (pun intended) as well!

Perhaps there’s short-term injections or bioware modifications that pollute (or sterilize) your blood as soon as it hits air (and walls and floors and that hostage you thought they’d never shoot.)

I assume stuff like pixie dust is part of a day to day runner kit, though perhaps expensive enough to not use all day every day.

I just have to say, the Produce Equipment move and being able to spend your [gear] resource, in the middle of the…

I just have to say, the Produce Equipment move and being able to spend your [gear] resource, in the middle of the Mission, to say you just have something you need is amazing! I feel like I want to incorporate it into every game I play.

I have two players (Hacker and Fixer) who have picked the directive “Deceptive – When your lies about your identity…

I have two players (Hacker and Fixer) who have picked the directive “Deceptive – When your lies about your identity or your past put the mission at risk, mark experience.”

I have some ideas about how we can work their past into the game, but I’m not sure how lies about it could put the mission at risk exactly. We haven’t fully nailed down what their secrets are, so that may help, but in general I’m having a tough time imagining how lying about one’s past could put a mission at risk.

I think there are just too many moving parts. It seems like I would need to create a situation where first, the player must lie, which would be quite difficult with this group, and then have that lie somehow impact the mission. Maybe I’m overthinking it.

I am interested in examples of how others have handled this directive.

I MC’d my first con-game at New Mexicon last Sunday (Downtown Dataheist).

I MC’d my first con-game at New Mexicon last Sunday (Downtown Dataheist). I experimented with the following Matrix moves for the session.

>>10+: You are in clean

>>7-9: choose one

>>Blue Ice executes a routine

>>Encrypted (takes time)

>>Restricted access (-1 ongoing to matrix moves while access is restricted)

Compromise Security (MIND)

Manipulate Systems (SYNTH)

>>10+: +1 Hold +[Intel]

>>7-9: +1 Hold & Blue Ice executes a routine

Spend Hold to effect sub-systems (except Deactivate ICE- use MELT ICE)

Search for Paydata (MIND)

>>10+: +1 Paydata +[Intel]

>>7-9: +1 Paydata & Blue Ice executes a routine

(sell it with Hit the Street)

Console Cowboy: spend [Intel] for one of the following effects

>>Gain +1 Hold on Compromise Security or Manipulate Systems

>>Avoid one ICE routine

>>Upgrade access from Restricted to Unrestricted

No one picked the Hacker, but the Fixer took a Neural Interface with Data Storage, and thus he was in charge of NetRunning for the mission (so the Console Cowboy modification wasn’t used). The Fixer enacted approximately 7-9 rolls while in the Matrix during the action phase (including the Login), and probably because he was sub-optimized for NetRunning, he got ~2 Hits, ~2 Misses and the rest were Weak Hits. With this set of modified moves I felt like I was able to utilize more of the “Running the Matrix” chapter (Activate Trace, Alert Sys-op, Sever a connection, Melt ICE) while the player was still able to overcome security measures within the mission and complete his secondary mission (I don’t think he found Paydata, but he tried). It seemed like a lot of moves compared to some of the other players, by contrast the Killer and Driver probably only rolled 4-5 rolls each for the whole game (I could have done better with spotlight management). Overall, I would like to playtest these moves again, or perhaps think of a way to streamline the Matrix moves besides just doing a mission with in a mission.