Thoughts on the intermission session--I've got a few different systems I'd potentially like to try:
The Sprawl
Cyberpunk PbtA. This is probably what I'm most leaning towards. Since we're already familiar with PbtA, it's not a huge stretch to move into a similar system. The only thing that's holding me back is that the one game of this that I did play was pretty underwhelming. In retrospect, I think the GM got a little overly excited about world-building and neglected to create an interesting scenario for the actual adventure. So I'd like to give it another shot at some point.
Lancers
Giant Mech RPG. This is an interesting one. It's still in beta, but as far as I can tell, they're mostly just sanding and polishing at this point. I've played one game of this, and the actual mech combat was extremely fun. Just the right mix of crunchy and free-form. That said, the pilot portion is a little underdeveloped for my tastes, and I think I'd want to kitbash it with something like The Sprawl or MechNoir.
Legend of the Five Rings
Samurai fantasy. I don't have much experience with this one, but it inspired one of my favorite arcs of one of my favorite actual play podcasts.
Star Wars Edge of the Empire
This is probably the role playing system I'm most familiar with. I still don't think I actually know it though. It's a system with a lot of blind alleys (e.g. vehicle combat, Force powers, etc.) Still, if y'all are jonesing for some Star Wars, I can throw together an adventure pretty quickly.
Lady Blackbird
It's the most renowned, award-winning game that no one has actually played. Interesting premise, interesting Skies of Arcadia world. Everyone who has played it raves about it. It's more of a one-shot than a campaign, but we've sestupled Jim's MotW adventure at this point, so it's probably got legs.
Danger Patrol
This is one I've wanted to run for awhile. It's Atompunk, I guess? Sort of Johnny Quest meets Buck Rogers. System is super simple, but looks like it has a lot of room for interesting play.
Warbirds
Crimson Skies the RPG. Truth be told, I'm holding out for Flying Circus, which is another Dieselpunk system that had a successful Kickstarter last year. But I'm a sucker for Dieselpunk, and really any of the "punk" systems that don't involve steam. I have heard good things about this one, but haven't gotten a chance to play it. I'm also a bit worried that the conflict engine for airplane games might be a little lacking.
Inspectres
Goofy Ghostbusters stuff. Tends to make its own humor no matter what it is you thought you were doing.
I'm also open to suggestions if somebody really wants to try something. Probably should go with free/cheap/popular for reasons of accessibility.
I ran Lady Blackbird once as a one-shot and loved it! The only down side is that it's hard to pack the whole plot into one session unless you really fast-track the rolls to encompass a lot of action. But even if you never get there, it's still a lot of fun.
I'd really like to participate in this. Just not sure how I'd do it right now since that's 1am for me. How long do your sessions run?
I'd really like to participate in this. Just not sure how I'd do it right now since that's 1am for me. How long do your sessions run?
We try to keep it at around 3 hours.
b12n11w00t wrote:I'd really like to participate in this. Just not sure how I'd do it right now since that's 1am for me. How long do your sessions run?
We try to keep it at around 3 hours.
That might not be so bad, IF I can stay awake.
I'll talk to my wife about it and see what she thinks(and specifically if she can wake up at 8am to walk the dogs instead of me.) If she's okay with it would it be cool if I sat in on the next game?
We're wrapping up our first "session" right now. Once that's done, Amanda had a busy month and will have to take a break, so I'll be running an interstitial session. That would probably be a good chance to see if you can stay awake through the time slot. This is Jim's deal, so subject to his approval.
We've wanted to bring in at least one more person for awhile now.
Reminder to pick a game for the interstitial session(s). If I don't hear from anyone by Wednesday, I'll assume that we're doing The Sprawl, and plan accordingly. I would like people to at least choose a class prior to Thursday so that I can tailor the session a little bit. If one of y'all decides to be a Driver or a Hacker, then I need to be able to put in some driving or matrix stuff for you.
b12n11w00t, you've got a spot, if you can stay up late enough. Let us know if you'll be around for this one. We'll be doing another session next week, so if this is short notice, you can try for that. Anyone else is welcome to drop in, though six players is my absolute limit, and five is probably an ideal number.
The Sprawl setting is Novosibirsk, which is an actual Russian city, but my version probably bears little resemblance to the real thing. It's a cold city, one of the few whose climate was actually driven colder by global climate change. It exists as the capital of the Siberian Free State, which is controlled either by the Chinese military, Russian intelligence, multi-national corporations, or a shadowy underworld conglomerate, depending on who you talk to. Any of these is more plausible than the notion that the Siberian Free State is in any way free. Nominally Russian, it has been transformed by Chinese migration, and has drawn people from all over the world due to its primacy in monopole extraction and processing.
Plan accordingly.
Masks is our other option, but is a bit less setting-dependent. If we are doing Masks, it might be nice if we could set up the links offline. But people may be more comfortable doing it "in person".
I'm good with any of them. The Sprawl looks interesting. I grew up in a cold climate so it will probably bring back memories, both good and bad
Okay I'm going to give it a shot and we'll see what happens, I get sleepy at like 9est now so this should be fun! I joined the roll20 site, if there's a discord or curse or something separate from the gwj stuff then PM that stuff to me.
I'll look through The Sprawl now and see what looks interesting but I'm up for playing literally any role.
I figure I'll go with Tech. Was going to go soldier but realized they're meant to be the team leaders.
Character in spoilers.
Name: Vice Jensen
Looks: Eyes: artificial, Face: expressive, Body: wiry, Style: utility
Skin: IndigenousPlaybook: Tech
Cool: +2
Edge: +0
Meat: +0
Mind: +1
Style:-1
Synth:+1
Cred: 5Directives:Network(Collective) and Revealing(The Shade)
Cyberware:Cybereyes - +Thermographic, +Encrypted, +flare compensation
Moves
Expert:Gunsmith - You are an expert in armaments; you begin with the killer move custom weapon.
Custom Weapon: Silence, Hi-Powered Handgun
Storage: After receiving a job you may look through your accumulated parts and supplies for equipment that might help with the current mission. Roll Mind 10+ 3 gear / 7-9 1 gear.
Customiser: You can identify and examine new or complicated technology related to your area of expertise, and modify technology with which you are familiar. When you try to modify a piece of tech, tell the MC what you want to do and discuss what tags or game effect that modification will have. The MC will tell you the requirements in terms of: Time, tools, parts, help from contacts, more research.
Diverse Interests: Choose one more area of expertise. Mechanic: you are an expert in the construction, maintenance and operation of vehicles & drones; you have two drones created according to the Driver move drone Jockey.
Drones: Rotor Tiny Drone - +small, +fragile, +stealthy, +jamming.
Medium Wheeled Drone - +rugged, +off-road, +analysis software, +obvious, +armed ( Assault rifle: 3-harm near loud autofire )Gear
Gunsmith Toolkit and Mechanic Toolkit
Silenced, Hi-Powered Handgun (From Custom Weapon)
Assault Rifle
Gas GrenadesArmored jacket (1-armor)
Armored clothing (0-armor, +discreet, subtract 1 when rolling the harm move)
Van +huge +slowStep 0:
Macross
The corporation I wanted to make is just an homage to the old anime. They're a company specializing in flight-based technology and have made a lot of advances for drone technology but they're primarily focused on military/war machines.The Collective and The Shade
I have two entities / groups that are tied to my directives. The Collective is a group that my player is associated with, believing in a free and open market for technology. Think of the open source groups that are on the internet now. The Shade on the other hand things technology and knowledge should be used as a currency and specializes in information brokering. As the way of things The Collective is the weaker of the two groups as they're less structured and mostly just a group of people believing the same thing. Publicizing data for the Collective can be great for the world but if big enough could put you on the Shade's hit lists.Step 4:
Cyberware
1. Why did you get part of your body cut out and replaced with electronics?
Genetics - Born with poor vision.2. How did you afford to have someone cut out part of your body and replace it
with electronics?
- You scrimped and saved to buy it yourself. +substandardStep 7:
Vice, like many in The Sprawl, was born into poverty. Unlike many, he often found himself holed up in his sh*tty apartment pouring over whatever tech he could get his hands on. Usually that meant dealing with old, broken, or manufacturing gear. But a lot of his fun was breaking things down to their disparate pieces before figuring a way to reassemble. Often that left him with large piles of unusable junk but sometimes he was able to restore something back to a functional state so that he could then sell it and buy food. Eventually he stumbled across information on The Collective and really identified with their philosophy and even went so far as to share some of the knowledge he had gained over the years about how to optimize power regulation systems in drones. Now he runs jobs to make money, acquire tech, and learn as much as he can for the betterment of the world(and himself).
I'll make a game and post the link tonight. I'm not super experienced with roll 20, so there might be a few hiccups. I'm sure there are sprawl character sheets. I think I played with one once before. I'll try and dig it up.
Just a heads up I don't have video. Don't own a camera or a laptop with one either so I'll just be a disembodied voice.
I actually did consider sleeping from 9est to midnight and then getting up to play. I'm sure I can figure it out!
Game invite:
Couple of things that aren't in the base playbooks:
STEP 0: DEFINE THE CORPORATIONS
Each player (including the MC) names and briefly describes a megacorporation (or
an entity of similar scope like an organised crime syndicate or a government). The
level of detail of the description may vary depending on the taste of the group,
the taste of the player and the type of game. For a one-off or con game, a major
sphere of interest for each corporation is enough. For an ongoing game, you might
describe organisational goals and important corporate divisions, iconic locations or
secret facilities. Draw inspiration from cyberpunk and near future media, or from
contemporary corporate news stories. Combine currently active corporations into
hybrid megaconglomerates.
There are examples of corporate names and types of business drawn from all of these
sources of inspiration in Appendix 1: Names.
The corporations that you define are the major players in your story so create
corporations that focus on aspects of a cyber-dystopia that you want to see in your
game. Don’t get too attached to the corporation you define, though. Sooner or later
they’ll try to kill you.
STEP 4: CHOOSE CYBERWARE
In The Sprawl, everyone’s got chrome, but replacing human tissue with metal and
plastic isn’t a trivial exercise. Choose one piece of Cyberware from the options on
your playbook. Think about how and why you got into this business. The MC will ask
you two questions:
1. Why did you get part of your body cut out and replaced with electronics?
Choose one: prosthetic, forced, loyalty, enthusiasm, necessity, junkie,
genetics, career, ideology, memory, military.
2. How did you afford to have someone cut out part of your body and replace it
with electronics?
Choose one:
- You scrimped and saved to buy it yourself. Choose one tag to apply to that piece of cyberware: +unreliable, +substandard, +hardware decay, +damaging.
- Someone else paid for it; now you owe them. You’re owned. Choose who owns you.
- You f*cked someone over to get it. You’re hunted. Describe who you double-crossed.
The MC will make a note of who owns you, who’s hunting you, the gear you have
installed in your body, and any technical problems it might have. Be sure to choose an
option that will be fun for you; your choice tells the MC which complication you find
most interesting for your character and the MC will incorporate it into play regularly.
If you take moves that grant you additional pieces of cyberware you’re not restricted
to the options listed in your playbook. Instead, choose from the full list in Chapter
5: Cyberware. However, you must describe who paid for it, as above. Sometimes the
cyberware listed in your playbook will differ from that in Chapter 5: Cyberware or in
another playbook; use the rules on your own playbook.
STEP 7: CONSIDER BACKGROUND & CONTACTS.
Think about your character’s background. Does he come from the streets? Did she
grow up in a corporate arcology? Does he move in media circles? Did she serve in a
regular military or paramilitary force of some kind? You know some people from your
old life who you can still go to for help and whom you’ll name and describe during
play. For now, write a brief note about the circles these contacts will come from.
The Sprawl also wants you to give a brand name for any weapon, vehicle, or drone you own. Any piece of equipment, really, but you don't have to go crazy if it's not an inherently sexy item.
--------------------------------------------------
I'll probably ask further questions about characters before the session starts. Please note that the "appearance" tags in the Looks field are more like examples than a restrictive list. Feel free to add as much detail as you want.
And yeah, hook me up with a corporation while you're at it. Stick with The Sprawl Agenda and Principles:
AGENDA
Make The Sprawl dirty, high-tech and excessive
Fill the character’s lives with action, intrigue and complication
Entangle the characters in The Sprawl
Play to find out what happens
PRINCIPLES
Chrome everything, then make it dirty
Begin and end with the fiction
Address the characters, not the players
Ask questions and incorporate the answers
Name everyone
Make everything Corporate
Make everything personal; complicate everything
Treat your NPCs like disposable assets
Think offscreen
Be a fan of the characters
The games I run can tend to go a little Ghostbusters-y in terms of feel, but I like to have a serious world to goof off in, as it makes it a lot easier to swing back into serious if needed.
I edited my previous post with the additional info Kazooka.
Jim, I might alter that violence directive a bit. I'm thinking "choose violence when non-violent solution exists in the course of a job", or "and it threatens the mission". Otherwise I feel like it's incentivizing you to turn the most mundane situation into a Tarantino scene.
Also, I'd appreciate it if you could name your siblings.
Bwoot, looks good from here.
I'll set up character slots when people log into the roll 20 game.
I love the player-created corporations in Sprawl, such a brilliant innovation. Adam Koebel ran a game where one of the players created a Disney-Amazon merger that was silly and awesome.
Yeah, I figured. It's more that I have an issue with the directive itself than what you'd do with it. I'd just rather neither one of us have to be thinking too much about what an appropriate level of violence is.
I've set up character sheets in Roll20 for everyone that's signed in. bwoot, I assume you're CW. Also got Kronen on there as well. Don't know if they're signing up or just peeking around. I made a character sheet for them in any case.
Added a few more info sheets as well. I couldn't upload them last night for some reason.
If one of y'all decides to be a Driver or a Hacker, then I need to be able to put in some driving or matrix stuff for you.
I read through most of the guide tonight. I'll get a character drafted up here tomorrow. I am planning on being a driver, though my vehicle will probably be a motorbike and I am considering drones. But not set in stone yet.
kazooka wrote:If one of y'all decides to be a Driver or a Hacker, then I need to be able to put in some driving or matrix stuff for you.
I read through most of the guide tonight. I'll get a character drafted up here tomorrow. I am planning on being a driver, though my vehicle will probably be a motorbike and I am considering drones. But not set in stone yet.
I picked a large van for my guy so maybe is can be big enough for you to launch out of the back of it on your bike!
Also my guy already has drones if you didn't see them, but there's nothing to stop us from having an army of drones.
kazar wrote:kazooka wrote:If one of y'all decides to be a Driver or a Hacker, then I need to be able to put in some driving or matrix stuff for you.
I read through most of the guide tonight. I'll get a character drafted up here tomorrow. I am planning on being a driver, though my vehicle will probably be a motorbike and I am considering drones. But not set in stone yet.
I picked a large van for my guy so maybe is can be big enough for you to launch out of the back of it on your bike!
Also my guy already has drones if you didn't see them, but there's nothing to stop us from having an army of drones.
That works. I was thinking of changing since I figured it would limit the use if only I could be on the bike, but if I could run support with the bike that would be interesting.
The driver's cyberware is specific to controlling vehicles including drones which I take it as meaning I have direct access in my mind to what the drones are doing/seeing. So one drone was going to be a "eye in the sky" type. Still need to think of the second drone but I will try to make sure it doesn't conflict with the ones you take.
b12n11w00t wrote:kazar wrote:kazooka wrote:If one of y'all decides to be a Driver or a Hacker, then I need to be able to put in some driving or matrix stuff for you.
I read through most of the guide tonight. I'll get a character drafted up here tomorrow. I am planning on being a driver, though my vehicle will probably be a motorbike and I am considering drones. But not set in stone yet.
I picked a large van for my guy so maybe is can be big enough for you to launch out of the back of it on your bike!
Also my guy already has drones if you didn't see them, but there's nothing to stop us from having an army of drones.
That works. I was thinking of changing since I figured it would limit the use if only I could be on the bike, but if I could run support with the bike that would be interesting.
The driver's cyberware is specific to controlling vehicles including drones which I take it as meaning I have direct access in my mind to what the drones are doing/seeing. So one drone was going to be a "eye in the sky" type. Still need to think of the second drone but I will try to make sure it doesn't conflict with the ones you take.
If you want to tailor yours to pair with mine I have a tiny rotor drone that can zip in and jam sensors. And a medium wheeled one with a gun for combat support.
I created my character profile on roll20. Most of it is there save for some of the backstory.
Ripburger Transportation Authority. After the self driving car incident of 2028 that cost millions of lives, all the car companies were facing bankruptcy. One company was able to avoid the lawsuits and the following riots as their cars went in a different direction. Instead of building computers that drove the cars for you, they worked with cybernetic corporations to build vehicles that you plugged into and controlled with your mind. They were able to purchase almost all the vehicle manufactures and even started producing military vehicles for the government and private mercenary corporations. Most vehicle startups tend to either get bought cheap, have to deal with sabotage or on occasion their founders mysteriously winds up dead.
Jacob (Cooler) Corely
Playbook: Driver
Cold eyes
Blank face
Toned body
Utility wear
Hispanic skin, bald
Cool +2
Edge +1
Meat 0
Mind 0
Style -1
Synth 1
Cyberware: Neural Interface with Remote Control Module
Reason: Necessity. Fixing and driving cars for RBTA or his grandfathers company before that meant he required RCM to drive the company cars.
Paid By: RBTA. As long as he is working for RBTA there is no cost, but when Cooler left, they expected payment or reclamation.
+owned (RBTA)
Cooler learned all about vehicles of every kind working in his grandfather's company Corley Motors. They mainly focused on motorcycles but later got into the production of affordable minivans. When Cooler turned 20, his grandfather disappeared and was never heard from again. His company shares plummeted and RBTA acquired Corley Motors for pennies on the dollar. Cooler remained employed at RBTA for 25 years ranging from a vehicle technician to a human test dummy. He then came upon evidence that RBTA was behind a recent disappearance of a CEO of a new up and coming aerial drone company. He stopped showing up for work and started learning everything he could about RBTA and how he can take them down.
Contacts: Ben Corely (Great Uncle) was the CTO of Corely motors. After his brother's disappearance he became the CEO. Once Corely motors was aquired by RBTA, Ben became the VP of the motorcycle division. After leaving RBTA, Cooler still has regular contact with his uncle. He hasn't told him his theory about what happened to his grandfather fearing his uncle wouldn't believe him.
Directives
Vengeful: Against RBTA
Intimate: Ben
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