So let's see how it plays.
Session 1: Character Creation
My local gaming group is limited to playing for 2 hour chunks of time at the moment. That night my son developed hives all over his body. So our first session of the Sprawl was truncated to character and world creation.I began by opening up a discussion to determine our vision of cyberpunk. We talked about what aspects of society and technology interested them, whether tech was 80s style jacking in or modern-day wireless, the year the game would be set in, where the characters lived, what the weather was like and so on.
A lot of good ideas came out of that brainstorming session. We decided that the year didn't matter and that tech followed current trends (i.e. no physical jacking in). AI however remained eternally in the future in much the same way as fusion power. Other than asteroid mines and a few factories, space was empty. Though if any androids existed in the setting it would be up there.
We set the game in Indianago, the megalopolis stretching from Chicago to Indianapolis. Caught in an endless deep freeze, the city's infrastructure slowly crumbled from cheap materials and poor maintenance. Toxic smog filled the air. A similar disrepair could be found in the people, where planned obsolescence had become the standard for most cyberware. The majority of citizen suffered surgery every few years to keep their tech working. A few, like the PCs, possessed high-end gear that's for "life" (in other words for a decade or so).
"Tech is cheap" was the theme that the players decided on.
The team also discussed the idea of having to climb a frost covered skyscraper at some point.
One "bright" spot in people's lives is the omnipresence of virtual reality, allowing users to see and live in the world of their choosing. To them the city can be a tropical paradise or a warm welcoming forest or whatever pleases them. Some become addicted to the experience.
The Corporations
My wife started by using one of her favorite fictional companies: Veridian Dynamics. After showing us one of their fake ads, she decided they focused on pharmaceuticals and virtual reality. They have their corporate headquarters in the EU, somewhere in Germany.
David created Unified Security, a military contractor and transportation firm. They make everything from cars and handguns to tanks and attack drones.
Genewear was Karen's creation, the dominant player in cybernetics. Eager to keep their position, they've begun working on genetic engineering to creating living implants that function better than cyberware. Their main competitor is Veridian Dynamics. They have their headquarters in Indianago.
I added Shinja, a financial and criminal powerhouse based in Singapore. I wanted big money and crime and this seemed to be the way to do it. I also added that Singapore is the world financial capitol after the crash that took out London.
Playbooks
David created a Driver named Demon. Making my life easier he also took the move Drone Jockey. That allowed him to interact with the team even if he remained encased in his huge flying car "Mama Bear". Demon himself is hugely overweight, so much so that walking is a difficult for him. His drones, Little Bear and Big Bear, are both quadcopters. One is tiny, fragile and stealthy. The other is dog-sized with a machine gun mounted on it.
Demon worked for Unified Security with a friend named Dale. They worked in R&D and later did field work in the Alaskan Territories. As time passed he began to put on a lot of weight. He arranged a deal with Dale to get him the cyberware implant he needed to run Mamma Bear full-time without ever having to leave its confines. He then left Dale holding the bill. His former friend found his ten-year contract extended to life. He understandably wants revenge on Demon.
Demon took a Directive, or a way to earn more experience, involving trouble with his past with Unified Security and another dealing with Dale. Demon wants to save his old friend and is trying to track him down!
My wife created a Killer named Oracle. A crippled soldier, Oracle had her legs removed and replaced with mechanical ones. This cyberware is cosmetic but the neural interface that allows her to control them also gives her pin point accuracy with her guns. Adding in her dermal plating she is more machine than woman. Verdian Dynamics paid for all of this and owns her. In fact some of her implants are cutting edge and haven't been cleared for export.
For weapons she picked up a pair of high-powered handguns called Artemis and Apollo. With her implants and synth of +2 she deals 5-harm with her guns. And with the move Mil Specs she fights as a small gang.
As for Directives she took one for the trouble brought on by her connections of Verdian Dynamics and Masochistic. So violence is a thing for her.
Our final character, Smoke the Infiltrator was created by Karen. A skilled cat burglar and general sneak, she has synthetic nerves and skillwires. At the moment she has chips for parkour and tactics. Smoke secretly works for Shinja but her implants came from Genewear, who remain unaware of her true allegiances. They own her for now but she may soon be on the run.
Smoke made sure she has all of her bases covered, arming herself with throwing knives for close silent work, a sniper rifle for long-range, and the ever popular monofilament whip for close messy jobs.
Her Shinja connection is one of her Directives with the other being an inclination toward violence.
Connections
Finally we worked out how the team knew each other. With three players the group was able to space out the jobs and ensure everyone had +1 Links with everyone else without bringing an entire megacorp down on them. Each increase in Link between player characters advances a Corporation clock by 1. So there can be a bit of careful calculation for larger groups.Oracle described her job first: a simple wetwork gig against Shinja. Smoke joined in to help her get close to the target while Demon acted as the getaway driver. His real reason for tagging along however was to do some snooping in Shinja's files. He discovered Dale's contract had been sold and hoped to learn if Shinja had bought it up.
Demon's job was self funded and preceded the other job. He hired the others to break into a United Security office, which is where he learned about Dale's contract. Smoke and Oracle did the legwork on that job.
The final mission was a hit on a scientist at a subsidiary of Veridian Dynamics. Smoke didn't know the corporate connection at the time, something continues to irritate Oracle. The scientist had been conducting industrial sabotage for Genewear and feeding them information on the company's cyberware R&D. However he had begun feeding the corporation bad data. Thus they had him eliminated. Oracle handled that part while Demon again provided transport.
And that was it for session 1. Next up is mission 1: an extraction job involving a VR maze, dumpster diving and a black clinic.
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