First Impressions - The Sprawl: Mission Files

Mission Files - scenario frameworks for The Sprawl RPG

I've always had a soft spot for cyberpunk ever since I read William Gibson's Neuromancer as a teenager. I had lots of fun playing the first edition of R Talosorian's Cyberpunk RPG and even more fun running several one-shots and mini-campaigns of Cyberpunk 2020. The first edition of Shadowrun also featured pretty heavily in my early gaming.

I backed The Sprawl as a Kickstarter on the premise that it looked like a well-focused Powered by the Apocalypse engined take on the genre. This proved to be the case; it delivers 'play to find out' approach to the neo-noir genre, and the mechanics of actions clocks are used to drive the missions that the characters take. The heart of a mission hangs around the legwork that the characters do to plan the mission, and then the actual action. If you create noise when you do the legwork, the action is harder, or may even come to you. The mechanic uses two linked action clocks to drive it (count down clocks with linked escalations).

Mission Files was one of the stretch goals for the Kickstarter; a collection of ten mission frameworks for the game that the MC can use to run as one-shots or as part of an ongoing campaign. I have the PDF and the hardcover book version (which is lovely). The cover is a neon-noir city at night. Internal art is predominantly stylised photographs. It is a 107-page book, available from DriveThruRPG. There are two versions - midnight (white-on-black text) and noon (black-on-white text). Clearly, the more cyberpunk version is midnight!

The book opens with a discussion on how to use the frameworks that follow, focussed around the unanswered questions. It also describes how to lift and re-skin elements for other scenarios.

Why frameworks? Each mission is described in the same structure. You won't find maps or detailed NPCs; they are left to expand up as the play requires. The framework structure is effective:

1. Executive Summary - the mission in a nutshell
2. Code Dump - key points about the mission including what character archetypes it's best suited to.
3. Unanswered questions - for the players to research or find out in play.
4. The Meet - descriptions of the Fixer starting the mission and how the characters are drawn in.
5. Mission Directives - key milestones that trigger experience.
6. People and Places - key locations, non-player characters and plot elements
7. The Clocks - as a minimum the Legwork and Action Clocks, and sometimes others.
8. Running the Mission - advice on how to run the mission including observations from playtests
9. Hacking the Mission - advice on how you can twist the mission or re-use elements from it.

Each mission is around 6-8 pages in length. They all have simple three-word titles in a very Robert Ludlum style; The Boyle Recovery, The Bogatyrev Jam and The Cazares-Bell Obsolescence to give three examples. They vary in complexity; some have the potential to be world-spanning chases, and others are a 'simple in and out' mission. The missions will need some light work from the MC, but that's entirely in line with the ethos of the game. Much of the events will develop in play.

Overall, I like this book. The missions catch a real Gibson-esque vibe and the way that they are structured leaves the MC plenty of scope and space to make them their own. The framework structure is worth lifting.

The book could also easily be used for another system such as Cyberpunk 2020.

Recommended.

27 October 2019