Pen and Paper and Roll20.net Games

[Lechimp]

Yes! I have the rulebook but haven't read it yet. I guess I can try to cram in as much of that as I can. I haven't played anything Powered by the Apocalypse yet.

[tberton]

Cool! Is there a weekend sometime soon that works for people?

[Vulpes Absurda]

Any weekend should be fine really.

[Gormongous]

Any week besides next weekend!

[Lechimp]

I think most weekends should be fine for me.

[thefncrow]

If there's room for another in the CST game, I'd be down for that as well.

 

Only weekend coming up that really won't work for me is October 1.

[tberton]

That should be alright, as long as it doesn't cause too much scheduling difficulty. I don't think we've got any more room after that though - 5 players is a lot. 

 

Does the weekend of September 24 work for folks?

[Vulpes Absurda]

That should be fine.

[Twig]

Should be good!

[Lechimp]

Works for me too!

[Gormongous]

I can do it, too. Are we going to do text, voice, video...?

[tberton]

I would like voice or video.

[Vulpes Absurda]

Not video *and* voice? Do you want us to mime our actions?

[thefncrow]

Weekend of the 24th is good for me.

[tberton]

Not video *and* voice? Do you want us to mime our actions?

 

Ha! I suppose I meant voice or voice+video.

 

I was also thinking we'd use Roll20 with Google Hangouts. So it would be a good idea to make a Roll20 account.

[Lechimp]

I think I would prefer just voice but Roll20 is great and I'm glad we're using that.

[Twig]

Video is cool because seeing people helps a lot. (I wouldn't ask that we make it mandatory or anything, though. Mostly 'cause I didn't even have a webcam for many many years.)

[tberton]

Yeah, I prefer video, because it's valuable to be able to use non-verbal cues (especially being able to tell if somebody wants to talk), but if folks are uncomfortable with video or don't have webcams, that's fine.

[Twig]

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/179572/CyberKittens-Project-Bakeneko

 

um so i wanna be a once-cat

[Twig]

⊕ Head pistol with laser sight: 2-harm hand/close discreet quick reload

loud

[Gormongous]

Other questions: is it rude to ask for the broad tone of this one-shot, either in terms of adjectives or media touchstones, so that I can come up with a character in advance? Also, would you prefer for players to have an idea of what character they want when they first come to the table, or do you want character creation to be a communal process?

[Twig]

listen if you let me be a once-cat i'm already developing a solid-ass picture in my head of what i'm gonna be

[Gormongous]

listen if you let me be a once-cat i'm already developing a solid-ass picture in my head of what i'm gonna be

 

The amazing/ridiculous thing is that you base your advancement scheme off of any playbook, so you can have a Pusher Once-Cat (preaching the apocalypse), a Fixer Once-Cat (who knows people who know people), or a Reporter Once-Cat (getting the scoop they don't want you to know).

[tberton]

Other questions: is it rude to ask for the broad tone of this one-shot, either in terms of adjectives or media touchstones, so that I can come up with a character in advance? Also, would you prefer for players to have an idea of what character they want when they first come to the table, or do you want character creation to be a communal process?

 

Good questions! I think The Sprawl lends itself best to a broadly gritty, serious take on cyberpunk. Of course, humour and levity sneak in, but The Sprawl's not really about madcap hijinks. It's always going to be about a world ruled by corporate hijinks and the characters are always going to be cybernetically-modified professionals doing jobs for those Corps. That is, barring significant hacking, which I don't think is appropriate for a one-shot in which most of us haven't played the game before. My main touchstone for cyberpunk is Android: Netrunner, which is heavily Gibson and Stephenson inspired, so that will probably be what I lean on.

 

Incidentally, my preference is that the game take place in a real-world city, but I'm not married to that idea.

 

As for character concepts, we'll take about an hour at the beginning of the session to create the Corps and characters (maybe a little bit longer since we've got 5 PCs). That will definitely go faster if everybody comes in with a basic idea or two about what characters they want to play. I'd like for everybody to have an idea of the Playbook they want (and maybe a back up if your choice clashes with somebody else). A basic character concept will help too, but leave it vague enough that it can be embellished by the other players. So, for instance, maybe your concept is "A Reporter who is a recently-succesful YouTube personally and thinks he's more important than he actually is", but leave vague the details of why he's famous, who he's worked for and what YouTube is exactly like in this world.

 

So yeah, one or two ideas for what Playbook you want and a one or two sentence character concept should be plenty.

[Twig]

i'm a once-cat on a mission

 

what's my mission you ask?

 

NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS

 

HEAD PISTOL! ENGAGE!