I’m working on the playbooks today. There have been a few minor tweaks to some moves, but the biggest changes are the addition of a couple of sections (name options, tailored directives in a new format, and character creation advice) and the reworking of the Gear section. Here’s the Driver: Driver Neurotransmitters lick with their …
Category: The Sprawl
Jun 25
Revising the Basic Moves
One of the most pressing issues in the current revisions I’m working on is in making the Basic Moves work properly. There were three main issues in the 0.2 revision: Maneouvre did what I wanted but in a boring way, I always ended up fudging Fast Talk slightly in play, and Play Hardball just didn’t …
Jun 25
Back on the Grid
After several months of neglect as I finished writing my dissertation, I’m back working on The Sprawl. I’ve been saving up the feedback I’ve received over that time and I’m currently reading through the document and collating all those suggestions and found errors. The feedback has all been positive. Many of the suggestions I’ve received …
Aug 11
The Sprawl v.0.2
After much testing and fiddling and work-induced delay, a beta version of The Sprawl is now available. Right here. There are still a few gaps, but I’m happy to have the core of the rules done, especially those things that changed in my mind, my playtests, and my documents months ago, but which hadn’t been …
Jul 08
Bubble The Bay
Podcaster, fellow AW-hacker, Big Bad Con founder, gaming cheerleader, and all-round great guy Sean Nittner played The Sprawl at Go Play Northwest. Here’s what he had to say about it: The Sprawl at GPNW.
Jun 24
“Your cyberpunks are no match for my crew”
Notes from yesterday’s playtest by @AdamUltraberg of AdamUltraberg.com: Today I went to a special playtest-gameday a few towns over, and it was a wonderful, completely worth-it trip. I helped playtest H Cameron’s Sprawl (An Apocolypse World hack). It started with world creation (everyone named a corporation and what it did), character creation, then “heist creation.” …
Jun 02
Advancement: Directives and Personal Directives
As is often the case in AW hacks, straight stat highlighting often doesn’t work when you fiddle with the stats and the moves. I’ve found that to be the case in The Sprawl. Accordingly, I’ve been talking about changing the advancement system for a while; several months ago I had the idea to use the …
Jun 01
The Reporter
I collated my notes, tried to channel Transmetropolitan and Max Headroom, and thought of some moves. The result is below, the first draft of the reporter. Anything you think I’ve missed? Anything that doesn’t look fun? Do you want to play this guy? [First revision: Expanded Nose for a Story to add an overarching story …
May 30
The Tech
Since I released the alpha draft of The Sprawl a number of people have been kind enough to read, play and comment on the document. This week, I’ve started a fresh writing and editing pass to fix and add a number of things. One thing I worked on tonight was standarising the gear list, including …
Feb 27
Better Action Through Currency
One area of play that I am conscious of streamlining or avoiding in The Sprawl is the planning paralysis phase that often seizes groups, particularly in Modern/Near Future/Sci-Fi settings. Another important Apocalypse World hack currently under development is The Regiment by Paul Riddle and John Harper (check it out, it’s awesome!). In considering how to …