Tuesday 12 March 2024

Sprawl Goons:Upgraded - Talking Cybrids

Cybrid geisharoid model from Kanawa-Mendez.

The ever-excellent Sprawl Goons supporter and content creator, Gregorius21778 has posted an interview with my good self on his blog regarding Cybrids, the synthetic humanoids of the "Sprawlverse".

So, what is a Cybrid?

My inspirations were the synthetics of the Alien movies, the replicants of Blade Runner, the michikoids of The Peripheral, the hosts of West World and the androids of Hyperion, amongst others.

From the Sprawl Lexicon on page 3 of Sprawl Goons:Upgraded Carbon Edition:

Cybrid - A bioplastic synthetic, like an android or replicant.



Clavel execs observe the first printing of their latest R&D model.


And you can choose to be a cybrid player character, with the following background from page 10 of the Carbon Edition rulebook:  


Fugitive Cybrid

You’re a cybrid, a bioplastic synthetic, designed and fabricated by the Clavel corporation. You’ve endured the hardships of indentured labour in hazardous assembleries; combed toxic coastlines for reusables; repaired habitats in the cold vacuum of space. There’s an RFID shard implanted deep inside you, and your owners will undoubtedly be looking to recover their investment. What happens if they find you? What are you willing to do to remain free?


But outside of my carbon-fibre skull, that's all we knew. Until now!

In the linked interview, I answer 10 questions that define the technology, the social impact, who makes them and how to identity them (if you know how). Find out more here.

Hopefully, there will be more of these articles outlining the elements of the game-world in the future!


On the streets of the Flow, revolution is coming.


Wednesday 26 July 2023

The Flow

 

The Flow is a city.

The Flow is also people, finance, goods, data, all channeling through the filthy arteries of the metroplex, 24 hours a day.

And it's what the locals call their corner of this decaying sprawl of stratoscrapers, assembleries, habstacks, arcologies, multi-malls, company hubs, geodesics and hive-slums; a metropolitan axis that stretches all the way from Boston to Atlanta. Nobody on the street can remember what this place used to be called anymore.

---

A system-neutral cyberpunk city sandbox, including a map and 80 DETAILED LOCATIONS spread across 21 dystopian districts. A perfect place to set your cyberpunk campaign. Its out now.

DTRPG LINK

ITCH LINK

**NOTE: If you already own the Sprawl Goons: Upgraded CARBON EDITION, you already have the contents of this PDF! This is being made aviailable for those who don't.**

Monday 19 June 2023

An Update

Apologies for the recent radio silence! Here's an update about what I've been up to. ;)

In mid-March of this year I came down with Covid. It wasn't too bad and I managed to continue to work through it (from home) for the nine days it lasted. Once recovered, I had a couple of weeks where I felt perfectly fine.

Then, towards the end of the month, I started to have some gastric problems and a fever. I assumed it was a post-Covid thing and that it would pass in a couple of days. But it didn't. The fever persisted, as did the delightful gastric issues. My better half grew ever more concerned, calling an ambulance as I was talking gibberish (nothing new!) and hallucinating quite badly. I was rushed to A&E, where I was admitted to the Resus department. At this point, I had no clue as to what was happening.

The excellent NHS staff helping me quickly diagnosed me as having sepsis and I was rushed to the Intensive Care Unit. I spent a week in ICU full of cannulas and tubes, hooked up to a bank of monitors, while they saved my life. In all honesty, it was a frightening and intense time.

So, since early April I've been home and recuperating. I got to celebrate a very poignant birthday in May. I've now been weened off the steroids and regained the weight (plus some extra!) and I'm getting fitter and stronger by the day. But, it will take some time to fully recover.

I'm very grateful to still be here and I'm eternally grateful that we have a service like the NHS here in the UK.

Going forward, I'll be gaming again and writing some more. I have lots of plans and ideas and I'll be posting my ramblings on this blog again soon.

Thanks for reading and thanks so much for your patience.

Paul

Wednesday 15 February 2023

SG:U CARBON EDITION – OUT NOW!




Salutations.

I am very pleased to announce that the CARBON EDITION is now live and available to buy and cherish! And there are options!

Both printed A5 hardback and digital copies can be found at DriveThru (buy the book, get the PDF free):

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/425040/Sprawl-Goons-Upgraded-CARBON-EDITION

And the printed A5 hardback is also available at Lulu (for my non-US chums):

https://www.lulu.com/shop/paul-d-gallagher/sprawl-goons-upgraded-carbon-edition/hardcover/

For those who just want the updated and improved PDF version, head to itch (also on DTRPG):

https://p-d-gallagher.itch.io/sprawl-goons-upgraded-carbon-edition

Happy gaming!

Wednesday 1 February 2023

Sprawl Goons: Upgraded - CARBON EDITION

 


120pp, A5, collated hardback incoming. Proof copies have now been requested from both DTRPG and Lulu. Once everything has been checked and double-checked, you'll be able to get yours. I'll reveal more soon. Watch this space.

Sunday 18 September 2022

Sprawl Goons: Upgraded - Resources

While I try and get the POD book finished (against all the odds, it seems…), I thought now might be a good time to share some Sprawl Goons RPG resources that have been popping up lately.

Gregorius21778 has a whole series of blog posts that utilises the Remote Control tables and comes up with some great drones for use in Sprawl Goons games*:

LINK

And there's a lot more tasty cyberpunk stuff on the blog, too.

Gregorius21778 also wrote a short Sprawl Goons adventure, called Kickin' Dogs, complete with a new sprawl-site and a street gang - there's more detail on his blog - but here's a direct link to the PWYW PDF:

LINK

(I wrote a short review HERE, along with one for Gregorius21778's FREE Goon-Tracker sheet)

Mirrorshades author, Norbert Matausch, has just shared a link to his random Sprawl Goons character generator, that looks super-useful - assign your stats as normal, then click the refresh to whip up a new Goon:

LINK

EDIT: *Now you can also find Gregorius21778's blog articles on drones and how to hack 'em on DTRPG: 

LINK


And if you create or find any Sprawl Goons specific resources, please do let me know in the comments!

Sunday 31 July 2022

Sprawl Goons: Upgraded - Expertise

Art by lap-pun-cheung. Not used in Sprawl Goons. Dammit.

Text taken from the upcoming print edition of Sprawl Goons: Upgraded:

Backgrounds in Sprawl Goons were originally conceived to add flavour to player characters, but here’s some associated benefits in the form of Expertise for each Background type.

To trigger an Expertise roll, the situation must be an appropriate one for the roll to be made and is usually requested by the player looking for a specific advantage, but can be called for by the GM (usually to help newer players). An Expertise roll is allowed once per scene or combat encounter, as stated in the description.

Use the following Difficulty Scores as a guideline for the Expertise roll. Each Expertise type confers a +1 to the roll and specifies which stat to use, as noted in the entries below.
  • Character is under no stress DS10
  • Character is under moderate stress DS12
  • Character is under major stress DS14
Any Upgrade dice are in addition to other Upgrade dice, such as those provided by augmentations, gear, consoles or narcotics.

11. Zone Wars Veteran
• Situational Awareness
+1 to an Equilibrium roll to add Upgrade dice to your attack, once per combat encounter.

12. Komatsu Killmorph
• Mimic
+1 to an Equilibrium roll to successfully copy the mannerisms and vocal tone of another person (after having observed them for a few minutes within the last 24 hours), once per scene.

13. Nodejacker
• Feedwise
+1 to a Cognition roll to accurately navigate cyberspace or to find useful contacts online, once per scene.

14. Syndicate Enforcer
• Intimidate
+1 to an Equilibrium roll to apply pressure through threats of violence to achieve a desired outcome, once per scene.

15. Chemical Edit
• White Lies
+1 to an Affinity roll to fabricate convincing falsehoods (originally developed to compensate for your lack of tangible memories), once per scene.

16. Clone Interrupted
• Masquerade
+1 to an Affinity roll to imitate the person you’re a copy of, but only when you’ve discovered their identity, once per scene.

21. Robotnik
• Machine Mind
+1 to a Cognition roll to teleoperate a drone, remote, robot or vehicle with cold focus, gaining the addition of Upgrade dice, once per scene.

22. Runaway Splice
• Primal Instinct
+1 to a Reaction roll to gain Upgrade dice for your next attack, if cornered or if you’re outnumbered and alone, once per combat encounter.

23. Strato-cabbie
• Top Gun
+1 to a Reaction roll to pilot your hopper with the manoeuvrability of a strike-fighter, with Upgrade dice, once per combat encounter, pushing the vehicle to its limits.

24. Backstreet Biomechanic
• Under Pressure
+1 to an Equilibrium roll to treat injuries with added Upgrade dice in any stressful or dangerous situation, once per scene.

25. Toxic Tweeker
• Hypertolerance
+1 to an Equilibrium roll to resist the adverse effects of chemical or pharmaceutical substances, once per scene or combat encounter.

26. Jaded Jurƍjin
• Boundless Resources
+1 to an Affinity roll to request help or finances through family channels (within reason; the family don’t need an audit right now), once per session. And as you well know, they’ll definitely want something in return.

31. Fugitive Cybrid
• Uncanny Durability
+1 to a Morphology roll to ignore any damage that is sustained that round, once per combat encounter.

32. Nexus
• Street Biz
+1 to an Affinity roll to negotiate deals or to enlist suitably shady contacts, once per scene.

33. War Child
• Relentless
+1 to an Equilibrium roll to continue fighting, despite any injuries and without the wound Glitch dice, once per combat encounter.

34. Panzer Mind
• Battle Tech
+1 to a Cognition roll to exploit any vulnerabilities in the transmission, chassis or armour of tank suits and other combat vehicles, gaining Upgrade dice on your next attack, once per combat encounter.

35. Mnemonic Envoy
• Fragmentary Recall
+1 to a Cognition roll to recover potentially useful slivers of memory or portions of data from past clients, once per scene.

36. Datasocialist Insurgent
• Saboteur’s Scrutiny
+1 to a Cognition roll to identify instabilities in buildings and infrastructure, allowing explosives or other forms of attack to deliver their damage to spectacular effect, once per scene.

41. Recoded
• Whispered Intuition
+1 to Cognition rolls to gain an insight into a situation, provided by (and limited by) your master AI’s knowledge, once per scene.

42. Transmissions Cop
• Digital Instinct
+1 to a Cognition roll to follow online leads or notice digital anomalies and clues, once per scene.

43. Freak Fighter
• Threat Analysis
+1 to an Equilibrium roll to pinpoint opponents’ physical weaknesses or gaps in their armour, gaining Upgrade dice on your next attack, once per combat encounter.

44. Nanomancer
• Structural Dynamics
+1 to a Cognition roll to assess the suitability of nearby materials for use by your assemblers, or to determine whether your dissassemblers can break local materials down, once per scene.

45. Combat Chauffeur
• Pedal To The Metal
+1 to a Reaction roll to drive evasively and tactically at speed, avoiding hostile attacks and gaining Upgrade dice, once per combat encounter.

46. Tecstatic
• Earthly Escape
+1 to an Equilibrium roll to meditatively negate the effect of privations, such as pain, fatigue, cold, heat, torture, thirst or hunger, once per scene or combat encounter.

51. Orbital Operator
• Augmented Allure
+1 to an Affinity roll to exploit and influence grubby dirtsiders with your unearthly, lab-cultured attractiveness, once per scene.

52. Ghostrunner
• Mindware
+1 to a Cognition roll to detect the type of digital being or expert system and their influence over devices, software or systems, once per scene.

53. Rogue Shikaaree Type-66 ATID
• Beserker Mode
+1 to a Reaction roll to compute the optimal position and form of attack to strike up to three opponents, once per combat encounter.

54. Telemetric Sniper
• Target Acquisition
+1 to a Cognition roll to estimate the most effective range and angle of an attack, gaining Upgrade dice, once per combat encounter.

55. Cognition Verification Agent
• Synthetic Awareness
+1 to a Cognition roll to discern whether an individual is real, a cybrid or housed in a cybershell, once per scene.

56. Ultrateen
• High Influence
+1 to an Affinity roll to obtain access, by virtue of your wealthy family, to places, both real and virtual, that are usually off-limits to the average citizen, once per scene.

61. Fluid Reality Adept
• Holoactualisation
+1 to a Cognition roll to focus your mind and to generate hyperreal, highly deceptive holographic illusions of exceptional quality, with Upgrade dice, once per scene.

62. Gang War Surplus
• Urban Evasion
+1 to a Reaction roll to discern and utilise an otherwise unnoticed escape route, or to find a bolt-hole and lay low, once per scene or combat encounter.

63. Zero
• Phantom
+1 to a Morphology roll to remain unnoticed and anonymous, blending into the background or crowd, once per scene.

64. Algorithmic Augur
• Are Friends Electric?
+1 to a Cognition roll to enlist the help of a digital entity or sentient program online, once per scene.

65. Turbosensei
• Matrix Moves
+1 to a Reaction roll to athletically capitalise on your immediate environment during a fight; run up walls, swing from ducting, vault off columns, etc., once per combat encounter.

66. Meat Puppet
• Honeyed Words
+1 to an Affinity roll to beguile and charm your way out of tense or dangerous situations, when isolated or cornered, once per scene or combat encounter.

Art by lap-pun-cheung. Also not used in Sprawl Goons. FML.