Megadeck is easy. THE CLONE RIOTS multi-table scenario

a SPRAWLS multi-table event, powered by the MegaDeck.

 

So the MegaDeck is OUT, and I can’t contain my excitement and irrational fear of showing my soul from the inside out. But how do you use it.

Well, it’s a tool so it’s up to you, there’s no right or wrong way to do it. Following the instructions, your conglomerate should be composed of around 20 cards divided in 4 or 5 Quadrants of 4 to 5 Sectors each. Now it’s time to travel!

Few months ago, we had a big event in Turin. I wanted to test something. That everybody can run and play the MegaDeck.

The event had 20 attendees, divided between 3 tables. Three tables means three Commissioners. Guglielmo and Eugenio agreed to try. The catch?
they were almost total RPG neophites, one of them had a few months of Network 23 under his belt, the other was totally fresh, having played maybe twice, so they started with Network 23.
I knew they were up to the task because I know their imagination runs wild and free.

The event took place in Spazio Muffa, the screenprinting lab of Eugenio and a collective of artists and illustrators in Turin city-centre. 3 tables, 1 whiteboard, 20 players.
The event was meant for total newbies, a few of them played other games before, but most did not.

So fIrst of all I very briefly explain what’s an RPG, framing it as a discussion around the table.

Since it’s easier said than done, we start outlining the cyberpunk setting and how to imagine it (it’s a megacity, most of the things you know about cyberpunk are true, manga, anime, films, books).

Then we start building the city. Each partecipant draws a card out of the Megadeck and we quickly arrange them on the whiteboard.The city is done, and each of the three table will play in the same city.

Meanwhile, the other two Commissioners are building a copy of the city on their tables. Each players choose a pre-gen: all tables have the same pre-gen sets to choose from (we will see later on why this matters).

I briefly explain the characteristics of each Sector, then we start.

 

THE SCENARIO

The Players entered the city illegally, and they just found their first courier job. No question asked by the employers: the warehouse is on strike because clones are replacing human workers.
The boss needs a shipment to be delivered within 48 hours and the Players are the couriers..
Each crew needs to drive a van towards the centre of the city and consign their load.
The trucks contain expensive and fragile aquariums and crystals for a new club opening on top of the space elevator. Expensive and fragile stuff: if it breaks, credits are deducted from the reward.
If anybody checks the load, there’s a 1 in 6 possibility each round that something will break.

There’s a strike going on outside the factory: the entire sector is rioting, so they need to crash the gate or find a way to avoid the picket. The first problem is how to get out.

The players can choose the road, MD creates grid sandboxes so multiple routes are available.

The scenario is incredibly simple (and it worked)

the PCs need to break to blockade by force or smart.

Get out of the RIOT stricken hood and reach the space elevator in the city centre

A bomb is hidden inside the aquarium. It COULD be spotted if the load is inspected carefully. Inspecting the load means breaking some stuff and have less or no reward.

 

MAKING MULTI-TABLE MATTERS

Once one of the group reach the space elevator, the bomb will go off, damaging the lift and possibly the PCs.

When the bomb goes off, the Commissioners shouts BOOM. Pictures of the PCs are being broadcasted in real time on each and every big screen in town, they are being framed as terrorists and now Transpol is now looking for them. We used a (furtherly) simplified version of the chase rules in Network23.

They need to hide, or get out of the city: they have a contact on the other side.

The three crews are composed by clones, this is why they could choose from the same pre-gen pool: they were appointed to the same mission, on similar vans.

 

 

FINAL THOUGHTS

It went well. At the end of the day everybody had fun, maybe the best moment was once the adventure was over and players got to confront their stories with other tables.
At my table, they managed to understand that they were clones. In another table they understood they were travelling with a bomb so they left the van next to a TransPol station.
There were few deaths but all of the tables managed to escape from the city by reaching the other side, using different routes.

The event was a blast. The new Commissioners managed to deal very well with their table. MegaDeck is the powerglove for SPRAWLS.