These styles manifest through party building, where the players first decide what type of game they want to play. This dictates why their characters are teamed up, even before they begin character creation. The party can choose to be:
1) Working for a corporation, tackling problems as the GM presents them.
2) Collaborating as a crew, taking on jobs the GM creates, but adding in their own scenes to fill in the details.
3) Living as a gang, pushing their own agenda to change the world. The GM rarely pre-creates content, instead focusing on reacting to the players as the game progresses.
Corporation
Working for a corporation isn't as bad as it might sound. Corps are always on the bleeding edge of technology, and there's little to worry about except whatever threatens the corp's agenda.
This game type requires heavy investment from the GM into making the interesting mysteries, threats, people, and events that surround the players as they would otherwise be living a normal life in Hostargo.
Using a simple game loop, corporate play has the GM leading the party from one scene to another, pausing only to have them spend XP and to advance their tech through sponsored R&D.
Crew
Collaborating as a crew requires a bit more grit than being a bunch of corporate monkeys. Now the party has to seek out the jobs that earn them a living, advancing in technology only when they have the money and connections to do so. They must also be weary of their reputation, since that's what keeps the clients coming in.
This game style strikes a balance between GM-led stories and player-inspired details. The GM creates jobs that an NPC is willing to pay the PCs for, and then the players decide exactly how to go about doing it.
The game loop for crews includes a period of legwork, where they set up details for their mission by talking to contacts, preparing tech, scouting locations, and otherwise greasing wheels. "The plan" includes three stages: get in, do the job, and get out. When "the plan" is all ready to rock, there are a series of party rolls that tell us exactly where the plan goes wrong. Then an action sequence is started at that point, and the game plays out normally from there.
After each mission, rewards are dealt out in money and reputation, and the characters choose their own tech advancements through their earnings and contacts.
Gang
Living as a gang can be a rough life, working out of weary tents in the city's dusty outter layers. But if you can survive, start a movement, stick it to the man, or otherwise "earn" yourself a fortune - your family might just be the ones sitting at the top of Hostargo's high-rises.
This game style is perfect players who want to have a major influence on flow of the game. It requires little to no GM prep, but is by no means an easy game to run. The GM must play reactively to their players, coming up with most material for the game on-the-fly.
The game loop is more complex for gangs. It starts with the gang deciding what agenda it wants to push on the world. The players decide how they're going to push that agenda, and start forming a plan. Meanwhile, the GM decides how the world responses to this agenda, whether that be pushback from a corp, rival gangs, or even just the people of Hostargo. The ultimate goal of the gangs is to gain sources of power in whatever form them come. The GM provides the players these opportunities, and the game flows between structured scenes and the gang's agenda phase.
Besides money and reputation, players now have to worry about their heat level from the governing forces, and protecting their sources of power. If they expand their turf (a source of power), they can increase their tech levels, public support, and general defensive power.
While clearly more involved, the gang style gives a party the freedom to run the exact game they want, in the world that they shape with each and every session.
This game style is perfect players who want to have a major influence on flow of the game. It requires little to no GM prep, but is by no means an easy game to run. The GM must play reactively to their players, coming up with most material for the game on-the-fly.
The game loop is more complex for gangs. It starts with the gang deciding what agenda it wants to push on the world. The players decide how they're going to push that agenda, and start forming a plan. Meanwhile, the GM decides how the world responses to this agenda, whether that be pushback from a corp, rival gangs, or even just the people of Hostargo. The ultimate goal of the gangs is to gain sources of power in whatever form them come. The GM provides the players these opportunities, and the game flows between structured scenes and the gang's agenda phase.
Besides money and reputation, players now have to worry about their heat level from the governing forces, and protecting their sources of power. If they expand their turf (a source of power), they can increase their tech levels, public support, and general defensive power.
While clearly more involved, the gang style gives a party the freedom to run the exact game they want, in the world that they shape with each and every session.
Questions for you!
So what do you think? Do any of these options excite you? What style of game would you or your group pick? Do you think you'd attempt a mix or hybrid of these styles? I'm interested in collecting feedback on this idea, since it might be the make or break point when someone is reading my book!
No comments:
Post a Comment