Review 12: Lucky Flight Takedown
This week we pay another visit to the fellows from Stockholm Kartell, as we look at the introductory adventure "Lucky Flight Takedown" included in the Cy_Borg core rulebook. Not surprisingly, they brought out the big guns when it comes to organizing information in an efficient and usable way. The adventure itself was written by Christian Sahlen (who also wrote The Cursed Abbey which I reviewed previously), with art and cartography by Johan Nohr. Since it was included in the core book, I naturally ran it with Cy_Borg.
The setup and premise of this one is pretty straightforward-- local fellow gives the gang a job offer to help out the community and potentially make some cash (and also maybe rescue the last guy who went in). However, once that introduction is done, the adventure opens wide with possibility, and it is up to the players to decide how to proceed with their heist, in true cyberpunk style.
Getting it to the Table
The thing I love about pretty much everything that the folks at Stockholm Kartell write is that it was so clearly written to be played rather than just read and put back on the shelf. There are no lengthy background preambles that sap your momentum-- the intro is a single column next to a big piece of evocative art, and then it's on to the maps and encounter tables. The map is hyperlinked to the corresponding room descriptions in the PDF too, which is always a nice little bonus. Along with these are some general things to keep in mind about the casino that the punks are supposed to break into, and it gives a lot of potential for multiple avenues of approach. The main factor that players can consider is whether to go in while the place is open or closed. When I ran it for a couple of different groups, they immediately latched onto this split as a way to do the heist in two stages; first, some reconnaissance during operating hours followed by the actual break in during the short window where the casino is closed. The random encounters are also split in this manner, with different events happening during different times.
The way that the area descriptions are presented made it incredibly easy to run with minimal prep. First, we have the lovely minimap on each spread that has highlighted areas that indicate the ones being discussed on the pages, so you always have a clear sense of where things are in relation to each other. The minimap is hyperlinked too! Second, each area is described in a concise yet incredibly evocative way, in the "Vibe" entry. For example, the Entrance:
Stench of stale beer, synthetic tobacco, vomit and piss. Stickers and graffiti. The sound of the city and the buzzing from a broken body-heat sensor.
It takes up three lines on the page but it sets the tone for you perfectly. Each area has further description of key points of interest, as well as an additional section that details what the area is like when the casino is closed. Finally, we've got relevant stat blocks or extra detail, including a random musical act table and a gambling mini-game.
All in all, there are many paths the PCs can take to successfully complete the heist, and the information is all there for you at your fingertips. Once the job is finished, there is a whole table of ready-made hooks that can help you expand this into the start of a full-blown campaign.
What Worked?
- Visceral area descriptions that zero you in on the tone and theme of the game with laser precision, in less words than it took me to write this bullet point.
- Mini-map! True consideration shown to those of us who hate having to flip back and forth to a map. This is especially nice when running online, because you don't have to have extra tabs open.
- Options! This is a true heist that does not have one clear solution; players are encouraged not to go in guns blazing (though they could), but other than that it is completely open ended, with an environment that rewards exploration and experimentation in order to find useful items, alternate routes in and around the building, and other fun stuff.
- Variety of encounters! All too frequently, adventures include random encounters that are focused on combat only. That's fine if that's what you're into, but just having some social encounters adds a certain life to your tables.
What Didn't Work?
- I'm going to be perfectly honest and come right out and say that there wasn't anything I didn't like about this adventure. Just reading through it again to write this review made me want to run it for the third time.
Final Thoughts
See above. But yes, this is a fantastic amount of gameable content crammed into 17 pages, and nothing less than I would expect from Christian Sahlen at this point. The fact that there are so many ways for players to approach this means that it's easily re-playable for a GM, and probably also for a player! I'm eagerly looking forward to the upcoming stuff planned for Cy_Borg later this year.
Currently the only way to get this adventure is by purchasing the Cy_Borg core rulebook from the Kartellian Vaults, Stockholm Kartell's web store. Thanks for reading!