Thud & Blunder - CLASH Done Right!

So, long-time readers might remember I was working on CLASH - The Generic Fantasy Skirmish Game, built on the engine used in In The Emperor's Name. I had planned on making a game that could be played with any sort of miniatures you had lying around, from old armies to a DM's collection of pre-painted minis. Almost anything could be quickly and easily statted up, and the core of the game was to be simple, quick to learn and fast enough to fit a couple of games in a night, or even a quick one while you waited for your gaming group to finally get together.

Well, turns out I got one-upped by the guys at The Ministry of Gentlemanly Warfare, the original writers of In The Emperor's Name. Over the course of a few games (In Her Majesty's Name, Daisho, and Blood Eagle), they tweaked the system (they need a name for their house system!), and finally turned their attention to the fantasy genre full-force (both Daisho and Blood Eagle are closer to "mythic" than truly fantastical).

Thud & Blunder is slightly more in-depth than your standard skirmish game (the combat feels like a stripped-down RPG, with options for disarming, mounted combat, and an interesting campaign system). However, it flows fairly well, with a phased you-go-I-go system reminiscent of GW's classic skirmish games. The extra complexity is mostly optional - you can run it stripped-down, or as complex as you like.

As far as my goals for the game go, it hits every note - not only is it easy to stat up any mini in your collection, with formula for new weapons, a bunch of pre-made warband lists to crib from and tweak to your hearts content, it's also easy to pick up and play with minimal fuss.

Even if you don't plan on using the system as-is, I would heartily recommend picking this up for the Scenarios, Complications and Landscapes- a massive list of plot hooks, weather conditions, alternate win conditions and changes you can add to any skirmish game to completely change the game! There are thousands of combinations you can create, meaning every game plays that little bit different. And it's incredibly easy to add your own, so you could never play the same game twice!

All in, it's an amazing little game! Well worth a tenner, even if just for the Scenarios / Complications / Landscapes section.

Hopefully, I should be able to get a few games in over the next few months, so keep your eyes peeled for more T&B content!

Datafortress 2020: An Awesome Cyberpunk 2020 Resource

So, Datafortress 2020 has been floating around for years on the net, and I kept seeing the link in Wisdom000's signature on RPG.net for ages, but as I've been looking through the old Cyberpunk 2020  Chromebooks for inspiration for gaming and modelling, I thought I'd swing by and see if there were any new updates.

Luckily enough, Wisdom000 has just put up a massive update, collecting loads of older PDFs together, rearranging various items, and adding new stuff.

One thing I never realised - not only has Wisdom000 added new content, they've went back and totally rehauled the Interlock system to make it the universal system it was always touted as. One of the reasons I had been avoiding running Cyberpunk 2020 was that the system looked a little dense for my tastes - but the Interlock Unlimited update he's done is simply astonishing, rebalancing the rules, adding new ones, and stripping out the chaff the system has accumulated. He's even included tons of optional rules, new ideas, and all manner of cool stuff - but, in a flash of awesome, kept the all separated out. The basics are simple, then you pick and choose which extra books you use. It's like GURPS, only it doesn't make my head hurt (as much. It's still a pretty complicated system in parts, but I am getting it a lot easier that reading through the original books).

It also has one of the most comprehensive armouries I've ever seen. The volume of gun porn somehow manages to be even greater than usual in the Cyberpunk genre. I drool a the thought of unleashing a few of these beauties. Same with the cyberware - there's a ridiculous amount of cool toys for every occasion, from the cheapest, clunkiest Soviet Block roboarms, to the sleekest Raptor legs in town. It's all there, and it's all awesome.

It's actually leaving me itching to run the game. Rarely does a set of house rules do that for me, when I find the source material too much to swallow.

Touche, good sir.

Let's Read: The Book of Erotic Fantasy

So, after the (a)rousing success of my post about the AD&D Book of Sex, I wanted to share more of the weird and wonderful world of Erotic D&D with you - this time another "classic", the Book of Erotic Fantasy for D&D 3.5.

A little history lesson first - when Wizards of the Coast began using the Open Game Licence for their D&D products, they had a plan - they write the books, other companies write the adventures. This would save them time and effort, which could go into writing more splatbooks, and maximise profit - because, after all, everyone wanted the PHB and their own choice of splatbooks, but only some DMs used pre-written adventure models, and with the cost of artwork, printing maps and other bits, they cost a decent chunk of change to make. Plus, if you update the rules, you'll need to buy the new ones (supposedly), but adventures are fairly simple to convert - thus meaning less cash overall.

What was realised, however, was that these companies could really write anything under the OGL, so long as they gave credit. This led to some really cool settings, some unusual new options for classes and races (like Mongoose's Quintessential series), and awesome variant games (like Iron Heroes and the Conan D20 game) but also more than a few books which pushed the envelope of what D&D was really about. One of these was the Book of Erotic Fantasy, all about sex, sexuality, and seduction in your games.

To give you an idea of the quality of this book, WotC no longer have an OGL for 4e. This book was indirectly stated as one of the reasons why.

... what the fuck am I letting myself in for here?

I'll tackle each chapter as a separate post, to avoid massive walls of text, and I might split some into multiple parts. As I have time off work, and I've been bitten by something of an inspiration bug, I should manage a post every day (maybe every other day).

Wish me luck, people - *snaps rubber glove* I'm going in. Dry.

Continue To Part 1

Let's Read: The AD&D Book of Sex

Art by Psycho Tiyal via WTF, D&D!?

So, I've talked about sexuality in gaming a few times before, and while prepping for my AD&D game, I figured that I might have a laugh downloading the infamous "AD&D Book of Sex" - a netbook of rules and bits and boobs bobs to include sex in your games.

Well.

It's about as immature as I imagined, but there are a few stand-out pieces (both positive and negative)...

To start - the act itself. A character can last as many rounds as his Constitution score - after that, they need to start making Constitution checks (with a cumulative penalty) to keep going. Which, to me, seems... a little short. You really have to be some super-tough Adonis to last half an hour in bed? And then, there are the chances of orgasm (only 1 in 10 for women?) However, it does also list bonuses from Dexterity (representing flexibility and "knowing how to use it"), Strength and Charisma (less about looks, more about confidence), which means that even an average Joe has a decent chance to achieve a thoroughly decent innings, and even those with various stat handicaps can still do the Vertical Mambo with some aplomb.

Still - when has it been worth counting exactly how long your character managed to have sex? Most of the time, I handle sex with a "fade to black", and would find players who demanded more information in a friendly social setting to be a little disruptive, not to mention creepy. Then again, should the party Barbarian ever challenge the Bard to a wenching competition, I now know exactly how to adjudicate it. I kinda wish I didn't, but there you go.

The Bitch Rule stands out as a particularly egregious example of the immaturity in the document. Did you ever feel the need to roleplay a character with terrible PMS? Well, now can do so - and add some mechanical support, too! Surely, if you really feel the need to add such a dimension to your character (and, seriously, good luck doing so without hogging the spotlight and engaging in player-baiting behaviour), you could surely do so without having to roll to see just how bad your PMS is? Hell, I know plenty of people who suffer terribly around their time of the month, and I find this just a tad offensive.

There is also an example, from a player of the DM's who used these rules to engage in some rather disruptive bullshit behaviour. Way to prove how cool these rules are, guys.

There is also an extended section on the Seduction Roll - and, surprisingly, it's not bad! It adds various factors to the roll as modifiers and penalties, and gives a nice chance to seduce instead of simply rolling a flat Charisma check. I'd only really use it during a seduction-heavy game (like a high-political game, or maybe a Thieves Guild game, where such actions can affect the future layout of the campaign).

There's a table of sexually transmitted diseases you could catch, and the percentages of a population who are carriers for such diseases (PROTIP: NEVER go screwing in a small, lower-class village. About 40% of the people there have the clap), as well as the strange chance to develop a "sexual madness" - basically, hyper-niche fetishes. I'm... not really sure how one is more likely to catch a "mental" problem from unprotected sex, but there you go.

There's also the Magical STDs section - holy shit what.

"Acidic Secration (sic)- The sexual partner receives 2d8 points of damage on any round (DM's choice) during each sexual encounter."

Dude, a 1st level Commoner can die in like 2 rounds with a housecat. What the fuck is this shit?

"Orgasmatic Polymorph - Upon an orgasm, the inflicted polymorphs into another creature, save those that are noncoporeal, from as small as wren to as large as a hippopotamus. Furthermore the victim gains its physical mode of locomotion and breathing as well. No system shock is required. This affect does not give the new form's other abilities, nor does it run the risk of changing personality and mentality. The duration of the polymorph is 1 turn per constitution point."

...

"Kursk, we need to cross this chasm, but we have no way to fly across!"
"Don't worry, Dallara - I have visited the Brothel of Many Things, and left with a new gift..." *unzips*

...right.

And, for those times when a player really needs to know exactly what the hooker he picked up is like, the document includes a Random Prostitute Generator!

It's a bit more in depth than that - it includes stats, weight and height, available "services"...

The new spells are a mixed bag. Some might see some use, or make for particularly flavoursome choices (pardon the pun). But there's a few which are somewhat dubious...

Sex Change - "The DM must make sure the victim of the spell acts in the manner appropriate to the sex. If not, then the spell doesn't really seem powerful."

So, you have to make sure the player plays to the basest stereotypes of their new gender? The Barbarian now has to feel broody and worry about breaking her nails? The Wizard must lech on every female in sight, now that she's a he? Don't like.

Mordenkainen's Lubrication, Know Sexual Preference, and Sterility as Cantrips are all fine by me, and might just make it into my games.

Power Word: Castrate - what is this I don't even... why?

There are quite a few spells which are marked "Kiss of X", which are basically touch-range spells with a little more oomph than those of a similar level (balanced out by having to get really up close and personal with the target). These are fine, and could be a cool addition to a Bard's Spell List.

But the one which really, really freaks me out?

Summon Cissaldan (Conjuration/Summoning) 

(As in Harlan Ellison's short "How's the Night Life On Cissalda?")

Level: 9
Range: 30 yards
Components: V, S
Duration: Special
Casting Time: 9
Area of Effect: None
Saving Throw: None

The casting of this spell will cause an interdimensional connection between the world of the spell caster and the alternate world of the Cissaldans. The utterance of this spell attracts one Cissaldan which will come through the connection and attack whomever the spell caster directs the spell against. The recipient has an immediate desire to "do a disgusting thing with a disgusting thing" and will fall upon the Cissaldan with much vigor. The recipient will not be able to do or say anything else since his or her complete concentration is centered on the Cissaldan. The two will continue to copulate until the recipient dies of starvation. There is no known way of separating someone (or something since the Cissaldans do not discriminate in any way) from a Cissaldan until the recipient dies. After the death of the spell recipient, the Cissaldan will return to the world from which it came. Cissaldans are described as having two penises, two vaginas, and are physically "disgusting" to look at. They, however, love to make love so to speak, and can physically adapt to any sexual physiology.

EWWWWWW! Man, I knew that Ellison was a total pervert, but maaaaaaaaaaaan that's nasty... and what purpose would this spell serve that a little Finger of Death wouldn't, in a far less disgusting way? I mean, no save is pretty good, but... ew.

Now, onto "Magic Items Your Mom Wouldn't Approve Of", a list that varies between useful and offensive quicker than Bernard Manning with an engineering degree.

The Lipsticks of the Houri grant those Kiss of X spells, anywhere between 5 and 30 times (5 applications, 1d6 kisses per application). Pretty good, for between 1000-9000gp. I can see these showing up for that Bard I mentioned earlier... or being back-planted into 1E, where they had a Houri Class (which was also pretty cool).

The Ring of the Bulls gives you a massive knob.

    Die Roll   Ring Type           Effect
      1-5      Calf                Add 1/3 of the size
      6-9      Young               Add 1/2 of the size
     10-11     Bull                Double the size
      12       THE BEAST           Triple the size     <- dangerous

For some reason, the little arrow makes me think it's a hand-written note by some amateur mage who passed out from blood loss the first time he tried it...

The various items against pregnancy (including a Ring of Protection that... doesn't go on your finger) are decent - I would include them as flavour in most campaigns (like Pathfinder's Gentleman's Snuff).

Then there's the Sword of Castration, which is like a Voral Sword... only not. The Underwear of Chastity, bane of all Bards, is your standard magical chastity belt. Fairly sure I can find a use for that in any game.

After that, we get to the Houri Kit for Wizards - with another new special rule for seduction, and a few negatives. A nice little Kit, though I would see it as a better option for Bards than Wizards, but hey - horses for courses and all that.

Then, there's the full prostitute generator, and a list of ways to stat up a brothel (including a nice sample House of Ill Repute), a list of  "Sexy Monsters" for other sources, and a table to roll on to see what kind of porn you find raiding a humanoid's lodgings. None of which I would personally use, but there you go.

To finish off, there's a handful of weak adventure ideas, and a pair of  "happy" (in the sense of a Happy Ending) and "touching" (in the sense of BAD TOUCH) tales from sexy games the writer had run before.

All in - I've found a handful (if that) of redeemable features, most of which wouldn't require anywhere near as much detail as this guy seems to want to go into.

All in, the e-book is a 4 out of 10 - could try harder.

Dredd: How To Game It

Pictured: THE LAW

So, because I was ill as fuck over the weekend, the girlfriend's flatmate picked me up a copy of Dredd on DVD to cheer me up.

I loved the movie. It managed to perfectly recreate the look of the comics - I wasn't all that convinced by the choice of South Africa, at first, but it turns out that Cape Town pretty much looks exactly like Mega-City One. It mixes ultra-modern, sleek aesthetics with junker vans and slums, and even has those wonderful mixes (like the futuristic flyover built from concrete, cutting through a regular "Americanised" street, with shanty houses on one side). It's awesome!

The casting was good - Olivia Thirlby makes a slightly younger-than-usual Psi-Judge Anderson, but pulls off the "badass rookie" pretty well, and Urban nails it. Lena Heady was a little take-it-or-leave-it as Ma-Ma - I can think of a lot of female actresses out there who could have brought more to the role. But, she wasn't terrible. Plus, movie-geek rage happened when her scar make-up couldn't stay consistent between shots.

The SFX were well-realised - they added to the scenes, rather than dominating them (a common problem in bigger-budget movies). Practical effects are used for most of the movie, with the real exceptions being the scenes powered by the perception-altering drug Slo-Mo - thus adding to the feeling of unreality (and, in theatres, most of the 3D elements were Slo-Mo scenes as well!).

But, the thing that stuck in my head was how much fun it might be to run a game in the setting.

The first thought was a skirmish-style game, as I've been wanting to try a little bit more wargaming recently. Necromunda is pretty much already a hab-riot on the tabletop, but the rules for playing as a smaller, elite force (like the Arbites) as versus a larger gang are a bit wonky. Plus, the Arbites in a campaign game have a few issues (like the system of replacements and hiring).

Inquisitor28 could be a good fit, particularly inspired by this post. A small group of Judges/Arbites, controlled by one player, and the inhabitants by another player (or multiple players). You could have simple survival as the goal, but it's always more fun to have a clear objective in Inquisitor (perhaps, similar to the movie, the Arbites have to protect a witness/perp, and the other gangs need to make sure they don't get out alive/they're the ones who kill the witness/they steal the witness away for their own nefarious purposes). I'd maybe consider modifying the rules to reflect ammo (even just price up clips, etc), and track wounds a little more "realistically" for the Arbites. Building a multi-level environment might pose a problem, but it surely can be done!

There is also a new Judge Dredd miniatures line and Skirmish Game from Mongoose Publishing, which are both pretty top-notch. The rules are a free download, for one thing, and the miniatures are sculpted suspiciously similar to the Wargames Foundry 2000AD Miniatures, and their Street Violence Range as well - meaning that you have a lot of options for this one.

I'll pop up a quick review of the rules soon.

I also thought about full-on roleplay in the setting. While there is a Judge Dredd system out there, I was never a fan. So, searching about, I thought MiniSix could make a good starting point. But, then I thought - really, the Warhammer 40k setting has borrowed so much from the Dredd setting, that it's time to give something back...

I'll pop up some conversion ideas for running Dredd in the WH40kRPG system this week - stay tuned!

Another Technical Delay...

This time, self-imposed - I have updated the old Notebook O' Doom to Linux.

I now have it up and operational, which will mean that regular posting should be resumed shortly.

What I've got in the pipeline:

• A few mini-dungeon maps I've been doodling
• A short adventure for Microlite20, which I've ran with a couple of groups
• Some more Microlite20 House Rules and Advances
• A few reviews
• Possibly the start of a series of adventures for the Kobold Ascension Fight campaign (system still undecided)
• Some more MiniSix40k stuff
• The Warrior's Guide To Being a Fighter

And many, many more!

Happy Ava Lovelace Day!

Today is Ava Lovelace Day, which celebrates the achievements of women in scientific and technological fields.

To celebrate, I'm going to write about one of my favourites: Hedy Lamarr.

One of the most beautiful Hollywood actresses of her generation, Lamarr shot to fame with some pretty risque roles (including being one of the first women to portray the female orgasm in a "serious" Hollywood movie), and one of the few famous stars to do full-frontal nudity (something normally reserved for "stag" movies). She was a symbol of proud womanhood for all of the film industry, a powerful, sensual woman who wasn't afraid of the socially conservative attitudes of her time.

She also invented Wi-Fi.

Yep, you read that right - she created spread-spectrum technology, which would allow data to be transmitted via waves through the air instead of on wires. Bear in mind, at this point, people still used vacuum tubes; this technology was so advanced, it would be 1962 before people could start to produce it in any serious and reliable way. To cut down on interference that might cause issues with the transmission, she also came up with the idea "frequency hopping" - presumably casually, over lunch and a cigarette. Her and George Antheil (who helped her figure out a way to implement this frequency hop) laid the foundation for all the wireless networking we have today (including mobile phones!), despite being an early softcore-starlet and a famous musical composer respectively.

Bra-fucking-vo, my dear.

TSR 2019 - The Dungeoneer's Survival Guide: A Review

While searching for some good OSR references, specifically for writing a dungeon, I stumbled across TSR2019 - Dungeoneers Survival Guide. This book is a veritable treasure trove (no pun intended) of info for writing a dungeon, or indeed any type of game with a focus on being underground.

The first couple of chapters talk about the book, including introductions by the two main writers - who show a lot of enthusiasm for the project. Not just the "Hey, isn't this a great idea?" kind of self-aggrandising enthusiasm, but a love of what they're writing and a clear joy at getting to write it. It's something that's not seen to often in big-company games now, which is a real shame.

The next chapter is pretty awesome - "Overview of the Underdark". Here, you'll find a brief (yet surprisingly full) description of the processes that occur underground, and the various ways these form into dungeon features, and ways to use them. Form the simple stalagmites and stalactites, through underground lakes and lava pockets, deadly gas build-up, and cave-ins, these descriptions paint a vivid picture of the dangers one might face from the environment alone, never mind monsters! A lot of these features will be going into the next dungeon I write...

Next is a couple of chapters dedicated to new rules covering the ins and outs of dungeoneering, from movement rates for various conditions, fighting in enclosed spaces, using ropes as levers and walkways, and a whole host of Non-Weapon Proficiencies to round things out. These are great, ranging from hunting and creating weapons, to things like Fungus Identification and Blind-Fighting. To me, these add an extra layer of specialisation for characters who intend to spend most of their time underground - sure, not too useful in a city-based campaign, say, but if you're about to head through a full-campaign megadungeon, these little tricks could save your life.

(Interesting Trivia Time: Did you know that non-weapon proficiencies were only introduced to the game by Oriental Adventures? I didn't.)

The new rules also help to add a little layer of vermilisitude to quite a few common dungeon-crawl activities - so much so, I'm already thinking of ways to implement some of them in other games (like Microlite20). They do suffer the usual AD&D problem of varying from elegantly simple to byzantine (sometimes, within the same ruling!), but they make for a pretty thorough groundwork to make your own rules from, or to act as examples and guidelines rather than proper rules. It also has a lot of information about non-Thieves performing actions normally covered by Thief Skills, and info on how to adjust those skills up or down depending on the circumstances. Again, very in-depth, with enough info to allow you to make an educated guess whenever you may need to. A personal favourite of mine are new rules for Hirelings and "cabin fever" - while one might expect PCs to be fine with spending months underground, crawling through ancient catacombs and deadly traps with the only emergence to go and spend their hard-earned cash, the average Henchman just wants to go home. The rules cover everything from them becoming suicidal/homicidal, to charming them into staying, to how much extra cash you might need to convince them!

The equipment section is where this book really stands out. It has everything you could think of taking into a dungeon with you, and quite a few more that I wouldn't have expected (who expects to need a fold-away canoe in a given adventure?!). Each piece of equipment adds some extra rulings, or adds to existing ones in interesting ways. While these are mainly useful to dungeon crawlers, most of the equipment could easily find another use to clever PCs (especially Thieves, as a lot of the stuff here covers stealth, mobility, and bypassing problematic obstacles).

The section covering monsters is interesting - it's got some information about the various humanoid races that live under the earth, from the classic Drow, to the little-used Duegar and Derro, the aquatic Kuo-Toa, and the abominable Illithids and Aboleths. Each of these only gets a bout half a page, but they make a great overview of the objectives of each of these races, and a great resource for new GMs.

Finally, the book contains a whole setting, a nice mapped-out chunk of the Underdark for the taking.

(Again, interesting fact time - this book is the first official use of the phrase "Underdark" in D&D literature. Neat! Next, to the Shadowdark!)

The maps are fabulously detailed, but still leave a lot of areas relatively free to interpretation. Some of the set-ups (like the massive "drain", controlled by Kuo-Toa who can change the flow of water into the lower levels) are fantastic, and even without set encounters, can provide a wealth of cool things to do in the setting.

The maps are done in a strong, isometric style - it take some getting used to, but the effect is great for conveying a truly multilevel area, rather than a "staircase down to the next level" type deal. They can, however, be a little bit cluttered, and the isometric view doesn't help any there.

As a final point, I should note the artwork - it's fantastic. Yes, it's all black-and-white, and not of the finest Photoshopped-half-to-death-with-titties-and-lens-flare-everywhere quality that modern D&D artwork is - but it's some of the most inspiring artwork I've seen in a long time. It really captures some of the feel of the classic dungeon crawl, even the faintly ridiculous Valkyrie-esque helmets the women wear (and, for a game frequently lamented as sexist, there's a lot of women here, being active, contributing to the group dynamic in each photo - not too bad!), the classic Fighter with the handlebar moustache and an outfit straight out of Golden Axe (see above illustration). The artwork presents a less-heroic feeling, that death and disaster could be right around the corner, but perversely, that the rewards could be so much greater... it really tickles a desire to write up a mega-dungeon, run it in OSRIC, and let my players taste some old-school beatdown - none of this "storygame" bullshit...
 
All in all, a very strong book, even to modern eyes. There are one or two little niggles with the rules, however... but I'm still planning to use it when I finally get around to writing that mega-dungeon...

Shadowrun 4 Quick-Start: A Review

So, as the classic GM with my finger in way too many pies, I'm thinking of starting my group on Shadowrun. So, I've advised them to download the Shadowrun 4 Quick Start Rules, which also includes sample characters and an introductory "adventure".

To start, the layout is nice - the artwork is vibrant and well-suited to the tone the Quick-Start is aiming for, and feels better integrated than some of the Core Rulebook art. Even the rules layout is strictly superior - everything is contained in a few pages, and flows well from one topic to another (the Core Rules, even the 20th Anniversary Edition, has a tendency to wander and scatter its rules about the book).

The Sample Characters are a bit "meh" - a Troll Bounty Hunter, Human Street Samurai, Elf Combat Mage, and an Ork Hacker. The first three are all (obviously) combat-oriented, which leaves the Hacker in the sticky situation of being able to do stuff outside of fights, but needing a bit more protection than the others during combat. An extra character or two (maybe a Dwarf Face, to round out the Races, or a Smuggler) would even up the skill-based to combat-based ratio. Then again, Shadowrun does have a heavy focus on combat, but it would be nice to have a few more options. Fantasy Flight Games does a great line of 40k RPG Quick-Starts, and will frequently put up extra characters for these adventures - something Catalyst could take note of.

Further reading might also show that the Street Sam is a lot more combat capable than the others - to the extent that, for the first few session, he'll shoot first, more, and better than anyone else. This would be fine, if he wasn't so much more effective than the other sample characters.

The adventure included is where the whole thing falls down. Well, that's unfair - I actually like what they've got down, it's just what's missing that's the problem - and what's missing is an actual adventure.

You see, the basics of it are as follows: it's 4AM, and you're all hungry - so you go to the local Stuffer Shack for horrible (yet delicious) fast food. As you peruse the aisles, a woman and her screaming child wander in - just minutes before an explosion rocks the store, scattering the assorted NPCs around and allowing egress to a gang - more specifically, a low-level ganger hit-squad. They're looking for the woman with the baby, with plans to kill the pair of them. Will you stop them, or help them out for a few bucks?

An interesting little scenario, to be sure - both the description and the read-aloud text are very descriptive, without being too wordy. The background characters are well-thought out, with a few behaviours they might fall into, depending on what happens (and enough information to let you make a judgement call on what they might do in other circumstances). It even has a really in-depth map (with key) and description of all the products in the aisle, along with uses for some (my favourites being hints for Hackers to unlock first-aid supplies and hack cars in the parking area, for use as weapons, and a table to determine what bursts when you miss a shot, along with a description and effects like making the floor too slippery to stand, or coating you in enough gunk to throw your aim off).

But what you are given is just some set-up and a combat encounter. The resolution should be finding out why these dudes wanted to kill a defenceless woman and a child, for God's sake! This information is presented during Brandeen's profile, and at the end of the section describing the combat-stats of the hitmen, we get a sidebar that reads:

If Brandeen survives, she will thank the runners profusely for saving her and Cody’s life, and may even try to explain her theory concerning the attack (which would be the truth) and possibly look to enlist the runners for some payback against [the guy who ordered the hit].

So, instead of maybe an actual run to find out why she almost got shot, she just tells them what she thinks happened, and it turns out it's right. Oh well, back to our regular lives, I guess. There's no onus to go and find out what happened, no effort to draw you in. Just a flat denouement and the chance to loot some corpses. If I ran this (which I kinda doubt I will), then there would have to be some major changes. So, what's the point in having Quick-Start rules if I need to spend time changing them up to be usable?
 
Also, as a product designed to draw in new players to the setting, it has one big issue - lack of information. For example, what does Brandeen want you to do? Kill the guy? Industrial espionage? Plant evidence of a crime the guy didn't commit? Bankrupt him? Who knows. And, even as an experienced DM, I would have trouble planning out a mission like any of those if this as my only experience of the game - thus making it kinda pointless. The point of a intro-adventure is to provide a wide experience of the setting you are conveying - and there's just not enough information to allow you to go any further with your game.

All in, a mixed bag - worth it for the simplification of one of the more clunky rulesets out at the moment, but anything that isn't directly rules related isn't worth the free you downloaded it for.