Sprawl Sites

Cover art by Steve Venters, 1990

Sprawl Sites is a supplement published by FASA in 1990 for the near-future cyberpunk role-playing game Shadowrun.

Contents

Sprawl Sites is a supplement that presents material about cities in a cyberpunk setting that a gamemaster can use to provide a deeper background for an adventure.[1] Material covered includes:

• maps and building blueprints of places like a bank, a bus station, restaurants, and a hospital;
• random encounter tables;
• new archetypes such as dwarf mercenary or ex-tribal warrior;
• various non-player characters;
• background information such as weapons permits and credsticks.[2]

Publication history

Sprawl Sites was written by Boy F. Petersen Jr., John Faughnan, and Mike Stackpole, with a cover by Steve Venters, and was published by FASA in 1990 as a 96-page softcover book.[3] Illustrations are by Earl Geier, Jeff Laubenstein, and Jim Nelson, and cover art is by Steve Venters.[4]

Reception

Stephan Wieck reviewed Sprawl Sites for White Wolf #20, rating it 5 out of 5 overall, and stated that "The Sprawl Sites sourcebook is an incredible reference for Shadowrun GMs. The book is well organized and easy to use. Your campaign shouldn't be without it."[1]

In the November 1992 edition of Dragon (#187), Allen Varney called this book "an unusually useful Swiss Army knife of a supplement." He pointed out that the many unrelated items could be a lifesaver for a referee, and related his own experience of needing a blueprint of a typical city fire station map, which is available in this book. Varney commented that he was "no fan of either random-encounter tables or maps, but when you need them, Sprawl Sites presents them with imagination and without pretension." He concluded, "The game background's intricacy rewards those who undertake a full campaign. For this I strongly recommend Sprawl Sites."[2]

Reviews

• Polyhedron #75[5]

References

1. Wieck, Stephan (April–May 1990). "Cyberpunk Reviews". White Wolf Magazine. No. 20. p. 52.
2. Varney, Allen (November 1992). "Roleplaying Reviews". Dragon (187). TSR, Inc.: 90.
3. Schick, Lawrence (1991). Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-Playing Games. Prometheus Books. p. 280. ISBN 0-87975-653-5.
4. "Sprawl Sites". Guide du Roliste Galactique (in French). 2009-05-08. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
5. "Dungeons & Dragons World - Magazines - Polyhedron Magazine".