How easy would it be to play Nights Black Agents in a play-by-post

I just picked up Nights Black Agents. The setting (spies in Europe with vampires) really intrigued me. My real-life situation is tight enough on time that I doubt I will get a chance to actually play it over a table, so I was wondering how easy it would be to play this game in a play-by-post style.

(Poking [MENTION=2]Piratecat[/MENTION] as he enabled me on the purchase)

Utterly simple. Easier than D&D in fact.

- There are fewer die rolls, because if you spend enough points success becomes automatic.
- The game is more cinematic than tactical. No real need for a battlemap; at worst, you post the floorplan of a location, or a city map.
- Wikipedia saves you a ton of time in game prep.

Thanks good sir!! I am eagerly awaiting having the book arrive at home. I was hoping to have it in time for my 8-year olds dance party tomorrow afternoon in order to save my sanity, but oh well.

I've seen a couple of people mention this recently, but I don't actually know what it is. Anyone care to save me some Googling and fill me in?

Basically, and I have only read the first couple sections of the book, so I may be wrong.

You are a spy of some sort, who has recently (or not-so-recently) retired from active duty with [insert spy agency here], and have decided to stay in Europe. You decide to still stay active and are recruited by [Insert spy agency 2 here] and you find out that there are vampires, and you are working against them.

mudbunny said:

Basically, and I have only read the first couple sections of the book, so I may be wrong.

You are a spy of some sort, who has recently (or not-so-recently) retired from active duty with [insert spy agency here], and have decided to stay in Europe. You decide to still stay active and are recruited by [Insert spy agency 2 here] and you find out that there are vampires, and you are working against them.

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James Bond vs. Dracula? Eeeenteresting.....

One of the things that I like is that it seems very focussd on the action part. Very spy movie'ish.

The players are supposed to build their PCs together so that all of the required jobs you would need for a spy team get covered.

Also, if they are looking for information, and they have the required skill, they find the info.

From the manual:

Intelligence operations are not about finding clues. They are about interpreting the clues you do find. Figuring out the conspiracy, or planning an operation, is hard enough for a group of analysts, without someone withholding half the pieces from them. GUMSHOE, therefore, makes the finding of clues all but automatic, as long as you get to the right place in the story and have the right ability. That’s when the fun part begins, when the players try to put the
components of the puzzle together. Whenever you get stuck, get out and gather more information.

Gathering clues is simple. All you have
to do is:
-„„ get yourself into a scene where relevant information can be gathered,
- „„have the right ability to discover the clue, and
- „„ tell the Director that you’re using it.

As long as you do these three things, you will never fail to gain a piece of necessary information. It is never dependent on a die roll. If you ask for it, you will get it.

Click to expand...

Once I get the book and geta chance to read it, I will more than likely starting up a PbP on these forums.

Morrus said:

James Bond vs. Dracula? Eeeenteresting.....

Click to expand...

Or Jason Bourne or Harry Palmer or ...

The game suggests several possible modes of play - with accompanying rules tweaks -

Burn Mode: "Some spy stories privilege psychological damage and the cost of heroism: the Bourne trilogy of films,TV series Alias and Callam, and the espionage novels of Graham Greene, for example. Horrors drain your soul as much as they do your blood; you look into the abyss and see the abyss welcoming you in."

Dust Mode: "To recreate the gritty, lo-fi espionage world of Anthony Price or Charles McCarry, similar to the TV series The Sandbaggers or Rubicon, or films like Three Days of the Condor, you can “depower” the game into Dust mode"

Mirror Mode: "Many spy stories, especially in the modern era, present a “wilderness of mirrors,” a world of hiddenagendas and shifting allegiances. They threaten personal identity and self-knowledge, mirroring those threats in betrayal and contests between corrupt opponents where the protagonist must trust only his own moral sense — if he can remember it. This is the world of John Le Carré’s Smiley novels and Barry Eisler’s John Rain thrillers, of movies like Ronin and Spy Games and the Mission: Impossible films, of TV shows like The Prisoner and MI-5."

Stakes mode: "Although more common in earlier spy fiction than now, some spy stories play for higher stakes. The
characters derive their actions from a higher purpose than mere survival or “get the job done” ethics: patriotism, the search for knowledge, protection of the innocent, or even justified revenge. This is the world of James Bond and Jack Ryan, of Tim Powers’ novel Declare, of films like Taken, of TV shows like Burn Notice."

And you don't know what your opposition is going to be ...

[As I've just started playing this - great so far - I haven't read the GM's section but I've just grabbed this from the start of that section ]

"This chapter presents a series of questions to answer and decisions to make for the Director. Why do vampires exist? Where do they come from? What are their powers? How do humans stop them? When did they begin to corrupt Europe – or mankind as a whole? Who do they control? This chapter also presents a wide variety of answers to those questions, and options for those decisions. The Director builds her vampires, and their conspiracy, from those answers and choices, and from her imagination and creativity. Thus, no two games of Night’s Black Agents will have exactly the same vampires, so the players won’t know what to expect even if they expect vampires."

Hope you find this interesting.

It does sound incredibly fun! I may seek it out at Gen Con!