GenCon, Operation Doublestrike and Top Secret

[Verdigris]

Ahh...original Top Secret. That game was the very one that got me into roleplaying. The underground sewers in Operation Sprechenhestletessletle (sp!) just blew my mind. Plus I had a concealed tommygun beneath my bulletproof vest and at least 50 other guns, knives, and grenades (all concealed beneath my vest and silenced, I'm sure). I dusted some dude with a pocket knife. Some expert knife fighter at a barber shop or something. Just hosed him down.

I have no idea if it was a deadly game or not, but I remember the martial arts chart was amazing. (I didn't know what a "rabbit punch" was at the time, but it was the best punch so I had it.)

I was 9 or so at the time. Reagan was in office. Soon after I got the D&D "Caves of Chaos" boxed set and it was all over for me. I became a gamer for life.

I repeat: ah, the memories...

*sniff*

 

[DMScott]

I remember Rapidstrike - both played it and ran it with different groups. Fun shoot 'em up, not really a spy adventure though - more of a counter-terrorism schtick, I guess.

I think the best espionage-type adventure published for Top Secret was Orient Express, which gave details on train travel through Europe and had a bunch of cool scenarios. We got months and months of play out of that, I still use the maps and general train info in modern-type games.

Also played Top Secret/SI a bit, but I liked that one more for the alternate genres (Agent 13, FREELancers, Special Forces type play with Commando) than as a spy game.

 

[arwink]

Ah, original Top Secret (and like other, I shudder at the implications of people waiting for SI after those two words)

I still have my original copy, although the cover has long since degraded and the first four and last four pages are but frayed remnants of their former self that sit folornly in a folder marked "Parts for game books I'll not play a again, but must keep for nostalgia purposes"

I owned more adventures for Top Secret than any other system I've played, and it's the only system where I've played every adventure I bought.

The primary reason I bought D20 modern was to start converting old top secret ideas over.