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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 6124479" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 316: February 2004part 3/8Covert ops: Having given players advice on building their characters, the next logical step is DM advice on building a campaign, or inserting an espionage adventure into a previously more straightforward game. As with the previous article, this isn't generic advice, instead talking a fair bit about how D&D monsters and magic would fit in. (watch out for mind flayers, because both your secrets and loyalties are incredibly vulnerable around them. ) You'll want a good selection of organisations for the players to belong too, oppose, or maybe both at once if they're double agents. While there will be dungeons, you probably won't be striding in and killing everything indiscriminately, and should instead set the difficulty so they have to use stealth and disguise, and actually talk to (or at least stalk) the enemies to locate and retrieve the phattest loot. This is one playstyle where keeping the sides morally ambiguous and giving the players plenty of choice will produce more interesting (and probably more explosive) results than trying to tell a predetermined story. Once again, while the way they're approaching this is pretty formulaic, it still beats the 2e treatment, particularly as they can actually talk about sex this time around, which was a glaring absence in issue 231, given it's omnipresence in the genre. They can also be more inclusive thanks to 3e's more flexible class system, and talk in a more sophisticated way about genre emulation. Following this advice seems like it'd result in a more fun spy game than the 2e way. Cloak & Dagger: If there's one thing spies and dungeoneers have in common, it's their love of gear. Both spend vast amounts of money and time on cutting edge stuff that adds cool tricks to their arsenal and may save their life in a pinch. The main difference, apart from being powered by technology rather than magic, is that spy devices are more likely to be one-shots, that solve a situation once and are used up or destroyed, so they can have a different selection of gadgets in the next mission. There's certainly a fair share of that stuff here, but also some things that might last if you take care of them, and don't let yourself get captured or fleeced. There's a wide variety of flashbangs, concealed weapons, and devices that aid breaking and entering, including plenty that are obvious lifts from recent movies and tv shows.  Similarly, some of the magic items are rehashed, but since we're less than a year into the new edition, I'll forgive them that, because the way they're implemented makes them look fun to play with. Magic items which give you new tricks are much more interesting than ones that merely buff ones you already have.</blockquote>

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