Spycraft 2.0 is awesome!

[Razuur]

Well I have to say that Spycraft 2.0 is exactly what I always wanted from D20 Modern and didn't get.

I think AEG did an outstanding job.

Razuur

 

[AscentStudios]

I just got this today as a gift, my biggest gripe is the slightly misleading (or perhaps my expanded expectations) as a "cinematic modern toolkit."

With the past 1.0 having psionics and ritual magic and 2.0 mentioning the genres of horror and post apoc, I was expecting a small set of rules or villians for supernatural powers.

OK, Von Ether, we'll do this just for you Crack out those 1.0 books...

 

[Von Ether]

OK, Von Ether, we'll do this just for you Crack out those 1.0 books...

Just for me? You shouldn't have. You should have done it for all the fans ... oh wait. You did. So we now have a magic conversion for 1.0 ... any ETA on psionics?

Oh. You guys did make me liars. There's a cyborg and a werewolf hiding in the NPCs section. I might have to give SC2.0 a spin and see how silver bullets fired from Desert Eagles do.

 

[Morgenstern]

Just for me? You shouldn't have. You should have done it for all the fans ... oh wait. You did. So we now have a magic conversion for 1.0 ... any ETA on psionics?

The psionic conversion is one of the first things I did, but the rules grammar changed in the 4-5 months of work that followed, so the Psionics text I have is kinda verbally ugly. I'm expecting to get time to make a cleaning pass on it mid-next-week (just before the end of the month), so it should be available pretty soon . Feats & Skills-based psionics with 3 base classes, 8 expert classes, and 54 multi-use psionic powers. Helluva freebie .

(2 of the expert classes classes and all the powers they can choose from are posted in one of the stickies - the Avatar and Maxim show off some of the range of the psionics rules pretty well.)

 

[Von Ether]

The psionic conversion is one of the first things I did, but the rules grammar changed in the 4-5 months of work that followed, so the Psionics text I have is kinda verbally ugly. I'm expecting to get time to make a cleaning pass on it mid-next-week (just before the end of the month), so it should be available pretty soon . Feats & Skills-based psionics with 3 base classes, 8 expert classes, and 54 multi-use psionic powers. Helluva freebie .

(2 of the expert classes classes and all the powers they can choose from are posted in one of the stickies - the Avatar and Maxim show off some of the range of the psionics rules pretty well.)

Combing my two subjects together ...

I am assuming the best way to have psionic/magical NPCs is to stat them out as full NPCs as compared to assigning a XP cost to the special abilites they have, even if the abilites are innate (such as an incorperal ghost).

The other way to do it would be through a gadget or gear pick that simulates an unlisted ability, which may or may not be appropriate. (a Predator vs. invisible stalker.) ... Don't dare me to push the game to it's limits.

Blame this on the WB. I'm a fan of the new Supernatural series, which looks a candidate for SC2.0 once we deal with these pesky ghosts and such.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

I'll chime in and say that Supernatural is very very cool, at least the single episode I've seen of it so far.

Looks like a great modern-era game.

--fje

 

[The Shaman]

I finally had a chance to look this over last night - very slick.

I wasn't considering switching from d20 Modern to Spycraft 2e unless the latter really knocked my socks off - however, the best it could do was to pull down one sock and untie my shoe.

I could see stripping it for parts, however, if I wanted to plunk down the money for another game-book right now.

 

[Nyarlathotep]

Sigh... I'm such a RPG junkie. My group still wants to play D&D but that didn't stop me from going out and buying every SC1 supplement out there. Now I just got the new SC2 book (and it's incredibly slick from what I've seen so far - I really like the skill section, although I'm not sure how I'll go about remembering checks/caps etc).

How much of the class books/supplements from SC1 will remain useable when I finally convince my group to play it? Is there a free intro adventure for SC2? If there is where would I find it? (If it's in the book, my apologies, I've been flipping through reading different sections and haven't seen one yet).

 

[Denaes]

Sigh... I'm such a RPG junkie. My group still wants to play D&D but that didn't stop me from going out and buying every SC1 supplement out there. Now I just got the new SC2 book (and it's incredibly slick from what I've seen so far - I really like the skill section, although I'm not sure how I'll go about remembering checks/caps etc).

Caps would be written down next to every skill or on your GC screen (there is a download with 8+ pages of charts from the book for your GC needs).

I'm of the mind to make players remember all their own stuff. I'll flat out ask "whats your total, is that higher than your cap?". Two reasons: 1. It reminds the player about the cap. 2. It lets me see how often it actually comes into play. It's not very hard to just drop if it doesn't come into play but once in a blue moon.

How much of the class books/supplements from SC1 will remain useable when I finally convince my group to play it?

All of them.

A lot of the new optional rules were put in as core rules in SC2.0, so those wouldn't apply really.

All the fluff still works, though the seemingly more interesting Archer campaign is dropped due to lack of sales (not that you still can't use it or aspects of it) and a new campaign setting called World on Fire will be comming out around Nov-Dec (last I heard) which is the setting from the CCG. The setting looks totally uninteresting from what I've heard, but new classes/traits/feats, Master Classes, etc. I'll pick it up and give it a spin.

http://www.alderac.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27928 This is the 1.0 -> 2.0 conversion guide. Back out to the Control Transmissions Forum and there are a few other important threads that have new classes (some full, some preview up to level 5).

Also back out one more to the forum listing and go to "Liscense to Improvise" and there are a lot of people doing conversions... including a very sweet Star Wars 2.0 conversion.

Is there a free intro adventure for SC2? If there is where would I find it? (If it's in the book, my apologies, I've been flipping through reading different sections and haven't seen one yet).

Not that I'm aware.

The old Living Spycraft adventures/serials (and a few others) are still up on the website and they're in the process of converting them over.

There is an Excel based Character Generator (not working at 100% effectiveness yet) and a Mission Sheet. My advice would be to download the Mission Sheet, download some Living Spycraft 1.0 Serials and just convert over the NPCs and fill in the sheet. When you fill it in with the goals for each Scene, events & NPCs all the XP is tallied automatically. All you need to do is add in the number of AD the players get, which gives them extra xp as well.

What I did was take a Living Spycraft Serial and printed it out and basically ran it straight from the packet, but had the NPCs converted over to 2.0 (there were only like 5 sets of stats for NPCs in the serial I used).

Also note that some people, including the mechanics lead for Spycraft, are working on fantasy conversions as well.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Ran a game of SC 2.0 about 2 weeks ago. Observations:

Combat is complicated, but so darn cool that it is enjoyable (something that combat in RPGs have not been for me in a while).

Every character class gets its chance to shine.

The campaign options are grreeaat! I used a modified version of Conspiracy for the opening season, this will be changing if the campign continues. (The if has to do with sceduling problems, not lack of interest.) Season 2 or 3 will likely be Military. Very easy to customize the rules for the game being run.

I am converting my Steampunk campaign to SC, while a long process in some ways it has been worthwhile from a GM perspective. Plus my Steampunk game is an espionage based game anyway... I will be porting the rules for limb loss over, prosthetics being integral to the setting.

I just wish that I had time, I have been working 50-60 hours (plus travel) a week for the last few months, which leaves less time for gearing up for the campaign than I would like.

The Auld Grump