Spycraft - Class-Based Mission Picks

[Insight]

For those of you who play Spycraft 2.0 (there have to be a few of you out there)...

Do your players complain about the quality of their Class-Based Mission Gear Picks? It really didn't occur to me until I ran my first full-fledged Spycraft game a few weeks ago. The players really had a hard time finding any good way to spend their Mission Picks.

Have you experienced this problem? Is there a workaround for this? Do you have any house rules to alter what people can get as Mission Picks?

Thanks!

 

[Victim]

In our group, we often built our plans around what mission picks were available. Another thing might be that characters have taken sufficient Possessions that mission picks are largely superfluous. Finally, low level characters seemed to have too few useful picks (to the point where possessions are basically required) while high level characters seemed to have many redundant picks (which can go into picking upgrades though).

Perhaps you could share some more details.

 

[Insight]

In our group, we often built our plans around what mission picks were available. Another thing might be that characters have taken sufficient Possessions that mission picks are largely superfluous. Finally, low level characters seemed to have too few useful picks (to the point where possessions are basically required) while high level characters seemed to have many redundant picks (which can go into picking upgrades though).

Perhaps you could share some more details.

I've got a Level 6 crew of five to six players. Granted, we haven't played much yet, and it's highly likely a bit of the griping was due to unfamiliarity with gear selection on their parts (and perhaps a little bit on mine as well).

 

[Psion]

I just started a campaign with a group new to Spycraft 2.0. It did take them a little bit of wrangling to get their picks, but all it takes is one or two players to get into "hatching a scheme" mode to start making recommendations/requests and gobble up gear picks. In my case, the PCs were first level and soon had an SUV that could turn into a helicopter.

It's also good to put together recommended gear picks for a mission. A good place to get examples is the living Spycraft missions. Drop by the living Spycraft site and download a few (I think you have to get a login to actually download anything):

http://livingspycraft.com/x/scenario-list

Other thoughts:
I usually low-ball the mission caliber, because when you have things like the team pick option, and class abilities like the Intruder's gear prep, it's easy to get more than you need.

Don't let players forget that if they have a wisdom mod, they can hold gear in reserve, an option that can come in handy.

Finally, remind players that they are allowed to get picks without the specifics filled in. So if you don't have the identity of a villain yet, but suspect you may, you can get a dossier and decide who you want it to focus on later.