Spycraft or D20 Modern or maybe something else I don't know about yet

[rook111]

Sorry rook111, momentarily distracted. I'm Scott Gearin, the mechanics lead for Spycraft, and I would be happy to to help you. Tell me a bit more about what you'd like to see happen in your game, and I'll try to point out stuff in Spycraft that would fit that (and pin down which books would be most helpful) or offer sugestions on how to tweak and change things so that the rules will support exactly the kind of game you're looking for. As some other folks have mentioned, the sort of game your describing is what we were shooting for in the first couple of releases after the main book, so more detailed options for military types, and -lots- of vehicle info/options are all in the Soldier / Wheelman Class Guide. That followed and the Modern Arms Guide would be my first sugestion. Sol/Whl will give you a great 'para-military' base to build on. I highly recomend reading through any and all of the reviews on ENWorld for this book, as they describe the contents in detail. Along with the main book (which should cover the espionage angle pretty thoroughly) you should be good to go .

Didn't mean to spark a Flame War, I am really just not sure which book to use as a base for My game. I own both rule sets but don't have the time to play with both to decide which would work Better.

Ok, My game will be more military than spy, but there will be Intelligence gathering and such so Spycraft sounds good for that. But what I really need is something which can handel Military and High Tech Hardware such as Artillery, Warships, Fighter Planes and Bombers, That sort of stuff. I'm not looking for a wargame to play large scale battles but I can envision scenarios where characters are Crew of a Ship or Submarine (Clancy or Cobb novels) or a Super Fortress (Dale Brown Novels). A good example of what I sort of plan is a large Campaign where my players have sevral set of characters in different positions and locations and the action is global (Clancy's Red Storm Rising would be a good example of this). That not a lot but I haven't done a lot of development since I'm still not sure which rules set would fit better.

 

[jaerdaph]

Hi Rook,

There's a lot of good advice here for both Spycraft and d20 Modern. My advice: check out Blood and Guts, a modern military sourcebook by RPGObjects for d20 Modern before you decide. I think you'll find a lot in there that would be useful to the campaign you want to run:

http://www.rpgobjects.com/index.php?page=pro&product_id=23&

These guys do *excellent* stuff. Blood and Fists, their d20 Modern martial arts sourcebook is spectacular too.

 

[rook111]

Hi Rook,

There's a lot of good advice here for both Spycraft and d20 Modern. My advice: check out Blood and Guts, a modern military sourcebook by RPGObjects for d20 Modern before you decide. I think you'll find a lot in there that would be useful to the campaign you want to run:

http://www.rpgobjects.com/index.php?page=pro&product_id=23&

These guys do *excellent* stuff. Blood and Fists, their d20 Modern martial arts sourcebook is spectacular too.

This is what I have been Looking for, I only wish they would have shown some of the vehicle stuff in the demo. I assume that you have this book How do the Surface ship and aircraft rules look?

 

[Silk Orchid]

I agree completely. I'm a huge fan of Dark Inheritance myself . I'm just digging up old dirt from Mistwell flinging mud that Spycraft is doomed because it doesn't have thrid party support. Paradigms 'Most Wanted' is a sweet book, and I've seen what New Breed has cooked up with Mission Highly Improbable, and am constantly working towards releasing a more general Powered By Spycraft agreement so half a dozen other companies I know of can go forward with some really cool ideas they've pitched to us.

Heck, I use poly's global positioning maps myself .



Sure. I'd love to have WotC's brand name recognition. In there interim, I'll just have to keep working on making the best game I can, and look forward to the critical acclaim, and intense interest by other RPG companies .

Well, as "Gadodel"; I spend a lot of time over on WoTC's Boards particularly in the Modern File. However, I have heard so many good things about Spycraft that I might have to just pick it up.

 

[Lugh]

[rabid]
Spycraft is better. Nyah.
[/rabid]

For your heavy military needs, check out Sol/Whl. It has rules for personal ordinance (e.g. LAW rockets) and vehicle ordinance. It includes some rules for heavy ordinance that makes them effective against vehicles (which they are NOT in the core SEH), without making them instantly kill any human that gets in the way (which, while it may be realistic, is not cinematic, or fun). The short answer is that they do bonus damage against "hard" targets.

For vampires, a lot of it depends on which vampire mythology you're going with. I didn't see a lot in Underworld that specified exactly what would and would not affect vampires (holy objects/water? garlic? beheading? fire?). Personally, I believe that any vampire-heavy game NEEDS critical hits. It's the only reliable way to represent a stake to the heart, in combat. (Outside combat, naturally, you'd use coup de grace.)

I kind of like the 5-level class for vampires. It meshes nicely with the rest of the system. For races, like elf, I'd still use the species rules from Stargate. But, for a template like vampire or lycan, the class makes more sense. One question, though. Would the template class have a core ability? How would that interact with other core abilities? I think I'd also flesh this out with vampire and lycan specific feats.

 

[Sir Elton]

I vote d20 Modern.

If you asked if Spycraft would be good for running ANY type of game, Spycraft players would tell you it was perfect.

Some of the Spycraft fans on the Spycraft forums fit this model. Believe me, I know! I was talking about altering D20 Modern to fit the Blue Planet universe, and some of them jumped down my throat.

Needless to say, I'm not posting there anymore. Those fans are way too childlish about Spycraft to discuss anything. However, I'm glad to find out that not ALL of the Spycraft fans are exactly the same.

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Some of the Spycraft fans on the Spycraft forums fit this model. Believe me, I know! I was talking about altering D20 Modern to fit the Blue Planet universe, and some of them jumped down my throat.

Don't lie.

That is not what you were talking about- and you were the one who started getting snarky.

http://www.alderac.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3593&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=50

FD

 

[Mistwell]

I said I thought Spycraft players were rabid, and look at what happened.

I never once said I disliked Spycraft, or its players. I am a player of Spycraft. I like Spycraft. I named several types of games I think Spycraft is good for. I have always said I liked Spycraft.

And yet, because I mentioned some few things that could possibly be perceived as negative about Spycraft (that I didn't think it was best for this kind of military game, and that I thought many Spycraft players were rabid about their game), look at the response I got. Several people said I hate Spycraft and its players. Someone DEMANDED an apoligy. A writer for Spycraft called me a troll.

Guys, what would YOU call rabid, if I get that kind of response about a game I have said I liked? What would you call rabid, if ANY dissention at all from perfect love and acceptance of all things Spycraft is called hatred and trolling?

 

[Mistwell]

Morgenstern: I'd like to take our part of this discussion to email, but your account does not list an email. Could you please email me at [ Edited after Morgenstern contacted me ]. We both work in the industry, and are both professionals, and I think it best to clear the air.

 

[dpmcalister]

Perhaps if you care to read some of the above replies you'd get a better understanding of why people find your comments akin to trolling. You start name-calling and then, when others take offence, you claim innocence and cry "victim"!

We have a little saying over here... if you can't take it, don't dish it out