SPYCRAFT: The greatest RPG ever made! The best d20 game ever!

[Sigmund]

Top Secret/SI semi-OT question

Does anyone (I'm sure someone does) remember an adventure for Top Secret/SI that takes place in Monaco and revolves around the race there? I can't for the life of me remember what it's called.

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

Look at the departments as background; this is where the PC was trained and this gives him some benefit.

Departments need not be actual department in an unified agency. You can use them to represent different real world organisation.

If your PC was trained in the army, obviously he should be D-2. If he was tained by the NSA, D-3. If he used to be a sniper for a SWAT team, D-4.

Etc.

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

The James Bond RPG "Q Manual" is one of the best rpg supplements ever IMO and I think it would be a very useful read for Spycraft GCs.

Thanks for the tip, I'll look it up. But I bet it's out of print

If anyone has the book it could be fin to make some conversion for Spycraft.

And speaking of James Bond, I wonder what are his Spycraft stats...

 

[Sigmund]

Look at the departments as background; this is where the PC was trained and this gives him some benefit.

Departments need not be actual department in an unified agency. You can use them to represent different real world organisation.

If your PC was trained in the army, obviously he should be D-2. If he was tained by the NSA, D-3. If he used to be a sniper for a SWAT team, D-4.

Etc.

Yeah, I thought the same thing...like I said, it's probably the semantics that are bugging me

Oh, also.....for anyone who honestly has reservations about allowing 20=auto-success in their games, our DM in DnD implemented a system for skill use in his campaign where a natural 20 roll adds another +10 to the total...so the roll of 20 becomes 30.....and the inverse for rolls of 1 (which becomes -9). This allows success any just about any task ya ever wanna try, but still allows for failure by particularly unskilled chars or for extremely difficult tasks.

 

[Kaptain_Kantrip]

Voneth: Yes! We need to petition AEG to release Adventure Keep style mini-modules for Spycraft! Big modules, too!

 

[Geoff Watson]

Geoff is trolling and so are you.

Just because I disagree with people I'm a troll?

Overall, I'm really happy with Spycraft, but there's something about the departments instead of races thing that is bugging me....not sure why. Ruleswise they're fine, but they still bug me. Maybe it's the semantics.....perhaps I might re-label them. Anyone else getting this feeling? Anyone put any thought into any kind of custom-background system? I'm hesitant to do that because it seems like it would kinda go against the whole d20 system, but perhaps a way for players to customize their prior training would be a good thing.

That's another problem. Every human on the planet is an agent, since there are no rules for non-agent characters.

Geoff.

 

[hong]

Geoff is trolling and so are you.

You say that like it's a negative thing.

 

[hong]

That's another problem. Every human on the planet is an agent, since there are no rules for non-agent characters.

This makes perfect sense. They really ARE out to get you, you see.

 

[Sigmund]

You say that like it's a negative thing.

Simply pointing it out......for my part, I mostly ignore ya'all.

For what it's worth to those who aren't sure, I can report that I have used the auto-success as both a DM and a player (mostly as a player) and had no trouble with it either way.

I too was (and still am to a point) concerned about the lack of "regular joe" npc rules/guidelines in the Spycraft book. The Star Wars book doesn't have those either does it? Regardless, that's a very minor quibble as the improvisation for that is very simple (using DMG npc classes tweaked, or even "off-the-cuff"). Most "regular" npcs will run rather than fight, and will drop for the count on pretty much the most minor of GSWs. Tougher npcs (the mall janitor who was a marine in 'Nam) can be given a PC class. It's the departments that still bug me.

 

[Voneth]

That's another problem. Every human on the planet is an agent, since there are no rules for non-agent characters.

Geoff.

*sigh*

They are called NPC classes.

So Geoff, do usualy run or play d20? If you play, you just need the PHB.

If one RUNS a d20 game, the PHB, DMG, and MM are considered manditory. D20 games like SpycraftFading Suns and Deadlands sort of make assumptions that the GM will know what to keep and what to toss out. In the DMG, one could still use NPC classes despite the shift in the genre and pardigm. To paraphase the DMG and my Star Wars book, "These NPC classes are not really playable for heroes. They represent the rest of the people in the world around the PCs: hardworking professionals who don't go on adventures or battle dangerous foes."

The NPC classes in the DMG would be those such as the Expert, Aristocrat, Warrior, and (ahem) the Commoner. Perhaps it would help to rename the NPC classes to modern nomeclature for you. So try Academic, Politian/Movie Star, Law Enforcement and Average Joe.

As an aside even the MM has some uses since it has animals (guard dogs, sharks and spiders) Other MM entries can be genegineered beasts (Dire Animals), or for a supernatural campaign.

Or if one has the STAR WARS book, one could use it's versions of the NPC classes, such as the Diplomant, Expert and Thug. The Star Wars book also has some NPC multiclass/prestige templates that would make sense for a modern campaign (I'll just rename some to make them fit the 21st Century.)

Those classes are Adminstrator, Generica Assassin, Generic Bounty Hunter, Generic Con Artist, Generic Crimelord, Generic Elite Trooper, Generic Fighter Pilot, Generic Gambler, Generic Medic, Generic Mercenary, Generic Military Officer, Generic Outlaw, Generic Pirate, Generic Smuggler, Generic Spy, Generic Tech, Generic Theif, Generic Thug, Generic Trader, Bounty Hunter(PrC), Crimelord(PrC), Elite Trooper (PrC), Figther Jet Pilot (Starfighter Ace), and the Officer (PrC).

So there are some decent rules for non-agent characters for those humans who aren't Player Characters in the basic three books needed for d20 before you even use the Spycraft rules. One just has to use a little tweaking for the setting and you are good. If one happened to snag the STAR WARS book, then one has plenty of sample characters.

Perhaps if you don't plan to run a d20 game, then a Spycraft purchase wouldn't be in the best interest right now. If you would like to run d20. Get the other two books and read throughly first.