Committed Hero said:
This makes sense, except in light of their ad copy which repeatedly boasts that Spycraft can run anything.
The thing about the Gear system in the core rulebook is that it assumes an organization that provides the gear for the missions that the organization assigns. Since my Steampunk game already made a similar assumption it fit very well into the Gear system.
For games where the PCs are supposed to make their living off of salvage and the loot they pry out of cold dead fingers, against a backdrop of a radioactive wasteland it would not fit quite so well. So, you would have an easier time running Twilight: 2000 than Mad Max, as an example.
Gear is actually the only part that I find does not allow 'running anything' - the game itself has no problems in that regard. So, a PDF is coming out to support other styles of play than Agent A working for Organization X. Given that the game grew from a setting that assumed an espionage framework it was not an illogical assumption.
Some styles of play and settings require a bit of work in Spycraft, and Crafty Games have come out with PDFs to fill some of those gaps. A FantasyCraft supplement is in the works, allowing a more typical classic fantasy game than the base rules support. They already have rules for Orcs, Pech (halflings), Satyrs, Centaurs, Tritons, Dwarfs, Elves, more Elves, and even Gorgons in the Origin of the Species PDFs. (Sadly, the race I least liked the idea of - the Gorgons - have slowly become the race I most want to play....)
I run a fantasy heavy steampunk game with SC 2.0 - I added E.N. Publishing's Elements of Magic: Mythic Earth to handle spellcasting (I really, really like that system!), borrowed weapon listings from Cthulhu by Gaslight (and used the stats to derive a new Gear list), and used several Campaign Qualities (from the core SC 2.0 rulebook) to tweak the feel of the game. This campaign does assume a background organization for the most part, though the most recent has been nothing but Freelancers, using borrowed gear and stockpiles from previous missions.
Currently there are no fantasy races represented among the PCs, but this will change in the next campaign arc, one of the players has talked me into allowing Gargoyles in the setting. (I think as much to avoid my planned Steampunk WWI game as anything else....) She really wants to play a character who is stone by day, guardian by night. (And has the souvenirs from Gathering of the Gargoyles 2004 to prove it.)
For my Delta Green Spycraft game I use the magic system from D20 Call of Cthulhu, the PDF for Fragile Minds, and Pagan Publishing's excellent Delta Green as the setting. This took a heck of a lot less work than my SteamCraft game, and works really well. For the gear system I made the background organization Gear pour, with the result that most equipment is limited to Caliber II picks, with the exception of Weapons.
The Auld Grump
) Alternate systems include a Stockpile system - where Gear gets stored and used rather than chosen off the cuff. And the Cash 'n' Carry system, which involves the characters actually buying their gear! So now you can kill the bad guys, and take their stuff.....
