The Shaman said:
What do you think about [Spycraft] v2? Have you played it with your ftf group?
Bobitron said:
I had a very positive impression of it from a) reviews, b) feedback here on EN World, and c) my own initial reading.
Then I started to read it. I have a strong suspicion it might be over my head. There are certain concepts that seem really really cool in theory that I'm having wrapping my little brain around. I think what really needs to happen is a session with someone who has a good understanding of the rules and a head for teaching.
Spycraft v1 wasn't all that much different than D&D or d20M. There are some serious changes in v2 that really make it a different game entirely.
Hello all! Occasionally I peruse Shaman's excellent game and I saw this question and hope that you don't mind my commenting here.
I'm using portions of Spycraft V2 for a PbP that I run elsewhere (merged with D20 Modern) and here's my own experiences.
1) There are some unique gameplay options in there that are great fun! Interesting character concepts and feats, logical skill trees, a few D20 combat fixes (e.g. sprawled condition), quickly-generated NPC's, and Dramatic Conflict cards are my favorites.
2) It's a difficult read. Some concepts are not presented clearly and some sections of the book are not tied together well. For example, my pet peeve is the Gear selection sections; there's a
critical table to understand how all of that section ties together, but it's buried amidst 15 other tables and poorly referenced elsewhere.
3) Some concepts are nice in theory, but would be more cumbersome to implement than would be worth it, IMO. For example the fluid initiative and gear selection rules.
I've heard that a prospective GM should watch a F2F game in action to truly understand the game flow. My overall impression is that its a wonderful set of options for a D20M game and if I get a chance to play in a F2F game, I'll do it.
Job.