Espionage games

[Wannabe writer]

What's the feeling about running or playing in these games?

Also secret wars hidden by rules or from civilisation to protect it? Are these game killers, require particular players? Hard work for DMs?

[Onix]

I haven't played a team espionage game. The 007 games never felt right when playing with more than one PC. Everyone wants good chase rules for spy games, but I don't think that's what you're leaning towards.

[Wannabe writer]

I'll admit the ol 007 game makes me wince at the memories. Yet I think there is real fun in team mission games as opposed to kitchen sink/fall into adventures style.

[kylesgames]

One thing I think helps espionage games is setting down real objectives and goals for each party member; each person may have slightly different desired outcomes (i.e. if each is from an allied agency, but some want to sweep any embarrassing intel under the rug).

One thing I find handy is timelining missions-if the party has to split, I handle each player separately, though this could be something that most groups are loathe to do. 1-800 Regime Change will have something like this; snipers can do a "stalk" mission while the assault team rolls into position.

[tadk]

First Edition Top Secret was/is a great deadly system
I find Spycraft to be a bit over-inflated in many aspects, while the make an scenario stuff is close to worth the $50 price tag I spent on the core book.

Still working on a short setting idea for it, the variety of options is almost overwhelming, along with the make an organization part is near daunting.

There was an older UK site devoted to Modern and Espionage games only, sadly it is gone. Might be time to make a thread only for those here, along with a slight lack in the Free RPGs section.

[Chainsaw Aardvark]

Was the site called Modus Operandi? Its apparently around. The forum where they had a contest to write some espionage 24 hour rpgs is gone though. I submitted one that was basically "Haganah on a space colony in 1914 trying to prevent WWI" () As I recall, there was also one about cave men spying on each other, another involving the orkhna under the tsar, and one where the cola wars was painfully literal.

I was just thinking about a game that was kind of "Checkpoint Charlie"or Operation Paperclip but with magic/alien artifacts. However, I'm pretty sure there was a published game a few years ago with that as the premise. Besides, do I really need to write yet another games based on Roadside Picnic?

What might be kind of neat is a game about normal people recruited to be spies. Like the hotel chef who is being blackmailed to learn and reveal the Great Leader's (All Hail!) food allergies. No trained killers, masters of disguise, or former marine annalists - just normal people tricked or bribed into assisting a foreign government against their better judgement.

There is a good d20 based Ghost in the Shell game available from Serena Dawn () if you're a fan of cyberpunk flavored counter-intelligence. If I recall any others, I'll try to let you know.

[vulpinoid]

Just finished a "Cold City" mini-campaign of 4 sessions. That was a great system for treachery, betrayal and generally chaotic spy hi-jinks. It's intended to be a game about hunting the supernatural in pre-cold-war era Berlin (cleaning up the supernatural mess of Nazi experiments), but there's no reason you couldn't pull out the supernatural elements and still have a great spy game.

[koipond]

Blowback. It is Burn Notice the RPG.