Spycraft

By Elton Robb
Spycraft Cover

And now for my first review this week, I am going to review Spycraft , AEG 's (and D20's) answer to Top Secret, S.I. by TSR, inc. Spycraft, D20 System^T^M is hailed as a game that is said to deliver the spy action genre to your games. After all, this is susposed to be the D20 version of Ninjas and Superspies (wait a minute, Ninjas and Superspies is already D20 . . . ). Lets take an inside look on how this delivers the Spy Genre to the D20 System.

Introduction: Honor Among Spies

The introduction introduces us to the Underground World of Espionage. Aptly named "Honor Among Spies" it gives us an inside look at the world and subculture in which the CIA, KGB, and Mi6 operate. The world it presents is one where spies play Chess with government, the private sector, and private citizens. Such axioms like defeat is a matter of degrees, subtlety is your weapon,business is business, and never reveal your opponent to anyone outside the game are explained in a way that James Bond and Ethan Hunt understands them. The introduction also gives you an overview of the D20 System as far as the genre is concerned. Although the game is published under Version 1.0a of the Open Game Liscense and you do require the Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edtion Player's Handbook (the Liscense hasn't been revised quite yet).

Chapter 1: Agent Creation

Okay, you are all fired up to create your very own Secret Agent to do battle with the Forces of Evil (in this case, anyone who doesn't have your country at its best interest). Okay, before you create that pointman, or that snoop, or even that fixer, there is some things you have to consider first. The writers of the game start at character creation where most novelists start --- your Agent's history. After that is finished, you have to come up with a way on how your team got started (okay, we've got handpicked!). Then you determine your Ability Scores using 4d6.

Then we can find out what department you came from. The list of departments, and their summaries, are available below:

The Home Office: Agents from the Home Office are the prototypical Superspy. James Bond, Jim Phelps, and Ethan Hunt are all from the Home Office. These spies are trained to be confident, suave, and are known to pull off the impossible.
The Power Brokerage: Agents in the Power Brokerage department are those that deal in political circles. If there was a movie equivalent, it would be Doctor No. In the real world, most spies work in the Power Brokerage as they try to make someone a traitor to their own Country. Examples would be the agents in Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Military Operations: Trained in the use of military hardware, Military Ops agents act as the frontline of the Agency. The military operation in A Clear and Present Danger represent these kind of agents.
Computer Espionage: These spies are the young rebels of the Information Age. They are the hackers and crackers into computer systems, and they can practically crack or hack into any computer system and exploit its secrets. An example would be Martin Bishop from the movie Sneakers.
Urban Assault: Agents of this department are efficent, military operatives who work in close-quarters. Agents from this department handle operations that take place where maximum stealth is required. I think the "A-Team" television series dealt with this a couple of times.
Black Ops: Tough and grizzled agents that deal with corruption within the Agency. Although I think computer games like Rainbow Six deal with this kind of agent.
Wetworks: Okay, the Assassin's Guild sums up what the Wetworks department is susposed to be like. Agents who eliminate other targets. The villains in Patriot Games represent this kind of agent.
"The Basement": Agents who deal with strange and supernatural occurances. Agents Mulder and Scully from the "X-Files" should immediately pop to mind (I feel a Call of Cthulhu D20 Crossover coming on!).

After you pick your Department where your Secret Agent comes from, its time to find out the role he plays in the team. Classes include: the Faceman, a man with a talent for impersonation, disguise, and being a confidence man. These are often sent in to gather intelligence before the mission is undertaken. This is Templeton Peck from the "A-Team."

The Fixer handles the resources of the entire team, also they double as the burgler. Jim Phelps in "Mission: Impossible" acts as the Fixer in both the T.V. Series and the movie version. The Pointman often helps out other agents, but they are also the most versatile. Characters like James Bond and Ethan Hunt are pointmen. Snoops are the crackers and the hackers, and the electronic bloodhounds. One of the agents in Mission: Impossible that have been disavowed fills the role of the Snoop. So does Mother and Carl from Sneakers.

Soldiers are the muscle of the team. They are trained to eliminate anything or anyone who gets in the team's way. However, players will identify with most of the A-Team from "The -Team" television show when they think of this class. Wheelmen have their wheels, and are often capable in a fight. Although fun to watch and a parody, I think Woody from Condorman best represents the Wheelman to players. Of course, you can Multi-class your agent. For instance, Templeton Peck was military trained in "The A-Team," making him a Soldier as well as a Faceman and Ethan Hunt may have had some Snoop training as well as being a Pointman.

Chapter 2: Skills

D20 is updated to Modern; as new skills are presented for the Spy Genre. This isn't primarily New Uses for Old Skills, as the skills Boating, Bureaucracy, Computers, Cryptography, Driver, Electronics, Forgery, Hobby, Mechanics, Pilot, and Surviellance are all introduced. As you can tell from the name: you get a quick overview what the skill is about. For instance, Computers are for those who work with computers (almost everybody), and Driver are for those who drive cars (again, almost everybody). Each skill is described, along with the rules for Skill Usage is reprinted from Core Rulebook I.

Chapter 3: Feats

Okay, we have all the feats of Spycraft organized into different categories for your typical Spy. They are Chase Feats: which help in driving. Combat Feats: which allows you the knowledge to subdue or beat somebody up. Covert Feats allows you to be stealthy, evasive, and an all around not seen spy. Gear feats lets you have access to the GEAR that Q gives James Bond. Skill Feats lets you be more skilled at what you do. Style Feats would make a James Bond out of you or anybody. Some new feats include: Career Operative (Combat Feat), Speed Demon (Chase Feat), Improved Equilibrium (Covert Feat), Extra R&D Support (Gear Feat), Field Operative (Skill Feat), and Five Star Service (Style Feat, of course you have to be Filthy Rich (another feat) to have it).

Chapter 4: Finishing Touches

Okay, your agent needs some finishing touches. These include backgrounds, subplots that help you roleplay your character. Backgrounds are important, if they show up in the Game Control's story (Spycraft's term for the Game Master or Dungeon Master, henceforth GC) your character can gain Experience for dealing with them once a season. So be sure to tell the GC about them. Examples include Amnesia, Debt, Fear, Hunted, and Nemesis. And do not forget your personal gear, your name, or your code name.

Finally, we get to see the gadgets and the gear that James Bond uses and you have access to . . .

Chapter 5: GEAR

So, you go to see Q (or whoever) to get the goods to defeat the Evil Dr. No (or Doctor Evil, or whomever). In Spycraft, Q can give you a lot of options. Everything covered in Chapter Five deals with the Spy Genre, so you too can have latex masks, a taser gun, a stilletto, a garrote, and that favorite of anarchists, the Molatov Cocktail. You can also have modern weapons like the Uzi, a sniper rifle, a .50 magnum pistol, mace, a semi-automatic rifle, and a pump action shot gun. There are over 50 different modern weapons, all with D20 stats. That's not all!

As well as access to thrown weapons, missile weapons, and the ever popular exotic weapons, Q can also give you some Armor (armor is handled differently, see below on the section on combat), some other protective gear, special costumes, pencil cameras, special shoes, powerful computers, drugs, poisons, and other things. Except he can't arrange food and lodging, thats handled by other persons in the department.

What if a special vehicle is what you need? Maybe a flying car or helicopter perhaps? Q can also introduce you to these Spy machines. Maybe the mission calls for a Rolls Royce, decked with bulletproof armor, smoke screen, and oil slick? Maybe it's a Lamborghini Diablo you want with a built in missile launcher, nitro, a heads-up display, and proteus package (your Diablo can hover?)? Q can get you all these things. So you too can be James Bond, or Condorman. Fortunately, a vehicle has as many firm or hard points equal to it's wound points divided by 10 (round up).

Chapter 6: Combat

Okay, it's your basic D20 combat found in Core Rulebook I. But with some modifications. First of all, say good bye to Attacks of Opportunity. They aren't needed in the Spy Genre. Also say good bye to Armor Class. Armor does protect you, but it absorbs damage. Say good bye to Hit Points, and say hello to the Vitality/Wound Points from the Star Wars RPG. Except you can only take one negative Wound Point before dying. Also say hello to Action Dice, which are used to modify skill checks and other considerations. Otherwise, there is no real modifications to Combat.

Chapter 7: The Chase

Okay, so you want to enact your favorite chase scene from your favorite movie? This chapter shows you how to create your favorite, enternally sharp, chase. This chapter comes complete with an Andrenaline injection! The vehicle's statistics come into play here: especially speed, defense, handling, hardness, and wound points. The rules deal with terrain: so you can do ground chases, water chases, air chases, and foot chases. The Chase, however, is reduced to step-by-step sequence for ease of play: you Choose your Manuever, make a manuever check, spend your action dice, Resolve your Manuevers, handle obstacles and leads, other actions, and deal with crash rolls (if needed). There are several manuevers that are explained, like the Box In, Crowd, Cut Off, Gun it, and Shortcut manuevers. Then the above steps in the chase sequence are explained.

Chapter 8: Tradecraft

This presents the world of Espionage to the GC and the players. Articles on Espionage, Being a Spy, the World in which Spies operate, and articles on missions are in the chapter on Tradecraft. Rules and advice for handling investigation are also presented. Also tools for the Agent are presented, and I don't mean their gear. Agents have resources from their Agency, their Government, the Legal Process, and other things. Rules for travel is also handled in this chapter.

Chapter 3: Control

These are the rules for running the game, so it's for GCs only. Rules handling action dice, encounters, the environment, and other things are presented. And of course, the most fun part is presented. Development of your Mastermind, his Henchmen, and their minions. You decide the hook, his level, his development, and so forth. And then Campaign design (also called Serials), and Foil design. And then some sample threats are presented: like Julian Bosque, Franz Leiber, and Kholera.
Then Serial types are discussed, as well as other elements. It all depends on what you want to run. Want to run a James Bond or Mission Impossible serial? Check out the Super Spy serial. Maybe a Political Thriller is more of your type, check out the Political Thriller serial. What to do something supernatural? Go pick up a copy of Call of Cthulhu D20 and Spycraft and we will talk . . .

Conclusion

Spycraft presents everything you need to run a Spy Game using D20. A fast paced game full of real action and Spy Drama. Not only that, since it's D20, you can combine genres. Imagine Half-Orcish Pointmen from the Home Office, Elvish Facemen from Wetworks, Dwarven Fixers from the Basement, and Halfling Snoops from the military department. Maybe even Gnomish Wheelmen from the Power Brokerage is your cup of tea. Maybe a Wizard from the Computer Espionage Department is what you want. This game delivers not only to fans of the Spy Genre, but can be used by any GM/GC to improve their D20 game. I give Spycraft a rating of 4 for Style, and 3 for Substance.

Spycraft
Spycraft Capsule Review by Elton Robb on 30/03/02 Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 3 (Average) Welcome to the Spy Genre, you can recreate all the excitement of Top Secret, SI with Spycraft! Product: Spycraft Author: Patrick Kapera and Kevin Wilson Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Alderac Entertainment Group Line: Spycraft Cost: $34.95 Page count: 288 Year published: 2001 ISBN: 1-887953-43-5-4 SKU: 1800 Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by Elton Robb on 30/03/02 Genre tags: Modern day Espionage	Spycraft By Elton Robb And now for my first review this week, I am going to review Spycraft , AEG 's (and D20's) answer to Top Secret, S.I. by TSR, inc. Spycraft, D20 System^T^M is hailed as a game that is said to deliver the spy action genre to your games. After all, this is susposed to be the D20 version of Ninjas and Superspies (wait a minute, Ninjas and Superspies is already D20 . . . ). Lets take an inside look on how this delivers the Spy Genre to the D20 System. Introduction: Honor Among Spies The introduction introduces us to the Underground World of Espionage. Aptly named "Honor Among Spies" it gives us an inside look at the world and subculture in which the CIA, KGB, and Mi6 operate. The world it presents is one where spies play Chess with government, the private sector, and private citizens. Such axioms like defeat is a matter of degrees, subtlety is your weapon,business is business, and never reveal your opponent to anyone outside the game are explained in a way that James Bond and Ethan Hunt understands them. The introduction also gives you an overview of the D20 System as far as the genre is concerned. Although the game is published under Version 1.0a of the Open Game Liscense and you do require the Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edtion Player's Handbook (the Liscense hasn't been revised quite yet). Chapter 1: Agent Creation Okay, you are all fired up to create your very own Secret Agent to do battle with the Forces of Evil (in this case, anyone who doesn't have your country at its best interest). Okay, before you create that pointman, or that snoop, or even that fixer, there is some things you have to consider first. The writers of the game start at character creation where most novelists start --- your Agent's history. After that is finished, you have to come up with a way on how your team got started (okay, we've got handpicked!). Then you determine your Ability Scores using 4d6. Then we can find out what department you came from. The list of departments, and their summaries, are available below: The Home Office: Agents from the Home Office are the prototypical Superspy. James Bond, Jim Phelps, and Ethan Hunt are all from the Home Office. These spies are trained to be confident, suave, and are known to pull off the impossible. The Power Brokerage: Agents in the Power Brokerage department are those that deal in political circles. If there was a movie equivalent, it would be Doctor No. In the real world, most spies work in the Power Brokerage as they try to make someone a traitor to their own Country. Examples would be the agents in Man from U.N.C.L.E. Military Operations: Trained in the use of military hardware, Military Ops agents act as the frontline of the Agency. The military operation in A Clear and Present Danger represent these kind of agents. Computer Espionage: These spies are the young rebels of the Information Age. They are the hackers and crackers into computer systems, and they can practically crack or hack into any computer system and exploit its secrets. An example would be Martin Bishop from the movie Sneakers. Urban Assault: Agents of this department are efficent, military operatives who work in close-quarters. Agents from this department handle operations that take place where maximum stealth is required. I think the "A-Team" television series dealt with this a couple of times. Black Ops: Tough and grizzled agents that deal with corruption within the Agency. Although I think computer games like Rainbow Six deal with this kind of agent. Wetworks: Okay, the Assassin's Guild sums up what the Wetworks department is susposed to be like. Agents who eliminate other targets. The villains in Patriot Games represent this kind of agent. "The Basement": Agents who deal with strange and supernatural occurances. Agents Mulder and Scully from the "X-Files" should immediately pop to mind (I feel a Call of Cthulhu D20 Crossover coming on!). After you pick your Department where your Secret Agent comes from, its time to find out the role he plays in the team. Classes include: the Faceman, a man with a talent for impersonation, disguise, and being a confidence man. These are often sent in to gather intelligence before the mission is undertaken. This is Templeton Peck from the "A-Team." The Fixer handles the resources of the entire team, also they double as the burgler. Jim Phelps in "Mission: Impossible" acts as the Fixer in both the T.V. Series and the movie version. The Pointman often helps out other agents, but they are also the most versatile. Characters like James Bond and Ethan Hunt are pointmen. Snoops are the crackers and the hackers, and the electronic bloodhounds. One of the agents in Mission: Impossible that have been disavowed fills the role of the Snoop. So does Mother and Carl from Sneakers. Soldiers are the muscle of the team. They are trained to eliminate anything or anyone who gets in the team's way. However, players will identify with most of the A-Team from "The -Team" television show when they think of this class. Wheelmen have their wheels, and are often capable in a fight. Although fun to watch and a parody, I think Woody from Condorman best represents the Wheelman to players. Of course, you can Multi-class your agent. For instance, Templeton Peck was military trained in "The A-Team," making him a Soldier as well as a Faceman and Ethan Hunt may have had some Snoop training as well as being a Pointman. Chapter 2: Skills D20 is updated to Modern; as new skills are presented for the Spy Genre. This isn't primarily New Uses for Old Skills, as the skills Boating, Bureaucracy, Computers, Cryptography, Driver, Electronics, Forgery, Hobby, Mechanics, Pilot, and Surviellance are all introduced. As you can tell from the name: you get a quick overview what the skill is about. For instance, Computers are for those who work with computers (almost everybody), and Driver are for those who drive cars (again, almost everybody). Each skill is described, along with the rules for Skill Usage is reprinted from Core Rulebook I. Chapter 3: Feats Okay, we have all the feats of Spycraft organized into different categories for your typical Spy. They are Chase Feats: which help in driving. Combat Feats: which allows you the knowledge to subdue or beat somebody up. Covert Feats allows you to be stealthy, evasive, and an all around not seen spy. Gear feats lets you have access to the GEAR that Q gives James Bond. Skill Feats lets you be more skilled at what you do. Style Feats would make a James Bond out of you or anybody. Some new feats include: Career Operative (Combat Feat), Speed Demon (Chase Feat), Improved Equilibrium (Covert Feat), Extra R&D Support (Gear Feat), Field Operative (Skill Feat), and Five Star Service (Style Feat, of course you have to be Filthy Rich (another feat) to have it). Chapter 4: Finishing Touches Okay, your agent needs some finishing touches. These include backgrounds, subplots that help you roleplay your character. Backgrounds are important, if they show up in the Game Control's story (Spycraft's term for the Game Master or Dungeon Master, henceforth GC) your character can gain Experience for dealing with them once a season. So be sure to tell the GC about them. Examples include Amnesia, Debt, Fear, Hunted, and Nemesis. And do not forget your personal gear, your name, or your code name. Finally, we get to see the gadgets and the gear that James Bond uses and you have access to . . . Chapter 5: GEAR So, you go to see Q (or whoever) to get the goods to defeat the Evil Dr. No (or Doctor Evil, or whomever). In Spycraft, Q can give you a lot of options. Everything covered in Chapter Five deals with the Spy Genre, so you too can have latex masks, a taser gun, a stilletto, a garrote, and that favorite of anarchists, the Molatov Cocktail. You can also have modern weapons like the Uzi, a sniper rifle, a .50 magnum pistol, mace, a semi-automatic rifle, and a pump action shot gun. There are over 50 different modern weapons, all with D20 stats. That's not all! As well as access to thrown weapons, missile weapons, and the ever popular exotic weapons, Q can also give you some Armor (armor is handled differently, see below on the section on combat), some other protective gear, special costumes, pencil cameras, special shoes, powerful computers, drugs, poisons, and other things. Except he can't arrange food and lodging, thats handled by other persons in the department. What if a special vehicle is what you need? Maybe a flying car or helicopter perhaps? Q can also introduce you to these Spy machines. Maybe the mission calls for a Rolls Royce, decked with bulletproof armor, smoke screen, and oil slick? Maybe it's a Lamborghini Diablo you want with a built in missile launcher, nitro, a heads-up display, and proteus package (your Diablo can hover?)? Q can get you all these things. So you too can be James Bond, or Condorman. Fortunately, a vehicle has as many firm or hard points equal to it's wound points divided by 10 (round up). Chapter 6: Combat Okay, it's your basic D20 combat found in Core Rulebook I. But with some modifications. First of all, say good bye to Attacks of Opportunity. They aren't needed in the Spy Genre. Also say good bye to Armor Class. Armor does protect you, but it absorbs damage. Say good bye to Hit Points, and say hello to the Vitality/Wound Points from the Star Wars RPG. Except you can only take one negative Wound Point before dying. Also say hello to Action Dice, which are used to modify skill checks and other considerations. Otherwise, there is no real modifications to Combat. Chapter 7: The Chase Okay, so you want to enact your favorite chase scene from your favorite movie? This chapter shows you how to create your favorite, enternally sharp, chase. This chapter comes complete with an Andrenaline injection! The vehicle's statistics come into play here: especially speed, defense, handling, hardness, and wound points. The rules deal with terrain: so you can do ground chases, water chases, air chases, and foot chases. The Chase, however, is reduced to step-by-step sequence for ease of play: you Choose your Manuever, make a manuever check, spend your action dice, Resolve your Manuevers, handle obstacles and leads, other actions, and deal with crash rolls (if needed). There are several manuevers that are explained, like the Box In, Crowd, Cut Off, Gun it, and Shortcut manuevers. Then the above steps in the chase sequence are explained. Chapter 8: Tradecraft This presents the world of Espionage to the GC and the players. Articles on Espionage, Being a Spy, the World in which Spies operate, and articles on missions are in the chapter on Tradecraft. Rules and advice for handling investigation are also presented. Also tools for the Agent are presented, and I don't mean their gear. Agents have resources from their Agency, their Government, the Legal Process, and other things. Rules for travel is also handled in this chapter. Chapter 3: Control These are the rules for running the game, so it's for GCs only. Rules handling action dice, encounters, the environment, and other things are presented. And of course, the most fun part is presented. Development of your Mastermind, his Henchmen, and their minions. You decide the hook, his level, his development, and so forth. And then Campaign design (also called Serials), and Foil design. And then some sample threats are presented: like Julian Bosque, Franz Leiber, and Kholera. Then Serial types are discussed, as well as other elements. It all depends on what you want to run. Want to run a James Bond or Mission Impossible serial? Check out the Super Spy serial. Maybe a Political Thriller is more of your type, check out the Political Thriller serial. What to do something supernatural? Go pick up a copy of Call of Cthulhu D20 and Spycraft and we will talk . . . Conclusion Spycraft presents everything you need to run a Spy Game using D20. A fast paced game full of real action and Spy Drama. Not only that, since it's D20, you can combine genres. Imagine Half-Orcish Pointmen from the Home Office, Elvish Facemen from Wetworks, Dwarven Fixers from the Basement, and Halfling Snoops from the military department. Maybe even Gnomish Wheelmen from the Power Brokerage is your cup of tea. Maybe a Wizard from the Computer Espionage Department is what you want. This game delivers not only to fans of the Spy Genre, but can be used by any GM/GC to improve their D20 game. I give Spycraft a rating of 4 for Style, and 3 for Substance.