The 1PG Line
1PG is short for "1 Page" and the goal of the line is to present a complete role-playing game in just one page of rules. In reality, these games run around 13-16 pages, but the core rules are indeed presented in a single page. The line is intended for quick pick-up games with minimal preparation. Each PDF game in the line sells for an imminently affordable $3.95, and there are supplements available for $1.95. When ordering a PDF, you can add a printed booklet for an additional $4.54. One other game in the 1PG line which has seen some interest on RPG.Net recently is Broadsword, a game of barbarian sword and sorcery, but there are a total of 16 games in the line covering a wide range of genres including pirates, anime robots, disaster movies, and superheroes.
Table of Contents
After a full-color cover page we come to the table of contents/credits page. The TOC looks like this:
Rules of Play 3 Character Sheet 4 For the Ref 5 Superspy Toys 6 Scenarios: Ghost Mission 7 Operation: Switchback 8 Ice, Ice Baby 9 Diamond Eye 10 Operation: Maelstrom 11 Return of Razorback 12 Double Character Sheet 13
Rules of Play
Agent S.E.V.E.N. assumes some basic role-playing knowledge. It doesn’t explain what RP is all about and it doesn’t explain what “1d6” means (the game requires only six-sided dice). The rules page begins with character creation. Your agent has 4 primary stats: Fitness, Looks, Finesse, and Brains. Each ranges from 1-3; you generate scores for each by rolling 1d3. I found it interesting that there’s not even an explanation for how to roll 1d3 since that’s somewhat unusual, but I think it’s a safe assumption that players can figure it out. If you don’t like the randomness of 1d3, you can just take 8 points and distribute them between the skills as you see fit. Presumably the maximum per stat is 3, as it would be if you rolled 1d3, but the game doesn’t explicitly state this.
Each stat has a short grouping of skills beneath it. For instance, under the Fitness stat you’ll find Drinking, Fighting, Pilot, Shooting, and Swimming. Some stats have more associated skills than others, for a total of 16 skills. You roll 1d3+3 for skill points and distribute those as you like, with a maximum of 3 points in any one skill. You can also get extra skill points by lowering others below zero. You can also add your own skill to the list, with GM approval, if you don’t see anything that covers what you have in mind.
The game doesn’t give a description of any of the skills, so it is left up to the group to decide exactly when, for example, the Seduction skill (under the Looks stat) is applicable. The lack of any such explanation of a skill’s use goes back to the assumption of some existing RPG experience, and also implies some level of trust between players and GM so there won’t be any bickering over, say, what the Con skill can or can’t do.
There are some secondary stats as well: Guts, Wits, Blood, and Fate. Each requires different rolls to generate their values (1d3+2, 2d6+10, etc.). Guts is your ability to handle stress, and Wits represents your long-term resistance to the pressures of the espionage game. Think of Wits as mental hit points. Whenever something traumatic happens, such as getting wounded, you make a Guts check. If you fail, you lose Wits. If your Wits drops to zero, you’ve snapped and are retired as an agent…a mental death. Blood represents your physical wellbeing, and if it is reduced to zero, you die. Interestingly, there are no healing rules. Since this is meant as a pick-up game, the characters are essentially disposable. It is possible to restore your Wits and Blood values, but we’ll talk about that later as part of character advancement.
Fate can be considered a luck stat, or maybe a damage save. It is generated by making rolls against each of your primary stats. For every success you gain one Fate, so it ranges from 0 to 4. Whenever you’re about to take damage, you can make a skill roll against your Fate and if you succeed, you somehow managed to avoid taking damage after all.
To finalize your character, you roll on a Background table and a Status table to customize your agent somewhat. For instance, you might roll Ex-Soldier which will give you a few skill bonuses, and then Battle-Hardened which will give you a Guts bonus. You also roll for starting funds, although there is no equipment list in the game except for a brief section on armor and a table of weapons, but neither section includes monetary values.
So how do you make a skill roll? You add the applicable skill to its associated stat and that gives you a target number; you then need to roll equal to or below that number using 1d6, where 1 is always success and 6 is always failure. In combat, the attacker and defender both make the appropriate skill roll (Shooting vs Dodge, for instance), and whoever has the highest margin of success wins, with ties going to the defender. For mental challenges, you roll Wits vs Wits and can use your Fate stat to raise the target number.
Although Agent S.E.V.E.N. is meant as a quick pickup game, brief character advancement rules are provided. You get a certain amount of character points and also +1 Fate for surviving the adventure. You can spend the character points to improve your stats, skills, Wits, Blood, or Guts. So the only time you can recover lost Wits or Blood points is at the end of the adventure.
That’s the extent of the Agent S.E.V.E.N. core rules; it all fits in one page. There is a supplement available called the 1PG Companion which provides additional rules for those who would prefer a somewhat more robust system, and that supplement includes more detailed character advancement rules. I did intentionally leave out a few details such as dealing damage, because with a system this simple it is dangerously easy to duplicate the entire system in the review!
The Character Sheet
The character sheet is divided into two columns; the left column is a summary of the entire rule system, including character creation! This is also where you’ll find the Background and Status tables mentioned earlier. The right column includes the actual character sheet; room to fill in all your stats and skills as well as personal information, any armor worn by body location, and any weapons carried.
For the Ref
This section is full of GM advice on how to properly set the action-movie tone of the game, and it also covers initiative order in combat. It recommends a fast pace, suggesting that an entire scenario should be played in one sitting of about 2-3 hours.
There’s also a table of various weapons and their damage values. Guns are divided up into categories such as pistol, rifle, and submachine gun, but there are no specific weapon types described. This is the way I prefer to see firearms handled; although I know some players find great joy in combing over an extensive equipment list and figuring out what to select, over the years I’ve come to find gear selection to be a chore and I’d rather just say, “Give me a pistol and let’s get to playing.”
Superspy Toys
This page discusses the Gadgetry skill (okay, so there is one skill that gets some explanation) and also using the Wits stat to limit an agent’s access to superspy gadgets. There’s then a list of several common gadgets such as a cufflink recorder, a wristwatch garrote, and a cigarette lighter derringer.
The Scenarios
There is no provided setting for Agent S.E.V.E.N. In fact, not even the abbreviation S.E.V.E.N. is defined or explained, although presumably it’s a reference to everyone’s favorite spy, 007. The six provided scenarios are generally independent of each other; most are set in the modern day, but one is set during the Cold War of the 1980s. However, three of them do feature the same villainous mastermind and can be played as a trilogy. Each scenario describes the set-up, a handful of intermediary scenes, and then a finale. They each end with writeups of important NPCs. Since they are one page each, there’s not much space dedicated to hand-holding a GM through possible complications if the players should wander off track or have an unusual solution to a problem.
Double Character Sheet
Agent S.E.V.E.N. ends with a double character sheet; the rules summary from the standard character sheet is replaced with a duplicate copy of the character information section itself. The game suggests that players make two characters ahead of time so that they will be able to quickly re-enter the game if their initial agent dies or is otherwise taken out of the action.
Conclusion
Agent S.E.V.E.N. is a great option for those looking to “hurry up and play” rather than spending significant time learning a more detailed system. The fact that it’s an espionage game is especially interesting since I’m not aware of this genre being represented much in a rules-lite fashion. The only other such game I’m aware of, John Wick’s Wilderness of Mirrors, is highly narrative with somewhat unusual mechanics that might not be a good fit for all players. Agent S.E.V.E.N. provides a more traditional option.
Although there are only two pieces of art in the whole document—the cover page and one smaller piece at the end of the rules page—the game has a professional look and is nicely laid out in a two-column format with good use of headers and fonts to make things readable.
I do think that the game could benefit from a bit of additional detail which may have been cut in the interests of maintaining the 1PG format. A brief description of what each skill covers could help alleviate some disagreements during play. The game never discusses how agents get mundane gear; without a price list, do they requisition gear from their agency, choose whatever they want, or does the GM allocate gear? More GM advice would also be helpful, particularly when it comes to creating adventures; perhaps a list of common espionage plots and themes to kickstart the GM’s creativity.
Overall, though, I think Agent S.E.V.E.N. does a great job at fulfilling its goal of being a quick, rules-lite espionage game requiring little prep time from anyone at the table.
