Modern and Spy Games: Classes

One of the more interesting things about Top Secret were its three "character classes": investigator, confiscator, and assassin. There was no concept of a "James Bond" style class in this system, and I remember one of the Dragon Magazines actually writing up a "superspy" class for that reason - and all of a sudden all my game's players felt massively uncool.

Ah, TSR, stop creating classes to fix problems or chase the cool. To be honest, the game was destroyed by the official 007 RPG, so they were probably throwing poison darts at the wall and hoping people would stay if they tried to fix things.

Mission Impossible

One of the problems is the game was more Mission Impossible than it was James Bond, and I feel that made a better model for "party based play." You look at 007 - and that guy is a loner. He works alone, does things alone, and is a one-spy army. How well does that translate into group-based play? I don't think too well, because really, are we going to send 001 through 005 on one mission all the time? It weakens the premise, makes the concept of a superspy seem ineffective, and runs counter to the mystique of the gentleman or suave female superspy.

The older Mission Impossible model, where every mission needs a "team of specialized experts" fits the party play model much better. As long as everyone has something to do and the game just isn't combat. Yes, in this game it was fun to sneak into bases and cause trouble, talk to contacts, and play the supercool spy - but combat was fun just like combat was fun in D&D. You could stat-build, gun design, toss grenades, and martial arts your way into a night of modern dungeon crawling constant gunfire fun. I know that is not Mission Impossible but that is what we did.

One of the problems with Top Secret were the classes really didn't do much else than provide an XP chart for leveling. They gave a $25 mission bonus for certain mission if you were the right type of character, but not anything else. You could earn XP doing other agent's mission types. Your XP went into raising ability scores, and that was really the few bonuses of leveling (except for fate/fortune points).

My B/X Spies Game

If I were making a B/X spy game with classes, the classes would do things, give me some thief-like percentage abilities to do cool stuff and cause trouble. I would rethink the class trinity too, as assassin was way too fun, investigator got to shuffle through file cabinets, and confiscator only showed up to work the forklift and drive the truck away. If you were doing more single-person superspy I would go classless and let players develop the spy of their dreams through character advancement.

If you were doing team of experts I would go more along the types of characters in the older team-based shows: mastermind, muscle, gadgets, face, thief, and doctor. No assassins and no soldiers! Too much fun, and honestly, why have a class that is essentially a fun magnet? Spread combat responsibilities out to everyone, and give their classes special combat abilities. You need to push back on the special forces commando classes too, since once you get the military involved you lose the "average citizens doing cool things" mystique of the game.

Everyone gets the same combat modifiers as they level up, just what they do in combat is influenced by their classes. Masterminds fight smart, muscles twist you into pretzels, thieves are sneaky, and so on.

This game is a fantasy of the everybody being able to walk out of the office and normal lives, and into international intrigue. Not walk out of the office and join Seal Team 6. Frankly that sort of "commando not spy" thing has put a shadow on 007 in many of the films in my feeling, as what 007 does shooting up military bases and playing Top Gun is just...no, it doesn't feel right to me. The fantasy is broken and that is a superhero with guns and explosions like Arnold or Stallone.

Plus, with those five classes, I would have a hard time deciding what to play - which is a cool thing. Doctor would need some interesting powers to knock people out, give buffs and immunities, target weak spots, administer mind-altering substances, and other cool medical and science powers, psychology and hypnosis, because they feel the weakest.

I would play that. It supports party play, gives role protection, and lets everyone participate in combat and gives their class unique abilities to use. No one is left out. The game keeps a "combat is fun" feel while keeping out-of-combat options open and powerful.

MSPE

Yes, I am bringing up MSPE, the game often forgotten in the Top Secret vs. 007 battle. This game gets a lot of the solitary movie hero tropes right for a classless system. You level up, and work on skills to specialize. You can do teams or solo heroes, and it supports solo play a lot better than either of the games. Combat is not as fun because it is deadly, so you are going to get a lot of interactions, sneaky stuff, skill use, and social encounters - which fits the genre of movies from 1930-1980 a lot better in my feeling.

Sam Spade isn't walking into every bar with twin 0.45 pistols and blasting his way in and out to talk to a contact. You could do that in this game, but really? Okay, do that if it is fun for you.

Also, the way this game treats skills is way better than either 007 or Top Secret. Skills gain XP through every use, track XP per skill, and level independently of the character's level. You can't be a shooty combat-oriented Sam Spade, gain a level, and improve investigation skills you have never used. If you want a high-level non-combat skill - you have to use it. This encourages roleplaying, sneaky stuff, non-combat stuff, social encounters, and skill use in general.

This also modifies adventure design, as referees need to put in non-combat skill opportunities into the adventure rather than just lining up combat encounters to fill the night's session time. What is involved in completing a mission? What tasks need to be done? What skills will be needed? Can players make their own approaches, change things up, apply their skills effectively, and come up with creative solutions on their own? 

Are the varieties of challenges varied, or should they be given the situation and group's play preferences? You may want a combat-focused game, and that is fine. You may want a social-oriented game, and that is cool too. The game supports this, and the characters develop along the play style and adventures the group goes through. You may want a balance, or a mix of two or three styles of play.

The questions of single superspy and "team of experts" is solved as well, since the game supports both. This is less done "in the rules" as the B/X and TSR model enforces, and more goes into the "build as you play" classless design in games like Skyrim - you develop your character as you go instead of making an initial class choice and getting better in a limited set of abilities. If you want a James Bond, pick and level up the skills that would make a character like that. If you want a Mission Impossible team, that can be done too by specializing the character designs.

Also, unlike 007 and the original Top Secret (I know about the updated Kickstarted edition), this game has survived the years in its original old-school form. You can still buy it, buy adventures for it, and experience the game as it was played back in the day.

Classes in a Modern Era?

I prefer classless systems for modern and sci-fi games. People change, their roles change, and once you get into the game world you can feel your class doesn't have much of a use based on your play style. If you are the only player playing a charismatic face class, and the other five players at the table are all combat freaks - yeah, you are waiting for the gun smoke to clear to smile and charm the people still left alive. You could feel like you aren't contributing anything to the team, your class makes you weak at the primary group focus, and you are pigeon-holed into being the "expert the group drags around."

Plus, classless and build-as-you-go lets your game and players change. If Sam Spade picks up piloting and wants to be a South Seas smuggler and airborne two-fisted adventurer like Indiana Jones - run with it! They will have that PI background, but their new skills will support the fun the campaign morphed into. No new characters need to be created, and characters will pick up the skills they need.

Another point with systems that force you into a role, is that I feel there are times they limit your choices as a player, and as a referee for that player. If a class is a sneaky-thief type, you need to put in sneaky-thief parts or the player will feel like the choice they made was bad. The group may make choices that limit sneaky-thief opportunities.

If a player in a classless system acquires sneaky-thief skills - no matter what they do - those are now an option used to solve problems for that player instead of a requirement. The skills you choose will be influenced by your play style, and you will assemble a tool-box of unique abilities to handle the situations the referee comes up with. To me, in a modern setting where things change rapidly and characters need to be jack-of-all-trades, this is a much better choice for player agency and freedom that a system that enforces strict classes.

But again, all of the above is modified by player and group preference. It may be that you like strictly defined classes in modern settings because those give you direction and the special powers you like. More power to you! But as a referee, I need to understand that with special classes I need to provide opportunities for them to shine and feel like they are contributing. Also, as a player, I need to be aware that the group's choice may be sidelining some of my fellow players. This is unavoidable in some situations, but if it happens all the time the group needs to be aware this is happening and work to make it better for everybody.

Mail Room: MSPE Hardcover

It is seriously scary these days how short of a time between wanting something, and having it come to your door. Well, two days after learning about this, it is here, and I am seriously impressed with this book. This is not a POD hardcover, this is a professional job, the paper-stock is really heavy - almost stiff - and there is a built in bookmark. Good binding from what I can tell. All the additional content from different editions of the game is included. The book was even shrink-wrapped in plastic, and in pristine quality with no bent corners or damage.

I did pay a little more than list price, but in my feeling, worth it. I will get way more use out of this than a similarly priced video game, and it will last me a lot longer. If you love this game it is highly recommended. If you are curious, please go for the PDF.

Will this just sit on a shelf? I get this feeling I will say that now, but end up flipping through and enjoying this one much more than other books I have picked up recently. To me, when the creator goes out of their way to create a better-than-POD book, it elevates the game to a level where I enjoy it more. This is not to say I am not thankful for my POD books, it is just in this era we have publishers going the extra mile on crafting a lasting, quality experience, and that shows a love and respect for their players that I really appreciate. 

Nicely done here.

Will I Use It?

There is something about the alternate universe of T&T and MSPE that appeals to me. T&T is a "handful of dice" game that tosses away chapters full of rules for a bucket of dice, dark humor, and some timeless solo adventures. MSPE to me is simple at its core, and it has that "roll 3d6 for your scores and go" feeling where I could pick an old movie, create some characters for the stars of the show, and play through the film my way.

Both of them are not B/X, but retro in the same way, and simple and incredibly easy to get going. A few games still sing to me these days, and this is one. It is hard to put my finger on it, but for years this game felt somehow different and special, even though our main campaign never used these rules - this system still felt like a treasure to me. It has a timeless quality like a movie made a long time ago that never really gets old, and while games today come and go, this one I can keep coming back to again and again.

It still captures my imagination.

It is funny, since games like D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder 1, D&D 4, and many others I feel had times that came and gone. I can still play them today, but what made them fun for me at the time were the other people playing them. You were a part of the crowd. People were talking about them. They were part of the shared excitement and culture.

With MSPE I bet many playing today have never heard of it, and I remember buying this a long time ago when I was a kid. We never really used it that much, but it felt special then like it feels special now. And it transcended decades of gaming to still feel relevant and interesting, despite its relative obscurity today.

But Why?

As a set of rules, it is short and a less heroic subset of T&T with some add-ons for modern gear. There is a skill system. Leveling is the old chart-based method. The scores never blow out beyond human normal. This is a simple 3d6 system, with a 2d task resolution system. Combat is incredibly deadly (and there is a lot of missed shots). So what makes it feel special?

The art is a huge part of this game. That cover nails it for me and ushers in the golden age of Hollywood in all its spectacle and glory. This is the "movie game" for most all of film from 1920 to 1990. And it does it all with a simple 3d6 system like D&D but not D&D.

With a B/X game, the B/X elements would take over the feeling. You would roll those stats, pick a class, and the first thought in my head would be, "Where is the dungeon?" It is hard for me to escape that feeling with B/X since it feels embedded into the DNA of the rules.

With MSPE, this is a 3d6 system, but T&T is the dungeon game and that works on an entirely different scale than the modern rules. You can't really "dungeon" here, and the focus becomes the story. Not buckets of dice, please avoid combat, and let your skills and abilities be how you do things. The rules almost "aren't there" and they melt away as a backdrop. You are supposed to roleplay here, and figure your way through a complex plot with in-depth characters and NPCs.

The rules are secondary, but they are there to keep this a game. If you know how saving rolls work that is 80-90% of what you need to know to play and referee. The combat chart in essence is just a saving roll guideline table, so even that can be eliminated if you understand how ranged combat should work. Determine a challenge and pass/fail results, pick an ability, determine a saving roll level, modify, and have the player roll. That is most of the game.

The Feeling is the Game

One could say MSPE is a feeling embedded in the game's DNA like B/X's feeling is embedded. With B/X, light a torch, descend into the depth, fight monsters, and grab the loot. With MSPE, you merely need to think of your favorite classic movie and crack open the book.

If T&T's home world was Trollworld, a world run by monsters and savagery; MSPE's home world in my mind is Filmworld, a world where every movie in the gold and silver age of cinema plays over and over again, all starting the same way, but the outcomes are a million butterflies scattered to the wind. Those outcomes are determined by those who play.

To me, if B/X is the quintessential kitchen-sink fantasy game, then MSPE is the quintessential "every movie without a licensing deal" kitchen-sink film roleplaying game. Casablanca, Seven Days of the Condor, Easy Rider, any Sam Spade film, any Kubrick film, classic TV like The Untouchables, Gunsmoke, and the list goes on and on - this game covers them all in spirit and feeling.

Could I use another generic system, such as GURPS? True, but that would take hours of startup and getting everything setup and ready. GURPS is this realistic "sim" style game in my feeling, great for some things, but for games where your initial investment of time and thought should be on the level of "roll 3d6 for your stats and play" MSPE feels like the better choice. If we are going to play Sam Spade adventures tonight I don't want players pouring over books full of advantages, disadvantages, point-buy skills, and hours of character optimization (or questions from new players).

For a sim, yes, definitely a detail-oriented game works. For something intended to be lightweight, one-night, and possibly throw-away? Give me a simple 3d6 and go game like MSPE. Could I just use B/X and save myself even more time? I could, but the "why aren't we in a dungeon" feeling creeps up on me again. For me, MSPE is removed enough from dungeon-ing that it feels distinct and to the task, and there is always T&T sitting there in the basement with a bucketful of six-sided dice should the catacombs call.

Game Shopping: MSPE Hardcover

Wow, here is an interesting one:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/994700393/mercenaries-spies-and-private-eyes-rpg-by-michael

The Kickstarter ended a while ago, but there are hardcovers of this game for sale in the wild. Also, they updated the rules with errata and fixes. This one is a buy for me since T&T is one of my all time favorite games and I love the Noir and 50's era of movies and adventure.

Amazon has the hardcover here, but the price currently is above the $55 asking price:

https://www.amazon.com/Mercenaries-Spies-and-Private-Eyes/dp/0940244306/

Would I pay $25 above the asking price for this? I would say yes since this is one of those books that feels like if you don't get it while you can, getting it new later would be a challenge. I know. But considering the T&T 8th hardcovers are reportedly in short supply I am going to grab a copy as a collectors item.

On DriveThru RPG, if you purchased MSPE, you will find the above revised 2019 hardcover in your account as "MSPE_drive_thru_edition_2019.pdf" - with all of the new material and revisions. At the time of this writing you can pick this game up (in PDF) on sale for just under $9 US - which is a great price.

I will play from the PDFs, honestly, but this will be beautiful and stand on my top-shelf with pride. It is strange having the hardcovers but playing from PDFs. The books almost feel like trophies or something. But in case I want to pick it up and read something real, I have it if the power is out and there is nothing else to do.

Mail Room: Mercenaries, Spies & Private Eyes

The other Top Secret and James Bond 007 role-playing game we played back in the day was the T&T compatible Mercenaries, Spies  & Private Eyes boxed set from back in the day. The rules are the same at (as I recall) the 5th Edition of T&T, and it worked well for what we used it for. This always felt like a game that did "movies other than James Bond" and we got a kick out of all of the realistic toned characters and adventures in this game, compared to T&T.

You can still pick a PDF of this up over at RPGNow for less than ten dollars, and for that it gives you a complete gear and item list mostly compatible with any version of T&T out there, including today's Deluxe T&T edition.

Realism Strikes!

But a part of me wishes this said "to heck with realism" and used the straight T&T ability score range. The game was limited to 20 levels, and you got two attribute points per level, and that all but made the higher level saving throws for most checks out of reach for most characters. We were lucky to have characters make level one or two SRs for anything, and as a result, the fun of high level saving rolls never really happened for us and the game, even at higher levels 6-12, felt like a low level game.

It was both a good thing and a bad thing for us. Yes, it was more realistic. The high-level weapons still were incredibly powerful and characters could never really 'toughen up' to face such firepower. Thinking back with hindsight, I like how T&T Deluxe handles missile weapons these days, even though I didn't see the wisdom in that adds-on-miss ruling when I first read it and wrote about it.

Today? Deluxe Plus Guns!

If I were to play this today I would just spin up T&T Deluxe Edition characters and give them guns. Warriors are soldiers and rogues are spies and leave it at that. I would use the normal T&T attribute raising rules and have characters with ability scores of 50, 100, or more. Ever see Sin City, Sucker Punch, or any of those Zack Snyder movies where normal humans turn into muscle-bound freaks or lithe angels of death who can wade through bursts of auto-fire untouched?

That. I want that.

So your brute enforcer literally has enough hits to take a shotgun to the face and it only leaves a couple scratches as he bends the barrel into a pretzel and proceeds to pummel the bar full of enemies through pulp, throwing some through solid walls, and flipping a car on its side as easy as a professional wrestler would with one hand (and a hidden cable winch). With "normal" T&T stat-flation and super-characters, I get that.

Yes, eventually guns cease to become as effective, but who cares? This is fun, and pretty soon it all breaks down into some testosterone-filled fist or sword fight with grunting brutes and endless vast broken fields of CGI rubble, just like the Zack Snyder movie feeling I want.

I would still use this book as a resource though. There are some skills easily usable as talents, and plenty of gear to ogle over and blast each other with. I know some would flip out over this, because a big part of the appeal was this game's more normal power curve and streamlined feel (and part of me agrees with that), but another part of me loves T&T's zany power level and I just need to try this "mod" and learn my lesson. Or have a lot of silly fun. Or both.

With how powerful the MS&PE weapons are rated, you are going to need every one of those points of super-powered ability scores just to survive. It makes me think the ability scores in the 50''s and 60's for a game like this aren't so overpowered as one would think. First level characters? Like extras in a movie. Eighth through tenth-level characters? The stars of that movie. So what they are high-powered and a bit super? Give them enemies that can roll just as many combat dice and T&T will balance that out, just as it does in fantasy.

I think I will coin the term 'modern fantasy' for these sorts of every-person super-hero type movies and games, where yeah, that looks like a normal person, but ones the slow motion hits and the rock music starts playing like something out of a John Wick movie, you are in the realm of fantasy power levels.

Compared to the Games of the Day

We mostly played TSR's Top Secret, but we did have the James Bond 007 game as well - but we didn't play that as much. We did play a lot of T&T and we liked the modern gear and guns, but we never really ran a dedicated MS&PE campaign - which I wish we would have. I would have loved these rules for a Gangbusters Noir-style PI and gangsters campaign, just because of the flavor here and focus more on mysteries and story than combat.

MS&PE using T&T Deluxe's rules? Yeah, Phillip Marlowe meets John Wu. Not so subtle, but it sure sounds fun. More on this later, but this is a fun find and a great resource for my upcoming T&T fueled mayhem. Or mistake. Or both.