ORION and WEB t-shirts

RedBubble is offering t-shirts with the Top Secret/S.I. the espionage agency logos.

Agent 13 is getting all sorts of love lately. Hermes Press to reprint the graphic novels...

Howard Chaykin has designed a special cover for this Agent 13 collection, which collects The Midnight Avenger and The Acolytes of Darkness.
I've got nothing snarky to say about this one, folks. Flint Dille, famous for his work on the 80s GI Joe and Transformers animated series, co-wrote these with David Marconi, and Flint Dille is all kinds of awesome. Hermes does a great job of reprinting classic and sometimes overlooked material, so make sure to pick this one up. The press release is embedded in the first image below.

link

Agent 13 film

Agent 13, the Top Secret/S.I. setting,  to be made into a film!

Two days ago, we reported on an intense bidding war between all the major studios for Agent 13, a sci-fi project from writer T.S. Nowlin that has both director Rupert Wyatt and Charlize Theron attached. Well, it looks like the mysterious movie has found its home; Variety reports that Universal has won the bidding war and will be making a deal with WME to formally acquire the project. In addition to starring, Theron will also be producing Agent 13.

Considering it’s in early development, plot details are scarce — but if we go by what Variety is saying, it is, indeed, based on a comic book/novel series from writers Flint Dille and David Marconi that lasted from 1986-1988, one which mixes science fiction with the setting of the 1930′s, giving it a pulpy dime novel feel. (In addition to two graphic novels, Agent 13 also spawned three “regular” novels.) With the title character being male, it’s a good bet that Theron won’t be playing the lead — unless they’ve changed up the story — but will factor into the movie in a prominent role in some other way. Maybe a villain?

Theron‘s resurgence, which began last year with Young Adult, continues in 2012 with two very high profile tentpole releases in June: the revisionist fairy tale Snow White and The Huntsman, and Ridley Scott‘s much anticipated return to science fiction, Prometheus; the two movies will be released back-to-back, so I hope you are ready for some Theron overload. As for Nowlin: He’s currently writing Wild Guns (a Western featuring the iconic Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday) for Warner Brothers. Wyatt, meanwhile, is laying low since resurrecting the Planet of the Apes franchise last August with Rise of the Planet of the Apes, though Londongrad and a sequel to the aforementioned reboot lie somewhere in the future. With Agent 13, something of a wrench may have just been thrown into the plans of either.

We’ll keep you updated on Agent 13 as more information becomes available.

Have you read the Agent 13 source material? Will it make for a worthwhile movie?

link 

James Bond 007

Victory Games' James Bond 007 is legendary in the RPG hobby for one of the most successful and memorable licensed games ever. It was one of the few original espionage RPGs published from 1983 to 1987 and seemed to capture the feel of the films with a great deal of success. The rules were solidly built around a d100 percentile system. James Bond 007 won several awards- Origins Award in 1983 and Strategists' Club Award for Outstanding Game in 1984.

One nice decision (whether it be an actual decision or a licensing necessity, I do not know) is the lack of photo stills from the films in favor of original art and painted covers.  The portrayal of Bond is a nice mash-up between Sean Connery and Roger Moore, and stills from the movies- other games with this don't seem to age well.

There were five suppliments for the game:

• Q Manual (October 1983) - A sourcebook detailing required equipment for a "00" agent.
• Gamesmaster Pack (October 1983) - various tools including a gamesmaster screen with charts and other game-related references.
• For Your Information (1983) - additional rules as well as information on characters and equipment not included in the original rulebook or Q Manual.
• Thrilling Locations (June 1985) - detailing hotels, casinos, restaurants, and the Orient Express, with floorplans and NPCs
• Villains (1986),  by Gerard Christopher Klug - 7 original major villains, and an updating of SMERSH for the modern day

As for adventures, eleven were published:

• Goldfinger (October 1983) - based on the book and film.
• Octopussy (October 1983) - by Gerard Klug, based on the film.
• Dr. No (1984) - by Neil Randall, Gerry Klug, based on the book and film.
• You Only Live Twice (1984) by Neil Randall, Gerry Klug, based on the film.
• Live and Let Die (1984) - based on the book and film.
• Goldfinger II - The Man With The Midas Touch (1985) - by Robert Kern - sequel to the Goldfinger adventure
• The Man with the Golden Gun (1985) - by Brian H. Peterson, Gerry Klug, based on the film (Solitaire Game)
• A View to a Kill (1985) - by Gerard Christopher Klug, based on the film
• You Only Live Twice II: Back of Beyond (1986) - by Raymond Benson, Gerry Klug - sequel to the You Only Live Twice adventure
• For Your Eyes Only (1986) - by Robert Kern, Gerry Klug, based on the book and film
• On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1987) - by David Spangler - four linked solitaire adventures, based on the book and film

Here is the story of the James Bond 007 Roleplaying Game:

Of Dice and Men
The Story of the James Bond OO7 Role-Playing Game

By Paul Landry and Deane Barker 

The fate of secret agent James Bond tumbled into the hands of thousands of game fans in 1983 with the release of the "James Bond 007 Role-Playing Game." Victory Games, a subsidiary of the wargame company Avalon Hill, brought Bond and M.I.6 into living rooms and onto kitchen tables nationwide with what would eventually become one of the most successful releases in its history.
For the uninitiated, role-playing is essentially a game of "Let's Pretend" with rules. Players step into an alter-ego defined on paper by various statistics denoting the character's strength, dexterity, intelligence, etc. All the action takes place in the minds of the players, with dice being used to resolve any actions and conflicts. One person presides over the game as a referee, and guides the players through play sessions, or "adventures."
Role-playing games were some of the hottest items on the market during the early eighties. Dungeons and Dragons -- easily the most popular role-playing game of all time -- had been formally released several years earlier and the newly-formed Victory Games elected to pursue a role-playing title as their first official release. It was obvious that a game based on a recognizable character stood the best chance of surviving in the then-turbulent marketplace.
"Our marketing director felt strongly that it should be a licensed product," game designer Chris Klug said, "We investigated several licenses and the Bond people were the most receptive." Design work began in the summer of 1982, as it was absolutely critical for the game to be released in time for the 1983 Christmas season.
Thousands of faithful Bond fans dictated a need to deliver a product that was true to thirty years of character development. Consequently, Klug called in fellow designer and "Bond Savant" Bob Kern. "They kind of called me in as a consultant," Kern remembers, "I had seen all the films, read all the books -- I had literally grown up with it. My function was to adapt the world of James Bond to a role-playing system, expand on it where necessary and make sure that the flavor stayed true to the character."
But which character? The literary Bond and the cinematic Bond are quite different, and the question of which conception the game would emulate was critical. Klug and Kern didn't want to alienate fans of the books or fans of the films, so the game mechanics had to strike a balance somewhere in between. Kern explains, "We wanted to capture the grittiness of the books and the glitz of the films."
"It's a real design issue," Klug said, "Trying to design a system that would allow you to simulate the Baccarat game from 'Casino Royale' and at the same time do that sort of weird combat stuff that happens. It was hard trying to take the best of the fantastical stuff, without taking the worst of it."
"We had a problem where the books portrayed one kind of world, and the films portrayed another, and we tried to straddle the two so that you could do either style. But there's no question that when I was designing the original game, it was the books I was trying to emulate. I would read the books, and come upon an incident and it would strike me that this moment had to be in the game. I would attempt to design the system to handle that moment, and when I was confident that the system could handle it, I would continue to read."
Working with the companies that owned the rights to the James Bond franchise was the next great challenge. Ultimately the game was licensed through two entities: Danjaq S.A./EON Productions (which holds the film rights), and Glidrose Publishing (which holds the literary rights). Approvals, which were sometimes excruciatingly long, had to be obtained from both companies before any work could proceed.
"We knew they were going to be a demanding group," Kern said, "They looked at everything we wrote, they looked at our outlines, they checked and double-checked everything. But for the most part, their suggestions were very helpful."Inevitably there were times when their lack of experience with role-playing proved to be an obstacle. Both Klug and Kern remembered an incident involving the adventure for the film Goldfinger. Following an explanation of how the adventure supplement would be organized, a representative from EON inquired "So, why does the adventure have to be any different from the movie?" He just didn't understand that the players would then simply go to Fort Knox and wait for Goldfinger.
In fact, creating adventures for fans who had already seen the films proved to be something of a challenge as well. Eventually, nine films were translated into adventure supplements, including Dr. No, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, For Your Eyes Only, and A View to a Kill. Two original adventures were also written as sequels to films: "Goldfinger II: The Man with the Midas Touch" and "You Only Live Twice II: Back of Beyond." The latter was written by current Bond author Raymond Benson, and has many parallels to his first novel, "Zero Minus Ten."
The designers tried to "shuffle the deck" and rearrange the elements of the film so that the characters couldn't depend on any prior knowledge to guide them. "But if the plot was so linked and linear that we couldn't do that," Klug said, "then we needed to change things. And thus if we changed three of four things at the beginning, we might be able to keep the rest of it very similar, but the player is still doubting that this is the case because we already changed something."
The design issues eventually resolved themselves, and the resulting game captures the flavor of James Bond remarkably well. Included in the 160-page basic rulebook are rules common to most role-playing games -- fire combat, hand-to-hand combat, experience points, etc. Amid these, however, one also finds numerous devices that would look out of place in any other game but are right at home in the context of 007. Players can employ rules covering gambling (six pages with different rules for each game), chases in vehicles or on foot, the effects of fame on how easily one is recognized, and a section on seduction complete with five stages of increasing difficulty: The Look, Opening Line, Witty Conversation, Beginning Intimacies, and When and Where?
Reference resources include statistics and background information for Bond's allies -- Anya Amasova, Kerim Bey, Mary Goodnight, and Quarrel among others -- and his enemies, which include such famous figures as Sir Hugo Drax, Jaws, Red Grant, and Odd Job. Conspicuous by his absence is perhaps the most famous of villains, Ernst Stavro Blofeld. The rights to Blofeld and SPECTRE having been challenged by Thunderball producer Kevin McClory, they have been neatly replaced by the criminal organization TAROT (Technological Ascension, Revenge, and Organized Terrorism) and its leader Karl Ferenc Skorpios.
Not to be without sufficient weaponry or transportation, statistics and rules are included for numerous firearms and vehicles including Bond's trusty Walther PPK, the Lotus Esprit, and his beloved Aston Martin DB5 (which appears to have been souped up a bit for its appearance in this game, as it's remarkably easy to run roughshod over your enemies with the car no matter what they're driving).
Presentation for the game and the subsequent supplements is exceptionally high. Artwork is abundant, both black-and-white pencil images and full-color covers for the different books and adventures. (In fact, you could buy several adventures for the cover art alone and be quite satisfied.) Supplements such as "Thrilling Locations" and the "Q Manual" also have photographs of different real-life locations and vehicles being being descibed, as well as a few stills from the various films.
Background information and details are provided for everything from a lowly Honda Accord which may change lanes in front of Bond during a chase ("the Accord is powered by 1751c, 75 bhp engine..." Q Manual, page 54), to multi-level criminal organizations and the officers and personalities with them "("The Prosinski family has been in the shipping and iron indisutries for three generations..." Villains, page 58). Some details are so obscure as to seem extraneous, but the level of detail is still to be admired.
After more than a year of design and testing, "James Bond 007: Role-Playing in Her Majesty's Secret Service" debuted on schedule at several gaming conventions in the summer of 1983, including GENCON and Origins. Commercial release quickly followed and the basic set hit hobby store shelves in September of that year.
The game was a success from the start. While the role-playing market as a whole was quite competitive, espionage games were just being pioneered in 1983. TSR's "Top Secret" was perceived as the only serious competition. The appeal of the world's most famous secret agent tilted the playing field markedly, however. "We outsold Top Secret a lot frankly because of the license," Klug admitted.
Numerous awards followed the game's release. The basic rules won the prestigious H.G. Wells Award for Best Role-Playing Rules of 1983, and the adventure "Live and Let Die" won a second H.G. Wells Award the next year. "Goldfinger" and "You Only Live Twice" were likewise nominated ("They kind of split the vote," Klug said.) Dragon Magazine awarded the game the Strategist's Club Award for Outstanding Role-Playing Game of 1984. Additionally it was one of four role-playing games named to the Games Magazine Top 100 list for 1984, and again in 1985.
Critical acclaim continues to this day. Lawrence Schick, author of "Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-Playing Games" said James Bond 007 "was an immediate hit. [It had] a smooth, fast-playing style and was well-supported by scenarios for one, two, or three players." Schick named it Top Espionage Role-Playing Game.

In the years after its release, the game sold almost 100,000 copies and spawned several additional adventures and supplements. Required materials for any hard-core fan included the exotic casino, hotel and restaurant descriptions of "Thrilling Locations"; the 32-page description of SMERSH included in the "Villains" supplement; and the weapon, vehicle, and gadget lists of the "Q Manual" (because what secret agent could ever do without a "Seismic Intrusion Detector"?).
Nevertheless, the credits would begin to roll in 1987, four short years after the game debuted. Despite financial success, critical acclaim, and a broad fan base, Danjaq and Avalon Hill failed to come to terms in negotiations to renew the license. As a result, the project was terminated, and no new supplements were authorized. Avalon Hill retained the right to sell its remaining inventory.
"We were in the middle of coming up with an adventure for Diamonds are Forever and I was excited about that at the time," Kern said, "but the plug got pulled right in the middle of it...if the contract had been renewed, I'd still be working for the company."
The actual details of why the contract ended are still up for debate. The designers believe that Danjaq wanted to re-negotiate the contract for a larger royalty share. Danjaq, however, disagrees. According to John Parkinson, Vice-President of Marketing, "it was really they (Avalon) who decided it would finish, not us. We didn't particularly want it to finish, were we very pleased with it. It was one of our most successful licenses."
Would Danjaq consider re-licensing the game and allowing future products to be released? "If they thought there was a market out there, I wouldn't be averse to continuing [the license]," Parkinson said.
Avalon Hill President Jack Dott seems to agree. He stated that Avalon Hill would certainly consider bringing the game back "if the opportunity presented itself." Indeed, Avalon has just recently re-packaged its remaining inventory of the game and has bundled the basic rules with several adventures. The set sells for just under $30.
One would think that with the success of GoldenEye and the re-appearance of James Bond in the theaters, the stage would be nicely set for an encore presentation of the game. Kern seems to think so anyway: "This would probably be a great time to renew the game...the Dalton films wouldn't have been too exciting role-playing-wise, whereas GoldenEye had a kind of glitter about it."

• Paul Landry lives somewhere in the Upper Midwest, where he hides from SPECTRE and diligently guards James Bond's missing hat.
• Deane Barker is a co-editor of MKKBB

extracted from cached info via Zoom in 1993 

SpyLite

Greywulf made waves in the RPG hobby with his brilliant Microlite20. It quickly took off in all directions as it had a toe in many facets of the hobby- a bit of old school, a bit of rules-light, it was free, and a big chunk of d20. No wonder it was so successful. One of the variants that spun off was for d20 Modern-like games and an influence from Spycraft and Spycraft 2.0. That was SpyLite.

This is a game of espionage, based on Greywulf's excellent Microlite20 system. It's intended to be a quick and dirty game, inspired heavily by the also-excellent Spycraft 2.0, but easier to get into and faster playing.

Inspirations range from NOLF to Alias, with a heavy dose of Mission: Impossible. Some A-Team may or may have not crept along for the ride. ;-) I also tend to use this as a toolbox system for making other games, such as "Where No Man Has Gone Before" or "Argo".

SpyLite is perfect for one who wants to run Spycraft 2.0 for new or young players who would be completely lost in the vast rules. I'd like to try to slowly inch over to the Spycraft rules after a while and the players are ready.

SpyLite is available for free in PDF as well as in a pocke-mod format.

Gosh, Spies!

In the ongoing search for that one game to run with my teen step-daughter one appeared on the radar seemingly custom made for my needs. Postmortem Studio's Agents of S.W.I.N.G. has a supplement called Gosh, Spies! that expands the '60s spy-fi genre of it's core book into the world of younger agents and adventurers.

Like it's companion book that contains the core rules, this one features a cast of NPCs that are slightly altered from popular characters from this genre. Its fun to try to figure out who they really represent (just with the serial numbers thinly filed off). And many of them are actually not that obvious. I still can't figure some out!

We have:

• Alex = George Kirrin (Famous Five)
• Bank Tardy = Frank Hardy (Hardy Boys)
• Bee Pike = ?
• Bessie Cannon = Jessica Bannon (Jonny Quest)
• Chase Cannon = Race Bannon (Jonny Quest)
• Daisy Denton = Clover (Totally Spies!)
• Dotty = ?
• Dr. Capitol = Rusty Venture (Venture Bros)
• Dr. Mission = Dr. Benton Quest (Jonny Quest)
• Elaine Drake = ?
• Pam = Anne Kirrin (Famous Five)
• Frank and Gene Capitol = Hand and Dean Venture (Venture Bros)
• George = Alexandra (Totally Spies!)
• Harold = Gerald Lewis (Totally Spies!)
• Henry = Samantha (Totally Spies!)
• Hunk Meatloaf = Brock Samson (Venture Bros)
• Ivanna Gobbleov = Molotov Cocktease (Venture Bros)
• Jane Changeling = ?
• Jenny the Jinx = ?
• Jimmy Mission = Jonny Quest (Jonny Quest)
• Jimmy the Dog = Timmy (Famous Five)
• Lee Tardy = Joe Hardy (Hardy Boys)
• Pansy Draft = Nancy Drew (Nancy Drew)
• Prakash Petal = Hadji Quest (Jonny Quest)
• Rick = Dick Kirrin (Famous Five)
• Selma = Velma Dinkley (Scooby-Doo)
• Tarquin = Julian Kirrin (Famous Five)
• Wendy Hanse = ?

The book is a great resource for gaming with younger players. It is not intended for kids, rather, it is aimed at parents or adults who will be running games with or for kids. 

The first chapter discusses many common issues that might come up when gaming with young players who might not have any gaming experience- some examples would be: attention span; the child's frustrations at some aspects of the game being difficult or characters getting injured, killed or just failing; other kid's parents, etc.

The next chapter talks a bit about gaming with young girls in particular, which is a unique topic. Written by Filamena Young, its short, but very interesting and insightful and a very useful guide for geek dads who have considered some of the points very little.

There's more about how to slim down the FATE system more in favor of younger players and inexperienced players with the intention of adding more detailed rules back in little by little.

I find Gosh, Spies! a very worthy and positive guide for gaming with young girls using the FATE system in particular. Very nice product.

Check out the web site.

Spycraft - A Memoir

This was a wonderful and heartfelt review by Jaime 'Hida Mann' Lawrence on RPG Geeks.

Spycraft – A Memoir.
When one is born into times of controversy, one has only two options; to become flexible, or to break. Being the child of such times, I was faced very early on with this choice, but thanks to my innately wide interests and the support of loving but troubled parents, I became extremely flexible. It was this defining quality which, over the years, was to win me legions of fans, to give me a second chance at life and if I may be so self-appreciative, made me so attractive to so many. For what am I if not flexible?
Gentle reader, my name is Spycraft. I am the child of the Open Game License and Alderac Entertainment Group, a roleplaying game recognized internationally and highly regarded, having been nominated for the industry’s highest awards. Above all of this, however, I am without boast the most flexible incarnation of the d20 system ever to have appeared.
My youth was tumultuous; even before my release, rivals of my parents had announced that they were going to produce a superior game, a broad and intuitive system that would allow players to build characters in any genre for a modern game. That game, d20 Modern, has since passed into obscurity. I know not if that is my doing, but if so, I can only say that it got its just desserts, for it ended up being a pale imitation of many of my core mechanics, but according to critics, lacked my “elegance and flair”. Flattering though this is, I’m not sure how much elegance I truly have. I am sure, however, that d20 Modern deserved obscurity; it was very rude to me and worked hard to try and muscle me out of the market. Even if we hadn’t been born into competition, I doubt we ever would have been friends.
My parents were supportive and caring; though I was the product of teamwork, the two faces I saw the most in my infancy were those of Patrick Kapera and Kevin Wilson, both of whom have themselves moved on to impressive careers, Patrick now being the driving force behind Crafty Games, Kevin doing wonderful work over at Fantasy Flight Games. They were both working at AEG, a fine company to this day, where they had collaborated on Legend of the Five Rings (1st Edition) and 7th Sea, both RPGs with strongly thematic mechanics and essentially my paternal cousins. Patrick, Kevin and I remain in contact and I know I am never far from my parents’ thoughts, but the heady days of my childhood are behind us now. Still, one cannot weep for the past too long, or one misses the present.
People remark now that I am old and outdated, yet I am still very active for my age; In the UK, a living campaign exists to promote me. It is called ‘For Queen and Country’ and I am proud to be in attendance whenever I am in the country. Though many have moved on and consider my ‘rebirth’ to be a superior incarnation, I am proud of my origins. Let us look together at what I achieved in those early years.
Based on the d20 model, I changed the core mechanics of the game in many significant ways. It was outmoded as soon as it was born, a clunky failure of a few good ideas. I won’t claim to have invented them, but the first thing I did was expand greatly the concept of action dice, making them not only a little bonus when needed, but the means by which critical success could be activated and building them into a narrative exchange system between the players and the Game Control.
I also introduced new mechanics for selecting Gear and conducting chases. Rather than simply relying on dice checks, this new and innovative system offered players exciting games of bluff as they would attempt to select manoeuvres to outdo and penalize their opponents. The tension and atmosphere of the game expanded greatly under my ruleset as players could imagine themselves swerving up side streets, playing chicken or just plain gunning it to get away from an opponent. A part of the game that had formerly been a dice roll and a few sweet words was now an epic in which players could achieve triumphs that previously resided only in the imagination. The system worked so well the White Wolf would later borrow it for their d20 adaptations of their games Trinity (d20 Version) and Aberrant (d20 Edition).
I added a level-based bonus to initiative and defence, so that more experienced agents would have a boon over those with less field hours. This was a small but meaningful change that also allowed me to further distinguish the classes from one another. While my ancestor had rangers that were suspiciously similar to fighters and assassins that were nigh-identical to rogues, my classes were distinct and flavoursome. Characters for my game would select not a race, but a department, which defined their background and training, then a class.

The Faceman, deathlessly cool in the toughest of spots.
The Fixer, able to obtain anything from anyone, anywhere.
The Pointman, bolstering his comrades and directing traffic during an op.
The Snoop, a born investigator with two eyes for detail.
The Soldier, a paragon of violence.
The Wheelman, who could pilot anything home in one piece.
It was not an exhaustive list, to be sure and later supplements and revisions would perhaps improve on my model, but they were my creation and I’m damn proud of them.
Finally, I adopted the wounds/vitality system that my cousin, Star Wars (WEG Original Edition) had invented. Why improve on something that already works, right?
Of course, looking back, it isn’t the mechanics I remember. No, they were good, a significant improvement on what had gone before, but what really makes me proud was how incredibly slick and cool I looked in those days. My stark silver covers with flashes of colour and chiascuro-lit figures in espionage gear made me the envy of every other RPG on the shelf. It was Veronica Jones who gave me my dynamic looks and it must certainly be said that without her, I never would have flown off the shelves as I did.



The team behind me went a step further though, adding quotes from the most sensational of espionage films to my chapter title pages and taking the time to build theme into my mechanics. Look at my feats, for example – not just the sensibly titled “Punching Basics” or “Defensive Driving”, but the creative and expressively titled ones such as “One Hand on the Wheel” and “And a Gun in the Other”, or “Five Star Service”, or “Trail of Blood” – my feat trees are artistic and give players something to aim for besides a cool set of mechanics.
My parents included so many nice little details in me too; an table of international travel times, a gadget construction system, a villain construction system, an extensive Game control Advice chapter and sections for players on how to use evidence and clues. I was the complete package in my day.
Dark times were ahead though. Economic downturn hit AEG and they had to drop my line, only a short time after my Spycraft 2.0 was released. Patrick and Kevin parted ways and thankfully Crafty Games gave me a shot after that and soon, version 3.0 will be doing the rounds.
If you are to take anything from my life, other than my existence as a truly original sandbox RPG that offered players the opportunity to adopt the roles of their favourite characters from multiple genres, it would be this: Be flexible. Encourage those around you to be flexible and to play with the rules and roles they are so used to. There’s a lot out there, but if you break when you encounter difficulty, you’ll never know what it’s like to be Spycraft.

link

Agents of S.W.I.N.G

Agents of S.W.I.N.G. has been a good guide to the ways of the FATE RPG. Having been a gamer for more of my life than not being one I've studied many different RPG systems. Some of them are very calculated, extremely logical and some even very realistic (GURPS, I'm looking in your direction). So trying to wrap one's head around the FATE system can be difficult at first. There is a degree of unlearning that has to be done. The best way to do this is to actually play the game. When one isn't able to do that you read the rulebook and seek out the online communities. Fortunately, the FATE fanbase has some particularly helpful contributors out there.

When it comes to the rulebook (FATE books tend to be large for some reason and this one is no exception), Agents of S.W.I.N.G. is very good in that it has a plethora of examples. One whole chapter is dedicated to NPCs that illustrate various ways characters could be made and Aspects that could be assigned. These NPCs are also a lot of fun, they're all characters from the movies, shows, books, and comics that inspired Agents of S.W.I.N.G. Some of the characters are pretty obvious- just barely changed, the serial numbers thinly filed off, many where not so obvious to me.

On the RPG Geeks database, some very astute geeks have made the effort to compiled a list of which NPCs are based on who:

• Aunty = Mother (The Avengers)
• Andrew Bowie = Bodie - full name William Andrew Philip Bodie (The Professionals)
• Cobalt = Saphhire (Sapphire and Steel)
• Ryan Colt = Richard Barrett or Craig Stirling (The Champions)
• Jay MacCready = Joe McClaine (Joe 90)
• Tracy McCloud = Sharron Macready (The Champions)
• Johnny Free = Danny Wilde? (The Persuaders!)
• Baron Drew St John = Lord Brett Sinclair (The Persuaders!)
• John Kerrigan = Jack Regan (The Sweeney)
• Gordon Cooper = George Carter? (The Sweeney)
• Jackson Queen = Jason King (Department S and Jason King)
• Iron = Steel (Sapphire and Steel)
• Marybelle Horst = Annabelle Hurst (Department S)
• Darling = Purdy (The New Avengers)
• Mick Trick = Mike Gambit (The New Avengers)
• Richard Foyle = Doyle (The Professionals)
• John Swan = John Drake (Danger Man)
• Agent Zero, John Chain = James Bond
• The Angel, Jack Chevalier = Simon Templar (The Saint)
• Agent Crimson Saul Metford = Captain Scarlet (Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons)
• Number 8 = Number 6 (The Prisoner)
• Joanna Pare = Emma Peel (The Avengers)
• Zara Prince = Tara King (The Avengers)
• The Professor = Doctor Who (the 3rd Doctor)
• James Ryde = John Steed (The Avengers)
• Doctor David Stern = Doctor David Keel (The Avengers)

Buck Rogers XXVc was to use the TS/S.I. system?

I've always felt the percentile based system of Top Secret/S.I. would have worked for many other genres other than modern espionage. There exists some evidence that the guys at TSR thought the same thing.

There was a cross-posted thread in a couple of message boards; one for TSR's Buck Rogers RPG, and the other in the late TS/S.I. forum. The post stated that the Buck Rogers: XXVc was possibly going to be powered by the Top Secret/S.I. system.

In the end it didn't end up that way, The Buck Rogers game used a variant of the AD&D system, THAC0 and % skills, etc.

Here is that discussion:

--- In tssi@yahoogroups.com, Justin Mohareb <justinmohareb@...> wrote:
>
> I spoke to Doug Niles at a convention a long time ago (gah I'm old) and he
> did mention that he'd lobbied to have Buck use the TS:SI rules, but was
> overruled. I'm not sure about how wide/deep the discussion was about using
> a system other than AD&D.
>
> Justin
>
> On Mon, May 16, 2011 at 9:28 AM, Renin <webasaurusrex@...> wrote:
>
> > I could swear I read somewhere that Jeff Grubb or somebody tagged to
> > develop the Buck Rogers XXVc game had originally argued to use the TSSI
> > rules. Does anyone else remember seeing this?

I think the game would've held up well using the d% skill based system. It wouldn't be difficult to convert. In fact TSR published some information on how to do that very thing. These articles appeared between stories in the issues of a comic-book/module series called Intruder.

Gateway to FATE

As a fan of the pulp genre, I was quite aware of the Spirit of the Century RPG when it came out. As awesome as it seemed, I've avoided that game. It was the FATE system that freaked me out. I hadn't played, read or owned any games like that so I hand-waverly dismissed it.

FATE is a variant version of the 1990's FUDGE RPG and has since powered some very highly regarded and successful RPGs, such as the Dresden Files RPG. FATE is currently in it's 3rd edition. This is one of those games that has special dice. More special than the funny polyhedrons. Just d6 with two faces marked with a +, two faces marked with -, and two faces left blank. The thing about FATE that was so different to me was there aren't the standard set of attributes that define a character's abilities. This game system is much more story driven, so the things that define a character are their attributes. There are a lot of meta-gaming aspects to this system. Also some very loose free-form aspects. (puns not originally intended, but then I decided to go for it!).

So why did I shy away from it? FATE is completely thinking outside the box compared to most other games.  Kurt Wiegel's fantastic reviews made me even more nervous about how the game works. As a traditional gamer, I wasn't ready for something so out of the norm. I can see as someone who wasn't into gaming or new to it, this could be seen as exciting.

See for yourself what he says:




So last year I started seeing the very attractive cover (attractive to me, hit all the right espionage buttons of style) of a new game called Agents of S.W.I.N.G. Alas, as it was a powered-by-FATE game, I dismissed it. Oh my, we've been here before! Another FATE game in one of my very favorite genres. That's fine.

Then suddenly a new suppliment appears for Agents of S.W.I.N.G.- Gosh, Spies! Come on! Its as if James Desborough knows I've been trying to find the perfect game setting for gaming with my teenage step-daughter!

Gosh, Spies! is 120 pages of information for your Agents of SWING games, expanding the scope of the game into the realms of Saturday Morning Adventure cartoons with a particular emphasis on girl’s adventures.

The book has information and ideas on running SWING games for children and particularly for girls. While the book itself is not necessarily for kids and younger teens, it should help you create and run games for them.

More generally Gosh, Spies! contains rules for creating child characters, some new child/teen oriented stunts, background for two boarding schools, information on the teen subcultures of the 60s and 70s and an introductory, Saturday Morning style adventure called ‘Field Trip’

So I broke down and ordered the paperback of Agents of S.W.I.N.G. from Lulu and plan on picking up the other supplements soon. Especially Gosh, Spies! What won me over was basically reading this entire thread at RPG.net over the weekend. Somewhere around page 6 or 7 I went and ordered my copy.  In the meantime I'm reading up all I can about FATE 3.0. I've been really enjoying the free PDF of 2.0 and looking at the SRD when I can.

Looking back, I know now that FATE was inevitable for me. And Agents of S.W.I.N.G serves as my gateway.

G.I. Joe RPG

There has never been an official G.I. Joe RPG. Which is a real shame and a missed opportunity since d20 and G.I. Joe are both owned by Hasbro. Fan, Jay Libby went off and created his own unofficial G.I. Joe RPG that uses the logo and the characters. This is a fan-made effort and it appears to be a pretty good one. The setting is obviously the comics and the cartoon and now the film/s. He based the mechanics on the Fuzion system, which I know very little about.

The other two significant RPGs are not exactly G.I. Joe, but it's pretty obvious that G.I. Joe served as the main inspiration for each of them. I do not intend to review the systems. They're are varying game systems here. I'm looking at the setting fluff.

Strike Force 7 is available for Savage Worlds, d20 and RuneQuest. I've only seen the Savage Worlds version I suspect the setting material is nearly all the same. It's written by Caias Ward and Hyrum Savage and published by Super Genius Games. More info here.

The Strike Force 7 back story makes for a pretty good read and is extensive going into the various government intelligence departments from WWII through the Vietnam war leading up to the founding of the Strike Force 7 and how it separated itself from government funding and ties. There is a science fiction tangent in the back story that involves government operatives with mental powers and an explanation to what the Men in Black really is. It's fantastic, but not too far fetched. Especially compared to some of the things in G.I. Joe.

Where the main protagonist in Joe is COBRA, here we have Skorpion. The rise of this terror organization is much like Cobra Commander's- fanatical and extreme, but some valid opinions- Skorpion lead by Pharaoh was very similar. One interesting thing, while the events of 9/11/2001 were instrumental in the final stages of the Strike Force 7 manifestation, Pharaoh disapproved of the Twin Towers attack as well.

This is new setting on it's own. It definitely is not a replica or parody of G.I. Joe. There are obvious parallels. I like it. Strike Force 7 is a pretty serious take on a G.I. Joe-like setting.




Crafty Games' Real American H.E.R.O.es is G.I. Joe with the names just barely changed. This came off as a parody to me. H.E.R.O.es is Headquarters for Eminent Risk Oversight. Versus their enemy, NME (National Military Exports). Destro's M.A.R.S. becomes the Morrigna Corporation. The Arishikage Clan here is the Shirobikou Ninja Clan, and Zartan's Dreadnoks are The Wreckers. It's all here. Some of the back story, while entertaining, is just kind of stupid. For example, in a sidebar in 1984 the timeline credits Kenny G and Michael Bolton for inadvertently saving America from N.M.E's mind control lasers inducing nation-wide violence, or among several crisis in the '80s- big hair bands were the doing of N.M.E. Here's Crafty's page.

I'd choose the Spycraft 2.0 system over the d20 or d20 Modern system for Strike Force 7. But I think the setting is a little too much of a joke.

Real American H.E.R.O.es review starts at about 3:00 minutes in...


*edit
Another G.I. Joe inspired game for Savage Worlds has been brought to my attention that deserves mention. G.E.T. Into Action! by Daring Entertainment (thank you, Sean [check out his Wine and Savages blog]). Here's the blurb:

When the organization known as STORM announced a New World Order under their tyrannical rule, conventional military proved unable to oppose them.  Determined to safeguard the world, the United Nations formed a covert team to counter the terrorist organization.  Wherever STORM appears, the men and women of Global Elite Tactical sound the Battle Cry and G.E.T. Into Action!

G.E.T. Into Action! is a new ongoing adventure series from Daring Entertainment.  Inside the pilot episode you'll find background information on Global Elite Tactical and STORM, equipment and personnel information, new Edges, Hindrances, and Setting Rules, and guidelines for running a G.E.T. Into Action! campaign set in either the non-lethal 1980's cartoon method, the 1980's comic book method, or a style and tone similar to the modern day reboots of the 1980's cartoons.

Included is also a full-length adventure, the pilot episode: The Rising Storm!  When STORM agents kidnap Dr. Jennifer Kenson, Global Elite Tactical quickly realizes it's to get their hands on the experimental BIND technology.  A new interface that allows pilots to control any vehicle with the speed of thought.  Assigned to infiltrate Mexico to retrieve the Dr., can the team rescue her while avoiding an international incident and facing the power of STORM?

Action, Adventure, and Drama await you!  It's time to strap on that side-arm and get your gear in order.  It's time to G.E.T. Into Action!

link

So there you go. Now you know and knowing is half the battle!