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!

The Mastercraft RPG System

Mastercraft is the RPG system from Crafty Games. The company will be producing different genre roleplaying games that will all use this one unified system.

It's origins start with AEG and their espionage roleplaying game, Spycraft, which used Dungeons & Dragons 3.0 and even required those books to properly run it. Originally the game was conceived under the title Series Archer, but then the plan was to release with two product lines. There was the generic silver books which expanded every character class. The other line was a campaign setting that featured secret societies and psionic powers. This line was called Shadow Force Archer all in black covers.

AEG updated several rules with a licensed game, Stargate SG1, a Powered by Spycraft product with a core rule book and two supplements before being discontinued.

The next edition of Spycraft saw a complete overhaul of the system. In 2005, Spycraft 2.0 took the OGL as far as possible, it seemed. What came out the other end was an extremely detailed and very comprehensive game system that no other OGL system has yet reached. The book is huge and the rules are so detailed that it seemed most found it completely overwhelming. Many criticizims said that the game was trying to be too much of a general modern RPG toolkit instead of focusing on what was on the tin- spies.

With that, AEG discontinued the Spycraft game.

But that's not the end! The guys that created Spycraft and Spycraft 2.0 started Crafty Games, a the new company with the intent to continue the line and ultimately expand it into other genres.

Much of Spycraft 2.0's attention to detail stems from an active Living Campaign and organized play stemming from RPGA which justified such a high level of detail in the rules.

Fantasy Craft is the first and currently the only game released under the Mastercraft system in 2009. It is Crafty Games' fantasy genre toolkit which implemented Mastercraft as a streamlined and slimmed down version of many of the system improvements tried in Spycraft 2.0. The need for such rules for organized play isn't in as much demand these days. Fantasy Craft has seen a rather successful following with an abundance very positive reviews.

Last year Crafty Games officially announced the upcoming Spycraft Third Edition. It looks like the Third Edition of Spycraft will be a bit of a return to what the first edition was like with a more espionage flavored focus with the Fantasy Craft-compatible, Mastercraft system. Crafty plans on leaving other aspects of modern campaign settings to other Mastercraft releases, like for instance, the Ten Thousand Bullets campaign- which will focus on the criminal underworld.

What I like about the Mastercraft system and Spycraft 2.0 is the amount of what the industry calls CRUNCH. This is the d20 version of GURPS and I mean that in the best way. I believe GURPS is the best, most comprehensive system invented for the hobby. Mastercraft/Spycraft 2.0 comes the very closest to that level, closer than any other game OGL I've ever read. I used to believe I preferred system-lite games, but for some reason I find my obsessions lingering on these far more detailed systems instead. Mastercraft is turning out to be one of the best.

Beat Bond at His Own Game.

Found on the back of G.I. Joe A Real American Hero issue #66. This was out December, 1987.

Erin Esurance

Erin Esurance by MiloSaberhagen

Erin Esurance is a guilty pleasure of mine. I used to delight in the many commercials that starred her longing for the chance that the character and premise would grow beyond the ad campaign into a series or something. The tropes that the Esurance ad campaign used hit me in all the right buttons- spy girl in a S.H.I.E.L.D.-like uniform, gadgets, espionage action. Not sure what it had to do with insurance, but cool anyways.

Esurance has recently been assimilated by Allstate. This spells doom for Erin. Her espionage skills and gadgets may not be enough for her to get out of this one...

The demise of the Esurance cartoon girl as Allstate moves in?

Posted in dscriber, watch

The pink-haired, black-catsuit-wearing Esurance cartoon character, "Erin Esurance," may soon exit stage left leaving, however, in proverbial "good hands." In a note to its car insurance policy holders today, Esurance announced that it has been acquired by the nation's largest publicly-held personal lines insurance company, Allstate.

The companies will continue to run independently, according to a statement. "Your policy ID and coverages will remain the same and we'll continue to offer all the services we do today," policyholders were also told.

There was no immediate news on whether the two brands would eventually merge into one and, if so, which name would win out over the other. Bets are that this is the start of the end for Erin Esurance, a familiar commercial figure. Allsate's familiar "good hands" logo may well stay given that the company has been leader in the U.S. insurance industry for more than 80 decades and fully acquired Esurance, founded in 1998.

If the Esurance brand disappears, Erin could survive under the right scenario. That's what happened in the last decade when Pets.com collapsed. The popular sock puppet dog that carries a microphone in its paw was sold to 1-800-BAR-NONE, an auto loan firm that focused on giving drivers (and corporate mascots) a "second chance."

Erin Esurance by joeadonis

link

Erin Esurance Looks Like KP by Kimworld

Gallagher Girls advertisment

Found - an advert for the Gallagher Girls series...

James Bond

BOND by RM73

An interesting article by Terence Bowman popped up on Den of the Geek today. It looks at the differences between literary characters and their film counterparts. In this post we'll look at Ian Fleming's 007, James Bond.

As a kid I remember discovering James Bond through my dad. He being a fan of the films guaranteed that I was going to be a fan, too. We even went to A View To A Kill in the theater!

Over the years I eventually saw films and appreciate them for what they are. However, getting into the Fleming novels AND gaining a perspective from film and video school revealed just how bad they really are. I believe that if you want to continue to like the Bond films, you must stay away from the novels.

James Bond author Ian Fleming once described Sean Connery, the first actor to play 007 on the big screen, as "a Glaswegian lorry driver who mangles my character". Many Fleming fans might be inclined to agree with that sentiment, though their issues may not lie solely with Connery.

The 1959 novel Goldfinger, for instance, opens with Bond sitting in a bar in Miami Airport. He’s just flown back from Central America, where he has just carried out an assignment to kill a drug dealer who was working for the Communists. As he sits there, Bond reflects on his deadly deeds in the line of duty. His internal musings on the nature of his dark and often brutal occupation depict a man questioning his own morality and place in the world. Fleming's writing in this part of the book is almost poignant in its existentialism.

Cut to the corresponding opening scene in the movie, Goldfinger. Connery, as Bond, on a similar mission, emerges out of a lake with a plastic duck on his head. He then takes off his wet suit to reveal that he is wearing a perfectly dry tuxedo underneath. Nothing can describe the difference between the Bond novels and the Bond films better than that comparison.

Described by Fleming as a “blunt instrument” rather than a hero, the literary Bond bore only a passing resemblance to his cinematic counterpart. Bond was a cool, detached and efficient killer in the service of his country, hence the term, “Licence to kill”. He rarely uttered a joke or a witty one-liner, least of all in regard to someone that he had just killed.

The actors that followed Connery in the role of Bond strayed to and from Fleming in varying degrees. Roger Moore played a highly camp character that happened to have the same name as Ian Fleming’s Bond. Timothy Dalton took over the role in 1987's The Living Daylights, and is often denigrated by critics as one of the worst Bonds ever. Ironically, Dalton is lauded by fans as one of the best. They see him as the only actor who truly brought the spirit of Fleming’s 007 to the role.

Pierce Brosnan took over the cinematic Bond mantle in GoldenEye in 1995. Brosnan's interpretation was something of a compromise between the lighter Bond of Connery, Lazenby or Moore, and the darker Bond of Fleming and Dalton.

Finally, Casino Royale, the Bond reboot of 2006 starring Daniel Craig as 007, brought back a darker Bond, even though he still wasn’t entirely based on Fleming’s work. Craig and the franchise both used Fleming, and at the same time did their own thing with the character. The result seemed to finally satisfy both fans and mass audiences alike.

link

This article strikes a cord with me. I prefer the original concept of the character over the various film versions.

As for the films, I really enjoy the music mainly. And the traditions that have stayed with the franchise throughout. I am enjoying the latest two films and hope to see more like them (especially the last one, Quantum of Solace- I think I'm the only person on Earth that liked it better than Casino Royal!).