Hopefully this'll be a bit of a revival here, get the ball rolling. I'll probably just start covering whatever's on my mind on a given day rather than worry about it being game "content" anymore. But here's today's thought: spy games.
Spy games are cool, but rarely simple. I love Spycraft, but it's got so much mechanical mayhem that the idea of running it is more than a little daunting, particularly after nearly a year of running Exalted.
So here's my Simple Spy System idea.
Characters have three types of traits: Talents, Skills, and Specialties.
- Talents cover traits that are essentially inborn - Strength, Intelligence, Flexibility, Looks, etc.
- Skills are strictly abilities gained through training - Marksmanship, Disguise, Physics, Computer Hacking, etc.
- Specializations cover experience with a topic or item - Street Gangs, Los Angeles, Casinos, High Society, etc.
When rolling, you're trying to beat a difficulty - 5 for a routine task, 10 for a challenging task, or 15 for a daunting task. Every character starts with rolling 1d6 - this is called the
luck die. Beyond that, you add 1d6 for each character trait that applies. So, for example:
Firing a rifle could be Dexterity + Marksmanship + Rifles for 4d6, or Perception + Marksmanship for 3d6, and so on, as long as it makes some sense and the GM approves.
Each trait can be given
enhancements. Enhancements imply level of experience, expertise, or ability beyond the professional level. Some examples below:
- Master - The character can reroll a die that comes up equal to or higher than the luck roll, allowing the character to make up for bad luck.
- Efficient - The character can perform this skill while doing another action, but does not get the luck die while doing so.
- Lucky - Whenever the character rolls a 6 on the luck die, they gain and roll an additional luck die, and add it to the total. If they roll another 6, they roll an additional die, and so on.
- Competitive - The character can sacrifice their luck die to raise the opponent's difficulty by 5.
- Deceptive - When rolling the luck die, you can make a hidden roll (by using a dice cup or the like) and state the number. The GM may call you on the number - if your stated number is less than the roll, you get an additional luck die. If it is equal to the roll, you get no benefit. If it is greater than the roll, you lose the luck die you rolled for that action.
Exceeding the difficulty provides a success, but if you can match the difficulty perfectly with any number of your rolled dice, you get a dramatic success. So, for example, if you roll 3d6 and get a 4, 6, and 3 against a difficulty 10, that 4 + 6 could be used to get a dramatic success.
Dramatic success provide some extra story effect beyond mere success - in a car chase, you not only outrun your target, you might fake them into slamming into a semi. In a game of cards, you don't just win, you win the jackpot. These may not just be "great successes", but could also be more subtle - for example, in a gunfight, you might declare your enemy to be out of ammo. A disguise might get you swept up into the secret meeting. The player can suggest effects, though approval of any dramatic success is up the the GM.
That's all for tonight. I have more ideas for this - building characters, organizations, etc. It might mutate horribly - I'm thinking of how interesting it might be to try and bend this into a card-based system, and mutate it further from its On the Edge / Risus inspiration. We'll see!
