Mr. Grump has been spewing forth the wonders of Spycraft and especially Spycraft 2.0. Never seeing this in a Borders (where I get coupons' for up to 40% off) and never seeing it in a Half Price, I thought I was doomed to purchasing it on-line for serious cash.....

But patience paid off. I went into Half Price Books this last weekend and not only did I find a Mint Condition SpyCraft 2.0, but they were having their 20% off Memorial Day sale. (Oh and they also had Spycraft 1.0 Mint as well).

So, long story short, I got a $50 book for 16.95 (+ tax).

Sweet deal! I get most of my books at Half Price. You just never know what you will find. Got a copy of BESM 3rd ed which is apparently getting hard to come by for $15 myself.

Cool!

Which printing did you manage to carry off? (Look at the spine, if it says AEG then it is first printing (and will have a color interior), if it says Craft, and is flat then it is second printing (a warning there - second printing has a bad binding - but Mongoose Publishing has been very good about replacing the faulty book), if it says Crafty, and has a gently rounded spine then you have third printing.)

Aside from the flaky binding on the second printing the only reason to check is that there is errata for the first printing . This errata has been folded into the second and third printings.

Spycraft is by no means a 'rules light' system, but it is very customizable, and has a chapter on modifying the game to fit different genres. My only complaint, system-wise, is the rather complex, and initially awkward initiative system. Initiative can change every round, depending on the character's actions.

I suspect that the initiative system was part of the reason that the players in my 'Scoobypunk' game delighted in finding noncombative ways around encounters. (My favorite involved waltzes, two partner swaps, and a two person illusion... they literally danced around the encounter. ) I also suspect that the other reason is simply that they find my reaction to their elaborate machinations amusing. Oddly, just about the only PC to get into actual fights has been the Mage - he favors a sword stick.

For magic I have been using E.N. Publishing's wonderful Elements of Magic: Mythic Earth - a feat and skill based magic system of great flexibility. While overpowered for D20 Modern it balances just about right for the somewhat more powerful Spycraft characters.

There are some very handy PDFs available for the game at RPGNow/Drive Thru, with Fragile Minds covering Lovecraftian horrors and sanity, the Origin of the Species series covering non human races, and Spellbound adding magic (I still prefer Elements of Magic, but I had been using it before Spycraft 2.0 even came out....) Back to Basics handles the D20 Modern classes, if you are converting over, and Practice Makes Perfect adds more options for character building.

The only setting currently available is World on Fire, a setting for Espionage games. There is a conversion document included with the PDF of the first ed. setting Shadowforce Archer, and some free samples of a new setting called Vow of Silence - a modern fantasy setting.

Phew! I think that I may have buried you there.

The Auld Grump

Initiative change every round?!? That's how I do my D&D campaigns, is every round, initiative is rolled. I always hated the "ah ha, I get to go first all during the combat bitch... pay for it!"

But It's the AEG edition.

They had the New Traveller too, but the book was torn up and they wanted $20 for it I wasn't going to pay that kind of cash for a book that was literally torn to hell.

Being an 1st edition traveller fan (and actually liked Mega Traveller and the direction they took in New Era) so I'm hoping that Mongoose did it justice.

First Ed. Traveller... nice! The character building was almost a game unto itself.


Lord Abaddon of Wormwood

Heh - the AEG edition has a great binding. You will have that book for a good time to come. I still have both copies of the AEG version that I bought when the world was young. I bought the second when my first copy got water damaged in my backpack, so that I would be able to loan out the damaged copy. While warped it is still holding together very well. Between the two AEG printings, the second printing, the replacement copy that Mongoose sent me when the second printing's binding went west, and the PDF I now have five copies.... At any given time one is typically loaned out, one is in my backpack, two are on my shelf, and one is living on my laptop.

In Spycraft initiative is only rolled once - but actions change the actual number, so it never becomes as static as standard D20.(For example, firing a Barret .50 drops your initiative by quite a bit. The sucker is a brute - one Soldier in my Delta Green game favors it.) There are also ways of pushing the initiative count up, and when it gets high enough (25+) you can Press - dropping the count by 20 to get an extra half action. If the initiative count gets ridiculously high (50+) then a Press must be made the next round. My Scoobypunk game reached 18th level, and not once did the initiative count reach 50.... (Of course, this could be because they avoided combat at every opportunity....) It hasn't happened in the Delta Green game yet either, but it has come close.

The system is very fluid. One way to think of it is that your starting Initiative is when you begin, but each following action determines when the next action takes place. I have found a magnetic whiteboard incredibly useful when first using the system.

For example - some Actions followed by the initiative count modifier:
Aim +1 (Spend a half action aiming, and the initiative count goes up for the next round, as you are readied.)
Brace +1
Called Shot trick –5
Delay –(Initiative Count decrease) determines your new Init modifier.
Kick –2
Press –20
Stand Off –5
Suffer a movement penalty due to terrain –2
Fire a 1-handed weapon with 2 hands –2
Fire a tactical weapon –2
Use a weapon without the appropriate proficiency –4 (Unless you are Dan Quayle.... )
Etc..


Time to visit the Land of Nod, that is East of Eden....
The Auld Grump

Battered Swords and Broken Shields uses something similar. You roll init. once at the beginning of combat to see who goes first. Every action has a cost that moves you around a large wheel numbered 60-1. So if your action cost is 5 you move down to 55. Once everyone has gone once, the person on the highest number goes again and moves down the wheel, leaving someone else as the highest player, who then goes next, and so on. I've only played the game at cons, but I did really like the init system. That and the player granted experience system.

Sounds like if we averaged your group and my Steampunk group we might have a normal group each. (Two years of play, making it to eighteenth level... five fights, and no fatalities to any of the combatants on either side.... Even the Soldier preferred sneaking around - he had plenty of fire power, but never used it!)

The Auld Grump