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Well... things have changed in my game... A LOT.

The name is still the same, it's everything else that's changed.

First off:

1. The Setting: No longer are we Special Forces of NATO. (My playtesters kept referencing the GI Joe game).

The game is now post ww2:

"You're abandoned OSS agents trying to stop a conspiracy after your agency is dissolved."

The Intro reads:

August, 1945.

The war is over, but your mission isn't. While hunting a Nazi sabotage network operating in Chicago, your OSS team receives devastating news: President Truman has dissolved the OSS.

Your funding vanishes. Your handlers disappear. Your authority evaporates overnight.

Now, cut off from Washington and hunted by enemies who know your names, your team must rely on the allies they can find on the streets of America.

Worse still, Donovan's final warning suggests your mission has already been compromised by a Soviet agent.

The question is no longer whether the conspiracy exists.

The question is who you can trust long enough to stop it.

The first campaign takes place in the United States (primarily Chicago) and further missions head to Brazil and beyond.

2. Removed tons of bookkeeping. I had tension, and heat, and oversight, and this, that, and the other.

It was all really cool. Really detailed. And for the most part ignored or hated by people running the game.

3. No more charts.

Nothing says fun stoppage like consulting range charts. (See Shadowrun 5th Edition).

4. Inventory Management is changed.

Instead of trying to source this part here or there. Every safehouse will have a Supply Cache that can be depleted by use, and restored with downtime activities.

5. Removed Experience Points all together.

Skills and Attributes Improve through use, downtime study, or rewards.

Qualities are gained automatically after every 2 successful missions.

(My players disliked the possibility of not gaining a Quality from poor dice rolls during downtime)

6. Contacts are much more important and are essentially secondary characters that can be used by the group for missions.


For example, you need a dockworker to lie to his boss that you are on the up and up? The dockworker has his own stats to use, not yours.

7. The Tension System has been toned down, no longer are characters going to be driven to Cthulu induced levels of psychological horror in a spy game.


8. Concealment is capacity for Equipment. If you can hide it, you can carry it.


9. Tradecraft is your go to skill if the player doesn't know what to do. The player can make a Tradecraft skill test, and based on his roll, the Handler (GM) can give hints on what to do.


10. The 1940s setting reduces the amount of technology the players and GM have to deal with. Yes, the Nazis had Nightvision, but it wasn't widespread.


11. Classes Changed.

• Officer
• Detective
• Operator
• Fixer
• Doctor
• Saboteur
• Enforcer

The roles are post ww2, and easily defined, now that everyone doesnt share the same SOE background.

Character Creation is down to 30 minutes.

This has been a major pivot for me, and the game is still in progress after 5 years.

Any suggestions are always appreciated. I will hopefully have a new playtest edition up for everyone to peruse up soon.

Good. Less is more.

It's interesting reading through this and seeing the progression.

 Cothonian wrote:
It's interesting reading through this and seeing the progression.

Things have definitely changed since I started this as a "fun side project" a couple years ago.

I now understand why people have teams working on RPGs. Going solo is super difficult.

I'll give you a "for instance"

I was working on contacts and had come up with an easy scheme to work on using Loyalty and Influence, with a simple template that's used in case you need to roll a skill test for the contact.

☆☆☆

Contact Card
Name: Eddie Moran
Role: Longshoreman
Loyalty: 3
Influence: 2
Template: Laborer
Special: Knows every dockworker at Navy Pier by name.

Loyalty is a scale of how much they'll put their ass on the line for you.

Influence is a scale of how much of the world or people in it they can effect.

☆☆☆

I showed this to someone else, and they said, so it's the same system as Shadowrun 5th Ed.

(At that point I realized my unique system wasn't so unique).

Now I have to think, do I scrap it all together, modify it in some way, or leave it for the time being and return to it in the future?

Mechanics are not covered by copyright.

Do you also use a 4+ based successes system dice pool for those numbers?

Made some significant changes to Contacts last night.

CONTACTS

No Operative gets anywhere alone.

Contacts are people the Operative can call for help, information, access, or favors. They are not resources. They are not equipment. They are relationships under pressure.

Every Contact has three things:

* What they know
* What they want
* What it will cost you


One-Time Contacts and Unreliable Contacts are handed out through good roleplaying and rewards in the mission.


When you contact someone, follow these steps:

1. Say what you want

Tell the Handler what you are asking for.

Examples:

* “I need to know who’s moving product near the docks.”
* “I need access to the building records.”
* “I need someone to look the other way tonight.”


2. The Handler tells you the price

Contacts do not help for free.

The price is always a favor, risk, or obligation.

Examples:

* “He’ll tell you, but you owe him. His boss wants a job done tonight.”
* “She can get you access, but someone will notice.”
* “He’ll help, but only if you bring him something first.”

You may refuse. If you refuse, you get nothing.


3. You decide

* Accept the favor → you get the help, and you now owe them
* Refuse → no help, no change to the Contact


CONTACT TYPES

Reliable Contacts

They usually do what they say.

They still require payment or favors, but they do not betray you lightly.


Questionable Contacts

They are selfish, pressured, or unstable.

They may:

* lie
* overcharge
* disappear
* or get you into trouble


ONE-TIME CONTACTS

Some Contacts are not ongoing relationships.

They are moments.

A One-Time Contact represents a single act of help, agreement, or access. After that moment is used, the Contact is gone.

No tracking. No upkeep. No future obligation.


HOW THEY WORK

When you use a One-Time Contact:

* You receive their help once.
* The interaction resolves immediately.
* The Contact is considered spent and is removed from play.



WHAT THEY REPRESENT

One-Time Contacts are usually:

* small favors
* situational alliances
* accidental debts
* temporary leverage
* mission-specific cooperation

Examples:

* A guard agrees to look the other way for one night.
* A clerk alters a record once.
* A dockworker gives you access through a gate one time.
* A witness gives a single truthful statement and disappears from your life.

---

IMPORTANT LIMIT

A One-Time Contact cannot be reused, revisited, or escalated.

If the Operative tries to return to them later, they are:

* unwilling
* unavailable
* or no longer safe to approach

DEBTS

If you accept a favor, you owe a Debt.

A Debt is a future obligation the Contact may call in.

Debts are not optional. If a Contact calls in a Debt, you must deal with it or lose access to them.

Debts are usually small, local problems:

* run an errand
* deliver something
* scare someone off
* show up somewhere
* damage or protect something