Spycraft 2.0 Mission Log: The Edge of S.A.B.R.E.
Over the last few weeks, I've been collecting players to get together for our first playtests of the new Spycraft 2.0 system in action. I have been fortunate enough to have the only team of players that has never tried the Spycraft ruleset - my buddies are all CoC and DnD junkies who didn't want to play "modern stuff" - and so our test is really about newbies reacting to the system. So far, it's gone over well, aside from their struggling with the natural and constant change of material that happens during game development.
So I decided to run a low level series of games in a generic Spy setting. Knowing my players are inherently sociopathic when roleplaying (power fantasy seems to be the universal extension of roleplaying with kids from the 'hood), I decided to flip things around on them and run an "evil" campaign that's never expressly stated as such. Thus was born S.A.B.R.E. (Society for Anarchy, Brutality, Revolution, and Expansion), a nod to Shadowforce Archer's P.E.R.I.L. threat. The players are all freelance agents for S.A.B.R.E., and work for the mysterious Mr. X, a faceless control who only speaks to them by phone or through proxy.
I let the players build whatever they wanted, without giving them any context of the campaign, so the team consists of 5 characters:
Louis - The Turkish Steamroller (no, I'm not kidding) (Sleuth), a hard-hitting two fisted interrogator.
Nick D. - Shadow (Pointman), a Chinese acrobat turned silent assassin. Based on the acrobat from Ocean's 11 combined with a ninja.
Nick W. - Messiah (Advocate), a budding terrorist cum self proclaimed messianic figure, based on David Koresh (no, I'm not kidding).
Travis - Sandman (Soldier), a throwback gunfighter who specializes in causing excessive damage and sneering a lot.
Tyler - Octane (Wheelman), a child raised on too much TV (much like the TV series Profit) who is obsessive about cars (to the point of investigating a leaky gas line in the middle of combat - no, I'm not kidding)
During the character-building sessions, there was a lot of joking about Messiah's rather bizarre character concept, so I decided to set the first mission in Afghanistan. The team is deployed by Mr. X to western Afghanistan, near the Iranian border, with orders to meet up with a man named Rahim Barrabi. Their job is to infiltrate the village of Jaharim where some hostages are being held awaiting transport, liberate them and get them across the Iranian border to the town of al-Allef. Once across the border, they will receive a new set of orders from their contact.
The team lands in Afghanistan and meets up with Rahim, a very thinly disguised Taliban rebel (he drives a white Toyota Technical for god's sake!), who takes them to his cave to give them their requisitioned gear and the mission bundle - a set of Russian nightvision goggles and a crusty Soviet 2.5 ton truck to move the hostages. The players, surprisingly, ask very few questions about the raid, aside from finding out when they need to do the mission. Rahim drops a few clues that they are not the first team to attempt a 'rescue' for Mr. X, but they go largly unnoticed. Everything goes smoothly until Rahim makes a disparaging comment about Americans to the Turkish Steamroller, and it takes the entire team to subdue Messiah to keep from blasting him (remember what I said about sociopathic tendencies?).
The team then leaves for Jaharim, about 20 miles away. The sun is setting now, and the team knows they have to move tonight. The team creeps into a recon position to see the Jarahrim is an old Persian village, tucked behind an ancient wall built to keep the Mongols out. The game then stops for a half hour while everyone argues about the best route to take - drive the Deuce-and-a-half through the wall of the village with all guns blazing, or silently infiltrate under cover of darkness. The players use some abilities from their Origins (the new department system) to request clues from me - rather than making people roll for clues via the Inspiration check, players can now request a clue, with each clue giving the GC an action die. I point them to the nightvision goggles (repeatedly), as well as Rahim's hints. Finally, they decide on a layered offensive - Shadow and Sandman sneak in and scout the place out, Messiah and the Turkish Steamroller remain at mid-range, and Octane sits in the truck, prepared to rush in and pick up the hostages.
Next: The Raid
Over the last few weeks, I've been collecting players to get together for our first playtests of the new Spycraft 2.0 system in action. I have been fortunate enough to have the only team of players that has never tried the Spycraft ruleset - my buddies are all CoC and DnD junkies who didn't want to play "modern stuff" - and so our test is really about newbies reacting to the system. So far, it's gone over well, aside from their struggling with the natural and constant change of material that happens during game development.
So I decided to run a low level series of games in a generic Spy setting. Knowing my players are inherently sociopathic when roleplaying (power fantasy seems to be the universal extension of roleplaying with kids from the 'hood), I decided to flip things around on them and run an "evil" campaign that's never expressly stated as such. Thus was born S.A.B.R.E. (Society for Anarchy, Brutality, Revolution, and Expansion), a nod to Shadowforce Archer's P.E.R.I.L. threat. The players are all freelance agents for S.A.B.R.E., and work for the mysterious Mr. X, a faceless control who only speaks to them by phone or through proxy.
I let the players build whatever they wanted, without giving them any context of the campaign, so the team consists of 5 characters:
During the character-building sessions, there was a lot of joking about Messiah's rather bizarre character concept, so I decided to set the first mission in Afghanistan. The team is deployed by Mr. X to western Afghanistan, near the Iranian border, with orders to meet up with a man named Rahim Barrabi. Their job is to infiltrate the village of Jaharim where some hostages are being held awaiting transport, liberate them and get them across the Iranian border to the town of al-Allef. Once across the border, they will receive a new set of orders from their contact.
The team lands in Afghanistan and meets up with Rahim, a very thinly disguised Taliban rebel (he drives a white Toyota Technical for god's sake!), who takes them to his cave to give them their requisitioned gear and the mission bundle - a set of Russian nightvision goggles and a crusty Soviet 2.5 ton truck to move the hostages. The players, surprisingly, ask very few questions about the raid, aside from finding out when they need to do the mission. Rahim drops a few clues that they are not the first team to attempt a 'rescue' for Mr. X, but they go largly unnoticed. Everything goes smoothly until Rahim makes a disparaging comment about Americans to the Turkish Steamroller, and it takes the entire team to subdue Messiah to keep from blasting him (remember what I said about sociopathic tendencies?).
The team then leaves for Jaharim, about 20 miles away. The sun is setting now, and the team knows they have to move tonight. The team creeps into a recon position to see the Jarahrim is an old Persian village, tucked behind an ancient wall built to keep the Mongols out. The game then stops for a half hour while everyone argues about the best route to take - drive the Deuce-and-a-half through the wall of the village with all guns blazing, or silently infiltrate under cover of darkness. The players use some abilities from their Origins (the new department system) to request clues from me - rather than making people roll for clues via the Inspiration check, players can now request a clue, with each clue giving the GC an action die. I point them to the nightvision goggles (repeatedly), as well as Rahim's hints. Finally, they decide on a layered offensive - Shadow and Sandman sneak in and scout the place out, Messiah and the Turkish Steamroller remain at mid-range, and Octane sits in the truck, prepared to rush in and pick up the hostages.
Next: The Raid
