The Night’s Black Agents GROGPOD was the final part of the so-called ‘spy sequence’ which began with Top Secret and included Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes and James Bond RPG. At the beginning I promised an Actual Play recording using one of the games to replicate a scenario from the movies.
We discussed some of our favourite spy sequences and have selected a couple more for you to consider. The Actual Play will include elements from the most popular sequence selected by you the listener.
Therefore the poll will include both the rules and the sequence.
The Rules Poll is live on Twitter
The results will be declared in the comments below on 7/7/18 and will include an invitation to play (names will be drawn from a beret).
Got that? Good.
Three Days of the Condor (Pollock, US, 1975)
One of the greatest political thrillers ever made. Robert Redford is a CIA bookworm looking for clues in international literature. Within the first moments of the movie his world is turned up-side-down and set him on the run from the GamesMaster, Max von Sydow. Don’t answer the door to the postman, because he’s wearing brown shoes.
Casino Royale (Campbell, UK/US, 2006)
The brutal fight between Bond and Obanno in the stairwell of The Casino Royale was a statement of intent for the rebooted franchise. Improvised, hand-to-hand combat can be ugly and the bad guys are not going to roll over like weak mooks.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (Alfredson, UK/France/Germany, 2011)
Agent Prideaux is sent to Budapest by MI6 to make a rendezvous with an Hungarian General who has indicated his desire to defect to the West. In an exceptionally tense scene, carefully set up to make the audience uncertain of who to trust. There’s an assassination. Trust no-one.
Spooks: Love and Death (Season 3, Ep 5, UK, 2004)
A veritable toolkit for 21st Century espionage RPG adventures as it features a team of MI5 agents working various homeland security missions. This episode has a moral dilemma at its heart which captures the dramatic conflict within most spy fiction: killing another human being may be the right thing to do, but it’s still ethically challenging (try replicating that in an RPG!).
The Man with The Golden Gun (Hamilton, UK, 1974)
Nick Nack is the ultimate death-trap Dungeon Master in the Fun House maze to test the wits of assassins. It may have been the least financially successful of the Bonds, but it is one of my favourites as Scaramanga is a perfect villain: poised, charismatic and cunning.
VOTE NOW for your favourite!
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