This is one that I've always really liked. Ran a couple of cold war scenarios back in the early '80s (during one of which my pcs ended up destroying about a quarter of Bad Homburg!). I would really like to give it another try, but in an historic setting. The spy genre just hasn't been the same since the wall came down IMO.
I agree. And going up against secret organizations, like SPECTRE, doesn't seem to cut it anymore in this age of instant communication and universal access to information, not too mention in the face of real world threats like al Queda.
This is one that I've always really liked. Ran a couple of cold war scenarios back in the early '80s (during one of which my pcs ended up destroying about a quarter of Bad Homburg!). I would really like to give it another try, but in an historic setting. The spy genre just hasn't been the same since the wall came down IMO.
I agree. And going up against secret organizations, like SPECTRE, doesn't seem to cut it anymore in this age of instant communication and universal access to information, not too mention in the face of real world threats like al Queda.
Plenty of information, yes. But how much of it is accurate? Who do you listen to, and more importantly believe? What's REALLY going on, and how do you know for sure?
Creating a spy scenario is no more difficult now than it was back then. Just take something you KNOW to be true, make it false, and go from there.
Any fool of a DM can kill his players, it's as easy as "Rocks fall, everybody dies". The Art lies in giving them the opportunity to kill themselves, in as entertaining a manner as possible.
Re: Top Secret (1980) « Reply #32 on May 2, 2010, 10:13pm »
Top Secret was designed to capture the feel of the spy movies, TV shows and books of the 1960s and 1970s...James Bond, Danger Man/Secret Agent, I Spy, It Takes A Thief, even Get Smart!. You could do Cold War Realistic, but it was not designed for it.
Later, when the Technical Bureau was added, you could do Mission Impossible or still farther out The Man From UNCLE, Girl From UNCLE.
As the Missions continued to appear, especially in the Dragon Magazine, they slowly grew more "fantastical". But many of the Articles were real world oriented. The game kind of had a split-personality. In Sprechenhaltestelte (spelling?) each agent had his own mission, in most of the other modules, it was "party of four" and the party size kept growing.
TS was very much a TV/Movie Spy game. Working for "The Agency" and "The Bureau", gadgets, mysterious contacts, fantastical traps, underground hideouts.
TS just does not feel right for doing...La Fem Nikita or Alias. The Agency, whoever they were, and your Bureau, may of had you do questionable things. But there was no question, They Were The Good Guys and you were saving the Civilized World. Also the rules were not really designed for small scale infantry combat (a la LFN and its Section Assault Squads).
I just can't see TS rules being used to game a paramilitary squad hit on a terrorist base.
On another note, I always thought that some of the weapons choices were very odd: Johnson Automatic Rifles? Nothing like an easily traced, very distinctive, one of a kind weapon for a covert organization.
On another note, I always thought that some of the weapons choices were very odd: Johnson Automatic Rifles? Nothing like an easily traced, very distinctive, one of a kind weapon for a covert organization.
I think the weapons choices made sense for the type of game that TS seemed to be designed for; they basically went for the exotic rather than the "standard issue" when it came to a lot of things. I guess they wanted the heroes and villains to have distinctive fire-arms instead of everyone having the same standard issue weapons. Just like Bond had his .25 Beretta (and later, his .32 PPK), your hero can have his Johnson Automatic Rifle. And if you found some poor soul who'd been eviscerated by a round from a gyro-jet pistol, you could say: "Ahhh...it's my old arch-nemesis, Dr. Stromheim. He's been known to use a gyro-jet pistol when attempting to further his plans for world domination."
« Last Edit: May 31, 2010, 10:09am by castiglione »
Let me strive every moment of my life to make myself better and better, to the best of my ability, that all may profit by it. Let me think of the right and lend all my assistance to those who need it, with no regard for anything but justice. Let me take what comes with a smile, without loss of courage. Let me be considerate of my country, of my fellow citizens and my associates in everything I say
Finarvyn Administrator Dungeon Master member is offline
Joined: Jun 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 4,674 Location: Near Chicago Karma: 178
Re: Top Secret (1980) « Reply #34 on Jun 1, 2010, 11:36am »
If I was to run a modern-TS campaign, I'd be tempted to somehow blend today's world with those Nicholas Cage National Treasure movies. Assume some sort of conspiracy groups operating under cover and the good guys having to work against them. It might not be attached to any specific country (so no "Cold War Has Ended" angst) but more to some ideal or global cause. It could eventually turn into an X-Files or Fringe kind of game...
Marv / Finarvyn DCC playtester (2011) C&C playtester (2003) I'm partly responsible for the S&W WhiteBox Builder of the TrollBridge Master of Mutants; MA since 1976 OD&D Player since 1975
"Don't ask me what you need to hit. Just roll the die and I will let you know!" - Dave Arneson
Top Secret was designed to capture the feel of the spy movies, TV shows and books of the 1960s and 1970s...James Bond, Danger Man/Secret Agent, I Spy, It Takes A Thief, even Get Smart!. You could do Cold War Realistic, but it was not designed for it.
Later, when the Technical Bureau was added, you could do Mission Impossible or still farther out The Man From UNCLE, Girl From UNCLE.
As the Missions continued to appear, especially in the Dragon Magazine, they slowly grew more "fantastical". But many of the Articles were real world oriented. The game kind of had a split-personality. In Sprechenhaltestelte (spelling?) each agent had his own mission, in most of the other modules, it was "party of four" and the party size kept growing.
TS was very much a TV/Movie Spy game. Working for "The Agency" and "The Bureau", gadgets, mysterious contacts, fantastical traps, underground hideouts.
TS just does not feel right for doing...La Fem Nikita or Alias. The Agency, whoever they were, and your Bureau, may of had you do questionable things. But there was no question, They Were The Good Guys and you were saving the Civilized World. Also the rules were not really designed for small scale infantry combat (a la LFN and its Section Assault Squads).
I just can't see TS rules being used to game a paramilitary squad hit on a terrorist base.
On another note, I always thought that some of the weapons choices were very odd: Johnson Automatic Rifles? Nothing like an easily traced, very distinctive, one of a kind weapon for a covert organization.
I think Top Secret SI does a better job of capturing the feel of spy movies and James Bond stuff. The original TS, imo, was closer to real world espionage. There was even a Cold War expansion book for it. That's not to say you can't have over-the-top stuff in a TS game; it is an RPG after all.
I think Top Secret SI does a better job of capturing the feel of spy movies and James Bond stuff. The original TS, imo, was closer to real world espionage. There was even a Cold War expansion book for it. That's not to say you can't have over-the-top stuff in a TS game; it is an RPG after all.
The original TS may have been a bit schizoid in what it was trying to emulate.
Some parts of it felt like real world espionage (or at least some person's idea of real world espionage)...but then you had stuff like a really elaborate hand-to-hand combat system that sort of felt cinematic in what it portrayed and then there was the assortment of exotic fire-arms which felt like something out of the pulps.
Let me strive every moment of my life to make myself better and better, to the best of my ability, that all may profit by it. Let me think of the right and lend all my assistance to those who need it, with no regard for anything but justice. Let me take what comes with a smile, without loss of courage. Let me be considerate of my country, of my fellow citizens and my associates in everything I say
Joined: Jul 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 2,503 Karma: 57
Re: Top Secret (1980) « Reply #37 on Jun 2, 2010, 1:46am »
At one point in a Spy's Advice column in the dragon, either Allan Hammack or Merle Rasmussen said that TS could be played in either of two ways, detectives or commandos.
(In my original group, I preferred detectives but everybody else wanted commandos...)
At one point in a Spy's Advice column in the dragon, either Allan Hammack or Merle Rasmussen said that TS could be played in either of two ways, detectives or commandos.
(In my original group, I preferred detectives but everybody else wanted commandos...)
The commandos or detectives option does seem to make sense given the early TS modules; the one that came with the boxed set was definitely in the detectives vein while the other ones up until Fastpass all seem to be commando missions.
Let me strive every moment of my life to make myself better and better, to the best of my ability, that all may profit by it. Let me think of the right and lend all my assistance to those who need it, with no regard for anything but justice. Let me take what comes with a smile, without loss of courage. Let me be considerate of my country, of my fellow citizens and my associates in everything I say
Joined: Oct 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 324 Karma: 13
Re: Top Secret (1980) « Reply #39 on Jul 6, 2010, 10:05am »
Cripes! I used to own this game back in 1980 and found it too complex for my still-forming malnourished brain; but from reading this thread I made a huge mistake getting rid of my copy! I'm hunting one down now...
Re: Top Secret (1980) « Reply #40 on Jul 22, 2010, 11:32pm »
One idea I had once was that the rules for Top Secret would be ideal for a Braunstein style type of game, i.e. having multiple groups of spies of different nations with missions at cross-purposes all in one city or town. Might be too cumbersome for face-to-face play but may work well on-line.
Let me strive every moment of my life to make myself better and better, to the best of my ability, that all may profit by it. Let me think of the right and lend all my assistance to those who need it, with no regard for anything but justice. Let me take what comes with a smile, without loss of courage. Let me be considerate of my country, of my fellow citizens and my associates in everything I say
Re: Top Secret (1980) « Reply #42 on Dec 29, 2010, 10:54am »
We played the crap out of the original rules back in the day BUT I had gotten a hold of a copy of FASA's book of MARS and we used that combat system...which really worked well with the original TS rules.
Top Secret SI never took hold for us, I own most of the stuff for it still and would never THINK of getting rid of it. There was a few times when the expected players didn't show and we grabbed Top Secret or SI and played a one shot!
Joined: Sept 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 225 Location: Des Moines, Iowa USA Karma: 3
Re: Top Secret (1980) « Reply #43 on Mar 1, 2011, 12:55am »
I ran TS back in '83 as an alternating game with Classic Traveller, Boot Hill, Gamma World, and Gangbusters. There were only two of us and we alternated GM duties. I ran TS, GB, and CT. Oh yeah, we played almost exclusively over the phone for our several hour sessions.
TS was probably the crunchiest of the old school TSR games. The combat was a lot of fun - especially the hand to hand! I only owned Operation Rapid Strike and the Administrator's Screen, so I can't really comment on the modules. Most of the time, we played totally off the cuff. We did a lot of commando style scenarios.
I bought TS:SI right when it came out. Unfortunately, I started college soon after, and had to seriously trim down my RPG time. I have never got to play it. It's definitely a completely different game. After EdOWar reminded me of it, I do remember disliking the built in to hit system because it DIDN'T require a separate roll. I also remember not liking the way TS:SI treated weapons. I may feel differently about it these days.
Now I guess I'm going to have to break out my books and refresh my memory. Dang.
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