Let's Read James Bond 007: Role Playing in Her Majesty's Secret Service

[Dumarest]

What is the reason for having a separate term for these and making them always 20? Seems somewhat peculiar?

It is an odd choice to me. I can see why they give them all for free, to make sure players don't overlook skills that all M.I.6 agents should have as a matter of course, but they could just as easily have made them normal skills, given you a Primary Chance of 20 for free, and left them open for improvement should you ever want to do so. A Primary Chance of 20 is pretty darn good so I doubt we'd see many people spending Experience Points to increase their skill with Photography, but there's really no reason to disallow it that I can see. Fortunately it's easy enough to just call them skills and treat them as any other skill. It is a bit of a head-scratcher.

It seems peculiar that the time taken AND the amount of true information would be linked to the SAME die-roll, which also reveals what Quality Rating of success was achieved, no? Seems like as GM I might have players roll for general success that determines time (which they're know the result of) and then use that result as a modifier to a second roll that determines how much information gathered is true or not (which I would think in most/many cases they shouldn't know for sure).

I can see why getting an excellent Quality Result would both cut the time and increase your accuracy since you're just doing so great at your task, but you could easily turn that into separate rolls if you wanted to.

Isn't it that the equipment might be damaged? Doesn't there still need to also be a chance of human error even when using equipment with a high skill?

I actually mistyped that and it means the equipment may be damaged. Good catch. The rules leave it up to the GM whether the equipment is damaged or you've just bungled it. Did you mean to interpret that as the equipment was already damaged before you attempted to use it? That would be reasonable to me, but it doesn't really matter since it needs to be repaired whether it was damaged before or during your task.

 

[Skarg]

Yeah I would do like your idea that those are just skills MI6 trains everyone in, but are still Skills not something that needs a different term (or the term should make sense, like "MI6 core skills"). Seems like there are other characters who are not MI6 who would have those at various different levels, such as EMTs, doctors, photographers, and that even MI6 agents might have different levels of skill. Seems like they were mainly trying to make it simpler and as you say not have MI6 agents who lacked expected skills.

I can see time & results being linked, but if they're in lockstep then it gives meta information about how accurate your results were based on how long it took. A second roll modified by the first could avoid the meta info while keeping them usually loosely correlated.

I didn't mean to interpret a roll during play to mean equipment had been damaged before it was used - that'd create an odd cause not well linked to the effect. I just meant that I'd hope there were still a chance using equipment that you fail but not due to broken equipment, which yes is what the printed rules seem to say.

 

[Dumarest]

Yeah I would do like your idea that those are just skills MI6 trains everyone in, but are still Skills not something that needs a different term (or the term should make sense, like "MI6 core skills"). Seems like there are other characters who are not MI6 who would have those at various different levels, such as EMTs, doctors, photographers, and that even MI6 agents might have different levels of skill. Seems like they were mainly trying to make it simpler and as you say not have MI6 agents who lacked expected skills.

The game assumes all PCs are M.I.6 agents, but you could easily include other sorts of PCs as well, I suppose, but you might want to expand the skill list to allow for other occupations. (It doesn't really interest me to play an EMT or a photographer when I can be 009, but you could probably figure out the cost in Generation Points of the 3 free abilities and let the player spend them elsewhere.) In the For Your Information supplement they outline other intelligence agencies like the C.I.A. and Mossad, but I'd have to read it over to find out whether it's meant for including them as NPCs or for expanding options for PCs to work for agencies other than M.I.6. After I finish the game itself, I might come back to cover For Your Information and other supplements that I have.

​

 

[Voros]

I wonder if there is anyway to hack the core mechanics of Ease/Primary chance that removes the need for the charts? Outside of FASERIP I have a chart allergy.

 

[Skarg]

I wonder if there is anyway to hack the core mechanics of Ease/Primary chance that removes the need for the charts? Outside of FASERIP I have a chart allergy.

There is. The main Quality Results Table is a linear progression in each column, so you could convert it to a formula.

Or you could write a simple script for it and use a computer (or "device") to do it.

 

[Dumarest]

Continuing Chapter 3: Skills:

Driving covers operation of all manner of wheeled land vehicles. You'd use it mainly for chases or if you're attempting something unusual with your vehicle where there's a risk of failure. Chases, being de rigueur in both Bond novels and films, get their own Chapter 5: Chases.

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While all the skills in James Bond 007 tend to be very broadly applicable, Electronics is especially so. It covers a very broad category: radios, surveillance equipment, computers, and so on. You'd use this skill to operate and maintain all electronic equipment, as well as to identify the use of an unfamiliar item, sweep a room for bugs, plant a bug yourself, hack into a computer system, create a piece of equipment from component parts, sabotage electronic equipment, and so on.

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Evasion not only covers attempting to elude a pursuer and to shadow a subject while on foot (you'd use Boating, Diving, Driving, Piloting, or Riding for other modes of transportation or movement), but it also covers attempting to cover long distances running and walking. For the latter usage, you're rolling to see whether you get lost or injured and whether any vehicles or equipment being used to follow you hold out. The skill can also be used for extraordinary actions during a chase when other skills wouldn't apply: examples given include stealing a parachute while in freefall or dodging pursuers while skiing, as seen in the films Moonraker and The Spy Who Loved Me, respectively.

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Fire Combat applies to all projectile weapons from bows to pistols to shotguns to rocket-propelled grenades to ICBMs. It does not apply to thrown weapons, as those are included under Hand-to-Hand Combat. It also does not cover weapons mounted on vehicles; for those you use the appropriate vehicle skill. Your Quality Rating affects the severity of the wound you've inflicted. More in Chapter 4: Combat.

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You can't have a James Bond roleplaying without Gambling, can you? The very first appearance of 007 was Casino Royale, in which his gambling skills are a large part of why he receives the assignment. And don't forget how 007 exposes Sir Hugo Drax as a cheat at bridge in Moonraker, and Auric Goldfinger as a cheat at Canasta in Goldfinger. The game deems it important enough that it rates its own Chapter 7: Gambling and Casino Life. We'll get to that soon enough.

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Hand-to-Hand Combat involves fights using fists, swords, knives, or any weapon that is not a projectile weapon. It also includes thrown weapons. As with Fire Combat, your Quality Rating affects the severity of the wound you've inflicted. More in Chapter 4: Combat.

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Interrogation involves intensively questioning a victim to force him to reveal information against his will. This is not just quickly slapping around a cheap hood; the base time to use this skill is 18 hours. Even with a Quality Rating 1 roll, we're still talking 4 to 5 hours. Note that an interrogator may not use physical abuse against his victim and doing so will not gain any extra information. That falls under the Torture skill, which is off-limits to PCs in the rules as written (although you could change that with no problem--just understand you're changing the flavor of the game when you're letting the good guys sink to the level of the bad guys). You can get modifiers to your Ease Factor based on the environment and treatment to which you subject your victim: bright lights in the face, a hot room and no water, etc.

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Next: more skills!

 

[Voros]

Do any of the supplements have the stats for Yaphet Kotto?

 

[Dumarest]

Do any of the supplements have the stats for Yaphet Kotto?

View attachment 3674

No...he was never a character in any of the novels or movies...but they have stats for Dr. Kananga in the rulebook and Mr. Big in the Live and Let Die* adventure module.

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* Remember, the modules do not follow the films and novels point by point! There are surprises if you play them and assume otherwise.

 

[Dumarest]

Continuing Chapter 3: Skills:

Local Customs is your ability to fit in, adapt, and pass yourself off as a resident wherever you may be. It reflects your knowledge of the area and where to find a person, goods, or services. It can also come in handy in conjunction with Disguise. This skill can affect Reaction rolls for local NPCs as well. Chapter 19: Thrilling Cities provides the Ease Factors for obtaining equipment in Hong Kong, London, Nassau, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, and Tokyo. You can easily extrapolate the appropriate Ease Factors for other locations based on those.

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Lockpicking and Safecracking is just what it sounds like. You need the proper tools to use this skill. Special equipment can give you an Ease Factor bonus. Different types of locks and safes, of course, will be harder or easier to open. Failure means you were not able to open the lock or safe and you can't try again until circumstances change (better equipment, new information, increased Skill Level, etc.). Any successful result means you've opened the lock or safe. Also, the way I interpret the rules, if you manage a Quality Rating of 1 on your first attempt at a particular structure, you get +1 to the Ease Factor for all other locks and safes at that location.

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Mountaineering is for tasks involving "the scaling of vertical surfaces with or without typical mountain-climbing equipment." Base Time is 30 minutes for every 200 feet climbed. The GM will tell you if you need any specific equipment to make your attempt. If you don't already have guides, blueprints, or other information to tell you the height of a mountain, cliff, building, tower, or whatever, you can make a PER roll at Ease Factor 3 to try to guess. If time is not of the essence, you can state the climb will be done very carefully, doubling the Base Time required but giving you +2 to the Ease Factor. If you roll a failure while climbing without proper equipment, naturally you fall, but you get to make a DEX roll at Ease Factor 2 to try to grab onto something and thereby arrest your fall; if you have proper equipment and roll a failure, you just lose half the distance you climbed up to that point. Also, if you have equipment and want to descend quickly, you can rappel and cut the Base Time in half.

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I'm too fatigued tonight to keep going, so you'll have to bear with me until next time, when I'll continue the chapter on skills and abilities. Only 8 more skills and the 3 abilities to go before we talk about combat.

 

[AsenRG]

Classified is a "clone" of James Bond 007. They've changed the names of game terms, changed the skills, eliminated the Photography ability, eliminated d6 rolls, and a few other things. It's supposed to be almost entirely compatible. There's at least one adventure module, Operation Rogue Lion, that I have. I haven't had a chance to play the module to date and I'm not sure how much work it would be to convert a character from one to the other. One thing to keep in mind is that the original game can usually be found in excellent condition for under $10.00 in my experience, so there is not a lot of reason to buy the clone unless you want to play in contemporary times and want the updates to the 2010s done for you.

Does Classified still have Ease Factor (which I'm starting to like more and more as an idea), and the same close combat system? How similar are the interaction rules?
That's what would determine how similar the systems are, at least to me.

It seems peculiar that the time taken AND the amount of true information would be linked to the SAME die-roll, which also reveals what Quality Rating of success was achieved, no?

Not peculiar at all to me, either.

Seems like as GM I might have players roll for general success that determines time (which they're know the result of) and then use that result as a modifier to a second roll that determines how much information gathered is true or not (which I would think in most/many cases they shouldn't know for sure).

What's the point, other than rolling more? Or introducing a second failure chance for a PC that succeeded despite the odds (thus punishing, against-the-genre, the players that attempt skills outside their specialisation)?
I mean, if "you did so well that you finished in no time, but fumbled and got erroneous information" is something you want, fine! But I'd prefer this to be a result that would come up due to a mistake I did, not the fact that my dice rolled a 09-100 in that order.

 

[Skarg]

What's the point, other than rolling more? Or introducing a second failure chance for a PC that succeeded despite the odds (thus punishing, against-the-genre, the players that attempt skills outside their specialisation)?
I mean, if "you did so well that you finished in no time, but fumbled and got erroneous information" is something you want, fine! But I'd prefer this to be a result that would come up due to a mistake I did, not the fact that my dice rolled a 09-100 in that order.

The point is to have a game whose rules represent the situation supposedly in play, and that doesn't have a weird gamey meta situation where:

* I'm assuming I'm right that at a task like decoding something like an encoded enemy message, the decoder should not know for sure exactly how accurate their decoding was. (IIRC this actually happens in the films: agent A smugly says they interpret a message as X, but agent B one-ups them by having a more accurate version. i.e. Agent A thought didn't know how inaccurate they were.)
* if the player knows rule and the base time, if they know how long it took, they also know how successful the information gathering was
* it's impossible to take short time but have inaccurately decoded something
* it's impossible to take a long time but have very accurately decoded something

Also:

* There would be no "second failure chance", unless the situation is such that taking a long time results in failure due to that being too much time for the situation (the chance of which would be the same chance, just independently checked). There would be one roll for how long it takes, and one roll for how accurate it was.

* As for "thus punishing, against-the-genre, the players that attempt skills outside their specialisation" - possibly needing people with appropriate skills for certain tasks is not "against-the-genre" at all. It's also not "punishing", but simply applying appropriate effects of skills, which hopefully someone choosing to play a game that has different values for different skills would want. If a player's idea of the genre is "I am so cool I am great at everything" then you can just give them a high skill in everything, which hopefully would be seen as a "reward" for being "so cool", rather than making the whole system make everything easy for everyone, therefore having no system that can represent anyone who isn't "so cool" at everything. But that wasn't even the point or the effect of my suggestion - I just suggested de-coupling time from accuracy, so that there wasn't a strange link which players could meta-game to know "it took me X time so I know I was X% accurate".

 

[Skarg]

So there's one climbing roll per 200 feet (or less)? Are there suggested guidelines for what Ease level to assign?

 

[Dumarest]

Does Classified still have Ease Factor (which I'm starting to like more and more as an idea), and the same close combat system? How similar are the interaction rules?
That's what would determine how similar the systems are, at least to me.

Yes, but it's called Difficulty Factor. Fame is Reputation, Generation Points is Creation Points, and so on. Everything is pretty much the same as I recall...I'd have to get the book out and look again as I ended up never using Classified. I only got it in case I needed modern equipment information that was compatible with James Bond 007. The artwork is good.

 

[Dumarest]

So there's one climbing roll per 200 feet (or less)? Are there suggested guidelines for what Ease level to assign?

No, it's 30 minutes Base Time for every 200 feet you are scaling. You don't need to make multiple attempts unless you roll a failure, in which case the GM d100 to determine what % of your climb you had completed before the fall (and then you resolve the fall), or if your Mountaineering is interrupted (for instance, someone shoots at you and you're wounded).

All Ease Factors default to 5, then the GM would apply modifiers based on your equipment or other circumstances.

 

[Dumarest]

- I just suggested de-coupling time from accuracy, so that there wasn't a strange link which players could meta-game to know "it took me X time so I know I was X% accurate".

I see no reason why you couldn't do that. You might want the GM to roll for the Quality Rating of the information received so the players aren't sure how accurate their interpretation is.

 

[Dumarest]

Since there have been a few questions about Classified, the James Bond 007 "clone," I thought I'd post some examples of the artwork in the book. In my opinion it is across-the-board high quality, and I'm not a fan of most RPG art.

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The artwork in the adventure module Operation Rogue Lion is scratchier and mostly just headshots, nothing very evocative.​

Classified also deserves kudos for having the class to state clearly on its first page that Gerard Christopher Klug was the original designer of the rules they are using.

 

[AsenRG]

And Classified is on a sale until the end of July.
If you could answer about the comparison of the combat/influence systems, I'd be able to make an informed decision!

 

[Nerzenjäger]

This art style is very much to my liking. I like a good inkbrush. Now I have to look into Classified. Thanks!

 

[AsenRG]

The point is to have a game whose rules represent the situation supposedly in play, and that doesn't have a weird gamey meta situation where:

Sorry, but take a step back. The weirg gamey meta situation is one where (let's assume a d100 system for the purposes of this discussion):
-A task can fail due to not rolling a success+time elapsed.
-The same task can fail (or worse, deliver misleading information) due to you blowing the "usefulness" roll.
Why? Because compound probability makes you less likely to succeed - qwhich is fine, by itself. But not accounting for it harms the simulation of your agents' abilities.
Example: you introduce a character who has 60% in Decyphering (after accounting for Ease Factor). By all accounts, this guy should be reliable more than half the time.
Except with your proposed system in place, he's getting a compound chance of making two rolls at 60% equal to 36% (60^2/100). Your "expert" is only reliable about a third of the time.
Even if you give him a +20% bonus for making the first roll, your expert still makes both his rolls less than half the time (0,6X0,8=0,48).
And yes, I've found such differences to be quite significant when playing Traveller.
So, when playing, it's better to resort to a single roll unless you're good at estimating probabilities on the fly.

* I'm assuming I'm right that at a task like decoding something like an encoded enemy message, the decoder should not know for sure exactly how accurate their decoding was. (IIRC this actually happens in the films: agent A smugly says they interpret a message as X, but agent B one-ups them by having a more accurate version. i.e. Agent A thought didn't know how inaccurate they were.)

So, you'd actually hide the second roll from the player.
Which is what I would do, too. But I would hide the first roll to begin with - the one that encompasses both.
Granted, it would be easier with a system like ORE which accounts for speed and reliability in the same roll. But the way to do that in d100 isn't to make a second roll, introducing a second failure point (a.k.a. guaranteeing failure). It's something like "use the single digits die and compare against (value)". Or "double the skill odds, the GM secretly splits it into two skill values that you compare the skill roll to".

* if the player knows rule and the base time, if they know how long it took, they also know how successful the information gathering was

See above. Also wrong in the basic system.

* it's impossible to take short time but have inaccurately decoded something

Wrong. Taking a penalty for less time (lower Ease Factor) isn't unheard-of.

* it's impossible to take a long time but have very accurately decoded something

Wrong again. Taking a bonus to accuracy for spending longer is just as trivially easy.

Also:

* There would be no "second failure chance", unless the situation is such that taking a long time results in failure due to that being too much time for the situation (the chance of which would be the same chance, just independently checked). There would be one roll for how long it takes, and one roll for how accurate it was.

And if it's not the same roll, that's a "second failure chance".
I mean, double agents feed misleading information to enemies. Your innacurate decyphering achieves the same without the enemy needing to plant a mole in your agency.

* As for "thus punishing, against-the-genre, the players that attempt skills outside their specialisation" - possibly needing people with appropriate skills for certain tasks is not "against-the-genre" at all. It's also not "punishing", but simply applying appropriate effects of skills, which hopefully someone choosing to play a game that has different values for different skills would want.

Sorry, no.
Just how often do you see 007 pulling off something that he's been established as mostly unfamiliar with?
I'm just not going to comment on the rest.

 

[CRKrueger]

Do any of the supplements have the stats for Yaphet Kotto?

View attachment 3674

Stats for Yaphet Kotto:
"Kills 1d6 agents per round"

 

[Dumarest]

And Classified is on a sale until the end of July.
If you could answer about the comparison of the combat/influence systems, I'd be able to make an informed decision!

I skimmed Classified and it appears they are the same aside from nomenclature.

 

[Endless Flight]

It’s good deal. $7.50 for the PDF. Sold!

 

[Skarg]

[...] compound probability makes you less likely to succeed - qwhich is fine, by itself. But not accounting for it harms the simulation of your agents' abilities.

That would be a great point if it were what I had suggested, absolutely. It is easy to not pay attention to the statistics going on and create unintentional effects on the odds of success.

Example: you introduce a character who has 60% in Decyphering (after accounting for Ease Factor). By all accounts, this guy should be reliable more than half the time.
Except with your proposed system in place, he's getting a compound chance of making two rolls at 60% equal to 36% (60^2/100). Your "expert" is only reliable about a third of the time.
Even if you give him a +20% bonus for making the first roll, your expert still makes both his rolls less than half the time (0,6X0,8=0,48).
And yes, I've found such differences to be quite significant when playing Traveller.
So, when playing, it's better to resort to a single roll unless you're good at estimating probabilities on the fly.

Sorry if I wasn't clear enough. I was suggesting there still be one roll to determine the degree of success, with the original chances. The other roll would not include a chance to cause failure, but be to determine how long it would take. Optionally, there could be a modifier which would have the results be related but not in lockstep, but I wouldn't have it throw off the chance of success.

When I mentioned that the time could cause failure, I meant that if the situation were such that the time would mean the agent is still decoding when something important happens so he has to stop or the results are no longer useful. I suppose it might be possible that the statistics of a modifier might tend to swing the time out more often or something, but that could be accounted for and adjusted if it seemed undesirable.

[So, you'd actually hide the second roll from the player.
Which is what I would do, too. But I would hide the first roll to begin with - the one that encompasses both.

Yeah I would hide both and probably add some irregularity to the results table, because I like detail and uncertainty in things that shouldn't be knowable to the players/PCs, such as:

* The time to do something always nicely fitting certain chunks of time and not other time amounts.
* The amount of accuracy always only being certain % values (not sure how you apply that though, so it might not matter).

When a rule gives a time and a degree of success, there tends to be then the question of how long the players commit to trying, and when during that time do the players/PCs get what level of information about how long it's going to take and how well they are doing.

Player: The ship leaves in 8 hours. I will spend up to 6 hours trying to decode this mysterious transmission.
GM: Ok. (rolls) After 4 hours, Dr. Fugu phones and tells you that something suspicious is happening at the hospital...
Player: Ok, how has the decoding been going? Do I think I'm getting it right or not? How much more time do I think I need? Does the part I've decoded tell me anything yet? (etc)

Granted, it would be easier with a system like ORE which accounts for speed and reliability in the same roll. But the way to do that in d100 isn't to make a second roll, introducing a second failure point (a.k.a. guaranteeing failure). It's something like "use the single digits die and compare against (value)". Or "double the skill odds, the GM secretly splits it into two skill values that you compare the skill roll to".

That doesn't seem necessarily true. Adding a second independent roll might or might not increase the chance of failure, depending on what it means. And while using the single digits die to mean something else can work well & cleverly in some cases, it can also introduce weird statistical side-effects if not applied with care.

Taking a penalty for less time (lower Ease Factor) isn't unheard-of.

But that's an intentional technique by the player. By itself it doesn't make it possible to finish quickly but have made a big mistake, or to take a really long time yet be very accurate. And since the player chose to apply it, it doesn't reduce the player meta-knowledge.

Taking a bonus to accuracy for spending longer is just as trivially easy.

Again, it doesn't de-couple the relationship or fix the meta-knowledge issue.

Just how often do you see 007 pulling off something that he's been established as mostly unfamiliar with?

Fairly often, actually. It's needed to keep some tension and irony and interest. 007 does incredible and often wildly unrealistic things, but he also sometimes fails even at things you expect him to succeed at, which is exciting and interesting and forces him to them come up with interesting ways to deal with that. I would assume that would be where the interesting gameplay would tend to be, and that you therefore want to have a really good system that gives you a fun and interesting balance where as 007 you get to be good and mostly succeed really well and be able to pull off incredible things, but there is always some chance something won't go right and you'll need to deal with such situations.

More importantly, although this is called the JAMES BOND 007 role-playing system, it's not just rules for simulating things 007 does. You can play as non-00 agents, or even non-agents, as well as needing rules for all sorts of NPCs to try to do things.

And of course, as in pretty much all RPGs, the GM is responsible for what things to include in the scope of play that even has chances of failure involved, or not.

 

[Dumarest]

Onward and upward with Chapter 3: Skills:

Pickpocket involves removing an item or object no larger than a large handgun from your victim without your victim being aware. You can get positive modifiers to the Ease Factor if you employ teamwork, distractions, and so on. A victim with a high PER characteristic, however, will give you a negative modifier. Nighttime/darkness is another positive modifier; broad daylight is another negative. This skill results in total success or total failure; there is no middle ground. Personally I would have the GM make the roll rather than the player because I can easily see occasions where someone might just pretend not to know what you've done for reasons of his own, n'est-ce pas?

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Piloting applies to control and flight of all forms of aircraft. You'd use it mainly for chases. You needn't chuck any dice unless you're attempting something unusual with your aircraft and there's a risk of failure. More on chases in Chapter 5: Chases. You can also use this skill for ancillary activities. The example provided is using your Piloting skill to locate where the parachutes are kept on the airplane that is about to crash.

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Riding covers all tasks involving control, direction, and speed of any animal your character rides during a chase. It can also be used to try to calm down any excited animal you encounter, so I'd say it fairly broadly covers anything in the category of animal handling.

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Science is for tasks involving your ability to process scientific data and arrive at conclusions from the information. It's assumed that to use this skill your character has received general scientific training in lab procedures, scientific methods, and so on. Usually this skill is used to answer a question, such as "Is this water contaminated?" or "How do I disarm this nuclear bomb?" When a player poses such a question, several factors need to be considered by the GM: (1) do you need a lab or other equipment to find the answer? (2) if a lab is needed, will a portable one do or do you need a sophisticated lab such as might be found at an M.I.6 station or at M.I.6 headquarters? (3) if a lab is not needed, can the answer be obtained by simple examination of the clues at hand? The GM will then tell the player whether or not the character can answer the question and if any special equipment is needed to do so. You'll get Ease Factor modifiers depending upon the environment of the task and the availability of modern conveniences and equipment. There are optional rules for scientific specialties if your GM wants to implement them. If so, you select a specialty such as Science (Biology) and would get a +2 modifier to your Ease Factor when dealing within your specialty and a -1 modifier outside that specialty. GMs are cautioned to remember that PCs are "secret agents, not chemical engineers," so "their knowledge will not be all that specific." Personally I wouldn't use the optional rules as heavy science questions are the sort of thing a secret agent would refer to the experts and that's a great way to involve a character like Dr. Holly Goodhead in your scenario.

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Next: the last of the skills and possibly all three abilities!

 

[Dumarest]

Just about polishing off Chapter 3: Skills:

It wouldn't be Bond without Seduction, would it? This is the skill you'll use "to form an intimate romantic relationship with" an NPC, thereby altering that NPC's Reaction to your character, "possibly resulting in a more beneficial working relationship." I think we're all well aware of this trope from Bond novels and films. The GM secretly determines the results of your Seduction attempt and roleplays the results. I'll be honest, I'm not going to roleplay this stuff that deeply, at least not in the first-person "Oh, James!" sense. It's just not my thing. You can try to use your Connoisseur ability to get a bonus to your Ease Factor. However, note that "as in the real world, just because the NPC will form an intimate relationship with a character does not necessarily mean the NPC's mind will be changed." There are more details in Chapter 6: How to Interact with Non-Player Characters.

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Sixth Sense represents that special acute subconscious awareness and instinct developed by your PC a result of her long experience and native suspicion. During the course of a scenario, situations may develop thay place the PC's life in jeopardy, but only the GM will be aware of it. The GM may make a hidden roll and, depending on the Quality Rating, inform you of what your PC has "sensed." What your character does about it is then up to you. The example provided has two PCs walking down a street and two odd-looking men fumbling with boxes. For one of the PCs, the GM gets a Quality Rating 2 and I'm not personally crazy about using these rules as presented in the game as the example has the GM telling the player that he "suspects the two boxes are bombs, possibly set to go off shortly." That seems incredibly specific to me. I'm more inclined to use this skill to give the player a chance to notice something amiss, to have a niggling doubt or nascent suspicion that, for instance, the two men don't look like deliverymen and "What are they doing unloading boxes across from Lord Randall's townhouse on a Sunday anyway?" Then the player has an opportunity to act on his hunch, but I don't like the specificity of the example in the book. I prefer to use Sixth Sense as a way to tip off a player, if the Quality Rating says so, to something a trained secret agent might notice but her day spa receptionist player might not. I also think it shouldn't be overused so the players don't come to rely on it in lieu of their wits.

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Stealth is for tasks where your character is attempting to move silently and as visually inconspicuous as possible. Note that this skill only allows you to try to move from one concealable position to another: if you move directly into the line of sight of an observer, he will see you no matter how well you rolled the dice. Instead, you'll need to use cover and/or camouflage and time your movements for when the observer is looking in another direction or is otherwise distracted. On a Quality Rating of 1, 2, or 3 you have successfully moved without being noticed. If you get a Quality Rating of 4, any possible observers or listeners get a chance to make a PER roll at Ease Factor 5 to notice you. (The GM does not reveal the results of such rolls...you'll find out in due time!) If your Stealth roll was a failure, you've "made enough noise to wake the dead." Ease Factor modifiers can include darkness, rain, fog, camouflage, distractions, searchlights, and whatever else may help or hinder your sneaking about. The GM is advised not to allow a PC to traverse more than 100 feet without performing a roll; thus a PC attempting to creep across 270 feet would need to make at least 3 separate rolls. The Base Time is 1 minute per 50 feet.

​

​

Torture is verboten for PCs and intended to be used only by NPCs. However, there's no reason you can't allow it if you want that tone for your game: the formula for acquiring the skill is provided on the same list with all the others. This skill, unlike Interrogation, involves physically abusing a victim to force him to reveal information. Modifiers to Ease Factor would be based on such things as what particular type of physical abuse the torturer has chosen, the physical condition of the victim, and what drugs (if any) are being applied to the victim. PCs can attempt to resist Torture via their WIL characteristic. Chapter 6: How to Interact with Non-Player Characters has a Torture Chart for determining how much information a victim reveals.

​

Next: Connoisseur, First Aid, and Photography, the three abilities all PCs get for free.
​

 

[Dumarest]

Voros , here are those stats you need for "Yaphet Kotto" for the James Bond 007 one-shot I assume you are volunteering to run for some lucky Pub denizens.

Spoiler

Spoiler alert: Unlike the movie, Mr. Big and Dr. Kananga are two different people in the Live and Let Die adventure module.

​

​

 

[Dumarest]

I didn't realize what I was getting myself into when I decided to discuss every skill in Chapter 3, but it's too late to turn back now.

Abilities are used in exactly the same manner as skills. The only difference is that they are free, you get a Primary Chance of 20, and they cannot be improved. We talked about it a bit upthread, and there's no real reason that I can decipher for why they weren't just included as free skills at a preordained level and open to improvement. It works just fine either way, so do what you like.

Connoisseur represents your ability to sense quality, place of origin, and/or point of information concerning any item of food, drink, or etiquette. Essentially it's provided so you can capture some of glamour and flavor of the Bond milieu. It can also be used as a prelude to your Seduction attempts; if you first impress your target with your wordly suavity, you'll get +1 to the Ease Factor of your subsequent Seduction endeavour.

​

First Aid tasks involve your PC's ability to lessen the pain of any wounds received and to speed recovery from wounds. You need access reasonably sterile bandages, or an acceptable facsimile thereof (say, a strip of material torn from the hem of a femme fatale's dress), to use this skill. The rules don't say so, but I'd let a PC use this to make a splint or set a bone or pop a dislocated joint back into place as well, maybe with a negative Ease Factor modifier, assuming they have the necessary equipment to try these things. You can only use this ability once for each injured character. Success will reduce the severity of a wound; for instance a Medium Wound is reduced to a Light Wound. Note that providing first aid to an animal would use the Riding skill rather than the First Aid ability. Wounds and healing are detailed in Chapter 4: Combat.

​

Photography, obviously, requires access to the appropriate equipment to record and store photographic images. The GM makes your roll for you "since the success will not be known until the film is developed." (Remember, this game is © 1983.) One roll needs to be made for each roll of film exposures used. The rules don't address this, but given how broad the skills in this game are, I would let a PC use Photography to interpret photographs and try to identify faked photos and things like that as well.

​

And that wraps up the skills. Next up is combat.

 

[Skarg]

Pickpocket involves removing an item or object no larger than a large handgun from your victim without your victim being aware. [...] Personally I would have the GM make the roll rather than the player because I can easily see occasions where someone might just pretend not to know what you've done for reasons of his own, n'est-ce pas?

Oui!

Sixth Sense represents that special acute subconscious awareness and instinct developed by your PC a result of her long experience and native suspicion. During the course of a scenario, situations may develop thay place the PC's life in jeopardy, but only the GM will be aware of it. The GM may make a hidden roll and, depending on the Quality Rating, inform you of what your PC has "sensed." What your character does about it is then up to you. The example provided has two PCs walking down a street and two odd-looking men fumbling with boxes. For one of the PCs, the GM gets a Quality Rating 2 and I'm not personally crazy about using these rules as presented in the game as the example has the GM telling the player that he "suspects the two boxes are bombs, possibly set to go off shortly." That seems incredibly specific to me. I'm more inclined to use this skill to give the player a chance to notice something amiss, to have a niggling doubt or nascent suspicion that, for instance, the two men don't look like deliverymen and "What are they doing unloading boxes across from Lord Randall's townhouse on a Sunday anyway?" Then the player has an opportunity to act on his hunch, but I don't like the specificity of the example in the book. I prefer to use Sixth Sense as a way to tip off a player, if the Quality Rating says so, to something a trained secret agent might notice but her day spa receptionist player might not. I also think it shouldn't be overused so the players don't come to rely on it in lieu of their wits.

​

​

Yep. There are huge differences between intuition, noticing things due to being observant / experienced / suspicious / etc, and accurate literal psychic visions.

 

[Dumarest]

There are huge differences between intuition, noticing things due to being observant / experienced / suspicious / etc, and accurate literal psychic visions.​

​

Exactly why I prefer using it as I described rather than the example in the rules. I see it more as the result of the agent's training and experience that his awareness of what goes on around him, and observance of minute details and changes in his environment, are almost to the extent of a useful paranoia. After all, these are people who put a fine strand of hair across a drawer so they can check if anyone looked inside while they were out of the room!

 

[Dumarest]

Chapter 4: Combat

"Often all of Bond's guile and intelligence cannot prevent the guns-blazing, bullets-flying confrontation with the enemy."

​

Combat in James Bond 007 is structured in turns called Action Rounds. Each character involved in the fight takes one action; once everyone has acted the next Action Round begins. Each round is divided into two parts: the Declaration and the Action. The Declaration simply means all the PCs and NPCs* orally declare their actions for the round in as much detail as needed to describe what they are attempting to do: move, fire a Walther PPK at a target, disable a nuclear bomb, hold fire to see what someone else will do, and so on. The limit to your Declaration is that it has to be an Action that your character can reasonably expect to perform in approximately 3 to 5 seconds. Complicated Actions will take multiple rounds to perform. Once an Action has been declared, you have to follow through on it and you cannot change your mind after all Actions have been declared. It's implied, but not stated outright, that if a player declares an Action and the GM informs her that it will take more than one Action Round, she can change her mind and do something else instead. The reason I interpret it this way is that there is an optional rule in a sidebar that states the GM can make the player go through with her Action once it has been declared even if she didn't realize beforehand that it could not be done in one Action Round. I'm not sure how I feel about that; it feels a bit like sticking it to a player for not being able to predict what the GM will rule. I think I'd go ahead and let the player change her mind if she says, "I'm going to pop up from behind the crate, shoot at the terrorist, and run across the courtyard to the motel room door" and I tell her that will take two Action Rounds to accomplish.

So, how do we determine the order in which characters make their Declarations? After all, it could be very important and advantageous to know what another character intends to do before you commit yourself to a particular Action. The order in which Declarations are made is determined by each character's Speed. The lowest-Speed character declares himself first and the fastest character has the advantage of making his Declaration last. Ties are resolved by rolling a d6, lowest roll wins. The order of Declarations is retained throughout the combat.

Okay, so everyone has made his Declaration for the upcoming Action Round. How do we determine the order in which characters take their Actions? The highest-Speed character acts first and the lowest-Speed character acts last. You have to attempt to complete any Action you have begun, unless the Actions of another character make it impossible to continue. The example given is for a character who wants to run across an alleyway and hide behind some garbage cans on the opposite side; the character is wounded by an NPC's gunshot and falls to the ground midway across the alley; obviously he can't continue his Action at that point. To me this is just common sense.

Sometimes your character who has not yet drawn his weapon during an Action Round will be fired upon by an NPC . In this instance you can modify your declared Action and attempt to outdraw the NPC.

​

This is a rule designed to emulate the source material and give the PCs a slight, yet crucial, edge over their opponents. The winner is determined by a d6 roll for each character + their respective Speeds +/- any modifiers. Highest result wins. Modifiers include using a weapon that has to be "pulled out" (I'm picturing a pistol in a shoulder holster, for instance) or being wounded at the time. Some weapons also have a "draw adjustment" (ranging from +1 for a Walther PPK to -2 for a heavy speargun) that improves or lessens your chance to fire first. Even if your PC loses the draw, he still has to follow through on his shot. It's important to note here that your Speed also determines how many times you can fire in an Action Round (up to the maximum allowed by the weapon you are using). For example, a Walther PPK can be fired twice in one Action Round; if your Speed is 2 or higher you can fire twice per round with it. Conversely, a heavy speargun can only be fired once per Action Round, so even if you have a Speed of 3 you're still limited to one shot per round (to say nothing of the time it will take to reload the damned thing: 3 Action Rounds). So don't bring a heavy speargun to a gunfight unless you only need to get off one shot.

Next time: Combat Movement and Damage!

* Note that a PC may be unaware of the presence of an NPC, in which case the GM does not announce the NPC's action. It'll be a nice surprise for the PCs when they come under fire from an unseen enemy!

 

[Dumarest]

The section on Combat Movement declares that the exact position of a character during combat "must be known by the GM and you at all times" and advises you to use maps with a scale of 1 inch = 10 feet. You can use pencils, markers, pawns, etc., to move about on the graph. Personally I have found it unnecessary and time-consuming. Usually you can get by just fine saying something like, "The guy in the camouflage vest is about 30 feet ahead of you on the left side of the armored car, with most of his lower body behind the vehicle." I suppose if a situation arises where it's vitally important I would probably sketch something on a sheet of paper and indicate who is where, but I haven't had it come up that often. Maybe I'd do it more if I had some cool secret agent miniatures to use. Anyway, there are two kinds of movement your character can make during combat: normal and zigzag.

With normal movement, your character can move 10 feet x Speed characteristic per Action Round. If you're using the recommended grid, this means your Speed is how many squares you can move in an Action Round. You can move over small impediments or objects such as boxes, barrels, and so on, with no need for any dice rolls; the GM will tell you an obstacle causes any kind of delay. You can also combine your movement with Fire Combat or Hand-to-Hand Combat taking place before, during, or after your move. At the end of your movement, you should describe your posture: are you standing, crouching behind the trash can, kneeling, lying prone? The reason this is important is because if anyone shoots at you, there may be a negative modifier to the shooter's Ease Factor depending on what sort of target you present. Examples: kneeling is equivalent to 1/3 cover = -2 Ease Factor to hit; lying prone is equivalent to 2/3 cover = -4 Ease Factor to hit. The GM may decrease the distance you can move depending upon your posture at end of an Action Round: if you're prone, you'll need to get up or crawl, either way you'll lose time or speed. The GM is also advised that if a player consistently declares that his PC will move, fire, and fall prone at the end of every Action Round in order to gain the advantage of being a harder target, tell the players that you'll start having NPCs do the same thing unless they cut out the ridiculousness.

Zigzag movement is a special type of dodging movement which allows the character to sacrifice distance moved in order to make herself a harder target. If you're using zigzag movement, your character can move 5 feet x Speed characteristic per Action Round (i.e., half your normal movement rate, so no need to write it down as it's easy to remember both). Additionally, unlike normal movement, you cannot use Fire Combat or Hand-to-Hand Combat simultaneous with your zigzagging. It doesn't say on the page describing movement, but later in the book there is a table that states someone shooting at a zigzagging target gets -4 Ease Factor to hit. I think that should have been included in the text on page 45 where it's explaining that you can sacrifice movement for safety; as it is, it's very vague what that means until a sidebar on page 49, which you could easily miss if you're just skimming for information. (I'll get to the +/- modifiers for Fire Combat and Hand-to-Hand Combat in a few pages.)

Next: "The object of combat is to damage..."

 

[Skarg]

Bravo to them for insisting on maps!

It sounds like they had some issues figuring out how to sequence things to not have issues with the Declarations and posture system.

 

[Dumarest]

And now a few words from our sponsor:

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[Dumarest]

As I was saying, "The object of combat is to damage, and hopefully put out of action, your enemy before he can do it to your character." So, you'll generally use the skils Fire Combat or Hand-to-Hand Combat, roll against your Ease Factor, and determine how badly your target is hurt based on the Quality Rating of a successful roll. All weapons, including your own fists/feet/whatever, have a Damage Class which measures "how much damage the weapon does to a human being," which is curious phrasing to me because on page 48 the book explains how to adjudicate Damage to Material Objects as well, so it's not as if there are no rules for that. Damage Classes are ranked alphabetically from A to L, with A being the least damage and L the most. The damage you cause via Hand-to-Hand Combat was determined based on your STR characteristic when you created your character and ranges from A to C. If you're ever creating a character and have a STR of 8 (Damage Class A), I recommend seeing if you can come up with another 100 Generation Points to push that up to 9 (Damage Class B) as you'll then be able to inflict a Medium Wound barehanded. Damage Classes for various weapons are listed in Chapter 11: Equipment. As you would imagine, the better the Quality Rating you roll, the more damage you cause to your target.

Explanation of Wound Levels describes the difference between a Light Wound and a Heavy Wound, etc.:

• ST = Stun = in Fire Combat, the target must make an Ease Factor 8 WIL roll to avoid being stunned. Failure means you're pinned down and can't take any actions. In Hand-to-Hand Combat, the target must make an Ease Factor 8 STR roll. Failure means you're beaten senseless and fall to the ground for d6 Action Rounds (the GM rolls this in secret and tells the player when he regains his senses). Note that the WIL or STR roll is made during the Declarations phase of each Action Round.
• LW = Light Wound = Ease Factor 7 WIL roll, called a Pain Resistance roll, to continue taking actions. These rolls are also made during Declarations. If a charactsr has been stunned and then is wounded, he doesn't get to make a Pain Resistance roll until the Stun has worn off.
• MW = Medium Wound = same as LW except the Pain Resistance roll is at Ease Factor 5.
• HW = Heavy Wound = same as MW except the Pain Resistance roll is at Ease Factor 3.
• IN = Incapacitated = the character falls unconscious for d6 hours. The GM rolls in secret as per the Stun result. The character also suffers a HW, but no Pain Resistance roll is made.
• KL = Killed = your character is dead and removed from play.

It is important to mention now that you can spend any Hero Points you may have to lower the result of an NPC's Quality Rating for combat. Spending 1 Hero Point increases the Quality Rating by 1, thus you could change a Quality Rating 4 result into a failure by spending 1 Hero Point, or a Quality Rating 1 result to Quality Rating 3 by spending 2 Hero Points.

Note that while this may have the effect of changing the Wound Level, you are actually only changing the Quality Rating and the change in Wound Level, if any, is a byproduct of that. This is important to remember because sometimes changing the Quality Rating doesn't effect the Wound Level. See the Wound Level Chart for instances of this:

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If your character suffers a wound and fails her Pain Resistance roll, she falls prone to the ground, clutching her wound and drops whatever weapon she is carrying. The same is true for an Incapacitated character. But remember, being stunned by Fire Combat is different as you have not actually been hit (see above under ST).

Additonally, wounded characters get Ease Factor penalties on all tasks they attempt until they've been healed, and characters who have been Incapacitated have a chance of receiving a scar.

There's also a nifty Fall Wound Chart your GM can roll on if you are on a precarious height and fail your Pain Resistance roll and then fail a DEX roll (Ease Factor determined by the GM based on your circumstances: narrow ledge, lots of tree branches available, heavily encumbered, etc.) to save yourself from falling.

Finally, wounds will accumulate. If you suffer a second wound, there's a Wound Accumulation Chart that tells you the effect of the new wound when added to the old wound. Generally any new wound increases you by one step (LW + LW = MW, MW + LW = HW, for example).

While Hand-to-Hand Combat primarily differs from Fire Combat damage in degree, there is one major difference to be aware of: characters with extremely high STR (14-15) can attempt to Shaking Off Wounds that were not inflicted by "a stabbing point or a cutting edge." This is an Ease Factor 5 STR roll. Success means reduction of the damage by 2 Wound Levels. This emulates big tough guys like Oddjob and Jaws laughing off your secret agent's puny punches and karate chops.

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Next: Area Weapon Damage and more!

 

[Skarg]

But remember, being stunned by Fire Combat is different as you have not actually been hit (see above under ST).

Maybe I'm confused, but it seemed like a logical problem that the Damage Class for a firearm can be D (the only DC above C that includes a ST result), since that means that damage class can get a ST and therefore miss, but guns with higher DC cannot(?). However I checked the weapons and found that no firearms in the Basic book have a DC of D. There are two pistols in the Q Manual that do, a Colt .25 automatic and a .38 revolver disused after the 1950s, which Q's notes say was inaccurate, so I guess class D guns are intentionally weak & inaccurate ones.

On the other hand, if that's true, then it seems like there could also be powerful-striking but inaccurate guns, except there is no DC for that, or maybe it can be done in some other way?

(Assuming I'm interpreting this correctly.)

 

[Dumarest]

The lowest firearm Damage Class is E in the basic rules. The Q Manual actually includes three Damage Class D pistols: the Colt Cobra .38, the Colt Pocket .25 Automatic, and the Ruger T-512. I'm not sure why. The first two are described as relatively inaccurate, whereas the last one is supposed to be very accurate and an assassin's sidearm of choice. The only other way to achieve Damage Class D would be using a Hand-to-Hand weapon that gives +1, +2, or +3 to your Hand-to-Hand Damage Class of C, B, or A, respectively, or to use a Cho-No-Ku (a Chinese repeating crossbow).

My best guess is whoever assigned those Damage Classes made an error as it would make more sense to give an Ease Factor penalty for inaccurate weapons and a higher Damage Class for greater stopping power, or a combination of both. Which we can easily do ourselves to correct the issue.

 

[Skarg]

Cool, that makes sense (especially for the Ruger T-512). Thanks for the elaboration!

 

[Dumarest]

Area Weapon Damage

Area weapons, such as missiles or grenades, explode at a patricular point and cause damage radiating outward from there.

​

How much damage you take depends upon your distance from the point of impact and, obviously, the Damage Class of the weapon, which will range from I to L. There is a handy chart for the GM to cross-reference your character's distance in feet from the point of impact with the Damage Class to determine your Wound Level. It's best to avoid direct hits from area weapons as even the lowest Damage Class will result in a Heavy Wound if you're within 10 feet of the explosion. Remember, Hero Points cannot change the Wound Level except as a byproduct of changing the Quality Rating of an NPC's roll.

​

(Surprisingly, no grenades are provided in the basic rules; you'll need to invent your own stats or get the Q Manual if you want official rules.)

​

Damage to Material Objects mainly addesses shooting at someone through walls or windows or inside a vehicle and other such scenarios; depending on how tough a material or vehicle is, there may be a Wound Level adjustment (from HW to MW, for example). Damage to vehicles is based is covered more fully in Chapter 5: Chases. Damage to doors, locks, and other objects is left to the GM's discretion and common sense.

(Windshields, unfortunately, don't help much.)​

Next: Fire Combat and Hand-to-Hand Combat options!

 

[Skarg]

Looking at the rule section you mention and nearby, I'm not seeing anything about how you determine where a thrown, launched or fired explosive projectile actually explodes. How do you determine that?

 

[Dumarest]

The basic rules provide no grenades nor any rules for where they land, but in the Q Manual on pages 24 to 25 we are told that a grenade can be prepared and thrown in one Action Round. A grenade can be thrown a number of "game inches" (i.e., 10 feet) equal to the thrower's STR characteristic (or STR x 10 feet). The thrower chooses where he wants it to land and rolls for Hand-to-Hand Combat*; on a Quality Rating of 1 that is where it lands. On Quality Ratings of 2, 3, and 4 it misses by 20%, 30%, or 40% in a random direction (you can roll a d6 and number the sides of a hex around the intended target to see where it goes instead). On a failure, it misses the target by 50% in a random direction. On a roll of 98 or 99 the grenade is a dud and on a roll of 00 the grenade explodes prematurely. If you're within 10 feet you can attempt an Ease Factor 5 DEX roll to try to toss it out of harm's way before it blows you up; if you get a Quality Rating 1 it lands in the originally intended location.

I don't see any such rules for missiles and such things, but missiles have Performance Modifiers that affect Ease Factor the same way that vehicles do for chases. I'd have the character launching the missile make a Fire Combat* roll and apply the Quality Rating to where it hits just as with grenades. It makes sense to me as a missile should usually be more accurate than a thrown object, thus the Performance Modifier. This is something the rules should have addressed. Perhaps the rules are tucked away in an adventure module as games sometimes added new rules as needed in that era. Or maybe I'll come to it buried in an inopportune location while I read through and post.

* Remember, Fire Combat includes missiles, rocket-propelled grenades, and any projectile weapon and Hand-to-Hand Combat includes all thrown weapons.