Thursday, February 14, 2013

On Tradecraft

Like most people, I have only a passing knowledge of spy/covert tradecraft gleaned from countless examples via TV and movies. Knowing that these examples are probably terribly theatrical and not at all realistic, I've started reading up on actual tradecraft so that I'll have a better idea of what to think about when working on Classified adventures. So far I'm about halfway done with one book and I've got another in the mail working it's way towards me right now.

I have to say that there have been several good points that would *not* have crossed my mind when designing scenarios or enemies and I'm enjoying that nice, visceral, thrill one gets when something that's very simple, but very cool, is going to make it into a published product and it's going to make a "Awe, that was cool!" moment in a game.

And hell, I can count this time as work! Sometimes I have the best job in the world.

2 comments:

Mad Media Man said...

Joseph, I came across Classified when I saw a mention of it on the RPG.net forums. Very excited to see this!

I was a long time James Bond RPG game master/player. I also served in the U.S. Army as an Intelligence Analyst for 8 years, so I'm very familiar with "tradecraft." If you are going for a more cinematic direction don't get too hung up on real world Intel work. The Bond system did a great job finding a happy medium of being grounded enough in the real world while still incorporating the fantastic elements of the books and films.

jgbrowning said...

I'm very excited to be working on it! :-)

Cool to hear about your background. I'm trying to improve my Intel knowledge so I can be a better scenario writer, but it's not going to be something I'm expecting the players to be aware of. If something technical is important, I'll just point it out to the GM so he can point it out to the players that their characters know "X" about the subject. It's more window dressing than integrated material.

Right now, it's looking like Classified is going to be a bit less fantastical than some of the film elements, but those elements will still be completely compatible if the GM and players prefer the more cinematic play.

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