• Spycraft: d20 System Espionage Role-Playing Game

• by Patrick Kapera and Kevin Wilson
• 287 pages
• ISBN 1-887953-43-4
• Alderac Entertainment Group
• www.spycraftrpg.com
• MSRP: $34.95

Evil geniuses hunger for world domination. Insane cults launch terror attacks against unsuspecting targets. Power-hungry industrialists partner with tyrannical despots to threaten the civilized world. Who's going to stop them? You are.

In Spycraft, players take on the role of highly-trained intelligence operatives battling these threats and others using a variation of the d20 rules that power D&D 3rd Edition. Like D&D, play revolves around a group of characters controlled by players (the player characters) and an individual who runs the game and provides the necessary stories (the Game Controller, which in D&D is called the Dungeon Master)

The game is strongly classed, offering players one of six core classes to play: faceman, pointman, solider and wheelman, each of which has its own special abilities, tricks and advantages. It also shares a similar feat and skill system -- indeed, some of them are taken directly from the Player's Handbook. But while the concepts and names may be familiar, the entire feat and skill system has been upgraded for play in the modern age. There are numerous martial arts, driving and firearm feats, as well as specialized modern skills like demolitions and cryptography.

There's only one race in Spycraft -- human -- but each character can choose from one of six espionage backgrounds. These backgrounds serve a role similar to that of races in D&D, presenting players with certain advantages and disadvantages over the baseline character. Most of the rest of the game mechanics -- like saving throws, base attack bonuses and experience points required to level a character -- are identical to D&D, but there are a few notable differences.

For one, Spycraft borrows the