I've noticed a few fans of this game around here. I haven't able to run any (edited to add) adventures(end edit)  of this awesome, praiseworthy set of rules, of late, but really want to hear tales of others tabletop adventures. Please share.

I ran a game where the characters were the inheritors of a small, but well known private investigation/security advisory group. Their first job? Investigate the owner's murder, who was allegedly murdered with his own firearm in a locked room (and it was made to look like a suicide.)

The investigation went on for about three game sessions before the player's decided who was responsible and presented their case to the other shareholders in the firm.

They decided he actually had committed suicide--which is how the police ruled the case. Despite upsetting a few heirs, who wanted a "new" will to be upheld, their investigation and evidence proved he was suffering mental illness and not capable of altering his will with appropriate mental stability required by law.

Of course his suicide was simply his way of getting out of ongoing agonizing pain and ill health caused by (eventually) terminal cancer.

One of the most cerebral games I've run in s long time. Although as usual I threw some "unusual" elements in the back story because mundane world gaming--even adventurous "mundane" world, bores me to tears. In this case I set the thing in a fantasy world. (Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, magic.) This made it harder to realize that his suicide was just suicide.

There is some MS&PE chatter on my T&T Forum if you don't get much talk here.

MS&PE is a pretty neat game to play. Pretty simple in concept, easy to expand to more complexity as desired.

I ran a 'Cast a Deadly Spell' inspired campaign with Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes for quite a while. I added the Emotional Stability mechanic from the Sorceror's Apprentice article on horror gaming (The Lovecraft Variant). The players all seemed to have a great time and they still reference the campaign 15 years after I ran it.

Probably the most memorable series of adventures was the investigation of a private nightclub in New York called "The Thirteens." It turned out that the place was a front for a circle of cannibalistic magicians. During the pitched battle that ended the game one of the zombie waiters got set ablaze. Since zombies aren't terribly swift, it kept trying to serve the dish it was responsible for. So during the blazing gunfight, this burning zombie kept shuffling around waving a dish at people and repeating "Cherries flambe', cherries flambe' would the gentleman care for some cherries flambe'?" Great fun all around.

I've heard about this game before, but I know nothing about it (other than it's old and OOP).

What's the system like?

It's sad that they dont even make the game available via .pdf so people who were interested in the game could actually get it.

I have a specific forum for these kinds of games, you assholes.



I was more of a Top Secret player, but small towns in Northern Wisconsin are not really noted for the wide variety of gaming opportunities.  The game always did intrigue me from the Dragon ads and stuff, so I second the motion to discuss the system.

It's basically Tunnels and Trolls with skills and guns.  Let's investigate why this is a wonderful thing.

The stats are still Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Luck, Charisma and Speed.  They're still rolled up on 3d6 with a +1 to combat adds for each point of Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Luck over 12 and -1 per point under 9.  Hit Points are still equal to Constitution.  

Skills are bought with Intelligence points and are a nice range for a modern game, not too little, not too much.  Most of the skills have special rules and it's important to read them.  If you don't read the Physician skill, the combat rules won't tell you that dropping below 0 Hit Points doesn't automatically kill your character.

Gaining experience levels adds to the character's stats, just like T&T.  If you want action movie characters, level ten will give you characters as hard as any Schwartzneger or Chuck Noris protagonist.

Saving Throws are still the core mechanic.  2d6 + Stat roll over target number of 15 + 5 x Difficulty Level.  Doubles add and roll over and Rolls under five are automatic failures.  Skill Levels are added to the stat.

Melee attacks are attack total (weapon dice + combat adds) minus combat total just like T&T except skilled combatants can 'parry' forcing their foe to take the full damage from their attack.

Gun fire has two tables giving target numbers at different ranges for pistols and rifles.  There's a few modifiers but the target numbers are pretty high which is good because getting shot is brutal.  Autofire is handled by dividing the number of bullets by six and rolling the resulting number of dice to determine the number of hits.

Guns do at least 3 dice damage and most are in the  5 to 9 dice range.  Clever readers will note that you average 10 HP.  Armor is of limited utility.  DO NOT GET SHOT.  Your negative hit point level effects the difficulty of life saving surgery.

Vehicle combat is only loosely handled and breaks down if you think about it too hard.   Keep it in mind that the game simply isn't intended to focus on that type of thing.  It'll handle your car chase just fine but you wouldn't want to simulate the battle of Kursk with it.

There's a few nice essays by Mike Stackpole on how to run mercenary missions, spy missions, and mysteries.   As well as stats for Sherlock Holmes and Watson.

All in all it's a simple game with a do it yourself focus.  It manages to be compatible with Tunnels and Trolls without being in any way silly or absurd.  The best supplements you can get for it are a car buyers guide, a Shooter's Bible, and a Sears catelog.

Quote from: The Butcher;437935I've heard about this game before, but I know nothing about it (other than it's old and OOP).

What's the system like?

As I understand it isn't OOP, you can still get copies from the publisher...

I think they probably still have books left from the first print run.  It wasn't exactly a hit.  I'd probably never looked at it, except I remembered an ad from Dragon and it was just $12.  And I still have a soft spot for Tunnels and Trolls.

Quote from: David Johansen;437990I think they probably still have books left from the first print run.  It wasn't exactly a hit.  I'd probably never looked at it, except I remembered an ad from Dragon and it was just $12.  And I still have a soft spot for Tunnels and Trolls.

Didn't they change cover art/style from first to second?

Since I know I've seen two different covers.

I've seen two covers--the original color cover, with Robert Shaw, Bogart, and Charles Gray on it, and a black and white cover with a sneaky looking girl on the front and some submarine blueprints on the back. I have a feeling some b&w covers have something different on the back, but I can't swear to it. Original books have simpler firearms tables and lack sample characters. Some say they're done by Flying Buffalo, and some say they're done by Sleuth Publications.

Several of the adventures are cross-statted for Espionage!, which was the contemporaneous Hero spy game. They're OK. As good as most Top Secret modules, but not as good as 007 modules.

Gear lists in MSPE are definitely in early 80s dollars. To move it through time, I use the comparative consumer price indexes for the year I want to adjust starting money and cost lists.

I used to keep an enormous card file of every TV/movie/pulp action hero I could think of, from Doc Savage to Kolchak to Stringfellow Hawke. We played some pretty slick crossover scenarios with those things.

Character generation in MSPE is quick and easy. It's from the generation of games that expected character death to be fairly common, and didn't shy away from being lethal.

Quote from: Silverlion;437987As I understand it isn't OOP, you can still get copies from the publisher...

I went to their webpage and the main core set is sold out.  The have supplements available though.

The boxed set is sold out. They've been out of boxes or years. But you can still get the book itself for 9.95. Click on the first "add to cart" button after you see the big picture of the book.
http://www.flyingbuffalo.com/mercen.htm

Quote from: stu2000;438014I've seen two covers--the original color cover, with Robert Shaw, Bogart, and Charles Gray on it, and a black and white cover with a sneaky looking girl on the front and some submarine blueprints on the back. I have a feeling some b&w covers have something different on the back, but I can't swear to it. Original books have simpler firearms tables and lack sample characters. Some say they're done by Flying Buffalo, and some say they're done by Sleuth Publications.

I have copies of both rulebooks, and they are almost exactly the same inside. I believe that any differences were an accident, not an intent to re-do the system.