Are there any spy games left today?  There used to be plenty, even a James bond one that was crippled by the studio keeping it's thumb on the game writers constantly.  TSR had top secret, don't know if they still do. I qiit following tsr a long time agO.

I know there were others, but are there any today? The Daniel Craig James bond reboot (EXCLUDING THAT LAST ONE! ) seemed like it could inspire a fresh wave of spy games but I never saw it.

Old spy games are still playable.

The only one in my collection was Ninjas and Superspies by Palladium books.  However, I mostly treated this book as a sourcebook for Heroes Unlimited.

I'm a lifelong 007 fanatic, so I have a lot of espionage games.

The newest version of Top Secret is Top Secret: New World Order.  I have been playing in a campaign online that has been one of the greatest campaigns I've ever been involved in.  https://www.amazon.com/Top-Secret-New-World-Order/dp/1945332042#:~:text=Top%20Secret%3A%20New%20World%20Order%20is%20a%20tabletop%20role%2Dplaying,120%20page%20core%20rulebook

The Spy Game is a new RPG that I backed on Kickstarter that uses the modern D20 system and is the real successor to Spycraft in my eyes.  It is quite nice.  https://www.modiphius.net/en-us/products/spygame_corerulebook

Covert Ops by DWD Studios is a rules-lite d100 lite system that is super robust and includes tools for making super villains, henchmen, villain organizations, etc.  It is awesome.  https://dwdstudios.com/covertops  https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/123056/Covert-Ops-Role-Playing-Game
DWD Studios also makes a similar espionage rules-lite game called White Lies that uses the old school D&D mechanics, if that is your thing: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/164226/White-Lies

Night's Black Agents contains lots of amazing info on modern espionage and such and uses the Gumshoe system.  It is described as Jason Bourne vs. vampires.  The default premise of the game is that the players are agents taking on a vast vampire global conspiracy.  You can easily strip out the vampires and run it as mundane espionage if you wish.  https://pelgranepress.com/nights-black-agents/

Wow, when you answer a question you do the job. Thanks.

With all these series about 'supercops/agents' (CSI, NCIS, criminal minds,  FBI, ad infinitum) I wouldn't be surprised if these games came back in vogue.

I second Covert Ops! Great game!

There is a clone of the old 007 game called "Classified" that you can get as POD or PDF.  I believe it is on DTRPG.  Don't have the original to compare it too, but it appears to have filed off a lot of the serial numbers and updated the gadgets a little to fit better when it was done.

Cold Shadows is pretty good.  It's a bit more on the narrative/storygame side of things but it works really well.  There is a good amount of focus on not just your characters, but also building the agency they work for.  The mechanics also support the trust and betrayal aspects of spy life. Combat can be pretty lethal but if you plan well and/or are willing to burn some assets you'll probably be ok.

It's got 2 supplement books that I know of. 

Cities in Shadow gives 15 cities around 4-5 pages each.  They get a brief history, a modern perspective and some plot hooks, notable locations and organizations.  Beijing, Cairo, London, Manila, Seoul and Tel Aviv are some of the included cities, so it's a decent mix of typical and not often thought about locations.

The Black Book is more of a "monster manual" for the game.  It is a catalogue of agents, agencies, and headquarters from around the world.

Quote from: Steven Mitchell on June 07, 2022, 07:30:57 AM
There is a clone of the old 007 game called "Classified" that you can get as POD or PDF.  I believe it is on DTRPG.  Don't have the original to compare it too, but it appears to have filed off a lot of the serial numbers and updated the gadgets a little to fit better when it was done.

If you can get used copies of the original James Bond 007, it is much better than the retroclone. It has great support for doing classic James Bond action, with tons of direct material. I used it in the 2000s to run a spy game set in the 1980s. The retroclone only has a few token updates to modern adventures, and a lot of material that wasn't cut still seem dated.

There's also the D20 games Spycraft that had a lot of support in the 2000s. I never played it, and it obviously depends on how one feels about the D20 system as a core, but it's the most recent successful spy game, I think - in the sense of having over a dozen supplements come out for it. It had a lot of D20 extensions that were used in other games like FantasyCraft.

https://www.crafty-games.com/product-category/rpgs/spycraft-2-0/

James Bond is well and good, but I'd rather do "Burn Notice."  What's the best game for that?

Quote from: Steven Mitchell on June 07, 2022, 07:30:57 AM
There is a clone of the old 007 game called "Classified" that you can get as POD or PDF.  I believe it is on DTRPG.  Don't have the original to compare it too, but it appears to have filed off a lot of the serial numbers and updated the gadgets a little to fit better when it was done.

I cannot believe I forgot about this one! I have 2 copies of the retroclone and 2 copies of the original James Bond 007 RPG.  The Retroclone is quite good, IMHO, and updates the JB 007 equipment to modern day.  It also simplifies parts of the system.  Here is a review: https://www.modus-operandi.co.uk/classified/classified-review/

I think this game and all the ones I mentioned in my original post are the top espionage games out there.

Quote from: jhkim on June 07, 2022, 01:03:47 PM

Quote from: Steven Mitchell on June 07, 2022, 07:30:57 AM
There is a clone of the old 007 game called "Classified" that you can get as POD or PDF.  I believe it is on DTRPG.  Don't have the original to compare it too, but it appears to have filed off a lot of the serial numbers and updated the gadgets a little to fit better when it was done.

There's also the D20 games Spycraft that had a lot of support in the 2000s. I never played it, and it obviously depends on how one feels about the D20 system as a core, but it's the most recent successful spy game, I think - in the sense of having over a dozen supplements come out for it. It had a lot of D20 extensions that were used in other games like FantasyCraft.

https://www.crafty-games.com/product-category/rpgs/spycraft-2-0/

The new game called The Spy Game is a much better Spycraft IMHO and brand new.

I ran an adventure session of 'Mercenaries, Spies & Private Eyes' which was re-released in 2019 by Flying Buffalo.
The game system is loosely based on Tunnels & Trolls.  Quirky but fun.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/2238/Flying-Buffalo/subcategory/28861/Mercenaries-Spies--Private-Eyes

I ran a campaign using Agents of Oblivion which is a third party Savage Worlds supplement.
Characters in my setting were all FBI agents investigating traditional criminal and foreign spy rings.
Savage Worlds is very much suited to running rules-lite modern campaigns.

Quote from: DocJones on June 07, 2022, 02:18:35 PM
I ran an adventure session of 'Mercenaries, Spies & Private Eyes' which was re-released in 2019 by Flying Buffalo.
The game system is loosely based on Tunnels & Trolls.  Quirky but fun.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/2238/Flying-Buffalo/subcategory/28861/Mercenaries-Spies--Private-Eyes

I ran a campaign using Agents of Oblivion which is a third party Savage Worlds supplement.
Characters in my setting were all FBI agents investigating traditional criminal and foreign spy rings.
Savage Worlds is very much suited to running rules-lite modern campaigns.

MS&PI was also I believe the core of the original Fallout games. Its a pretty solid system too. At least two modues from their Blade era are also compatible with a spy RPG called Espionage! From Hero Games.

Obscure, But way back Hero Games put out a spy game called Danger International which was compatible with Champions and Hero Games.

Quote from: Mishihari on June 07, 2022, 01:36:43 PM
James Bond is well and good, but I'd rather do "Burn Notice."  What's the best game for that?

I played the Leverage RPG, which I had a good time with and I think would be a good fit for Burn Notice too. It had some sort of structure for operations, but I can't remember quite how it worked. It's based on Cortex Prime.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leverage:_The_Roleplaying_Game

Quote from: Batjon on June 07, 2022, 02:15:27 PM

Quote from: jhkim on June 07, 2022, 01:03:47 PM
There's also the D20 games Spycraft that had a lot of support in the 2000s. I never played it, and it obviously depends on how one feels about the D20 system as a core, but it's the most recent successful spy game, I think - in the sense of having over a dozen supplements come out for it. It had a lot of D20 extensions that were used in other games like FantasyCraft.

https://www.crafty-games.com/product-category/rpgs/spycraft-2-0/

The new game called The Spy Game is a much better Spycraft IMHO and brand new.

Can you elaborate on what makes it good/better? I see a quickstart here, but I don't see a detailed playtest review.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/278422/The-Spy-Game-Quickstart

What about ESPionage involving psychic powers? How many games supported that?