I use famous people references all the time.  It is much easier to say that this NPC looks like George Costanza from Seinfeld than to try to explain his appearance and personality.  The players get a quick reference point, and the game can move forward with my trying to do my best to stay true to the character.

One of my favorite PCs of all time had the looks of Danny Davito and the voice of Gilbert Gottfried.  He was a riot!

As for as Sweeney Todd and There Will Be Blood...

I really wanted to see S.T. until I found out it was a musical.  Understand, I knew it was based on a musical, but I was hoping they would take out the singing and just leave the basic storyline.  I loathe musicals, but I will still probably rent this one when it comes out on DVD.

And There Will Be Blood... I hope so!  Really looking forward to this one!

I think the best response is to talk to the problematic player, or GM for that matter.  Let them know where things aren't working out and give them a chance to straighten out.  If they don't, then kick 'em to the curb.

I won't go into all of the details of problem players I've had, but I will mention a couple or three.

My most recent problem player really enjoyed the Spycraft game but his wife would blow up his cell phone at every game, sometimes calling him up to 5 times over a 3 1/2 hour period and constantly over stupid shit.  A prime example is the time she called to bitch at him because he left the ketchup and mustard out on the counter at home.  He obviously couldn't do anything about it from my house, and it put him in a lousy mood for the rest of the game.  I requested that cell phones be used only for emergencies at my gaming table after 3 of my other 5 players complained about the distraction it was causing.  I think that for him, there were only 2 options; he could either stand up to his wife or quit.  The poor pussywhipped bastard chose the latter.  It won't be long now before he falls off the radar and disappears completely.

Before that, there was another player with attendance problems.  Our group has a message board set up so we can list gaming schedules and leave of absences, and this player missed 2 out of 3 games that he was expected to be at.  I've had a talk with him and he seems to understand, but if he doesn't start doing better, I'm kicking him out.  The campaign requires a certain level of dependability from each of the players, and I'm not cheating the others because somebody can't pull away from personal relationships or World of Warcraft for a few hours every two weeks.

And finally, there was this one guy that played in a few of our games before the group fell apart several years ago.  We suspected that he might not work out when he brought some kind of military issued rifle with him to the game and began breaking it down while simultaneously voicing his opinion on the right to bear arms and referring to all Republicans as whores.  I think he joined us for a total of 4 games.

The rest of the stories revolve around:
1. Attention whores
2. Players that tried to undermine the campaign intentionally, often by betrayal.
3. Players that constantly created characters just to see how fast they could get killed.
4. Players that constantly tried to get other PCs killed.
5. Frequent Absences
6. Rules Lawyers
7. Munchkins
8. The guy who always needed a ride and never had any money for gas.
9. The guy who wouldn't shower or use deodorant.

You know... the usual.

As for right now, I'm pretty happy with the group I've got.  Most of them seem to be really into the Spycraft game, and solid gamers all around.  I try to design my adventures so each of them has a chance to shine, but at the same time, they know they can't do it on their own.  This creates a great feeling of teamwork and so far, it has worked out well.   

The filter is only in place for direct "hate" language. The "7 words" are largely allowed here.

Fucking shitballs!

See?

The rule is - use your best judgement. Don't point these words at other people. Be tasteful, and you're golden

Thanks for the clarification.  I've always felt that Spycraft was aimed at a more mature demographic and was hoping the members of this forum were mature enough to handle it without devolving into the childish banter you often find in other areas.  The YouTube comments immediately come to mind, followed closely by the 13-year olds talking junk on Xbox Live.

What is the official word... on "Bad" words?  What words are allowed?  I just made a post that had quite a few words in it that I would consider to be PG-13 but then I deleted it because I didn't know if that is appropriate or not. 

Correction, I have saved the post in Word, and as soon as I get clarification on what's okay, or not okay, I will know better how to proceed with it.

I absolutely loathe censorship but I understand that it may be necessary to cater to some readers with delicate sensitivities or impressionable minds.

I had forgotten about Murderball.  That was an interesting film.

Both sign-in and join links give me that same message. 

Perhaps something to do with my using firefox?

I use Firefox too.  I looked for a troubleshooting section but didn't find anything that might help you out.  Sorry I couldn't be more help. 

  There ya' go!

Trying to register for this, I think I was able to add myself to the map.

However, in trying to get an account, i get the following message, when I click Join:

"Unable to safe captcha-image."

The rest of the page is blank.

Clue Chain, anyone?

You're on the map.  You *might* be able to register if you hit the "sign in" link.  It offers a "register now" option, which I believe is what I had to do after getting the same message you reported.

2 MPH.... Unless he was on a downward slope with the wind behind him. 

Of course if that doesn't work for you, just give the wheelchair a base speed + Str. Bonus.

5 Base + 2 Strength = 7 MPH... or something similar.

Of course there was an elderly wheelchaired gentleman in the news recently who somehow became lodged into the grill of an 18-wheeler and pushed down the highway at approximately 65 MPH.  The driver of the truck didn't stop until he was flagged down by passers by on the interstate.  The man in the wheelchair was unharmed.

I love chases, crashes and BIG EXPLOSIONS!

I play my campaign in a very cinematic fashion often bending the rules to make a better story. 

If the chase ends with the Predator catching up to the Prey, you have a number of options available...

1. Crash the prey's vehicle, and apply damage.  If the prey survives, decide what they want to do, surrender, fight, or flee.

Unless of course, there is an explosion.  I couldn't find the rules to determine IF an explosion occurs, only the amount of damage it caused so I use percentiles: 10% for every hour of fuel left in the vehicle.  If I roll that magic number, BIG BADA BOOM!

2. The vehicle comes to a stop and the Prey takes off on foot.  Details for that can be fun, but the single opposed check as listed in the rulebook is also an option.

3. Have something pull out in front of the Prey... like a dumptruck!  Force both Prey and Predator to make drive checks to avoid hitting it.

4. Spend the 4 Action Dice and have the Prey escape in some kind of dramatic fashion.  Just squeezing across the tracks as the train rushes by, for example.

I like using DC 10 + Full Damage for my NPC saves.  With an average Damage Save of +4 to +5, the NPCs usually last for 1 or 2 hits at the most with the players using Agency issued Beretta's doing 1d10+1 damage.  If I want the NPCs to last longer, I give them the "tough" quality.

Use the same rules as running.  Strength bonus for Acceleration, and Dexterity bonus for Turning.  Make the top speed equal to the Strength bonus in MPH.  Def: 10, Save +5 (Same a a bicycle)

This might help...

http://www.frappr.com/spycraft20community

I just set it up so I hope I got it right.

Thanks much for letting me know!  Something else to look forward to!

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum.  Please move it if it is.   

Are there any plans for a Spycraft 2.0 Character Generator?  Is there one out already that my Google-Fu failed to locate?

I would very much like to track my PC/NPC characters progression using software similar to D&D's E-Tools but I can't find anything.  I know that Code Monkey Publishing is working on the RPG Foundry, but since the majority of my needs rest with Spycraft 2.0, I would really like to see something dedicated to the game without having to use a dinosaur program filled useless fantasy content.

I tried the PC Gen program but used very little of it and decided that it simply took up too much space on my hard drive to validate keeping.  Likewise, I've also tried the *very cool* interactive character sheet and I like it very much, but having to re-enter all of the information at every level up gets old pretty quick.

Thanks in advance for your help.