Some questions about the rules

[Psion]

You get a new focus (or forte) for every 4th skill rank you buy, and you start every focus skill with 1 focus. So, you only need to buy ranks in the skill to gain focuses.

You also get a number of bonus focuses that can be divided among the focus skills equal to your int modifier.

[Merxiless]

I wanted to say that our group has used the seduction cards to good effect.

All of our players are male.  So I'm really not into breaking out a wine glass and satin sheets with my gaming buds. lol.

IC:

Our Team leader Archer Caudill (Pointman 2 / Faceman 1) is on the outs with his soon to be Ex-GF, an NPC ballet dancer from London, named Leslie Poole, that he met while he was a professor at Harvard, and she was on tour in Boston.

Because he is now deployed to Caracas, Venezuela, as part of the Joint Operations Force, on a covert assignment in Operation: Fireflash,  she's lonely, and seeking to shack up with a new suitor.

He's been keeping her at bay, but with a few critical successes, has her expecting a ring, or something, relatively soon, after he wraps up his "Oil Company Merger."

It's a great subplot, and without the cards, wouldn't happen.

The cards are yet another great thing about Spycraft. 

...And I'm a die hard Hater of all things d20.  So.. you guys got it right, with SC 2.0.

[Krensky]

The social Dramatic Conflicts are really nice and complement role playing well by providing a firm mechanical underpinning. The mechanics prevent the guy playing the second coming of James Bond from being penalized because despite the fact that he's maxed out his character's CHA and social skills, he's barely capable of social interaction. Similarly it prevents (in one game I've done) a friend of mine who's witty, well dressed, charming, and works as a retail salesman where he makes almost ten times his base in commission without lying or cheating but is playing a Hacker with a CHA of 8 and no social skill ranks to mention from riding roughshod over the NPCs. It also reduces the value of CHA for dumping.

Use mechanics to reflect what the characters can and can not do, you use dice and rounds for physical combat, use it for social combat as well. Use discretionary modifiers and action dice to reward and encourage role playing.

[ahzad]

don't forget that seduction conflicts don't have to be of a romantic nature. they could used to sway someone to your way of thinking, for example palptine seducing anakin to the dark side, or trying to convince a guard to switch their loyalties over to your side. would be some another form of a seduction conflict. don't limit yourself to thinking it terms of romance.

[Morgenstern]

As we have a new person checking out the toolbox, I'll mention my core example for seduction in recent cinema- the movie Training Day. Senior cop is creating a series of situations to seduce and/or entrap junior cop with both positive and negative reinforcment. Its a brilliant piece of work and shows a number of the strategies in the dramatic conflict system, all entirely without a romantic component. Wine and dine is not just candlelight and flowers, its also a morning spent at a good diner. People share themselves over food and let others inside their guard when they break bread together.

[Ezram]

Brilliant example, Morgenstern  . There's more I learn from that movie everyday.

How would you say that Hoyt (relatively inexperienced officer) succeeded, though? It appears that he lucked out in the end, what with saving that girl and all.

[Morgenstern]

Hoyt makes a textbook "Its not you, it's me" play, recognizing that the force has corrupt cops and that they are still making society a little bit better than they make it worse, but he just cannot be a part of it. He wins the round and goes for the crisis advantage. Alanzo blows the crisis check, loses the seduction instantly and changes plans to outright murder rather than recruitment. The conflict system has a few windows for sudden reversals like that .

But, along the way you see Alonzo fire off a whole array of strategies: Show of good faith (doing real police work), extra incentive (promise of new posting/check out my office), compromising position (dude, you have hard drugs in your system), hard sell (hmm, shotgun to the head or pile of money? tough one), love is blind (you love your family, right?). Honestly you can see ALL the predator strategies at work in that movie.

Hoyt's later survival looks a lot like the action dice he earned for saving the girl get spent in a very poetic way later in the mission. Kudos to the GC for tying a spur of the moment scene at the begining back into the plot at the end. At least, that's ussually how those things work out at the gaming table rather than the screenwriter's keyboard .

[Crafty_Alex]

...And I'm a die hard Hater of all things d20.  So.. you guys got it right, with SC 2.0.

Brief aside:

It's comments like this that give me an extra bit of spring in my step for the day. Thanks

[whiterabbit]

As irritating as I have been, I'm about to become more irritating. Two new questions have popped up.

1. Do you get iterative attacks from a high BAB? It's not specifically mentioned, and none of the class charts include them, so it made me wonder.

2. what's the creative skill in the game? I've looked them over, and can't find one mention of artistic/musical/writing/whatever talent in any of the skill descriptions. The closest I can imagine would either be some form of profession or impress skill roll, but wouldn't you need a focus for that?

[Toccata]

Not irritating at all.

1. No iterative attacks form high BAB, though you can use both half actions for attacks if you feel like it, and there are numerous feats and class abilities that let you take additional attacks in a round. Plus anybody can get a free half action (which can be used to attack) from the Press action if their initiative is high enough.
Extra attacks aren't automatic, but they aren't hard to come by if you want them.

2. I would generally consider that to be Profession, unless it involves crafting equipment, in which case I'd say Science.
The good thing about Profession for this is that the focuses are a fill-in-the-blank kind of thing.

[famine]

Like Toccata was saying, you can find extra attacks around every corner!  Check out Two Weapon Basics and Mastery, as well as the Triggerman expert class for the easy ones.  Combine those with a press action, or check out the Cleave tree if you're looking for extra attacks with a melee weapon.  Battering Blows is another good feat along these lines.

[Psion]

Well, there is the simple fact that everyone can take 2 attacks in a round to start with.

But yeah... extra attacks come more from abilities in Spycraft. Darting weapon, triggerman ability, combat instincts, etc.

Honestly, iterative attacks are one things that I think make high level games drag in D&D. Using the same modifier for all your attacks in a round seems to speed things up a bit.

[Krensky]

2. what's the creative skill in the game? I've looked them over, and can't find one mention of artistic/musical/writing/whatever talent in any of the skill descriptions. The closest I can imagine would either be some form of profession or impress skill roll, but wouldn't you need a focus for that?

Do you mean the skill used to play music, or the skill used to write music?

[Ezram]

...And I'm a die hard Hater of all things d20.  So.. you guys got it right, with SC 2.0.

Brief aside:

It's comments like this that give me an extra bit of spring in my step for the day. Thanks

I hope none of that dealt with the actual hate, and more with the praise...

[whiterabbit]

Thanks for the speedy answers again, guys. I was thinking it was kinda leaning that way, but wasn't sure since some people might take certain aspects of the game for granted. After looking through the feats alone, there seems to be wealth of ways to get more attacks in a round. While we're on the subject, can you use multiple feats in a round that grant extra attacks, simultaneously (i.e. 2-weapon basics/mastery and follow-up shot/hail of fire)? If so, that would eliminate the iterative attack advantage d20 has over SC.

Do you mean the skill used to play music, or the skill used to write music?

Yes. Basically, I'm looking for creative skills for characters.