Swapping Out PCs?

[TheAuldGrump]

Hmmm, because of schedule issues my Delta Green game has four players or six players, depending on the week - the result is having two separate teams, alternating each week. As a side effect players have sometimes switched characters, if the alternate characters aren't busy, adding a bit of flexibility to the team. All the characters belong to an extended cell of Delta Green.

A few weeks ago this helped when the four member team suffered a TPK - a Soldier, running for his life, led a nasty to the rest of his team. The battle that followed was short, messy, and final for all four characters. So the six member team will be picking up at the four member teams last reported location.

In an odd way the ability to swap out characters reminds me of the old Mission: Impossible TV show, where members of the team would depend on the nature of the mission.

Anyone else done something similar? It seems a decent way to flesh out an Agency, and makes it seem a trifle more believable, at least to my jaded mind.

The Auld Grump

[Agent 333]

I've considered such things in the past, but never had a large and devoted enough player base to make it worth it. When you're running a game for two people, they both have to be generalists anyway, so swapping out doesn't help much.

[Desertpuma]

I'm actually doing something similar to this in my D-Gate game. ... When they visit new dimensions, they have the option to create someone from that dimension within the limitations for someone from that dimension. I know at least one is waiting until they arrive at a place where there are pechs.

[Sletchman]

I've played in a game like that.  We all made characters, and ended up as a very cerebral team - two scientists, a snoop, and me the "muscle" a sleuth who was looking at cleaner.  Of course the GC didn't tell us it was an alien invasion game, and that the "average alien trooper" had a Damage Save of X, Tough III, and DR10.  Needless to say whenever we were going to do some killing we had Plan B, the Grunt, the Edgemaster, the Scout-Sniper, and the Street Knight.

It actually worked out OK, the brains found out where the aliens were hiding [why they hid with the stats and tech they had I don't understand], or who was aiding or hiding the aliens, and sent the other team to mop up the suitation.

[Bill Whitmore]

I've played in a game like that.  We all made characters, and ended up as a very cerebral team - two scientists, a snoop, and me the "muscle" a sleuth who was looking at cleaner.  Of course the GC didn't tell us it was an alien invasion game, and that the "average alien trooper" had a Damage Save of X, Tough III, and DR10.  Needless to say whenever we were going to do some killing we had Plan B, the Grunt, the Edgemaster, the Scout-Sniper, and the Street Knight.

It actually worked out OK, the brains found out where the aliens were hiding [why they hid with the stats and tech they had I don't understand], or who was aiding or hiding the aliens, and sent the other team to mop up the suitation.

I haven't done this with Spycraft, but I have done this with the Shadowrun.  Basically we each created 3 characters and they became a pool of Shadowrunners that could be employed.  When a job was offered we would decide which characters were best for the job and then run with it.

It worked well for that style of game and I think it could work well for Spycraft, too.  It may make it more difficult to get into a specific character, but the variety was nice, too.  I could change characters and playstyles in one game without having to break the continuity or change worlds.

[NezMaster]

Back in my youth, when I pretty much dedicated my life to gaming, I would run a game in the same world, 4-5 nights a week. It's pretty much what I did after work, nearly every night, and since there was only one other person I knew who ran games, it was always me.
I basically had 35 players. My average session had 5 players. And there was no regular thing. Basically some friends would drop by to play, knowing I'd probably run a game if they showed up, and we'd play. The real hardcore people had two to three characters, and would decide who to play based on who was there, and where there characters were last.
(this usually started because their primary character would be in the middle of something, and they'd be coming into something completely different - some cliffhangers are unavoidable after all).
It gave the game this fantastic epic feeling. One mission would have 5 characters, and the next would have 3 of those, and some different ones. Some games would have 3-4 players, and some would have up to 9. Sometiems I miss the insanity of that life. Most of the time though, I like having at least a little life outside gaming.

The only really bad part of this is when I decided to end the campaign, and ran a finale. It was one 16 hour long session, with almost 20 players. It was great, and terrible at the same time.

wow, I'm feeling all nostalgic now.