Poocho, New GC, seeking friendly guidance

[Poocho]

***Note to all my Players***  Please do not read this thread.  I may end up sharing campaign secrets herein.  Thank you for your cooperation.

So a few weeks ago my friends expressed renewed interest in playing the Spycraft campaign I had proposed a year or so ago.  Since then I've been pouring over the official sample missions and the core rulebook as well as trying to take in some inspiration (Bond, Alias, La Femme Nikita).  Along the way I've run into a few things in the mission outlines and rulebook that have me stumped.  Generally I look over the confusing information over and over to try and figure it out, but I guess some times my mind just doesn't connect.  I'll use this thread to bring up some of my questions to the experienced community here to try to help me out.  Later I may even share some of my campaign ideas fishing for help in filling in the blanks (I'm more of a concept guy.  Sometimes the details get fuzzy).

Tonight I was looking over Table 6.20 Image Rating Effects on p. 393 (I'm unsure which printing I have) considering organization building.  I can understand why Research checks get higher difficulty mods the more mysterious the organization, but why is the opposite true for Canvass Area checks?  It shows that when asking around for information (CA) it gets more difficult to find information about a Renowned organization (aka well-known) than it is to find out about a Mysterious organization (aka nobody knows).  How am I to understand this?

I also was confused by the information on p. 14 paragraph 3 of the Robbing Peter mission.  The part in question says the following:

Fortunately, if any of the team has been with the character on a recent mission,
they can simply ask him something about it. Since the clone automatically fails any supporting Knowledge check,
that would distinguish the original from the clone (the original should make a Knowledge check (DC 15) to
remember each piece of information).

This seems to contradict both common sense and what was said in the second to last paragraph of the previous page, namely:

He can choose to play the original. . . .  However, he also automatically fails all Knowledge checks made about information specifically learned
during his last 10 missions. This only applies to information about the experiences within those missions, . . .

Please tell me whether I'm understanding the information wrong, or if there was simply an error in the mission outline.  According to the outline, the clone has been playing with the players for the last several missions while the original has been kept in stasis for the duration.  This would mean that the clone would have knowledge of those missions, while the original would fail all knowledge checks (since he can't know).  Am I correct?

I have a vague concern about one of my players--codenamed Gray.  I was surprised to read that Spycraft 2.0 does not even mention a method for rolling attribute scores.  Rather, it only presents the point-buy system.  While I recognize the value of the PB system, and even the necessity for fairness when players would play official games, I guess I've always seen attribute rolling as a fun part of character creation.  After all, some spies simply aren't as good as the others.  Therefore I gave all my players the option of using either the PB system or rolling (4d6 - lowest result, 6 times).  I said they could roll first to see if they liked their results, but could revert to PB if they preferred.  Gray was pessimistic about how his results would turn out, but he rolled any way.  His results were as follows, in I think this order: 11, 11, 13(?), 15, 17, 18.  Neither of us really expected him to get an 18 out of it, let alone all the other good scores, but as Gray said he was planning on buying an 18 if necessary.  Any who, his Origin brought his Intelligence to 20.  Scouring the rules for ways to take advantage of his abilities, he's started as a Scientist and has plans to become a Schemer at level 2.  Plus he's taking what feats and all that he can to increase his number of action dice.  Considering just how powerful of a skill monkey Gray can now become, I'm concerned about whether all the other classes can compete in their utility.  I don't want any one PC to steal the show.  Are my concerns baseless?

On a humorous note, the other players upon learning of Gray's genius-ness have liked to accuse me of "creating a monster," and most are pretty sure he'll eventually turn into a supervillain of his own that they'll have to stop.  I'm unsure whether any of that will actually develop.  Also, since Gray has expressed his excitement over his uber-usefulness and his plans to exploit it, I've taken great joy in responding by casually mentioning my ability to rain down lightning from above.  It's all good fun.

I'm sure I'll have other questions as I go, and I probably have ones I've forgotten, but I'll let my wordiness stop here so as not to scare too many away.  Thanks in advance for all your help!

Just my thoughts,
Poocho

[Desertpuma]

On the Canvass Area part, since Image is about spin control and spin doctors, think of the higher DC as being that the Organization has made their public image more impenetrable to those looking to Gather Information/Canvass Area. Keep in mind this is the public's Image of the Organization. The CIA does not have such a good public Image on the whole. Conversely, you could say that the NSA, which is more mysterious, is generally thought better of by the average person. Consider the Canvass Area DC as the difficulty in finding an average person who thinks negatively about the Organization. It is part of the Spin Control that has been done.

The adventures in the downloads area are not samples but were part of the Living Spycraft campaign which ended a couple of years ago. As for Robbing Peter specifically, one of the agents is realized to be a clone. Any of the other characters who have been working with character that was cloned can ask the clone a question which it should end up failing because it will do so by default. It's as simple as: "Hey, remember that last mission where we bumped into that Bond guy and we all hung out drinking champagne together while we cruised chicks in that casino?" The clone will fail for a variety of reasons here: Bond is not any of the missions the teams are sent on (at least in the missions you were looking at), Bond does drinks martinis, but he never cruises chicks and he would never hang out with people he would know are spies that might get recognized as it might blow his own cover (if he is using).

Well, first off, there is nothing wrong with roll dice instead of going with point buy. Second, Expert Classes, like the Schemer cannot be entered until Career Level 5. Third, Spycraft is a skill based system BUT no one can be excellent at everything AND his Origin had to have given him a -2 in another Attribute. Fourth, Scientists are not combat oriented characters and sooner or later he'll get in a situation where he'll need to be protected or saved or he'll run screaming like a little bitch. Fifth, every Attribute in Spycraft has its uses. Intelligence does cover a lot of skills but only certain uses of them. Consider also that at 1st level he has 1 Feat that is definitively a Basic or Advanced Skill feat and he has his Feat for being 1st level and he has his Origin Feat.

I'm kind of curious to see what his Origin selection is and his beginning Feats. The Scientist is not the Talker or the Combat monkey or the Vehicle Expert (although he can get quite good at it) or the Intrusion Specialist or the Contacts guy. Every class is built to be part of a team as well as contribute in their own unique ways. He'll need help to succeed, guaranteed.

[Krensky]

The best I can come up with is that a well known organization can better influence people to keep quiet then a secretive one.

As for you player, no, they aren't entirely baseless.

Gary's character is, effectively built on 63 points, rather then the game's baseline of 36. Typically to get an 18 or 20 for a starting character you need to dump your other stats a lot, which give the GC all kinds of opportunity to show why SC has no dump stats. Basically, you took one of the balancing mechanisms out of the game, so of course you got less balanced results.

That said, you can probably keep him somewhat in check by focusing on skills he's not as strong on, making sure that Gary understands not to be a dick and hog the spot light, and occasionally throwing combat and other things a high int doesn't help as much with. Also, you can't enter an expert class until level five, so no Schemer until then.

[Bill Whitmore]

Because rolled stats generally give higher results than point buy, particularly 4d6 drop the lowest, I made a campaign quality for it which attempts to balance it by including an experience penalty.

Rolled stats (-50 XP):  Instead of using the point buy system listed in the book, the players will instead roll 4d6 minus the lowest die 6 times to generate a set.  They will then generate 3 sets and pick one of their choosing.

The 3 set roll serves to help reduce the deviation in rolled characters.

If you still want to allow point buy along side that, use a 48 point buy, which is about the average point cost value of stats rolled using the method listed above, or maybe shave off a few points as you have more control over where those point get distributed.

In any event, the important part to remember here is, if you are using an option that changes the characters powerful level, it will affect the difficulty of the missions they run, which in turn should affect the XP value of those missions.

[Poocho]

First off, thanks for the quick replies as well as the differing points of view!

So, as far as the CA checks, the difficulty is in finding the truth behind all the spin?  So sure everyone might "know" and have a lot to say about a certain Renowned organization, but the orgs actual goals, methods, etc. are usually not public knowledge?  That kind of implies that every organization is completely fooling everyone; mysterious ones hide that they have any goals, and renowned ones hide their actual goals.  Hmm, that fits orgs that are corrupt, but what about the few that are true to the image they promote?  Let's say certain Human Rights Organization (HRO) does good deeds all over the world, they're publicly acclaimed for these acts, and the Internet is filled with references to their positive activities.  Then you have Evil Bad Guys (EBG) who do horrible things all over the place, but virtually nobody knows they exist and practically no records exist about them.  According to the rules, when our agents ask around about the world famous HRO nobody will have a clue about them, but then when they research it they'll find hoards of info about them.  The next day the agents ask around for info on the super-secret EBG, their almost nonexistent acts are known to lots of people, but when they check through official documents and whatnot they can't find a thing.

I must be missing something very simple.  As far as I can tell, the CA and R checks only work against corrupt/bad organizations.

Thanks to both for pointing out that expert classes aren't available until level 5.  I'm currently pouring over the book, jumping from topic to topic, but focusing on what I think I need to know first before I move on to other details.  I missed that part of character creation, but I'll point it out to Gray.

I realized that I could limit the opportunities for Gray to use his high skills and increase the number of inconvenient situations, but I'll have to take care not to appear to be punishing him just because he knows how to take advantage of legal class benefits.  I believe his Origin is an Orphaned Researcher.  That gives him +2 INT -2 CHA and an extra action die, and an advanced skill feat--I think he's picking I Can Swim.  I'm sure he's getting a whole swath of other feats to share with his team mates too.

The team members are a Faceman, a Scout, and a Soldier with the goal of Triggerman.  The Soldier (codenamed Basil) is Gray's brother and apparently has flipped ideas of who he'd like to play a few times already.  I'm hoping they keep enough combat potential among them to survive, and so my sessions will be easier.  It's a lot easier to just throw a few more thugs at them than to artfully contrive impossible plots that are entirely skill-focused.

**Ok, just read the third comment**
I suppose I could decrease XP rewards, unless I just make missions more difficult.  I think in general players complain when faced with lowered XP, but it might be the solution.  A hiccup in that idea for me is that at least 1 player (the Faceman) chose to not even bother rolling and opted for PB right off the bat.  I'd have to only levy the XP penalty against the others, but that could in turn make it unfair for the Faceman.

I also wouldn't mind something happening during the course of the game to level Gary off a bit.  Sure, he could always die, but if I make it look like I'm trying to kill him off, that could cause some resentment.  I'm also working hard to interweave the characters' backstories into the game story.  I'd prefer it if they could at least survive long enough to make use of them.  For example, Gray included in his story 5 years that he can't remember.  He supposedly died in a lab explosion, but then reappeared 5 years later supposedly waking from a coma.  Basically, he gave me 5 years with which to do as I pleased.  Currently, I'm thinking that he was captured by the Bad Guys, was used to do experiments and research new techs etc., but perhaps he realized what he was doing and wiped his own memories.  So I'd like to eventually reveal that a certain scientist is responsible for the recent rapid advancement of the BGs, and at some point have them find out that it was Gray himself.  I can still reference that plot if Gray dies too soon, but the impact won't be quite as great.

Btw, how can I tell which version printing I have?

--Poocho

P.S. Sorry for my wordiness.  I usually have a lot to say.

[Bill Whitmore]

First off, the primary focus of Spycraft is the team, not the individual.  Because of this, I would never recommend applying XP penalties to individual characters.

Second, even though I say XP penalty, I actually mean something different and what I actually mean is "Ooh, I can make the mission 50 XP more difficult."

It generally means I will go through the mission and add 50 XP of additional obstacles to each scene by raising NPC stats, adding complications like additional security measures, or adding an additional critical objective.  In this way you can make the missions more difficult to offset the more powerful characters without actually changing the final XP value they are rewarded.

Having said that, a 50XP difference is not some huge, monumental shift in rewards and if it is ultimately annoying to track or compensate for, ignore it.

[Poocho]

Ah, that should work better.  I am hoping that the Faceman character won't be actually disadvantaged for buying his attributes.  For example, let's say that I up the mission difficulty a bit.  I'll imagine that certain characters will tackle certain challenges.  While Gray might handle certain skills, he might never encounter certain NPCs.  Therefore some XP will be available to him and some will be available to others.  Now, if I design challenges based on who I think will tackle them and what their ability is, clearly the more powerful characters will have more difficult challenges.  The problem that occurs with this is that while difficulties scale, so does the XP for each challenge.  So the more powerful characters will likely be getting more XP since their challenges are harder, and the weaker PCs won't be getting as much.  This will serve to just widen the gap. 

Of course, so far I've only read about SC missions; I have yet to actually create/run any.  I want to get the entire concept down before I start the game.  Some things may become clearer as I actually try to apply the SC mission system.

I'm still a bit unclear about the Robbing Peter story, sorry.  You know, I may not ever even run a version of it, but I still want to understand this one point.  From what I understood, the clone has been going on missions with the team for a while, and the original has been stuck in the stasis tank for the duration.  Therefore, the original will have to fail by default since he has no idea what's happened on those missions.  Sure, he can bluff that he does, but he can't succeed in his knowledge check.  The team can ask the clone about events from a certain mission he went on with him, and he should have a chance to succeed because he was there just like they were.  The question could be, "Hey, remember how we finished off that evil scientist Dr. Booger?" and he should have a chance to see if he remembers.  Now, if the PCs bluff a question as you suggest and ask about details that never happened, the original won't know both because he was never there and because it never happened.  The clone will be able to Sense Motive to guess that they're making things up, and yeah he'll automatically fail it because that specific question was a bluff; but he won't automatically fail "any supporting Knowledge check."  I don't see how the text can say the original (the one that was stuck in the clone tank) could ever succeed in Knowledge checks for missions he was never a part of.

It just seems that in the course of a few paragraphs the writer(s) mixed up which clone was which.

I'm not trying to argue with anyone, just trying to express my confusion so you can spot the flaw in my understanding.

I'll have more questions, to be sure, but I need to push my obsession away and go to bed so I can get up in 4 hours for work. 

[Desertpuma]

You want to start with one of the simpler missions: Agent Down is a good one as is Routine Operation.

[Poocho]

Oh yes, I agree.  Actually I was planning on making the first 1-3 missions myself to establish the main plot.  Then I was going to throw in Agent Down soon after since I can actually make it fit well, and Black Tie Formal because I think it would be fun.  Routine Operation I want to hold in reserve until the PCs bungle a mission badly enough.  I'm hoping to sprinkle in some of the Living Spycraft missions as I go, with the majority being my own missions.  Hopefully after running several missions (mine and the others) I'll get the hang of it and the process will come semi-naturally.  I also figure after running a few I'll get an idea of how the PCs play and what I can/should start throwing at them.

Personally, after reading through the Spycraft 1 missions and a number of the 2.0 ones, I gotta say I tend to like the way the originals were written better than the new ones.  They seemed to have a bit more flavor to them, whereas many of the newer ones seem a bit dry and unwieldy.  Either way, I'll use and adapt some of them when they work for the campaign.

Just my thoughts,
Poocho

[doneatrawhagis]

First off, thanks for the quick replies as well as the differing points of view!
  Hmm, that fits orgs that are corrupt, but what about the few that are true to the image they promote?  Let's say certain Human Rights Organization (HRO) does good deeds all over the world, they're publicly acclaimed for these acts, and the Internet is filled with references to their positive activities.  Then you have Evil Bad Guys (EBG) who do horrible things all over the place, but virtually nobody knows they exist and practically no records exist about them.

  According to the rules, when our agents ask around about the world famous HRO nobody will have a clue about them, but then when they research it they'll find hoards of info about them.  The next day the agents ask around for info on the super-secret EBG, their almost nonexistent acts are known to lots of people, but when they check through official documents and whatnot they can't find a thing.

With most organizations people dont know anything about them. Anyone know what AIG did before they were in the news? HRO should been known by name, but all civilians should only know what HRO wants them to know.  Based on the chart on page 460, minions, henchmen and masterminds should know who they work for.

 EBG should be the hush word that few people know about if its extremely secretive(sorta like Kingpins). If EBG has enemies or allies they should know as much as they can, within reason. Maybe if EBG has front businesses like "Electronics and Big Gadgets Depo", that was transporting say weapons/drugs in their products. Nothing should be tied to them and the only person who should know anything about them inside the organization, based on the chart on page 460, Masterminds should and maybe Henchmen should know what the organizations real name is.

Thanks to both for pointing out that expert classes aren't available until level 5.  I'm currently pouring over the book, jumping from topic to topic, but focusing on what I think I need to know first before I move on to other details.  I missed that part of character creation, but I'll point it out to Gray.

Scientists are usually very fragile, tell him to think about his play style too, I played Hacker and was piss poor in combat when it came to health.

I realized that I could limit the opportunities for Gray to use his high skills and increase the number of inconvenient situations, but I'll have to take care not to appear to be punishing him just because he knows how to take advantage of legal class benefits.  I believe his Origin is an Orphaned Researcher.  That gives him +2 INT -2 CHA and an extra action die, and an advanced skill feat--I think he's picking I Can Swim.  I'm sure he's getting a whole swath of other feats to share with his team mates too.

My GM uses a lot of NPCs to make things challenging. She actually made all the enemies make called shots to his head so they could bypass the armour(Which he said was impervious). Also they would barrage through doors willey nilley so she added a trapmaster who booby trapped the doors in certain rooms.

 I suggest having a lot of tough challenges based on his Knowns and Fortes in Science, but Block him with Charisma checks. He should be able to figure out which cord to cut, but Lying, impress, manipulation and intimidation should be hard for him to pull off.

Example Scenario: Have a contact of theirs assassinated and placed into a morgue in the City's police department. He will have to finagle his way into the morgue to perform a proper autopsy, why he does that have your other men try and find the dead man's belongings for any hint of why he was killed, Add Catalyst for next mission here. He should have trouble lying to officers and intimidating them. If he has bureaucracy leveled up he should be able to use Red tape and Falsified documents to get through(I was sent by the 54th Precent to check this body what not).

The team members are a Faceman, a Scout, and a Soldier with the goal of Triggerman.  The Soldier (codenamed Basil) is Gray's brother and apparently has flipped ideas of who he'd like to play a few times already.  I'm hoping they keep enough combat potential among them to survive, and so my sessions will be easier.  It's a lot easier to just throw a few more thugs at them than to artfully contrive impossible plots that are entirely skill-focused.

Have someone hunting them down in a manhunt behind the scenes if their leaving bodies all over the place some one will want them dead. Scout gets a good mission and the soldier can attack, faceman can trick the guy.

**Ok, just read the third comment**
I suppose I could decrease XP rewards, unless I just make missions more difficult.  I think in general players complain when faced with lowered XP, but it might be the solution.  A hiccup in that idea for me is that at least 1 player (the Faceman) chose to not even bother rolling and opted for PB right off the bat.  I'd have to only levy the XP penalty against the others, but that could in turn make it unfair for the Faceman.

I never used XP just used LEvel up every big mission



Ill have more when Im not busy.

[Poocho]

With most organizations people dont know anything about them. Anyone know what AIG did before they were in the news? HRO should been known by name, but all civilians should only know what HRO wants them to know.  Based on the chart on page 460, minions, henchmen and masterminds should know who they work for.

 EBG should be the hush word that few people know about if its extremely secretive(sorta like Kingpins). If EBG has enemies or allies they should know as much as they can, within reason. Maybe if EBG has front businesses like "Electronics and Big Gadgets Depo", that was transporting say weapons/drugs in their products. Nothing should be tied to them and the only person who should know anything about them inside the organization, based on the chart on page 460, Masterminds should and maybe Henchmen should know what the organizations real name is.

That does make more sense.  Of course, my head isn't as foggy now as it was last night.  That makes a difference some times.

Scientists are usually very fragile, tell him to think about his play style too, I played Hacker and was piss poor in combat when it came to health.

While he won't get too many bonuses from his class, his stats will give him a boost.  He put his 17 into constitution, and I think either the 15 or 13 into Dexterity, so those'll help keep him alive.

My GM uses a lot of NPCs to make things challenging. She actually made all the enemies make called shots to his head so they could bypass the armour(Which he said was impervious). Also they would barrage through doors willey nilley so she added a trapmaster who booby trapped the doors in certain rooms.

 I suggest having a lot of tough challenges based on his Knowns and Fortes in Science, but Block him with Charisma checks. He should be able to figure out which cord to cut, but Lying, impress, manipulation and intimidation should be hard for him to pull off.

Example Scenario: Have a contact of theirs assassinated and placed into a morgue in the City's police department. He will have to finagle his way into the morgue to perform a proper autopsy, why he does that have your other men try and find the dead man's belongings for any hint of why he was killed, Add Catalyst for next mission here. He should have trouble lying to officers and intimidating them. If he has bureaucracy leveled up he should be able to use Red tape and Falsified documents to get through(I was sent by the 54th Precent to check this body what not).

Hmm, I'll have to try some of that.  It'll help to keep balance if he doesn't steal the show by standing back and taking care of all the skill checks while the others move in to attack/impress.  If someone has to stay back to keep him safe, or walk with him as a sort of bodyguard, his skills will still be useful but he'll need the others to keep him alive.  As long as it doesn't turn into "Everyone protect Gray since he's the most important" sort of thing.  I'll keep it balanced and adjust according to how they play.  I'll keep throwing in new loops so they don't get cocky, using the same strategy each time.

Also, another way I can balance things out is by how much in-game attention I give each character.  If Gray is great at skills and all, but I give special attention to the backstory of another character, that can even out how each player feels about how the game's going for them.  The Faceman is the only one who chose not to do a backstory; he wants to be the archetypical spy with no family and no history, no connections.  That's fine by me, but that limits how much attention I can give his character.  Honestly, though, it makes it easier since that's one less backstory I have to intertwine with everything.  I'm pretty sure he'll enjoy it no matter what.

Have someone hunting them down in a manhunt behind the scenes if their leaving bodies all over the place some one will want them dead. Scout gets a good mission and the soldier can attack, faceman can trick the guy.

Ok, I should be able to incorporate that after they've gotten some experience.  If they're being careless with messes they leave behind, not only will that affect exposure penalties but outside forces could get curious.

I never used XP just used LEvel up every big mission

That would certainly be easier, but I like the idea of rewarding them for good strategies/roleplaying/etc.  If they take the easy but sloppy route, they may end the mission quicker and get some XP; but if they take their time, plan it out, and pursue multiple schemes and actually succeed, I want to make it worth their while.

Ill have more when Im not busy.

I'm looking forward to it.  I can guarantee I'll have more too.  Btw, I'm still curious about how to tell which version of the 2.0 book I have, though that question has probably been ignored because I was too lazy to search for it. :p Later on I might post my outline for a mission and see what you experts here think.  Sure, I want to explore my own creativity, and I'm having loads of fun working out the campaign backstory, but if there are major flaws in my outlines I'd rather find out ahead of time rather than while playing.  I might be ok with learning from my mistakes, but I don't want my PCs to suffer for it.  The first few missions should be good enough to make them want to keep playing.

[doneatrawhagis]

The Faceman is the only one who chose not to do a backstory; he wants to be the archetypical spy with no family and no history, no connections.  That's fine by me, but that limits how much attention I can give his character.  Honestly, though, it makes it easier since that's one less backstory I have to intertwine with everything.  I'm pretty sure he'll enjoy it no matter what.

If he is an A typical spy he should have plenty of experience with organized crime and have a good knowledge of whose who in the spy world. This doesn't mean that he knows all about HRO and EBG, but you could hint to him that since he has field experience that he might know more about certain hitman calling cards or what not. That might help give him a bit more of story, instead of him being romantically involved or having amnesia he just has more work experience. Maybe give him a +1 modifier on knowledge checks on spy related matters, this way he gets something from not choosing a subplot(which give XP).

Alternatively just give him suplots when you realize he is doing something, dont tell him your doing so. If he starts getting Paranoid because your putting traps all around him in areas put him in a FEAR sublplot from page 55. I always thought GMs could do this and it would be a good idea, sort of like having a bonus mission with out anyone knowing. You could also give him a long term secret mission such as "Someone has been killing agents who are in (Main city or state). Don't tell the others, no need to spook them. We want you to make sure the mission goes to plan but make sure to keep an eye out for an assassin." If he tells the others about the assassin give them FEAR subplots, everytime they express fear about the assassin they need to make a will save like in the FEAR subplot. You can do other stuff too these are just suggestions. He gave you a good back story to work with, He is a veteran spy.

That would certainly be easier, but I like the idea of rewarding them for good strategies/roleplaying/etc.  If they take the easy but sloppy route, they may end the mission quicker and get some XP; but if they take their time, plan it out, and pursue multiple schemes and actually succeed, I want to make it worth their while.

  Action dies are great incentive as well.

I'm looking forward to it.  I can guarantee I'll have more too.  Btw, I'm still curious about how to tell which version of the 2.0 book I have, though that question has probably been ignored because I was too lazy to search for it. :p Later on I might post my outline for a mission and see what you experts here think.  Sure, I want to explore my own creativity, and I'm having loads of fun working out the campaign backstory, but if there are major flaws in my outlines I'd rather find out ahead of time rather than while playing.  I might be ok with learning from my mistakes, but I don't want my PCs to suffer for it.  The first few missions should be good enough to make them want to keep playing.

Front cover has 2.0 underneath the word Spycraft. Sounds like you have the 2.0 to me with the classes you have.

Yeah if it helps make a spider outline(looks like bubbles connected by lines) for who works for who and such. For an organization have its name inside a box, NPCs and players should be circles. Connect NPC/players to organizations in different ways, such as a solid line means they work for the company. A dash line means they left the company. and maybe a red line means that they are actively against the company(red dotted line means that they used to work for the company and are against it). Cross off names of dead characters. Connect characters with a blue line if they are in a relationship.

I dont run many games so here is an idea:

If you want to put in some romance this could really mess players up. A character of the opposite sex who starts flirting with a PC is usually a spy/undercover agent at least your players will see it that way. Make sure that this isnt always the case(if a PC has high Charisma then he should be turning the heads of many ladies).

Every so often you might have a flirty NPC try to get his phone number(PC charisma/lifestyle should be high), I get women at stores flirting with me every once in a while. Eventually have a bar scene or something in a hotel, where a woman flirts with one of the characters and asks him to come up to her hotel room. Instead of having it an ambush have the woman dead on the bed(Knifed to death), a message written in blood left saying "I'm watching you, [Players Name]." Keep in mind a player might be skittish if a woman just asks him to go to her bed room. Add in a secret note she leaves on a napkin such as I have something to show you. This could mean she is a spy or it could mean she is just baiting the guy.

 Eventually this should get the player to forget about the possibility of these women being spies. Here is where you have two possibilities, create a Special Assassin NPC who is a woman flirt with the player or have all the women that have been flirting with him into Assassins.
Suggestion: with flirting NPCs go Normal Girl(Killed), Normal Girl, Normal Girl, Assassin(Just flirts), Previous Normal Girl(maybe have her enticed by the PC's mysteriousness), Assassin Again(Entices player and tries to kill him). Hopefully by the end of this your players will feel like there is more to the world than just guns and violence.

[Sletchman]

Btw, I'm still curious about how to tell which version of the 2.0 book I have, though that question has probably been ignored because I was too lazy to search for it. :p

Quick and dirty - if it's in colour [the interior pages] it's first printing.  Black and White I believe are all second printing.  If it's smaller then A4 it's the "pocket edition" which is also second printing.

[Poocho]

To Mr. RawHagis,

Thanks for the advice.  I might just consider giving the FM a subplot myself.  I'll also probably give him a bit more working knowledge of their organization, since he was trained by it.  However, I can't really consider him a "veteran spy," since he did after all just graduate from Spy School as a green level 1 agent.

Yes, I will be handing out action dice as rewards.

As for the NPC flirts/assassins, I might be able to incorporate some of that as I go. 
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To Turnip,

Thanks for the clarification.  I searched a bit and came to think I had the first printing, but you confirmed it for me.  I'm quite glad.  I like my color!  I'll just print out the errata to bring me up to speed.
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Ok, here's a question I've been wondering about for a bit now.  Certain projects like creating a gadget (Super-Science check) or an organization (Economy check) and others require large amounts of money--tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in some cases.  How does one go about acquiring so much money?  Do they get to keep any pocket change they loot off of downed NPCs?  Can they keep Spending Cash?  Does a certain skill make money?  Or are they forced to resort to burning valuable Rep/Net Worth points?

Just my thoughts,
Poocho

[doneatrawhagis]

Ok, here's a question I've been wondering about for a bit now.  Certain projects like creating a gadget (Super-Science check) or an organization (Economy check) and others require large amounts of money--tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in some cases.  How does one go about acquiring so much money?  Do they get to keep any pocket change they loot off of downed NPCs?  Can they keep Spending Cash?  Does a certain skill make money?  Or are they forced to resort to burning valuable Rep/Net Worth points?

Just my thoughts,
Poocho

A campaign I was in revolved around requesting the supplies from my employer(I was a freelance and had to get things signed off). As far as pocket cash goes I had to use that if I wanted to create gadgets of smaller calibers, such as a laser pen that acts like a flash bang. I think Net worth is whats supposed to be used when it comes to buying items. For a villains campaign I'm going to have to steal all my supplies, but I have a yacht for some reason.

Depends on how you want to do it. Everything costs money and you have to find ways of limiting your players form spending like crazy.