Top Secret (role-playing game)
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{{Infobox RPG
|title= Top Secret
|image= Image:Top Secret RPG logo.jpg
|caption=
|designer= Merle M. Rasmussen (original edition)
Douglas Niles (Top Secret/S.I. Edition)
|publisher= TSR
|date= 1980 (1st edition)
1981(2nd edition)
1987(Top Secret/S.I. Edition)
|genre= Agent fiction
|system= Custom
|footnotes=
}}
Top Secret is an espionage role-playing game first published in 1980 by TSR, the company best known for making the Dungeons & Dragons game.
Contents |
Top Secret (original edition)
Designed by Merle M. Rasmussen, the original Top Secret game aimed to capture the spirit of such fiction series as James Bond, Modesty Blaise, Mission Impossible and The Avengers, while allowing players and gamemasters to build their own espionage story settings. The original boxed set of the game included a 64-page rule book and a sample adventure, "Operation: Sprechenhaltestelle."
Following in the "character class" format of D&D, Top Secret characters came from specific bureaus -- Assassination, Confiscation, or Investigation -- all in the employ of a master spy organization simply referred to as The Agency. (An appendix in the rule book listed dozens of historical and fictional espionage organizations which could serve as employers or adversaries for missions.)
An expansion to the game, "The Top Secret Companion" introduced enhancements to many game components. It included additional character classes and missions, as well as new Areas of Knowledge and abilities. A revised combat system was introduced that speeded up and provided more variety to combat results. New equipment and weapons were introduced as well.
Top Secret/S.I. edition
Image:Top Secret S.I..jpg In 1987, TSR published Top Secret/S.I. ("Special Intelligence"), a revised edition designed by Douglas Niles. S.I. introduced a more structured gaming environment in which players worked as agents for secret intelligence agency ORION against its evil adversay, WEB. Later source books in the product line introduce both supernatural (Agent 13) and futuristic (F.R.E.E.Lancers) adventure settings.
Top Secret/S.I. is a relatively fast-paced, all-action, "Die Hard" and "James Bond" type of game. Some gamers feel that it was a perfect match for the '80s.
Combat system
The most impressive trait of Top Secret/S.I. is its extremely fast and simple combat system based on percentages. With as few as two dice rolls, a player can know not only if a character was shot, but what part of the body was hit and the extent of damage.
For example: based on your stats, skills, bonuses and penalties, the gamemaster might say you have a 74% chance of hitting a target. To succeed, you would roll two 10-sided dice (then red representing 10s and the black representing 1s) and get a result that is equal to or lower than that percentage (the lower the better). If you rolled a 23, your shot would hit the enemy agent in the right side of the chest. A second roll would determine the extent of the damage done to that part of the body.
Character sheets
Character sheets in Top Secret/S.I. resemble agent dossiers, and are intended to provide quick and easy reference to all a player's stats and skills. They also provide a detailed map of the ten possible hit spots of a character´s body, and a blank portrait area for drawing or attaching a depiction of the character.
Current Status
The Top Secret brand ceased production in 1992. TSR was purchased by Wizards of the Coast in 1997, which in turn was purchased by Hasbro in 1999.