Covert Ops

My latest RPG acquisition is Covert Ops from DwD Studios. I paid out the $32.99 for the hardback print of the Core Rules, plus PDF’s of everything. All in all, a good investment so far (the print copy is still in transit).

Overall quality is quite good. It’s well-written, well-organized, and very easy to follow. The layout and design are nice and clean, without a lot of the “crap” filler you see in products from larger companies. The artwork is pretty serviceable, and gives the whole game a very comfortable feel.

The mechanics are nice a smooth, and really harken back to the old days of gaming, while still remaining relevant. The guys at DwD are unabashed fans of Star Frontiers, and you can see its influence here. The percentile systems, the use of d10’s exclusively, and the simplified skill system all provide a very concise method of resolving rolls without burdening the game play. And if you’ve read anything I have personally written, you know how much I like that.

As I normally do, after giving the main rules a good skim-through, I printed a character sheet (which is also very nice-looking, and available in two formats, one being more print-friendly), opened my dice-roller app on my iPhone, and rolled up a quick character. The process was extremely easy, and I found that by having you roll your background first, it made placing the rolled attributes in a more logical manner. After only a few minutes I had all of the basics that I needed to play, and all I would need to do then is come up with a good story.

The PDF’s are chock full of goodies that I wish every game had. Worksheets for creating your own missions, agencies, and villain organizations. There’s initiative cards, a hit location sheet, and a few other things that all fit nicely with the simple mechanics. I’m thinking of taking a cue from DwD in this regard, and developing some of these things for Mutants & Marvels.

For a little history, DwD is the company behind BareBones Fantasy, which, I understand, is quite popular, and uses a similar system. They are also developing a science-fiction game based on these core mechanics, which promises to be the spiritual successor to our beloved Star Frontiers. I’m quite eager for that.

In the meantime, I am going to continue to delve into Covert Ops, and try my best to get a group together for some good, old-fashioned super-spy/paramilitary action adventure.