The 12 Days of Rifts-mas: Day 2, Ninjas & Superspies

I love this game.

This game replaces the original Top Secret from TSR for me, and it does everything I wanted that game to do. We have super spies, cybernetics, vehicle combat, vehicle modification, gadgets, spy agencies, and more martial arts than you can throw a kendo stick at. The skill list is deep and enhances role-playing far more than many other spy games could ever dream of doing. The melee combat is some of the best in old-school gaming.

The game set out to be the be-all and end-all of spy and martial art role-playing games of the mid-1980s, and it did just that. Yes, the game is stuck in the 1980s, but who wouldn't want to be? Take me back. The game is so good, I have a Spotify playlist for it, and the music is just as good as the game.

I still play Ninjas & Superspies; it is like a tightly put-together Super Nintendo game, but for pen-and-paper, instantly replayable, and I could pick this up at any time and have fun.

It does outdo Top Secret, one of its peers. The characters feel much more capable and realistic, and also more lethal when you start factoring in physical skills and fighting styles. Some characters I can send into a mission without weapons or armor, and I would be comfortable with their chances of defending themselves in close quarters. The combat maneuvers are cool, versatile, and very tactical in close quarters, something this game does best.

I can send an operative into a hostile situation. In this foreign government, they will be constantly watched, have the tools and ability to access secure areas, and an unarmed combat ability to get the job done, smile, and head back home with nobody the wiser. This is one of the few spy games where you can play agents without guns and still have a lot of fun.

The cyber and gadget agents are just as fun and can pull off many cool tricks without anyone knowing any better. The game has a Cyberpunk or Shadowrun feel to the cybernetics side, and agents can be upgraded with lots of intelligent systems to do a lot of spy stuff without anyone knowing better, or to carry backpacks full of gear. Some electronic systems can be hardened and stealthy to the point that they become undetectable unless they are actively transmitting. There is some cool stuff in here, and it gives Shadowrun a run for its money when you pull in Heroes Unlimited cybernetics.

Yes, it is compatible with every other Palladium game. The Rifts Ultimate books are the definitive rules update for this game. Still, the most significant change is the "two attacks for living" rule, which is easily bolted onto the base book, and then remembering that the highest to-strike modifier applies, and that RoF calculations are based on melee attacks/actions. Also, use the 5 target number for melee, and the 8 for ranged attacks. Done.

Getting this game to the 2017 level of rule updates is trivial.

Your agents can encounter any threat in any other Palladium game, or you can use them in TNMT, Beyond the Supernatural, Nightbane, Rifts, Heroes Unlimited, or even Palladium Fantasy if you want to. As "government agents" or "enemy soldiers," they fit in seamlessly with Heroes Unlimited. The Martial Arts can be used with any other game. This game has the "secret agent and martial arts" DNA that many other Palladium games can draw on, so it is not only fun on its own but also makes other Palladium games better.

And this game makes you fear the ninja. You will not find any 18-year-old ninja masters here; the study takes at least 14 years. Take that, silly fan-fiction writers, and show some respect for the real world. Go through this martial art form, and you will end up older, wiser, and far more lethal. The Ninja is not just a "character class" but a way of life. D&D classes have this tendency to oversimplify and cookie-cutter something that should be shown more respect, reducing them to "nothing more than a rogue or fighter" and making them equal, when they clearly are not.

And you can build a spy car or super vehicle in this system, and have vehicle combat in the game! We loved Car Wars more, but this system does a good job and gives you basic options to kit out a custom super-spy vehicle and take it on missions. Try not to destroy it this time, will you?

Yet the game still remains its simple Palladium game self. It still uses the same rules. This is still percentage skills and d20 combat. Once you know, everything is easy and flows naturally. This isn't a 3.5E system where you need a checklist and a cheat sheet to run a combat, with constant interrupts firing from other characters in the battle. The game plays smoothly and flows naturally. Everything makes sense. You know your chance to succeed is right there on your character sheet.

The rules stay out of your way, and characters play off their character sheets.

It is the best old-school spy game out there, rivaled only by the 00-throwback Classified game. But this game goes far more into the depth of making your character into a living weapon, and awesome in so many ways, without bogging the game down with charts, tables, and all sorts of procedures.

Grab your character sheet, take your mission, and go save the world.