Top Secret (1981) RPG Review
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ธ.ค. 2022
- Swamp Dog Games Review - No 1
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
📧Marketing/business/sponsorship inquiries, email swampdoggames@gmail.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
💖 Support the Channel 💖
🥇 Stream Elements Tips: streamelements.com/swampdogga...
🥈 Swamp Gog Games Merch: store.streamelements.com/swam...
🥉 Humble Bundle Affiliate link: www.humblebundle.com/?partner...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
🌐 Social Media 🌐
📊Locals: thekendigreport.locals.com/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
🎼 Music Credits 🎼
Intro Theme 08: Orchestral Sunset - by Longzijun
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
🎆 Locals Supporters 🎇 - เกม
3 more points to consider on TSR's "Top Secret" TTRPG: 1) This game had many flaws and the rulebook layout was horrible but Merle Rasmussen had to pull this game system out of his a**. He designed TSR's 1st investigation/skill-based game from the ground up and it required lots of work and research. He also supported it by himself writing the adventure modules and a rule companion.
2) The firearms stats and gunplay was indeed crunchy but still today one of the most realistic TTRPG firearms systems out there. I study lots of police/self-defense shootings and this system is very accurate. If you were a gun-nut you could design real-world firearms or modify them for bonus stats. It was so well done that 40 years later I'm still incorporating his system into other game systems like Call of Cthulhu and Delta Green.
3) The official adventure modules were original and engaging. But it truly was an open-world spy game...you could set it in the 1940s fighting Nazi spies to the Cold War fighting the KGB, drug cartels or terrorist groups. That was part of the charm. It required lots of work to design a campaign but with some creativity and tweaking Top Secret was a great time at the gaming table.
Thanks for this review on a forgotten TSR classic! I played Top Secret 1e back in the 80's along with D&D B/X and Indiana Jones. Then I branched out years later over-the-pond to Chaosium's "Call of Cthulhu" and Victory Games "James Bond 007" TTRPGs. All Old-School goodness!
I enjoyed playing Top Secret back in the day. I still have the box game. Great review my Brother. Blessings
Thank you! Glad you liked it.
My dad had Top Secret. I'm pretty sure I found it at his house with no clue how he got it. It was fun learning the book and adventuring the map. Neither of us was a good story teller or very clever. I bought some other role playing books that had military weapons and vehicles and we inserted those into the Top Secret world.
There were no 10-sided dice, originally. The 10-sided shape is not one of the original Platonic solids, and the first RPG dice were plastic representations of the Platonic solids from an educational supply company.
Thank you for that explanation! That makes so much more sense.
The first 10 sided dice were released in 1980 but because of the lag in publishing time which could be 18-24 months at that time, 10 sided dice, probably did not exist when these rules were written. It’s also worth noting that the dice quality in the late 70s and early 80s was horrifying bad.
Man, what a fantastic trip down Memory Lane! Me and my mates from school played Top Secret regularly from 1985 (when I got it for Christmas) through to 1988 (when I got Top Secret S. I.). A really enjoyable game - you're completely right, it was definitely clunky and flawed as a system, but wonderfully evocative.
Incidentally, for those who played S. I., I believe it's one of the most underrated systems ever. A fast-moving, fantastic TTRPG. I don't get to game much any more - we occasionally play Call of Cthulhu (still phenomenal - this was my first RPG and it completely blew my mind), but I still have all my S. I. stuff, in case one day... hopefully...
Anyway, I really enjoyed the review. Keep it up!
Thanks for posting this video. I played and loved Top Secret back in the mid to late 1980s and still have a lot of my modules, game equipment, etc. (Including the original box set and the special forces focused centric supplemental set called "Commando." It eas a nice trip back in time. ❤
Top Secret was the first RPG I played, as well 🤙
My second-most-played RPG in the early '80s (after AD&D). The worst thing about it was the carry-over elements from D&D- for instance secret agents having to buy their own equipment out of their own pockets, and the Bureaus (the equivalent of character classes) having different XP requirements, despite having no special abilities to justify different costs.
Honestly the gear didn't bother me. I always assumed the PC's were freelancers in my games to justify the gear purchasing. For XP I do agree, I just chose the middle one for all players rather than messing with that system.
Top Secret was such a fun game in the 80's!
Loved this game. Thx
At the time D10 dice did not exist. So we ancients had to make do with a D20.
Someone should make an adaptation of this to work on BX rules. I know someone has already done thay for Gangbusters. Not sure how well that would work but at least it would be more playable and compatible.
That being said part of me wants to get an original copy of this and try to run it, but then again where would I find a group willing to play.
Top Secret had many many problems. But it also had a really good "feel" to it
I use it as a supplement to better RPGs.
Old D20 had two sets of 1-0 and you had to colour them differnt colours with a crayon. Dark is high light is low etc...