MAGE: Magical Authority Guarding Earth

[Bryan]

I was looking at Spy Game, an espionage game using the 5e rules that looked pretty good to me. As I was looking at the character sheet, it hit me that it would be super easy to add another page to the character sheet, a spell list page. Let each player prepare and cast spells like a wizard of the same level but let them choose Int, Wis, or Cha as their casting ability. Use the hero points optional rule that has been around forever but in addition to what hero points usually do, let them act like sorcery points as well.
Bam! A 007/Harry Potter mashup that has the players involved in all manner of supernatural spy missions.
You could be in Faerie attending a ball because the Winter Court is looking to stir up trouble between Autumn and Summer.
You could be stopping a necromancer from turning a city morgue into a zombie factory.
Serpent People getting nuclear launch codes.
A dragon trying to take Fort Knox for its hoard.
Heck, just about any module or scenario could have at least part of its story adapted into a mission.
Is this as easy as it seems and sound like as much fun as I think it does or am I missing something?

[Grod_The_Giant]

I mean, urban fantasy is always a fun genre, and "supernatural spy agency" is a great premise for a campaign*. I'm not familiar enough with Spy Game to comment on the particulars, but just based on my 5e experience I'd be concerned about the wizard half of the character overwhelming the spy half. Look at the combo from the opposite direction--if your character is a Wizard, how much do the spy abilities really contribute to the experience?

I'm sure there are dedicated 5e-based urban fantasy systems out there, but if you want to stick with Spy Game, I'd suggest using a half-caster progression instead of full. Those are designed to be limited-use enhancements to your main gameplay loop, rather than the primary thing you do every round.



*For inspiration, check out Daniel O'Malley's Rook series! Or just for the hell of it; they're great fun.

[Bryan]

I thought of that and haven't ruled out half-casters. The concern you're raising is why I'm only porting in the spells and modified hero points, not class features of any of the casting classes.
The classes in Spy Game are things like Infiltrator, Martial Artist, Soldier, Hacker, Face, Technician, and Medic that have class features geared towards modern espionage work so I can't say for sure without play testing but I'm hopeful that the two will balance out.
Also, I do run a game of Bloodlines & Black Magic which is 5e Urban Fantasy. The themes are different enough though that the Spy Game hack actually seems like a better option than trying to work a spy agency into B&BM