Mission Impossible: Night's Black Agents

I've been looking for a game system to build out a Mission Impossible game. Friends strongly suggested Blades in the Dark. I finally got to play in a game of it and though it was interesting, it didn't quite fit what I wanted. What intrigued me about Blades in the Dark (Forged in the Dark engine) was that you can retcon events and have your Mission Impossible team completely bypass difficulties such as traps, ambushes, and alarms by having short flashbacks where your Mission Impossible team came up with a workaround. This way you just dive into a mission as you run into difficulties, each expert gets to shine and shows how they helped you complete your mission.

Various aspects of Blades in the Dark just didn't work for me. And I didn't want to build out a playbook for each archetype. In Mission Impossible, there's a Mastermind, Nerd, Muscle, Driver, Mimic, and Thief, but various skill sets overlap. Then the question is what you do if you're missing one of your team members. e.g. if you don't have a full table of Players and you're missing one of your experts.

I heard that The Dracula Dossier was an amazing campaign, so I purchased all the necessary books. The amount of books is pretty daunting: Night's Black Agents, Double Tap, The Dracula Dossier Director's Handbook, Edom Field Manual, and Dracula Unredacted. So those books sat on my shelf for a long time. Finally, I decided to run The Harker Intrusion, one of the scenarios recommended as an introduction to The Dracula Dossier.

To my surprise, Night's Black Agents had the right feel for Mission Impossible. I got car chases, shoot outs, paranoia, secret agent-foo. The character builds (Backgrounds: The Old Life) covered all the archetypes that I wanted. If you didn't have a full team, you gave each team member more build points, so they can cover any skill gaps. Heat works really well too.

I'd also allow Investigative points spends on short flashbacks, allowing PCs to narrate something special they've done to help them get out of trouble, a la TimeWatch. This was exactly what I wanted.

So, I finally found my system.

Here's what I came up with:

1. Movie Header / Trailer

Pick snatches of action or locations that will occur in the movie. A chase scene, someone falling out of an airplane, a bomb counting down, an explosion, someone tearing their face off.

Place a piece of white string on the table and have postcards, travel magazines, and fashion magazines for inspiration. Tear pages and pictures out and drop it on the string.

2. Pick exotic location. Grab it from the list of places on the string.

3. Pick a specific scene location.

• Iconic landmark 
• Paris: Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph, Louvre Museum, Moulin Rouge
• London: Tower Bridge, Tower of London, MI6 HQ, Buckingham Palace, London Museum, 10 Downing Street, London Eye
• Brazil: Amazon Rainforest, Carnival of Brazil
• Morocco: Casablanca, Sahara Desert
• USA: Mount Rushmore, White House, Louisiana Mardi Gras, Golden Gate Bridge
• Secure location: evil lair, industrial building, power plant
• Transition location: airport, subway, crowded street, large street party, large elegant gala

4. Pick a villain. Grab it from list of people on the string.

• Major Villain: Calling card or over the top signature. Carries a white fluffy cat, loves gold, etc. What stands out, is this a reoccurring villain? If so, can't die until Climatic Ending.
• Lieutenant: Has a tell or minor calling card. Bad cologne, origami chewing gum wrappers, razor sharp teeth.
• Mooks: A dime a dozen.

5. Do a scene.

Pick either multipart McGuffin, break-in, chase, or Climatic Ending.

Complications: malfunctioning gadget, unexpected visitor, more than expected, betrayal, twist, you've been followed, there's another guy, a second shooter, it's not what it seems, reversal of fortune.

6. Repeat 2-5 until Climatic Ending.

You can be injured, but not killed until the Climatic Ending.

7. Any unused locations or people were left on the cutting room floor and may be used in a sequel or can be used in an outtake reel during credits.