Victory Games James Bond RPG

LoeffelholzLoeffelholz The United States, With LovePosts: 8,998Quartermasters
edited July 2006 in James Bond Gaming
Just wondering if anyone here on AJB has dabbled in the James Bond RPG produced by Victory Games, Inc., in the early- to mid-'80s?

A few years back, I worked part-time at a comic book shop and was able to buy the basic game book, a companion book entitled "Thrilling Locations," and six adventure packs. I even picked up a pair of 10-sided and 6-sided dice...but my friends who were into RPGs were more into D&D and Marvel and DC Comics variations, and weren't sufficiently interested in doing a Bond adventure. ( ?:) ) Thus, the game stuff went into storage for 9 or 10 years.

Now that my sons are getting close to an age where this strikes me as an opportunity for some quality father-son time, I've recently dusted this stuff off. In fact, I just purchased the "Q" manual for the game on ebay (which has everything from the DB5 to Little Nellie and the TB jetpack! B-) ).

Right now, I'm reacquainting myself with the incredible volume of game minutiae---my plan is to be the Gamemaster, while my sons take turns being 007 and the other is Felix Leiter, Kerim Bey, etc., or perhaps a character of our own invention.

Has anyone done one of these? If so, any tips?
Check out my Amazon author page! Mark Loeffelholz
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM

Comments

  • TonyDPTonyDP Inside the MonolithPosts: 4,307MI6 Agent
    I've never played any of these paper-style RPG's but here's a link to a Wikipedia page on the 007 RPG's:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bond_007_(role-playing_game)

    The references section has some links to some interesting sites including a forum on the 007 RPG games. Hopefully you can find some useful info there.
  • LoeffelholzLoeffelholz The United States, With LovePosts: 8,998Quartermasters
    Thanks for the tip, Tony. Much appreciated. {[]
    Check out my Amazon author page! Mark Loeffelholz
    "I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
    "Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
  • Pierce_BrosnanPierce_Brosnan Posts: 329MI6 Agent
    The only thing like that I have played is Dungeons and Dragons.
  • dirk00se7endirk00se7en Posts: 9MI6 Agent
    Certainly sounds like a interesting game.

    I'll have to check it out some time.
  • Secret Asian ManSecret Asian Man Posts: 18MI6 Agent
    Man, this game from the Victorious games is best one! At until recently, I buyed all the whole collection to finish my collection that I started in 87.

    People don't play tradition roleplaying games right now because they could play them on video games or they play video games.

    Of course, I'm started out with the basic set in 87 and have a few of the books. Recently I'm finished my collections with buyed the rest of the adventure modules like Man With A Golden Gun and Goldfinger.

    People, especially the kids should spend less the time on video games and play roleplay instead. It help your analytical, imagination and creativity. Right now I'm found some old buddies and we are going to start campaigns with me as GM. Lots of fun!

    VICTORY GAMES JAMES BOND 007 IS THE BEST!
  • BeerjimBeerjim Posts: 4MI6 Agent
    Hello there

    I played the JB RPG for a while back in the 80s. It was more fun to read the manuals or make up characters than take part in to be honest. Suppose it depended on who the Games Master was..hmmm I haven't used that word for a while.

    I bought loads of RPGs round that time including, D&D, AD&D, Ghostbusters, Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000, DC Superheroes etc. D&D was the only one worth playing. These days it seems only the modified board games like Warhammer 40,000 are popular. They take less imagination which is a shame.
  • Secret Asian ManSecret Asian Man Posts: 18MI6 Agent
    Beerjim wrote:
    Hello there

    I played the JB RPG for a while back in the 80s. It was more fun to read the manuals or make up characters than take part in to be honest. Suppose it depended on who the Games Master was..hmmm I haven't used that word for a while.
    Your so right! That's is why I'd collected the entire series of the game. All the manuals and adventure modules and all extra supplements, i.e. Villains.

    Even if no one was to play. The reading maked it is interesting and the artworkings on the covers and inside the manual is great! I'm so proud to own the whole collection.
  • mr00000edmr00000ed Posts: 1MI6 Agent
    I also have collected the Victory Games JB items. As an RPGer from those days, I never got to play this game, but did play the TSR Top Secret games. At the time that was really the only JB-like outlet in the RPG world for me. I also played AD&D, Traveller, Star Frontiers, and Gamma World. I also played many table top games (mostly war games). My two sons are now of age to play and we have played Star Wars, D&D 3.5, and Spycraft 1.0 and 2.0. I think the imagination is the best vehicle for fun in these worlds. The video games are getting better and better, but being able to have complete control of the world you are gaming and solving the problems before you is still a great way to spend an afternoon (with some soccer/futbol to boot - to stay active)! Cheers!
  • mrwoodpigeonmrwoodpigeon Posts: 59MI6 Agent
    A few years back, I worked part-time at a comic book shop and was able to buy the basic game book, a companion book entitled "Thrilling Locations," and six adventure packs. I even picked up a pair of 10-sided and 6-sided dice...but my friends who were into RPGs were more into D&D and Marvel and DC Comics variations, and weren't sufficiently interested in doing a Bond adventure. ( ?:) ) Thus, the game stuff went into storage for 9 or 10 years.

    Now that my sons are getting close to an age where this strikes me as an opportunity for some quality father-son time, I've recently dusted this stuff off. In fact, I just purchased the "Q" manual for the game on ebay (which has everything from the DB5 to Little Nellie and the TB jetpack! B-) ).

    Officially jealous. Working in a comic book shop and the sound of playing that RPG with your kids sounds just wonderful Dust it off and have a/some great time(s).
  • mrwoodpigeonmrwoodpigeon Posts: 59MI6 Agent
    I used to play AD&D 2nd Edition, and spent many evenings pouring over the books and reading up on stats, etc. Sounds real geeky, was and is now I guess, but wonderful times.
  • Secret Asian ManSecret Asian Man Posts: 18MI6 Agent
    edited December 2006
    NumberOne wrote:
    Wow! Thanks of bunch! How are we suppose to use this??:) This is too cool![img]=http://www.infinitecore.com/superstar/skins/emoticons/buttrock.gif[/img]
  • NumberOneNumberOne Posts: 10MI6 Agent
    NumberOne wrote:
    Wow! Thanks of bunch! How are we suppose to use this??:) This is too cool![img]=http://www.infinitecore.com/superstar/skins/emoticons/buttrock.gif[/img]

    This is how you do it. Get bittornado, go to that site, left right click on the link for the torrent, it says "download this file" http link then open the file with the bittorent download it and open it and play.
  • colwyn1975colwyn1975 Posts: 3MI6 Agent
    just starting myself but you might find this useful!!!http://www.waynesbooks.com/INDEX.HTML
    i hope that it helps.
  • andrstovandrstov Posts: 1MI6 Agent
    The torrent is dead. Can someone seed plz. Or are the files avl other places. I am buying some items but would be nice to have them all.
  • BerinKinsmanBerinKinsman Posts: 1MI6 Agent
    There is currently a "retro-clone" game titled "DoubleZero" in development that's sort of an unofficial 2nd Edition. The mechanics are very similar, but all of the copyrighted setting material is stripped out.

    The playtest rules are currently available for free at
    http://www.unclebear.com/wiki/index.php?title=Double_Zero

    The official discussion group for the game is at
    http://direcafe.ning.com/group/doublezero
  • __M____M__ Posts: 29MI6 Agent
    I have owned a complete set of the game since the 80's. It is a good game system adaptable to other modern RPG genres.

    I recommend the rule set.
  • __M____M__ Posts: 29MI6 Agent
    I have owned a complete set of the game since the 80's. It is a good game system adaptable to other modern RPG genres.

    I recommend the rule set.
  • williamsmithwilliamsmith Posts: 1MI6 Agent
    just starting myself but you might find this useful!!!http://www.waynesbooks.com/INDEX.HTML
    i hope that it helps.
    646-230 and ccna 646-563 guide as well for more help 646-985 and 640-822
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,844MI6 Agent
    Just bumping this thread up as I'm very interested indeed in the role-playing games of the James Bond universe. Sir Miles said that there was already a thread on this subject matter, and here it is!
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • Sir MilesSir Miles The Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,746Chief of Staff
    Like I said...I have a few of these...but never played them.
    YNWA 97
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,844MI6 Agent
    Anyone else want to share their memories on these RPGs at all?

    I'd love to hear from you on this most arcane area of the James Bond universe. :)
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • yoyoyojoyoyoyojo Posts: 46MI6 Agent
    You said it best. In general I loved reading the manuals for RPG games. I remember all the wonderful art in AD&D books, the maps, lead figures, buying a new set of dice. Sadly even I am jaded to all that now. That is definately something lost on the current generation.

    There is so much content these days and all these genres have been done to death. It's rare that I will see, say, a cool fantasy picture and get that old feeling I used to get when I was a kid.

    I myself never played the Bond RPG. I was a fan of Top Secret, had a lot of fun, well, reading the manuals. I had a hard time getting my friends to play TS over AD&D. I remember the module that came with the box set came in a yellow folder with "top secret" stamped on it.

    It's that physical stuff that I miss now. I hardly even buy retail video games and when I do often it's just a disc.

    If you are every in Berkeley California be sure to check out Games of Berkeley. It remains one of the premiere RPG shops in the Bay Area. In fact they may be the last surviving such shop.

    I can't say its the kids today. I know back in the 80's I used to think "someday this will all be in video games and how cool would that be". Decades later I got into World of Warcraft. For a short time it felt like "wow it's really happened, we are RPG-ing on a mass scale, OMG that is another person over there." Then it turned into gear checks, point chasing and absolutely no RPG-ing going on. Heck no one even reads all the cool content and back story. Everyone seems jaded about everything now.

    Imgaine taking anyone on the video games from today back in time. Can you imagine the impact it would have. Heck take just 1 battleground in WoW, make that a stand alone game and go back to 1985. It would change the world. Yet now everyone just looks for the gimmic to get the most points and they forget that they are in his rich fascinating virtual world.

    Ahh I digress. I guess I am happy that my generation spanned both the pre and post internet worlds. As a child I got to enjoy paper RPGs and going to the movies was a major big deal. As an adult I get to play video games that hold my interest (few adults back in the day played Atari 2600 cause it was so bad only kids would put up with it) and am happy to have blu ray. Of course my son gets excited about all sorts of cool things, and the things my parents liked as a kid were, for the most part, boring for me as a kid. Yet still I wonder if the current generation is overly jaded about everything.
  • Le SamouraiLe Samourai Honolulu, HIPosts: 573MI6 Agent
    I was an avid RPGer from the early ‘80s to the mid-‘90s. I played many, many different games.

    The James Bond RPG was by far one of the best. The mechanics of the game were very good, and superior to most of the competition. The game did a really great job of capturing the feel of the Bond movies. The character generation system, for example, made it easy to create your own individual agent.

    It was also a very well-written game. My wife is not a gamer, but she used to enjoy reading the various Bond RPG materials because they were entertaining. The Q-Manual and Thrilling Locations were particularly fun reads.

    A bit of trivia: For legal reasons, the Bond RPG was barred from making any references to Blofeld or SPECTRE, so they created a new organization called TAROT. However, there was one exception to the no-Blofeld rule. In a passing reference to Tracy, there is a mention of the fact that Blofeld killed her.
    —Le Samourai

    A Gent in Training.... A blog about my continuing efforts to be improve myself, be a better person, and lead a good life. It incorporates such far flung topics as fitness, self defense, music, style, food and drink, and personal philosophy.
    Agent In Training
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