Spy Gadgets

Mcgyver only had a pocket knife but he could disarm a nuke with a paperclip and some glue. Improvise and think about designing a few systems that could use every super spys approach. (Ex: people that like james bond can have their gadgets, people clever like mcgyver could easily design some whacky ways to get past a door, cater to everybody)

I like where your going with this.

For the average real world spy, the most indispensable item they can have is a pass port and driver's certificate. After all, its their "legend" - the story that hides their true identity - that lets them safely engage in espionage.

Quite a few modern spies are people with debts, criminal records, or other indiscretions blackmailed into the position, and pass info onto a handler. As such, its less about equipment and more about improvisation. Even trained agents try to eschew incriminating stuff if possible.

If you want the more about wet work there are a few real world bits that seem like fiction. The Soviets developed a line of ammunition with an internal piston - which pushed out the bullet, but contained the gases. Hence the PSS Vul Pistol fires quietly - without an attached silencer! They also developed an assault rifle that fired 120mm long darts underwater to deal with enemy divers. And of course there is the famous case of using an umbrella to inject a dissident with a Rician laced pellet.

Another staple of the trade was the Minox Camera. Developed as a commercial venture in 1936, its not much larger than a cigarette lighter (3 1/4 by 1 1/8 by 5/8 inches and weighs about 3 oz with a film cassette.) Admittedly, the digital cameras of today can surpass it... but dead drops for microfilm seem to fit the genre more than go to a web site and download the details - and safer for a rouge when the whole net is monitored...

Concealment methods are a pretty major element. It was pretty common to build stuff with retrograde threads so they wouldn't screw apart as one might expect. Film canisters had built in flashbulbs to destroy the exposers unless one used a magnet to safe the mechanism.

If we are stepping away from reality - it should be possible to make a pen laser with enough power to burn a person/kill at close range. Ways to fake finger prints would be big with biometric scanners, really small and surprisingly quick chemical test kits will help find secret weapons, and electronic circuitry built into the ones clothes means you can have a computer that won't be found in a pat-down search. (Classic hiding in plain sight...)

Listening devices of course - a laser shone on a window (hooked up to an oscilloscope/computer) can ID the vibrations taking place within. Invisible ink, small vehicles or parachutes for infiltration, and secure com links. A custom MD-500 modified to be nearly silent (for a helicopter) was used by Air America operating out of Thailand for tapping an NVA phone line.

There is a fine line between hobby and obsession. I seem to have lost sight of it some time ago.

when you say gadgets do you mean more of a grittier kind or are you thinking more fanciful. Like there are the ones like the shoe and the phone suggested above and i know thats just a example. the question is are you going for more of a plausable modern day thing or the more off the wall bond gadgets. Who says you need gadgets anyways maybe you can have the characters be more McGyver like. The could select a more modern day gadet like a PDA or an emp device and have the players only be limited by their creativity. Granted this wouldn't help every player, some just aren't creative, but it would pull players more into the game. they'd have to be aware of what they have and where they are.

Take a page from James Bond and Maxwell Smart - combine stuff! This isn't just a shoe, its also a phone. Or, how about a belt that doubles as a grapple hook. Or what about a tie with a camera, or a mobile phone that doubles as a grenade.

While some of the options above are comical, I used them to give you an idea of the possibilities. Plus, it will add to the "spy" feel of your game. Of course, if you are thinking more like Black Ops style of play, the above might not suit.

Hope it helps.

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