Hook, Line & Sinker – Espionage Games

Espionage games along the lines of a James Bond Film or a Mission: Impossible episode can be fun to be a part of.  Trying to keep a long running campaign interesting a group of players is a very tough proposition.  Below are three story ideas to try to help keep things fresh.

As always I have tried to keep the ideas generic enough that you can use them for any system.

Idea #1

Hook – The team gets called in for a meet with their handler from the agency that they work for.

Line – When the team gets to the meeting spot the handler is a no show.  If the location is a base of operations, the place has been ransacked.  If they try to check in with higher ups, they find out that the handler has missed his last check in and has indeed gone missing and are assigned to find him before he can leak vital information to the opposition.

Sinker – The controller has been kidnapped by one of his enemies from the days that he was a spy.  The enemy spy is looking for revenge for a team he lost because of the controller and is luring in the team to kill them.  If he can get information from the handler that he can sell in the meantime so much the better.

Idea #2

Hook – The team is tasked to take out a terrorist base somewhere in Africa and provided everything that they need create a plan and are issued the gear that they need to execute the plan.

Line – On the plane in route to the drop zone for the mission they receive an alert that their current mission has been scrubbed.  They are being retasked to take care to intervene in a hostage situation in the Mediterranean.  A resort has been taken by a cell from the group of terrorist they were going to attack.  Among the hostages is the prime minister of a friendly nation and his family.

Sinker – The players now must come up with a plan on the fly they must rescue the prime minister and everyone else at the resort and take down the terrorist with a minimum amount of collateral damage.  The whole world will be watching as the situation unfolds after all.

Idea #3

Hook – On the way to a drop, a member of the team finds out that they are being followed by some enemy agents.  They quickly hide the object that they are taking to the drop know that the team will retrieve it when they have taken care of the threat.  (This team member should be an NPC if possible.)

Line – When the team goes to retrieve the object they find that it is gone.  They know the enemy agents did not take it.  When they review the security footage in the area, they find that a teenager took the object from its hiding place.  Now the team needs to retrieve the object so they can get it to the drop.