Top Secret: An Espionage Role Playing Game

by Merle Rasmussen

Cover has signs of wear around all edges. Pages are in good condition.

Genres: Role Playing Games, Games

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

Reviews

[The Pirate Ghost (Formerly known as the Curmudgeon) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This could be a fun game, depending on the players and the Referee/Umpire (another name for the DMG). The combat system was very technical and, fun getting into, but in practice rather cumbersome. Combat overwhelmed any story-thread or theme, if one is desired, and the game tends to devolve into a rolling gunbattle...of course, that's pretty fun too.

Draw Backs:
Not enough modules (at the time I read it)
Combat Rules tended to take the game out of a story line or theme and make it a tactical game.
The Equipment lists were extensive and detailed but, in practice sometimes complicated (though not the worst out there).

Bottom line
It's an old game (too me, I remember when it came out) but could be a lot of fun with experienced table-top RPGers. The rules tended to be more guidelines than rules because in the heat of the moment, complication sometimes interfered with fun. Could have been better, but, this isn't bad. Fun game, but there's better systems out there.

[Mick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carr, Mike and Corey Koebernick. 1980. Operation: Rapidstrike. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR

The second published module for TSR’s game, Top Secret. In this adventure, the player characters need to infiltrate the island stronghold of Madame Genevieve Larreau, rescue the missing scientist Dr. Felix Fendelmann, and destroy the stocks of a dangerous drug with which Larreau aims to achieve world domination. But time is short and things are not exactly as they seem!

I think that I played this module during a short-lived Top Secret campaign in the 80s, but I don’t remember how our group got on. It certainly seems like it would be a fun adventure. Good, basic, action packed stuff.