Duke Bushido

Martin Power: "Oh, good.  😕    It's going to be one of _those_ days again...." then largely ignore it until something threatening actually happens.
 
The Good Guy: "Wha-- aw, _CRAP_!  Aw crap aw crap aw crap--!  NO!  NooOOOooOOO!  It can't be!  It can't be!  I've worked so hard- so stupidly hard!  And for what?  Just to find out I'm an evil twin?!  I didn't know!  I swear; I did NOT know!  How?  How could I know?  No one expects to become an evil twin!  Why would you even-- THE GUNS!  [stares at the guns in his hands as if he has never seen them before.  Glances at reflection in storefront window and the bandoliers strung around him and the four long guns on his back]   The gun!  Oh my _GAWD_!  I should have known!  I should have known right away!  The guns!   I have _always_ been the villain.... [breaks into sobs and tears]   it's too late....   it's too late.....    Damn.   Well, I guess it's a done thing, then.  Time to get started on that killing spree.....    [points gun at doppelganger] Hey, Handsome!  Smile for the camera! [fires.  a lot.]  Wha---?  Non lethals?!   Crap, I'm an idiot, too!  [fires some more.  Stops. Looks apologetic]  I'm sorry; I'm sorry....  Look, I only just found out I'm evil like.... like, two minutes ago.  I'm not happy about it, but it is what it is.  So, if you'll wait right there for just a few minutes while I do a little shopping [fires different gun].  Crap!  Okay, a _lot_ of shopping-- anyway, I'll be right back, okay? [fires different gun. Looks at carbon copy]  Gawd... so much shopping....  Okay, look, I'll be right back.  Don't go anywhere...!   Wait a minute-- I'm an evil twin!  I can _steal_ the stuff I need!  Sweet!"
 
Armorine: is full-well aware that there are at least four other copies of her, and will assume that this is one of them.  Study / investigate, act accordingly.
 
 
 
 

Sorry, guys: this one takes a bit of set-up.  Well, no; it _doesn't_ take a bit of set-up.  I just wanted to brag a little about getting to be a _player_ for the first time in a few years!   Out of town, ran into-- of all the people on earth-- Davien.  His buddy / GM has rented a table at a joint in the 'boro, and he's headed there, and asks if I'm interested.   I recall just what a horrible player Davien was, but if he's not running......
 
Short version:  I tagged along, GM offered me a pre-gen, and we sat down to play what he estimated to be a four-hour session using his freshly-acquired reprint of TFT.  Won't say I wasn't insanely jealous.  😕
 
blah-blah-blah we have spent the past three game days trying to talk one character (and his asinine player) into letting the fairies go.  We had to travel through a fairy-infested wood (this GM's fairies were cute, and very dangerous) and the player had decided to capture a couple and "breed them" to sell them as good luck charms.  "Fairies," everyone (except me; I was just playing essentially an NPC, as, being fair to the group, I was up-front about not having played TFT since discovering Champions way back when, so I was more "character actor" than mover and shaker) including the GM tells him-- "do _not_ bring good luck!  They may have brought good luck with some other group or some other game, but in this world, in this game, they do not bring good luck."
 
Didn't sink in.  He wouldn't let it go.  Day three (game time), the GM thinks he has it sussed out: when Jack the Jerk (who has completely de-railed the game, meaning there is no way I am going to see the session concluded) goes to feed his fairies, he notices that he can't breed them; they are both female.
 
Does this encourage him to let them go?
 
_NOOOOoooOOOOooo_!   He pitches a stink about going back to the fairy wood so he can capture a male, blah-blah-blah.
 
Day six, game-time, and we have already flat out _missed_ a Relatively Important Event screwing around with "but fairies are good luck!" guy.   As we're making camp (_again_), one of us hears something-- a song?  A chant?  A prayer?  
 
He alerts us and we snap to attention, weapons on hand, keen to find the sound.   We trace it to the little basket cage with the two she-fairies.  
 
"Well, what are they saying?"
"Do any of you speak fairy?"
A round of "no" from the table, save Mister Fairy Breeder, who says "I have two languages that might be like fairy, and a couple unspent points.  I could use them to know Fairy."  The GM rules that this guy is passingly familiar with Fairy, but doesn't actually speak it; he just recognizes various patterns:  angry speech; friendly speech: pleading, etc.  Further, he rules that they are clearly chanting together, and that it's not a song, but a prayer.
 
"So what are they saying?"
"You don't speak fairy; we've established that."
 
"Right, but I should be able to know what the words are."
"Okay, you recognize fairy words!"  (GM clearly _well_ beyond perturbed)   "Happy now?  You know that they are sing-chanting a prayer."
"But what are the words?!"
GM, starting to say something supremely snarky, as we've all realized this whole adventure is scrapped (we'd been just beyond the fairy wood for six game days, and nearly four real hours.  PC-on-PC violence was a very real possibility at this point, but Dingbat just failed to pick up on it), then his face has that flush of absolute relief, of hope, of-- it bore all the signs of a deeply frustrated man who has been struck with true inspiration, and an idea that could solve all his problems.   He beamed a closed-mouthed smile so wide that I was willing to bet real money on just how much it physically hurt.  Then he says "well, you don't speak fairy, of course, but the haunting beauty of their prayer captivates you; you are spell bound, mesmer--"
 
"Are they mind-controlling me?!  Fairies can't mind control!"
 
As if there had been no interruption, the GM continued "there is resolve, peace, longing-- the truest, deepest of emotion in their voice.  It touches something in you, and you feel as if you have transcended your mortal form, shaken free of all concerns---"
 
"But what are the words?!  If I can understand fairy, then I should know the words!"
 
GM, in a hollow, lilting falsetto that was actually quite impressively musical:  
 
"Mosura....   y  Mosura.....    Dongan kasakuyan indo mu......"
 
Duke's character:  "Well, I'm totally creeped out, and tired of arguing with this clearly crazed person, and I leave my tent and my bedding and hop on my mount and take off as fast as the fading sunlight will let me!"
Davien's Character "Yep; Duke's right behind me!"
 
 
   
 
So Davien and I left, met up to grab some food and a couple beers (not in a restaurant, of course; despite what our idiot governor thinks, there's a plague about), caught up for an hour or so, remembered why we don't keep in touch, and went home.  I swung back by the game joint in time to see the GM and one of his players leaving together.  "So.....   Giant moth?"
 
"Colossal moth.  Humongous dragon-eating moth."
 
"Good to know."
 
I fired up the truck and went home.   
 
 
 
I have to say, I was sort of impressed; I didn't know anybody remembered more that the first line of that song. 
 

With every bit of respect I am capable of offering:
 
Oh, no....    I'm not getting suckered into that one again!   
 
 
To explain:  some time ago, I participated in a discussion on the same topic and was shouted down as being "too stingy" and "too liberal," and my favorite, "wrong" because if it's the mental command "ignore me!" then it should be mind control, period, and all else was wrong, wrong, wrong.
 
(you may have noticed that I _never_ post builds, _ever_.   It's the history of Bash Behavior from way back when that guarantees I never will.)  I don't expect anything I come up with in response to any question or to my own needs to be perfect, or to even be what someone else is looking for; really I don't.  But I am _not_ going to put work into something just to have it insulted out of hat without any actual discussion as to why.  Yeah, it's not so bad these days as it once was, but still-- lesson learned. 
 
 
Then more recently I screwed up and alluded to a villain I dusted off whose invisibility is the continuous mental command "forget me" and got a few waves of "no; that's not inviso" and "no; you can't do that."  (let's be fair:  it's my game.  I can set the stinking table on fire if I want to, right?    )   Lesson remembered.
 
 
So let me offer this:
 
Keep in mind that defining it as a mental command means, as you point out, that it won't work against non-sentient recording instruments, but that it _will_ work equally as well against the character with Damage Reduction: EGO-based attacks and an EGO of 80  as it does against Captain Orange Patriot with his susceptibility to any thought-based power and his raw EGO of 6.
 
In short: there's undeniably some disadvantage in there, but it's accompanied by some considerable advantages as well-- at least in terms of the SFX / description of the power.
 
 

Martin Power: "Oh, good.  😕    It's going to be one of _those_ days again...." then largely ignore it until something threatening actually happens.
 
The Good Guy: "Wha-- aw, _CRAP_!  Aw crap aw crap aw crap--!  NO!  NooOOOooOOO!  It can't be!  It can't be!  I've worked so hard- so stupidly hard!  And for what?  Just to find out I'm an evil twin?!  I didn't know!  I swear; I did NOT know!  How?  How could I know?  No one expects to become an evil twin!  Why would you even-- THE GUNS!  [stares at the guns in his hands as if he has never seen them before.  Glances at reflection in storefront window and the bandoliers strung around him and the four long guns on his back]   The gun!  Oh my _GAWD_!  I should have known!  I should have known right away!  The guns!   I have _always_ been the villain.... [breaks into sobs and tears]   it's too late....   it's too late.....    Damn.   Well, I guess it's a done thing, then.  Time to get started on that killing spree.....    [points gun at doppelganger] Hey, Handsome!  Smile for the camera! [fires.  a lot.]  Wha---?  Non lethals?!   Crap, I'm an idiot, too!  [fires some more.  Stops. Looks apologetic]  I'm sorry; I'm sorry....  Look, I only just found out I'm evil like.... like, two minutes ago.  I'm not happy about it, but it is what it is.  So, if you'll wait right there for just a few minutes while I do a little shopping [fires different gun].  Crap!  Okay, a _lot_ of shopping-- anyway, I'll be right back, okay? [fires different gun. Looks at carbon copy]  Gawd... so much shopping....  Okay, look, I'll be right back.  Don't go anywhere...!   Wait a minute-- I'm an evil twin!  I can _steal_ the stuff I need!  Sweet!"
 
Armorine: is full-well aware that there are at least four other copies of her, and will assume that this is one of them.  Study / investigate, act accordingly.
 
 
 
 

Here's the Table of Contents for the book

Well it has been a long while. 
It was basically a % roll under system for skills, but held onto poly die  for damage and stuff.
My TS rulebook is 1980 and TSsi is 87. 
IIRC the differences between editions wasn't as much change as it was cleaning up presentation and rules.  If you plan to play Top Secret skip to the SI version
 
I was pretty stoked when I heard of Top Secret New World Order, and then I got a copy.  They went to a "die step" system like savage worlds with an Action Point system that reminded me of Feng Shui 2.  I never got past the first read through.
 
We found that the James Bond 007 RPG was too clunky for us in play, but the adventures they put out were fantastic, espectially for the 80's.  Maps, handouts and pictures for most everything.  They had a module for several of the movies plus more, their Locations source book included color pictures of the various places (casinos, restaurants, hotels, trains etc.) to augment the maps and illustrations which I still use to today. 
 
To be honest though, I'd mine the setting and story info and use another rule system.  Both games are 80's games and you can tell the heavy wargame influence. 
 

I'm not sure some people are reading the title correctly.

I played Aces & Eights and its like Hero x Phoenix Command, cubed in the combat system.  Neat concepts, unplayable execution.

Hey All
 
Just wanted to announce that work on Tiger Paw Press second Print On Demand title has started. Grimoire Arcanium will hold all schools of magic from our spellbook titles. Spells from The Lost Grimoire, Grimoire Arcana I, II, II, The Elemental Grimoire, Necromancy & Time Magic will be included in the title. The 262 page PDF will be bookmarked and Hero Designer files will be included in the non-print title. The POD title is expected to be 29.99 and the PDF and files can be included in the purchase for $5.00. Grimoire Arcanium will be available for purchase in early 2021

Okay, I couldn't resist playing around some more. Here's Starfire, from the New Teen Titans as they  looked like in the 80's, roughly. Enjoy!
https://www.heroforge.com/load_config%3D11999056/
 

250 to 350 or 100pts

And even at that, what's the difference between 4e and 5e?  Some rules clarifications and a couple of powers?

Wonder if Trump resigns a few days before end of term, so that Pence can pardon him to clear him from all his future legal troubles.

No one thinks that.
 
Its much, much better.
 

 
 
 

Sorry, guys: this one takes a bit of set-up.  Well, no; it _doesn't_ take a bit of set-up.  I just wanted to brag a little about getting to be a _player_ for the first time in a few years!   Out of town, ran into-- of all the people on earth-- Davien.  His buddy / GM has rented a table at a joint in the 'boro, and he's headed there, and asks if I'm interested.   I recall just what a horrible player Davien was, but if he's not running......
 
Short version:  I tagged along, GM offered me a pre-gen, and we sat down to play what he estimated to be a four-hour session using his freshly-acquired reprint of TFT.  Won't say I wasn't insanely jealous.  😕
 
blah-blah-blah we have spent the past three game days trying to talk one character (and his asinine player) into letting the fairies go.  We had to travel through a fairy-infested wood (this GM's fairies were cute, and very dangerous) and the player had decided to capture a couple and "breed them" to sell them as good luck charms.  "Fairies," everyone (except me; I was just playing essentially an NPC, as, being fair to the group, I was up-front about not having played TFT since discovering Champions way back when, so I was more "character actor" than mover and shaker) including the GM tells him-- "do _not_ bring good luck!  They may have brought good luck with some other group or some other game, but in this world, in this game, they do not bring good luck."
 
Didn't sink in.  He wouldn't let it go.  Day three (game time), the GM thinks he has it sussed out: when Jack the Jerk (who has completely de-railed the game, meaning there is no way I am going to see the session concluded) goes to feed his fairies, he notices that he can't breed them; they are both female.
 
Does this encourage him to let them go?
 
_NOOOOoooOOOOooo_!   He pitches a stink about going back to the fairy wood so he can capture a male, blah-blah-blah.
 
Day six, game-time, and we have already flat out _missed_ a Relatively Important Event screwing around with "but fairies are good luck!" guy.   As we're making camp (_again_), one of us hears something-- a song?  A chant?  A prayer?  
 
He alerts us and we snap to attention, weapons on hand, keen to find the sound.   We trace it to the little basket cage with the two she-fairies.  
 
"Well, what are they saying?"
"Do any of you speak fairy?"
A round of "no" from the table, save Mister Fairy Breeder, who says "I have two languages that might be like fairy, and a couple unspent points.  I could use them to know Fairy."  The GM rules that this guy is passingly familiar with Fairy, but doesn't actually speak it; he just recognizes various patterns:  angry speech; friendly speech: pleading, etc.  Further, he rules that they are clearly chanting together, and that it's not a song, but a prayer.
 
"So what are they saying?"
"You don't speak fairy; we've established that."
 
"Right, but I should be able to know what the words are."
"Okay, you recognize fairy words!"  (GM clearly _well_ beyond perturbed)   "Happy now?  You know that they are sing-chanting a prayer."
"But what are the words?!"
GM, starting to say something supremely snarky, as we've all realized this whole adventure is scrapped (we'd been just beyond the fairy wood for six game days, and nearly four real hours.  PC-on-PC violence was a very real possibility at this point, but Dingbat just failed to pick up on it), then his face has that flush of absolute relief, of hope, of-- it bore all the signs of a deeply frustrated man who has been struck with true inspiration, and an idea that could solve all his problems.   He beamed a closed-mouthed smile so wide that I was willing to bet real money on just how much it physically hurt.  Then he says "well, you don't speak fairy, of course, but the haunting beauty of their prayer captivates you; you are spell bound, mesmer--"
 
"Are they mind-controlling me?!  Fairies can't mind control!"
 
As if there had been no interruption, the GM continued "there is resolve, peace, longing-- the truest, deepest of emotion in their voice.  It touches something in you, and you feel as if you have transcended your mortal form, shaken free of all concerns---"
 
"But what are the words?!  If I can understand fairy, then I should know the words!"
 
GM, in a hollow, lilting falsetto that was actually quite impressively musical:  
 
"Mosura....   y  Mosura.....    Dongan kasakuyan indo mu......"
 
Duke's character:  "Well, I'm totally creeped out, and tired of arguing with this clearly crazed person, and I leave my tent and my bedding and hop on my mount and take off as fast as the fading sunlight will let me!"
Davien's Character "Yep; Duke's right behind me!"
 
 
   
 
So Davien and I left, met up to grab some food and a couple beers (not in a restaurant, of course; despite what our idiot governor thinks, there's a plague about), caught up for an hour or so, remembered why we don't keep in touch, and went home.  I swung back by the game joint in time to see the GM and one of his players leaving together.  "So.....   Giant moth?"
 
"Colossal moth.  Humongous dragon-eating moth."
 
"Good to know."
 
I fired up the truck and went home.   
 
 
 
I have to say, I was sort of impressed; I didn't know anybody remembered more that the first line of that song. 
 

Oh, I meant, look who you're asking.   

Enigma, what did they do to you?
 
Not that we knew exactly what he was besides a human seemly attracted to Neither, the leader of this group. He might as well be a living wooden plank.

No one thinks that.
 
Its much, much better.
 

 
 
 

Well I didnt want to say "and some credulity-bending modifiers, especially for autofire, and seven billion extra words."
 
Someone might have taken that as insulting as opposed to humourous hyperbole.   

I own the world's worst thesaurus.
 
Not only is it awful, it's awful.

What form of birth control works better with holes in it?
 
Crocs

And even at that, what's the difference between 4e and 5e?  Some rules clarifications and a couple of powers?

Thanks, Chris.
 
I had forgotten that completely!  The conversion notes, I mean.

Danger International has Twilight 2000 conversion notes. 
 
I actually played in a conversion campaign way back in the day.  I'm pretty sure most of us had never played the original, but we had a number of former and eventual military in that game.  It wasn't as much a conversion as an original campaign in that universe.