I'm not big on knowing numbers and odds, but a few skills just over half-chance, and the rest so low in a dangerous business like espionage seems like an exercise in frustration. And it's usually not the kind of situation where the survivors just get a few more henchmen and try again.

James Bond 007 is an unusual game in that it only has three "levels": Rookies, Agents, and 00 Agents. Rookies have, in maybe 4-5 skills, roughly a 60% chance of success and very low odds in almost everything else. Agents are somewhere in the 90-100% effective in their fields of specialization, and probably about 50-60% in other stuff. 00 Agents are typically around 125% effective in nearly everything, which means that they will always succeed unless the situation is truly nightmarishly hard (or in situations where how well you succeed matters, which is often). It's a bit like the Heroic/Paragon/Epic tiers in D&D 4e, or the levels in Dying Earth.

I am actually a little bit interested in trying the game with Rookie characters, who are much more down to earth and fragile than the nearly infallible James Bond. Spying on enemy troop movements, turning vulnerable civilians into espionage assets, doing surveillance on your own people to detect moles - all of this seems like slow-simmer Cold War stuff, rather than shooting the villain of the week between the eyes with a cigarette-rocket.

Most scenarios recommend using a solo 00 Agent, two regular Agents, or four Rookies, depending on how many players you have. I am not sure how to implement that at the table - maybe play troupe style with a stable of spies.

Was this a solo game previously? I'd read something once about the conflict between the major influence of the genre (Bond) being a loner vs the necessity for games to generally entertain several players, hence teams.

And who was Sternum playing?

Bond. James Bond.

Loubeau is also babbling about creating a photo collage in the style of Man Ray.

It is important to note that he was talking not just about Man Ray, but also about Picasso's "light drawings", which are a bit more contemporary. Because, in addition to being an internationally renowned and smooth-talking gambler, Richard is avant garde.

Who was playing whom? And who was Sternum playing? Was this a parallel mission to something he was doing?

The Story So Far
After participating in Operation: AJAX by deposing Mossadegh in Iran and cementing the Shah's grip on power, CIA agents Felix Leiter and Richard Loubeau are stationed in 1954 Berlin.

There (along with some support staff from the CIA, MI6, and the West Gernman Gehlen Org of recycled SS officers) they are part of an operation to construct a tunnel from the American Sector into the Soviet Sector and tap some underground phone lines. Their cover story is that they are eccentric artistic-photographers. Off hours, they spend a lot of time in an artist colony-night club-casino run by the motherly Frau Elodie Besse.

Their tunnel operation is soon compromised when the British engineering nerd responsible for its construction falls for an East German bombshell. When the nerd can't be talked out of the relationship, Leiter follows the girl back into East Germany, and observes her meeting an East German or Soviet official, "the toad woman."

Meanwhile, Richard Loubeau decides to help Frau Besse, who is worried about one of her pet artists, a heroin addicted painter named Gabi. Richard trails her on the way to her dealer, tries to chat her up, is told to get lost, and is just about to trail her again, when he gets hit on the head by a brick from a four-story building. He is seriously injured.

The next day, the men compare notes, chat with co-worker and Nazi war criminal Franz Cadavus who claims to have a new an important lead which he forbids anyone from investigating. The duo then introduce James Bond to Berlin. (Bond has been dispatched by MI6 to ensure their engineering nerd doesn't give any secrets to the East Germans, ideally by seducing the bombshell spy away from the engineer.)

Bond mingles with the cast at Frau Besse's, beats up a Turkish waiter-assassin with the aid of a urinal, half-seduces the East German agent, follows her over the border into the Soviet Sector, and gets attacked by the toad woman (Rosa Klebb!) who Bond beats half to death with his bare hands. He then finishes his seduction of the girl, and learns that she would have defected to the West long before, except that her mother is being held prisoner in a Stasi prison.

Leiter meanwhile lies to the artistic addict Gabi that Richard is suicidal, and he needs a beautiful German muse to inspire him to artistic glory. After receiving a large amount of cash, Gabi agrees, and divulges that she is a Communist sympathizer for artistic-ideological reasons.

Meanwhile, Richard learns from Frau Besse that the guy who dropped a brick on his head was probably "Metzger," an enforcer for Juergen Fisch, a West German gangster, drug dealer, numbers racketeer, blackmarket guy, and gambler - likely Gabi's heroin supplier.

Leiter and Loubeau resolve to pay Fisch a visit once Loubeau's wound has healed. Loubeau is also babbling about creating a photo collage in the style of Man Ray.

There are several NPCs around with hooks for adventure. Ask in character and get responses (maybe), questioning does not mean you are committing to a game, merely that your character may be curious and is pursuing leads during his sleep. I may reply in a day or two, or maybe 2 minutes later, you never know.

Calm-Handy, Lost Boy O'North, is currently favored by the titans, so he has to run around in powered 30' tall armor to adventure with them. This means he has little time for attending to some of his other duties. He has a deed to a manor house that he just inherited, but he's not terribly interested in checking it out himself. He might need an unusual thing or two from wherever else you're going so check in with him before you leave, he could make it worth your while! (Long adventure)

Beauteous Beauregard, a local steward, has had an earful of complaints about kidnapped virgins! This is ruining his orgy time, he's desperate and offering a reward to get this fixed one way or another. (short adventure)

A strange fish man wants you to free his brethren who are held in the thrall of the Bone Sorcerer (Long adventure). This strange being calls himself Chadex Toward, and is known to be a flunky of the sorcerer Joseph Curwen, who is probably bad news… Curwen has an astronomical reward offered for the intact corpse of a certain famous sword-slinging Cimmerian (who is presently buried- somewhere else???).

GM'ing takes a whole bunch of skills, and there's never been a point where I've said, "I do this as well as I would like." There is always something to work on.

Here's what I see as the bare minimum baseline, sort of what I was aiming to do with the kids class:

• Being gracious, polite, and respectful to your players as human beings - and making sure they're respectful to each other
• Being able to imagine at least some degree of fantasy flavor - share that enthusiasm with others - and incorporate others' contributions
• Being able to create a fantasy situation that engages the fictional characters and can be resolved entertainingly in at least two ways
• Being able to execute the basic rules of the game for recurring tasks like combat

Note that all of this starts at the player level, passes through the fiction, and then gets to pushing dice around. I don't think you can GM without that stuff at minimum. If gaming were cooking, this is like boiling up some Top Ramen. I am really confident you've got these down.

there's other stuff, like scenario design, which you can totally shortcut by using published modules. Same for settings, too. There's other stuff, like making judgment calls or designing house rules, which are really rich areas, which a lot of stuff written about it specifically in the context of early-edition D&D thanks to the OSR. I also think that there's a lot of good principles from "story games" that can be lifted too.

But if it's just a question of overcoming anxiety, I have that problem too - it pretty much ruined the 2010 Marvel Supers game I tried to run. But running more often helps you get used to it and push through.

I guess you don't remember the mad paper flipping and the player falling asleep! I sure do!

More relevantly: Ska-Tay, what do you want to focus on in this remedial stuff? What do you think you need practice at? When we did Tower of the Stargazer I thought you did great!

I like this, but what about those dead PC's who can't go back to the "real" world? Do they age a zillion years and die?

One possibility: Stasis tubes, a super-science market, will likely cost parties a large share of their treasure, as the captive market means desperate clients. You go in, unfreeze your comrades, and adventure again. This is assuming you don't discover an ancient super-science lab of your own (and figure it out).

What options do you like?

the opposite of the time shift means the city residents will likely all be dead and buried as you hop between worlds, since time is moving very fast in the Dream-City.

I like this, but what about those dead PC's who can't go back to the "real" world? Do they age a zillion years and die?

Can i jump in and try to persuade you to use some other rules, like say your own? the B/X set has gotten more than enough love from this city.

a key perk of this world is being able to use your own XP reservoirs and move them back and forth for character-centric people like myself, also to uncomplicate transitions back and forth between campaign worlds. I want this game to be a perfect fit to accomodate both Glantri and Whitebox. I'm not trying to make better rules here, just DM some, learning how to get out of the players way as they find a great time and give some extra XP for that week.

One thing which didn't occur to me until now: the opposite of the time shift means the city residents will likely all be dead and buried as you hop between worlds, since time is moving very fast in the Dream-City. Rulers will likely pass away—unless they keep their time short in the city.

Now I can listen to Lady Gaga, roll dice, and eat unappetizing foods from the comfort of my own home!

You need only sleep and wish it to awaken in the Dreaming City, a sprawling, infinite expanse. Hovering close to your home planet, Earth swallows most of the night sky with it's glow, a constant reminder to dreamers of the world they have left. Wizards discovered and named the trans-planar shadow planet housing the city Layman-Dunn B-4, and have left numerous dimensional portals, skyships and chutes of return throughout the city. A month in the Dreaming City is only an hour of slumber in your world, you miss nothing, you gain—-everything!

Plan: I want feedback on my DMing, revealing where I need improvement and where I might be stepping on player options or not properly facilitating them.

I'm aiming to run a gonzo setting for my remedial DMing skills using B/X (to heighten allure of trying this out), so I'm looking for a few players to get some XP as I either run a dungeon or let you explore the infinite expanse of the city online as you carouse, or maybe PBP, depending on my tolerance.

I will post when I have something prepared/ready, then solicit requests for the specific session. You will not be RPing the 'getting there' (unless you want to).

1 day/week— start times will be 9pm, going no further than 10:30-11pm, on googleplus, using a whiteboard and a dieroller. I will post requests for availability as content is generated/found/stolen.

In the unlikely event that you wish to start fresh with new characters, we can set up a quick mutual googleplus session with a dieroller and have you roll a quick 18d6.
I'm also entertaining the idea that slain PCs can play in this world, but it's a one way trip for them, your realm is forever the world of LD B-4. In this regard, all manner of heroes can be present and create new legends.