OSINT-6 CHANGELOG 260801

Because “No plan survives first contact with the enemy” (Helmuth von Moltke), we are already collecting errata. Even with a full team having eyes on it, habituation can make even glaring errors invisible. Thankfully we haven’t found any yet, but we’re prepared for the possibility of readers spotting something we missed.

If you find something that is incorrect, incomplete, or missing, you can use the Contact form to let us know. Errata will be compiled on the proper page (Core Rules, Characters, Equipment, Operations). If the book is popular enough to warrant a hardcover release, it will be the revised version. Otherwise, we will push an updated version if there is enough errata to justify it.

For other things, the plan has always been to include them in the Factbooks. They’re not omissions from the Core Rulebook as much as matter that fits better in, say, a United States Factbook or a UK Factbook.

OSINT-6 CHANGELOG 260731

• OSINT-6 Core Rulebook is available now in our store.

  • The book has been submitted to DriveThruRPG.

  • The book has been submitted to Amazon KDP.

  • We are evaluating whether Itch and RPG Trader will be a good fit for us before submitting there.

  • The free Core Rules SRD has been added to the Core Rules page.

  • The free Character Creation SRD has been added to the Characters page.

  • The free Equipment SRD has been added to the Equipment page.

  • The free Operations SRD has been added to the Operations page.

• OSINT-6 Character Recordis available now in our store.

• OSINT-6 Forms Pack is currently being finalized. It will contain printable mission planning forms and game master screen inserts.

• Work on United States Factbook begins next week.

OSINT-6 CHANGELOG 260730

Changelog entries are behind as everyone is busy editing and formatting getting ready for the Core Rulebook launch, and everyone assumed someone else was maintaining the changelog.

We had sourced some public domain vector-style line art for weapons and vehicles with clear provenance. Then a member of the team asked it if was AI generated. It is not, but the fact that one of our own team members asked the question made us nervous. Even crediting the artist and the origins of the work, someone could look at the illustrations, assume AI, start a rumor that other will believe, and we could be sunk before the project has a chance to get off the ground. This is the world we live in. Our legal advisor told us that we should have invested in a public relations person rather than an IP lawyer, which didn’t make any of us feel good. The book will be shipping without that artwork included, simply to manage perceptions.

Why isn't it free?

For $10, you receive the complete OSINT-6 Core Rules in both a printable PDF and an accessible RTF edition. The game is released under a free license, allowing you to use, share, adapt, and build upon it within the terms of that license. We believe that's a fair price for a complete roleplaying game while helping keep the project sustainable for everyone.

If it's meant to be open source and Creative Commons licensed, though, why isn't it free? There are two reasons.

First, every download from out site consumes storage, bandwidth, and web hosting resources. A nominal fee helps cover those ongoing costs so the site can continue providing articles, updates, and downloads.

Second, a purchase creates enough friction to discourage automated bots from scraping and mass-downloading the work. That helps to preserve bandwidth for readers, keeps hosting costs manageable, and protects the project's resources.

Finally, the individual System Reference Documents are available for free on the respective section pages. They lack the introduction, the table of contents, the index, and the appendices, but the complete core rules, character creation, equipment, and operations rules are there in rich text (RTF) format for you to use.

OSINT-6 CHANGELOG 260726

We’re currently on page 87 of the final read-through. The manuscript is currently 348 pages, which should be close to what the final book will be after some formatting clean-up and the addition of the character sheet and mission planning forms.

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Recent inspirational viewing:

• Billion Dollar Brain (1967): Michael Caine’s third outing as Len Deighton’s Harry Palmer

• The Jigsaw Man (1984): A British agent defects to Russia and has his face surgically altered by the KGB so he can steal secret documents.

• The Eagle Has Landed (1976): Nazi agents plot to kidnap Winston Churchill during the height of WWII.

• We could probably spend a month watching nothing but Michael Caine spy and thriller movies, he’s been in so many of them.

OSINT-6 CHANGELOG 260725

Core Rulebook update:

• Table formatting is complete for the entire document.

• The team is reviewing the first draft of the character sheet and mission control sheet.

• Editing for the Rules and Character Creation sections is complete.

• Final editing for the Equipment section is underway.

• That leaves the Operations (Game Master) section as the final large portion to be completed.

• There is a very real possibility that we can release this book in the coming week.

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United States Factbook Update:

• The team has finalized the format for all Factbooks. Each will contain:

  • Country information

  • A fictional intelligence agency

  • Pregenerated agents for use as player characters, adversaries, or allies

  • Equipment in common use for that country (weapons, vehicles, etc)

  • Mission briefings (plot hooks)

• The 2025 CIA World Factbook is being fact checked so the OSINT-6 United States Factbook will be as up to date as possible upon release.

• All other sections are being worked on. Some information is pending the Core Rulebook being finalized so all information and formats align.

• The goal is to have the United States Factbook released by the end of August, with additional books to follow each month.

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Recent inspirational viewing:

• Fatherland (1994) In an alternate 1964, the Nazi won, but SS cop Rutger Hauer and American reporter Miranda Richardson uncover a shocking secret.

• Scorpio (1973) CIA assassin Burt Lancaster decides to retire; Alain Delon is dispatched to eliminate him.

OSINT-6 CHANGELOG 260724

There was another lengthy team discussion re: the use of imperial (US Customary) v. metric measurement standards in the game. The decision to remain with imperial standards won out over noted objections, based on the following factors:

• SRD 5.2.1 uses imperial measurements and this follows that established standard.

• Conversion will require additional labor for questionable benefit to the final game.

• The majority of the game’s potential audience is assumed to reside in the United States based on commonly available sales figures for the tabletop roleplaying industry, where imperial measurements remain the standard.

• The audience outside of the United States is accustomed to American games using imperial measurements so following this standard should not be unexpected or unusual.

Noted objections included the following:

• Following imperial measurement standard when the global standard is metric, with only the United States, Liberia, and Myanmar not on the metric system, could be interpreted as a political statement rather than a design choice.

  • This objection was countered by a note that leaving the imperial measurement standard could also be interpreted as a political statement. If a person is looking for something to object to, it is inevitable that they will find something so this should not be a factor in making game design choices.

• The academic and scientific communities universally use the metric measurement standard, which aligns better with the tone and intentions of the game.

  • This was countered with a note that academic and scientific information in the game is for setting and background, and does not directly affect the rules and mechanics.

• The decimal basis of the metric measurement standard arguable eases the math required for the game system

  • This objection was countered by a note that the 5.2.1 rules and mechanics are neither inherently metric nor imperial and represent their own standard; that measures are used for tactical purposes and therefore are more abstract than concrete and subject to interpretation, rendering the question largely moot from a design perspective.

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• Added the Reference page under the Rules dropdown with links to resources used in the creation of the Core Rulebook and the Factbooks.

• Removed the FAQ explaining the project’s relationship to the previous intellectual property holder. A team member likened it to explaining who the previous tenant of the office was, when that company has gone out of business and the owners have retired. It adds nothing to the conversation of who we are and what we do.

• The core rulebook currently has 434 tables, of which 15 still need formatting and rewriting, not counting any errors or adjustments that may be discovered during the editing process.

OSINT-6 CHANGELOG 260723

• Site moved to new permanent URL, osint6.com

• Table formatting continues

• Manuscript edition continues

• Character sheet creation continues

• Mission record sheet creation continues

OSINT-6 CHANGELOG 260722

• The complete second draft of the manuscript has been assembled.

• It’s 368 pages before editing has been completed.

• It contains over 400 tables, all of which need formatting.

• It still needs the character sheet and the mission control sheet (game master adventure planner).

• The next step will be cuts, additions, and rewrites based on the editors’ suggestions.

OSINT-6 CHANGELOG 260721

Things we’ve been watching to set the mood:

• The Sandbaggers Series 1 (1978)

• The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

• The Odessa File (1974)

• The Whistle Blower (1986)

• Enigma (1982)

OSINT-6 CHANGELOG 260720

The goal is to have the v0.9 core rulebook manuscript fully assembled by the end of the day, so that we can begin final editing to catch any remaining typographical errors, formatting artifacts, and rules inconsistencies. The goal is how have a releasable v1.0 core rulebook ready by the end of the week in PDF and RTF formats.

Character sheets and forms may not be finalized in time for the v1.0 release, but those will be updated with the main download package and listed as separate free download as soon as they are available.

When the v1.0 core rulebook is released, work will begin on the first Factbooks (US, UK, Russia, China). If rules needs are identified that can’t be incorporated into the Factbook format, a v1.1 will be created to assure smooth integration.

• Edited and formatted Characters document v0.9 (final beta).

• Compiled Equipment document v0.9 (final beta). Editing is in process.

• Compiled Operations document v0.9 (final beta). Editing is in process.

OSINT-6 CHANGELOG 260719

• Compiled Core Rules document v0.9 (final beta). Edited, formatted, and saved as RTF file.

• Compiled Characters document v0.9 (final beta). Began editing.

OSINT-6 CHANGELOG 260717

• Added the following to the footer:

No generative AI tools were used at any point in the creation of this document.

This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 (“SRD 5.2.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at https://www.dndbeyond.com/srd. The SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.

• Optimized SEO titles and meta descriptions on all pages.

• Created v.01 of the OSINT-6 Style Guide. Final guide to be released with the Core Rulebook for other creators who wish to use it.

• Changed site font from Helvetica Neue to Public Sans, reflecting the font used in tOSINT-6 Style Guide v.01.

OSINT-6 CHANGELOG 260716

• Contact page has been installed and is operational.

• Bluesky account created.

• Operations page (gamemaster advice) page has been installed.

• Donate page has been installed and is operational.

OSINT-6 CHANGELOG 250922

The first thing the playtest group agreed on was no James Bond. As we flesh out the rules, particularly the equipment list, we won’t be including any imaginary gadgets, card enhancements, or fantastic versions of real-world devices. Keep it grounded. If we do release this as fully open source and someone wants that, they can create it themselves. Maybe someday we’ll do a supplement with over-the-top rules, but I think that’s as likely as releasing a sourcebook for levels 7-20.

OSINT-6 CHANGELOG 250813

We’re dropped the idea of using hero points. I think we were thinking of the James Bond RPG, which was arguably the first RPG to use them, and unconsciously trying to emulate it. They’re an optional rule in the 5e DMG but I don’t think they’re in the SRD, so we’d have to create our own mechanics for it.

But it doesn’t fit with what we’re doing. It would erase some of the point of capping advancement at 6th level to prevent power creep. And Alec Leamas couldn’t spend a point to keep Liz (or Nan) from getting shot while going over the wall.

OSINT-6 CHANGELOG 250708

Playtesting with the rough draft will begin when everyone is available again in the Autumn. Until then we’re writing and researching. The general consensus is that if we’re capping advancement at level 6, we should go with milestone-based advancement instead of awarding experience points. It makes completing missions successfully feel like the point, instead of doing individual things along the way like killing every minor bad guy or stealing everything that’s not nailed down in order to gain XP. This is definitely the right focus. We’ll figure out something like how many missions it takes to advance for each level, and how many missions you need to complete after level 6 to gain a new feat.

OSINT-6 CHANGELOG 250707

Power creep came up early in the development process. We’d played a Pathfinder 1e campaign back when that came off the rails as the characters got too powerful for anything to be fun anymore. Piper and I would both rather have a George Smiley/Sandbaggers type of spy game than James Bond or Jason Bourne, even though the hobby in general probably favors action and combat.

I’d remembered hearing about something called E6, which I though was an old 2e supplement, something officially publish. I thought it was the module number. The idea was that it capped advancement at 3rd level or something like that. I recall someone on a forum or social media writing that Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings doesn’t use any spells that go above what D&D classifies as 3rd level, so that might be what I was thinking.

In doing research, it turned out to be a long thread on ENWorld. It caps advancement at 6th level to keep things a bit more grounded. After that, a character earns new feats instead of gaining more hit points and more abilities. That sounds right.

We’ve amended the working title to OSINT-6 because it sounds like MI6 and feels cool, and reflects the idea that we’re taking inspiration from E6. I’m sure this will alleviate the fears of some people when they heard 5e spy game, and infuriate the people who like the power creep.

OSINT CHANGELOG 250613

I don’t think I’ve written down that we’ve given this project the working title of OSINT RPG PROJECT. Because 5.2.1 is open source, and many of the places we will be drawing on for history and how intelligence agencies works are open source. It’s also a thing in the intelligence community, looking through traditional media and social media for clues about things unspoken that are happening. It’s how a lot of role playing games get adventure ideas, so that fits together nicely.

Because it’s summer and not everyone can get together to play, we went to see The Phoenician Scheme. Afterward we all had a long discussion about whether it qualified as a spy movie, and if our game would allow for things like that. I think it would, given the emphasis on Backgrounds. I think i might work for anything modern, although I don’t know that anyone would want to try to run romance with it.

OSINT CHANGELOG 250514

New rule: We’re not looking at any existing espionage RPGs past or present. When we have a manuscript we’ll let an editor familiar with the genre look it over to make sure we haven’t accidentally plagiarized something. Or we’ll do the research ourselves retroactively, probably both. The only thing we can access are the SRD 5.2.1, spy fiction, and movies.

Currently reading The Poet’s Game by Paul Vidich for inspiration.