Impressions: Strike Force 7

July 31, 2009 10 comments

Strike Force 7, by OtherWorld Creations, was originally released several years ago in an OGL/Spycraft-compatible version. It’s now been re-released in Savage Worlds and RuneQuest versions, with some updated background material. The fluff is all exactly the same between versions, with only the crunch changed to suit the mechanics of your choice. To make things less confusing, I’m going to be referring to the Savage Worlds version in this article.

Let’s not try to obfuscate what Strike Force 7 really is: a G.I. Joe roleplaying game with enough of the serial numbers filed off to avoid a lawsuit. Considering that Hasbro owns both G.I. Joe and Wizards of the Coast, I’ve long wondered why they’ve never done an official roleplaying game. There have been unofficial, fan-made versions of Joe RPGs (a Fuzion version and a d20 version, both of which play fast-and-loose with intellectual property law and are not endorsed by myself or this site), but Strike Force 7 is the closest we may ever get to a professionally produced Joe-style game. That’s not a bad thing. While you can easily recreate anything in the Joe cartoon series or comics with this by changing a few names here and there, you also have the freedom to run a Joe-style game your own way without the restrictions typically imposed by playing in an established universe. Any sort of action-oriented paramilitary forces vs. terrorists game can be run here, as straight and gritty or pulpish as you choose.

I would definitely use the background material in a game — I actually like Skorpion, the ST7 villain organization, better than Cobra. The leader, who calls himself Pharoah, has credible motivations and thinks he’s a good guy, like most major historical villains and terrorists. While he looks like a schmuck on the cover, I kind of take that as a propeganda characature. I would likely run it using Savage Worlds, because that it admittedly my system of choice, but I would make some tweaks. As with most games that get proted from d20 to Savage Worlds, the concept that Edges aren’t exactly Feats is lost. More is not always better; sometimes more is just more. Many of the Edges are unnecessary or overpowered.

Overall, though, I like it. I does what it intends to do, mostly well. Good touch, worth a look.

Want to learn more about Strike Force 7? Read on…