Some small, inkling part of me has long desired to run, or play or let's be honest just run, SPYCRAFT, one of the multitude of OGL d20-based TTRPGs churned out in the aughts. Boasting a two-tiered hp pool, entirely new classes that went beyond star wars d20's 3-step abstraction, and a boatload of feats and flavor, Spycraft was something of a critical darling for it's vintage.
Also the cover art was really cool.
The thing is, I have zero desire, whatsoever, to dive back into the wild and wooly undergrowth of the 3e detritus that is the d20 system. I may want to run a crunchy, griddy espionage thriller, but modern day settings seems a bit too... Questionable, in that 'white queer writing about the political complexities of the Balkans' way. And if I'm going to do a fake world anyway, I might as well go less Strangereal and more final fantasy 8.
So why NOT use d&d 4e for my crunchy griddy espionage thriller? I've resolved for myself not to reinvent the wheel so much in my d&d campaigns, so a generic 'points of light' setting overlaid with cold war trappings, all standard-setting divinities intact suits that just fine. 4e's dismissal of the alignment system also suits my needs, making most conflicts a matter of political dissent more than moral rectitude, and gives me full latitude to scrub most alignments from heritages, systems of worship, etc.
As per usual, I gave my players free reign to pick a (shared) side, define their hometowns, and shape their backstory as they saw fit, with me splicing their wants and stories into the wider world. With very little discourse, they opted for the UNR, the United Necropolitan Republics. A collective formed in the overthrow of a heavily necromantic Drow Empire, a new collection of nations that venerate the heroic dead (especially when they're still walking around) and is, by and large, trying to do better by their people.
Or with less flowery bullshit, they joined the vampire spider KGB, which have decidedly less issues with 'monstrous' groups by virtue of telling them they're equal now, and to get along, except for the monstrous groups they do have a problem (unspoken) with.
As part of my bid to do less work, I've decided to recycle all the premade adventures that never got played in 4e, and make the players go through them except in different contexts. We're starting with breakout session zeroes, obviously, but the first structured session will be The Keep on the Shadowfell, a story about a cult trying to reopen a hole to the land of the dead under a frozen village.
Since the vibe is espionage, and the players are a monster party for the most part, the idea is to have them be the unseen third party, interfering in a more generic adventuring party's efforts to resolve the situation, parleying with the monsters that the adventure says attack on sight, and all that manner of fuckery.
Which brings me to the issue: WHAT THE FUCK KIND OF KEEP IS THAT? WE CAN'T PHANTOM DOCTRINE OUR WAY AROUND THAT! FUCK!
I'M JUST GOING TO HAVE TO MAKE THE KEEP ALL OVER AGAIN.