John Le Carré Missed Nothing

There was a game called Floor 13 [1] that I played as a kid. Overall it was poorly executed, but the espionage and intrigue aspect of it was amazing. It really felt you were dropped into the middle of a cold war era conspiracy. I was fascinated by it and loved it despite the poor gameplay.

Have you ever heard of or played Covert Action [2]? Not one of Sid Meier's best, but I enjoyed it.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floor_13_(video_game)

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sid_Meier%27s_Covert_Action

Might you consider a tabletop RPG game (TTRPG) rather than a computer game? Espionage, more than anything, is about human nature, unexpected situations, creative use of information, and matching wits with other people. The significant advantage of a TTRPG over a computer game is that the 'AI' for a TTRPG is human. No AI can come close for creativity, versatility, and of course human nature.

To add an essential distinction: I mean OSR-style (Old School Renaissance) TTRPGs. For those familiar with 'modern' TTRPGs, like the 5th edition of Dungeons & Dragons, OSR interactions are minimally defined by rules - powers, stats, skills, proficiencies, etc.- relatively few of those exist. Most of it is free-form improvisational interaction between the players and dungeon master (DM). For example, if you want to find something in a room, you don't roll something based on your perception score (you don't have one); it's up to the player, who can do anything at all. You tell the DM what you do ('I examine the bookshelves more closely - what condition are they in?'), and the DM tells you how the environment responds ('the old shelves don't sag at all while there's a thick layer of dust on them, except in a couple of places'); ('what books are in those spots? I stand to the side and nudge one gently with the tip of my walking stick, at arms length') ... There are plenty of guidelines for the DM to deal with all the different situations, but it's really up to help the DM to respond. The players, as I said, can do whatever they want without even knowing the rules for many purposes.

Another way of conceiving of it is that it's a collaborative story where the player controls the protagonist and the DM controls the rest of the world, and they improvise together - both experience a lot of dramatic tension, not knowing what the other knows, plans or will do. Hopefully, I'm describing it well enough that you can see how it would play very well for an espionage setting.

I've started a GitHub org to dump things to https://github.com/raftergame

However, I should stress that my "game" is currently still a bunch of text files and some spectrum analyser output (That's the level of HN-bait I'm aiming for...)

Do you maintain a status page for this project? It sounds like it could be awesome.

Craig Murray with an absolute barn Stormer of a take under the linked tweet. Is he trying to the guardian are warmongering agitators now?

The film is stellar too really, has a visual authenticity to it, and great actors as well Oldman, Benedict Cumberbach, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy.

Oldman in fact does turn out a subtle and nuanced portayal of Smiley, that is not any less superlative.

The Night Manager dramatisation from a few years ago is also great.

Agreed, the series was a masterpiece, though I am not sure I recommend watching the sequel series (I forget the name). I think I preferred the suspense of the first series as the ending.

Also, watch the series not the film (if you must, watch the film second). The series is far better.

For anyone in Australia, BBC's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and the follow-up Smiley's People are both available on Amazon Prime Video here - I don't know about elsewhere.

I'm gradually watching through TTSS now. So good, although the first episode suffers from the common problem of no subtitles for the Czech scenes in Ep 1.

Well, this guy may dispute your statement.

https://www.facebook.com/william.donadio.7

"William Daniel Donadïo, a Panamanian tailor who was born in the City of Colon, Republic of Panama, explains how he became one of the leading Master Tailor and Designer of Panamá, a profession in which he has dedicated more than sixty-eight years of his life."

This book hits painfully close to home if you had a certain kind of narcissistic parent and you learned to compensate by hiding things and trying to appear perfect, or just something you’re not. And I think this was the book that gave me the idea that all good spy fiction is really about the human drama of concealing truth from other people, and conversely the attempt to break through that and form real connection.