How do you do espionage in a low-ish fantasy setting? >Guns

>>52704275
>How do you do espionage
>Starts with listing means of killing people
I think you should start with asking yourself if you want to play espionage game or low-tech Bourne game

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>>52704338
Blowdarts aren't necessarily fatal.

>>52704275
Same as modern day. Run a boring, average, completely inconspicuous docks clerk as an asset. He can look into the manifests of whatever shipment you need searched, and if he or the opfor gets too twitchy, just send him down a long walk off a short pier and repeat the arrangement with his successor.

>>52704275
Some of the techniques spies use today have been in use for a long, long time and would otherwise fit

>encrypted messages/messages hidden in plain sight
>tipping off homeless people and petty criminals for information
>using blackmail to make your enemies work for you
>Using dead drops or public places for conversations

Watch spy thrillers and take inspiration from them, OP.

>>52704495
Have any good suggestions that might not be obvious?

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>>52704275
Anon, medieval governments barely knew what was going on in their own kingdoms. Unless you have contacts within the courts themselves, you're not going to get that much useful information.

Pic related is mostly about taxes, but it does illustrate just how difficult it was to keep on top of things back then. I may have been waiting for an excuse to post them for a while now.

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>>52704572

>>52704548
Burn Notice is worth a watch. It showcases excellent examples of social engineering, spycraft, and espionage on a budget as well as some solid action. You can translate a lot of its content into low fantasy easily.

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>>52704595

>>52704572
But medieval governments couldn't magically create duplicate weights from some central measure, or boundary stones that are literally immovable.

There's a lot of tricks that a little magic could do. Cool pics, though.

>>52708329
Well, OP did specify low fantasy, so maybe mages can't do that, or at least can't do it without going to extreme lengths.

Would you sacrifice a virgin to create the metric system?

>>52709479

>Would you sacrifice a virgin to create the metric system?

Considering how useful it is versus some random peasant broad, yeah.

'Turn' might be a good source, it's a drama series about one of George Washington's spies

Burn Notice, as previously noted, is basically a how-to on spy craft: playing a roll, Macguyvering, et cetera

Discworld's full of great minor tricks to running.... well everything, including spies

>>52704275
>>Guns replaced with concealable crossbows or blowguns that can be hidden in the sleeve.
I don't think you know what espionage is anon.

>>52704275
Sounds like you just want Assassin's Creed

If you wouldn't run a setting with single-shot black powder weapons you are a coward

>>52704275
>blowguns

You're a fucking faggot.

>>52704275
So I've got to ask. Do you want to do a game centered around espionage and spy work, or do you want to do a game centered around high-profile, covert, exciting missions? A lot of spy work is actually pretty boring.

There's a lot more of a spy to be working in a particular capacity very quietly in a particular location for a very long time, communicating to people face to face only. Usually they know very little about each other and only follow their orders, never knowing the complete picture of what it is they're there to achieve. It is significantly less glamorous than what a lot of media would have you believe, and tends to be fairly disillusioning, having to lie to, and generally betray, pretty much everyone you know. Most of the people who tend to be good at that sort of thing are amazingly arrogant, and consider almost everyone else to be beneath them (e.g. Kim Philby).

TL;DR: Spy work is boring, dangerous, thankless, and generally not as fun as you might think.

Plugging The Sandbaggers as an excellent show with a more realistic take on espionage. It was originally described to me as "the world's most interesting show about men in offices making phone calls".

Fair warning, it's from 1978 so don't expect something with a bunch of modern polish.