FATE doesn't really deal with eqiupment per se, but equipment is a major thang in a modern/espionage sort of game, right?
FATE's focus is on outcome, not process, and equipment is part of that. As
Fred Hicks often says, rather than asking, "how do you do X in FATE?" you should set up X as the outcome ("doing cool spy stuff") rather than a process ("budgeting and acquiring eqiupment to do cool spy stuff").
To that end, the
Op Tech rules -- using Stunts for gadgets,
Op Tech for ad hoc gear, and tying Aspect in to the standard gear you have -- is all designed around the idea of what it is you want spy equipment to do, which is:
- to do cool spy stuff, like in a 007 movie.
- to provide a level of suspense -- do you have what you need? will it be enough? -- rather than a Maxwell Smart/Wile E. Coyote plethora of nigh-omnipotent goodies.
The second point acts as a restraint on the first. Bond travels light on his feet, his equipment assigned him by Q Branch, which includes various goodies that may or may not be useful (though the audience always knows they will be). The commando team's gear-up takes place off-screen; they usually have all that they need or that you'd expect, though maybe there's some other stuff brought along, just in case. Sidney Bristow and the IMF both get their gear and gadgets specially tailored to the mission; we sometimes see the fancy bits of the gear-up, but we don't expect to see Sidney, or Jim Phelps, agonizing over which gun to pick up ...
The Spycraft gear-up process is both a great strength (abstracting out well different types of budgets, processes, etc., in a setting far more complex than Thog the Barbarian and his Mighty Greatsword) and a great weakness (it still takes way, way, way too long). That weakness is because it's all about restraining outcome, not enabling it. It's all about process, not cool spy stuff.
Doyce did the yeoman's duty in all of this design (see
here for his initial full write-up), from the idea of adopting the Stunt Magic rules to coming up with the explcit gear/Aspect mechanic. It's still more complex than what some folks would do (e.g., handle everything outre as an Aspect box), but I think it provides both some guidelines and some meat to enable the outcome we want: cool spy stuff.
Op Tech
