d20 Modern+Urban Arcana=D&D???

Sooo, I just got d20 Modern and Urban Arcana as gifts and as I skimmed through them (gonna go for a thorough read over the weekend) a thought struck me, these two books might be perfect to run a straight fantasy campaign with. Sooo...

This post was to find out if anyone has or is using d20 Modern and Urban Arcana to run either a D&D style game or a fantasy game minus the "urban" part. I was looking for insight into any problems that might arise, necessary conversions, how compatible is straight D&D stuff with it, are any of the other supplements good for this type of project, or just general advice anyone has as far as doing a project like this.

So please share your thoughts and opinions.

In all of my d20 Modern games, I haven't run a D&D-like game. Yet.

OBTW, someone did a massive work titled "Classically Modern," which is an excellent source material for running such a game using the d20 Modern rules.

http://www.freewebs.com/merlinsworkshop/CMsap.htm

I have this annoying tendency to play d20 Modern characters as D&D characters. Everyone else is playing infiltrator/hacker/command types, and there's Dave playing his katana-wielding, in-your-face martial artist.

I really like some of the flexibility with d20 Modern's spell users, and I like the incantations enough to have done some serious consideration of running a D&D campaign without traditional arcane magic and using something ilke incantations instead. (Haven't done it yet though.)

So, not yet, but I'm hoping...

Dave

I use Urban Arcana, but sparingly. I went into d20 Modern to play something different from D&D, and if you use the whole kitten kaboodle of UA, it starts to feel like D&D ... with guns!

Personally, I think d20 Modern + Urban Arcana (along with the d20 Modern cybernetics book or OGL Cybernet) is a great way to make d20 Shadowrun.

Dragonhelm said:

Personally, I think d20 Modern + Urban Arcana (along with the d20 Modern cybernetics book or OGL Cybernet) is a great way to make d20 Shadowrun.

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Be careful where you tread on this. You might start an argument with the opposition.

Never got into Shadowrun. The only gist I got about the setting is that some magic anomaly started to change some humans into nonhumans.

Yup. D20 Modern + Urban Arcana is an excellent way to make d20 Shadowrun. Or d20 The Matrix. Or d20 Time Travel. I've used it for all three so far... in the same campaign! MWA HAHA.

That aside, I've ported all d20 "fantasy" material directly into d20 Modern and vice versa. There are really very few things to alter; AC <-> Defense, and some feats/skills require some light alteration, but for the most part, it's a solid match mechancially. Now, the big issue comes in if you've made the transition to 3.5 and you still want to play d20 Modern/Urban Arcana... d20M/UA uses the old (and better, IMO) 3.0 magic item rules for overcoming damage resistance. If it helps, think of Modern/UA as D&D "3.25".

Also, note that UA is essentially the "real" D&D rules ported to a present-day setting, so there will be many parallels. The Modern core classes, otoh, are distinctly NON-magical, and may have problems with the "real" D&D world. You might even consider using Elements of Magic: Mythic Earth (search for it here on EnWorld) or Blue Rose/True 20's magic system to add some (but not all kinds of) magical oomph to the core classes. Using either or, anyone can become a spellcaster with creative uses of feats w/o becoming all high-level meteor swarmers.

You might also consider using many of the PrC's as "core" classes as well. Since the d20M/UA forces you to multi-class, it might be a good way to allow some magical influence without getting grossly powerful.

Ranger REG said:

In all of my d20 Modern games, I haven't run a D&D-like game. Yet.

OBTW, someone did a massive work titled "Classically Modern," which is an excellent source material for running such a game using the d20 Modern rules.

http://www.freewebs.com/merlinsworkshop/CMsap.htm

Click to expand...

Thanks for the link, I will probably be sitting down and reading the books today,after which I will post my own ideas and feelings as far as using d20 +UA as a fantasy rpg.