DarrenGMiller
First Post
So, I dropped off the face of the earth for a few years (don't know if any "old timers" here remember me). The stresses of job and life got the best of me. I've been "recovering" from PTSD for the past year, and was not in any shape to game while I was going through it for 2 years, nor during the last year as I got things back in order (career change, counseling, etc.). I have finally gotten back into the gaming mind frame and got the old group back together (we played from 2000-2006 - cue The Blues Brothers music).
My new game is based in Steven Long's Hudson City (Hero Games), but instead of HERO System, I'm using a modified D20 Modern (not sure if anybody still uses or modifies that, since I've been away for so long). I LOVE the Hudson City Campaign Setting (okay, its only one city, but it is SO well done that I feel comfortable creating and modifying anything in the city, because I know it so well). I'm taking the grittiness factor of the city up a notch or three (going back to the corrupt mayor and police commissioner and no history of vigilantes, costumed or otherwise, along with no "costumed criminals") and using the Grim n' Gritty rules (yes, I know there are systems other than D20 Modern with GnG that could do what I'm looking for, but it is what I, and most of my players, are most comfortable with) for hit points and bleeding, along with the 4th Edition critical hit rules. The characters are vigilante crime fighters (okay, I started working on this right after I saw the first trailers for Dark Knight). I'm working on the premise of escalation from the end of Batman Begins. The pc's decide to become vigilantes, take to concealing their identities, use stronger weaponry and tactics, and the like; so the criminals must do the same to survive. Note that the "heroes" are normal men forced into extraordinary circumstances. They have no "superpowers" and using GnG means that they can't take too many bullets no matter what level they are.
My source material so far includes the two Christopher Nolan Batman movies, The Punisher, Boondock Saints, Death Sentence, etc. If anybody has suggestions for additional source material, please feel free to suggest.
Also, I have a website up that I would love to share and get feedback on. I have it set up so that visitors can view, but not edit material on the site. It's located at http://hudsoncityrpg.nexo.com/ . Finding nexo.com was extremely helpful, as I've been able to do much more with this site than most such services, and its quick and easy to set-up and maintain. I have no desire to spend my time on html and such, just gaming goodness. Please reply here and let me know what you think, or if you know of any other source material I could use.
There isn't much out on the web about Hudson City or the Dark Champions game, or even the brand of D20 Modern I'm running (no supernatural, high reality, high grittiness), so I'm creating a lot from scratch, including inventing all of my plots and the like (2 years ago, I wouldn't have been able to do any of this, heck I couldn't even remember what I had done an hour earlier). I used to create my own campaign setting and adapt published adventures to fit, but this seems to be the opposite approach. I'm creating my own adventures and adapting the setting to fit them. Not sure which way is more common. I know plenty of people like to create everything themselves, but I like having this ready-made city (that's not just a city the players may have been to, like Chicago or New York... its unfamiliar and threatening to them) to build on.
I just wanted to let everyone know what I was doing and get some feedback and helpful hints that I remember this community being so excellent at providing. Enworld was my "home away from home" for about 3 years.
Thanks in advance!
DM
My new game is based in Steven Long's Hudson City (Hero Games), but instead of HERO System, I'm using a modified D20 Modern (not sure if anybody still uses or modifies that, since I've been away for so long). I LOVE the Hudson City Campaign Setting (okay, its only one city, but it is SO well done that I feel comfortable creating and modifying anything in the city, because I know it so well). I'm taking the grittiness factor of the city up a notch or three (going back to the corrupt mayor and police commissioner and no history of vigilantes, costumed or otherwise, along with no "costumed criminals") and using the Grim n' Gritty rules (yes, I know there are systems other than D20 Modern with GnG that could do what I'm looking for, but it is what I, and most of my players, are most comfortable with) for hit points and bleeding, along with the 4th Edition critical hit rules. The characters are vigilante crime fighters (okay, I started working on this right after I saw the first trailers for Dark Knight). I'm working on the premise of escalation from the end of Batman Begins. The pc's decide to become vigilantes, take to concealing their identities, use stronger weaponry and tactics, and the like; so the criminals must do the same to survive. Note that the "heroes" are normal men forced into extraordinary circumstances. They have no "superpowers" and using GnG means that they can't take too many bullets no matter what level they are.
My source material so far includes the two Christopher Nolan Batman movies, The Punisher, Boondock Saints, Death Sentence, etc. If anybody has suggestions for additional source material, please feel free to suggest.
Also, I have a website up that I would love to share and get feedback on. I have it set up so that visitors can view, but not edit material on the site. It's located at http://hudsoncityrpg.nexo.com/ . Finding nexo.com was extremely helpful, as I've been able to do much more with this site than most such services, and its quick and easy to set-up and maintain. I have no desire to spend my time on html and such, just gaming goodness. Please reply here and let me know what you think, or if you know of any other source material I could use.
There isn't much out on the web about Hudson City or the Dark Champions game, or even the brand of D20 Modern I'm running (no supernatural, high reality, high grittiness), so I'm creating a lot from scratch, including inventing all of my plots and the like (2 years ago, I wouldn't have been able to do any of this, heck I couldn't even remember what I had done an hour earlier). I used to create my own campaign setting and adapt published adventures to fit, but this seems to be the opposite approach. I'm creating my own adventures and adapting the setting to fit them. Not sure which way is more common. I know plenty of people like to create everything themselves, but I like having this ready-made city (that's not just a city the players may have been to, like Chicago or New York... its unfamiliar and threatening to them) to build on.
I just wanted to let everyone know what I was doing and get some feedback and helpful hints that I remember this community being so excellent at providing. Enworld was my "home away from home" for about 3 years.
Thanks in advance!
DM
