[d20 Future] Campaign Setting Wishlist

[Twiggly the Gnome]

Why wouldn't you not already be able to use D20 Modern for Darkmatter? Its almost a straight conversion minus the flavor text.

I agree to a point, but for a good Dark•Matter conversion one still needs D20 stats for the various xenoforms, and a new magic system. The magic rules from D20 modern are too over the top power-wise, and superficially resemble only two of the FX types in the game. The feat/skill system used for the Star Wars Force rules would be a much better fit, IMO.

 

[apoc527]

I'll vote for Star*Drive. It was a really well done sci-fi setting and it deserves to live again. The Alternity system really isn't bad, but there were some odd aspects to it. A d20 system with properly done up damage rules could accomodate the grittier setting that is Star*Drive. Maybe I'll try one on my own.

If not Star*Drive, it would be cool to see a setting similar to Halo (who doesn't like Halo?) and Niven's Known Space series is really cool.

By the way, there's been talk of the people who did Traveller d20 getting a lisence to do David Weber's Honorverse. How cool is that? That's that would be cool for d20 Future as well.

Personally, I hope d20 Future is more a toolkit to create Future settings than a list of settings in its own right. We need new skills that are specific to a high tech setting, MAYBE some new Feats, and a good set of cinematic, not-so-cinematic, and wargamey vehicle/starship combat rules. Finally, a ship construction system is always useful, as is a CONSISTENT set of weapons that I hope will follow from d20 Modern's weapons. (ie. a Plasma Pistol from Halo might do 2d8 on a normal shot, but could be charged up for a 4d8 "burst" attack).

 

[bwgwl]

Mecha Crusade is my #1 wish. It's just so damn well done.

De gustibus non disputandem est. ("There's no disputing matters of taste.") see, i though Mecha Crusade was just about the worst way to present mecha in d20 that i could possibly think of. blech! no like!

that's because i don't view mecha as extensions of the pilot, i see them as vehicles in their own right. i didn't like the idea of two 100m tall robots having different strength scores just because one of the pilots was stronger...

i'd rather the mecha be given their own set of stats like a normal vehicle. obviously the pilot's piloting ability will affect it's performance, but not to the extent it is in Mecha Crusade.

that aside, i see the following as likely campaign models in d20 Future:

1) cyberpunk
2) space opera a la Star Wars or Dune
3) hard sci fi (perhaps shading into military sci fi

i'd love to see a steampunkish "scientific romance" campaign model based on the sci fi of the Victorian era and the turn of the century (Verne, Wells, Doyle). why does just about every steampunk roleplaying setting these days have magic in it? where's the setting that's just steam?

for dream licenses: Niven's Ringworld, Barnes' Kaleidoscope Century, May's "Galactic Milieu" or "Pliocene Exile", or Vance's Planet of Adventure.

 

[Desdichado]

For future? Yeah, I'd probably pick Star*Drive too. For Modern, definately Dark*Matter.

 

[Eadfrith]

Joss Whedon's Firefly (if it can't be a TV series, might as well be RPG.)

I'll second that emotion. Hopefully there is enough extant material to fully flesh out the world. Maybe Wheedon has a nice fat series "bible" floating around.

 

[Ranger REG]

that's because i don't view mecha as extensions of the pilot, i see them as vehicles in their own right. i didn't like the idea of two 100m tall robots having different strength scores just because one of the pilots was stronger...

So you like something along the line of ... BattleTech. It's doable. Just don't use the PC's ability scores.

 

[jaerdaph]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Blade Runner yet - I'd like to see a campaign setting based on that in the new d20 Future sourcebook.

 

[Desdichado]

I think the problem is, how do we know what works better as d20 Modern and what works better as d20 Future? I'm still struggling to understand what d20 Future will be different from d20 Modern, with the exception of adding stuff like new equipment, cybernetics, alien races(?), etc. So for settings like Dark*Matter, Blade Runner, or even Star*Drive for that matter, you could do it easily as a d20 Modern setting, so why does it need to be d20 Future?

 

[Ranger REG]

It depends on what kind of rules and material that is in the "d20 Future" product. How does one operates in zero-gravity or the vacuum of space? How is atmospheric vehicle combat differ from space vehicle combat? How is an alien world differ from Earth and how it affects human travellers (the reverse could be said of alien travellers visiting our own world)?

If the elements from the "d20 Future" product are not needed, then use the current existing ruleset.

But if Wizards decided to use Star*Drive or Star Frontier as one of many campaign models (following the same format presented in the d20 Modern Core Rulebook), then it would be prudent to include rules usable for that setting.

At this point, we have to wait and see what Wizard offer in that new d20 Modern supplement, which comes out next year.

 

[bwgwl]

I think the problem is, how do we know what works better as d20 Modern and what works better as d20 Future? I'm still struggling to understand what d20 Future will be different from d20 Modern, with the exception of adding stuff like new equipment, cybernetics, alien races(?), etc.

from what i understand, that's all d20 Future is going to be: a supplement with rules for stuff like futuristic equipment, cybernetics, alien environments, etc.

it's not a whole new game -- it's just a supplement for d20 Modern.