D20 Modern and/or Future -tell me your stories!

[zepherusbane]

So who likes playing D20 Modern or Future?

I am very interested in hearing tales of what worked and what didn't for any D20 Modern or Future campaigns you might have run or played in, please post them here!

Also, I would really like to get into a game if anyone has one going online. Give me a link if you have a game somewhere on these forums or elsewhere that I just haven't found.

 

[[OMENRPG]Ben]

I GMed a Terminator game using d20 M/F. It was set during the War, the party was a group of various specialists who had survived the initial onslaught from Skynet and were now living and operating out of a massive underground base called Titan in Jerusalem.

It was pretty neat, the party had a good combination of soldiers and a ton of backstory, as each character had a past life prior to the war really going in full swing. Mind you, this was before John Connor was an international legend in the timeline.

The robotics and cybernetics rules were really useful, and the in-depth vehicle combat and maneuvering was awesome. The party had a blast, and the campaign ended from TPK after about 15 sessions. Each party member fought to their last breath, with perhaps the most heroic being the re-purposed T600 role-played with beautiful stoicism by one of my players.

It was a great game, and I never really had major qualms with the system. A lot of things can be taken in or out depending on the party's preference, and I sorta hand-waved a lot of stuff that there are rules for. But, it gives a good foundation for each of the characters.

I hope you find and enjoy a game!

 

[zepherusbane]

I have a couple different campaign ideas I would like to use.

For D20 Modern, I wanted to have the characters all in Manila for a conference when a deadly virus hits the world and kills 99% of all the people. The PC's were saved only because of receiving an experimental drug as part of the research they were all involved in. I picked Manila because it would be exotic enough for the players in the mid-west US but also a place that I have direct experience with since I travel there for work each year. I would use my own knowledge of actual sections of the city to design the environment and be able to use real pictures for adventure hooks.

The secret headquarters for the worldwide plot to kill off most of humanity is based under this low slung building covered with plant growth and in the middle of it's own private compound surrounded by 8' tall walls. The actual building really is surrounded by 8' tall walls, he he. The building reminded me of the headquarters building in the movie Blade Runner. In reality, the building is the San Miguel headquarters (the most popular beer in the Phillipines).

For my D20 Future campaign, I want to develop a world similar to the one created in Neil Stephenson's novel, Snow Crash. Not very far in the future, but I think it would be a complete blast to play in the world he developed in his novel. I fully expect to write this up myself if I can't find that someone else already has.

If you haven't read the book, I highly recommend it! It's one of my favorites.

 

[Desdichado]

So who likes playing D20 Modern or Future?

I am very interested in hearing tales of what worked and what didn't for any D20 Modern or Future campaigns you might have run or played in, please post them here!

Also, I would really like to get into a game if anyone has one going online. Give me a link if you have a game somewhere on these forums or elsewhere that I just haven't found.

I've done the classic Dark•Matter intro adventure "Raw Recruits" where they get ambushed in a gas station by an ice demon. Most of my actually modern games tend to be Dark•Matter like both as a player and as a GM.

Currently, I'm advocating a d20 Modern ruleset for my fantasy campaign setting, using the d20 Past campaign model "Shadow Stalkers" as a rulebase, adding a Cthulhu-esque sanity mechanic cribbed from d20 Freeport, and using flintlock firearms from Freeport too instead of the defaults, which sound too familiar to belong in a fantasy setting. The setting itself is kind of The Black Company and The Godfather meet Sergio Leone and Pirates of the Caribbean. Although I'm not actually running it now, I am recruiting locally and may within a month or so if I can get a few more bites.

EDIT: Whoops! Not "Raw Recruits." I meant "Exit 23." I've never run "Raw Recruits" before.

 

[Living Legend]

I ran a short one on one campaign based on Demon Knight. After a couple sessions everyone wanted in on it, but there could only be one keyholder, and he kinda had more power than the other players, so it didn't last.

 

[Loonook]

Having run 4 Urban Arcana games I have to say it is fantastic. We used the modern version of the spell mechanics found in Elements of Magic and went from there. The end where the PCs had to team up with various beasties including a Lord of Hell in a bid to put off the Apocalypse was nice, especially when the PCs had to decide to allow Hell the chance to win one rather than letting the mad scientist/religious scholar use a fusion-based ritual to unlock the Pearly Gates and summon out the Archangels thus bringing about Judgment.

Carnietowns populated by shadowkind, ancient rituals performed at Yellowstone, the Philadelphia Experiment's byproducts being their clue. Also being able to put in great little references:

- The PCs stand on an Etherealesque shadowscape of Liberty Island, coming to seek favor of an ancestral spirit of the Manhattan Tribe that has become synonymous with the imagery of Broadway and the gaudiness of New York. They call for a trial by combat, only to see the enormous doors in front of them open and hear loud echoing slaps down the corridor until they see a 50' tall ape covered in a thousand scars from as many battles.

- The PCs also come to claim the carny folk (one of them being a former stage magician-cum-magi) at an abandoned roadside attraction. They walk through the midway to find a single ramp of skee ball machines active, and a young beautiful woman nodding irritated at a stern man in a black cloak. They proceed to keep walking, one begins to investigate, and they hear a rush of wings as the two disappear.

- During the last arc the PCs are in the middle of a battle with a group of minor angels. As they battle it out amongst the salt-statue remains of the original host (who had run afoul of the larger, more dangerous brethren) a young business executive from a charity organization comes forward. He strides forward, pulling a blade in mirror image of the angels, and proceeds to sprout crisp white wings as his eyes fill with blood. The battle goes a little bit better, though all of the PCs besides the two who had negotiated the charity's assistance figure out the reticence of their colleague's discussion of this assistance .

It was loads of fun and allowed me to make references to everything from Metropolis down through to Manos Hands of Fate. Heck, I may have thrown in a reference to Death Bed: The Bed that Eats. Cameos abound in little spots, and the players loved it as they went near-epic by the end of the campaign. It was fun stuff.

Slainte,

-Loonook.

 

[zepherusbane]

I'm having a difficult time deciding whether to go with my ideas for the modern campaign or the future campaign first.

It's so hard to decide! Does anyone else have ideas?

 

[delericho]

I ran a shortish "Mecha Crusade" game using the mini-game from Polyhedron. (This was before "d20 Future" was released and reprinted that material.) It was quite an interesting campaign, but mostly because it taught me a lot about the combat system and about creating interesting combat encounters. (Not a great campaign for roleplaying, characterisation, or any of that good stuff.)

Truth be told, when running a modern/near-future game, I'm now much more likely to use either "Savage Worlds" or "World of Darkness". "d20 Modern" was fun, but it's a bit too rules heavy to just be a toolkit, IMO - if I'm using d20 then I really need the game to do all of the heavy lifting for me.

 

[riotshieldnation]

Truth be told, when running a modern/near-future game, I'm now much more likely to use either "Savage Worlds" or "World of Darkness". "d20 Modern" was fun, but it's a bit too rules heavy to just be a toolkit, IMO - if I'm using d20 then I really need the game to do all of the heavy lifting for me.

I've researched this a bit, and while we're on the subject, both e20 (SW:SE based) and Ultramodern (4e based) are both looking to be good modern replacements that will be out soon. While an awesome idea, D20 modern itself isn't exactly known to be the most balanced of games.

 

[riotshieldnation]

Other modern d20 options in various degrees of completion include NexusD20, True20, Modern20, d20 Modern PF, this guy's 4e modern homebrew, this other guy's 4e homebrew that I remember reading but can't seem to find, and probably a few more that aren't coming to mind right now...

On a side note, is there a link limit to posts? My old post wouldn't stomach these extra links in it for some reason...

Edited to add systems.