D20 Modern - What sets it apart?

[Uncle Joe]

At the risk of sounding flippant, if I have D&D why should I buy this book? From all I've seen the only thing unique to this rule set will be gun stats and some awkwardly named core classes. Am I missing something major? Is there $30+ worth of new material I don't know about?

 

[Crothian]

On the same note, but more important I think what sets it apart from other modern games like Spycraft and CoC? Both of these books are two of the best d20 products on the market. CAn d20 modern hope to compete?

 

[Tsyr]

On the same note, but more important I think what sets it apart from other modern games like Spycraft and CoC? Both of these books are two of the best d20 products on the market. CAn d20 modern hope to compete?

If you mean financialy? Yes. WotC brand name will see to that I suspect. If you mean quality-wise? That's up in the air. I'm not counting it out yet though.

 

[Warchild]

D20 Modern - What sets it apart?

The shelf at the game store?

bwahahahahhaha! Sorry, just took some painkillers.
The whole messageboard beware!!

 

[2WS-Steve]

This is a bit subtle but will probably be the primary thing that sets d20 Modern apart; it provides a standardized set of open content rules for modern roleplaying. This means you'll see a lot more support for modern-era gaming of all kinds after it comes out. I bet most of it will come from third-party publishers. We already see plans for a massive book on guns from Green Ronin, scenarios from a variety of publishers, campaign settings from a few; crossover/multi-genre with d20 fantasy from me and so on.

Without a standardized set of core rules companies really couldn't justify putting out a modern-era scenario, splatbook, or resource book since they have no idea which set of gun rules or other rules the players might be using.

 

[Jeph]

Personally, I am a *HUGE* advocate of the Sleeping Imperium firearms rules, they let you custom-build any gun from a pirate flintlock to an electromag gatlink. Sheer awesomeness.

The Sleeping Imperium Page:
www.sleepingimperium.rpghost.com/

Here you can also find a skills'n'feats psionics system (okay), a skills'n'feats martial arts system (more adaptable than my homebrew one, but not as streamlined or good for Hong Kong action), and a bunch of other kool stuff.

 

[bwgwl]

On the same note, but more important I think what sets it apart from other modern games like Spycraft and CoC? Both of these books are two of the best d20 products on the market. CAn d20 modern hope to compete?

considering i will definitely be purchasing d20 Modern but have no interest in either CoC d20 or Spycraft, i sure hope so.

seriously, both CoC d20 and Spycraft are crafted to emulate a specific genre (CoC Lovecraftian low-powered horror and Spycraft super-spy/espionage). d20 Modern is generic enough that you could run just about any kind of modern-setting campaign with it.

(yes, you could tweak either CoC d20 or Spycraft to run other types of campaigns than what they were designed for. the point is d20 Modern was built from the ground up to be generic, so it will take a lot less work to adapt it than the others.)

 

[Leopold]

D20 Modern will allow those who want to play mind flayers with AK-47's, bugbears with shotguns and body guards, or goblins in '65 mustangs, can.


Take DND, throw in modern equipment and goods, tack on some simple rules, and BAM D20 Modern..

 

[JCLabelle]

Goblins in '65 mustangs going for a night out at their local '60s style drive-in...

Baby, that's the stuff!

 

[cybertalus]

There's more to playing a game set in the 21st century than just taking the D&D Player's Handbook and tossing in rules for guns, cars, and computers.

Modern society is more complex than the medieval fantasy society assumed by D&D, and you have to account for that. People are more educated and have much easier access to the accumulated knowledge of society.

The classes may be awkwardly named, but they allow a flexibility that D&D's archetype-based classes don't. One example of this is that the d20 Modern classes give you skills which always remain as class skills regardless of later multiclassing. So if you take some levels in the Dexterity and Intelligence classes (presumably your two strongest abilities), you'll always have a small number of Int and Dex based skills which remain as class skills for you, even if you take the Ghostbuster PrC and those particular skills aren't on the Ghostbuster PrC class list.

If you're not sure about d20 Modern, check out the preview website at http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20modern