Help! I want to run a d20 Current day sci-fi campaign?

[TheAuldGrump]

Spycraft is another viable choice. The Shadowforce Archer setting assumes the existence of occult powers, and adding creatures from other D20 sources is very possible. (Hey George, who is this Cthulhu fellow anyway?)

The Auld Grump

 

[Committed Hero]

The Menace Menual introduces a lot of the Dark Matter players into d20 Modern.

 

[arwink]

My point is that you don't need a bunch of new d20 material to run this kind of game if you want to do so. You can use your core 3.5 books.

This is true, but to quote Eric Noah from a thread in general

I would rather have exactly what I want than something that's pretty darned close to what I want.

The list I put up is what worked for me and gave the right kind of tone for the campaign I wanted to run. There are a bunch of different d20 variants that could do the same, but the feel between them is slightly different. D20 Modern lends itself to heroic action a little more than d20 Call of Cthulhu, for example, because of minor differences in the way massive damage saves work and a host of minor rules. The scattered horror one-offs I did using the DnD rules before D20 modern came out had a slightly different feel too, as did the various campaigns I've played in that used the Spycraft system. They may not be big differences, but to me they're an important part of the mood I'm trying to evoke within the game.

 

[DnDChick]

My website has some conversions of monsters from Call of Cthulhu as well as a bunch of original creatures from cryptozoology, urban myth, and my own twisted imagination. lol


http://members.aol.com/CountryGrrlHere/cthulhumod.html
(This page is mostly house rules I use for fusing D20 Modern, Call of Cthulhu D20, and OGL Horror by Mongoose Publishing. You might find something useful there.)

http://members.aol.com/CountryGrrlHere/cofcd20.html
(Conversions of Mythos horrors that didn't appear in the Cthulhu D20 core book.)

http://members.aol.com/CountryGrrlHere/original.html
(Original monsters.)

 

[scourger]

Of course, Christoph, you've got to do what feels right for you. I posted what would work for me. I read the d20 Modern SRD and owned the book. I've also tried a host of other d20 games. What consistently works for me is using the core d20 D&D game modified for the new genre. Purchasing new books is easy. Reading that new material, getting players interested and running a new game with it is where I find the true effort and difficulties lie. Good luck.

 

[C. Baize]

Someone already mentioned Ronin Arts' excellent material. Allow me to direct your attention to RPGObjects.

The Modern Dispatch line, and several of the other Modern System products are quite excellent.
I would be remiss if I didn't specifically mention Modern Backdrops (obligatory disclaimer: my wife wrote it, and we make money on it). It has a bunch of modern maps, plot hooks, NPCs, cities, and more...
One reviewer said it was worth the price strictly for the content or the maps, yet you get both. So, hey.... value for the dollar should be pretty good.

The links on the RPGO pages above will take you to pages like the Modern Backdrops page, where you can read about the product individually.

Good luck with your campaign!

All my group plays anymore is D20 Modern and D20 Future.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Check your DMG for modern weapons. If you want more variety, modern armor and other equipment, grab them for free from the d20 Modern SRD. Modify the core classes to make them more modern. The NPC classes in the DMG are great for more mundane characters. Let your secret agents be Warrior/Experts; but let them choose if and how they multiclass. Add Drive and/or Pilot as class skills along with Craft (making secret agent items), Knowledge (secret agent stuff) & Profession (being a secret agent). Then, send them to rural Georgia to investigate a series of bizarre killings where they eventually encounter the son of Hogzilla, a giant dire boar--a story ripped from last week's headlines!

My point is that you don't need a bunch of new d20 material to run this kind of game if you want to do so. You can use your core 3.5 books.

I disagree. The campaign setting described doesn't have large numbers of magic items or spellcasters, something DnD assumes.

If you don't use magic items, your characters will have weak AC scores (weaker even when compared to their non-upgraded attack values). D20 Modern solves that problem.

In DnD, you're expected to have stat-boosting items, which explains why feats like Improved Two-Weapon Fighting have such high stat requirements. This isn't the case in D20 Modern.

Plus, Modern is more flexible, and actually supports a massive variety of non-FX character concepts. In DnD, you end up with a magic-bloat PrC for that.

 

[wingsandsword]

I'll agree with everyone else here: d20 Modern as the version of d20, with Dark*Matter as the setting. The Menace Manual has a lot of creatures from Dark Matter statted up, and there was an issue of Polyhedron (one of the last of the Dungeon/Poly combo issues) that had a d20 Modern Dark*Matter mini-game with a some setting-specific advanced and prestige classes.

Pick up a copy of the old D*M core book, you can usually find it for cheap on eBay, and it's fairly easy to run without converting (the FX exists as Advanced Classes in d20 Modern, and most of the creatures were in the Menace Manual).

Heck, I ran a d20 Modern Dark*Matter game for about 8 months, and it works just fine. I had my own little conversion I brewed up, but the more I played it the more I found I really didn't need to convert a lot (and a lot of things I did convert they came out with "official" versions in d20 Future and the Menace Manual).

Dark*Matter was about as close as you'll probably ever get to a X-Files Roleplaying Game: the book itself is mostly a huge sourcebook about conspiracy theories, shadowy organizations, UFO lore, and just plain weirdness in the world. It was also the modern "prehistory" of the Star-Drive setting (which was given a short reprint in d20 Future).

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

You haven't updated your page in a couple of years, Wings and Sword.

 

[Prest0]

(muttering) Okay, gotta mention d20 Modern and Dark*Matter. (scroll) No, wait. That's covered. Okay, then I should mention Ronin Arts and RPGObjects. (scroll scroll) Nope, those have been covered too. Then I guess that means... (scroll scroll scroll) yep! That just leaves us! 12 to Midnight publishes modern horror adventures in the theme it sounds you're after.

Are there monster books out there for "real-life" monster/mysteries?

As a matter of fact just last week we published Green's Guide to Ghosts, which brings real-world ghost-hunting to d20 game terms.