Giving d20 Modern a Try...Anything I Should Know?

[Greg K]

Talien's website is really good. I would recommend checking it out.

His book Blood and Blades: A Profiler's Guide to Slashers that he did for RPGObjects is also really good. It contains many movie slashers done with the serial numbers filed off. Among the familiar concepts that you will find covered are Freddy, Jason, Chucky, Pumpkinhead, Sil (from Species), the Tall Man with flying spiked metallic orbs(Phantasm) and, I think, Jeepers Creepers (there are more, but I don't recall which). I only wish there was an appendix or sidebars that used the Psychic's Handbook (Green Ronin) mechanics instead of the standard d20M mental fx rules and Elements of Magic: Mythic Earth for magic fx (I really dislike the default d20M fx rules).

Unfortuantely, I can't comment on Blood and Spooks or Blood and Brains as I have not seen

I write a column that's full of free d20 goodness, a lot of it skewed for d20 Modern because that's what I play these days: RPG Examiner

I'm also the author of four d20 modern "action horror" accessories for D20 Modern, published by RPG Objects: one on zombies, one on ghosts, one on movie slashers, and one about aliens.

See my site for details: http://michael.tresca.net.

 

[ValhallaGH]

So just to get a feel for the game system, I pretended I was a player and rolled up a character. I chose a Tough, Blue-Collar named Jed, with the damage reduction talent tree.

Good idea.
Note that the DR tree requires the character to be at least 3rd level (i.e. have a talent from a different tree).

Some initial thoughts:

1. I like the Wealth system. A LOT.
2. I miss alignment.
3. The different weapons are impressive, but there seems to be a lot of overlap
4. Combat feels more or less the same as 3.5E D&D
5. I worry that the lack of magic will be boring to my players
6. Zombies aren't as cool as they are in the movies.
7. Neither are shotguns (good call, ValhallaGH)

1. So do I. It fairly elegantly smooths over the fiddly financial stuff. There's a lot that's flawed with the system but it's a great idea.
2. You're one of the few. But you can bring it back, since the Allegiance system is equally anemic.
3. There is a lot of overlap. After all, you're simply shooting bullets. There's only so much you can do with that (though Grim Tales had some stuff to say about designing guns).
4. This was a design goal. You can actually use the d20 modern classes in a D&D game. Simply unify certain mechanics (non-lethal damage, massive damage, couple others) and you're ready to play.
5. It's largely in how it's presented. It can be dull if it's simply "I shoot him. I shoot him again." Encourage them to do some creative things, especially with a stunt mechanic. It can be a bit over-the-top but that's fun too.
6. Really not. I advise going with some DR, remove crit immunity, and have the zombies auto-fail massive damage (i.e. head shot).
7. Yeah, a lot of people bitch about this one. I'm cool with it, but many aren't. Adjust to tastes.

Talien's site has some good stuff. I don't actually use much of it but it is inspiring, at the least.

 

[Vigilance]

So just to get a feel for the game system, I pretended I was a player and rolled up a character. I chose a Tough, Blue-Collar named Jed, with the damage reduction talent tree. I outfitted him with a 12-ga shotgun, and put him in a room with two zombies.

Some initial thoughts:

1. I like the Wealth system. A LOT.
2. I miss alignment.
3. The different weapons are impressive, but there seems to be a lot of overlap
4. Combat feels more or less the same as 3.5E D&D
5. I worry that the lack of magic will be boring to my players
6. Zombies aren't as cool as they are in the movies.
7. Neither are shotguns (good call, ValhallaGH)

I don't really know what kind of game my players want me to run at the moment. They are leaning toward a zombie-themed game, but there has also been talk about vampires. (I think everyone is so sick of Twilight, that they are looking forward to chainsawing some sparkly, anemic-looking emo bloodsuckers. Or they just miss Buffy.)

I think Buffy the Vampire Slayer is one of the best campaigns you can run with vanilla d20 Modern.

 

[Greg K]

I think Buffy the Vampire Slayer is one of the best campaigns you can run with vanilla d20 Modern.

And, yet, fora Buffy game, I'd still want Blood and Fists and a $2.25 pdf supplement called Campaign Builders: Modern High both of which are published by RPGObjects and written by some hack named Charles Rice (a.k.a, Vigilance). /jk Vig

 

[Vigilance]

And, yet, fora Buffy game, I'd still want Blood and Fists and a $2.25 pdf supplement called Campaign Builders: Modern High both of which are published by RPGObjects and written by some hack named Charles Rice (a.k.a, Vigilance). /jk Vig

Yeah, whatever happened to that guy. He was a Fast Hero fanboy, at least, that was the word on the street.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

From my experience:
- Using the Cover rules as is can make for long, frustrating combats.
That's what happened in our "Post-Apocalyptic" campaign, at least. We changed it to cover granting damage reduction against ranged attacks. Not a perfect solution, but people constantly shooting each other without anyone hitting can get boring - mixed with the occassionally lucky roll, which then tends to be mostly problematic for player characters (because they are shot at more often than individual NPC, having to survive multiple battles).
Please note that all these effects were probably magnified in this campaign:
- We had to rely on Pistols for quite some time, so in addition to cover, range factored in constantly. An enemy with a rifle was not only very dangerous, but also a tempting target.
- We were playing an online game.

- Ultimiately I think that most class talents are weak or boring, sometimes both. The Charismatic Hero has some nice buff options, but resolving them involves spending an action, rolling against a static DC with your Charisma bonus, and then you grant a short-term benefit to the party.

The Strong Hero's "Melee Smash" talent tree is effective in getting you damage bonuses, but it's not very exciting. And you can take it three times.

After 3E magic, 4E powers or Star Wars Saga class talents and force powers, I think this can lead to an underwhelming experience.
I think if there was something to redesign in d20 Modern, I might start with the talent system and make it a little more consistent and also stronger.

---

That said, I have had quite a few entertaining d20 modern campaigns. It is a change of pace to a "standard" fantasy campaign, and I definitely had and have the right group for these campaigns.


An idea I was always tempted by was playing d20 Modern "Gestalt" heroes. A player picks one "physical" class (Strong, Fast or Tough) and one "mental" class (Smart, Dedicated, Charismatic). This way, you get charcters with a decent combat ability and a decent out-of combat role. That is something that might be problematic, depending on group and play style.

I came "close" to this by playing a Smart/Strong hero which I found very neat.

Generally, multiclassing in d20 Modern can be a very good idea.

 

[Vigilance]

Generally, multiclassing in d20 Modern can be a very good idea.

I would go a step further and say it's assumed, and damn near required.

 

[Armadillo]

Ah, the promise that was d20M.

Really, if you're thinking about playing it now, I would recommend you buy Star Wars Saga and run that for whatever campaign you were planning.

Otherwise, the one supplement that I think everyone should have is the d20M Players Companion from Green Ronin. It is filled with all kinds of goodness: talents, feats, equipment, advanced classes, and more.

For house rules, I would increase the options for using Action Points and rework the vehicle skills along the lines of Craft and Perform, i.e. Drive becomes Drive (Auto) (Heavy Vehicle) (Boat) (Submarine), etc. This will reduce the need for several feats, and it will mean that a character won't have to wait two levels before learning how to fly a helicopter.

Oh, and start at least at 3d level.

Generally, multiclassing in d20 Modern can be a very good idea.

Yes, muchly.

Though, you need to watch out for the +0 BAB problem. It is all too easy to have a great character concept that is a multiclass of two core classes and an advanced class that all have +0 BAB. Such a character will never be effective in combat. To address the +0 BAB problem, I recommend that you use the fractional attack bonuses from Unearthed Arcana.

Another problem is that due to the restricted character builds offered by the core classes, it can be difficult to meet the prerequisites for some of the Advanced Classes. So, plan ahead.

 

[fireinthedust]

ooooh, oooh, me! (ahem) I mean, I also have questions about just this topic.


I want to port in d20 Future stuff to my SW Saga game. I agree with most of the sentiments here, so what I'm wondering is how this would work. Specifically the cybernetics rules, though just about the whole book looks useful.
I might even allow a PC to pick talents from a d20 modern class whenever they go up a level in their SW class. Not the other way around, though.

Has anyone used the cybernetics in Star Wars? Are there any major system complications, or does it port over reasonably well?

 

[ronin]

I am currently running a d20 Modern game. I planned to use alot of standard DnD creatures which are generally stronger than d20 Modern PCs. I decided to let them make gestalt characters and so far its worked out well. When they fight normal people they are pretty tough but not so much against standard DnD creatures such as werewolves, vampires, demons, and devils.

I was unsure about gestalt PCs but its worked out very well.