zepherusbane
Explorer
I am working on developing a D20 Modern/Future campaign which will be based on the world portrayed in the book "Snow Crash" by Neil Stephenson. See the wiki if you haven't read it (Snow Crash - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).
I just love the setting that Stephenson created in his novel. I have been searching all over the web looking to find if someone has already created a game world that is based on Snow Crash and was actually quite surprised that I didn't find one. I did find a thread on a different RPG board where people were talking about doing this, but I didn't get the impression anyone has actually gone forward with doing it.
So, this thread is dedicated to working towards the goal of developing a Snow Crash Campaign Setting for use in the D20 Modern/Future game. Any help you can offer will be greatly appreciated! If you have read Snow Crash, please offer suggestions for items that should be in the setting even if you don't have a clear idea on how it should be implemented. I'm interested in any classes, professions, skills, feats, weapons, etc. you think I should have.
If you haven't read the book, I ADVISE YOU TO GO BUY IT AND READ IT!! It's an excellent book.
Which Existing Sources to use:
These are the source books I currently own that I already have available for use in creating this campaign:
Please suggest other titles that I may want to consider.
In particular, I'm looking for these:
What have I figured out so far:
I have determined that I will not require the character based rules (classes, professions, feats, etc.) from D20 Future for this campaign because much of that content is space related; space adventures won't be part of the "flavor" of this campaign setting.
I do expect to adapt the Mecha and Cybernetics rules from D20 for certain aspects from the novel (such as the "rat things").
I expect not to allow the FX abilities that are provided in D20 Modern since I don't intend to make magic part of the flavor of the campaign setting.
Most of the classes, feats, skills, etc. that I will need will come directly from D20 Modern. My players should be able to find quite a bit of what they would need to duplicate characters similar to the ones in the novel.
For example, when I look at the primary character in Snow Crash (Hiro Protagonist) I can easily see him fitting in to the current rules without even needing to create a new character class. Hiro would have levels in the base classes of both Fast and Smart Hero. For his advanced classes, I would expect levels in Martial Artist, Investigator, and Techie. For his starting profession, I would expect "Technician". Feats might be a different story, he would use some standard ones, but some things would require Snow Crash specific feats.
Instead of Techie from the D20 Modern book, Shadowjack levels from the Urban Arcana Campaign Setting book would probably be even better for Hiro.
As with the magic related items from D20 Modern, I plan to restrict any magic related classes, professions, feats from Urban Arcana and any other source books I do end up using.
I plan to create the things that go along with this specific campaign setting that don't already exist to ensure the flavor of the campaign world is what I want it to be.
Snow Crash Campaign Setting items to be developed:
Starting occupations:
Base Character Classes:
Advanced Classes:
Weapons:
What else do you think should be on the list?
Do I have anything listed under the wrong place, for example should Franchise Operator be an advanced class instead of a possible starting occupation?
I just love the setting that Stephenson created in his novel. I have been searching all over the web looking to find if someone has already created a game world that is based on Snow Crash and was actually quite surprised that I didn't find one. I did find a thread on a different RPG board where people were talking about doing this, but I didn't get the impression anyone has actually gone forward with doing it.
So, this thread is dedicated to working towards the goal of developing a Snow Crash Campaign Setting for use in the D20 Modern/Future game. Any help you can offer will be greatly appreciated! If you have read Snow Crash, please offer suggestions for items that should be in the setting even if you don't have a clear idea on how it should be implemented. I'm interested in any classes, professions, skills, feats, weapons, etc. you think I should have.
If you haven't read the book, I ADVISE YOU TO GO BUY IT AND READ IT!! It's an excellent book.
Which Existing Sources to use:
These are the source books I currently own that I already have available for use in creating this campaign:
- D20 Modern (Core Book, by WotC)
- D20 Future (Core Book, by WotC)
- Urban Arcana (Campaign Setting, by WotC)
- D20 Modern Cyberscape (Accessory, by WotC)
- D20 Modern Weapons Locker (Accessory, by WotC)
- D20 Menace Manual (Accessory, by WotC)
- Modern Player's Companion (Accessory, by Green Ronin Publishing)
- FBI: D20 Modern (Accessory, by Holistic Design)
Please suggest other titles that I may want to consider.
In particular, I'm looking for these:
- A mafia source I can use as a base for the Snow Crash specific mafia items.
- A Weapon source book that has slightly more futuristic weapons than what is in the Weapons Locker Accessory. D20 future, but not space weapons, stuff that could feasibly develop out of our current technology in 30-50 years.
- A Military source book that covers things like Weapons on navy ships, aircraft carriers, submarines, helicopters, and airplanes. Russian and US models in particular, but other countries too if possible.
What have I figured out so far:
I have determined that I will not require the character based rules (classes, professions, feats, etc.) from D20 Future for this campaign because much of that content is space related; space adventures won't be part of the "flavor" of this campaign setting.
I do expect to adapt the Mecha and Cybernetics rules from D20 for certain aspects from the novel (such as the "rat things").
I expect not to allow the FX abilities that are provided in D20 Modern since I don't intend to make magic part of the flavor of the campaign setting.
Most of the classes, feats, skills, etc. that I will need will come directly from D20 Modern. My players should be able to find quite a bit of what they would need to duplicate characters similar to the ones in the novel.
For example, when I look at the primary character in Snow Crash (Hiro Protagonist) I can easily see him fitting in to the current rules without even needing to create a new character class. Hiro would have levels in the base classes of both Fast and Smart Hero. For his advanced classes, I would expect levels in Martial Artist, Investigator, and Techie. For his starting profession, I would expect "Technician". Feats might be a different story, he would use some standard ones, but some things would require Snow Crash specific feats.
Instead of Techie from the D20 Modern book, Shadowjack levels from the Urban Arcana Campaign Setting book would probably be even better for Hiro.
As with the magic related items from D20 Modern, I plan to restrict any magic related classes, professions, feats from Urban Arcana and any other source books I do end up using.
I plan to create the things that go along with this specific campaign setting that don't already exist to ensure the flavor of the campaign world is what I want it to be.
Snow Crash Campaign Setting items to be developed:
Starting occupations:
- Franchise Operator
- Security Guard
- Heavy Metal Band Member
- Corporate Computer Programmer
- Hacker
- ?
Base Character Classes:
- Raft Refus
- Raft Pirate
- ?
Advanced Classes:
- Pizza Deliverator
- CIC Stringer
- RadisKS Kourier
- ?
Weapons:
- Reason
- ?
What else do you think should be on the list?
Do I have anything listed under the wrong place, for example should Franchise Operator be an advanced class instead of a possible starting occupation?
Last edited:
