D&D 3.5 for Post-Apocalyptic Games?

[avin]

D20 and similar games are too "heroic" for Fallout IMO... as for GURPS Fallout here some early development images and info:

Vault 13: A GURPS Post-Nuclear Adventure - The Vault - a Fallout wiki

 

[Toben the Many]

We've played post-apocalyptic games with the d20 Modern ruleset and it worked just fine.

The d20 Modern system works very well as a gritty system because healing is not as easy as "cure light wounds". That said, the Medical skill allows someone to grant d6 per character level of hit points back to someone, so it's not like you get no healing at all. It's just that you're going to have to go back to base to get healed.

We also instituted a sort of "stimpack" item (the spray on band-aid) which granted up to 10d6 of healing. You could use as many d6 as you wanted per spray. But once the 10d6 was gone, it was gone.

However, I can understand why certain people don't like the d20 Modern classes. For many, they are just too generic for some.

We had great success with White Wolf's Gamma World d20 series. That series was lambasted to hell and back, because it bore little resemblance to the Gamma World of the 70's and 80's, where you could be a plant. But that didn't matter to us, we were looking for a Fallout rip-off, and guess what? That's exactly what Gamma World d20 is.

The only problem is - again - Gamma World d20 uses d20 Modern.

My advice for someone who wants to stick with d20 but not use d20 Modern is use Spycraft. That should work out for you.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

HERO, no question.

OTOH, d20 modern should work just fine, as would a number of other good games.

(Personally, I'm using 3.5 for a fantasy based post-apocalyptic game, and its just fine.)

 

[MadMaxim]

Thanks for all your suggestions I'd love to look into some of all these proposed suitable systems, but I'm afraid both the GM and his fiancé are a bit too conservative when it comes to roleplaying game systems other than D&D 3.5. It's a pity, really, because I think there are a lot of systems that would be a whole lot better suited than D&D 3.5. Of course you can run post apocalyptic campaigns with D&D, if it's set in a fantasy world like Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms, but I think it's too tightly focused to be useful for anything involving no magic and include firearms and stuff like that...

EDIT: It's kind of funny, because I don't know what level of gritty the GM is aiming for, so I think it's a bit strange that he's aiming for a Fallout-ish atmosphere and using something as D&D 3.5...

 

[Krensky]

There is also Exodus, which was Fallout d20 until Bethesda got pissy.

http://www.gluttoncreeper.com/

 

[Herobizkit]

However, I can understand why certain people don't like the d20 Modern classes. For many, they are just too generic for some.

I agree. My solution was simple; advanced classes become the new base classes. Most players will want to "prestige" into advanced classes but are unable to do so BY DESIGN until achieving their 4th level of experience. I say, why wait 3 levels before playing the kind of character you want? (This is where a point-buy system becomes MUCH more attractive than the level-driven d20 engine.)

Personally, I've used d20 "fantasy" in a modern setting with no issues whatsoever. A Ranger became a "vigilante", a street-savvy warrior who patrolled his neigborhood in order to clean up gangs; a Bard became a "heavy metal thrasher" who was his own special effects team; A Druid became a "Wiccan priestess"; A Fighter became a "S.W.A.T. policeman".

But what about magic? Don't call it magic. Call it "psychic powers" or "chi" or whatever - instead of waving your hands and mumbling nonsense, a person can simply bend reality with a thought.

You can easily use the gear, feats, etc. from d20 Modern.

 

[Darrin Drader]

I wrote a chunk of D20 Apocalypse, I own most of the Darwins World books published to date, and I've run a few post apocalyptic games, so hopefully my advice will be helpful to you.

First, now that there are quality alternatives, I don't mind admitting that I have issues with D20 Modern. The philosophy behind the game design was sound, but actually using the system to make characters and NPCs is even more of a chore than making 3.5 characters. Regardless of how fond I am of Atomic Sunrise (which is really a quickly reinvented Gamma World for D20 Apocalypse), I think Darwin's World is the best prepackaged PA setting.

Your best choices for your rules system are either True20 or Modern20. Neither of those will give you the kind of headaches for making characters that D20 Modern will. True20 does away with the 3 - 18 ability stats and just uses the ability modifier. The skill system is streamlined, and hit points are replaced with a toughness save. I've run True20 Darwin's World and it was great. Every shot had the potential to be lethal, and that made things seem more grim and gritty. The unfortunate part is that the only True20 product they did for DW was the player's guide, which means that if you go that route, you'll be doing a lot of converting.

My other recommendation is Modern20. This system is closer in nature to D20 Modern, but the classes are not generic and the levels run 1 - 20. If you didn't mind having the D20 Modern book handy while you're running games, this system is similar enough to Modern that you could easily convert all existing DW material over to it and run adventures straight out of the book. I don't see any reason that you couldn't use the advanced classes from the DW player's book with it, modifying prerequisites as needed.

Either way, I'd definitely go with Darwin's World. I have Gama World D20 and while it's not bad per se, it's not as good as DW. DW has a lot of support out there for it and from my understanding, they have no intention of stopping support for it at any time in the future. The material is well written, and the core books provide tons and tons of material such as organizations, PA equipment, setting, and mutant creatures. As far as I'm concerned, it is the definitive PA game.

Have fun with this. I'll be breaking out the DW stuff myself soon to write an adventure for it.

 

[MadMaxim]

But what about magic? Don't call it magic. Call it "psychic powers" or "chi" or whatever - instead of waving your hands and mumbling nonsense, a person can simply bend reality with a thought.

You can easily use the gear, feats, etc. from d20 Modern.

I told the GM exactly what you just wrote, that instead of calling it a wizard call it a scientist able to mix some really nasty stuff on the fly and throw it in the enemies' faces, but he wasn't too keen on that.

I don't say that you can't mix and match the two systems. It's just that with the "armor as damage reduction" variant from Unearthed Arcana, small to medium firearms aren't as scary as a greataxe-wielding babarian (which I'll be playing)

 

[the8bitdeity]

It's not d20 at all, but I was always a fan of Deadlands "Hell on Earth" for a very interesting and fun Post Apocalyptic role playing setting.

 

[Herobizkit]

I told the GM exactly what you just wrote, that instead of calling it a wizard call it a scientist able to mix some really nasty stuff on the fly and throw it in the enemies' faces, but he wasn't too keen on that.

Well, what IS he keen on?

I don't say that you can't mix and match the two systems. It's just that with the "armor as damage reduction" variant from Unearthed Arcana, small to medium firearms aren't as scary as a greataxe-wielding babarian (which I'll be playing)

I don't know about that... most small firearms do 2d6 damage (and a few do 2d8). Throw in a Double Tap feat and you can do an extra die of damage with a semi-auto pistol. Now wield a pistol in each hand... you can Double Tap on ANY attack... and now you're hosing guys left and right.

And of course, DR doesn't count against special attacks, like anything elemental (fire, electricity), stun attacks, and touch attacks (like grappling).