D&D 5E D&D Next "genre books" replace d20 Modern

[Dungeonosophy]

Genre Books for D&D Next:


These are all 100% compatible with fantasy D&D Next rules and settings.



The Genre Books series covers all:

• The d20 Modern, d20 Future, and d20 Past campaign models
• The d20 mini-games from Polyhedron magazine
• The Alternity campaign settings
• The Amazing Engine campaign settings.
• The settings of the non-medieval TSR mini-games
• The other TSR/WotC rpgs, such as Boot Hill and Top Secret

Plus Campaign Models from existing D&D Worlds, showing how these Genres can be played in a Fantasy campaign.


Whereas the Culture Books cover the Ancient, Medieval, and Renaissance cultures, along with the "timeless" Indigenous cultures, the Genre Books cover post-Renaissance fictional genres, from the French Revolution and Industrial Revolution, onward.



D&D Modern

• Campaign Models:
  • Urban Arcana
  • Dark•Matter
  • Shadow Chasers
  • Agents of PSI
  • Genetech
  • Magitech setting from Amazing Engine.
  • Greyhawk 2000
• Besides Greyhawk 2000, modern versions of all published D&D Worlds, with technology and cultural level equivalent to present-day 2012. For those Worlds which feature Real World correlations, keep it straightforward (e.g. Shou Lung = China) so that it's easy to use D&D Earth adventures and resources (e.g. culture books).
  • "Modern Realms": something like: Faerunian Union, United Realms of Anchorome (URA), People's Republic of Shou Lung, etc.
  • "Modern Eberron"
  • "Modern Athas"
  • "Modern Aebrynis"
  • "Modern Mystara". something like: The Known Union, the United Coast of the Southold (UCS).
  • "Modern Krynn"
  • "Modern Nerath"

D&D Pulp

• Campaign Models:
  • Pulp Heroes d20 mini-game, later campaign model from d20 Past
  • The Seedy Streets of Northport, setting for Pulp Heroes in Polyhedron Magazine
  • Iron Lords of Jupiter from Polyhedron
  • Shadow Stalkers from d20 Past
  • Masque of the Red Death
  • V is for Victory from d20 Modern
  • For Faerie, Queen, and Country from Amazing Engine
  • Gangbusters
  • Dawn Patrol (there was D&D-Dawn Patrol crossover in Frank Mentzer's AC4: The Book of Marvellous Magic)
• Better than Thrilling Tales. Maybe collaborate with GM Skarka.

D&D Supers

• Campaign Models:
  • Golden Age supers in D&D Earth
  • Silver Age supers in D&D Earth
  • Bronze Age supers in D&D Earth
  • Modern Age supers in D&D Earth
  • Red Curse of Mystara (Red Steel/Savage Coast) designed as superpowers
• Better than MnM. A tough act to follow. Maybe collaborate with Steven Kenson.

D&D Anime

• Campaign Models for all the different anime subgenres
• Better than BESM

D&D Mecha

• Campaign Models:
  • Mecha Crusade from d20 Future
  • Earthshakers from Mystara
• Better than Battletech and d20 Mecha by Guardians of Order

D&D Western

• Campaign Models:
  • Boot Hill
  • Cimarron County in Mystara (Red Steel/Savage Coast)
  • Remember the Alamo from the TSR mini-game
  • 5e stats for Murlynd
• Better than Sidewinder and Deadlands

D&D Pirates

• Also serves as "Caribbean Adventures" culture book for Afro-Caribbean, Taino, and Carib Indian cultures.
• Campaign Models:
  • Pirates of the Sea of Fallen Stars in Toril
  • Merry Pirates of the Hollow World
  • Nuari of the Pearl Islands of Mystara (Afro-Caribbeans)
  • Caymen (Carib Indians) from AC2: Combat Shield and Mini-Adventure
• Better than Skull & Bones and 7th Sea: Swashbuckling Adventures

D&D Spies

• Campaign Models:
  • Top Secret
  • Glantrian Diplomatic Corps from Mystara
• Better than Spycraft

D&D Comedy

• Compile the silliest D&D monsters, magic items, spells, and so forth.
• The little-known Goldshitter from a Basic D&D Hebrew-language adventure module, is probably the most silly monster in all the D&D Worlds.
• Stats for the Dread Gazebo.
• Resources: "The Stupidest D&D Monsters" website and the April Fools Dragon magazine issues.
• 5e Jester class or theme
• Also comedic settings for D&D Modern campaigns.
• Campaign Models:
  • Hi-Jinx from d20 Modern
  • Thunderball Rally from d20 Modern
  • Tabloid! from Amazing Engine
  • They've Invaded Pleasantville and Icebergs TSR mini-games. The funny thing about Icebergs is that TSR made such a weird little game.
  • Mystara's Kingdom of Ierendi as portrayed as the Magnum P.I. television show, and the Broken Lands as portrayed in GAZ10: Orcs of Thar and the OrcWars! game
  • The Whamite Isles in the Forgotten Realms from The Great Khan Game.
  • The alternate "joke-version" of Castle Greyhawk from WG7 . This is an alternate timeline of Oerth.
  • Campaign Models for the comics featured in Dragon Magazine over the years: Wormy, SnarfQuest, Yamara, Knights of the Dinner Table, Nodwick, Dork Tower, and The Order of the Stick
• Better than Hackmaster, Green Ronin's Damnation Decade, and SJG's Toon and Munchkin rpgs

D&D Sci-Fi

• Campaign Models:
  • Star Frontiers (also encompassing Star Law campaign model from d20 Future)
  • Star*Drive
  • Bughunters from Amazing Engine and d20 FutureFrom the Dark Heart of Space from d20 Future
  • The Galactos Barrier from Amazing Engine
  • Once and Future King from Amazing Engine
  • Revolt on Antares from Tom Moldvay's TSR mini-game
  • Attack Force TSR mini-game. Novaship and Arcturus
  • Home setting of the spaceship from Expedition to the Barrier Peaks
  • Galactic Federation from Mystara (essentially D&D Star Trek)
• Better than Traveller

D&D Cyberscape

• Campaign Models:
  • CyberRave from d20 Cyberscape
  • Deathnet d20 mini-game
  • Kromosome from Amazing Engine (?)

D&D Apocalypse

• Campaign Models:

• Gamma World (including Omega World)
• The Wasteland from d20 Future
• Atomic Sunrise from d20 Apocalypse
• Earth Inherited from d20 Apocalypse
• Plague World from d20 Apocalypse

• Campaign Models set in the aftermath of the historic apocalypses of the D&D Worlds:
  • The Rain of Colorless Fire from Greyhawk
  • The Great Rain of Fire from Mystara and Blackmoor
  • The Cataclysm from Dragonlance
  • The Apocalypse Stone from AD&D 2e
• Better than Darwin's World.

D&D Colonial (or D&D New World; North and South America: 1500s to 1700s)

• Campaign Models:
  • New Waterdeep and New Amn in Toril
  • Various Savage Coast countries in Mystara

• Better than Northern Crown: New World Adventures by Atlas Games; maybe collaborate to make Northern Crown a campaign model.

D&D Timetravel

• Supports not only timetravel, but all dimension-hopping inter-genre campaigns
• Classes: Chronomancer, Temporal Champion, Temporal Raider, Dimensional Ranger
• Resource: "Chronomancy and the Multiverse" by Roger Moore. Describes how time-travel applies to each D&D World.
• Campaign Models:
  • Mystara: The Nexus from CM6: Where Chaos Reigns ; perhaps an "I, Oard" campaign model
  • Tales from the Comeback Inn, bringing Blackmoor to any campaign
  • The River of Time: time-travel in Krynn
  • Dimension X from d20 Future
  • Tangents from Alternity

From: https://sites.google.com/site/dndphilmont/genre-books

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It's tough to imagine a better comedy RPG than Toon.

 

[Sunseeker]

I don't think so.

Wizards is doing their darnedest just to reclaim past-editioners. Attempting to claim other markets(such as sci-fi, gothic horror, ect...) would water down what D&D is, which IMO, means a primarily high fantasy game.

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

As a rule, I agree with [MENTION=93444]shidaku[/MENTION] in this. D&D is a broad brand, so I'm not against books describing a wide variety in play, but always centered around traditional fantasy. If I'm going to play a different kind of game, I'll play an entirely different game or use a system like Savage Worlds that is designed to handle a wider variety of settings.

Still, your breakdown is good food for thought.

 

[Ahnehnois]

Plent of people use the phrase "playing D&D" to describe any PnP rpg and any genre. After d20 Modern didn't really hit it, it would be nice to see a game that worked well enough that it could be adapted to all settings.

 

[TrippyHippy]

To be honest, I don't feel that the world needs another generic system. D&D did all that with the D20 system, and it's a really low priority for me at least. There are other systems that do the whole multigenre thing better than D20, and really what I'm after is a more focussed product that captures the fantasy genre alone (although still generic).

 

[Mattachine]

My two coppers:
Spycraft>Top Secret (and I played Top Secret back in the 80's and Spycraft several years ago)

Toon>other comedy/silly games, with Paranoia a close second

I don't think everything is, or should be, a d20 style game. Some games are better when players have more narrative control, some games don't need flat, d20 distributions, and so on.

 

[avin]

It's GURPS.

 

[Bobbum Man]

It's GURPS.

Yeah....but it does have the advantage of not being GURPS.

 

[delericho]

While I liked the concept of "d20 Modern", and many of the campaign models it supported, the truth is that I will probably never play it again. Other games just do better jobs in almost every field it covers.

Further, the vary "toolkit" approach taken by "d20 Modern" is something of a weakness - the game is just too heavy for rapid prototyping, and I just don't have the time to heavily customise a game any more. So, something like "Savage Worlds" or nWoD will always get the nod ahead of it.

Actually, that's probably my biggest worry with 5e right there - a modular approach is likely to mean more work for me to tailor the game to the way I want to play, and doing that work may be more trouble than it's worth. Beyond a certain point, I'm going to abandon it in favour of sticking with 3e (despite being well aware of the faults of the latter).