D&D 4E d20 Modern 4e

[Committed Hero]

I think the wide application of D20 Modern hurts its chance of being promoted like 4th edition is planned to be. There are too many eras for a miniatures game to cover - even if it focused on something viable, like Star*Drive, it's done at the expense of everything else, potentially turning off fans who were looking for coverage of something different first.

 

[Vigilance]

Yeah, there's no "Howard-Tolkien mean" for modern gaming like there is for fantasy.

That just means modern games have to be more robust and better supported.

 

[Ranger REG]

Foundation is one example.

For another, the first two products I did for d20M, written very quickly after the release of the MSRD, were nominated for Ennies.

Only a handful of designers are talented quick learners as you. A handful.

So, what you're saying is that we should take the bad with the good, even though the bad products outnumber, overwhelms and overshadow the good products?

You say, they should screen product before it hit the market. You ain't going to get a review committee on a volunteer basis. IOW, they want to get paid, and where is this payment going to come from, short of converting the royalty-FREE license into a fee-based license?

 

[Vigilance]

Only a handful of designers are talented quick learners as you. A handful.

So, what you're saying is that we should take the bad with the good, even though the bad products outnumber, overwhelms and overshadow the good products?

You say, they should screen product before it hit the market. You ain't going to get a review committee on a volunteer basis. IOW, they want to get paid, and where is this payment going to come from, short of converting the royalty-FREE license into a fee-based license?

I'm saying I think we should leave things as they are, with as speedy a release of the SRD as wizards can manage, and perhaps a gentleman's agreement in the meantime like we had with 3e.

Yes, some of the early products will suck because they're rushed to market.

But some of the LATER products will suck too.

I don't think holding back on the SRD for a year will increase quality.

And if they hold it back for a year, but only for certain companies, that would be a really crappy move, imo.

Basically, I think the license has worked just fine. I don't think we need a fee system, a review system or gatekeepers, and I don't think we need to artificially delay the release of the SRD.

I think the system isn't broke, and doesn't need to be fixed.

If Foundation had come out a year later, it still would have had the measurements of the characters (but only the female ones) and it still would have had origins that used rape as a trigger for superpowers and it probably still would have been busted beyond belief mechanically.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

If by "VeriSign equivalent," you mean the Covered Product must be fully in-sync with the rules? Are you saying the Trademark Usage Guide is not restrictive enough?

And as for "worthy" product, how does one define that? I mean what if I disagree with community representative panel if they don't think something like Dragonstar is worthy to carry the d20 logo but The Foundation d20 Superhero is?

I am not familiar with the specific details of the D20 Logo or the Trademark Use Guide, so it's possible I underestimated what guidelines are already available. But I tend to assume that this is more a legal thing, which is not the main aspect I refered to.

The question is how "worthy" is defined, indeed.
In case of the "Certified for Windows Vista" logo, "worthiness" is analyzed based on certain test cases: Does the installer use the MS Installer Technology? Stores it the application files in the correct directories? Does the application react correctly in case of fatal errors (shuts down without taking the system with it, and doesn't try to ignore th error?).

It's a lot harder to apply this types of guidelines to D20 guidelines, but there might be some possibilities. For the example at hand (which I never heard of before, and gladly I never did )

Maturity Requirement:
If rated according to standards for movies or electronic games, would this be acceptable for children of 12 years or older?
Exceptions are possible, but in this case, the product must specifically note these on its front and back cover, and they have to be approved by WotC."

Task Resolution System:
To determine the success of an outcome, a modifier is used plus a value determined by a d20 roll. The result must be equal or higher to a specific value. It is possible to set multiple values to achieve different degrees of success. This rule only applies to specific tasks that can fail or succeed. Determining any random effects (like damage) can be based on different dice or an entirely different mechanic)

These were probably the easy ones... (And not perfect or in legal-speak )

 

[Roudi]

Well, I guess the scoop on ENWorld's front page today answers a lot of questions.

 

[Ranger REG]

Well, I guess the scoop on ENWorld's front page today answers a lot of questions.

No doubt there will be d20 Modern 2.0 in 2009.

Nice to even know that d20 Spectaculars is inspired by the hit series, HEROES (BTW, they've been robbed of an Emmy last Sunday by a bunch of goombahs with an unresolved ending), rather than the typical comic-book four-color style (which MnM pretty much cornered that market).

 

[ssampier]

Yes good news indeed. I thought Modern 4e was forlorn hope.

This statement has me concerned

Andrew Finch came to me this morning with a great idea for what could be done with the d20 Modern magic and psionics subsystems, based on his experiences playing Force-users in the Star Wars RPG Saga Edition

Is the Star Wars SAGA force system generic enough to port to Modern? Or are we talking about an implied setting for Modern? :\

 

[the_myth]

I kinda think d20 modern is dead.

Yet lives on as Spycraft.

Really, if WotC allowed them to 'port over a bunch of stuff that was restricted, that would be an excellent modern/fantasy game.

 

[Roudi]

I have no knowledge of how Saga treats Force powers, except that it appears to be a unified skill-based system. Obviously porting that system over wholesale wouldn't match modern, but creating a generic version based upon it should be possible.