D20 Modern Campaign Ideas?

[Bran Blackbyrd]

Religious: I'm not a fan of mixing real world religions with D&D, but D20 modern is a different situation. I like the idea of the players getting caught up in a war between the forces of light and darkness. Putting a different spin on Christianity, and other religions, not unlike the Prophecy movies, the Spawn comics, or even Dogma. The possibility of there being more than two sides in the war between Heaven and Hell. Rogue angels, reformed demons, zealotous strangers.
The only thing more dangerous than someone who claims to know the truth about religion is someone who really does know the truth.
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Supernatural Uprising: Not far off from the previous setting is one where the supernatural lurks just beneath the surface of the normal world. Running into a displacer beast in an alley could ruin your night out. The girls in 5th period chemistry are witches guarding the seal on a gate to the underworld. That prostitute from the bad part of town is a succubus trying to reform. Oh, and that monastery just off the highway is filled with a secret group of half-orc historians. Man's true genetic ancestor. Government agencies are tracking the illuminati, whose members are government officials who are running the agencies doing the tracking...
Somewhere in the middle are the PCs who somehow find out what's going on, and where they fit into the picture.
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Near Future Cyberpunk: More cyber than punk really. We're not talking Bladerunner or anything. Sure, there are run down areas where whole cities used to be, but it's not like the whole world is a dark polluted, rainy place. Cybernetic replacement parts are fairly common. Complete replacement bodies are available to the ultra-rich, and certain agencies. Cosmetic body modification has replaced the piercing as the new flesh fad. Want a tail? You got it, want a third eye? Sure. The internet can be jacked right into your head in 3D. A world inspired by the short stories, In Search of Neko and Puma.
The PCs are anything from secret revolutionists trying to bring down the oppressive corporations, to net-junkies exposing the secrets of the rich and powerful, to refugees trying to flee from the company that made their prototype next-gen cybernetic parts.
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GTA3: The PCs live in a city that is totally corrupt. The only way to survive is to fight fire with fire and become the best criminals in the city. They have to earn enough money to get out, and enough respect to be left alone after they get out, before they lose their humanity.
Conversly, the PCs could be members of law-enforcement trying to bring order to the city, and infiltrate the crime-families.

I can't wait for D20 Modern!

 

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Supernatural Uprising: Not far off from the previous setting is one where the supernatural lurks just beneath the surface of the normal world. Running into a displacer beast in an alley could ruin your night out. The girls in 5th period chemistry are witches guarding the seal on a gate to the underworld. That prostitute from the bad part of town is a succubus trying to reform. Oh, and that monastery just off the highway is filled with a secret group of half-orc historians. Man's true genetic ancestor. Government agencies are tracking the illuminati, whose members are government officials who are running the agencies doing the tracking...

Try Shadowcasers for this one. The religion idea is real cool BTW.

 

[Mistwell]

Religious: I'm not a fan of mixing real world religions with D&D, but D20 modern is a different situation. I like the idea of the players getting caught up in a war between the forces of light and darkness. Putting a different spin on Christianity, and other religions, not unlike the Prophecy movies, the Spawn comics, or even Dogma. The possibility of there being more than two sides in the war between Heaven and Hell. Rogue angels, reformed demons, zealotous strangers.
The only thing more dangerous than someone who claims to know the truth about religion is someone who really does know the truth.
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You are really going to like a movie that is scheduled to release on 01/17/2003 called Sin Eater. There is a synopsis here: http://www.foxmovies.com/COMING_SOON/sineater_pop.html

"A young conflicted priest helps investigate the case of a corpse covered with mysterious religious symbols written in Aramaic. The priest realizes this murder may be the work of the last of an ancient Christian order outside the Catholic Church called the Sin Eaters, who claim to absolve the guilty of their sins... but the absolution is fatal."

I've seen the movie (though they were still tinkering with some music and final touches on special effects), and it is pretty good.

It's the same crew (director and actors) as A Knights Tale, though I was never huge fan of that movie. However, unless they mess it up majorly in post-production, it will not have the massive anachronisms and teen-baiting that bugged me from A Knights Tale.

 

[bwgwl]

Religious: I'm not a fan of mixing real world religions with D&D, but D20 modern is a different situation. I like the idea of the players getting caught up in a war between the forces of light and darkness. Putting a different spin on Christianity, and other religions, not unlike the Prophecy movies, the Spawn comics, or even Dogma. The possibility of there being more than two sides in the war between Heaven and Hell. Rogue angels, reformed demons, zealotous strangers.
The only thing more dangerous than someone who claims to know the truth about religion is someone who really does know the truth.
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ever seen In Nomine? great game. would love to see In Nomine d20 one day.

i had a world idea a while back that was based somewhat on In Nomine and Judeo-Christian ideas, but had three sides: Angels, Demons, and the Grigori (angels that didn't fall like the demons, but were banished from Heaven to the Earth for a different crime).

the interesting thing was that none of the three sides was what you would call good from a human point of view.

the Angels represented law and order. the extreme version where everything and everyone is subsumed for the greater good of the all. Angels treat humans like sheep, and only care about them as long as they further the cause of Heaven. once you step out of line, the Angels consider you an enemy.

the Demons represent the will to power (for all you Nietzsche buffs out there ). for them, it's all about the individual and how much power each Demon can accumulate on his own. they use humans as pawns in their machinations not only against the Angels but against each other as well. Demons can only work together when such teamwork will maximize the aggrandizement of all the Demons in the group. this doesn't happen very often...

the Grigori represent resentment. they hate the Angels for kicking them out of Heaven. they resent the Demons for not letting them into Hell. they resent humans for being the reason they were kicked out of Heaven in the first place. they even resent themselves for being weak. they exist primarily to gum up the works of Angel and Demon plots. they don't have any goals of their own -- they only want to make sure no one else reaches theirs.

pretty dark world, but might be interesting all the same.

 

[Voneth]

I would go with a "We are among them" type set up. Whether that difference between the PC and humanity is scientific, supernatural or a evolution of some sort would depend on my mood.

I would also go with an Alternate Earth where something, Psionics, Magic or funky tech has changed everything.

 

[Pbartender]

I was recently reading about the new live-action Akira movie...

So, I went and watched the original movie again, and I thought to myself, "Huh, that would make great adventure for a D20 Modern game in the Agents of PSI campaign setting."

 

[Tonguez]

Teenagers from Outer Space meets GURPS I.O.U meets Sweet Valley High meets Buffy meets Animal House meets...

 

[Bran Blackbyrd]

Try Shadowcasers for this one. The religion idea is real cool BTW.

Yeah, I picked up the Shadowchasers issue of Dungeon/Polyhedron for the half-machine template. I've been looking forward to getting my hands on D20 Modern ever since I first heard about it.
Thanks for the compliment, BTW. In spite of the fact that I don't follow any religion, I think that the subject is interesting (when it isn't causing violence and oppression). Aside from being a hell of a funny movie, Dogma is very thought provoking. You take a closer look at what's going on in it and see that it makes a lot of sense, in a mythoigical way.

You are really going to like a movie that is scheduled to release on 01/17/2003 called Sin Eater.

Hmm, sounds interesting. I'll have to remember to check it out.

ever seen In Nomine? great game. would love to see In Nomine d20 one day.

I've heard the name mentioned quite a bit around these boards, but I had never heard what it is. Thanks for the info.


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More campaign ideas:

Obviously D20 Modern is made for modern and near future settings, but it would be just as usefull for near past adventures.

The PCs could be covert agents spying on Russia during the cold war. Maybe they are trying to crack the secret of a Soviet "Super Soldier" program so they can make off with the info for their own country (or company) and destroy the Russians work on it when they leave. Maybe one of the PCs was a "volunteer" subject of the program and is trying to defect to another country.

Wars make a good excuse for the PCs to be involved, whether they are spying or fighting.

The Axis is rolling across Europe and the PCs are helping fight the good fight. Return to Castle Wolfenstein makes excellent source material for a campaign like this. It's the perfect mix of occult and science for a system that will have modern tech, with rules for magic as well. The PCs could be trying to steal plans for a German super-weapon, they could be escapees from one of the breeding camps, fighter pilots, members of a resistance movement. You name it!
In any of these "near-past" campaigns it's up to the players to decide whether they want to preserve history, or rewrite it.

Were they in Roswell when mysterious debris was spotted?
Were they on the security detail of the President when an assassination attempt occurred?
Maybe they witnessed the mysterious destruction of the 1909 Tunguska event, or perhaps they were responsible for it.
They were part of a special police task force during prohibition, assigned to deal with the rise of organized crime.

Ahem. Doom, Doom II, Half Life.

How about this; The PCs, whether victims of circumstance or directly responsible, have to fight off an army of newly risen corpses after a strange chemical pollutes the area (night of the living what, you say???). When the battle is won the event is covered up, but rumors of the event end up inspiring a well-known movie and it's sequels.

There are aliens among us, and it's the PCs' job to make sure normal folks don't find out...

There are aliens among us, and the PCs' are normal folks who saw some ETs and are now being harrassed by the people whose job it is to make sure normal folks don't find out...

The PCs' neighborhood is built over the ubiquitous "Indian Burial Ground". Weird crap starts to happen and the PCs go into action. (BTW, I have news for you, probably 99.9% of US soil is an "indian" burial ground)

Evil Dead II, Army of Darkness, DieHard, Blade, Dark Angel, Batman... 'nuff said. Heck, the PCs are one animate object spell away from Mannequin and one awaken spell away from any number of bad talking animal movies.
Series 7: The Contenders...

There's no end to the source material out there.
And remember, the characters are only one case of mistaken identity away from becoming fugitives from justice.

 

[sean_etc]

My 2 cents...

So far, my concept of what sort of game I am going to run keeps changing. I plan on starting it like such:

All players will be playing college-aged characters, thus they'll have to pick an area of study (their major). (Wether or not they're from the same colege has yet to be determined.) For another undetermined reason, they will be at some sort of conference/camping trip. (Possible reasons include they're all recipients of some financial aide grant and this is the one requirement.) Anywho, while on the trip they are the sole survivors of a raid or creatures that came through a gate. From there, I'm still uncertain as where I am gonna go with it.

 

[dglass]

Re: My 2 cents...

So far, my concept of what sort of game I am going to run keeps changing. I plan on starting it like such:

All players will be playing college-aged characters, thus they'll have to pick an area of study (their major). (Wether or not they're from the same colege has yet to be determined.) For another undetermined reason, they will be at some sort of conference/camping trip. (Possible reasons include they're all recipients of some financial aide grant and this is the one requirement.) Anywho, while on the trip they are the sole survivors of a raid or creatures that came through a gate. From there, I'm still uncertain as where I am gonna go with it.

It really depends on what genre you are going for. If the supernatural in your world is mostly bad your setup would dovetail nicely into a Shadowchasers campaign.

I am notorious among my players for using dimensional gates as jumping off points for campaigns. I like doing fish out of water stories so I would have these lovely co-eds captured by orcs and dragged back through to portal. Modern day characters in a fantasy world shows up in many novels. My usual thing is to do one-shot in which the plot resolves itself and at the end the players have to decide if they want to stay in the fantasy world or go back. Returning to the 'real world' doesn't mean the end of the campaign however. They might return to a universe which is very similar to their home but different in a disturbing way. Stuck in a parallel universe they have to escape or die. Once a character has been through one interdimensional portal they are pretty much wierdness magnets so I don't let them rest. Even when they do get home I would have someone or something follow them. When the characters are to blame for unleashing evil on a wholly unprepared world they are usually more inclined to do something about it.