d20 modern Failed...why? (or did it?)
- Thread starter daveb22
- Start date
Woas
First Post
I really don't have any knowledge as to financially if the d20 system failed or not by pure sales.
On a gameplay level. I voted didn't play it, although I did play it maybe a dozen times or there abouts. Based on that limited scope I felt d20 Modern was a failure though for a number of reasons that I figure going into the details on are beyond the scope of this thread.
PS: Caw. Nice avatar.
On a gameplay level. I voted didn't play it, although I did play it maybe a dozen times or there abouts. Based on that limited scope I felt d20 Modern was a failure though for a number of reasons that I figure going into the details on are beyond the scope of this thread.
PS: Caw. Nice avatar.
Last edited:
crazy_monkey1956
First Post
D20 Modern suffered from being too generic. While the rules were sound and fun (I still play it) it has no real "core flavor" to it and thus it can be very difficult to determine just what and how to run it for a GM.
(Psi)SeveredHead
Adventurer
I loved it. Ran it quite a lot.
There was very little support for it, especially when it came to adventures. Writing an adventure for Modern was hard however (this wasn't a big problem with the ruleset; I frequently stole Spycraft adventures and made new NPCs). Many of the same problems cropped up in sci-fi settings too.
The generic flavor also made it hard for publishers to write adventures; the fanbase was split on things like magic, no magic, etc, which had to make profit from writing adventures, since no matter how well you wrote, a big chunk of the fans will hate the adventure.
There was very little support for it, especially when it came to adventures. Writing an adventure for Modern was hard however (this wasn't a big problem with the ruleset; I frequently stole Spycraft adventures and made new NPCs). Many of the same problems cropped up in sci-fi settings too.
The generic flavor also made it hard for publishers to write adventures; the fanbase was split on things like magic, no magic, etc, which had to make profit from writing adventures, since no matter how well you wrote, a big chunk of the fans will hate the adventure.
DaveMage
Slumbering in Tsar
Henry
Autoexreginated
d20 Modern, if it can be said to have "failed", woul dhave failed for lack of strong branding and support. It wasn't meant to be a brand, per say, but more like the "GURPS" of d20 - generic enough to handle a wide variety of settings, or more like "sixguns and sorcery", I suppose, a blending of genres. One of the many ideas I always wanted to run for my home games but never found the time was a 'Lost World" kind of game, or maybe a "Stargate" kind of game, where a mysterious portal transports government Special Forces teams to a world of Magical Beasts. Images of Griffons, Beholders, and Fire Giants going up against SEAL Teams with Full auto weapons... 
El Mahdi
Muad'Dib of the Anauroch
As to whether it succeeded or failed: I thought it seemed to be a success for a while, then it seemed interest tapered off. Maybe that had to do with how generic the system was (when there's a lot of "Generic" Modern systems out there), or maybe the lack of full campaign support (instead of fully detailed and dedicated books to specific campaign worlds, they had kind of "Era" books with small writeups on different camapaigns, but only part of chapter devoted to each). Something I always felt was lacking also was miniature support. D&D was covered big time, and Star Wars got pretty good coverage also (and some could have been used for "D20 Modern" or "D20 Future"), but there were absolutely no miniatures made specifically for D20 Modern. (edit: there were however a few 3pp campaign settings for use with D20 Modern/Future)
The system worked pretty well for me though. I just adapted all of my Alternity stuff, especially my Star*Drive Campaign setting material. My original Dark*Matter books were useful also, I just used D20 Modern mechanics for everything.
I don't know if it can really be considered dead or not. There have been no new products or support for a considerable amount of time, and there really hasn't been any official word one way or the other from WoTC as to whether there will be a new edition. But, even though it's had no updates for almost 2 years, the D20 Modern page is still on the WoTC web page, and there still seems to be some traffic on WoTC D20 Modern forums. So, your guess is as good as anybody's.
The system worked pretty well for me though. I just adapted all of my Alternity stuff, especially my Star*Drive Campaign setting material. My original Dark*Matter books were useful also, I just used D20 Modern mechanics for everything.
I don't know if it can really be considered dead or not. There have been no new products or support for a considerable amount of time, and there really hasn't been any official word one way or the other from WoTC as to whether there will be a new edition. But, even though it's had no updates for almost 2 years, the D20 Modern page is still on the WoTC web page, and there still seems to be some traffic on WoTC D20 Modern forums. So, your guess is as good as anybody's.
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