d20 Modern for high fantasy

jdrakeh

Front Range Warlock
Just out of curiosity, has anybody here used d20 Modern to run a high fantasy game (ala D&D). If so, was it successful? In your opinion, did it run more or less smoothly than a game using the D&D rules? Was it easier for you to make customized characters? Was it easier to adapt the rules to setting sof your own design?

The reason that I'm asking is that I'm thinking about thinning out my bookshelf, and after conducting a poll over at RPGnet it seems that d20 has to go. That said, I want at least one set of d20 rules on my shelf. Right now I'm leaning toward d20 Modern, but the above factors will weigh in pretty heavy on my final decision. Any help that you can offer would be great.

Sincerely,
James D. Hargrove

P.S. Yeah, d20 rocks. I was wrong in years past, so sue me.
 

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jdrakeh said:
Just out of curiosity, has anybody here used d20 Modern to run a high fantasy game (ala D&D). If so, was it successful? In your opinion, did it run more or less smoothly than a game using the D&D rules? Was it easier for you to make customized characters? Was it easier to adapt the rules to setting sof your own design?

The reason that I'm asking is that I'm thinking about thinning out my bookshelf, and after conducting a poll over at RPGnet it seems that d20 has to go. That said, I want at least one set of d20 rules on my shelf. Right now I'm leaning toward d20 Modern, but the above factors will weigh in pretty heavy on my final decision. Any help that you can offer would be great.

Sincerely,
James D. Hargrove

P.S. Yeah, d20 rocks. I was wrong in years past, so sue me.


Well, if you're just out to thin your bookshelf of d20 material, why don't you download the d20 and d20Modern SRDs and give me everthing else on your shelf! Heck, I'll even print and bind the SRDs for you if you want. ;)
 

Re: Re: d20 Modern for high fantasy

CarlZog said:



Well, if you're just out to thin your bookshelf of d20 material, why don't you download the d20 and d20Modern SRDs and give me everthing else on your shelf! Heck, I'll even print and bind the SRDs for you if you want. ;)

I'm a hardback junkie, actually (sadly, this is initially why I gave d20 a go). And I'm not looking to get rid of all of my d20 material, it's just that having umpteen diifferent versions of what is essentially the same system on my shelf seems rather redundant.

What I'm looking to do is hold on to the most functional and adaptable version of d20. The rest I won't really need. And, yes, what I don't really need will be going up for sale or trade both here and at RPGnet :)
 


I figure with d20 modern and UA, you can run anything. The only problem with 'high' fantasy is the lack of spell levels in modern (IIRC it's 5?)

But with d20 modern and UA, you can run fantasy, steampunk, and all the other settings in the book.
 

Well... yeah, we've used it successfully. It's not quite designed for super-high fantasy (D&D style), but works far better for 'low-magic' campaigns. A couple differences, some of which we worked on (and others not 'cause it wasn't important at the time in order to play anyway)..

*Basic Classes will have varying amounts of 'inappropriate' class skills and bonus feats. If you give none of them anything, then some will lose more out of their base lists of skills/feats than others. We decided temporarily that this is okay, and up for debate later.

*Craft skills need some kind of tweaking. Every weapon and armor would fall under the same skill, and the Craft times are extremely short for, say, making a suit of full mail. Additionally, and most obviously, some of them are unfitting.

*Many of the feats and skills simply don't apply at all. This has one other effect. By default, there are no Proficiencies for the "Rogue's list" or "Druid weapon proficiencies", or what have you. Unless you deem it worthy of fixing (which it may not be) and take the time to do so, there'll be two kinds of people. Those with Simple Weapon proficiency, and those with Proficiency in Every Nonexotic Weapon In The World.

*Armor, on the other hand, will generally take several levels to become fully proficient in (Assuming no changes to the standard system), and you'll see many more people start to question the real value of heavy armor as the rules go (I have to spend three of my character's feats to learn this, it slows me down, reduces my skills, and boosts my armor by two? Nah.)

*You'll have to decide if you like d20M's range increments for weapons and cut down the D&D ones to about a third of their listed values, or decide if you don't mind leaving them how D&D has 'em (Well, since you're *Tossing* the books, you might wanna jot some of those other weapons down on paper or something.. d20M only has modern compound bows and crossbows).

*Many of the Advanced Classes will need changing. For some of these, it's pretty easy (Soldiers make perfectly acceptable fighters with a few skill and bonus feat changes). For others, it's .. less easy. If you like Mastercraft objects, you'll probably need to figure out a way to Build a Better Techie.. one more suited to a Medieval world, anyway.

*You'll have to do a lot of Advanced and Prestige Class writing yourself. Some concepts from D&D become a bit harder. Take D&D's new "Marshal" class from the Miniatures Handbook excerpt. His knack for leading affects a lot of people. In d20M, I haven't found *any* knack for leading that affects that many people. 1-5 people (A party, go figure) is generally the limit, with a few exceptions (and the benefits are considerably less dramatic, too).

*Stuff I forgot to mention goes here.
 

Hey

I use Modern for low fantasy, kinda more real-world stuff. I use VP/WP and armor = DR, which adds to the flava. I say go for it, it works well, and is an experience different from both D&D and normal Modern. Oh, and I'd keep the MM if I were you.

Thanks,
-Matt

EDIT: On a tangent, if I were to post advanced and/or prestige classes for d20 Modern, but for a fantasy campaign, would that be on this board or House Rules? Thanks.
 
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