D20 Modern is out!

[Felon]

I strongly suspect that the owner of my FLGS hasn't heard of it yet, either.

Yet I will continue to do business with him because he will order anything available I ask for, open any shrink-wraps, and because he is an all-around swell guy.

So he doesn't use the Internet to keep on top of the latest developments in the RPG industry. So what?

So he's running a gaming store, and he knows nothing about the latest big release from the biggest publisher in the industry. That's sheer incompetence. Sounds like he's a nice, accommodating guy, but if he's apathetic about what's going on in the industry that provides him with at least a portion of his livelyhood, it doesn't reflect well on his ability to run a business.

 

[Paragon Badger]

d20 Modern review.

I just posted a long d20 Modern review over in the database. Hopefully someone will find it useful. I tried to go through most of the book and point out my likes/dislikes.

d20 Modern Review

 

[JPL]

Thanks for the review, PB. Nicely done.

If someone who has the book wouldn't mind...could you tell me about the Field Scientist (Field Researcher?) advanced class? If I get this Buckaroo Banzai-type campaign off the ground, most of the characters are going to be two-fisted scientist types...

 

[Paragon Badger]

I editted the review to make it easier to skim BTW.

As for Field Scientist.
It gains Scientific improvisation (can MacGyver a tool for the job), Skill Mastery (take 10 on some skills), Breakthroughs (give Rep and Wealth bonus), Smart Survival (spend AP to reduce damage), Smart Weapon (Use Int mod instead of Str or Dex for 1 weapon), and some bonus feats.

 

[mgrasso]

<b>If someone who has the book wouldn't mind...could you tell me about the Field Scientist (Field Researcher?) advanced class? If I get this Buckaroo Banzai-type campaign off the ground, most of the characters are going to be two-fisted scientist types...</b>

That is, if I may say so, a <b>hell</b> of a good campaign idea.

"I don't care if you walked through a mountain in Texas. This is New Jersey!"

- Mike

 

[JPL]

Yep, I'm playing a field scientist.

It'll make character creation tricky, but for my first campaign I want everyone to have a level or two of one of a scientific/medical/technical advanced class and a couple of levels of Martial Artist.

Because what fun is challenging the unknown if you don't have the option of using kung fu on the unknown?

 

[mgrasso]

Yep, I'm playing a field scientist.

It'll make character creation tricky, but for my first campaign I want everyone to have a level or two of one of a scientific/medical/technical advanced class and a couple of levels of Martial Artist.

Because what fun is challenging the unknown if you don't have the option of using kung fu on the unknown?

Excellent idea. I'm guessing d20 Modern will handle pulp very well, because once you get to high levels, you can be the best you are at what you do. And, after all, Buckaroo Banzai being largely inspired by pulp heroes like Doc Savage, it all fits. It's a great idea: modern pulp.

Mike

 

[JPL]

Excellent idea. I'm guessing d20 Modern will handle pulp very well, because once you get to high levels, you can be the best you are at what you do. And, after all, Buckaroo Banzai being largely inspired by pulp heroes like Doc Savage, it all fits. It's a great idea: modern pulp.

Mike

Drive down to Champaign and we'll let you play, man.

It's become an obsession. I cornered some of the guys at my D&D game on Saturday and kept saying, "Doc Savage meets Remo Williams! Dontcha get it?" They were mostly confused and frightened...except for one guy who wants to play Bruce Campbell as an Air Force pilot/astronaut/adventurer [which probably means I need to cook up an astronaut prestige class...]

My backup plan (since a few of these guys are not familiar with Doc Savage or Challengers of the Unknown or the Destroyer) is to run a straightahead thirties pulp game using d20 Modern. That way I can just say, "It's like Indiana Jones," and even the less culturally literate players will get it.

Here's a thought I had about VP vs. HP: mostly for stylistic purposes, I might tell the players that only damage which takes their HP below their Con is considered actual damage --- the rest is your usual fatigue/near-miss stuff. It's a good reminder for me as DM that not every "hit" is really a hit, especially at higher levels. In a modern, less-fantastic setting, I think it's good to remind players that their characters aren't really soaking up multiple bullet wounds without impairment --- the first few hits [mechanically] are actually misses [narratively].

 

[mgrasso]

Drive down to Champaign and we'll let you play, man.

Tempting. Of course, I'm already driving to Chicago for work, so my car is already getting a lot of miles on it... I will have to think about it. As long, though, as you're not playing on Bears gamedays.

It's become an obsession. I cornered some of the guys at my D&D game on Saturday and kept saying, "Doc Savage meets Remo Williams! Dontcha get it?" They were mostly confused and frightened...except for one guy who wants to play Bruce Campbell as an Air Force pilot/astronaut/adventurer [which probably means I need to cook up an astronaut prestige class...]

This sounds like my kind of campaign.

My backup plan (since a few of these guys are not familiar with Doc Savage or Challengers of the Unknown or the Destroyer) is to run a straightahead thirties pulp game using d20 Modern. That way I can just say, "It's like Indiana Jones," and even the less culturally literate players will get it.

I guess the era-correct pulp stuff has lost its luster for me. I like it, don't get me wrong, but I've done it before (Adventure!, mostly). Doing something modern has that extra twist of weirdness to it that I like so much.

Here's a thought I had about VP vs. HP: mostly for stylistic purposes, I might tell the players that only damage which takes their HP below their Con is considered actual damage --- the rest is your usual fatigue/near-miss stuff. It's a good reminder for me as DM that not every "hit" is really a hit, especially at higher levels. In a modern, less-fantastic setting, I think it's good to remind players that their characters aren't really soaking up multiple bullet wounds without impairment --- the first few hits [mechanically] are actually misses [narritively].

That sounds exactly how I was going to work it in my (potential) campaigns. I like the Star Wars system a lot for its abstractions, and I think this fits very nicely for a somewhat more realistic style.

Drop me an email regarding playing: I know it's almost three hours' drive, but if it was a regular game (and on the weekends), I'd consider the drive. I'd like to find out more.

Mike

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

I've been trying to come up with a homebrew setting.

I want it to be near future. 2025 maybe?

3/4 world's population is dead.

Most all major cities are destroyed. (New York, LA, London etc.)

Magic is on the rise.

Psionics and mutations are beginning to emerge.

I'm thinking that in 2010 or so, we had WWIII. The survivors had to spend the next 10 years in fallout shelters only to emerge into a world very similar to the one they left, yet very different as well.

But where did magic come from? How about monsters?

I was thinking along the line of Rifts. So many people croaking at once released an enormous amount of psychic energy that supercharged the earth's laylines and made magic possible again. Maybe it was the increase in the world's population that made magic fade to begin with.

Maybe there is a limited amount of mystical energy about. Magic was always possible, but it was very weak. All the mystic energy was tied up in all the people walking around. When everyone died, that energy became available for use again. hmmm...

But monsters? Mutations from the bombs sure, but what about the undead and other magical creatures? Magical mutation brought about by the sudden emergence of magic? Awoke from centuries or dormacy?

With this timeline, that means most people have only been out and about for the last 5 years or so. Plenty of time to estabolish makeshift communities and begin understanding how the world has changed.

Any of you guys got any ideas?