[d20 Modern] Trying to make up my mind about this one-shot

[Vigilance]

I like the mix of the smart hero/jeet kune do master... I think that guy would be a real b***h.

 

[JPL]

I like the mix of the smart hero/jeet kune do master... I think that guy would be a real b***h.

Thanks. Quirk is my Doc Savage character, the guy who's good at everything, so it made sense to me that he would have dabbled in numerous styles.

I'm planning on giving everyone on the team a couple of levels of Martial Arts Master --- the intelligence officer / anthropologist might have something exotic like capoeria or silat or some form of bando, the engineer/master mechanic will be a very blue-collar Boxing / School of Hard Knocks type, the medic/surgeon does aikido or White Crane.

I'm still trying to figure out the comm/hacker guy [one of the players practices TKD, so I might just let him play what he knows] and the weapons guy...and for the latter, I'm still trying to come up with a good post-Army career. I'm thinking about drawing from personal experience and making him a lawyer...in which case, I might make him something like Strong Hero 4 / Krav Maga Master 3 / Special Forces [Weapons] 3 / Negotiator 3.

 

[JPL]

I finally downloaded "Tangents" last night, and it looks pretty solid. Four separate parallel universes to explore...depending on how I decide to pace things, we might get two knocked out in one session.

Looking at Tangents, it seems like I might move things in more of a scifi action direction rather than all-out pulp...maybe make the heroes a little more realistic.

The adventure calls for a scientist to accompany the heroes...I might borrow a page from Stargate, and make this primarily a military undertaking, with the theoretical physicist tagging along [although a West Point physics professor would be an interesting angle, too.]

I'll also need to determine whether the heroes are going to go in loaded for bear a la Predator, or whether this Special Forces team is trying to keep a slightly lower profile --- civilian clothes, concealable weapons, etc. That will help to determine the mix of PCs...it's no fun to be the heavy machine gunner if you have to leave your big gun at home...

 

[Von Ether]

My new once-a-month rotating-GM game group just got together for the first session...a 20th-level D&D adventure. It picked up near the end [after the gnome druid turned into a Huge earth elemental and started wreaking havoc], but it looks to me like everyone is ready for a break from D&D and is ready to shoot something d20 Modern style.

So I have spent several months batting around hundreds of ideas...mostly variations on a few themes...

3. The Hanmei. A martial arts tournament game straight out of Blood and Fists. It might be interesting to cap it off with a free-for-all where it's player v. player.

4. One player is very enthused about my idea of an homage to Mexican B-movies...Desperado meets From Dusk til Dawn meets masked wrestling. And there will probably be a great many wereleopards...

Anyway...I hope I can pick one and run the damn thing, because I'm using too much brainpower riffing on ideas....

You can find some special brain juice in these products:

FFG's Horizon line:
Use it for a month-long diversion; use it for occasional one-off adventures; or use it for an epic campaign that you'll be talking about for years. Horizon books feature new and concise rules for use in your regular game, as well as detailed and creative setting information into which your regular game may be easily imported. Each Horizon book is a complete, self-contained d20 RPG. (http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/horizon.html)
So far, the games offered up the styles of Mad Max, Ugly Fairy Tales (you play modern day kids in a not-so-since fairy tale pocket realm), Tron, and Fantasy meets Wild West.

Best yet all of the books are like $15 each . And all but Vitural have been reviewed on ENWorld (they scored 4,5,5)

Polyhedron Mini-Games: For d20 M and d20, there is pulp, Spelljammer, Gamma World and even riffs on Scobby Doo and Cannon Ball run min-games. ($8)

Green Ronin's "left field":
Mutant's and Masterminds super hero RPG and you can use their Master Class Book Psychic's Hand Book ($16) as the sole basis of super natural powers. This "feats and skills" power system can be used to explain "ghosts" and "magic items" in scientific terms. Go Ghostbusters, X-files or the Dyneri series if you want.

Guardians of Order has offered up BESM d20 in a 3.5/d20Modern $10 Stingy Gamers version. Grab their upcoming Centuri Knights d20 ($25) and you are good to go.

Sooo many games, soooo little time.