d20 Modern, WoT, and a change of pace -- Thoughts?

[Mercule]

Well, it looks like the current DM is starting to suffer from burn-out, and I may be taking the helm again. It's far from a sure thing, and I have to say that I'd really like to finish what we're doing in his game.

Still, I'm prepping for the change, just in case. I'm going to hold off on a D&D game until UA comes out in a few months, since I have a feeling I'm going to like most of the options in there. I really don't want to change rulesets on the players like that.

So, that means that I'm looking for some sort of interim game for a change of pace. I was thinking about doing a WoD game in honor of the impending Apocalypse, but one of the newbies really doesn't want to jump between systems until she feels like she's got a grasp of D&D. That leads me to alternate d20 games.

Ruled out are Warcraft, Everquest, and Star Wars. I'm not a fan of the computer version of the first two, and the group (especially the burned-out DM) generally feels that Star Wars is too tight of a universe for much story-telling.

Wheel of Time might be an option, though. At least four of us have read all the books at least once (twice for the newbie), and the current DM hasn't read any, so it would be comfortable for the new player and fresh for the downtrodden. I don't really want to run it from scratch, though. I know that there is a module (Prophesies of the Dragon) out for it, but I really don't know anything about it. Is it any good? Is it really any different from a typical dungeon crawl (just outdoors)?

d20 Modern might be up for consideration, too. For anyone who has played this: is it a _lot_ different than D&D or does it still feel like the same system? I know there are defensive bonuses, but I'm almost certain to swipe those from UA, so that doesn't bother me at all. How do the alternate base classes and things like Action Points really impact game play?

What is the most interesting setting out for d20 Modern? I've heard a bit about Urban Arcana. It sounds a bit like Shadowrun, which I love. Is it interesting or just a hodge-podge of D&D in the modern world? What other options are there?

Any other ideas?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Doppleganger]

Rather than WoT, pit them Against the Shadow.

In, the world of Midnight (Ennies 2003 Winner: Best Campaign Setting)

Nuff said.

 

[Henry]

If you're up for it, and have the cash to do it, Mutants and Masterminds would be a great change of pace. It's easy to learn, and nothing says, "fun" like playing your favorite super-heroes.

But in regards to the 2 games you mentioned, d20 Modern plays like D&D to me, minus the magic items. Your new player won't feel so totally lost playing it, as the most variant thing is the Wealth system, and that can be ditched if there is a desire to. (You simply use modern prices on items for this.)

It's a fun system, will get you used to defense bonuses, action points, and many other things likely to be in UA.

 

[Mercule]

If you're up for it, and have the cash to do it, Mutants and Masterminds would be a great change of pace. It's easy to learn, and nothing says, "fun" like playing your favorite super-heroes.

I'd love to. Unfortunately, my wife has some sort of disdain for supers games, and she's kind of a key consideration in any game I run.

Things might change at some point, though. We've gotten her to start watching comic movies and TV shows. And she'll even admit that the Spiderman movie was pretty cool.

 

[garyh]

I'd love to. Unfortunately, my wife has some sort of disdain for supers games, and she's kind of a key consideration in any game I run.

Things might change at some point, though. We've gotten her to start watching comic movies and TV shows. And she'll even admit that the Spiderman movie was pretty cool.

Have her play a Scarlet Witch type character. That should suit her.



No, you silly people, I'm not calling his wife a witch! What I mean is, there are plenty of more fantasy-type characters in supers comics. The aforementioned Scarlet Witch, Green Arrow, Black Knight, Hawkeye, Dr. Strange, Dr. Doom, etc. Maybe she'd enjoy a supers game if she was still playing a fantasy-style PC.

 

[TroyXavier]

I'd go with D20 Modern. I've recently come back to it, and it's quite fun.

 

[Mercule]

I'd go with D20 Modern. I've recently come back to it, and it's quite fun.

What are the various d20 campaign types? They may be fairly obvious to some, but I've never had a lot of modern campaign ideas.

The easy to name ideas are:
-Spies
-Buffy/Monster Hunters
-Chill/Secret Monster Hunters
-Tomb Raider/Modern Pulp
-Near Future with a twist (Shadowrun)
-Secret World (pretty much the WoD)

Any others?

 

[Henry]

I played the "Cthulhu/Shoot-em-up" type when I played, but other good options are:

CSI-style game (the players work for a Crime Lab; some are investigators, some are police, some are directors, etc.)

Private Eye style game (the old show "Magnum P.I." is a perfect vehicle for an RPG - the cast of oddballs, that know and help each other out)

You've named most of the others.

If a Fantasy Component is important, check out Urban Arcana d20 Modern Supplement! It's an excellent idea-source.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Wheel of Time might be an option, though. At least four of us have read all the books at least once (twice for the newbie), and the current DM hasn't read any, so it would be comfortable for the new player and fresh for the downtrodden. I don't really want to run it from scratch, though. I know that there is a module (Prophesies of the Dragon) out for it, but I really don't know anything about it. Is it any good? Is it really any different from a typical dungeon crawl (just outdoors)?

Propheses of the Dragon basically follows the storyline of the books (up until Dumai's Wells), only the characters rarely meet any of the book characters - typically they're at a location a few days before or after the sections laid out in the books. The only problem is that the adventures have some motivation issues - there's a good few scene changes which are quite hard to enact without it seeming like firm railroading (typically moving from city to city). There's also a lot of things which are "why on earth would my players want to do that?" which are necessary to the plot, and a couple of red herrings, which have the potential to blow everything to hell (or at least frustrate your players).

They need work (like any prewritten module), but overall they're a fun set of modules whether you've read the books or not.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I like D20 Modern. It allows you to build characters and forces you tohave adventures that rely a bit more on interaction between NPCs and PCs as simple combat, because you can have characters with basically zero combat abilities.

I think it is also a bit easier to handle then D&D, because the magic effects are weaker and more seldom.

2 Campaign ideas I had (none of them finished and already playable):
A Near Future campaign setting that would be based a bit on the Command & Conquor Tiberium Conflict/Tiberian Sun Setting, but also might include space travel, the destruction or loss of Earth to alien invaders and a interestellar spacefaring campaign. (No time travel but cryogenic chamber to accomplish this )

A campaign based on the Dark Skies (?) series - investigating the first occurance of aliens on Earth and traveling through the years to see more. Don`t know how to pull that off, but it might be interesting.

We (my game group) also made a D20 Shadowrun conversion (but we don`t have a english - or at least "english-only" version, since we often use the englisch terms for certain expressions since we all use english sourcebooks. It uses a new magic system to fit the Shadowrun magic concept. We only had two sessions so far, but it seemed to work.
http://www.cloneworks.de/srd20/index.htm

We also had a campaign our DM based of some "Dark Conspiray" adventures, and that worked really well.

You should be able to rehash much of old material, if you have any. Adapting for D20 Modern is often enough very easy...

Mustrum Ridcully