d20 Past - Anyone using it?

[HeapThaumaturgist]

I never did buy d20 Future. I have a copy of it sitting on my shelf, which a friend loaned me when I was going to start a Star*Drive: Externals War campaign. That fell apart. I've opened it two or three times. There's alot I'd never use. Ship rules, weapons, armor ... I've got better ideas of my own in most places, for ships I'm still waiting for a good product to come out (where are you RPGO) that'll make them playable.

Some of the setting blurbs were usable. The fact that Star*Drive was IN there allows me to dust off the old Alternity source books and still have a d20 book to show potential players.

The cyber rules need alot of work to make them usable, but they could be, and they're interesting to players.

But, in the end, I think one thing it's useful for is a One Shot. If I have a bored group of friends and we want to, oh, play GIANT ROBO. Well, it may not be pretty, but that's right there. If we want to play Space Pirates Of Gamma Centauri I've got some usable rules ... (maybe), but they're fast and playable and understandable from the d20 mindset. Etc. I think it would be a great resource for the casual gamer.

--fje

 

[SWBaxter]

It was called d20 Past not d20 <era>. It was intended as a toolkit to be used with historical or historically-themed gaming.

If it was intended as that, then it is one of the most abject failures WOTC have ever released. What it actually does is give you sketchy info for three campaign settings. I have a feeling that's what it was actually intended to do, too, since usually the WOTC authors are pretty good about that sort of thing.

 

[Ranger REG]

I had just come off working with Thyrsus Games on their FVLMINATA alt-history Roman RPG, which sold 2000+ copies via distribution, but they saw NO money for, which ended up putting them out of business.

I wasn't going to let that happen again, so I approached an established publisher of D20 product (who I knew the distributors would PAY, since they are one of the top D20 publishers), and negotiated a release through them.

I hope to find FVLMINATA (d20 or otherwise) on my FLGS store shelves pretty soon.

 

[Ranger REG]

I never did buy d20 Future. I have a copy of it sitting on my shelf, which a friend loaned me when I was going to start a Star*Drive: Externals War campaign. That fell apart. I've opened it two or three times. There's alot I'd never use. Ship rules, weapons, armor ... I've got better ideas of my own in most places, for ships I'm still waiting for a good product to come out (where are you RPGO) that'll make them playable.

Some of the setting blurbs were usable. The fact that Star*Drive was IN there allows me to dust off the old Alternity source books and still have a d20 book to show potential players.

The cyber rules need alot of work to make them usable, but they could be, and they're interesting to players.

But, in the end, I think one thing it's useful for is a One Shot. If I have a bored group of friends and we want to, oh, play GIANT ROBO. Well, it may not be pretty, but that's right there. If we want to play Space Pirates Of Gamma Centauri I've got some usable rules ... (maybe), but they're fast and playable and understandable from the d20 mindset. Etc. I think it would be a great resource for the casual gamer.

Perhaps, but there are some of us hopeful to become lifestyle gamers of d20 Modern as we are of D&D.

 

[The Shaman]

If it was intended as that, then it is one of the most abject failures WOTC have ever released. What it actually does is give you sketchy info for three campaign settings.

Quoted for truthery, as the kids like to say, and with emphasis on the "sketchy."

The campaign idea that I mentioned earlier was actually a variation on one of the campaign models presented in d20 Past, and the material provided is still so thin that I realized I would pretty much have to start from scratch.

Dreck, I say. Dreck.

 

[Bobitron]

The campaign idea that I mentioned earlier was actually a variation on one of the campaign models presented in d20 Past, and the material provided is still so thin that I realized I would pretty much have to start from scratch.

Same here, Mike. You know some of my trials re: my WWII campaign. I really had high hopes for D20 Past. I wouldn't say I think it was a waste of money, but disappointing nonetheless.

 

[Committed Hero]

Same here, Mike. You know some of my trials re: my WWII campaign. I really had high hopes for D20 Past. I wouldn't say I think it was a waste of money, but disappointing nonetheless.

I could see WotC staying away from WW2, if only because there are so many competing versions. Plus, two of three settings taken directly from Poly games strikes me as overtly lazy.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

Perhaps, but there are some of us hopeful to become lifestyle gamers of d20 Modern as we are of D&D.

Oh, I'm already there. I wouldn't play any D&D if it weren't for the local game club, and starting this summer I don't think I'll be involved in any D&D games.

For me, though, d20Modern and Grim Tales are largely interchangable. GT is a toolkit, so it's stapled on to my Modern book in greater or lesser amounts depending on the game at hand. Dark*Matter d20 is pretty much pure modern with two gun abilities added (burst firing broad and tight for +1 Attack or +2 Damage respectively) to my Airships game which is wholley GT.

For those of us that make d20Modern our game of choice, I'm already getting used to going to 3rd party publishers for fleshed out product to base a game off of. Modern is an odd duck because it's capable of assuming so many faces. D&D is D&D is D&D ... people have done "other things" with D&D, but that's not the norm, so publishing D&D books has a ready market.

For d20M you've got a million possibilities for a million players. WotC takes the broad and shallow shotgun approach. Personally, I think they got their hand burned with Urban Arcana, but I don't know nuthin'. I think these books still have a use, as I said. They have SOME value for even us lifers, I think, giving ideas and starting points and teasers and something for players to have in their hands while we use our PDFs and Grim Tales. For the less-enthusiastic they might offer everything they need. "Let's play WWII!" and they've got a passable weird-WWII right there.

--fje

 

[ColonelHardisson]

I could see WotC staying away from WW2, if only because there are so many competing versions. Plus, two of three settings taken directly from Poly games strikes me as overtly lazy.

Actually, I think bringing the Poly minigames into a sourcebook that could end up in the SRD isn't lazy, but a very good thing.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Quoted for truthery, as the kids like to say,

Hey, I say it, and I'm 39. Not quite a kid anymore.

Anyway, one man's dreck is another man's idea mine. I'd rather have d20 Past as it is, than a big, thick tome of sleep-inducing, overly detailed history condensations. I don't need to be hand-held or spoon-fed by games designers.