d20 Past?

[gribble]

Given that we know d20 future introduces the Progress Level (PL) system, and that d20 Modern (core) covers PL 5 & 6, and d20 Future covers PL 6-9, my bet would be that d20 Past covers PL 1-4.
I'd also be willing to bet it does so with "pluggable" rules modules like d20 Future.
If it does, then they've got (at least) one guaranteed buyer already. I really like the way d20 Future presents a set of rules components and then lets you assemble them however you like to create your own campaign.

 

[trancejeremy]

I really wish this book (and d20 Future while were at it) was coming out for plain d20 instead of d20 Modern. I'm totally bummed.

Well, see, that's the thing - there really is no such thing as 'plain d20'.

From WOTC, you have D&D and d20 Modern and Star Wars and Call of Cthulhu d20 and Wheel of Time d20 (and probably one or two others I'm missing.)

You could put it out on it's own, like say, OGL Ancients, but while that does work great for what it does, it's not especially compatible with any other sort of d20.

The other real choice would be to put it out based on D&D, which could work (like the various old AD&D green books for 2nd edition), but it's not perhaps ideal, since you really do have to modify it a lot to get a historical feel.

d20 Modern, OTOH, seems like the obvious choice. On the one hand, it pretty much can handle the real world (sort of), without having to be modified. And you would also have the advantage of being compatible with d20 Future and such.

 

[buzz]

I really like the way d20 Future presents a set of rules components and then lets you assemble them however you like to create your own campaign.

Wait. Are you saying that you have a copy of d20F already? If so, spill!

 

[Aaron2]

Why is that? d20 is great, but it assumes a very specific kind of setting, with fantasy races, relatively abundant arcane and divine magic, alignments, etc. As a "blank canvas" game system, d20M is vastly superior, as Grim Tales demonstrates.

I'm not sure I'm following. Grim Tales is not a d20 Modern product, its a plain-d20 product (just like I'd prefer d20 Future and d20 Past to be). How does a good plain-d20 product demonstrate that d20 Modern is vastly superior?

I prefer plain-d20 because d20M has too many built in assumptions about campaign styles. Unlike plain-d20, which makes it easy to ignore most aspects of the rules, a d20M book requires the use of many of its default assumptions (action points, occupations=backgrounds, only basic classes at 1rst level, etc) even when those assumptions don't fit the style or basis of the campaign.


Aaron

 

[buzz]

I'm not sure I'm following. Grim Tales is not a d20 Modern product, its a plain-d20 product (just like I'd prefer d20 Future and d20 Past to be). How does a good plain-d20 product demonstrate that d20 Modern is vastly superior?

Aside: GT is *mostly* d20M-inspired.

I prefer plain-d20 because d20M has too many built in assumptions about campaign styles.

I'm not sure I see the assumptions. If anything, I see d20M as having far fewer assumptions than baseline d20. That's what made it so good for the minigames in Poly, and why people have been clamoring for books like d20P for a while now. Not to mention that I've seen a lot of people using d20M to run low-magic fantasy games, but I haven't heard of many people using their PHB to run modern-day action.

I think the reasoning for making these d20M supplements is that otherwise, each of these books would have essentially ended up being a stand-alone game (a la Spycraft), and thus would have splintered the audience even more, at least from WotC's perspective.

I dunno. I think d20M makes a good baseline. With it as a base, all d20F and d20P really need to focus on are equipment and genre tropes. You don't need to re-write base classes or change combat or reprint a lot of core rules matieral.

 

[Fate Lawson]

Well, as far as d20Past covering the Wild West (i.e. Boot Hill) using the d20 Modern ruleset/model, I think they're a wee bit late. It's been done.


Sidewinder:Recoiled


Need I say more.

 

[gribble]

Wait. Are you saying that you have a copy of d20F already? If so, spill!

He he he... I wish.


I'm in New Zealand, so it'll probably be at least another 4-6 weeks till I have my copy. I'm basing my guesses on the info posted in the last WotC previews aritcle - it had a surprising amount of quite in-depth information about d20F - check it out if you haven't seen it already!

 

[trancejeremy]

Well, as far as d20Past covering the Wild West (i.e. Boot Hill) using the d20 Modern ruleset/model, I think they're a wee bit late. It's been done.


Sidewinder:Recoiled


Need I say more.

Or OGL Wild West, which if it is anything like the last OGL Book the author wrote, will be 90% d20 Modern, but with more editing errors and important things left out, like non-lethal damage or massive damage. (No one ever got knocked out or killed easily in the old West, anyway...)

 

[YokoburiKinura]

For example, Boot Hill, hopefully MotRD (maybe for a Living Death 3.0?).

Masque of the Red Death is already due for d20. Arthaus, the current Ravenloft publishers, are putting out a Masque hardcover in October. The Living Death coordinator is one of the authors, so I imagine that when it comes out, Living Death might try to replace its current rules with those. However, the Ravenloft developers have said it's not using d20 Modern at all, just the standard d20 SRD. :\

 

[lp]

Hmm a bit late posting on this one, so I'll just say a few comments then run off.

I wish MORE things came out with d20m support then just d20... I think the d20 "class" system lets players build really varied characters. Aside from the problem of getting someone to make the choices that is....

I wish there was more fluffy d20m stuff. I know chuck has done an awesome job getting the crunchy d20m stuff out there, but there is a lot of areas where we need some fluff.

I also wish more books were printed, and my FLGS had them. What I need to do is go find someone to print the pdfs I buy.. hmm I should go call around.

Well that's enough rambling for now.