d20M 2e: Wish lists

[buzz]

If we ever see a second edition of d20M, what kinds of changes would you like to see made?

My list:

1. Replace the current FX rules with a feat/skill system akin to those presented in GR's The Psychic's Handbook or SWd20. An action-point-based system like that shown in Poly's treatment of Dark*Matter might be neat, too. Throw in some FX feats that allow for low-level "superpowers" for especially cinematic or Pulp-style campaigns. Leave it up to the GM to decide if FX is defined as "psionics," "magic," or "Pulp-y goodness."

2. Ditch all of the D&D stuff and save it for Urban Arcana. Instead, focus the creatures & opponents chapter on modern action/adventure tropes: thugs, mooks, ninjae, unstoppable serial killers, homicidal androids, Buffy-esque vamps/demons/creatures, Romero-style zombies, etc. With FX items, don't just 'port over stuff from the DMG. How about high-tech devices that are essentially "FX" in a modern campaign?

3. Better handling of guns.

4. Different way of handling nonlethal damage. I have no idea whether d20M's take on nonlethal damage is "broken" or not; I've seen good arguments for both sides. The upshot, to me, is that there must be a better way, even if it's to just make it the same as D&D for consistency's sake.

5. More feats. More talent trees. Steal the Talented feat from M&M so that we don't need 14 different "add +2 to two skills" feats.

6. No sample campaign settings. Maybe include one sample adventure, as long as it's really, really good (e.g., D*M's "Exit 23").

7. Throw in some optional sanity/madness rules. Steal liberally from Unknown Armies.

8. More equipment. Steal the "What's in a..." sidebars from Urban Arcana.

9. More Kalman Andrasovfsky artwork.

10. Oh, and release an updated version of Dark*Matter as a core setting.

That's about all I can think of. You?

 

[Psion]

Your 3 and 4 are the biggies for me.

I think nixing all D&D stuff and creating whole new magic systems is a little drastic. I rather like that it meshes with D&D. That said, I think a future book could feature some OTHER sorts of support; as it is, d20 modern's additional support is almost entirely "modern fantasy."

 

[buzz]

I think nixing all D&D stuff and creating whole new magic systems is a little drastic.

It doesn't have to be nixed, per se; just move it to the Urban Arcana setting book. As it is, I think that the 'ported D&D systems are a bit jarring, and too strongly makes the game less "d20 Modern" and more "d20 Modern Fantasy."

For the core book, however, I want to see something more uniquely d20M --i.e., more "generic"-- and less weighted down with D&D baggage. I mean, I already own D&D...

 

[Aaron2]

5. More feats. More talent trees. Steal the Talented feat from M&M so that we don't need 14 different "add +2 to two skills" feats.

I'd remove Talent Trees completely and replace them with feat chains.

8. More equipment. Steal the "What's in a..." sidebars from Urban Arcana.

I agree. Plus I'd make sure that there were multiple equipment lists from many different era ... A swashbuckler/pirate list, a colonial empire/civil war list, a pulp list, a WW2 list, a cold war spy/vietnam list and a contemporary list.


Aaron

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

2. Ditch all of the D&D stuff and save it for Urban Arcana. Instead, focus the creatures & opponents chapter on modern action/adventure tropes: thugs, mooks, ninjae, unstoppable serial killers, homicidal androids, Buffy-esque vamps/demons/creatures, Romero-style zombies, etc.

I agree, but I'd like even less FX. Vampires, even Buffy-esque ones, are just wated space. Unless you can design game rules for the T-virus (good call on the D20 Menace Manual ghouls).

More gun options. Not too many (they're very strong), but I'd like to be able to use burst to get +2 to hit (and no damage bonus) for 3 bullets instead of doing extra damage.

Do something about very high Defense values at levels 3-10 or so. I can easily design a 10th-level "fighter" with a total attack bonus of +8 but Defense 25. Even worse is the Strong 2/Fast 2/Soldier 2 commando with Defense 26 and an attack bonus of ... +7 with their focused rifles or SMGs. They need to roll an 18+ to hit each other, and that's assuming none of them are smart enough to use cover.

Do something about the front-loaded Fast class and make the Smart class a bit more useful.

I'd like to see a non-FX melee class with BAB +1. Even BAB 3/4 would be neat if it's a bit different from the Soldier.

Get rid of Spell Focus/Psionic Focus for the AdCs. I think those AdCs are balanced without the DC bonus.

More NPC archetypes. It's annoying digging through three books to find them all, and I've yet to see a soldier who isn't a mercenary and not 10th-level like in the Heartless Series.

Also some sample PCs, because sometimes newbies don't know what they want. The sample adventure that came with Dark*Matter had sample players, and the same goes for ALTERNITY. And since we're dealing with sample PCs, a nice non-FX action-movie type adventure would be cool.

 

[Turanil]

1) I agree on that point: removing all those D&D monsters (bugbears, kobolds, etc.)

2) Something I don't like: all characters are supposed to be human, thus bonus skill points and bonus feat of humans are put into the classes, rather than describe the human race as in D&D, and have the class a "normal" number of feats and skill points. I find ridiculous that if, for example, you want to play a Moreau, you must substract a skill-point each level, and a feat at first level.

 

[Psion]

It doesn't have to be nixed, per se; just move it to the Urban Arcana setting book.

I don't want to have Urban Arcana to get what I want for d20 modern anymore than I want to grab FR for all the aspects of D&D that got sucked into FR.

Aside from which, I sort of doubt that Urban Arcana will be seeing a reprint.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I don't want to have Urban Arcana to get what I want for d20 modern anymore than I want to grab FR for all the aspects of D&D that got sucked into FR.

I don't want to pay $ for D20 Modern and find a third of it is DnD, nor do I want to see phaerimm in the Monster Manual.

 

[Nebin]

Drunk, hot halfling chicks with BIG guns !

 

[Asmor]

What's with all the Urban Arcana hate? I am quite happy with it, got exactly what I was looking for. Actually, my only content gripe is that the "What's in a..." sections definitely belong in the D20M core book, but I chalk that up to an oversight on their part and am just glad they put it in when they could rather than wait for a reprinting.

Personally, I would like to see the 6 core classes be viable as the only classes. I love the idea of them, I've always hated prestige classes because they were so specialized and the D&D classes are only marginally better. The D20M core classes best represent a base to grow from, rather than a template to grow along. Perhaps some advanced talent trees available only at character level X or something.