Everyday Heroes, The Rebirth Of d20 Modern: An Interview

d20 Modern is coming back under a new title with a new system. The first teaser information caused a nice bit of interest leading to this interview with Dave Scott of Evil Genius Productions. In this, he shares some more details for the upcoming Kickstarter and book.

EGG EMBRY (EGG): This is an exciting concept to bring back to tabletop and I’m eager to talk with you about it. What are you bringing to crowdfunding?
DAVE SCOTT (DAVE): We’re refreshing d20 Modern by updating it to the 5e system. We brought a few of the original team back to help us with this refresh.

EGG: What will the name of this project be?
DAVE: The project is called “Everyday Heroes™.” We picked that name because we wanted to distinguish it from the super hero genre. This game is about the John McClanes (Die Hard), the John Rambos (First Blood), even the Snake Plisskens (Escape from New York). It’s about the heroes that look like you and me, but are capable of extraordinary things.

EGG: Are you planning a core rulebook? What about a monster manual or a campaign setting?
DAVE: The initial release will include a core rulebook. We’re also planning a few expansions. One will be focused on weapons, another on master villains. We also want to do an expansion focused on our military – the real everyday heroes.

EGG: This project brings the modern world to 5e. What inspired that?
DAVE: I have always loved modern RPGs – Top Secret, Champions, James Bond, and Spycraft. These were the games I played when I was a kid. Some people wanted to play in a fantasy setting, but I always wanted to recreate my favorite action movies.

Dave Scott (left) and Jeff Grub (right)​

EGG: Who is working on this project?
DAVE: We’ve assembled an amazing team of designers, some well-known and some new to the industry. On the “well-known” side, we have Jeff Grubb. He was not only one of the original designers of the game, but also known for some of the most iconic games in the field. On the other side, we have Chris Ramsley. I fell in love with their work on Dungeon Master’s Guild where I discovered them. All Chris’ was rated 5 stars.

EGG: What makes this the right time to bring this classic to a new edition?
DAVE: Given that this is the 20th anniversary of d20 Modern, we felt like this was the right time to do this project. As I started to do my homework, I was blown away by how many people are still running the d20 Modern system – holding it together with gum and tape.

EGG: I’m glad you’re bring them a new version to play. There have been other modern 5e projects such as Ultramodern5 REDUX or the cyberpunk GeneFunk 2090. Not to denigrate those projects, but what separates your version from those?
DAVE: I would classify both of those games as being a future or science fiction setting. Everyday Heroes is rooted in today’s world. When we first launched the game, we promised each other that the most advanced technology in the game will be a smart phone. This game pays homage to all of the great action films of the 80s, 90s, 00’s, and today.

EGG: That’s a fair call out. You’re still in early days on this project, yes? What sort of stretch goals are you considering for this campaign?
DAVE: We’re planning to go above and beyond the typical stretch goals such as new classes or special edition covers. We’ll have those, but we have some exciting stretch goals in mind. I can’t announce anything yet, but stay tuned.

EGG: Beyond d20 Modern, what else are you working on?
DAVE: We see d20 Modern as a platform to launch several campaign settings. As far as we’re concerned, we consider the modern era as everything from the 1900’s to the near future. There is a lot of storytelling within that window.

EGG: Thanks for talking to me about this project. Where can fans learn more about your work?
DAVE: Please visit our website or check out our Kickstarter page.

Everyday Heroes: The Roleplaying Game from Evil Genius Productions
“Everyday Heroes is a tabletop roleplaying game for the modern world using officially licensed content from your favorite action films.”

Egg Embry participates in the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program, Noble Knight Games’ Affiliate Program, and is an Amazon Associate. These programs provide advertising fees by linking to DriveThruRPG, Noble Knight Games, and Amazon.

 

[sigfried]

I wonder, though, if they see this as somewhat of a "generic" system, like the original D20 Modern was. That is, even though Dave says it's about recreating action movies and not sci-fi like other similar products, could you easily create material to adapt the core rules to a sci-fi or urban fantasy game with it? Horror?

Hi, I'm one of the lead designers on the game so I can answer a few questions.

The rules design is fairly generic in the sense that you could play a wide range of genres using the system. It is a little less generic in that our classes/subclasses are more specialized in their abilities and were made under the notion that when we do more genre-specific material, those classes would be very genre-focused. So the core subclasses are Hollywood / HongKong action cinema-inspired.

 

[R_J_K75]

Hi, I'm one of the lead designers on the game so I can answer a few questions.

The rules design is fairly generic in the sense that you could play a wide range of genres using the system. It is a little less generic in that our classes/subclasses are more specialized in their abilities and were made under the notion that when we do more genre-specific material, those classes would be very genre-focused. So the core subclasses are Hollywood / HongKong action cinema-inspired.

Will the core book be standalone, or will it require use of D&D 5E core books to fill in the gaps?

 

[sigfried]

I liked that they made an official D&D-compatible modern-day game. I disagreed with a LOT of design decisions in d20 Modern.

I hated the base/advanced/prestige class system. . .forcing characters to take generic "base" classes their first 3 levels before they could qualify for the advanced class that was usually more what their character concept was.

That is something we address. In Everyday Heroes, you get a subclass at level 1 that is very "flavorful" and specialized like an advanced class in d20 modern. As you level up you can take feats that effectively let you pick and chose aspects of other classes and subclasses and mix them into your core class/subclass.

I really disliked the wealth bonus system.

We have a very simple way of dealing with wealth. Heroes have a wealth level, and gear has a Price level. If a Heroes wealth level is equal or greater, they can afford the item. If an item's price is higher, the hero has to obtain the item through role-playing. There is a bit more to it, but no dice rolling or tracking is involved, just GM guidance on what to do in specific situations where wealth would go up or down.

The subdual/nonlethal damage system was awful.

We just use 5e mechanics for this. If a player wants to take someone alive, they can just declare they are doing that.

Hit Points.

Here you won't be quite as happy, we are sticking with HP for the sake of cross-compatibility with other 5e material. We will have an optional system for injuries for GMs that want to introduce that into their game.

I really think they overdid it on the weapons and armor table

Ours is a bit stripped down, but not a lot. We focus more on a weapon group (weapons with similar stats) but we do provide specific examples of a weapon in that group. We tried to balance making firearms feel correct, with not making it feel complicated. Modern genre fans have wide-ranging opinions on this issue so we are going for the best compromise we can muster.

I get they wanted the supernatural elements to be D&D compatible, but Urban Arcana felt indecisively stuck between 1990's "Urban edgy, dark, gothic" stuff like World of Darkness and D&D's usual tone.

Our core rulebook doesn't have much in the way of supernatural material, we are focused on "modern action" in the movie sense. That said, they system is designed to support genres with supernatural elements so our Adventures and Supplements are very likely to have rules for horror, supernatural, and sci-fi elements.

 

[sigfried]

Will the core book be standalone, or will it require use of D&D 5E core books to fill in the gaps?

The core rulebook is standalone including GM material.

While you could use monsters and such from D&D, it's in no way assumed you will.

 

[Greg K]

Hi, I'm one of the lead designers on the game so I can answer a few questions.

The rules design is fairly generic in the sense that you could play a wide range of genres using the system. It is a little less generic in that our classes/subclasses are more specialized in their abilities and were made under the notion that when we do more genre-specific material, those classes would be very genre-focused. So the core subclasses are Hollywood / HongKong action cinema-inspired.

How will the system be handling martial arts syles and maneuvers?

 

[R_J_K75]

The core rulebook is standalone including GM material.

While you could use monsters and such from D&D, it's in no way assumed you will.

Thanks. Sounds like what Im looking for. Looking forward to this.

 

[GuyBoy]

Good luck with this project. I'll be in on this.

 

[VelvetViolet]

I get they wanted the supernatural elements to be D&D compatible, but Urban Arcana felt indecisively stuck between 1990's "Urban edgy, dark, gothic" stuff like World of Darkness and D&D's usual tone.

I would love to see more new urban fantasy games. Games made with the benefit of hindsight, making use of a less dated and more modern zeitgeist, full of mysteries to solve, devoid of problematic issues, full of multiple campaigns settings and guidelines to make your own, supported with pre-made adventures and adventure paths...

What I liked about d20 Modern and its various spinoffs is that it wasn't limited to a single campaign setting, but instead gave you a wide variety of options and guidelines for running and making your own. d20 Future, d20 Past, d20 Apocalypse, the various settings in Polyhedron including tour bands and planetary romance, not to mention the 3pp... The benefit of using universal rules is that it was very easy to import stuff from one book to another.

Urban Arcana and other settings didn't overwhelm you with decades of irrelevant "canon" that sucked out all the mystery and that fans would rip your head off for not worshiping or, gasp, daring to make homebrew that sullies the sanctity of canon. d20 Modern was actually made to be played and to inspire creativity, not passively read like a comic book.

Sure, you can argue that GURPS does all that and more (and how!), but WotC has a huge advantage when it comes to marketing.

 

[naturaltwenty]

I think it looks awesome! I can't wait for the Kickstarter to begin. These days, a lot of Kickstarters include a VTT component. I'm hoping that this will have one as well.

 

[LongTimeLurker]

It's a little more John Matrix (Commando) than John Rambo, but it's not that far off.

Serious? Really skinny waist, overly broad shoulders, extremely muscle bound. Negative body image issues aren't just for the ladies, you know?