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Everyday Heroes, The Rebirth Of d20 Modern: An Interview
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<blockquote data-quote="wingsandsword" data-source="post: 8556643" data-attributes="member: 14159"><p>I liked that they made an official D&D-compatible modern-day game.</p><p></p><p>I disagreed with a LOT of design decisions in d20 Modern.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>I really disliked the wealth bonus system. I figured it out and could make it work, but so many people couldn't and there were so many misunderstandings and errors in how that system was run in so many games. It was a good idea in theory, to have a game mechanic to represent someone's wealth in modern finance terms with concepts like bills, credit, net income etc. all abstracted. . .but when players are used to dealing with D&D gold coins first, going from that to an abstract number where it's fully possible to buy many everyday items at essentially no cost to the character (because the character could easily afford the items without it noticeably affecting their finances) was confusing for a lot of players.</p><p></p><p>The subdual/nonlethal damage system was awful. I get that it was probably meant to be able to imitate long, drawn out brawls (like a boxing match or maybe that long fistfight in They Live). . .but it also meant that most characters literally couldn't knock out other characters unless they heavily optimized for nonlethal unarmed combat.</p><p></p><p>Hit Points. It would have worked wonderfully if it had used the same Wound Point/Vitality Point system that had been introduced in the d20 versions of Star Wars (and entered into Open Game Content in Unearthed Arcana), but they steadfastly stuck with HP entirely to make it more readily compatible with D&D (despite a conversion to using HP being trivial to implement).</p><p></p><p>I really think they overdid it on the weapons and armor table, putting all kinds of really exotic equipment in the core book that was way more obscure in real life than something that should be in the equipment guide of a modern-day RPG. </p><p></p><p>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.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="wingsandsword, post: 8556643, member: 14159"] 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. I really disliked the wealth bonus system. I figured it out and could make it work, but so many people couldn't and there were so many misunderstandings and errors in how that system was run in so many games. It was a good idea in theory, to have a game mechanic to represent someone's wealth in modern finance terms with concepts like bills, credit, net income etc. all abstracted. . .but when players are used to dealing with D&D gold coins first, going from that to an abstract number where it's fully possible to buy many everyday items at essentially no cost to the character (because the character could easily afford the items without it noticeably affecting their finances) was confusing for a lot of players. The subdual/nonlethal damage system was awful. I get that it was probably meant to be able to imitate long, drawn out brawls (like a boxing match or maybe that long fistfight in They Live). . .but it also meant that most characters literally couldn't knock out other characters unless they heavily optimized for nonlethal unarmed combat. Hit Points. It would have worked wonderfully if it had used the same Wound Point/Vitality Point system that had been introduced in the d20 versions of Star Wars (and entered into Open Game Content in Unearthed Arcana), but they steadfastly stuck with HP entirely to make it more readily compatible with D&D (despite a conversion to using HP being trivial to implement). I really think they overdid it on the weapons and armor table, putting all kinds of really exotic equipment in the core book that was way more obscure in real life than something that should be in the equipment guide of a modern-day RPG. 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. [/QUOTE]
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