For those DMing d20 Modern: How different do your players act than in "normal" D&D?

[reveal]

This may be moved to the d20 Modern forum, but I thought I'd ask it here.

This stems from another thread (http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=83125) in which takyris stated that his players acted differently in d20 Modern than in D&D. I responded with the following:

It's funny you say that because that's exactly how I see d20 Modern. In regular D&D, it's very easy to get caught up in the view that a lot of people seem to have of what medieval life was like. Now, I know D&D is not a true representation of what medieval life was like, but a lot of people take their inspiration for the games from that time period.

But I digress. They seem to be under the mindset that, in D&D, it's ok to attack and kill because "that's the way life was." In d20 Modern, I have actually seen players have to sit back and re-think how they "normally" would handle a situation because they can relate better to a Modern setting since they are actually living in it right now. It can make for some great roleplay and some great gaming moments.

My question for you is this: Do you see this difference as well? Have you noticed your players thinking more about whether or not they should attack simply because it is a modern setting?

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Nope.

I'm a player in a campaign, and we've noted a few things:

1) The more tactical players (including myself) ended up using melee weapons and can't really use cover. We have to get to the shooters quickly, otherwise you're spending several rounds creeping from cover to cover to get to them.

I'm playing a martial artist, and I specifically chose the class because I wanted to play an actual unarmed warrior who didn't suck like the DnD monk.

Three more levels to Fists of Iron... *sigh* That mechanic was slightly broken in ALTERNITY and it might be the same for D20 Modern, though.

2) DR sucks in D20 Modern for players. Guns blow right through DR, but at the lower levels melee does not. Low-level Modern creatures, like the Etoile, shouldn't have DR.

3) Cops take a few minutes to get someplace - that's a lot of rounds. Murder can take as little as 6 seconds or less to accomplish. Of course, I've only seen players commit murder in public... twice.

 

[takyris]

Hey, Reveal,

I should clarify one point, there. This is the first Realistic d20 Modern campaign we've done in awhile. Our most recent game was a dungeon hack D&D game with another DM, and before that, I ran an Action Game d20 Modern game, complete with Island Martial Arts Tournament and a variety of crazed villains.

In the D&D game, if we opened a door and saw a monster, we killed it. In the Action game, if the PCs opened a door and saw a guard and a computer terminal, they used side-kicked him into the computer terminal and rolled for which buttons he randomly hit as he crashed into it.

But yeah, in the Modern game I'm running now, they are much more likely to pause and talk and try to defuse things than they are to start swinging -- or firing. They know that even if they are morally justified, the villains might be able to press charges against them for the attacks.

As another difference, they're more likely to use the environment ("Hey, if this is a coffee shop, I bet they've got a bunch of tables and chairs. Can I drop behind one of the tables and knock it over so it provides cover?") and use skills. We sometimes disagree over how easy things should be ("Yes, I know that anyone can use Google, but it's still going to take you some time to sort through the responses and figure out what's best -- that's what the Research and Computer Use skills help you do..."), but on the whole, I really like the additional realism, and the use of additional environmental factors. I don't always describe the best settings in D&D, but when I say, "It's a Motel 6", the players can go, "Ah, okay, then I'm going to hide in the Ice Machine Alcove, while my buddy lurks in those little niches they put in the hallway to break up the monotony of the halls."

 

[Privateer]

How do they act differently, you ask?

1) They have guns.

2) They have cars.

3) They have explosives (boy, do they love det cord).

That's about it.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

This is exactly what I saw in all but one isloated case.

The lone exception invoved a guy who had only played traditional D&D. He abused the d20 Modern wealth system a bit and bought 20 vials of acid and 20 malatov cocktails. I let him get away with it because it was our first d20 Modern game and I was interested in seeing how the game mechanics worked as much as I was into having the adventure.

The first encounter of our first game took place on the metro of Washington, DC (blue line). I picked it because I thought it would be a good location for a "tavern brawl" so to speak and it was a very good place for all the PCs to plausibly meet each other. I introduce the foes: kobolds as gang members looking to shake down some unsuspecting victims. Combat started and things started to go horribly wrong....

ME: OK, the gang guy comes toward you. As you look something creepy starts to happen. He looks less like a human and more like a smallish humanoid lizard with dog-like features.

PLAYER: Auuuugh!! I throw a molotov cocktail at it!!

ME: What?

PLAYER: One of my molotovs. I throw it at him.

ME: You brought a molotov on the metro!?!?

PLAYER: Sure. I brought all of them.

ME: You're walking around with 40 bottles of toxic chemicals?

PLAYER: Well, where am I supposed to put them?

ME: How about your appartment?

PLAYER: Oh. I never thought of that.


The guy had been used to playing D&D where you always have all your equipment with you at all times. It simply never occured to him to live somewhere!

After clearing up a bit of confusion and a bit of subway arson, the player got into the swing of things and got to worrying about finding a parking space in the district, just like everyone else.

 

[reveal]

ME: You brought a molotov on the metro!?!?

PLAYER: Sure. I brought all of them.

ME: You're walking around with 40 bottles of toxic chemicals?

PLAYER: Well, where am I supposed to put them?

ME: How about your appartment?

PLAYER: Oh. I never thought of that.

That's just too funny.

 

[takyris]

SeveredHead: If somebody starts shooting at you, yeah, it is not the time to talk. On the other hand, I've had good luck with cover. Firing back at somebody who's behind cover seems to be, long-run, safer than charging in. Of course, this assumes equal levels, and a fast guy with a good Dex can close the distance pretty quickly and move fast enough to make it hard for somebody to reliably hit him. Really, unless I'm a dedicated martial artist, I'd rather be sneaking around a building to shoot that shooter than running up to pound him. YMMV, of course. If you don't mind me asking, have you been using strict d20M rules? Massive damage, impossibility of Treat Injury checks unless you've got a medkit, which you have to get out as a move-equivalent action, all that good stuff?

BiggusGeekus: Oh, yeah, the guy with 40 vials of stuff, completely within his weight limit, who cannot tell you how he's carrying it. Love that.

 

[reveal]

BiggusGeekus: Oh, yeah, the guy with 40 vials of stuff, completely within his weight limit, who cannot tell you how he's carrying it. Love that.

That's why I love the Mesh Vest. Can carry 40 pounds of small items and adds a +2 to your STR for carrying capacity purposes.

 

[Henry]

I've noticed SOME difference, but not much.

For the most part, our d20 Modern games were more investigative than the D&D games, but conversely, the last game of d20 modern we played last year turned into a D&D combat-fest that Regdar would be pleased about. We went from "investigate the doings of an environmentalist cult" to "kill everything on the property that moves."

It's no wonder that two characters died and one was reduced to a tracheotomy tube from a hunting rifle shot to the chest.

I never had problems with them wanting everything on them at all times, though. However, their car trunks were certainly filled with... er, em, ... contraband. (What would a SWAT team member think of a civilian carrying more armament than one of their vans?)

 

[Psion]

Well it is sort of hard for me to say, because my d20 modern game is a hybrid D&D game.

I will say this: Henry mentions the game being more investigative. That's not a coincidence. The d20 modern base classes have a lot more emphasis on pumping skills, so you can really get some regular sherlock holmes type characters in a very few levels.