Grim-n-Gritty + d20 Modern =d20 Historical?

[Stormborn]

My friends and I are working on a campaign set in the early 1500s, in which the PCs would initially start out as mercenaries. We are considering using the Grim-n-Gritty combat system found in Mongoose's Ultimate Games Designer's Companion with d20 Modern Base Classes, and a few Advanced Classes which will probablly be tweeked in some cases. There will be magic, but low magic and not something the PCs would know about at the outset.

Has anyone used the GnG system? Has anyone applied it to D20 Modern? Has anyone adapted d20 Modern to a historical setting like the late renissance? Any thoughts in general?

 

[Psychic Skeksis]

My friends and I are working on a campaign set in the early 1500s, in which the PCs would initially start out as mercenaries. We are considering using the Grim-n-Gritty combat system found in Mongoose's Ultimate Games Designer's Companion with d20 Modern Base Classes, and a few Advanced Classes which will probablly be tweeked in some cases. There will be magic, but low magic and not something the PCs would know about at the outset.

Has anyone used the GnG system? Has anyone applied it to D20 Modern? Has anyone adapted d20 Modern to a historical setting like the late renissance? Any thoughts in general?

I'm not familiar with the GnG combat system, but I *have* used d20 Modern in a pre-20th century setting (we did a 19th century steampunk game awhile back). It works (almost) perfectly. You may need to add a few skills and modify others (obviously, Computer Use won't be in your game ) and since you're doing a late medieval/early Renaissance setting, the D&D Player's handbook might be a helpful resource for equipment and tweaking skills and feats.

One thing that you can keep (if you want to) is the abstract Wealth system. Since there are no dollar values attached to anything, just DC numbers, it all ports over easily. So if a knife is, say, DC 5 in the Modern setting (don't have the book in front of me), it can also be 5 in the 15th century. It's all relative.

Overall, I think you'll find d20 Modern works EXTREMELY well in any historical setting. That's why it's such a sweet system. Let us know how your game goes.

 

[Stormborn]

I'm not familiar with the GnG combat system, but I *have* used d20 Modern in a pre-20th century setting (we did a 19th century steampunk game awhile back).

Thanks for the comments. Mind telling us more about your d20 Steampunk, its one of my favorite genres? What other source material did you use?

 

[Psychic Skeksis]

I'm not familiar with the GnG combat system, but I *have* used d20 Modern in a pre-20th century setting (we did a 19th century steampunk game awhile back).

Thanks for the comments. Mind telling us more about your d20 Steampunk, its one of my favorite genres? What other source material did you use?

We used GURPS Steampunk and Steamtech. Not my favorite resources but I've found Steampunk to be a genre that's thin on materials (perhaps Mongoose's OGL Steampunk will be worth looking at when it comes out). The GURPS stuff is waaaay too dry and historical; they read more like college textbooks than gaming books. (OTOH, GURPS Horror and GURPS Spirits are among the best RPG books I've ever read. So it goes.) We also used the excellent *Scream*punk--also a GURPS book focusing on steampunk horror.

The game was basically a horror/weird science/pulp adventure game. The PCs had to rescue a little girl from this Gothic castle in Germany before a mad scientist used her for spare parts. He was trying to construct a simulacrum (what the Victorians called robots) and needed the heart of a virgin (did I mention he was also a sorcerer? ).

I used every horror cliche and every Victorian steampunk trope in the book--and the players loved it.