I just got D20 Future and I love it! [hugs his copy]

[Sebastian Ashputtle]

I went down to my FLGS today and, no pooping, there they were: three shiny copies of D20 Future.

I bought it without even flipping through it.

A few comments:
1. The artwork is simply beautiful. Whereas the D20 Modern artwork was hit and miss, the artwork in this book is astounding. And don't worry, there are plenty of pictures of sexy babes wearing bikini tops with their g-strings showing (hell, just look at the cover ).
2. The content is outstanding. The book is identical in size to the Menace Manual but it feels much bigger. Very packed.
3. The campaign models are a bit disappointing. Each is basically three pages and some of them (especially "Bug Hunters") really don't seem to have enough substance to merit a campaign. Still, some cool ideas here.
4. D20 Future borrows very heavily from Alternity, which is a good thing.
5. The chapter on FTL, Time and Dimensional travel is outstanding. The amount of substance and depth is comparable to what I've found in GURPS Space. Awesome.
6. With the chapters on Robots, Mutants, and Cyberware, and the campaign setting "The Wastelands", I can finally do a REAL Gamma World campaign, and ignore the stinky Gamma World mess crapped out last year by Sword and Sorcery.

I'll be happy to answer any questions about the content of the book...fire away...

 

[d4]

i guess you missed the two or three other threads discussing d20 Future where people were already asking and answering questions...

 

[trancejeremy]

The other threads are a bit cluttered, since they started on different topics and sort of meandered about.

Anyway, does it have the Sathar in it in the critters/monsters section? I know they aren't a PC race, but I had hope they might be in the critter/NPC section.

 

[d4]

Anyway, does it have the Sathar in it in the critters/monsters section? I know they aren't a PC race, but I had hope they might be in the critter/NPC section.

i answered this in the other thread.

not only is there no listing / stats for the Sathar, they aren't mentioned in the Star Law / Star Frontiers campaign model at all.

 

[Tom Cashel]

The Sathar got the shaft.

 

[Sebastian Ashputtle]

i guess you missed the two or three other threads discussing d20 Future where people were already asking and answering questions...

Well, it's not like the d20 Modern forum is terribly busy anyway...

 

[Vigilance]

From a rules perspective, very good, very solid, kudos to all the writers.

However, as I expected plenty of room for supplements.

So although Prometheus is still coming first, consider BNS a go as well.

I was more focused on the nuts and bolts of the books than the g-strings, but still a nice piece of work.

Chuck

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Someone want to post the original sathar stats?

 

[JEL]

I got the book and give it a resounding "eh." They definitely tried to cover too much in too little space and everything comes across as being half-***ed. Yet, at the same time, they were very specific on a lot of things. A tool kit approach would have made a lot more sense given the space requirements, especially in what's supposed to be a generic SF book.

I won't be touching the starship, robot, vehicle or mecha parts since there are third party books that do a much better job of covering those areas. The advanced classes look decent, as do the feats and skills and such. The scientific engeneering chapter was really good for the three subjects it covered, but covering just three subjects is silly in light of how far ranging SF can be. The settings are so lacking in information that they're worthless for any sort of extended campaign. The art was mixed, but I really love the starship illustrations (boxy designs are so rare these days).

Overall, I think I should have picked this up used rather than paying full price, or waited for the SRD. Oh well...

Oh, and don't get me started on how badly mistreated the Star Frontiers races were in the book. I wonder if the writers were so busy cutting and pasting the descriptions out of the Alpha Dawn box that they didn't bother to read them.

 

[Johnny Angel]

I love it. It saves me a lot of trouble in converting Alternity Star*Drive materials. With it, and the Star*Drive campaign book, I'm all set to go. Almost. Actually, there aren't necessarily equivalents to a lot of the weapons from Star*Drive. Lasers have been downgraded in Progress Level. But using the John Owens conversion I've got all the weapons and other gear that comes up covered.

One thing that irritates me greatly is that d20 Future is not in metric. Alternity and d20 Star Wars were both metric. In d20 Star Wars, tactical speed is in units of 500 meters. Here it's in units of 500 feet. That's a substantial difference which could make conversion of materials awkward for basically no reason. They should have bitten the bullet and gone metric.