I know that d20 is good in D&D, but what about other settings?

[Gideon Krieg]

My very first post here so if this is in the wrong forum please move it. Thank you.

Ah, the question. I am curious to know how well d20 works in other settings. Particularly the Macross/Robotech, Battletech, or Mekton, japanese anime inspired type settings.

I ask because I have not played d20 modern and have friends trying to sell me on it. I have played d20 for D&D and its okay (I am a die hard 1st edition freak) but, my group is trying to get me to convert my Palladium based Macross campaign world over to d20.

For those of you who know what the Japanese series Macross is like, I ask, how hard would it be to convert to d20? Is it even worth it? And, are there any websites that feature examples of d20 based mecha type games?

 

[dead]

I'm playing d20 Judge Dredd at the moment and the rules just don't seem to be doing the setting justice. I don't know, I've left it in the GM's court, but I've suggested that he run Judge using the old Games Workshop rules (never played 'em though; so I've got no idea if they're good or not).

So why aren't I getting into Judge under d20. Hmm . . . I don't like getting shot a million times by bullets and just having it reflected in the abstraction of hitpoint loss. I don't like the theme of powering up in levels in Judge. And I don't like how 95% of Feats you can choose for a Judge are combat-related. Oh, yeah, I also don't like how you HAVE TO either be of the Street Judge class or the Psi Judge class but can't cross class (maybe you can but my GM's running it wrong?).

All these things aren't belittling d20, though. I'm sure, with the right tweaking, you could have a good d20 Judge game . . . it's just that you'd have to gut it out so that there's only d20 task resolution left.

 

[Sado]

Look at Big Eyes Small Mouth d20. It is specifically designed for anime-style D20 gaming. Scroll down a bit and there's actually a supplement called D20 Mecha.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

Look at Big Eyes Small Mouth d20. It is specifically designed for anime-style D20 gaming. Scroll down a bit and there's actually a supplement called D20 Mecha.

I have to warn you off using the BESM system for...well, anything if you value rules mechanics. It is very unbalanced and makes a lot of arbitrary decisions.

It has value as a system, but is really designed as a system for true role players (you know, the ones that will look at a choice between +10 bonus to hit and damage and a +1 bonus to diplomacy and say "Hmm, well, my character isn't very good at combat...and he's supposed to be good at diplomacy...no choice really")

If you want to use D20 for Mecha, so far the choice seems to be to use D20 Modern and D20 Future together. There are Mecha rules in D20 Future. It doesn't look like that bad a book, but I've had it for less than a week and haven't finished reading it yet. Also, I have no players who want to play D20 Modern, so I have yet to test it.

 

[argo]

I have to warn you off using the BESM system for...well, anything if you value rules mechanics. It is very unbalanced and makes a lot of arbitrary decisions.

I couldn't disagree more. BESM d20 is a great system, just one that requires the DM to customize it to the game he wants to play. Which makes sense, BESM is supposed to support any type of anime roleplaying which means it has to be flexible enough to cover a lot of ground. They expect the DM to say things like "ok, this is a Gundam inspired setting so the Mecha Pilot class is in but the Jumping attribute (leap tall buildings) and the Ninja class are out". If you tried playing a campaign with the entierity of BESM you'd get, well I don't know but it would sure be interesting. As for having one character buy combat attributes and another buy social atributes, well that is the same problem you get in any ads/disads based char gen system. At least it is prety easy to control in BESM: just cap the number of ranks a character can take in a single attribute to fit the power level you want in your campaign.

Though I will admit that the "combat skills" are poorly implemented, they are a holdover from the old Tri-Stat system and its best if you just ignore that part of the system.

Speaking to the origional poster now: luckily you can download the BESM SRD from the guardians of order website (and the Mecha d20 SRD too!) to see what you think of the system before you buy.

Hope that helps.

 

[Geoff Watson]

I have to warn you off using the BESM system for...well, anything if you value rules mechanics. It is very unbalanced and makes a lot of arbitrary decisions.

D20 Mecha isn't particularly a supplement for BESMd20. It is designed to be used with most d20 system games, and would be better suited for D20 Modern and D20 Future than with BESMd20.

Geoff.

 

[Sunglar]

This is not intended as a thread high jack, but having said that, don’t go for BESM D20, try out the tri-stat version. It is a very loose system and does work better for role-playing that combat heavy games, but really fun.

Unsure if it is what you want? Heck there is even dX Guardian’s of Order system for free, try it out!

 

[Aaron2]

I don't know, I've left it in the GM's court, but I've suggested that he run Judge using the old Games Workshop rules (never played 'em though; so I've got no idea if they're good or not).

The old GW rules had charm but were really wacky. If your complaining about most of the d20 feats being combat related, you won't like the GW game where every power judges get is for combat (or driving in combat). I think there were only three skills that weren't combat related; Street Skill, Tech Skill, and Driving Skill. The restriction between being either a Street Judge or a Psi-Judge is present in the GW rules as well.

The d20 Judge Dredd rules agravated the hit point "problem" by starting Judges at high level and giving them d12 hit points. I tried to argue the point on the JD mailing list as the game was being developed but to no avail.


Aaron

 

[Psion]

This is not intended as a thread high jack, but having said that, don’t go for BESM D20, try out the tri-stat version.

I rather disagree with that notion. IMO, BESM d20 is all of the good of BESM tri-stat and none of the bad.

 

[BastionPress_Creech]

Dream Pod 9 made a really good deluxe Mecha book for the d20 system that makes use of Guardians of Order's mecha rules. I'd take a look at that.