Just Bought the D20 Modern Core Rulebook: Guardian Earth Concept!

[Knightfall]

Okay, I finally found a copy of the core D20 Modern RPG book, at a reasonable price. (I love second-hand book stores.) Anyway, so far I'm impressed with the level of detail that WotC put into core book and I have plans to buy several other D20 Modern products. I've decided that the ones listed below are a must...

d20 Menace Manual​

d20 Future​

d20 Apocalypse​

d20 Cyberscape (not out yet)​

Ultramodern Firearms (Green Ronin)​

What I would like is for all you long-time D20 Modern fans to tell me which of these products are worth getting, as well as suggestions for other third party D20 Modern products that are useful. (D20 Future is likely to be my next purchase, unless I can get the d20 Menace Manual second-hand.)

I'm not interested in d20 Past or WotCs other D20 Modern products such as Urban Arcana or the D20 Modern "weapons" book. Plus, I'm more interested in futuristic material and I'm leaning more towards print product. However, anyone who knows of any good FREE D20 Modern PDFs at RPGNow (or similar online venue) can feel free to post such recommendations.

Cheers!

KF72

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Okay, I finally found a copy of the core D20 Modern RPG book, at a reasonable price. (I love second-hand book stores.) Anyway, so far I'm impressed with the level of detail that WotC put into core book and I have plans to buy several other D20 Modern products. I've decided that the ones listed below are a must...

d20 Menace Manual​

Great for GMs, IMO, but a lot of people on this forum don't like it.

d20 Future​

Save your cash and maybe spend $5 on the Alternity Player's Handbook PDF from RPGNow.

The only thing I really liked from the book were the spaceship combat system (not the stats, but the like-creature system) and the mutations. I had problems with generic weapons (too good), armor (too weak), robots (too good, no balance that I could see if you bought one rather than played one, no example liquid metal robot), and cybergear (way too good ... unless you think a +8 natural armor bonus to Defense for no feats, no ACP, no speed penallty and, oh yeah, it stacks with armor is balanced).

d20 Apocalypse​

I don't think this one is out yet.

d20 Cyberscape (not out yet)​

Ultramodern Firearms (Green Ronin)​

This is just my opinion, but D20 Modern firearm books aren't any good. When you put that many gun stats in a book, some will come out unbalanced (eg the FiveseveN and the AN94). Besides, I don't see how a hundred pages of nearly identical gun stats, with a few broken ones sprinkled in for variety, is useful.

Oh yeah, avoid any bullet "augmentations" except armor-piercing and hollowpoint. Those bonuses outstrip the bonuses of feats.

 

[Khorod]

Ultramodern is a pretty cool book- it includes some description, and cross-references the weapons by military forces around the world.

D20 Future is in the d20 Modern SRD. Given that it was created as a toolkit, its probably better to pull those tools you like out of the SRD.

I don't see a good reason to get the Menace Manual.

 

[TroyXavier]

I liked the Menace Manual but I am partial to monster books.
If yuo like Monster books, get it.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

I have Ultramodern Firearms. I think it's interesting, but 99.9999% of the time, I don't need it. Unless you're running a military game that spans the globe, you'll only need a handful of weapons, most of them are already detailed in the Modern book. I LIKE UMF, but I'll probably never need alot of the weapons. And yea, any gun that's better than other guns is then broken, just because of how the system works. Though I guess if there's a weapon out there that's just plain better than other weapons, it's a truthful representation. For my part I never let the players just page through and pick the toys they wanted, so it's never been an issue. It IS fun just to page through there, though, and if you want a "distinctive" gun to give an NPC or to round out somebody's PC then it can be handy.

I have D20 Future ... it's a mixed bag. Nothing really goes together, but it's a nice place to start for a game to minimize the time you need to build things from scratch. If you throw wide the doors, though, it'd be a nightmare. And nobody thought to balance anything. If you want to do Cyber, say, you'll have to go through by hand and consider each piece in relation to each other piece. Otherwise everybody will be storming around with Laser Eyes and Heavy SubCut Armor, etc.

Most of the armor is WORSE in the future, apparently, than the armor of today. Or yesterday, even.

I don't know how much of RPGO's future stuff is in print. I haven't heard much from them, and haven't been by the site in a while, since my future game fell through and I've been working with GrimTales and some other systems lately. RPGObject's stuff is really good, though.

Speaking of which, if you like Apocalyptic and you want print to go with D20M look for RPGObject's "Darwin's World" ... there's ALOT of good information in there, including alot of future tech.

--fje

 

[trancejeremy]

The Menace Manual is useful for having lots and lots of stats for generic NPCs. Other than that, it's not that useful, though not that bad.

The weapons books are pretty much pointless, since all weapons in D20 Modern of the same basic type pretty much have the same stats. (You might consider buying the Spycraft gun book and adapting the VP/WP system to d20 Modern. Works fairly well, I think)

d20 Future has some useful stuff, but very little - you have to do a whole lot yourself. And some things, like Starships, are just incomplete.

 

[wingsandsword]

For WotC books, it really depends on what you want:
d20 Future is really nice, but be aware that it is a toolkit, not a setting (some people have been upset by this). It's got loads of neato stuff for just about any futuristic game, but you'll have to put some legwork to adapt it to the setting you want to use it with.

The Menace Manual was excellent. Some people don't like it, but I do. Lots of creatures (mostly with an urban legend/conspiracy space alien feel to them), some generic NPC's and information on various organizations. It also has a lot of deck plans of boats.

As for 3rd party books: The Modern Players Companion by The Game Mechanics & Green Ronin is essential, it feels almost like missing sections from the core book that should have been there all along.

 

[SWBaxter]

I've decided that the ones listed below are a must...

d20 Menace Manual​

d20 Future​

d20 Apocalypse​

d20 Cyberscape (not out yet)​

Ultramodern Firearms (Green Ronin)​

What I would like is for all you long-time D20 Modern fans to tell me which of these products are worth getting, as well as suggestions for other third party D20 Modern products that are useful. (D20 Future is likely to be my next purchase, unless I can get the d20 Menace Manual second-hand.)

I've looked at the Menace Manual, it didn't seem particularly useful; guess it depends on the sort of campaign you run. As earlier mentioned, d20 Future is in the SRD now, for that matter I believe a good chunk of the Menace Manual is, too. So unless you're really a fan of owning the books, you can get them at:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/article/msrd

I don't have any of the others mentioned so can't comment. The stuff I do think is useful is:

- the Game Mechanics' books, published by Green Ronin: Modern Players' Companion, Martial Arts Mayhem, and Modern Magic. All are very good, the first is a good general resource, the latter two are good for campaigns that concentrate in those areas.

- Sidewinder: Recoiled, also published by Green Ronin, written by the guys at Dog House Rules. Pretty much the best genre-specific adaptation of d20 Modern there is, though admittedly probably not as interesting unless you plan to run westerns.

- The Columbia, Afghanistan, and Somalia supplements by Holistic Design are all good (though I think technically one of them is d20 rather than d20 Modern). They focus on different aspects of military roleplaying, and have lots of cool gear, classes, scenario ideas, etc. I haven't read the FBI book by the same company, but I'll probably take a look at it in the next few months, if it's of similar quality it'll be a great purchase.

- Grim Tales isn't really a d20 Modern product, but it's a really interesting deconstruction of the d20 Modern rules. If you're interested in expanding d20 Modern to grim adventure in any time period it's a pretty good choice.

 

[Knightfall]

First off, thanks for all the great advice so far. It sounds like I can do without Ultramodern Firearms d20, which is fine with me. I'm not a big fan of buying weapon/firearm sourcebooks. Anyway, below are some specific replies...

Save your cash and maybe spend $5 on the Alternity Player's Handbook PDF from RPGNow.

I already have the Alternity Player's Handbook, a Limited Edition version no less. Much of that and my Alternity Gamemaster Guide will heavily influence any d20 Modern/Future campaign I run.

However, d20 Future is still a must for me. I know it is a toolkit type book, which is exactly what I want. (I am going to create my own futuristic homrbrewed campaign by picking an choosing bits and pieces from various d20 Modern sources.)

Plus, d20 Cyberscape (Sept 2005) builds upon the cybernetic rules presented in d20 Future...

D20 Cyberscape
Owen K. C. Stephens
This new rules supplement provides everything players and Gamemasters need to create and run campaigns featuring cybernetics in the post-modern realm of cyberpunk fiction. Building on the d20 Future cybernetic rules, d20 Cyberscape includes rules for installing cybernetics and playing cyborgs, as well as new advanced classes and enhancements. d20 Cyberscape also features rules for magical and psionic cybernetics and virtual reality networks.​

I liked the Menace Manual but I am partial to monster books.
If yuo like Monster books, get it.

I love monster books, so I'll probably get it. I have the Modern SRD material for the Menace Manual (as well as the rest of the SRD material) but I prefer to have the book.

... if you like Apocalyptic and you want print to go with D20M look for RPGObject's "Darwin's World" ... there's ALOT of good information in there, including alot of future tech.

Yes, I've heard great things about Darwin's World - specifically, that it kicks the butt out of the d20 Modern version of Gamma World. However, I'm likely going to get d20 Apocalypse too, unless the reviews for it are horrid.

As for 3rd party books: The Modern Players Companion by The Game Mechanics & Green Ronin is essential, it feels almost like missing sections from the core book that should have been there all along.

Yes, the Modern Player's Companion is definitely on my list of possible purchases. I'm also considering Modern Magic, as well, but I'm not as inclined to buy that one.

Opinions on The Game Mechanics "Modern Magic" sourcebook, anyone?

Cheers!

KF72

 

[Turanil]

I liked the Menace Manual but I am partial to monster books.
If yuo like Monster books, get it.

Monster Manual is indeed an excellent book. It has much more interesting critters than the D&D monsters "conversions" that appear in the core d20M. My advice is to get that book first. I bought mine for 13$ (new) on Amazon.com because there was a strange 60% discount! Maybe this discount is still there: check it out!