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

[lp]

I adore d20 modern, and own a lot of the books. I've been strapped for cash and haven't been able to pick anything up recently, but in general I recommend:

Menace Manual. You can pick it up really cheap and it has lots of useful information, makes life easier.

Almost anything by rpgo, including their darwins world stuff (absolutely cannot stress how incredibly good this is for both awesome postapoc rules and fluffy stuff as well). They basicallly have awesome books for every genre.

Other products I own and have master plans for include sidewinder recoiled, haven city of violence, and the first 2 runs of the rpgo modern dispatch zine.

Have fun with the system, once you get your players into it they will have a blast!

 

[Prest0]

The weekly e-pub Modern Dispatch offers a lot of variety at a very low cost. We're a contributor so I suppose you have to take what I say with a grain of salt, but I often find myself shaking my head at how much we give away for a couple bucks.

 

[Kanegrundar]

Here's my list of must have books for D20 Modern:

Menace Manual: This is a must have book for Modern games that deal with strange and unusual creatures. This book plus the Modern CR's is all you need to run Dark*Matter (barring the DM setting book that is).

D20 Future: This is a toolkit in the same way as D20 Modern. I liked it alot. It's chock full of great tools for any sci-fi game.

D20 Past: All in all this isn't a must have. The areas covered in D20 Past are hit and miss, but if you use magic, this is a pretty good book with two new spellcasting classes. I liked it overall, but I also wasn't expecting nearly as much as some were.

Urban Arcana: This book has a bit more setting to it, but the setting is very open to GM interpretation. This is a great book to have if you want more magic in your games, or if you're playing more of a "MOdern D&D" game.

Darwin's World 2: This is how Post Apocalyptic settings should be done. This book gives you everything: mutations, classes, professions, gear, creatures, locations and so on. It's a huge book and is worth every single penny.

Depending on what types of game you want to run RPGObjects is a great company for Modern supplements. My favorites are: Blood and Brains, Blood and Fists, and Blood and Relics.

Ronin Arts puts out some excellent material with their "13" line.

Adamant's Modern Dispatch is a must buy for me each time a new one comes out.

LPJ Designs has a line of Prototye advanced classes that are pretty cool.

Blue Devil Games' Dawning Star setting is one of the best original sci-fi settings put out to date, IMO.

There are others, but that should give anyone a good head start.

Kane

 

[Vigilance]

I have to agree with the other posters about the Dispatch, for 12 bucks you get 3 months worth of mini-adventures (1 per week) from 12 to Midnight, Adamant, RPGObjects and Ronin Arts.

In the last month the adventures have been: Gun Runners (soldiers vs. terrorists in modern Iraq) by RPGObjects; Pulp Adventure Generator (plot hooks, twists and action set pieces) by Adamant Entertainment; Fallen (a horror adventure set in Pinebox Texas- is the Thunderbird of legend plaguing Pinebox?) by 12 to Midnight; The Hellcrash Transmission, a sci-fi adventure outline by Phil Reed's Ronin Arts.

Its really the closest thing out there to a Modern version of Dungeon and a hell of a value.

Chuck

 

[Knightfall]

You get my respect for putting your money where your mouth is. A lot of people suggest using the MSRD but we all shouldn't forget that if we don't buy D20 Modern books then sooner or later WotC won't make them anymore.

To me, the MSRD is okay, but I can't afford to print it out, as I have other things that must come first when it comes to my printer. Plus, you don't get the same feel for a game system as you do when you delve into the book. Art and words together in one package, along with the extra fluffy bits you get in the whole package, is what makes for good reading and understanding of a particular book.

And again, thanks to everyone for all your great suggestions. As for the type of game I'll eventually run, think G.I. Joe meets D&D with both Cyberpunk and Superhero influences. Something I like to call Guardian Earth. [It is based off an old idea I came up with for Alternity called First Defense, but it's gone through some major revisions (in my head). Nothing written in stone yet.]

Cheers!

Knightfall1972

 

[Knightfall]

My d20 Modern Campaign Idea!

This is what i'm planning...

GUARDIAN EARTH
By Robert Blezard​

THE BASICS
Many Guardian Earth heroes (but not all) are part of an elite military unit known as First Defense created by the World Union Alliance, which replaced the United Nations in 2154. First Defense is responsible for the defense of the WUA and its holding throughout the solar system. First Defense is the military division of Department 7, a black ops agency that was created by the WUA in 2175 after the worlds’ leaders discovered the existence of Watchdog Station built by the First Guardian who had died defending the Earth from an alien interloper.

This First Guardian, who had called himself Darkstar, recorded a message detailing the existence of the evil force known throughout the universe for its destructive influence and incorporeal nature. The Darkness, as Darkstar called it, literally enslaved entire races, bending them to its will. The alien interloper had been a member of one of these servant races. Darkstar told them of the great gift (and curse) that had been passed to him through the will of a conclave of dying aliens who had been the previous race to wear the mantle of Guardians of Creation, who he called the Predecessors.

The Predecessors had not only passed to him the Energy but also the technical knowledge of the all the previous Guardian races. He built Watchdog Station to store as much of this information as he could and created a powerful AI to run the station after his death, which had known would happen. The AI, called “Watchdog”, contained part of the First Guardian’s mind and experiences. It stood to defend the Earth from the Darkness and was able to build sophisticated prototypes of highly advanced technology beyond even what man had accomplished by 2175.

The First Guardians message suggested the formation of First Defense and that such a force would be needed within 100 to 200 years, minimum. The creation of First Defense only came about after a heated debate as to whether or not the First Guardian had spoken the truth or if it was a trick by some unknown alien force. (Darkstar had been popular with the world leaders of the early 21st Century.) It took nearly 50 years to bring the countries of the world together to form First Defense and another 50 years to decipher the key knowledge required to create the process of genetic manipulation to create the elite super soldiers.

Department 7 was given control of Watchdog station and the organization has uncovered that agents of the Darkness have already found their way to Earth and sow the seeds of dissent into the WUA and civilian organizations around the world and throughout the solar system. The colonies on Mars are particularly hard pressed, as are the mining facilities orbiting Jupiter and Saturn. Clandestine raiders attack convoys and patrols out of the asteroid Field, although not all of them are under the sway of the Darkness. Spies, saboteurs, assassins, and super powered minions are causing problems from one end of the solar system to the other.

The year is 2280.