Just a couple of comments after reading what WotC has posted at their new Modern d20 site...
It sounds like they have a cool idea for how to approach the class system, which will be possibly even more flexible than the CoC d20 system (is that possible?). Anyway, I like the approach, and I am confident that the game is in the good hands of Slavicsek (co-creator of Alternity).
About this Department-7 thing, though... Lordy, I hope they don't overdo that in the main rulebook. In my opinion, one of the mistakes of Spycraft was the whole department angle (in place of races) which actually acts to limit the imagination of the GM. Probably a lot of people jettisoned it for their own campaigns. Anyway, D-7 does not seem to be the same thing, but still, I don't want the game overly-focused on some preconceived campaign setting.
And the slap-happy "this system will do ANYTHING you want it to!" really got on my nerves by the end. Especially because the few details we get seem to suggest they have one thing in mind, not providing a comprehensive set of rules to do ANYTHING. Personally, I would prefer a core rulebook for realistic modern-type campaigns and then a series of splatbooks (kind of like Alternity): occult powers, sci-fi, cyberpunk, WW2, etc.
As my emphasis indicates, I am especially worried about realism and the current WotC definition of that... we already have DragonStar, Fading Suns, CoC, Spycraft (fun but not hyper-realistic), upcoming western d20 from Citizen Games, etc., so what we really need is a core "this is how modern reality works" ruleset.
What are other people's thoughts?
It sounds like they have a cool idea for how to approach the class system, which will be possibly even more flexible than the CoC d20 system (is that possible?). Anyway, I like the approach, and I am confident that the game is in the good hands of Slavicsek (co-creator of Alternity).
About this Department-7 thing, though... Lordy, I hope they don't overdo that in the main rulebook. In my opinion, one of the mistakes of Spycraft was the whole department angle (in place of races) which actually acts to limit the imagination of the GM. Probably a lot of people jettisoned it for their own campaigns. Anyway, D-7 does not seem to be the same thing, but still, I don't want the game overly-focused on some preconceived campaign setting.
And the slap-happy "this system will do ANYTHING you want it to!" really got on my nerves by the end. Especially because the few details we get seem to suggest they have one thing in mind, not providing a comprehensive set of rules to do ANYTHING. Personally, I would prefer a core rulebook for realistic modern-type campaigns and then a series of splatbooks (kind of like Alternity): occult powers, sci-fi, cyberpunk, WW2, etc.
As my emphasis indicates, I am especially worried about realism and the current WotC definition of that... we already have DragonStar, Fading Suns, CoC, Spycraft (fun but not hyper-realistic), upcoming western d20 from Citizen Games, etc., so what we really need is a core "this is how modern reality works" ruleset.
What are other people's thoughts?
