Modern d20 RPG

[jonrog1]

Alternity. Al-ter-ni-ty.

Find it on EBay or I think there's a .pdf on RPGnow. It was the best designed, generic system, and you can see the roots of the D20 evolution in there.

Go. Get it. Trust me.

 

[Ranger REG]

But I'm not into that Alternity lifestyle.

 

[Von Ether]

Hmmm... Spycraft ?

Isn't that a James Bondy RPG ?

I want something generic modern, would Spycraft allow for your typical d20 3.5 modern game? Let's say you want to have a party of soldiers, with some experts and medics in it ?

I'm not sure I really need points for gadgets...

Its too late, but SG-1 would be close if you threw in the chase rules, which you can also get from D20 A!.

 

[Chainsaw Mage]

I think the wealth system is easily done away with for D20 modern. I have a job and know how much I make. I can easily find the salary for other jobs. The cost of anything can be found on the internet. Just dole out cash like you would expect for jobs, missions, etc and there goes the problem with the wealth system

And when one of your players says, "My character is going to buy this $5,000.00 flat-screen TV on his VISA card", what will you say then?

Your position would work if we lived in a strictly cash society. Obviously, we don't. Therein lies the goodness of the abstract wealth system in d20 Modern.

 

[Chainsaw Mage]

Alternity. Al-ter-ni-ty.

Find it on EBay or I think there's a .pdf on RPGnow. It was the best designed, generic system, and you can see the roots of the D20 evolution in there.

Go. Get it. Trust me.

Nah. Alternity has its good points, but overall it's a disappointment. Counter-intuitive mechanics. Complexity for complexity's sake. *Twice* as many dice rolls as d20, and accomplishes exactly the same thing. True, it was the "missing link" between AD&D 2e and d20, but natural selection rules the day. Alternity is extinct for good reason.

The only good thing to come out of Alterntiy was Dark*Matter. Strip away the awkward, clunky mechanics, and you have a brilliant conspiracy/horror campaign setting, rivalled by nothing else out there, not even GURPS Illuminati or the venerable Conspiracy X.

The ultimate coolness is D20 Modern: Dark*Matter. And that's what the Dark*Matter: Shades of Grey mini-campaign setting in DUNGEON was all about.

 

[Chainsaw Mage]

It was the best designed, generic system,

Alternity is not a generic system. It is a science-fiction system that can also do modern, but the buck stops there.

Can it do heroic fantasy? Pulp adventure? Historical realism? Any of dozens of other genres?

Nope.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

I think you're not giving Alternity enough credit. I've seen it do fantasy (I've done it do fantasy ... er ...) and I've seen it do Supers (but I'll admit, I didn't like that as much). I've used it for Modern and Sci-Fi and I'm sure it would take me about ten minutes to do a pulp game with it.

The system is counter-intuitive only in that you're rolling "low", from what I can see. Beyond that it works, really, like a dream. Anybody I've introduced to it loves it and my current group often interchanges Alternity with d20 Modern and (recently) Mutants and Masterminds. Each system has it's attractive qualities. ((But maybe I just like systems, as I got done running a game of Godlike a few minutes ago and liked that too.))

Alternity had its flaws, but you haven't really touched on them. My biggest problem with the system was that the armor system could extend combats beyond my fun threshold, as decent future armor often gobbled up anything but powerful future weaponry. Also PCs were decent at what they were decent in, but absolutely abysmal otherwise. Most untrained skill checks defaulted to trying to hit a 3 or 4 on 1d20+1d4 which is nearly impossible.

But then again we had a weren who picked a lock by rolling double ones on a hefty penalty. When it happens, it happens spectacular and it birthed a long-living story about ... the weren who picked a lock with a fingernail and a prayer. I like good tabletalk game stories.

I can probably "do more" with Modern and some creative house-ruling, but I would hazard to say I could do more with Alternity straight out of the box than Modern pure. Just opening up my Alternity books gives me ideas for days, and I don't really get that feeling from any other system. Had just the right amount of flavor and just the right amount of generic.

--fje

 

[Krieg]

And when one of your players says, "My character is going to buy this $5,000.00 flat-screen TV on his VISA card", what will you say then?

The clerk asks if you need help loading the TV into your car.

...or if the circumstances warranted it:

The clerk looks a bit uncomfortable and hands you back your card "I'm sorry sir but your card has been denied. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

True, it was the "missing link" between AD&D 2e and d20, but natural selection rules the day. Alternity is extinct for good reason.

...and that reason has absolutely nothing to do with the relative merits of the system. It was killed because WoTC wanted to maintain a single product line.

Strip away the awkward, clunky mechanics,

Counter-intuitive?...Possibly.
Clunky?...No.

and you have a brilliant conspiracy/horror campaign setting, rivalled by nothing else out there, not even GURPS Illuminati or the venerable Conspiracy X.

*cough* Delta Green *cough*

Can it do heroic fantasy?

Darn tootin' it can...

http://alternity.net/resources.php3?cat=fantasy


As for the rest? It can be tweaked to handle as easily as D20 .

 

[Psion]

I think the class system in d20 modern works, but must admit that I'm not exactly in love with it.

Trainz, are you looking for something specific.... or rather, would something rather less generic than d20 modern be a problem for you? The Red Star (which I am working on a review of) is d20 modern based, but chucks the basic classes and goes strictly to profession style classes. But it's pretty strongly flavored. (But it's a beautiful book.)

 

[Psion]

The great genius of d20 Modern was that it seems to have been designed from the ground up to slap the d20 community upside the head and scream in its collective ear:
"Your class is just a package of abilities! It's not your job, your identity or, God forbid, your personality!"

Actually, the basis on which I can ACCEPT d20 modern base classes is that they do, in fact, more represent personality than profession. Otherwise, they are meaningless and pointless AFAIAC. With the base classes, you could throw together a campaign with characters in a similar background (college, mining rig crew, etc.) and fall into personality archetypes ("the smart student", "the perceptive student", "the bully" (strong student), etc.)