Need advice on rules to use.

[Kurziel]

I recently lost my job, so find myself in an ironic situation. I finally have the time to run a campaign again, and game on a regular basis. However, I have a very limited gaming budget.

The campaign I'm planning will have the players starting as a team/crew of freelance criminals similar to Heat or Italian Job. After the characters have established themselves and the players have learned the rules, they will be approached by an organization hiring the players to perform black op missions. From here the campaign will be more like Alias and X-Files (conspiracy portion, not the supernatural part).

I'm not currently planning a supernatural aspect to the campaign. I do have a penchant for horror games that don't start as horror, however. So, I would like to make sure I can add magic and magical critters in if the campaign shifts in that direction. If the campaign does go that direction, it will probably be in a Millenium/Twin Peaks fashion.

I'm looking for some advice on what d20 products would be best to achieve the ruleset I'm looking for. I currently have the d20 Call of Cthulhu main book, and the d20 Modern SRD. Would Spycraft or d20 Modern be a better starting point? Why? Or, is there another product out that would work? I think the CoC rules should cover any magic/horror aspects I need, but, is there something else worth looking into?


Edit: Changes for clarity.

 

[Biohazard]

I recently lost my job, so find myself in an ironic situation. I finally have the time to run a campaign again, and game on a regular basis. However, I have a very limited gaming budget.

. . .

I'm looking for some advice on what d20 products would be best to achieve the ruleset I'm looking for. I currently have the d20 Call of Cthulhu main book, and the d20 Modern SRD. Would Spycraft or d20 Modern be a better starting point? Why? Or, is there another product out that would work? I think the CoC rules should cover any magic/horror aspects I need, but, is there something else worth looking into?


Edit: Changes for clarity.

Hmmm...as with every question, there's the answer, and then there's the real answer. So here's my answer: D20 Modern Core Rulebook is the way to go. It has magic, beasties, psionics, and tons and tons of equipment, weapons, and armor for everything from X-Files to Barney Miller (hoo boy, what a lame illustration. It's late and I hate my job. Forgive me. ).

D20 Modern is preferable to Spycraft, IMHO, because it is far more flexible. You don't need to just run espionage-style games...of course, you don't have to do that with Spycraft either, but the setting and mechanics are more limiting than D20 Modern in that regard.

Okay, now here's my REAL answer: D20 Call of Cthulhu is really all you need for what you're interested in doing, especially given your limited budget. The firearms and psionics rules in D20 CoC are second to none, and I love its dark magic system (many of the spells are lifted from D&D's Book of Vile Darkness ).

Later dude. And blessings on the job front.

 

[Achan hiArusa]

Lifted from the Book of Vile Darkness?

Excuse me? Lifted from the Book of Vile Darkness? First off CoCd20 came out first. And all the CoCd20 spells are taken from the original Call of Cthulhu by Chaosium. Ergo, those spells in the Book of Vile Darkness were taken from the minds of the writers from Chaosium (who adapted those from HP Lovecraft's own mind or those of his imitators). Apparently, this was part of the contract that Wizards signed with Chaosium.

With a limited games budget I would recommend that you stick with your download of the Modern System Reference document and use that with CoCd20. I have problems with Modern and there are some rules done better in CoCd20.

If you want advice on how to run a horror game I would recommend Hunter: the Reckoning. There is more on a single page about how to run a game than in the entire Modern d20 rulebook. The rules are not in anyway related to d20 (being the White Wolf house system), but the advice it gives is valuable. And you might be able to translate some of the rules to give your players a nasty surprise.

Spycraft is a very heroic game and would not fit the Horror genre well.

 

[Kurziel]

Thank you both. Due to your input I've ruled out Spycraft (which I had originally been favoring).

I'm still considering picking up the d20 Modern main book. I am finding there is more I'd like to use from d20M than CoC, given the game I'm planning is more espionage oriented than horror.

What is in the d20M core book that is not in the SRD? I assume its mostly a couple sample adventures and a rough guidelines for a fairly generic setting.

If you want advice on how to run a horror game I would recommend Hunter: the Reckoning. There is more on a single page about how to run a game than in the entire Modern d20 rulebook. The rules are not in anyway related to d20 (being the White Wolf house system), but the advice it gives is valuable. And you might be able to translate some of the rules to give your players a nasty surprise.

I appreciate the advice, however horror is probably my favorite genre to run, so I already have quite a few resources and experiences in that area.

 

[Pagan priest]

Unless you like rapid character mortality, forget CoC. It may be great stuff for doing Lovecraftian role-playing, but for a modern thriller -- action/adventure type game it will kill the PC's much too quickly.

I'd say, go with d20M, skip the Urban Arcana book, look into Blood and Fist (if there is going to be any martial arts action) and the Modern Players Compendium. If there are any gun bunnies in the group, you'll need Ultramodern Firearms d20.

As an alternative, Mongoose has come out with OGL Cyberpunk. I only had time for a quick glance, but it looks like it is based off of D20M, with more powerful base classes, and a few other tweeks.

 

[shadowlight]

If you're going to tack on Magic/Supernatural stuff later, I'd recommend starting with d20 Modern (It's just a really great foundation to start on) with no FX. When you're ready for the supernatural, toss in the CoC sanity and FX, and you've got horror that doesn't feel like D&D.