Our group kicked off its d20M campaign last night!

[Quickbeam]

It has finally begun!! Last night, our group officially took a brief hiatus from D&D to start a d20M campaign. I'm going to largely model the setting after Shadow Chasers, but none of the players know that yet . The idea being that the PC's are reluctantly placed together on a special task force (Bravo Team) working for the Chicago PD. Their job is to investigate several especially brutal and violent murders, thought to be the result of gang violence which incorporates some truly nasty attack dogs or jungle cats. They must put an end to this problem quickly & quietly before details leak to the media. By the end of the mission, the characters will have faced the biotech spawn responsible for the murders...and have experienced their first encounter with the Shadows that walk among us. Then things will lead into the Onyx Dog and Black Rock adventures, with other arcs moving into my own stories.

The characters they created were pretty darn good conceptually, and it was the best roleplaying my group has done in ages!! Everyone seems really excited, and I'm absolutely giddy about the horrors lurking just around the corner for them . It's nice to have an element of surprise and fascination return to the game. I think the change in setting (and games) has revitalized us all, and everyone is willing to suspend disbelief again.

 

[FCWesel]

I was wondering how you are going to manifest the "veil of shadow" over the monsters and monstrous humanoids. Example: The Half-ogres looking like biker gangs members in one freebiee adventure I read.

We too are doing a new D20M game. I have decided to base out of San Francisco. Why SF? I don't know, really. Liked the idea of having access to the ocean and the mountains, I guess.

Plus the idea of the fog ridden streets of the bay also werre a plus, as well as knowing that I might be able to do something VERY creepy with Alcatraz, possibly.

We have set our game in the year 2002. More for the fact that it gave the players the ability to REALLY get into the heads of theri characters, which are about the same age as the players.

For our game I am doing a bit Shadow Chasers and a bit of PSI.

The Meta-Plot is basically one of the characters having to find out who they are, what they are, where they come from and who made them what they are after waking up in a desert hotel with no real memory of anything.

The other main-character plot involves a drug-lord who isn't who (what) he seems to be.

I have not decided a plotline for out thrid player. He's a divorced PI with a ex-wife and son now living in Las Vegas. So I might hook into that as a longer term game goal. Or I may simply NOT give him an overall goal other then live and experience life as a aid to the other PCs and people that need help.

What game will your flavour be? Obviously mine has a bit of Robert Ludlum or "Long Kiss Goodnight", but I am going to try and put a strong Tarantino/Ellroy/Soderberge twist on the world.

In our first game we did the character intro thing...where they band to gether to help out.

One thing I found helped a bit was to play contemporary music in the background, really low. I have one of the music players and selected about 100 songs of all genres (buts stuff that would mostly be found in action-y movies).

 

[Quickbeam]

I'll post a thorough reply later tonight, and include some PC info. Unfortunately, I'm just too swamped to issue a worthwhile/detailed response right now. Thanks for your interest though, and bear with me .

 

[EdwardForrester]

I must say that it sounds like on he!! of a game. I know that I would love to play in it. I never seem to catch my friends when they are gaming and I am going through withdrawls. But anyways, again sounds great. Good luck.

 

[Visceris]

I started to run a sci fi/modern game using d20 Modern with heavy influences from Fallout and Darwin's World.

Hell, on the 3rd session a PC got killed. It is a very fun game.

 

[EdwardForrester]

Just curious (and Fallout being on of my favorite games of all time) how much Fallout are you using.

 

[Visceris]

Majority of it is locations, NPCs, and organizations, with Darwin material here and there, like the Doomriders and some tech.

Also the ghouls I am using are a crossing of FO ghouls and Darwin's World. It makes a very interesting combination.

 

[Quickbeam]

Once again, I apologize for my absence from my own thread, but perhaps this http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=43439 post will explain . In any event, let me respond to the few remarks herein.

FCWesel:
At the moment, the party hasn't discovered any "veil of shadow," just some unusual events which are easily explained away. Like you, I'm going to use Shadow Chasers as the primary theme or flavor for my campaign, but I intend to mix in some Spycraft and PSI as well. Once the party learns about the encroaching shadow on our world, I will likely treat it as you've indicated -- common folk just allow their minds to replace what they're seeing with something they can accept and understand.

Our campaign is set in present day Chicago, but that's likely to change and shift as the adventures move forward. I gave the players three locale choices (DC, SF, or Chi) and they chose something close to home...a place everyone in the group has been several times previously.

The party features two Fast Hero PCs, and one each from all of the other class types except Strong. One Fast Hero is a Chicago Police Detective, while the other is a mercenary sniper (most recently working for the I.R.A.) who's being forced to help the US government. The Tough Hero is a bouncer from some seedy bar on the south side of Chicago who's known to dabble in explosives part time. The Charismatic Hero is a twentysomething pretty-boy rich kid, constantly in the papers for his wild exploits...to the eternal frustration of his parents. The Dedicated Hero is a crusading lawyer-type, who has not yet been approved to practice law because the demonstrations he's organized have kept the state of Illinois from issuing his license out of spite. Finally, the Smart Hero is a computer and financial wiz (and passionate gun enthusiast) working for the Department of Justice.

I'll post more on the backdrop, villains, and plots in there's interest .

EdwardForrester:
It is indeed -- I know I'm hooked !!

 

[Bibliophile]

One thing I found helped a bit was to play contemporary music in the background, really low. I have one of the music players and selected about 100 songs of all genres (buts stuff that would mostly be found in action-y movies).

Out of curiosity, what songs did you use? 100 might be a bit too many to post, but if you have the time could you email me a list? carpdiem@gte.net