Players Want A D20 Modern Mundane Campaign

[Dannyalcatraz]

They could be in a grocery store instead of a bank, or various businesses all in the same strip mall...or a Wal-Mart...

What about an amusement park?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

You might also want to take a look at plots from non-police action/investigation shows like The Equalizer, Vega$, Spenser: For Hire, Rockford Files, Stingray, Knight Rider, Magnum PI, Human Target, Level 9, MacGyver and so forth. Even lighter shows like Monk or Psych could work.

 

[Loonook]

From your description I feel you have a couple of options...

Grifter, beater, white knight, and techie?

and even

For ideas... Of course if you want something more sweeping ideas can be had...

Hrmm... Plenty of options and that is just off the top of my head .

Slainte,

-Loonook.

 

[Guest 85555]

You might also want to take a look at plots from non-police action/investigation shows like The Equalizer, Vega$, Spenser: For Hire, Rockford Files, Stingray, Knight Rider, Magnum PI, Human Target, Level 9, MacGyver and so forth. Even lighter shows like Monk or Psych could work.

Shows like monk are really great in my opinion because they are so mundane (they take mundane stuff and make it interesting) and all about characters (and characters are essential to amodern mundane game).

 

[Ringan]

+1 to all the Wire posts. Also, check out Sons of Anarchy (first three seasons stream on Netflix). It's about a biker gang which contains the requisite tough guys as well as a hacker and other clever cerebral types. Mostly realistic except for their teflony avoidance of prosecution.

 

[Radiating Gnome]

It's still sort of fantasy, so it might be breaking the group's rules, but take a look at the DarkMatter stuff that was produced years ago (for alternity, then a conversion to D20 Modern). That will let you bring in some X-files-ish mystery/alien flavor to the game.

 

[Pbartender]

Do you guys have any ideas? We're going to start in 3 weeks, so I have some time, but I kind of want to get a basic story ready so I can start making the maps and npc's, etc.

As others have said, delegate some of the work to your players. Phases from FATE 3.0 can help, as (Psi)SeveredHead mentioned...

Something else I'm going to try for my next game is using randomized "plot maps"...

Each player writes down a list of six things:

1. A Person
2. An Event
3. A Faction
4. A Location
5. An Object
6. A Threat

They can be as specific or as vague as they like.

Then, you, as the DM, come up with one or perhaps two lists of the same six things... You should have an even number of lists. Finally, number each list.

Now, roll one die to randomly determine the list, and a second die to randomly determine an item from that list. Do this three times. Take those three things, and determine the connections between each of them. That gives you a basic for an adventure.

 

[GSHamster]

Their characters are:
A local small time hood
A disgraced cop turned private eye
A young techno geek
A bodybuilder

I think your best bet is to treat the campaign as if it were a television show. I would go with a detective show with the private eye as the 'lead'.

So just keep saying, "in this episode..." and go from there. Have each session be an episode of the show. Here's a link that might help:

Prime Time Roleplaying: Producing a TV Series Campaign

 

[haakon1]

The key is the connections between the characters.

The bank robbery one is fun, but my inclination would be one of the following scenarios . . .

1) Band of Brothers. They've known each other forever. Maybe they are:
--- literally brothers or cousins (like many Westerns)
--- were raised in the same foster home ("Four Brothers" the movie)
--- went to elementary school/high school/or college together, or were in the same band ("The Blues Brothers")
--- were in the military together if they all have some basic combat skills ("Magnum, PI")
--- were all in love with the same woman and met fighting over here (never seen this one, but I do have one good friend I met this way)
--- were all in jail together
--- used to be a gang together but went legit

2) You meet at a tavern. It's St. Patrick's Day, or Cinco de Mayo. You're a little tipsy and playing pool against strangers. The hacker and the bodybuilder are good friends from high school (the hacker tutored the bodybuilder, who was "My Bodyguard" against bullies), and the disgraced cop and small-time hood are friends too (disgraced for letting his friend walk?). They end up playing each other when . . .
--- The strange old guy (cloak optional) comes over to comment on the game and gives them the adventure clue
--- All heck breaks loose because . . . I'd go with biker gang breaking up the bar ("A Bronx Tale"). They either all get arrested together, or better yet, they don't -- because the bar is owned by a grateful mobster who sees to it they don't get arrested.

Yeah, I'd go with that last one -- two pairs, getting into a messy bar fight with bikers, saved from jail by an old school mobster. You create a group, a recurring enemy (the bikers), and a shady patron (the mobster), all in one scene.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Good stuff in there!