Results from d20 Modern game

[DanMcS]

4 PCs.

Treat Injury, learn it, have it, love it. On more than 1 PC, too, because your medic has an annoying tendancy to stop bullets. Don't know why, but it's true.

Basically, the big damage dice on guns, low armor, and lack of healing magic intoduces extra randomness to combat. As it notes in the 3e DMG, extra randomness tends to be worse for PCs than for NPCs, because the PCs are exposed to it in every scene, while the NPCs usually only show up once or twice.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Our game also has 4 PCs and I'm strongly thinking about having their magical contact offer curative potions at half price or something.

 

[Jeph]

Lethal is good. I like lethal. It stops my players from pulling guns in police stations.

 

[kreynolds]

My own game doesn't start till January, but we have 7 PCs. So far I'm having a hard time decided what would be a good challenge for such a large group.

One 2nd or 3rd level BBEG?

 

[UnDfind]

quote:
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Originally posted by Crothian
My own game doesn't start till January, but we have 7 PCs. So far I'm having a hard time decided what would be a good challenge for such a large group.
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Don't worry too much about that. I'm running my game with a large group (8 PCs), and I ended up dropping three of them with 6 goblins wielding handguns...when the party average was 2nd level! That single encounter taught me two lessons about D20 Modern: You should think more about what won't be a challenge for the PCs than what will; and 6 goblins w/ desert eagles are pretty damned cool

The game really does have the gritty feel I've always felt modern games need, if only for the suspension of disbelief factor. Also, on a side note, I've noticed that the players have been a whole lot more thoughtful of how their characters act in Modern than in our previous D+D campaigns. I don't know if it's because they identify closer to their PCs, or if they're just freaked out 'cause they know their alter ego could go at any second...but I like it. Makes the whole thing more real...and more fun.

Okee...done rambling

 

[Plane Sailing]

Oh yeah, and no armor. 1st level heroes are just much less combat capable in d20 modern than their 3e counterparts. Most have no armor proficiency, and you're perpetually broke, so you can't afford good armor anyway. Many start out with only simple weapon proficiency. But no armor is killer. Your AC ends up being 10+dexterity bonus most of the time. We ended up scrounging for leather jackets for the measily +1 defense.

What about cover?

Now in D&D, people rarely bother with cover, but in a gunfight there are plenty of reasons to hunker down behind trash cans, corners, cars etc and pick up 75% cover... +7 to your AC.

Did many people use cover in your combats?

 

[BiggusGeekus@Work]

Did many people use cover in your combats?

The first combat was on a moving metro car. The cover was those plastic metro seats and I applied a penalty because of the shaky movment of the car. The second combat was on a stairwell so there was some cover there too. But a hit is still a hit. Sooner or later someone is going to take 10 hit points of damage and that's going to leave a nasty mark.

I'm kind of wishing d20 Modern armor made more use of DR.

 

[DanMcS]

What about cover?

Now in D&D, people rarely bother with cover, but in a gunfight there are plenty of reasons to hunker down behind trash cans, corners, cars etc and pick up 75% cover... +7 to your AC.

Did many people use cover in your combats?

Constantly. We wheedled the DM into putting some big crates on the dock, in fact, because they would reasonably be there, and otherwise we were packing up and running away.

Still, when you get hit, you're screwed.

 

[Ruland]

Treat Injury, learn it, have it, love it. On more than 1 PC, too, because your medic has an annoying tendancy to stop bullets. Don't know why, but it's true.

It really is. Our PCs are adventuring in our hometown in Germany and the immediate neighborhood - although among the PCs you find 1 American Indian cop, 1 Chinese Lady and 1 Canadian ex soldier. The Chinese Lady is the teams medic, and she was the first to go down in a Puppeteer attack in a rural manor. d20M combat is deadly, and the players love it. Two game sessions until now, and all are hungry for more.
Guess who went down the second in the same combat? The only other PC with some ranks in Treat Injury ...

 

[Desdichado]

This is what I've been saying for a while now: a lot of folks claim d20 Modern is fantastical combat maneuvers like D&D. I still say it's a good compromise between D&D and d20 Call of Cthulhu as far as "deadliness." I really like it. I find D&D to be over-the-top these days.

However, I don't think it's just the weapons. I'm considering converting Modern into something I could use as a fantasy game (really only need to swap out a few skills for a few other skills. Not hard at all.) I suspect that it will also play a bit more deadly than D&D does. After all, even a basic longsword does 1d8+Str modifier damage.