RPG systems frozen in time

trappedslider · 2026-03-18T01:45:19+0000

I still run d20modern and it was created and published back during the early 2000s and you can see it in the gear/item list. To keep my sanity and not having to worry about introducing more recent tech and figuring out the purchasing DCs, I tell the players that join before we officially start the game that it's set in 2004 unless i use the d20future book in which case it's the future!

Do any other GMs do this kind of thing or do you chose to work out modern advances into your games that set in the current year/tech setting?

jdrakeh · 2026-03-18T09:21:33+0000

When I run TSR's Top Secret, I always run it in the Cold War era of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

BigJackBrass · 2026-03-18T09:30:19+0000

My general setting for CHILL is a sort of "the mid-eighties as you remember them."

GrimCo · 2026-03-18T09:41:01+0000

I work out modern advances. WW nWoD is my go to game for anything modern and urban. That game started in 2004. I put all modern tech in it ( smartphones, drones, fast internet, social media). It's funny, cause it's in some ways harder to brake Masquarade now when there is bunch of fakes, cgi and AI videos circling online and flooding feeds. Clan Daeva vampire doing his "vampire gimmick" in the open on the tiktok is discarded as just another wannabe influencer.

Out of curiosity, what tech is giving you hard time?

Koloth · 2026-03-18T09:43:22+0000

While generally set in the far future, watching how Traveller deals with computers is entertaining. In the 70's Traveller, computers are massive multi-ton things that sit in the bowels of a ship and can only run one or two things at a time. As the game versions get closer to now in publishing time(not game setting time), computers and related communications gear gets smaller and more capable.

trappedslider · 2026-03-18T11:00:37+0000

GrimCo said:
I work out modern advances. WW nWoD is my go to game for anything modern and urban. That game started in 2004. I put all modern tech in it ( smartphones, drones, fast internet, social media). It's funny, cause it's in some ways harder to brake Masquarade now when there is bunch of fakes, cgi and AI videos circling online and flooding feeds. Clan Daeva vampire doing his "vampire gimmick" in the open on the tiktok is discarded as just another wannabe influencer.

Out of curiosity, what tech is giving you hard time?

so in the corebook published in 2002, it has separate entries for digital recorder,,camera: Digital,film,35mm,disposable and then cell phone,PDA, two entries for computers, desktop or notebook, modems (cellular or broadband), portable satellite phone, portable video camera,printer, scanner and then under survival gear there's GPS receiver,walkie talkies (basic or professional).

I don't know how WoD does prices,but money is very abstracted in d20 modern, where buying stuff is a DC roll check. which is very inconsistent anyway.

It's just easier and quicker to say we're playing in the year 2003 than figure out the purchase DCs for an all in one item, even the d20 future supplement book doesn't do tablets,or smartphones

GrimCo · 2026-03-18T11:59:06+0000

It works quite similar. Resource merit. Anything that's priced under your merit, you can just buy. If it's above, you roll and hope. They gave ballpark for each dot, but that's in 2004 prices, i have adjusted it for today's prices. Someone with 2 Resources is middle class, 1200-1500$ of disposable income (adjusted to 2000$ for today), used newer car like Toyota Corolla, 8000$ in savings (raised to 15000 for today), renting nice 1-2 bedroom apartment. So, buying something under that 2000$ is automatic. Buying something more expensive requires to either dip into your savings which once depleted, drops you one dot, or you roll. You can only roll for things that are under your savings (assets). Exceptional success means you found great deal, so you don't take full hit on savings, Regular success means you just payed full price out of savings. Failure means you can't buy it, but savings remains intact.

Now, pricing it, if i remember, D20 modern did have some conversion table between DC and $ value. But it was calculated with 2004 prices in mind. DC2=5$. You would probably need to update it to DC2=10$ ( and for every +2 on DC it doubles the value, so DC10=160$, DC15=1000$). For 2026 prices, rise up DC for auto drain to DC17 (2200$) cause everything got so much more expensive.

I use real life prices of things. Wanna buy new Iphone in game? I look it, see that base model 17 is 1030E, so someone with 2000e disposable income could purchase it no problem. Buying 64GB of ram? You gonna need to roll that Resources

trappedslider · 2026-03-18T12:06:58+0000

GrimCo said:
It works quite similar. Resource merit. Anything that's priced under your merit, you can just buy. If it's above, you roll and hope. They gave ballpark for each dot, but that's in 2004 prices, i have adjusted it for today's prices. Someone with 2 Resources is middle class, 1200-1500$ of disposable income (adjusted to 2000$ for today), used newer car like Toyota Corolla, 8000$ in savings (raised to 15000 for today), renting nice 1-2 bedroom apartment. So, buying something under that 2000$ is automatic. Buying something more expensive requires to either dip into your savings which once depleted, drops you one dot, or you roll. You can only roll for things that are under your savings (assets). Exceptional success means you found great deal, so you don't take full hit on savings, Regular success means you just payed full price out of savings. Failure means you can't buy it, but savings remains intact.

Now, pricing it, if i remember, D20 modern did have some conversion table between DC and $ value. But it was calculated with 2004 prices in mind. DC2=5$. You would probably need to update it to DC2=10$ ( and for every +2 on DC it doubles the value, so DC10=160$, DC15=1000$). For 2026 prices, rise up DC for auto drain to DC17 (2200$) cause everything got so much more expensive.

I use real life prices of things. Wanna buy new Iphone in game? I look it, see that base model 17 is 1030E, so someone with 2000e disposable income could purchase it no problem. Buying 64GB of ram? You gonna need to roll that Resources

yeah i don't wanna do that

d20 modern wealth rules also get broken very quickly lol since it's also a skill check

A Wealth check is a 1d20 roll plus a character’s current Wealth bonus. The Wealth bonus is fluid. It increases as a character gains Wealth and decreases as the character makes purchases.

If the character succeeds on the Wealth check, the character gains the object. If the character fails, he or she can’t afford the object at the time.

If the character’s current Wealth bonus is equal to or greater than the DC, the character automatically succeeds.

If the character successfully purchases an object or service with a purchase DC that’s higher than his or her current Wealth bonus, the character’s Wealth bonus decreases.

Every time a character gains a new level, make a Profession check. (If the character has no ranks in the skill, this check is a Wisdom check.) The DC is equal to the character’s current Wealth bonus. If the character succeeds, his or her current Wealth bonus increases by +1. For every 5 points by which the character exceeds the DC, he or she gains an additional +1 to his or her Wealth bonus.