System recommendations for modern weirdness?

[jdrakeh]

The real question -- do you expect to have a hard time convincing players to try an unknown system? That may aim you towards d20 or an independent game.

That may be a factor. Right now, I think that I'll pick up a copy of d20 Modern, the Menace Manual, Dark Matter, The Esoterrorists, and Fear Itself. This way I'll have all of my bases covered, without hitting my $200 limit (leaving me enough cash to grab either Dungeon Bash or Forward to Adventure).

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

Are there any samples of what the gumshoe system looks like? I mean, it SOUNDS interesting, but a quick browse around the site provides no obvious link to a quickplay or even a description of basic mechanics.

I still find d20Modern + Dark*Matter to push that particular button for me rather well.

--fje

 

[jdrakeh]

Are there any samples of what the gumshoe system looks like? I mean, it SOUNDS interesting, but a quick browse around the site provides no obvious link to a quickplay or even a description of basic mechanics.

I still find d20Modern + Dark*Matter to push that particular button for me rather well.

--fje

There's a review over at RPGnet that seems to lay out the basics very nicely (not CW's review).

 

[Psion]

Well if you don't like True20, its almost certain you won't like D20 modern, since they are very similar.

They differ in ways meaningful enough that I find D20 Modern workable but not so for True20. True20 stips out almost all vestiges of structure you see in typical D20 variants, D20 Modern included. If you find that structure helpful to your gaming, you may not find True20 satisfying.

Perhaps more significantly, D20 Modern has a ton of support, and has heavy support in modern supernatural. Dark Matter, Blood & Relics, Modern Backdrops, etc. Not that you couldn't adapt some of those to True20, with a little work.

 

[Psion]

What I'm looking to run is a modern-day fantasy adventure with PCs as average folks and the thing from myth and legend (as well as pure fantasy) slowly seeping into the real world. Something a bit like Poltergeist: The Legacy or Friday the 13th: The Series with elements of Pan's Labyrinth, I guess. So far, the following systems have been recommended:

• Call of Cthulhu (Third Edition)
  
• d20 Modern (plus Menace Manual and Dark*Matter).
  
• World of Darkness (plus Antagonists, Mysterious Place, and Urban Legends)

Now, I'd prefer to do this with as few books and/or as little weekly prep time as possible, so systems that get me near both of those goals win points (I already own HERO FRED and JAGS Revised but they both require me to build everything from the ground up, so they're both out, I'm afraid). What suggestions do you have to offer?

Somehow, I thought you were fairly familiar with those. I don't know what preferences you might have that would steer you towards either D20 or nWoD. D20's my preference, but as a system, but I find nWoD a workable iteration of the system. I don't have antagonists or Urban Legends, but I have Mysterious Places and have actually been thinking of dropping some of it into my Spycraft game to give it a bit of an X-files feel.

D20 Modern perhaps has the most in-place support for modern supernatural. Dark Matter and Menace Manual is a good starting point, but I don't think it has the visceral creepiness of the nWoD stuff. But it can. I wouldn't hesitate to throw in Mysterious Places with Dark Matter. In fact, I intend to (albeit with Spycraft.)

D20 CoC is not my favorite, mainly in terms of character generation. D20 Modern, True20, and Spycraft 2.0 all have much better chargen. But it has some nice bits that can be used with other D20 games.

 

[Vigilance]

Are there any samples of what the gumshoe system looks like? I mean, it SOUNDS interesting, but a quick browse around the site provides no obvious link to a quickplay or even a description of basic mechanics.

I still find d20Modern + Dark*Matter to push that particular button for me rather well.

--fje

YOU ARE REALITY’S LAST DEFENDERS, ELITE INVESTIGATORS COMBATING THE PLOTS OF THE ESOTERRORISTS, A LOOSE AFFILIATION OF OCCULT TERRORISTS INTENT ON TEARING THE FABRIC OF THE WORLD AND LETTING THE MONSTERS IN.

UNLIKE OTHER INVESTIGATIVE ROLEPLAYING GAMES, THE ESOTERRORIST’S GUMSHOE RULES SYSTEM1 ENSURES THAT THE PLOT NEVER GRINDS TO A HALT DUE TO A FAILED DIE ROLL. AS THE TOP PARANORMAL DETECTIVES, YOU NEVER FAIL IN YOUR AREAS OF EXPERTISE. WHEN NECESSARY, YOU CAN EXPEND EXTRA EFFORT TO GLEAN MORE FROM THE EVIDENCE THAN ANY PLODDING JOURNEYMAN COULD HOPE TO FIND.

Here's the blurb from the introduction.

I found it an interesting read, though I never ran it.

 

[jdrakeh]

Somehow, I thought you were fairly familiar with those.

I am, I'm just looking for options.

D20 Modern perhaps has the most in-place support for modern supernatural. Dark Matter and Menace Manual is a good starting point, but I don't think it has the visceral creepiness of the nWoD stuff.

What if I dropped Year of the Zombie (including the Grim Tales sanity rules) into the mix?

 

[Psion]

What if I dropped Year of the Zombie (including the Grim Tales sanity rules) into the mix?

I don't own YotS; wouldn't know.

The Grim Tales sanity rules is a good option, of course (and if you aren't interested in leveraging some other bits of D20 Modern, you might consider using it wholesale). But it just wasn't mechanics I was speaking of; I think that the sort of writing that is in the non-Monster:The Gerund nWoD stuff is good, creepy stuff, that you won't see as much of coming from D20 material. (Though Dark Matter is close... but consider it didn't originate as a D20 setting.

I wouldn't hesitate to pour in Dark*Matter and Mysterious Places together, but perhaps that recommendation comes in part from the fact that's what I'm doing. But then I'm doing it with Spycraft, which makes NPC creation pretty trivial. But if you start with D20 Modern and pull in Mysterious places, you're mostly going after the story bits, so that's not of much concern.

 

[Vigilance]

What if I dropped Year of the Zombie (including the Grim Tales sanity rules) into the mix?

Then that would be the greatest campaign of all time.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Go with the nWoD, or CoC.

Why? Well, based on my (admittedly fairly limited) exposure to nWoD, to date, it appears to be very neat and effective in its role. And that role is modern supernatural horror. Rather than any generic system molded, crammed, or mutilated into that shape, it's already there. "So it comes pre-mutilated?" Eh, you know what I mean.

And CoC needs no justification, I'm sure.


Incidentally, I've been finding d20 Modern and D&D rather slow and clunky recently, having gone the True20 way for a while. But I suppose that is addressed to your '1% non-opposed' side, so chances are it's not much use to you. Sorry, couldn't resist.


edit --- nearly snorted some drink out, when thinking of how someone could possibly might still justify C&C as the system of choice here. hehe.