The d20 modern feel

[evildmguy]

Stay together

Greetings!

I would highly suggest getting the group together for some reason, such as Department 7, CIA, FBI, MUFON, whatever.

I ran an Alternity Dark*Matter campaign a while ago and if they hadn't had a common goal, characters would have left. They would not have stuck together.

The reason is simple. As a team, they all have skills that complement each other for a mission. As individuals, they don't have enough in common to stick together.

In the D*M campaign, I had a hacker, two former army people, a psionicist and a professor of the occult. The hacker and the army guys might have done some stuff outside of work but even that pushes it. (btw, this is all in character only. Out of character, the group did see movies and try and do other things.) The professor would have had NOTHING in common with any of the others.

The other reason to do this is so that the players can play completely different character types, but whatever they want, and still have a reason to get together with the other characters. Again, would a Tough Hero hang out with a Dedicated Hero?

If you really want to role play the meeting and use the ideas here, have them create their first level characters and have them meet at a bar, tavern, or other good ideas such as were listed here for that first mission. (Perhaps a gun fight starts and all of them are thrown together.) Then, after that first mission, have them all recruited, as a team that works well together (perhaps even called free lance on the books) by whatever agency you are going to use.

Just some ideas.

edg

 

[Crothian]

Okay we have some good ideas for getting the party together but how about the other questions?

 

[Desdichado]

I've also hated the idea of meeting at a tavern and going off adventuring anyway -- something other than that has to pull the campaign together, IMO. For an example of how one group did it in modern, look at the story hour link in my sig!

 

[evildmguy]

Other questions

Crothian posted a good question. What can be done for a modern feel?

First of all, and while YMMV, I have found that having a computer at the table is not worth it. I have used a laptop while DMing, players have used laptops for characters or for neat effects. This overall, hasn't worked well in my opinion.

The computers end up being more of a distraction than anything. While it worked great for me to take notes, as I type faster than I can write, otherwise, I didn't see the use of it. It is faster and usually more efficient, unless you wish to have them tracked on the computer, to do most things by hand instead of by the computer.

Again, I would avoid it at the table.

Ideas: I was printing out the local paper's front page on the web and using the headlines for my own ideas. As it was a D*M campaign, conspiracies are great! So, I would take a headline, make up an adventure around it, and then pass that web page to the players. It gives them a handout and it is from the web, pretty modern. They also gave me great ideas with the other headlines.

Set up a yahoo group, or some such, and use that as a way to contact people. Keeps a lot of things centralized and somewhat organized.

Set up and maintain a web page with information. I once had web pages for the shops in town (DND campaign) so that we wouldn't have to worry about mundane stuff at the table. I even had them have minor magical items. (I would love to be able to do what I could do now, which is to populate the shops via a database and let the PCs buy it but track how much they spent and what they bought. I could do this easily now if I had the time. That's always the issue, isn't it?) This can be time consuming but it does allow for some good opportunities.

Use email. Write quick emails to the characters. If you have the time, maybe you write non mission related, like emails from family and friends. (Perhaps they become more relevant later) Write "down time" stuff in email. It is so much fun to see my players talk about what has happened to them from an email to the surprise of other players. It is also more fun when they have the information they need at the table rather than needing to ask me.

Again, from experience, DON'T set it in your own home town! If you are in a big town, move the action to another town entirely. I made the mistake of setting my D*M campaign in the town we all lived in and it didn't work. We would end up arguing the best route from one character's house to where their office was. That isn't needed! By generalizing it, and using a different city, the DM is able to make what he needs be there, instead of trying to force the real things to do what he wants.

There is lots of information on modern weapons. One message board had an mpeg of the automatic grenade launcher! It was pretty sweet. If everyone has access to the web, again, sending these items out for visuals can be helpful.

Some of these might seem contradictory. While some yield a lot of details, other seem to be shying away from detail. The point is to have the right amount of detail for your campaigns and what is needed. If you have too much, the group can get caught in the detail and not move anywhere. With too few details, it is tough to set anything up.

Hope these help!

edg

 

[D-rock]

I can see a lot of people using, "we all break out of prison together scenarios"

 

[Voneth]

Things for a modern feel:

Modern communication:
Even before cell phones, my modern horror games featured walkie-talkies and CBs. In fact, my groups would get around to making "magical talking stones" for their fantasy games after finding the usefulness of these items.

The downside to those magic items is that I couldn't use technological things (static, dead batteries, bad weather, got out of broadcast range) to break up the communication link. Nothing adds more tension to game than having a cocky party split up and then their cell phones cut out. Or to put the loner in another room and then walk out and say "Bob calls you and says, 'Oh my God it's coming this way it's .. "(static sounds).

Another bit is the assumption that when a PC makes a phone call, the other PC will always answer the call. Sometimes I let PC getting the "phone call" answer the phone and I tell them "Just a sec, it's not PC-2's call, like you assumed it would be." Then I smile evilly as the PC has to deal with an NPC phone conversation. The NPC calls range from wrong numbers, to telemarketers to - gasp! - the villian. All of the cell phones with caller ID has sort of nixed a lot of these unexpected calls though. Then again, who says a hacker can't fake a Caller ID number? Speaking of hackers ...

Technology as a Double Edge sword:
The main difference thematically in magic and tech is that tech is much more susceptible to malfunction or manipulation as well as to promote people to be dependent on its convenience. (as compared to a corrupting influence as magic). Computers can go from being your personal assistant to being your personal traitor. Lost your GPS system? So how long ago was it when you navigated by the stars? If it was back when you were a Boy Scout, then you get only an intelligence roll, unless you have survival or tracking. Lost your computer, can you do Calculus in your head, remember how to use a slide rule. If you lost your gun, you probably remembered to pack a hunting knife, but not a long sword.

Table talk is live talk:
It's amazing how many tough thugs and green berets can quote Monty Python. If you are playing in a fantasy world, it's okay to slip out of character, you actually have to just to get a can of soda. But in a modern game, it is the "realism" that is supposed to be the draw, so you should push role-playing to a new level. Going back to cell phones, a lot of what used to be out of game planning can now be done "over the phone." On the flip side, firefights are chaotic, there are no rank and file formations as in fantasy and there is no obvious tactical role such as "walking artiliary" or "brick" unless you are in a supers game. Most modern specialized roles happen in set up for planned ambush or after the event, such as recon, sniper, mortar, and medic. Everyone else pretty much changes roles in their attempt to move or provide cover fire. My point is that you should allow PC only a one or two word message as a freebie to go with their move-equivalent action, unless the game is cinematic. You might even want them to have a tactics skill that represents the training they have had as a team, or to enact practiced maneuvers under fire.

 

[garyh]

In Angelboi's "Tomorrow People" game I'm in, we all met at the local Starbucks.

They're everywhere... even modern RPG's.

 

[D-rock]

Things for a modern feel:



Sometimes I let PC getting the "phone call" answer the phone and I tell them "Just a sec, it's not PC-2's call, like you assumed it would be." Then I smile evilly as the PC has to deal with an NPC phone conversation.


I like this idea, I think I am going to write up some irritating pre-made telemarketer scrips I can just drop in right whene they are expecting an important phone call.

 

[Gargoyle]

I like this idea, I think I am going to write up some irritating pre-made telemarketer scrips I can just drop in right whene they are expecting an important phone call.

Now THAT should have been in the Book of Vile Darkness.

 

[Voneth]

Okay, this may sound strange how about emphasizing the use of smaller groups of PCs that answer either to an organization (if your fantasy group is a bunch of mercenaries) or are bunch of consultants (If your fantasy group answers to a liege lord -- Proof of Life was good example of how even mercs can be board room professional.)

In fact, the idea of a bunch of commoners running around with no one to answer to is a modernization fantasy and even LOTR. (The hobbits’ uniqueness to the group is that they are the only “common” people in the Fellowship, with everyone else of royal blood or an ancient race.) Most monks in the Far East belonged to an organization AND a religion, while ronin stand out because they lost their lord, not because they wanted to be solo.

Even Native American heroes were tribal figures, not lone gunmen.

The American cowboy may be one of the few examples of the loner, especially the romanticized version of the outlaws (hmmm, I wonder how many feudal lords in European legend were romanticized the same way.)

Back on track, I am not saying that playing a bunch of “solo” PCs with no real ties to their culture is the wrong way to play. But it does make it harder for a modern game to stand out when your group has already adopted that style for their fantasy game, which nine times out of 10 results from the usual practice of letting players design their PCs separately with no communication on who is creating what.

Personally, I am beginning to lean more on the group sitting down and discussing their concepts as a group. So that at very least that if you end up with two players who have the same class, they can define their unique differences in their PCs BEFORE they sit down at the table.