The Fate of D20 Modern

[Knightfall]

We're North American, but not American, here in Canada, and it was big enough here. Maybe there was some kind of tie between where G.I. Joe was popular, and what countries were purchasing military technology from the U.S., or doing military development for the U.S. (ie. Canada meets both requirements).

There was a time, before I got into D&D, when I was big into G.I. Joe toys, and a lot of my friends were also.....for the boys, it was either G.I. Joe, Transformers, or Star Wars.

Hey, that was the exact same thing that happened to me; although, I was still collecting Transformers in my early teens. I just couldn't let go.

For a while I combined my G.I. Joe, Star Wars, and Transformer toys into one huge melee. Basically, me and my friends would lay out all my stuff and pick teams of action figures and vehicles and have huge toy wars in my basement or in my backyard.

I can't remeber exactly how we resolved combat but it was a lot of fun. (I don't think we rolled dice.) Once I seriously got into D&D, I started trying to design G.I. Joe and Transformers roleplaying games but thay never really got fleshed out. Hell, I even turned a large table in the basement into a mockup of Cybertron using cardboard.

Ah, fun times.

 

[NMC]

I'd like to see a 4E powered Urban Arcana, GI Joe, Transformers, Marvel SuperHeroes & Heroscape Setting books.

I for one would definitely not like to see heavy 4E influence in a new Modern ruleset. I think it could work really well for GI Joe or other combat-oriented games, I don't think it would work so well for other styles of play. The emphasis on combat-oriented powers as class abilities, for one thing, would be irksome in a more investigative type of game.

-Nate

 

[KaintheSeeker]

I'd like to see a 4E powered Urban Arcana, GI Joe, Transformers, Marvel SuperHeroes & Heroscape Setting books.

I don't think it would work, well as a follow up to the very class flexible d20 modern game we have. I mean.. multiclassing isn't well handled (in my opinion anway) in 4e and I think the massive amounts of class abilities would slow down things a lot in the character building stage. (Not to mention in the modern games I've played combat isn't always a factor, and most of the class abilities in 4e are related to combat in some form)

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I don't think it would work, well as a follow up to the very class flexible d20 modern game we have. I mean.. multiclassing isn't well handled (in my opinion anway) in 4e and I think the massive amounts of class abilities would slow down things a lot in the character building stage. (Not to mention in the modern games I've played combat isn't always a factor, and most of the class abilities in 4e are related to combat in some form)

My hope is that, once the designers came up with a combat power system, they could also come up with interesting "narrative" mechanics to deal with the non-combat stuff. And then put it all together in a cool package.

Yes, I am a dreamer...


I think I am fine with every character being broadly defined by a non-combat role and a combat role. (I mean, do you really expect to play a charismatic professor and aircraft pilot in a team-based game? Or a martial arts specialist sniper?)

 

[KaintheSeeker]

My hope is that, once the designers came up with a combat power system, they could also come up with interesting "narrative" mechanics to deal with the non-combat stuff. And then put it all together in a cool package.

Yes, I am a dreamer...


I think I am fine with every character being broadly defined by a non-combat role and a combat role. (I mean, do you really expect to play a charismatic professor and aircraft pilot in a team-based game? Or a martial arts specialist sniper?)

Not a thing wrong with dreaming. I personally find 4e unpalatable, but have agreed that it fits in some groups. I think that d20 modern would work better if they take a clue from the latest version of Star Wars RPG or MAYBE Pathfinder. I don't think the abilities that 4e offers is a good fit for d20 Modern that's all.

 

[NMC]

(I mean, do you really expect to play a charismatic professor and aircraft pilot in a team-based game? Or a martial arts specialist sniper?)

I think it can work, if a GM's adventures are written in a way that incorporates challenges for both types of characters.

-Nate

 

[Nadaka]

I think it can work, if a GM's adventures are written in a way that incorporates challenges for both types of characters.

-Nate

But it generally works better if your charismatic professor is also highly skilled at evading deadly traps, is a crack shot with a whip/pistol and usually wears leather armor (that looks like a fedora and leather jacket). He should also be named after a state and hate snakes.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I think it can work, if a GM's adventures are written in a way that incorporates challenges for both types of characters.

-Nate

In case you did not notice - both characters are more or less generalist or universalist (though the former only for non-combat stuff, the second only for combat stuff).

But it generally works better if your charismatic professor is also highly skilled at evading deadly traps, is a crack shot with a whip/pistol and usually wears leather armor (that looks like a fedora and leather jacket). He should also be named after a state and hate snakes.

Indeed.

It would help if role playing games were played with one-man parties instead of 3-5 players and their characters.

 

[Ranger REG]

Not a thing wrong with dreaming. I personally find 4e unpalatable, but have agreed that it fits in some groups. I think that d20 modern would work better if they take a clue from the latest version of Star Wars RPG or MAYBE Pathfinder. I don't think the abilities that 4e offers is a good fit for d20 Modern that's all.

FYI, Star Wars Saga is based on 4e alpha development material that Rodney Thompson got to read and design around them, with Star Wars in mind, which IMNSHO, is a setting with strict parameter/boundaries.

d20 Modern will have to promote their rulesystem as can be open for any type of modern-day genre roleplaying.

 

[Saurstalk Tryst]

I'll probably end up retrofitting Pathfinder's rules into my d20 Modern campaign, but with some borrowed rules from Star Wars Saga Edition.

And while SWSE is a predecessor to the 4e rule set, it would be inappropriate to equate the two. I happened to like what SWSE did and was looking forward to 4e until I realized that it really wasn't following SWSE's work ... at least where I hoped that WotC would.