The "Where No D20 Book Have Gone Before" Thread

[JVisgaitis]

Have you checked out the Advanced Player's Manual from Green Ronin or the Advanced Player's Guide from SS&S?

I've seen the one by Sword and Sorcery and I wasn't overly impressed. Haven't checked out any of the advanced books by Green Ronin. The closest gaming store to me is 60 miles and I haven't made the trip in quite some time. I'm pretty frugal anymore and I probably won't pick it up till I get a chance to look through it.

 

[Gomez]

As to this idea, I'm lost. Are you trying to say someone should include Pokemonesque rules inside of a current campaign setting?

He is just trolling with some intentially stupid ideas. He is not being serious.

 

[Chaldfont]

Hehehe... While I greatly dislike the whole selling a 1-2 page article pamphlet on RPGNow for a dollar, I can see some market for a "loosely-based movie games without a license", but I doubt it will ever work - these days the ligitation-happy corporations are very likely to crush such small business for even attempting to cash indirectionally on their products's reputation.

I've actually thought of doing this. I was thinking more along the lines of a 32 page module (ala AD&D classics) using the D20 Modern SRD. It would be relatively easy to collect plot points from several movies in each category (how many cop/buddy movies can you name off the top of your head?) and reconstitute them into a plot. Heck, I expect this is what the writers of these movies do anyway (now I expect those writers who frequent ENWorld to start throwing flames at me!).

Once you have a general plot, come up with some PCs with simple motivations, a memorable villain, some set piece encounters to showboat the PCs cool abilities and so on. As long as you don't directly use obvious IP (like proper names and such), I think you would be ok.

These type of games work great at cons, but I bet a lot of us DMs would love a canned adventure to pull out when one or two of our regular players can't make it to the game.

 

[Ace]

After spending months of lurking through the EN-World dungeons, I finally decided to join in the word-based hack-n-slash with a half-rant, half-idea repository thread of my own.
SNIP

So I thought to start an idea-repository thread with ideas and concepts that haven't been done before in D20 books. Anything that makes some sense from commercial point and worth to be made into a book of average or large size, but somehow have managed to remain unnoticed by the publishers.

* A sourcebook of pets - dogs, cats, exotic pets. Rules on pet creation, pet care, pet feats and skills, training, vet classes, etc. The base concept should be for realistic pets, so it is usable in D20 3.5 and D20 Modern. Magical abilities can be available for certain settings (ie: talking dogs) without the book running into a familiar sourcebook. I can see 64 to 92 pages easily on this concept, and even more if developed thoroughly.

Animal Companions for FUDGE -- alas this is vaporware. Never done in D20 AFAIK

* The Collectable Fantasy Campaigns - It is the human nature to desire things that he doesn't need, but is made to believe he cannot live without. Collectible games of all kinds are based on that model and are so far extremely successful. But what if someone in your fantasy campaign have come with the same idea and then turned it into reality? What if you could add a "collectible" feel in your own fantasy campaign, and do it in a serious manner instead naive saturday morning cartoon? Magicians catching and battling their familiars, ghost hunters infusing trading card games with the souls of long-dead, plane-hopping gods collecting world fragments into magic dice and connecting them together to build their own pocket planes, etc? This sourcebook could present different metagame mechanics for building different collecible games and several standard examples of "breeding and battling monsters", "trading card game with summonable monsters", etc. and their effect if brought within a fantasy campaign, with example "vanilla D20" fantasy world that have fallen pray to a collectable frenzy. This could easily become a 200+ page book if given proper attention.

Cute and Fuzzy Cockfighting Seize Monsters for BESM does this.Also not D20

 

[howandwhy99]

Good idea. Howabout:

The Encyclopedia of Roleplaying - listing and describing every roleplaying product ever commercially published.

The D&D Dictionary - Troll Lords may have me on this one, but a dictionary with every Gygaxian word used in D&D products could be interesting. Heck, throw in some nonsense words just for fun to see who notices.

The Medieval Mindset - How to indoctrinate your players with 6th century belief systems.

The Inimitable Monster - How to bring your monsters to life with inexpensive sound systems and paper mache.

SoloQuest: The Friendless - Rules for playing both gamemaster and every character in adventures you have bought, but no one is willing to play with you.

Edible Minis

RPG Collecters Anonymous: a 12-step program - For those who do not know when to say when.

The D&D Tarot Card Set - Includes pictures from all your favorite campaign world characters.

Dice Stacking 101 - Full color photographs. Includes instructions for over 100 stackable creations.

 

[RaynerApe]

The Medieval Mindset - How to indoctrinate your players with 6th century belief systems.

I chuckled at most ideas of your list but THIS title I would really like to see taken seriously in a hefty book, with more fluff than crunch, and with few rules for certain psychological effects. It could be expanded to not only cover mediaval but different types of fantasy, the heroic and common mindset, and maybe even the mindset of certain monsters - perhaps separately in a The Monster Mindset book.

 

[howandwhy99]

I've actually thought of doing this. I was thinking more along the lines of a 32 page module (ala AD&D classics) using the D20 Modern SRD. It would be relatively easy to collect plot points from several movies in each category (how many cop/buddy movies can you name off the top of your head?) and reconstitute them into a plot. Heck, I expect this is what the writers of these movies do anyway (now I expect those writers who frequent ENWorld to start throwing flames at me!).

Once you have a general plot, come up with some PCs with simple motivations, a memorable villain, some set piece encounters to showboat the PCs cool abilities and so on. As long as you don't directly use obvious IP (like proper names and such), I think you would be ok.

These type of games work great at cons, but I bet a lot of us DMs would love a canned adventure to pull out when one or two of our regular players can't make it to the game.

Wow! This is a cool idea. It's also a good excuse to watch a bunch of old movies. I'd say collect a list of about 500 movies and write their plots out in an easy-to-read, DM style. Use the old Dungeon Master's Design Kit, if need be. You could bill it as "guess the movie plot" as you throw different hooks at your players.

Of course, when they realize THEY are the ghosts in the end and the kid isn't making things up, you might get some dice tossed your way.

 

[jmucchiello]

I want a source book on creating the ultimate re-occuring arch-villain. Help me create a bad guy like Scorpius of Farscape, Arvin Sloan of Alias or Kyrcek of X-Files. I want a character that the players hate and know will double-cross them but that they have to deal with sooner or later. Maybe a prestige class or two based on these types of villains.

The reason those examples of recurring archvillains work so well is they have script immunity. I'm sure you can think of a dozen times the protagonists could have just killed the archvillain rather than buying into his story about how they have to do this or the world is doomed. Problem is, RPG players don't have a copy of the script. If you force the villain to have script immunity, you are railroading the PCs. If you don't, the villain is toast the second time the players meet him (and the world is also probably doomed, but they can just make up new characters for next time, right?)

Aside from that, to be an effective recurring villain, the villain must have a relationship with one or more of the PCs that explains why he acts villainously toward the PCs. Hard to codify that in a book that knows nothing about your play group.

So while it could be a good supplement, it would most likely be very vague in its execution. Having said that, isn't there a Scarred Lands book about building villains?

 

[tjoneslo]

Good idea. Howabout:

The Encyclopedia of Roleplaying - listing and describing every roleplaying product ever commercially published.

This kind of exists already : see Pen and Paper, The RPG Database. It not entirely a bad idea, just not one that goes well in a dead tree form.

 

[Wraith Form]

Having said that, isn't there a Scarred Lands book about building villains?

Close, you're talking about Kenzer's Villian Design Handbook.