Ultramodern 5 vs everyday heroes

[Shades of Eternity]

These two are the ones vying for me in working a 5e modern game.

Anybody use both and what are the pros and cons for each?

 

[sigfried]

I'm a bit biased since I wrote half of Everyday Heroes. I actually don't know ultramodern well, but the folks that make it seem like good people.

I can't speak for the rules, but I think the setting focus is a little different in the core books. Ultramodern has more near-future tech and a more techno kind of look to it. Everyday Heroes is a modern setting but looks a little bit more to the action movies of the last 30 years for its inspiration so it's got a slightly more retro feel.

We have a free kickstart guide you can check out on DriveThru, though it's just a little out of date from the published core rule book as it was done while we were still in playtest on the core rules. Still, it gives you most of the actual rule set and the overall feel of the game.

 

[Dias Ex Machina]

The biggest difference, if I trust what people have told me, is that Everyday Heroes was built from the ground up as a self-enclosed system based on 5E as a spiritual successor for the original 3.5 D20 modern. However, D20 modern back then was not designed to be wholly 100% compatible with 3.5 D&D. Everyday Heroes contains all the rules required to play--it is technically its own entity (which is why it is listed on DTRPG as D&D-OGL but not under 5e-compatible). It is also listed as its own ruleset.

ULTRAMODERN5 was built from the ground up to be 100% compatible with 5E D&D. It is built so you can plug elements from any 5E book into it as well as pull elements from UM5 into your own traditional 5E game. As a result, unlike EH, UM5 requires at least the D&D PHB to understand all the rules. Sigfried is partially correct in his appraisal--UM5 is less retro than EH, but UM5 presents tech levels where a GM can set how advanced he wants his game. So we have primitive basic weapons and as the tech level goes up, so does the advancement of the technology, eventually leading to powered armor and plasma weapons. Where EH took inspiration from 80s action movies, UM5 took inspiration from modern video games.

If you look at the second edition REDUX instead of the older version of UM5, you also get technomagic and a mecha construction sytem.
ALSO, we put up all of UM5 into OGL under its own SRD, so technically, you can download ALL the rules for free (it just lacks art, maps, adventures, and fluff). I mean giving us money is nice too.

Hope this helps.

 

[Dias Ex Machina]

Also, if you want more variety, we also offer three settings:

A full-on mecha space opera called Conestoga
A sci-fi fantasy called Paradise
and a steampunk setting called Torus

 

[sigfried]

The biggest difference, if I trust what people have told me, is that Everyday Heroes was built from the ground up as a self-enclosed system based on 5E as a spiritual successor for the original 3.5 D20 modern. However, D20 modern back then was not designed to be wholly 100% compatible with 3.5 D&D. Everyday Heroes contains all the rules required to play--it is technically its own entity (which is why it is listed on DTRPG as D&D-OGL but not under 5e-compatible). It is also listed as its own ruleset.

That is correct; your trust was well placed. The Everyday Heroes core rules were written such that it's a complete game, and it includes material for people brand new to the hobby to help them learn the basics and help people new to a modern setting.

The core mechanics are the same as 5e core but there are various changes in the details. Its balance and core are the same so components are interoperable, but the specifics of the rules are a bit different.

The Everyday Heroes core book doesn't have any future tech (besides a few robot enemies in the rogues' gallery). So if that's your jam, it sounds like Ultramodern lives up to the name in spades. We will have some future tech coming in, well.... the near future.

 

[Greg K]

@sigfried, is the "deauthorization" of the OGL 1.0(a) going to affect Everyday Heroes?

 

[Dias Ex Machina]

That's a good question, Greg. For EH, it might, and I am sure Sigfried can address that. Personally, I think the book is ok, especially if 1.2 is adopted, as the grandfather clause allows EH to exist with the 1.0a license.

Ultramodern5 is a bit better off because we are NOT self-enclosed. We don't copy/paste content from the SRD, so technically, even though we print the OGL plate, we technically may not need to.

The irony is that some people's criticism with UM5 is that you need the D&D PHB at least to play it, but given the recent news and the crisis regarding the OGL, UM5 would have been thankfully safe no matter what happened.

 

[sigfried]

@sigfried, is the "deauthorization" of the OGL 1.0(a) going to affect Everyday Heroes?

Not especially. I composed the rules from scratch, not using language from the SRD. I'd heard rumors of this coming down the pike for the last year, and I'm just kind of prideful as a designer, so I wanted to describe the rules in a way I thought would be best and put my personal writing style into them. So 5e Rules, but Sig Trent expressions of said rules.

Also, since we are not a fantasy game, we only use the portions of the rule set that WOTC says they are putting under Creative Commons. That's kind of a nice extra layer of safety for us and we'd be happy to attribute that content out of respect for the designers who put work into the rules system over the decades, even if we didn't use the text itself.

Evil Genius plans on dropping use of the OGL for future publications, maintaining our rights to use the rule systems under our own expressions. We are in the ORC alliance and will likely use that license to make all our mechanics available as open content for game designers of all stripes. We are still putting our own SRD-type document together since our game is very new still.

Hopefully, neither Dias Ex Machina nor Evil Genius Games have any problems from WOTC and we can both go on making cool fun games for modern action fans!

 

[Dias Ex Machina]

Yup, that's what I figured, and I applaud Sigfried for writing rules in new ways to avoid these issues.

Currently, is unsure of its direction regarding OGL. We are also in the ORC alliance and are hoping WOTC stops using the stick in favor of more carrot to win us back to their side.

 

[Shades of Eternity]

Seriously, you guys need to get into a friendly rivalry.

Use social media to playfully make fun of each other.

Run four hour games con games side by side

Go on podcasts where you compare and constrast your games.

That way you might be able to drive sales while we're waiting for the other shoe to drop.