What are You Looking Forward To?

[Falanor]

Things I'm looking forward to:

1 Nyambe
2 Farscape
3 D20 Modern
4 T20
5 Pirates and Musketeers
6 Epic Level Handbook
7 Dungeon/Poly/Dragon
8 Book of Vile Darkness
9 Mutants and Masterminds
10 More Spycraft stuff
11 Any Kenzer Co. Kalamar Stuff (Villian Design, Atlas, etc)
12 Dark Ages: Vampire
13 Silver Age Sentinels d20
14 Slaine D20
15 Judge Dredd D20
16 Dragonlance D20
17 PLANESCAPE D20!
18 Monster Manual 2
19 Tooth and Claw (The Monster Race Book)
20 Tome of Horrors


Things I'd really love to see:

1 Greyhawk Campaign Setting book similar to the FRCS book!
2 Future D20
3 Fields of Blood (I think I'll see a Greyhawk Campaign book before this thing)

 

[AtFantasyReviewGuru]

Ravenloft Gazetteer Vol. I. Not only am I a sucker for most things Ravenloft, but the lands it details (Hazlan, Barovia, Forlorn, Kartakass) are ones I'm actually using in my campaign currently.

Occult Lore. I can't say that enough. I've been looking forward to this for quite some time. I plan on using at least 2-3 of the alternate magic systems, if not more.

All Arcane Mysteries from MEG. Like alternate magic systems, as the D&D one is pretty crappy.

Nyambe. Not really enthused about Africa in general, but it's really got me interested because it's a historical topic I know zippy about. Not enthused about the fantasy races, but I'd like to see how "voodoo magic" is handled.

Anything from Avalanche. Love the historical supplements. I, Mordred and War in Heliopolis look the most interesting because of the slightly different takes on mythology.

Book of Vile Darkness - maybe. Depends what's actually in it. I like anything "vile" (as "sweetness & light" doesn't pose much of a challenge for my players). So far WotC's books (aside from the core and PsiHB) have not been the right price and/or quality for me to buy. Don't expect much from them at this point. For the same reason, am not looking forward to d20 Modern or Epic Level Handbook. Not to mention the fact that my PCs will probably never even be within throwing distance of level 20.

Assassin's Handbook - maybe. I want to see it to see how well it portrays somebody like an Arabian "hashishan."

Witch's Handbook - maybe. Again, might be good for portraying legendary witch figures.

GR's spell compendiums - might be good if not too expensive.

Not enthused about Mutants & Masterminds, because I've seen a lot of super-hero systems, and they've all done a lot better job than d20 could ever do. Classes and levels just don't work for me in the super-hero genre.

 

[Chosen23]

Talk about different opinions. Spycraft is OK but they changed too much when it comes to combat to make it compatible with D&D. Normally I wouldn't care but I just don't understand why they did it. D20 COC didn't need it.

Yeah, but there you have what's so great about Spycraft. It is it's own innovative use of the d20 system, so much so that it doesn't feel like any other d20 game.
One of my groups feel like they have been flooded with d20 material and now want to play anything but. The only exception to this is Spycraft, because when you play it, it doesn't feel like a d20 game. I was messing around with the Mastermind system the other day and I forgot it even WAS d20.
For a good d20 game, I feel it should be able to stand up on its own, be innovative, shiny and new compared to other games. It's just lazy depending on the d20 system for all of your game mechanics. At least AEG have added and removed certain bits and pieces.

On this note and to legitimise my rant I just have to add that I forgot a crucial game on my list:
Farscape RPG. AEG have done so well with making Spycraft different from your run-of-the-mill d20 system game that I'm sure Farscape will be just as good.

Chosen23

 

[hellbender]

Yeah, but there you have what's so great about Spycraft. It is it's own innovative use of the d20 system, so much so that it doesn't feel like any other d20 game.
One of my groups feel like they have been flooded with d20 material and now want to play anything but. The only exception to this is Spycraft, because when you play it, it doesn't feel like a d20 game. I was messing around with the Mastermind system the other day and I forgot it even WAS d20.
For a good d20 game, I feel it should be able to stand up on its own, be innovative, shiny and new compared to other games. It's just lazy depending on the d20 system for all of your game mechanics. At least AEG have added and removed certain bits and pieces.

On this note and to legitimise my rant I just have to add that I forgot a crucial game on my list:
Farscape RPG. AEG have done so well with making Spycraft different from your run-of-the-mill d20 system game that I'm sure Farscape will be just as good.

Chosen23

I heartily agree with this. After seeing the Shadowchasers preview, I was not at all impressed with the D20 Modern angle. Spycraft works well as a d20 product and, although it takes getting used to, is far superior to anything I have seen of d20 modern. I run CoC with Spycraft rules and everything runs very smoothly.

hellbender

 

[JazzEwok]

T20

Besides the games that have already been mentioned (many of which I do want to purchase), the item I am really waiting for at the moment is Traveller D20 from Quiklink.

From what I have seen, it looks like it will be a more-or-less generic sci-fi d20 setting, adaptable to a variety of space milieus. The rules that have been discussed so far on the T20 boards appear innovative and workable, and offer some new things not widely seen yet in the D20 universe (like conversions of the Traveller prior history system, workable starship, vehicle, and planetary system design rules, alternate psi rules, a slightly different way of doing hp and armor, etc.).

I have been trying to develop generic d20 sci-fi rules from SWRPG. But I think I'll wait until T20 comes out next month.

The T20 website can be found here

 

[vraad]

any and all the quintessential books (Mongoose)

Slayers guide to Dragons and Undead (Mongoose)

Encyclopedial Arcana books, expecially the Rune magic one (Mongoose)

Monster Manual II
Book of Vile Darkness
Book of Challenges

And the one thing I'd like to see more than anything is D20 Spelljammer. Not the attempt that was made in the Polyhedren.Dungeon mag, but one that works from the foundation that was laid out with the original work.

Later

 

[WDS]

d20 Modern

Of all of WotC's announced pending products, I'm most looking forward to d20 Modern and the expected Gamma World issue from Polyhedron.

I really wish it was the Gamma World RPG and line of supplements, but I guess us GW fans will have to make do w/ a single issue of Polyhedron.

I think d20 Modern could be used for GW w/ some tweaking for GW's post-apoc. setting. Overall, I think WotC has recognized that DnD d20 is not well-suited for Modern or Sci-Fi genre RPGs.

Personally, I still think WotC's late Alternity system was the best mechanic for modern or sci-fi RPGs. I was sorry to see it discontinued as well as the Dark*Matter and Star*Drive campaigns.

I hope WotC will one day consider bringing back Star*Drive and Dark*Matter, perhaps as d20 games.

If not, then I hope WotC would be willing to sell their rights or license out the rights to another publishing company to produce Star*Drive and Dark*Matter material, either using the Alternity or d20 system.

Perhaps d20 Modern may actually get me to use the d20 system for the first time.

 

[thundershot]

Re: Looking forward to....

Epic Level Handbook, Monster Manual II(it better have the Gem Dragons), Tome of Horrors, D20 Modern, and the Quintessential Monk off the top of my head.

The Gem Dragons were in the Psionics Handbook Web Enhancement on the WOTC webpage.


Chris

 

[Nightfall]

Well since I put out a plug in a while, for those you looking to run random Wilderness encounters, rejoice! Come the 17th of June, Wilderness and Wastelands will be released. More than just a "Scarred Lands" product, this puppy will have ALL your random Wilderness encounter needs. Charts, graphs, you name it! (Wil and Joseph back me up here guys! Also thought if you all wanted to know, R&R2 is shaping up very nicely. The release date is still set for September but I'll update that as soon as I know something! Finally I think everyone will be barking up a storm with Tome of Horrors, as I think this will be one of Necromancer Games best products to date. Also look for the usual and unusual as well with Liches and Vampires, and Book of Taverns along with The Grey Citadel coming out before then end of 2002.

 

[Chosen23]

Re: d20 Modern

Personally, I still think WotC's late Alternity system was the best mechanic for modern or sci-fi RPGs. I was sorry to see it discontinued as well as the Dark*Matter and Star*Drive campaigns.

I hope WotC will one day consider bringing back Star*Drive and Dark*Matter, perhaps as d20 games.

Well done for the good taste there. I'm not sure if they're planning anything but earlier in the year when WotC still dealed with the UK (and thank gawd that's over), the rep for my shop mentioned that WotC were hanging on to the license for Dark Matter beyond the last of their novels. He wasn't sure why, but it was damn popular when it came out and recieved awards even when it was no more than novels. I also remember Wolfgang Baur saying if he could get enough money together he wanted to buy Dark Matter's license and make a d20 version just to keep his baby alive.
Alternity.net's helped with a lot support, but hopefully WotC will think to take it further.

Chosen 23