D20 Modern, Future and others.

Julian Grimm · Post by **Julian Grimm** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 4:40 am

I've been wondering how the D20 Modern line is. I have been reading up on it and it sounds more interesting than D&D d20. Does anyone have these and can the tell me how good the stuff for it is?
_________________
The Lord of Ravens
My blog

serleran · Post by **serleran** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 4:57 am

When d20 Modern came out, I found it interesting. The things I liked the most were the Wealth rules and the damage limit rule, which basically means you can, and probably will, die whenever you get smacked for double digit damage so no more "I walked into the firing arc of a Vulcan and survived... sure, had to plug out about 90000 rounds, but that's OK, I still had 500 HP." The class set up was, at first, interesting, but I quickly found the names were a little drab (no big deal but annoying to me) and I did not like how "magic" was supposed to work. The Call of Cthulhu "add-on" was OK, as well, but again I found I did not like how certain things were handled (in this case psionic ability which was nearly pointless to have) -- I never did check out the others in the line, but found d20 Modern to be the most playable of the d20 lines, for what I would use it for.
_________________
If it matters, leave a message at the beep.
Serl's Corner

CKDad · Post by **CKDad** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 4:08 pm

I've played in a couple D20 Modern games. Serleran is dead on about the damage rules, you need that sort of damage cap in a modern game to reflect the lethality of firearms (if you want at least a nod to reality, that is).

The wealth rules are an interesting innovation, but I seem to recall someone in one group pointing out issues with them at higher wealth levels.

The class system.... meh. For my tastes, the traditional class & levels don't work well in the modern or future milieux.

About D20 Future. I will state up front that while I'm not a hard-sf fanatic, I like my SF to at least make a kind of sense and be internally consistent. D20 Future is an expression of the worst aspects of Hollywood's understanding of science fiction. The tech trees are poorly thought-out, the rationales are shaky, and things just simply don't make sense.

Shadowrun (though my experience only goes up to 2nd edition) does modern-to-near-future better. More distant SF is better handled by Traveller (almost any version, go Mongoose for a current set) or the CORTEX system found in the Serenity and Battlestar Galactica RPGs. Thousand Suns from Rogue Games is another option, though more a bare-metal toolkit. (Disclaimer: I do freelance writing for Rogue Games.)

I'd probably talk up StarSIEGE here, but haven't had a chance to crack the cover on my copy yet.
_________________
"I don't wanna be remembered as the guy who died because he underestimated the threat posed by a monkey."

Omote · Post by **Omote** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 9:39 pm

I am a fan of d20 Modern, and find that the system works out well enough if you stick to the core rulebook. I have used concepts from d20 Future in relation to power armor, robotics and cybernetics. But when it came down to it, I just do not like how d20 Modern does cybernetics in particular. I think the base game is just groovy, and for the EXACT reasons serleran mentions. I particularly like the wealth system though I have never played high level d20 Modern.

The class system as presented is OK, though I would much rather have more traditional style classes or better yet, be completely classless (which is faily easy to do in d20 Modern). Though the classes as they are presented work well enough, the Talent Trees do make for some powerful characters at the mid levels. To me it seemed a bit more then realistic, but then again how realistic can one get in a RPG?

Overall, I recommend the game. If you are a rules tinkerer, personal tweaks to the system are much easier to do in d20 Modern then d20 D&D.

-O
_________________
> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <
Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society

paladin2019 · Post by **paladin2019** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 12:31 am

d20 Modern done right is d20 Star Wars or Dave Noonan's original pulp plug-in for D&D3 from Polyhedron. The VP/WP mechanic is much better than HP if you want to worry about guns.

Frost · Post by **Frost** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 2:34 am

I don't own d20 Modern, but I did pick up Grim Tales which seems to be pretty similar. It's interesting from a tinker's standpoint.
_________________
Lord Frost

Baron of the Pitt
Castles & Crusades Society
The Dungeoneering Dad

Lord Dynel · Post by **Lord Dynel** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 2:55 am

Y'all might thing I'm nuts, but I think that the D20 Modern Core Rulebook is in the Top 3 books WotC's released for the d20 game (the other two being Dragonlance CS, and the 3.5 Core Rulebook). There's days when I look at it and think that it's head-and-shoulders above the PHB.

I don't have a problem with the classes. I think having classes based on the 6 attributes is okay with me. The wealth system is pretty neat, but I've heard bad things about it, too, at higher levels so I might opt for a real cash system (there's a really good cash conversion pdf at RPGNow). I've liked all the supplements released for it (d20 Menace Manual, and d20 Apocalypse being particularly good). I've picked up the Modern Player's Companion, the Modern Player's Companion II, 22 Talent Trees, and Another 22 Talent Trees, and have mined tehm for information (some of the things are a littel nutty, but you can definitely cherry pick the good stuff). But the game is very, very playable with just the Core book.

I recommend it. It's not GURPS realistic...more like "cinematic realism." Think Die Hard or some John Woo films. But it's a solid system overall.
_________________
LD's C&C creations - the witch, a half-ogre, skill and 0-level rules

Troll Lord wrote:
Lord D: you understand where I"m coming from.

MacLeod · Post by **MacLeod** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 3:55 am

I almost ran a D20 Modern game... it was going to be very Resident Evil 4 and John Carpenter's The Thing inspired; military squad dropped in the middle of a jungle war zone where a being called Legion is secretly taking over the populace. I had grand visions of villagers becoming hostile and mutating into abominations that attack the PCs in addition to fire fights with rebels. It could have been pretty fun I think.
_________________
In this world of LIES... the TRUTH, it means RESISTANCE!

Lord Dynel · Post by **Lord Dynel** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 2:21 pm

Sounds good. I think D20M is very versitile, too, and can handle anything where "just over normal" PCs are involved. Going too far out in power level is where problems start with D20M. I like it for Old West (via Sidewinder: Recoiled), and regular, "PCs are a cut above normal folk" types of games. I had been considering doing a supers game with D20M, but I just don't think it could handle it, unfortunately, without massive modification...and D20M doesn't need to be modified that much, IMHO.
_________________
LD's C&C creations - the witch, a half-ogre, skill and 0-level rules

Troll Lord wrote:
Lord D: you understand where I"m coming from.