Idea for a new setting... (Insight needed)

[Shedeo]

Alright, I had an idea for a new setting while just puttering around the boards.

Anyway, beyond all that, the idea here would be to make more powerful classes available, but only at steep costs.  I'm cutting out the entire concept of 20 pre-epic levels, and I'm introducing the original base classes as PrCs, save for some.

What I want to do with it is have everyone start using the d20 Modern hero classes.  The campaign will begin with them as younger people, basically just commoners that show up at a reasonably large city with little to nothing along the lines of equipment or money, then work themselves out something there.  In this sense, true heroes are the ones that actually have "class" levels, and there's really no difference between a Level 1 Strong Hero that's a farmer and a Level 1 Strong Hero that's a guard with the exception of feat selection and funding.
 
Something to note about the campaign is that it is a very little-to-no magic setting.  Also, certain races are incredibly more powerful, and thusly, unplayable.  Elves, Dwarves, and most other longer-lived races are examples of such.  Elves I'm likely going to make more Tolkienesque, but evil.  Dwarves are likely to be Midgar Dwarves from Frostburn, I think it is?

The biggest point I should make about this setting is that its supposed to be a psuedo-horrific experience to encounter something beyond normal animals or humanoids.  Think along the lines of the new King Kong movie- That's how dangerous to normal folks the rest of the world is going to be.  Filled to the brim with monsters and covered in fog.

In case anyone's interested, the playable races will be Human, Halfling, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, Orc, Kobold, and maybe one or two others.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  A note on this is that most people have only heard of Elves or Dwarves, never actually even seen them since they A) Live far, far away, and B) Are incredibly rare to begin with.

[spoiler=Misc Notes]
The following isn't necessarily true.  I may not go this way at all.

*Perhaps have a semi-historical setting.  Meaning that it somewhat mirrors our own planet's history in some places, and locations/people may share names and roles.

*Maybe the world is ruled over by the evil races, like Orcs, Gnolls, and Trolls, creating a world filled with tyranny and hardships.[/spoiler]

What I need help with is picking out things that may not see, or have overlooked.

[Shedeo]

I would like it known, however, that the primary thread I'll be checking is the thread with the same name over on the Campaign Settings section of the WotC DnD boards.  Not because I'm prejudice against the CBG (boy, that would be really stupid) but because I have a really bad memory when it comes to things like this, and I'll probably forget this thread exists. o_O...

Anyway, the primary page can be found here.

[Hibou]

I can't see a problem with doing what you're doing, if you look carefully at what you do with the classes. I'm not familiar with d20 Modern though, so I may not be able to fully realize the potential problems of doing this.

Something I'm wondering is if elves are rare and perhaps mystical, shouldn't half-elves naturally be so, just because they have the blood?

I like your idea for creating a Kong-inspired sort of deal (have you seen the old one?), and I support it. Since this setting isn't intended to be all that magical, however, try not to include too many varieties of monsters, at least anywhere near where any players could reach/hear about. I get the vibe that this setting would do best if it had a very Tolkien-like approach to the monsters (at least, my view of the Tolkien stuff; when I think LotR monsters I can only think of a dozen or so things that exist in the setting that aren't human).

[Shedeo]

That would be correct, Troll.  The world is very Tolkienesque in many ways, mostly because of how... Little people really know about most of it.  Its obvious that locations were once inhabited, but the people that lived there have since either passed into myth or mystery.

About monsters, I'm going to try and go through the Monster Manuals and the Fiend Folio, and go through them and work out some basic ecologies, or look at the information they already have... And, for the most part, put what monsters will be in what regions.

One important thing is that I'm trying to not flesh out this world.  I want it to remain mysterious, even for myself.  But when I "open up" a new region, I'll list what kinds of creatures live there, and how they effect the region.

But I've got a long time to try and get the monsters all worked out because the players will have to actually work their way into getting the money for weapons and training in order to actually "survive" because they're not going to have the proficiencies to work with to really be competent in combat.

Basically, d20 Modern's 6 classes each focus on one particular ability score.  Then you get bonus skills or feats/proficiencies when you pick your character's background.  I've changed things up so that each of the characters have to choose a "commoner" background, such as farmer, shepherd, fisherman, etc.  They'll only start with about one silver and several additional coppers depending on their background (sometimes).

Anyway, that's besides the point.  On with the show! *continues to work on setting*

[Shedeo]

Oh, and one thing I forgot.  Troll, I have seen the old King Kong, but its been years, so its nowhere near fresh in my mind, mostly just a few images and memories.

About Half-Elves, however, they do possess some of the magical nature that their elders have, but... Its incredibly diluted even though they're still Half-Elves.  The way that I'm working Half-Elves is that they're even more rare than usual because the Elves are so rare.  Half-Elves are really seen as alien in this setting because of that... But they really don't inherit any of the Elven parent's magical abilities.  Of course, this makes little sense, and is subject to change.