d20 Modern

[Cheomesh]

Like a lot of newer GMs, I got my Roleplay Gaming start with the d20 system.  I used it for a while, including for my first real successful campaign (which started in 2008, I think, and still lives on under another GM/former player, or did until 2012).

But because I am a borderline sadistic simulationist type at heart, I ended up leaving it behind for GURPS.

Here and there, though, I find myself looking back at d20 and enjoying its simplicity, and often find my thoughts turning towards the ill-fated d20 Modern variant.

d20M was, as far as d20 goes, rather good.  It had much of the same base mechanics, though it wasn't an exact clone of D&D3.5.  The classes were more like physical archetypes:  You were either Fast, Strong, Tough, Smart, Dedicated or Charismatic.  Much like regular D&D classes it'll dictate some statistics, including this tree of class-based special abilities - "Talent Trees".  They were a nifty, if relatively minor, addition that let you customize your hero a little bit more than stock d20 style.  Backgrounds - upbringing, basically- changed a few things for you as well.

Multi-classing was easier.  Advanced classes were easier to get into than D&D Prestige Classes.  Defense was a stat inherent to the class, and equipment improved that.  Guns, guns and lots of guns.  And other things.  It even had a system for magic, which was basically D&D's normal magic systems.  Oh, I think it was also only really intended to go up to "Level 10".  I might be wrong.  NPC's use these same classes too, but don't get Talent Trees, and are called things like Strong Ordinary.

I think "Dedicated" is a strange class, because you can be Dedicated to nearly anything.  I'm pretty sure you have to be Dedicated to Strength Training to be a "Strong" archetype, for example.

There were a number of "splat books" that added some advanced classes, talent trees and equipment, along with setting style stuff.  Blood and fists was my overall favorite, as it put a bit more depth into being a "martial arts" character.  I think one changed how armour works to be more DR based than To Hit based.

Overall it was easy to get into.  I ran a single game with it successfully, where the players were SWAT team members storming a warehouse with gangsters in it.  I ran another in which the players were Parkour/UrbanX types, but it wasn't what I'd call "successful".  Those kinds of games hinge on how well one knows urban architecture and how well you can describe it - a very visual game - and I need more practice there.

To wit, d20 Modern is enjoyable and it is a shame it flopped.  It's not exactly GURPS, which always wins out for system with me and mine, but it's not a terrible system by any means known to me.  They have been out of print coming on like 10 years now, so unless you want to shell out a good deal of cash, you're stuck hunting up PDF's.  Overall, it's very action-adventure movie style, which might appeal to many people.

I do have one observation, though.  The "Fast" class, out of the box, is a no-brainer.  It has a stupid high starting Defense of +3 and more skill points per level than the other two "Combat Oriented" classes.  The essence of that class is Hard to Hit (vs Strong's Hits Hard and Toughs Hard to Hurt), but those factors made it a default choice for anyone who did the maths.  Also they have an easily obtained Talent that converts save for half damage into save for none.  A fix was done up on the old WOTC forum.  If you're thinking about checking it out, here's the change:

[spoiler]
Skill points = (3 * int / level)
Defense = (2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7 ,8)
[/spoiler]

So there you have it, I liked old d20Modern.  Have any of you played?  What were your observations?  Did you like it?

M.

EDIT:  Added a line about Dedicated, and to insert this example "Ordinary"
EDIT2:  Fixed link.

CORRECTED LINKY

[sparkletwist]

I've never played d20 Modern, but, reading it over, it never really appealed to me that much.

The Fast hero thing is one of the more egregious problems with the system, but it's far from the only one. In addition to being unbalanced, the base classes are just so boring. Seriously, even a "Fighter" is more evocative than a "Fast Hero" or a "Tough Hero" or whatever.

Magic is generally worthless in d20 Modern. I guess they decided in a modern setting, people shouldn't be throwing around huge amounts of D&D magic anyway... but then why include it? If you want "Real Ultimate Power" in d20 Modern the real way to go about this is to build up your wealth, since it's abstracted and at a high enough level you can basically buy anything. (So, having money is the real magic. Maybe it reflects the modern world more than we thought...)

I also basically don't like any attempt to use guns in a d20 system. At least in Pathfinder you can mostly ignore them, but the d20 Modern gun rules feel even more stupid than Pathfinder's and you sort of have to use them because they're modern. In fact, d20's focus on melee combat (due to its D&D heritage) starts to feel really weird and dumb when transplanted to a modern setting where combat is totally different.

[Cheomesh]

Good point.

I'd forgotten about the roll-to-buy thing, too.

Rose tinted lenses for all!

M.