3.5 Modern?

[sambouchah]

So a while back some of the guys in my group said D&D modern is a lame idea. I want to prove them wrong. I have some rules for modern weapons(from the DMG) and was thinking zombie Apocalypse or a Cthulhu mystery type campaign. I do know that Call to Cthulhu is already a game but I haven't had the chance to look for it yet.

So new class names and restrictions(cause you wouldn't call a bard a bard now a days), should I still allow magic in the game, new feats or skill uses?

Thanks in advance, Sam



P.s. I have been searching all morning for d20 modern material and can't find it.

[Feralventas]

1: instantly transporting D&D mechanics into our own reality will result in societal and technological changes in a rush. This means that in order to make a "modern" 3.5 game, you're looking at a homebrew world of some sort unless very few folks actually have access to it.

2: I'd suggest putting the D20 Modern weapons on the market if you really want to do this and take into account technological differences between eras.

3, renaming things seems a little off, but w/e.
Berserker. Junkie. Bruiser.
Songmage. Idol. Mesmer.
Priest. Cleric. Faithmage.
Witch. Practitioner. Naturalist.
Fighter. Brawler. Soldier.
Martial Artist. Commando. Spec-ops.
Holy Knight. Church Militant. Terrorist.
Sorcerer. Mage. 'Caster.
Wizard. Mage. PhD in applied Arcanum.

[sambouchah]

1: instantly transporting D&D mechanics into our own reality will result in societal and technological changes in a rush. This means that in order to make a "modern" 3.5 game, you're looking at a homebrew world of some sort unless very few folks actually have access to it.

2: I'd suggest putting the D20 Modern weapons on the market if you really want to do this and take into account technological differences between eras.

3, renaming things seems a little off, but w/e.
Berserker. Junkie. Bruiser.
Songmage. Idol. Mesmer.
Priest. Cleric. Faithmage.
Witch. Practitioner. Naturalist.
Fighter. Brawler. Soldier.
Martial Artist. Commando. Spec-ops.
Holy Knight. Church Militant. Terrorist.
Sorcerer. Mage. 'Caster.
Wizard. Mage. PhD in applied Arcanum.

I planned on homebrewing my world anyway. What would the junkie class be? An alchemist(wizard) who cooks meth during downtime?:smallbiggrin:

As for restrictions on classes or none at all?

[ksbsnowowl]

If going zombie apocalypse, look to the Viral Deathspawn template in d20 Apocalypse. Get bit, die, and reanimate.

[Eonir]

I recall reading a book a while back which took place in a setting similar to what you are proposing. The world was a normal place, with malls, fast food, schools, etc, except it was strongly supernatural. The mayor and the city council had to renew a binding spell every year to keep an ancient demon from resurrecting. The local hospitals had to know how to treat fairy bites. And most children knew not to go out in the woods at night because that's where vampires are.

None of this was shocking or weird. It was just life.

I don't see why you couldn't just add "and there are elves and dwarves and stuff" and run with it.

[Ravens_cry]

I had plans for this, with a science fiction twist.
Elves are the evolved form of a fruiting body for a single species biome called 'fey forests'.
Halflings are a sub-species of human at evolved on islands.
Orcs are a forest people who in the past, despite otherwise being non-violent, exposed twins to keep their population down. Many of these survived and raided out of a desire to survive. This practise is abolished, but twins are still considered unlucky.
Dwarves are space aliens from a high gravity world who traded their tech for a place on this planet when their craft crash landed.
Basically it was going to be set in an alternate version of the town I live in.

[ksbsnowowl]

d20 Modern's "default" setting is that there is a metaphysical rising tide that has introduced magic and monsters into the real world (though monsters are normally disguised to those "uninitiated" to the ways of the supernatural).

[sambouchah]

I recall reading a book a while back which took place in a setting similar to what you are proposing. The world was a normal place, with malls, fast food, schools, etc, except it was strongly supernatural. The mayor and the city council had to renew a binding spell every year to keep an ancient demon from resurrecting. The local hospitals had to know how to treat fairy bites. And most children knew not to go out in the woods at night because that's where vampires are.

None of this was shocking or weird. It was just life.

I don't see why you couldn't just add "and there are elves and dwarves and stuff" and run with it.


I had plans for this, with a science fiction twist.
Elves are the evolved form of a fruiting body for a single species biome called 'fey forests'.
Halflings are a sub-species of human at evolved on islands.
Orcs are a forest people who in the past, despite otherwise being non-violent, exposed twins to keep their population down. Many of these survived and raided out of a desire to survive. This practise is abolished, but twins are still considered unlucky.
Dwarves are space aliens from a high gravity world who traded their tech for a place on this planet when their craft crash landed.
Basically it was going to be set in an alternate version of the town I live in.

I love both of these suggestions. I think I may use some of the ideas presented.
I was also thinking of doing fairy tales with not so happy endings. Little red is actually a werewolf, Rumpelstiltskin is an Avenging executioner with a mad passion for baby blood, etc. Sort of make the players normal people but like Scooby Doo normal.

[Feralventas]

I planned on homebrewing my world anyway. What would the junkie class be? An alchemist(wizard) who cooks meth during downtime?:smallbiggrin:

As for restrictions on classes or none at all?


I was thinking more along the lines of a 'roid rager. The list of names I put down are in order of what they'd be replacing in the core book's list.

Barbarian.
Bard.
Cleric
Druid
Fighter
Monk
Paladin
Sorcerer
Wizard.

And I realize now I missed the Rogue and Ranger, so
Ranger, Naturalist, Wildlife Expert,
Thief, Criminal, or Entrepreneur.

[sambouchah]

I was thinking more along the lines of a 'roid rager. The list of names I put down are in order of what they'd be replacing in the core book's list.

Barbarian.
Bard.
Cleric
Druid
Fighter
Monk
Paladin
Sorcerer
Wizard.

And I realize now I missed the Rogue and Ranger, so
Ranger, Naturalist, Wildlife Expert,
Thief, Criminal, or Entrepreneur.

OH! I see. That makes much more sense then drug crafterxD

[pres_man]

P.s. I have been searching all morning for d20 modern material and can't find it.

d20 Modern SRD official site (nice if most people don't have the modern books) (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/article/msrd)

Here is some downloadable stuff including adventures. (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20modern/downloads)

[yougi]

Do you know there's an actual d20 Modern game out there (http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/resources/systems/pennpaper/modern/smack/srdhome.html)? And they replace 3.5's classes with more generic classes, each based on one of the 6 stats (Strong, Agile, Tough, Smart, Devoted and Charismatic, IIRC). And you had Advanced Classes (what we call prestige in 3.5) which could give you spellcasting. It made spellcasters rarer, on account that you had to be at least lv6 to cast a first level spell.

EDIT: Ninja'd

[sambouchah]

Do you know there's an actual d20 Modern game out there (http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/resources/systems/pennpaper/modern/smack/srdhome.html)? And they replace 3.5's classes with more generic classes, each based on one of the 6 stats (Strong, Agile, Tough, Smart, Devoted and Charismatic, IIRC). And you had Advanced Classes (what we call prestige in 3.5) which could give you spellcasting. It made spellcasters rarer, on account that you had to be at least lv6 to cast a first level spell.

EDIT: Ninja'd

I did know that. I wasn't able to find books or PDF's.

[Jeraa]

I did know that. I wasn't able to find books or PDF's.

The books can still be found on Amazon.com, but like most other out-of-print RPG books, they are stupidly overpriced. The core book is currently $42 US for Used-Acceptable condition, or $82 new. eBay has a few as well, for a more respectable $20 Buy It Now prices.

[sambouchah]

The books can still be found on Amazon.com, but like most other out-of-print RPG books, they are stupidly overpriced. The core book is currently $42 US for Used-Acceptable condition, or $82 new. eBay has a few as well, for a more respectable $20 Buy It Now prices.

I hadn't checked online because I was afraid to see the price haha. Thank you for the info.

[limejuicepowder]

One problem I've run in to when thinking about or running modern games is arms and armor - modern life almost never requires a person wearing armor, or carrying around melee weapons. Thus, options for mundanes becomes limited and AC is hard to boost while maintaining verisimilitude.

If monsters and magic are an accepted part of life this might change slightly, but not go away. Who walks around the mall in breast plate? And who would spend hours learning how to fight with a sword if guns are available (this wouldn't be a for fun skill remember, the person's life would depend on it).

For that reason, I highly recommend using the armor bonus alternate rule, found here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/adventuring/defenseBonus.htm). Characters can have roughly the right amount of AC without thinking about daily modern life in full plate - or any kind of armor, really. Modern heavy armor is still basically plates of metal with "mail" made of kevlar. Forget that.

[AMX]

Who walks around the mall in breast plate?
Nobody, of course - but a concealable ballistic vest would be a different matter. :smallwink:

And who would spend hours learning how to fight with a sword if guns are available (this wouldn't be a for fun skill remember, the person's life would depend on it).
Legal reasons, maybe?
Over here, carrying a gun requires a permit that is very hard to get - but melee weapons are basically unregulated...

On another note, there's SpikeFightwicky's HTML version of the MSRD:
http://spikefightwicky.tripod.com/

Advertisements and some broken pages, but it has the Open Game Content from Urban Arcana, Menace, and d20 Future.