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View Full Version : So, I wanna play D20 Modern Future...



Roguenewb
2013-08-29, 02:53 PM
...and it's a weak game. Maybe some of you have read it, but it is pretty scarce. It has 2 core books, d20 modern and modern future, and 2 splats, Future Tech (more of all the tech), and Cyberscape (way more fleshed out cybernetics, and the hacking/netrunning system). None of these books are great. Its all kind of a mess of weak, low flavored interactions at a fairly low power level. I don't mean

Me: "I wanna play a wizard who nukes the universe!"

DM: "No, spells are limited and suck"

It's more like:

Me: "I wanna be a super awesome mecha pilot jumping all over the place, using cool attacks and super robot fighting the mega aliens!"

DM: "You're only allowed limited movement and mainly a ranged attack roll."

Me: "Okay, so no crass Macross Missile Massacres and Kaiju fighting, hm...How about space ships? I wanna be a crazy fighter pilot flying through flak to tear up capitol ships against a back drop of crazy manuevers and explosions and stuff!"

DM: "Sorry, ship size is essentially a linear power scalar. Fighters can barely affect, nonethless destroy, big things. Even then your options are a very limited list of mediocre/trivial flight manuevers."

Me: "WHAT CAN I DO COOL??!?!?!?!?!2312311?"

DM: " =(, you can stand between 3 and 15 squares from an opponent and trade attack rolls."

Me: "Okay, how's the non-combat, can we sneak into places and fly spaceships to distant locations and all sorts of awesome sci-fi stuff? Hack into stuff? Become super-soldiers and such?"

DM: "Yes, but it's all Computer Use rolls. Everything that isn't an attack roll is computer use checks."

Me: "....next campaign"

This is really how most of my endeavers into D20 Modern Future work out. The game is fun until you play long enough for flavor to not carry it anymore. Once that hits...well, the game sucks. Everything is just attack roll spam for days. So here's what I need your help for, Playgrounders: I'm looking for a Sci-Fi game to play, one with relevant rules for Mecha-scale, spaceship-scale and foot-scale combat/interactions. Preferably with some sort of magic/psionic system, and good support.

What do you guys know of?


Super Extra Secret Bonus: You get a million cookies if its D20 based, or relatively close, so I can bash my players with dragons and assorted D&D/PF resources

Magesmiley
2013-08-29, 03:07 PM
Maybe Alternity? Its out of print, but had enough stuff put out that it covered quite a bit of stuff. My D&D group played it as a change of pace for awhile and found it enjoyable.

Roguenewb
2013-08-29, 03:11 PM
Interesting. That's a good recommendation to look at first. Though the wiki has the scary line "much was incorporated in d20 modern future" uh oh =)

Yora
2013-08-29, 04:12 PM
What I do any time I want to play a future game:

Star Wars Saga Edition without Jedi and the Force. Unless it's something like Mass Effect, in which case I keep those as well.

While Saga Edition is a licensed game and the books have Star Wars all over them, the rules themselves are simply a really good d20 sci-fi game. Reduce the blaster damage from 3dX to 2dX, ignore the droids and spaceships, and you have a perfectly servicable modern game as well.

The scoundrel, scout, and soldier classes work in every setting, Star Wars or not.

Roguenewb
2013-08-29, 07:22 PM
Is saga the one based on 4e?

MukkTB
2013-08-29, 09:12 PM
I hear good things about a few games for playing Science Fiction. D20 Modern is not one of them. It would be nice if there was a fairly generic one that covered a lot of the bases.

erikun
2013-08-29, 10:06 PM
Eclipse Phase is transhuman and very futuristic, but it is distinctly Eclipse Phase with the resleeving, and psi slights, and zero-G freefall skill. I'm not sure how well the system handles when reduced to just its generic base, though.

As for general systems, Gurps Space comes immediately to mind. Fate Core / Fudge is also a good generic system that can be adapted to many settings. HeroQuest is another RPG that can handle pretty much anything you want to throw at it. The biggest concern is that you'd need to interpret any campaigns into the new system.

kidnicky
2013-08-29, 10:48 PM
That's how I feel about D&D, to tell you the truth. I like the game and play it every week, and it's mostly very fun, but at least once a session you end up taking turns missing attack rolls (or hitting but rolling low damage) for 15 minutes. As DM I've more than once just said the guy was dead even though he had HP left just to get on with it.

Anyway, back on topic. I've never actually played Cartoon Action Hour Season 2,but I have the book and the Japanese supplement that tells you how to do anime, and I think you might try that. You can have characters /mechs that are able to do whatever you want them to do, 3 good hits (or 1 great one) take an enemy out, and the rules are simple without being TOO light.

The core book has a lot of meta stuff like "commercial break" rules and "animation error" rules and such but if that's too cute for you,you could just as easily leave it out.

Both PDFs (core and japanese) ran me like 10 or 12 bucks so it's not a huge gamble. It uses only 1 die (d10 or d12 I forget). No minis rules, though.

Felhammer
2013-08-29, 11:00 PM
Is saga the one based on 4e?

No, Saga was used as a vehicle to test out several 4E concepts but has far more in common with d20 Modern and the Revised Game than 4E.

When I want a future game, I either begin with d20 Star Wars Revised or Star Wars Saga Edition, then subtract things I don't like and add in d20 Modern/Future/Mecha bits that I do like.

You may want to give Star Wars Edge of the Empire a try. It's a brand new system made by Fantasy Flight that empowers everyone at the table to do really cool stuff and is a blast to play. I highly recommend it.

Fosco the Swift
2013-08-31, 02:21 PM
Honestly what it comes down to is how much work are you willing to go through? Really no matter how many games you look through there will always be a flaw or something that you don't really like. This being true, try combining a few rules and/or making a few of your own. If you're looking through a Sci-Fi book and see a cool technique for playing starship battles, use that instead of Future's rules. Making up your own ways to do something is really how you're going to get a better game.

Kalmageddon
2013-08-31, 05:04 PM
I think D20 Modern/Future is a great platform to homebrew stuff more in line with what you or your players have in mind.
You can integrate bits and pieces of other d20 games (like SW Saga) pretty easily and get the experience you want.

Hiro Protagonest
2013-08-31, 05:24 PM
The system is terrible even with the 2.5 errata, but... Exalted. Heaven's Reach (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/103359/Shards-of-the-Exalted-Dream).

FUDGE (http://www.fudgerpg.com/goodies/fudge-files/core/) is also incredibly modular.