Behold_the_Void
2007-06-26, 12:18 AM
So, I'm going to be running a D20 Modern Shadow Chasers campaign next school year (around October to be precise), and I'm starting to make plans for it. I had an idea for the wealth mechanics that shouldn't be horribly unbalancing, but I wanted to run it by more experienced modern players and see how it will work. I'm also playing with some other minor things, and I wanted to see how they work.
The setting is going to be a college campus (namely, the college my group and I all attend), and time management is going to be one of the major requirements (as they will have to juggle classes, studying, sleeping, possibly a job, and Shadow Chasing).
Instead of making a wealth check each level, I've decided what I'm going to do is count hours worked towards the check. For most standard campus jobs, every two hours they work will count as a cumulative +1 to their die roll. Thus, instead of rolling a die at level up, I'll tally the hours they worked and add the number together. That will be the result of their "roll".
I also want to provide a stipend from the organization. Because the missions are a lot riskier but take less time, I want to make it more beneficial to the wealth (and that will also help favor those who don't have time to work in their schedules). I'm currently considering either a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio of die roll modifier to hours worked, especially since it'll likely be rare for most runs to take more than an hour or two.
Also, I have some characters who are going to have decidedly nonstandard jobs.
One of the characters is a Psychology Major (going Telepath) and a guitarist, as well as part of a band. I'm allowing him to use his band performances as a source of income with a better return than, say, slaving away at McDonalds for hours on end. The trade-off, of course, is that Concerts will have specific times and dates that really can't be missed, and will offer much less hours overall. Also, I'm using perform (guitar) as the key skill modifier for the wealth check, as it makes little sense to force a profession check when he's been performing for his income.
Another character runs with a gang, and doesn't really work (she's something of a delinquent). I'm going to let her use Intimidate instead of profession, as she and her gang extort money out of targets and do other gang-ly things. A bit better return than working minimum wage, but more risk involved (might get picked up by the cops which presents all kinds of problems).
Thus at the moment I'm considering the returns being 2:1 for Shadow Chasing, 1:1 for Band/Gang Extortion/possibly other stuff, and 2:1 for minimum wage jobs.
Also, I'm letting people take feats at first level that won't be active until they join the organization and get a bit of training with the operatives (for example, firearms proficiency for the guitarist). Also, in the case of some characters who have Wild Talent, they likely won't be able to control it until they start interacting with the Shadow and are trained in channeling their power (giving them a lead-in to their advanced classes).
Also, I'm playing around with class skills and saves slightly, nothing major. Changing the Charismatic Hero's good save from fort to will as it makes more sense and is more thematically appropriate for the character being built, giving intimidate to the Strong Hero as a class skill since I see no reason for them not to have it, etc. etc..
I am considering making Drive a class skill for everyone but making it a trained-only skill. Having had to suffer through Driver's Ed myself, and as this is a college campus where some people don't have licenses, I thought this would be a good way to represent driving ability.
With the two-weapon fighting feat, I'm considering eliminating the "cannot make a melee attack and ranged attack at the same time", as I can see someone striking a Shadow, dropping it, and then shooting at another with the gun in their other hand as one action.
I'm not playing with a group of really hard-core optimizers, and the game is going to be fairly cinematic in that players will not see their character sheets outside of leveling up and most of what happens to them will be simple description. These mechanical changes are primarily for flavor, but I want to make sure that they aren't going to screw anything up with the core system.
The setting is going to be a college campus (namely, the college my group and I all attend), and time management is going to be one of the major requirements (as they will have to juggle classes, studying, sleeping, possibly a job, and Shadow Chasing).
Instead of making a wealth check each level, I've decided what I'm going to do is count hours worked towards the check. For most standard campus jobs, every two hours they work will count as a cumulative +1 to their die roll. Thus, instead of rolling a die at level up, I'll tally the hours they worked and add the number together. That will be the result of their "roll".
I also want to provide a stipend from the organization. Because the missions are a lot riskier but take less time, I want to make it more beneficial to the wealth (and that will also help favor those who don't have time to work in their schedules). I'm currently considering either a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio of die roll modifier to hours worked, especially since it'll likely be rare for most runs to take more than an hour or two.
Also, I have some characters who are going to have decidedly nonstandard jobs.
One of the characters is a Psychology Major (going Telepath) and a guitarist, as well as part of a band. I'm allowing him to use his band performances as a source of income with a better return than, say, slaving away at McDonalds for hours on end. The trade-off, of course, is that Concerts will have specific times and dates that really can't be missed, and will offer much less hours overall. Also, I'm using perform (guitar) as the key skill modifier for the wealth check, as it makes little sense to force a profession check when he's been performing for his income.
Another character runs with a gang, and doesn't really work (she's something of a delinquent). I'm going to let her use Intimidate instead of profession, as she and her gang extort money out of targets and do other gang-ly things. A bit better return than working minimum wage, but more risk involved (might get picked up by the cops which presents all kinds of problems).
Thus at the moment I'm considering the returns being 2:1 for Shadow Chasing, 1:1 for Band/Gang Extortion/possibly other stuff, and 2:1 for minimum wage jobs.
Also, I'm letting people take feats at first level that won't be active until they join the organization and get a bit of training with the operatives (for example, firearms proficiency for the guitarist). Also, in the case of some characters who have Wild Talent, they likely won't be able to control it until they start interacting with the Shadow and are trained in channeling their power (giving them a lead-in to their advanced classes).
Also, I'm playing around with class skills and saves slightly, nothing major. Changing the Charismatic Hero's good save from fort to will as it makes more sense and is more thematically appropriate for the character being built, giving intimidate to the Strong Hero as a class skill since I see no reason for them not to have it, etc. etc..
I am considering making Drive a class skill for everyone but making it a trained-only skill. Having had to suffer through Driver's Ed myself, and as this is a college campus where some people don't have licenses, I thought this would be a good way to represent driving ability.
With the two-weapon fighting feat, I'm considering eliminating the "cannot make a melee attack and ranged attack at the same time", as I can see someone striking a Shadow, dropping it, and then shooting at another with the gun in their other hand as one action.
I'm not playing with a group of really hard-core optimizers, and the game is going to be fairly cinematic in that players will not see their character sheets outside of leveling up and most of what happens to them will be simple description. These mechanical changes are primarily for flavor, but I want to make sure that they aren't going to screw anything up with the core system.