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AKA_Bait
2008-09-11, 03:29 PM
So, my wife is looking to get into tabletop but she's not a big fan of the fantasy genre. She's much more interested in something modern-day set. Any suggestions?

Personally, I'd prefer it be a simpler system (i.e. GURPS is too complex) that can accomidate fantasy elements (a la Jim Butcher esk stuff). Since I'll be learning it too, and I'm most familar with d20, d20 is preferable. It's not required though. Thanks!

arguskos
2008-09-11, 03:31 PM
d20 Modern is standing by. Beyond d20 Modern, I bet you could use Shadowrun with a few tweaks, or just use it on the premise that it is half past the future.

Beyond that, I can't help ya. I'm not a modern sorta guy.

-argus

Crow
2008-09-11, 03:32 PM
D20 Modern is great.

valadil
2008-09-11, 03:32 PM
I haven't actually gotten to play it yet, but Spycraft is a d20 based game that looks amazing.

DeathQuaker
2008-09-11, 03:35 PM
I really like d20 Modern, although class-stacking can get silly. Another option could be a low PL Mutants and Masterminds game, which is also d20-based (and simpler than actual d20, since EVERYTHING is a d20 die roll).

With a different, darker feel but fairly easy to learn system, you could also try core World of Darkness.

RTGoodman
2008-09-11, 03:36 PM
If you want to check it out, here's the d20 Modern SRD (http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/modern/smack/srdhome.html). I've never gotten to run the system, but it seems like one I'd use given the opportunity.

Lord Tataraus
2008-09-11, 03:53 PM
So, my wife is looking to get into tabletop but she's not a big fan of the fantasy genre. She's much more interested in something modern-day set. Any suggestions?

Personally, I'd prefer it be a simpler system (i.e. GURPS is too complex) that can accomidate fantasy elements (a la Jim Butcher esk stuff). Since I'll be learning it too, and I'm most familar with d20, d20 is preferable. It's not required though. Thanks!

Apart from not being D20, this just screams World of Darkness to me. It's a modern setting, definitely has fantasy elements (most of them are under the paranormal descriptor since this is a modern setting). It's not very complex at all since everything is a dice pool of d10s which is a lot easier than d20 to pick up (every number is directly linked to the number of dice rolled).

Matthew
2008-09-11, 04:01 PM
How about True20 or Savage Worlds? They are a bit lighter than D20 Modern, meaning they might be more accessible to your wife, but there is probably enough rules diversity to satisfy you.

Neon Knight
2008-09-11, 04:12 PM
Savage Worlds. You will not regret it. I certainly didn't.

If you have to go D20, then Spycraft would be better than D20 Modern, IMO. While D20 Modern is good, you may find that it has a few problems; I must admit most of them I found were personal or preference problems. For most people, D20 Modern is quite nice.

AKA_Bait
2008-09-11, 04:14 PM
Apart from not being D20, this just screams World of Darkness to me. It's a modern setting, definitely has fantasy elements (most of them are under the paranormal descriptor since this is a modern setting). It's not very complex at all since everything is a dice pool of d10s which is a lot easier than d20 to pick up (every number is directly linked to the number of dice rolled).

I'll give it a look. I'd rather not have to learn a whole new system if I can avoid it but if it's really that well fitting it might be worth the extra brainspace.


If you want to check it out, here's the d20 Modern SRD (http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/modern/smack/srdhome.html). I've never gotten to run the system, but it seems like one I'd use given the opportunity.

Cool. Thanks. How interchangable is that with standard stuff? I remember flipping through the modern book a while back but it didn't thrill me. I couldn't put my finger on it exactly at the time but something bugged me.


How about True20 or Savage Worlds? They are a bit lighter than D20 Modern, meaning they might be more accessible to your wife, but there is probably enough rules diversity to satisfy you.

Lighter is better. Savage Worlds seems also to be one worth giving a serious look. I suppose I'll need to be wandering down to the 34th street gaming store sometime tomorrow. I hope they have this stuff and don't mind my sniffing over them all before I buy one...

Neon Knight
2008-09-11, 04:18 PM
Lighter is better. Savage Worlds seems also to be one worth giving a serious look. I suppose I'll need to be wandering down to the 34th street gaming store sometime tomorrow. I hope they have this stuff and don't mind my sniffing over them all before I buy one...

If not, and you don't object to PDFs, the Savage World Explorer's Edition (http://www.studio2publishing.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=25_74_124&products_id=2394) is $10 bucks.

Matthew
2008-09-11, 04:26 PM
Lighter is better. Savage Worlds seems also to be one worth giving a serious look. I suppose I'll need to be wandering down to the 34th street gaming store sometime tomorrow. I hope they have this stuff and don't mind my sniffing over them all before I buy one...

I have some links to the quick start rules around here somewhere...

New Savage Worlds Test Drive v6 (http://www.peginc.com/downloads.html#DL_SW)

True20 (http://true20.com/files/True20_quickstart.pdf) (You will also need to download the True20 Previews (http://true20.com/support/), particularly preview #2, which presents the three classes; not sure why they aren't in the Quick Start Rules.)

You probably won't need them, but here are some free True20 fantasy adventures to give you a better idea of how the system works in practice...

Death in Freeport (http://true20.com/files/DeathInFreeportTrue20.pdf)
Blood Throne - Escape from Thel-Kadra (http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=28536&it=1)

Premier
2008-09-11, 04:31 PM
Since your wife is just getting into gaming, why don't you use the chance to show her some of the more wild and wonderful stuff that's out there? I suggest you first teach her the idea that the only limit should be your imagination, and then maybe get into "close-to-real-life" genres, rather than starting with those and stunting her ability and willingness to try other, more "out there" things.

With that in mind, I warmly suggest the freely downloadable Mutant Future, which is a modern "clone" version of Metamorphosis Alpha and Gamma World. Crazy, zany, wild post-apocalyptic action. Why stop at playing a genetically pure human or an android, when you could just as well play a speaking mutant dog that teleports and shoots laser eyebeams, or an intelligent, mobile giant broccoli with a "vampiric field" and poison spikes?

AKA_Bait
2008-09-11, 04:41 PM
If not, and you don't object to PDFs, the Savage World Explorer's Edition (http://www.studio2publishing.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=25_74_124&products_id=2394) is $10 bucks.


New Savage Worlds Test Drive v6 (http://www.peginc.com/downloads.html#DL_SW)

True20 (http://true20.com/files/True20_quickstart.pdf) (You will also need to download the True20 Previews (http://true20.com/support/), particularly preview #2, which presents the three classes; not sure why they aren't in the Quick Start Rules.)
Death in Freeport (http://true20.com/files/DeathInFreeportTrue20.pdf)
Blood Throne - Escape from Thel-Kadra (http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=28536&it=1)

Sniffle... sniffle... I love these boards.. You guys rock.


SI suggest you first teach her the idea that the only limit should be your imagination, and then maybe get into "close-to-real-life" genres, rather than starting with those and stunting her ability and willingness to try other, more "out there" things.

Well, because my wife is a very smart grown woman who knows that already, I'm not afraid of 'stunting' and who specifically asked about a more modern less out there system. She's already been looking through the 4e and 3.5 PHB's. Heck, I'm stretching it by wanting to include more paranormal stuff as it is.


Why stop at playing a genetically pure human or an android, when you could just as well play a speaking mutant dog that teleports and shoots laser eyebeams, or an intelligent, mobile giant broccoli with a "vampiric field" and poison spikes?

Because both of those concepts make my brain hurt and would probably make my wife give me one of those looks. In good cause. In terms of wackyness, I'd rather go shallow end to deep end than the reverse.

Krrth
2008-09-11, 04:48 PM
Depending on what you consider "modern", you may want to look at "Adventure!". It's a d20 based game from White-Wolf. It's designed to be a "pulp hero". You don't have to use any of the powers, but it is kinda fun.

Woot Spitum
2008-09-11, 05:09 PM
I second World of Darkness. It is a very easy system to learn (it took me about a year to get the hang of D&D 3.5, while I had WoD figured out after a couple of sessions), and it has a lot of versatility. If you are looking to run a Dresden Files-inspired game, I couldn't imagine any other system coming close.

TheThan
2008-09-11, 05:13 PM
D20 can simulate just about any genera you want. From action/adventure to drama to war movie style action. D20 modern can do it all.

With the proper splat books you can simulate sci-fi. It can do hard sci-fi, gritty X-files style sci-fi, even science fantasy (if that’s your cup of tea). There’s a splat book called D20 past, that will let you do roaring 20s era gangsters, WWII action, cowboys, etc. You can even incorporate things from other games into it. I once converted star wars D20 and DND 3.5 stuff into a D20 modern game.

Recommended books
D20 modern core rulebook (SRD)
D20 modern weapons locker
D20 modern past
D20 modern future (SRD)


For your wife I would shoot for something along the lines of a pulp hero style game, something like Indiana Jones or Tomb Raider. Or possibly a spy game, with little in the way of combat, but a lot of espionage type stuff and Role playing opportunities.
It would help if we knew your wife, or if we at least knew what sort of stuff you wife likes. (movies books, etc).

Lord Tataraus
2008-09-11, 06:19 PM
I'll give it a look. I'd rather not have to learn a whole new system if I can avoid it but if it's really that well fitting it might be worth the extra brainspace.

As Woot Spitum said, it is a pretty simple system to learn (everything works off of two basic systems that are interconnected). The setting of WoD is pretty vaste, but still leaves a lot open for the Storyteller and the books are amazing to read (4-6 pages of fluff before you even get to the introduction in every book!). The cosmology is consistent throughout the different sections of WoD (Vampire, Werewolf, Changeling, Mage, etc.) though some have more to do with 1 plane or another so you really don't get the big picture except in a few books. There turns out to be at least 4 upper realms, the abyss and the Shadow (the spirit image of the world as opposed to the material image that humans inhabit). Of course you don't have to delve into all that if you don't want to.

Well, I've given a bunch of pros, it seems only fair I give you the cons. First of, it is expensive, D20 Modern is free with the srd, and WoD books usually range around the 35 dollar range, occasionally reaching $40, though on the up side you really don't need much more than the base book to run any given game (all require the WoD core book). WoD is a Storytelling system as White-Wolf says, this means that there is a huge focus on fluff and thus there is a lot of default fluff that can get in the way of creating your own campaign setting, this is especially true with the Werewolf game because WoD Werewolves are very different from classical werewolves. The combat system is also...slightly lacking. It is pretty gritty and death is not uncommon for careless mortals, even supernaturals need to watch out. While is mortality may be a good thing for your game (if you are going for a more realistic approach rather than a epic heroes one) the combat system itself can be slightly cumbersome. Though I am working on an alternate system based off the amazing combat system from Cyberpunk 2020's Listen Up! You Primitive Screwheads! that should clear up this annoying flaw. The last big flaw of the system is balance. The system assumes that the players are mature people acting out a story, no munchkining. They mechanics work, but they can be abused to the determent to the game, if you tend to play with munchkins, you will need to watch them closely, some systems are worse off in this respect than others *cough*Mage*cough*.

If you are interested, I'm sure you will find it very enjoyable. If you would ask my opinion on which system to try out first, I'd say Hunter: The Vigil - you're a bunch or humans who know that there is something out there working against humans so they are going to hunt those terrors down...with cool tech, rituals, elixirs, artifacts, and implanted demon parts.

AstralFire
2008-09-11, 06:21 PM
>_>

<_<

Wanna help me playtest mine? It fits most of your criteria... modern... simple...

It's in the sig...

Tsotha-lanti
2008-09-11, 06:23 PM
What genre?

Twilight 2000 version 2.2 is great for modern war. (Don't bother waiting on the new version, really, if you can find the old book anywhere.) If you don't like an apocalyptic post-WW3 setting, you can go with the mercenary netbooks that fit the system for modern real-world mercenary games.

d20 Modern is nice and simple, but not really geared toward any genre, which is a weakness for playing any one genre, but a strength if you like switching genres.

BRP Call of Cthulhu, d20 Call of Cthulhu, and Trail of Cthulhu are all great for modern (Lovecraft-style) horror.

Raum
2008-09-11, 08:19 PM
As others have, I recommend Savage Worlds! Particularly if you like d20 mechanics but prefer something lighter or more streamlined.

serok42
2008-09-12, 06:19 AM
Apart from not being D20, this just screams World of Darkness to me. It's a modern setting, definitely has fantasy elements (most of them are under the paranormal descriptor since this is a modern setting). It's not very complex at all since everything is a dice pool of d10s which is a lot easier than d20 to pick up (every number is directly linked to the number of dice rolled).

I second World of Darkness, especially Mage: The Ascension (I have never played Awakening so I can't comment on it)

It would even allow her to be human

Tengu_temp
2008-09-12, 06:29 AM
D20 can simulate just about any genera you want.

And does a lukewarm job with most of them.

My suggestion is either Mutants and Masterminds 2e (character creation gives a lot of options, but is actually fairly simple) or Spirit of the Century, which I haven't played myself but judging what I heard about it from people who played it, it's a load of fun.

Zuki
2008-09-12, 03:38 PM
So, my wife is looking to get into tabletop but she's not a big fan of the fantasy genre. She's much more interested in something modern-day set. Any suggestions?

Personally, I'd prefer it be a simpler system (i.e. GURPS is too complex) that can accomidate fantasy elements (a la Jim Butcher esk stuff). Since I'll be learning it too, and I'm most familar with d20, d20 is preferable. It's not required though. Thanks!

Funny that you should mention Jim Butcher...it's not ready yet, but Evil Hat Productions is working to build a Dresden Files RPG using the FATE system. It should be out sometime in the next 3-6 months, judging by the playtest reports.

FATE is the same system that's used to play Spirit of the Century, a personal favorite of mine. The base setting is 1920's pulp, with sort of an Indiana Jones-with-a-hint-of-mad-science-and-weird-magic feel, but the underlying system is very simple and easy to adapt to other settings and premises.

Here's a link to the Dresden Files rpg project, (http://www.dresdenfilesrpg.com/) the main FATE rpg site is here (http://www.faterpg.com/), and this is an SRD for Spirit of the Century, so you can try before you buy. (http://www.faterpg.com/dl/sotc-srd.html)

I'll stop prostelytizing now.

Matthew
2008-09-12, 03:51 PM
Sniffle... sniffle... I love these boards.. You guys rock.

Glad to be of service. :smallbiggrin:

Beleriphon
2008-09-12, 04:33 PM
I'm going to recommend d20 modern as well. It does have a genre, the Action Movie genre. The game plays very much like how an action movie plays out. If you want to use other genres you need to really enforce genre conventions to make it work, but as a whole its simple to run and the basic classes are open enough to cover any type of character along with the career mechanic.

Mutants and Masterminds if also tons of fun. While its nominally a superhero RPG its point based system allows you build a character however you want. And superpowers can be advance kung fu techniques, or sharks with frikkin' "lasers" on their heads. As a heads up the system is effects based so a bullet and Cyclops' optic blasts are both resolved the same way, so this might throw some people for a bit of a loop to start with.

Cainen
2008-09-12, 04:49 PM
I'll be one of the few to anti-recommend d20 Modern. It was, simply put, one of the worst systems I've had to mess around with and barely, BARELY held up when I tried to get it to do what I wanted it to. Not at all fun to GM, either.

Unisystem sounds somewhat up your alley, but it's geared towards a more fatal style of game. It's not hard to change a rule or two to fix that, though, and remember that you don't have to roll for everything. The system is very simple, runs quickly, and can be picked up very fast by just about anyone.

Knaight
2008-09-12, 05:48 PM
Funny that you should mention Jim Butcher...it's not ready yet, but Evil Hat Productions is working to build a Dresden Files RPG using the FATE system. It should be out sometime in the next 3-6 months, judging by the playtest reports.

FATE is the same system that's used to play Spirit of the Century, a personal favorite of mine. The base setting is 1920's pulp, with sort of an Indiana Jones-with-a-hint-of-mad-science-and-weird-magic feel, but the underlying system is very simple and easy to adapt to other settings and premises.

I'll stop prostelytizing now.

Thats Spirit of the Century's base setting, FATE doesn't actually have one, FATE itself, as far as the rules go the second edition, which Spirit of the Century is based on they use the Fudge rule set. This Fudge rule set. (www.fudgerpg.com)
Now if you want to go extremely cinematic, there are 2 Fudge Factor articles worth looking at. The first one is the basic gun rules, the second one explosions, bomb defusing rules(kind of iffy), and knacks. Knacks let you actually gain an advantage through jumping through glass windows, pull a gun out instantly regardless of how well it was hidden, inevitably be concaeled whenever a firefight starts, because of dust hitting the air and such, and other fun things along those lines.
http://www.fudgefactor.org/2004/05/05/firefight1.html
http://www.fudgefactor.org/2004/06/01/firefight2.html