# D20 Modern Campaign Ideas?



## Azure Trance (Oct 4, 2002)

I'm just curious of the possibilties (limitless as they are) for D20 modern. Obviously you'd have the:


Military Campaign
Police Campaign
Spy Campaign -/ Which Spycraft already does :-/)
Post - Apocalyptic Madmax
Shadowrun Cyberpunk
X-Files Mystery
Cthulu Horror Campaign
Marvel/DC-ish Universe where spellcasters are equivalent to 'mutants,' both good and evil

That's all I can think of off the top of my head.  Now if D20 Modern is advanced enough to run as a Sci-Fi setting, then we're talking ;D The Space Opera genre could be wide enough to cover a greater amount of characters, from smugglers and traders to rebels and pirates. But maybe Dragonstar covers that well enough already, like Spycraft might for spying?


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## Mistwell (Oct 4, 2002)

Alias is #1 on my list (and if you have missed this show, you are seriously missing out.  Best show with sci-fi/fantasy undertones, by far, on the air right now.)

Near future cyberpunkish is #2.

Stargate is #3.

I suppose an X-files (with a divine investigator overtone) campaign would be #4.


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## Azure Trance (Oct 4, 2002)

How does Alias have fantasy overtones? I could imagine scifi (superscience) it being a spy show and all ... 

OT, while D20 looks great, I'm just concerned that it won't squeeze the other D20 games like Dragonstar or Spycraft too tight.


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## Ranger REG (Oct 4, 2002)

Azure Trance said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Marvel/DC-ish Universe where spellcasters are equivalent to 'mutants,' both good and evil
> *



Actually, I was thinking along the line of _Dr. Strange._ And who is that mystic from the _DC Universe_ that wears a golden helmet that mask his face. He once appeared on the WB _Superman_ animated series.


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## Ezrael (Oct 4, 2002)

Golden helmet spellcaster would be Doctor Fate. He's an original member of the Justice Society of America and he goes back to the forties if I'm not mistaken.


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## digitaldark (Oct 4, 2002)

I'm gonna use d20 Modern to run a more modern Forgotten Realms game.... www.cyberneticsorcery.net/realms2k is gonna be where I post my creations for it..


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## JDeMobray (Oct 4, 2002)

My first game will most likely be some kind of near future Lain/Armitage setting crossed with Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere.


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## Mr Fidgit (Oct 5, 2002)

JDeMobray said:
			
		

> *My first game will most likely be some kind of near future Lain/Armitage setting crossed with Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. *




i would _really_ like to hear more about that when you work it out (and if you'd like to post it  )


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## Jeph (Oct 5, 2002)

You _know_ I'm gonna have dudes from hell lurkin around corruptin them cheap-{expletive exzpressing posterior quarters of human female deleted} mortal souls and sellin fake rolexes on the NY streets! VAMPIRES! 

What I'm going to run will be a dark-fantasy vampire hunting game. Maybe throw in soem other WoD elements, like werewolves and stuff. It'll probably be pretty cthulhu-ish, but more psionic than magic.


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## Severion (Oct 5, 2002)

I plan on using my DarkMatter sourcebook for background material and Mongoose publishings "Chaos magic" for the magic system (psionics are up in the air)

Severion


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## Moe Ronalds (Oct 5, 2002)

My thought was to have a group of medieval adventurers somehow sent to the future *coughsamuraijackripoffcough* and have them try and figure out what's what there. 

It would, of course, mean trying to translate D&D characters into D20 modern characters, but my thought was to not actually create the characters until after they had traveled through time and whatnot...


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## Mistwell (Oct 6, 2002)

Azure Trance said:
			
		

> *How does Alias have fantasy overtones? I could imagine scifi (superscience) it being a spy show and all ...  *




See, you have not been watching the show, have you? If you had been, you wouldn't be asking that question.  It's ALL about the Rambaldi Prophecy and Artifacts.













I'm telling you, you guys are missing out on the best Fantasy show on there air right now!


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## tsadkiel (Oct 6, 2002)

I like the notion of using d20 Modern to run a _Doctor Who_ campaign, but there's no way my players would go for it.


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## Ranger REG (Oct 6, 2002)

Where's the Rambaldi page regarding the Circumference?


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## Mistwell (Oct 7, 2002)

Ranger REG said:
			
		

> *Where's the Rambaldi page regarding the Circumference? *




I think the circumference is Device 11, this one:






You can see many of the "real-life" Rambaldi pages here:

http://www.followersoframbaldi.org/

Just click on the "Illustrations" link.

I may print these out and give them to my player's as they find them, if I run an Alias d20 Modern game.


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## Mr Fidgit (Oct 7, 2002)

tsadkiel said:
			
		

> *I like the notion of using d20 Modern to run a Doctor Who campaign, but there's no way my players would go for it. *




i would!  

the problem with a Dr. Who game is the same as , say, a Buffy (the vampire slayer) game. there should only be _one_ time lord (or slayer...). everyone else is just a companion (or fodder)


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## Pbartender (Oct 7, 2002)

Mr Fidgit said:
			
		

> *
> 
> i would!
> 
> the problem with a Dr. Who game is the same as , say, a Buffy (the vampire slayer) game. there should only be one time lord (or slayer...). everyone else is just a companion (or fodder) *




Hey, a Dr. Who game would be a great idea.  And I don't think it'd be as difficult to set up as you think...

_From the Wizard's Web-site:_


> Featured on the cover is a trio of iconic heroes. The most prominent of these (standing right there in the center) is Russell Whitfield, the Strong Hero who wields a bastard sword. And on Russell's shoulder is a patch that features a stylized silhouette of a dragon -- the symbol of an organization called the Knights of the Silver Dragon.
> 
> The Knights of the Silver Dragon are a crusading force for good that operates in small, independent cells. It's also a group that has been around for a very long time. (This shouldn't come as much of a surprise when you know that at the center of the organization is a very old silver dragon.)




So, you just set the silver dragon up as the Time Lord, and the characters are all working for him.  He's got more important things to do, doesn't want to reveal himself to the majority of humans, and is uncharacteristically unwilling to throw himself to the wolves.  So when anything truly dangerous arises, he sends the PCs in to do the job.


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## Tonguez (Oct 7, 2002)

Mr Fidgit said:
			
		

> *
> 
> i would!
> 
> the problem with a Dr. Who game is the same as , say, a Buffy (the vampire slayer) game. there should only be one time lord (or slayer...). everyone else is just a companion (or fodder) *




Not neccessarily afterall the Doctor is NOT the only Time Lord in exisitance (theres a whole planet of them on Galifrey) and 

One of the Doctors companions - Romana was also herself a Timelord

At least 4 renegade Timelords are known including the Doctor, his nemisis the Master, the Meddling Monk, and the War Chief. The Brain of Morbius was also encountered (Morbius being another renegade Timelord). Actually the Rani was also a Timelord iirc

The Three Doctors storyline also allowed for more than one Doctor to be active at the same time

Jon Pertwee was the Earthbound Doctor who had official support from UNIT


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## Mr Fidgit (Oct 7, 2002)

(Pbartender,  i have much respect for anyone _who_ (!) would quote Dr Who is their sig )

(Tonguez, i remember Romana (Fred) and the other Time Lords very well )

my comment harkens back to the Dr Who RPG. a time lord in the game was _vastly_ superior to anyone else. i always thought it would hard to convince a group of players that there could be only one. (and hope the rest of the group didn't resent the person who got to play the Time Lord.)

that's why i made the comment about the new Buffy game. there are 3 'classes' in the game, the slayer and two others (that i don't remember the name of...). again, the level of power of the slayer is much higher than any of the other 'classes'. since there's only supposed to be one slayer in the whole world, everyone else is just a minor player.

i guess this could be balanced in a d20 game by making a Time Lord an ECL+ race, and making any companion characters equivalent levels....


oh, and Tonguez, i remember the Three Doctors and the Five Doctors, too. but not well, since it's been so long! one of them has my favorite quote from the series but, for the life of me, i can't never remember the companion's name!

(upon witnessing the meeting of the Third Doctor with the Second Doctor)
Zoe (?) - "Who was that?"
Second Doctor - "He's The Doctor."
Zoe - "What?"
Doctor - "Well, I am me and he is me."
Zoe - "And we are all together, coo-coo-catchoo?"


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## tsadkiel (Oct 7, 2002)

Oh, I agree.  _Doctor Who_ would make a terribl;e license, because the hero (and most interesting character) is considered somewhat unique in the universe.  There are other Time Lords, and even other renegades, but there's only one Doctor.  (Compare this to _Star Trek_, where the assumption is that there are other starships having equally exciting adventures, we just don't see them.)

Since I'd be dealing with a small group, I'd probably have one PC be a Time Lord under direct orders from the council to track down a nasty renegade interfering with Earth history, with the other players representing accidental companions picked up along the way.  (I'd avoid using a canonical villain, probably.  But maybe the Monk.)

Alternately, a UNIT game would be cool.


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## Mr Fidgit (Oct 8, 2002)

i think the most difficult transition to a d20 game may be the experience. since the standard way to aquire exp is through combat, the DM would have to institute some kind of story awards or CR for normal encounters. Dr Who tends to be a lot less lethal than D&D


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## tsadkiel (Oct 8, 2002)

Mr Fidgit said:
			
		

> * Dr Who tends to be a lot less lethal than D&D  *




You did see the Colin Baker episodes, right?


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## Mr Fidgit (Oct 8, 2002)

yes, but i always think of Dr Who in terms of the Tom Baker era. the bad guys kill all of the time, but the heroes don't. they sometimes kill the bad guy by the end of the story arc, unless, of course, you're Leila


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## Morgenstern (Oct 8, 2002)

*Hmmm...?*

...I'm just rying to figure out why you couldn't run an Alias game right now with Spycraft? Have we missed something?


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## Agback (Oct 8, 2002)

I have had a lot of success over the years with 'film noir' detective campaigns inspired by Dashiel Hammett stories. I also had a stunning success (perhaps the greatest of my GMing career) with a campaign loosely based on the movie 'Highlander'. And I ran some enjoyable adventures inspired by Arthur Clarke 'Tales from the White Hart' (about science fiction concepts popping up in a realistic context). I should think that you'd be able to handle all those with d20 Modern.

Regards,


Agback


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## Mr Fidgit (Oct 8, 2002)

Agback said:
			
		

> *I have had a lot of success over the years with 'film noir' detective campaigns inspired by Dashiel Hammett stories*




Lucky!

i've wanted to do a game like this for a long time. unfortunately, only a couple of people in my group would be interested. the rest really wouldn't be into it.


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## ToddSchumacher (Oct 8, 2002)

Four words:

What is the Matrix?


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## Mr Fidgit (Oct 9, 2002)

ToddSchumacher said:
			
		

> *What is the Matrix? *




the matrix would be a game where every encounter would go like this:

GM:"you see an agent, what do you do?"
players: "RRRRRUUUUUNNN!"


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## JPL (Oct 9, 2002)

I'm thinkin' Remo Williams meets Doc Savage.

Trained by an ancient Tibetan holy man in the One True Martial Art, a eclectic team of adventurers travels to the far ends of the earth, exploring the unknown and fighting incredible foes.


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## Corinth (Oct 9, 2002)

Mr Fidgit said:
			
		

> *the matrix would be a game where every encounter would go like this:
> 
> GM:"you see an agent, what do you do?"
> players: "RRRRRUUUUUNNN!" *



That's not a sure thing.  My take on it didn't have it be so fatalistic.  The PCs took on Agents and won, but they lacked the ability to permanently destroy them.  Hence engagements were purely a matter of resources: the Agents nigh-inexhaustable lives vs. the PCs very limited--but potent--powers.


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## Mistwell (Oct 9, 2002)

JPL said:
			
		

> *I'm thinkin' Remo Williams meets Doc Savage.
> 
> Trained by an ancient Tibetan holy man in the One True Martial Art, a eclectic team of adventurers travels to the far ends of the earth, exploring the unknown and fighting incredible foes. *




Oooohhhhhh...I like it!


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## Mr Fidgit (Oct 9, 2002)

your right, Corinth. the PCs could gang up on an agent, kill him (destroy that body) and _then_ run!   

matrix bad guy options will open up in the next movie. i believe there are many more types of bad guys, than just the agents.


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## D'arc DeWinter (Oct 9, 2002)

JPL said:
			
		

> *I'm thinkin' Remo Williams meets Doc Savage.
> *




I've always thought of the movie "The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai" as sort of a "Doc Savage Modern".


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## JPL (Oct 9, 2002)

Mistwell said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Oooohhhhhh...I like it! *




Thanks.  I've been threatening to run this campaign for a long, long time.  I like the prospect of mixing up the "Dark Matter"-style mystery with some of that kung-fu fighting.  The best of both worlds, y'know?  I'm thinking everyone would start at 7th or 8th level, with at least two levels of the Martial Artist advanced class.

It's really my take on the old Jack Kirby "Challengers of the Unknown" comics --- they don't just investigate unexplained phenomena, they grab it by the collar and smack it around.

And D'arc, you are quite right.  Buckaroo is the Doc of the 1980s.  And another fine example of what I'd like to do with my campaign.


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## Sir Osis of Liver (Oct 10, 2002)

I'd like to try a uber martial artist anime type setting. Along the lines Dragonball z, but more toned down. I suppose more along the lines of the street fighter and fatal fury movies maybe crossed with some more mystical themes like in X and poltergiest report.


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## Jeph (Oct 11, 2002)

Anubis has a thread somewhere in House Rules with a bunch of DBZ style feats--you know, energy balls and stuff. I doubt that's what your looking for in a d20 Modern setting, though.

Try giving a free unarmed damage advancement to all Hero Classes . . . say, start at d4, go up one die type at every level divisable by 5. 

Oh yeah, I forgot to pimp my favorite firearms rules! Right, I was gonna say use the Sleeping Imperium Firearms rules for all your non-fistfull needs. With them, you can make any type of gun from a pirate pistol to an electromagnetic gatling, and everything inbetween. And they take recoil and armor piercing into account.


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## Sir Osis of Liver (Oct 11, 2002)

Cool idea Jeph. I'd probably also throw in something similiar to the torrent of chi feat from Dragonfist, with adjustments for differnt types of "power moves".


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## Pbartender (Oct 11, 2002)

I was thinking an X-Com setting would be pretty neat.

Use D20: Modern, with a few of the Spycraft feats tossed in, and some new equipment to emulate some of the futuristic and alien technologies.


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## JPL (Oct 11, 2002)

Another one that I've been kicking around...

Steampunk/Victorian high adventure/proto-pulp/Wold Newton, with some conspiracy and alt-history thrown in.

1895.  The heroes are adventurers and explorers based in the Kingdom of Ruritania.  They are gradually drawn into a war which has secretly spanned the last century...and which now explodes into open conflict.

Almost one hundred years before, a meteor landed near Wold Newton, England.  No one realized it at the time, but some property of the meteorite --- something Victorian science cannot begin to understand --- affected the bloodlines of the people nearby.  Their descendants would have the potential for nearly superhuman physical, mental, and spiritual abilities.  From this blood would come a century's greatest heroes...and most dangerous villains...

[Anyway...plenty of swashbuckling, Freemasons v. Seven Hidden Masters v. Hanoi Xan v. Moriarty, weird science aplenty, the quest for immortality, mystical rites, and Lost Kingdoms.  For the finale: the Martians in tripod walkers want the meteorite back...]


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## tsadkiel (Oct 12, 2002)

Doctor Who aside, here's what I'll actually be attempting with d20 Modern:  "It's like the X-Files written by Neil Gaiman and Tim Powers, only they're not in the FBI, and Mulder's played by Chow Yun-Fat, while Scully's played by Audrey Tautou."  Basically just a big grab-bag of stuff that I personally find cool.


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## Bran Blackbyrd (Oct 16, 2002)

Religious: I'm not a fan of mixing real world religions with D&D, but D20 modern is a different situation. I like the idea of the players getting caught up in a war between the forces of light and darkness. Putting a different spin on Christianity, and other religions, not unlike the Prophecy movies, the Spawn comics, or even Dogma. The possibility of there being more than two sides in the war between Heaven and Hell. Rogue angels, reformed demons, zealotous strangers.
The only thing more dangerous than someone who claims to know the truth about religion is someone who really does know the truth.
---------


Supernatural Uprising: Not far off from the previous setting is one where the supernatural lurks just beneath the surface of the normal world. Running into a displacer beast in an alley could ruin your night out. The girls in 5th period chemistry are witches guarding the seal on a gate to the underworld. That prostitute from the bad part of town is a succubus trying to reform. Oh, and that monastery just off the highway is filled with a secret group of half-orc historians. Man's true genetic ancestor. Government agencies are tracking the illuminati, whose members are government officials who are running the agencies doing the tracking...
Somewhere in the middle are the PCs who somehow find out what's going on, and where they fit into the picture. 
---------


Near Future Cyberpunk: More cyber than punk really. We're not talking Bladerunner or anything. Sure, there are run down areas where whole cities used to be, but it's not like the whole world is a dark polluted, rainy place. Cybernetic replacement parts are fairly common. Complete replacement bodies are available to the ultra-rich, and certain agencies. Cosmetic body modification has replaced the piercing as the new flesh fad. Want a tail? You got it, want a third eye? Sure. The internet can be jacked right into your head in 3D. A world inspired by the short stories, _In Search of Neko_ and _Puma._ 
The PCs are anything from secret revolutionists trying to bring down the oppressive corporations, to net-junkies exposing the secrets of the rich and powerful, to refugees trying to flee from the company that made their prototype next-gen cybernetic parts.
---------


GTA3: The PCs live in a city that is totally corrupt. The only way to survive is to fight fire with fire and become the best criminals in the city. They have to earn enough money to get out, and enough respect to be left alone after they get out, before they lose their humanity.
Conversly, the PCs could be members of law-enforcement trying to bring order to the city, and infiltrate the crime-families.

I can't wait for D20 Modern!


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## Sir Osis of Liver (Oct 16, 2002)

> Supernatural Uprising: Not far off from the previous setting is one where the supernatural lurks just beneath the surface of the normal world. Running into a displacer beast in an alley could ruin your night out. The girls in 5th period chemistry are witches guarding the seal on a gate to the underworld. That prostitute from the bad part of town is a succubus trying to reform. Oh, and that monastery just off the highway is filled with a secret group of half-orc historians. Man's true genetic ancestor. Government agencies are tracking the illuminati, whose members are government officials who are running the agencies doing the tracking...





Try Shadowcasers for this one. The religion idea is real cool BTW.


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## Mistwell (Oct 17, 2002)

Bran Blackbyrd said:
			
		

> *Religious: I'm not a fan of mixing real world religions with D&D, but D20 modern is a different situation. I like the idea of the players getting caught up in a war between the forces of light and darkness. Putting a different spin on Christianity, and other religions, not unlike the Prophecy movies, the Spawn comics, or even Dogma. The possibility of there being more than two sides in the war between Heaven and Hell. Rogue angels, reformed demons, zealotous strangers.
> The only thing more dangerous than someone who claims to know the truth about religion is someone who really does know the truth.
> --------- *




You are really going to like a movie that is scheduled to release on 01/17/2003 called Sin Eater.  There is a synopsis here: http://www.foxmovies.com/COMING_SOON/sineater_pop.html

"A young conflicted priest helps investigate the case of a corpse covered with mysterious religious symbols written in Aramaic. The priest realizes this murder may be the work of the last of an ancient Christian order outside the Catholic Church called the Sin Eaters, who claim to absolve the guilty of their sins... but the absolution is fatal."

I've seen the movie (though they were still tinkering with some music and final touches on special effects), and it is pretty good.

It's the same crew (director and actors) as A Knights Tale, though I was never huge fan of that movie.  However, unless they mess it up majorly in post-production, it will not have the massive anachronisms and teen-baiting that bugged me from A Knights Tale.


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## bwgwl (Oct 17, 2002)

Bran Blackbyrd said:
			
		

> *Religious: I'm not a fan of mixing real world religions with D&D, but D20 modern is a different situation. I like the idea of the players getting caught up in a war between the forces of light and darkness. Putting a different spin on Christianity, and other religions, not unlike the Prophecy movies, the Spawn comics, or even Dogma. The possibility of there being more than two sides in the war between Heaven and Hell. Rogue angels, reformed demons, zealotous strangers.
> The only thing more dangerous than someone who claims to know the truth about religion is someone who really does know the truth.
> ---------*



ever seen _In Nomine_? great game. would love to see In Nomine d20 one day.

i had a world idea a while back that was based somewhat on In Nomine and Judeo-Christian ideas, but had three sides: Angels, Demons, and the Grigori (angels that didn't fall like the demons, but were banished from Heaven to the Earth for a different crime).

the interesting thing was that none of the three sides was what you would call _good_ from a human point of view.

the Angels represented law and order. the extreme version where _everything_ and everyone is subsumed for the greater good of the all. Angels treat humans like sheep, and only care about them as long as they further the cause of Heaven. once you step out of line, the Angels consider you an enemy.

the Demons represent the _will to power_ (for all you Nietzsche buffs out there  ). for them, it's all about the individual and how much power each Demon can accumulate on his own. they use humans as pawns in their machinations not only against the Angels but against each other as well. Demons can only work together when such teamwork will maximize the aggrandizement of _all_ the Demons in the group. this doesn't happen very often...

the Grigori represent resentment. they hate the Angels for kicking them out of Heaven. they resent the Demons for not letting them into Hell. they resent humans for being the reason they were kicked out of Heaven in the first place. they even resent themselves for being weak. they exist primarily to gum up the works of Angel and Demon plots. they don't have any goals of their own -- they only want to make sure no one else reaches theirs.

pretty dark world, but might be interesting all the same.


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## Voneth (Oct 19, 2002)

I would go with a "We are among them" type set up. Whether that difference between the PC and humanity is scientific, supernatural or a evolution of some sort would depend on my mood.

I would also go with an Alternate Earth where something, Psionics, Magic or funky tech has changed everything.


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## Pbartender (Oct 19, 2002)

I was recently reading about the new live-action Akira movie...

So, I went and watched the original movie again, and I thought to myself, "Huh, that would make great adventure for a D20 Modern game in the Agents of PSI campaign setting."


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## Tonguez (Oct 19, 2002)

Teenagers from Outer Space meets GURPS I.O.U meets Sweet Valley High meets Buffy meets Animal House meets...


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## Bran Blackbyrd (Oct 20, 2002)

Sir Osis of Liver said:
			
		

> *Try Shadowcasers for this one. The religion idea is real cool BTW. *




Yeah, I picked up the Shadowchasers issue of Dungeon/Polyhedron for the half-machine template. I've been looking forward to getting my hands on D20 Modern ever since I first heard about it.
Thanks for the compliment, BTW. In spite of the fact that I don't follow any religion, I think that the subject is interesting (when it isn't causing violence and oppression).  Aside from being a hell of a funny movie, Dogma is very thought provoking. You take a closer look at what's going on in it and see that it makes a lot of sense, in a mythoigical way.




			
				Mistwell said:
			
		

> *You are really going to like a movie that is scheduled to release on 01/17/2003 called Sin Eater. *




Hmm, sounds interesting. I'll have to remember to check it out.




			
				bwgwl said:
			
		

> *ever seen In Nomine? great game. would love to see In Nomine d20 one day.
> *




I've heard the name mentioned quite a bit around these boards, but I had never heard what it is. Thanks for the info.


--------
More campaign ideas:

Obviously D20 Modern is made for modern and near future settings, but it would be just as usefull for near past adventures.

The PCs could be covert agents spying on Russia during the cold war. Maybe they are trying to crack the secret of a Soviet "Super Soldier" program so they can make off with the info for their own country (or company) and destroy the Russians work on it when they leave. Maybe one of the PCs was a "volunteer" subject of the program and is trying to defect to another country.

Wars make a good excuse for the PCs to be involved, whether they are spying or fighting.

The Axis is rolling across Europe and the PCs are helping fight the good fight. Return to Castle Wolfenstein makes excellent source material for a campaign like this. It's the perfect mix of occult and science for a system that will have modern tech, with rules for magic as well. The PCs could be trying to steal plans for a German super-weapon, they could be escapees from one of the breeding camps, fighter pilots, members of a resistance movement. You name it! 
In any of these "near-past" campaigns it's up to the players to decide whether they want to preserve history, or rewrite it.

Were they in Roswell when mysterious debris was spotted?
Were they on the security detail of the President when an assassination attempt occurred?
Maybe they witnessed the mysterious destruction of the 1909 Tunguska event, or perhaps they were responsible for it.
They were part of a special police task force during prohibition, assigned to deal with the rise of organized crime.

Ahem. Doom, Doom II, Half Life.

How about this; The PCs, whether victims of circumstance or directly responsible, have to fight off an army of newly risen corpses after a strange chemical pollutes the area (night of the living what, you say???). When the battle is won the event is covered up, but rumors of the event end up inspiring a well-known movie and it's sequels.

There are aliens among us, and it's the PCs' job to make sure normal folks don't find out...

There are aliens among us, and the PCs' *are* normal folks who saw some ETs and are now being harrassed by the people whose job it is to make sure normal folks don't find out...

The PCs' neighborhood is built over the ubiquitous "Indian Burial Ground". Weird crap starts to happen and the PCs go into action. (BTW, I have news for you, probably 99.9% of US soil is an "indian" burial ground) 

Evil Dead II, Army of Darkness, DieHard, Blade, Dark Angel, Batman... 'nuff said. Heck, the PCs are one _animate object_ spell away from Mannequin and one _awaken_ spell away from any number of bad talking animal movies.
Series 7: The Contenders...

There's no end to the source material out there.
And remember, the characters are only one case of mistaken identity away from becoming fugitives from justice.


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## sean_etc (Oct 21, 2002)

*My 2 cents...*

So far, my concept of what sort of game I am going to run keeps changing.  I plan on starting it like such:

All players will be playing college-aged characters, thus they'll have to pick an area of study (their major).  (Wether or not they're from the same colege has yet to be determined.)  For another undetermined reason, they will be at some sort of conference/camping trip.  (Possible reasons include they're all recipients of some financial aide grant and this is the one requirement.)  Anywho, while on the trip they are the sole survivors of a raid or creatures that came through a gate.  From there, I'm still uncertain as where I am gonna go with it.


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## dglass (Oct 21, 2002)

*Re: My 2 cents...*



			
				sean_etc said:
			
		

> *So far, my concept of what sort of game I am going to run keeps changing.  I plan on starting it like such:
> 
> All players will be playing college-aged characters, thus they'll have to pick an area of study (their major).  (Wether or not they're from the same colege has yet to be determined.)  For another undetermined reason, they will be at some sort of conference/camping trip.  (Possible reasons include they're all recipients of some financial aide grant and this is the one requirement.)  Anywho, while on the trip they are the sole survivors of a raid or creatures that came through a gate.  From there, I'm still uncertain as where I am gonna go with it. *




It really depends on what genre you are going for.  If the supernatural in your world is mostly bad your setup would dovetail nicely into a Shadowchasers campaign.

I am notorious among my players for using dimensional gates as jumping off points for campaigns.  I like doing fish out of water stories so I would have these lovely co-eds captured by orcs and dragged back through to portal.  Modern day characters in a fantasy world shows up in many novels.  My usual thing is to do one-shot in which the plot resolves itself and at the end the players have to decide if they want to stay in the fantasy world or go back.  Returning to the 'real world' doesn't mean the end of the campaign however.  They might return to a universe which is very similar to their home but different in a disturbing way.  Stuck in a parallel universe they have to escape or die.  Once a character has been through one interdimensional portal they are pretty much wierdness magnets so I don't let them rest.  Even when they do get home I would have someone or something follow them.  When the characters are to blame for unleashing evil on a wholly unprepared world they are usually more inclined to do something about it.


----------



## LoPaC (Oct 23, 2002)

Ok, this is what my friend is using as a set up for when he runs D20 Modern with our group.  WWII.  Hitler somehow opens a gate to a new plane of existance, pretty much Faerun (how he does this, I dunno.  Im not the DM :-D ).  Drow have taken over Russia, and have a gigunguos darkness spell cast over it, the Nazis are using Orcs as cannon fodder, and Elves are trying to (secretly) help the Allies defeat the Axis powers, all without scaring the American public....... This is gonna be damn interesting to see play out.


----------



## Capellan (Oct 23, 2002)

For me, the choice for "first d20 modern campaign" will be easy:  *Stargate SG20*.

It's gonna be a blast


----------



## Corinth (Oct 23, 2002)

I'd like to see how well one old campaign idea I had ("Holy Warzone America", a giant robot campaign set amidst the Second American Civil War wherein the Fundamentalists took over and everyone else fought back.) would work.


----------



## Mistwell (Oct 23, 2002)

Capellan said:
			
		

> *For me, the choice for "first d20 modern campaign" will be easy:  Stargate SG20.
> 
> It's gonna be a blast  *




I'd love to hear how it goes. I have an email in to the owners of the license of the game to see if they would be interested in cheaply licensing it out for a d20 supplement.


----------



## Yellow Sign (Oct 23, 2002)

How about,

Thunderbirds d20 or U.F.O. D20 

I wonder how d20 Modern does vehicles?


----------



## Dismas (Oct 23, 2002)

Yellow Sign said:
			
		

> *How about,
> 
> Thunderbirds d20 or U.F.O. D20
> 
> I wonder how d20 Modern does vehicles? *




I started watching UFO again last night (I have the first 13 episodes on DVD) and have been thinking about putting together a few notes and maybe even an adventure or two.


----------



## mythusmage (Oct 23, 2002)

*Plug Time!*

The street is quiet, the corpses long since rotted away. Even the bones are nothing more than white dust scattered upon the wind. Nothing moves but drifts of dust and long dead leaves. The curtains in the windows, the doors in their frames are long gone.

At the head of the street a soldier appears. An American. A marine with his dog. He holds a rifle in his hands. The beast pads by his side. Their movements are slow and halting; they shamble down the byway, moving their heads side to side in search of a long vanished enemy.

The man's fingers are worn down to the bone. His ribs show through holes in rotting blouse and dessicated flesh. A spider rests in one eye socket, the shrunken remains of an eye the other. His movements are stiff, deliberate.

The dog walks upon the splintered remains of toes, a shattered spine forming a macabre crest near the shoulders. The fur is patchy, the skin beneath rent by cracks and fissures.

A sound. A brief interruption of the quiet that lays upon the street. The marine signals the dog to halt. In a rough parody of affection he strokes the animal's head. The dog responds, more because it's what he did in life. He cannot feel his master's touch anymore, but even after more than 20 years a shadow of the affection he once held for the man remains.

The sound is not repeated.

He straightens up and signals the dog to resume the patrol. His orders were to search for the enemy. Search for the zombies, ghouls, wights and wraiths that infested the city. Death did not change those orders. He will search, he will destroy. With his faithful dog he will rid the city of the foul unalive. Not even the destruction of his body will sway him from his goal.

They shamble on, two corpses on a futile mission. Soon they are gone, hidden by a twist in the road, a bend in the street. Once again long dead Hue seems empty, only the zephyr tormented dust to give it a satire of life.

(Not what you'd call a vacation spot, is it?)


----------



## jaults (Oct 23, 2002)

Azure Trance said:
			
		

> *Now if D20 Modern is advanced enough to run as a Sci-Fi setting, then we're talking*



    Judging by the fact that Mecha Crusade from Polyhedron is based on d20M, I am assuming that SF won't be too much of a stretch.
    What I want to do is run an "exporing the universe in battle armor" game. A giant spaceship (maybe a generationship) with teams of mecha-piloting (medium and large, only) adventurers traveling around the universe searching out places to colonize. Star Trek-ish, but with mecha...

    Jason


----------



## manjiman (Oct 24, 2002)

*The Tripods d20*

I've been watching The Tripods on DVD in the last few days and have been thinking about how great a setting it would be.  Your escapees, non-capped and wanting to get to the colony of the freeman.  The Capped and the Blackguards and of course the Tripods themselves.  Would make for a great game I think. 

cheers

jason

http://www.gnelson.demon.co.uk/Tripods.html


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## Mistwell (Oct 24, 2002)

LoPaC said:
			
		

> *Ok, this is what my friend is using as a set up for when he runs D20 Modern with our group.  WWII.  Hitler somehow opens a gate to a new plane of existance, pretty much Faerun (how he does this, I dunno.  Im not the DM :-D ).  Drow have taken over Russia, and have a gigunguos darkness spell cast over it, the Nazis are using Orcs as cannon fodder, and Elves are trying to (secretly) help the Allies defeat the Axis powers, all without scaring the American public....... This is gonna be damn interesting to see play out. *




You might enjoy the book Lammas Night by Katherine Kurtz (see amazon link below).  The book will give you plenty of background material on how Hitler would open such a gate (in fact it draws on many RL facts to shape the fictional universe she describes).  The summary is as follows:

"What Magic Can Stop Adolf Hitler -- History's Most Evil Black Magician? The year is 1940. Hitler's Germany is about to employ the secret arts of evil witchcraft to destroy England. What can stop them? It is the mission of John Graham, colonel in British Intelligence, to stop the onslaught of evil with an extraordinary strategy that defies all the rules of twentieth-century warfare: Unite the different witches' covens throughout England, drawing upon powers that reach back through dark centuries, in a ritual of awesome sacrifice on the first night of August, the magical Lammas Night."

It's a pretty good book, and worth reading.

There is also some evidence that Hitler, who was in fact a big believer in the occult, believed that the mass killing of people in the camps was a form of human sacrifice that gave him magical power to accomplish some nasty magical deed.  You could easily make that goal the ripping open of an extra-dimensional gateway, and hence you have the link to your plotline of orcs and drow.  I'd probably set the gate in the Black Forest.

And then the plot of England gathering the covens to combat this evil gives you your gate to the elves.  You could even have them open the gate at Stonehenge.  

Here is the link to the book:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...r=1-7/ref=sr_1_7/104-3175007-0438346?v=glance


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## LoPaC (Oct 24, 2002)

Mistwell said:
			
		

> *
> 
> You might enjoy the book Lammas Night .......................
> 
> ...





Wow   !!     Thanks


----------



## James Heard (Oct 30, 2002)

My first d20 campaign will probably be a move back to one of my favorite setting ideas ever -the grandfather of SG-1, Fringeworthy.  Man, that was a great setting idea with an awful mechanics behind it. I used to run games using the setting with Interlock mechanics, but Solos running into every warp guns blazing to take out potential threats from the locals just never seemed to be the right idea...

After that I'll probably go with the modern horror/investigator route that I wanted to do since I picked up CoC but none of my players will let me run CoC for them again ever (even the new ones thanks to vicious, unfounded rumors).


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## faustuswoo (Oct 30, 2002)

*Jack Ryan Saga*

Tom Clancy's global hero Jack Ryan is a promise canidate of the main NPC in D20 modern. He and John Clark join to fight the terroriests in the world. Rainbow Six should be included in the campaign. Hi-tech thriller is a fasinated attempt to any GM.


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## Eridanis (Oct 30, 2002)

*Some not-quite-modern d20 Modern settings*

How about Indiana Jones d20?

d20 in the world of THE TWO GEORGES by Turtledove & that actor whose name escapes me - basicallly, the Revolutionary War concluded with America returning to the British Empire, and the novel takes place in the 1930s of that world?

ANNO DRACULA d20? (Kim Newmann)

PLEIOCENE EXILE d20? (Julian May's amazing SF/fantasy series)


Nowthat I think about it, I might jsut have to pick up this book after all. There are lots of setting possibilities if one has time to flesh them out a bit...


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## Eridanis (Oct 30, 2002)

How about UNREAL TOURNAMENT d20? Talk about a beer-and-pretzels, have-fun-for-an-evening type thing - trick out a character and go for the gusto! If that ARSENAL book is any good, that might add to the interesting possibilities.


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## JTyranny (Oct 30, 2002)

Buckaroo Banzai and Alias would be great choices- as for post Apocalypse-- The End (d20) is compatible with d20 Modern. We made it modular for that very reason!.


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## MythicJustice (Oct 30, 2002)

If you're looking for a dark modern fantasy setting, check out *Dark Inheritance* at http://www.mythicdreams.com.

*Dark Inheritance*

This Spring, enter a world of *mythic horror* where the genetic inheritors of the gods and monsters of legend battle against ancient terrors and explore a mystical world newly revealed behind long forgotten gates.

Fear descends upon a world where *destiny has failed* and creatures from earth's primordial past once again stalk the earth. As a *Titan*, your birthright is power and now a future is waiting to be forged by those who have the strength of will to shape it.

Can you survive otherworldly monsters, the mad schemes of the *Daemonhost*, and the mysteries hidden within your own genetic code?


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## novyet (Oct 30, 2002)

*Re: Plug Time!*



			
				mythusmage said:
			
		

> *(Not what you'd call a vacation spot, is it?) *




Pretty sweet sounding. Got some more information? I had an idea kind of similar to that, how about doing a d20 version of The Stand?


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## Desdichado (Oct 30, 2002)

Here's some ideas I've had (or stolen):


Alternate Modern:  Hitler won WWII, although he was probably quickly supplanted within Nazi Germany due to the fact that he was a walking chemical set by the end of the war.  The Cold War all over again, except that the enemy is a huge power block of Nazism in central and Western Europe that is fascinated with the occult!  Are the Soviets still allies, or have they become so reactionary that we can't trust them anymore?  What are the Nazis and the Communists and the "free world" doing in response to decades of cold war?  Attempts to strike power balances in the New World and Asia/Pacific?
Alternate Modern 2:  Ever read Harry Turtledove's books about an alien race that arrived in the middle of WWII to conquer the earth, but was amazed to discover how much humanity had progressed in the last 1000 years?  Sounds like fun.
Low fantasy:  Just because it says modern doesn't mean that the rules won't make for a great low fantasy game now and then.
Predator:  Probably more of a mini-campaign, with more fatalities than most, but predator (or aliens or something like that) would be a great game.


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## mythusmage (Oct 30, 2002)

*Dragon Earth Plug*



			
				novyet said:
			
		

> *Pretty sweet sounding. Got some more information? I had an idea kind of similar to that, how about doing a d20 version of The Stand?*




1965: Bohdisvatta and Former President of the Republic of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh is assassinated by a person or persons unknown. This marks the start of The Lich King's War. After 15 years of fighting, and the loss of 1/3 of the world's population, the Lich King's forces are defeated and the Lich King destroyed. Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, most of Thailand, and the southern third of the Empire of China are totally depopulated. Overall, China drops from a population of around 300 million to less than 95 million. Necromancy becomes very unpopular.

Present Day: Vietnam is still no-man's-land. Imperial China is beginning to reclaim her lost territories. Expeditions, both authorized and unauthorized, are exploring the "Lost Lands" for treasure, information, and strange beasts. A genetic disorder rendering the subject susceptible to basilisk paralyzation has been identified.

There's more to the story. Urban legends about the return of the Lich King, and stories about drow plans to conquer the world (which the drow disavow, saying that they're only out to buy it). Then there are stories coming from the deep space observatory on Pluto. (The former Collegium Arcane de Pluto, established in 1794.)(I love foreshadowing.)

A work in progress, scheduled for its public debut in 2003, after Wizard's _Urban Arcana_


----------



## Neowolf (Nov 1, 2002)

JPL said:
			
		

> *Another one that I've been kicking around...
> 
> Steampunk/Victorian high adventure/proto-pulp/Wold Newton, with some conspiracy and alt-history thrown in.
> 
> ...




If you're interested in this kind of setting, check out The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Alan Moore's latest comic book endeavor.  It's got lots of nice Victorian flavor (set in 1898), and the heroes are the protagonists of Victorian literature: Captain Nemo, Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, The Invisible Man, etc.  It's really interesting seeing how all these characters interact. The first two story arcs are available now as a trade hardback for $25 American.  Check it out, you won't be disappointed.


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## Corinth (Nov 1, 2002)

I'm thinking of doing something that is usually reserved for _Spycraft_: a Troupe-style _Mission: Impossible_ campaign.

Character Generation:

Step One: Each player creates a Team Leader PC.  This PC is the one that receives and executes every IMF mission, and he is also the one that chooses what other PCs go on the mission.
Step Two: Each player creates a number of specialist PCs equal to the number of other players in the game.  (Four players would each make three specialist PCs, for a total of 12 such PCs.)
Step Three:  Once the specialist PCs are finished, they go into a general pool, where they stay until a Team Leader picks them.
Mission Protocal:

Determine Team Leader:  For the first mission, each player rolls 1d20; highest roll gets the shot.  Reroll all ties until there is a winner.  After the first mission, the Team Leader roll shifts one seat to the left; in this fashion, each player gets a turn as Team Leader.
Mission Briefing:  The Team Leader receives his briefing from IMF HQ, complete with all necessary handouts.  This will be done before the session if possible to avoid boring the other players.
Team Selection:  The Team Leader pours over the general pool of IMF specialists and selects one for every other player present; this means that people may play characters that they didn't make for the duration of an adventure.  PCs receive XP only when they are "active" (i.e. actually get played).
Campaign Structure:

Each adventure is self-contained by default, following the way that the TV series and the films work.  General continuity evolves organically, for the most part, from the consequences of the PCs' actions.  Such continuity as exists focuses upon the Team Leader characters.
Players may come or go only between adventures; once you begin a mission, you are expected to show up until the PCs get the job done or screw up so bad that they have to scuttle it and get out.  (The disavowal clause may make this problematic.)  This makes the campaign great for gamers with busy or uncertain play schedules.
No supernatural elements, in keeping with the source material.

Yes, I'm aware that this is likely better done with _Spycraft_, but I'm doing this because _d20 Modern_ will receive greater acceptance amongst my local scene because _d20 Modern_ is a WOTC product.  Such is life.


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## Lurks-no-More (Nov 1, 2002)

Corinth said:
			
		

> *I'm thinking of doing something that is usually reserved for Spycraft: a Troupe-style Mission: Impossible campaign.
> 
> [snippety snip a lot of stuff]
> 
> Yes, I'm aware that this is likely better done with Spycraft, but I'm doing this because d20 Modern will receive greater acceptance amongst my local scene because d20 Modern is a WOTC product.  Such is life. *




You know, this bears trying out...

The only problem is that with the rotation of characters, it might be a bit hard to get into the character, and that they might remain somewhat cardboardy. Of course, with good RPrs, it probably won't be too difficult.


----------



## JPL (Nov 1, 2002)

Neowolf said:
			
		

> *
> 
> If you're interested in this kind of setting, check out The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Alan Moore's latest comic book endeavor.  It's got lots of nice Victorian flavor (set in 1898), and the heroes are the protagonists of Victorian literature: Captain Nemo, Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, The Invisible Man, etc.  It's really interesting seeing how all these characters interact. The first two story arcs are available now as a trade hardback for $25 American.  Check it out, you won't be disappointed.  *




Yep --- damn fine comic.

Soon to be a major motion picture starring Sean Connery.

"You're the man now, dog!"


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## JPL (Nov 1, 2002)

Lurks-no-More said:
			
		

> *
> 
> You know, this bears trying out...
> 
> The only problem is that with the rotation of characters, it might be a bit hard to get into the character, and that they might remain somewhat cardboardy. Of course, with good RPrs, it probably won't be too difficult. *




And maybe a campaign inspired by Mission: Impossible shoudn't have a lot of characterization.  As I recall, the leads were never given much personal history or quirks or whatnot.  They were all business.  If you're undercover anyway, you need to "switch characters" all the time, as the situation demands.

Great idea, by the way.


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## Moulin Rogue (Nov 2, 2002)

I'm up for a weird fantasy WWII as well. If we got _three_ naval supplements for medieval/Renaissance worlds, what are the chances we can get _one_ modern naval one? Ironclads for steampunk and big orc battleships would be cool.


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## mythusmage (Nov 2, 2002)

How about a giant battleship with 12 20" guns, protected by Chinese sorcery?

"The reserve spells were supposed to come on-line automatically. But a small mistake in the timing of the initial _Contingency_ delayed that by 15 seconds. Long enough for an American 16" shell to strike the roof of #3 turret. The sub-standard steel of the turret cracked under the impact, allowing the flash of the shell's explosion to penetrate into the interior chamber, where it ignited the gunpowder dust drifting in the air.

"This flash, in turn, ignited the loose powder scattered on the turret floor. Which ignited the powder bags stacked against the walls. The blast then traveled through the open elevator doors down to the aft magazines."
------
"At a gesture from the Emperor the Palace Chamberlain approached with the message. The Emperor read the missive carefully, ordered everyone from his presence, then took a small vial and a glass filled with water from a side table. He poured a single drop from the vial into the water, mixed it into the water, and drank it. An hour later the Palace Chamberlain returned with two strong eunechs with a litter to remove the body.

"The fighting would continue for another two years, but for all intents and purposes the war, for China, was over."
------
(He had to provoke me, didn't he?)


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## Ketjak (Nov 3, 2002)

*Two more ideas*

La Femme Nikita, TV version (believe it or not) - PCs are operatives in a super-secret black ops organization protecting the world, though motives are questionable. I suppose it can be done with Spycraft, but I've been waiting for D20 Modern thinking those rules would be more "standard" than Spycraft's. Sorry, AEG. 

Omega World Redux - add D20 Modern rules as desired.


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## Henry (Nov 4, 2002)

mythusmage said:
			
		

> *How about a giant battleship with 12 20" guns, protected by Chinese sorcery?
> (SNIP TRULY WARPED EXCERPT)
> (He had to provoke me, didn't he?) *




mythusmage, that is seriously screwed up.

Needless to say, I look forward to seeing it.


----------



## EarthsShadow (Nov 9, 2002)

*A full werewolf d20*

I wouldn't mind it one bit if white-wolf did a full converstion of their werewolf game into d20 modern.  

As for our immediate gaming group, we will either do shadow chasers or just use Nocturnim from CoC and combine it with SC and UA.


----------



## mythusmage (Nov 9, 2002)

Henry said:
			
		

> *
> 
> mythusmage, that is seriously screwed up.
> 
> Needless to say, I look forward to seeing it.  *




There's another excerpt in the latest (first) issue of _The Gaming Herald_. This one covers (in part) the period leading up to the declaration of war between the U.S. and Imperial China in 1933.


----------



## Unseelie (Nov 9, 2002)

Ezrael said:
			
		

> *Golden helmet spellcaster would be Doctor Fate. He's an original member of the Justice Society of America and he goes back to the forties if I'm not mistaken. *




Technically, he goes back to Ancient Egypt... but yes, he's from the Fourties.


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## Unseelie (Nov 9, 2002)

JPL said:
			
		

> *I'm thinkin' Remo Williams meets Doc Savage.
> 
> Trained by an ancient Tibetan holy man in the One True Martial Art, a eclectic team of adventurers travels to the far ends of the earth, exploring the unknown and fighting incredible foes. *




Toned down a little, you'd have _The Champions_ an obscure British TV show from the 70's.


----------



## Unseelie (Nov 10, 2002)

JPL said:
			
		

> *Almost one hundred years before, a meteor landed near Wold Newton, England.  No one realized it at the time, but some property of the meteorite --- something Victorian science cannot begin to understand --- affected the bloodlines of the people nearby.  Their descendants would have the potential for nearly superhuman physical, mental, and spiritual abilities.  From this blood would come a century's greatest heroes...and most dangerous villains... *




Someone's been reading Phillip Jose Farmer again...


----------



## JPL (Nov 10, 2002)

Unseelie said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Someone's been reading Phillip Jose Farmer again...  *




Oh, absolutely.  I make no claims to originality


----------



## beta-ray (Nov 10, 2002)

Not sure yet... but I am thinking about something close to our time a bit before or a bit later... Like a Indiana Jones/Brisco County or Shadow Run type of game...

Other things that might be fun ReBoot (as I said in another thread), Ghostbusters, or superhero (Kikaider! Kamen Rider!), Jackie Chan Adventures 

[edit: oops}


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## Henry (Nov 11, 2002)

Hmmmm.... I wonder if we might coax jonrog1 to work up stats for the characters on "Jackie Chan Adventures?"


----------



## JPL (Nov 11, 2002)

Henry said:
			
		

> *Hmmmm.... I wonder if we might coax jonrog1 to work up stats for the characters on "Jackie Chan Adventures?"  *




Well, let's see...

Jackie --- Fast Hero/ Martial Artist/ Daredevil
Uncle --- Dedicated Hero /Chi sorcerer
Toru --- Strong Hero/ Tough Hero /Chi sorcerer
Jade --- Fast Hero

"Chi sorcerer" is the wu jen revamped as an advanced class.  Probably requires Chinese language proficiency, K: arcane lore, and K: history. 

The first season is a fine model for an RPG campaign --- the old "Rod of Seven Parts" routine...


----------



## jonrog1 (Nov 11, 2002)

Wow, better and faster than I would have done it.

I think the most fun in mucking about with the system will be adapting various magic and psionic systems and power levels for such hybrid fantasy campaigns.

"One moooooore thing ..."


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## bwgwl (Nov 11, 2002)

speaking of PJF, i'm seriously considering using d20 Modern to do a Riverworld campaign.

or maybe the World of Tiers.

or perhaps re-creating "Barnstormer in Oz."

Farmer's one of my favorite sci-fi writers.


----------



## JPL (Nov 11, 2002)

bwgwl said:
			
		

> *speaking of PJF, i'm seriously considering using d20 Modern to do a Riverworld campaign.
> 
> or maybe the World of Tiers.
> 
> ...




Once you get past the X-rated stuff, "A Feast Unknown" is a really fascinating book.  A great setup for a modern pulp game, too --- the heroes are on the trail of the Nine, the secret masters of history, and the prize is immortality.

His biographies of Doc Savage and Tarzan are two of my favorites, too.


----------



## LoPaC (Nov 14, 2002)

Im running the Modern, and I just had an idea for scaring the crap outta some of my players.  Some hate the idea of vampires, saying its gonna feel too much like White-Wolf/World of Darkness.  Others have a fear of clowns and hobos.  And one has a fear of velociraptors and chainsaws.  So, I was thinking of having a gang of vampiric raptors dressed as hobo clowns weilding chainsaws singing "Shame on a N***a" by SoaD and Wu-Tang Clan.  Anyone got any thoughts to that?  Or maybe some stats for a D20 Modern velociraptor?


----------



## WayneLigon (Nov 14, 2002)

I don't have the book until my pre-order from B&N comes in, but I've been speculating since the SRD was released. 

Right now, the primary idea is a psionics-based campaign, involving alien DNA (or whatever they use), or hybridization or something close to that. 

Here follow the most basic ramblings I have so far. Input is welcome. 

The basic idea: The Civilization on Alpha Centauri II was dying. They had bred too much and used up the resources needed to maintain a technological civilization. With no asteroid belt or moon nearby to mine, they were eeking out an existance with robotic probes (they were too fragile to withstand the g-forces needed to escape the gravity of their homeworld -- or some other rationale that they themselves cannot go into space) stripmining the gas giant moons. Even then, Civilization would end in less than a century. 

This was 200 years ago. 

Unable to go into space themselves, they fired robotic probes towards the nearest stars. They knew that Earth had carbon-based life on it, as well as planets circling Tau Ceti and Epison Indi. The probes contained near miraculous nanotech devices, and copies of their (DNA). If they could not travel in space, they would rebuild another race in their image... 

The probe for Earth was struck by asteroidal debris, something the designers didn't plan for. Most of the probe was destroyed, but some parts survived to rain down across Earth over the years. The largest part, the heavily armored central computer core, plowed into the Russian countryside in 1908 and was one of the first parts to hit. The propulsion section following it down blew up (this is the huge flash and bang people saw) and drove the computer core into the ground. (Hmm. Why hasn't it been found yet? Maybe very small? Diffused into the soil somehow? Maybe it's in the Kremlin basement?)

Later sections landed in Roswell and other places, alerting the authorities (or those behind the authorities) that We Were Not Alone. 

The nanites were damaged as well. The section with that stuff in it hit the ocean in 1923 and promptly diffused into the biosphere. The damaged nantites, when they interact with terrestrial carbon-based life forms, produce (organs? 'tumors'?) that allow for manipulation of quantum phenomenon and energy states: Psionics. 

Whales, dolphins and related species are vaguely psionic and self-aware because of this. 

Because of the damaged nature of the nanites, not even a small percentage of them really work correctly. Most introduce this change, then die off. People gain psi powers. 

Some keep working, though, to change creatures. 

Possible 'ultimate form' produced by a correctly-working nanite group: Illithid! (Aboleth? Fits the alienesque desc, certainly, but it's hard to have one of them masquerade as a person. Unless heavy illusion powers were involved, per They Live?)

The self-aware computer core buried under the Russian soil still attempts to control the nanite batches.  People get weird disconnected dreams because of this.

Power Groups

US Military. Real X-Files territory here. They know things.

Russian Military, or intel. They suspect things. Currently they have the highest understanding of psi phenomenon.

The Computer Core. It communes with the 'ultimate form' aliens? Or they are trying to control it?

The aliens. The changed ones. They are powerful psis, and have an overwhelming drive to breed and control.

More ideas needed, of course.


----------



## Unseelie (Nov 14, 2002)

LoPaC said:
			
		

> *Im running the Modern, and I just had an idea for scaring the crap outta some of my players.  Some hate the idea of vampires, saying its gonna feel too much like White-Wolf/World of Darkness.  Others have a fear of clowns and hobos.  And one has a fear of velociraptors and chainsaws.  So, I was thinking of having a gang of vampiric raptors dressed as hobo clowns weilding chainsaws singing "Shame on a N***a" by SoaD and Wu-Tang Clan.  Anyone got any thoughts to that?  Or maybe some stats for a D20 Modern velociraptor? *




Funny that you mention Dinos... I'm gonna run a two session tryout after the holidays (I refuse to try and run through the holidays), my current thought is to let everyone start at 4th level or so. Explain to them that they're a government ops team, heavy on military background... then send them in to a remote goverrment installation where something's gone wrong. No contact for days, etc.

I'm really looking forward to the looks on their faces when they run into the Zombie templated Allosaurs...


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## Trepelano (Nov 14, 2002)

I like the idea of being able to run short campaigns or one-shot adventures based on just about any concpet you've ever seen in a movie.

I'd like to run an RPG version of "Alive" - where the players start out at a crash site on top of the Andes and havet o figure out how to survive.


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## LoPaC (Nov 14, 2002)

Unseelie said:
			
		

> *
> 
> I'm really looking forward to the looks on their faces when they run into the Zombie templated Allosaurs...  *




Haha, yes!  This could start a new trend.  Undead dinosaurs.  But dont forget the chainsaws, lol.


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## JPL (Nov 14, 2002)

Here's another one: I've always wanted to do a martial arts campaign.

Two possible models:

The Circle of Masters
 --- Each hero is a master of a different martial art.  They are all based in NYC --- maybe they all teach out of the same dojo.  They come from different backgrounds (cop, teacher, ex-con, etc.) and they have radically different fighting styles (from Shaolin kung fu to Israeli krav maga to "jailhouse rock" streetfighting), but they have formed a sort of modern warrior's society.  I'd run this like a syndicated action show --- come up with a hook involving just one of the characters, and trust that he will call upon the others to watch his back.


Unarmed and Dangerous
--- Old-school spy adventure.  The CIA recruits a team of martial arts experts to travel the globe, meet interesting people, and kick them in the head.  Somewhere between "Enter the Dragon", "Alias", "Master of Kung Fu", and G.I. Joe's Ninja Force.


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