D20 Modern. Anybody here play?

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It's a tabletop RPG. Anybody ever heard of it? Awesomely fun, was just curious if maybe some people around here might want to swap variants used in the game's system of play. Me and several friends are developing individual campaigns and we're working on different ideas to fix some minor things here and there to be better to our liking, particularly regarding some of the combat system. Plus, I have a ****load of hilarious stories, if anybody feels like swapping those too. Hehe.
 
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I've been playing D&D since I was 9, makes sense that eventually I'd try to bring it to the modern world. When d20 modern came out, I was happy :)

d20 Modern is a really good tabletop rule set, very modular, very clean. Easy to learn? Yes, but difficult to master.

I've been modding d20 Modern for a while now, for our Eternal Rage anime action game. There have been some funny stories from the beta testers there, I'll gladly share them later on :)
 
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well now, nice to hear someone actually noticed that great book.

I do a lot of customizations based on D20 modern and i could help you out with game mechanics. I love the very open class system where it's possible to make a smart soldier, a strong investigator, or a charismatic field medic. The wealth system makes money management easy, and the feats and equipment are excellent and detailed (mostly).

For stories, i have plenty DnD and Star Wars d20 ones, but we couldn't get into D20 modern because i, as a dm, need a campain world to work off of. I can't do anything with a whole world on my own, but i can easily work with a premade world. :(

I highly suggest you visist cuc's site, and take a gander there. If you want to talk rule variants, I have loads of ideas that need playtesting, but i rarely come on these forums :\
 
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Careful with the advertising slayer o_O, tis not allowed. Put it in your sig instead.
 
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Whats this game like i love good rpgs i might wanna get just give me site or tell me about it
 
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Since we discovered it, I've been totally enthralled by it. The system is just brilliant. But being fidgety, it was only natural that I'd start tweaking it a bit.

We learned off this very vaguely laid out Diablo tabletop game. It was more of a board game then DnD. But I saw an enemy on the board that had a brazier behind it. So I said to my DM friend, as we were all still learning, "So can I like, push that dude into the fire?"

He thought about it for a second. And then he said, "Sure! Roll a d12. You need 10 or better."

Our current D20 DM doesn't allow us to use this system at all. It's this type of "action combat" that made our battles in the medieval campaigns so fun. I stabbed a nine foot wild beast in the face with my axe, but because I rolled badly my axe got stuck...we managed to blind a monster...cut off a big enemy's limbs, all that stuff. The system was inherently flawed, because it favored insta-kill moves and there were no limitations.

So in my d20 modern campaign, we planned on using the action points for this. Basically, you'd use an action point, and then be able to do a "combat action," things like "I wanna try and slash this guy's throat" or "let me go for a headshot," etc. I've found that it gets really awesome in combat that way.

How do you guys do combat...? Anything too different from the book? What about splash damage? I've got this grenade launcher that does a 1d20 worth of damage but somehow it still sucks. I had an idea to remedy the problem, but I want to hear about how others might have altered the system first.
 
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eeeps, sorries cuc

sounds to me you guys haven't fully grasped D20 modern. I like this idea of doing special things by spending the Action Dice though. it limits the abuse that could happen, but still allows you player to try neat stuff.

For combat, i am in the middle of a complete rehaul of the d20 system's combat... system. We found it too limiting and almost like playing chess when you're trying to emulate how an anime character would move. For your called shots, i would say force them to spend an action dice per attempt, and give a penalty on the shot depending on the difficulty/damage it can deal. A kick to the chest is a lot easier than a kick to th head. To make it easier, the more precise (sp?) the attack, the higher the penalty to the attack roll, like a -1 for a punch to the head and a -4 for a punch to the teeth or eyes. If the attack works, either add more damage, make the attack a critical threat, or add penalties to the target (punch in the teeth would make it difficult to speak, might make them dizzy form the blow to the head, etc)

As for grenades and splash damage:
From the D20 Modern SRD

Grenades and Explosives
An explosive is a weapon that, when detonated, affects all creatures and objects within its burst radius by means of shrapnel, heat, or massive concussion. Its effect is broad enough that it can hurt characters just by going off close to them.
Some explosives, such as grenades, can be thrown, and they explode when they land. Others are planted, with fuses or timers, and go off after a preset amount of time elapses.

Thrown Explosives
An attack with a thrown explosive is a ranged attack made against a specific 5-foot square. (A character can target a square occupied by a creature.) Throwing the explosive is an attack action. If the square is within one range increment, you do not need to make an attack roll. Roll 1d4 and consult the table to see which corner of the square the explosive bounces to.
Roll on d4 Corner of targeted square
1 Upper Left
2 Upper Right
3 Lower Right
4 Lower Left

If the target square is more than one range increment away, make an attack roll. The square has an effective Defense of 10. Thrown weapons require no weapon proficiency, so a character doesn’t take the -4 nonproficient penalty. If the attack succeeds, the grenade or explosive lands in the targeted square. Roll 1d4 and consult the table above to see which corner of the square the explosive bounces to.
If the character misses the target, the explosive lands at a corner of a square nearby in a random direction. Consult the tables below to determine where the explosive lands. If the weapon was thrown two to three range increments (11 to 30 feet), roll 1d8.
Roll on d8 Location Struck
1 upper left corner, one square beyond target
2 upper right corner, one square beyond target
3 upper right corner, one square right of target
4 lower right corner, one square right of target
5 lower right corner, one square short of target
6 lower left corner, one square short of target
7 lower left corner, one square left of target
8 upper left corner, one square left of target

For ranges of up to five range increments (31 to 50 feet), roll 1d12.
Roll on d12 Location Struck
1 upper left corner, two squares beyond target
2 upper right corner, two squares beyond target
3 upper right corner, one square beyond and right of target
4 upper right corner, two squares right of target
5 lower right corner, two squares right of target
6 lower right corner, one square short and right of target
7 lower right corner, two squares short of target
8 lower left corner, two squares short of target
9 lower left corner, one square short and left of target
10 lower left corner, two squares left of target
11 upper left corner, two squares left of target
12 upper left corner, one square beyond and left of target

After determining where the explosive landed, it deals its damage to all targets within the burst radius of the weapon. The targets may make Reflex saves (DC varies according to the explosive type) for half damage.

Planted Explosives
A planted explosive is set in place, with a timer or fuse determining when it goes off. No attack roll is necessary to plant an explosive; the explosive sits where it is placed until it is moved or goes off.
When a planted explosive detonates, it deals its damage to all targets within the burst radius of the weapon. The targets may make Reflex saves (DC varies according to the explosive type) for half damage.

Splash Weapons
A splash weapon is a ranged weapon that breaks apart on impact, splashing or scattering its contents over its target and nearby creatures or objects. Most splash weapons consist of liquids in breakable containers.
To attack with a splash weapon, make a ranged touch attack against the target. Thrown weapons require no weapon proficiency, so characters don’t take the -4 nonproficient penalty. A hit deals direct hit damage to the target and splash damage to all other creatures within 5 feet of the target.
A character can instead target a specific 5-foot square, including a square occupied by a creature. Use the rules for thrown explosives. However, if a character targets a square, creatures within 5 feet are dealt the splash damage, and the direct hit damage is not dealt to any creature.
If the character misses the target (whether aiming at a creature or a square), check to see where the weapon lands, using the rules for thrown explosives. After determining where the object landed, it deals splash damage to all creatures within 5 feet.

^^^ as part of the SRD, Rights held by WOTC (tm) hope this answers your question. Also check out wizards to get the latest FAQ and Erreta for your book.

Catman: D20 modern is a pencils and paper RPG, where you need a group of people to play. Good thing is that D20 dnd and D20 modern are both free to downlaod off the net.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/article/msrd

This is the D20 modern Srd, which means Standard Refernece Document. you can copy, paste, heck you could even publish this document without paying royalties, but you have to make a refernce or something to this actual document. It also is missing the Xp levels chart, which you have to actually buy the book to get.
 
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Hmm. Well, our combat system is a bit more loose. The action system I plan on using will allow us all to have crazy moments in combat where seemingly insurmountable enemies will be able to be beaten by cleverness on the player's parts. We've also overly simplified things. We don't use a board of any kind, so splash damage is difficult for us to simulate.

The thing is, we use the d20 for to-hit rolls. I believe that's what the book tells you to do, that all of these to-hit rolls should be done with d20s on account of the way that the armor class works (it starts with +10 by default, so on average, to hit even a low level enemy, you'd have to roll at least above a 10, etc.)

What sucks is, I have this grenade launcher. You use the D20 to-hit, and that right there sucks just because it's a ****ing grenade launcher--unless it's a single enemy I should be able to hit whatever the general target is with pretty minimal chance of not hurting it at all. The DAMAGE of the grenade launcher on the target--a SINGLE target--is ALSO a d20.

That kind of sucks because my chances of doing any kind of decent damage are 1 in 20. So for MY system that I'm inventing (the one mentioned above is a friend's), I'm going to have weapons that are easier on to-hit rolls (you might roll a d20+d4, instead of just the d20). In the grenade launcher's case, up to 4 enemies will be hit using my system:

--You roll to-hit (1d20+1d4)
--You roll damage (4d6 instead of 1d20)
--Damage on the target is all of the 4d6 added up, and
--Splash Damage (how many extra were hit for how much damage) is determined by the d4 (in addition to it allowing you a total to-hit roll of 24). So say for instance:

The enemy has an Armor class of 17.

You roll 1d20+1d4 for to-hit and get 17+4 (21).

You then roll 4d6 for damage and get 4+3+2+6, making your damage on the initial target 15.

Since you rolled a 4 on the 1d4 earlier in the to-hit roll, then each of your four d6's you threw also have their damage applied to nearby enemies.

The additional to-hit die is indicative of the number of damage dice. See, it makes it pretty easy to carry out, because some sick weapon with awesome splash damage (like say, a flaming barbecue gasoline tank, or a tank shell) can do like MASSIVE splash damage by throwing more dice per shot.

I know that sounds complicated as hell but really it isn't. I think in play it'd work out well.
 
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How grenade launchers have worked in my campain is pretty simple.

First off, the weapon is obviously very destructive, therefore, the damage dice should never be one die. I usually assign 3d6, more than enought to kill the average man 4 times over. It's minimum would be 3, maximum 18, and average roll would be 10, more than twice enough to kill Joe on the street, and enough to kill a enlisted soldier. That damage would be spread in a 10 foot radius, then halved out to 20. As you can see, firing a Grenade Launcher round into a crowd would be . . . messy.

Secondly, grenades tend to miss their targets. They are ballistic, but much much slower than a bullet, and tend to arc, making aiming difficult. Using Slayer's chart as a reference, (we don't use a board either), we can assume that the intended target will still get some of the action most of the time.
 
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also, you do know you can add modifiers to the rols right? ranges attacks add your dexterity modifer as well as your bab, so it's rare to see anyone rolling only a 1d20+0
 
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Oh for us, the system that my friend is currently running, it's ENTIRELY d20 for to-hit rolls. Which sucks because my armor class is 18. I don't think I've been hit in two sessions. Which is cool because my character is a sick marine, but still. I could understand basic enemies using only the d20 but I always thought that the weapons should modify our to-hit rolls accordingly (and now, you also point out that apparently our modifiers should too).

We knew my friends system was going to be bad when his handguns only did 1d4 worth of damage. Now, that's understandable and all, but with the to-hit being a 1 out of 20 shot, that kind of sucks. He also has a lot of other stupid things that he does from time to time. I'll throw a drive check and not do so hot, and every single time he makes me flip over the car, rendering us without transportation unless we drive flawlessly.

Using my action system isn't allowed during his games. See, he had it in his head for the whole thing to be one big brain-damaged generic action movie (he wants to be a filmmaker, but he always has these ideas that would be more suited to SNL sketches instead...like his last idea, "Dinner with Jesus, Moses, and Ganeisha"(sp?)...ugh). So he wants us to request to do these insane stunts that have no benefit. And he's a real slave to the numbers, when it comes to the dice. I could tell him that I want to drive my ambulance through a crowd of enemies and he'd probably let me as long as I wasn't engaged in combat...but I'd be rolling damage on each character I hit and not ONE of them would die.

He wants us to do these stunts. You know, matrix style stuff. The way his **** works, is depending on how high your damage rolls, he tells you some impressive-yet-absurd-yet-also-stylish thing you did. We all feel very disjointed from the game at this point because of that--we have no control over what we do.

There is no "I want to shoot that enemy in the knees to slow it down" with this system. So we all are kind of blah about it because the events are entirely out of his deciding. Really, we are just extra hands to roll dice...he could play alone with our character sheets and accomplish the same stuff.

The story is also incredibly dumb, and he doesn't always gather a proper group to play, so we're generally pretty turned off right now. Aside from myself and one friend, the other guys are all being encouraged to make jokes out of the game by our DM.

To give you an idea...their characters are a deranged psychotic who went crazy while working at a donut shop when the batter machine exploded, and a drunken ambulance driver. He started us all out as homeless people too. Which was stupid.

At first it seemed like it was going to be a good series, but he lost sight of any overall goals for it weeks ago. Now it's just become a sort of "what wacky hijinx will the gang get into THIS week?!" deal. My friend who plays pretty exclusively is also infuriated at how unseriously the game is taken. We get bent hardcore when we miss a week cause this dude is ****ty at arranging time. And as I mentioned, he's a movie buff. Me and my buddy who take the game seriously both get out of work at 5 on fridays, along with our DM. But for some reason, my movie loving friend absolutely HAS to go see a movie when he gets out of work on Friday EVERY WEEK.

As a result, he and the other two players are in the middle of nowhere for two hours. Then I have to drive into the middle of Boston to pick them up, then go to my house...12 miles away. Costs me like 20 bucks total, gas and tolls...takes like two hours out of the night...and if they see a 5:30/6:00 showing at the movie theater, they get out at like 8...so we don't even start playing until 10. Which of course makes our wussy, disinterested comedy club players want to not come at all, cause they like to go home early.

So as you can see, we're kind of hurting for a new game, and we're all working on new ones with slight changes in the system. We like the "comabt action" system because it makes for a lot of cool stuff.

There IS one pretty fun innovation my movie-friend DM made up in his campaign. He instituted a system where, when you finish the last enemy of a group off, kill a big enemy/boss, or do something dramatic, he rolls a 1d6 x2. The resulting number is the amount of seconds you have before your character actually performs the action. In this time, you get to think up a witty one-liner, and depending how good it is, you get an experience bonus. I really like that trick, actually, and might keep it in my campaign.

We've had some pretty bad ones. I fought this jamaican character and when I killed him I couldn't think of anything. So I said, "And one last thing--Sobe ****ing sucks!"

I got -20 xp for that. :0\
 
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lol, your dm just glanced over the rules. I seriously suggest looking over the rules personally, since the way he's playing them is like playing esf alpha 2.0 compared to beta.
 
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Well, he intentionally simplified a lot of it. But the thing is, if your gonna mod the system, it has to be universal, and problems like the grenade launcher should be addressed as they come up. It feels sometimes like we're just a machine designed to generate wacky storyline inspiration for his movies, honestly. He's not a bad guy or anything, but he doesn't like to give it up when he's wrong. i called him and told him about the modifiers being added to the to-hit rolls, and he tried to talk me into believing that it was irrelevant instead of just going "oops."

Either way, we'll see what happens. Hopefully that game and it's awful story are almost over and we can start a new one.
 
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Cucumba said:
I've been modding d20 Modern for a while now, for our Eternal Rage anime action game. There have been some funny stories from the beta testers there, I'll gladly share them later on :)
MENDASIN!!! :rolleyes:

i agree d20 modern is pritty fun allows for all kinds of crazy stuff
 
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SaiyanPrideXIX said:
We've had some pretty bad ones. I fought this jamaican character and when I killed him I couldn't think of anything. So I said, "And one last thing--Sobe ****ing sucks!"

I got -20 xp for that. :0\

hmmmm im glad cuc and slay dont doc points for stuff like that

i mean it woulda been like -1000 for Deh cheks hand, and the Majors hand

not to mentions the blind dragons talon, and the stingers and such

>_>


but damn i wanted that Stone Nins skull for a helmet >_> that woulda been awsome

Anyways The DM seems like he wants to be a PCDM then the DM, but hey atleast your are getting in the game, you might have some fun playing with us too
 
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I've never played on an online medium. How does it work with the dice and character sheets and stuff?
 
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We use IRC, which has been described as multiplayer notepad, Character Sheets are done on your favorite text editor or word processor (some people even go ape**** and use Excell). We have a bot in the channel that responds to commands like ROLL, SNEAK (for sneak attack damage) and SENDROLLTO so you can send a secret roll to the DM. PMs are very useful for keeping secrets :p
 
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IRc is one of the ways you can find a game. there's tons of online programs being developed for online rpg'in like openrpg. The problem with irc is that the players don't actually see where they are, and need DM guidance on things dealing with movement.

as for character sheets hibiki has a great layout for them, and i gave up on trying to make a general use excell sheet (because i was editing it every other day to rule changes)
 
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I built an excel spreadsheet that you could pump your modifiers into and it would roll every type of dice using a random number formula. You just press F9 to recalculate and it would redo rolls for everything from D4 to D20.

We print out D20 modern character sheets, although we're thinking about moving over to the Urban Arcana sheet.

We don't use a map of any sort...it's all talking, for us.

I also don't even have IRC, so I guess it'd be a waste to try.
 
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most of us use Mirc, a great free program to try out. IRC is hard to explain, but there's various programs out there that'll work
 

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