I'm 100% certain that WotC and Hasbro actually resented the fact we liked d20 Modern, also I really wish we'd gotten a GI Joe and Transformers rule sets.
Pretty good video, sir. D20 Modern was a touchstone system for my gaming group, it's engine the core of our homebrew Halo campaign. To this day it is one of the best games I ever enjoyed over the course of ~30 years and reference it regularly for my own drafts.
I like how the D20 Modern felt easy to use. Played a couple of games my buddies made by mixing and matching two different D20 Modern books seamlessly into their own game. I can't say I love how it treated firearms in practice after missing a zombie at point blank rang with a shotgun multiple times, it starts feeling like the Barney Fife simulator. It's one thing to miss something with your sword in D&D, it's another to miss something with you Mossberg 500 when it's pressed against the barrel.
I had a lot of fun playing D20 Modern. That art from D20 Past with the Spitfires dogfighting with a red dragon was really, really cool, and I wanted to keep going... but some members of my group kept intentionally misunderstanding the wealth mechanic, or one not liking my "critical failure on a driving test means you get pulled over" ruling (the others found it funny...). A few ideas that started in that game have lasted through my own Urban Fantasy writing. Personally, I liked how firearms were treated, not trying to lump them into the D&D damage types, and the critical damage threshold (the "save or you're at -1 HP and bleeding" thing) helped make things deadly without making one particular weapon overpowered.
That one player needs about 500 CCs of IV sense of humor, STAT! I tend to do the same instead of 'being realistic' and giving everyone in a car a hairline vertebra fracture because you ran over a pothole or something equally dumb. I barely remember d20 Modern (easily a decade since last game), but after giving SRD a glance: what's to misunderstand about the wealth rules?
@@dylutant I think they didn't like the abstract nature, and how certain things caused a reduction while other things didn't. It was a long-ass time ago and I don't quite remember. Also, the complaining player was trying to use his on-the-ground knowledge of the city the chase was happening in to claim that there was no way his PC wouldn't notice the cop car, because there was no place for speed traps or the like. My response (which the other players appreciated) was something to the effect of "then it was behind a truck, or in your blind spot, or a helicopter guided it in, or whatever, it happens."
@@templarw20 Oh, the old 'real world knowledge'. I learned that, unless at least one other player immediately sides with them, to basically go 'objection overruled, bring this up afterwards' and get on with the game. This could warrant a discussion back when we had 'high school summer' levels of free time, not now when everyone's glad we made it to the table for three consecutive weeks.
I had a lot of good times with d20 modern. Flawed, but it gave us enough to secure a small town from hordes of zombies with shotguns and a few pistols.
God I loved D20 Modern, No one around me plays it but I read those books to damn near destruction. Edit: The Mutation system is a thing of beaty, little cosmetic stuff is just free, but you need to take negative mutations to get the points for positive ones. It works so well.
D20 Modern - along with several other alternate D20 systems like Black Company (and True20), Spycraft 1.0, Wheel of Time, and even, to a lesser extent, Call of Cthulhu D20 - were among the few things I really enjoyed during the 3E era. I appreciated these alternate uses of the D&D 3.X rules because they generally had limited splat book bloat, were different enough to shine on their own, yet familiar enough to pick up relatively quickly. The best use I ever got out of D20 Modern/Urban Arcana was combining it with Spycraft 1.0 and some story elements of Call of Cthulhu to create a sort of homebrew "Black Ops" style campaign (not too different from Delta Green, even though I didn't discover DG until years later), where the PCs were agents of a hidden organization that investigated the odd, the strange, the mysterious, and the unexplainable, sometimes with the license to terminate with extreme prejudice. Unfortunately, I burned out so hard on D&D 3.X that I don't think I could go back and run any of the aforementioned games anymore due to the ridiculous over-networked rules, but I still do go back and use them for ideas to run in other systems.
I have a lot of D20 Modern, for two reasons. I was a playtester for Alternity, and it had Wheel of Time. Since then I acquired Black Company and a few major supplements, and its in my wishlist of stuff to play
Once we got our hands on D20 Modern, that's all we played until we purchased Modern20 in 2008, sort of an upgraded version of D20 Modern. But someone purchased NWOD soon thereafter, and we basically played that until 2019 when the gaming group finally fell apart.
My group's problem with d20 Modern boiled down to overlapping too much with nWoD (the 2004 one) and Shadowrun. Really fun, but we kept confusing system/setting details and dropped it fairly quickly.
Modern was always hard for me because I was so salty that Alternity got canned and my favorite setting with it: Dark Matter. We never gave it a chance.
I ran a decent Gunslinger campaign (Stephen King's saga). Great system, simple and elegant if you had played 3rd ed in any of its incarnations. Not perfect but lots of fun.
I had gotten most of the d20 modern books before WoTc was froced via hasbro to drop it, It is good, Just allot of crunchy stuff with little in campaign setting fluff notes, that was left up to the game groups that played it.
I've played a couple of home-brew systems based off SW D6, and one based on SW D20, in addition to D20 modern. How is it SW RPG systems work as a 'plug-and-play' replacement for almost every setting/IP? (Edit: D6 was better)
D20 Modern was quite good, but didn't get much push or marketing. I think the default setting was a mistake; I assume they were targeting ShadowRun players but that's a very specific community and they had no interest in changing systems.
Ive read some of D20 Modern. It didnt hook me. I like Dungeons and Dragons because of the variety. Roleplaying in the real-world can be boring. At least be Urban Fantasy like The Dresden Files or The World of Darkness. No spells, okay how are the guns? They have stats I even remember seeing D20 armory book, but guns dont get better. You get 1d12 damage at level 1, cool. What about Level 20 when youre shrugging off machine gun fire.
D20 modern was many things, but for me. It was a disappointment. I'm not saying it was bad, but I came in with the expectation that it would be D&D but in the modern day with Guns, and cars, etc. So I wanted to use it to feature a D&D universe set in a Victorian/WW1 era world, and how that would look. What form do Paladins take in this universe. Clerics. Druids!! The sky was the limit... Until I crashed into the ceiling of No fantasy races, and none of the D&D original classes... Its a good thing that the book wasn't mine. I would have burned it in anger.
Frist of with the unearthed arcana? Why not just play shadowrun? And secondly there's a thought. Mystra with d20 mod. What was that campaign you did a month ago? Black arrow, red shield? It needs fixed anyways so why not have the characters begging for gnomish cwis and patriots?
Because its not uncommon for people to dislike Shadowruns lore (sometimes how magic is introduced, some because theyre too young to appreciate cyberpunk aesthetic of the 80s - which Shadowrun is mired in). And some dont like the mechanics. I have every edition, and each has one "major flaw" that is a showstopper for gamers.
Everytime a D20 modern video pops up on YT am obliged to watch and like, one of the most underrated RPGs of all time
I will always have a soft spot for d20 modern because as part of my make a wish I got to playstest it at WotC. And I will always remember that fondly.
Glad to hear you lived.
Urban arcana was pretty awesome
I'm 100% certain that WotC and Hasbro actually resented the fact we liked d20 Modern, also I really wish we'd gotten a GI Joe and Transformers rule sets.
Mr. Welch you can really sell a system.
D20 really needed an official GI Joe sourcebook.
Pretty good video, sir.
D20 Modern was a touchstone system for my gaming group, it's engine the core of our homebrew Halo campaign.
To this day it is one of the best games I ever enjoyed over the course of ~30 years and reference it regularly for my own drafts.
thank you for finally doing d20 modern! i know i was one of the people who kept bugging you and it is appreciated!
Genuine question: what did this video provide you that you were interested in discovering/ learning?
I like how the D20 Modern felt easy to use. Played a couple of games my buddies made by mixing and matching two different D20 Modern books seamlessly into their own game. I can't say I love how it treated firearms in practice after missing a zombie at point blank rang with a shotgun multiple times, it starts feeling like the Barney Fife simulator. It's one thing to miss something with your sword in D&D, it's another to miss something with you Mossberg 500 when it's pressed against the barrel.
"the blast shoots through the zombie, but it seems unfazed and bites your neck"
I had a lot of fun playing D20 Modern. That art from D20 Past with the Spitfires dogfighting with a red dragon was really, really cool, and I wanted to keep going... but some members of my group kept intentionally misunderstanding the wealth mechanic, or one not liking my "critical failure on a driving test means you get pulled over" ruling (the others found it funny...). A few ideas that started in that game have lasted through my own Urban Fantasy writing.
Personally, I liked how firearms were treated, not trying to lump them into the D&D damage types, and the critical damage threshold (the "save or you're at -1 HP and bleeding" thing) helped make things deadly without making one particular weapon overpowered.
That one player needs about 500 CCs of IV sense of humor, STAT! I tend to do the same instead of 'being realistic' and giving everyone in a car a hairline vertebra fracture because you ran over a pothole or something equally dumb.
I barely remember d20 Modern (easily a decade since last game), but after giving SRD a glance: what's to misunderstand about the wealth rules?
@@dylutant I think they didn't like the abstract nature, and how certain things caused a reduction while other things didn't. It was a long-ass time ago and I don't quite remember.
Also, the complaining player was trying to use his on-the-ground knowledge of the city the chase was happening in to claim that there was no way his PC wouldn't notice the cop car, because there was no place for speed traps or the like. My response (which the other players appreciated) was something to the effect of "then it was behind a truck, or in your blind spot, or a helicopter guided it in, or whatever, it happens."
@@templarw20 Oh, the old 'real world knowledge'. I learned that, unless at least one other player immediately sides with them, to basically go 'objection overruled, bring this up afterwards' and get on with the game. This could warrant a discussion back when we had 'high school summer' levels of free time, not now when everyone's glad we made it to the table for three consecutive weeks.
I had a lot of good times with d20 modern. Flawed, but it gave us enough to secure a small town from hordes of zombies with shotguns and a few pistols.
I had a lot of fun with D20 modern.
The D20 Future book was fantastic and so was the mech supplement.
God I loved D20 Modern, No one around me plays it but I read those books to damn near destruction. Edit: The Mutation system is a thing of beaty, little cosmetic stuff is just free, but you need to take negative mutations to get the points for positive ones. It works so well.
so, a system with disadvantages to balance advantages? Sounds familiar....
D20 Modern - along with several other alternate D20 systems like Black Company (and True20), Spycraft 1.0, Wheel of Time, and even, to a lesser extent, Call of Cthulhu D20 - were among the few things I really enjoyed during the 3E era. I appreciated these alternate uses of the D&D 3.X rules because they generally had limited splat book bloat, were different enough to shine on their own, yet familiar enough to pick up relatively quickly.
The best use I ever got out of D20 Modern/Urban Arcana was combining it with Spycraft 1.0 and some story elements of Call of Cthulhu to create a sort of homebrew "Black Ops" style campaign (not too different from Delta Green, even though I didn't discover DG until years later), where the PCs were agents of a hidden organization that investigated the odd, the strange, the mysterious, and the unexplainable, sometimes with the license to terminate with extreme prejudice.
Unfortunately, I burned out so hard on D&D 3.X that I don't think I could go back and run any of the aforementioned games anymore due to the ridiculous over-networked rules, but I still do go back and use them for ideas to run in other systems.
Loved Urban Arcana, recently picked up Everyday Heroes which was the 5e reboot of d20 Modern. Good stuff.
It gave us Sgt Meepo. I remember it fondly.
Loved the Ultramodern Firearms Guide for d20 modern and ran a short campaign using the Blaxploitation sourcebook. Had a lot of fun with that.
Drow gangbangers this is why I keep coming back congrats on the 10 k God knows you earned it
I have a lot of D20 Modern, for two reasons. I was a playtester for Alternity, and it had Wheel of Time. Since then I acquired Black Company and a few major supplements, and its in my wishlist of stuff to play
Once we got our hands on D20 Modern, that's all we played until we purchased Modern20 in 2008, sort of an upgraded version of D20 Modern. But someone purchased NWOD soon thereafter, and we basically played that until 2019 when the gaming group finally fell apart.
My group's problem with d20 Modern boiled down to overlapping too much with nWoD (the 2004 one) and Shadowrun. Really fun, but we kept confusing system/setting details and dropped it fairly quickly.
Modern was always hard for me because I was so salty that Alternity got canned and my favorite setting with it: Dark Matter. We never gave it a chance.
I ran a decent Gunslinger campaign (Stephen King's saga). Great system, simple and elegant if you had played 3rd ed in any of its incarnations. Not perfect but lots of fun.
Green Ronin’s ‘Ultramodern Firearms’ is an absolute must-have to go with D20 Modern. It’s the gun book WotC should have given us.
Let's goooooooo!
Shadowdark might just be strangled by it's own open license, unfortunately.
Sounds very Dresden Files
I had gotten most of the d20 modern books before WoTc was froced via hasbro to drop it, It is good, Just allot of crunchy stuff with little in campaign setting fluff notes, that was left up to the game groups that played it.
D20 Modern was not great, but without it there was no Urban Arcana.
I owned a few D20 Modern books, but didn't quite jive with the system for some reason. I instead preferred the Spycraft D20 system
Baywatch Nights!!!!!!!
I've played a couple of home-brew systems based off SW D6, and one based on SW D20, in addition to D20 modern. How is it SW RPG systems work as a 'plug-and-play' replacement for almost every setting/IP?
(Edit: D6 was better)
Well, in the case of the D6 system, it's because that was a REALLY good system that few have been able to match.
Oh come on... Baywatch Nights was fun.
For the same reason we can't stop watching train wrecks
D20 Modern was quite good, but didn't get much push or marketing. I think the default setting was a mistake; I assume they were targeting ShadowRun players but that's a very specific community and they had no interest in changing systems.
Ive read some of D20 Modern. It didnt hook me.
I like Dungeons and Dragons because of the variety. Roleplaying in the real-world can be boring. At least be Urban Fantasy like The Dresden Files or The World of Darkness.
No spells, okay how are the guns? They have stats I even remember seeing D20 armory book, but guns dont get better. You get 1d12 damage at level 1, cool. What about Level 20 when youre shrugging off machine gun fire.
D20 modern was many things, but for me. It was a disappointment. I'm not saying it was bad, but I came in with the expectation that it would be D&D but in the modern day with Guns, and cars, etc. So I wanted to use it to feature a D&D universe set in a Victorian/WW1 era world, and how that would look.
What form do Paladins take in this universe. Clerics. Druids!! The sky was the limit... Until I crashed into the ceiling of No fantasy races, and none of the D&D original classes... Its a good thing that the book wasn't mine. I would have burned it in anger.
Frist of with the unearthed arcana? Why not just play shadowrun?
And secondly there's a thought. Mystra with d20 mod. What was that campaign you did a month ago? Black arrow, red shield? It needs fixed anyways so why not have the characters begging for gnomish cwis and patriots?
Because its not uncommon for people to dislike Shadowruns lore (sometimes how magic is introduced, some because theyre too young to appreciate cyberpunk aesthetic of the 80s - which Shadowrun is mired in).
And some dont like the mechanics. I have every edition, and each has one "major flaw" that is a showstopper for gamers.
Very cool man.