D20 Modern: Lets take a long look at one fork in the WOTC design road map.
A deep-ish look into the Core rule book for D20 Modern
As a reminder. As with my other "Deep Dives" these are not reviews, more like me looking closely at books I think hold interesting spots in the history of RPG's. The reader can go into this knowing I like and have used / played the books I'm looking into, even if I note some faults. Please don't read these as reviews. Also, I'm not an expert, much of this is my own view, conjecture, and opinion. If I get something horridly wrong, please reach out and correct me. I'll change it.
Premise: D20 Modern stands in my mind a singular and extremely interesting product of the TSR/WotC lineage.
A bit of perspective:
In 1997 WotC bought TSR they inherited piles of novels, some untenable publishing models and Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd edition which had been revised back in 1995. Also, in 1995 four of my all-time favorites and I think most interesting books the "Players Option: books were released.
I have written a few blog posts on those books, please check them out. In short by 1995 the people of TSR were trying to pull AD&D 2nd ed into the next era of role-playing games. Taking the game in new directions and offering players a series of more modern options to tinker with.
I don't think there's any coincidence that the designer on Players Option Combat and tactics (along with L. Richard Baker III,) Skip Willams was also one of the senior designers on D&D third edition. (Along with Monte Cook and Jonathan Tweet.) Players Option Combat and Tactics reads like a 3rd edition combat preview many of those ideas migrated into 3rd ed.
My Articles on Players Options Books:
Spells and Magic
https://failedgamedesigner.blogspot.com/2022/06/a-long-look-at-adnd-2nd-ed-players.html
Skills and Powers
https://failedgamedesigner.blogspot.com/2020/06/a-long-look-at-ad-ed-players-option.html
Combat and tactics TSR 2149:
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/16862/Players-Option--Combat--Tactics-2e
Why do I bring that up?
To me it is clear that by as early as 1993-95 TSR was looking to take their game line in new directions. AD&D 2nd ed had clearly run its course and had accumulated to much bloat. Worse yet there were very few directions to go for new books to sell.
Enter WotC the purchase of TSR and a new direction. There have been well researched books written on the subject of TSR it's rise it's fall and everything else around this time period. I'm not going to try and compete with those tomes or try to act like I know all the details. What's important to me for this article is that the change in leadership offered an opportunity to clear the decks and start over. Enter D&D 3rd edition in 2000.
With it's Feats, unified Roll 1d20 +mods Vs Difficulty Mechanic. New style of saves, and tactical "Players Option" style combat. It was at the time one of the sleekest designs in the industry. I would argue its influence is still dominating the industry. We only need to look at two of the dominant fantasy games in the industry. The base mechanic survives in the latest edition of D&D and Pathfinder 2 is a direct evolution of this exact game.
As soon as 2002, D20 Modern arrives:
D20 Modern ISBN 0-7869-2836-0
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/28720/d20-modern-core-rulebook-d20m
D20 Modern was designed by the team of Bill Slavicsek, Jeff Grubb, Rich Redman, and Charles Ryan.
Slavicek was a veteran of designing TORG for West End games (1988) which is a mixed Genre game that was completely bonkers-amazing for its time. A truly underrated concept and game, one of my all-time favorites. His experience mixing genres will be key to this article. in 1997, He also worked on Alterninty the TSR sci fi game. Some of the Alternaty DnA can be seen in D20 modern.
I focus on Slavicek only because I can see some of his former work shadowed in D20 Modern and his work on TORG is particularly telling. Jeff Grubb is of course a legend; Charles Ryan was a designer known to Slavicek and would go on to play a major role in the D&D 3.5 revision. Unfortunately, I could not find too much on Redman. Though I am sure his influence was also felt throughout the design. I did find that he is involved with Alternity and a publishing group called "the game Mechanics" who produce a ton of cool products. the web site listed for him there is unregistered at this time.
https://thegamemechanics.com/
From Final Pannel in the book:
"This d20™ System game uses mechanics developed for the new DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® game by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Richard Baker, and Peter Adkison. This game also uses mechanics developed for the Psionics Handbook by Bruce R. Cordell, the Call of Cthulhu® Roleplaying Game by Monte Cook and John Tynes, and the Star Wars® Roleplaying Game by Bill Slavicsek, Andy Collins, and JD Wiker."
Interestingly in this same panel Under staff only Charles Ryan is listed as designer, and again only Ryan is given an "About the Author Blurb."
Quote from that Blurb:
"Charles Ryan has guided the design and look of dozens of roleplaying, card, and tabletop games. His credits include such diverse titles as Deadlands, Millennium’s End, The Last Crusade, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium, Star Trek: Red Alert!, and The Wheel of Time Roleplaying Game."
Thats' a bit of the history and a bit about the designers involved. It looks to me like WotC put together a great team which included vets and People well versed in the new still fairly new D20 system. It's a fair assumption to make given the team, and that it was still in the first 5 or 6 years of WotC being a tabletop RPG company, D20 Modern was seen as a serious project in the D20 ecosystem.
As usual in these articles I would love to have been a fly on the wall for the very first discussion of D20 Modern. What was the pitch? What was the products intent? Was this a design based on a corporate request? What was the vibe in the room? Were people psyched to start this project? Without reaching out to the people involved it's impossible to know. I'm just not connected like that.
Foundations are laid, let's get to the book:
For the record I do not own an original Hard cover. I own a Print on Demand soft cover and PDF from Drive through. I would love to have had a hard cover; However, I don't know how good a time in use vs cost decision that would have been. I am working from the PDF and POD Physical Book. I will not talk about physical quality or production as I don't have an original in hand. I'm comfortable with "Production was top notch for the industry standard of 2002."
Word on the art: There is a lot of art in the book. All well done. in a sort of stylized cartoon and less painterly than Fantasy D20 way. The Producers clearly wanted this book to have its own visual vocabulary. (Please do not try to tell me that the plate on Page 167 is not Cynthis Rothrock. I will not believe it.) I have read some complaints that that the art in this book is skewed towards the male gaze and there are few to many skirts and half shirts on female figures. I will say it was done in 2002, is all very "cartoon action movie" and could have been a lot worse. I didn't find anything offensive. Though I admit that's a pretty high bar.
(Flesh Golem Plate on Page 237 is nightmare fuel)
The first Informative panel is a list of people who worked on the game.
"Design Advice and assistance" Christopher Perkins ... What ever happened to that guy?
Also look at that list of Play testers! ... I would give the 6th finger off my left hand to have that group lay any of my games and tell me how bad it is.
The table of Contents Shows 384 pages. A sizable book. The book includes a D20 Basics character creation and a game mastering section. Everything in one book. A departure from the TSR and previous WotC Player book, and separate GM book standard.
Interestingly chapter Ten is called FX abilities and includes spells, Arcane spells, Device spells, Spell lists, Psionics, New Feat - Wild Talent, Power Lists, and FX items.
In game terms "FX" references:
"Arcane spells, divine spells, and psionic powers are all representative of abilities beyond the scope of most ordinary individuals and are called as a group FX ability (just as in the film industry, FX is short for "special effects"). FX abilities are features of a few advanced classes and are not available to basic classes."
I know I'm jumping ahead but this section is an interesting inclusion, and points towards that this was intended to be a game system covering more than just a modern period D&D.
The introduction:
Standard fare, explaining that the Modern world offers a myriad of adventures. It also states that the D20 Modern Role playing game features cinematic action at its best. This is an important distinction. This is not a gritty tactical slowed down modern setting game. This is Cinematic, fast over the top action. It's interesting that the Designers felt it important enough to make that distinction in the first paragraph of the game.
Then there is the typical "This is a role-playing game" disclaimer.
We get introduced to the fictional "department 7" an organization of highly skill operatives on whom all the books examples will be based. It is also stated that "You can create any kind of contemporary adventure setting you want with the d20 MODERN Roleplaying Game." A point which is stated early, and I think summarizes the point of the project better than any other blurb from the book. This text from the very beginning is meant to be the "everything but fantasy: option from WOTC.
Then a using this book box text, explaining how gamemaster and players will be using the text.
The next 1/4th page is a key aspect of d20 systems and back in 2002 even though D&D 3.0 had been around for a while already, still kind of a big deal. It reads.
"The d20 MODERN Roleplaying Game uses a core mechanic to resolve all actions. This central game rule keeps play fast and intuitive. Whenever you want to attempt an action that has some chance of failure, you roll a twenty-sided die (or d20). To determine if your character succeeds at a task (such as an attack, the use of a skill or an ability, or an attempt to save your character from harm), you do this:
· Roll a d20.
· Add any relevant modifiers.
· Compare the result to a target number.If the result equals or exceeds the target number (set by the GM or given in the rules), your character succeeds at the task at hand. If the result is lower than the target number, you fail."
Got it? That's the whole system in 129 words. This is the game. Everything else is just a nice jacket hanging on this hook. This is what I feel the good folks at WotC at the time were banking on. Furthermore, it hit so hard when D&D 3.0 came out there is no way it could miss with other genres. It was, and frankly still is, the most eloquent die mechanic in a major role-playing game.
Next the role of the game master is explained. I do like that it says, "One Player serves as the Gamemaster" A nice reminder that teh game master is also playing the game and is part of the story.
Next, we get a brief introduction to the parts of a hero. This section is where the designers start to hang things off those 129 words that defined their core system.
We get the same 6 abilities that had featured in D&D since the 70's no reason to reinvent the wheel. Also, I have always felt that this game was not only a main player in the new D20 ecosystem but designed to be compatible with D&D 3.0. (I wonder if any crossover material was ever planned or talked about?)
Class: A defining aspect of the character. Here they divert from D&D and show their hand at design what would be the universal system of d20...
Gone are fighter, Priest, ect. In their place are Strong hero, Fast hero, Dedicated hero, Smart hero, Tough Hero and Charismatic Hero. One of reach attribute. Each can be considered an analog of what the Typical D&D classes were. A fast Hero gets rouge like abilities. A strong hero feels a bit Fighter-ish and so on. These are described as a framework to define your character initially. Not to jump ahead but multi classing is supported as well as advanced classes which feel like D&D 3.0 subclasses. Example you are already a really good strong hero now you are a strong-Bodyguard and here are some benefits to that.
Having the classes tied to the attributes and initially more abstract than as defined in previous D20 systems was a great design and allowed for the game to cover multiple settings while the advanced classes could be tailored to whatever setting was being worked on. Very smart. I also wonder which designer first floated this. I'm leaning towards Slavicek only because it reminds me of TORG archetypes ever so slightly. Though that's a total flyer.
An explanation of Level and how it can be used as a measuring stick of character's power level. It mentions base attack level, and Defense bonus, Number of attacks and Saving throws. Meaning that as a design some of the characters main "power stats" such as offence and defense are closely related to level, as much as they are class, equipment, or skills. Which means a level 5 character will translate as such regardless of the D20 Modern setting the player drops the character into. Another step in creating a universal system. All the character's "framework" speaks the same language, regardless of the setting's trappings.
"Skills represent how well a character does at dramatic tasks other than combat."
I like that description of skills very much. Mundane actions are not the currency of D20 modern. Followed by a description of skill ranks which his sort of in the center of this paragraph. Skills are what they system is built around so a pop out or box might have been warranted. Still nice quick intro.
There is a "Playing the game" section on page 10. Which includes direct advice to "roll attacks and damage in the open" and that the game master may hide some die roles to maintain a feeling of suspense. The text next goes into a lengthy (Full-page and a half,) game example. The example features a game master "Jeff" running a group through some basic play. This section is very good and clearly aimed directly at very new players. (Poor Harmon)
The next two pages 12 and 13 are a step-by-step guide to the character creation process. which at the top of page thirteen is broken up by a nice action art plate that honestly, could have gone elsewhere. When creating a character using this book, I flipped back to these pages more than once. Just to make sure I had not missed any steps. It's a really solid inclusion. I love it so much in fact, I have done it for my own games.
The
D20 Modern Classes are not broken into "Fighter", "Soldier",
"Support" and so on but rather by their focus stat.
The classes are, Strong hero, Tough Hero, Fast Hero, Smart Hero, Dedicated
Hero, and Charismatic Hero. As soon as these are Defined the idea of
multiclassing the Advanced Classes are introduced. to my eye this identifies
multi classing as the preferred mode of play. Advanced classes seem
more like Professions or even "kits" to borrow the Second
edition term. Further more they are not defined until chapter 6. Advanced
classes are a great way for a game master or an author to flavor their own D20
modern settings. A modern game may have a “hacker” advanced class, While a WWII
game might have a “Paratrooper””
Advanced class. To me it seems like the
designers said , well if everyone is a “Fast” or “Charismatic” Hero, how
will different campaigns differentiate each other.
Talent trees: Each class has a set of talent trees that they can pick talents from every other level.
From the book:
Talents: Every basic class offers a selection of talents to choose from. A character gains a talent upon attaining each odd-numbered level in a class (including lst level). Talents are considered to be extraordinary abilities. (See Chapter Eight Friends and Foes for a definition of extraordinary abilities.) Some talents have prerequisites that must be met before a character can select them.
Attack and defense Bonuses,
Here we get the 3rd edition Descending
bonus for additional attacks. Each class having its own base attack
progression. A character with +6 attack bonus may take a second attack at +1. A
character with +12 may make a second attack at +7 and a third at +2> Anyone running
Pathfinder or D&D 3rd will find this familiar. I think it’s a
very eloquent way of handling multiple attacks.
From Page 18:
“If a character has more than one class, add the base attack bonuses for each class together to determine the character's base attack bonus. (See Multiclass Characters, page 40, for an example.)”
Sounds a bit to good to be true on the base attack bonus side of multiclass. So I went to Page 40. I found the following which confirms the above.. If you are a combat orientated character Multi classing to get the cool abilities and a better Attack bonus might be the right way to go
Base Attack Bonus Add the base attack bonuses for each class to get the hero's base attack bonus. A resulting value of +6 or higher provides the hero with multiple attacks. For instance, a 6th-level Dedicated/2nd-level Strong hero has a base attack bonus of +6 (+4 for the Dedicated levels and +2 for the Strong levels). A base attack bonus of +6 allows a second attack with a bonus of +1, even though neither the +4 from the Dedicated levels nor the +2 from the Strong levels normally allows an additional attack.
Characters also get Defensive bonuses by level based on class that improve their Armor class and the difficulty to harm them.
Skills may have a maximum number of
ranks based on character level, Cross class skills may have half that
many ranks. I guess this is to keep
players form piling skill ranks into one thing that they are just way too good
at.
Characters get 2 feats at level 1 then one more every third level there after
and an Ability increase every 4th level. A pace that’s downright
glacial by todays “You get a prize every level” pace.
Page 19:
Smart, Dedicated, and charismatic heroes get 1d6 for hit dice. Strong and fast
heroes get 1d8, While the tough hero lumbers in with a 1d10 hit die. That’s a narrow
band. Over 20 levels the average result of 20 d6 is 69 to 72 hit points, the d8
average over a 20 level life time is 89 to 91, while the average from 20d10 is 109
to 111 a career difference of about 30
to 40 hit points in the extremes. I
other words chances are even if you pick a “Smart” hero they won’t be
completely made of balsa wood.
I could go on page by page. And I honestly wanted to but in the end the is a 380 page book. I just can't.
The chapters included are,
- Characters Which I touch on above.
- Skills. The third edition skill system in all its glory covers pages 42 to 75 with full descriptions of the forty-one base skills.
- Feats, Pages 76 to 89 with a full description of the games base feats. A few of these are lifted right from D&D 3rd as one would expect. However a large number fo these feats are new to this game and deal with more modern concerns. Feats such as "Burst Fire" and "Aircraft Operations" which are specific to this document.
- Equipment, The typical shopping list section. This game does a decent job of dodging the modern game bugaboo of having equipment lists get quickly outdated by real-world technology. In this text "Computer" and "Cell Phone" are not defined by much more that a label. The game could be referencing a 2002 cell phone or a 2025 cell phone. For a game that came out right on the cusp of digital media taking over the physical media space, the equipment lists are not overly outdated. Of course we can't expect are designers to seers, and any game that is over 20 years old using a modern setting is going to have it's share of outdated terms. (The inclusion of Film for the camera did make me smile.)
- Combat, Pages 128 to 163. Third edition combat was never simple, adding fire arms to the mix did not serve to make combat any easier. This section describes all the ins and out s the plus and minus of 3rd edition combat for the modern day. I feel it's quite a good update.
The following is from pages 129 and 130. Here the reader can see the general order of combat and already see terms such as "Flat footed" which is a harbinger of future mechanical conditions and modifiers to come.
Combat is played out in rounds, and in each round everybody acts in turn in a regular cycle.
Generally, combat runs in the following way.
1. Each combatant starts the battle flat-footed; that is, a character starts out not yet in a combat stance. Once a combatant acts, she or he is no longer flat-footed.
2. The GM determines which characters are aware of their opponents at the start of the battle. If some but not all of the combatants are aware of their opponents, a surprise round happens before regular rounds begin. The combatants who are aware of the opponents can act in the surprise round, so they roll for initiative. In initiative order (highest to lowest), combatants who started the battle aware of their opponents each take one move or attack action. Combatants who were unaware don't get to act in the surprise round. If no one or everyone starts the battle aware, there is no surprise round.
3. Combatants who have not yet rolled initiative do so. All combatants are now ready to begin their first regular round
4. Combatants act in initiative order.
5. When everyone has had a turn, the combatant with the highest initiative acts again, and steps 4 and 5 repeat until combat ends.
Attack and defense bonuses are defined here all very clearly and easily understood. For example ranged attack bonus is
"Base attack bonus + Dexterity modifier + range penalty + size modifier"
The size modifier chart being snugly placed on page 130. Where honestly I would never find it during play so I would likely just print that page from the PDF and tape it to my notes.
The section on rounds and actions is interesting to me from a design history standpoint. The rounds represent about 6 seconds. Rounds are defined like months a month can be the thirty days of April or any consecutive 30 day period. So if Jonny Swade gets stunned by a flash grenade for three rounds on intuitive 10 he will recover three round latter on intuitive 10. (Mark that down as a nightmare for game masters to track in a big fight.)
In this version of 3rd ed there are action types, Attack actions, Full round actions, move actions, and free actions. a character may move and attack, do two moves, a full action and as many free actions as the game master allows. A move action allows a character to move up to their speed in distance, or do something that takes an equivalent amount of time.
In this a reader can see the seed of what would go on to become the Pathfinder / pathfinder 2 three action economy. Though it's not yet so tightly defined or universally applied. It’s a looser version of the core concept. Down to "the only movement you can take during a full round action is a "five foot step" The "step" being a major component of more modern interpretations of this same rules set. I am not sure if 3.0 had the "Step" action. (I would have to go to the attic for the book and ummm,..nah) (UPDATE: I looked at my old 3.0 book and indeed the “Step” was always there)
I can confirm that the full round action description in D&D 3.5 (2004) includes the five foot "Step" and reads almost exactly like the D20 modern description.
Page 143 contains a "moving on a grid" section and some helpful diagrams as well as the units of 5 feet used in teh game. It is interesting to me that the assumption of this game seems to be theater of the mind where I also feel that in just two more years D&D 3.5 will be much more reliant on Grid based combat. Then 4th edition would move fully into war game like tactical combat.
Cover and concealment get a full 2 pages. As they should in a game involving modern firearms where cover is extra important.
Starting on page147 special initiative actions.. Things like holding an action, or delaying an action and special attack actions like aide another character, Explosive, Bull Rush, Trip , Grapple, Fire arms use , auto fire and all the detail actions that make up combat situations.
In my vide these smaller "sub sections" of combat rules are what gives system flavor. How a game handles thrown weapons , automatic fire and grappling says as much about it's design aesthetic as how the game handled character creation.
Everything seems to be handled well. each sub action seems to be written for clarity and with the intent of smooth play. Explosive rules are shown using a grid map to determine damage radius, in keeping with the scale and grid based combat examples given earlier.
The Exception here is grappling, which runs for three and a half pages. D20 modern perpetuates the tradition that D20 games have no clean solutions for grappling. I would use the rules from "Dungeon Grappling" by "Gamming Ballistic" instead.
The next section is nine packed pages of vehicular combat. I get that vehicles are a huge part of modern settings. However, when I look at these rules and the diagrams of firing arcs, costs in "squares of movement", Hazard DC's, and descriptions of maneuvers, my eye glaze a bit. I think to the dramatic chase rules written for the James Bond 007 "Her majesty's secret service" game. 007 tackled the same problems much more eloquently fully nine years earlier. I can say that I may run D20 Modern at some point. I am never using these Vehicle rules. Even if they are good, they are for my taste too much.
A note about Action points:
I'm putting this here as some combat skills and abilities are fueled by Action points, making combat where they are going to be most often used. Oddly to me these are only described on page 9. I could see new players scrambling to remember what they can do with their character's pool of action points.
Action points are a mechanical way for the heroes to feel more, heroic. Enemies don't get them +1d6 is a significant modifier to the 1d20 formula giving the player a 5% to 30% upswing on any roll. I think in todays D&D 5th ed this same function is handled by inspiration buying advantage on a roll (around the same bonus statistically. To be fair Advantage / disadvantage is probably a bit more eloquent a system, but this works as is. action points also give designers a resource they can invoke for special abilities. This extra layer of decision making is welcome in what can be a repetitive (I hit it with my sword again) d20 system.
Heroes get a number of action points based on their class with normal classes getting 5 action points _ 1/2 their level rounded down, and advanced classes getting 6 +1/2 their level rounded down.
From Page 9, Action Points described.
Every character starts play with action points. Action points provide a player with the means to alter d20 rolls in dramatic situations. After a die roll but before the GM reveals the results, you can decide to spend an action point. For a character, spending an action point adds 1d6 to the d20 roll, helping you get closer to or exceed the target number. An action point can be applied to a single die roll when making an attack roll, a skill check, an ability check, a level check, or a saving throw. In some cases (as noted in the rules), a character must spend an action point to perform a certain activity. An action point spent in this way does not provide an increase to a d20 roll.
All in all this is 2002 pre 3.5, D20 system combat with guns. and I find that that auto fire and cover for modern systems are some of the hardest things to design. How do yo to an RPG when guns can cut a person down nearly instantly? Its a tough design space. To balance realism and lethality with still having heroes who can survive long enough to tell their story. (Even Venerable and gun loving GURPS just says "Don't get shot," as their solution. Palladium created MDC armor and damage which in older Rifts unbalanced their system. IF you aren't doing MDC are you EVEN trying? And so on )
In that spirit I think D20 modern does a fine job of giving options that help the characters to "Not get shot" as well as making the character's sturdy enough to take a hit or two before crumpling up the character sheets. Grid play is presented but not considered the only mode of play, and the whole thing seems to hang together well
Advanced Classes:
Advanced classes are a opportunity for gamemasters to flavor their games. For example the advanced classes offered here are geared towards modern (2002) action film arch types, like "solider", "Martial Artist", "Personality" (celebrity), and "Techie." To Contrast this D20 Modern setting book "Urban Arcana" contains a dozen less generic advanced classes such as "Techno Mage" a technology based wizard, and "Shadow Hunter" a magic fueled version of investigator. In this way various setting books can be flavored as needed.Conveniently There are also two advanced classes per base attribute for example Strong characters might lean towards the "Solider" or "Martial artist." While Dedicated heroes might drift towards the "Field Medic" or "Investigator" Advanced classes. These are not rules but suggestions. A player could have a Smart "Bodyguard" though that character might not be able to make full use of the body guards tough guy skills. No matter what Attribute you start with you have a path to an advanced class if you choose to take it.
Advanced classes have prerequisite that a character must meet before accessing the benefits of the class. As stated in the rules for the Solider advanced class:
"Requirements To qualify to become a Soldier, a character must fulfill theThe text says that with some planning advanced classes can be accessed as early as 4th level. Which is EARLY, but I could see my self trying to get to one. I could see my own "Charismatic Hero" going for the "Negotiator" advanced class early on.
following criteria.
Base Attack Bonus: +3.
Skill: Knowledge (tactics) 3 ranks.
Feat: Personal Firearms Proficiency."
Advanced classes can be leveled up independently and are full classes with attack bonuses and defense bonuses all their own. Advanced classes also offer player a suit of Skills and abilities independent of their base class.
Where a level 5 Martial Artist gets the skill Iron Fist, a level 5 Strong Hero gets to pick A talent form the Strong Hero talent tree. Naturally a level 5 strong hero / level 5 Martial artist would have both, and eb considered a level 10 character.
Gamemastering: Pages 188 to 213
I am not going through this section bit by bit, page by page. I will say its a good introduction to game mastering and the responsibilities of a game master. It may have been served well by havening a long example in the text of how a game actually goes. Still it is a sold game master section with some high points I'll out line bellow.
That is a great description. Should be on a t-shirt or dust jacket. This game masters section covers a fair amount of ground, but never leaves any doubt that this is a capital A, Action system."Let's be clear about what the d20 MODERN Role-playing Game is. It is a game of cinematic action, a vehicle for all types of modern fantasy. "
Pg 196 the game session check list is a nice addition. 10 items to make sure are in place during play.
Stated as:
"We can divide an adventure into seven sections:· The opening hook,· Motivation to continue,· Initial challenges,· Further developments,· Pointers toward climax,· The climax,· And the aftermath."
Let's face it that's a pretty good template. Fill in those blanks and the game master has an adventure. Each part of that template is given a couple paragraphs of advice and description. Well done.
Page 199 has a gruesome art plate that could only happen at WOTC in 2002. WOTC 2025 doesn't do Dead Santa.There is also a section on Good and Bad Adventure structure, which I'm not sure I have seen elsewhere and I like very much.
The favors and contacts section here, might be the only nod this game give to using system as a tool to abdicate social interactions. This is an ACTION system... talk with your gun. I guess?
Friends and Foes
I like the idea of the monster factory and being given the tools to build build your own monsters.
ON the flips side. I hate the stat blocks they provide for monsters. I know they were trying to save space but it's formatting like this that shows how far we have come as a media form in the past 20 years. I could not use these stat blocks in 2025 , not after seeing monster stat blocks that are so much cleaner and easier to read. I know its formatted the best they could for the time, but to modern sensibilities its just hard on the eyes.
I understand this is a small thing but it Irks me.
Bears have the following traits.Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, the bear must hitwith a claw attack. See page 227 for more information.Scent (Ex): This ability allows a bear to detect approach-ing enemies, sniff out hidden foes, and track by sense ofsmell. See page 228 for more information.Bear: CR 4; Large animal; HD 6d8+24; hp 51; Mas 19; Init +1;Spd 40 ft .; Defense 15, touch 10, flat-footed 14 (-1 size,+1 Dex, +5 natural); BAB +4; Grap +16; Atk +11 melee (1d8+8,claw); Full Atk +11 melee (1d8+8, 2 claws), +6 melee (2d8+4bite); FS 10 ft. by 10 ft .; Reach 10 ft .; SQ improved grab, low-light vision, scent; AL none; SV Fort +9, Ref +6, Will +3; AP 0;Rep +0; Str 27, Dex 13, Con 19, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6.Skills: Climb +18, Listen +6, Spot +6.Feats: None.Advancement: 7-10 HD (Large).
(The last word on this Aleternity's Alien Compendium which Bill Slavicsek worked on... had MUCH better stat blocks than this and it was produced by TSR in 1998)
1. Shadow Chasers "The monsters of a thousand horror novels stalk the streets of our world" and you the shadow chasers have the skills to combat these horrors. The truth of this ongoing battle is hidden form the general population by the shadows and their fragile psyches. A fun looking setting much like Palladium's "Beyond the supernatural" (edition one in 1987, I'm sure these designers were familiar.)
From the text:
SummaryHeroes kick ass on supernatural horrors that invade the modern world.
I love that.
I appreciate the setting brief and the Who, What, where, When, Why do the shadow chasers do what they do section, more setting briefs should do this. The campaign background and Campaign traits sections are also useful. There is also a side bar that tells the game master what Rules "FX" this setting will use in this case Super Natural monsters, limited arcane magic and some judiciously limited magic items. Nice. There are also two additional setting specific Advanced classes, "Shadow Slayer" and Occultist." This is a campaign description running from Pages 285 to 295 and it gives enough that I could run it. This is one of my favorite "White Whale" setting tropes. Something I have personally tried to get off the ground and have never been able to make it stick. Naturally I enjoyed reading the material offered here.
2. The second campaign idea is "Agents of PSI"
From the Text.
Summary
Psionic super spies engage in action-packed missions to protect the free world from counteragents, terrorists, would-be conquerors, and the occasional psychic threat.
Not as much my cup of tea, but psionic 007 sounds pretty great honestly. The campaign representing shadow agents introducing psionics, but zero actual magic into the world of espionage.
This is given the same treatment as the Shadow Chasers setting. This setting runs from pages 298 to 310. This example includes two more advanced classes the "Telepath" and the "Battle-mind." The battle mind is a particularly cool, psi blade wielding psionically enhanced melee character I would play in a second.
3. Urban Arcana: (This eventually became it's own supplement)
From the text:
SummaryI have to be straight about this one. This is D20 modern quietly saying, "Soooooooo, Look we know you think shadow run is cool. What if we told you, that you and your friends could play shadow run with a system that makes sense?"
Monsters and the magic of fantasy intrude upon the modern world, giving rise to heroes, villains, and a new age of colonization and exploration.
Interestingly this setting keeps some aspects of the Shadow Chasers setting (described above.
In that that normal folks tend to deny the existence of goblins and what not. However, this setting is not as dark as the shadow s can also belch out elves and fairy's , magic is real (no psionics) and you could be a noble subway knight. In this version of the setting the shadow brings magic and Myth with it and rises then receded over time. As the tide of shadow rises the world becomes more magical as normal people try to maintain their normal lives, heroes embrace the tide and go out to explore. This distinction does keep it from being exactly like shadow Run, but there are still enough similarities. The two advanced class examples you get here are Acolyte and Mage. Both magic based classes leaked into the modern world.
It's good and well put together. So much so some one in the group thought enough of it that it came out as a source book of it's own in 2003. That setting book has the following team. A heavy hitting line up, telling me this was a product they believed strongly in. (I Would love to confirm this somehow.)
(D20 Modern Apocalypse, D20past, and D20 Future did not have this exact team, Perkins and Slavicsek are present on both but in different roles. Notably Slavicsek as director or RPG-R&D not a designer role)
Designers:A heavy hitting line up, telling me this was a product they believed strongly in. (I Would love to confirm this somehow.) (D20 Modern Apocalypse, D20past, and D20 Future did not have this exact team, Perkins and Slavicsek are present on both but in different roles. Notably Slavicsek as director or RPG-R&D not a designer role)ERIC CAGLE, JEFF GRUBB, DAVID NOONAN, STAN!Development and editing:CHRISTOPHER PERKINS, BILL SLAVICSEKOriginal concept:BILL SLAVICSEK
The text does make efforts to tie each setting back to their "department-7" setting touchstone. This motif is used through the book to make examples hang together and give everything a base line refence which i smart but probably not necessary here. We never di get a "Department 7" source book or setting book that I know of. I guess the concept of Department 7 touching all the worlds of D20 modern died here.
This section gives rules for and described things like spells, psionics and divine spells which are beyond the scope of Normal Modern people's abilities. I wont go into so much detail here except to say this is D&D 3.0 magic wiht updated spell names and some new modern world affecting spell descriptions. If you like D&D D20 magic this will feal fine. All the same pros and cons we have known for years apply here.
This rule bout preparing spells is interesting. I need to dig out my 3.0 book to see if this is a d20 modern addition or if it is pulled form the base 3.0 D20 system.
Recent Casting Limit: If a Mage has cast spells recently, the drain on his resources reduces his capacity to prepare new spells. When he prepares spells for the coming day, all spells he has cast within the last 8 hours count against his daily limit.
Psionics is next and generally falls into line with the D&D 3.0 "Psionics handbook" published in 2001, written by Bruce R. Cordell. Cordell is listed as a play tester for the D20 modern Core book. This is a very abridged section for Psionics which in fairness are tough to integrate into any system. D&D has historically had its own issues getting Magic and psionics to play well together. One major diversion here is that the powers are not broken into Discipline groups like D&D. Rather, they are split between the advanced classes "Battle Mind" and "Telepath" then by power level. This is one of the rare times that D20 modern weds its rules and systems to its own text. If I'm recreating my own campaign, do I need to use the Telepath Advanced class if I want to include Psionics? What if everyone has some powers like in Gamma world? This specific spot seems like a strange place to start being so specific to their own setting material for rules application. Next there are a bunch of powers described.
Lastly there are FX items which are magic items.
I'm glancing over this but it is a very good section. I love the list of how many items a character may use. Forget attunement you newbs ... in 2002 we could have magical FX items in the following slots.
1 headband, headset, hat, or helmet1 pair of eyeglasses, contact lenses, sunglasses, or goggles1 amulet, brooch, medallion, necklace, necktie, or scarab1 suit of armor (archaic or modern)1 robe, jacket, windbreaker, or coat1 cloak, cape, poncho, sweater, or mantle1 vest or shirt1 pair of bracers or bracelets, or 1 watch1 pair of gloves or gauntlets1 pair of earrings2 rings1 belt1 pair of boots, shoes, or sandals6 tattoos
Conclusion:
D20 Modern is a split in the typical Wizards of the coast plan. A fork in the road as it were. This is clearly an attempt to make a universal system that can do anything not D&D Fantasy. To my knowledge this is the only time WotC dipped their toes into these waters and the experiment only lasted 4 years.
Why?
Also, in 2000 when D&D 3.0 came out it was released with an Open Gaming License... Which lead to a ton of companies sprouting up making D&D compatible material. (Read a great article about the OGL History here at the Alexandrian) The D20 modern rules set? I'm not sure how it fell in the OGL ecosystem and as much as I looked, I couldn't find anything. It's as if WotC was developing their own universal system under their D20 Trademark System to compete with system hacks being made outside their control under the OGL... However, it's reasonable to me to assume that in 2006 someone at WotC noticed that the D20 Modern game was not D&D 3.5, was still basically a separate game outside the OGL, (?) and was producing supplements under the D20 trademark. Someone must have said "Well, it's too expensive to make a D20 Modern 3.5, so I think were done here." Alternately sales were bad, and the line canceled for natural business reasons. I'll never know the full story of it.
regardless. I like this rule set. and Have enjoyed my time with this book. I have no problem running or playing D20 modern even 22 years after it's first release. I do wonder what would have happened if Wizards had decided to maintain the idea of a universal system with 2008's D&D 4th being packaged as part of a greater whole rather than what it eventually became. To me D20 modern represents the other side of the decisions WotC made with the D&D property. Would they have made a terrific universal system? Would Star finder or Pathfinder ever have needed to happen? Or would something else have stepped in to take that mantle of THE specifically heroic Fantasy RPG. Universal D&D / D20 modern being relegated to a list of games that try to cast too wide a net?
Hindsight is 20/20. With the wild success 5th edition has had since it's release it's plain to see that WotC and Hasbro have despite their fumbles here and there made the right moves overall. More people are playing now than ever before.
Still I like to wonder what if.
For this work I referenced Several of the game PDF's and Game PDF's from both D&D 3.5 and 3.0
Further referenced were The Alexandrian Linked above, and the D20 Modern Wikipedia Article Found Here.
I know this was a dozy!
Enjoy games - Roll Dice!
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