d20 Future

Talonrazor

d20 Future is the system that springs to my mind right at first that wasn't DnD. It's a d20 Modern expansion and is does a fairly good job at enabling you to really explore sci-fi settings. The settings in d20 Future are extremely awesome and at some point, when I get out of classes, I'll update the OP with a list of cool settings published by other companies. It was jointly written by a guy I knew via another forum, who worked on the Star Wars d20 line (of which I played constantly). Lots of ideas were taken from SW when crafting the line and there are some similarities. Therefore, if you liked WoTC's Star Wars, you'd probably like d20 Future.

Anyways, more to come in this post. Just slamming out a quick thread for discussion on everything d20 Future!

Doc

I've been less than impressed with every D20 version they have come out with aside from base D&D 3/3.5. Both modern and Star Wars have some ridiculous flaws and imbalances. In a Star Wars campaign, I was a soldier who specialized in blasters. At sixth level I got my choice of 5, 4, or 2 attacks per round at varying attack bonuses. I could take down anything our GM through at my group single-handedly. If I could not kill it on my own, it would have killed me and then killed the rest of the group without too much trouble. I'm not even going to go into the way grenades and explosives work in that game.

D20 is a good system for D&D, and it has some great ideas. It's just not nearly as flexible as many people expect it to be.

Captain K

I'm editing out the "[discuss on]" from your thread title. We don't need to start a bad trend of unnecessary thread prefixes in a forum that's only an hour old.

Salvation122

I'm not a huge fan of D20. Class-based systems as a whole seem really restrictive, and D20 in particular can be so easily twinked out that it's worthless without an GM with an incredibly tight, iron fist. Since I usually end up running my group's games, and I'm a lazy SOB, I can't be arsed to deal with it.

Canada_jezus

I liked most of the topics covered in D20 future. Sadly it doesn't seem to mesh very well with the core book. Too many overly powerful advanced classes and such . That and all the gadgets just lead to even longer "how to get every last fucking drop of use out of my wealth bonus," calculations at the start of the session.

Talonrazor

Captain K wrote:

I'm editing out the "[discuss on]" from your thread title. We don't need to start a bad trend of unnecessary thread prefixes in a forum that's only an hour old.

Eh, yea. That probably wasn't smart. :oops:

d20 has it weakness, I agree. But I think it's a lot more flexible then you'd think. It really depends on the GM, I believe. If he allows the system to be a vehicle for a good story, rather then wrecking ball, it's a great system.

Captain K

I've never played any d20 games other than D&D 3E/3.5E, but I understand that every game using the d20 system has the same focus on character classes? That just seems like a horribly restrictive flaw.


I'm not a huge fan of any P&P RPG that forces me to choose a character class. If I want a class-based game experience, I can just play Diablo.

Thanatos

Captain K wrote:

I've never played any d20 games other than D&D 3E/3.5E, but I understand that every game using the d20 system has the same focus on character classes? That just seems like a horribly restrictive flaw.


I'm not a huge fan of any P&P RPG that forces me to choose a character class. If I want a class-based game experience, I can just play Diablo.

I tend to like the D20 games that aren't as restrictive with multiclassing. It lets you make a much more varied character, something closer to what you could make using a classless system.

The class system has the added bonus of being much simpler than most classless systems. Though, I do prefer a classless system over a classed one, too.

Canada_jezus

Captain K wrote:

I've never played any d20 games other than D&D 3E/3.5E, but I understand that every game using the d20 system has the same focus on character classes? That just seems like a horribly restrictive flaw.


I'm not a huge fan of any P&P RPG that forces me to choose a character class. If I want a class-based game experience, I can just play Diablo.

D20 modern's classes are very generic though. Strong hero, smart hero, fast hero etc. Way more free than say regular d&d. Still classes though, so yeah.

Gaddez

I think D20 is an interesting concept, but there decision to attempt to convert other peoples systems is a bad Idea, since it tends to muck up the built in game balance too much.

Salvation122

Gaddez wrote:

I think D20 is an interesting concept, but there decision to attempt to convert other peoples systems is a bad Idea, since it tends to muck up the built in game balance too much.

It's a bad idea that made them very very rich.

Brainleech

well an example of this is the Jovian Chronicles which I picked up for some reason in a random bag promo from a mail order company
the first edtion was math heavy the second editon introduced the d20 system it did simply it but to extext that made it kind of confusing

Gaddez

Salvation122 wrote:

Gaddez wrote:

I think D20 is an interesting concept, but there decision to attempt to convert other peoples systems is a bad Idea, since it tends to muck up the built in game balance too much.

It's a bad idea that made them very very rich.

If you talk to people who remember Non d20 legend of the five rings, they'll talk your ear off about how combat lost its thrill when they tried the WotC version.

Athenor

Gaddez wrote:

Salvation122 wrote:

Gaddez wrote:

I think D20 is an interesting concept, but there decision to attempt to convert other peoples systems is a bad Idea, since it tends to muck up the built in game balance too much.

It's a bad idea that made them very very rich.

If you talk to people who remember Non d20 legend of the five rings, they'll talk your ear off about how combat lost its thrill when they tried the WotC version.

I would so post a pic of the anti-d20 stuff the Shadowrun guys put up during Gencon a few years back, if I could find it.