d20 Modern

Overall score:

I’m not sure what I was expecting when I first heard about Wizard’s new D20 Modern. Something GURPS-like? No, thought I suppose I thought something like that. But the point building system varies too far from the idea behind d20 to be associated with it.

I’m still not sure what I expected ... or got... out of the new system. I have a vague idea that I liked it, but I’m not sure why. There are a couple variations from the standard d20 rules. Things that are different than, but similar in nature to, changes made in the d20 version of Star Wars and Call of Cthulu.

D20 is a fantasy system. While it’s low on magic, it definitely focuses on the occult, conspiracy, and magical and/or psionic opponents. There are no elves, dwarves, or halflings. You play a straight up human. You still get the benefits of being human over demi-human, however: the bonus feats and skill points that D&D humans would have gotten.

If you know how to make a D&D or any other d20 system character, than you know the basics of this system, obviously, so learning the rules goes pretty quick. You just need to get used to Talents, Reputation, Action points, Starting Occupations, and lots of bonus feats for every class.

All of the basic classes have really stupid names (ok, that’s not how I meant to finish that sentence, but it’s true: Tough Hero, Fast Hero, come on, don’t you have a thesaurus there at Wizards of the Coast?). All of the basic classes alternate between getting a feat or a talent at each level progression. Talents are specific to the class, and are described in the class description. They’re sort of like feats, actually, giving specific game mechanic benefits to the character. Really, many of them seem almost supernatural. That combined with the naturally heroic feel and mechanics of the d20 system gets away from a gritty realism. This game is definitely oriented to getting into the action aspects. So the conspiracy opponent plot elements only go so far.

Reputation works much the same way as it does in Star Wars. The higher your reputation, the more known you are. This can effect interaction rolls with NPCs. Action points are also culled from Star Wars. Naturally, they can’t call them Force Points, but they do add to rolls you think wasn’t good enough. They don’t regenerate, but you do get new ones at each level (game playing suggestion: this means that progressing more than one level at a time must either be controlled or the number of action points modified, else players will be burning them up during play sessions). Some class abilities also require using an action point (again, more action/heroic fantasy here. D20 modern does not go for realism—this isn’t good or bad, just something you should be aware of).

Starting occupations are a way to give characters a little edge. The prerequisites for most occupations is simply an age. Though a few, like Athlete, require certain minimal attributes instead. Occupations will add skills to your class skill list, possibly add new feats or reputation, and increase your wealth bonus.

Wealth bonus you ask? Well yes. Modern life is full of nagging details like your rent/mortgage, grocery shopping, taxes, purchases, etc. Rather than go for the details here, D20 Modern uses a wealth system. Basically, it’s like a skill that can go up and down. Items have a purchase DC. If they’re below your wealth bonus, well, you can buy them. If the purchase DC is high enough, your wealth bonus may drop. This gets away from dealing with scrounging for the last few coins (which is fine, because you don’t find many treasure hordes in the modern world) but still makes stealing that high priced art from the bad guy (and selling it to increase your wealth bonus). It’s an ingenious solution to dealing with cash without bogging yourself down in whether you paid your cell phone bill.

Now, there’s an argument for having to deal with that. Using that last example, what if the character doesn’t pay his cell phone bill? What if he then wants to call a buddy in to help him get away from the three tough guys chasing him down to break his kneecaps? I think you can see where I’m going with this.

Weapon damage is an interesting thought as well. At low levels, most any firearm will take a character down with a couple shots. One shot killing is easy to understand – you hit a vital organ. Two or three shots being necessary is also easy to see: you did some damage but didn’t hit anything vital enough right away. However, high level characters have as many hit points as corresponding D&D characters (though their abilities typically aren’t as cool, meaning your average 5th level Paladin can probably take a 5th level Tough Hero and be reasonably confident of winning). This means that at higher levels it may take several shots, or even "many" to kill a character. This problem is why I personally prefer a different system for modern or science fiction settings than I do for Fantasy. In fantasy, it’s easy to excuse a guy taking lots and lots of damage before falling. It’s harder to do that when the weapon is a Glock 20.

Again, however, this is really a problem with the "realism." If you just want a modern setting, and aren’t worried about the realism of the system, they do have a workable system with some good ideas. Again the emphasis is on action and heroism, so it may do well if you’re trying to recreate a Van Damme or Schwarzenegger flick.

One should also note that there are other resources in this book. There are, for example, a number of prestige classes (known as "advanced classes" and much more on par with the power of D&D classes) including a Field Scientist. The picture for field scientist looks like Dana Scully but has abilities more like MacGyver.

There’s also a good selection of monsters, which are creatively illustrated (I liked the ogre playing hockey with a bloody goalie mask and a halberd best myself). But probably best of the resources is the campaigns section. D20 Modern provides several ideas for "Campaign Models," i.e., moods and premises. These are good ideas, not developed too far in depth, but they do take up around 15 pages apiece. They provide a couple new advanced classes, the ideas, roles for the characters, potential adventures, etc. Worth reading, if none of them are terribly in-depth.

So, the best review of this would be to tell you what it’s usable for, and what it isn’t. It’s not a good basis for a realistic, gritty campaign. For one, the rules on magic prevent that. However, if you want to remake the Terminator (or even The Golden Child) in feel and mood, this will work for you.

And you probably already know the rules.

Written by SaintEhlers on February 04th, 2003