Saturday, January 9, 2010

Pathfinder Modern Part II

Okay, first off, let me say that I've got $$ in my PayPal account to support the patron project to build a revised version of D20 Modern, and I am glad to support it. I've been thinking alot about this project, and I have a couple of other things I would love to see the revised rule-set include.

1. The Political System/Social Engineering System in "Brave New World". This very elegant rule system is absolute best part of an otherwise forgettable Judge Dredd style satirical superhero setting. Basically, it's a chart that links several factors of a culture, such as health care, standard of living, taxes, law enforcement levels, ect.... changing one factor has ripple effects on other factors, sometimes positive other times negative. It's a cynical but fairly accurate view of politics, where changing the world is VERY possible, but isn't easy as it looks, and you're always going to be screwing over somebody, or being forced to compromise slightly.

I would love to see something like this in a revised D20 Modern, because it opens up a whole new vista for gaming- high level political manipulation. Absolutely awesome rules, which remind me alot of Sim City and other god-game sims.

2. Drama Points. I'd love for Super Genius(not Paizo itself, sorry!) to take a cue from the Buffy RPG (among others) and expand the uses for Action Points. Instead of just a flat bonus, have them allow for dramatic editing, healing surges, luck and fate effects. I've tried to expand what Action Points can be used for with some of the classes I've written. Alot (but not all) of my classes have abilities with "Action Enhancements". Activate your class ability normally it does X. Spend an action point while doing so, and it does X + Y, and I would love for an idea like that to become industry standard.

3. Classic D&D Alignments. It's odd, but I would love to see the classic 9 alignments replace allegiances, mostly because of the Gunslinger-like sense of a huge multiverse where characters are judged on moral codes they don't consciously know they follow and don't fully understand, but still have validity. It's less realistic, and could turn VERY sticky, particularly for my highly politicized Otherverse America stuff, but I still like the idea of modern Chaotic Good and Lawful Evil heroes and villains. This is a very negotiable wish, but it would be nice.

4. On the same note, give me some more support for goofy cross-over campaigns. Give me some conversion advice, the bare bones of a dimension crossing campaign where occasionally I can go dragon-slaying with rail guns, or have my 7th level Rogue cross over to modern Earth on an adventure. D20's strength is its cross compatibility, play it up!

5. More flexibility in starting ages. If I want to play Cable- the older grizzled veteran, or if I want to play Power Pack- precocious kid heroes, I should be able to without much trouble. D20 Modern assumes that all starting characters are about college age, which is fine as far as that goes, but I want more flexibility. If I want to play a kid's campaign- Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, the old school D&D cartoon or Red Dawn, I should be able to modify starting occupations and such to do so easily.

6. Make damn sure your version of the OGL looks like Paizo's Pathfinder license and not WOTC's 4th Edition license. Of course, whatever the text of the new OGL looks like, I hope it's 'hands off' enough for me to slap its label on my Otherverse America product. Of course, even if it isn't there are work arounds, but I'd hope Super Genius has enough confidence in the readership to allow me to put out my slightly controversial home-brew under their banner without too much hassle.

7. Finally, if Paizo can include the content of both the PHB and DMG in their core book, there is no reason at all Super Genius shouldn't combine and consolidate the content from D20 Future and D20 Modern. Give me one big sourcebook that allows me to run the gamut from Victorian steampunk to Singularity Sky and I'll be very happy. I need guns, gear, cyborgs, VR hackers, mecha, the whole bit.

Anyway, discuss, and I'll post more as I think of it.

CHRIS

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