d20 Modern

So, at the weekend I got my first taste of d20 Modern in actual use. Thus far, I'm pretty happy with it, except perhaps for the difficulty in getting away from the "D&D mentality" with it. (Oddly, that propblem doesn't exist with Star Wars d20. Probably because Star Wars is so much bigger than D&D)

There are a couple of problems with the system. Firstly, the classes are dull. I think I would have preferred some sort of classless system be used to allow people more flexibility (However, refitting the system to do this would be too hard, although you lose the ability to use Advanced Classes, which Wizards and the third-party companies like, since they sell books).

Hopefully, in the next few weeks we'll get a chance to see how the firearms rules work in detail, and particularly things like autofire. Also, the Mecha combat rules represent more or less how I feel the Star Wars starship combat rules should work, so we'll see how those are as well.

Finally, I should say that it was very amusing to see people choosing exactly the right combination of equipment and firearms for their characters. Partly my fault - I did say you could pretty much have whatever you wanted. However, it was amusing to see the poring over the Ultramodern Firearms, with its lists of hundreds of nearly-identical guns, in order to get precisely the one that is most powerful.

Also amusingly, Roger and Gary have created almost exactly the same character. Even going so far as choosing almost exactly the same set of firearms. I just found that funny.