So first time being a DM and I plan on setting my campaign in the Supernatural Universe and I was wondering which guides would help the most with the modern setting, monsters and what not. I've played D20 Modern but I know it's a bit dated. Any suggestions would be great. Thank you!
TAZ: Amnesty is a group that used to play D&D and has now moved onto a game called Monster of the Week created by Powered by the Apocalypse. Here is a link to the (softcover only) book on amazon: Monster of the Week It's currently priced at $22. However, if you look hard enough, you can probably find a free pdf online. The book actually cites Supernatural as one of its influences, along with Buffy the Vampire Slayer among others.
The system that PbtA games run on is 2d6+modifier for rolls, instead of d20. After applying modifiers, 6 and below is a failure and something bad happens, 7-10 is a moderate success (completing the task with a cost), and 11+ is a complete success where the player can basically decide to do whatever they want and however. The only way to gain experience is to fail. When you roll a 6 or below, you mark experience, when you've marked 5, you level up, and then reset your experience counter, as a way to "learn from your mistakes".
Inside of the book shows you the "playbooks" which are the equivalent to classes for D&D. Each playbook lets you create your character. There are 5 abilities: Charm, Cool, Sharp, Tough, and Weird. Each playbook lets you chose 1 of 5 different ability settings. Additionally, you have Moves (equivalent to class features). You get some as a basis, then can choose 1 or more, then when you level up you can choose to increase an ability, or gain another move, or another bonus. The playbooks, along with a brief description, are as follows:
The Chosen
The Crooked
The Divine
The Expert
The Flake
The Initiate
The Monstrous
The Mundane
The Professional
The Spell-Slinger
The Spooky
The Wronged
As you can see, these aren't classes per se, rather they are popular character tropes in various tv shows such as supernatural and buffy and at least one terrible arc from soap opera Guiding Light that I happened to catch glimpses of as a kid involving a vampire taking over the city.
But the game has a DM, but I believe they call them The Keeper. The Keeper creates a monster that the players will have to learn of its existence, discover clues and find its lair, etc. all the good stuff. This might be the closest thing to Supernatural TRPG that you could get. I hope this helped!
Thanks! Do you think I could convert to d20? My current DM is running 5e and I don't want to have to try and learn and as well have them learn something new, you know the whole creatures of habit thing...lol. I'm not sure on the classes. I would like to stick with maybe the D20 Modern classes because they are a bit straightforward. I'm trying to keep things simplistic for my players but making it fun to play.
My mistake, I mistook what you were asking as trying to find a new system to play on. That's my bad homie.
My new response is as follows:
You could still use D&D 5e books like normal, the Dungeon Master Guide includes damages for guns, explosives, and bombs explained on pages 267-68.
Additionally, something that would probably be beneficial is an Unearthed Arcana article, the 6th article the put out to be more exact. Here is a link. (In case you don't know, Unearthed Arcana, sometimes abbreviated as UA, is "unofficial" content created by Wizards of the Coast as playtest material that might make it into future books) The article is 9 pages and includes a new cleric domain (City Domain), new warlock patron (Ghost in the Machine), eldritch invocation (Arcane Gunslinger), new Wizard arcane tradition (Technomancy), introduces Hacking Tools, and 14 new spells ranging from cantrip to 5th level. These new playtest additions would definitely fit into the real world, if that is where you are setting your Supernatural campaign.
Hopefully, that is more suited to what you were looking for.
Thank you very much. This is extremely helpful. I will also do more research as well. Hopefully I can get this all pegged down and get er going by sometime next year.
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So first time being a DM and I plan on setting my campaign in the Supernatural Universe and I was wondering which guides would help the most with the modern setting, monsters and what not. I've played D20 Modern but I know it's a bit dated. Any suggestions would be great. Thank you!
Shout out to The Adventure Zone: Amnesty!
TAZ: Amnesty is a group that used to play D&D and has now moved onto a game called Monster of the Week created by Powered by the Apocalypse. Here is a link to the (softcover only) book on amazon: Monster of the Week It's currently priced at $22. However, if you look hard enough, you can probably find a free pdf online. The book actually cites Supernatural as one of its influences, along with Buffy the Vampire Slayer among others.
The system that PbtA games run on is 2d6+modifier for rolls, instead of d20. After applying modifiers, 6 and below is a failure and something bad happens, 7-10 is a moderate success (completing the task with a cost), and 11+ is a complete success where the player can basically decide to do whatever they want and however. The only way to gain experience is to fail. When you roll a 6 or below, you mark experience, when you've marked 5, you level up, and then reset your experience counter, as a way to "learn from your mistakes".
Inside of the book shows you the "playbooks" which are the equivalent to classes for D&D. Each playbook lets you create your character. There are 5 abilities: Charm, Cool, Sharp, Tough, and Weird. Each playbook lets you chose 1 of 5 different ability settings. Additionally, you have Moves (equivalent to class features). You get some as a basis, then can choose 1 or more, then when you level up you can choose to increase an ability, or gain another move, or another bonus. The playbooks, along with a brief description, are as follows:
As you can see, these aren't classes per se, rather they are popular character tropes in various tv shows such as supernatural and buffy and at least one terrible arc from soap opera Guiding Light that I happened to catch glimpses of as a kid involving a vampire taking over the city.
But the game has a DM, but I believe they call them The Keeper. The Keeper creates a monster that the players will have to learn of its existence, discover clues and find its lair, etc. all the good stuff. This might be the closest thing to Supernatural TRPG that you could get. I hope this helped!
Published Subclasses
Thanks! Do you think I could convert to d20? My current DM is running 5e and I don't want to have to try and learn and as well have them learn something new, you know the whole creatures of habit thing...lol. I'm not sure on the classes. I would like to stick with maybe the D20 Modern classes because they are a bit straightforward. I'm trying to keep things simplistic for my players but making it fun to play.
My mistake, I mistook what you were asking as trying to find a new system to play on. That's my bad homie.
My new response is as follows:
You could still use D&D 5e books like normal, the Dungeon Master Guide includes damages for guns, explosives, and bombs explained on pages 267-68.
Additionally, something that would probably be beneficial is an Unearthed Arcana article, the 6th article the put out to be more exact. Here is a link. (In case you don't know, Unearthed Arcana, sometimes abbreviated as UA, is "unofficial" content created by Wizards of the Coast as playtest material that might make it into future books) The article is 9 pages and includes a new cleric domain (City Domain), new warlock patron (Ghost in the Machine), eldritch invocation (Arcane Gunslinger), new Wizard arcane tradition (Technomancy), introduces Hacking Tools, and 14 new spells ranging from cantrip to 5th level. These new playtest additions would definitely fit into the real world, if that is where you are setting your Supernatural campaign.
Hopefully, that is more suited to what you were looking for.
Published Subclasses
Thank you very much. This is extremely helpful. I will also do more research as well. Hopefully I can get this all pegged down and get er going by sometime next year.