I mentioned in another thread I'd like to see d20 Modern done up in 5e. I've found a couple of conversions around the internet but they're more or less "direct" conversions, and I don't feel they really fit the way that 5e does things.
TO DO LIST
→ Classes
The basic concept of the system will need to lie in its multiclassing, this is something d20 Modern did and in order to update it, this needs to be retained. We now have Backgrounds, which work as Occupations!
My thoughts on Classes: Initial class numbers need to be low, and the maximum levels also be low. d20Modern used the six attributes to create its classes, but I think we can go thinner than that. After my vast hours of studying modern day mythology, I think that it can be pared down to four:
Muscle/Tough This is the Tough/Strong as one class. This is John McClane, Douglas Quaid, Mayor Mick Haggar, and Jill Valentine. This is the class that should be jumping through windows, bringing a fist to a gunfight, and walking slowly away from explosions with his Fingers buddy. He's not dumb, he just doesn't do anything much other than physical. He can drive cars, shoot guns, punch dents in bank vaults, and walk through raging infernos and just look cooler. How it Solves Problems: Punching. Taking a hit. Driving a car. Shooting a huge gun. Leaping. Running across the tops of alien spaceships.
Fingers This is the Fast/Rogue type of character. Catwoman, Lupin III, Indiana Jones, Sterling Archer, Snake, and James Bond are examples of a Fingers. How it Solves Problems: Finding out things, sneaking into things, breaking locks, stealing the plot coupon, forging the plot coupon, hiding in disguise.
Face This is the Charismatic/Dedicated character. Most Faces prefer to talk their way out of problems. A lot of them become unforgettable sidekicks while others take the glory because they're the kinds of people who manage to get the government to agree to their teammates not ever having to pay taxes again. Faces include folks like Jarod (The Pretender), Ulysses Everett McGill, The Dude, Jack Sparrow, and Ferris Bueller. How it Solves Problems: Tricking people into solving it for them, offering important live advice, tricking the Cyclops, and looking damn good while doing it.
Sneaker These are smart, hard working heroes. They include such luminaries as Kevin MacCallister, Richard Wang, Wesley “The Boy” Crusher, Macguyver, and Daniel Jackson. How it Solves Problems: Make a new gizmo. Come up with a theory. According to my calculations! Offer the alien a Snickers. Solve ancient riddle.
→ Action Point-style rules There needs to be an action-point style rule in place. Luckily, 5e has "Inspiration," but at the moment those points are at the whim of the GM to pass out (or the players, based on vote). All characters will share this resource, and it will go up based on their level.
[New Resource]/Inspiration Mechanic Expansion Each character gains a small pool of points equal to his or her level. This is your [New Resource]. At 1st level, each class has a certain benefit for keeping points in this pool, and a special action that can be performed by spending one or more points of [New Resource]. This pool refreshes each short rest. In addition, any member of any class maybe spend one [New Resource] to gain Advantage on a roll.
→ Make each skill (even Knowledges) worthwhile; modify FATE rules for planting?
Arcana, History, and so on can be used in conjunction with [New Resource] to plant scene items.
"knowledge skills will often allow declaration – in other words, using a knowledge skill successfully can allow a player to introduce entirely new facts into play, and then use those facts to his advantage. The new facts take the form of a temporary aspect. The GM is encouraged to use creativity as her primary guideline, when judging the use of knowledge skills. Creative and entertaining facts will be more likely to result in a successful use of a knowledge skill, and thus give rise to a temporary aspect, than boring facts will. For example, an anthropologist with a solid Academics skill might use the declaration ability to state new truths about a tribe the characters have just encountered – and if successful, suddenly the scene or the tribe has an aspect on it in keeping with the fact the player just invented. As with maneuvering and assessment, the first tagging of this aspect is free."
→ Wealth System → Loans
Using gold and money is crazy. There are way too many things to track in regards to money in the real world. The Wealth system was a good idea, but it was not done very well.
→ Condition Track
Hit points are a little too abstract for me. One thought is lifting the idea of the condition track from SAGA, but that might require too much effort. It's something to brainstorm, definitely. One could make Fatigue levels more common, and allow for expenditure of the [New Resource] to get rid of it.
→ Some Feature Brainstorm Names
Muscle Hard Body Training Tough Guy Act Frame Carry - running while holding/lifting heavy frame Husafell Stone - a sort of tackle-carry True Grit Fingal's Finger - Rapid flipping/lifting of objects Yippee-ki-yay No Time to Bleed Make My Day Last Action Hero
Face Mental Tricks? Forer Effect - common psychological phenomenon whereby individuals will give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of their personality that supposedly are tailored specifically to them but that are, in fact, vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people Shotgunning - The cold reader slowly offers a huge quantity of very general information, often to an entire audience (some of which is very likely to be correct, near correct or at the very least, provocative or evocative to someone present), observes their subjects' reactions (especially their body language), and then narrows the scope, acknowledging particular people or concepts and refining the original statements according to those reactions to promote an emotional response Hot Read - a hot read is when you know about a person before you begin trying to con them Rainbow Ruse -The rainbow ruse is a crafted statement which simultaneously awards the subject a specific personality trait, as well as the opposite of that trait. With such a phrase, a cold reader can "cover all possibilities" and appear to have made an accurate deduction in the mind of the subject, despite the fact that a rainbow ruse statement is vague and contradictory Flash Mob - the flash mob lets the Face call down a large number of temporary "allies" to perform a cool or distracting stunt
Fingers Fingers Trick? Finding Apples - force people to make noise Bystander Effect - the more people are watching, the less likely anyone is to intervene Chill the Mark - stage a murder The Hook - Create an apparent advantage Trimming the Fish - finding people who will be susceptible to manipulation Wall Man - setup someone else; let another hero take advantage of your setup Wide Boy - get some money fast Vanish - get rid of all traces of your activity Lock Scrub - bust open a lock quickly
Sneaker Sneaker Exploit? Get a Clue - Crackerjack - something something hacking/skilled benefits I Know This - understand foreign languages quickly Spamtrap - filter out the red herrings Babble On - talk endlessly about a subject to confuse the listener
There's an Unearthed Arcana on Modern Magic which I like a lot flavour-wise for these things! I didn't see any mention of magic usage here but, some of the ideas in it amuse me -- like find vehicle instead of find steed.
Yes, I've seen it. Looking to go one step further, like d20 Modern did, possibly by giving classes a spell progression they can select, dovetailing into prestige classes.
Also, I think it may be worthwhile to ignore OG class ideas and look at paradigms like The Five-Man Band.
Youve got The Leader, The Lancer, The Big Guy, The Smart Guy, and The Chick. The Chick role doesn't need to be a class, but IMO the others should. And really, the game is lame with no Heart class. :D
Hitter This is the class that sits up front and gets into the thick of things. This is your sports star, martial artist, and general tough guy. This is John McClane, Douglas Quaid, Mayor Mick Haggar, and Jill Valentine. This is the class that should be jumping through windows, bringing a fist to a gunfight, and walking slowly away from explosions with his fingers buddy. He's not dumb, he just doesn't do anything much other than physical. He can drive cars, shoot guns, punch dents in bank vaults, and walk through raging infernos and just look cooler. How the Hitter Solves Problems: Punching. Taking a hit. Driving a car. Shooting a huge gun. Leaping. Running across the tops of alien spaceships.
Fingers This is the intelligent, witty, and fast hero. Catwoman, Lupin III, Indiana Jones, Vash the Stampede, Sterling Archer, Snake, and James Bond are examples of a Fingers. This is the class that climbs walls, makes impossible shots, times the bombs, pops up out of nowhere to take bad guys hostage, and executes the sneaker's plans. They are crack drivers, awesome pilots, great shots, and are always rolling out of the way of life's worst thrown knives, only to catch the knife and throw it back. How the Fingers Solves Problems: Finding out things by stealing documents, sneaking into things, breaking locks, stealing the plot coupon, forging the plot coupon, hiding in disguise, stealing a helicopter.
Grifter This is the charismatic, confident, and well-spoken hero. Most grifters prefer to talk their way out of problems. A lot of them become unforgettable sidekicks while others take the glory because they're the kinds of people who manage to get the government to agree to their teammates not ever having to pay taxes again. They help stop the trouble that the other folks get up to from reaching critical levels. Faces include folks like Jarod (The Pretender), Ulysses Everett McGill, The Dude, Jack Sparrow, Harvey Dent, Peter Venkman, and Ferris Bueller. How the Grifter Solves Problems: Tricking people into solving it for them, offering important live advice, tricking the Cyclops, getting elected to city hall, calling flash mobs, and looking damn good while doing it.
Sneaker These are smart, hard working heroes. The sneaker is a hacker, builder, and advocate of advanced technology and tactical techniques. There's no language they can't know, given time, and they often say things like "according to my calculations" and "the logical solution would be..." Not always, though. Sometimes they're really downplayed and their intelligence can creep up on you, serving you a defeat when you least expect it. They include such luminaries as Kevin MacCallister, Richard Wang, Wesley “The Boy” Crusher, Macguyver, Egon Spengler, and Daniel Jackson. How the Sneaker Solves Problems: Make a new gizmo. Come up with a theory. According to my calculations! Offer the alien a Snickers. Solve the ancient riddle. Learn to communicate with the kaiju.
Hitter This is the class that sits up front and gets into the thick of things. This is your sports star, martial artist, and general tough guy. This is John McClane, Douglas Quaid, Mayor Mick Haggar, and Jill Valentine. This is the class that should be jumping through windows, bringing a fist to a gunfight, and walking slowly away from explosions with his fingers buddy. He's not dumb, he just doesn't do anything much other than physical. He can drive cars, shoot guns, punch dents in bank vaults, and walk through raging infernos and just look cooler. How the Hitter Solves Problems: Punching. Taking a hit. Driving a car. Shooting a huge gun. Leaping. Running across the tops of alien spaceships.
Fingers This is the intelligent, witty, and fast hero. Catwoman, Lupin III, Indiana Jones, Vash the Stampede, Sterling Archer, Snake, and James Bond are examples of a Fingers. This is the class that climbs walls, makes impossible shots, times the bombs, pops up out of nowhere to take bad guys hostage, and executes the sneaker's plans. They are crack drivers, awesome pilots, great shots, and are always rolling out of the way of life's worst thrown knives, only to catch the knife and throw it back. How the Fingers Solves Problems: Finding out things by stealing documents, sneaking into things, breaking locks, stealing the plot coupon, forging the plot coupon, hiding in disguise, stealing a helicopter.
Grifter This is the charismatic, confident, and well-spoken hero. Most grifters prefer to talk their way out of problems. A lot of them become unforgettable sidekicks while others take the glory because they're the kinds of people who manage to get the government to agree to their teammates not ever having to pay taxes again. They help stop the trouble that the other folks get up to from reaching critical levels. Faces include folks like Jarod (The Pretender), Ulysses Everett McGill, The Dude, Jack Sparrow, Harvey Dent, Peter Venkman, and Ferris Bueller. How the Grifter Solves Problems: Tricking people into solving it for them, offering important live advice, tricking the Cyclops, getting elected to city hall, calling flash mobs, and looking damn good while doing it.
Sneaker These are smart, hard working heroes. The sneaker is a hacker, builder, and advocate of advanced technology and tactical techniques. There's no language they can't know, given time, and they often say things like "according to my calculations" and "the logical solution would be..." Not always, though. Sometimes they're really downplayed and their intelligence can creep up on you, serving you a defeat when you least expect it. They include such luminaries as Kevin MacCallister, Richard Wang, Wesley “The Boy” Crusher, Macguyver, Egon Spengler, and Daniel Jackson. How the Sneaker Solves Problems: Make a new gizmo. Come up with a theory. According to my calculations! Offer the alien a Snickers. Solve the ancient riddle. Learn to communicate with the kaiju.
Good list. I still think any system needs a Fifth Man class, if it's gonna have a short list of classes. In this case, I'd go either The Mastermind, or The Rounder. The Rounder is the guy who can fill any role a bit, and excels at coordinating the team, or getting the most out of other team members. He needs a team, makes the team better, and in the right circumstances can be a one man team, or fill in for another member.
Nate, from Leverage, could be a Sneaker or a Rounder, depending on how you want to build things.
Mechanically, the Rounder is also the best class for being a mix of two or more concepts, without dealing with multiclassing.
They keep trying to add a fifth ninja turtle (speaking of, an alternate class structure is there, too - there's a leader, a party dude, an antihero, and a genius), and it keeps not working. d20 Modern suffered from archetype decay due to this exact issue, though. I'm trying to keep them strong and be tempting to multiclass.
I'll definitely take that under advisement, though, and see what happens when I sit down and start trying build out from the shell.
I just got my Deadlands 20th anniversary edition book, though, so I might have to put this on hold >_>
I mentioned in another thread I'd like to see d20 Modern done up in 5e. I've found a couple of conversions around the internet but they're more or less "direct" conversions, and I don't feel they really fit the way that 5e does things.
TO DO LIST
→ Classes
The basic concept of the system will need to lie in its multiclassing, this is something d20 Modern did and in order to update it, this needs to be retained. We now have Backgrounds, which work as Occupations!
My thoughts on Classes: Initial class numbers need to be low, and the maximum levels also be low. d20Modern used the six attributes to create its classes, but I think we can go thinner than that. After my vast hours of studying modern day mythology, I think that it can be pared down to four:
Muscle/Tough
This is the Tough/Strong as one class. This is John McClane, Douglas Quaid, Mayor Mick Haggar, and Jill Valentine. This is the class that should be jumping through windows, bringing a fist to a gunfight, and walking slowly away from explosions with his Fingers buddy. He's not dumb, he just doesn't do anything much other than physical. He can drive cars, shoot guns, punch dents in bank vaults, and walk through raging infernos and just look cooler.
How it Solves Problems: Punching. Taking a hit. Driving a car. Shooting a huge gun. Leaping. Running across the tops of alien spaceships.
Fingers
This is the Fast/Rogue type of character. Catwoman, Lupin III, Indiana Jones, Sterling Archer, Snake, and James Bond are examples of a Fingers.
How it Solves Problems: Finding out things, sneaking into things, breaking locks, stealing the plot coupon, forging the plot coupon, hiding in disguise.
Face
This is the Charismatic/Dedicated character. Most Faces prefer to talk their way out of problems. A lot of them become unforgettable sidekicks while others take the glory because they're the kinds of people who manage to get the government to agree to their teammates not ever having to pay taxes again. Faces include folks like Jarod (The Pretender), Ulysses Everett McGill, The Dude, Jack Sparrow, and Ferris Bueller.
How it Solves Problems: Tricking people into solving it for them, offering important live advice, tricking the Cyclops, and looking damn good while doing it.
Sneaker
These are smart, hard working heroes. They include such luminaries as Kevin MacCallister, Richard Wang, Wesley “The Boy” Crusher, Macguyver, and Daniel Jackson.
How it Solves Problems: Make a new gizmo. Come up with a theory. According to my calculations! Offer the alien a Snickers. Solve ancient riddle.
→ Action Point-style rules
There needs to be an action-point style rule in place. Luckily, 5e has "Inspiration," but at the moment those points are at the whim of the GM to pass out (or the players, based on vote). All characters will share this resource, and it will go up based on their level.
[New Resource]/Inspiration Mechanic Expansion
Each character gains a small pool of points equal to his or her level. This is your [New Resource]. At 1st level, each class has a certain benefit for keeping points in this pool, and a special action that can be performed by spending one or more points of [New Resource]. This pool refreshes each short rest. In addition, any member of any class maybe spend one [New Resource] to gain Advantage on a roll.
→ Make each skill (even Knowledges) worthwhile; modify FATE rules for planting?
Arcana, History, and so on can be used in conjunction with [New Resource] to plant scene items.
"knowledge skills will often allow declaration – in other words, using a knowledge skill successfully can allow a player to introduce entirely new facts into play, and then use those facts to his advantage. The new facts take the form of a temporary aspect. The GM is encouraged to use creativity as her primary guideline, when judging the use of knowledge skills. Creative and entertaining facts will be more likely to result in a successful use of a knowledge skill, and thus give rise to a temporary aspect, than boring facts will. For example, an anthropologist with a solid Academics skill might use the declaration ability to state new truths about a tribe the characters have just encountered – and if successful, suddenly the scene or the tribe has an aspect on it in keeping with the fact the player just invented. As with maneuvering and assessment, the first tagging of this aspect is free."
→ Wealth System
→ Loans
Using gold and money is crazy. There are way too many things to track in regards to money in the real world. The Wealth system was a good idea, but it was not done very well.
→ Condition Track
Hit points are a little too abstract for me. One thought is lifting the idea of the condition track from SAGA, but that might require too much effort. It's something to brainstorm, definitely. One could make Fatigue levels more common, and allow for expenditure of the [New Resource] to get rid of it.
→ Some Feature Brainstorm Names
Muscle
Hard Body Training
Tough Guy Act
Frame Carry - running while holding/lifting heavy frame
Husafell Stone - a sort of tackle-carry
True Grit
Fingal's Finger - Rapid flipping/lifting of objects
Yippee-ki-yay
No Time to Bleed
Make My Day
Last Action Hero
Face
Mental Tricks?
Forer Effect - common psychological phenomenon whereby individuals will give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of their personality that supposedly are tailored specifically to them but that are, in fact, vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people
Shotgunning - The cold reader slowly offers a huge quantity of very general information, often to an entire audience (some of which is very likely to be correct, near correct or at the very least, provocative or evocative to someone present), observes their subjects' reactions (especially their body language), and then narrows the scope, acknowledging particular people or concepts and refining the original statements according to those reactions to promote an emotional response
Hot Read - a hot read is when you know about a person before you begin trying to con them
Rainbow Ruse -The rainbow ruse is a crafted statement which simultaneously awards the subject a specific personality trait, as well as the opposite of that trait. With such a phrase, a cold reader can "cover all possibilities" and appear to have made an accurate deduction in the mind of the subject, despite the fact that a rainbow ruse statement is vague and contradictory
Flash Mob - the flash mob lets the Face call down a large number of temporary "allies" to perform a cool or distracting stunt
Fingers
Fingers Trick?
Finding Apples - force people to make noise
Bystander Effect - the more people are watching, the less likely anyone is to intervene
Chill the Mark - stage a murder
The Hook - Create an apparent advantage
Trimming the Fish - finding people who will be susceptible to manipulation
Wall Man - setup someone else; let another hero take advantage of your setup
Wide Boy - get some money fast
Vanish - get rid of all traces of your activity
Lock Scrub - bust open a lock quickly
Sneaker
Sneaker Exploit?
Get a Clue -
Crackerjack - something something hacking/skilled benefits
I Know This - understand foreign languages quickly
Spamtrap - filter out the red herrings
Babble On - talk endlessly about a subject to confuse the listener
You probably have, but just in case you haven't:
There's an Unearthed Arcana on Modern Magic which I like a lot flavour-wise for these things! I didn't see any mention of magic usage here but, some of the ideas in it amuse me -- like find vehicle instead of find steed.
Yes, I've seen it. Looking to go one step further, like d20 Modern did, possibly by giving classes a spell progression they can select, dovetailing into prestige classes.
For the classes, watch a lot of Leverage. They are the classes you need.
We do bones, motherf***ker!
Also, I think it may be worthwhile to ignore OG class ideas and look at paradigms like The Five-Man Band.
Youve got The Leader, The Lancer, The Big Guy, The Smart Guy, and The Chick. The Chick role doesn't need to be a class, but IMO the others should. And really, the game is lame with no Heart class. :D
We do bones, motherf***ker!
Hitter
This is the class that sits up front and gets into the thick of things. This is your sports star, martial artist, and general tough guy. This is John McClane, Douglas Quaid, Mayor Mick Haggar, and Jill Valentine. This is the class that should be jumping through windows, bringing a fist to a gunfight, and walking slowly away from explosions with his fingers buddy. He's not dumb, he just doesn't do anything much other than physical. He can drive cars, shoot guns, punch dents in bank vaults, and walk through raging infernos and just look cooler.
How the Hitter Solves Problems: Punching. Taking a hit. Driving a car. Shooting a huge gun. Leaping. Running across the tops of alien spaceships.
Fingers
This is the intelligent, witty, and fast hero. Catwoman, Lupin III, Indiana Jones, Vash the Stampede, Sterling Archer, Snake, and James Bond are examples of a Fingers. This is the class that climbs walls, makes impossible shots, times the bombs, pops up out of nowhere to take bad guys hostage, and executes the sneaker's plans. They are crack drivers, awesome pilots, great shots, and are always rolling out of the way of life's worst thrown knives, only to catch the knife and throw it back.
How the Fingers Solves Problems: Finding out things by stealing documents, sneaking into things, breaking locks, stealing the plot coupon, forging the plot coupon, hiding in disguise, stealing a helicopter.
Grifter
This is the charismatic, confident, and well-spoken hero. Most grifters prefer to talk their way out of problems. A lot of them become unforgettable sidekicks while others take the glory because they're the kinds of people who manage to get the government to agree to their teammates not ever having to pay taxes again. They help stop the trouble that the other folks get up to from reaching critical levels. Faces include folks like Jarod (The Pretender), Ulysses Everett McGill, The Dude, Jack Sparrow, Harvey Dent, Peter Venkman, and Ferris Bueller.
How the Grifter Solves Problems: Tricking people into solving it for them, offering important live advice, tricking the Cyclops, getting elected to city hall, calling flash mobs, and looking damn good while doing it.
Sneaker
These are smart, hard working heroes. The sneaker is a hacker, builder, and advocate of advanced technology and tactical techniques. There's no language they can't know, given time, and they often say things like "according to my calculations" and "the logical solution would be..." Not always, though. Sometimes they're really downplayed and their intelligence can creep up on you, serving you a defeat when you least expect it. They include such luminaries as Kevin MacCallister, Richard Wang, Wesley “The Boy” Crusher, Macguyver, Egon Spengler, and Daniel Jackson.
How the Sneaker Solves Problems: Make a new gizmo. Come up with a theory. According to my calculations! Offer the alien a Snickers. Solve the ancient riddle. Learn to communicate with the kaiju.
We do bones, motherf***ker!
They keep trying to add a fifth ninja turtle (speaking of, an alternate class structure is there, too - there's a leader, a party dude, an antihero, and a genius), and it keeps not working. d20 Modern suffered from archetype decay due to this exact issue, though. I'm trying to keep them strong and be tempting to multiclass.
I'll definitely take that under advisement, though, and see what happens when I sit down and start trying build out from the shell.
I just got my Deadlands 20th anniversary edition book, though, so I might have to put this on hold >_>
Right, you don't make a fifth turtle, you make an April and/or a Casey Jones.
We do bones, motherf***ker!