D&D d20 modern

[DeathLich]

I'm making a new campaign where the characters are investigators (like Sherlock Holmes...or however you spell his name) in the modern era. They are currently on the case of over 2000 murders in a large city with no suspects. Although the first 2000 murders were made by one troubled paladin who kills people for the most minor of sins without any chance to repent. He is getting old and fears that he will not see all the wrongs fixed in his lifetime. So now about every 1-2 weeks 3-7 more paladins with the same agenda enter the service. Although they do not work as a team after they leave the old man's (original killer paladin) house. And the even the PCs could be in their sites. Lately the killing count is 1 person every 1-2 days. Also the paladins are very intelligent and were chosen to join for their intelligence. The PCs were hired to find and kill/capture as many/all of the renegade paladins.

My questions are as follows:

Does anyone have any tips for me about playing modern era campaign?
and
Is it a fun version of D&D to play?

[Rob-hin]

It doesn't appeal to me so much.
Basically, you merg two differnet styles together that don't fit. An elf and a dwarf walking alongside over the street packing a .99 mm sounds to strange to me.
Keep in mind that I've never played it before.
BTW, the story is cool though.

I think you should play it like a Vampire "the masquarade' game.
Players have TONS of options and can do way more then they can in a fantasy setting. Take mobile phones for instance. Everybody can go somewhere else and the can still talk to each other. In a fantasy setting, this isn't possible (except for heigher levels). They can even travel the world in 12 hours!

Keep the idea of your story in your head, know all the characters and know what's thair roll in the sories.
Keep some events ready to progress the story, but let the players do what they want and play into that. It's a fun way to DM since even you don't really know what's going to happen. Freestyle it baby.

this is from my experience playing Vampire.

[DeathLich]

Actually I think that the dwarf and elf would be carrying Colt Pythons or maybe even derringers IMO.

Thanks for saying it's a cool idea.

The rules (not very many), skills, feats, and weapons are different to fit the time era though. Also it's a requirement (if your above age 18) that you pick a "starting occupation" (aka. a job) which will give you bonus skills/feats. Also there aren't any more classes like druids and paladins, instead there are "hero classes" (ya, I know it sounds corny) that you chose from (ex. The Strong Hero or The Smart Hero). The hero classes provide skill lists, talents(like feats) and feats. In the end it works out to be balanced. I didn't make-up any of the rules/changes that I just posted, they were actually made by WotC. Also the campaign is located in only one very large city.

[Magpie]

I like the Idea of playing a modern era campain. IMO it would be commical and yet very enterting to have dwarves rolling around with sub machine guns. But playing in this varation try not to have to many or any confusing rules. Some players may not put up with playing an unknown version of D&D.

The story line is pretty good. First of all, I think they shouldn't be Paladins. They could be fanatics or even saitnest or possibly a mob. IMO paladins seem as a thing of the past.

But in the contrary, It would be very neat to have a set of "God's Hand Killers". And then you actualy have them be Paladins forbiding invention to help them. It would give more suspence if a man charges you with an axe, despite the obsivous fact that he's going to be blow to peices before he gets a chance to land a blow. The term Gods Hand Killer would fit better in a modern campain.

One last thing, the death toll seems just a little high for one person but if it is maybee a family to start with it sounds almost perfect.

I hope these help...

[DeathLich]

Just check about what you said considering the death count...I put too many 0's. It's supposed to be 200.

[Rob-hin]

[QUOTE=Magpie]

The story line is pretty good. First of all, I think they shouldn't be Paladins. They could be fanatics or even saitnest or possibly a mob. IMO paladins seem as a thing of the past.
[/QUOTE]

Perhaps paladins from a church who see themselves as good, but their actions make them evil... like scientologie or something like that.

[MikeCooper]

i think it would make a little more sense if you turned the "paladins" into cultists and turned the murders into sacrificial ritual. It would also be cool if you take a religion they know like christianity and had the cultists be killing based on the 7 deadly sins, come now, you cant beat that. But i think thats an awesome idea, religious killers thinking that they are killing for there god. Good luck withr that

[Robnark]

I've been interested in d20 modern for a while myself, although I'm not all that keen about using fantasy races in it, but hey...

plotwise, I like the whole Paladin type-thing. it allows a lot of room for plot twistage - the rogue paladin's organisiation protecting him, sympathetic factions within law enforcement agencies collaborating, and so forth (although I'd see it starting out as a senior paladin and some of his students breaking away, rather than just one man). and maybe have them actually helping your characters in hunting out other criminals?

I have little experience with RPing, but the modern era campaign would probably have less of the freelance adventurer and more aligning a party with a faction or employer - which also means you can play about with betrayal and manipulation by nominally allied NPCs.

[venzor]

Well the d20 modern rulebook is based in modern times. Meaning you can go to McDonalds, there are no kobolds or orcs, everyone is human.

Of course this is just a guideline like any other book. I've played a tiny bit of modern, and it was fun You can add aliens (though that's more sci-fi) or something like mutant turtles and such.

I love the wealth system most of all. It's an abstract concept of keeping wealth - a bit confusing at first, but very effective.

I prefer medieval fantasy, though, so I will generally choose D&D over modern. My best friend wants to play modern so he can be "The Punisher" Like said before, you generally join an organization when playing modern, it just seems fitting, whether it be a police force or the maffia.

Well there's my 2 copper.

[Rob-hin]

[QUOTE=venzor]Well the d20 modern rulebook is based in modern times. Meaning you can go to McDonalds, there are no kobolds or orcs, everyone is human.
[/QUOTE]

Yes there are.
Take a look at these:
http://www.wizards.com/d20modern/images ... 190_91.jpg

http://www.wizards.com/d20modern/images ... 190_90.jpg