Ravenloft Modern

[tec-goblin]

What's so bad about it? Are you kidding? I'm afraid to play that game alone in bright daylight!

Though I'll admit SH2's plotline did give me a lot of ideas for a potential domain.

Aaah.. I really ought to play this game some time. I only have the soundtrack of the first three of the series (excellent, I use them in my sessions).

[The Arcanist]

What's so bad about it? Are you kidding? I'm afraid to play that game alone in bright daylight!

Though I'll admit SH2's plotline did give me a lot of ideas for a potential domain.

Yes, ive played them all, currently playing SH4, and they are the only survival horror games that i actually consider scary! and i agree so far the plotline of SH2 is the best so far! Angela!

I am currently playing such a campaign. Well, it's not based on Silent Hill, but the characters are at level 13 and they have about 1 magic item each. The supernatural comes from strange cultures they meet(Hazlan), the fey and the syrneth (outsiders who gave sorcery to humanity). Almost anything supernatural can be traced back to these sources. Actually, PCs think almost all monsters are fey (actually, even fey and centaurs in my campaign are fey) or syrneth (and they have met only two syrneth in their lives). Rumours of angels, demons and deities exist, but evidences are almost contradicting.

that sounds cool, even if i couldnt pull it off, they are all very experienced players, i still argue with a player who says a golem cant regenerate and i tell him its a "dread golem".

In my regular RL campaign i have the advantage of having no PC casters, well, there's a paladin and a bard/fighter... both could cast, but the paladin only casts to heal, and the bard perhaps would cast something else, but he only casts cure light wounds, disadvantages of a small party? where's the cleric? hehehe...

other players have fighters and non-magical rangers, plus they are still low level so i dont have too much problem with magic.

[Charney]

About d20 modern:
Well I don't care too much for it because I can't afford it. Also, I really like the concept of classes in DnD and it wouldn't feel right to play a fantasy game without DnD classes.

d20 Modern for Masque, now I really don't know. I haven't bought the d20 Masque because of all the problems I read it had. So I might consider buying something else (d20 Past) when I'll get the urge to play Masque again. I do know I hated classes from the Living Death conversion.

[Ryan Naylor]

Well I don't care too much for it because I can't afford it.

You can download it for free in it's (almost) entirety from the WotC website if you're interested. But you're not, so don't.



In other news, I was thinking about Rucht's comments on my way to the train station this morning, when he said (as you will recall) Strahd is a Necromancer/Fighter, not a Ded3/Cha4/Mage 10. (Bear in mind the following is off the top of my head, not a deeply thought out and pithy essay).

We already have a mechanic for dealing with that problem: Powers Checks. How many of the darklords slowly turned into slavering beasts? None? Instead, you could say that the benefit of failing a Powers Check was to turn one of your basic class levels into an advanced class level. So Strahd would start off as a Dedicated 3/Soldier 4/Mage (Necromancer) 4, but as he gets further into evilness and so on, his Dedicated levels become Mage (Necromancer) levels. Then the darklords end up slightly more powerful than ordinary characters, the Powers Checks mechanics fit in with the rest of the world, mechanics are satisfied and everyone is happy.

Thoughts?

[Joël of the FoS]

OK, so there would be a valid way to describe and portray darklords.

But for the PCs? Would they be stuck with d20 modern classes?

Joël

[Rucht Lilavivat]

We already have a mechanic for dealing with that problem: Powers Checks. How many of the darklords slowly turned into slavering beasts? None? Instead, you could say that the benefit of failing a Powers Check was to turn one of your basic class levels into an advanced class level.

An interesting idea... Now as I say this, let me state for the record that everything I say from here on is nothing more than an intellectual excercise.

The solution of converting standard class levels to advanced class levels doesn't work for me. If it ain't broke, why fix it? There's already a system in place for Powers Checks.

When Strahd those levels, does he lose the skills that he got as a Dedicated hero? So he he forgets his Knowledge (Tactics) skill?Does make his base to hit score go down? So...failing a powers check makes him a worse fighter? (Weird) It would also mean that certain Darklord's saving throws would totally change. (Also weird)

Besides, there are a number of other mechanical things you leave behind if you go with d20 Modern instead of D&D. Charging with a lance. Sneak attacks. Raging barbarians. Clerics and spontaneous healing. Druids. Monks. Bards. Rangers. Paladins. I like these elements in my Ravenloft game.

But all of this is tangential...I think it's perfectly reasonable to run a Ravenloft game with the d20 Modern system. Hey, it's your game. If you want to use the WoD dice pool system...why not? It's your game. Use GURPS. Use the Rolemaster...well...maybe not. But in the end, it's your world. Do what you like.

I was merely stating my own opinion. As I said before, I am a big fan of the d20 Modern system.
By the way...d20 Modern Silent Hill sounds great.

[tec-goblin]

OK, so there would be a valid way to describe and portray darklords.

But for the PCs? Would they be stuck with d20 modern classes?

Joël

Yes, the best part of modern are exactly these classes! You can always use prestige bard and ranger from unearthed arcana, so, in fact, almost all other classes are prestige/advanced.
The basic classes create very very customizable characters. You rarely need a ranger l1 in Ravenloft, according to my opinion: you can have a dedicated hero with faith, or smart with increased speed or, or...
The defense bonuses are lovely (and complement well the no-armour attitude of CL8-9 domains), the fact that not everybody is proficient with some tons of weapons (actually even strong hero needs feats to gain good proficiences - you can be a boxer, but that doesn't mean you can wield a sword efficiently!), the lovely new knowledge categories (philosophy & theology is certainly a better classification than religion, according to me) - the whole thing is lovely for CL 8-9 domains!

[tec-goblin]

Besides, there are a number of other mechanical things you leave behind if you go with d20 Modern instead of D&D. Charging with a lance. Sneak attacks. Raging barbarians. Clerics and spontaneous healing. Druids. Monks. Bards. Rangers. Paladins. I like these elements in my Ravenloft game.

Charging with a lance is easy to add by adding some feats.
Barbarians are unplayable in 3.5 ravenloft anyway.
Clerics do gain spontaneous healing (see acolyte advanced class carefully)
Druids are easy to add as a variation of acolyte.
Monks? They have 3-4 Martial Artist Feats in modern + a Martial Artist fighter. No, you don't need a healing jumbing monstrosity in Ravenloft.
Bards - you can use prestige bard from UA.
Rangers - you can use prestige ranger from UA.
Paladins - you can use prestige paladin from UA.

Ok, I've roleplayed it. I do have answers

I was merely stating my own opinion. As I said before, I am a big fan of the d20 Modern system.
By the way...d20 Modern Silent Hill sounds great.

Oh, yes yes! I have to play Silent Hill!!!

[Jester of the FoS]

But all of this is tangential...I think it's perfectly reasonable to run a Ravenloft game with the d20 Modern system. Hey, it's your game. If you want to use the WoD dice pool system...why not? It's your game. Use GURPS. Use the Rolemaster...well...maybe not. But in the end, it's your world. Do what you like.

I like to resolve all random elements in my game from combat to power checks entirely through interpretive dance.


But back on the subject, Uneathed Arcana is of course a d20 suplement and entirely different from d20 modern. They can work together but UA was designed to work more with fantasy settings than the modern rules. So you end up with problems such as no defense bonuses at higher levels and different game balace and power levels.
And I would hardly say that barbarians are entirely unplayable, they just have to be careful when and where they rage.

Might be fun to swipe some rules from there (massive damage, defense and possibly action points) but for the most part I'm happy to leave modern in the present.

[tec-goblin]

But back on the subject, Uneathed Arcana is of course a d20 suplement and entirely different from d20 modern. They can work together but UA was designed to work more with fantasy settings than the modern rules. So you end up with problems such as no defense bonuses at higher levels and different game balace and power levels.
And I would hardly say that barbarians are entirely unplayable, they just have to be careful when and where they rage.

Might be fun to swipe some rules from there (massive damage, defense and possibly action points) but for the most part I'm happy to leave modern in the present.

Oh, yes massive damage, defense and action points rule!
The problem with defense is quite easy to solve: add some defense progression (not very high) and remove some armor proficiencies.

I still consider anyone who can gain power checks very easily, who is very bad outside combat (very poor skills) and whose main attacking weapon should not be used in half the combat situations as unplayable in my games. They rarely survive or withstand the game for more than a month. It WAS a generalization to say that it is unplayable in all Ravenloft games, but certainly it's quite hard to play.

[The Arcanist]

OK, so there would be a valid way to describe and portray darklords.

But for the PCs? Would they be stuck with d20 modern classes?

Joël

Well, how about this? just out of the top of my head
you have basic classes: strong, fast, tough, etc...
then you have your heroic classes: fighter, wizard, paladin, etc...
and you have prestige classes: archmage, assasin, shadow dancer, etc...

what you can do is treat the heroic classes, which are actually the regular d&d classes, like a middle point between basic and prestige.

so for example the fighter could have this prerequisites fit for a character with 3 levels of strong, a barbarian 3 levels of tough, a paladin 2 levels of strong and one of dedicated, etc...

how to fix the darklords? add 2 levels of charismatic and one of strong to strahd, and you're done.

thinking about it I would personally make prestige classes prerequisites a bit higher, so you still need at least 5 levels of some heroic class to take them.

so you wanted your characters to start like normal people who found themselves in a terrible and dreadful situation (fits with the gothic theme doesn it?), well, then start with your level one smart hero.

Was your smart hero fascinated with the arcane or the occult after his encounter with the creatures of darkness? then he could become a wizard.

On the contrary he just tried to forget it and continue his life even if he kept being drawn to adventure after adventure? take more levels of smart, perhaps you could qualify for rogue later on, to reflect how many skills he was forced to learn, evasion being one of them! lol!

Sorry if this doesnt make much sense, its kinda late and its been a tough week...

By the way...d20 Modern Silent Hill sounds great.

Thanks, i think it would be at least a good change of pace from what we ussually play.

[tec-goblin]

Well, how about this? just out of the top of my head
you have basic classes: strong, fast, tough, etc...
then you have your heroic classes: fighter, wizard, paladin, etc...
and you have prestige classes: archmage, assasin, shadow dancer, etc...

what you can do is treat the heroic classes, which are actually the regular d&d classes, like a middle point between basic and prestige.

so for example the fighter could have this prerequisites fit for a character with 3 levels of strong, a barbarian 3 levels of tough, a paladin 2 levels of strong and one of dedicated, etc...

how to fix the darklords? add 2 levels of charismatic and one of strong to strahd, and you're done.

thinking about it I would personally make prestige classes prerequisites a bit higher, so you still need at least 5 levels of some heroic class to take them.

Well, I've almost tried it (by creating prestige barbarian and prestige druid for modern), but there are some considerations:
1) you don't need prestige cleric or wizard - you have acolyte and occultist
2) you don't need prestige fighter - you have strong hero - just probably expand his list of feats.

Raising prerequisites for non-modern prestige classes may work, but modern ones should stay low IMO.

[The Arcanist]

Well, I've almost tried it (by creating prestige barbarian and prestige druid for modern), but there are some considerations:
1) you don't need prestige cleric or wizard - you have acolyte and occultist
2) you don't need prestige fighter - you have strong hero - just probably expand his list of feats.

Raising prerequisites for non-modern prestige classes may work, but modern ones should stay low IMO.

completely agree, but perhaps the choice between wizard/cleric vs mage/acolyte would depend on how much magic you want on your campaign.

About the modern prestige classes they would be in the same "Heroic classes" category with paladin, rogue, etc.

And the fighter... perhaps not the fighter from the PH but the variations that appeared on a dragon magazine, like the fencer, or those base classes from complete warrior, would work.

[tec-goblin]

Yes, that kind of prestige classes could work (fortunately, modern has its swashbuckler and musketteer!).

[The Arcanist]

it does?