The Weekly FaiD d20 Game

Sound Off!

2009-10-10T21:59:00.001+01:00

This is an experiment: leave a comment if you're part of the group and have read this.

Things Thou Shalt Need

2009-09-20T13:51:00.001+01:00

The document containing all the additional rules, modifications of rules, new items and so on is done and can be found in a link below. I also forgot to mention that the setting is called "As these Orbs Dance". I was certain that it was a fragment from Shakespeare that infiltrated my head and manifested itself later but it's nowhere to be found on the internet other than where I've written it. Call it ATOD for short.

We still probably won't be starting until mid-October because there are at least two players who will be moving to university, so it might be a good idea to let them get settled in before starting. But in the meantime, I've collected some useful links for things that you will need and will be useful.

Official d20 Modern SRD - This is the rulebook. You'll need this. This version is completely free and legal. It contains exactly the same content as the books, just without the pretty pictures and nice typefacing. The archives you'll need will be the Modern Basics file and the Future file. They're all at the bottom of the webpage. You'll need an unzipping program and something that can open .rtf files (Word and Open Office do).

Illegal downloads - If you want the pretty pictures and the other books which will be useful (d20 Future Tech and d20 Cyberscape), you'll need to torrent them. Find your favourite perfectly legal torrent index site and type in something like "d20 modern" (with the quotes), you rogue. Find one that includes d20 Modern Core Rulebook and d20 Future at least. d20 Future Tech and d20 Cyberscape will be nice extras. Anything else won't be used but is nice reading material.

Rule Modifications - This is a twenty-nine page (eek) Word document containing everything you'll need that isn't already in the books. It has a small introduction to the setting, species for characters and changes and additions to combat rules, items, gadgets, skills, feats, cybernetics and mutations. It's structured identically to the core rulebook. Very little of it will make sense if you're not familiar with the d20 system and reading the d20 Modern book first is probably best even if you're familiar with D&D 3.5 as there's quite a few differences. If you're confused about something in it just let me know and I'll clarify it for you.

MapTool - A lovely free tool for connecting to other people and moving counters around on a map, as well as chatting to each other and tracking dice rolls. Grab "maptool-1.3.b57.zip". You'll need Java, but you probably have that.

Skype - What we will probably be using for voice chat. If you don't have a microphone it's ok. You can sit in silence and listen to the rest of us yakking away.

You're also welcome to start cooking up characters now that you have all the mechanical information. Again ask me if you want some fluff and flavour, I have bags of the stuff.

Rebranded to hide lack of content!

2009-09-07T21:15:00.005+01:00

So four people have expressed interest. This is enough for me. This blag will be used to track the group's progress and relay important information. The first of these important informations is the basics of the campaign:

The campaign takes place in 2621 AD. Humanity has expanded to the stars, we found two other civilisations still alive and kicking, and many others that were dead long before we got there. The Kito are subterranean people native to the cold planet of the same name. They live in the planet's expansive cave system, and communicate by touch rather than sound. They had post-industrial technology when we found them, think how we were about twenty years ago and you'll get the gist of it. The year of 2621 sees the centenary of first contact with the Kito. The other civilisation is the Rylti, a scaly species with six eyes (only four of which function) that were about where the Roman Empire was when we found them. They're quick learners so we hope they'll be up to speed in about fifty years or so.

I'd like to take this opportunity to say that this setting is very detailed. The above paragraph seems a bit loose but trust me when I say that it's detailed. I doubt much of it will show during the game, but it's there.

The setting focuses heavily on realism. Everything except the faster-than-light travel is based on real science. And keeping with that the campaign will be fairly gritty. The first adventure will set the tone, as it will either revolve around terrorism or organised crime depending which adventure we start with. There will be moral choices, but no transparent ones to segregate you into Mother Teresas and baby-eaters.

The introductory adventure will either take place on a planet (well, technically a moon) called Hades or on a spacecraft in orbit of Hades. Hades is cold. Like summer-is-when-water-might-not-freeze-when-it-hits-the-ground cold. Still, a couple of billion Humans and about a million Kito call the iceball home.

I would also like to say that I am including achievements! Like the ones for Steam games like Team Fortress 2. If you have no idea what these are, here's an example:

There will be several types of achievements: individual achievements, group achievements, story achievements and task achievements. The one above is an example of a story achievement (which thankfully gives you no spoilers). Story achievements will give you no bonuses. Task achievements will, usually to a roll relevant to the achievement's criteria, and whether you achieve it as a group or as an individual will affect who will get the benefits. To avoid achievement whoring, I will not be showing you them until you've got them.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that this will be a weekly affair, running over MapTool, likely with Skype for voice communication. Meaning that you should easily be able to play it alongside Keo's Paranoia PBP.

Later, I will be linking to a Word document containing detailed information for the mechanics. But it is not yet done.