World of d20
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Modern action-horror without the angst. Take Buffy, Angel, Necronomicon, Call of Cthulhu, World of Darkness, and some select anime, shake and stir. End result? More like urban fantasy, actually.
The system is d20 Modern with a liberal sprinkling of Star Wars Saga Edition and d20 Call of Cthulhu, plus anything shiny not nailed down.
- This project will never be finished. It was started when d20 Modern was a fresh new thing, and its flaws were mostly unknown. WoD was still old WoD, with lots of known flaws to 'fix'. I had lots of time. None of those things are really true anymore. d20 Modern failed, new WoD is actually good, and I'm married with children.
- To make matters worse, it's pretentious, the goal posts have been changed endlessly, and there are remnants of failed and/or abandoned ideas all over. If I was to do this again, I'd just use new WoD, GURPS, or BESM, keeping actual changes to the bare minimum.
Mood
- Humanity unaware, unguarded
- Monsters and schoolgirls turned reluctant heroes
- Pervasive taint, corruption, and depravity; sanity can be fleeting
- Everyone and everything has a price, noone can be trusted
- Horrors from beyond space and time, but here and now doing this and that
- Gods that are silent, either dead or uncaring
- Global conspiracies fight wars in the shadows
- Dark cults make the neighborhood unsafe and plot global destruction
Setting
- The world, here and now
- Your own blood-splattered back yard
- Hidden vistas and shaded glens
- The shadow world beyond the veil
Rules
Horror requires horrific characters wielding horrific magic and horrific equipment in horrific combat against horrific creatures. Unless otherwise noted the Modern SRD applies in full.
- This project was first started well before SWSE. When that system came out, the rules were partially updated to that standard, but this update was never completed. I'm rolling most of those changes back. Not because they're bad per se, but because they're too extensive and affect too many subsystems. A SWSE/D&D4 version is certainly possible, but I'm not the one to do it.
Characters
All characters start at level 2, with 2 classes. It could be 2 different basic classes.
Ability Scores: Point buy is the default. If your race is undead, assign a 10 to Constitution.
If you use random generation, you may substitute 16 for the primary ability of your primary class, and 15 for the primary ability of your secondary class. This is before any adjustment for race.
Initial Hit Points: Twice the maximized HD of the primary class, plus the usual level-based hit points for both classes. Remember that undead get no Constitution modifier, but always have d12 for HD.
Initial Feats: Any starting feats from occupation and from the primary class, plus 2 free feats.
- Horrific races.
- Horrific occupations.
- Horrific classes. The original classes had pretty useless talents, roughly worth half a feat. A talent should be better than a feat, since it's class-restricted and class-defining.
- Horrific skills.
- Horrific feats.
- Horrific talents. Additional talent trees not tied to a specific class.
Equipment
Systems
| Ability | Half gone | All gone |
|---|---|---|
| Strength | weakened | paralyzed |
| Constitution | fatigued | dying |
| Dexterity | slowed | paralyzed |
| Intelligence | shaken | unconscious |
| Wisdom | shaken | unconscious |
| Charisma | shaken | unconscious |
- Horrific action
- Horrific combat
- Horrific magic
- Ability Checks: All ability checks are made as 1d20 + ability modifier + class level in the relevant basic class. For example, an Intelligence check is 1d20 + Int modifier + Smart level.
- Ability Damage: Ability damage does not cause recalculation of bonuses, hit points, etc. When more than half of an ability is gone, a condition is imposed. When all is gone, another more severe condition applies.
Opponents
- Horrific creatures
- Horrific conspiracies
- Horrific organizations
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