[4E Modern] Middle East Adventure

Retired general, Moshe Dyan

My 4E Modern campaign is coming to its natural close, having been planned out to be a short romp of only 3 Levels. To finish, I decided to convert one of my favorite DDi adventures to the Modern system and aesthetic, Rob Schwalb's Bark at the Moon. To get a better understanding of the 4E Modern adventure, please go check out the original D&D adventure here.

Some highlights:
* An NPC Henchmen, whom my group thought looked like (and thus became) Rebecca Black
* Modern era terrain hazards, such as landmines, machine gun nests, and barbed wire
* Two new Modern era afflictions, Radiation Sickness and Roid Rage, mechanically akin to diseases
* Nuclear weaponry
* Magical assault rifles
* Dude with an eye patch
* A threat to plunge the Middle East into war, just before peace has finally been reached

WARNING: This conversion to Bark at the Moon is a farcical and irreverent look at Israeli-Palestinian relations. It is a touchy subject of which I am no expert. If you feel at all strongly about Middle East issues, just go ahead and please, do not read this adventure and get pissed off.

The adventure is formatted in my own 4E Modern style, so you'll see creatures' attacks listed as flat, static values instead of a modifier to a die roll. I also abbreviate some attacks and don't write out completely in full the "Hit:" line etc., on most attacks. If you've been following 4E for any length of time, this should all appear sensible and easy to read, but I wanted to throw a note out there explaining that, while I do know how the official stat blocks are supposed to be constructed, I have chosen not to for brevity on the printout.

This adventure is suitable for 3rd Level Agents.

Download the adventure here!

Gamma World StarCraft at GenCon!

The very first thing I got to do at GenCon (after checking into my pimping hotel) was bust out my StarCraft Gamma World variant and play my Gammacore adventure, The Prisoner. It was a blast! Jon, Dave, and all the Canooks were consummate dungeoneers and a pleasure to play with. I look forward to the chance to hang out with them again! Listed below are a few pics I managed to snap when we were chucking the dice, with commentary.

4E Modern: Swastikopter Confrontation

For the finale of our group's first 4E Modern Assignment, the Agents confronted the Nazi occult superweapon, The Swastikopter. For the last few sessions, they had overheard talk about this dreaded vehicle from their enemies, and knew that it and its pilots were scheduled to rendesvous with the traitor and known Reich-collaborator, Michelle Obama. Determined to take this thing down, the Agents decided to use the element of surprise and make an attack.

The combat itself took place on the rooftop of the Peterson Hotel, soaring 10 stories above the busy downtown Taipei streets.

At the appointed time, The Swastikopter appeared and an Agent pulled the bound and gagged prisoner out to the rooftop. After a little back-and-forth bantering with the pilots, the shit hit the fan and initiative was rolled. One Agents teleported into the copter via ninja magic, while another leapt off the building to grab onto the knotted rope intended for Michelle, while the last three Agents stayed on the rooftop. The Swastikopter itself had two pilots, as well as an Occult Scribe and Tesla Death Machine onboard (stats below). The fighting was brutal. In the end, the Agents won the day solely by using some very creative and unorthodox tactics; for example, one Agent climbed onto the underside of the Swastikopter, unscrewed the warhead from a stinger missile, and then lobbed it through the smashed winshield into the cockpit.

During the fighting, Michelle snuck off to meet with a would-be-rescuer. A brilliantly executed chase scene then ensued as the Agents hunted her down and smashed her fleeing BMW 7 Series. A grand conclusion to an exciting first Assignment!

The following stat blocks are written in the 4E Modern format, which places the burden of rolling all d20's on the player.

4E Modern - Session #1 (09/11/2011) Recap & Game Master Notes

I normally don't try and advocate game recaps too much. When I read a recap on another blog I tend to find it boring and trite. However, I have been directly asked to relate my campaign's development, and like my olden days of college radio, it's hard for me to resist a request. If nothing else, these recaps will provide me with a means of communicating some of the implied ideas I have about Modern campaigns, as well as the less than clearly described rules, and subsequent rules tweaks.

Also, stats for evil Nazi Warlocks.

4E Modern Assignment: Workshop of the Mad Alchemist

from textnovel.com

4E Modern - The Complete Series

Many gamers out there have the desire and passion to make the leap from playing a typical medieval fantasy Dungeons & Dragons game to that of a Modern-era RPG, but hesitate to do so for lack of available adventures and lack of good direction on how a Modern game should be designed. I'm here to lend a hand with those two unmet needs, drawing on my previous experiences with d20 Modern and my ongoing experiences with 4E Modern.

If you haven't done so already, make sure to check out the articles on WotC's official d20 Modern site here; including short adventures, plot hooks, and helpful tips from the creators.

My first adventure (called Assignments in the Modern parlance) will be an easy conversion of a well put together two-page delve done by Benoit at Roving Band of Misfits. Go look at it here!

Fourthcore Weaknesses

Nosferatu (1922)

One of the ideals of Fourthcore is to provide dangerous, exciting, and rewarding adventures. Challenges are designed to benefit those whom are creative and quick-witted, and to punish those who are lazy and disinterested. You can't sit at the table on coast by on auto-pilot while playing a Fourthcore adventure. One tool with which we can use to help create this scenario is Weaknesses.

Weaknesses are a purely detrimental Trait applied to a villain, usually a high-level and/or Solo creature. Weaknesses represent the frailties, flaws, and cracks of humanity that break through a villain's hard exterior. Creatures may only have one Focus per type of Weakness (see below), and a Dungeon Master must foster a means for the dungeoneers to be able to research and discover these Weaknesses.

The mechanics presented here are written specifically for Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition, however the basic framework can be easily applied to any roleplaying game with a high degree of combat.

4E Modern - Wealth and Omega Tech

image from jamesbond-007.info

Whew! I've had quite a rollercoaster ride on both the home front and the work front these last 24 hours. Regardless! It is time to get back into the action, both guns blazing, and deliver some epic Modern adventure. 

Cue James Bond music!

4E Modern – Talents

Talents can take the form of secret and high-grade military training (Spec Op), magical spells (Occult), or psychic powers (Psi). Talents relate specifically to the training or unique experiences your character has had in his or her life.

Talents replace Gamma World Alpha Mutations, but are always chosen by the player and are permanent benefits and powers. Overcharge options have been noticeably removed.

The Talents have been designed as a mix of straight conversions from Gamma World (psi), replications of D&D spells and rituals (occult), and permanent benefits harkening back to many of the common tricks and tactics of d20 Modern feats.

Check out all the Talents here!

4E Modern – Mundane Equipment

Heroes in the modern world typically have access to a wealth of readily available goods and services that are unavailable to their medieval fantasy and post apocalyptic counterparts. Instead of random rolls on a the ancient junk table, Heroes in 4E Modern are able to take the maximum result (1d4+1) or the mundane items roll, and shop for what items they wish, in addition to picking out mundane armor and weaponry. In a modern industrialized world, characters can choose to buy literally anything they need for their current assignment. Anything prohibitively expensive (such as a car), or restricted by military licensing (such as a grenade), however, must be bought with a Wealth Roll. Wealth Rolls will be covered in a later post and are related to Omega Tech. Ammunition, gas, food, travelling expenses, etc. are not tracked and are assumed to be bought and taken care of “off-screen”, unless it is significant to the story.

Weapons

Gamma World provides a great framework with which to base weapons off of. For a modern game, however, I thought a lot could be gained by providing more granularity here, although keeping far far clear of the kind of pointless detail that d20 Modern, and to a much greater extent Weapons Locker, provided. I split up each generalized category of basic weapon into three different components. I then fiddled around with the proficiency bonuses and damage types to give a bit of range and interesting choices to make for the players involved. Lastly, I chose different ‘Ammo’ effects based on the ammo rules, which really opened up a lot of possibilities and variance amongst the weapons, while at the same time satisfying the immersive aspects of having weapons act as the would in real life (or at least Hollywood). For example, assault rifles tend to have area burst ammo effects, in line with the autofire option of d20 Modern; whereas shotguns attack in a close blast.

You’ll notice many staple armaments, fragmentation grenades for example, are noticeably missing. They will be covered later as I have moved consumable items into the Omega Tech category.

4e Modern – Origins

Rewriting Gamma World Origins was conceptually the easiest part of this project for me, the generic class system of d20 Modern meshes pretty well with the Gamma World framework, however it required quite a bit of effort just due to sheer volume. Doing the final layout with the original artwork was pretty rewarding for me, as seeing all those old images brought back some nostalgia for me from the last decade.

For those of you not in the know, Origins represent your core background, training, and party role and fill in the same function as classes do in 4^th Edition D&D. 4E Modern Origins function identically to Gamma World Origins, except that all Origins are chosen by the player. Each player chooses two different Origins for their character, gaining the benefits of both. Some Origins, such as "Gunslinger", imply a specific skill-set whereas other Origins, such as "Fast", imply only a generic descriptor and leave all the details up to you.

4E Modern Origins do not provide a bonus to any skills or overcharge. Skills in 4E Modern are identical to those in Gamma World, however, each character simply chooses any three skills to receive a +4 bonus in. Overcharge has been removed from 4E Modern Omega Tech.

Here’s everything in one convenient PDF!

4E Modern – Basic Rules Changes

To facilitate the style of game I want to play, I've incorporated a number of changes into the base Gamma World system. As with any kind of House Rule, care has been taken such that rules are not added in unnecessarily. Each new House Rule adds its own bit of complexity, coming in with a certain amount of negative impact to the game just by being there, by being a potential source of confusion and one more link in the chain that could break and send the whole system crashing.

4E Modern – A Sorbet (Introduction)

from planetmartha.blogspot.com

In elite culinary circles, a sorbet is often used in between courses of a meal to cleanse the palate of any lingering flavors. Sorbet is so often used because of its sweetness, its tartness, its lack of being a substantial meal. It is a brief, mindless indulgence. The tongue is cleared and ready for a fresh start of the next course’s flavors. When indulging in a certain dish, say a fatty duck or a salty soup, one’s senses can become accustomed and dulled by the relentless assault of that courses flavor, muddying the waters of subsequent courses. When one enjoys a high quality meal, it is not mere sustenance that one is seeking. It is to experience all of the subtle sensory nuances that can be had, to enjoy the food to its fullest extent.

So, too, are our role-playing games; namely Dungeons & Dragons. My thinking about D&D has become quite saturated and a little stale. My creativity has been sapped, and I’m burned out. The chaos surrounding GenCon certainly didn't help. It happens to everyone eventually, really. To help cleanse my palate, I chose a game both dear to my heart, and also containing the same visceral qualities as a delicious sorbet. I chose d20 Modern, produced by WotC back in ’02. Being very familiar with the rules, and not content with a great many of its minutia, I chose to create a Modern day, action-adventure role playing game built on the 4th Edition/Gamma World chassis. All this, in the end, I do to make my D&D game that much better when I inevitably return to it. I'll have a fresh palate, ready to savor the new tastes coming in.

Behold, the fruits of my labor! My most verbose blog post to date.

StarCraft: The Prisoner - Preview #3

Intro & Rules * Tokens & Sample Characters * Backgrounds, Equipment, Upgrades * Starships

Adventure Background

It is a period of darkness and chaos in the galaxy. The Terran Dominion has toppled, the few Protoss tribes still alive struggle to unite themselves, and untamed Zerg hordes roam leaderless throughout the galaxy.

This adventure takes place on the covert Terran Dominion military research station, BR-715. With the complete withdrawal of all Dominion military forces in the area, the station has been left on its own and vulnerable to attack. Recently, the station has been transmitting an automated distress signal and has not returned any directed signals inquiring as to their needs.

The Prisoner - Preview #2

Intro & Rules * Tokens & Sample Characters * Backgrounds, Equipment, Upgrades * Starships

Research Cards

The 10 research cards represent clues and bits of lore gleaned by the adventurers before arriving at research station BR-715. Five of these research cards are marked as COMPLETE, and the other five are INCOMPLETE. Of the five COMPLETE research cards, four are true. Of the five INCOMPLETE research cards, only one is true. The players are entitled to know this ratio; however, the precise knowledge of which research is true is reserved for you alone.

At the start of the game, the research cards are shuffled face-down. Each player draws one, reads it aloud to the others, then keeps it face-up in front of them for the duration of the adventure. All research cards are relayed “as-is” – the adventurers cannot use skill checks or any outside means to confirm or deny research, not least because it is assumed they have already done so to the best of their ability before embarking. To determine which research is worth heeding, the adventurers must rely on logic, intuition, and their experience in the station.

The Prisoner - Preview #1

Intro & Rules * Tokens & Sample Characters * Backgrounds, Equipment, Upgrades * Starships

Great minds think alike ... in space!

Castles & Cooks, another blog devoted to all things D&D, has posted their own StarCraft Gamma World project. The articles go into detail on some of the design decision made behind the numbers, and is a good read. They also focus a lot more on stating out individual monsters, a process I have decided to leave exclusively for my upcoming adventures to showcase.

Most unfortunately for me, Castles & Cooks posted their stuff about a month before I did. They beat me to the punch! Although, clearly I had the ideas rolling around behind the screen of this blog since January of this year when I posted my Starship Combat Rules.

It's very interesting to me to see where we diverged in rules, and where we came to the same conclusions. For example, (as you all will see in The Prisoner) we both set the Hydralisk at about the same level, but we diverged in giving the Marine a specific Origin/Background. My reasoning for not doing this, of course, is due to the ability of any adventurer with an assault rifle to be portrayed as a Marine. creating a whole new Origin/Background just for that seemed unnecessary and not gonzo, bat shit crazy enough.

So a toast to C&C, and here's to hoping to see more StarCraft material!

Intro & Rules * Tokens & Sample Characters * Backgrounds, Equipment, Upgrades * Starships * The Prisoner

StarCraft Gamma World: Introduction & Rules

Intro & Rules * Tokens & Sample Characters * Backgrounds, Equipment, Upgrades * Starships * The Prisoner coming soon!

image from www.unmod.com

The Koprulu Sector is a disastrous mess. With the United Earth Directorate and Terran Dominion defeated, the countless Terran factions squabble amongst themselves across dozens of worlds. The Protoss struggle with unification in the face of centuries-old ancient tribal divisions. Rogue hordes of Zerg scour the planets they infest, directionless without the Overmind or Kerrigan to control their appetite for destruction. More disturbing than any of these events are the whispered tales of those whom have come back from the edge of known space. Dark tales of bizarre Protoss/Zerg hybrids and the dreaded return of the ancient Xel’Naga cast a disquieting gloom over the fate of all.

Through the chaos and darkness of the galaxy, a band of heroes emerge. Enhanced by breakthrough technologies and determined to use this time of chaos for the good of their people, these few brave souls venture forth together to stabilize the warring factions, protect the innocent from the horrors of the galaxy, and recover the lost secrets of the Xel'Naga before it is too late.

StarCraft Gamma World is a rules variant to the Gamma World Roleplaying Game (Wizards of the Coast), immersed in the rich storylines and compelling universe of StarCraft (Blizzard Entertainment). Through the rules and handouts presented here, players will be able to explore new tales of wonder and excitement by exploring and building upon the StarCraft universe. Every aspect of the Gamma World rules will be subtly altered, providing a play experience that is fresh and exciting, yet still feels familiar to the roleplaying veterans of Gamma World and Dungeons & Dragons 4^th Edition.

As a capstone, an adventure will be presented to help launch any newly forming StarCraft Gamma World campaigns. The adventure will utilize the design principles of Fourthcore (Save Versus Death), thrusting the characters into a high-stakes, life-or-death struggle to contain a threat to the entire universe that will test the skills of not only the characters, but the players themselves!

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StarCraft Gamma World: Tokens & Sample Characters

Intro & Rules * Tokens & Sample Characters * Backgrounds, Equipment, Upgrades * Starships * The Prisoner coming soon!

Several sheets of custom-made tokens have been created for use in StarCraft Gamma World. The tokens each have a normal and a bloodied side and encompass a wide variety of people, creatures, and sizes found in the StarCraft universe.

StarCraft Gamma World: Backgrounds, Equipment, Upgrades

Intro & Rules * Tokens & Sample Characters * Backgrounds, Equipment, Upgrades * Starships * The Prisoner coming soon!

Backgrounds, advanced equipment, and upgrades (evolutions, and disciplines) represent the primary mechanics in which characters are differentiated and their major combat powers.

Backgrounds

Backgrounds present a culmination of talents, baseline equipment, and major attributes that a character has. Backgrounds fall into three categories: genetic, psi, and technological; with the exception of Commander, which falls into no category. Characters in StarCraft Gamma World are above the common soldier; they are the elite of the elite, and a unique product of the recent contact between three space-faring races. As such, StarCraft Gamma World characters have background combinations that are bizarre, innovative, and over-the-top.

Though many backgrounds and other game mechanics describe strange permutations and combinations, all playable characters are considered to be humanoid in basic shape and function.

StarCraft Gamma World: Starships

Intro & Rules * Tokens & Sample Characters * Backgrounds, Equipment, Upgrades * Starships * The Prisoner coming soon!

Starship Combat

Enemy starships are added to combat encounters much the same way as standard creatures, each contributing their designated XP to the encounter total. Enemy starships, obviously, are only appropriate in encounters where they can threaten and interact with starships under the command or protection of the adventurers. Non-Combat vessels are ships that do not possess any weapons that are dangerous to other ships, but often represent support craft, transports, civilian vessels, and other targets of opportunity.


Vessels in combat are considered to be continually moving under their respective propulsion systems and inertia, and do not require a specific action to control. Starship positions relative to each other are not physically represented, but are instead assumed to be moving about on the battlefield at some distance to each other.