I'm not sure tyhis is the right place to post but here it comes:
I'm not really a new GM just new to D20 Modern, but I need help with my story.
The party is going to be 3-4 players, set i Europe around early 2008.
After we/they have created the characters I thought of taking the sheets from the players and keep them for a while(the reason will come later).
The story will begin in a dark, medium size room, partially
injured(40-65% down),group will be tied(one will be untied but all heavily sedated) and no memory of who they are.
Now they must find out; WHO they are, where they are, why are they there, who captured them and how to get away. Just to mention a few qustions.
Background:
The group was sent from "the" government ("the" meaning I wont tell here )
to investigate a drug dealer in Germany. They were to install recording equipment - audio and visual. But somehow they got caught and where questioned by the dealers. During this "talk" the German police attacked the building and dealers causing the Pc's guards to leave and closing the door. The door is a trapdoor concealed by a fake closet which the dealers used to hide some of their drugs and weapons.
The police never discovers the trapdoor and thus not the Pc's, which is the reason they can sit and have the drugs wear out.
The untied Pc will be able to untie the rest of the group and the now have to find the way out and start the story.......
My concern is this:
Is there any way to have the Pc's "recover" the skills they have and remember who they are from a D20 Modern Tecnically view. I was thinking something like this. (remember I have the character sheets!):
Player1: "I search for a way out."
GM: "All roll d20" and then I check the sheets and sees that player3 have 6 ranks in Search.
"Player3 is the one that notices the trapdoor."
Player2: "I check the items on the table"
GM: "You find two Glocks, 3 wallets, 2 keyrings with keys, a suitcase with two earphone set Hdd recorder and a telescope with nightvision."
Player2: I check the suitcase and the recorder."
GM after cunsulting the sheets: "You have no idea how to operate the Hdd but the Telescope works fine".
Player1: "I try to help him with the Hdd device"
GM checks the sheets again: "You find out that there is a lot of both audio and visual recordings on the hdd"
The idea is that the players must try their skills to find out what they can and how well.
I also thought of having the players make the characters and then, during the same process with skills, and then hand the characters to another than the creator(was that incomprehensible?).
Maybe it is only my kind of fun but I am sure my players can see the fun in it.
We have tried something similar before.
But feedback is appreciated.
Evil O
Or, you could have the players write down what they want as a general idea, and then another player could create a character for him based on that (alternatively, you could create all the characters statwise, after hearing what they want).
Edit: Oh, and I think your plot sounds really cool.
yes maybe I should have them make a general idea before the "swap".
I did notice that you are from Denmark, well so am I and the group.
Where du you live and might you be interessted in joining for the ride??
(I know, now that you know some of I have to kille you before but still?)
Evil O
I live in Copenhagen. I see you live in Sorø. That's not too far away, actually.
I'd love to tag along, but to be honest, I have very little time on my hands, and the extra transport time/cost would be a pain in the a$s. But let's keep in touch for later (I'm in 3g now, with a time-consuming girlfriend and GM'ing for 2 parties, so time is a little tight), it's always cool to meet new roleplayers.
In fact, every time they role a natural 20 or a natural 1 on a skill check, give them a chance to remember a snippet of their background based off a great failure or success of that skill.
Call it a flashback check... say they have to role under their wisdom score on D100.
This would definitely end up as a cool mechanic.
I work in Copenhagen almost every day so you would never "have" to come to Sorø, i'll come to you...
And Doomsought, I had a similar thing in mind - every time they try to use a skill/feat/Class - "thing" i'd have them roll, maybe even the other characters if they are around? (depending what they are trying off course)
I was also thinking; is this idea to big for a 1st level group? or should I have them create 2-4 level characters instead?
Evil O
I don't remember ever creating a lvl 1 character. I prefer to start off at 4-6, aprox.
The main question would be: where do you guys game?
The problem with starting higher than 1st is that none of us have ever played d20 Modern before and it would seem odd to start above 1st. But on the other hand what makes that so different than starting on 2-4 lvl in D&D, as we use to?
It is just new to us so far. Actually the rest of the group don't know that I'm creating a D20Modern campaign!!!
Evil O
From what I've heard, level 1-3 can be really hard, and the PCs risk dying all the time in combat, because weapon damage doesn't really scale with level as much as it does in D&D.
A badguy with a G3 in d20M is pretty frigging dangerous for a level 1-3, but not sooo much for a 4+...
The players don't prepare anything except their character's appearance. Then walk them through the initial "dungeon" and first few encounters. Use these encounters to gauge the characters' abilities in various fields. You might want to lump some character aspects together in a group, such as "acrobatics", "stealth", "social" etc.
Rather than making their checks and attack rolls against predetermined stats, simply roll a d20 and count 11 or more as a success and a roll of 10 or less as a failure. Make a note of each check for each character. Add a +1 to the roll for each previous success for more consistent results.
If you feel you need to check if a character has a feat or not, first determine if the feat is of the kind that allows the character to take a special action (cleave, combat martial arts) or if it applies a bonus (power attack, educated). The character *might* have the feat (or at least *appear* to have the feat) - Roll a d20 - 11+ means he has it.
You can have a lot of fun interpreting the results. A lot of checks could indicate that the character is inclined towards that kind of action, and a high number of successes indicates that the character's ability (and thus character build) can weight towards
The players can then make their character as normal, taking int account to the gathered results. A player that has attempted to sneak a lot should invest skill points in the Move Silently and Hide skills. A character that tried to pick locks should take the Disable Device skill.
DwarfFighter that sounds like a nice way of creating a character but it will mean a LOT of work for me as a GM if you ask me.
Though, as I read your post I thought of this:
Me, making their characters after I spoke with every player about his wishes and then slowly giving them their character "back" as we play.
That will also mean a lot of work for me but it could also be fun to try.
I still don't know how to do it, so keep your ideas comming......
Evil O