Prime Directive PD20 Modern

Post by **Jean** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 2:25 am

Hi all,

I'm proud to announce that Prime Directive PD20 Modern is shipping today to distributors.

http://store.starfleetstore.com/merchan ... ry_Code=P2

From the Shopping basket description:
Roleplaying on the Final Frontier using the d20 Modern rules, which work better for Science Fiction than the dungeon-based V3.5 rules.

This is a major redesign of the original PD20V3.5, professionally edited, eliminating the many mistakes of the original dungeon-based version and entirely re-edited for the "modern" rules set. New classes, new skills, new information.

This product requires the WOTC d20 Modern Roleplaying Core Rulebook.

Ships to mail orders 15 October 2008.

Jonathan Thompson, Tony Thomas, and Gary Plana came through like champs to make the d20M and RPG parts work. John Sickels and Loren Knight gave us some insights into the Federation and Tholians.

Mike Sparks did a wonderful job of layout and keeping typos from creeping in.

SVC was there every step of the way. I just wish I could have fit every little detail into the book . . . but there may be some surprises in there for you!

Jean

P.S. Hmmmm . . . I think I hear Ejna the Thief (my very first character

) saying she wants to be reborn in the future as a Fast Hero and if she is exceptionally clever, she might just grow up to be a GIA agent.

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 3:18 am

As one of the lucky ones who was able to help out on this project and has; therefore, seen almost all of it...

Let me say that IMHO, this is the best version of Prime Directive released so far. The setting seems to work so much better in a Modern environment than in a fantasy-type environment.

Several of us in Murfreesboro have already got it ordered and are looking forward to starting a campaign... we may even leave a bit of room for a guess appearance from Ejna...

Post by **Steve Cole** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 3:19 pm

Congrats to Jean on completing this project.

I had a suspicion that the best man for this job was a woman.

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 3:19 am

I got mine in the mail today!

It's an awesome product. We have 4 or 5 people that are already planning to get together next weekend for the character creation meeting. I guess I'd better start cracking on the actual campaign setting, huh?

Mazza · Post by **Mazza** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 3:52 am

The declining exchange rate and my impending wedding has so far stopped me from ordering my copy direct from ADB but as soon as this book reaches Australian distributors I will be ordering it. I am so glad it has come out - love the cover art too

Nerroth · Post by **Nerroth** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 9:05 pm

Did the ISC member species, or any of the other SFU-specific factions that were in GURPS PD but were culled from PD D20, included in PD-D20M?

Also, I can't recall if it's in the main GPD rulebook, or in GURPS Klingons, but somewhere there is a line about the SFU Klingons not being 'mystical Ninja warriors' - which might perhaps be better off written as samurai-esque (since samurai fought on the battlefield, but ninja were used for assassinations and so forth). It might be worth bearing in mind for future D20M releases... but even then, of course, the post-TNG portrayal of Klingons are not quite the same as samurai either - not least since they drink more like ancient Norse!

Post by **Jean** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 11:35 am

No, PD20M did not include the missing species. The missing Federation ones will be in Federation PD20. The other ones may be in Final Frontiers or in the ISC's sourcebook. As you know, the d20M requires a full write-up of classes, skills, and feats, so space had to be dedicated to those.

I cannot find the mystical ninja line in PD. Could you be thinking of these webpages?

http://www.starfleetgames.com/aboutsfu.shtml

and

http://starfleetgames.com/federation/ab ... erse.shtml

Nerroth · Post by **Nerroth** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 6:18 pm

Sorry to hear about the ISC... oh well. Good thing I have GURPS PD, then.

And yeah, that might be the place - sorry for the mixup - but even then, ninja were less warrior-like than samurai, plus samurai usually had better table manners (and personal hygiene standards) then TNG-era Klingons!

Post by **Steve Cole** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 9:50 pm

It was considered important to keep the two books (PD20 and PD20M) identical in content covered. Final Frontier will updated both books.

Ravenhull · Post by **Ravenhull** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 10:59 pm

Steve Cole wrote:It was considered important to keep the two books (PD20 and PD20M) identical in content covered. Final Frontier will updated both books.

Ah, so future d20 suplements will cover both 'standard' and 'modern'. What will be done about d20 Klingons and Romulans, a small booklet to suplement the existing ones?

JEGoodrich · Post by **JEGoodrich** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 2:04 am

I got PD20 Modern in the mail Tuesday and hereâ€™s a few of my thoughts on it.

First of all, I want to mention that I prefer the GURPS system over d20. However, I feel that d20 does a better job at a more Hollywood-style cinematic setting.

Characters â€“ I missed the school options from PD20, but no great loss. Still no notes about the different aging in races (Vulcans live twice as long as Humans, Klingons half as long â€¦ at least from the GURPS books). No Special Forces template or anything similar? Well, at least I have the Stargate SG-1 and Spycraft books if I needed to convert something. The Field Officer from d20 Future might be a better choice than Department Head for some characters (Marines or Security in particular).

Skills â€“ Adding skills to d20 is rarely a good idea since it messes with the character generation mechanic, but at least the damage is minimal. I agree with Military Science replacing Tactics as a Knowledge skill since there isnâ€™t really a skill to cover basic military knowledge.

Feats â€“ If Iâ€™d run a PD20 Modern game, Iâ€™d probably limit the players to this list since its very complete and I dislike the Feat-bloat that occurs when you start adding other sources (Iâ€™m looking at you, Spycraft). One complaint, however, Leadership should have been given the d20 Past name of Minions to avoid confusion with the Department Head Feat (Does the captain class requirement for Leadership refer to the general feat or the one from Department Head? Iâ€™d allow either.). And if youâ€™re going to have minions, you need the Sidekick feat for the loyal lieutenant (Dang it, now Iâ€™m adding to Feat-bloat!).

Other Stuff â€“ I might have done the SFB / FC conversion chart on page 148 a little differently. DC 15 for a straight-up roll, DC 20 for a +1, and DC 25 for a +2. After all, a Legendary Gunner only gets a +1. Getting a +2 for making a roll by 7 just doesnâ€™t sit right with me. I skipped over the history, technology notes, and other color since itâ€™s the same as the GURPS and PD20 books, but itâ€™s a great read for the setting.

Much more good than not in this book. And while Iâ€™m running a GURPS Star Fleet campaign, Iâ€™m unlikely to be using this book for much anytime soon. However, my players have talked a few times about running pirates as aa alternative campaign. Maybe something set in and around the WYN Cluster. That could be a pretty cinematic setting â€¦

Post by **Jean** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 3:17 am

I'm glad you approve of much of PD20M. That makes me very happy.

As for the education packages . . . well, there is a story behind the decision. The PD20M team did discuss it and finally decided that it was broken as too many players used it to max/min characters and came out with cookie-cutter characters. You really couldn't afford not to be in Star Fleet and we wanted an aspiring Orion Pirate to be able to come from the shady side of town and still have a fighting chance. We folded the education concept into the Starting Occupations as a more d20-ish style. (I had to remind myself that even GURPS gave up on "discounted" packages after the 2nd edition.)

Remember that the bennies you get under a class are "features", not feats. The 2nd-level Department Head "Leadership" feature is different than the Leadership feat (which is a prerequisite for the class!).

Please do check the technology tables. There are changes from the original PD20 book. As for the history . . . well, we did slide in a few new facts! Check out the Tholians.

djdood · Post by **djdood** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 6:02 am

Jean, you do realize what a godsend you have been to the ADB RPG's, correct?

JEGoodrich · Post by **JEGoodrich** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 11:26 am

That's what I get for only playing d20 part time. Someday I'll be able to tell the difference between Feats and Tallents and then they'll go to a new edition and change everything.

Post by **Steve Cole** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 3:08 pm

Klingons graduate from high school at 15, and from college at 18. A Klingon who is 60 has the same odds of reach 61 as a human of 80 has of reaching 81.