ReaperWolf
Mongoose
For my money I'd prefer to see Dredd converted over to d20 Modern, which, incidentally, is covered under the d20 Modern SRD.
Let's face facts: the current iteration of Dredd is a little mucky in terms of mechanics which is no surprise considering the material reflects the state of d20 development more than five years ago. Since that time Mongoose has produced out some really outstanding OGL products namely Babylon 5 2nd edition and Conan: Atlantean Edition and all support material. Both of these lines, IMNSHO, reflect an evolutionary design principle at their core, particularly with the refinement of AC vs. Defense.
Now don't get me wrong! I've really enjoyed reading the Mongoose Dredd d20 fluff, some of it was nothing short of spectacular, but the mechanics always seemed a little underdeveloped, after all at the time of publication all's the Mongoosians had to go on was the 3.0 D&D Core Rulebooks 1-3 and we all know how frought with gaffs those books were!
Again, and this is only my opinion, the skills, feats, and mechanics in d20 Modern better reflect a more progressive take on the d20 engine and with the advent of Advanced Classes, there's lots of room for character development not requiring extremely high skill levels plus this solves the problem I saw with 1st level Judges.
Consider Judges as a core character class. The idea of a 1st level Judge is absolutely laughable because a 1st level character is little more than a teenager lacking any kind fo street cred, possessing pitiful skill levels, and no appreciable combat ability. True the Judge does possess a d12 Hit Die but even with the Toughness feat and a high Constitution you wouldn't get very far considering the lethal nature of weapons in MC1.
What I'd do is have an advanced class starting at Judge Cadet which only went for a few levels, say 3. After that the Judge Prestige class would become available at level 4 where the cadet would have amassed several feats, adequate skill levels, Saves, and BAB necessary survive the mean streats of MC1.
By 4th level, a Judge Cadet would have several Character Level based bumps including a +1 Ability Score plus two bonus Feats acquired at levels 1 and 3. Now that accurately reflects the strenuous training cadets are supposed to receive from a very young age!
Now compress the Street Judge Prestige class into 10 levels opens up a lot of possibilities. The various other types of Judge: Tech, Psi, etc. could just as easily be developed.
Mechanically I'd like to see some of the other refinements we see in d20 Modern, particularly the differnetiation of Vitality and Wounds and an integrated luck/fate mechanic in a similar vane as Action Dice. In my own Dredd d20 games I awareded player characters a number of lucky breaks equal to their Character Level. I termed these breaks Nerve. By spending a point of Nerve a PC could add +1d6 to their d20 roll when attempting an attack/defense roll, save, ability score, or skill check. For any other die roll the expenditure of a point of Nerve allowed you to reroll an unfavorable roll. These were given out at the beginning of an adventure and re-earned every game session as an award for good roleplay, drama, creativity, heroics, (dark!) humor, etc.
Now before anybody thinks I'm a d20 Modern fan-boy lemme state not all is perfect with this engine, at least by my estimation. The wealth system in d20 Modern would need some tweaking and refinement. I think a similar, albeit simpler, mechanic would work for Cadets and Judges just fine. I'd rename it Resources since Judges don't really amass wealth but rather credibility and trust from one's superiors. The higher Resources the more access a Judge would have in calling in reinforcements, requisitioning special weapons and gear from R&D, and requesting upgrades to personal gear and transports.
I'd also probably scrap the six core character classes (Smart, Strong, Fast, Tough, etc.) on account they seem out of place with the environments of MC1 and I never much cared for the cookie-cutter results either. What I'd prefer is an origin or social class inspired take on the Core Classes such as streetrat, or dole recipient, middle class, nomad, undercity dweller, or wealthy elite. These would provide the basis of characters levels 1-10 with Advanced and Prestige Classes becoming available once the prerequisite BAB, saves, skills, and feat requirements are met.
Ah Heck! I've really rambled, sorry but I've been sitting on these noodlings for a couple of years now. A little less than a year ago I sold all of my Dredd d20 material to Titan Games. I was moving to Illinois and my game collection needed trimming for the sake of preserving the movers' backs. Dredd d20 ended up on the trade pile because of my many beefs with the 3.0 inspired mechanics and what I perceived as an undersupported game.
As always, Mr. Sprange and his mustellid cohorts are free to do as they see fit but if they want my business, and they should considering the slumping state of the pen & paper business, they'll have to make some tough decisions, hopefully they'll make the right one, IMO that is.
Happy gaming to all!
>>ReaperWolf
Let's face facts: the current iteration of Dredd is a little mucky in terms of mechanics which is no surprise considering the material reflects the state of d20 development more than five years ago. Since that time Mongoose has produced out some really outstanding OGL products namely Babylon 5 2nd edition and Conan: Atlantean Edition and all support material. Both of these lines, IMNSHO, reflect an evolutionary design principle at their core, particularly with the refinement of AC vs. Defense.
Now don't get me wrong! I've really enjoyed reading the Mongoose Dredd d20 fluff, some of it was nothing short of spectacular, but the mechanics always seemed a little underdeveloped, after all at the time of publication all's the Mongoosians had to go on was the 3.0 D&D Core Rulebooks 1-3 and we all know how frought with gaffs those books were!
Again, and this is only my opinion, the skills, feats, and mechanics in d20 Modern better reflect a more progressive take on the d20 engine and with the advent of Advanced Classes, there's lots of room for character development not requiring extremely high skill levels plus this solves the problem I saw with 1st level Judges.
Consider Judges as a core character class. The idea of a 1st level Judge is absolutely laughable because a 1st level character is little more than a teenager lacking any kind fo street cred, possessing pitiful skill levels, and no appreciable combat ability. True the Judge does possess a d12 Hit Die but even with the Toughness feat and a high Constitution you wouldn't get very far considering the lethal nature of weapons in MC1.
What I'd do is have an advanced class starting at Judge Cadet which only went for a few levels, say 3. After that the Judge Prestige class would become available at level 4 where the cadet would have amassed several feats, adequate skill levels, Saves, and BAB necessary survive the mean streats of MC1.
By 4th level, a Judge Cadet would have several Character Level based bumps including a +1 Ability Score plus two bonus Feats acquired at levels 1 and 3. Now that accurately reflects the strenuous training cadets are supposed to receive from a very young age!
Now compress the Street Judge Prestige class into 10 levels opens up a lot of possibilities. The various other types of Judge: Tech, Psi, etc. could just as easily be developed.
Mechanically I'd like to see some of the other refinements we see in d20 Modern, particularly the differnetiation of Vitality and Wounds and an integrated luck/fate mechanic in a similar vane as Action Dice. In my own Dredd d20 games I awareded player characters a number of lucky breaks equal to their Character Level. I termed these breaks Nerve. By spending a point of Nerve a PC could add +1d6 to their d20 roll when attempting an attack/defense roll, save, ability score, or skill check. For any other die roll the expenditure of a point of Nerve allowed you to reroll an unfavorable roll. These were given out at the beginning of an adventure and re-earned every game session as an award for good roleplay, drama, creativity, heroics, (dark!) humor, etc.
Now before anybody thinks I'm a d20 Modern fan-boy lemme state not all is perfect with this engine, at least by my estimation. The wealth system in d20 Modern would need some tweaking and refinement. I think a similar, albeit simpler, mechanic would work for Cadets and Judges just fine. I'd rename it Resources since Judges don't really amass wealth but rather credibility and trust from one's superiors. The higher Resources the more access a Judge would have in calling in reinforcements, requisitioning special weapons and gear from R&D, and requesting upgrades to personal gear and transports.
I'd also probably scrap the six core character classes (Smart, Strong, Fast, Tough, etc.) on account they seem out of place with the environments of MC1 and I never much cared for the cookie-cutter results either. What I'd prefer is an origin or social class inspired take on the Core Classes such as streetrat, or dole recipient, middle class, nomad, undercity dweller, or wealthy elite. These would provide the basis of characters levels 1-10 with Advanced and Prestige Classes becoming available once the prerequisite BAB, saves, skills, and feat requirements are met.
Ah Heck! I've really rambled, sorry but I've been sitting on these noodlings for a couple of years now. A little less than a year ago I sold all of my Dredd d20 material to Titan Games. I was moving to Illinois and my game collection needed trimming for the sake of preserving the movers' backs. Dredd d20 ended up on the trade pile because of my many beefs with the 3.0 inspired mechanics and what I perceived as an undersupported game.
As always, Mr. Sprange and his mustellid cohorts are free to do as they see fit but if they want my business, and they should considering the slumping state of the pen & paper business, they'll have to make some tough decisions, hopefully they'll make the right one, IMO that is.
Happy gaming to all!
>>ReaperWolf
