Modular Game X

I kind of like universal systems. The reason for this is that frankly, I don’t really like systems that much. So what I need a system to do is 1) meet the basic requirements of tone and mood that I have, or at least be easily modifiable with simple house rules to accommodate a range of tone and mood, 2) have a universal task resolution mechanic so that I’m not actually concerned much about the system, because I know that there’s a consistent mechanic that I can apply no matter what is happening in game without having to look something up, and 3) be robust and flexible enough to cover any genre or campaign that I would conceivably want to run.

Universal systems have a long history in the industry, even though my exposure to them is relatively more limited, because TSR didn’t ever do them. When TSR wanted to do new genres, they wrote completely different games that had no compatibility between each other or with their flagship D&D. So, for instance, we got the completely unrelated games of Star Frontiers, Boot Hill, Gangbusters, Top Secret, Gamma World, etc. Chaosium developed a system for RuneQuest that they later adapted to every other game that they did, on the other hand, backdooring their way into a universal system in the form of Basic Roleplaying (BRP), a skill-based percentile roll-under system. GURPS was developed a bit later specifically to be a one size fits all system, although like BRP was originally based on a fantasy game, The Fantasy Trip. I don’t hear much about GURPS these days, but that may be as much a factor of where I hang out in online RPG space as much as anything else. GURPS had, at least briefly, a lot of good notoriety as having released so many different types of setting and source books that you could do all kinds of things with it.

More recently, Savage Worlds seems to have gained a fair bit of steam as a generic engine that many settings, including third parties have used. It may be more my style than d20 at least in some ways, but my main go-to for generic engines has always been d20 Modern. I’m not actually super interested in playing d20 Modern again, but I’m remembering why I loved it once upon a time. Some twelve or so years ago, I was still remarking on how wonderful I thought it was that such a thing existed. And I still believe that, although I no longer believe that the very clunky and chunky d20 system is the right answer for me. D20 Modern was saddled with one of the least interesting names ever released (I guess Basic Roleplaying is arguably worse) as well as one that isn’t really accurate. But I don’t know that d20 One Size Fits All really works, just because it’s more accurate. Back in the day, I used d20 Modern for a number of things; I played in more than one campaign or game that were actually modern spy/supernatural thrillers, kind of like a more action-packed X-files (obviously right up my alley) or even almost Cthulhu-like. As an aside, I also have the d20 Cthulhu book. It’s a great book. Probably my favorite single game book, actually. But it’ superfluous. You can do everything it does already with d20 Modern.† I also ran, a few times, even, the classic Dark•Matter scenario "Exit 23" with d20 Modern several times as a one-shot convention game. D20 Modern had two official settings released for it; Urban Arcana, which was just "modern D&D" and which wasn’t super interesting, honestly, and Dark•Matter, which was a reworking of the classic Alternity setting, which was pretty popular. But there were a number of campaign models that were kind of like Cliff’s Notes of settings, as well as the various Polyhedron minigames that were all based on d20 Modern, showing that you could do sword & planet, giant combat robot piloting, Raiders of the Lost Ark style pulp adventuring, X-files or Cthulhu like supernatural investigation/horror, and even groovy Josie & the Pussy-cats or Scooby-doo inspired Hanna-Barbera 70s hijinks. (Literally. Hi-jinx was the name of that minigame.) d20 Future also essentially brought space opera Star*Drive and Star Frontiers to d20 Modern, and d20 Apocalypse plus the Omega World minigame brought Gamma World and other gonzo post apocalyptic stuff too. (Or less gonzo, if all you want is more The Road Warrior.) d20 Modern could do it all.

I’ve decided that it would be cool to create the X-game. A generic version of DFX that could, by layering in different modules, become Dark Fantasy X, Space Opera X, High Fantasy X (formerly Elemental Fantasy X), Old West X, Cthulhu X, Espionage X, or whatever else I wanted it to be. It’d be the rules-light equivalent that I always wanted to d20 Modern. And, ironically, all d20 material would be pretty much useable without even needing conversion right at the table as is, so any spells, monsters, or whatever can be used if I need them right off the bat. All of the m20 stuff would also be useable as is; I just have a few more abilities and skills than most m20 games, but otherwise, my system is almost identical. The differences are down to tone and mood rules, which could all be modular. I'd have a base rules game, similar to DFX but shorter, since it wouldn't have magic, equipment, most of the monsters & other foes listings, or the fantasy races, sanity, etc. and then the specifically DFX stuff could be a module, along with all of those other modules, which would be house rules and additional material that made it work for the setting or genre or tone. For example Cthulhu X would also need sanity rules, while Space Opera X would need cyborg equipment and spaceships, etc.

The banners below aren't meant to be exhaustive, I could potentially add a Gangsters X, a Cyberpunk X, Musketeers X, a Pirates X, or even a Like Zoinks X... although I have no immediate plans to do any of those. I may not need to; by the time I get to Pirates X, I may have so many appropriate rules already in place that there's no point in calling it out, for instance. But again, the point is I can do anything I ever want to with this game. It will, in time eclipse DFX, and DFX will be a module within it, but only one. 

I feel like this is a little bit of a crazy change of direction for me to go with this, but at the same time; it won't actually be too hard given that so much of the material is already there, I just need to reorganize it. And when it's done, holy cow, the possibilities!

† A lot of people seem to struggle with this idea. But, there’s classes! Levels! High power! Frankly, this is stupid. Wizards of the Coast have been pretty up-front that even in D&D almost nobody plays characters higher than 7th level, and hardly any campaigns ever get into that range. If this is true for D&D, it should be even more true for Cthulhu. And if you’re only playing at low levels and low power, just because it’s d20 doesn’t mean that it’s high powered. That’s idiotic. If you play at 1-2 level, your Cthulhu d20 characters are actually lower powered and more fragile than BRP Cthulhu characters. If you play at around level 3-5 or so, you’re in the same range. If you’re playing at level 6+ and are complaining about how powerful your characters are, you have only yourself to blame.