The Urge to Tinker

The clarification revision of Flying Swordsmen 2E is nearly done, though I haven't had a ton of time to work on it in the past week or so. I've been busy with work, family, and other duties, including organizing our local Busan Tabletop Gaming Convention (tentatively scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 30). More on that in a future post. 

Today, well, since yesterday really, I've had the bug to stop working on FS2E, and start a new project. Bad idea, I know. But Gamer ADD isn't just linked to wanting to run new campaigns and try new game systems. It has an effect on game design motivation as well. 

That new project? Well, it's actually an idea I've had in the back of my head for some time now. But my brain is telling me now is the time to work on it. And no, it's not the Castlevania megadungeon! I've got an odd sudden urge to try and reverse engineer an OSR version of d20 Modern. 

By that, I don't just mean take BX or AD&D or OD&D and add guns and cars and electronics. I want to take the ability score centered Base Class/specialized Advanced Class system of d20 Modern and peel away the skills, the feats, and limit the talents. I want to make something that has similar, but simpler, character creation, but gives the freedom to mix classes and backgrounds to be able to emulate nearly any contemporary (or recent past/near future) type of character. 

I don't think it would be that hard. I would keep some "skills" in the game, but they would be more like demi-human abilities or Thief skills in BX/BECMI. They'd be set by your Background and Class(es), and the Class granted ones would likely improve as you level. The Talents would be simplified, and would be used to specialize in the things that each class does normally. 

I know that Everyday Heroes gave d20 Modern the 5E treatment, updating it to play like the currently published version of D&D. I'd like to do the same, only going the opposite direction: a d20 Modern game that plays like old school D&D. 

I'll try to hold off on that urge for now. I do want to get this revision to Flying Swordsmen done, and then suspend my TS&R campaign for a month or two to play test it. Once that's done, maybe this OSR Modern idea can take up space in my brain. Either that, or (as some people have requested), make an "Arabian Nights" expansion to Treasures, Serpents, & Ruins. 

And thinking about it, would this OSR Modern game be an expansion to TS&R as well? I don't see why it couldn't. That would simplify many things for me on the design end.