The Antithesis of DIY

 A few days ago, I came home from work to find my wife had spent most of the day watching YouTube videos about how to leverage AI into making extra income. She has some ideas of how to use AI to advertise the small business she's trying to start up. I don't begrudge her that, as we definitely don't have a budget for advertising. But she was pretty insistent that I should also use AI to help me produce and market my RPG products. 

I'm not a fan of "AI" as it currently stands. As I often say, it's very artificial and not very intelligent. I will admit, though, that the current crop of LLMs are MUCH better than just a year or two ago, at producing some simulacrum of human output. 

We've probably all seen examples of AI generated text that is impressive, and some that is not. Similar with images and video clips. Flynn often uses AI to generate pictures of his RPG characters. It's not that he doesn't have artistic talent, but the AI saves him a lot of time on something that isn't that important to him. He likes having a cool picture, but not enough to spend days or even weeks creating it. Again, I don't have a problem with that. It's for his personal use, not anything he's trying to sell. 

When it comes to producing content, though, even if it's something to be given away, I don't want to let AI do my creating for me. Ted posted a great essay on AI in RPGs the other day, conveniently. I'm in agreement with him. Yes, an AI could write, illustrate, and probably even format your RPG for you. I've been working on Missions & Mayhem for months now. Since last November or December, I forget exactly when I started (I should check my old blog posts). I spent most of 2025 working on the second edition of Flying Swordsmen, converting it to the d6 system. [It's still coming! Eventually...] I could have completed both of these projects months ago if I'd allowed AI to do the work for me. 

But would they be any good? Would they play well at the table, the way I want them to play? I doubt it. And would I actively turn off a portion of the RPG community by doing so? I'm pretty sure I would. 

The OSR and the Indie game scene both thrive on the DIY spirit. And generative AI is the antithesis of DIY. It's the ultimate plagiarism machine. 

Now, does AI have its uses? Yes. I admit to using a couple of AI generated images in my TS&R monster books. The elementals in TS&R Ruby for example. I couldn't find good images in the public domain. And when I tried modifying some images with GIMP, they looked like crap. Take a look at the golem illustration to see how bad I am at this stuff...although the golems came out looking much better than the elementals I tried to make did. But I state that up front in the front matter of the book, and it's a Pay What You Want title. Don't want to pay for something that has even 1 AI generated image in it? Then don't. Download it for free. 

Working on Missions & Mayhem, AI search has saved me a lot of time with gear and vehicle pricing. I don't need to sort through pages and pages of sales sites or whatever to see how much a fire extinguisher or a speed boat should cost. The AI assisted search can give me a plausible average price. I could make up a number, but this way I've got something reasonable. The game text itself, the rules and mechanics, I'm writing all of that myself.  

What's the difference? Well, in one instance AI is saving me a bit of time to provide a number that isn't super relevant to game play. In the other instance, AI would be doing my thinking and expressing of the ideas for me. One is lazy, the other is cheating. I'll admit to laziness, but I'm not about to ask people for money on something I'm cheating to produce. 

My wife was baffled (to get back to her). I had to explain the whole DIY ethos to her, and how using AI to crank out a bunch of slop game rules or adventure modules would turn a segment of the gaming population away from my work. 

I'm already producing games in a niche (Asian-themed fantasy, or Modern day action genre) of a niche (old school rules) of a niche hobby (RPGs). Yeah, there are the Shadowdarks making millions on Kickstarter and whatnot. And if I were to run a Kickstarter for M&M or FS2E, I'd only be shooting for a few thousand to help pay for art and layout/editing. I could probably make that happen. But I suck at promotion. 

Chanbara has been available for eight years now, and it's only an Electrum seller on DTRPG. My wife suggested I use AI to strategize marketing for it, M&M, and eventually FS2E. I might end up doing that, as it's really not my forte. I'm more of an Arneson than a Gygax.  

But I'm also now more committed to DIYing my games. 

I still plan to pay a few artists for artwork for Missions & Mayhem. But I'm also thinking I should just do a bunch of art myself. It won't be great, but it will be real art by a real human being.  My game may not be slick and polished with my own artwork gracing its pages, but it will be real. 

Busan Con 2026 Day 2

 The second day of the 2026 Busan Con was yesterday (Sunday), and I had a full day. 

The first games started at 9:30. I was in an indie game called Goblin Quest. Matt was the GM (although the game says it can be played GM-less) and guided us through making our five goblins each, creating the quest we would go on, and then adjudicating the wacky hijinx we got into on the way. None of my goblins survived, but we managed to complete the quest just slightly over the time limit, and had a lot of laughs along the way. It's obviously a very narrative first/improv RPG, with lots of stuff decided on the fly and super simple rules. 

Fellow players included Elyse (my friend, who plays CoC and sometimes D&D with us), McKayla (who played in M&M the day before), Leo (who I'd met the day before and said M&M was a good idea to fill the niche of modern-era non-horror RPGs), and another guy whose name I've already forgotten but who only lost one goblin the whole adventure. 

After a too short lunch break, it was time for my Star Wars d6 game. Charles (one of my regulars), Ling (who played in my Classic D&D game last Fall), Jacob and Cindy (a couple who I just met) were my players. Rowan, one of the organizers of the con, was scheduled to play, but she was exhausted and over-stimulated so bowed out that the last minute, and I don't blame her.  

The adventure was the Coruscant Grand Ball, an adventure I'd originally run four years ago with my regular group. Charles hadn't joined us yet, so it was OK for him to play. He'd wanted to play in my M&M game on Saturday, but he'd just run through that one two weeks or so ago. 

The adventure played out pretty differently from the first go around. I made a few changes, as well. Instead of "social combat" I made a chart of the three suitors' attitudes towards the five debutantes, and their pre-scripted interactions were set, but then PC actions could countermand or enhance the effects of the events that were scripted to play out. 

This group of players actually spent a lot more time BEFORE the event, trying to tarnish the reputation of the other debutantes or learn what might help endear Marjon the Hutt to the other suitors. I had to shorten the interactions of the Ball itself in order to fit into the time slot. I also dropped the Zygerian slaver attack, although I had that waiting in the wings. 

In the end, everyone had a good time (and too much Tattooine Spice), and we never had a combat. Also, yes, they got Marjon to dance with the hunky Togruta playboy, rather than the nerdy Bith artist or the biz-bro Arcona exec's son. 

We had a bit more break time before the evening game, so I went to a nice Japanese restaurant nearby. Rowan and two of her friends dropped in when I was halfway through my gyudon, so I joined them and we discussed Stranger Things Season 5 as we ate. They had very different takes on the season than me, mainly stemming from the lazy writing (which I agreed with) and their disappointment with the teased Will-Mike romance never happening (something I didn't think the writers were actually teasing, but that's my straight perspective vs their LBGTQ+ perspectives). Despite the disagreements, we had a civil discussion. 

Anyway, on to the final game. Richard (our usual Keeper) ran Call of Cthulhu. I pulled up one of my old characters who'd survived and not gone mad, the rum-runner Monte Perrineau. Fellow players included Rowan, Chris (who works at the same uni as me, but we've strangely never played an RPG together until last night), Keith (who ran Cyberpunk for me last fall and in Daegu last year for Flynn) and his girlfriend Cray (who was also in the Cyberpunk game), and Alan (who I've been acquainted with through Halloween events for quite a few years, and who delivered a big box of 1/72 miniature knights and a castle to me on Saturday so we can maybe play some Chainmail at a future event). 

We all did our best to stay in character, using our funny voices. I was exhausted from the long day, and still a bit jet lagged from our recent trip to the USA, so I struggled a bit, but managed to stay awake through the whole game. Rowan was also yawning a lot at the end. But we managed to "solve" the mystery, rescue Rowan's character's friend, and only Alan's doctor went a little crazy. It was a good time, but it finished at 11pm. Long day. 

Scott and Shane had been giving out tokens all through the two days, and had prizes that could be purchased. I had one after the CoC game, and got a capsule with a bunch more tokens. That got me an RPG setting book I'll probably never use (for 5E) and a set of mini dice. 

And that's about it for the con. A successful event, and much bigger than the one Justin and I put on last fall.  

Success!

 Day 1 of the 2026 Busan Con has come to a close. I didn't have any games in the morning, because I was thinking I'd either be too tired from my trip to the USA, or I'd want to go see The Mandalorian and Grogu. Well, M&G doesn't open until next Wednesday in Korea, but I was kinda tired. So it's a good thing I didn't sign up for any morning games.  

I did show up early, and talked to some fellow gamers. After lunch, and a bit more chatting, my Missions & Mayhem game started. I had three players: Jonathan (who also goes by JB, but not the BX Blackrazor JB), McKayla, and Sterling. Sterling was playing his second ever session of an RPG, after his first during the morning session. I'd met Jonathan last fall and knew McKayla was there although I didn't get to talk to her then.  

I'd sent them five pre-gen characters to choose from, and they all had one they liked decided. We spent some time going over the basics of the game, and they had some questions (including some that suggest improvements I could make to the game). When they were ready, I gave them the premise of the scenario I'd prepared (they were all psychics trapped in a government research facility, and suddenly their power-dampening collars all switched off -- Go!). 

It played out very differently than when I ran the adventure with my regular group, which is no surprise. It's not a railroad adventure. Sterling, after it was done, even commented that it was a lot more open and less structured (narratively) than his morning game. There was investigation, there were crazy schemes, there was a bit of combat, there were attempts to manipulate, and of course plenty of use of the psychic powers. 

The players weren't really in a situation where they could use the I Know a Guy rule (although they loved the concept!), but they did use the Gamble mechanic a lot. McKayla used five out of six ability scores to gamble along the way, and Jonathan and Sterling each used three (I think). 

The psychic powers were useful, but definitely not overpowered at low level. They only had 2d4 rolls for activation, so only the lower two tiers of effect were possible without a gamble and a lucky throw...although McKayla pulled that one off. 

The combat was also fun, as they didn't only swing and do damage. They used a combination of normal attacks, subdual unarmed strikes, psychic powers, and special maneuvers during the fight. That shows me the game can be dynamic in combat, not just roll to hit, roll for damage ad nauseam.  

They did not escape from Facility 826 in the end, but the ending to the adventure they did get was satisfying (the 'bad guy' trying to recruit them into his psychic strike force), and the twist [no, not gonna tell you what it is] was a surprise but also made other things make sense to them. So that also went well. 

The feedback from the players was positive. They thought the game was simple to explain, easy to understand the mechanics - especially after they started playing, and they liked how it fit together. They also liked how the mechanics seem to fit the mood of an action flick. Before the game started, talking to some other gamers, one guy mentioned that he didn't know of many modern era RPGs that weren't supernatural or zombie themed. He thought this was a good niche to fill. 

I've got some good notes for more changes (streamlining) and I'll hopefully get those into the playtest document soon. 

Busan Con 2026 is coming up

The next game con is right around the corner. 

I'm heading back to the USA in two days, for my son's high school graduation. I'll get back the following Thursday evening, and the con is on Saturday and Sunday. I didn't sign up for any Saturday morning games just in case a) I'm still jet lagged and b) I don't feel up to seeing The Mandalorian and Grogu on Friday. If I'm too jet lagged on Friday to see the movie, I'll rest up and see it Saturday morning. If I can see it on Friday, I'll ease into gaming on Saturday. 

Oh, if anyone's curious about the variety of games and workshops on offer this time, here's the website. 

 This event is being organized by Scott and Rowan, who organized the Daegu One-Shot Extravaganza last year, and gave Justin and I some assists last fall with our own con. 

I'm running Star Wars d6 and Missions & Mayhem. I just finished up the M&M pre-gens this afternoon. The adventures for both are also ready.  I'll be playing in a game called Goblin Quest, which sounds silly and similar in premise to Kobolds Ate My Baby, and also in Richard's Call of Cthulhu game. 

 There are quite a few games on offer that I'd like to try out, but most of them are at the same time as the games I'm running. Next fall, if Justin and I run another con (we probably will) I may limit myself to just one game as GM so I can play a bit more. And that game may be an Arneson-inspired Chainmail tabletop game (more competitive adventure than wargame?) as one of the new folks (well, I know him from Trunk-or-Treat events) is interested in some wargaming, and I know Peter and Justin are as well.  

Rebuilding Chesterton's Fence

 There's been a lot of discussion lately in various (mainly political/economic) news & commentary that I consume lately. If you don't know, Chesterton's Fence is the idea that you don't tear down a fence unless you understand why that fence was put up in the first place. I'll let you draw your own conclusions to what self-styled super-genius's actions the media I was consuming was referencing to (there's more than one, to be honest). 

In terms of D&D and other RPGs, this is solid advice. We often, especially those of us in the OSR and the weird confluence of OSR and indie/narrative/story-first gaming circles, tell new GMs to "homebrew to make it your own game" or roll out adages like "rulings over rules." But if you don't know why those rules were there in the first place, you're likely to do more damage than improvement. 

I watched this video about improving 5E play earlier today. I'm still involved in two play-by-post 5E games (same GM), but I don't have much interest in the game itself these days. Still haven't bothered to look at the 5.5E rules yet. But at the same time, it's good to have some idea of that play culture. Especially in light of the (now cancelled, unfortunately) GM workshop I was preparing for.  

If you don't want to watch, he's talking about how the 5E "long rest" mechanic takes away tension and resource management, and ways to bring those back by limiting or putting conditions on the long rests. No arguments, no notes. He's right. If you want to play 5E, those are good things to do. 

While watching the video, I couldn't stop thinking of how WotC tore down Chesterton's Fence when they made 3E D&D and their subsequent versions either because they just didn't know what they were doing, or because there was pressure from players to take out the "suck" from the game. Actually, this may have started with TSR people in the late 80s/early 90s, around the time of 2E AD&D now that I think of it. I guess there's just been an accumulation of Chesterton's Fences being kicked down in the game over the decades.

And now, the younger generation is rebuilding some of those fences. It makes me happy to see that. Gygax and Arneson, for all their faults, ended up designing a great little game. And a lot of the decisions they made way back in the early 70s were integral to good game play. Resource management (including rests) may be boring and sometimes tedious, and it may not be something that emulates the heroic fantasy fiction that inspires our games. But without it, where's the game? 

A Game-Full Weekend (plus!)

 It is Tuesday, May 5th. Cinco de Mayo, but also Children's Day in Korea and Japan. A public holiday. Yesterday (May the Fourth) I had to work, but today was a day off. And we just finished up a really fun Star Wars d6 session a couple of hours ago. 

But before I get to that, I got a lot of writing done on Missions & Mayhem over the weekend.  I did a little bit of editing of the main rules, but mainly I was working on the next campaign module, Bughunts & Bedlam which covers military-adjacent, horror-adjacent sci fi like the Alien series, Starship Troopers, the Ender books (and movie), and games like Contra, Doom, Xenophobe (remember that one?), Halo, and countless others. I finished up the advanced classes (Agent, Cosmosoldier, Planetologist, Space Cowboy, and Xenologist), got started on weapons and gear, and wrote rules for androids. 

On Sunday, Justin, Steven and I joined Peter for a game of BattleTech: Alpha Strike.  None of us had played before, so we stuck to the quickstart rules. It was pretty easy to get into, and not overly complex like the full BattleTech game is (or so I've heard). I ended up winning by getting both of my objective tokens off the board first, but it was close. The mech with the second token was drawing lots of fire, and all its armor was gone. It had three points of body integrity left, and Justin failed to kill me in the second to last round. I failed initiative every round, meaning I got to go first (there's advantage to move after everyone else has) and get my damaged mech off the board. Justin shared some pictures: 

 It was fun, and hopefully we can play it again. But we also want to play more Mutant Year Zero Zone Wars, and more Stargrave. And Peter suggested trying Bolt Action next time. 

 In a related note, yesterday I was chatting with an acquaintance about the upcoming Busan Con (May 23-24). He was asking if there were any wargames scheduled. I said I was thinking about running some Chainmail next time (next Fall, probably), and he said he has over 300 1/72 scale Medieval knights/warriors we could use. I've got plenty of 1/72 scale warriors, wizards, and monsters, so we may make something of this. 

And finally, today's Star Wars d6 game (It is Revenge of the Fifth, today!).  The timeline is now shortly after the Battle of Endor. The last time we played (quite a long time ago), the guys suggested that going after the Imperial Remnant would be fun. So I made an adventure where a mysterious Alliance spy named Fulcrum* sent them on a mission to recover a Jedi Holocron from a remote Imperial base that has been understaffed due to the losses at Endor. 

They came up with a good enough plan to get in, but then came up with (and a lucky die roll improved) a second plan, which they implemented to get in easily. Once in, Michel the Jedi (Steven's character) sensed the holocron in the center of the structure. They managed to sneak in easily enough, avoiding security, then found out the holocron was guarded by a rancor! 

After quite a few useless blaster and slugthrower shots, Michel the Jedi got a lucky roll (and an unlucky damage resistance roll by the rancor) and slew the beast with a single stroke of his lightsaber! He had a 6 on the wild die for the damage roll, I got a 1 on the wild die for the resistance roll. And my other dice were low. They had tripped an alarm, so had to fight a few battles with stormtroopers (stun grenades made it pretty easy), and managed to get away. 

Now they're deciding if they want to keep the holocron or turn it over to Fulcrum.

Peter joined us for this game, and Jada was playing d6 Star Wars for the first time (she's not really into SW, but she's seen a few movies). They both got the rules easily, and enjoyed the game. And both of them came up with some good ideas during the game that definitely helped. 

Back to work tomorrow, but it's been a fun and game-filled weekend and a day.  

 

 

*Yes, if you've watched Rebels, that Fulcrum! 

Bad News

Not terrible news, but nonetheless, the New GM Workshop at the 2026 Busan Con has been cancelled. 

Two of the four "expert GMs" had to drop the event, so the host decided it wasn't worth holding it. 

I was looking forward to it, but since I'll be getting off a plane two days before the event starts, and I've got other things to prepare for my own games, maybe it's just as well. I've got my Missions & Mayhem adventure ready, but I still need to make some player aids. And I need to make a few more edits to my Star Wars adventure so it's not exactly the same as when I ran it for my players. 

The Extent of West Marches Exploration

West Marches Map as of Jan 8th,  2022

1. Silverwood (the home town) on the Gallandus River

2. Scorpion Shrine (Goblin Hills)

3. Moon Temple (White Woods)

4. Sahuagin Lair (White Woods)

5. The Caves of Chaos (Goblin Hills)

6. Centaur/Green Flame Temple (Tiger Home)

7. Long Cliff (Whispering Forest)

8. Abandoned Elven Outpost (Black Woods)

9. Border of Dead Woods (Dead Woods)

10. Chimera Shrine (Dead Woods

11. Neanderthal Village (Hellhorse Plains)

12. Quasqueton (Cloud Lands)

13. Ruins where tribal dragonborn camp (North Moor)

14. Haunted House (Dead Woods)

15. Mimir’s Well (Dead Woods)

16. Knight’s Pavilion Encampment/Endless Tournament (Far Downs)

17. Blue Dragon (deceased)’s Lair (Far Downs)

18. The Hall of Power (The Folded Lands)

19. Gemstone Tree (Black Woods)

20. Elven Spire in Quicksand Mire (Goblin Hills)

21. Twin Isle Lake (Hellhorse Plains)

22. Dark Druid Circle (Haunted Woods)

23. The Moathouse (Haunted Woods)

24. Obsidian Ridges (The Folded Lands)

25. Fairy Kingdom of King Louhi (White Woods)

26. Ruins of Xak Tsaroth (Voodoo Bayou)

27. Centaur Ranch (Tiger Home)

28. Dragon Hill (Hellhorse Plains)

29. Cyclopskin Trading Post (Hellhorse Plains)

30. Aboleth Ford, Dragontail River (Far Downs)

31. Boiling Lake (Folded Lands)

32. Petrified Forest (Cloud Lands)

33. Pavillion (Whispering Forest)

34. Hobgoblin Castle (Whispering Forest)

35. Cloud Lake Monastery (Cloud Lands)

36. Non-Euclidean Fortress (Cloud Lands)

37. Haunted Lodge (Brooding Forest)

38. Forgotten Chapel (South Prairie)

39. Halfling Village (South Prairie)

40. Red Feather Elf Tribe (Elfin Vale)

41. The Gates of Barovia (Brooding Forest)

42. Cozy Cottage (Brooding Forest)

43. Ancient Amphitheatre (Hellhorse Plains)

44. CCCP Obelisk (Voodoo Bayou)

45. White Plume Mountain (Whitebeard Range)

Lessons Learned Running West Marches

Long-time WaHNtHaC... readers will remember that from 2018 to 2022, I ran a West Marches campaign. The other day, some folks in the TTRPG Finder: Korea Edition group chat (KakaoTalk...it's like What'sApp for Koreans) were talking about West Marches, asking if anyone was currently running one. I of course mentioned that I had run one, but I don't have the time to start it up again. 

It did get me thinking about the campaign I did run, though. I've been going over what I did right, what I did wrong, what I did different than Mr. Robbins' original WM campaign that worked, and how I might do it again if I were to do it again. I'm sure a lot of this is in the various posts I made about the campaign over the years. I should probably read over those posts myself. I'm sure they'll jog a few memories. 

Well, I'll get what I'm thinking down now, and maybe edit in some insights if I find time to re-read those old posts. These are in no particular order, just as they come to mind. 

Change: I'm not a bachelor in my 20s working a McJob. I've got a wife, kids, and a sometimes demanding job. The original WM campaign happened when a group of players got together, picked a time that worked for them and the DM, and made it happen. Not so for my game. It happened on my schedule.  That meant bi-weekly in-person games (usually every other Sunday), and occasionally (regularly during the pandemic) online games using Roll20. This meant that the player planning aspect of the original game was lost, and I tended to have a stable core of players that attended most sessions, but it still worked out OK in the end. 

Mistake: Starting the campaign with 5E. Not that there's anything wrong with 5E per se (yeah, some people will argue that point), but I wasn't an expert on all the spells, monsters, etc. I picked it because it was the current edition and I knew I could get players for that. But in the end, all the feats, spells, class abilities, monster abilities, and whatnot that I couldn't recall from memory slowed down the game and made it a pain in the ass to prep for. 

Correction: Switching to Treasures, Serpents, & Ruins (basically BECMI with my house rules) made it something I was much more familiar with, easier to prep, and easier to run at the table. Yeah, I lost a few players, but gained a few players as well. And I enjoyed it a whole lot more that way. 

Lesson: Next time, start with a system I know well. With random encounter tables being a big part of the game, and a rotating cast of players/characters, I need to know the system much better. Yesterday, I was even considering using BECMI/RC (minus the weapon mastery rules) to make it even simpler for players to drop in, roll up a PC, and game.

Change: Ben Robbins would provide the players with the AC and hit points of creatures they were fighting. I didn't do that. Even with 5E rules, which are a bit more tactical, I kept those secret. And the game worked just fine. 

Mistake: Working inside out. Obviously, I started preparing content for stuff close to the starting town (mine is called Silverwood), and prepping areas further out as we went along. I'd try to stay at least a session's worth of play ahead of the players. The problem is, not knowing exactly what was further out made it hard to include clues to things farther on in the Marches. I was often dropping rumors when the PCs went back to town, rather than letting them discover clues within the locations they were exploring. 

Lesson: Work outside in, at least on the big picture. THEN work inside out to flesh things out. If I do this again, I'll create a map and note the dungeons and special locations throughout it FIRST. All I really need to know is their location and a general idea of what they're about. Then I can plant seeds in areas closer to home that lead the PCs to explore further. 

My abandoned plan for a East Marches (using TS&R Jade) was started this way. I've got a map with dungeons and special locations scattered all through it, all named and with a bit of description. Of course, I used some of them in my current campaign, so if I did restart that project, my current players might be bored going over dungeons they've already pillaged. 

Change: Safe Havens. Rather than enforce a return to Silverwood at the end of every session, I had certain areas that could be found (or converted) into safe havens, where a session could end outside of town.  The next session, different PCs might be in the party, but we didn't worry about "continuity errors" like that. It allowed the players more confidence to explore, knowing they would only have to retreat a short distance to the closest safe haven at the end of a session, rather than save time to get all the way back to town. 

Lesson: I dropped a lot of TSR modules in my West Marches. Quasqueton (B1), the Caves of Chaos (B2), the Moathouse (T1), Castle Ravenloft (I6), White Plume Mountain (S2), the Steading of the Hill Giant Chief (G1), Xak Tsaroth (DL1), and plans to use more (like placing the Tomb of Horrors somewhere!). I wouldn't say it was a mistake using these module dungeons. We had some great sessions exploring them. But at the same time, having these generally large dungeons meant multiple sessions would be spent on them. And the PCs didn't always want to get to a safe haven to continue their explorations. So I broke the rule of always ending a session in Silverwood or a safe haven several times. 

If I were doing this again, I'd skip the modules. Sure, they allowed me to get a lot of content in one hex, and the players did have fun exploring them. But smaller dungeons specific to the campaign are better and easier to implement.  

Improvement: In addition to XP for creatures slain and XP for treasure (at least after switching to TS&R), I included XP for exploration. Every new hex explored, every hex crossed (explored or otherwise), and each dungeon or special location found were all worth XP. And the XP awards scaled up the farther out the PCs went. What I could have done better, and will strive to do better if I run this gain, is telegraph these awards more. Often, I'd just tally all the XP for a session at the end and award it, rather than let the players know how much was from each of the three sources. I think if they'd known how much pure exploration gained them, they might have pressed deeper into the "white space" on the map. 

Swingy Combat, Dependable Skills

 The latest round of feedback from play-testing Missions & Mayhem has got me thinking. 

 We played with psychic characters from the Cryptids & Conspiracy rules, so I could get an idea how easily they play out. 

The psychic powers have an activation roll (rather than being spell points as in d20 Modern). All the PCs were using lower level psychics, so 2d4 rolls. The psychic powers are all tiered effects, so the higher you roll the stronger the effect you can produce (but you can select a lower level if you want). 2d4 means only the two lowest levels could be rolled. The abilities can be used at will, but if you roll snake eyes the power shuts off for that game day. 

I think the powers worked OK. The players were trying to use them as much as possible, and they were useful, but not overpowered. I'll play test again with higher level (2d6 or 2d8 level activation) later to see how that works out. 

There was some confusion related to the character sheet. I made the pre-gens for this session, and put the psychic powers in with Talents (class/level based special abilities). But the 2dX roll mechanic is the same as for Proficiencies, not Talents. So I think I need to make an official "psychic" character sheet to mark those off separately and make it easier to find/understand. 

There was a bit of discussion of a sheet like Mothership uses, where it basically walks you through character generation right on the sheet. I don't think I want something that cluttered or with that much fine print on it. But the sheet could definitely be reworked to differentiate things. One player did say that they thought the sheet was perfect for the game right now, though.

The other big bit of feedback was a question about why combat uses a d20 (to hit, saving throws) but proficiencies and psychic powers use 2dX. Would it be simpler to have a unified mechanic, as with many popular OSR games out there now? 

That's something to think about. d20 Modern, of course, uses the WAY too swingy d20 for everything. This is one of the reasons I wanted to "OSR" the game to begin with. 

I like the d20 for combat. Will you hit or miss? It's a gamble. Even at higher levels, it's still fairly common to miss or fail a save. That adds uncertainty and excitement to combat. 

General actions (skills/tasks), however, are an area where I generally don't think swingy resolution aids the game. I've been in too many d20 system games over the years (including 4E, 5E, and PF in this) where the GM called for a skill check for something fairly mundane (yes, there's the taking 10 and taking 20 rules, I remember) and low rolls led to a failure. 

Or the DC for a task is ridiculously high because someone's got a +14 bonus to the roll, but no one else has better than a +2 so everyone but that one PC is guaranteed to fail. 

So, I like the 2dX resolution for actions involving the general proficiencies. The bell curve distribution means more consistency with these tasks, at least when the difficulty number is lower. I doubt I'll change any of this, but I can explain it better in the rules. 

I am considering simplifying the list even more, though. Some areas might break down, as distinctions get lost. But do I really need separate proficiencies for Drive and Pilot? Maybe you can only "pilot" at 2d6 or 2d8 level proficiency, otherwise it's just driving? 

For Mechanical (repair/building) and Electronics (repair/building)? And Infiltration is basically picking locks and disarming traps/security devices. All three of these could be folded into one proficiency, if I wanted. It would simplify things a bit, but having granularity of skill between mechanical and electronics makes sense to me.   

So, some food for thought.  

Representing the OSR

Next month, Scott, Rowan and Shane are hosting Busan Con 2026, a two-day (maybe three with the Buddha's birthday being a holiday on that Monday) event. Aside from volunteering to help out with whatever needs doing, I'll be running a Star Wars d6 game for sure (This is the May), and probably a Missions & Mayhem game if I can get something together in time. The deadline to sign up to run games in the 19th. 

A guy named Dave, who I've only interacted with online, wants to run a workshop for new GMs. He asked for any experienced GMs to volunteer to be on his panel. It seems like most folks in and around Busan these days run very story-centric games, whether they're using 5E, PF2E, Daggerheart, or any of a myriad of indie games. And most people who'd sign up to share their GMing wisdom would be in that school of gaming. I signed up to be the OSR guy on the panel. 

Unlike some die hard OSR folks, I don't mind the more story-focused gaming crowd. It's not exactly my thing, as I've blogged about before. But at the same time, I see lots of people having fun with a game that prioritizes the PCs' character growth and playing out a storyline. Honestly, my Star Wars game has been fairly story-oriented, although not so much about a PC living out their "story." Missions & Mayhem is also very mission based, obviously, so each session I'm pretty much dropping the players into an ongoing story. I'm not demanding any particular sort of ending for the missions, though. That's up to the players to determine. 

For the workshop, Dave and I chatted a bit yesterday. He said he'd like each GM on the panel to give a 7-8 minute presentation on their DMing style, then he'll have us field some questions from him, then open it up to the audience. And if there's time, maybe one of the GMs can run a quick impromptu game with the folks to show off their style. 

Being an OSR representative, I'll probably be focused on the notion that sandbox play doesn't need tons of prep like many people think. Random tables and stocking procedures can save you a lot of time. And making an open world with situations, rather than story lines. I'll probably also get in a bit about backstory getting in the way of action, and how Gygax is reputed to have said something like "The first three levels of your PC ARE your backstory." 

I should look up to see what Gygax's actual quote was, or if that's even something he said and not just internet apocrypha.  

It should be fun! 

Runaround and a Red Herring Avoided

Just finished up a session of Missions & Mayhem: Cryptids & Conspiracy. 

The mission was to investigate strange things going on in a small Indiana town. Why Indiana? Well, first of all I went to college there so it's an area I know well. Second, Indiana is sort of the liminal space of U.S. states. It's just so bloody normal that you know weird things have got to be going on there. 

Anyway, for this mission, there were obvious attempts by the shadowy conspiracy group to divert them from their mission. Also, competition to solve the mystery first. There didn't end up being a showdown with agents of the conspiracy, but the party fairly quickly diverted from the red herring (not knowing yet that it was a red herring) into the clues that led to the actual mystery. 

It was a lot of talking, and not much die rolling. I got to play a bunch of quirky small town NPCs (many based on or at least inspired by folks I knew either growing up in Illinois or from my uni years in Evansville). The players seemed to enjoy it, especially when one of my NPCs struck a chord and they could recognize that exact sort of person from their own experience. I did a few voices, but mostly stuck to impressions of mannerisms and different speech patterns to differentiate the various NPCs. It was pretty fun for me, too. 

Before we got into the adventure, we went over the Cryptids & Conspiracy advanced classes. Jada's Hero (PC) Sarah doesn't qualify yet, but she's interested in taking the Occultist class to get some ability with magic. We haven't done any occult/spiritual/undead adventures yet, but that will probably be coming soon. Next adventure, I want to lean into the psychic ability rules. Justin suggested they all make new psychic powered PCs and we do a power battle. 

I could probably run with something like that. Maybe the psychics and battle minds have to escape from captivity in a secret research institute run by the conspiracy group. Then we could go back to the regular PCs who are investigating. The players will have new knowledge of the conspiracy group, like when we get to see scenes in a book or movie from the bad guys' perspective. 

The Netrun is Just Another Dungeon (and That's a Good Thing)

I'll admit I have very little experience with cyberpunk themed RPGs. My cousin borrowed Shadowrun from a friend back in the early 90s and we looked through the book. Maybe made characters? And that was it. In the 00s, my buddy Steve had some Forge-inspired story-first games he was developing, and we did some cyberpunk themed games with that. Alex tried to get a RIFTS game going around 10 years ago, which had some cyberpunk elements but was really more superheroic/mecha oriented. More recently, at the Busan Tabletop Gaming Con, I got to play in Keith's Cyberpunk RED game, which was a lot of fun. I think that's about it. 

And yet, while cyberpunk is not my go-to sci fi subgenre, I do really enjoy the themes and aesthetics of it. And I've got some (I think) good ideas for my Missions & Mayhem cyberpunk campaign module, which for now I think will be titled Neon & Nihilism. (Unless I can think of something better in the meantime). 

In M&M's base rules, computer hacking is designed to be relatively quick and painless for the group, as most often only one Hero will be hacking while the others wait around. Make a few quick choices, a few quick rolls, and maybe have to deal with some complications before you succeed or fail. 

For N&N, though, the netrun is probably going to be a fairly important aspect of the campaign. And one complaint I've read about with that in other games is exactly what I was trying to avoid with the main game's hacking rules -- one player taking up a large amount of the game session on the hack/netrun, while the other players sit around twiddling their fingers or scrolling on their phones. 

For N&N, I think I've got a good idea to handle this and get everyone involved. Each Hero (PC) will have a net avatar. This is a secondary character that represents the Hero in cyberspace. The Avatar will have its own class (I'm thinking a Fighter/Thief/Wizard style trio). And the Net will be dungeons. In order to hack into a company's system, the Avatar adventuring party will have to brave the dangers of the dungeon to collect the treasure (whatever info or sabotage they have planned for the netrun). 

The Fighter type class (Cyber-Samurai?) is there to battle security modules and sentient programs to protect the other runners. 

The Thief type class (Shadow Slicer?) is there to retrieve (or plant) whatever needs retrieving, as well as outwitting security programs. 

The Wizard type class (Code Mage?) is there to try and rearrange the virtual environment to the runners' advantage, and will have some limited specials (spells) that can help with combat or infiltration/exfiltration. 

A corporate computer system, internet construct, or AI becomes a series of encounter areas with various challenges meant to keep the party OUT, or eliminate them once they get IN. And somewhere in the maze of programs, data files, subroutines, and whatnot is whatever goal the netrunners are after.  

So pretty much like a D&D dungeon crawl. 

The upside is that the netrun becomes its own adventure, and everyone participates. The downside is that the netrun becomes a dungeon that needs to be prepared, and that players will need two separate character sheets for the campaign. 

I'm also not sure yet how advancement of the meatspace Hero will affect the netrunner Avatar, and vice versa.  

Luckily for me, our modern age isn't that far removed from the typical dystopian cyberpunk setting. Late-stage capitalist megacorps, invasive surveillance tech, government controlled by the oligarchs, and the masses mostly sheep willing to stare at their screens all day waiting for the next dopamine hit. So I won't need to add a lot to the meatspace side of the rules (maybe some replicants, a few gene-splice mods, some cyberware, a bit more near-future tech). M&M can already handle a lot of that. Most of the focus of the book can be on the netrun aspect of the campaign. 

The Boring Math Post

 I've mentioned already that for Missions & Mayhem, I came up with what may not be a novel mechanic for general proficiency checks, but at least one that's fairly uncommon in my experience. Characters all start with Basic level proficiency in all areas. This is both due to action movie logic (everyone has a chance to fly that helicopter), but also for game expedience. One problem with d20 Modern (and other 3E-forward games) is the way feats and skill training can prevent you from doing things that maybe every character should at least be able to try. 

At Basic level, if you want to perform an action covered by a proficiency in combat or other tense situations (usually no or few rolls in non-tense situations), you roll 2d4. 

At Skilled level, you roll 2d6.

At Advanced level, you roll 2d8. 

Difficulties for most tasks range up the odd numbers from 5 to 13. I haven't put anything at 15 yet, but that's still a possibility. There may be one or two things on an even number (an 8, for example), but mostly I've used the odd numbers since that's what the Classic D&D Turn Undead chart uses. 

Certain situational factors may give advantage or disadvantage on rolls. For these general proficiency 2dX rolls, advantage means rolling three dice and taking the best two. Disadvantage is rolling three dice and taking the worst two. I messed around with rolling 2d6 and 2d6 but it's easier to just add one die to the roll than have people roll twice (or roll four dice in two different colors). 

Using anydice.com to calculate these, I have the following percent chances of success for the various task difficulties: 

 

Difficulty:	5	7	9	11	13	15
2d4	62.50	18.75	–	–	–	–
2d4 Advantage	82.81	39.06	–	–	–	–
2d4 Disadvantage	35.94	6.25	–	–	–	–
2d6	83.33	58.33	27.78	8.33	–	–
2d6 Advantage	94.15	80.56	52.31	19.91	–	–
2d6 Disadvantage	64.35	31.94	10.65	1.85	–	–
2d8	90.63	76.56	56.25	32.81	15.63	4.69
2d8 Advantage	97.85	91.80	79.30	58.59	33.78	11.91
2d8 Disadvantage	77.93	53.71	30.08	13.48	4.49	0.78

 

One more factor to consider is that there is a Gamble mechanic.  I came up with this as a way to add some player choice into the chase mechanic (which is best 3 of 5 contested rolls). Then I realized it also works for other 2dX checks. Why not gamble when trying to defuse a bomb, hoodwink the Prime Minister, or land a plane after the pilot passed out from eating bad fish? 

For the Gamble, players can pick one of their ability scores. They roll a d20. If they get their score or less, they get a +1 on the related general proficiency check. If they roll over, they get a -1 penalty to the check. A character can gamble on each ability score once per game session. 

This way, even if you're rolling 2d4, you've got a slight chance to get a 9 if you need it. Or a 13 if you're rolling 2d6.  

Lock and Load

 A few weeks ago, I posted about the double-tap, burst fire, and spray fire rules I was working on for Missions & Mayhem. 

If you don't want to click the link, the gist is that following d20 Modern, I had the attacks take a penalty which then resulted in greater damage on a hit. Game mechanics wise, that makes sense. But both as a simulation and as a player trade-off decision point, my players were not happy and I was OK with it, but not in love with the mechanic, either. 

I'd considered, and several players said they agreed, that a bonus to hit but normal damage and extra ammo expended would make for a better trade-off in game, as well as being more realistic.

Reader Avi suggested in a comment that the damage bonus should only apply at short range. 

Considering all this feedback, my new rules for firearms use look like this: 

Basic Ranged Weapon proficiency: use basic ranged weapons at no penalty. -2 to hit with firearms (single shot/semi-auto mode), -4 to hit with military (autofire mode firearms, launcher) weapons. 

Skilled Ranged Weapon proficiency: use basic and firearms weapons at no penalty.  -4 to hit with military weapons. Double-Tap and Suppression Fire can be performed. 

Advanced Ranged Weapon proficiency: use any ranged weapon at no penalty. Burst Fire and Spray Fire can be performed. 

Double-Tap: Fire two rounds as one attack, with a +2 bonus to hit. At short range, the attack deals +1 die of damage. Normal damage at medium or long range.

Suppression Fire: Empty the current magazine (minimum 5 rounds, belt-fed machine guns use 20 rounds) in one direction, targeting the area (AC 11). On a hit, all characters within short or medium range in that field of fire must make a will saving throw or dive for cover, losing their actions for this round.

Burst Fire: Using a weapon with autofire capability, fire five rounds at a single target as one attack, with a +4 bonus to hit. At short range, the attack deals +2 dice of damage. Normal damage at medium or long range. 

Spray Fire: Using a weapon with autofire capability, fire ten rounds as a single attack targeting a 10' square or 5x20' line (AC 11). All in the area must make a reflex save or take normal damage.

I'll see how this works on Sunday as the party continues their exploration of Dinosaur Island. Well, I suppose they probably won't try to use suppression fire on dinosaurs...but maybe they will?

Infinite Cryptids!

 For Cryptids & Conspiracy, the first campaign module I'm working on for Missions & Mayhem, I want to keep things brief. For this reason, I've got only a handful of cryptids, aliens, paranormal entities, and prehistoric beasties statted up for the game. 

However, I've got a "Create-A-Cryptid" system for GMs to make their own. It's got guidelines for giving the creatures stats, and also several random tables for the cryptid's appearance and behaviors. With that, a GM will never run out of strange creatures for their Heroes to investigate. 

I finally finished up the creature section. Yesterday, I wrote some guidelines for how to structure missions (adventures) in the game. Most cryptid hunts won't be "dungeon" adventures, although a haunted house could be. So I've got guidelines for using the 5-Room Dungeon narrative structure in a more loose sense to stage not five encounters in five locations in a row, but five stages of a mission with some advice on the types of possible encounters that could happen in each stage. 

So, to keep score, I've got complete: 

Advice on what sort of campaign this is (or could be with modification)

3 Advanced Classes

Psychic Powers

Relevant Gear/Vehicles/Weapons

Guideline for creating Conspiracy groups

Creatures

XP guidelines

Mission creation guidelines 

 

What I still need to finish: 

Freelancers/Hirelings/Services (halfway done)

Occult and Alien Devices (notes only) 

Example Missions (I plan to include two or three short ones)

___________________________

So I'm almost done with this. Of course, I still haven't finished the Mission Creation Guidelines for the main rule book. Need to work on that, too. That and a bit of a better introduction/explanation of the game at the start are all I need still to work on for the main game. Well, of course there will still be some adjustments as I continue to play test it.  

After Cryptids & Conspiracy, I'll probably start working on Bughunts & Bedlam, the military sci-fi/horror module (based on Aliens, Starship Troopers, The Forever War, Terminator's Future War, etc.). I'd like to have three modules done before I start getting the main book finalized and laid out for release. But who knows, maybe I'll have all five of my planned modules done in time. 

Dinosaur Island

Another successful play test of Missions & Mayhem. 

Even though the rules aren't complete yet, I used the Cryptids & Conspiracy module to prepare for today's play test game. 

I was inspired by a board game I had as a kid, called Dinosaur Island. There's a newer game with the same name, riffing off of the Jurassic Park franchise. The 80s game wasn't a very good game, but as an 8 year old, it was fun. The idea is that players go around the island, trying to get the best photos of dinosaurs. The player with the best photos at the end is the winner. No need to hash out the problems with the original game (which even as 8-10 year olds, we realized wasn't that fun after one or two games unless we put some toy dinosaurs on the board to spice things up). 

The concept was good enough. I grabbed an island map made by the Welsh Piper (thanks!). Then I started to make some random encounter charts, but I realized I needed a rationale for why an island full of dinosaurs would be undiscovered in 2026. So one LOST style anomaly and a missing expedition party later, I had my set-up. 

In C&C, I have a suggested organization that Heroes can work for, the Fortean Investigations Association (FIA). In my game, it's an NGO but I suggest it could be a governmental organization, or even a loose collection of amateurs sharing findings, depending on the campaign. The FIA sent a team to investigate the anomaly. They found a way through, but their signal was cut off. The final message was one of the team members saying, "Is that a dinosaur?"

The Heroes were sent in to try to find/rescue the first party, and also collect evidence of any dinosaurs, cryptids, or other weird things. 

I won't go into too much detail, because I will probably include the adventure as an example in the finished book. But of course their first encounter with a dinosaur on the island, via random roll, was with a T-Rex! 

No one has been eaten yet, but we stopped in the middle of the adventure and will pick up more next time. They all had fun, and we got to test out the money/shopping system (semi-abstract seems to work well), the encumbrance rules, a chase (with gambling), a little bit of combat, some investigation work, some exploration, and some clever thinking. 

Missions & Mayhem Module 1: Cryptids & Conspiracy

 The draft for Cryptids & Conspiracy is coming along fairly quickly. Over the long weekend (Chinese/Lunar New Year), despite lots of family stuff to attend to, I've managed to write up quite a bit.

The conceit for this campaign setting is that the Heroes investigate rumors or reports of cryptids, paranormal activity, and the like. In the background, one or more conspiratorial adversaries are working against them. So basically...

 Of course, me being me, and flexibility being a design goal of Missions & Mayhem, I've got advice for limiting the types of weirdness the Heroes explore, running the game without conspiracies working as adversaries, or running the game with the conspiracies but not the weirdness. 

There are three advanced classes, adapted from ones in the d20 Modern core book. I've shortened them to 5 level classes, because the originals had five dead levels. They are the Battle Mind, Occultist, and Telepath. These are all optional, if GMs want to allow Heroes to have these powers. 

Battle Minds use psychic powers to improve their combat potential, including making weapons or shields of psychic energy.

Pretty much this.

Occultists study and learn about magic, but they're not spellcasters but they can employ magic items limited to spellcasters. They do get (in my version) to Turn Undead and get an occult creature sidekick at higher levels. 

Using this picture instead of the comics, because comics Constantine is more of a sorcerer. Keanu version mostly used items and knowledge, IIRC

Finally, Telepaths are the pure psychic class. They get a wider array of powers to choose from than the Battle Mind, but aren't as combat capable. 

Not this powerful, but you get the idea.

 

In addition to the advanced classes, I've got the equipment sorted (a few weapons, gear, vehicles useful for cryptid hunting or paranormal investigations). 

I've got advice on creating conspiracy groups and using them as opposition (occasionally allies), including a random 6-step d12 chart for the Who/What/When/Where/Why/How of conspiracy groups. 

I've got a list of a bunch of cryptids, ghosts, urban legends, and prehistoric beasties, but I haven't statted them all up yet. Quite a few I can borrow from d20 Modern books or my own TS&R books, but a few will be original. No one had heard of Slender Man or the Hat Man when d20 M came out. 

After that, I'll have more notes on creating missions (adventures), as well as two or three short sample adventures. 

_______

I've already referenced the more fantastic Van Helsing/Dark Shadows/Stranger Things-ish module I have planned called Hellspawn & Horror, so that one should be next. But I'll probably do the sci-fi Bughunts & Bedlam next, just because I love the genre of sci-fi action/horror. 

Guns Blazing (or maybe not?)

 Yesterday, I ran a relatively straightforward combat mission for Missions & Mayhem to play test some of the combat rules. And of course, as we got started, the players were looking for ways they could solve the mission without resorting to combat. But after straight up telling them I needed to test the combat rules, they went with it. 

The players went in with a good tactical plan, hired mercenaries for extra firepower support (old school D&D players want their men-at-arms, you know!), and good use of the "I Know a Guy" rule to get access to night-vision goggles. 

We were able to test out surprise and initiative (just like Classic D&D, and they work just as well), regular attacks and the special double-tap, burst, and spray autofire rules, grenades/explosives, and the first aid rules. 

One area I had been wondering about were the double-tap and burst rules, which I'd imported directly from d20 Modern. For both of these, in d20 Modern, you sacrifice accuracy and ammunition for increased potential damage. As a game mechanic, it's elegant. Firearms all deal 2dX damage. With a double-tap, you fire two rounds and take a -2 to hit, and deal an extra die of damage (3dX). With burst autofire, you fire five rounds and take a -4 to hit, and deal an extra two dice of damage (4dX). 

However, in M&M, it's not as easy to get bonuses to hit (no feats). Also, there's less hit point inflation, because NPCs/creatures have mostly flat hit dice, not bonuses to each die for Constitution scores. When I ran the solo test with Jeremy a few weeks back, we'd discussed the option to change double-tap and burst autofire to be a bonus to hit, rather than a penalty, but deal standard damage on a hit. The thing that holds me back is that ammo expenditure becomes the only reason NOT to double-tap or use burst fire if you have the proficiency for it. 

The rules for spray autofire (expend 10 rounds, trying to target several people with one attack) works similarly to the explosives rules. You only need to hit AC 11 (ascending AC) with your attack roll, but the targets in the area get to make a reflex saving throw. In the case of spray autofire, they take no damage on a save. With explosives, they take 1/2 damage (like fireball in D&D). This seemed to work well. No need for a change. 

I do have notes for figuring out where a grenade or other thrown explosive goes off on a miss. I think I need to also implement them for both burst and spray autofire. We had one instance where a burst attack missed a terrorist standing among the hostages. On the spot, I had the player roll a reflex save to avoid the bullets striking a hostage (failure! But the hostage survived with 1 hit point). That worked, but since I already have rules for how to determine where an explosive goes off (and it may still affect the intended target if you're lucky), it's easier to implement those for missed autofire attacks in crowded areas as well. 

We didn't get to test out the suppression fire rules (empty your magazine in one direction, opponents must make will saves or dive for cover/lose their actions for the round), but everything else went fairly well. 

Right now, I'm working on the first campaign module: Cryptids & Conspiracy. Basically, X-Files, but with potential for psychic or occult Heroes (and villains). I've got the advanced classes and psychic powers done. I need to write up a system/advice for creating and running conspiracy groups as opponents, and of course stats for a bunch of cryptids, alien visitors, and ghosts/demons that can be investigated. Once those are all done, I'll add some mission design guidelines and XP award guidelines. I'll likely include a few sample missions as well.

So still early in the process, but so far I'm happy with what I've done. 

Should I put the chocolate in the peanut butter?

I think my base rules for Missions & Mayhem are done. At least, the heavy lifting is done. I've got rules that seem to work for all the areas of play I think a modern (action/adventure/investigation) setting RPG should probably cover. That doesn't mean I won't continue to tweak things here and there, but for the most part it seems good. 

Now, I've got to start work on rules for fantasy, sci-fi, horror, etc. that go along with this. Some of that won't be too hard. d20 Modern has d20 Future, d20 Past, d20 Apocalypse, etc. to draw from for ideas. And there's all of the WotC and OSR output to draw on for creatures, magic/sci-fi items, etc. 

Originally, I planned to just release the base rules as a stand-alone set. Then I'd release adventure modules or campaign settings that had the rules for adding in cryptids, horror creatures, normal D&D type fantasy creatures, near-future (utopian or dystopian) sci-fi, space opera sci-fi, post-apoc stuff, etc. as their own supplements. 

But d20 Modern core rules did include three "FX" campaign settings. One is about D&D monsters living/hiding in the real world (like Shadowrun, but modern world instead of near future), one is psychics and government conspiracies (X-Files meets X-Men), and one is hunting down the monsters that secretly lurk in the shadows (Call of Cthulhu-ish, but assuming you can and will kick the monsters' asses). 

Should I include a few tastes of the fantastic in the base rules? Or should I stick to my original plan? If you have a preference, let me know in the comments. 

I know some of my players have been waiting for me to start adding in the alien invasion/zombie apocalypse/monster hunting aspects into the game. We gamers do love our speculative fiction. I'll probably start working some of these ideas into my play tests in a month or two.