Publishing a modern era game adventure

[Wicked Cool Games]

Years ago I put together and ran an adventure using d20 3.0 Modern rules set. It was okay at the time, but it's too crunchy for my tase now. I've been repvamping the adventure and rewrote it to take place in the 1980s. It's about hikers that come across the aftermath of a crime. The supernatural plays a role too.

I running play tests for part of it with a few groups and then at Total Con in February and at Rising Phoenix's Con in April. ( I wrote my own rules lightish d20 system.) I'll make the needed adjustments and then release it on DriveThru RPG - However, I am not ready to release my d20 rules light system yet - so I want to release the adventure on DriveThru with either a modern era system or something that can be run for any era. I did this with a fantasy adventure, The Murk's Curse, releasing it as compatible with Old School Essentials (I've played lots of B/X D&D, so it was a good fit). I believe saying it OSE compatible on the cover, but also describing that it works with lots of rules light systems helped me gain some visibility and get some sales.

The Question: What d20 system modern/generic (rules lightish) would make the most sense to release an adventure like this under? Why? (Eventually, I'll include it in my system, but that will be a while.)

Thanks.

 

[SJB]

We’ve mentioned White Lies (now 2e) recently.

 

[finarvyn]

OSE is a good choice. As you noted, a lot of folks are familiar with B/X rules sets.

I think that the tricky thing is to determine what is in the rules and what has to be added in. A modern-day knife is a lot like a fantasy dagger so not much to convert or add in, but if firearms are part of the adventure then most fantasy rules are pretty limited in their treatment of guns. Anything high tech could be an issue then, where you either have to stat it out or trust for the GM to wing it.

One possible option might be Amazing Adventures. It's built on the C&C chassis (or 5E if you go for that version) so it's going to run a lot like B/X and has done a lot of the "heavy lifting" for the tech and modern-day stuff. Another old school style system is Night Shift, which can be used for Charmed and Dresden Files and Supernatural and other modern-day adventures.

I like the premise of your adventure, and wish you luck on it.

 

[Mankcam]

Everyday Heroes
This is basically the D20 Modern expanded and updated to use a 5E chassis instead of a 3E chassis.
Some of the authors even worked on the original D20 Modern, so yeah it's a great option here.
Everyday Heroes

 

[AsenRG]

Silent Legions or preferably, Cities Without Number!

Note: I still don't think that any kind of d20 ruleset is a good fit for a modern adventure, those are just the best of the options available, to my knowledge!