D20 Universal Wiki

**Welcome to the D20 Universal Wiki!**
Homebrew tabletop role-playing game based on the D20 Universal system. Similar to the original Dungeons and Dragons game system, the D20 systems allows for many genres of play, such as Star Wars, Gundam, Battlestar: Galactica, and other Sci-Fi settings. This system is a converted amalgamation of various RPG settings and, being nearly 20 years old and still a work-in-progress, currently being refined and revised to make it as simple to understand as possible while maintaining its replayability and enjoyability.

## **This is a Role-playing Game**

It’s a game of your imagination, where you get to tell stories by taking on the roles of the main characters- characters you create. It’s a game that offers a multitude of choices- more choices than even the most sophisticated computer games, because the only limit to what you can do is what you can imagine. The story unfolds like a movie, except all of the action takes place in your imagination. There’s no script to follow, other than a rough outline used by the Gamemaster (GM), you decide what your character says and does. The Gamemaster, as the director and special effects designer, decides what the story is about and takes on the roles of all the other characters- the villains, the extras, the distinctive guest stars. The Gamemaster also keeps track of the rules, interprets the outcome of actions, and describes what happens. Together, players and GM create a story, and everyone has a great time.

**This is the d20 Universal Role-playing Game**

Cell phones, notebook computers, fast cars, faster food, clothes. You know the modern world intimately because you live in it. It’s a great place, full of opportunity and intrigue, hope and despair, excitement, and danger. Combine the elements of the modern world with the imagination-powered engine of the d20 System- the same set of rules that powers the Dungeons & Dragons game- and you can leave behind mundane reality and embrace the action and adventure of modern fantasy. Modern fantasy? Sure, and we don’t necessarily mean elves and magic. Any story set in the modern world that features heroic characters in dramatic situations accomplishing larger-than-life feats falls under the category of fantasy. The cinematic exploits of elite government agents taking on the forces of terrorism, for example, or super-cops defending the city from an extremely violent gang war both have elements of the fantastic about them. It’s the fantasy of action-adventure movies- slow-motion gunfights, bone-rattling explosions, jaw-dropping martial arts battles, heart-stopping car chases, more explosions, and over-the-top plots hatched by the most terrible villains. That’s the stuff of modern fantasy. This Wiki contains all the information you need to play the game. When you play the d20 Universal Role-playing Game, you create a unique fictional character who lives in the imaginations of you and your friends. One person in the game, the Gamemaster, controls the villains and other people you meet in a modern setting. Through your characters, you and your friends face the dangers and explore the mysteries that your Gamemaster sets before you. Anything is possible in the d20 Universal Role-playing Game. You can have your character try anything you can think of. If it sounds good and the dice fall your way, the action succeeds. Now, get ready. A world of action and adventure awaits you. What you do with it makes all the difference. Enjoy!

**Characters**

Your characters star in the adventures you play, just like heroes in a movie. They are the main characters in the game. We refer to them as “heroes,” not in the “good guy” sense per-se, but because they are the main protagonists (or antagonists) of the story. Each character’s imaginary life is different. Your character might be… a tough bodyguard-for-hire, a martial artist seeking knowledge and power, a brash stunt person, a gambler looking to make the next big score, a grizzled trucker traveling the open highways, a thief with a heart of gold, a young dilettante from a prosperous family, a police officer or private detective, a government agent or super spy, an investigative reporter hot on the next big story, a research scientist about to make a breakthrough, a movie star thrust into a real-life role as a hero, or any other kind of character you can imagine.

**What You Need to Play**

Here’s what you need to start playing the d20 Universal Role-playing Game:

* The rules from the setting used, which tells you how to create and play your character.
* A copy of a character sheet.
* A pencil and scratch paper; graph paper might be useful too.
* One or two four-sided dice (d4), four or more six-sided dice (d6), an eight-sided die (d8), two ten-sided dice (d10), a twelve-sided die (d12), and a twenty-sided die (d20).
* A miniature, an action figure, or some other token to represent your character in the game.

**Die**

The rules abbreviate dice rolls such as “3d6+3,” which means “three six-sided dice plus 3” (resulting in a number between 6 and 21). The first number tells you how many dice to roll (all of the results are added together), the second number after the “d” tells you what type of dice to use, and any number after that indicates a quantity that is added or subtracted from the result.

**D%:** The “d%” (percentile dice) is a special case. You generate a number between 1 and 100 by rolling two different ten-sided dice. One (designated before you roll) is the tens digit. The other is the ones digit. Rolls of 8 and 5, for example, yield a result of 85. Rolls of 0 and 3 yield a result of 3. Rolling both 0s represents 100.

**The Gamemaster**

When you play the d20 Universal Role-playing Game, you’re participating in an interactive story. Players take on the roles of unique characters, called heroes. One player serves as the Gamemaster, a combination director, narrator, and referee. The GM describes situations, asks the players what their characters want to do, and resolves these actions according to the rules of the game. The GM sets each scene, keeps the story moving, and takes on the roles of the opponents and other characters that the players’ heroes encounter in each adventure. If you’re the GM, you should read through all sections of the setting; you don’t need to memorize everything, but you do need to have an idea of where to find certain rules once play begins.

## Gamemaster Quick Reference

EnviornmentsRulesGamemasters Guide
**Rolling Dice**

We’ve already explained the basic rules that forms the foundation of the game- roll a d20, add a modifier, try to get a result that’s equal to or greater than the target number(TN). Whenever your character tries to accomplish something significant, the GM asks you to roll a d20. **Important!** Not every action requires a die roll. Roll dice in combat and other dramatic situations when the success of an action is in doubt. The d20 is used to determine results in combat and when making skill checks, ability checks, and saving throws. In other words, the d20 determines whether you succeed at an action. The other dice (d4, d6, d8, d10, and d12) are used to determine what happens after you succeed. Usually, the other dice come into play after you make a successful attack roll to determine how much damage the attack deals to the target.

**A Game Session**

In the d20 Universal Role-playing Game, the Gamemaster and players get together to tell a story through the play of the game. We call these group-created stories “adventures.” A d20 Universal adventure features plenty of action, lots of opportunities for combat, cool villains, epic plots, and a sense of the real world. Typically, the game consists of adventures that resemble episodes in a television series or acts in a movie. One adventure might play out in a single game session; another might stretch across several evenings of play. A session can last as long as you’re comfortable playing, from as short as an hour to as long as a twelve-hour marathon. Most groups get together and play for two to four hours at a time. The game can be stopped at any time and restarted when the players get back together. Each adventure consists of interrelated scenes. A scene might feature some kind of challenge or role-playing encounter, or it could involve combat. When there’s no combat going on, play is more casual. The GM describes the scene and asks the players what their characters do. When combat breaks out, game play becomes more structured, and the action takes place in rounds.

**What Characters Can Do**

A character can try to do anything you can imagine, just as long as it fits the scene the GM describes. Depending on the situation, your character might want to: listen at a door, use a computer, explore a location, converse with a contact, bargain with a merchant, intimidate a thug, talk to a friend, drive a vehicle, search for a clue, bluff an official, repair an object, leap across the gap between two buildings, move, duck behind a garbage container, or attack an opponent. Characters accomplish tasks by making skill checks, ability checks, or attack rolls. While the rules for making these rolls follow the core mechanic, each type of roll has a slightly different purpose.

## **Generating a Character**

The d20 Universal RPG allows you to make the character you want to play. When generating a character, start with your character’s concept. Do you want a character who goes toe-to-toe with terrible monsters, matching sword and shield against claws and fangs? Or do you want a mystical seer who draws his powers from the great beyond to further his own ends? Nearly anything is possible. Once you have a general concept worked out, use the following steps to bring your idea to life, recording the resulting information and statistics on your d20 Universal RPG character sheet, which can be found here.

**Step 1— Determine Ability Scores:** Start by generating your character’s ability scores (see Abilities). These six scores determine your character’s most basic attributes and are used to decide a wide variety of details and statistics. Some class selections require you to have better than average scores for some of your abilities.

**Step 2—Pick Your Species:** Next, pick your character’s species, noting any modifiers to your ability scores and any other species specific traits (see Species Directory). There are several basic species to choose from, although your GM might have others to add to the list. Each species lists the languages your character automatically knows, as well as a number of bonus languages. A character knows a number of additional bonus languages equal to his or her Intelligence modifier.

**Step 3—Pick Your Class and Starting Occupation:** A character’s class represents an architype, such as fighter or scoundrel. If this is a new character, he starts at 1st level in his chosen class (see Classes). As he gains experience points (XP) for defeating enemies, he goes up in level, granting him new powers and abilities. A character's starting occupation represents the training and life experience the character has had prior to the start of the campaign. A hero may hold other jobs as his career unfolds, but the benefits of a starting occupation are only applied once, at the time of character creation. Many starting occupations have a prerequisite that the character must meet to qualify for the occupation. Each occupation provides a number of additional permanent class skills that you can select from a list of choices. See Starting Occupations to select one for your character.

**Step 4—Pick Skills and Select Feats:** Determine the number of skill ranks possessed by your character, based on his class and Intelligence modifier (and any other bonuses, such as the bonus received by humans)(see Skills). Then, spend these ranks on skills but remember that you cannot have more ranks than your character's total level would allow in any one skill. After skills, determine how many feats your character receives, based on his class and level, and select them from those presented in Feats.

**Step 5—Buy Equipment:** Each new character begins the game with an amount of wealth, based on his starting occupation, that can be spent on a wide range of equipment and gear, from chainmail armor to leather backpacks (see Equipment). This gear helps your character survive while adventuring.

**Step 6—Finishing Details:** Finally, you need to determine all of a character’s details, including his starting hit points (HP), Defense Class (DC), saving throws, initiative modifier, and attack values. All of these numbers are determined by the decisions made in previous steps. Aside from these, you need to decide on your character’s name and physical appearance. It is best to jot down a few personality traits as well, to help you play the character during the game.

## **Setup**

After you’ve created your character, get together with the rest of your gaming group for your first adventure. Prior to this, the GM develops a story line for the adventure. Once the GM becomes comfortable with all the rules, he can even get away with simply describing a starting scenario. Pick an evening or a weekend afternoon or some other convenient time when you and your friends can spend a few hours playing the d20 Universal Role-playing Game. Where should you play the game? Anywhere that’s comfortable. The place should have a flat surface to roll dice on, such as a kitchen table. The GM sits so that the other players can’t look over his shoulder or peek at his adventure notes. He needs enough room to spread out the materials he might have for the game session, such as a tablet, laptop, or printed materials, a pad of paper, a pencil or pen, and his adventure notes. The other players need places to sit, room for their dice and character sheets, and scrap paper and pencils. Since a game session is as much a social event as it is an evening of entertainment, having plenty of snacks and beverages on hand is highly recommended. Additionally, a gridded game map and mini-figures may be desirable.

**General Advice**

Players should roll the dice so that everyone can see the results. The GM may make some rolls in secret to build suspense and maintain mystery. All attack and damage rolls should be made in the open so that all players can see them. The first couple of game sessions you play might be a little uneven as everyone learns how the game works and gets comfortable with the idea of role-playing. Remember that these rules are guidelines, a framework and structure for playing d20 Universal adventures in a role-playing game environment. A role-playing game is a living game; it evolves and develops as you play it. If something isn’t working for your group, and the entire group agrees, make a change. But wait until you’ve played a few times with the official rules before you decide to tinker.

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## Core Setting

The core setting guides are the backbone of the system and are nearly interchangable within the other campaign settings. The core settings are converted from other D20 RPG settings.

AbilitiesCore Species GuidePlaceholderRobots and DroidsPlaceholderClassesPlaceholderSkillsPlaceholderFeatsPlaceholderEquipmentPlaceholderCyberneticsPlaceholderPsionicsPlaceholderMutationsPlaceholderSuper PowersPlaceholderAdvanced ClassesRulesPlaceholderCreature CompendiumPlaceholderVehicle StructurePlaceholderPower SystemsPlaceholderMovement SystemsPlaceholderUtility SystemsPlaceholderDefensive SystemsPlaceholderOffensive SystemsPlaceholderVehicle WeaponsPlaceholderMecha WeaponsPlaceholderAquatic Vehicles CodexPlaceholderAtmospheric Vehicle CodexPlaceholderGround Vehicle CodexPlaceholderMecha CodexPlaceholderSpace Station CodexPlaceholderStarfighter CodexPlaceholderStarship Codex

## Campaign Settings

Alien vs PredatorPlaceholderAndromeda AscendantPlaceholderBabylon 5PlaceholderBattlestar: GalacticaPlaceholderBladerunnerPlaceholderCloverfieldPlaceholderCowboy BebopPlaceholderFarscapePlaceholderGundamPlaceholderHaloPlaceholderHeavy GearPlaceholderPower RangersPlaceholderReign of FirePlaceholderResident EvilPlaceholderRobocopPlaceholderRorouni KenshinStarfinderPlaceholderStargatePlaceholderStarship TroopersPlaceholderStar WarsPlaceholderTerminatorPlaceholderTremorsPlaceholderWarhammer 40K

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