Friday, September 6, 2019

Ultramodern5 Review part 1 - An Outline of the Game

    A few months ago some friends found Ultramodern5 from Dias Ex Machina at a con and asked me to look at it.  It's a modern/sci-fi DnD 5th-compatible RPG, apparently the original Ultramodern was built for 4th.  I like SF games, I've played lots of Star Frontiers, Rifts, Battletech, Star Wars and more.  I was a little skeptical though since DnD is not just a fantasy game but also built on fantasy tropes, the whole tank/healer/dps that was codified in MMOs was really started with DnD - and that gets a little harder to model with real-world combat without magic (or super-science that equals magic).  So I did not go into the book with a lot of enthusiasm, and my first quick read-through did not make me want to read it in more detail.  Still, our friends wanted to try it, so I drafted another friend to run the thing and we had our first adventure over the last weekend.
    Our adventure was a little odd.  The book has 2 adventures but the GM came up with his own idea.  It was open-ended for us to either fight or talk our way through, and to his surprise we ended up talking in a sort-of-Leverage-styled heist.  This is not an ideal first adventure to judge the game buy just because everything not fighting is weak in DnD, I think weaker in 5th than earlier versions even.  So we really did not interact with a lot of the rules.  Still, it was enough to get a taste of the system, and our next adventure is going to be more traditionally combat focused and the GM was going to use/adapt one of the adventures in the book.  I feel like I understand the system enough after playing it and reading through it in more detail to give a basic review, but I expect this review to be in several parts as I explore more of the system.  I'm also going to post about how I made my character later.
    Okay, I think I'm just going to walk through the book and comment on it in order.  Let's start at the beginning...


Setting and Misc Rules

    U5 does not have it's own setting.  There are apparently two other books, Amethyst and NeuroSpasta by the same publisher.  Haven't read them so I can't comment on them.
    There are no rules for magic in U5, so if you want an "urban fantasy" setting you'll have to use the DnD 5e rules.  Which might be tricky, does a "mending" spell that fixes objects work on a computer?
    There are only a few new rules.  One is for auto and burst fire, which I am not a fan of on reading, but I'll comment on them after we play the combat rules.  The other is the addition of "Computer Use" and "Demolitions" skills.  I kind of want to say that with the design of 5e these should both be Tool Proficiencies, but that's more semantics than anything.  I really wish they had added some more skills, or at least how to use existing skills.  Some of the classes have things like "Tool Proficiencies: All ground vehicles and aircraft" - wow is that vague... so can I drive a tank?  MechaGodzilla?  A 747 jet airplane?  You guys really have to be more specific than that.  I'm disappointed that they didn't put any work into this, into updating the fantasy of 5e into a modern/futuristic setting.  Since they ignored important things like this, the GM has to do the work - so why bother buying a book if you have to write the rules yourself?  Right?
    The only place that does talk about piloting is the feats.  There is an "Exo-Armor Proficiency" feat.  Exo-Armor is defined on page 99, I'm on page 8 (it seems to be what most games would call "Power Armor" and mecha).  There is not a dedicated section that talks about skills, the new skills and feats are stuck in the first 8 pages of the book.  Again, crap layout - there should be a dedicated section to explain this stuff.  Page 112 also has 5 categories of vehicles: light ground, heavy ground, super-heavy ground, aircraft and watercraft.  That's a little better division (though not by much), and again why the hell isn't it in a section about proficiencies?  (why not have a 'Military Training" feat that lets you apply your proficiencies to vehicles and weapons with the "military" descriptor?)  The few feats are "meh" at best, honestly I forgot they existed when making my character.


Races

    There is one race, Human.  This is fine in a modern setting, but aliens and genetically altered humans (even animals) are staples of lots of SF, so I'm a little bummed that they didn't address creating non-humans at all.  The equipment in the game goes up to laser weapons and mini-nukes, so this is designed for modern to far-future sci-fi after all.
    All Humans get a "genetic benefit" that can give you something like "Eidetic Memory" or "Light Sleeper."  That adds a touch of the diversity from fantasy races, but it is not much.  And some of the benefits seem like they might not get used very often (Nimbleness- you can move through the space of any creature that is a size larger than you), while others seem a little overpowered (Toughness- you have DR 2 against slashing and piercing damage; so you take 2 less damage from all guns?  Wow).
    Here is a good place to mention something that has driven me nuts about this book - the naming conventions.  "Toughness" has been a feat that gave you an extra hit point per level since DnD 3, and there is a genetic benefit that gives you those extra HP, it's just called "Extreme Fortitude" instead.  One of the components to your character is called a "Ladder."  What do you think that would add to your character?  Anything come to mind?  Well, it's kinda an archetype, but where 5e uses archetypes to provide variations to a class, 5U uses them as kind of but not quite background options.  One Ladder is the "Runner" who starts off with an extra 5' of speed as the name would suggest.  But on later levels they actually become parkour masters and general acrobats - either of which would be better names.  There are Archetypes too, but they are more like the 'Prestige Classes' of Pathfinder.  One of them is named "Cleaner."  Now, I've mostly heard the word (in a profession/ability context) to refer to a type of criminal who 'cleans up' after other criminals, destroying evidence of wrongdoing.  But the archetype is really an assassin, someone who specializes at killing people with one shot, or in one round of combat.  I haven't looked into the background of this company, but the book reads as if they do not speak English as a primary language and only got a semi-competent translator.


Backgrounds

    In 5e you don't get much from your Background, just a few skills/ tools/ languages and a few tables with role-playing suggestions.  U5 manages to give you even less, removing the role-playing stuff.  So honestly you could just let people pick 2 proficiencies and take an extra $50 and drop this entire section.  This is mostly crap in 5e and I'm sad that the U5 guys didn't improve on something that needed some love.


Lifepath

    Oh boy, the Lifepath tables.  A series of random rolls to discover your character's background.  These are an old part of gaming, really big in the 80s-90s with Traveller (maybe the most famous, in  your background you could be killed, and thus have to make a new character before you even finished your first character) and Cyberpunk 2020, Star Trek, Mechwarrior and several other games.  DnD has never used them in a core game, but they've cropped up a few times in supplements.  Lifepath tables are hard to do right, you need a system that gives you at least a semi-coherent story and some sparks for your imagination to build on.  These are not that.  Frankly, the U5 Lifepath tables pretty much suck.  It can give you some funny results (one friend's character has a bunch of failed relationships, I have 5 enemies and only 2 friends) but I'd rather adapt a different game's tables.
    Why not tie this to the Background system?  Maybe you have 4 Background picks, and each has a related table.  So take a pick as a Merchant and maybe you did great with your sales and start with extra money, take a pick as a Soldier and maybe you got promoted, or wounded in combat?  Then have a few random tables for your family and friends and stuff?  That would at least tie the benefits to the Background system instead of them being a world unto themselves, and then they would, you know, describe your background.


Ladders

    So you select a Ladder at 1st level, then at 4th (and every 4 thereafter) you can take another ladder ability instead of a feat or attribute increase.  So really these are feat chains/trees.  They are also designed to give you some power spikes to make up for the fact that SF stories usually don't gain and throw away special equipment like DnD/epic fantasy.  There are 7-
  • Born Leader - get bonuses to skills as long as you don't fight or cast a spell, help your allies
  • Juggernaut - get extra hit points/ damage reduction
  • Runner - move faster, AC bonuses
  • Savant - some skill bonuses and random stuff
  • Survivor - take damage, kinda weirdly similar to the Juggernaut in a way
  • Veteran - get a pool of re-rolls
  • Warrior - power up to OVER 9000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  (well, to 5 at least)
    Virtually every Ladder lets you change the attribute you use for attack and damage rolls, which kinda makes the point of having different attributes pointless.  The powers you get from the Ladders cover the whole spectrum of useless to really strong/ maybe OP.  And others are just weird.  Here is an ability from the Born Leader... after taking a long rest, if you wear no armor and wield no weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to Charisma or Intelligence (select one) until you make an attack roll or cast a spell. Select either Charisma or Intelligence as your primary born leader ability.
    Ummm... what?  You are smarter or more likable until you attack someone or cast a spell, then you have to sleep to become smarter or more likable again?  What the hell kind of sense does that make?
    I don't like the ladder system.  Some of the abilities are fine, but as a whole it just seems stupid.  It's mechanics over logic.


Classes

    The heart of and DnD based system, there are 10 classes...
  • Face
  • Grounder
  • Gunslinger
  • Heavy
  • Infiltrator
  • Marshal
  • Martial Artist
  • Medic
  • Sniper
  • Techie
    The classes are complicated enough I need to talk about them individually.

Face
    You're kind of a Bard.  You get an ability to roll a DC 15 Wis/ Perception each turn and gain 1 extra action, that can't be used for an attack.  Then you get to choose a few abilities, most of which can't really be used in combat.  And there are some very questionable abilities like Polyglot (you learn 3 additional languages, and gain more over time) and Possible Sociopath (you have resistance to psychic damage and Advantage on saves vs effects that sense your emotions or read your thoughts).  Languages usually are not very important (and they can be pretty boring, you really have to purposefully build an adventure around language barriers to keep them from being more annoying than dramatic).  And if you're not using magic (which again is not in this book) then the psychic damage resistance is useless - why not add Advantage on Deception rolls or something to make this more broadly applicable?
    You also get a vehicle worth up to $30,000 and an Armored Personnel Carrier costs $8,000 while a Tank is $25,000.  Ummm.... yeah....  Somebody did proofread this, right? (as a side note, not many characters get a vehicle, so I guess public transportation in really, really good in the future)

Grounder
    You're the generalist fighter.  You can focus on using automatic or single-shot weapons.  You can also select from a pool of abilities.  Some are okay, like being able to move and fire a rifle/ 2H gun without attack penalty.  Some are borderline useless.  Like Combat Ineffective (if an ally goes to 0 HP gain Advantage to attack the foe who did it) and Comrades In Arms (if ally takes a critical hit, gain Advantage to attack the foe who did it).  Just how often are either of those things going to happen?  Some abilities are pure magic, like Jump In Front (if you and 1+ allies are hit by an effect of up to 60' across, push all of them out of the way and take as many hits as the allies you moved) which allows you magically teleport and throw full-grown adults several stories with no damage to any of them.  Not a bad class overall, but kinda strange in places.

Gunslinger
    Specialize in 1 or 2 pistols.  This was one of the classes I took (my character is a multi-classed Gunslinger/ Martial Artist) and there are 3 abilities I really like.  Classic Tumble lets you take 1/4 damage from an attack or failed Dex save.  Limber Up gives you Advantage on Dex and Str rolls for one turn.  And Kinesics lets you ignore difficult terrain, movement doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity and all attacks against you have Disadvantage.  So you can flow through the battlefield for one turn.  I ended up making my character based on John Preston from Equilibrium, the gun and melee hybrid who can stand in the middle of a crowd and kill everybody.  It's actually a pretty cool class, and one of the best in the book.

Heavy
    You fire the really big guns.  This is another good class.  You get to pick from a couple of abilities, but most of them are useful and fit the class concept.  Imposing Frame means you're so scary that allies near you get an AC bonus and have cover.  Easy Target (which has a bad name, I'd call it 'Monster Hunter') means you do extra damage the larger your target is (up to a +8).  Some of them are kinda "meh" - Overwatch makes your automatic attacks hit a 10' larger area, which is not always useful and only really applies if you're using a battle grid.  Shrapnel does your Dex or Str mod in damage to a foe within 5' of one you hit - again, not always useful unless your enemies like to bunch up (and by what magic do you make your normal bullets explode?).

Infiltrator
    The Rogue, not in the 'super skilled' sense but rather in the 'assassin' sense.  This class is very strange, it is literally the only class that doesn't get to make any choices.  Every other class has some sort of pool of abilities, but Infiltrator only get fixed powers.  They aren't terrible, you can do extra damage and are harder to hit, but it's an odd design choice to make them so limited.

Marshal
    Also the Bard, at least for the stuff that buffs the party.  A weird class because every single ability applies to your allies, none of them help you.  So a Marshall by themself is basically helpless.

Martial Artist
    Another good class.  Their main mechanic is the Combo Chain.  Each successive hit does more damage and unlocks special finishing moves, which can do extra damage, push/ knockdown enemies, or attack all nearby enemies.  A good amount of flexibility, a unique core mechanic, good design.  While I think this is one of the best classes, it still shows the strange errors that run rampant throughout the book.  The MA has two powers, I'm going to quote them below, see if you can spot the problem-

Gun-Something-Something
You treat one-handed small arms as melee weapons when attacking targets at 5 feet or closer
  and
C-C-C-Combo Breaker
You treat one-handed small arms as melee weapons when attacking targets at 5 feet or closer. Additionally, all ranged attacks with one-handed small arms made against targets 5 feet or closed can be considered melee attacks.

    If you answered "the second power does everything the first one does and more, thus there is no reason to ever take the first power" give yourself a cookie, and apparently you're smarter than the editors.  (bonus if you noticed the "closed" should be "closer")

Medic
    Another support class like the Marshal, but this one can actually act on its own.  Oddly, this is pretty much a spellcaster, which feels super out of place with the class design so far (and logic).  You get spell slots, but not many of your abilities are as powerful as spells.  Also, some of your spells require a "medical kit" which has 50 uses, but at 1st level you have a whopping 2 slots.  So the kit doesn't have the medicine, you magically charge the kit to do something.  Though you do have your "cantrips" to use at-will.  Not a bad class, but the magic masquerading as technology makes my head hurt - pick a lane guys (also you have some powers to kill people with, so much for the Hippocratic Oath).

Sniper
    Decent class.  A sniper focuses on doing damage at long range, which the game shortens to 25' or more - not a bad decision given how close most RPG combats tend to be.  I'd personally make the sniper a feat or class ability for making far shots, not sure it works that well as a class, again just because of it's narrow focus.  Still, this one seems like it would work fine.

Techie
    With a name like "Techie" I'd expect the class to be good with all technology, maybe even things like computer hacking.  Nope.  This class should really be called something like "Gunsmith" since the main abilities only boost a firearm.  At 12th level you can actually make an Engineering check to create an improvised tool, which seems like something anybody should be able to do and not a special class ability.  Not a great class, even for the limited thing it does.

    The classes are a strange mix, some very good and with solid design work, some that just make no sense.  I will admit that the class design work in 5th edition is kinda spotty, so the foundation is not great, but I'm surprised at how many weak abilities and classes there are.  I'd say it's good enough, but could really, really use a re-write.


Archetypes

    These are much like Ladders, a small collection of related abilities, and kinda like Classes in that each one has some niche it's meant to enhance.  There are 25 of them total, so it's a pretty broad range.  With so many I really don't want to break them all down.  I'll say that personally I think the majority of them are middling to garbage.  A few are pretty good.  While the "Cleaner" is badly named, it makes a great Assassin, doing big bonus damage (your level x 4) to a single target, which is only usable once but if you down your target you regain a use - so the more you kill the better you kill.  The "Grandmaster" is a cool idea, you pick a specific style of martial arts and gain bonuses, but the actual effects can be weak in some cases.  "Machine of War" is cool since every time you attack someone within 30' you heal 1 HP, so you like killing and it makes you happy, which is just awesome with the right kind of character.  "Militarist" is funny since you gain points when bad things happen, like an ally rolls a natural 1, that you can then spend for bonuses.  A lot of extra bookkeeping and attention to detail, but I do really like the concept.


Equipment

    Wow, so this is the section that I hate the most.  You're lucky you can't hear all the screaming I have done at this book so far, and this chapter elicits a lot of them.  Ultramodern5 wants to be everything non-fantasy, it's designed to go from present-day tech to far future laser guns.  That poses a pretty big challenge.  And they totally drop the ball on it.  The thing they get right is using Tech Levels, broad categories of related technologies.  So Tech Level 0 is steam power, early firearms, and generally 1800s.  I kinda hate that, just because this is the lowest tech in the game, there were a ton of technological innovations before the 1800s for crying out loud.  That's a small gripe though.  So Tech Levels go up to 5 which is antigravity, disintegration and "complete body reconstruction."  With those broad categories you'd think that each TL would have it's own sub-chapter in the Equipment section, that would be the smart thing to do.  But no, instead everything is just lumped together in one big table with the TL a tiny footnote at the end of each line.  The lack of organization sucks big time, and makes it a chore to buy your gear since you have to read line by line to find which items might apply to you.  And they don't even use the TL system right.  The book says that any item without a TL is TL0 - so 1800s tech.  But the Machine Pistol and Assault Rifle don't have a TL listed; and I don't think the Pony Express rode with AK-47s!
    Prices are also all over the place.  There is Capsicum Spray (aka Mace, Bear Spray, Pepper Spray) that costs $55.  Damn!  I can buy that stuff from the dollar store.  Now there is a note that if your setting is TL1 or higher, all items of that TL and lower are half price, except for TL0.  What?  So now it's an even bigger pain in the butt because I have to divide all the prices after I figure out which ones I can try to purchase.  Come on guys, get a clue.  That makes some things even worse though - there is a dart gun, does no damage, but one of the darts for it does 12 damage (which is a lot for a single attack) and only costs $10 !!!!!!!!!  And it has no TL listed, so it's 1800s TL0 !!!!!!!!!  WTF
    There are also some really big oversights.  There is no backpack, they apparently don't exist in this alternate dimension.  No rope.  There is a Pillow (thank god) but no Bed Sheets (which I could turn into a rope) but there is Duct Tape (which even mentions it can be used to make rope) (though I've watched Mythbusters so I know that's a time-consuming process) (miss that show so much).
    Damage is another really bad thing.  We have the DnD hit point inflation, so you need to be able to do a lot of damage at higher levels (unless you like your entire 4 hour game session to be one fight).  But something as huge as a Minigun (called a "Rotary Cannon" bizarrely) does only 1d10 damage - a DnD 5e Greatsword does 2d6 for crying out loud!
    There are some vehicle rules, thank goodness since I don't think the 5e rules have anything.  Again prices are all over the place.  Military vehicles like tanks and APCs are listed alongside passenger cars with no reference as to who should be able to own what.  That is something the GM should be watching over, but they could at least acknowledge it.


NPCs and Adventures

    The last section of the book has the "monsters" and two sample adventures.  The adventures are a little weird since they are designed for level 4 and 14 characters, nothing for a basic starting character.  I can't comment on these sections because I haven't looked at them.  I'm not the GM, so I'll wait until our next adventure is over (I'm not really planning on playing this character past one more).  I do like that they included some sample characters, which are 4 and 14 to go with the adventures.  Down the road when I've had a chance to go over these I'll post on them.


Final Impressions
    This is an okay system.  There is a lack of modern/ SF material for DnD 5e, at least that I've seen, so I guess something mediocre is better than nothing.  I really don't think the book was well-written or designed.  I'm surprised that I liked the character I made so much, and our first adventure was okay, but I have no desire to play this system in the long term.  Would I recommend it?  No.  Get Shadowrun or Star Frontiers, Cyberpunk 2020, Rifts, Gamma World, Mechwarrior, Alternity - almost anything else has a more developed and focused system.


No comments:

Post a Comment