So I'm considering trying to sell my players on a D20 Modern version of the Terminator series, as a game. The PC's would start in the near distant future as members of the human resistance, struggling to survive. (I own the D20 Future book, so I'd use to help with the tech differences.) After setting the scene, by playing an indeterminate number of games set in 2029/2030, they'd be put into a situation in which they discover Skynet is sending Terminators back in time to accomplish "something"-be it killing John Connor, Sarah Connor, or laying down some tracks for Skynet to eventually use.

They'd then have to decide if they'd risk coming back in time, or not. What I am looking for here, in this thread is some input on a lot of things:

• System Suggestions. At first glance D20 seems to meet my needs, but I also have the choice of using SR rules, or Palladium stuff. This is the least of my actual concerns, but I figure someone out there may have something that is really cool, or worth looking at or considering.
• How would you envision the "Party"? Not just their structure, but for instance what kind of people survive?
• How would you stat various Terminators or Hunter Killers?

Mind you have some basic ideas already here, but I'd like to see if what I'm thinking is even close to what we get as a baseline here.

You probably won't have any interest in my suggestion Paul because it relies heavily on White Wolf but I was (am?) considering something very much like a Terminator campaign.

Quote from: Serious Paul;241711System Suggestions. At first glance D20 seems to meet my needs, but I also have the choice of using SR rules, or Palladium stuff. This is the least of my actual concerns, but I figure someone out there may have something that is really cool, or worth looking at or considering.

Basically I'm going to use the nWoD system together with the Dogs of War supplement for military org and hardware ideas....hmmm probably some oWod Hunter stuff for the hardware as well.

QuoteHow would you envision the "Party"? Not just their structure, but for instance what kind of people survive?

Regular joes operating in a paramilitary like manner.

QuoteHow would you stat various Terminators or Hunter Killers?

I'm using the oWoD Mage supplement Iteration X as inspiration when stating the baddies :

http://whitewolf.wikia.com/wiki/Iteration_X

Not exactly what you're looking for but I thought I'd get the ball rolling.

Regards,
David R

I think something like this is what Palladium works best at. If you do go that way, run it all SDC, as it's been shown guns,etc do have an effect on Terminators, and most definitely on the human PCs.  Keep the MDC away with a 10 ft pole.  If you can find a copy for cheap you might want to look at "Systems Failure" its a Palladium game about post-apocalyptic survivors fighting off interdimensional bugs that attacked on Y2K, but it would be pretty simple to use a lot of the character classes and backgrounds while swapping out the bugs for the machines.

Also, while its something that you could easily come up with on your own, Systems Failure does include table to roll on for what your character was before the apocalypse.  So your Commando Cell Leader might have been a gym teacher or a copier salesman back in the day and have the skills appropriate to the old and new job.  

If I recall correctly there was something similar in the Invid Invasion book for Robotech, but I might be off on that one.

Quote from: Serious Paul;241711What I am looking for here, in this thread is some input on a lot of things.

Mind you have some basic ideas already here, but I'd like to see if what I'm thinking is even close to what we get as a baseline here.

Best thing I could do is send you a link to a freebie PDF site by Michael Tresca. He has converted some of our favorite movie franchises, including the Terminator, to d20 Modern settings. I think they are pretty good and have stood up to a mini-campaign, but you should download them and decide for yourself. If nothing else, its good source material.

The Terminator: Future Fate

I did think about taking a modern campaign and turning it into a Terminator campaign, or something similar. Especially since the game is modern corporate espionage - "so there's this company developing combat robots for the military, and they're trying to make them self-repairing, of course they're a bit buggy, but..." and "part of the missile shield the US is deploying in Europe is almost entirely self-run, they just have one guy overseeing twenty or thirty different machines."

And then things could turn apocalyptic. But my players would probably not like me very much