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As I've mentioned several times in passing over the past couple months, I've grown rather attached to Mutants & Masterminds (a d20 system). If one of my games died off, it would be a strong contender for replacement.

Have you ever looked into it, Nayr?

(And rest of my life? That's a bold claim mad )

But it could very easily reflect a D20 Modern-esque game, if you tone down the powers. Basically, everything is point buy (and I mean everything), and the 'typical' hero/villain is Power Level 10. Most normal citizens are PL1. So a PL 2-3 game could be 'stronger than average'.

And rather than a hit-point based system, people of higher PLs can get higher attack and defense bonuses, so they're more easily able to hurt weaker foes, while being harder to hurt. Failure tacks on 'Bruised' conditions, which are cumulative -1 to Toughness saves vs damage. If you fail by 15 or more, you're unconscious (or dying, if subject to lethal).

I've even had someone in my group promote a D&D style game using M&M as the system for it, basing your attacks and spells and whatnot off of the power system.

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Mind you, this is just an alternative. I too own d20 Modern, and it has its place. But it's always felt 'lacking' to me. Something I'd play in, but probably would never run.

Yeah, M&M sounds far more 'heroic' than Modern, but I think that's what is cool about Modern. You guys are pretty much normal people, albeit with a couple of hero-esque abilities, but at the low levels, if you get shot, you're going down, which I think makes a nice change of pace. The only time my IRL group did a Modern game I was DM/GM, as per usual, and we only played 3 sessions, but we really enjoyed it; even though it ended in a character betrayal and a TPK! It was a great end to a short adventure. Anyway, what I'm saying is that I think d20 Modern is great, because you don't start off as heroes, although I know that isn't to everyones tastes ^^

Thanks to the massive damage rules in Modern, you have a solid chance of going down any time you get shot.

I think the important thing about d20 Modern is that while it is very versatile and can play a wide variety of game types, it really shouldn't. A GM needs a clearly defined setting and a set-in-stone plan for what rules modules can be used or else the game overwhelms itself.

I'm one of the seven people who own d20 Past((two of the others are my groomsmen)) and an historical setting is a fantastic place to go, not only because it ratchets what the game allows beyond even the base modern tech.

I also have Dark*Matter, which is a fantastic book, though it's far more valuable for its fluff than the new rules. I'd love to sort of combine he to and run a period D*M game, but it would have to be in a modified 4e. I think a restricted power source game would work just fine in a real-world setting.

the main selling point of d20 Modern is its similarity with D&D3e. Sure you could play GURPS, but d20 Modern feels and plays a lot more like D&D, which if you're familiar with that will go along way.

The non-setting is one of the things I liked about nWoD, how the main book has enough rules to play an all humans game with the other books adding onto a common base set of rules.

Being the spiritual parent of d20 Modern, Alternity was also a cool game, but it's impossible to find anyone who has access to the rules

i'm a really big fa of urban arcana....