Damnation Decade - d20, Dual Casting I

Damnation Decade is a setting for the d20 Modern game. It also has conversion material to make it into a True20 setting as well. It is not what it is made to look like though. It is a story about Americo where when a president was about to resign a natural disaster struck and he stayed on. All that and the world ends when 1980 rolls around.

The setting seems to be part Watchmen, part V for Vendetta and part Rollerball. The setting is a very dystopian future where the vast majority of the public is in a state of denial about how bad things are. They indulge themselves with drugs, wild sex parties and the new Omegaball game to keep from having to realize how bad things are getting.

The disaster that struck was the west coast of the nation falling into the sea because of a massive earthquake. The president on the eve of resignation instead vows to stay on to see the nation through the aftermath. The end of the aftermath never happened though. When the players enter the game it is two years after the event and large portions of the nation have had to be quarantined for some reason. And oh yeah the word is going to end in a few more years.

The setting has a lot of details that the GM could expand upon as far as plot threats. The problem is that none of them are really fleshed out enough to use without further work. This can also be looked at as a plus though as it allows each GM to take the setting in the direction they feel works best for them and their players.

The book also contains a nice section that presents the GM with some questions and answers on how they might run the game and directions that it might go and how best to address these. There is also a section on the movies and books that inspired the game though some of them are rather obvious. The book does not contain a module but you can download one and some other supplemental material here.

I am a huge fan of all the movies I mentioned so this setting appeals to me. The book could have been bigger and I wish there had been follow up material. The setting is dystopian but not so bleak that the players feel defeated and with the premise that the end of the world can be averted it has light at the end of the tunnel for them. I would say buy it as source material even if you are not a d20 Modern or True20 fan.

PS. This has to be one of the most fun covers I have seen in awhile. As I recall I bought it mostly for the cover initially...that and the name.

Spell:

Dual Casting I

Level: Fifth

Range: None

Duration: Instantaneous

Ares Effect: None

Components: V

Casting Time: Special

Saving Throw: Special

By means of this spell the caster is able to cast two spells at the same time. This spell requires the utterance of but a single magical word and then tow caster begins the casting of the two spells simultaneously.

The two spells that are being cast will have to be third level or lower. They must also be spells that the caster have had previously memorized. The spells  may or may not have been cast already. If they are still memorized or have already been cast will determine how the saves connected with this spell occur.

If the spells are still memorized they will go off without a problem and no saves are required to see if they are cast (though any saves connected with the spells would still need to be made). The caster must then make a saving through versus magic and if successful the Dual Casting spell is not lost. This type of save can only happen once per day for each specific Dual Casting spell.

If one or both of the spells have previously been cast then the caster will have to roll a save versus magic for each of the spells. This is required for both even if one of them is still memorized. If the saves are made then the spells are cast. It is possible with this situation that both or none of the spells will cast or fail. With this situation the Dual Casting spell is lost for the day as well.

Disclaimer: The spells that you will see, for how ever long the write ups last, were all written up or conceived of back in the 80's so the terminology may not appropriate for anything other than 1e and depending on how well I did back then it may be slightly off for that as well. If there is any duplication of spells that exist now it is most likely I wrote mine first :) Please feel free to comment on them but try not to be too hard on me. If anyone wishes to use these in anything they print please let me know in advance and all I ask is proper credit.