''d20 Past'' is a d20 based role-playing game released by

Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. It is currently a subsidia ...

in 2005. It was meant to be a supplement to ''

d20 Modern ''d20 Modern'' is a modern fantasy role-playing game system designed by Bill Slavicsek, Jeff Grubb, Rich Redman, and Charles Ryan. The system's core rulebook was published by Wizards of the Coast on November 1, 2002; by 2006, ten additional supp ...

'', providing framework and new rules for campaigns based on historical events from the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, including new character options and rules for early modern firearms. It begins with an exploration of the historical period between 1450 and 1950, then provides rules for creating characters and campaigns that blend realism and fantasy. ''d20 Past'' also presents alternative campaign models, along with all the rules needed to play swashbuckling pirate adventures, Victorian horror investigations, thrilling Pulp Era escapades, and more, including three ready-to-play campaign modules.

Synopsis

The book itself is divided into an introduction and five chapters: * Chapter One - How Real Is Your Past? is a short essay on the different views on history and a discussion of the different modes of playing historical games. * Chapter Two - Rules Components provides player and games master with the specific new rules and deviations from established ''Modern'' rules for a historic setting. * Chapter Three - Age of Adventure provides d20 fantasy in a

swashbuckler A swashbuckler is a genre of European adventure literature that focuses on a heroic protagonist stock character who is skilled in swordsmanship, acrobatics, guile and possesses chivalrous ideals. A "swashbuckler" protagonist is heroic, daring, ...

setting. * Chapter Four - Shadow Stalkers does the same thing to a setting combining elements from Sherlock Holmes, H.P. Lovecraft and the American

Wild West The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...

. * Chapter Five - Pulp Heroes is the third setting provided, it enables the player to be a more contemporary hero and take on anything from

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

s or

King Kong King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...

J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American law enforcement administrator who served as the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation � ...

's F.B.I. Further period background information was made available as a Web Enhancement.

Progress Levels

According to Wizards of the Coast, a Progress Level (PL) is an indication of the state of technology that exists in a particular society or an arbitrary measurement of how advanced a culture is, based on developments in

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and Reproducibility, reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in me ...

and

society A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soci ...

. The concept was introduced in d20 Future (and even earlier in TSR's

Alternity ''Alternity'' is a science fiction role-playing game (RPG) published by TSR in 1998. Following the acquisition of TSR by Wizards of the Coast, the game was discontinued in 2000 as part of a broader rationalisation of TSR's business holdings, bu ...

manuals by

Bill Slavicsek Bill Slavicsek is a game designer who served as the Director of Roleplaying Design and Development at Wizards of the Coast. He previously worked for West End Games and TSR, Inc., and designed products for ''Dungeons & Dragons'', '' Star Wars'', ...

) to describe both the level of technology in the campaign as well as the technology levels of other species comparative to the human one. They are similar to the Tech Levels in

GURPS The ''Generic Universal RolePlaying System'', or ''GURPS'', is a tabletop role-playing game system designed to allow for play in any game setting. It was created by Steve Jackson Games and first published in 1986 at a time when most such systems ...

. Progress levels of six and higher were studied in ''d20 Future'', with the default ''d20 Modern'' setting encompassing progress level five. In ''d20 Past'', two progress levels are available such as: Progress level three (the age of reason) and progress level four (the industrial age).

Skills and feats

Skills and feats have deviated remarkably from their ''d20 Modern'' standards to accommodate for the differences in technology. For example, certain uses of a skill that were acceptable under a modern standard may no longer apply to a campaign setting where the technologies to perform these actions may not have been available. Similarly, some feats may represent modern knowledge or techniques that were not available to people centuries prior. It also includes new uses of skills and feats that might be more appropriate for a historic campaign.

References

External links

Wizards of the Coast - product infoRPG.net - review
{{d20 D20 System publications Historical role-playing games Role-playing games introduced in 2005