I posted the below to my blog, but thought some might not see it there - so I am cross posting.
///WARNING SOME SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD///
Yesterday I watched Terminator Salvation, and while I was totally disappointed in the movie, there were some really cool elements in there. I will not go into any rants about the film, like how surely Skynet would have radar and would certainly be tracking any aircraft other than their own. No, I won't talk about the chance of walking away from not 1, but 2 helicopter crashes. (I know, it's a movie, but my suspension of disbelief can only carry me so far.) I like some realism in a gritty future apocalypse sprinkled with bits of fantasy.
Now there were some moments when I loved the movie, the entire scene in the ruins of L.A. with Reese were excellent. I also loved shots of the resistance fighters huddled around radios. This perked my interest back in my "The End" setting. I started working on that idea again, however instead of just a zombie apocalypse, why not support any kind of future calamity which pits men against some invader (dead or domestic).
So I have revamped my work on a Swords & Wizardry white box supplement and titled it "The Resistance". Characters can be one of three core classes, the Resistance Fighter, the Medic, and the Techno-Rat. You can plop these classes in the middle of any modern/futuristic setting overrun with bad guys. Be they evil machines, alien invaders, or a plague of zombies. The Resistance are small cells of guerrilla soldiers, fighting as insurgents against whatever foes you can throw at them.
I have written up a modern weapons document based heavily on the Best of Dragon Vol 1 article entitled "Sturmgeshutz and Sorcery". While this article was written as a world war II add on to D&D, it should work well enough with modern/futuristic rules. The biggest change for S&W is that to hit with a modern firearm is not based on AC, but on a base 8+ to hit. There are Situational Modifiers to this base that is explained in the document. Also, all classes can use firearms (though R.Fighters get a +1 bonus to hit and +2 to damage).
So, download the 2 documents (both are available under my "Downloads" section of the blog), and send some killer robots after your friends. If you can hear this, you are THE RESISTANCE.
Here are links to the downloads
Resistance Classes
Modern Firearms
