Recently the good folks at Dias Ex Machina were kind enough to give us some feedback on our content, and asked if we would take a sneak-peek at their upcoming re-release of their premium title Ultramodern5 (available soon on backerkit). I was unfamiliar with the title, but, being as embedded in classical fantasy TTRPG as I am, I relished the chance to experience a 5E rules bolt-on that seeks to master the realm of modern-thru-futuristic Sci-Fi. I am happy to say the Ultramodern5 did not disappoint!
For the sake of transparency, I will note here that our copy of Ultramodern5 was gifted to us by Dias Ex Machina. However, as per our policy, that does not factor into our review of the product. Thank you to DEM for supporting our content!
If you are curious how we rated the product below you can find more information here.
- Allows for endless possibilities
- Sci-Fi that is based on science
- Incredibly detailed character generation
- Frameworks to build upon
- Mecha for Mecha’s sake
- Where’s the spaceflight? Oh!
- No vehicle battles
- None
Ultramodern5 is for the GM who is looking for a comprehensive toolset to introduce modern-to-futuristic concepts into just about any TTRPG setting.
Critical Hits
Scroll through the libraries of content available in places like DrivethruRPG. If you do, you will come across countless TTRPG titles in a futuristic setting. Ultramodern5 (or just U5 for short) is NOT that. Instead, U5 first seeks to help you understand the concepts of a modern or futuristic setting. Then it allows you to make choices on how best to incorporate that into any quest setting. That obviously lends itself to a quest set in modern times, extending out to the borders of Sci-Fi. But that also allows for an anachronistic, “stranger in a strange time” experience that so many other settings ignore.
For example, have you ever wondered how to navigate a modern soldier in a traditional fantasy quest? Ultramodern5 can help with that. The “Two-Handed Small Arms” table gives some good data on how to employ a semi-automatic rifle, and that it would be subject to the 5E “reload” property. Conversely, if you’ve ever wondered what it might be like to have a gang of pillaging orcs on the deck of a star cruiser, U5 can help with that too! But how are both of those things possible in one title?
Ultramodern5 gives you the toolset to visualize modern and futuristic concepts and apply them in traditional 5E settings. It also allows you to take traditional 5E rules and plug them into realistic/futuristic settings. For example, the Reload property for semi-auto rifles is the same Reload rule published in officially licensed 5E materials. In this way U5 introduces “backwards compatibility” between fantasy and Sci-Fi settings. This gives the game master the tools needed to make intelligent choices on how best to blend a quest together. This elegance in compatibility is the primary strength inherent to Ultramodern5 and is the beautiful undertone in the overall composition of the content.
Saves
The reason Ulramodern5 works as well as it does is due to its approach to science, not necessarily Sci-Fi. Not resting on the laurels of other Sci-Fi properties that have come before, U5 leverages an understanding of science, physics, and time to provide a guidebook on where modern humanity comes from and possibilities for our future. And while that sounds a little too geeked-out, Ultramodern5 does it in a way that is both understandable and approachable. They accomplish this by employing Tech Levels (TLs). These are 6 distinct points in the past, present, and imagined future of mankind, used to describe periods of the technological accomplishments of modern man. This is akin to our understanding of the differences between “the stone age” and “the iron age.”
You’ll notice that the above gives a lot of lip-service to humanity, and that too is by design, as Ultramodern5 acknowledges that modern and Sci-Fi campaigns are human-centric by necessity. U5 considers race on a scale of that which is human to that which is alien. But this is not a limitation in playability of characters. On the contrary, the content provides expansive choices along that scale, including the genetically mutated “Altered,” the alien “Honoe”” and even the mystical “Yokai” character type. They even include the android “Automaton.” Combined with expanded classes, ladders, feats, backgrounds, etc., you can create human and alien characters of boundless complexity.
The options afforded to a GM are truly only limited by one’s imagination. But Ultramodern5 even accounts for that by providing a couple modern/futuristic setting frameworks to build a quest within. These settings are new in the Redux and they provide just enough of a skeletal structure to act as a foundation for what could be a very meaty quest. The authors continue the theme of affording GMs a toolset of options, rather than handcuffs.
Fails
For all its many wins, Ultramodern5 has a couple of flaws.
The first has to do with the concept of Mecha. Mecha can best be described as a suit of technology that is worn or piloted by a character. Think Gundam or Voltron. The authors of Ultramodern5 warn that Mecha can make characters OP, if not employed by everyone in the party, but they also play down the importance of Mecha by writing it off as simply a product of the “rule of cool.” Impactful or not, they devote a whole chapter of the book to Mecha and get very in the weeds on it, from outfitting Mecha with specific weaponry to leveling up individual servos. In my opinion, the inclusion of Mecha deviates from the book’s flow of being a one-stop shop for everything futuristic. This well-written labor of love would probably serve readers better as a separate module, or in its own setting/framework.
In my first skim-through of the content, I (incorrectly) thought they completely ignored the concept of spaceflight and exploration in this book. Then, I realized that they didn’t ignore it so much as hide it as an aspect of their “Threshold” campaign setting. While I am glad they included this very important aspect of our science fiction lexicon, I believe they should make it a prominent mechanic in the book. In fact, I would swap it out with Mecha, in that regard.
I highlight my final gripe in the following text excerpt. “For the most part, vehicles should not be featured in combat, as the logistics of handling two separate scales are too complex for general purposes.” Then consider that they include such vehicles as tanks and the “attack helicopter,” whose name in fact implies specific use in combat. The choice to not only omit a vehicle combat mechanic, but to also discourage it, just seems strange. Also, not acknowledging the place of modern technological advancements on the battlefield seems a bit obtuse, specifically when they include war-fighting vehicles in the content.
Critical Misses
Despite the complaints that I express above, there are no Critical Misses that I have identified, which is to say that there are no compelling reasons to avoid this product.
The Hero’s Journey
Who would benefit from Ultramodern5? Any GM who wants to run a modern or futuristic quest will find a wealth of content to leverage in U5. Similarly, if you’re looking to incorporate those concepts into a traditional fantasy quest, U5 will help with rounding out the corners on that effort. However, if your world requires mechanics for vehicular combat, you’re going to need to come up with your own rule-sets to bridge that gap.
