Alternity was the last game designed by TSR. After WotC bought TSR, they discontinued it and adapted it into d20 system.

So what did it look like?

Alternity was skills centric. Feats don't exist, and perks & flaws are weak modifiers that ultimately cost or net skill points. The jarring difference is that armor operation, unarmed attack, melee attack, heavy weapons, and ranged weapons are skills, with power martial arts and defensive martial arts as specialty skills to do the fancy stuff.

The basic rules had no magic, but did have psionics. Psionics were treated as skills as well, grouped into four families linked to four ability scores (con, int, per, wil) with overall amount of psionic power being linked to will. Exceeding your psionic power limit incurs fatigue damage.

There were also rules for cybernetics and mutations. Cybertech tolerance is linked to constitution, and mutations had to be balanced between advantages and drawbacks (example: night vision, but sensitive to light; or enhanced strength but inefficient metabolism).

The GM guide provided rough rules for "FX" powers, essentially magic, although it was clearly an afterthought and not part of the main body of rules.

Alternity was the last game designed by TSR. After WotC bought TSR, they discontinued it and adapted it into d20 system.

So what did it look like?

Alternity was skills centric. Feats don't exist, and perks & flaws are weak modifiers that ultimately cost or net skill points. The biggest jarring difference is that armor operation, unarmed attack, melee attack, heavy weapons, and ranged weapons are skills, with power martial arts and defensive martial arts as specialty skills to do the fancy stuff.

The basic rules had no magic, but did have psionics. Psionics were treated as skills as well, grouped into four families linked to four ability scores (con, int, per, wil) with overall amount of psionic power being linked to will. Exceeding your psionic power limit incurs fatigue damage.

There were also rules for cybernetics and mutations. Cybertech tolerance is linked to constitution, and mutations had to be balanced between advantages and drawbacks (example: night vision, but sensitive to light; or enhanced strength but inefficient metabolism).

The GM guide provided rough rules for "FX" powers, essentially magic, although it was clearly an afterthought and not part of the main body of rules.

Alternity was the last game designed by TSR. After WotC bought TSR, they discontinued it and adapted it into d20 system.

So what did it look like?

Alternity was skills centric. Feats don't exist, and perks & flaws are weak modifiers that ultimately cost or net skill points. The biggest jarring difference from d20 is that armor operation, unarmed attack, melee attack, heavy weapons, and ranged weapons are skills.

The basic rules had no magic, but did have psionics. Psionics were treated as skills as well, grouped into four families linked to four ability scores (con, int, per, wil) with overall amount of psionic power being linked to will. Exceeding your psionic power limit incurs fatigue damage.

There were also rules for cybernetics and mutations. Cybertech tolerance is linked to constitution, and mutations had to be balanced between advantages and drawbacks (example: night vision, but sensitive to light; or enhanced strength but inefficient metabolism).

The GM guide provided rough rules for "FX" powers, essentially magic, although it was clearly an afterthought and not part of the main body of rules.

Alternity was the last game designed by TSR. After WotC bought TSR, they discontinued it and adapted it into d20 system. So d20 future and modern were literally Alternity, or with so few changes that it didn't matter.

So what did it look like?

Alternity was skills centric. Feats don't exist, and perks & flaws are weak modifiers that ultimately cost or net skill points.

The basic rules had no magic, but did have psionics. Psionics were treated as skills as well, grouped into four families linked to four ability scores (con, int, per, wil) with overall amount of psionic power being linked to will. Exceeding your psionic power limit incurs fatigue damage.

There were also rules for cybernetics and mutations. Cybertech tolerance is linked to constitution, and mutations had to be balanced between advantages and drawbacks (example: night vision, but sensitive to light; or enhanced strength but inefficient metabolism).

The GM guide provided rough rules for "FX" powers, essentially magic, although it was clearly an afterthought and not part of the main body of rules.

Alternity was the last game designed by TSR. After WotC bought TSR, they discontinued it and adapted it into d20 system. So d20 future and modern were literally Alternity, or with so few changes that it didn't matter.

So what did it look like?

Alternity was skills centric. Feats don't exist, and perks & flaws are weak modifiers that ultimately cost or net skill points. Attributes are called ability scores (str, dex, con, int, per, wil). Skills have ranks, and each skill rank is more expensive in skill points. Skills are discounted for certain professions (combat spec pays less than tech op for fighting skills, for example, and vice versa for computer skills).

Designing new skills was very easy, you just need to describe what the skill does, determine which ability its linked to, whether it can be used untrained, and what professions should get a discount.

The basic rules had no magic, but did have psionics. Psionics were treated as skills as well, grouped into four families linked to four ability scores (con, int, per, wil) with overall amount of psionic power being linked to will. Exceeding your psionic power limit incurs fatigue damage.

There were also rules for cybernetics and mutations. Cybertech tolerance is linked to constitution, and mutations had to be balanced between advantages and drawbacks (example: night vision, but sensitive to light; or enhanced strength but inefficient metabolism).

The GM guide provided rough rules for "FX" powers, essentially magic, although it was clearly an afterthought and not part of the main body of rules.

Alternity was the last game designed by TSR. After WotC bought TSR, they discontinued it and adapted it into d20 system. So d20 future and modern were literally Alternity, or with so few changes that it didn't matter.

So what did it look like?

Alternity was skills centric. Feats don't exist, and perks & flaws are weak modifiers that ultimately cost or net skill points. Attributes are called ability scores (str, dex, con, int, per, wil). Skills have ranks, and each skill rank is more expensive in skill points. Skills are discounted for certain professions (combat spec pays less than tech op for fighting skills, for example, and vice versa for computer skills).

Designing new skills was very easy, you just need to describe what the skill does, determine which ability its linked to, whether it can be used untrained, and what professions should get a discount.

The basic rules had no magic, but did have psionics. Psionics were treated as skills as well, grouped into four families linked to four ability scores (con, int, per, wil) with overall amount of psionic power being linked to will. Exceeding your psionic power limit incurs fatigue damage.

There were also rules for cybernetics and mutations. Cybertech tolerance is linked to constitution, and mutations had to be balanced between advantages and drawbacks.

The GM guide provided rough rules for "FX" powers, essentially magic, although it was clearly an afterthought and not part of the main body of rules.

Alternity was the last game designed by TSR. After WotC bought TSR, they discontinued it and adapted it into d20 system. So d20 future and modern were literally Alternity, or with so few changes that it didn't matter.

So what did it look like?

Alternity was skills centric. Feats don't exist, and perks & flaws are weak modifiers that ultimately cost or net skill points. Attributes are called ability scores (str, dex, con, int, per, wil). Skills have ranks, and each skill rank is more expensive in skill points. Skills are discounted for certain professions (combat spec pays less than tech op for fighting skills, for example, and vice versa for computer skills).

Designing new skills was very easy, you just need to describe what the skill does, determine which ability its linked to, whether it can be used untrained, and what professions should get a discount.

The basic rules had no magic, but did have psionics. Psionics were treated as skills as well, grouped into four families linked to four ability scores (con, int, per, wil) with overall amount of psionic power being linked to will. Exceeding your psionic power limit incurs fatigue damage.

There were also rules for cybernetics and mutations.

The GM guide provided rough rules for "FX" powers, essentially magic, although it was clearly an afterthought and not part of the main body of rules.

Alternity was the last game designed by TSR. After WotC bought TSR, they discontinued it and adapted it into d20 system. So d20 future and modern were literally Alternity, or with so few changes that it didn't matter.

So what did it look like?

Alternity was skills heavy. Feats don't exist, and perks & flaws are weak modifiers that ultimately cost or net skill points. Attributes are called ability scores (str, dex, con, int, per, wil). Skills have ranks, and each skill rank is more expensive in skill points. Skills are discounted for certain professions (combat spec pays less than tech op for fighting skills, for example, and vice versa for computer skills).

Designing new skills was very easy, you just need to describe what the skill does, determine which ability its linked to, whether it can be used untrained, and what professions should get a discount.

The basic rules had no magic, but did have psionics. Psionics were treated as skills as well, grouped into four families linked to four ability scores (con, int, per, wil) with overall amount of psionic power being linked to will. Exceeding your psionic power limit incurs fatigue damage.

There were also rules for cybernetics and mutations.

The GM guide provided rough rules for "FX" powers, essentially magic, although it was clearly an afterthought and not part of the main body of rules.

Alternity was the last game designed by TSR. After WotC bought TSR, they discontinued it and adapted it into d20 system. So d20 future and modern were literally Alternity, or with so few changes that it didn't matter.

So what did it look like?

Alternity was skills heavy. Feats don't exist, and perks & flaws are weak modifiers that ultimately cost or net skill points. Attributes are called ability scores (str, dex, con, int, per, wil). Skills have ranks, and each skill rank is more expensive in skill points. Skills are discounted for certain professions (combat spec pays less than tech op for fighting skills, for example, and vice versa for computer skills).

The basic rules had no magic, but did have psionics. Psionics were treated as skills as well, grouped into four families linked to four ability scores (con, int, per, wil) with overall amount of psionic power being linked to will. Exceeding your psionic power limit incurs fatigue damage.

There were also rules for cybernetics and mutations.

The GM guide provided rough rules for "FX" powers, essentially magic, although it was clearly an afterthought and not part of the main body of rules.

Alternity was the last game designed by TSR. After WotC bought TSR, they discontinued it and adapted it into d20 system. So d20 future and modern were literally Alternity, or with so few changes that it didn't matter.

So what did it look like?

Alternity was skills heavy. Feats don't exist, and perks & flaws are weak modifiers that ultimately cost or net skill points. Attributes are called ability scores (str, dex, con, int, per, wil).

The basic rules had no magic, but did have psionics. Psionics were treated as skills as well, grouped into four families linked to four ability scores (con, int, per, wil) with overall amount of psionic power being linked to will. Exceeding your psionic power limit incurs fatigue damage.

There were also rules for cybernetics and mutations.

The GM guide provided rough rules for "FX" powers, essentially magic, although it was clearly an afterthought and not part of the main body of rules.

Alternity was the last game designed by TSR. After WotC bought TSR, they discontinued it and adapted it into d20 system. So d20 future and modern were literally Alternity, or with so few changes that it didn't matter.

So what did it look like?

Alternity was skills heavy. Feats don't exist, and perks & flaws are weak modifiers that ultimately cost or net skill points. Attributes are called ability scores (str, dex, con, int, per, wil).

The basic rules had no magic, but did have psionics. Psionics were treated as skills as well, grouped into four families linked to four ability scores (con, int, per, wil) with overall amount of psionic power being linked to will.

There were also rules for cybernetics and mutations.

The GM guide provided rough rules for "FX" powers, essentially magic, although it was clearly an afterthought and not part of the main body of rules.

Alternity was the last game designed by TSR. After WotC bought TSR, they discontinued it and adapted it into d20 system. So d20 future and modern were literally Alternity, or with so few changes that it didn't matter.

So what did it look like?

Alternity was skills heavy. Feats don't exist, and perks & flaws are weak modifiers that ultimately cost or net skill points. Attributes are called ability scores (str, dex, con, int, per, wil).

The basic rules had no magic, but did have psionics. Psionics were treated as skills as well, grouped into four families linked to four ability scores (con, int, per, wil) with overall amount of psionic power being linked to will.

There were also rules for cybernetics and mutations.

The GM guide provided rough rules for "FX" powers, essentially magic, although it was clearly an afterthought and not part of the main body of rules.

Because Alternity was skills heavy, it was more taxing on the GM to balance the difficulty of rolls. But it was also very easy to add new skills.

Alternity was the last game designed by TSR. After WotC bought TSR, they discontinued it and adapted it into d20 system. So d20 future and modern were literally Alternity, or with so few changes that it didn't matter.

So what did it look like?

Alternity was skills heavy. Feats don't exist, and perks & flaws are weak modifiers that ultimately cost or net skill points. Attributes are called ability scores (str, dex, con, int, per, wil).

The basic rules had no magic, but did have psionics. Psionics were treated as skills as well, grouped into four families linked to four ability scores (con, int, per, wil) with overall amount of psionic power being linked to will.

There were also rules for cybernetics and mutations.

The GM guide provided rough rules for "FX" powers, essentially magic, although it was clearly an afterthought and not part of the main body of rules.