After playing a few years of DnD i've decided to pick up my personal favorite setting - post apocalyptic. while preparing everything, things went smoothly until i came to the part of equipment. As DnD has magic in it, it gives the possibility of magic rings, cloaks, potions and other items.
These items would really fill a hero's repertoire of options and also make him bigger in the world as a hero, standing out of the crowd.
with d20 modern, equipment options are limited. i've taken the drugs substitute for potions and as my setting is playing in the far future (200 years) i'm able to put some interesting drugs in there (system also used in fallout games) and i'm looking into cybernetics (although that wouldn't really fit post apocalyptic)..
so, how do you fix it? how do you reward the players with stuff?.. in DnD, an item could trigger amazement and be part of a bigger quest, how does that work in d20 modern? help would really be appreciated as my players are all DnD players trying the new d20 modern and i want to slowly transfer them to this system
Motivate the PCs with stashes in a Post Apoc setting. An ammo bunker? A weapon stash? A sealed of garage with more-or-less intact vehicles?
Or you could go superultrahightech/alientech to insert "magic" stuff.
however, i'm looking for something more portable. i've thought about Vehicles with modifications and also there are modifications for weapons. the thing is, i like to give them stuff that makes them more hero like and not just fighting machines.
A water-purification machine (portable). Again, depending on the apoc type, it can either be '...nice to have' or 'wow! let's kill 'im and loot it!".
A portable generator with a reeeaaal long battery time. Alternatively, wind-powered, solar-panels, etc...
A high tech survival/escape pod with food, ammo, self-defense weapons, and most importantly: air-conditioning.
(should be vehicle-transportable)
portable generator could be handy as there's a lot of unpowered cool stuff lying around.
how i'm gonna do it with water and food i don't know yet. i want to make it an issue but not soo big that it takes up all their time.. so maybe it'll be useful... i'll see
maybe other stuff of my setting might help for equipment creativity. There's a secret high tech scientist community living underwater. most destruction came from robotic warfare combined with atomic weaponary.
helping?
again, thanx for the ideas, writing stuff down and working it out
"Made in [insert name of underwater city], year 2328"
The PC's would have no idea what it means, but that could be a way of introducing the fact that there are 'survivors with hitech' somewhere. You could have them discover the real deal later, or immediately after. The PCs could set out on a quest to find out what it is...
[just throwing ideas around]
Let me say this: Play Fallout 3. Investigate the G.E.C.K. and convert it to d20.
You have an awesome piece of adventurer reward.
As for the secret hitech underwater scientist community, how about the PCs discover an item or a newspaper or a book or magazine or [whatever] dated/registrated/constructed after the apocalypse?
"Made in [insert name of underwater city], year 2328"
The PC's would have no idea what it means, but that could be a way of introducing the fact that there are 'survivors with hitech' somewhere. You could have them discover the real deal later, or immediately after. The PCs could set out on a quest to find out what it is...
[just throwing ideas around]
Redoubts ala Deathlands and Outlanders with a possibility Continuity Of Government project behind them all... Most Redoubts are hidden and built inside mountains or under the occassional non-1st strike cities... in the series almost all of the redoubts have been abandoned with the occassional occupied one and most have had their supplies taken or looted after they were abandoned of all firearms, munitions, vehicles, medical supplies and foodstuffs... this would open up the area for a PC to have Knowledge vehicles to repair or Heavy Weapon Proficiency
As for the secret hitech underwater scientist community, how about the PCs discover an item or a newspaper or a book or magazine or [whatever] dated/registrated/constructed after the apocalypse?
"Made in [insert name of underwater city], year 2328"
The PC's would have no idea what it means, but that could be a way of introducing the fact that there are 'survivors with hitech' somewhere. You could have them discover the real deal later, or immediately after. The PCs could set out on a quest to find out what it is...
[just throwing ideas around]
wha... GREAT idea!
i was working on a subtle way of introducing them to this society. a newspaper or other form of data which has not really direct use to the players would be a pretty cool way of getting a nice story going.. Thanks
about fallout 3: i've tried to play the game but i'm more of a fallout 1&2 fanboy if it comes to those games. Using the G.E.C.K. was in my mind but mainly for mapmaking and scenery shots... don't know how i would use it for treasure though.. could you explain?
while being away for a week i've thought of some things:
- drugs that do the same as potions in dungeons and dragons (to a certain extend)
- certain computer hack with the robotic space civilization for GPS purposes or maybe orbital drop attacks.
- maybe to integrate nanobot technology (from the underwater society).. this could give a possibility of finding nanobot programing
- holograms
- spine chips that enhance human capabilities
more is always welcome
I really like your ideas so far.
First off, don't let them go shopping from the equipment list. it is post-whatever-disaster so you just can't saunter down to the gunstore.
a magic weapon may be one with a switch that allows you to pull the trigger and it just keeps on shooting!
a magic weapon may be one with a 'tube on top that lets you see extra extra far!'
You aren't going to have a situaiton like in DnD where you get a +7 jagged bastardsword that does +1d10 cold damage whenever you crit, but something equivalent to the old +1 longsword or +3 battleaxe, where it simply increases your chance to hit and do damage is definately realistic...simply define it as differing degrees of masterwork, extra lucky, your kharma and the gun's kharma are just extra in sync, whatever.
Heck you can have fun with having guns get special +X for different reasons. Player A may find a gun that is +2 due it being mastercrafted, but it requires constant cleaning and care to keep it that way...maybe along with specialty lubes that can be in short supply, so he is constantly running upkeep, but another player gets a +2 gun that simply that way because when he has it, he just is superlucky. As far as target practice, no one else seems to get a little bit better with it, but he does. Or simply define it as (and forgive me for buggering this french phrase) Je ne sai quoi, the stars aligned just right on the day it was being made, or whatever.
For a real life example of je ne sai quoi, the US marines were issued 1903A3 springfield rifles, and they should have all been identical, but the armorers testfired them all and picked out the individual guns that were exceptionally accurate, and mounted scopes on them, and used them for sniper rifles. Note, these weren't rifles that had special work done to them, they were just run-of-the-mill...but they were exceptional.
Right now the company Weatherby does the same thing. It testfires each gun as a part of quality control...but any gun that does exceptionally well is specially tagged, and then they put it on a fancier stock and relabel it as 'Sub-moa'...but aside from the stock, it is mechanically identical to every other gun being churned out of that same production line.
In d20 Modern, the Mastercraft bonus can apply to attack OR damage for weapons, and in general goes up to +3. You CAN have a custom built revolver that is Mastercraft +2 attack and +3 damage. Specially made and carefully tailored Mastercraft +3 Kevlar vest. Or Mastercraft ammunition that have specially designed individually hand crafted bullets that provide +2 damage.
The DM is free to even design special stipulations around mastercraft, like the ammunition is a special made hollowpoint that only does its extra damage against targets with no armor. Or the custom forged combat knife's edge is made in such a way it provides the same effect as keen.
Or you could... ugh.... use d20 Future's gadget system to provide some ideas for technological enhancements, but most of it is junk.
akodo: thanks for the explanation of how mastercraft objects could be explained. it really gives an item a 'special' value which is one of the most important things about treasure (i believe).
so yes, true.. i could get armor and weapons the +1, +2 or +3 it needs. i could also add some futuristic gadgets as im looking for a little over the top feeling... skycaptain, world of tomorrow feeling... (haven't really looked at the future gadgets yet, but i could always come up with my own stuff)
the 'superlucky' stuff.... thinking... the thing with it is... it sounds too magical.
anyway, i really eppreciate your thoughts, it's nice to gain inspiration from others
Of course, as with any hipowered stuff, restrictions would have to be applied - waiting for the orbital station to get in range, or needing to wait until the drop pods have reloaded, etc...
I don't think that calling 'regular' technology magic is the way to go here, unless nobody remembers anything about pre-doomsday.
What about those secular nomadic groups who would move around developing there own language and post-apoc culture... a firearm or explosives could be put off as magic or evil spirits by them.... Just tossing thoughts about.
About your "orbital drop attacks"... It gave me the idea of using clones in drop pods. Orbital Space Station with clones hibernating in drop pods, until a "we need reinforcements!!!" signal is given. A few moments later, voila, clones at your service.
LOVE that idea...
and it works perfectly in my campaign as the story is about an age were everyone had an ubandance of energy and then suddenly lost it all. my apocalypse is based on that the Wardenclyffe Tower was build, giving the world energy and no more need for batteries. so because energy efficient usage wasn't needed anymore the started to build robotics. after the tower was destroyed, everyone was stuck with all these electronic devices without juice..
so an orbital drop could drop a robot with a battery(a reserve battery made at the time for fluctuations in the connection with the tower)... but robots are absolutly not efficient in energy usage so it can only survive a few minutes until it's out of juice..
love your mind, great ideas!
And yea, clones or robots, the idea is the same. You should make sure that the clones/robots can't be looted too much, though - or else, the PCs might be reluctant to use them if they aren't sure they can loot (and transport the loot) them. So go with integrated weaponry, ammo-less or using a powerpack (that runs dry at the same time as the bot itself), etc... Perhaps even self-destruct mechanisms.
Oh, and thanks for the flattering. :D
btw, just to add some story for people to ponder about: the whole special aspect about the players is 3 things:
1. they have a extremly active DMT gland in their brain which is the reason they were subjected to experiments.
2. they have a new nanotechnology in their body that heals the human body as soon as its fed any psychoactive substance (meaning they heal when they sleep or take any psychoactive drugs)
3. the players don't know about point 1 & 2
i've been playing around with the nanobots, give them certain powers with these nanobots (different programming) but i don't have any idea yet how to implement nice progression with it