Modern Invades Magic - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Modern Invades Magic

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
kenjutsu_avatar
May 12, 2008 17:59:28 I have this idea for a campain, send a group of collage from our world to a magic world. My question is what would be a good set of events. Not to mention a world desighn.
#2
TheRealOrion
May 12, 2008 20:30:12 This is a pretty tried-and-true premise, but in an effort to come up with a new twist on it, it occured to me that you could set up a doppleganger thing. Your heroes, whether they're D&D or d20M, discover a teleportation device and see waht look distinctly like versions of themselves through its viewfinder (or whatever).

If they're D&D characters, they see themselves dressed in odd clothing, using mechanical weapons, and driving horseless chariots. If they're Moderns, they see versions of themselves that look like a fantasy movie. You could actually have a lot of fun present alternate versions of your players' characters. Toss in some good-natured wierdness, like presenting one of their opposites as a different gender, maybe, or give a dwarf a human counter-part.

Then, through some kind of accident (make something up), the two groups switch places and the device/item/whatever is destroyed (it's a pretty contrived premise, but if everyone buys into the basic idea, they'll go along with it). From there, you have a fish-out-of-water campaign with a couple of options.

Option 1) the PCs spend all their energy trying to find a way back. If they're Moderns in the medieval world, you make the transportation device technological, so that it's harder to build one using magic. If they're D&D characters, you give them the opposite problem: it's magic, and they need to find another one like it in the modern world. You can set up a few false trails here and there. Every time they get close, they see their counterparts through the mirror/screen/whatever. Perhaps when they're close to a transport device and their counter-parts are in danger, the PCs take damage, like a Corsican effect? Could be fun.

Option 2) the PCs are find where they are, and their doubles keep trying to send them home. In this version, they might meet their doubles in some kind of middle-ground limbo kind of place, and have to fight versions of themselves, science vs. magic. Every time they meet, their counterparts have levelled up with them, so it's always an even match.

That's what I was thinking I might do, anyway. If it's interesting, g'head and use it.
#3
kenjutsu_avatar
May 13, 2008 10:21:55 what if instead of switching they combine into one body and the two "forms" fight each other.
#4
prime32
May 13, 2008 11:56:00 The Darksword trilogy and Fullmetal Alchemist both have this near the end of their storylines - they could give you some ideas. Also, Fullmetal Alchemist is awesome. You should watch it anyway.
#5
j0lt
May 13, 2008 23:54:35 You could pull off a Stargate-style scenario and drop your modern PCs into D&D. I'm always hearing about the power disparity, but if you take into account that the PCs will quickly get used to the strange world, while EVERY single NPC or other encounter will have the potential to shock and scare the local type, it can be a powerful balancing force.
#6
TheRealOrion
May 14, 2008 21:19:20 If you toss Modern characters into a D&D world, then it's only fair to (a) allow them to multi-class into D&D classes, and (2) follow D&D rules regarding massive damage and non-lethal damage. The fun part, here, wouldn't be the rule contrasts but the fact that people from the 21st century would be in a fantasy world. Now, here's the problem, though: every time you play D&D, it's a bunch of people from the modern world in a fantasy world.

That's why I think the opposite, D&D characters in the modern world, would be a lot more fun. "You can't arrest me for muder! He tried to steal my wallet. I mean, be fair."
#7
doomsought
May 17, 2008 12:21:51 This rings of a premise I came up with a while ago, intsead of switching with thier alternates... they combine with them. use the guesalt rules with the addition that one class is D&D and the other d20 moddern, feats after creation must come from whichever stting they are in at the time.
You need some experianced players. have a few other guesalts running around but other wise treat them as if they were 1.5 tiems thier level. start them around level ten and work your way into epic. The lv20 scientist/mage npc which created the portal (and is the PC's boss) is crippled by a dragon imediatly after every one gets guesalted, the pc's get stuck on D&D side while he flees into moddern. they have to kill a dragon strait off and you sand box* it from there until one of htem learns Gate (lv 9 spell).

*that means let them do what they liek and wing it. take over the world, i gues the shock went all to your ego; make a small nation and rais it to moddern technology, shure why not; Both... now that is just going to be epic.
#8
jekolmy
May 17, 2008 12:38:13
*that means let them do what they liek and wing it. take over the world, i gues the shock went all to your ego; make a small nation and rais it to moddern technology, shure why not; Both... now that is just going to be epic.

Depending on how realistic you want the game to be you might want to consider that the typical D&D world just doesn't have the technological base that they would need to become a "modernized" power. Even if you have the plans for a TV without the parts you can't build it, and where are you going to find the parts in the D&D world? I guess though that for the plans their boss scientist might have them so that at least can be explained away.
#9
prime32
May 17, 2008 12:49:20 One word: Fabricate.
#10
TheRealOrion
May 17, 2008 12:54:35
This rings of a premise I came up with a while ago, intsead of switching with thier alternates... they combine with them. use the guesalt rules with the addition that one class is D&D and the other d20 moddern, feats after creation must come from whichever stting they are in at the time.

Do you mean "gestalt"? As in, an entity made up of different identities? If so, what rules are you referring to?

I think it's a neat idea, actually. You could have a lot of fun with flipping back and forth between words as one aspect of the gestalt takes "lead." Maybe what's special about the PCs and some NPCs is that they live in both worlds at once, while most people are unaware of their counter-parts? It's kind of a D&D/d20M version of The Matrix. You can essentially double your potential as a person by calling on the experience of both "selves." Suddenly, you become a 6th-level person instead of 3rd. Interesting...
#11
prime32
May 17, 2008 13:04:59 The gestalt rules are here. Basically, you get two classes at every level.
#12
doomsought
May 17, 2008 15:45:42 yup, there you go, I came up with the idea thinking about some of the incompatabuilities between d20 moddern and D&D.

Fabricate isn't the only way, remember most D&D worlds are in the dark ages, and as such, have blacksmiths. If you read the Conrad stargaurd series, you will find out how you can get to simple aircraft and guns from there.

An abrams made of adamantine and mythral aloy, dwarths with a moddern smeltery... fire elemental bound to a fusion reactor to make it function.
#13
TheRealOrion
May 18, 2008 12:55:20 Sorry, former medieval scholar here: the "Dark Ages" is a term invented in the Enlightenment because they thought they were so much smarter than the mediaevals. The high medieval period actually had very advanced engineering, architecture, and metallurgy. The difference between that an a D&D world is that D&D is based on the myth of the medieval period, that there was no technology at all (despite full-plate armour, castles, ballistae, etc.), therefore magic is used in D&D where actual people living in the period would have probably invented something more techy.

So my point is, yeah, it would very difficult to come up with that kind of technology in a D&D world, but in the actual mediaeval period, not so much.
#14
doomsought
May 18, 2008 16:49:24 No, you aren't gettign my point, I was saying that they aren't in the stone age, they are in the iron age. The micro-chip would take quite a few years but factories and Internal combustion engines would take no more than a decade, and much less with fabricate. The main reason they didn't make all sorts of technology is simply they didn't know they could. An electric generator is just a coil of wire and a load stone... or a crystal enchanted with lighning bolt with wires on the end, magic itself can be used to cover gaps too.
#15
prime32
May 18, 2008 17:07:14
a crystal enchanted with lighning bolt with wires on the end, magic itself can be used to cover gaps too.

I'm not sure if you can "enchant a crystal with lightning bolt". A DM might allow the creation of a new "magi-battery" item (probably easier in Eberron, where you can use bound elementals), but otherwise, your best bet is to use epic magic so that an object permanently emanates electricity.
#16
TheRealOrion
May 19, 2008 23:51:27 Ah, I see. I did misunderstand you. Yeah, some technologies would be a lot easier to arrive at than others, just because of what kind of manufacturing they're capable of.

I read a great comic book last year called Crecy all about a battle in the Hundred Years War. The protagonist is a British soldier who talks to the viewer. At one point, he looks at you and says "You have to remember, people in history are just as smart as you. We don't just don't have all the pre-existing knowledge to work with." S'a good moment.
#17
doomsought
May 20, 2008 15:20:50
I'm not sure if you can "enchant a crystal with lightning bolt". A DM might allow the creation of a new "magi-battery" item (probably easier in Eberron, where you can use bound elementals), but otherwise, your best bet is to use epic magic so that an object permanently emanates electricity.

If you look at the magic items certain spells are needed to make them, I'm saying (some what poorly) that the required spell for the item is lightning bolt.

So...
Magi's Battery: Magically provides a stream of Direct current.
Lightning bolt, Craft Wondrous Item, * EXP, Raw material (crystal) Purchase DC 18.

* I dont have the chart right now but it should be DC18 dollars divided by 500.
(1GP=$20, 1/25*GP=EXP)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 kenjutsu_avatar May 12, 2008 17:59:28	I have this idea for a campain, send a group of collage from our world to a magic world. My question is what would be a good set of events. Not to mention a world desighn.
#2 TheRealOrion May 12, 2008 20:30:12	This is a pretty tried-and-true premise, but in an effort to come up with a new twist on it, it occured to me that you could set up a doppleganger thing. Your heroes, whether they're D&D or d20M, discover a teleportation device and see waht look distinctly like versions of themselves through its viewfinder (or whatever). If they're D&D characters, they see themselves dressed in odd clothing, using mechanical weapons, and driving horseless chariots. If they're Moderns, they see versions of themselves that look like a fantasy movie. You could actually have a lot of fun present alternate versions of your players' characters. Toss in some good-natured wierdness, like presenting one of their opposites as a different gender, maybe, or give a dwarf a human counter-part. Then, through some kind of accident (make something up), the two groups switch places and the device/item/whatever is destroyed (it's a pretty contrived premise, but if everyone buys into the basic idea, they'll go along with it). From there, you have a fish-out-of-water campaign with a couple of options. Option 1) the PCs spend all their energy trying to find a way back. If they're Moderns in the medieval world, you make the transportation device technological, so that it's harder to build one using magic. If they're D&D characters, you give them the opposite problem: it's magic, and they need to find another one like it in the modern world. You can set up a few false trails here and there. Every time they get close, they see their counterparts through the mirror/screen/whatever. Perhaps when they're close to a transport device and their counter-parts are in danger, the PCs take damage, like a Corsican effect? Could be fun. Option 2) the PCs are find where they are, and their doubles keep trying to send them home. In this version, they might meet their doubles in some kind of middle-ground limbo kind of place, and have to fight versions of themselves, science vs. magic. Every time they meet, their counterparts have levelled up with them, so it's always an even match. That's what I was thinking I might do, anyway. If it's interesting, g'head and use it.
#3 kenjutsu_avatar May 13, 2008 10:21:55	what if instead of switching they combine into one body and the two "forms" fight each other.
#4 prime32 May 13, 2008 11:56:00	The Darksword trilogy and Fullmetal Alchemist both have this near the end of their storylines - they could give you some ideas. Also, Fullmetal Alchemist is awesome. You should watch it anyway.
#5 j0lt May 13, 2008 23:54:35	You could pull off a Stargate-style scenario and drop your modern PCs into D&D. I'm always hearing about the power disparity, but if you take into account that the PCs will quickly get used to the strange world, while EVERY single NPC or other encounter will have the potential to shock and scare the local type, it can be a powerful balancing force.
#6 TheRealOrion May 14, 2008 21:19:20	If you toss Modern characters into a D&D world, then it's only fair to (a) allow them to multi-class into D&D classes, and (2) follow D&D rules regarding massive damage and non-lethal damage. The fun part, here, wouldn't be the rule contrasts but the fact that people from the 21st century would be in a fantasy world. Now, here's the problem, though: every time you play D&D, it's a bunch of people from the modern world in a fantasy world. That's why I think the opposite, D&D characters in the modern world, would be a lot more fun. "You can't arrest me for muder! He tried to steal my wallet. I mean, be fair."
#7 doomsought May 17, 2008 12:21:51	This rings of a premise I came up with a while ago, intsead of switching with thier alternates... they combine with them. use the guesalt rules with the addition that one class is D&D and the other d20 moddern, feats after creation must come from whichever stting they are in at the time. You need some experianced players. have a few other guesalts running around but other wise treat them as if they were 1.5 tiems thier level. start them around level ten and work your way into epic. The lv20 scientist/mage npc which created the portal (and is the PC's boss) is crippled by a dragon imediatly after every one gets guesalted, the pc's get stuck on D&D side while he flees into moddern. they have to kill a dragon strait off and you sand box* it from there until one of htem learns Gate (lv 9 spell). *that means let them do what they liek and wing it. take over the world, i gues the shock went all to your ego; make a small nation and rais it to moddern technology, shure why not; Both... now that is just going to be epic.
#8 jekolmy May 17, 2008 12:38:13	*that means let them do what they liek and wing it. take over the world, i gues the shock went all to your ego; make a small nation and rais it to moddern technology, shure why not; Both... now that is just going to be epic. Depending on how realistic you want the game to be you might want to consider that the typical D&D world just doesn't have the technological base that they would need to become a "modernized" power. Even if you have the plans for a TV without the parts you can't build it, and where are you going to find the parts in the D&D world? I guess though that for the plans their boss scientist might have them so that at least can be explained away.
#9 prime32 May 17, 2008 12:49:20	One word: Fabricate.
#10 TheRealOrion May 17, 2008 12:54:35	This rings of a premise I came up with a while ago, intsead of switching with thier alternates... they combine with them. use the guesalt rules with the addition that one class is D&D and the other d20 moddern, feats after creation must come from whichever stting they are in at the time. Do you mean "gestalt"? As in, an entity made up of different identities? If so, what rules are you referring to? I think it's a neat idea, actually. You could have a lot of fun with flipping back and forth between words as one aspect of the gestalt takes "lead." Maybe what's special about the PCs and some NPCs is that they live in both worlds at once, while most people are unaware of their counter-parts? It's kind of a D&D/d20M version of The Matrix. You can essentially double your potential as a person by calling on the experience of both "selves." Suddenly, you become a 6th-level person instead of 3rd. Interesting...
#11 prime32 May 17, 2008 13:04:59	The gestalt rules are here. Basically, you get two classes at every level.
#12 doomsought May 17, 2008 15:45:42	yup, there you go, I came up with the idea thinking about some of the incompatabuilities between d20 moddern and D&D. Fabricate isn't the only way, remember most D&D worlds are in the dark ages, and as such, have blacksmiths. If you read the Conrad stargaurd series, you will find out how you can get to simple aircraft and guns from there. An abrams made of adamantine and mythral aloy, dwarths with a moddern smeltery... fire elemental bound to a fusion reactor to make it function.
#13 TheRealOrion May 18, 2008 12:55:20	Sorry, former medieval scholar here: the "Dark Ages" is a term invented in the Enlightenment because they thought they were so much smarter than the mediaevals. The high medieval period actually had very advanced engineering, architecture, and metallurgy. The difference between that an a D&D world is that D&D is based on the myth of the medieval period, that there was no technology at all (despite full-plate armour, castles, ballistae, etc.), therefore magic is used in D&D where actual people living in the period would have probably invented something more techy. So my point is, yeah, it would very difficult to come up with that kind of technology in a D&D world, but in the actual mediaeval period, not so much.
#14 doomsought May 18, 2008 16:49:24	No, you aren't gettign my point, I was saying that they aren't in the stone age, they are in the iron age. The micro-chip would take quite a few years but factories and Internal combustion engines would take no more than a decade, and much less with fabricate. The main reason they didn't make all sorts of technology is simply they didn't know they could. An electric generator is just a coil of wire and a load stone... or a crystal enchanted with lighning bolt with wires on the end, magic itself can be used to cover gaps too.
#15 prime32 May 18, 2008 17:07:14	a crystal enchanted with lighning bolt with wires on the end, magic itself can be used to cover gaps too. I'm not sure if you can "enchant a crystal with lightning bolt". A DM might allow the creation of a new "magi-battery" item (probably easier in Eberron, where you can use bound elementals), but otherwise, your best bet is to use epic magic so that an object permanently emanates electricity.
#16 TheRealOrion May 19, 2008 23:51:27	Ah, I see. I did misunderstand you. Yeah, some technologies would be a lot easier to arrive at than others, just because of what kind of manufacturing they're capable of. I read a great comic book last year called Crecy all about a battle in the Hundred Years War. The protagonist is a British soldier who talks to the viewer. At one point, he looks at you and says "You have to remember, people in history are just as smart as you. We don't just don't have all the pre-existing knowledge to work with." S'a good moment.
#17 doomsought May 20, 2008 15:20:50	I'm not sure if you can "enchant a crystal with lightning bolt". A DM might allow the creation of a new "magi-battery" item (probably easier in Eberron, where you can use bound elementals), but otherwise, your best bet is to use epic magic so that an object permanently emanates electricity. If you look at the magic items certain spells are needed to make them, I'm saying (some what poorly) that the required spell for the item is lightning bolt. So... Magi's Battery: Magically provides a stream of Direct current. Lightning bolt, Craft Wondrous Item, * EXP, Raw material (crystal) Purchase DC 18. * I dont have the chart right now but it should be DC18 dollars divided by 500. (1GP=$20, 1/25*GP=EXP)