I have been kicking around an idea for a campaign. It goes a little something like this:
The setting is the modern world. The characters are beings of or associated with magic from antiquity and have survived into the modern era via various means. They could be actual immortals, they could have found secrets of a god, they could have found ancient herbal methods, etc, etc, etc. This part would be detailed in each character's backstory.
I have a good idea of the antagonist(s) of the game but each character would need to provide at least one being they have earned the enmity of and at least one being that is an ally.
I think that my last major problem is firearms. I am not interested in making new items or mechanics for gunpowder weapons. I may re-flavor something for enemies but players will not be allowed to use them. I am justifying this by saying that the characters (Paragon Tier!) are so good at what they do that firearms are irrelevant.
Gods will be from any and all existing Earthly pantheons. D&D deities will not exist. If a character worships a god/deity/spirit they can choose any that they like. We can work to assign Domains to that god if desired.
Would people be interested in something like this.
I am thinking that characters would be around level 15.
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Bharhas, Level 3 Human, Warlord | Sorcerer Human Power Selection Option: Bonus At-Will power Languages: Common, Elven Theme: Gladiator
CURRENT STATUS: Phase of the Sun: *At the start of your turn, each enemy adjacent to you takes fire and radiant damage equal to your Strength modifier. *You also gain resist 5 cold.
VITALS AC: 18 Fort: 18 Ref: 15 Will: 17 HP: 40/40
Surges: 6/6 Surge Value: 10
Initiative: +1 Speed: 6
CURRENT ABILITY SCORES STR 18, CON 10, DEX 11, INT 10, WIS 8, CHA 17
D&D in a modern setting could be interesting to see, so you could count me among the interested.
Some ideas about guns, though. Right now, I don't really see why you new rules for guns. Guns could easily a reflavored ranged weapon of some sort, or an implement or something like that.
Also, if you aren't entirely married to 4th edition, there are other systems that are set in a modern setting with supernatural twists, like most of what White Wolf does or FATE. Of course, I wouldn't blame you for avoiding these due to not being familiar with them. That's pretty much the only thing stopping me from a FATE game now (that, and I'd rather play anyway).
Those are excelent points EDTA. I would do 4e because it is what I am familiar with and 4e lends itself well to PbP.
As to guns, I think I would say reflavored is the way to go if a character wanted a gun. I suppose that any crossbow wielding type (assassin, Rogue, etc) would want to switch to a gun from their medieval weapons.
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Bharhas, Level 3 Human, Warlord | Sorcerer Human Power Selection Option: Bonus At-Will power Languages: Common, Elven Theme: Gladiator
CURRENT STATUS: Phase of the Sun: *At the start of your turn, each enemy adjacent to you takes fire and radiant damage equal to your Strength modifier. *You also gain resist 5 cold.
VITALS AC: 18 Fort: 18 Ref: 15 Will: 17 HP: 40/40
Surges: 6/6 Surge Value: 10
Initiative: +1 Speed: 6
CURRENT ABILITY SCORES STR 18, CON 10, DEX 11, INT 10, WIS 8, CHA 17
i would be game for this. though on the gun issue, there was a recent article in dragon magizine that presented a selection of equipment involving these. besides having a futuristic flavor to them, mechanics were good. i believe the article also made rules to convert gamma world items to 4e and there was a fair selection of gear that was more modern firearms.
another good idea. However, all those items are rather futuristic. They might be approprite for some enemies but the characters would not have access to such things.
does Gamma world have rules for normal firearms?
Play by Post Haven Stop by, join us, and sign up for some games while you are there Real Adventures Come join in and have some adventures, real ones!
Want even more Play-By-Post games? Head over to www.Nerdbound.com to check some more out. People there are playing lots of systems, not just D&D
Bharhas, Level 3 Human, Warlord | Sorcerer Human Power Selection Option: Bonus At-Will power Languages: Common, Elven Theme: Gladiator
CURRENT STATUS: Phase of the Sun: *At the start of your turn, each enemy adjacent to you takes fire and radiant damage equal to your Strength modifier. *You also gain resist 5 cold.
VITALS AC: 18 Fort: 18 Ref: 15 Will: 17 HP: 40/40
Surges: 6/6 Surge Value: 10
Initiative: +1 Speed: 6
CURRENT ABILITY SCORES STR 18, CON 10, DEX 11, INT 10, WIS 8, CHA 17
If you are willing to keep mechanics and wildly reflavor, you can make some pretty good supers in D&D. Even if you just concede that all supers are magic-powered (using the 4th ed. term that calls psionics another form of magic), you can create a wide variety of supers. Bricks are battleminds or fighters, blasters are sorcerors, seekers or rangers, martial artists are rogues, monks or rangers, gadgeteers are wizards or artificers, etc. The stumbling block for me is all the mighty magical abilities that most of us carry around in our pockets. Cell phones, cars, computers etc. are handy rituals that just about everyone knows, have 0 casting costs and very short casting times. How do you balance that? Haven't figured it out yet.
Modern firearms are actually really easy - just design some bow-like ranged weapons that do ordinary damage. The key is to remember that "normals" are minions. A .38 will knock one out of the fight, and it doesn't have to roll 3d10 or whatever. The supers (all the non-minions) are protected by magic / super-toughness / cinematic good luck / whetever, so gunshots just don't pack the same punch.
If I were going to do this, I'd probably create a few new source keywords. "Technology" for sure, so Iron Man gets his strength from his mechanical suit, while Thor has his divine magic. Possibly "Alien" as well, to describe a race of Kryponians, frex.
Another problem: races. I wouldn't want to force all characters to be either human or super-secret creatures heretofore unknown to science, although that would still be playable. Perhaps you could chose a race as character flavor, and still be human, or perhaps racial characteristics morph into cultural ones. "Halflings" are just the cinematic version of human children, irrepressible, nimble likeable little tykes. "Githzerai" are Zen masters from the secluded monestaries of the Far East. "Elves" are native tribes of the wilderness, you get the idea.
You might be able to tell, I like lots of the ideas from the Hero system and Feng Shui to apply to this genre. Those systems don't bring the balance, emphasis on movement and teamwork that are so appealing in D&D.
