tkdguy Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy Welcome to the board, moshez! I have to admit I prefer Highlander and Forever Knight to Buffy, Angel or Charmed. But I can see these shows as good bases for such a campaign. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy Since the previous discussion of Shadowrun on this thread, Damon_Dusk has uploaded his completed, very extensive and high-quality conversion of SR to HERO System onto Star HERO Fandom.com. Well worth a look, especially since it's free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paigeoliver Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy Ok, modern day fantasy. I would probably eliminate any intraspecies prejudice, or societal differences. A world with multiple sentient races would probably see its suspicision and such harbored towards the other races, rather than the sub-whatevers of their own race. Thus I see blacks, whites, asians and such as all be truly equall in such a situation. The status of non mainsteam humanoid races (in my opinion) would be about the same such status as black people in America. Thus if you are playing your game in 2004, then Orcs would be legally equal, and everybody would be all politically correct about them, but there would still be some real cultural issues, and Orcs would be poorer on average, etc. Elves, Dwarves and other Demi-Humans would fare a bit better. And usually be viewed as equals, but with some lingering issues, such as modern Jews, Indians, and Asians. Remember, the long lifespans of Elves in particular would make them very wealthy as a whole. Dwarven families might gravitate towards banking and investment rather than mining. Halflings would of course gravitate towards restaurant ownership, and I see gnomes largely in the role of owning small shops, often repair shops. I definitely see the average demi-human being self employed, and I definitely don't see a lot of corporate ones. Intra-racial marriage would probably be looked down on, probably much more so then it is today. I see magic and technology as two different things, and I don't see them interacting in any major ways. You might see some technologies fail to develop due to the simple fact that magic is easier. You may see some cases where permanent magic is harnessed along with technology, but this will be the exception rather than the rule. I DO NOT see Dragons interacting with human society as bankers. We have had bankers for thousands of years, dragons werent bankers in the middle ages and they won't be now. Suggestions. Much lower population density, as in classic fantasy, rather than like the modern world today. Hard to have any monsters or dungeons when humans have completely tamed the land. I would also keep the telecommunications (and perhaps computer) industries back in the early 80s, cell phones, Palm Pilot spellbooks and the wireless web would just kill "fantasy" for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markdoc Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy I would also keep the telecommunications (and perhaps computer) industries back in the early 80s, cell phones, Palm Pilot spellbooks and the wireless web would just kill "fantasy" for me. Oh, I dunno. I kind of like the idea of the IT guy running a registry check and then saying, he can't do anything and you'd better call a priest.... cheers, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legendsmiths Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy I think the biggest question is Magic... how do you want that to play? Shadowrun is very flash-bang and flavor aside you could easily just use the standard Fantasy Hero magic system. If you were using a Resource Pool from DC, just have spells cost Equipment points. This keeps mages from toting around too many guns/armor etc. Whether or not you make people pay for cyberware with points or resource points is up to you. If you want a darker, more sublte magic, go with something ala BtVS. The Unisystem magic is pretty easily ported to HERO (currently running it). Using this I also allow "demonic power", balanced by infernal disads, which has been fun too. Note: we are not playing slayers, just using the system from BtVS for magic. Mage the Ascension is pretty much creative power pool use. That game would have more focus on magic than anything else. I think the standard magic is very much in the vein of Shadowrun, but I'm enjoying the BtVS magic style. It's scarier and fits more of a gothic setting than the cyberpunk aspect of Shadowrun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted September 23, 2004 Report Share Posted September 23, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy I like paigeoliver's ideas here. Dwarves would make great bankers. They'd also make great businessmen and engineers (I'm having visions of dwarf businessmen acting like Ferengi). Elves are usually good at magic, so they probably offer a lot of magical services. Maybe they even cornered the market on magic. As for Orcs, should they have rights? Sure! Rights, lefts, uppercuts... Sorry. Magic would have lots of uses. Definitely it would be part of every nation's military arsenal. Aside from spells that cause damage, you can use magic for communication, transportation, sabotage, and espionage. Let's not forget sex magic. It's useful for preventing unwanted pregnancies (which may account for a smaller global population) and nasty stuff like STDs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadowcat1313 Posted September 23, 2004 Report Share Posted September 23, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy theres also the Operation Chaos series by Poul Anderson which inspired Harry Turtledove to write Case of the Toxic Spell Dump Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legendsmiths Posted September 23, 2004 Report Share Posted September 23, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy Magic would have lots of uses. Definitely it would be part of every nation's military arsenal. Aside from spells that cause damage, you can use magic for communication, transportation, sabotage, and espionage. Let's not forget sex magic. It's useful for preventing unwanted pregnancies (which may account for a smaller global population) and nasty stuff like STDs. Then definitely check out GURPS Technomancer. It is a solidly realistic treatment of magic and how it fits into a modern economy. I do not personally enjoy that treatment of magic, but I think it is very well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tgrandjean Posted September 23, 2004 Report Share Posted September 23, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy Would a modern-day fantasy campaign 9one in which both magic and modern technology exist' date=' evles and dwarves and halflings live along side humans in the modern world, and the biggest banks in the world are run by dragons) be considred Fantasy HERO material? And how much more work would have to go into creating sujch a campaign than into creating a standard fantasy campaign?[/quote'] Sure, why wouldn't it be Fantasy Hero? IMO how much work you put into it is how much work you put into it. You could consider the deep questions or just wing it. Dark Champions would be a good resource. Some other questions about such a campaign: 1. Would orcs be considered people, and thus not be legally slayble with impunity? 2. Are there ways that magic and the Internet could intteract? Can you cast spells over the telephone betwork, or even over your cellphone? 3. Would magic neccesarily have to be secretm, or could it be public knowledge that there are sorceroers and magical creatures (just not neccesaily who)? 1) That depends on the campaign. In a modern setting, in the US, yes. Orcs are intelligent creatures and would be regarded as "human" along with the other demi-races. Discrimination would still exist though and the "minor" differences based off of race and skin color would probably fade. If you back date that the orcs were used as slave labor during the civil war... Ok, I'm not really tweaking history... Introduction of races sometime during the 1800s... To remove the issue of slavery from pre-civil war politics, orcs are brought in and blacks 'freed'. (Still major problems of course) Orcs are 'obviously non-human'. The issue would still exist and a war would probably still be fought (on states rights) but there is now the possiblility of an orc-based slave army. 2) Possibly. There would have to be such a thing as techno-magic; a study of the interactions of magic and technology. Why not? There doesn't seem to be a violation of the law of correspondence. It does bring up the idea of magic viruses and stretch the boundries of life. 3) This depends on how common magic is. The more rare that it is, the more likely for it to be secret. However, if sorcerers or whatever continually show up on television, the secret is likely to get out. - You know that if you wanted to go the other direction (introducing technology to magic) I could recommend 'Those Who Hunt Elves'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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