D&D 5E Modern/sci-fi elements? in MY fantasy?

S

Space Jockey

Villager

• Nov 5, 2015

• #1

I'm curious how many of you guys have played in, or ran games, that had explicit alien technology in them or involved interactions with modern Earth ("modern" meaning anytime from 1900 to 2015). Even though I've only lived for 23 years I know damn well old D&D has explore science fiction and interacting with Earth while still remaining within a fantasy setting.

So how about it? Were these elements merely in the background (like they are in Shannara or Adventure Time) were they front and center (like Expedition to Barrier Peaks, or Pathfinder's Iron Gods Adventure Path), or were they deeply ingrained into the setting itself (like Wil Wheaton's Titansgrave)?

I ask because my homebrew setting is fantasy with post-apocalyptic undertones, set on Earth a thousand or so years after humans kinda vanished from the planet under mysterious circumstances and there's "magic" run amok, and I'm kinda looking for inspiration from you fellow players/GMs. Definitely not ripping off Shannara. Nope.
Incidentally, if anyone has found some good rules for firearms, since the DMG version of them is a bit lacking...

 

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aramis erak

Legend

• Nov 5, 2015

• #2

I've done it. Several AD&D modules explicitly use high tech elements - and that's been jarring for some players. I tend to avoid doing so now, but I've used White Plume Mountain in the past.

And, I'll note: it was also present in Vance's Dying Earth novels...

 

T

The Crimson Binome

Hero

• Nov 5, 2015

• #3

In my last campaign, the party fought aliens infesting the hull of a crashed spaceship that was powered by anti-magic crystals. They picked up three different varieties of elemental energy gun, and rode off into the sunset in their salvaged shuttle pod.

My current game does not feature advanced technology or sci-fi elements.

 

Patrick McGill

First Post

• Nov 5, 2015

• #4

I've played in a Barrier Peaks game that did, though never included it in my games. I wouldn't be above doing it, though.

My favorite D&D related anachronistic use of technology will always be Snarfquest, though.

 

Ath-kethin

Elder Thing

• Nov 5, 2015

• #5

The oldest D&D setting, Blackmoor, assumed a highly advanced civilization that blew itself up with its high technology. It was incorporated originally Into the history of Mystara and then Greyhawk. The stuff is easy who gh to find and you might find it useful.

I once ran a campaign with my friend in which he played a character based on Roland from Stephen King's Gunslinger books and I played what was basically a Jedi. We constructed a post-apocalyptic setting for them to coexist, and had a blast.

 

LostSoul

Adventurer

• Nov 5, 2015

• #6

I like this kind of stuff.

The PCs found a Fallout-ish vault full of Lemurians in stasis built before the deluge that sank Atlantis. They had modern+ weapons (assault rifles, plasma/laser weapons), which the PCs stole (of course).

One PC has a "magical" belt from Atlantis that uses holographic technology and nanites.

The PCs fought some "vampires" who were androids with souls, magically cursed to drink the blood of the living to power their bodies.

The PCs recently killed a giant, prescient worm named Leto II (who could shoot lasers out of his eyes). He was the leader of the Cult of the Golden Path and had his lair in a crashed rocket ship.

One PC in the same setting (kind of) has three or four rocket ships and has travelled to the moons of Saturn (or Jupiter, I forget) where she bonded with the god Ioun, a moon-sized supercomputer.

Magic still plays a big part in the game. The PCs killed Leto II by magically summoning a storm and flooding the combat zone with water. The last bit involved the PCs going to the Council of Animal Kings where they convinced the Goddess of the Beasts and the Wild to give animals back the power of speech (another Goddess took it away long ago). Which means that while she's busy doing that she won't be of much help against the Necromancers of Stygia and whatever they're up to.

 

S

Space Jockey

Villager

• Nov 5, 2015

• #7

LostSoul said:

I like this kind of stuff.

The PCs found a Fallout-ish vault full of Lemurians in stasis built before the deluge that sank Atlantis. They had modern+ weapons (assault rifles, plasma/laser weapons), which the PCs stole (of course).

One PC has a "magical" belt from Atlantis that uses holographic technology and nanites.

The PCs fought some "vampires" who were androids with souls, magically cursed to drink the blood of the living to power their bodies.

The PCs recently killed a giant, prescient worm named Leto II (who could shoot lasers out of his eyes). He was the leader of the Cult of the Golden Path and had his lair in a crashed rocket ship.

One PC in the same setting (kind of) has three or four rocket ships and has travelled to the moons of Saturn (or Jupiter, I forget) where she bonded with the god Ioun, a moon-sized supercomputer.

Magic still plays a big part in the game. The PCs killed Leto II by magically summoning a storm and flooding the combat zone with water. The last bit involved the PCs going to the Council of Animal Kings where they convinced the Goddess of the Beasts and the Wild to give animals back the power of speech (another Goddess took it away long ago). Which means that while she's busy doing that she won't be of much help against the Necromancers of Stygia and whatever they're up to.

Click to expand...

Aw man that sounds awesome. Literally all of it.

I was trying to figure out how to fit in clerics and paladins in a post-apocalyptic/sci-fi game set on Earth. I'm not quite willing to go down the route of "you were worshiping an ancient AI/alien all along! Hah! Hah! Hah!"...but after playing Paizo's Iron Gods I really like the idea of AIs having the ability to grant spells to their worshipers...

 

M

Mishihari Lord

First Post

• Nov 5, 2015

• #8

I did a little bit, a one time adventure, and didn't like it at all. In general I very much dislike mixing fantasy and sf in games, movies, or books. There are a few exceptions though. Andre Norton and Roger Zelazny had some great books that mixed the two.

 

Lanefan

Victoria Rules

• Nov 5, 2015

• #9

We have it as a common theme among all our games. Before their civilization fell apart Hobgoblins were technologically advanced somewhat beyond modern Earth...and they had magic...and they had gods. They redesigned entire solar systems to build the worlds they lived on (and that our games now take place on), they built skyships and spaceships, and left behind all kinds of high-tech when they collapsed under the weight of their enemies (and their egos) some tens of thousands of years ago.

The game I play in has just found an ancient Hobgoblin genetic engineering centre, where among other things they invented Hobbits. Yes, you read that right: those little guys started out as genetically engineered gardeners. We're still deciding whether we're going to try to claim it as our own, or leave it and hope nobody else finds it, or just lay waste to the place. Of a certainty, though, is that we'll be stealing the small (merely 200') zeppelin we also found there.

Lanefan

 

KahlessNestor

Adventurer

• Nov 5, 2015

• #10

You might want to check out Monte Cook's "Numenara" game. It's a fantasy setting put on top of an Earth that has undergone many different ages of technology and uses the trope that "any sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic." So your weapons and armor are from scavenged advanced polymers, "nanos" (wizards) manipulate the nanotech that permeates the planet, and you fight monsters that are often bio-engineered or even a mix of flesh and machine.