Our World as a D&D setting

[maedsl]

Here's a little timeline for a Post Apocalyptic D&D set on Earth ala Shannara:

The World as we knew it has ended.

Year Event
2050 Messages sent from Earth into Space, nearly a century before, were finally
answered

2055 A small Triangular shaped craft landed in England in the small city of Preston in the
county of Lancashire. The Gith had arrived and they were benevolent.

2065 After a decade of peace, knowledge and understanding – Disease, Poverty and War
were no more – Under the Gith Mankind was finally healed.

2067 The Gith settled on Earth building Temples of universal learning and culture and
bringing a new power source which the Gith taught some of the Human race to
manipulate. This was known in the Gith dialect as The Weave but ,to the amusement of
the Gith, the Human Scientists simply labelled it “ T78B1O “

2069 Humans realise Gith have visited Earth 1000’s of years before. Visiting different
continents the Gith explained they found Mankind too warlike and primitive so left.
Unknowingly leaving a lasting impression as their Pyramid shaped ships rose into the
Heavens.

2070 Mankind's reliance on Fossil Fuels and Nuclear power was finally over. The vast Weave
Pyramid in Antarctica was completed and the Earth bathed in its warm glow for the next
300 years.

2128 Completion of the first Interdimensional Craft “ The Veronica June “ is completed.
Setting out with a Human / Gith crew to explore the Multiverse it would never be heard
from again.

2373 War raged on the edge of our Galaxy. The Gith left Earth to defend Humankind but
were ultimately defeated and enslaved by interdimensional beings known as The Illithid. The Weave pyramid exploded causing devastation – the Earth shifted and the World
burned.......... All the while the invisible Weave fallout drifted gently to Earth.
Historians would later argue the destruction of the Great Pyramid was the final
“ benevolent “ act of the Gith sparing Man from the horrors of the Illithid - others would
claim that the Gith and the Illithid were in league………….in any case our Saviour had
become our Executioner.

???? The Earth became calm and slowly the survivors grouped together for safety
and Protection.

???? Society began to grow, trade and farming began again and Leaders rose from the
Ashes.

???? Rumours grew in the Villages and Towns of strange terrifying mutated creatures in the
Wild and humans able to move and create objects with their minds and a few words.

3662 The World as we knew it has ended……………

 

[Green1]

DnD style campaigns have been run (with some tweaks) in the past with apocalyptic. sci fi/ historical flair.. They were not as popular due to the fanbase like high or low medieval based fantasy. Hard to get players. Also, other gaming systems have the brand recognition and seem to be the go-to for such things, as much as I prefer a 5e-ish system over GURPS, White Wolf, old Paladium, or Shadow Run.

I tried back about 10 years ago a cross between 3e Star Wars d20 and 3e Dungeons and Dragons with all classes available and almost started a full scale revolt! had to go back to the stuff they liked or I would have been playing by myself.

That said, I have heard some stories of interesting Gamma World/DnD crosses. Of course, I have never seen these personally. Only read about and only once or twice. Would love to run or play in one.

I feel you, though. I grew up on cartoons like He-Man, The Thundercats, Silverhawks, etc. These had magic and technology blended together with powerful badasses. That stuff was over the top. Also, the main characters in those catoons are epic level. A lot of DMs have trouble running that or outright will not for a number of valid reasons.

But very few game like that. RA Salvatore novels, LOTR, and other fantasy tropes and staples influence the player base more and while there are a lot of sci fi fans who play DnD, they don't like mixing genres I have found. Of course, planeshifting and alternate reality stuff like Planescape or steampunkish elements do have a following.

 

[maedsl]

The Timeline was simply to explain how we went from Now to a Fantasy setting. The Weave Fallout helped to heal the planet but also create creatures and Magic Users basically a mish mash of Spells some benevolent and others not so. I run D&D5 as a total fantasy setting where no advanced Technology exists having said that I will occasionally throw in a building / location that the Players can recognise as an In Joke

 

[GreenTengu]

There are numerous thing that need to be considered when you think about a D&D setting. Basically you can consider them the base assumptions of the game.

The first, and most restrictive, is that class balance require that the armor and weapon selection be pretty much what is in the core book-- at least in terms of raw numbers and which classes get to use which raw number for their armor and weapon.

Another is that magic works in the very particular way the numerous classes in the book use it and it is restricted in roughly the same manner. If you don't have this, if there is no magic or magic works in an entirely different way, then you need to rework a large number of classes.

The next is that their are numerous actual deities. The Cleric is an essential class and it, as well as Paladin, are fundamentally based on the concept that there are different types of priests and gods can actually channel power to their champions.

Generally D&D expects that you have multiple race available. This is probably of least concern, but pretty much all D&D worlds try to make certain all the core Tolkien races exist pretty much exactly as described in the core handbook with but the minorest of alterations. But-- you could probably do without it. You could do a world there there are only humans, it would just remove a choice when creating a character.

Once you have covered the crunchy mechanical parts... it is also worth noting that D&D is very much built around exploration and combat. This means there needs to be parts of the world where people built something that is within walking distance of regular civilization and yet it somehow is not regularly visited. You seem to have this angle covered in your concept, but it is sort of a difficult one to wrap your head around if you think about it very much. Adventurers can literally walk to these "dungeons" that someone clearly intentionally crafted yet not only are they not cleared out by the people within walking distance by force of arms, they are somehow filled with significant treasures meaning they haven't been looted in the possibly thousands of years that people have been within walking distance of them.

Finally, there needs to be threats that one can deal with by swinging swords and casting magic missiles at them. You can probably be much more creative about the actual size and shape of this threat than D&D worlds have tended to be, but some sort of threat of that sort needs to exist.

There are many more criteria that if not met, it will require major reworking of key components of the system to adapt. The worse the world and the stories intended to be told within it meet these criteria, the more it might be best to use a different system for the world.

 

[Space Jockey]

For the longest time I've been wrestling with a setting idea rather similar to this, with inspiration from Shannara, Adventure Time, and Thundarr the Barbarian. Basically, humanity is wiped out in an apocalyptic event that involved rampant magic and technology, and possibly a visit from entities with malicious intent. It's 1,421 years later, and the playable races are:

-Genasi, who descend from humans who somehow fled to the elemental planes to survive the cataclysm. Statted as...er, genasi.
-Replicants, who resemble humans except for the circuitry-tattoos that covers their body, and the metallic sheen to their eyes. These guys were artificially created by humanity in times past. No, they are not terminators, they are entirely organic, yet still considered to be constructs.
-Moth People, still trying to find a way to include them in the setting but I want Moth People, because Moth People sound awesome. Statted as aarakocra, with minor adjustments.
-Bear People, for the above reason. Statted as half-orcs.

The only races playable from the player's handbook are the tieflings, dragonborn, and gnomes. That's it. No elves, dwarves or humans. The world is otherwise very much a "fantasy" setting, with magitech and things like firearms being a rising force. Human sci-fi esque technology is rare and has a reputation for malfunctioning, but it's out there...along with the occasional killer robot

There are numerous thing that need to be considered when you think about a D&D setting. Basically you can consider them the base assumptions of the game.

The first, and most restrictive, is that class balance require that the armor and weapon selection be pretty much what is in the core book-- at least in terms of raw numbers and which classes get to use which raw number for their armor and weapon.

More or less intact, I guess. With the addition of blackpowder firearms and magitech devices, which are by no means common. Ancient human tech---cybernetics, rocket launchers, plasma rifles, nanomachines, artificial intelligence, etc.---are considerably more rare and are more in the realm of magic items.

Another is that magic works in the very particular way the numerous classes in the book use it and it is restricted in roughly the same manner. If you don't have this, if there is no magic or magic works in an entirely different way, then you need to rework a large number of classes.

The next is that their are numerous actual deities. The Cleric is an essential class and it, as well as Paladin, are fundamentally based on the concept that there are different types of priests and gods can actually channel power to their champions.

I'm still figuring out this part for my setting, but I can argue that you can definitely have a setting without gods, ie Dark Sun. I'd see no reason to allow paladins in a Dark Sun game. But then again, I am a sucker for the "Last of His Kind" tropes...

Generally D&D expects that you have multiple race available. This is probably of least concern, but pretty much all D&D worlds try to make certain all the core Tolkien races exist pretty much exactly as described in the core handbook with but the minorest of alterations. But-- you could probably do without it. You could do a world there there are only humans, it would just remove a choice when creating a character.

Defied in my setting, with some exceptions (ie gnomes).

Once you have covered the crunchy mechanical parts... it is also worth noting that D&D is very much built around exploration and combat. This means there needs to be parts of the world where people built something that is within walking distance of regular civilization and yet it somehow is not regularly visited. You seem to have this angle covered in your concept, but it is sort of a difficult one to wrap your head around if you think about it very much. Adventurers can literally walk to these "dungeons" that someone clearly intentionally crafted yet not only are they not cleared out by the people within walking distance by force of arms, they are somehow filled with significant treasures meaning they haven't been looted in the possibly thousands of years that people have been within walking distance of them.

Finally, there needs to be threats that one can deal with by swinging swords and casting magic missiles at them. You can probably be much more creative about the actual size and shape of this threat than D&D worlds have tended to be, but some sort of threat of that sort needs to exist.

There are many more criteria that if not met, it will require major reworking of key components of the system to adapt. The worse the world and the stories intended to be told within it meet these criteria, the more it might be best to use a different system for the world.

Covered, probably. I dunno, still a work in progress.

 

[Eltab]

I prefer Gamma World, but I do not expect to see a 5e adaptation (GW has become a setting, not an independent game with its own rules) until after WotC introduces Psionics and High-Tech rules. -sigh-

 

[Lehrbuch]

Our World as a D&D setting...

Although not quite what you mean, I often use the real world as the location for D&D campaigns. Simply take a real world region, rotate and possibly mirror the map and suddenly you have a familiar, but not quite recognisable setting with sensible geography, and towns and roads in realistic locations, and realistic distances apart. Depending on where you choose you may have ancient ruins, battle-sites, etc, already in place. Change the names, and you are done.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

I live in northern Mindanao in the Philippines. I cannot tell you how often life feels like I am in a 4E-like Points-of-Light setting.

But that's getting away from the OP....

 

[fuindordm]

I like this kind of setting myself, and I think it can be a rich source of storytelling ideas. As a player, I would love to come across ancient technological wonders... and try to activate them.

Ben

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

I think it's cool. The cleric/divine caster thing is the only hiccough, but apart from that I think it'd be awesome to play a party fighting the Evil Wizard of Slough, or fighting alongside the Grey Knights of Grimsby.

As an aside, read (if you haven't already) Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban.