D&D 5E Thoughts on Divorcing D&D From [EDIT: Medievalishness], Mechanically Speaking.

[cbwjm]

The 2e Gothic earth setting might provide some good ideas.

 

[GrimCo]

Might i also suggest to take a look at Castle Falkenstein for inspiration? Other one is Iron Kingdoms 3ed d20. They are both kind of steampunkish, but interesting, at least for inspiration. Castle Falkenstein had GURPS version which i ran couple of times. It's got that Arcanum vibe of late Victorian era, tech and magic, plus all the classic fantasy races.

Gothic Earth in 3e is great for adventures in lieu of King Solomon's Mines (novel about Alan Quatermaine). It has that late 1800s vibe, but you are not having to deal with automatic weapons (Thompson, MP18, BAR, Lewis, Vickers, Maxim)

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Lots of Ravenloft stuff has a 19th century feel, since it is heavily influenced by the literature of that period.

For not-Ravenloft, The Mirkmere Malevolence from KftGV. A very Victorian looking museum, a modern style charity gala. You could run it as a 1920s CoC adventure with minimal alterations.

 

[Reynard]

For the record, I am neither interested in a Victorian Gothic setting or a magic-tech Ebberon-like. Those are both cool concepts, but I want something pulpier than the former and more grounded than the latter. So magic and monsters exist but in the remote place, and magic is not industrialized. It is still in the hands of the Hermetic orders and such, for example. But, at the same time, the heroes aren't CoC style investigators -- they are pulp heroes that do what D&D heroes do.

 

[Shardstone]

For the record, I am neither interested in a Victorian Gothic setting or a magic-tech Ebberon-like. Those are both cool concepts, but I want something pulpier than the former and more grounded than the latter. So magic and monsters exist but in the remote place, and magic is not industrialized. It is still in the hands of the Hermetic orders and such, for example. But, at the same time, the heroes aren't CoC style investigators -- they are pulp heroes that do what D&D heroes do.

I need some more details because I'm having trouble imagining the setting.

 

[Reynard]

I need some more details because I'm having trouble imagining the setting.

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Van Helsing. The Mummy (with Brendan Frasier). Pulpier and magical interpretations of Sherlock Holmes. Hellboy and BRPD if you dialed it back half a century. Basically anyplace that there is a mundane world rubbing up against an unseen/magical world, but msot people areunaware of it -- except rather than being horror oriented, it has a pulp vibe where D& PCs can PC.

 

[Shardstone]

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Van Helsing. The Mummy (with Brendan Frasier). Pulpier and magical interpretations of Sherlock Holmes. Hellboy and BRPD if you dialed it back half a century. Basically anyplace that there is a mundane world rubbing up against an unseen/magical world, but msot people areunaware of it -- except rather than being horror oriented, it has a pulp vibe where D& PCs can PC.

Ah ok.

Hellboy is pretty investigator though, and you said you don't want that. But the League + Van Hellsing + Mummy really captures it well. Kind of like Eberron, but more pulp, less setting-dictated-by-D&D-mechanics.

The League presents the clearest way to get what you want, given the powers that D&D PC's tend to wield. You can have really just anyone in the league, absolutely anyone, with any power and it'd make sense.

 

[Reynard]

I need some more details because I'm having trouble imagining the setting.

Or, take Xendric out of Eberron and plop it down in mid to late19th century "Earth."

Note, it doesn't have to be Earth. In fact, I wouldn't want it to be, because there is a lot of squick in Victorian/early 20th century "exploration" and you could eliminate that by creating a setting from whole cloth to avoid it.

 

[Reynard]

Hellboy is pretty investigator though, and you said you don't want that.

Sure, but at the end he usually solves things with his big ass fist, which is the D&D part.

 

[GrimCo]

League and Van Helsing are perfectly represented via Gothic Earth 3e. Don't let the name fool you. It's just Victorian setting D&D. As a fan of League comics, i used it to run something similar back in a day. It moves tech to late victorian era, but it still has lot's of standard dnd vibe. Pulp or horor is just vibe you as a DM create via themes and types of adventures you run.