D&D General Faerun '68 (+)

[Artamo]

I would say a country like Cormyr would no longer be the expansive power that it had been. It would’ve been like England during World War 2. It would’ve been taking it on the chin, and in the aftermath it has had to rebuild and contend with giving up the monarchy for democracy.

 

[Artamo]

Silverymoon is the San Francisco/Woodstock/Glastonbury of the setting, where everyone wears flowers in their hair (and possibly listen to the Grateful Undead).

That so fits Silverymoon.

 

[Maxperson]

That so fits Silverymoon.

It does, but they probably listen to The Seven Sisters and not The Grateful Dead, who come from Thay along with Szass Tam and the Skeletons.

 

[Maxperson]

I would say a country like Cormyr would no longer be the expansive power that it had been. It would’ve been like England during World War 2. It would’ve been taking it on the chin, and in the aftermath it has had to rebuild and contend with giving up the monarchy for democracy.

Perhaps they shouldn't have made Zhentil Keep pay such severe reparations after Realms War I.

 

[Marc17]

Dalelands are full of nature loving youth culture and their new music the olds can't stand while Baldur's Gate is all Mods and Rockers.

 

[nevin]

In WaterDeep an elven exile from Evereska and a Dwarf from Mithril halls have developed a power source (think tesla broadcast energy through the air) using a very dangerous ore and elven magics to create a magical energy source that can be used to bring "magic" (think electricity) to the masses. Items that run off of the power source are cheaper to make and can be mass produced but only work in the area that the generator provide power too. WaterDeep has implemented this power city wide to power it's new MagicPunk style defense system on the outer walls. (now the rich and middle class can have magical golems that clean, light spells, magical fans that cool and heat the air they move etc)

Magickpunk weapons have begun to filter down to the rich and upper middle class. Magical FireArms that fire bullets with far less magical power than it takes to cast a fireball . This new style of weaponry along with Longer range Arbalists and Magickpunk Cannons have begun to replace lower to mid level magic users and now thier best job opportunities are in factories making these weapons. Rich Cities like Waterdeep calimpor, Evereska and others are now in a magical arms and defense race as magical technology has taken off. Some cities have taken other paths and and done things that focus more on summoning, Lycanthropy, and enslaving large beasts and modifying them with magical armor and enhancing them with magical and alchemical processes to become tough enough to face these new modern weapons.

gnomish entrepreneurs have figured out how to combine magical preservation techniques with the old fashioned ones and have begun to create foodstuffs that will survive longer so that they can be stored for sieges and be shipped in fresher state to further away places.

The wizards of Thay have begun secretly through a trading house that seems to be connected to WaterDeep selling Golems for defense, house cleaning etc that are really Vessels for souls they have captured and enslaved. The plan being to spread enough of them throughout modern cities then use them as the 5th column when they attack a city.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

(If the premise doesn't appeal to you - no problem. Just ignore this little corner of the internet. The entirety of the rest of ENWorld and the web is out there for you to engage with).

I just starting listening to the Yes Indie'd podcast episode with Tim Denee (of Deathmatch Island fame). His new project is called Blades '68, which takes the Victorian setting of Blades in the Dark and moves it 100 years into the future, so that it's now set in something like an art deco/magical realism late 1960's version of the gritty fantasy city of Duskvol. (Evil Hat website: Blades '68 - Evil Hat Productions)

I'm super curious what the ENWorld community would come up with for various ideas for a Faerun; but it's 1968. Here are some ideas that came to me. If this idea resonates at all - throw out your brainstorm ideas. As with all brainstorms, no such thing as a dumb or bad idea. Let's get it all on the wall. Here are some that came to me on my drive home.

• There's now a cold war going on between the Sword Coast in the West and the Red Wizards in the East
• There's thauma-fuel, which enables non-magic users to harness great power. For example, autonomous powered wagons get people all over Waterdeep, such that now's there traffic jams. At the same time, Waterdeep has become the hub of the west, with towering... towers, filled with apartments and businesses.
• Airships ply the skies, as do dragons who get paid very lucrative contracts to carry passengers everywhere (took this one from the Craft novels of Max Gladstone).

Other ideas folks have? Steering clear of the rules/mechanics at this point; just interested in snippets of setting and vibes.

I feel like a time shifted Faerun would just be a worse eberron. Just play eberron.

 

[nevin]

That seems exceedingly odd and sounds more like it's trying to preserve East and west roles of earth than adapt FR to the concept. Sword Coast/water deep is pretty much the embodiment of generic fantasy disconnected from the global politics and lore of FR so that doesn't really fit the concept because there's no government to speak of that could be involved.

If you wanted to fit that bolded bit somewhere in FR it would be the elves of silver Moon and that. Thay stopped trying to conquer and enslave the longer lived slower breeding elves and respect the adamantine curtain border that blocks any form of scrying/magical communication/teleport. You could even place it along the 83rd parallel if you wanted to be tongue in cheek obvious about it.

well historically then that would put them in the path of some larger nation at some point because disconnected areas that try to avoid the world eventually get conquered by someone. Or it will end up like parts of Africa just out of control with random warlords and crazy powers popping up in a never ending game of chaos. I don't think after the amount of time the OP gave us that it could remain the same thing is was a few hundred years ago. Not that it has to be like earth but the only constant anywhere is change. Nothing stays the same forever.

 

[nevin]

I feel like a time shifted Faerun would just be a worse eberron. Just play eberron.

See I like to think as it time shifts it moves eventually towards an Operation Chaos style modern world that Poul Anderson wrote about. You could have factories that produced flying carpets, special forces Lycanthropes that use magical lights to trigger thier transformations outside of the full moon, alongside cars and other tech. (though some tech we have might simply not be profitable to make with magical competition). And with magic Imagine wars with summoned creatures, teleporting wizards, diviners giving the leaders advice and all the other options that magic would open up. You'd have colleges of study for Druids, Witches, Wizards, and technology. Of course that would be at least 200 years in the future from where the OP wanted to be. His point in that timeline would be more like the beginning of the renaissance as magic and tech begin to be things that can benefit everyone. (or hurt everyone).

 

[tetrasodium]

well historically then that would put them in the path of some larger nation at some point because disconnected areas that try to avoid the world eventually get conquered by someone. Or it will end up like parts of Africa just out of control with random warlords and crazy powers popping up in a never ending game of chaos. I don't think after the amount of time the OP gave us that it could remain the same thing is was a few hundred years ago. Not that it has to be like earth but the only constant anywhere is change. Nothing stays the same forever.

Probably yea,but that depends on water deep & Swordcoast having something worth claiming. All they see to have is wilderness monsters uneducated dirt farmers and a port to nothing