D&D General Faerun '68 (+)

[cbwjm]

You could tie Thauma-fuel to FR and say that it is a rediscovery of heavy magic from the age of Netheril. Perhaps cities are powered by the rediscovery of mythallars that run all of the little magical devices that make life worth living in 1968. Even cars that run on heavy magic when outside cities change over to mythallar power when entering a city.

 

[cbwjm]

I was thinking of mass transit, with planes to move the masses around Faerun, but I wonder if a more magical transit system would be a portal network.

I also thought of the Waterdeep underground, a subway system but that might run into trouble with Undermountain.

The Xanathar is still a crimelord, but I really want the latest iteration to be some sort of mafia-styled crimeboss.

If the nations are at relative peace, what would their version of the Olympics look like? The Lathanderan Games (apparently his church sponsors athletic competitions), but with so many different races throughout Faerun there might be some advantages and disadvantages between races (dwarves probably aren't going to win any 100 metre dasches and centaurs should probably be disqualified from competing). I can imagine it being a little like the Laff-a-lympics by Hanna Barbera.

 

[Laurefindel]

I was thinking of mass transit, with planes to move the masses around Faerun, but I wonder if a more magical transit system would be a portal network.

I also thought of the Waterdeep underground, a subway system but that might run into trouble with Undermountain.

The Xanathar is still a crimelord, but I really want the latest iteration to be some sort of mafia-styled crimeboss.

If the nations are at relative peace, what would their version of the Olympics look like? The Lathanderan Games (apparently his church sponsors athletic competitions), but with so many different races throughout Faerun there might be some advantages and disadvantages between races (dwarves probably aren't going to win any 100 metre dasches and centaurs should probably be disqualified from competing). I can imagine it being a little like the Laff-a-lympics by Hanna Barbera.

Yes! I can see airships all over the place for local transit, but the equivalent of international airports is public portal hubs. Rich people and wealthy corporations have private portals akin to private jets, but perhaps there was never a need to develop an airplane as we know it.

I like the idea of Waterdeep subway being built partially in cleared sections of the Undermountain. These would probably be 2nd or 3rd generation tunnels by now, with older ones reclaimed by monsters and causing the occasional ruckus.

If there’s an equivalent of cars, then there are racing teams. The structure probably evolved from the more traditional hypogriff races, and so racing teams are still referred to as aeries…

 

[Artamo]

I also thought of the Waterdeep underground, a subway system but that might run into trouble with Undermountain.

I love this!

 

[Henadic Theologian]

(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.

Look up Blood Forges and mana for FR, as a possible alternative to Thauma-Fuel.

 

[cbwjm]

I like the idea of Waterdeep subway being built partially in cleared sections of the Undermountain. These would probably be 2nd or 3rd generation tunnels by now, with older ones reclaimed by monsters and causing the occasional ruckus.

This could lead to adventures for the heroes, people are going missing in the underground and the players are investigators (journalists or detectives?) or maybe it is a common enough occurence that the players are part of the tunnel crew who keep the tunnels clear of creatures from down below.

I'm also imagining a James Bond-like hero, exactly the same personality but he's a dwarf.

 

[nevin]

Eberron barely makes it to early industrialisation, which is very modern in D&D standards, but I think a FR ‘68 would go much further.

People in Eberron live much like to people of the early 19th century. In a FR68, we’d be in the second half of the 20th century. Eberron has trains and public transportation, but 68 FR would have personal transportation (cars or equivalent) for several generations already. Eberron has magical messengers and short-range communications, but FR68 would have equivalent of phones in each household with the ability to call you aunt in Xendrik. House Sivis would no longer be the messengers; they’d be the company sending you a bill at the end of the month because they own the infrastructure. Eberron has successful entertainers making a good living going from inn to inn. FR 68 would have planetary superstars playing for 100,000+ crowds. Eberron has the Mournland. In FR 68, the most powerful nations would have the magic/technology to nuke your country into a new mournland at a touch of a button. Eberron is reeling out of a massive continental war. FR 68 would have potentially seen yet another global war, even when everyone thought there wouldn’t be any, living both with the wounds and trauma of the last one, and among the new technologies and magic that flourished thereafter.

In many respects, FR 68 would be so much more that « just Eberron ».

ok so it could be exactly like Operation Chaos......

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Oh, that’s interesting!

Are we looking for an advanced timeline of FR to the equivalent of our late sixties (post-industrialisation, Cold War reality, mass media, edging on post-modern), or a 1968 fantasy using FR tropes? A post-modern FR would lose some of its current tropes for example.

More the former. And yes, some tropes would be lost - interested in hearing more your thoughts on this (maybe you answer later in thread, just answering as I catch up).