D&D 5E (2024) Building A Contemporary Fantasy Setting For 5.5E

[Reynard]

NOTE 1: This thread is mostly just musing and theorycrafting; I would not actually use 5E for contemporary fantasy, but it came up in another thread so i thought it might be fun to discuss.

NOTE 2: I called it "contemporary fantasy" in order to avoid the "urban fantasy" argument happening in the other thread. And "contemporary" here can mean anything from, say, post WW2 to the near future, but where magic and magical creatures exist.

NOTE 3; It is an important distinction that this is a SETTING for 5.5E, and not a whole new "modern 5E" ruleset. That is intentional and part of the design challenge. Of course you can add new subclasses, etc, but no fundamental changes to the core rules.

Okay, with all that said, what do you think would make for an interesting contemporary fantasy setting for 5.5E?

I think the first real question is whether magic has always been a part of the world (Bright) or whether it is recently returned (Shadowrun)? And then the next question is whether it is in the open, or a hidden "secret world".

My own contemporary fantasy setting is a recent "return" (sorta) and in the open: on a parallel earth with a very "D&D vibe" (elves, orcs, etc) the Blighted Queen is about to destroy the world. Archmages across that world are able to open gates to our Earth, and millions of refugees (along with lots of magical creatures) flow into Earth before the archmages are forced to shut the gates to keep The Blighted Queen and her armies from following -- sacrificing themselves in the process.

Our world lack a "manasphere" and so wizards and such cannot cast spells UNLESS they draw magic out of a magical creature or magic item. And if they aren't careful (or don't care) those spellcasters can drain the creature or item completely of magic.

It has ben 10 years since the initial rush into our world and just now the refugee camps are opening up and denizens of that world are starting to integrate a little with Earthling culture. Shades of Alien Nation and District 11 here are intentional.

If I were to use this world for a 5.5E setting, the biggest thing would be to defined how channeling works (which would be a variant of the spell casting focus rules) as well as create new arcane subclasses around channeling. I am not sure what I would do with divine casters, since Earth also does not have their gods, but for ease I would probably just call it a different style of magic and those casters would need divine relics to channel from.

thoughts? How would you design a contemporary fantasy setting for 5E?

 

[Cergorach]

So you keep the classic 5.5e classes as well? If so, I think point #1 would be to reimagine the core classes while keeping the mechanics.

 

[Reynard]

So you keep the classic 5.5e classes as well? If so, I think point #1 would be to reimagine the core classes while keeping the mechanics.

Modern weapons would be a thing, of course, and you would have to determine what counted as "simple" vs "martial" firearms, etc. There would also probably be some changes to the skill list, so deciding who was proficient in what would be necessary.

 

[Remathilis]

So you keep the classic 5.5e classes as well? If so, I think point #1 would be to reimagine the core classes while keeping the mechanics.

At that point, you've stopped making a D&D setting and started make a 5e-compatible RPG.

For me, two important questions needs to be answered.

1.) What is the relationship between the mundane world and the supernatural? Are the elves, wizards and vampires part of society or hidden? Does the world believe magic exists or is it superstition and nonsense? Lots of contemporary fantasy keeps the magical world separate/secret (Harry Potter, World of Darkness) while some (like Shadowrun or Urban Arcana) had it out in the open.

2.) What is the relationship between magic and technology? Are the harmonious, at odds, or relatively neutral? Harmonious magic and technology becomes something like an advanced verison of Eberron or Iron Kingdoms, while magic at odds with technology is the whole bases of Mage: The Ascension. Does magic replace tech, counter tech (and is countered by tech?) or can they work together?

You would also normally want to establish the boundaries of magic but since this is D&D, the boundaries are defined in the PHB.

The last element I would consider is whether this is an alternative Earth (that is, our Earth + Magic) or a planet that has advanced to resemble 20th century technology + magic. The latter is A LOT more work, but could be an interesting premise. Many years ago, in the early era of 3e, Dragon Magazine had an article called Greyhawk 2000, where Oerth had advanced in technology to meet 20th century levels. I wish I remember more of it, but I do remember a piece of art where a modern Jetfighter is dogfighting with a dragon, and if you were going for a D&D + Modern Tech approach, that's probably the tone I would go for.

 

[CreamCloud0]

It has ben 10

It started when an alien device did just what it did...

 

[Corinnguard]

Okay, with all that said, what do you think would make for an interesting contemporary fantasy setting for 5.5E?

A Shadowrun-like setting that was more magical and less cyberpunk and had some of the 5.5e species (plus their geographical variants) co-existing with humanity. I would like to play as a contemporary Dragonborn.

I think the first real question is whether magic has always been a part of the world (Bright) or whether it is recently returned (Shadowrun)? And then the next question is whether it is in the open, or a hidden "secret world".

I am bit torn here because I like the idea of magic always being a part of the world and the idea of it ebbing and flowing into our world in a millennia-long cycle. Though my liking of the former comes from the Allison Beckstrom series by Devon Monk rather than Bright. In that series, magic had always been a part of the world. But it had been broken into Light and Dark Magic in order to save the world from a pair of soul-bonded spellcasters. The magic was then hidden for centuries by a worldwide organization of spellcasters known as the Authority. Then 30 years ago from the present day in the setting, the main character's father did a Prometheus by 'discovering' magic and introducing to the general public. Magic becomes an everyday thing for everyone. However, due to its' broken nature, using magic came with a cost. The cost was a random form of non-lethal damage that could be circumvented by performing a minor ritual known as a Disbursement or by becoming a spellcaster's Proxy. The caster would choose the nature of how they would pay the cost of using magic, rather than letting magic making them pay for its' use.

As for Shadowrun, I liked how magic ebbed and flowed in cycles lasting 5,000 years. For a time, I collected some of the RPG's first edition and read many of its' novels. NYX Smith was my favorite Shadowrun authors back then.

Hmm...I prefer an open world over a hidden, secret world as the latter can only be hidden for so long before its' dragged into the light.

 

[Corinnguard]

At that point, you've stopped making a D&D setting and started make a 5e-compatible RPG.

B&B= Boardrooms and Barghests.

 

[Reynard]

The last element I would consider is whether this is an alternative Earth (that is, our Earth + Magic) or a planet that has advanced to resemble 20th century technology + magic. The latter is A LOT more work, but could be an interesting premise. Many years ago, in the early era of 3e, Dragon Magazine had an article called Greyhawk 2000, where Oerth had advanced in technology to meet 20th century levels. I wish I remember more of it, but I do remember a piece of art where a modern Jetfighter is dogfighting with a dragon, and if you were going for a D&D + Modern Tech approach, that's probably the tone I would go for.

I had a long running generational campaign that started with AD&D2E, then moved to 3.x, jaunted briefly to Hero, and finally ended up using Mutants and Masterminds (first 2E, then 3E) for the "modern" era of that world which was much more Silver Age Marvel than Shadowrun.

 

[Remathilis]

Huh, the Greyhawk wiki has an article on Greyhawk 2000

https://greyhawkonline.com/greyhawkwiki/Greyhawk_2000

Its a little more sci-fi than I remembered, but I would wager magic's effect on our world would create a lot of sci-fi like elements, such as faster-than-light travel or bio-engineering.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

NOTE 3; It is an important distinction that this is a SETTING for 5.5E, and not a whole new "modern 5E" ruleset.

What exactly do you mean by this, because it sounds like you are describing Eberron and Ravnica? If you want to have internal combustion, automatic firearms, electrical power grids, mobile phones, computers etc, you are going to need rules for them.