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

[Remathilis]

How fast is the pickup? How much damage does it do if I ram it into the dragon?

Vehicle rules exist already. You just need to create stats for modern vehicles.

Bare in mind, I'm not saying you wouldn't need some new things. You would need to stat new gear, probably add new subclasses, feats and backgrounds. But you don't need to rewrite base classes or combat rules or redo the magic system. You don't need a wholesale rewrite of the PHB, any more than Dark Sun or Theros needed wholesale rewrites of the PHB.

 

[AlViking]

How fast is the pickup? How much damage does it do if I ram it into the dragon?

As long as the characters don't have access to military technology, I don't see why D&D wouldn't work. Yes you have to assume action movie logic for guns (running crouched with one hand raised to cover the side of their head obviously makes them bulletproof), but that's largely because we've never seen someone take a direct hit from a sword.

As far as how much damage a pickup does if it hits a red dragon - who cares? Make it up. Just like if you were piloting a sailing ship and rammed the dragon, or dropped your Daern's Instant Fortress on it's head and activated it as it fell. There are all sorts of things we have to just kind of guess at.

 

[humble minion]

As long as the characters don't have access to military technology, I don't see why D&D wouldn't work. Yes you have to assume action movie logic for guns (running crouched with one hand raised to cover the side of their head obviously makes them bulletproof), but that's largely because we've never seen someone take a direct hit from a sword.

The big problem you'd run in to is that the maths of D&Ds core combat mechanism is built around armour and shields being a major useful factor in combat. You'd need to compensate for that somehow, and all options are non-ideal. Introduce modern-day armour, kevlar vests etc that grant ludicrously high AC to make the maths work? Just go with it and have everyone hitting MUCH more often than bounded accuracy etc assumes? Everyone has some sort of handwavey magic armour or a fiat AC bonus based on level? Just accept that everyone's going to be a high-Dex ranged combatant and that Str is functionally worthless now?

Similarly, there's a heavy emphasis on melee and close-quarters combat in the D&D combat system. Even ranged combat is a bit of an afterthought, there's a lot fewer feats, features, options etc for shooters than there is for hitters, and the balance is probably less good on the whole.

I'm sure its POSSIBLE to do, but the 5e core assumptions don't make it even remotely ideal for the genre.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

As long as the characters don't have access to military technology, I don't see why D&D wouldn't work

Half em vee squared. A pickup has many times the the kinetic energy of a wooden cart - around 50 times at a rough estimate. And it’s higher speed makes it harder to avoid.

Because the real modern world is familiar in a way that a fantasy setting is not, the players will be familiar with the many common things in the environment that can be used as weapons or to solve problems. Microwaves, blenders, household gas and electricity supplies, lawnmowers, fire extinguishers, fork lifts - all these common environmental items are things players are going to want to try an use.

And anyway, why would the PCs, or the villains, not have access to military technology?

 

[Tonguez]

I think it's doable, but I think everyone is trying to overthink it.

Start with the basic assumptions of a D&D world (let's assume 5.5 assumptions). Then you advance the technology of the setting to something closer to our modern world. You don't need to justify the advancement any more than D&D justifies it's medieval tech.. If the existence of magic wands didn't stop crossbows from existing, it wouldn't stop firearms. Your D&D character drives a pickup, listening to the radio, and firing a shotgun at a red dragon. You don't need cyberpunk technology, techno-magic hybrids, or interstellar travel. You need flashlights instead of torches, fast food instead of taverns, and hoodies of protection instead of cloaks.

I decided to try a different approach and well, maybe it could work afterall...

“Sheila!” Bobby barked, slamming the screen door so hard it triggered the House Alarm Ritual causing a faint silvery shimmer to settle down over the porch. “Call the Sheriff’s Office and tell ‘em it’s not a prank this time, those damn kids from the collegium are up at the ruined temple again and someone’s failed a concentration check!”

Inside, Sheila didn’t even look up from her sending stone. “Already on it. They’ve put you on a priority list now. Said to ask: ‘Are the entities fiends, fey, or “unidentified intrusion from the far realms”?”

Bobby pinched the bridge of his nose. “They’re Vrocks, Sheila! Big, screechin’, feathered nightmares. One of ‘em did that spores thing and Eric’s boy is coughing up glitter. Tell Hank to send a Paladin”

“Right,” Sheila said, typing. “Dispatch says a Level 7 Response Team is en route. ETA… twenty minutes.”

“Twenty minutes?!” Bobby wheeled toward the window. In the distance, something shot skyward shrieking like a rusted hinge. “we aint got twenty minutes. Those things already slaughtered ten of our spring lambs! If we loose more, we wont be able to pay the druids for last years blessing”

From the hill came a flash of violet light, followed by the unmistakable screaming of another failed save. Bobby grabbed his old club from the cupboard, although it had been modified into the stock of a pump action shotgun, silver lined barrel etched with runes, upgraded and reclassified under martial weapon proficiency.

“Don’t,” Sheila said calmly. “We’re retired remember, you know that Diana’s Adventurers manual says do not engage any creatures above your CR!”

“…to hell with CR!” Bobby replied as he stepped out the door “those kids have already failed their damn wisdom saves, we might be the only chance they’ve got!”

A second vrock launched skyward as Bobby steered his old pick up towards the ruined temple. Erics boy was still both nauseated and stunned on the ground, while his girlfriend Nancy May was trying to read a scroll written in Old Demotic .

Bobby pulled up along side the pair, tossed Nancy a spare Red Potion Pack and pulling his shotgun, took aim at the skyward Vrock and pulled the trigger.

Somebody had to roll initiative…

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I suspect the stats of vehicles from "d20 Modern" shouldn't be difficult to be updated to 5.5e but in some campaigns, fuel supply could be a serious problem.
Other point could be possible secret ultratech like James Bond's gadgets created by Q division.
And the level of challenge varies depending on the circumstances. A slasher like Ghostface could be a serious menace for unarmed civilians but if it is against a law agent with a gun then the things are different.

And the technology used for crime investigation can be radically different acording the decade. Sherlock Holmes, Hercules Poirot or detective Columbo couldn't dream with the means of 2026 CSI.

And the prices of products over different decades is another matter entirely. A certain amount might be a pittance as a salary in 2026, but generations ago it would have been a small fortune.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I did just that with a setting that started in AD&D 2E, and it was a supers game, not a urban fantasy one.

Yep, when I temporally moved an AD&D party into the real world back in 1st edition days, I converted the party to a superhero ruleset (Golden Heroes) rather than try to use AD&D rules in the real world. And it worked really well, I was pretty accurately able to reproduce the PC's abilities. Superhero rulesets are much better at combining fantasy with a real world setting than D&D.

 

[GrimCo]

Problem with guns isn't lethality per se. Sword and arrow can kill you as easily as 5.56mm round. It's ranges. Rules of d&d are centered around melee combat. Longbow has 150 feet/ 50m range without disadvantage. Your run of the mill regular 9mm pistol has 75ft/25m. Regular M4 semi auto with ACOG, you are looking at 900ft/300m range without penalties and 1500ft/500m max effective range. With DMRs, anti material rifles or just plain old bolt action hunting rifles, you go in 500-600m no penalty ranges.

This reminds of Dresden Files and talk between Harry and Kincaid. When Harry asked Kincaid how would he take out wizard, he replied : "How would I kill a wizard? I’d do it from a mile away with a high-powered rifle and a scope. You wouldn't even know I was there. You wouldn't have time to put up a shield. You wouldn't even have time to think about a death curse. By the time the sound of the shot reached you, you'd already be dead"

That's why guns in D&D don't work. D&D is based around close ranges. Even ranged weapons and spells are close range engagements in modern terms ( more like point blank engagements, close range are 100-300m). At 300feet range, you use red dot/reflex sights, not acog.

Also, hacking in reality is much more tied to HUMINT than to glowing green terminals and typing like maniac. In CS, human is usually weakest spot in whole system. Reusing passwords, having them on post its on monitors etc. Your best hacker would be high CHA bard with some charm spells and high deception skill.

Now, all that aside, main question of the setting is, how rare are casters? In world with 4-8 billion people, are casters dime a dozen or are they 0.001% of population. Other is, how hard do you need to study to become one? If becoming lv1 wizard is same as getting say phd, while rare ( about 0.5% of adults), it's still numbers in tens of milions, but it's same as phd, distribution is uneven, access to education is uneven. Just enough that they can make real dent on society. With magic that prevalent, tech development would be very different than it is.

 

[Reynard]

That's why guns in D&D don't work. D&D is based around close ranges.

If John Wick can do it, D&D certainly can.

Some folks are focused so much on how "guns just can't work in D&D" that they are missing the point: it is still an action adventure game. It doesn't have to be realistic, any more than melee combat in "regular" D&D is. Which it isn't, not even a little.

 

[AlViking]

The big problem you'd run in to is that the maths of D&Ds core combat mechanism is built around armour and shields being a major useful factor in combat. You'd need to compensate for that somehow, and all options are non-ideal. Introduce modern-day armour, kevlar vests etc that grant ludicrously high AC to make the maths work? Just go with it and have everyone hitting MUCH more often than bounded accuracy etc assumes? Everyone has some sort of handwavey magic armour or a fiat AC bonus based on level? Just accept that everyone's going to be a high-Dex ranged combatant and that Str is functionally worthless now?

John Wick has armor, it just looks like a trench coat. Batman's outfit is a little more obvious as armor and to a degree his cape acts like a shield. In the Dresden Files books, Dresden uses magic to make his duster jacket. We also don't live in a world with werewolves and trolls. If D&D was accurate well-made plate mail AC should be ludicrously high, yet it's not. Besides, modern armor may stop bullets but it can't stop kinetic energy from bullets - it just spreads it out. Getting shot in the chest is still going to feel like getting punched in the chest. Most important, unlike plate mail it doesn't cover the whole body. So I'd just keep armor the same, just give it a different look.

Similarly, there's a heavy emphasis on melee and close-quarters combat in the D&D combat system. Even ranged combat is a bit of an afterthought, there's a lot fewer feats, features, options etc for shooters than there is for hitters, and the balance is probably less good on the whole.

That is an issue but in a world with monsters that don't use guns and are tough enough or resistant enough to bullets, close quarters combat becomes more important. Since close quarters combat is more common, armor is more common. I don't see magic being useful and letting people wear armor superior to what we use as hand-wavy. It's a logical conclusion that if magic exists it can be used to enhance some items.

I'm sure its POSSIBLE to do, but the 5e core assumptions don't make it even remotely ideal for the genre.

I think there are a lot of options for running the game and which system is ideal is going to depend on what you want out of it.