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

[AlViking]

It’s all edges and very little middle.

Then every game that does modern urban fantasy would have the same problem. For that matter if you've never had players that try creative ways to cause damage, you've had different players than I have.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Then every game that does modern urban fantasy would have the same problem. For that matter if you've never had players that try creative ways to cause damage, you've had different players than I have.

Games that are set in the real world have rules for that stuff. They colour to the edges.

 

[Corinnguard]

Games that are set in the real world have rules for that stuff. They colour to the edges.

Which would have to be tweaked to accommodate magic.

 

[TwoSix]

Which would have to be tweaked to accommodate magic.

Ideally, no one is going to design a ruleset full of normal tech purely for 5e, and then layer specific magic on top of that, which would then further modify the tech rules. You make your rules modifications in a single go.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Which would have to be tweaked to accommodate magic.

That’s why superhero rulesets are so useful. They cover all the bases.

But this is about D&D, so it has rules for magic. What it would need is rules for all the real world stuff.

 

[Reynard]

Ideally, no one is going to design a ruleset full of normal tech purely for 5e, and then layer specific magic on top of that, which would then further modify the tech rules. You make your rules modifications in a single go.

The point of the exercise of it being a 5.5E setting versus something like Modern5E would be to keep the rules modifications to a minimum and focus on expanded options -- similar to how Eberron and Ravenloft treat rules for their milieus.

 

[AlViking]

Games that are set in the real world have rules for that stuff. They colour to the edges.

IIRC D20 modern had something, if I were to do a modern game I'd look back at that. Probably wouldn't be too hard to do. Out of curiosity I just asked copilot to generate rules for Esper Genesis (which doesn't have anything) and it came up with what looks like a reasonable set of rules. It took 30 seconds to type in the question and get an answer, it's not a significant barrier to play.

 

[Corinnguard]

That’s why superhero rulesets are so useful. They cover all the bases.

But this is about D&D, so it has rules for magic. What it would need is rules for all the real world stuff.

How many of them are needed to run a contemporary fantasy for 5.5?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

How many of them are needed to run a contemporary fantasy for 5.5?

All of them.

You create a world, the players are going to want to interact with it.

 

[AlViking]

So because I had copilot up, I generated rules for D&D 5.5. I'm not going to bother posting and I'd have to play-test the rules but it will generate rules based on what style I want - gritty realism, pulp action or fantasy-sci-fi fusion. Looks pretty straightforward, I'd probably go with simple pulp action version myself since that's how I view D&D.