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ShortQuests -- individual adventure modules! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed to plug in to your game.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AlViking" data-source="post: 9885756" data-attributes="member: 6906980">The elephant (dragon?) in the room with using D&D for modern world is always going to be firearms for me.  It's not just an issue with D&D, a fair number of TV shows with super-hero related or "modern ninja" themes that rely heavily on hand-to-hand combat have to figure out why the protagonist isn't just shot dead by the bad guys.  So either the bad guys are really, really bad shots or for some reason they decide to use their AR as a club.  There are different ways of doing this in a fantasy setting.<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">A lot of the monsters are impervious or at least less affected by regular ammunition.  You need silvered or some other material for the bullets.  Problem is that silver is expensive (doubly so if it now needs to be used for bullets) and it doesn't deform like lead so it doesn't work very well.  You can also say that unlike arrows you can't assume bullets will not gain the magical enchantment of the gun for ... reasons.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Because there's magic, there's the equivalent of magical kevlar that's more effective and lighter than real world kevlar but like the real world it has a limitation.  The stuff is good at stopping bullets because bullets rely on small amount of mass traveling really fast, kevlar doesn't do much to prevent being stabbed.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Gunpowder doesn't exist or if it does it's easily hexed to misfire so firearms aren't really a thing.  You could still have bit artillery pieces or very expensive firearms that are warded against the hexes but those are going to be rare.</li> </ol>The problem with #1 is that not all enemies will be monsters, #2 perhaps in combination with #1 works but assumes that magic kevlar is really common amongst the enemy.  I like #3 but it might feel heavy-handed depending on what you're aiming for.Another option of course is to simply allow guns using the optional rules for firearms.  There's wide swaths of history that this could still be an option because most D&D games aren't trying to replicate armies at war, it's small group tactics.  Especially if you enforce actual limitations of firearms - it takes time to reload a flintlock and water and gunpowder don't mix.  Even if you want to do truly modern game, I'd make guns finesse weapons.  A high caliber weapon or shotgun will have quite a kick and will be better controlled by someone with a decent strength. I want strength based characters to still be a valid option.  I'd also assume there are modern equivalents of armor that's bullet proof because it can be forged with magic.That's the easiest option and the one I'd likely go with.  There are still plenty of cases where firearms may not be the best choice and combat is going to be hand-to-hand depending on the scenario.  The biggest issue is going to be the sheer numbers of rounds you can fire, real world fire-fights often end up using hundreds of rounds, which is why I'd likely limit my game to the 19th century.You'd have to have some other subsystems of course, but it also opens up possibilities.  If magic is real, computers could run at least partially on magic which could give a whole new take on cyberspace.</blockquote>

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