Hello fellow RPG fans, I have been DMing a relatively successful 5th Edition Forgotten Realms campaign for about a year now. My party has advanced from Level 1 to Level 9 and is currently involved in a "high fantasy" plot involving the Red Wizards of Thay and some Mind Flayers trying to overthrow Waterdeep and Baldur's Gate from within. It's been pretty fun, but we're looking to try something new.
Most of my group enjoys "Post Apocalyptic" settings and games, specifically Fallout and its spiritual predecessor / successor Wasteland, as well as other more obscure titles like Shadowrun or even some mainstream faire like Mad Max. The 5th Edition rules seem pretty open and malleable, and the DM Guide also has an excellent resource for optional rules to make the game more "gritty", which is something I'd want to incorporate, as the idea of heat exhaustion, radiation poisoning, and running out of water would fit well in a post-apoc setting, and I'd probably also want to slow down healing and reduce or eliminate "magical" healing, so that a bullet wound actually takes days or weeks to heal from. This would make engaging in combat more serious and naturally lend the campaign towards more of an atmosphere of exploration and problem solving, although combat would of course still be there if the players choose to engage.
Although I'm extremely excited to begin working on this project, there are a number of design considerations which significantly deviate from the medieval setting presented in the core handbooks.
Specifically:
1) Races and Classes. This is the big one. Some of the classes port over relatively easily, like Rogues and Rangers. Other classes however are going to take a significant re-imagining, specifically the caster classes. I'm not sure how to handle this part going forward. I feel like incorporating "Psionics" would allow for some "magic" in the world, and I'm also thinking that technology could take the place of magic in many places, especially "lost tech" from "before the war". Like say instead of brewing up potions a character is mixing together some chemicals he found in a chemistry set to make a solvent for XYZ robot part they found. I'm thinking of cutting down on races and encouraging people to play human, but perhaps having 2 or 3 other options like mutant, cyborg, etc. The idea of designing "new" classes with as many abilities as those in the PHB and actually making it balanced is the most daunting part of this project. I may even toy with the idea of starting the players as generic Level 1 "soldiers" and allowing them to "level up" into a skill tree of some sorts, if classes would be unworkable.
2) Weapons and Armor. Not quite as daunting as the first part, and a bit more fun. This part would even be easy enough to make up as you go along. Your players could have XYZ assault rifle from "before the war" and then they find the Mark 2 version that has slightly better range. Balancing is the issue here. Combat would definitely be more ranged, due to guns, but there would still be melee either from radiated animal monsters or raider / zombie type people who have nothing more than a baseball bat or a metal pipe. I think I want to give armor a "damage resistance" to represent lighter arms bouncing off heavier armor, and it would help hit home with the slower healing because when a bullet hits you your character is going to really feel it. I'm also thinking of incorporating "Power Armor", but I don't want everyone just walking around in it. So limiting factors could include the cost of a feat (if most players are human that lets them potentially start in it at Level 1), the cost of the armor itself and whatever power source it runs off of, and then the power armor could also have a store of hit points that renders the armor useless when they run out (and then the player could use their armor repair skill to roll and try and fix it or spend money when they get back to a base camp with an armor smith).
3) Skills and spells. Skills are relatively straightforward. I could simply add more skills like "Knowledge: Machinery" or "Knowledge: Computers" to represent a skill set that's relative to someone in a post apocalyptic future rather than a fantasy middle ages. Spells, if I'm including psionics, would be a bit more tricky. I don't want to truncate the spell list because it would hurt potential casters, but many spells in the 5th Ed PHB would have to be re-worked significantly for a sci-fi setting. Perhaps I'll have Druids and Clerics be "good" psionists, like hippy nature lover types or faith healers, and sorcerers and wizards can be the bad or selfish kind that kill a bunch of people like in Akira. But certain "magicky" spells like Heroes' Feast wouldn't fit at all in a sci-fi setting.
4) "Monsters" and continuity. This last part is deceptively tricky. In middle ages fantasy you can pretty much make up whatever you want. If the technology level doesn't fit from one country to the next or something seems like it shouldn't work, it could just be explained away with "oh, that's magic". In a sci fi setting based on Earth, things have to "fit". If the war was 50 years ago, why does this building look like it was only bombed 10 years ago? Why has this part of the city decayed for 200 years? My players are very perceptive, and they'll notice any holes instantly. So with the monsters or "mobs", there has to be some sort of scientifically based explanation. If they're fighting giant radioactive rats, is this a new species of rodent that evolved in the radiation or is an existing species suffering the effects of radiation? It's easy enough to lift stats from the monster manual, but giving those stats some flavor is going to be a challenge.
So these are the areas I'm going to be working on in the coming weeks and months as this project gets off the ground. Any input is greatly appreciated, as I don't know if I can handle this much creative work by myself. Thanks everyone!
Most of my group enjoys "Post Apocalyptic" settings and games, specifically Fallout and its spiritual predecessor / successor Wasteland, as well as other more obscure titles like Shadowrun or even some mainstream faire like Mad Max. The 5th Edition rules seem pretty open and malleable, and the DM Guide also has an excellent resource for optional rules to make the game more "gritty", which is something I'd want to incorporate, as the idea of heat exhaustion, radiation poisoning, and running out of water would fit well in a post-apoc setting, and I'd probably also want to slow down healing and reduce or eliminate "magical" healing, so that a bullet wound actually takes days or weeks to heal from. This would make engaging in combat more serious and naturally lend the campaign towards more of an atmosphere of exploration and problem solving, although combat would of course still be there if the players choose to engage.
Although I'm extremely excited to begin working on this project, there are a number of design considerations which significantly deviate from the medieval setting presented in the core handbooks.
Specifically:
1) Races and Classes. This is the big one. Some of the classes port over relatively easily, like Rogues and Rangers. Other classes however are going to take a significant re-imagining, specifically the caster classes. I'm not sure how to handle this part going forward. I feel like incorporating "Psionics" would allow for some "magic" in the world, and I'm also thinking that technology could take the place of magic in many places, especially "lost tech" from "before the war". Like say instead of brewing up potions a character is mixing together some chemicals he found in a chemistry set to make a solvent for XYZ robot part they found. I'm thinking of cutting down on races and encouraging people to play human, but perhaps having 2 or 3 other options like mutant, cyborg, etc. The idea of designing "new" classes with as many abilities as those in the PHB and actually making it balanced is the most daunting part of this project. I may even toy with the idea of starting the players as generic Level 1 "soldiers" and allowing them to "level up" into a skill tree of some sorts, if classes would be unworkable.
2) Weapons and Armor. Not quite as daunting as the first part, and a bit more fun. This part would even be easy enough to make up as you go along. Your players could have XYZ assault rifle from "before the war" and then they find the Mark 2 version that has slightly better range. Balancing is the issue here. Combat would definitely be more ranged, due to guns, but there would still be melee either from radiated animal monsters or raider / zombie type people who have nothing more than a baseball bat or a metal pipe. I think I want to give armor a "damage resistance" to represent lighter arms bouncing off heavier armor, and it would help hit home with the slower healing because when a bullet hits you your character is going to really feel it. I'm also thinking of incorporating "Power Armor", but I don't want everyone just walking around in it. So limiting factors could include the cost of a feat (if most players are human that lets them potentially start in it at Level 1), the cost of the armor itself and whatever power source it runs off of, and then the power armor could also have a store of hit points that renders the armor useless when they run out (and then the player could use their armor repair skill to roll and try and fix it or spend money when they get back to a base camp with an armor smith).
3) Skills and spells. Skills are relatively straightforward. I could simply add more skills like "Knowledge: Machinery" or "Knowledge: Computers" to represent a skill set that's relative to someone in a post apocalyptic future rather than a fantasy middle ages. Spells, if I'm including psionics, would be a bit more tricky. I don't want to truncate the spell list because it would hurt potential casters, but many spells in the 5th Ed PHB would have to be re-worked significantly for a sci-fi setting. Perhaps I'll have Druids and Clerics be "good" psionists, like hippy nature lover types or faith healers, and sorcerers and wizards can be the bad or selfish kind that kill a bunch of people like in Akira. But certain "magicky" spells like Heroes' Feast wouldn't fit at all in a sci-fi setting.
4) "Monsters" and continuity. This last part is deceptively tricky. In middle ages fantasy you can pretty much make up whatever you want. If the technology level doesn't fit from one country to the next or something seems like it shouldn't work, it could just be explained away with "oh, that's magic". In a sci fi setting based on Earth, things have to "fit". If the war was 50 years ago, why does this building look like it was only bombed 10 years ago? Why has this part of the city decayed for 200 years? My players are very perceptive, and they'll notice any holes instantly. So with the monsters or "mobs", there has to be some sort of scientifically based explanation. If they're fighting giant radioactive rats, is this a new species of rodent that evolved in the radiation or is an existing species suffering the effects of radiation? It's easy enough to lift stats from the monster manual, but giving those stats some flavor is going to be a challenge.
So these are the areas I'm going to be working on in the coming weeks and months as this project gets off the ground. Any input is greatly appreciated, as I don't know if I can handle this much creative work by myself. Thanks everyone!
