d20 Modern: Advancing the Forgotten Realms

[evildm]

Hey all,

Though the title may seem off topic, it's quite on-topic (IMHO). For my upcoming Urban Arcana game, I'm going to be advancing the FR setting to the modern day. I plan to have all the basic races of the PHB still around, possibly with some others (ie Orcs, Drow, etc). All the long-lifespans of certain races will be drastically shortened but still be longer than humans to ensure that the past is well forgotten. Magic died a long time ago, but is seeing a small and quiet resurgence.

My main question (and purpose of this thread) is: to make things seem more "realistic", as it were, I would like to set up cultural equivalents between FR and the real world. What countries from FR would you make equivalent to countries in our world?

Personally, I'm planning on having the Sword Coast north equal to North America. Cormyr to the British Isles. Maztica to South America. Kara Tur to Asia (this one's easy to match up). Calimshan and Zakhara to the middle east (probably). Mulhorand to Egypt. Chessenta to Greece. But I'm not sure how I'd match up the rest of the world really. Any ideas?

PS: Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, I wasn't sure where I should put this General RPGs or d20 Modern.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Continents:
Faerûn is Europe
Kara-Tur is Asia
Zakhara is Africa
"Unknown Lands" is Australia (you may call it "XXXX" )
Maztica is America (North and South)

Races:
I'd use all PC races from Races of Faerûn (or the FRCS)
I wouldn't shorten the lifespans (if you go to "2000 DR" there will be few that were born around 1400 DR, and those will probably be mostly sun elves, followed by other elves.)

Magic:
Faerûn without magic isn't faerûn anymore. I think if you already take the Forgotten realms, you can as well preserve it.

And don't forget there are some people that will still be around...

 

[evildm]

Continents:
Faerûn is Europe
Kara-Tur is Asia
Zakhara is Africa
"Unknown Lands" is Australia (you may call it "XXXX" )
Maztica is America (North and South)

While I see your logical sense, I've just gotta contend with a few points here:

Maztica as America: Good point and I thought of this, except that I don't know enough about Maztica to make it really fit well, and I want the place the campaign to be focused to be somewhat familiar, while at the same time being like North America.

Zakhara as Africa: Really? I would've probably said the Shaar was more like Africa. (though I forgot to mention it in my post ).

Faerun as Europe: Europe would be damn big, which I'm sure is quite accurate, but certain places probably wouldn't work out quite right culturally.

Races:
I'd use all PC races from Races of Faerûn (or the FRCS)
I wouldn't shorten the lifespans (if you go to "2000 DR" there will be few that were born around 1400 DR, and those will probably be mostly sun elves, followed by other elves.)

Yeah, I'm going to use all the ones from Races of Faerun except the monstrous ones near the back.

You make a good point about the lifespans thing. I was thinking that the loss of magic and the effects of pollution would shorten their lifespan a bit. I'll think about it really, and toss some things around. The hard part with this is that alot of history would be quite available as certain members of races would be able to just tell you what happened around such and such a time rather than you needing to read history books. I would have to advance the timeline quite a bit further to get the same effect on history as we do today. If that makes any sense (it does in my addled head ).

Magic:
Faerûn without magic isn't faerûn anymore. I think if you already take the Forgotten realms, you can as well preserve it.

I don' t know. While I agree that FR is very much a magic-rich setting, I don't believe that it's the be-all end-all of what makes it FR. There's alot of really interesting culture that makes it FR, to me anyway. Besides, magic would be coming back (and with it, all sorts of not-nice creatures), it'd just left for awhile.

Also, if magic wasn't around, then that gives a good reason to need most (or all) of the technical gadgetry we have these days. I also need technology to advance quickly. I think magic would slow things down a bit (don't need advancement, so it won't happen).

And don't forget there are some people that will still be around...

Certain important powerful people. Maybe. While I like all the famous characters from the setting (Khelben Arunsun being my favorite), I'm not sure if I'd be big on introducing them in the modern day. Villains, maybe (Halaster, springs to mind), but probably not famous heroes.

 

[Ranger REG]

Continents:
Faerûn is Europe
Kara-Tur is Asia
Zakhara is Africa
"Unknown Lands" is Australia (you may call it "XXXX" )
Maztica is America (North and South)

If you mean counterpart, then...

You're about right with Faerun, but it overlaps into Africa (Chult, Old Empires), the Balkan states (the Unapproachable East), and the Mediterraneans.
You're right about Kara-Tur, with the exception of Mongol Asia (Hordeland).
Zakhara would be in the Middle East that what was once a Persian Territory.
Maztica only occupy the South and Central parts of the American Continent.

 

[kkoie]

I actually ran a session a month or two ago where I did exactly this. The session was set in waterdeep so I made up a street map of waterdeep in a more modern age. If you are interested, I can post it (I had posted it here before, but the thread dropped off.)

 

[evildm]

Actually I got that map. How'd the session go? Any thoughts that might help me in my upcoming game?

 

[kkoie]

It went pretty well. My players did complain, because there characters stepped through a 'time machine' that transported them about, 1700 years into the future (FR in a modern setting). They didn't like the idea that either A) they'd be stuck in a modern setting, using archaic feats, or B) they'd stay in the modern setting, get modern feats, but go back in time and have useless feats. So, I started a new campaign set in d20 modern. And put the current campaign on hold for a while (the d20 modern bit was a way for me to try something differn't, I was getting tired of the same old same old.)

The last session I ran was straight d20 modern, with lots of d&d rules thrown in (they all ran races out of the savage species book). All of them enjoyed it quite a bit, even the skeptic who at first claimed he'd prefer GURPS, liked d20modern.

 

[evildm]

That's cool then. We had a time shift thing like that once in a campaign. My players loved it, but it was very brief. Nobody attained any modern skills, only a few items that were completely useless back in the past.

Ironically, this UA campaign is a sort of sequel to that very campaign. Only, the future will be very different (much less bleak ).

I've already got a bunch of ideas, so I think it'll run smoothly enough to be entertaining. Certain details'll just have to be filled in later. I think the hardest part will be making up modern day manufacturers and world events on the fly.

 

[NeuroZombie]

In my d20 modern campaign, I am planning on sending my PC's (who are going to be something akin to sliders) to Faerun for an adventure or two, starting with a run in with an illthid and then ending with being chastised (if things go well) by Elminster