Here is an idea I am kicking around for a d20 modern campaign...
Basically, the PC's awaken from stasis in some kind of laboratory. They recognize each other but cannot remember anything. They don't know their own names or have any memories at all. After walking through the facility they find basic travel gear, a laptop, some guns and a few large boxes full of ammunition. By accessing a computer in the lab they realize that they have been in stasis for over 900 years. The computer revived them because its power supply is finally running out and the facility is shutting down. Other individuals were held in stasis here as well but they were revived centuries ago, and they left no information behind.
The PC's exit the lab into a cave, and the cave opens into a rugged mountainous area. After climbing down into the plains they eventually spot small structures in the distance. They approach and as they get closer they pass through several crop fields. Animal pens surround the outside of the town. Inside the town they are regarded with curiosity and apprehension. They will soon figure out that the town possesses only medieval technology. The townsfolk frown upon anything more advanced, and see the pursuit of technology as leading man only into ruin. The PC's will likely enounter the town elder, and realize that the magic he wields is real. The villagers do not leave the town for fear of giant insects and horrific aberrations of nature that exist outside civilization.
As the PC's adventure they will face monsters, use magic, search bombed out ruins of futuristic metropolii, and fight the worst elements of humanity in this future. Eventually they will gather enough clues to realize what actually happened to civilization, and why technology has disappeared:
In the past, mighty republics of humanity warred against each other, and in desperation used their nuclear arsenals, nearly annihilating all life on the planet. An intelligent military supercomputer named DYNA survived the conflict, protected inside a massive reinforced fortress. After the war DYNA resolved to protect humanity from itself forever. It's automated factories produced armies of robots that cleaned up radioactive waste and radiation, restoring the world to a pristine beauty, but this new world came with a price. The agents of DYNA moved among humanity quietly, observing and gathering information. If a group of humans ever gained the resources, technological or magical, to wage large scale war, DYNA hurled massive ballistic missile attacks on the offending group without warning, until they were eliminated. DYNA exists to protect humanity, and it is prepared to wipe out entire civilizations to do so. The humans of this age are almost universally unaware of DYNA and of the limit placed on mankind's advancement. To most of them, technology is just something better left in the past. At high levels, the characters will finish the campaign by discovering a suitcase nuke from ages past, infiltrating DYNA's high tech fortress, and detonating the nuke inside the computer's main core, making the ultimate sacrifice to free humanity.
What do you think?
Basically, the PC's awaken from stasis in some kind of laboratory. They recognize each other but cannot remember anything. They don't know their own names or have any memories at all. After walking through the facility they find basic travel gear, a laptop, some guns and a few large boxes full of ammunition. By accessing a computer in the lab they realize that they have been in stasis for over 900 years. The computer revived them because its power supply is finally running out and the facility is shutting down. Other individuals were held in stasis here as well but they were revived centuries ago, and they left no information behind.
The PC's exit the lab into a cave, and the cave opens into a rugged mountainous area. After climbing down into the plains they eventually spot small structures in the distance. They approach and as they get closer they pass through several crop fields. Animal pens surround the outside of the town. Inside the town they are regarded with curiosity and apprehension. They will soon figure out that the town possesses only medieval technology. The townsfolk frown upon anything more advanced, and see the pursuit of technology as leading man only into ruin. The PC's will likely enounter the town elder, and realize that the magic he wields is real. The villagers do not leave the town for fear of giant insects and horrific aberrations of nature that exist outside civilization.
As the PC's adventure they will face monsters, use magic, search bombed out ruins of futuristic metropolii, and fight the worst elements of humanity in this future. Eventually they will gather enough clues to realize what actually happened to civilization, and why technology has disappeared:
In the past, mighty republics of humanity warred against each other, and in desperation used their nuclear arsenals, nearly annihilating all life on the planet. An intelligent military supercomputer named DYNA survived the conflict, protected inside a massive reinforced fortress. After the war DYNA resolved to protect humanity from itself forever. It's automated factories produced armies of robots that cleaned up radioactive waste and radiation, restoring the world to a pristine beauty, but this new world came with a price. The agents of DYNA moved among humanity quietly, observing and gathering information. If a group of humans ever gained the resources, technological or magical, to wage large scale war, DYNA hurled massive ballistic missile attacks on the offending group without warning, until they were eliminated. DYNA exists to protect humanity, and it is prepared to wipe out entire civilizations to do so. The humans of this age are almost universally unaware of DYNA and of the limit placed on mankind's advancement. To most of them, technology is just something better left in the past. At high levels, the characters will finish the campaign by discovering a suitcase nuke from ages past, infiltrating DYNA's high tech fortress, and detonating the nuke inside the computer's main core, making the ultimate sacrifice to free humanity.
What do you think?
