Any suggestions on running the d20 world without the "don't notice the troll" aspect of shadow?
d20 Modern sans Shadow
- Thread starter The Grumpy Celt
- Start date
Or, you could use the rules exactly from Urban Arcana, but make it so everyone knows about Shadow. There isn't anything in the system that requires the "veil". It is just a way to use the world as we know it with only minor modification. If you do away with the obscuring aspect of Shadow, you will have to do some world building, since widespread magic and monsters are going to change "the world as we know it" significantly, but that should be half the fun, yes?
You could use the Shadowrun world as a model (an old copy of the core rules - first or second edition - should suffice as a source since you are not necessarily interested in the mechanics), but dumb down the tech several notches. It has the potential to be fascinating.
The key question is when were magic and fantasy creatures introduced into the world, and how would events have transpired differently as a result? The more recently that magic appeared, the more human history can be used unaltered.
If you are intent on having a modern world that has had magic throughout its history, you might be better off taking a fantasy setting or a fantasy world of your own creation and advancing it several tech levels.
You could use the Shadowrun world as a model (an old copy of the core rules - first or second edition - should suffice as a source since you are not necessarily interested in the mechanics), but dumb down the tech several notches. It has the potential to be fascinating.
The key question is when were magic and fantasy creatures introduced into the world, and how would events have transpired differently as a result? The more recently that magic appeared, the more human history can be used unaltered.
If you are intent on having a modern world that has had magic throughout its history, you might be better off taking a fantasy setting or a fantasy world of your own creation and advancing it several tech levels.
Ranger REG
Explorer
Treat it like an X-Men setting, where the nonhumans are freaks. Then it becomes a question of "can humanity coexist with other sentient beings"?The Grumpy Celt said:
Or just treat it as a modern-day version of the known fantasy world in which the "demihumans" continue to thrive in the modern world, without disappearing or vacating the world for the Young Race (humans) to take over.
I don't know if this is the sort of solution you are looking for, but I treat all shadow-creatures as outsiders. Not mechanically, they keep their creature type and such, but from the perspective of the story. They can be summoned with incantations to perform specific tasks or for a specific duration, but they don't permanently inhabit our world.
This ties in with the illuminatus/kabala backdrop of my campaign premise. A secret society has been trying to find the incantation to summon Ashmodai from Sitra Akhara to take control of the world -- barring that, they have been trying to take control with the aid of lesser demons and "outsiders".
Many unsolved murders, plague outbreaks, catastrophic conflagrations, historically strange occurances, superstitions and even traditional religious rituals and practices are attributed to either the outsiders who have been summoned over the centuries, or the attempts by the good-guys in the know to counter the secret society's minions.
At the lower levels, before the PCs know what is really going on they will think that they just have to kill the monsters. After they know the deal, they will realize that they just have to kill them before they perform their appointed task. It all works out the same though -- it is a good excuse to find and kill monsters.
The monsters themselves aren't integrated into modern, daily life (no Gnoll Pimps) though, so it probably isn't what you are looking for.
Cheers
This ties in with the illuminatus/kabala backdrop of my campaign premise. A secret society has been trying to find the incantation to summon Ashmodai from Sitra Akhara to take control of the world -- barring that, they have been trying to take control with the aid of lesser demons and "outsiders".
Many unsolved murders, plague outbreaks, catastrophic conflagrations, historically strange occurances, superstitions and even traditional religious rituals and practices are attributed to either the outsiders who have been summoned over the centuries, or the attempts by the good-guys in the know to counter the secret society's minions.
At the lower levels, before the PCs know what is really going on they will think that they just have to kill the monsters. After they know the deal, they will realize that they just have to kill them before they perform their appointed task. It all works out the same though -- it is a good excuse to find and kill monsters.
The monsters themselves aren't integrated into modern, daily life (no Gnoll Pimps) though, so it probably isn't what you are looking for.
Cheers
