Earth Town Meets D&D

[Aholibamah]

I'm working on a plot which involves a small town from Earth (circa 1970s) finding itself in my homebrew campaign world. This doesn't happen gently--it somehow 'melds' with the town it comes together with as part of a strange conjunction. It also lands in an area crawling with undead, desperate refugees fleeing them and so on.

What I'm looking for are ideas on how to make this work, adventures my pcs could have in encountering them and so on. I had thought that the first couple of days of the arrival from the POV of the new folk would be something out of either a horror or sci fi movie, and that my sources of inspiration would be:
1. Silent Hill
2. Dawn of the Dead
3. 28 Days Later/28 Weeks Later
4. Alien/Aliens
5. The Thing
6. Prince of Darkness

 

[Rabelais]

There have been a couple of novelists that have taken this kind of tack. I'd look up 1632, can't remember the name of the author, and entirely too lazy to open a new tab, and google it. for a sort of upbeat, us against the world sort of thing.

 

[FalcWP]

There have been a couple of novelists that have taken this kind of tack. I'd look up 1632, can't remember the name of the author, and entirely too lazy to open a new tab, and google it. for a sort of upbeat, us against the world sort of thing.

1632, and its sequels, are by Eric Flint. There's also S.M. Stirling's Island in the Sea of Time/Natucket series. Both could be useful for such a game.

 

[haakon1]

Look up the Dragon adventure about a trip to "modern" London. I think it was Dragon 100.

My inspiration for real world to D&D crossover would be Stargate SG-1 (well, real world except for the Sci Fi elements).

Also, as for what real world town, I'd nominate Lake Geneva, Wisconsin (where Gary Gygax lives).

 

[isoChron]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Army of Darkness yet
Sure not a whole city, just a car but the impact on a medieval world was huge...

 

[WayneLigon]

I had thought that the first couple of days of the arrival from the POV of the new folk would be something out of either a horror or sci fi movie, and that my sources of inspiration would be:

I think that would be pretty much spot on unless the town itself was unusual, such as having a large army base attached to it or something. A lot depends on what you mean by 'crawling' with undead, and how well (if at all) firearms and explosives work in the fantasy world.

Figure that about half the town will either go into denial or just be overrun by the monsters in the first couple of waves. No phone, probably no electricity for the most part save for the couple of people with a generator (again, this depends on where the town comes from - a remote rural town will have more resources applicable to their new situation, a suburb town/bedroom community will have far less) means that a lot of people will be cut off and not find out about the danger they face until far too late. Then the cops and other authority figures will probably set up a central location and operate as if the town had been struck by a natural disaster.

In the long term it'll shake out about like this: (1) a small core of people who Can Deal With Things, probably composed of former or current law officials, emergency workers, veterans, maybe a couple of university types, and a random sample of people that have risen to the occassion and find themselves with more smarts, guts and willpower than they knew they had, (2) a much larger population that just goes insane in various ways, (3) a group that crystallizes around a religious figure, (4) group or groups of opportunists who see this upset as a way to finally rise to the top.

Depending on the type of undead, some of the people in the town probably are converted, and show up later. (Hey, open up! It's not one of them, it's old Charley! I live next door to him.)

Some of the townspeople might spontaneously manifest the Sorcerer class. This could be lots of fun Even more fun would be people who find their prayers answered. But by what?

You will have at least a couple people that want to reason with the monsters and serve to show how the monster works when they get eaten.

For the PC's encountering the setup: They're going to be astounded at the sheer incompetance of most people they encounter, probably comparing them with the worst inbred city dwellers they've known. 1 on 10 might have some useful skills (again, this varies sharply with the character and nature of the town) but even many of those who are used to camping and outdoor sports will have been so used to modern conveniences and materials that things will be a huge shock to them and they'll have a period of adjustment.

 

[Aholibamah]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Firearms: I'm not sure...I'm inclined to go with the idea that firearms somehow don't work. If that is the case then I might go with the S.M. Stirling scenario in which engines also don't. Thoughts? This is sort of one of the key matters before I actually start setting this up.

Undead: The undead are partly mindless ones, partly a number of hungry dead, partly some ghouls and ghasts. I'm not sure if I'll have wights or vampires or anything--I do intend though to have a cabal of necromancers nearby. There will also be some of the more haunting type of undead who are not aligned with anyone.

Other monsters: There is a small army of humanoids and human barbarians (goblins, hobgoblins, a few bugbears) who have conquered a human town nearby and have kept the people there as slaves/food. There is also a small flock of wyverns, some scavenging vermin, and brigands and bandits who are deserters from the conquered and the conquerors. (these are mostly small bands who avoid larger well armed groups)

WayneLigon: Thanks for the input--I quite like your ideas on the aftermath. I have to say that I really like your thoughts on how the groups would form. Certainly without mass communication easily available the leadership in the one case would have to simply deal with whoever agreed to follow them. Ultimately these groups would clash somewhat I'll bet.

The manifesting sorceror class--or perhaps wild talents for psionics--is an interesting one. This might be how some characters survive past the first couple of days. I'm figuring though that only a small handful would have this happen.

The prayers being answered idea is fun too! And after all various extra planar creatures, gods, devils, whatever, might simply manifest in dreams as whatever the pray-er wanted to see...

 

[haakon1]

In the vein of "Armies of Darkness" or Stargate, I'd make all modern technology work as normal in the fantasy setting. However, the power is out, the phone are out, and even the internet is down!

As for the idea that the vast majority of people will stand around looking dumb and getting eaten, I hate that horror movie trope. In real disasters, most people do cope, or at least die trying. I prefer a "Rio Bravo" scenario to a "High Noon" scenario any day.

 

[Aholibamah]

What would you suggest for other group reactions haakon?

 

[Snapdragyn]

I think you'll also see conflict between interpretations of what's happening & plans of action. One group might consider this a disease outbreak & try to hole up in the local hospital or clinic; if there's a big enough hospital or university, they might even consider using resources there to look for a 'cure'. Another might think it's an invasion & be focused on traveling to a neighboring city to contact authorities there for help & more information. Yet another might have some oddball notion that it's all a reality TV set-up or something like that (likely not a group that would survive long). Others will gradually come to accept the impossible reality, & be focused first on immediate survival & then on securing long-time viability of the community (or, if that looks impossible, exploration & emmigration to a safer place to settle).

I'd definitely consider the possibility of a few spontaneous 1st-level sorcs &... (clerics? druids? they'd possibly get the spells but would still lack the weapons knowledge, so that could be a problem). Also, consider that at least some of the better students in any local martial arts classes might qualify as monks. A rogue or two might even work (with the right weapons choices; a mugger who uses a knife instead of a gun could make a dagger-wielding rogue), but beyond that it gets pretty difficult to come up with someone who'd be able to transition into a D&D class w/o some serious training (unless there's a local group of medieval weapons specialists).

If you like a bit of humor in your game, perhaps a local 'Caverns & Crusaders' LARPing group could rise to positions of power thanks to their knowledge of medieval skills. Heck, their 'wizard' might even find that her spells actually work!

Edit: On second thought, I'd probably give police officers a level in warrior - their guns might be useless (or run out of ammo), but they should've had training with batons (clubs) so that would work for at least 1 D&D-style weapon. Not sure how you'd want to stat the kevlar vests - as a mithral chain shirt, maybe?