D&D General Faerun '68 (+)

[Eyes of Nine]

(If the premise doesn't appeal to you - no problem. Just ignore this little corner of the internet. The entirety of the rest of ENWorld and the web is out there for you to engage with).

I just starting listening to the Yes Indie'd podcast episode with Tim Denee (of Deathmatch Island fame). His new project is called Blades '68, which takes the Victorian setting of Blades in the Dark and moves it 100 years into the future, so that it's now set in something like an art deco/magical realism late 1960's version of the gritty fantasy city of Duskvol. (Evil Hat website: Blades '68 - Evil Hat Productions)

I'm super curious what the ENWorld community would come up with for various ideas for a Faerun; but it's 1968. Here are some ideas that came to me. If this idea resonates at all - throw out your brainstorm ideas. As with all brainstorms, no such thing as a dumb or bad idea. Let's get it all on the wall. Here are some that came to me on my drive home.

• There's now a cold war going on between the Sword Coast in the West and the Red Wizards in the East
• There's thauma-fuel, which enables non-magic users to harness great power. For example, autonomous powered wagons get people all over Waterdeep, such that now's there traffic jams. At the same time, Waterdeep has become the hub of the west, with towering... towers, filled with apartments and businesses.
• Airships ply the skies, as do dragons who get paid very lucrative contracts to carry passengers everywhere (took this one from the Craft novels of Max Gladstone).

Other ideas folks have? Steering clear of the rules/mechanics at this point; just interested in snippets of setting and vibes.

 

[Maxperson]

Gondian tech would have advanced considerably.

 

[DrJawaPhD]

Fantasy Football league with teams in each major Sword Coast city

Magical "scrying boxes" in every home, able to switch their attunement between multiple magical broadcast networks

The Sword Coast and Red Wizards are in a technological race to see who can build an airship capable of traveling to Selune

 

[Maxperson]

The Sword Coast and Red Wizards are in a technological race to see who can build an airship capable of traveling to Selune

The Shou sit back on their spelljammers, which they've had for ages, and watch in amusement.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

Gondian tech would have advanced considerably.

adventurers wield m16s and trench guns instead of bows and swords. well cultured adventurers wield ar10s and auto 5s.

 

[Maxperson]

adventurers wield m16s and trench guns instead of bows and swords. well cultured adventurers wield ar10s and auto 5s.

Wouldn't well cultured adventurers wield a Walther PPK?

 

[W'rkncacnter]

Wouldn't well cultured adventurers wield a Walther PPK?

that's your boot gun

 

[tetrasodium]

There's now a cold war going on between the Sword Coast in the West and the Red Wizards in the East
There's thauma-fuel, which enables non-magic users to harness great power. For example, autonomous powered wagons get people all over Waterdeep, such that now's there traffic jams. At the same time, Waterdeep has become the hub of the west, with towering... towers, filled with apartments and businesses.

That seems exceedingly odd and sounds more like it's trying to preserve East and west roles of earth than adapt FR to the concept. Sword Coast/water deep is pretty much the embodiment of generic fantasy disconnected from the global politics and lore of FR so that doesn't really fit the concept because there's no government to speak of that could be involved.

If you wanted to fit that bolded bit somewhere in FR it would be the elves of silver Moon and that. Thay stopped trying to conquer and enslave the longer lived slower breeding elves and respect the adamantine curtain border that blocks any form of scrying/magical communication/teleport. You could even place it along the 83rd parallel if you wanted to be tongue in cheek obvious about it.

 

[TheSword]

Every household now wants a Nimblewraith servant that attends to all the heavy chores.

 

[GuyBoy]

Silverymoon is the San Francisco/Woodstock/Glastonbury of the setting, where everyone wears flowers in their hair (and possibly listen to the Grateful Undead).