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Forgotten Realms - 3000 AD


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evildmguy

Explorer
Hairfoot said:
Thanks for that, Pell-mell.

Those are exactly the challenges I'm struggling with, evildmguy. I'm looking for a steampunk feeling and style, if anyone can recommend something in that vein.


I had a look, but it's still got the cross-over-of-worlds thing I'm trying to avoid. That is, the characters and technology move between worlds which are respectively pure fantasy and pure real world. I'm trying to concoct a setting that has both intrinsically.

In all the books I read, designers suggest only doing what is necessary.

So, go high level. Figure out what empires are where, pick the style you want. Do you want a division between technology and magic? (Shadowrun/Buffy) Do they work together? (Steampunk or chaostech) Maybe something like the Dungeon Siege world? Or some other computer game? WoW? (Space 1889? Maybe a Victorian game with magic and technology?) Get the stats you need for equipment. Figure classes.

Then, jump in to an area with an adventure and just go. Figure the rest as you go along. Pick something you like and know, in terms of your magic and technology, and can fake but otherwise, don't overthink it, or you will never do it. Or it will never get done!

That's experience talking! :)

I overanalyzed a game world I made so much that it was tough to do. When I finally just jumped in and reacted to what the players liked and wanted, we had fun.

Just let 'em know what you are doing, so they know not to push too much and you will probably be fine!

And let us know how it goes!

edg
 

Pell-Mell

First Post
For verisimilitude, consider an apocalypse (mystical or otherwise) that drains the magic from the current Realms setting and causes the gods to grow very distant. In the dark years that follow, many of the more supernatural creatures either die off, disappear, or go into hiding.

As the human and humanoid peoples rebuild, they find the teachings of Gond to be invaluable, as his legacy is one of gear work machines and alchemy: all things that still work in the new magicless era.

Years pass and the technology level advances to what you want it to be. However, at some time point prior to the start of the campaign, the Weave begins to regenerate, causing magic to reenter the world. This time around though, magic is treated as a new science: something wondrous, but still to be studied and exploited.

For inspirational reading, you may want to check out the excellent GURPS Technomancer. It is our world up to about 1945, when magic suddenly appeared.

Lastly, I completely agree with evildmguy's advice. Most players will not really be interested in what is beyond their character anyway.
 

Dannyalcatraz

Schmoderator
Staff member
Supporter
For game books, I'd second the reccomendation for Second World Sourcebook and Chaositech, rip off some Dragonstar, Urban Arcana/Dark*Matter.

I'll also add Goodman Games' X-Crawl, Perpetrated Press's products Arsenal and Factory, and the incredibly rich settings of Space:1889 and RIFTS.

Space:1889 is a Sci-fi RPG set in a Victorian era (similar games include Alternity: For Faerie Queen and Country and Etherscope) as envisioned by Wells & Verne. I've run supers & fantasy campaigns in the setting, but using different games (HERO or D&D).

RIFTS is one of the most inspired FRPGs out there...I've used it several times. Sometimes, I've even used it with its own mechanics! Usually, however, I run it in HERO or some other system thats less clunky.

For further inspiration, I'd reccomend:
1) Harry Turtledove's Darkness novels ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Turtledove's_Darkness )- a whopping 6 books each over 500 pages, is a fantasy world going through its own version of WW2. You'll find magical stasis boxes (freezers), crystals (wireless radios), troops carrying rods that fire bolts of pure magical energy (analogs of firearms), great, armored land beasts mounting larger versions of those rods (like tanks) and even riders astride barely tamed dragons who breathe cinnabar & coal fueled fire (the fighters & bombers of the world).

Larry Niven and Steven Barnes' Dream Park Trilogy ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Park )- a world similar to ours, only where LARPing is a high-dollar spectator sport with pro-ams, all-star games & 'superbowls" of its own. (There is an R.Talsorian Games RPG based on the book.) Think of a LARP fantasy version of Westworld and Futureworld and you're on the right track. While there are similarities between this concept and the X-Crawl game, I know X-Crawl's creator seems to be genuinely unaware of the books or the movies.

For movies, see if you can catch Cast a Deadly Spell and its sequel Witch Hunt ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cast_a_Deadly_Spell ). The setting is a quasi-Lovecraftian America of the 1940's-50s.
 
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