Futuristic Dungeons

[the Jester]

I've flirted with throwing a little futurism in my games at various points. As long as the loot's charged, just treat it like magic items (as far as handling it as treasure). The key is to know how long you want it around in your campaign- will it be a fixture, or should it only last a few sessions after the adventure?

Aliens are always good, and players have no idea how the laser rifle works; maybe it's just a funny-shaped rod (like a cross between a rod and a crossbow?)

 

[Tinker Gnome]

These ideas are all good. Keep em coming.

 

[Silver Moon]

These ideas are all good. Keep em coming.

Well, the last 20th century trek they did was called "The K-Mart Kaper". The premise was that a gateway between the two worlds could only be opened using a magical device during the night of the full moon.

A villain had previously used it to hide stolen treasure on the other world, and the party had to go find these items before they fell into misuse. So they have only one night to get this accomplished, the location of these items being the backroom of a K-Mart store, which was closed for the night. Meanwhile, the villain sent his monster thugs to stop them.

I had worked for a discount department store chain, and had a 3x4 foot set of blueprints to use as the battlemap. It was great fun, both sides fighting from aisle to aisle, grabing whatever was at hand to use for weapons. What was equally funny was both sides calling a temporary truce and quietly hiding whenever the local cops came by.

The module was just about done when the party screwed up and missed getting to the gateway in time before it closed! They then had to spend a whole month hiding out on the world until the next full moon for it to open again.

 

[Melan]

Futuristic elements have been in my games since the beginnings. I was heavily into Wizardry VII at a time and had the players encounter Savant Guards when they were high (12-13th) level. These monsters had laser swords, excellent AC and came in small armies. It was a munchfest but worked surprisingly well.

Now, I usually go for a pulpy approach. I don't adhere to real, contemporary science - my "High Tech From the Far Future!" (Don't forget the exclamation marks!!! ) is straight from the ideas of the 30s and 40s, with a bit of the 70s.
My aliens are just humans with funny abilities. For example, how about a race of star-faring "supra-men" who, through centuries of eugenics, are physically and mentally superior to normal adventurer types (18s in all base abilities) but have hidden defects like lessened resistance to disease and poison? That's very 30s, and alien to today's audiences.
Spaceships and the artifacts within are "retrofuturistic". Think about "Magnetic Heat-Rays", "Uranium Swords" (remember: in the 30s, Uranium is good for your health and possesses almost magical abilities ), "Metal-Monsters" (robots, of course), and "Radium Pistols".

Just read a lot of Flash Gordon and John Carter books (with a healthy topping of Leigh Brackett) for inspiration.

 

[Tinker Gnome]

Futuristic elements have been in my games since the beginnings. I was heavily into Wizardry VII at a time and had the players encounter Savant Guards when they were high (12-13th) level. These monsters had laser swords, excellent AC and came in small armies. It was a munchfest but worked surprisingly well.

Now, I usually go for a pulpy approach. I don't adhere to real, contemporary science - my "High Tech From the Far Future!" (Don't forget the exclamation marks!!! ) is straight from the ideas of the 30s and 40s, with a bit of the 70s.
My aliens are just humans with funny abilities. For example, how about a race of star-faring "supra-men" who, through centuries of eugenics, are physically and mentally superior to normal adventurer types (18s in all base abilities) but have hidden defects like lessened resistance to disease and poison? That's very 30s, and alien to today's audiences.
Spaceships and the artifacts within are "retrofuturistic". Think about "Magnetic Heat-Rays", "Uranium Swords" (remember: in the 30s, Uranium is good for your health and possesses almost magical abilities ), "Metal-Monsters" (robots, of course), and "Radium Pistols".

Just read a lot of Flash Gordon and John Carter books (with a healthy topping of Leigh Brackett) for inspiration.

Sounds cool, but when i mean alien. I mean in the Lovecraftian way. Beings that the PCs would never be able to understand properly. If you have ever read "The Colour out of space"by HPL, that is the type of alien feeling i am looking for. I am considering having the alien/mutant be immune to all mind-influencing effects.

 

[doghead]

As I player, it think that it would be hard to discard something I had grow attached to. It would be nice if there was some form of slow recharging ability. Solar power is an obvious example. It may take some fine tuning, but it would allow the equipment to become permenant, but the players would need to manage it.

Given the power of magic, hi-tech is probably not going to be impossibly overpowering. I suspect a pistol will not do much more damage than a Wand of Fireball or or something. Power armour probably would not much different from a suit of magical plate armour, gauntlets of Ogre strength and Goggles of the Night combination.

Recently, I've been thinking of incorporating some PowerSuit rules I devised into a fantasy setting. (Golum-Suits: thats pretty cool.) A kind of Mystic SiFi. Rune powered armour and weapons, handed down through the clans for generations.

But I am diverging.

 

[Tinker Gnome]

Bump

Hey, has anybody bought the book that is on the banners sometimes. That says it has 1001 Sci-Fi weapons.

 

[Tinker Gnome]

*Cough* Nobody?

 

[doghead]

Not me. Sorry.

 

[Tinker Gnome]

Not me. Sorry.

Oh well.

When does D20 Future come out?