How modern are your modern games?

[Shades of Green]

It means that you have FAR more variables to keep track of, and far more ways your players can surprise you. Also, mysteries tend to be more difficult to run in the days of cellphone cameras, instgram, facebook and google.

 

[Janx]

the modern tools don't sound much different in terms of giving the PCs extra info than what higher level PCs in D&D have at their disposal.

Though I do think an added complication is how much EASY stuff I can come up with the in the modern world to give the party advantage that the GM may not have expected to be so simply solved. And if he argues that it would take WEEKS to put together the solution when we only have hours, I'll walk into my shop and 20 minutes later return with the an iPhone controlled flamethrower put together with gasoline and my air compressor that I whipped up out of spare parts.

I can make a team communication network, a tracking tool, a listening bug easily with a few cellphones. Explosives and traps with some scrap material and household chemicals. Biological munitions from a swiping off the doorknow on a petri dish and some antibiotics. And I'm not even a terrorist, prepper or government agent.

Conversely, in D&D, I am constrained to the mundane materials and limited science of the era, and the limited and narrow skills definitions of the rules.

Whereas, in a modern RPG, even if my char sheet doesn't say I know wood working, I can easily justify basic skills for every party member who graduated from high school and took shop class. A modern PC can't suck more than his player, given what non-class stuff the player is able to know and be competent at.

As a result, you can get away with a lot in a modern RPG, lest the game fail to be minimally realistic or heroic.

I reckon that can put a burden on a GM who isn't flexible enough to adapt or accept when the players have simple real world solutions.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Double post.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

A modern PC can't suck more than his player, given what non-class stuff the player is able to know and be competent at.

I disagree with this.

 

[Tonguez]

the modern tools don't sound much different in terms of giving the PCs extra info than what higher level PCs in D&D have at their disposal.

Though I do think an added complication is how much EASY stuff I can come up with the in the modern world to give the party advantage that the GM may not have expected to be so simply solved. And if he argues that it would take WEEKS to put together the solution when we only have hours, I'll walk into my shop and 20 minutes later return with the an iPhone controlled flamethrower put together with gasoline and my air compressor that I whipped up out of spare parts.

I can make a team communication network, a tracking tool, a listening bug easily with a few cellphones. Explosives and traps with some scrap material and household chemicals. Biological munitions from a swiping off the doorknow on a petri dish and some antibiotics. And I'm not even a terrorist, prepper or government agent.

Conversely, in D&D, I am constrained to the mundane materials and limited science of the era, and the limited and narrow skills definitions of the rules.

Whereas, in a modern RPG, even if my char sheet doesn't say I know wood working, I can easily justify basic skills for every party member who graduated from high school and took shop class. A modern PC can't suck more than his player, given what non-class stuff the player is able to know and be competent at..

nah not even, for instance irl I know that I can mix charcoal, saltpetre and sulphur to make gunpowder, I know how to make a bleach bomb but that doesn't mean I wont poison myself, get third degree burns or blow myself up if I try.

and besides I'd think that the process of getting the stuff and building the air compressor flamethrower (a whole range of skill checks) is where the fun of modern games lies. It's just another form of puzzle solving

as to information overload not all information is accurate, or easily accesible. you also have firewalls and viruses

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

as to information overload not all information is accurate, or easily accesible.

I just had an idea/vision of a Modern PC who was sort of MacGyver-esque. Or more accurately, MacGruber-esque.

He knows that all kinds of "kewl" things can be done by applying science with found objects, but doesn't know how to actually do any of them. Instead, he has a top-end smart-phone and he searches for such solutions online.

And his Google-Fu sucks, as does his ability to sort good information from bad.

In short, whenever he tries to Jerry-rig something, there is a high potential for mayhem.

 

[Bagpuss]

Also, mysteries tend to be more difficult to run in the days of cellphone cameras, instgram, facebook and google.

And yet murders and other crimes go unsolved everyday, when the police have access to far more mystery solving technology than most non-police characters will.

Cell phones records, CCTV footage and the like are just a chance to drop another clue for them to follow, they won't solve a mystery by themselves.

 

[vonhist]

Thanks, very useful

 

[herrozerro]

After watching burn notice, and other modern shows with problem solving. i have come to the conclusion in my modern games that far fetched ideas and problem solving shouldn't be discouraged. But rather the cost should be time.

So making a makeshift tracker might be easy but if you only have 5 minutes it might be shoddy or easily found then if you had a whole afternoon to work on it.

 

[Derren]

Everyone is talking how technology aids the PCs (or rather how it does not "ruin" adventures when you are prepared), but what when this technology is used against the PCs (lets face it, PCs don't tend to be the most law abiding citizens out there)? And that does not stop at technology but also includes things like tax registers, mandatory ID cards/passports, etc.