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How would you do Clerics in the Modern Day?
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<blockquote data-quote="Jürgen Hubert" data-source="post: 400038" data-attributes="member: 7177"><p>For inspiration on how to use D&D magic in the modern world, I actually would look to two products that aren't related to D&D or d20 at all:</p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/Technomancer/" target="_blank">GURPS Technomancer</a>: The "blatant magic" approach. When the first nuclear bomb is tested in 1945 at the Trinity site, it accidentally creates a "hellstorm", a permanent magical storm that sends mana-active radiation all over the southern USA and Mexico. Magic is back in the world, and soon the Americans (and other nations as well) figure out how to use it. The setting describes an interesting blend of magic and technology (enchanted firearms and computers are easily possible), and mostly sticks to the "magic as a science" principle.</p><p></p><p>But hell, throwing in D&D-style clerics into the mix wouldn't be difficult at all. Just let the scientists claim that they actually gain the energy from their spells from alternate universes shaped by the personal beliefs of the "clerics", while the "clerics" (<em>not</em> neccessarily ordained priests - just anyone who can cast cleric spells) claim their power comes from God/Allah/Satan/Santa Claus/Elvis Presley...</p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/cabal/" target="_blank">GURPS Cabal</a>: The "secret magic" approach. Magic is real, but there is a big conspiracy of mages, undead, lycantrophes, and other monsters who see the supernatural as their own private playground, and work to keep it secret. PCs are usually assumed to be <em>members</em> of this organisation. How much Angst is involved in this background is entirely the choice of the GM.</p><p></p><p>Magic is largely based on traditional hermetic occultism (and the author, Ken Hite, definietly knows his stuff) There are four Realms of Existence. The "mundane world" has the least magic, and spellcraft checks would be appropriate to cast magic at all. And remember never to cast spells in front of mundanes! Not because of "Paradox" or anything like that, but because then you'd probably have to kill them to keep the secret - and missing bodies only raise more questions...</p><p></p><p>D&D clerics could be worshippers of mighty spirits from Briah, the Iconic Realms - and these beings often call themselves "gods" (and are so powerful that most mortals learn not to argue...). Indeed, most of the deities from <em>Deities & Demigods</em> probably exist out there somewhere - and given the amount of emotional attachment some role-players have to their favorite settings, even the Greyhawk deities might exist as lesser spirits.</p><p></p><p>A very cool crossover of <em><strong>GURPS Cabal</strong></em> with another GURPS book (<a href="http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/ReignSteel/" target="_blank">GURPS Reign of Steel</a>) is <a href="http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/login/article.cgi?2904" target="_blank">Reign of Fire</a>, a setting where on a future Earth, powerful dragons have taken over and killed or enslaved most of humanity. The author explicitly mentions D&D as an option for the game system...</p><p></p><p>(This setting exists as a Pyramid article, so if you haven't subscribed to it, you can't read it. But do subscribe - there's lots more there worth $15 a year apart from this article, and remember to give your referral bonus to "jhubert"... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> )</p><p></p><p></p><p>Reviews of <em><strong>GURPS Technomancer</strong></em> can be found <a href="http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_1471.html" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href="http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_2202.html" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href="http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_1403.html" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href="http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_1157.html" target="_blank">here</a>, and <a href="http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_1553.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p></p><p>Reviews of <em><strong>GURPS Cabal</strong></em> can be found <a href="http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_4874.html" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href="http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_5239.html" target="_blank">here</a> , and <a href="http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_5404.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p></p><p>Go check them out! If there are better attempts of mixing "standard" fantasy magic with the modern world, I am not aware of it...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jürgen Hubert, post: 400038, member: 7177"] For inspiration on how to use D&D magic in the modern world, I actually would look to two products that aren't related to D&D or d20 at all: [URL=http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/Technomancer/]GURPS Technomancer[/URL]: The "blatant magic" approach. When the first nuclear bomb is tested in 1945 at the Trinity site, it accidentally creates a "hellstorm", a permanent magical storm that sends mana-active radiation all over the southern USA and Mexico. Magic is back in the world, and soon the Americans (and other nations as well) figure out how to use it. The setting describes an interesting blend of magic and technology (enchanted firearms and computers are easily possible), and mostly sticks to the "magic as a science" principle. But hell, throwing in D&D-style clerics into the mix wouldn't be difficult at all. Just let the scientists claim that they actually gain the energy from their spells from alternate universes shaped by the personal beliefs of the "clerics", while the "clerics" ([I]not[/I] neccessarily ordained priests - just anyone who can cast cleric spells) claim their power comes from God/Allah/Satan/Santa Claus/Elvis Presley... [URL=http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/cabal/]GURPS Cabal[/URL]: The "secret magic" approach. Magic is real, but there is a big conspiracy of mages, undead, lycantrophes, and other monsters who see the supernatural as their own private playground, and work to keep it secret. PCs are usually assumed to be [I]members[/I] of this organisation. How much Angst is involved in this background is entirely the choice of the GM. Magic is largely based on traditional hermetic occultism (and the author, Ken Hite, definietly knows his stuff) There are four Realms of Existence. The "mundane world" has the least magic, and spellcraft checks would be appropriate to cast magic at all. And remember never to cast spells in front of mundanes! Not because of "Paradox" or anything like that, but because then you'd probably have to kill them to keep the secret - and missing bodies only raise more questions... D&D clerics could be worshippers of mighty spirits from Briah, the Iconic Realms - and these beings often call themselves "gods" (and are so powerful that most mortals learn not to argue...). Indeed, most of the deities from [I]Deities & Demigods[/I] probably exist out there somewhere - and given the amount of emotional attachment some role-players have to their favorite settings, even the Greyhawk deities might exist as lesser spirits. A very cool crossover of [I][B]GURPS Cabal[/B][/I] with another GURPS book ([URL=http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/ReignSteel/]GURPS Reign of Steel[/URL]) is [URL=http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/login/article.cgi?2904]Reign of Fire[/URL], a setting where on a future Earth, powerful dragons have taken over and killed or enslaved most of humanity. The author explicitly mentions D&D as an option for the game system... (This setting exists as a Pyramid article, so if you haven't subscribed to it, you can't read it. But do subscribe - there's lots more there worth $15 a year apart from this article, and remember to give your referral bonus to "jhubert"... :D ) Reviews of [I][B]GURPS Technomancer[/B][/I][B][/B] can be found [URL=http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_1471.html]here[/URL], [URL=http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_2202.html]here[/URL], [URL=http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_1403.html]here[/URL], [URL=http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_1157.html]here[/URL], and [URL=http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_1553.html]here[/URL]. Reviews of [I][B]GURPS Cabal[/B][/I][B][/B] can be found [URL=http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_4874.html]here[/URL], [URL=http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_5239.html]here[/URL] , and [URL=http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_5404.html]here[/URL]. Go check them out! If there are better attempts of mixing "standard" fantasy magic with the modern world, I am not aware of it... [/QUOTE]
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