D&D General How Would You Do Fantasy 1984?

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Okay, the title is pretty explanatory, but I'll explain it a bit more just in case some people aren't familiar with the book. 1984 is a classic and well-known dystopian novel written by George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair was his real name) about the dangers of authoritarianism and government surveillance. If you haven't read the book, you should probably go do that, as it's a short read and it gets referenced a ton (crimethought, doublethink, and Big Brother are some of the most common references to it). A basic rundown of the plot that hopefully doesn't spoil to much for you (I'm not sure why I'm worried about spoiling a 72 year old book, though) is in the spoiler below.

The government in 1984 is attempting to (and succeeding at) erase all attempts to rebel against the government in both action and thought, torturing those who perform "crimethought" until they switch back to their side and begin to love Big Brother again (it has long since been disproven that torture can make someone love you, but that wasn't known when this book was written). They also are changing the English language in order to try and limit the possible ways to commit crimethought by tying simple, everyday words to political ideologies. They also profess that their word is law, especially if it contradicts reality, going so far as to edit documents to make sure that what was said in them is always true and always the same.

So, I don't want to truly replicate 1984 in a campaign, I more want to find a way that such a government in a fantasy world would use spells, racial abilities, and other magic in order to enforce a strong authoritarian state and keep their people under high surveillance in order to keep ahold of their power. Some examples that come to mind from fantasy book series are the Beyonders trilogy and the 5 Kingdoms series by Brandon Mull, both of which have fantasy worlds with evil leaders that use magic to establish/enforce their power as the ruler of the world. In the Beyonders, the Emperor Maldor is the world's only wizard, and he uses a race of body-part-droppers (Displacers) to spy on his enemies, forces the rivals into luxurious retirement in order to get them out of the way, uses rumors of weaknesses as red-herrings in order to test his enemies' power and recruit them if they manage to pass his tests.

So, the question is; how you would use spells, magic items, racial abilities, and other fantastical tools to enforce a dictatorial surveillance state in a D&D world/campaign? Some obvious examples come to mind, like divination magic (scrying, detect thoughts, and locate creature), Changelings and Intellect Devourers as the ultimate spies, Zone of Truth, Antimagic Field, Gift of Gab, Modify Memory, Golem/Construct servants, and so on.

Any thoughts? What kind of setting would you put this in? Would you make it be a specific region/country of the world, or would you be the whole setting that was ruled by this dictatorial state? Would you have the ruler simply be a powerful mage, or would you have them be an otherworldly being, such as a Mind Flayer or fallen angel?

 

[Urriak Uruk]

I find most settings that have some sort of "Inquisition" like force very 1984. I suppose good analogs are Warhammer Fantasy Battle, or Castlevania, where there is a strong religious element, but also a real demonic threat. Of course, some inquisitors are just abusing their positions for personal/political power. Others are fully convinced demonic forces are all around them and take swift merciless action at the slightest hint of heresy. Some are just sadistic and burn a whole town down to ensure that all demonic influence is purged.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Definitely agree with Scrying - a significant part of the book is how even in private, the protagonist is still being watched by the two-way screen (save in one small corner of his apartment).

As for the Detect Thoughts part, I'm a little conflicted. They might save that one for interrogation and reprogramming. Part of the tension of the novel is the fear that IngSoc will find out what the protagonist is thinking, that he will do something to betray his inner thoughts. If they can just look into a person's brainpan at any time, then you lose that fear.

When it comes to setting, I think it would have to urban - the wilderness offers too many opportunities to go off the grid. In the novel there are hidden cameras and sensors even there, but also gaps. And you need lots of people crammed together, all afraid of each other.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Aw man, I saw the title and was hoping you were talking about the year 1984 (which was such an awesome year, one of my favorites for a lot of reasons). And I had a whole list of things in how to do a proper fantasy game played in 1984

 

[J-H]

From what I recall, most of the state power in 1984, and in Farenheit 451, comes not so much from spying and informants as it does from indoctrination. When there's only one acceptable way to think about a topic, and everybody who thinks differently or perceives nuance is evil, a hater, blind to their own endorsement of evil, etc etc. - then it's easy to get others to report them for re-education, or to make them targets for settling petty grievances (get someone fired, boot them to the back of the line for housing, etc.).
It helps if there's some type of internal enemy to unite the people against, but a foreign foe will work as well.

I would look more at ways to indoctrinate and persuade children, teenagers, and adults to believe the prevailing ideology (we have always been at war with Eastasia). This should be frequent, cheap, and common. Government-run schools are a must, with government-endorsed teachers using government-endorsed curricula and training. Pair fear-causing spells or rage-causing spells with images (3d/illusions) of the enemies and their works, with positive reinforcement for saying or believing the right things.

Possible spells:
3.5
Fascinate 2d4 HD of creatures, creates positive attitude, 1st level
Detect Thoughts 2nd level
Suggestion 2nd level "think of someone who doesn't like Big Brother, then tell me that person's name."
Touch of Idiocy use this on the opposition before a "free" and "public" debate
+4 stat spells: Servants of the state who are addressing the crowd are always more charismatic, wiser, and smarter than everyone else.
Geas, Lesser 3rd
Good Hope 3rd Use it secretly as a reward experience for turning in dissidents, etc.
Modify Memory 4th (5 minutes at a time, clean up evidence)

Yeah, you can do some high-level stuff with golems and assassins... but if you really want to make a dystopia, a constant low-level ideological bombardment backed up by low-level emotion magic is the way to go. If the heroes are widely known as enemies of what is Good and Right, then they lose the ability to hide among the people or escape through the crowd.

 

[aco175]

There may be some simple ways to start. Government posters on what to think and same clothing to separate people into groups of workers and leaders. There should be an outside group from another country or race that is not us in appearance or religion that is used to rally against. The town can have children all the same walking in rows to the school or farm.

One of the problems is that the players will think this may be wrong, but the PCs may have grown up here and think everything is fine. The trick will be to get the players to play along, but then you get to play Orwell-

 

[Alzrius]

As I recall, the nation of Riedra, in Eberron, did this pretty well, essentially being a totalitarian state. Secrets of Sarlona (affiliate link) goes into it more, but it does a pretty good job of demonstrating how that works without resorting to too many magical macguffins. (The big one being the telepathic broadcast system/anti-teleport network they use to blanket most of the inhabited parts of the country, if I understand correctly.)

On the more mundane side, they use a system of secret informants, which everyone knows about but no one can identify. That means that the people are very hesitant to trust anyone with regard to subversive activities, knowing that the person they're confiding in could be the person who turns them in. It's a good way to create paranoia, and with it isolation.

Another thing they use is a fake religion. The notable part is that, while those who follow it obediently supposedly go to paradise (and obedience to their superiors is, unsurprisingly, a central tenet), those who fall off the path go to a realm of never-ending pain. The twist is that, supposedly, some of those eternally-pained spirits supposedly come back to the mortal world, finding out that the only thing that lessens their pain is to make someone else fall into damnation. Naturally, this means that anyone suggesting disobedience or revolution is potentially an evil spirit trying to send you to an eternity of torment. The entire thing is bunk, of course, but it keeps the populace in line.

And of course, the overlords of the place are quori, who have a lot of psionic powers that they use to check on people and keep them in line. Most notably, they tend to use mind seed to quietly plant agents among the population who can quell potential dissent.

I recommend giving the full book a read, it's pretty expansive on how the entire nation is kept in a stranglehold.

 

[Zardnaar]

Problem is in D&D is keeping the secret police or powers that be in line. Eg changelings or whoever is on top.

But the stuff required for 1984 is mostly lacking in D&D eg radio, Monarchy is the default, industrialization.

 

[Charlaquin]

Any thoughts? What kind of setting would you put this in? Would you make it be a specific region/country of the world, or would you be the whole setting that was ruled by this dictatorial state? Would you have the ruler simply be a powerful mage, or would you have them be an otherworldly being, such as a Mind Flayer or fallen angel?

I think it’s scarier to have an ordinary mage at the head of everything, rather than some kind of monster.

In addition to surveillance, one of the big themes of 1984 is indoctrination. You could use enchantment magic to enforce devotion to the state, rather than torture. Maybe repeated use of charm spells, along with modify memory to make the subject forget that they were influenced by magic could make someone think the feelings created by the charm are genuine and their own.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I think it’s scarier to have an ordinary mage at the head of everything, rather than some kind of monster.

That's what I've been thinking. It shows that atrocities don't only have to be committed by otherworldly monsters, humans are guilty of them, too.

In addition to surveillance, one of the big themes of 1984 is indoctrination. You could use enchantment magic to enforce devotion to the state, rather than torture. Maybe repeated use of charm spells, along with modify memory to make the subject forget that they were influenced by magic could make someone think the feelings created by the charm are genuine and their own.

Yeah, that's the trick. Charm magic would take away the biggest tool that Players have, which is agency. It would be difficult to explain how they have free will when people can get dominated and magically forced to do what the government tells them to. Perhaps making it only used on caught criminals could help fix this problem, explained by the magic users who cast these spells being in too short of a supply to affect the whole population.