D&D General How Would You Do Fantasy 1984?

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

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

That isn't really a problem, that's how the players likely can come in. Some PCs could be Enforcers that decided to defect and join the rebellion. In 1984, the promise for cooperation is power, the people at the top keeping the power and enforcing the societal structure. That would likely be the motivation for the evil Enforcers against defecting, and also why people would want to fight against the society.

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

Radio can be mass telepathic messages or Sending spells, monarchy is by no means the default in D&D or 1984 (Big Brother may or may not exist), and there are "industrialized" worlds, like Eberron and Ravnica.

 

[Steampunkette]

For myself I see two major ways to do this in a fantasy world, outside of spell use.

1) City in a Bottle.

2) Gaslight Central.

In option 1 you have a situation where all members of the community are kept away from the outside world. There is no trade, no interaction with others beyond the border. You convince your people that there is only death and pain beyond the outer wall, and anyone who ever tries to approach the outer wall will be killed to protect everyone within the inner wall. Anyone who tries to come in is either turned away or killed without anyone inside the inner wall knowing about it. Maybe even have the ruler working with a local dragon to attack parts of the city and be "Driven Off" by our courageous guards to further indebt the populace to the state.

If you go with the second one, you're in full Fire Nation "There is no war in Ba Sing Se!" territory.

 

[Alzrius]

If you go with the second one, you're in full Fire Nation "There is no war in Ba Sing Se!" territory.

Forgive my nitpicking, but that was the Earth Kingdom.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

City in a Bottle.

That's how I'm going to do it in my setting. There's a region of the main continent that is practically inaccessible. Powerful magic blocks teleportation, and the border between the other kingdoms is very highly surveilled and walled off. This prevents the outside world from getting in, and it stops people from getting out (it happens sometimes, though). Both physical and magical defenses would enforce this, and anyone that crosses the border from either side is killed.

 

[overgeeked]

You'd have to make magic of all kinds illegal for anyone outside the government. If you're familiar with Babylon 5, think of the Psi Corps. Anyone with any magic potential would be brought in or made inert, magically. How they achieve that, no idea, short of simple execution. You could make a split between sorcerers and wizards in that regard. Sorcerers as the Magic Corps and book-learning wizards would be illegal. Books being illegal would be a nice reference to Fahrenheit 451. The head of state, I think, should be a wizard. They want all the knowledge and power for themselves.

Clerics would be a problem. Likely it would be a thought crime to worship any gods not on the list. The list would only include select Lawful Evil deities, or the head of state...or the State itself...but you'd have posters everywhere saying things like "evil is good". Order Domain clerics and Conquest paladins serve the State.

That's about a hair's breadth away from how Dark Sun sets up the sorcerer-kings. Throw in psionics and ecological destruction, and you're there. Check out the setting for tips. The sorcerer-kings and their templars would be great to draw inspiration from.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

You'd have to make magic of all kinds illegal for anyone outside the government. If you're familiar with Babylon 5, think of the Psi Corps. Anyone with any magic potential would be brought in or made inert, magically. How they achieve that, no idea, short of simple execution. You could make a split between sorcerers and wizards in that regard. Sorcerers as the Magic Corps and book-learning wizards would be illegal. Books being illegal would be a nice reference to Fahrenheit 451. The head of state, I think, should be a wizard. They want all the knowledge and power for themselves.

This just gave me an idea. Why not make the Magic Corps/Enforcers be Warlocks . . . whose pacts are with the head mage? That's an "easy" way to ensure that you have the power. Execute/Imprison Sorcerers, ban Wizardry and Bardcraft, and restrict other magic to be under your control, like you suggested.

Clerics would be a problem. Likely it would be a thought crime to worship any gods not on the list. The list would only include select Lawful Evil deities, or the head of state...or the State itself...but you'd have posters everywhere saying things like "evil is good". Order Domain clerics and Conquest paladins serve the State.

Yeah, they would probably straight out ban worship of all deities and require the State to be the only "worshipped entity", unless the State was capable of having Clerics and Paladins devoted to it. "Hospitals" could be indoctrination centers, where you have to go in order to get treatment, but they also check up on you mentally and make you conform with magic if you differ too much.

 

[Zardnaar]

That isn't really a problem, that's how the players likely can come in. Some PCs could be Enforcers that decided to defect and join the rebellion. In 1984, the promise for cooperation is power, the people at the top keeping the power and enforcing the societal structure. That would likely be the motivation for the evil Enforcers against defecting, and also why people would want to fight against the society.

Radio can be mass telepathic messages or Sending spells, monarchy is by no means the default in D&D or 1984 (Big Brother may or may not exist), and there are "industrialized" worlds, like Eberron and Ravnica.

They're magi tech. Unless you want to add loudspeakers and radios (or magic variations) at best you have a printing press.

You probably need the following elements at least.
1. An external enemy.

2. Internal enmies (wreckers, ethnic group xyz, traitors, heretics etc)

3. Secret police of some sort.

4. Some way to control the secret police (probably an established army)

5. Culr of personality (optional perhaps see Stalin, Hitler, Kim's in North Korea)

6. Competing centers of influence (various ministries/factions)

7. Some sort of belief system (Communism, Fascism, Juche, religion)

8. Some sort of hierarchy.

 

[J.Quondam]

Kind of a neat idea, it's got me thinking since it's not a "typically D&D" sort of trope. Here's a spray of stream-of-consciousness, sorry!

What makes 1984 so terrifying, to me, is that it works as is without advanced tech (or magic). For that reason, I'd think that the number one rule in such a world would be No Unapproved Magics. Like, at all. So the basic police are going to be spending a lot of time ferreting out and controlling unapproved items & casters. Alongside would be the total surveillance (in brain and out, ie, the Thought Police) and the total obedience through fear and ignorance.

I can't see this working without complete isolation from the rest of the D&Dverse. Aside from keeping hidden, it seems that the subversive elements getting in/out would be a critical part of adventuring here. For that reason, I'd put it in a demiplane, on a rock in the AStral, or even better, I'd make it a Dread Domain surrounded by the Mist. (Man, for some reason, a Domain based on 1984 seems just too perfect to me, now.)

Not sure who'd make an ideal "controller", though, but I think plain old humans would do nicely. Perhaps not even especially magical ones, if all the magic required to power the surveillance is derived from some sort of great "engine" at the heart of the it all. What if it's just a plump, curly headed guy in a tweed jacket and spectacles who happens to have a dozen illithid liches in his thrall doing all the heavy lifting, while he spends most of his time affably interrogating and sentencing the troublemakers?

Surveillance is everywhere
Surveillance is a school of magic: detect thoughts, etc; truesight, see invisible, etc; detect X, locate X; comprehend languages.
Police have truesight lanterns, detection spects, etc; and prefer taking prisoners alive for interrogation
Interrogators use mundane and magical means, aim to keep prisoners broken but intact.

Magic is subversive
Power in D&D stems from magic,
Ownung magic items, casting spells, so much as thinking "abracadabra" is all forbidden

Communication is subversive
Communication magic is forbidden; and lines are monitored
Unapproved speech (including foreign languages, magical words, codes, etc) are forbidden
Substantive cmmunication is hard (DC checks to convey/understand subversive info when speaking Newspeak in public)

Deception is subversive
Illusion, disguise, shapeshifting are forbidden (to the people)
Hiding & privacy are fobidden
mindblank, private sanctum, portable holes, pocket dimensions, etc are forbidden

Propaganda is Truth
Indoctrination is a school of magic: charm, dominate, etc; memory modification; certain illusions
Truth is malleable, and subversive: Asking about that shopkeep who was here yesterday, but isn't anymore, is forbidden.
There is the hated Enemy, and virulent bigotry/otherism is encouraged among the People.

Also, to be forbidden is forbidden: "Nothing is forbidden in Utopia!"

 

[Eltab]

As noted above, one of the Dark Sun city-states can be adapted easily to this concept. Gulg (the tropical jungle city, population thinks the sorcerer-queen protects them from wild Nature) or Draj (pseudo-Aztec city, the sorcerer-king already claims to be a god) would be straightforward places to use.

 

[MGibster]

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