Modern Setting with magic

[dwayne]

The true challenge for a d20 Modern campaing is the balance of power with the modern weapons. A psico-killer with a knife may be a nightmare for unarmed civilians PCs in a survival story, but for a PC like Silverter Stalone in the movie "Cobra" they are only walking target, canon fodder and free extra XPs. A huge monster like an elephant can be killed with only a shot by a RPG (Rocket-propelled grenade). A horde of zombies is a serious menace, but they could be hit by means of driving a truck. We need a system to give the right reward of XPs. If firearms are too powerful no player will want a hand-to-hand warrior or archer, but all to be gunslingers.

this is somewhat true but look at some of the old adventures where kobolds were used to be the main antagonist. The key is to the use and the environment that the attacker is used in, as to a human killer with a knife. He would stock and attack when he can get an advantage over the prey he is following. The lead up and investigation and finding the killer is the adventure and facing said killer is a final show down. But the added twist would be that the killer infact knew he was coming and had prepared ahead of time, Traps and stuff. The key is to not fight streight out and to wittle the person down or have them hurt them selves.

 

[Imaculata]

I'm currently working on a SWAT board game. And I came up with a rule that long arms are easier to disarm, because suspects can grab the barrel. Where as bullpop rifles (SMG's and such) do not have this disadvantage, due to their smaller/integrated barrel. This would also give the players a tactical reason to choose an SMG over a fully automatic rifle, when engaging enemies in close quarters.

 

[Yaarel]

In modern (and especially near future) settings, I find the biggest challenge is surveillance.

Everyone can capture videos on phones, security cameras are ubiquitous, especially in urban settings, journalism and especially internet make all information accessible, law enforcement and other government agencies can pretty much know the identity and the locations of any people of interest.

This makes ‘adventures’ difficult to suspend disbelief. If you have an adventure in a ‘haunted mansion’ or amusement park, or building with secret rooms, the adventurers are probably trespassing and will be arrested accordingly. Heh, nevermind fights to the death being understood as ‘adventure party’ gang-related violence.

Creating scenarios where players feel ‘permission’ to fight, requires thought. And I find ‘post apocalyptic’ solutions to be intellectually lazy, and incompetent at coping with accelerating technology.

 

[Yaarel]

Surveillance also makes magic difficult to implement. It is difficult to use without drawing public attention and interference.

 

[dwayne]

Surveillance also makes magic difficult to implement. It is difficult to use without drawing public attention and interference.

this will be a way to keep players under control so flinging fireballs and such will not get out of hand. Also as to severance yes this is an issue but also an advantage to pass on information and help with the player investigation. But even so just as we are aware of it so are those who doing things illegally and if was so easy why not more are caught. In the end only the ones who slip up or are easy to catch are rounded up it are the ones that are not caught those are the ones that will present a challenge to the players. I love TV shows and movies about subjects like this but they tend to have many plot holes that never get explained or fleshed out about why or how this or that happened. Most can be explained as luck, a lazy cop, a bumbling thief, or various other unforeseen happenstances. But some cannot cover this, in some cases an unseen 3rd party might step in a puppet master or benevolent benefactor of a sort. But this can be seen as heavy handed and sometimes a more simple solution is better as in political clout, bribery, and any number of mundane things can be just as effective as a magical solution. And in this setting saying someone is a monster and are killing and eating people's brains, that accuser would be looked at maybe unstable and a loon.

 

[Yaarel]

There is a movie that is fun, called ‘Beyond Reality’, or it seems called ‘Beyond the Edge’. Essentially, it is about individuals using psychic powers to win in gambling casinos. It also involves spiritual worlds and mundane gangsters.

I just saw the movie online within the last few weeks.

The movie is staying with me because of the oddness of its source. As far as I can tell, it is a Russian movie made in Russia with Russian actors ... speaking English.

Heh, the movie confirms a prejudice I get from my Russian friends that Russians are surprisingly superstitious. Surprising because they dont care about religion and are hardcore modern, yet take seriously and even show fascination with concepts that America categorizes as paranormal.

The movie is modern in every way. At the same time, I got a vibe that strongly reminded me of Norse and Sámi animism. And I realized there is a strong Siberian shamanic undercurrent persisting even within the modern Russian worldviews. It made me recontextualize my impression that I get from my Russian friends. Rather than ‘superstitious’ which I dismiss, I now kinda view my friends as animistic which I value.

I have a gut feeling that animists are paying attention to certain aspects of nature (and global ecology and interconnectness of all forms of life and environment) that classic modernists tend to overlook. Philosophical discussions about artificial intelligence suggest animists might be correct all along, emphasizing that existence is inherently conscious in various modes of consciousness.

(According to certain traditions even within my own religion, even rocks have a ‘desire’ even if only to keep on existing.)

Anyway, for me, the movie raises ethical concerns about animism. Even when spiritually attaining superpowers what do these quasi-animists do with these cosmic-altering abilities? Heh, use the powers to win at gambling. The movie is slightly more ethically redeemable than that. But it reminds me of the ethical shortcomings with Norse animism. Lacking, is a sense of win-win. Mostly, there is a sense of limited resources, scarcity, ... and that is it. Competition within a painful world.

It seems to me, monotheism carries with it a sense of transcendence, infinite possibilities, generosity, helping others altruistically, and patience. At least in Nordic nations, these features are what animists found appealing about monotheistic traditions.

Anyway, I mention the movie, Beyond the Edge, here because the Russian culture seems a fun context for ‘magic’ in the modern world.









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[dwayne]

Favores: calling in a favor gives an automatic success in a roll, in regards to obtaining an item of no more than twice your current wealth score. This also uses that contact up so that no further uses can be had of this person, for information or other resources.

Contacts: can be used up for a favor or as a resource for items or help with major issues related to skills.

Resources: using a contact in this way can cause said contact being burned or becoming a liability, there is a 1in6 chance of this causing a negative to the issue.

Legal or license +0 to DC
Restricted +5 to DC
Illegal + 10 to. DC

Cheap - 5 to DC; 1in6 to malfunction per/round of usage.
Average +0 to DC, malfunctions on a natural one.
Excellent quality +5 to DC; on a natural 1 only lowers weapon quality by one until repaired.
Exceptional quality +10 to DC; master work item, never malfunctions but quality can decrease with use over time. 1 in 6 chance on a natural one. Can be fixed with a repair roll.

1, jam, move action to clear.
2, missfire, primer malfunction.
3, missfire, dud round.
4, magazine drop/ cylinder falls open.
5, Safety on.
6, gun round exploded in chamber damage to hand,
7, gun comes apart in hand,
8, gun distroyed can not be repaired
9, failed to load round/or cylinder did not rotate
10,lose grip/drop weapon/gun flys out of hand random direction.

 

[Yaarel]

I like the way you handle the contact, favor, and resource acquisition.

Maybe it is possible to reconcile a contact by doing a favor in return?