So... for silliness's sake and background:
My spouse and I play City of Heroes. And we decided to watch the 1983 film Krull in-character with our superhero characters. We streamed the movie onto our computers in separate rooms and watched while typing in-game to each other in character. Out loud, we would occasionally throw off comments to each other shouted between rooms. "It's Michael Eddington with Hair?!" and the like.
And, after watching it, we both laughed at a silly idea. Krull's alien invasion as a campaign backdrop.
So we started riffing on ideas for a campaign setting that is 100% generic high fantasy, but with some 1980s cartoon logic in it, and then an alien invasion and what that would look like in relation to various fantasy tropes.
First thing we had to do is establish the core of the setting that the alien invasion would land on. For Krull it's a couple of fantasy kingdoms that are also tepidly connected to an interstellar community, most of which has been conquered by the "Old One" and now he's coming for Krull to finish conquering the galaxy. Weird vibe for a setting with swords, sorcery, and 0 rocket ships, but sure.
Your traditional fantasy setting has plenty of ruins lying about for people to search through. Whether those ruins are Elven or Dwarven or part of an Ancient Human Empire and we settled on the human empire idea. Specifically the idea of a BBEG who conquered the human kingdoms to try and become a god using a bunch of powerful magic. But, really, can you have a BBEG in a setting who isn't constantly thwarted by the heroes of light? So 2,000 years ago, the BBEG tried to consume an energy source larger than his head and got interrupted on his way to godhood and instead became a Lich. Certainly a downgrade while also making him one of the most powerful entities on the planet, regardless!
The humans who fled the conquered Blighted Lands and the Dark Lord who rules them wound up in Elven Kingdoms and Dwarf Holds and occasionally in Halfling Lands. And, being humans, started populating those kingdoms prodigiously. Soon the crown of the Elflord was worn by a Half-Elf 'cause c'mon. Humans are dead sexy! Everyone knows it.
For thousands of years the Dark Lord has done various evil actions and tried to conquer the world or steal the power to return to his previous self instead of a rotting corpse or tried to ascend to godhood, again, because that's what a Dark Lord -does-. And a hundred years ago he failed so badly that the Heroes of Light kicked him out of his own castle. Embarrassing! So he wound up sneaking away and taking an elf castle high in the mountains, dangled goblins out of the windows, and had it painted black.
Meanwhile, the first human kingdom is being rebuilt! Only it's humans and elves and dwarves moving into the Blighted Lands and building a home with the Orcs and Goblins who were freed from their servitude to the Dark Lord when he was defeated.
And just recently, the Dark Lord betrayed his most trusted lieutenant during a major offensive and she turned against him, becoming a new Dark Lady to oppose him, -and- the heroes of light, depending on the given circumstance.
But then, like we're 12 seasons into a fantasy TV series that probably should've ended in season 7, ALIENS.
Inscrutable alien beings from beyond the stars with their servitor peoples who might be members of the same species in a different caste or could be interstellar slaves (who can tell, really?) drop down in their space-castle (Starship) to conquer the world! And out they send their forces to terraform the world...
... but what does that look like from the perspective of the natives with their fantasy styled understanding of what's going on?
Walking Towers spew noxious gasses and spread the Iron Plague across the land, infecting people and twisting them into the Wrought! These Plaguewright Towers corrupt the very landscape, the beasts and plants of the world, the people, and make them into new monsters in service to the terrible beings within! (Adding stuff to the atmosphere for alien breathing, altering the plants and animals to more resemble their homeworld, turning humans into more alien servitors to stop fighting and start helping to terraform)
Suddenly the Dark Lord isn't attacking the Elflands, anymore! He's too busy fighting off alien invaders trying to take his castle. Kingdoms and Holdfasts are falling to the Plaguewright Towers and the armies of strange monsters that seek to kill and crush most, and drag others off for gods know what purposes!
Laser Rifles are seen as strange arcane devices full of pure magical power that explodes outward in powerful bursts! The difference between a Sunblade and a Lightsaber is only in the perspective of the one who holds it! Chaos and weirdness abound as the Gremlins that have plagued every siege engine since time immemorial set up shop inside a destroyed Plaguewright Tower and become wrought even as they tear it apart to make new and terrible weapons from the scrap within!
And somehow, bizarrely, the aliens have -no- experience with Magic. Just wasn't a thing on their world that they ever interacted with. And the weirdo inhabitants of this technological backwater can make plasma grenades out of a bit of bat poop, wiggling their appendages, and vocalizing some ape-sounds?! What in the frell...
Would it be a good setting? I sincerely don't know...
But it would be so 80s it bleeds Synthwave.
My spouse and I play City of Heroes. And we decided to watch the 1983 film Krull in-character with our superhero characters. We streamed the movie onto our computers in separate rooms and watched while typing in-game to each other in character. Out loud, we would occasionally throw off comments to each other shouted between rooms. "It's Michael Eddington with Hair?!" and the like.
And, after watching it, we both laughed at a silly idea. Krull's alien invasion as a campaign backdrop.
So we started riffing on ideas for a campaign setting that is 100% generic high fantasy, but with some 1980s cartoon logic in it, and then an alien invasion and what that would look like in relation to various fantasy tropes.
First thing we had to do is establish the core of the setting that the alien invasion would land on. For Krull it's a couple of fantasy kingdoms that are also tepidly connected to an interstellar community, most of which has been conquered by the "Old One" and now he's coming for Krull to finish conquering the galaxy. Weird vibe for a setting with swords, sorcery, and 0 rocket ships, but sure.
Your traditional fantasy setting has plenty of ruins lying about for people to search through. Whether those ruins are Elven or Dwarven or part of an Ancient Human Empire and we settled on the human empire idea. Specifically the idea of a BBEG who conquered the human kingdoms to try and become a god using a bunch of powerful magic. But, really, can you have a BBEG in a setting who isn't constantly thwarted by the heroes of light? So 2,000 years ago, the BBEG tried to consume an energy source larger than his head and got interrupted on his way to godhood and instead became a Lich. Certainly a downgrade while also making him one of the most powerful entities on the planet, regardless!
The humans who fled the conquered Blighted Lands and the Dark Lord who rules them wound up in Elven Kingdoms and Dwarf Holds and occasionally in Halfling Lands. And, being humans, started populating those kingdoms prodigiously. Soon the crown of the Elflord was worn by a Half-Elf 'cause c'mon. Humans are dead sexy! Everyone knows it.
For thousands of years the Dark Lord has done various evil actions and tried to conquer the world or steal the power to return to his previous self instead of a rotting corpse or tried to ascend to godhood, again, because that's what a Dark Lord -does-. And a hundred years ago he failed so badly that the Heroes of Light kicked him out of his own castle. Embarrassing! So he wound up sneaking away and taking an elf castle high in the mountains, dangled goblins out of the windows, and had it painted black.
Meanwhile, the first human kingdom is being rebuilt! Only it's humans and elves and dwarves moving into the Blighted Lands and building a home with the Orcs and Goblins who were freed from their servitude to the Dark Lord when he was defeated.
And just recently, the Dark Lord betrayed his most trusted lieutenant during a major offensive and she turned against him, becoming a new Dark Lady to oppose him, -and- the heroes of light, depending on the given circumstance.
But then, like we're 12 seasons into a fantasy TV series that probably should've ended in season 7, ALIENS.
Inscrutable alien beings from beyond the stars with their servitor peoples who might be members of the same species in a different caste or could be interstellar slaves (who can tell, really?) drop down in their space-castle (Starship) to conquer the world! And out they send their forces to terraform the world...
... but what does that look like from the perspective of the natives with their fantasy styled understanding of what's going on?
Walking Towers spew noxious gasses and spread the Iron Plague across the land, infecting people and twisting them into the Wrought! These Plaguewright Towers corrupt the very landscape, the beasts and plants of the world, the people, and make them into new monsters in service to the terrible beings within! (Adding stuff to the atmosphere for alien breathing, altering the plants and animals to more resemble their homeworld, turning humans into more alien servitors to stop fighting and start helping to terraform)
Suddenly the Dark Lord isn't attacking the Elflands, anymore! He's too busy fighting off alien invaders trying to take his castle. Kingdoms and Holdfasts are falling to the Plaguewright Towers and the armies of strange monsters that seek to kill and crush most, and drag others off for gods know what purposes!
Laser Rifles are seen as strange arcane devices full of pure magical power that explodes outward in powerful bursts! The difference between a Sunblade and a Lightsaber is only in the perspective of the one who holds it! Chaos and weirdness abound as the Gremlins that have plagued every siege engine since time immemorial set up shop inside a destroyed Plaguewright Tower and become wrought even as they tear it apart to make new and terrible weapons from the scrap within!
And somehow, bizarrely, the aliens have -no- experience with Magic. Just wasn't a thing on their world that they ever interacted with. And the weirdo inhabitants of this technological backwater can make plasma grenades out of a bit of bat poop, wiggling their appendages, and vocalizing some ape-sounds?! What in the frell...
Would it be a good setting? I sincerely don't know...
But it would be so 80s it bleeds Synthwave.
