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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Voneth" data-source="post: 479971" data-attributes="member: 1016">Things for a modern feel:Modern communication:Even before cell phones, my modern horror games featured walkie-talkies and CBs. In fact, my groups would get around to making "magical talking stones" for their fantasy games after finding the usefulness of these items.The downside to those magic items is that I couldn't use technological things (static, dead batteries, bad weather, got out of broadcast range) to break up the communication link. Nothing adds more tension to game than having a cocky party split up and then their cell phones cut out. Or to put the loner in another room and then walk out and say "Bob calls you and says, 'Oh my God it's coming  this way it's .. "(static sounds).Another bit is the assumption that when a PC makes a phone call, the other PC will always answer the call. Sometimes I let PC getting the "phone call" answer the phone and I tell them "Just a sec, it's not PC-2's call, like you assumed it would be." Then I smile evilly as the PC has to deal with an NPC phone conversation. The NPC calls range from wrong numbers, to telemarketers to - gasp! - the villian. All of the cell phones with caller ID has sort of nixed a lot of these unexpected  calls though. Then again, who says a hacker can't fake a Caller ID number? Speaking of hackers ...Technology as a Double Edge sword:The main difference thematically in magic and tech is that tech is much more susceptible to malfunction or manipulation as well as to promote people to be dependent on its convenience.  (as compared to a corrupting influence as magic).  Computers can go from being your personal assistant to being your personal traitor. Lost your GPS system? So how long ago was it when you navigated by the stars? If it was back when you were a Boy Scout, then you get only an intelligence roll, unless you have survival or tracking. Lost your computer, can you do Calculus in your head, remember how to use a slide rule. If you lost your gun, you probably remembered to pack a hunting knife, but not a long sword. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Table talk is live talk:It's amazing how many tough thugs and green berets can quote Monty Python.   If you are playing in a fantasy world, it's okay to slip out of character, you actually have to just to get a can of soda. But in a modern game, it is the "realism" that is supposed to be the draw, so you should push role-playing to a new level. Going back to cell phones, a lot of what used to be out of game planning can now be done "over the phone." On the flip side, firefights are chaotic, there are no rank and file formations as in fantasy and there is no obvious tactical role such as "walking artiliary" or  "brick" unless you are in a supers game. Most modern specialized roles happen in set up for planned ambush or after the event, such as recon, sniper, mortar, and medic. Everyone else pretty much changes roles in their attempt to move or provide cover fire. My point is that you should allow PC only a one or two word message as a freebie to go with their move-equivalent action, unless the game is cinematic. You might even want them to have a tactics skill that represents the training they have had as a team, or to enact practiced maneuvers under fire.</blockquote>

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