D&D 5E Thoughts on Divorcing D&D From [EDIT: Medievalishness], Mechanically Speaking.

[Stormonu]

Masque of the Red Death was definitely horror

Not so much the 3E version, beyond "Hey, look - Dracula!"

It had the morose, staid - if not decaying feel of Gothic age in writing, but the mechanics very much leaned into Pulpy Action. As stated above, you could easily use it to run League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and it wouldn't feel out of place. You could use it to run Brandon Fraiser's The Mummy or Raiders of the Lost Ark with a timeline tweak.

Heck, I could see it being used to run a WWI game where the PCs are investigating supernatural occurrences on or near the front lines - investigating abandoned trenches that have been overrun by supernatural creatures (goblins?) or a once-buried pagan temple uncovered by recent Axis shelling filled with possible riches and an ancient evil long thought buried...

 

[Bedrockgames]

Not so much the 3E version, beyond "Hey, look - Dracula!"

It had the morose, staid - if not decaying feel of Gothic age in writing, but the mechanics very much leaned into Pulpy Action. As stated above, you could easily use it to run League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and it wouldn't feel out of place. You could use it to run Brandon Fraiser's The Mummy or Raiders of the Lost Ark with a timeline tweak.

Heck, I could see it being used to run a WWI game where the PCs are investigating supernatural occurrences on or near the front lines - investigating abandoned trenches that have been overrun by supernatural creatures (goblins?) or a once-buried pagan temple uncovered by recent Axis shelling filled with possible riches and an ancient evil long thought buried...

Oh. My mistake. I haven't played the 3E version. I thought people met as a whole. There were definitely other tones than horror in 2E, but certainly not League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The 2E version was actually quite good (and it is up on Drive thru---I just ordered it since I lost my boxed set years ago and this conversation caused a renewed interest). The big challenge was always getting players. There was already ORORSH for TORG and Cthulhu can easily do the same period so recruitment was tricky (I ran a number of short campaigns back in the day)

 

[TwoSix]

In my head I am seeing more "firearms and fisticuffs" but sure.

I agree, although a highly skilled scout/hunter is a must have class -- so, non magical ranger, I guess.

Here's how I would do it. Certainly don't think of this as me trying to prescript your ideas in any way, I'm simply brainstorming how I would approach this if I were doing it. I know my tolerances for experimentation and homebrewing are pretty high.

General rules
Medium armor proficiency becomes Unarmored Defense. AC = 10 + Dex mod + other stat mod of player's choice.

Heavy armor proficiency becomes Unarmored Defense. AC = 12 + Str mod + other stat mod of player's choice.

Fisticuffs. Unarmed strikes are treated as a simple weapon, 1d4 bludgeoning, Light, Finesse.

Every class starts with simple Firearms proficiency by default.

Nonmagical Classes
Rogue. The default class for the setting, like Fighter in a normal D&D world.
Fighter. I'd probably use for soldiers/mercenaries. Allowed but not encouraged. Some subclasses might not work, determine case-by-case.
Barbarian. "Simmering violence in a cultured world" is a super fun trope to encourage for this kind of setting. Case-by-case for the subclasses, some would definitely need reskinning.
Monk. Maybe? I'd allow but definitely has to be the right concept. Lots of subclasses would need reskinning.
Savant. Int based nonmagical explorer and expert, fits right in.
Non-magical Ranger/Hunter. Tons of options around.

Magical Classes
Investigator. The "wizard" replacement, focuses on mysteries and rituals.
Warlock. The main source of hidden magical secrets.
Bard. Reskin as Psychic/Medium. Change casting stat to Wis, verbal components to nonverbal. Drop Song of Rest and Countercharm, possibly some ribbon to replace. Some subclasses may need to be reskinned. Might be too overly magical, I'm only about 70% confident on keeping this one.
Witch. The other "wizard/cleric/sorcerer" replacement. Reclusive arcanists, organized into covens/Hermetic houses/secret societies.

 

[Reynard]

Here's how I would do it. Certainly don't think of this as me trying to prescript your ideas in any way, I'm simply brainstorming how I would approach this if I were doing it. I know my tolerances for experimentation and homebrewing are pretty high.

General rules
Medium armor proficiency becomes Unarmored Defense. AC = 10 + Dex mod + other stat mod of player's choice.

Heavy armor proficiency becomes Unarmored Defense. AC = 12 + Str mod + other stat mod of player's choice.

Fisticuffs. Unarmed strikes are treated as a simple weapon, 1d4 bludgeoning, Light, Finesse.

Every class starts with simple Firearms proficiency by default.

Nonmagical Classes
Rogue. The default class for the setting, like Fighter in a normal D&D world.
Fighter. I'd probably use for soldiers/mercenaries. Allowed but not encouraged. Some subclasses might not work, determine case-by-case.
Barbarian. "Simmering violence in a cultured world" is a super fun trope to encourage for this kind of setting. Case-by-case for the subclasses, some would definitely need reskinning.
Monk. Maybe? I'd allow but definitely has to be the right concept. Lots of subclasses would need reskinning.
Savant. Int based nonmagical explorer and expert, fits right in.
Non-magical Ranger/Hunter. Tons of options around.

Magical Classes
Investigator. The "wizard" replacement, focuses on mysteries and rituals.
Warlock. The main source of hidden magical secrets.
Bard. Reskin as Psychic/Medium. Change casting stat to Wis, verbal components to nonverbal. Drop Song of Rest and Countercharm, possibly some ribbon to replace. Some subclasses may need to be reskinned. Might be too overly magical, I'm only about 70% confident on keeping this one.
Witch. The other "wizard/cleric/sorcerer" replacement. Reclusive arcanists, organized into covens/Hermetic houses/secret societies.

Good ideas overall. Thanks.

 

[Reynard]

Heck, I could see it being used to run a WWI game where the PCs are investigating supernatural occurrences on or near the front lines - investigating abandoned trenches that have been overrun by supernatural creatures (goblins?) or a once-buried pagan temple uncovered by recent Axis shelling filled with possible riches and an ancient evil long thought buried...

And this is kind of close to the kind of things I am imagining, but maybe pushed back to the dawn of the 20th century tech wise (I know it is not a huge difference, but gas and tanks and airplanes make a big difference).

 

[TheSword]

For the record I totally get the vibe. There’s tons of early 1900’s or interwar action adventure… 10,000 leagues under the sea, League of extraordinary Gentlement, Dracula, Indiana Jones, The Mummy etc etc. it’s a really fun and dramatic period.

Classes

For classes I would design a subclass that modifies each class into The archetype of what you want it to look like. For instance while bards might not fit, a Mesmerist subclass of the bard that uses hypnosis and magic to enchant the mind absolutely could. The subclass modifies the musical elements and adds some post Hypnotic stuff. I’ve seen this approach work really well for specific 5e conversions. You’re not trying to comprehensively change the base class then. Just the theme.

 

[Reynard]

Looking through DTRPG, I am actually surprised that there aren't more 5E based pulp action RPGs.

 

[Baron Opal II]

Another reskin for the bard could be "Journalist". Finding out facts and swaying opinion through news stories. Strong persuasion skills to get people to open up and tell you things, and less doing favors for you.

 

[TheSword]

Sorry for interrupted mid way.

Firearms

The most elegant way I’ve seen for this to work is for them to ignore ‘hard’ armour or reduce armour to a maximum of 1. So leather, plate, chain it’s all just counting as 1 extra point of armour. You could say that modern armours like Flak count as 2 or add weird and wonderful benefits, rare materials, magic etc but essentially you want to make a breastplate pretty much ineffective as compared to leather.

I think another really important thing is not to see shots as individual attacks. Tracking ammo, and how long it takes to aim a gun is never going to be realistically modeled. Instead an attack represents what a normal person could fire in 3-6 seconds including aiming and getting into position.

Don’t track ammo. Let the attack roll determine if you need to reload. Either by saying you’re out of bullets on set numbers. Like 1. Or 1 and 10. Or a number divisible by 5.

For something like a shotgun. If it hits let it do the the damage dice number of damage only to up to two other targets within 5 feet.

For auto fire and semi auto fire weapons let it deal extra damage dice on that setting at a castling increased chance of needing to reload. Say on any even attack roll for instance.

 

[Yaarel]

Another reskin for the bard could be "Journalist". Finding out facts and swaying opinion through news stories. Strong persuasion skills to get people to open up and tell you things, and less doing favors for you.

More like a cyberhacker. The Bard is a full-on mage, like Wizard and Warlock are.


There are plenty of reallife shamanics. If the setting is magical realism, I would make the Bard various kinds of shamanics.

The Druid is an alchemist (whether Hellenist or Daoist), with elemental effects and various ingredients from minerals, plants, and animals. Alchemy itself is often for medicine, healing, and immortality. Use classic material components.

Paladin is a special unit in the military or police.