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

[Micah Sweet]

You mean Lord of the Rings in space? Featuring celestials, fiends, space elves, warlock pacts, rangers, misunderstood sorcerers and Elric the technomage?

Did you read the whole post? I said in regards to the offense/defense combat points the poster was bringing up.

Try harder if you want to "gotcha" me again.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Yes. I’m modern and I don’t have a firearm. No one I know has a firearm. I haven’t seen a firearm since I saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace around 5 years ago.

Do you get into a lot of fights? Combat in the modern genre requires that you take firearms into account. D&D is going to have combat, possibly a lot of it. Ergo, @Reynard 's idea requires that gun be accounted for.

 

[Chaltab]

@Reynard

Another thing to consider about the use of melee weaponry despite the existence of guns is that the average fantasy work has access to things that don't really exist. Perhaps wyvern scales are particularly good at stopping ballistics damage; perhaps adamantine plate armor can withstand a full magazine from a carbine with little real damage to the target. In both cases, using bladed weapons that can slip through weak places in the armor could be more effective.

 

[Jolly Ruby]

Trying again, but now considering fantasy firearms are as deadly as fantasy blades are in relation to real blades.

I would still deemphasize melee combat and armors for flavor. Maybe "kevlar proficience" could give you +2 armor class and the other points you gain from positioning and a bulkier cover system that takes into account low and high ground, corners etc.

The DMG firearms are a good basis, but can be expanded to a more extensive list with things that let you play with archetypes like "the person with two pistols" or "the big guy with a big machine gun". Maybe some weapons where you need strength to use and move on the same round? Fighter could be the guy with strength to move while using big guns, but if they don't have dexterity they can't shot from long distances. The rogue have high mobility while using light guns, or low mobility while using long distance guns like a sniper rifle. Movement, positioning and distance become crucial to the "chance of hitting someone".

 

[Paul Farquhar]

What does this have to do with modern adventure fiction in the form of D&D play?

It means that modern and guns don’t have to go together (unless you are a guy in a red coat with a dead bear on your head).

 

[aco175]

Last convention I went to I was given a giff soldier to play as an NPC. He has a pistol that shot twice a round since he was 5th level. It dealt 1d10 piercing damage which was the same as the warlock next to me using eldritch blast, so nothing seemed like a big deal.

The hand-grenade I also had was just a fireball repackaged, but I never even used it.

 

[Celebrim]

I don't know...Star Trek, Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica, The Expanse, and the like certainly captured my imagination just fine without the fantasy trappings you seem to be insisting have to be there, at least in regards to the combat-based points you are making.

Star Trek is science fantasy. It has gods, space elves, space orcs, psychic powers and lots and lots of technobabble. But fundamentally, it's science fantasy.

Babylon 5 is science fantasy. It's literally a fight between angels and demons where the space elves and the humans join forces. It has techno-wizards for crying out loud. Sure, there is a gloss that this is all somehow sufficiently advanced technology but the sufficiently advanced technology is suspiciously chosen to look like traditional magic.

Battlestar Galactica in its original version was science fantasy. It's a little less science fantasy in the well done but ultimately deeply flawed reboot.

The Expanse of all the ones you listed is the hardest science fiction. But even it can't resist space zombies and protomolecules with unexplained magic powers.

Star Trek is decidedly a talking dialogue based story telling form where mysteriously lots of things resolve down to fisticuffs because plot. I personally would run it with something like Dogs in the Vineyard where you had explicit escalation mechanics.

Babylon 5 just needs hit points. It's mostly tier 1 heroics set against an epic backdrop, proving you don't need 20th level characters to run epic fantasy. There is though a lot of power of plot narrative protection on PCs. Certain things don't happen because they would ruin the story.

The Expanse I think started as a GURPS Transhuman Space campaign.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Do you get into a lot of fights?

I wasn’t anywhere near officer. I was at home watching the football on the date in question.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Last convention I went to I was given a giff soldier to play as an NPC. He has a pistol that shot twice a round since he was 5th level. It dealt 1d10 piercing damage which was the same as the warlock next to me using eldritch blast, so nothing seemed like a big deal.

The hand-grenade I also had was just a fireball repackaged, but I never even used it.

And if that sort of thing, more or less, is all you want out of firearms, I again recommend Mage Gand Press's Valda's Spire of Secrets.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Star Trek is science fantasy. It has gods, space elves, space orcs, psychic powers and lots and lots of technobabble. But fundamentally, it's science fantasy.

Babylon 5 is science fantasy. It's literally a fight between angels and demons where the space elves and the humans join forces. It has techno-wizards for crying out loud. Sure, there is a gloss that this is all somehow sufficiently advanced technology but the sufficiently advanced technology is suspiciously chosen to look like traditional magic.

Battlestar Galactica in its original version was science fantasy. It's a little less science fantasy in the well done but ultimately deeply flawed reboot.

The Expanse of all the ones you listed is the hardest science fiction. But even it can't resist space zombies and protomolecules with unexplained magic powers.

Star Trek is decidedly a talking dialogue based story telling form where mysteriously lots of things resolve down to fisticuffs because plot. I personally would run it with something like Dogs in the Vineyard where you had explicit escalation mechanics.

Babylon 5 just needs hit points. It's mostly tier 1 heroics set against an epic backdrop, proving you don't need 20th level characters to run epic fantasy. There is though a lot of power of plot narrative protection on PCs. Certain things don't happen because they would ruin the story.

The Expanse I think started as a GURPS Transhuman Space campaign.

Again, I am aware of all this (although I think you are overstating Star Trek's reliance on fisticuffs). I was specifically refuting @Raiztt 's post.