What if: Modern Dungeons?

[Dannyalcatraz]

First, stuff about the RW side of things: Urban exploration

As for other stuff, in a fantasy world that was as modern as ours, you KNOW there'd be concerns about endangered species. Not only does that mean protests and interventions from GreenManPeace, and arrests for illegal killings (Frodo would have been visiting Bilbo in The Pen for his role in the slaying of a member of an endangered species), but also reenactments of the classic South Park gag, "It's coming right at us!"

 

[Herobizkit]

Two words: Black Market. There's always a buyer for an item of questionable origin if you know the right people and where to look. If there is a market to support treasure hunters (read: thieves), there will be treasure hunters to support the market.

That said, it would be a great campaign to have this cloak-and-dagger type of stuff translated to the Modern era. You could traffic all sorts of items... gems, gold, art, jewelry... software, hardware... photos, documents... weapons, ammunition... people...

Throw in magic items, and it's a MASSIVE new ball game. I might suggest throwing in the Urban Arcana rules but have the onus that players must still be human.

 

[Mark CMG]

If this were a tourney or one-shot game, particularly with pregens, a background for each character might include not only an affiliation with a stakeholder group but might also include a secondary affiliation with a lesser stakeholder group, so that players could choose to follow one of several directions. The challenge might be to find ways to choose their affiliations with the closest possible ties. Players might parlay with one another trying present scenarios where all or most players could honor one or more of their background commitments. Some players might suggest all players throw off all of their past affiliations and work only for the group. Of course, playing to the background affiliations might bring resources or information (or protection from other groups with assurances of being able to keepsome of the finds) that they might not get otherwise, which gives the players more than a simple RPing incentive. You might look into the Background and Contacts rules from UA for some guidance.

 

[Dioltach]

I'd like to mention the Vicky Bliss novels by Elizabeth Peters as material about modern-day dungeon's/treasure hunts. Rival academics, con men, corrupt officials, counterfeiters -- they're all there. With plausible solutions to the real-world difficulties.

 

[Jon_Dahl]

Thank you so much for the responses so far. Too bad I can't give Wizardru any XP, I always enjoy his insight.

I've done some research at it seems that most governments simply can't take the ancient treasure or whatnot from it's finders without compensation. Some examples from Europe:

In the early 20th century, it became the practice of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury to pay those finders who fully and promptly reported discoveries of treasure troves and handed them over to the proper authorities the full antiquarian value of objects which had been retained for national or other institutions such as museums. Objects not retained were returned to the finders.

A law in Estonia states that a person is entitled to half of the value of an ancient treasure that he finds and turns over to authorities.

Source: Estonian man returns treasure, gets reward

It's quite interesting... I could rule that all European follow the same path as British, unless proven otherwise. Hmm...

Edit: Let's add U.S. also:

Treasure Hunting Laws

The rights to a treasure trove (recovered treasure that has no apparent owner) vary in different countries. In the United States treasure trove is treated in the same way as any other found property. State laws vary, but the finder is usually allowed to keep the treasure. Some states require permits for treasure hunting on state lands. The U.S. Treasury Department issues excavation permits for public lands. The federal income tax laws apply to discovered treasure.
The law on sunken treasure is complicated. Many shipwrecks are the property of shipowners, insurance companies, or state or national governments. Treasure hunters may make an agreement with an owner to recover the treasure for a fee or a percentage of the find. If a wreck has no known owner, its cargo usually belongs to the finder.

Source: HowStuffWorks "Treasure Hunting Laws"

 

[Thunderfoot]

An oft overlooked fact - the reason Captain's used to "go down with the ship" had nothing to do with some sense of honor, but because if the Captain went down, the wreckage was covered by insurance companies at the turn of the century and prior to that the Captain as a duly appointed member of the government was considered "State's property" and "official liaison to the crown" (or whatever other governing body) which meant that a wreck was off limits to other countries, companies and hunters for a certain period while salvage operation could be planned and executed.

This of course was a moot point in most trans-oceanic travel as only recently was the technology available to actually recover the vessels, which in most cases had out lived the "statute of limitations" imposed by international law on recovery operations. Also, military vessels are NOT covered by such laws in wartime due to the "spoils of war" articles of the Geneva Convention. (Yay espionage!!!)

IOW, as society gets more advanced our laws get more complicated.
Then - steal a pig lose a hand.
Now - steal a pig, incarceration for a period of not less than 30 days or more than 2 years unless the pig can be proven to be of unique value. Reparations not in excess of 5 times the legal purchase price of the pig will be remunerated to the plaintiff with the defendant forfeiting or defaulting personal property to make up the difference. Defendants family shall be responsible for all fees and penalties if the defendant is unable to pay. After 20 years if remuneration is not paid in full, the remaining balance shall be written off as overage. (etc, etc, etc.)

 

[Guest 85555]

Deep Blue Sea was on TV last night, and I thought of this thread as I was watching. It occurred to me, that is another type of modern dungeon you could use (though I think it was set a little in the future). However works for other scientific/military type structures as well. You could easily turn a rescue/escape scenario into a dungeon crawl.

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

One of the best spins on a modern dungeon that I've come across is the "basement" or "long stair" idea on rpg.net.

It's not exactly what you're describing, since it's a "chaotic" megadungeon underworld, but with a modern spin. And PCs are going to be government-related, almost by default (much like Delta Green style Call of Cthulhu uses federal agents to side-step some of the issues). In a nutshell, the dungeon is some sort of weird dimensional rift underground (maybe at a former nuclear test site). The government knows about it and is exploring it and doing research. Lots of detail and ideas in the thread I linked.

 

[TarionzCousin]

One critical thing to remember when adventuring in the modern world: bring a monkey.

 

[WizarDru]

One critical thing to remember when adventuring in the modern world: bring a monkey.

"We named the monkey 'Jack'."