I'm making a campaign set in the 1920s but I'm not entirely sure how to fit together DnD aspects and the more modern roaring 20s complete with automobiles and movie theatres. Any ideas?
The first question is how much fantasy is mixed in to the setting? How is magic utilised in this world? What races and creatures populate this world?
The mix of 1920s and fantasy could lean you towards a steampunk kind of setting. Guns are already a mechanic in the game, dndbeyond.com/sources/dmg/dungeon-masters-workshop#Firearms , so if you want to incoporate those, you can. Matt Mercer created a gunslinger class for his campaign and the homebrew weapons are available in the homebrew section on DnD Beyond. You could also go with a setting where magic has been suppresed and outlawed. The players being members of the criminal underworld that still use magic in secret.
Cars are basically just faster horses. They will still require fuel to run, and they won't be great for off-road travel. Cars ween't cheap back in the 1920's, so your players probably won't start off with one but will eventaully be able to buy one.
Movies are just like plays. Famous bards create wonderful visual experiences in massive theatres for the nobility to enjoy. If magic is previlent, perhaps they have figured out how to make 3D movies using illusion magic.
What would be the BBEG for the campaign? Is it something the public are aware of, or is it something working behind the scenes, pulling the strings?
One idea, would be in a world that claims dragons to be extinct, one wicked dragon remains hiding in human form, orchastrating the criminal underbelly.
Or you could go for a more Indiana Jones style, raiding tombs, unleashing an anceint evil like a mummy lord, or a lich.
Perhaps a political conflict, where the world is on the brink of a war that will engulf the entire world. An arms race is building, and tensions are escalating. The party is recruited to either calm the flames, or help encite them.
If you have anymore questions, I would be interested to hear
Re-skinning is always something to keep in mind. Will you have, for example, goblins in the world? If not you can still use the goblin stats and have them be like low ranking mob thugs. And for guns, there are gun stats in the DMG, in addition to the Mercer homebrew mentioned above. If you don’t want to go the full gun route, just re-skin bows. Pistols are short bows and light crossbows, rifles are long bows and heavy crossbows, or something like that, and call it a day.
Swords and axes are actually the tougher thing. Either just say, yup, they exist and people use them all the time, or re-skin them.
You might want to read up on the Eberron setting! While not quite what you're looking for, it has quite a magitek vibe to it, with things like the lightning rail, various artificer inventions, civilized monster races, and the towers that make up the city of Sharn.
You could even experience the tension of WW2, perhaps make your own world war, but some extermist leader in a far off land is working on whipping out other races lets say Elves for example. This Elvian leader, is now trying to exhibit his elvian purist ideas on to the world
I know this is a D&D forum and all - but Call of Cthulhu would probably be a better fit, including many references, classes, items, and mechanics that would be a perfect fit for that period.
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I'm making a campaign set in the 1920s but I'm not entirely sure how to fit together DnD aspects and the more modern roaring 20s complete with automobiles and movie theatres. Any ideas?
The first question is how much fantasy is mixed in to the setting? How is magic utilised in this world? What races and creatures populate this world?
The mix of 1920s and fantasy could lean you towards a steampunk kind of setting. Guns are already a mechanic in the game, dndbeyond.com/sources/dmg/dungeon-masters-workshop#Firearms , so if you want to incoporate those, you can. Matt Mercer created a gunslinger class for his campaign and the homebrew weapons are available in the homebrew section on DnD Beyond. You could also go with a setting where magic has been suppresed and outlawed. The players being members of the criminal underworld that still use magic in secret.
Cars are basically just faster horses. They will still require fuel to run, and they won't be great for off-road travel. Cars ween't cheap back in the 1920's, so your players probably won't start off with one but will eventaully be able to buy one.
Movies are just like plays. Famous bards create wonderful visual experiences in massive theatres for the nobility to enjoy. If magic is previlent, perhaps they have figured out how to make 3D movies using illusion magic.
What would be the BBEG for the campaign? Is it something the public are aware of, or is it something working behind the scenes, pulling the strings?
One idea, would be in a world that claims dragons to be extinct, one wicked dragon remains hiding in human form, orchastrating the criminal underbelly.
Or you could go for a more Indiana Jones style, raiding tombs, unleashing an anceint evil like a mummy lord, or a lich.
Perhaps a political conflict, where the world is on the brink of a war that will engulf the entire world. An arms race is building, and tensions are escalating. The party is recruited to either calm the flames, or help encite them.
If you have anymore questions, I would be interested to hear
Re-skinning is always something to keep in mind. Will you have, for example, goblins in the world? If not you can still use the goblin stats and have them be like low ranking mob thugs.
And for guns, there are gun stats in the DMG, in addition to the Mercer homebrew mentioned above. If you don’t want to go the full gun route, just re-skin bows. Pistols are short bows and light crossbows, rifles are long bows and heavy crossbows, or something like that, and call it a day.
Swords and axes are actually the tougher thing. Either just say, yup, they exist and people use them all the time, or re-skin them.
You might want to read up on the Eberron setting! While not quite what you're looking for, it has quite a magitek vibe to it, with things like the lightning rail, various artificer inventions, civilized monster races, and the towers that make up the city of Sharn.
You could even experience the tension of WW2, perhaps make your own world war, but some extermist leader in a far off land is working on whipping out other races lets say Elves for example. This Elvian leader, is now trying to exhibit his elvian purist ideas on to the world
I know this is a D&D forum and all - but Call of Cthulhu would probably be a better fit, including many references, classes, items, and mechanics that would be a perfect fit for that period.