I am running an adventure set in the year 2023. everything is the same as modern day, except a few things. 1: magic still exists. 2: races from d&d exist.
Dragons are extinct, but there are skeletons mounted in museums next to dinosaurs and the such. there are some crazy people who think they don't exist, but Dragonborns and dragon bloodline sorcerers prove their existence.
Rangers have guns, barbarians are street punks, fighters are soldiers, sorcerers are the same, wizards go to college for degrees in their school of magic, druids are biologists, clerics are doctors, warlocks are given powers when they get employed at certain corporations, monks are the same, bards are the same but can be things like rock stars or pop stars, rouges are the same and paladins don't exist anymore.
the villans are BBEC, Big Bad Evil Corporation. People think they're being sarcastic, but they aren't. they have found a loophole in space-time that allows them to bring back things like dragons beholders and the such. They then brainwash them. They also have this Mechagodzilla style giant dinosaur robot that the players will have to fight eventually.
the other planes of existence like the nine hells, limbo and mount Celestia still exist, but the way to travel there has been lost to time.
What do you think of this world? feel free to ask questions and leave opinions below!
Reminds me of the Manhua(Korean manga) called the "The Gamer" or the series "Only I level Up".
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" The Shadow Monarch is the ultimate expression of a "One Man Army" even in a team Setting his minions would act as meat shields for the allies while going on the Offensive, maybe in future version I will develop tactics and formations for the minions so the minions and party won't easily be decimated by random monsters or even the character's current enemies."
I like the idea of modern-world D&D, but it will require a lot of changes to rules: many skills may have to be changed and others added like computers and science. Many new spells are going to be needed for keeping utility in this modern world and illusion spells are now less effective (they work on minds, they'll have no effect on cameras which the modern world is filled with).
Bringing D&D into a modern world setting is going to take a mega-crapton of work to do it correctly without many classes becoming less effective and with a lot of consideration (how does deflect missiles work with bullets? The same, because if they have the speed and strength to deflect or capture bullets then means they have speed and strength enough to punch holes through steel, from a physics perspective, but if you don't update it to factor bullets the feature is now worth a lot less, since the modern day is vastly more reliant on firearm weapons).
Also, one thing:
"races like mind flayers have developed more humane ways to get nutrients. it is called soybrain™. Soybrain™ is a food that gives the same nourishment as a brain, without being a brain."
Mind flayers feed less on the physical brain and more on the mental intelligence, memory and life experience still contained within that brain. A blank brain that has no life-experience or memory to nourish them. They also use brains for procreation - using the memory and intelligence of the brain being converted to develop the nature and psionic power of the illithid it becomes. If they don't procreate this way the "young," the tadpole like things they end up asexually producing must become a base form of food or they mutate into large monsters that will devour everything.
And if the mind flayers no longer hunt people, do the Gith still hunt them? If they don't, what do the Gith factions now do?
There's a lot to consider. Basically to make it work, you're going to be rewriting half or more of most sourcebooks. That's a lot of work. It'd be awesome if you could do it, though.
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its cool but i think it makes more sense fore fighters to be like futuristic solders, and have barbarians as street punks that fight with bats and ride skate boards.
I ran a campaign like this, and it's fun for players usually. Having real world references is fun to, like having wild gods relating to the times, having famous people be interactable, or even someone that acts as a vigilante based off another hero. I actually used Pepsi Man in my campaign.
Oh, and I also made extra vehicles and tools, and everyone got an extra proficiency to pick, because it's easier to learn in modern times. Different classes also got another proficiency sometimes, like bards because their a jack of all trade, so they got to pick an extra tool.
and maybe make a cool bak story to why the future is like this, fore example mecanus took over ole the other plans of existence, and thats why there is modern day technology
I'm looking at something like this. D20 Modern has a lot of really good resources, and you don't have to include everything that's in the DnD sourcebooks if you choose to make your own. You don't even need to come up with a good reason for it not to exist... It just never existed in the first place, or it doesn't exist yet.
For example, you could keep mind flayers as is, but make them some weird alien race that is sending out spies to see if the planet is suitable for them to take over. You could split 'monsters', and 'races' into two categories, those that are hold overs from ancient times, and those that are from other planets exploring the universe.
The aliens idea also gives you an option to eventually take things into a more space opera sort of setting, later on. It could also be that the ways of getting to the other planes on purpose are lost to time, but sometimes the gates open on their own, and let the creatures (and magic and such) through.
As for a backstory, it could be that this is just one of the many possible realities (multiverse theory), where magic always existed, and things all the way on up through happened, just in a slightly different way. No need for anything fancy, just a reimagining of famous (or infamous) people and events with a slight hint of fantasy (like, Hitler's move from budding artist to dictator trying to take over the world came about as a warlock's pact or through being killed and his identity being taken over by a doppleganger).
Sorry, for so much, but I love the idea of mixing the modern day with fantasy elements, and have had a long time to come up with some really crazy ideas about how everything could have happened if it were a dnd setting.
I would also suggest modifying some (most?) of the classes to reflect a more modern setting, not just in what role they take in the setting, but some of the abilities. Maybe even switching out some of the abilities or even the 'archetypes' for them. Unfortunately, outside of d20 Modern, and a small sprinkling of rules, DnD doesn't really have much to go on for doing something full-scale like this. It really is a pity they haven't updated Spelljammer for 5e, that had a lot of good stuff you could use for things like vehicles.
For the Mindflayers, you could go a bit satirical - the entire mindflayer race is just 100% online now. They make these huge websites called "Social Media" which they have people pour their memories and thoughts, fears, prejudices, and above all else, opinions into. The Mindflayers absorb this through an App on their phones called "FlayR". Most people have barely noticed how bad their memories are getting, how 90% of their "on this day 2 years ago..." posts seem to come as a barely recollected haze to them.
Then you could have a plotline where the FlayR network goes down and the mindflayers start eating peoples minds like they used to. Maybe a mindflayer brought it down, reasoning that the mindflayers using FlayR need to snap back to reality.
You said that the ways to other planes have been lost
I feel like if there were ways to get to other planes, the world would have a lot more depth. Things like making trades with the earth elementals or having an expensive vacation to Elysium sounds pretty fun to me. Though it would take a lot more time and I see why you wouldn't want to put even more work into the already massive amount of work that goes into this concept.
I am running an adventure set in the year 2023. everything is the same as modern day, except a few things. 1: magic still exists. 2: races from d&d exist.
Dragons are extinct, but there are skeletons mounted in museums next to dinosaurs and the such. there are some crazy people who think they don't exist, but Dragonborns and dragon bloodline sorcerers prove their existence.
Rangers have guns, barbarians are street punks, fighters are soldiers, sorcerers are the same, wizards go to college for degrees in their school of magic, druids are biologists, clerics are doctors, warlocks are given powers when they get employed at certain corporations, monks are the same, bards are the same but can be things like rock stars or pop stars, rouges are the same and paladins don't exist anymore.
the villans are BBEC, Big Bad Evil Corporation. People think they're being sarcastic, but they aren't. they have found a loophole in space-time that allows them to bring back things like dragons beholders and the such. They then brainwash them. They also have this Mechagodzilla style giant dinosaur robot that the players will have to fight eventually.
the other planes of existence like the nine hells, limbo and mount Celestia still exist, but the way to travel there has been lost to time.
What do you think of this world? feel free to ask questions and leave opinions below!
Reminds me of the Manhua(Korean manga) called the "The Gamer" or the series "Only I level Up".
I have never even heard of that. it's a total coincidence. still, cool.
I like the idea of modern-world D&D, but it will require a lot of changes to rules: many skills may have to be changed and others added like computers and science. Many new spells are going to be needed for keeping utility in this modern world and illusion spells are now less effective (they work on minds, they'll have no effect on cameras which the modern world is filled with).
Bringing D&D into a modern world setting is going to take a mega-crapton of work to do it correctly without many classes becoming less effective and with a lot of consideration (how does deflect missiles work with bullets? The same, because if they have the speed and strength to deflect or capture bullets then means they have speed and strength enough to punch holes through steel, from a physics perspective, but if you don't update it to factor bullets the feature is now worth a lot less, since the modern day is vastly more reliant on firearm weapons).
Also, one thing:
"races like mind flayers have developed more humane ways to get nutrients. it is called soybrain™. Soybrain™ is a food that gives the same nourishment as a brain, without being a brain."
Mind flayers feed less on the physical brain and more on the mental intelligence, memory and life experience still contained within that brain. A blank brain that has no life-experience or memory to nourish them. They also use brains for procreation - using the memory and intelligence of the brain being converted to develop the nature and psionic power of the illithid it becomes. If they don't procreate this way the "young," the tadpole like things they end up asexually producing must become a base form of food or they mutate into large monsters that will devour everything.
And if the mind flayers no longer hunt people, do the Gith still hunt them? If they don't, what do the Gith factions now do?
There's a lot to consider. Basically to make it work, you're going to be rewriting half or more of most sourcebooks. That's a lot of work. It'd be awesome if you could do it, though.
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
its cool but i think it makes more sense fore fighters to be like futuristic solders, and have barbarians as street punks that fight with bats and ride skate boards.
Yeah, that sounds about right.
I ran a campaign like this, and it's fun for players usually. Having real world references is fun to, like having wild gods relating to the times, having famous people be interactable, or even someone that acts as a vigilante based off another hero. I actually used Pepsi Man in my campaign.
Oh, and I also made extra vehicles and tools, and everyone got an extra proficiency to pick, because it's easier to learn in modern times. Different classes also got another proficiency sometimes, like bards because their a jack of all trade, so they got to pick an extra tool.
Also known as CrafterB and DankMemer.
Here, have some homebrew classes! Subclasses to? Why not races. Feats, feats as well. I have a lot of magic items. Lastly I got monsters, fun, fun times.
and maybe make a cool bak story to why the future is like this, fore example mecanus took over ole the other plans of existence, and thats why there is modern day technology
Maybe. I'll think about it.
I'm looking at something like this. D20 Modern has a lot of really good resources, and you don't have to include everything that's in the DnD sourcebooks if you choose to make your own. You don't even need to come up with a good reason for it not to exist... It just never existed in the first place, or it doesn't exist yet.
For example, you could keep mind flayers as is, but make them some weird alien race that is sending out spies to see if the planet is suitable for them to take over. You could split 'monsters', and 'races' into two categories, those that are hold overs from ancient times, and those that are from other planets exploring the universe.
The aliens idea also gives you an option to eventually take things into a more space opera sort of setting, later on. It could also be that the ways of getting to the other planes on purpose are lost to time, but sometimes the gates open on their own, and let the creatures (and magic and such) through.
As for a backstory, it could be that this is just one of the many possible realities (multiverse theory), where magic always existed, and things all the way on up through happened, just in a slightly different way. No need for anything fancy, just a reimagining of famous (or infamous) people and events with a slight hint of fantasy (like, Hitler's move from budding artist to dictator trying to take over the world came about as a warlock's pact or through being killed and his identity being taken over by a doppleganger).
Sorry, for so much, but I love the idea of mixing the modern day with fantasy elements, and have had a long time to come up with some really crazy ideas about how everything could have happened if it were a dnd setting.
I would also suggest modifying some (most?) of the classes to reflect a more modern setting, not just in what role they take in the setting, but some of the abilities. Maybe even switching out some of the abilities or even the 'archetypes' for them. Unfortunately, outside of d20 Modern, and a small sprinkling of rules, DnD doesn't really have much to go on for doing something full-scale like this. It really is a pity they haven't updated Spelljammer for 5e, that had a lot of good stuff you could use for things like vehicles.
Some friends and I are considering a modern day 5e campaign set in a trailer park we can't leave for various reasons. I think it is a cool idea
If you have warlocks and clerics, you should definitely have paladins. They are basically the other side of Warlocks.
Warlocks have 'sold their soul' to a corp, then Paladins could be people that have sold their soul to a government.
Here are examples, using the US government because I know more about them.
Oath of Conquest = Military Special Forces (aka Seal Team 6)
Oath of Devotion = FBI
Oath of Glory = Homeland Security
Oath of Redemption = US Marshal (they run the Witness Relocation Services)
Oath of Ancients = Investigative Services (US Parks police)
Oath of the Crown = Secret Service
Oath of the Watchers = NSA
Oath of Vengeance = CIA
Oath of Oathbreakers = Traitor.
This sounds like a cool concept.
For the Mindflayers, you could go a bit satirical - the entire mindflayer race is just 100% online now. They make these huge websites called "Social Media" which they have people pour their memories and thoughts, fears, prejudices, and above all else, opinions into. The Mindflayers absorb this through an App on their phones called "FlayR". Most people have barely noticed how bad their memories are getting, how 90% of their "on this day 2 years ago..." posts seem to come as a barely recollected haze to them.
Then you could have a plotline where the FlayR network goes down and the mindflayers start eating peoples minds like they used to. Maybe a mindflayer brought it down, reasoning that the mindflayers using FlayR need to snap back to reality.
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You said that the ways to other planes have been lost
I feel like if there were ways to get to other planes, the world would have a lot more depth. Things like making trades with the earth elementals or having an expensive vacation to Elysium sounds pretty fun to me. Though it would take a lot more time and I see why you wouldn't want to put even more work into the already massive amount of work that goes into this concept.
Thats actually cool as **** im gonna use that hope you dont mind