I've often thought about crossovers between D&D and other franchises and how much Hasbro would want to release collaborations with other IPs, or "Gamma World" like an updated setting within D&D multiverse. But a right power balance is not so easy if the characters are shooters with modern firearms or sci-fi guns.
I asked Grok and using the rules of creation of magic items we could create a magitek raygun that would be economically competitive against the gun. The stats of that raygun aren't necessary to be published here, only to say we can create our homemade rule.
My corcern was if firearms were allowed then not only the power balance could be broken but the players would eventually discard and relegate to oblivion classes too focused on melee combat, such as barbarians and monks. I thought about spellcasters using low-level magic to cause malfuctions in the firearms, for example a squib-load could be fatal for the shooter. A piece of ectoplasm within the canon could be enough, or the bullet exploding in the wrong time. Other solution would be a power like the psychoportation devotion "dimensional screen" (The Will and the Way, Dark Sun sourcebook) to deflect bullets.
Other idea was to create monsters with ballistic-damage-resistance/inmunity traits and my idea was the harms (name from folklore), mutants because a magic potion drank before combat. When a soldier who dranks this potion reachs 0 hit points because ballistic damage caused by a firearm created in a industrial factory then becomes a mutant with inmunity to ballistic damage (but he can be hurt by magic or traditional hand-to-hand-combat). They aren't undead but more like trolls. Their image would be more like the "freakers" from the videogame "Days Gone". Other creature would be Einherjar (the brave vikings who were chosen for the Valhalla). These would be celestial monster type. Then the barbarians and monks would be still useful because after the shooting these should fight "in the old style" to finish them off. Constructs carring a bulletproof tower-shild would be also an option, together the swarn summoned monsters.
I have also thought a gunsmith in a workshop crafting "handmade" firearms is possible but mass production by industrial factories wouldn't be allowed. Not only because dragons, lord feys and giants couldn't these to break the power balance but the rimalni, the faction from Planescape who seek the balance between opposite actions, would send their own agents to sabotage those factories. Importing from other wildspaces (or factorys in Mechanus) would be possible but it would be too expensive comparing with magitek rayguns.
Do you think WotC would dare for "mash-up collabs" with IPs where firearms are possible (Overwatch, Doom: Dark Age, Fortnite, Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil..?
Dunno about mashups/collabs but you know official D&D already has various firearms including laser rifles, right?
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Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond. Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ thisFAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
I've often thought about crossovers between D&D and other franchises and how much Hasbro would want to release collaborations with other IPs, or "Gamma World" like an updated setting within D&D multiverse. But a right power balance is not so easy if the characters are shooters with modern firearms or sci-fi guns.
Firearms are in the 5.5 players handbook, and have been a thing in D&D since the 1970s. This includes the Deathray... antimatter riffle. You can absolultly use 5.5e for modern or futuristic D&D if everyone in the group is fine with it.
I should note some people reaally dislike anything not high fantasy in D&D, and that is ok for them to not want modern in their fantasy. Me I always run D&D as a steam punk or sci-fantasy setting. As I do like the idea of flying spelljammers between the planets and having space adventures.
I should note as a DM I am currently mixing Warhammer 40k with 5.5e. My players are doing a Rogue Trader campaign.
"Gamma World" was a fun setting, easy to update to 5.5e IMO.
I asked Grok
Don't, LLM/GenAI is not only harmful to humanity, it has no need to tell the truth. Never use a LLM for anything, you will get only wrong answers.
I've often thought about crossovers between D&D and other franchises and how much Hasbro would want to release collaborations with other IPs, or "Gamma World" like an updated setting within D&D multiverse. But a right power balance is not so easy if the characters are shooters with modern firearms or sci-fi guns.
Firearms are in the 5.5 players handbook, and have been a thing in D&D since the 1970s. This includes the Deathray... antimatter riffle. You can absolultly use 5.5e for modern or futuristic D&D if everyone in the group is fine with it.
I should note some people reaally dislike anything not high fantasy in D&D, and that is ok for them to not want modern in their fantasy. Me I always run D&D as a steam punk or sci-fantasy setting. As I do like the idea of flying spelljammers between the planets and having space adventures.
I should note as a DM I am currently mixing Warhammer 40k with 5.5e. My players are doing a Rogue Trader campaign.
"Gamma World" was a fun setting, easy to update to 5.5e IMO.
I asked Grok
Don't, LLM/GenAI is not only harmful to humanity, it has no need to tell the truth. Never use a LLM for anything, you will get only wrong answers.
Especially the one infamous for calling itself "MechaHitler."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Let's remember Hasbro loves licencing and we can guess they want D&D something like Fortnite or Magic: Beyond Universes. Other point is to create for Ravenflot new dark domains based in famous horror franchises, for example Resident Evil or Silent Hill, but also the teleserie "From".
Some times the reason is to adapt some famous franchise for their homemade campaign: Star Wars, Star Trek, Mass Effect, Halo..or superheroes from comics.
My main fear was if firearms were allowed then players would players would end up discarding or rejecting classes that are too focused on melee combat like the barbarians or the monks. Here the solution could be adding monsters with ballistic-damage resistance or immunity, and then terminating the rest of the group these "remains" had to be finished off "in the traditional way".
Is 5.5e ready for "spin-off" with modern firearms, for example "Gamma World"? Or a 5.5e version of "Fornite: Save the World"(not the famous Battle Royal but the PvE tower-defense against "husks" and mist monsters).
Especially since the only times DnD has incorporated IP (outside of partnered content) they were still medieval fantasy themed but just incorporated characters in meta story.
And even if they did this thing you’re worried about, you can just not allow those materials at your table
Don't forget, before Sigil fell on it face, Hasbro was thinking of introducing some of its other IPs into Sigil, thus into DnD. Doesn't anyone remember the outcry of people talking about how bad it would having an Optimus Prime figure in Sigil? If Hasbro think they can get away with jamming different IPs into DnD like they do with MTG and Universes Beyond, they would do it. I think the only reason they haven't done a similar thing with DnD cause MTG is their cash cow, while they don't think would get same return on investment from DnD
I've often thought about crossovers between D&D and other franchises and how much Hasbro would want to release collaborations with other IPs, or "Gamma World" like an updated setting within D&D multiverse. But a right power balance is not so easy if the characters are shooters with modern firearms or sci-fi guns.
I asked Grok and using the rules of creation of magic items we could create a magitek raygun that would be economically competitive against the gun. The stats of that raygun aren't necessary to be published here, only to say we can create our homemade rule.
My corcern was if firearms were allowed then not only the power balance could be broken but the players would eventually discard and relegate to oblivion classes too focused on melee combat, such as barbarians and monks. I thought about spellcasters using low-level magic to cause malfuctions in the firearms, for example a squib-load could be fatal for the shooter. A piece of ectoplasm within the canon could be enough, or the bullet exploding in the wrong time. Other solution would be a power like the psychoportation devotion "dimensional screen" (The Will and the Way, Dark Sun sourcebook) to deflect bullets.
Other idea was to create monsters with ballistic-damage-resistance/inmunity traits and my idea was the harms (name from folklore), mutants because a magic potion drank before combat. When a soldier who dranks this potion reachs 0 hit points because ballistic damage caused by a firearm created in a industrial factory then becomes a mutant with inmunity to ballistic damage (but he can be hurt by magic or traditional hand-to-hand-combat). They aren't undead but more like trolls. Their image would be more like the "freakers" from the videogame "Days Gone". Other creature would be Einherjar (the brave vikings who were chosen for the Valhalla). These would be celestial monster type. Then the barbarians and monks would be still useful because after the shooting these should fight "in the old style" to finish them off. Constructs carring a bulletproof tower-shild would be also an option, together the swarn summoned monsters.
I have also thought a gunsmith in a workshop crafting "handmade" firearms is possible but mass production by industrial factories wouldn't be allowed. Not only because dragons, lord feys and giants couldn't these to break the power balance but the rimalni, the faction from Planescape who seek the balance between opposite actions, would send their own agents to sabotage those factories. Importing from other wildspaces (or factorys in Mechanus) would be possible but it would be too expensive comparing with magitek rayguns.
Do you think WotC would dare for "mash-up collabs" with IPs where firearms are possible (Overwatch, Doom: Dark Age, Fortnite, Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil..?
In my experience players looking for guns, modern or scifi weaponry are looking for an advantage. If anyone wants to play a "Gunslinger" all that needs to happen is call your light crossbow a "Peacemaker", call your hat a "Stetson" and your cloak a poncho and off you go.
I've often thought about crossovers between D&D and other franchises and how much Hasbro would want to release collaborations with other IPs, or "Gamma World" like an updated setting within D&D multiverse. But a right power balance is not so easy if the characters are shooters with modern firearms or sci-fi guns.
I asked Grok and using the rules of creation of magic items we could create a magitek raygun that would be economically competitive against the gun. The stats of that raygun aren't necessary to be published here, only to say we can create our homemade rule.
My corcern was if firearms were allowed then not only the power balance could be broken but the players would eventually discard and relegate to oblivion classes too focused on melee combat, such as barbarians and monks. I thought about spellcasters using low-level magic to cause malfuctions in the firearms, for example a squib-load could be fatal for the shooter. A piece of ectoplasm within the canon could be enough, or the bullet exploding in the wrong time. Other solution would be a power like the psychoportation devotion "dimensional screen" (The Will and the Way, Dark Sun sourcebook) to deflect bullets.
Other idea was to create monsters with ballistic-damage-resistance/inmunity traits and my idea was the harms (name from folklore), mutants because a magic potion drank before combat. When a soldier who dranks this potion reachs 0 hit points because ballistic damage caused by a firearm created in a industrial factory then becomes a mutant with inmunity to ballistic damage (but he can be hurt by magic or traditional hand-to-hand-combat). They aren't undead but more like trolls. Their image would be more like the "freakers" from the videogame "Days Gone". Other creature would be Einherjar (the brave vikings who were chosen for the Valhalla). These would be celestial monster type. Then the barbarians and monks would be still useful because after the shooting these should fight "in the old style" to finish them off. Constructs carring a bulletproof tower-shild would be also an option, together the swarn summoned monsters.
I have also thought a gunsmith in a workshop crafting "handmade" firearms is possible but mass production by industrial factories wouldn't be allowed. Not only because dragons, lord feys and giants couldn't these to break the power balance but the rimalni, the faction from Planescape who seek the balance between opposite actions, would send their own agents to sabotage those factories. Importing from other wildspaces (or factorys in Mechanus) would be possible but it would be too expensive comparing with magitek rayguns.
Do you think WotC would dare for "mash-up collabs" with IPs where firearms are possible (Overwatch, Doom: Dark Age, Fortnite, Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil..?
In my experience players looking for guns, modern or scifi weaponry are looking for an advantage. If anyone wants to play a "Gunslinger" all that needs to happen is call your light crossbow a "Peacemaker", call your hat a "Stetson" and your cloak a poncho and off you go.
In my experience, DMs who have this experience tend not to enforce the Reload property.
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DM, player & homebrewer(Current homebrew project is an unofficial conversion of SBURB/SGRUB from Homestuck into DND 5e)
Once made Maxwell's Silver Hammer come down upon Strahd's head to make sure he was dead.
Always study & sharpen philosophical razors. They save a lot of trouble.
In my experience, DMs who have this experience tend not to enforce the Reload property.
Depends on the game, if I'm running a heroic feels sci-fi game I'm not going to worry about reloads as that is not apart of the Sci-Fi fantasy, if I'm running a Deadlands campaign, you bet I will be on top of reload and ammo counts.
Note I have and will convert any setting to 5e. Because it's easier to get players to play a spooky old west 5e game than a GURPs game any day.
Also look at my avatar... yes I love firearms in D&D, because of the aestetic, and the feel.
Really, until you significantly depart from the realm of realism into the "man portable heavy assault cannon" field, guns don't break 5e's paradigm because the primary irl benefits of guns don't obtain in 5e's system. The two basic benefits of an infantry firearm in combat over a bow and arrow are taking much less time to train someone up to a basic level of competence- irrelevant given that classes gain profs with all weapons they're intended to use at level 1 or 3 for a subclass that dips into new waters- and possessing enough penetrating power to render armor obsolete- 5e's system doesn't even have a Damage Threshold mechanic for them to interact with, so it'd just be the standard rolling to hit/damage. Apply the same bit of narrativium to the use of guns that you do to an individual making 3-5 effective attacks with pretty much any medieval style weapon in under 6 seconds, while potentially sprinting for 30ft in a not necessarily linear path, and it's not that odd for modern full autos to simply have comparable performance in cutting down enemies.
We can create a 5.5e version of our favorite IP if these use its own list of classes. The challenge for game design is stardars D&D classes against enemies with a more advanced level of technology.
Do you remember the mecha B.R.U.T.O. in Fortnite? It had to be nerfed, and later cancelled. Or the mecha suit "Jackpot" from the videogame Borderlands 3(final boss of the DLC Moxxi's Heist of the handsome Jackpot). Have you played "Fallout" and faced enemies with their own powered armour?
Let's try with other example: Have you played the survival horror "Evil Within"? In the first stages you need total stealth but near the end you are one-man-army who can kill dozens of monsters. If you save the rocket for the right time you could kill a boss with only one-shot, literally. In the first movie "Alien: the eight passenger" one xenomorph was enough to kill almost all Nostromo staff but in the second movie dozens, maybe hundreds could be killed from other room thanks the remote sentry turrets. Other example, when Robocop faced the ED:209 this made him bite the dust but in the end of the movie thanks the cobra assault canon to destroy one ED-209 was ridiculously easy.
And not only the weapons. Driving a truck could be enough to hit dozens of zombies, or at least safer than a hand-to-hand combat. And if the players could, they would try to get a remote-control war drone as soon as possible.
I like to speculate about future releasing but if we remember the business trajectory by Hasbro we can see a lot of licenced products and there are reasons to think Hasbro wants D&D to be a franchise with lots of "collabs" or crossovers like Fortnite or Magic: Universes Beyond.
A new edition of Gamma World would be right for players who wanted to adapt their favorite sci-fi franchise but this would need a lot of playtesting. But WotC wanted the monster compedium of Gamma World was totally compatible for D&D 5.5. Maybe in the future spin-off of "Stranger Things" showing a scene where a group of new teen characters playing GW would be enough to revive interest. Or a Gamma World videogame could be enough without worries about this being compatible with D&D.
It is not only a possible steampunk setting like Iron Kingdoms but players who wanted to use the firearms from d20 Past for a new alien-invader faction for her Spelljammer campaign.
Or maybe some player wanted firearms because she feels inspirations after playing the videogame "Valor Mortis", "Steelrising" or "the Order: 1886"
It's more about whether D&D might include some kind of "Shadowrun" or "Urban Arcana" style setting in the future.
Or to create a campaign where two factions have got different technologic levels like the Barry Sonnenfeld's comic "aliens vs dinosaurs" (by Liquid comics, I am not kidding), ewoks vs stormtroopers or na'vis vs AMP assault suits(Avatar). There is a new videogame "Horizon: Hunter Gathering" where tribalpunk PCs fight against beast-like machines. Other example is the videogame "Ark: Survival Evolved" where you start from zero but later you can even ride a dinobot. In an episode of "Buffy the vampire slayer" the "monster of the week" was killed with one-shot because the kids had stole a rocket-launcher.
You could add to your campaign the monsters from shooter videogames like "Mass Effect", "Gears of Wars" or "Doom: Dark Ages" but these were designed to face an one-man-army with advanced firearms. Then these could be too hard for PCs of a sword&sorcery campaign with a low level of magic. How to find the right power balance? Or a flying enemy with ranged attack style a zerg guardian (a flying unit). Could the PCs to face the Spelljammer/magitek version of the helgasts(antagonist faction from videogame saga "Killzone").
It is not about if I would like this or that crossover but if 5.5e system would ready for other genres.
If I had a quarter for the number of times the OP has posted about crossing over D&D with completely incongruous IPs, well I'd have have two quarters but it's weird it's happened twice.
OP, you often appeal to what Hasbro would want but you're forgetting that at least currently the Wizards team is given pretty expansive control over D&D and they seem very disinterested in any non-promotional crossover products. All we've got official are the MtG setting books which are a fairly solid match for D&D in tone and structure. And even the less intuitive crossover products have been promotional ones being made outside of WotC—the MLP set(s?) come to mind.
I very much doubt a meaningful fraction of the D&D community wants the game to be crossed over with "Overwatch, Doom: Dark Age, Fortnite, Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil", and even if there was such a demand, it wouldn't be done as a "crossover", it'd most likely be done as a standalone TTRPG build on the 5.1/5.2.1 SRD (although that'd be a poor fit for those types of games imo).
I doubt WotC is going to do a official, "modern" TTRPG built on 5e/5.5e, the system just simply isn't designed to support it. They dabbled with it in a UA and from what I recall it was received about as well as you'd expect. If you're looking for a modern TTRPG, there are plenty of other systems out there.
Worth bearing in mind that WotC has just produced it's own Sci-Fi TTRPG, Exodus, that's largely built on the 5e system and even that wasn't forced into D&D. In fact quite the opposite, they've just announced that all production and future releases will be dealt with by Renegade the same TTRPG company that produces the GI Joe, Transformers and My Little Pony TTRPG books. Hasbro seem quite happy to let Renegade deal with all their IP that isn't Magic or D&D and if they aren't even crossing over the stuff they already own I doubt that they're going to be running around signing up other people's IP for badly fitting cross overs
I think the OP is asking for things which are already possible, but on top of this, WotC has just released a game system which is in effect a Sci-Fi version of 5th edition. (Sadly the books are sold out, and they don't seem to be publishing an online version) Exodus a Sci-Fi CRPG being co produced by WotC has a TTRPG and the promotional collectors book is sold out, also the encyclopedia. I really hope they put it up on DnDB as the game launches near the end of the year. As it looks amazing... Also as a DM I make my own Crossovers often, Eberron is a steam/sci-fi setting, Spelljammer is a Space-Fantasy Setting, and the core rules of D&D are fairly setting agnostic
Although many people complain it's not, they are wrong.
I am currently running Warhammer 40,000 using D&D 5e, and only the books and referance material availble on DnDB. Yes I tweak my monsters and loot to fit the themes of 40k but that's easy to homebrew using just the tools on D&D beyond.
It doesn't take a brilliant person to play these campaigns in any setting that already has magic, melee, and guns as D&D 5e/5.5e have these rules in the PHB and DMG.
This has been a common topic of concern/speculation/fear mongering for years, and we still have not seen it come to fruition. As others have pointed out, there’s a higher pile of evidence against this happening than for its occurrence. That does not mean the situation cannot change, but it does mean making a fuss over it at this time comes off a bit premature.
One thing not said on this thread yet: Who cares?
D&D is not Magic. When you sit down at a game of Magic, you play against the legal deck of an opponent. That means you might sometimes see some UB cards - and if you are the kind of player who is offended at their existence, then you are exposed to them.
But in D&D? You are only exposed to what you choose to be exposed to. The DM can set limits and players can choose to play in games of their chosen genera. “Firearms are not in this world” and “please don’t play the steampunk Artificer subclasses” are both common and accepted limitations - if players can handle that, I think “please don’t play as a space marine” would be a pretty easy conversation.
But in D&D? You are only exposed to what you choose to be exposed to. The DM can set limits and players can choose to play in games of their chosen genera. “Firearms are not in this world” and “please don’t play the steampunk Artificer subclasses” are both common and accepted limitations - if players can handle that, I think “please don’t play as a space marine” would be a pretty easy conversation.
Honestly, I don't care either way. As I said above, if me and my group want to do Deadlands in 5e I can just do it as the DM.
Also what Caerwyb said is key. Every game has a Session 0, this is where the setting is discussed, expectations and gameplay styles are discussed, what the house rules will be, and of corse the table taboos. A good Session 0 is required, and everyone including the DM needs to follow the plan laid out in a Session 0.
For instance, my usual house rules include every class I own on DnDB is open, we are doing the latest version of 5e (So 5.5e currently), and no homebrew on creation of a character, however unlock the option after the 1st session as items earned might be homebrew. I usually run my base setting as 1860s fantasy world with steam sci-fi tropes and the possiblity of ancient star trek level civilizations. Because the Atlantis trope makes for easy world building, usually the Sci-Fi advanced race were Dragons, because no one expects ancient advanced civilizations of Dragons. ;p The usual taboos inclue any loss of player agency, aka no mind control. No adult funtime described past the PG. No overt Evil acts. No PVP, although player conflict is ok for story telling, nothing that involves dice past a skill check.
As a DM I hope players pick Artificers and Firearms.
At the same time, I have played as a player in games with strict rules against some species, classes, and subclasses. Hells even had a DM who hated Dragons and Elves... He was Spanish too, but not Pointy Hat, as Pointy hat was never working in Sand Diego as far as I know. That said, I disliked the no elves rule, but I did make a Rock Gnome Artificer aka my Avatar. So even with the long list of restrictions that DM had, I was able to play my #2 choice.
---
Edit: As a DM I own almost every book on DnDB. I own it if it has player facing items, rules, classes, subclasses, or speices. I might also buy it if it has interesting monsters, although not a requirement as I make most of my monsters custom when the players engage with the story. I Don't buy the book if it is just a story to run, as most of those are poorly done IMO, and don't mesh well with my more open style of DMing. I should point out the one and only player facing book I have not gotten, and probably will never get is the LotR book. Not because I dislike it, I love lotR, it's because the setting is low magic, and I run high magic settings. If a player accidently took one of those classes, they would be nerfed in my settings.
I've often thought about crossovers between D&D and other franchises and how much Hasbro would want to release collaborations with other IPs, or "Gamma World" like an updated setting within D&D multiverse. But a right power balance is not so easy if the characters are shooters with modern firearms or sci-fi guns.
I asked Grok and using the rules of creation of magic items we could create a magitek raygun that would be economically competitive against the gun. The stats of that raygun aren't necessary to be published here, only to say we can create our homemade rule.
My corcern was if firearms were allowed then not only the power balance could be broken but the players would eventually discard and relegate to oblivion classes too focused on melee combat, such as barbarians and monks. I thought about spellcasters using low-level magic to cause malfuctions in the firearms, for example a squib-load could be fatal for the shooter. A piece of ectoplasm within the canon could be enough, or the bullet exploding in the wrong time. Other solution would be a power like the psychoportation devotion "dimensional screen" (The Will and the Way, Dark Sun sourcebook) to deflect bullets.
Other idea was to create monsters with ballistic-damage-resistance/inmunity traits and my idea was the harms (name from folklore), mutants because a magic potion drank before combat. When a soldier who dranks this potion reachs 0 hit points because ballistic damage caused by a firearm created in a industrial factory then becomes a mutant with inmunity to ballistic damage (but he can be hurt by magic or traditional hand-to-hand-combat). They aren't undead but more like trolls. Their image would be more like the "freakers" from the videogame "Days Gone". Other creature would be Einherjar (the brave vikings who were chosen for the Valhalla). These would be celestial monster type. Then the barbarians and monks would be still useful because after the shooting these should fight "in the old style" to finish them off. Constructs carring a bulletproof tower-shild would be also an option, together the swarn summoned monsters.
I have also thought a gunsmith in a workshop crafting "handmade" firearms is possible but mass production by industrial factories wouldn't be allowed. Not only because dragons, lord feys and giants couldn't these to break the power balance but the rimalni, the faction from Planescape who seek the balance between opposite actions, would send their own agents to sabotage those factories. Importing from other wildspaces (or factorys in Mechanus) would be possible but it would be too expensive comparing with magitek rayguns.
Do you think WotC would dare for "mash-up collabs" with IPs where firearms are possible (Overwatch, Doom: Dark Age, Fortnite, Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil..?
Dunno about mashups/collabs but you know official D&D already has various firearms including laser rifles, right?
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.
Firearms are in the 5.5 players handbook, and have been a thing in D&D since the 1970s. This includes the Deathray... antimatter riffle. You can absolultly use 5.5e for modern or futuristic D&D if everyone in the group is fine with it.
I should note some people reaally dislike anything not high fantasy in D&D, and that is ok for them to not want modern in their fantasy. Me I always run D&D as a steam punk or sci-fantasy setting. As I do like the idea of flying spelljammers between the planets and having space adventures.
I should note as a DM I am currently mixing Warhammer 40k with 5.5e. My players are doing a Rogue Trader campaign.
"Gamma World" was a fun setting, easy to update to 5.5e IMO.
Don't, LLM/GenAI is not only harmful to humanity, it has no need to tell the truth. Never use a LLM for anything, you will get only wrong answers.
Especially the one infamous for calling itself "MechaHitler."
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Let's remember Hasbro loves licencing and we can guess they want D&D something like Fortnite or Magic: Beyond Universes. Other point is to create for Ravenflot new dark domains based in famous horror franchises, for example Resident Evil or Silent Hill, but also the teleserie "From".
Some times the reason is to adapt some famous franchise for their homemade campaign: Star Wars, Star Trek, Mass Effect, Halo..or superheroes from comics.
My main fear was if firearms were allowed then players would players would end up discarding or rejecting classes that are too focused on melee combat like the barbarians or the monks. Here the solution could be adding monsters with ballistic-damage resistance or immunity, and then terminating the rest of the group these "remains" had to be finished off "in the traditional way".
Is 5.5e ready for "spin-off" with modern firearms, for example "Gamma World"? Or a 5.5e version of "Fornite: Save the World"(not the famous Battle Royal but the PvE tower-defense against "husks" and mist monsters).
Being able to imagine such a scenario doesn't mean that it's going to happen.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Especially since the only times DnD has incorporated IP (outside of partnered content) they were still medieval fantasy themed but just incorporated characters in meta story.
And even if they did this thing you’re worried about, you can just not allow those materials at your table
Don't forget, before Sigil fell on it face, Hasbro was thinking of introducing some of its other IPs into Sigil, thus into DnD. Doesn't anyone remember the outcry of people talking about how bad it would having an Optimus Prime figure in Sigil? If Hasbro think they can get away with jamming different IPs into DnD like they do with MTG and Universes Beyond, they would do it. I think the only reason they haven't done a similar thing with DnD cause MTG is their cash cow, while they don't think would get same return on investment from DnD
In my experience players looking for guns, modern or scifi weaponry are looking for an advantage. If anyone wants to play a "Gunslinger" all that needs to happen is call your light crossbow a "Peacemaker", call your hat a "Stetson" and your cloak a poncho and off you go.
In my experience, DMs who have this experience tend not to enforce the Reload property.
DM, player & homebrewer(Current homebrew project is an unofficial conversion of SBURB/SGRUB from Homestuck into DND 5e)
Once made Maxwell's Silver Hammer come down upon Strahd's head to make sure he was dead.
Always study & sharpen philosophical razors. They save a lot of trouble.
Depends on the game, if I'm running a heroic feels sci-fi game I'm not going to worry about reloads as that is not apart of the Sci-Fi fantasy, if I'm running a Deadlands campaign, you bet I will be on top of reload and ammo counts.
Note I have and will convert any setting to 5e. Because it's easier to get players to play a spooky old west 5e game than a GURPs game any day.
Also look at my avatar... yes I love firearms in D&D, because of the aestetic, and the feel.
Really, until you significantly depart from the realm of realism into the "man portable heavy assault cannon" field, guns don't break 5e's paradigm because the primary irl benefits of guns don't obtain in 5e's system. The two basic benefits of an infantry firearm in combat over a bow and arrow are taking much less time to train someone up to a basic level of competence- irrelevant given that classes gain profs with all weapons they're intended to use at level 1 or 3 for a subclass that dips into new waters- and possessing enough penetrating power to render armor obsolete- 5e's system doesn't even have a Damage Threshold mechanic for them to interact with, so it'd just be the standard rolling to hit/damage. Apply the same bit of narrativium to the use of guns that you do to an individual making 3-5 effective attacks with pretty much any medieval style weapon in under 6 seconds, while potentially sprinting for 30ft in a not necessarily linear path, and it's not that odd for modern full autos to simply have comparable performance in cutting down enemies.
We can create a 5.5e version of our favorite IP if these use its own list of classes. The challenge for game design is stardars D&D classes against enemies with a more advanced level of technology.
Do you remember the mecha B.R.U.T.O. in Fortnite? It had to be nerfed, and later cancelled. Or the mecha suit "Jackpot" from the videogame Borderlands 3(final boss of the DLC Moxxi's Heist of the handsome Jackpot). Have you played "Fallout" and faced enemies with their own powered armour?
Let's try with other example: Have you played the survival horror "Evil Within"? In the first stages you need total stealth but near the end you are one-man-army who can kill dozens of monsters. If you save the rocket for the right time you could kill a boss with only one-shot, literally. In the first movie "Alien: the eight passenger" one xenomorph was enough to kill almost all Nostromo staff but in the second movie dozens, maybe hundreds could be killed from other room thanks the remote sentry turrets. Other example, when Robocop faced the ED:209 this made him bite the dust but in the end of the movie thanks the cobra assault canon to destroy one ED-209 was ridiculously easy.
And not only the weapons. Driving a truck could be enough to hit dozens of zombies, or at least safer than a hand-to-hand combat. And if the players could, they would try to get a remote-control war drone as soon as possible.
I like to speculate about future releasing but if we remember the business trajectory by Hasbro we can see a lot of licenced products and there are reasons to think Hasbro wants D&D to be a franchise with lots of "collabs" or crossovers like Fortnite or Magic: Universes Beyond.
A new edition of Gamma World would be right for players who wanted to adapt their favorite sci-fi franchise but this would need a lot of playtesting. But WotC wanted the monster compedium of Gamma World was totally compatible for D&D 5.5. Maybe in the future spin-off of "Stranger Things" showing a scene where a group of new teen characters playing GW would be enough to revive interest. Or a Gamma World videogame could be enough without worries about this being compatible with D&D.
It is not only a possible steampunk setting like Iron Kingdoms but players who wanted to use the firearms from d20 Past for a new alien-invader faction for her Spelljammer campaign.
Or maybe some player wanted firearms because she feels inspirations after playing the videogame "Valor Mortis", "Steelrising" or "the Order: 1886"
This is starting to look suspiciously like complaining that new products might be released that don't cater specifically to a particular person.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
It's more about whether D&D might include some kind of "Shadowrun" or "Urban Arcana" style setting in the future.
Or to create a campaign where two factions have got different technologic levels like the Barry Sonnenfeld's comic "aliens vs dinosaurs" (by Liquid comics, I am not kidding), ewoks vs stormtroopers or na'vis vs AMP assault suits(Avatar). There is a new videogame "Horizon: Hunter Gathering" where tribalpunk PCs fight against beast-like machines. Other example is the videogame "Ark: Survival Evolved" where you start from zero but later you can even ride a dinobot. In an episode of "Buffy the vampire slayer" the "monster of the week" was killed with one-shot because the kids had stole a rocket-launcher.
You could add to your campaign the monsters from shooter videogames like "Mass Effect", "Gears of Wars" or "Doom: Dark Ages" but these were designed to face an one-man-army with advanced firearms. Then these could be too hard for PCs of a sword&sorcery campaign with a low level of magic. How to find the right power balance? Or a flying enemy with ranged attack style a zerg guardian (a flying unit). Could the PCs to face the Spelljammer/magitek version of the helgasts(antagonist faction from videogame saga "Killzone").
It is not about if I would like this or that crossover but if 5.5e system would ready for other genres.
If I had a quarter for the number of times the OP has posted about crossing over D&D with completely incongruous IPs, well I'd have have two quarters but it's weird it's happened twice.
OP, you often appeal to what Hasbro would want but you're forgetting that at least currently the Wizards team is given pretty expansive control over D&D and they seem very disinterested in any non-promotional crossover products. All we've got official are the MtG setting books which are a fairly solid match for D&D in tone and structure. And even the less intuitive crossover products have been promotional ones being made outside of WotC—the MLP set(s?) come to mind.
I very much doubt a meaningful fraction of the D&D community wants the game to be crossed over with "Overwatch, Doom: Dark Age, Fortnite, Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil", and even if there was such a demand, it wouldn't be done as a "crossover", it'd most likely be done as a standalone TTRPG build on the 5.1/5.2.1 SRD (although that'd be a poor fit for those types of games imo).
I doubt WotC is going to do a official, "modern" TTRPG built on 5e/5.5e, the system just simply isn't designed to support it. They dabbled with it in a UA and from what I recall it was received about as well as you'd expect. If you're looking for a modern TTRPG, there are plenty of other systems out there.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
Worth bearing in mind that WotC has just produced it's own Sci-Fi TTRPG, Exodus, that's largely built on the 5e system and even that wasn't forced into D&D. In fact quite the opposite, they've just announced that all production and future releases will be dealt with by Renegade the same TTRPG company that produces the GI Joe, Transformers and My Little Pony TTRPG books. Hasbro seem quite happy to let Renegade deal with all their IP that isn't Magic or D&D and if they aren't even crossing over the stuff they already own I doubt that they're going to be running around signing up other people's IP for badly fitting cross overs
I think the OP is asking for things which are already possible, but on top of this, WotC has just released a game system which is in effect a Sci-Fi version of 5th edition. (Sadly the books are sold out, and they don't seem to be publishing an online version) Exodus a Sci-Fi CRPG being co produced by WotC has a TTRPG and the promotional collectors book is sold out, also the encyclopedia. I really hope they put it up on DnDB as the game launches near the end of the year. As it looks amazing...
Also as a DM I make my own Crossovers often, Eberron is a steam/sci-fi setting, Spelljammer is a Space-Fantasy Setting, and the core rules of D&D are fairly setting agnostic
Although many people complain it's not, they are wrong.
I am currently running Warhammer 40,000 using D&D 5e, and only the books and referance material availble on DnDB. Yes I tweak my monsters and loot to fit the themes of 40k but that's easy to homebrew using just the tools on D&D beyond.
It doesn't take a brilliant person to play these campaigns in any setting that already has magic, melee, and guns as D&D 5e/5.5e have these rules in the PHB and DMG.
This has been a common topic of concern/speculation/fear mongering for years, and we still have not seen it come to fruition. As others have pointed out, there’s a higher pile of evidence against this happening than for its occurrence. That does not mean the situation cannot change, but it does mean making a fuss over it at this time comes off a bit premature.
One thing not said on this thread yet: Who cares?
D&D is not Magic. When you sit down at a game of Magic, you play against the legal deck of an opponent. That means you might sometimes see some UB cards - and if you are the kind of player who is offended at their existence, then you are exposed to them.
But in D&D? You are only exposed to what you choose to be exposed to. The DM can set limits and players can choose to play in games of their chosen genera. “Firearms are not in this world” and “please don’t play the steampunk Artificer subclasses” are both common and accepted limitations - if players can handle that, I think “please don’t play as a space marine” would be a pretty easy conversation.
Honestly, I don't care either way. As I said above, if me and my group want to do Deadlands in 5e I can just do it as the DM.
Also what Caerwyb said is key. Every game has a Session 0, this is where the setting is discussed, expectations and gameplay styles are discussed, what the house rules will be, and of corse the table taboos. A good Session 0 is required, and everyone including the DM needs to follow the plan laid out in a Session 0.
For instance, my usual house rules include every class I own on DnDB is open, we are doing the latest version of 5e (So 5.5e currently), and no homebrew on creation of a character, however unlock the option after the 1st session as items earned might be homebrew. I usually run my base setting as 1860s fantasy world with steam sci-fi tropes and the possiblity of ancient star trek level civilizations. Because the Atlantis trope makes for easy world building, usually the Sci-Fi advanced race were Dragons, because no one expects ancient advanced civilizations of Dragons. ;p The usual taboos inclue any loss of player agency, aka no mind control. No adult funtime described past the PG. No overt Evil acts. No PVP, although player conflict is ok for story telling, nothing that involves dice past a skill check.
As a DM I hope players pick Artificers and Firearms.
At the same time, I have played as a player in games with strict rules against some species, classes, and subclasses. Hells even had a DM who hated Dragons and Elves... He was Spanish too, but not Pointy Hat, as Pointy hat was never working in Sand Diego as far as I know. That said, I disliked the no elves rule, but I did make a Rock Gnome Artificer aka my Avatar. So even with the long list of restrictions that DM had, I was able to play my #2 choice.
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Edit: As a DM I own almost every book on DnDB. I own it if it has player facing items, rules, classes, subclasses, or speices. I might also buy it if it has interesting monsters, although not a requirement as I make most of my monsters custom when the players engage with the story. I Don't buy the book if it is just a story to run, as most of those are poorly done IMO, and don't mesh well with my more open style of DMing. I should point out the one and only player facing book I have not gotten, and probably will never get is the LotR book. Not because I dislike it, I love lotR, it's because the setting is low magic, and I run high magic settings. If a player accidently took one of those classes, they would be nerfed in my settings.