I have a problem with a story idea and I'm hoping anyone can help me figure something out.
In my story, it's basically Earth as it is right now and magic suddenly returns. I'm using D&D as a basis for Races, Classes and Monster types. Around 60% of people transform into fantasy races, while a small amount of people get enhanced with magical abilities (i.e. a D&D Class). A small amount of plants and animals also transform into fantasy monsters, which is still alot of monsters. Our society is still going strong for now, but in a few years things are going to be so chaotic that our modern world will come to a end.
All monsters are imbued with magical energy that coalesce into a tiny crystal inside their heart. These tiny crystals are called Essence Shards and they absorb the ambient magical energy from the surrounding area. Essence Shards then release that magical energy into the bloodstream of the monster, giving them their magical abilities.
Essence Shards can be used for one of four things, those things are: 1. They can completely replace the Material Components for Spell Components. 2. They can completely replace the Material Components for Magic Item Crafting. 3. They can be used as a form of Currency. 4. They can be used for Leveling Up.
Using Essence Shards to level up can be done by just harvesting them for dead monsters, then absorbing the magical energy into your body. Once you've obviously gained enough XP, you level up.
My Question If I'm using our current world for the setting of my story, how would my main character (a nobody) collect Essence Shards from monsters to level up if the government is constantly arriving to the locations of monster attacks and confiscating the monster carcasses?
Also, there will be several high government officials who will be Enhanced. They will steal Essence Shards that the military recovers from people and use them to level up themselves.
You likely are going to want to set your story not when the things are carrying in “for now”, but after the “modern world comes to an end” part. You can then place your story in a geographic location where governmental entities (or the remnants of them) are likely to be less active or have slower response times. This could include places that are far from population centres (Alaska and the Canadian wilderness, the more remote parts of Appalachia, Siberia, Patagonia, etc.) or places that, in the current world, are already in failed state status or on the verge of governmental collapse (though this is a more risky situation to build off of, as the game could easily veer into stereotyping and racism if players are not familiar with the cultures of these locations).
Your goal should be to find a geographic local where the pluses might still run into conflict with the government or quasi-governmental entities on occasion, but where they are still likely to be the first responders to a majority of incidents.
You might even want to flash forward more than a couple years, and go a few decades or centuries into the world - something recognisable to the players as the real world, but which gives you more leeway and creative freedom in how the world has developed and more time for governmental collapse. Think the Fallout franchise, particularly Fallout 3, where there is still a recognisable world, but the governmental agencies and ecology has had sufficient time to evolve and reinvent itself.
I'll definitely use your idea for future events, but I would really like to start things off at the beginning and slowly build towards that apocalyptic type of monsters and magic setting.
You should take a look at shadowrun. Even if you don’t play the system, the lore is really cool and describes a world just like you’re imagining. Except with cybernetics and dystopian mega - corporations.
Also, I’m pretty sure the guys who made d20 modern for 3.x have or had a Kickstarter to update it to 5e. It may work better than re-skinning everything.
I think your first question is along the same lines as "if it is illegal to shoot deer, how does someone eat venison?"
They buy them. Or they find them dead and take them home. Or they ignore the rules and shoot the deer illegally.
If the nobody is attacked by a small monster and manages to kill them (or a large monster and uses the world to kill it, like a tree falling on it) then they can collect it before the gummerment arrives to confiscate it. Another option would be a fall - the monster grabs them, they both fall off a cliff, and the monster breaks their fall. They are right there when the monsters crystal is released, and absorb it inadvertantly, making them a fugitive from the government.
If the nobody is attacked by a small monster and manages to kill them (or a large monster and uses the world to kill it, like a tree falling on it) then they can collect it before the gummerment arrives to confiscate it. Another option would be a fall - the monster grabs them, they both fall off a cliff, and the monster breaks their fall. They are right there when the monsters crystal is released, and absorb it inadvertantly, making them a fugitive from the government.
I agree with the inadvertent absorption idea. Your nobody MC just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time (or the right place at the right time?) Perhaps two rival (illegal) enhanced gangs duke it out in the street, and the MC is caught in the middle when they happen upon a crystal. Then either the government is looking for missing crystals, or the illegal gangs are looking for their missing one. Either way, the plot drives forward.
My Question If I'm using our current world for the setting of my story, how would my main character (a nobody) collect Essence Shards from monsters to level up if the government is constantly arriving to the locations of monster attacks and confiscating the monster carcasses?
Also, there will be several high government officials who will be Enhanced. They will steal Essence Shards that the military recovers from people and use them to level up themselves.
As a DM, one could certainly run a campaign while the powerful still hold world-reaching resources and technology. One option: Just run the story like an action-adventure movie. Keep this world fast-paced: One or more of the characters learn of a monster at location X. They are closer to it that any government agency or NPC bounty hunters. They have only Y minutes to plan their approach, their take-down tactics, their harvesting method, and how to get away clean and untraceable, then do the deed. The clock is ticking. . . Agents and soldiers who the PCs cannot win against are coming. Those who control them do not share power.
Campaigns like this are great fun when play time is limited.
I have a problem with a story idea and I'm hoping anyone can help me figure something out.
In my story, it's basically Earth as it is right now and magic suddenly returns. I'm using D&D as a basis for Races, Classes and Monster types. Around 60% of people transform into fantasy races, while a small amount of people get enhanced with magical abilities (i.e. a D&D Class). A small amount of plants and animals also transform into fantasy monsters, which is still alot of monsters. Our society is still going strong for now, but in a few years things are going to be so chaotic that our modern world will come to a end.
All monsters are imbued with magical energy that coalesce into a tiny crystal inside their heart. These tiny crystals are called Essence Shards and they absorb the ambient magical energy from the surrounding area. Essence Shards then release that magical energy into the bloodstream of the monster, giving them their magical abilities.
Essence Shards can be used for one of four things, those things are:
1. They can completely replace the Material Components for Spell Components.
2. They can completely replace the Material Components for Magic Item Crafting.
3. They can be used as a form of Currency.
4. They can be used for Leveling Up.
Using Essence Shards to level up can be done by just harvesting them for dead monsters, then absorbing the magical energy into your body. Once you've obviously gained enough XP, you level up.
My Question
If I'm using our current world for the setting of my story, how would my main character (a nobody) collect Essence Shards from monsters to level up if the government is constantly arriving to the locations of monster attacks and confiscating the monster carcasses?
Also, there will be several high government officials who will be Enhanced. They will steal Essence Shards that the military recovers from people and use them to level up themselves.
You likely are going to want to set your story not when the things are carrying in “for now”, but after the “modern world comes to an end” part. You can then place your story in a geographic location where governmental entities (or the remnants of them) are likely to be less active or have slower response times. This could include places that are far from population centres (Alaska and the Canadian wilderness, the more remote parts of Appalachia, Siberia, Patagonia, etc.) or places that, in the current world, are already in failed state status or on the verge of governmental collapse (though this is a more risky situation to build off of, as the game could easily veer into stereotyping and racism if players are not familiar with the cultures of these locations).
Your goal should be to find a geographic local where the pluses might still run into conflict with the government or quasi-governmental entities on occasion, but where they are still likely to be the first responders to a majority of incidents.
You might even want to flash forward more than a couple years, and go a few decades or centuries into the world - something recognisable to the players as the real world, but which gives you more leeway and creative freedom in how the world has developed and more time for governmental collapse. Think the Fallout franchise, particularly Fallout 3, where there is still a recognisable world, but the governmental agencies and ecology has had sufficient time to evolve and reinvent itself.
I'll definitely use your idea for future events, but I would really like to start things off at the beginning and slowly build towards that apocalyptic type of monsters and magic setting.
You should take a look at shadowrun. Even if you don’t play the system, the lore is really cool and describes a world just like you’re imagining. Except with cybernetics and dystopian mega - corporations.
Also, I’m pretty sure the guys who made d20 modern for 3.x have or had a Kickstarter to update it to 5e. It may work better than re-skinning everything.
I think your first question is along the same lines as "if it is illegal to shoot deer, how does someone eat venison?"
They buy them. Or they find them dead and take them home. Or they ignore the rules and shoot the deer illegally.
If the nobody is attacked by a small monster and manages to kill them (or a large monster and uses the world to kill it, like a tree falling on it) then they can collect it before the gummerment arrives to confiscate it. Another option would be a fall - the monster grabs them, they both fall off a cliff, and the monster breaks their fall. They are right there when the monsters crystal is released, and absorb it inadvertantly, making them a fugitive from the government.
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I agree with the inadvertent absorption idea. Your nobody MC just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time (or the right place at the right time?) Perhaps two rival (illegal) enhanced gangs duke it out in the street, and the MC is caught in the middle when they happen upon a crystal. Then either the government is looking for missing crystals, or the illegal gangs are looking for their missing one. Either way, the plot drives forward.
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
As a DM, one could certainly run a campaign while the powerful still hold world-reaching resources and technology. One option: Just run the story like an action-adventure movie. Keep this world fast-paced: One or more of the characters learn of a monster at location X. They are closer to it that any government agency or NPC bounty hunters. They have only Y minutes to plan their approach, their take-down tactics, their harvesting method, and how to get away clean and untraceable, then do the deed. The clock is ticking. . . Agents and soldiers who the PCs cannot win against are coming. Those who control them do not share power.
Campaigns like this are great fun when play time is limited.