Michael Hopcroft Posted May 27, 2004 Report Share Posted May 27, 2004 Would a modern-day fantasy campaign 9one in which both magic and modern technology exist, evles and dwarves and halflings live along side humans in the modern world, and the biggest banks in the world are run by dragons) be considred Fantasy HERO material? And how much more work would have to go into creating sujch a campaign than into creating a standard fantasy campaign? Some other questions about such a campaign: 1. Would orcs be considered people, and thus not be legally slayble with impunity? 2. Are there ways that magic and the Internet could intteract? Can you cast spells over the telephone betwork, or even over your cellphone? 3. Would magic neccesarily have to be secretm, or could it be public knowledge that there are sorceroers and magical creatures (just not neccesaily who)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted May 27, 2004 Report Share Posted May 27, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy It's possible that magic and technology developed side by side, or that magic gave the Industrial Revolution a jumpstart. Maybe it's used to power modern technology instead of oil or electricity. As for orcs having rights, it depends on whether society develops the way we did. Keep in mind there's still a lot of bigotry around today, so it would probably be around in such a world as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sketchpad Posted May 27, 2004 Report Share Posted May 27, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy IIRC, they speak a bit about Modern fantasy in FH, but, depending on the context of your campaign, I would imagine it could have something to do with a multitude of books As for your Qs: 1 - I would say that depends on your world. In my fantasy campaign, Orcs sit on a country's ruling council. 2 - Sure ... why not? Heck, you could probably netjack yourself into the web with spells. 3 - I don't see why not. Maybe people go to a seer or medium to get info on their love life ... or maybe people use magic gizmos in place of some tech ones. I've always been a fan of "The Government knows about Magic, but they don't want you to know" games Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travellerne Posted May 27, 2004 Report Share Posted May 27, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy 2. Are there ways that magic and the Internet could intteract? Can you cast spells over the telephone betwork' date=' or even over your cellphone?[/quote'] Maybe the internet is magic! Now wouldn't that be fun? Instead of wire and fiber optics cable, the internet is connected by silver/ley lines/fairie strands/rainbows of moving light/etc.. TNE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Obvious Posted May 27, 2004 Report Share Posted May 27, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy The old "little man inside the box" technology returned, huh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tancred Posted May 27, 2004 Report Share Posted May 27, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy A good source of ideas for this type of campaign would be the Lord Darcy books by Randall Garrett (Lord Darcy Investigates and Too Many Magicians are the only titles I can recall right now). No elves or dwarves, but a GOOD look at the modern world where magic exists side-by-side with technology. A main character in the books is a forensic sorceror. But technology also exists, though at a mid-19th century level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Major Tom Posted May 27, 2004 Report Share Posted May 27, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy Maybe the internet is magic! Now wouldn't that be fun? Instead of wire and fiber optics cable, the internet is connected by silver/ley lines/fairie strands/rainbows of moving light/etc.. TNE I knew I was calling it the Infernal Machine or the Accursed Mechanism for a reason... Major Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travellerne Posted May 28, 2004 Report Share Posted May 28, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy I knew I was calling it the Infernal Machine or the Accursed Mechanism for a reason... Yes, your computer is possessed! For real this time and that's just how it works. TNE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Jogger Posted May 28, 2004 Report Share Posted May 28, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy Maybe the internet is magic! Now wouldn't that be fun? Instead of wire and fiber optics cable' date=' the internet is connected by silver/ley lines/fairie strands/rainbows of moving light/etc..[/quote'] Great, now you too can have your entire spellbook hacked and uploaded to the faynet. Or worse yet, reformatted. "Of course, I backed up the spellbook. A year ago." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Major Tom Posted May 29, 2004 Report Share Posted May 29, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy Great, now you too can have your entire spellbook hacked and uploaded to the faynet. Or worse yet, reformatted. "Of course, I backed up the spellbook. A year ago." Or even worse yet, those rather interesting .pif (phantasmal image files)... you know, the ones you wouldn't want your mother to see ( ). Major Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travellerne Posted May 29, 2004 Report Share Posted May 29, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy Or even worse yet, those rather interesting .pif (phantasmal image files)... you know, the ones you wouldn't want your mother to see ( ). Oh man. I never was good at all those computer acronyms. I thought .pif stood for "pretty intense fantasy" file. TNE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Major Tom Posted May 29, 2004 Report Share Posted May 29, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy Oh man. I never was good at all those computer acronyms. I thought .pif stood for "pretty intense fantasy" file. TNE Heh-heh-heh... Major Tom I am the Cicadanator! STOMP! STOMP! SPLORCH! And another one bites the dust... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted May 31, 2004 Report Share Posted May 31, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy It's likely that law enforcement agencies around the world will have their own wizards. If everyone knows magic exists, there will also be laws governing the use of magic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ternaugh Posted May 31, 2004 Report Share Posted May 31, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy Some Magic is Secret books: The Serrated Edge series by Mercedes Lackey and friends, Based upon a little war between the Seelie and Unseelie, with high-performance racing thrown in. Mythology 101 and sequels, by Jody Lynn Nye, follows the exploits of a college student who discovers the elves living in the library. Harry Potter series, by JK Rowling, well, you probably know... Some Magic is a replacement for Technology sources: The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump, by Harry Turtledove, Follows an investigator for an environmental agency as he investigates illegal dumping of magical toxins. Recommended. Doc Sidhe and Sidhe Devil , by Aaron Allston. You can download Doc Sidhe free from http://www.baen.com/library/aallston.htm, but buy the book and support the author of Champions! "Cast a Deadly Spell", a movie following the adventures of detective Phil Lovecraft as he investigates a Cthuthulean plot. I remember a great scene where invisible servants are carrying luggage through a train station. GURPS Technomancer is a sourcebook for the rpg in a world where Trinity created a magical rift in reality. As with most GURPS products, it is easily transfered to HERO. JoeG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted May 31, 2004 Report Share Posted May 31, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy I've often wondered about running a modern day Fantasy RPG where the world suddenly finds magic working, and in the vein of Shadowrun, many people transform into 'not quite human' beings. I figure the transformation might be interesting if it reflected the inner nature of the person. I was unsure whether to have the tech just stop working (ala the old "Visionaries cartoon") and watch man kind struggle with a new dark age, or have it up and running, and plauged with supernatural aspects (Guns that slew innocents ending up cursed, computers and cars with gremlins etc..). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted May 31, 2004 Report Share Posted May 31, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy And let's not forget Witch Hunter Robin. That's another setting where magic is secret. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted May 31, 2004 Report Share Posted May 31, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy Aside from it's rather dubious socio-political historical progression, the effects of magic reappearing were spelled out rather nicely in Shadowrun. You had the Awakening; it caused a lot of panic and spread new magically-charged diseases, then people got over it. There are still cases of blatant racism against the "metahuman" races, which varies by degree based almost entirely on appearance. You still have crime. You still have vice. You still have everything a modern world does, except you also have some (slightly) higher tech and magic to boot. Shadowrun is one of those flukes, in the gaming industry, that works really nicely combining a pretty impressive setting with a really cool mechanics system. As much as I risk blasphemy, I think the combat resolution and damage system from Shadowrun is the best ever. Better than HERO. The authors made some pretty odd decisions on relative weapon damages, but a little reworking made a playable system that works both for the setting it was designed for and virtually any modern/near future setting. Now if I could just build a flexible and useful Powers Construction system into the Shadowrun rules..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damon_Dusk Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy Well, I would respectfully disagree with you on the Shadowrun system being better than Hero. And I'm a fan of Shadowrun, having played the game since its 1st Edition. It's very inconsistent in it's mechanics (Ok, is my target number the opponent system's rating or an abitrary number decided by the designer? Is my level of success determined by every success, every two successes, or a single success? Etc.). But I do love the setting, and I've done a conversion of Shadowrun to Hero. It emulates the spirit of the world of Shadowrun and works very well. But some of the ideas put forth in this thread are pretty interesting. I'm particularly intrigued by the idea that the internet is actually a "system" of magical knowledge accessed by those who possess magic. It's actually kind of interesting to have such a thing in a pure fantasy game with low tech levels. I guess I would put forth that depending on when magic was "discovered" and how common it is, technology could be severely handicapped. If everyone has access to magic in some form or another, I would think that technology wouldn't advance one bit further than that point. Unless magic could not be used to "simulate" technology, I would think that magic would effectively replace it (flying cars, horseless carriages, crystal ball phones, etc.). But by placing limitations on what magic can do, or if it wasn't an everyday appliance, technology could have advanced much as it has in the real world, though I'm sure magic would have had an effect on that as well (maybe instead of DNA testing, they have Aura tests). If magic was just recently discovered, then the events described in the Shadowrun history could be a great reference for determining how the world would change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy Well' date=' I would respectfully disagree with you on the Shadowrun system being better than Hero. And I'm a fan of Shadowrun, having played the game since its 1st Edition. It's very inconsistent in it's mechanics (Ok, is my target number the opponent system's rating or an abitrary number decided by the designer? Is my level of success determined by every success, every two successes, or a single success? Etc.). [/quote'] I'm really not trying to start up a game system debate and that would be very off-topic. I will say that every system I've ever run into has the things about it I don't like. However, beings that this is HERO's board and to stay on topic, I'm sure you could successfully emulate the Shadowrun universe in HERO. The toolkitting ability of HERO is very successful at that. I wonder if Michael Hopcroft could use your notes as inspiration for a potential modern day campaign with a similar, if distinct flavor. To change gears a wee bit, Ternaugh mentioned Harry Potter. While I personally find it oriented to a younger audience, I just couldn't get over the goblin bankers. That was way cool. I imagine you could pull from many sources and have a decently fleshed out setting. In fact, I've always been a fan of "mundane" fantasy, where there is/are layer(s) of reality beyond the apparent and readily accepted. X-Files and Millennium did a good job of peeling back the curtains a little to show that. Too bad X-Files evolved exclusively into an alien conspiracy series and Millenium was cancelled. Still, some good stuff to use as reference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Other modern fantasy games Has anyone checked out Mage: The Ascension or Changeling: The Dreaming? Those would count as modern fantasy (the others would be more properly classified as horror). Also, there is the Legacy: War of Ages game, which is basically a ripoff of Highlander. And there's Witchcraft, written by CJ Carella. I don't have that game, but I've heard of it. Edit: Almost forgot: Castle Falkenstein. I know there are some GURPS products out there (Technomancer, for one) as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy Mage: The Ascension has some cool concepts behind it. My biggest complaint about the setting is my complaint about all of the White Wolf games; the mood of the setting is very bleak. I like the trappings of a spooky world, like Ravenloft, without the constant bemoaning of fate. Mage, does happen to have that layers of reality beyong normal ken thing going. Some of the critters are almost Lovecraftian in concept and who can say "no" to that? I don't have any of the other products that you've listed, but it sounds like they would make a good basis for a "hidden world" campaign. I wonder if Michael Hopcroft is looking at something like that, or something a little more like Shadowrun or Castle Falkenstein, where the presence of magic is more overt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sociotard Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy Has anybody read The Knight of the Word series, by Terry Brooks? It's very good (and I don't say that about many of his books) It deals with a demon slayer, who uses magic, in the modern world. It features fairies, elves, dragons, etc all beneath the notice of the mundane world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy I haven't read it, but I think I might just look it up. I never really had a problem with his other books. They just were never that inspiring either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy Well, there's also Masque of the Red Death, although it's long out of print. That one has some low-powered magic, and if you cast a powerful spell, the Red Death may take notice of you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moshez Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 Re: Modern-Day Fantasy Welll, there are TV shows you can find useful, such as Buffy: the Vampire Slayer (and its companion Angel: the Series) and Charmed, as well as Sabrina. The world there has magic as a secret. Of course, Harry Potter is another useful world to steal ideas from. [Edit: someone already mentioned HP, and especially the bankers. However, I found the bankers to be the worst part because *gringotts* is not a bank, no matter how Rowling calls it. It is a place which offers safes for rental, except the rent is 0 and thus Gringotts is basically a losing business. Perhaps goblins have very strange tax deduction laws? In general, the economics of the HP-verse are unclear. Who pays the salaries of the Minister of Magic? Is there an income tax? And if so, why is there no mention of it? Is there VAT?] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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