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View Full Version : Need help with a campaign idea (d20 Modern/Future/Urban Arcana)



Gralamin
2009-01-12, 11:16 PM
Players in my Real Life games please stay out, as this thread may contain spoilers. Thanks.

A bit of background on the campaign is necessary to understand what I need help with. It is sometime in the late 21st century. Humans have just recently reached PL 7, and their first colonizations outside of the Sol System has begun. Humans have reached terrific military heights, using mecha to defend their colonies, having cloned, cybernetic, and even robotic individuals becoming common place. In all ways it is a time of technology.

But not all are happy with this. Many magical creatures who have been stranded on Earth wish to return the world to "the way nature intended", a medieval society where magic reigns supreme. There are few of these creatures, usually in shadow cabals, working to undermine The Ordinated Empire.

A few notes: I'm using the "Technology and Magic don't mix" idea - simple technology such as computers, cellphones and such can be infused with magic with minimal risk, but infusing a mecha's laser cannon might cause something to go horribly wrong.

Another important note is that players will be in both sides of the conflict, split about equally. The Shadow Cabals will of been infiltrating the Military in hopes of using it against the Empire, and the group starts out as one squad of mecha pilots.

I have quite a few ideas for how this will go story wise, but what I'm concerned about is the eventual Player vs Player combat due to the clash of ideals (something my players are interested in trying). To that end, I'm trying to figure out how to balance magic and technology. Books I plan to use are D20 Modern, D20 Future, D20 Future Tech, Urban Arcana.

A few main concerns:

Will mages on their own be enough to combat mecha? (I'm guessing not)
Are Incanations balanced? Will they give the mages the edge they need?
How best would I balance magically editing Mecha? It is supposed to be risky, but might give a mage the edge they need against a normal pilots skill.
Any other suggestions for this campaign would be welcomed.

Prometheus
2009-01-12, 11:50 PM
I don't know much about the mechanics, but I think the Magic and Technology don't mix strategy is a very good choice. I recommend ever so often having something or someone that breaks the rule completely: A captain who disables the spaceships dampening systems so he can "hear" space, a robot who learns to feel for just a moment, a technological device that scans for magic, planets also have different magical environments, a gun with holy silvered bullets, etc. As long as you leave it erratic rather than regular (as you hinted earlier) than you will leave the door open for a lot of plot hooks and a some player creativity.

Gralamin
2009-01-12, 11:55 PM
I don't know much about the mechanics, but I think the Magic and Technology don't mix strategy is a very good choice. I recommend ever so often having something or someone that breaks the rule completely: A captain who disables the spaceships dampening systems so he can "hear" space, a robot who learns to feel for just a moment, a technological device that scans for magic, planets also have different magical environments, a gun with holy silvered bullets, etc. As long as you leave it erratic rather than regular (as you hinted earlier) than you will leave the door open for a lot of plot hooks and a some player creativity.

Yeah, I was planning on doing things like this (Though I hadn't thought of all your suggestions), but I don't think it'll be enough to keep the sides balanced.

Dervag
2009-01-13, 01:59 AM
I don't know much about the mechanics, but I think the Magic and Technology don't mix strategy is a very good choice. I recommend ever so often having something or someone that breaks the rule completely: A captain who disables the spaceships dampening systems so he can "hear" space, a robot who learns to feel for just a moment, a technological device that scans for magic, planets also have different magical environments, a gun with holy silvered bullets, etc. As long as you leave it erratic rather than regular (as you hinted earlier) than you will leave the door open for a lot of plot hooks and a some player creativity.Nitpick: lasers and microchips occupy the same general level of technology and use a lot of the same operating principles. If one works and the other doesn't, it's probably because some wizard is doing something specific to muck up the laser cannon while leaving the laptop unaffected.

Suggestion:

Have magic jam anything that depends on quantum mechanics.

Electricity and magnetism still work normally. Radios work if they're based on vacuum tubes or simple integrated circuits. Slugthrowing guns work; even railguns might still work.

Lasers don't work. MOSFET microchips don't work (which knocks out any computer design more advanced than the 1960s, guided missiles, a lot of kinds of night vision gear...)

Radioactivity goes futzy, in whatever way you desire. Nuclear reactors and fusion plants, likewise.

Computers don't work. This is important, because it really screws with technologists trying to interfere with magic. At PL 7, everyone will depend on computers for a lot of things. Take away those computers and they are babes in the woods compared to ancient magical beings.
_______

Then, provide a way to bypass this. If the entire device is wrapped in some material (enchanted or mundane) in the manner of a Faraday cage, it is immune to the magic jamming effect. This lets people use technology, but only if they're prepared and they know the secret.

Also, make the effect relatively close ranged, except possibly when it is deliberately being used as a weapon. Your computer works fine until you bring it within a short distance of the magic-user.
_______

As for making the reverse apply... how about making illusions unable to fool artificial sensors, or laser light do to some supernatural creatures what sunlight does to vampires?

Gralamin
2009-01-13, 02:18 AM
Nitpick: lasers and microchips occupy the same general level of technology and use a lot of the same operating principles. If one works and the other doesn't, it's probably because some wizard is doing something specific to muck up the laser cannon while leaving the laptop unaffected.

Suggestion:

Have magic jam anything that depends on quantum mechanics.

Electricity and magnetism still work normally. Radios work if they're based on vacuum tubes or simple integrated circuits. Slugthrowing guns work; even railguns might still work.

Lasers don't work. MOSFET microchips don't work (which knocks out any computer design more advanced than the 1960s, guided missiles, a lot of kinds of night vision gear...)

Radioactivity goes futzy, in whatever way you desire. Nuclear reactors and fusion plants, likewise.

Computers don't work. This is important, because it really screws with technologists trying to interfere with magic. At PL 7, everyone will depend on computers for a lot of things. Take away those computers and they are babes in the woods compared to ancient magical beings.
_______

Then, provide a way to bypass this. If the entire device is wrapped in some material (enchanted or mundane) in the manner of a Faraday cage, it is immune to the magic jamming effect. This lets people use technology, but only if they're prepared and they know the secret.

Also, make the effect relatively close ranged, except possibly when it is deliberately being used as a weapon. Your computer works fine until you bring it within a short distance of the magic-user.
_______

As for making the reverse apply... how about making illusions unable to fool artificial sensors, or laser light do to some supernatural creatures what sunlight does to vampires?

Neat ideas, I might use some of this, but its to general, I want some spell effects to work, though at risk... Perhaps giving the Technology a "Magic threshold" - unless its around a powerful enough spell to effect it, nothing will happen to it (Well, maybe randomly explode from too much energy).