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View Full Version : Wal Mart - When Toys Take Over (Campaign Idea)



imp_fireball
2009-12-18, 11:45 PM
The Platform - D&D 3.5

The Content - Cyberpunk D&D adventure, expanding on an original RP about Wal Mart taking over the world. PCs are staff in a major chain of warehouses, originally Wal Marts. It is essentially the job of the players to complete missions for the sake of the company, to keep killer toys on a leash and eliminate bad shipments (and not just toys filled with lead). Killer toys. That's right, the free world has developed such a craving for excess that EVIL is allowed to thrive. Toy depositories have become hell on earth and major retail is a filter for all of the ideas of depraved mad men that make it through in an effort to sell and compete on the hyper market of the internet.

The Premise -
It is the year 2099. Wal Mart has expanded into a mega corporate conglomerate, buying from genome research firms, and cybernetics, as well as acting as the official trash can for failed military projects that will, by some means be transformed into toys and resold to the populace as a means of helping the local government recover from its deficits. With online shopping having become the primary means of acquisition for first world citizens, the malls of the past have been expanded into labyrinth warehouses, many of which extend underground in sub-human conditions. The staff are enslaved into a whole underground network of bad asses meant to keep things under control and ensure that Wal Mart assets do not come to harm.

The Details - Pretty much all races (except the magically flavored, unless they can be changed in some way) are allowed. The staff are tough types, all originally human, but (if not human) having under gone genetic tampering to make them who they are.

Cybernetics are an addition to the game. Kinda like magic items, except that they require surgery, whether internal or external. The campaign is meant include comedy on the level of Dr. Mcninja, so over the top is alright as long as a power gauge is kept intact (ECL may be altered with the addition of certain cybernetics that are easy to acquire without purchase). Adding cybernetics is a process that takes weeks, however buying them to begin with takes no time at all (you begin with these additions to your character).

Since the money that characters begin with is limited, however, don't expect too much in the way of funky external cybernetics (the internal ones are more useful and essential for things like brain hacking).

Expect lots of funky weapons that can be looted. As has already been said, cybernetics take weeks to apply to a character, and so looting a cybernetic piece isn't entirely as useful as a weapon or armor (especially if it'll get stolen the next day).

Magic is banned from this game, and in its place is technology. High damage, traps, revivification, spontaneous body mutation, and other fantastic stuff will happen a lot at early levels, making this game quite different from your usual dose of D&D. Don't worry if the challenges are hard, if you work, you will find the equipment to deal with them (not every secret is in the old class features).
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As for classes, expect some new maneuvers and feats for martials. The skill monkeys remain mostly unchanged, as the new technology skills are there to keep them happy.
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Some Sample Equipment include -

Vibro Blade - Blade that vibrates at such a high frequency that it can cut through 'anything' - except something else that generates a similar frequency. Touching a vibro blade to that something else will result in something unfortunate like the blade exploding and the wielder suffering bodily trauma (reflex save or stun and lots of damage). So expect a lot of surprises beyond high tech = better = flashier.

Sniper Scope - Not only reduces range increment penalties by a number of increments (depending on the zoom functionality) but allows sneak attacks at any range (as long as there is no increment penalty).

Powered Armor - At the cost of higher ECL (unless you took the fighter bonus feat 'Armored Necessities', which lowers LA cost), you can be better protected by the hp and AC of any of these armors, as well as its extra functions, depending on the suit.

Computer Guidance - Computer guidance can exist in any form. Usually it applies to some sort of ranged weapon. Sometimes it guarantees a hit in certain conditions (except maybe on a roll of 1), while other times it merely offers a bonus to hit. Or perhaps damage - or critical confirmation - or threats. It all depends on the system.

Laser Sword - Laser swords can cut through anything, and unlike a vibro blade, they're quite safe - however they usually do less damage.

Micro Missile Rack - Dispense a storm of tiny, high explosive rockets in a given area. Very lethal.

Plasma - Very lethal, as a flame thrower agent, beam, or glob gun.

Rail Gun - Incredible Range. Combine a scope with a camera drone and a guidance computer to tie it all together, and the range goes right off the map - for more than a dozen kilometers with very little increment penalty!
Rail Guns can penetrate almost anything. If the shell is made to explode or expand upon impact with a computer specified surface, than the damage is incredible as all that speed is converted into force compacted into a given area. Other times, it merely penetrates and keeps moving until friction slows the bullet down.

Gauss Gun - A compact rail gun that also allows decent range and rapid fire viability.

Phaser - Fire bursts of radiation that disintegrate matter or shut off brain activity. Also good for intense radiation bombardment. Quite useful.

Big Guns - Bigger versions of guns using 20th century technological principles (chemical hand cannons), made viable with heavy lifting equipment such as powered armor and mechs. These guns can also apply ordinarily ridiculous principles such as rocket propelled bullets of ludicrously high caliber, loaded with thermite.

Scream Guns - The power of sonic discharge shatters material as well as ear drums. Great for hurting pretty much everything around you. Can be also tuned to affect creatures at certain frequencies (like dogs with their special non-human hearing abilities).

Freeze Guns - Guns fire unstable chemicals made to flash freeze the enemy.

Toxic Guns - Fire potent chemicals and nanites that devour the enemy, poison them, or drive them mad.
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Right now, I'm worried about how the classes will be affected. How can that be made to work?

I've already vowed to fix the martials with new maneuvers (and new disciplines) and feats to suit the technology and drastic twist to gameplay (since there's no magic, players won't be searching for spells to solve everything).

How should the rogue, factotum, etc., change?

I'm thinking the monk should be a lawful martial artist, with a belief focusing on transhumanism (basically integrating technology into meditation) - I'll have to think about that mechanically.

Hopefully, with technology, psychics will still have their own niche. Where technology and mundane techniques do not assist, players might search for the aid of a psion?

And, as you might have guessed, this is again a part of my continuing attempt to incorporate everything into D&D, beyond just fantasy (that's my fantasy).

Roc Ness
2009-12-19, 01:49 AM
While I have no idea how to help you, I feel it is worth comment that if your campaign fails you could write an epic novel.

That said, you don't have to set it in the future. You could easily make it a magic item corporation, and then you wouldn't need to change anything anymore. An old idea of mine was to have the corporation grow so powerful it became immune to such things as wars and politics, as people couldn't afford to get rid of the company as a resource. And while that was happening, the founders collects more and more power from magic items and collected artifacts until they could crush every single nation with sheer magic item might.

Zom B
2009-12-19, 12:50 PM
I had a dream once that I started to turn into a story but I just couldn't stick with it. It was about a guy becoming the new head manager of Trel-Mart (Wal mart in this story) after the last manager dies unexpectedly. Long story short, a race of flying insectoid humanoids lives in the spaces between the walls and the ceiling of the store that protect it and the other manager didn't get the chance to tell the next manager in line.