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Tyndmyr
2011-04-22, 02:11 PM
Well, I need to scrape up stuff for a D20 modern campaign. I've got ideas floating around, but none that I'm 100% willing to go with. I need ideas. Figure, WW2 to near future time frame. No magic. None set in the mideast. Beyond that, I have no guidelines. The higher the levels of awesome, the better.

Ideas?

TheThan
2011-04-22, 02:48 PM
Your party is a group of criminals, rogues. However they have changed their ways and now use their skills to fight for the average folks who have been wronged and can’t fight back. Sometimes someone just needs to apply a little Leverage.

Your party is a crack commando team that has been wrongly imprisoned for a crime they did not commit. However they promptly escaped into the Los Angeles underground where they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem and no one else can help, and if you can find them maybe you could hire, the A-team.

Your party consists of a team of specialist doctors and nurses that deal with the medically bizarre and impossible. Your mission? heal the un-healable.

Your party consists of a group of undercover police officers working to thwart organized crime…

Your party work for a prestigious law-firm. Your job? fight for the rights of the downtrodden and wronged. take on giants like big tobacco, big oil, the government etc.

Radar
2011-04-22, 03:36 PM
This plot-hook is partially taken from a particular movie (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105435/):
your party is a group of ex-bank robbers, who paid their due and do honest work now - doing security checks for various banks specifically (by sneaking in as actual robbers would). They got framed into a nasty robbery and either:
1. Someone offers them a dangerous job to clear their names (they either take it, or fight back).
2. They have to figure out, why someone wants them dead or in jail (they saw something they shouldn't in one of inspected banks?). This would require playing through at least one official inspection before the plot kicks in.
3. Find out, what was important in that particular robbery and catch those responsible.

Ronin (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0122690/) would be good source of inspiration as well - with or without PvP conflict. It's also an excuse for your players to not prepare any backstory. :smallsmile:

You start as a group of homeless beggers - each with a different reason for falling out of societies margin, but with a common goal: get back on top of the food chain.

Sillycomic
2011-04-22, 04:31 PM
Hitler never died in World War 2.

He actually just went underground. The Chernobyl incident was a hoax to keep out prying eyes, this is where Hitler is rebuilding his military army with mostly robots and ninjas.

You are a group of hobo’s that accidentally stumbled across this plot. Can you align yourself with newly re-generated super inteligent clone dinosaurs built from of an industrial lab in order to stop this new Nazi threat?

Also… Hitler should be the father of at least one of the fellow adventurers. Possibly all of them.

What?

Hitler has an amazing disguise kit.

Yora
2011-04-22, 04:36 PM
A razor and a comb. :smallbiggrin:

Well, I need to scrape up stuff for a D20 modern campaign. I've got ideas floating around, but none that I'm 100% willing to go with. I need ideas. Figure, WW2 to near future time frame. No magic.
Just no magic, or no really weired stuff? Introducing one extremely fantastic ultra technology into an otherwise ordinary modern world has been all the rage in recent years.

On the lower end you can have a lot of (somewhat morbid) fun with brainwashing experiments in post-soviet eastern Europe.

Geddoe
2011-04-22, 05:22 PM
Saints Row 1 or 2, the Pen and Paper version or a variation. Your characters are criminals trying to take over a city(possibly from worse criminals).

Maybe combine it with cop villains cut from the Vic Mackey cloth, where they think they can lean on the players until the players find a way to get them off their backs

jseah
2011-04-22, 05:47 PM
An Artificial Intelligence scientist wants to hire the players to carry around a phone. They have to keep the camera on and keep it's batteries charged, as well as find interesting places and experiences to go to all over the world.

The AI is trying to learn about the world and progresses extremely rapidly. It's not malicious and behaves similarly to a young and curious human child.
As they do so, the AI back at the lab gains in intelligence. Hidden among the AI's respect and worship for it's creator is hidden a piece of code that keeps it loyal to the lab that one day aims to take over the world after the singularity has happened.

Yora
2011-04-22, 06:27 PM
And three words before the end, you slipped into magic. :smallamused:

Acanous
2011-04-22, 07:32 PM
The president has been kidnapped by ninjas.
Are you bad enough dudes to rescue the president?

(I can't believe nobody else posted this)

jseah
2011-04-23, 05:40 AM
And three words before the end, you slipped into magic. :smallamused:
The end doesn't have to happen on screen. It's just a really really long term plan that has some serious ethical questions that the characters have to deal with.

It's quite obvious even if I don't put it in. Any strong AI given control of the manufacturing and mining processes needed to make more computers for the AI results in a singularity.
A loyalty code? I wonder what that could be used for? Heh.
- It also gives the creators a reason to do it in the first place.

Conners
2011-04-23, 06:45 AM
Collapse of the United States Government? That could be particularly good for a semi/fully-free-roaming game, in that you'd have multiple factions and elements to consider:

Government Remnants. The cops and other such people trying to repair the government. Probably have excellent people and technology (SWAT Police), but not a lot of manpower. Could be spread very thinly across America, meaning their attempts to keep order are ineffective (meaning they'd welcome mercenary/player help).

Warlords and Gangs. Like African Warlords, the gangs take a more militant role in life, some controlling large areas with military efficiency. Loads of manpower, loads of fire-power (albeit: not fancy weapons, just lots of them), and a lot of inner and outer conflicts (fight other gangs, gangs splitting into new gangs, vying for power, etc.).

New Government Movement. Similar to the Remnants, I imagine. These guys see a chance to seize power. Now, you could do a lot with them: You could make them communist (perhaps secretly), have them better, worse, or equally bad/good as the old government, and even link them in to conspiracies behind the fall of America's government.

Citizens Movements. Tons of these could dot the nation. Anything from just a community trying to survive rough situation (if the farms stop shipping goods, food will be scarce in non-farm areas eventually, for example), to armed citizens defending themselves against gangs (or coordinated effort to appease gang-leaders), to cults/tribe-like groups who are crazy.

Invasion Faction(s). You'd need a reason why these guys haven't taken America already. Be they whatever nation, it could be a problem of war with other places stalling them, America not seeming much of a threat currently while they're distracted by something else, fear that there is still the chance of a nuclear retaliation, or life left in the American army.
Regardless of why they haven't taken the US, their role would be either the sudden, or gradual occupation of the players' area. You could have them as a looming threat which the players need to unite the people against, or you could have the campaign change in a sudden burst (with the players becoming rebels... or supporting the invaders).

American Army. If these guys are the reason the Invasion Faction(s) haven't zoomed in, they will have some role in the story. It's a matter of whether they are off-screen till the Happily Ever After ending, or whether a small portion of the army is still present to interact with.
If the later case, I'd suggest having it that the army is acting of their own accord, with the government collapsed (you could have a quest to bring a government back into power--one of your own players could even run for president!). The idea would be that the General in charge realizes they don't have the manpower to maintain America while also fighting the enemy--so they have only key points under martial law and military control (like farms so they can keep up supply lines).
Certain outposts (and certain soldiers) of the Army faction could be corrupted, considering the poor circumstance. Slave-like treatment of farmers, working with gangs, and general embezzlement, as an examples. Other than those bad-eggs, I imagine the norm as being nervous, but helpful.


That's the idea. You could make it in the past: "What if Hitler kept power, and the war went on to breaking point!?" This could explain why there isn't much invasion, since the Nazis would still be fighting Russians. Of course, I do wonder how realistic the warlords concept would be for 1940s America... might need to dump it for the larger part of it (unless things are REALLY desperate somehow).

You could also make it the recent past (IE: What if four years ago a bunch of crazy stuff happened, which lead to the collapse of the government and an awesome game scenario?), or the near future (could really scare them with conspiracy stuff, depending).

Solaris
2011-04-23, 11:21 AM
I've done something similar to Conner's suggestion. It worked out rather well.

Conners
2011-04-24, 02:04 AM
That's an interesting coincidence.

How fun/awesome/etc. was the campaign, would you say (wondering how my setting idea works out in practice)?

Gnoman
2011-04-24, 02:36 AM
I've tried running a shadow war between the CIA and KGB that worked pretty well.

Talyn
2011-04-24, 08:28 AM
If you like semi-post-Apoc, but with lots of people and a semi-functioning state, you could set it Just Before the End - things are collapsing, but they haven't actually collapsed yet.

Maybe it's Mad Max (the first one), where the oil has run almost completely run out, and only the governments are hoarding what little is left for their own police/military/administration, and public order is breaking down as the economy collapses.

Maybe it's Dark Angel, where an EMP has wiped out all the non-hardened (i.e. everything that isn't in the Pentagon or the CIA) electronics in North America, plunging the U.S. and Canada into very large third-world countries.

Maybe it's Blade Runner, where environmental degradation + interstellar travel has left the world a polluted husk, filled with giant corporate headquarters and teetering, impotent governments, and where everyone who can leave has already done so, leaving the apathetic, the criminals, and the desperate to squabble over what's left.

All of these fit into a d20 Modern game, and they all can lead to the same plot lines - your little group of PCs can work to keep a little bit of order and civilization running in their corner of the world, or they can be looters and pirates out to take advantage of government weakness, or they can be highest-bidder mercenaries which play the factions against each other.

Fiery Diamond
2011-04-24, 02:43 PM
Hitler never died in World War 2.

He actually just went underground. The Chernobyl incident was a hoax to keep out prying eyes, this is where Hitler is rebuilding his military army with mostly robots and ninjas.

You are a group of hobo’s that accidentally stumbled across this plot. Can you align yourself with newly re-generated super inteligent clone dinosaurs built from of an industrial lab in order to stop this new Nazi threat?

Also… Hitler should be the father of at least one of the fellow adventurers. Possibly all of them.

What?

Hitler has an amazing disguise kit.

Did Dr. McNinja do this or is this just something that would fit in nicely with Dr. McNinja-style stories?

The1exile
2011-04-24, 03:02 PM
The year is 1972. A crack commando team has been sent to prison for a crime they didn't commit. Those men promptly escaped from a maximum security prison to the <campaign setting> underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them...

Do I need to go on?

Funkyodor
2011-04-24, 03:30 PM
South America setting could involve the PC's stumbling across something minor and get swept up into big picture issues over time. Like start out with them taking lunch in a cafe. PC's can introduce themselves and start some interactions, when some "damsel" in distress rushes in screaming for the police. Moments later in come some thugs/toughs to get their hostage back to ransom off. PC's can hinder/help/take over the situation. Gives you as a DM experience with how the party will progress and get the PC's into a role/roll playing situation. It works for almost any setting/environment.

Radar
2011-04-25, 06:44 AM
Maybe some Cold War spy intrigue? Spies from both competing blocks are infiltrating each other's network and generally know each other ("we know, that they know, that we know") and try to keep everything as quiet and peaceful as it can be in those uneasy times and still fulfill their orders. In such a strained situation even a slight problem can escalate into a total war.
Someone stirs up trouble (document theft, assasination, or whatever else) and obviously both sides of the conflict blame each other. PCs can find some disturbing clues, that would hint a third-party involvment. Now they have to unravel the mystery before the world goes down burning.

Tyndmyr
2011-04-25, 07:00 AM
Good suggestions, all. I believe I'm going to combine a few of them.

Step 1. WW2 just went on, and on, and on in Europe. I'm familiar enough with WW2 history to justify the changes at any level of detail required. Japan still got bombed at Hiroshima, but the bomber heading for berlin was taken down. The captured bomb + nazi atomic research = bad juju.

Step 2. Conflict tapered off into a cold war, with germany taking the role of russia. War has never officially ended, but actual conflict is rare now. Giant, towering walls surround most of Europe.

Step 3. Scientific arms race. With germany opposing the US instead of russia, there is a much greater focus on research and technology. The space race still happened. Both countries landed on the moon and have claimed territory.

Step 4. An idealistic researcher invented an item that makes guns cease to work. More correctly, it makes gunpowder, primer, and certain explosives detonate when within the affected field, though it's power requirements are such that it is a mostly stationary device. For unknown reasons, an independence movement attempts to use this device with obvious military applications to set up an independent government in the US.

Step 5. Enter the players, unwitting technology testers for the government who happen to be in the area. I can justify them having essentially any skill set whatever at this point, and it will all be useful. I also have enough potential material to stock a pretty solid campaign.

Nice!

Radar
2011-04-25, 08:07 AM
If your PCs would ever wander to Germany, then Vaterland movie might be a good source of inspiration.

PersonMan
2011-04-25, 08:41 AM
If your PCs would ever wander to Germany, then Vaterland movie might be a good source of inspiration.

One does not simply walk into Nazi Germany.




And yeah, that last idea sounds pretty awesome.

Yora
2011-04-25, 08:54 AM
The year is 1972. A crack commando team has been sent to prison for a crime they didn't commit. Those men promptly escaped from a maximum security prison to the <campaign setting> underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them...

Do I need to go on?
Duh Duh-duh Duh! Duh-duh Duuuhh...

Morghen
2011-04-26, 07:00 AM
Step 1. WW2 just went on, and on, and on in Europe.You should check out Final Blackout (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Blackout).