Beleriphon
2015-05-17, 02:20 PM
Hello all,
I've been playing through Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura again and got to thinking that 5E would make a pretty good engine for running a TTRPG version of the game. Other than needing to use the DMG to get the proper level of firearms going, what do you all think would work to make the game better to work with a setting like Arcanum?
Some of the thought that I had were making a Magical characters have Disadvantage using Technological devices, or they provide no benefie. Same of tech aligned characters they get disadvantage from (positive) magical effects don't work on them at all and negative effects like damaging spells they get advantage of the saving throws as applicable.
Backgrounds in 5E are actually pretty handy, since they mesh nicely with the way the backgrounds in Arcanum works, although without quite as many mechanical changes. I wouldn't be that much work to adapt them to 5E's way of doing a character background, especially with the bonds and such allowing an extra level of customization.
Of course the game has dwarves, elves, gnomes, halflings, half-elves, half-orcs, half-ogres and humans. I think the only one missing is the half-ogre but the goliath from the Elemental Evil stuff works as a good stand-in. That would leave figuring out if one wants tieflings and dragonborn characters, I can't see any reason not to include them but that depends on what you care to include.
So I suppose the biggest thing to try to work out is the new fangled technological devices and how they work with the rules. The DMG makes refernce to needing schematics for magic items, and I don't see any reason that this wouldn't work for crazy steampunk devices.
I've been playing through Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura again and got to thinking that 5E would make a pretty good engine for running a TTRPG version of the game. Other than needing to use the DMG to get the proper level of firearms going, what do you all think would work to make the game better to work with a setting like Arcanum?
Some of the thought that I had were making a Magical characters have Disadvantage using Technological devices, or they provide no benefie. Same of tech aligned characters they get disadvantage from (positive) magical effects don't work on them at all and negative effects like damaging spells they get advantage of the saving throws as applicable.
Backgrounds in 5E are actually pretty handy, since they mesh nicely with the way the backgrounds in Arcanum works, although without quite as many mechanical changes. I wouldn't be that much work to adapt them to 5E's way of doing a character background, especially with the bonds and such allowing an extra level of customization.
Of course the game has dwarves, elves, gnomes, halflings, half-elves, half-orcs, half-ogres and humans. I think the only one missing is the half-ogre but the goliath from the Elemental Evil stuff works as a good stand-in. That would leave figuring out if one wants tieflings and dragonborn characters, I can't see any reason not to include them but that depends on what you care to include.
So I suppose the biggest thing to try to work out is the new fangled technological devices and how they work with the rules. The DMG makes refernce to needing schematics for magic items, and I don't see any reason that this wouldn't work for crazy steampunk devices.