Decapodians and Donbots: Futurama in 3.5

[Bobby Baratheon]

This is an idea that's been bouncing around in my head for a while now, and the couple of people IRL I've brought it up with had decently positive reactions. Would it be feasible/fun to run a Futurama style campaign (if not straight Futurama) in D&D? I recognize that other systems would probably do it better (I imagine D20 modern would do it), but 3.5 is the system I'm familiar with and I don't particularly feel like learning a new system right now :smallcool:.

I guess my question is this - how, both conceptually and mechanically, could a Futurama-style game be run using the D&D engine? I imagine the Tippyverse wouldn't really be THAT different - I can see power-mad wizards doing exactly the same type of malevolent shenanigans that Mom/Farnsworth/WERNSTOMMMM! does.

[Troacctid]

Sure. It would be pretty easy. You have a spaceship that you use to travel to other planets to make deliveries. Each delivery is a self-contained adventure.

[Bobby Baratheon]

That's what I was thinking. I'm looking more for ideas on how to conform the Futurama universe to 3.5 rules though, like whether magic should just be labeled "science!", or which classes/concepts wouldn't work.

[Troacctid]

You have three main options:

Just power everything with magi-tech instead of future-tech. Robots become Warforged, blasters become crossbows, televisions become crystal balls, spaceships are powered by bound elementals rather than rockets, etc. You keep the tone and narrative structure of Futurama, but re-skin it as fantasy instead of sci-fi. (See also: Eberron)
Magic is now tech. You use all the same rules and stuff, except you hand-wave everything to be powered by science instead of magic. Robots are robots, not Warforged, but they use Warforged stats. Blasters are blasters, not longbows, but they use longbow stats. Basically just take D&D and describe everything as if it were sci-fi instead of fantasy.
Throw out most of the existing D&D material and build brand-new homebrew options to replace it.

Personally, I would go with option 1, but option 2 has its merits. I would not use option 3, since it's clearly way too much work for everyone involved.

[Bobby Baratheon]

Yeah option 3 sounds like WAY too much to do. . . I hadn't really thought of the Eberron analogue (which is weird, cause I like Eberron stuff in general). That could definitely get done what I want to do. Do you think there would be any major problems with using an option 2 type approach?

[Cosi]

Yeah option 3 sounds like WAY too much to do. . . I hadn't really thought of the Eberron analogue (which is weird, cause I like Eberron stuff in general). That could definitely get done what I want to do. Do you think there would be any major problems with using an option 2 type approach?

Not really. You're basically just waving your hands and declaring "the fluff changes." Honestly, I think you'd probably get the best results out of 1. and playing in a Planescape/Spelljammer hybrid with the silliness factor of Spelljammer turned up significantly.

[Bobby Baratheon]

I'm not super familiar with Spelljammer. . . is any version of it available online?

[Troacctid]

I'm not super familiar with Spelljammer. . . is any version of it available online?

Here (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TabletopGame/Spelljammer) is an overview. But all you really need to know is that it's a D&D setting that includes space travel.

[Eisfalken]

There should be some rules in... Lords of Madness for pseudo-illithid folks, that would be okay for your Decapodians. Warforged = robots pretty straight up, at least for the mostly humanoid ones like Bender.

If you just can't use wands/staves for ray-guns, Forgotten Realms has a three-shot dart "pistol" in... Underdark book, I think? You can make enchanted versions of it that do the trick nicely. But seriously, I'd just stick to wands that fire spells requiring ranged attack rolls (the various orb and ray spells).

Otherwise, there's seriously no big work to do. You can kind of use Eberron mostly straight-up due to the "magi-tek" already built into the setting. Just base the whole campaign in Sharn (towers = skyscrapers), and there's even a river there to put the Planet Khorvaire Express building next to.

[Cosi]

I don't think doing it in Sharn is a good idea. A lot of Futurama involves visiting distant planets with idiosyncratic shticks or being in spaceships (by my count seven out of thirteen episodes from season one are off earth for most of the plot, though some of those are a bit of a stretch). Even the parts that don't involve a lot of people from other planets. I would probably go with Sigil (probably minus the Lady of Pain) for home base, because it seems a lot more connected with the multiverse than Sharn does. Also, I think Eberron is too low magic for fantasy Futurama.

[Troacctid]

You don't need to use an established setting. Just have the home base be a major metropolis like New New York and you're fine.

[Bohandas]

You could greatly simplify things if you set it in the fantasy world from the third movie.

[Bobby Baratheon]

I'm leaning towards going for more of a Tippyverse base, but on a planetary basis. Some planets will have high tech/magic (like the Tippy mega cities), others will be more low tech or just straight untamed wilderness. I'm thinking wandguns would solve the raygun problem pretty nicely, and if I'm feeling particularly lazy I can just steal the high tech weapons from the DMG and add other stuff.
Also, isn't there a Ravenloft scientist class that would be perfect for a Farnsworth like professor?

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj0v6Wsg_PKAhUBxWMKHa0KD_cQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fentertainment.howstuffworks.com%2 F10-mad-scientist-fails.htm&bvm=bv.114195076,d.cGc&psig=AFQjCNGUSqUxx-JpsvsznMFHi-sK3LRn2g&ust=1455393916312001

"He gave consent! You all heard him!"

[Geddy2112]

Tippy technoverse should cover it. If you can craft golemns and teleport planes, you can make robots and space travel. For a sci fi show, the planet express crew has to use gumption and mundane means to solve problems more often than not. Hell, the professor is a god wizard, and he uses a double barreled shotgun to fight Robot Santa, and a sharpened rock on a stick when the robots rebel.

Zap Brannagin can be the stupid evil charisma based leader, both a quest giver and sometimes unintentional BBEG. Donbot is LE standard mob, clerics get powers from the amalgamated faith church, or robotology (and if evil, the robot devil). It should port over well enough.

[Bobby Baratheon]

Man, I really hope I can drum up the players for this. This is going to be one heck of a game to DM. If they let me have a GMPC, a cyborg made from some random C-list celebrity's head in a jar attached to a warforged body would be awesome. I don't why, but Slim Pickens comes to mind as being an excellent candidate.

[Bohandas]

If you run any adventure involving Rilmani play them exactly like the people from Neutral Planet ("Your neutralness, it's a beige alert" "If I don't make it, tell my wife 'hello'")

[Eisfalken]

I would probably go with Sigil (probably minus the Lady of Pain) for home base, because it seems a lot more connected with the multiverse than Sharn does. Also, I think Eberron is too low magic for fantasy Futurama.

None of this makes any actual sense.

Sigil is the least likely city you can just zip in and out of; if there was anything big enough to move an airship, then the city could be invaded, and if it was stable enough to use any time you want to zip away to another plane... no, just stop. Sigil is out, big time. Lady of Pain says no, and since she keeps gods at bay, this one ain't happening. Sigil is "connected" in that there are individual portals that can be activated to go in and out of the city... and they are all precisely big enough for "people" to use (some, perhaps, bigger than others). Oh, and they require a key. You can't even summon/call stuff into Sigil, not unless the Lady says so. The answer is invariably "lol, no".

Eberron, on the other hand, has practically no limitations: there are rules about difficulty crossing planes based on their current "orbits", but that's pretty much it. So it might be easier to pass through one or more planes to get to another. But yes, you can plane shift the instant you learn that spell.

And seriously, did you just actually say Eberron is low magic?! Do you have even the faintest, foggiest clue what Eberron is? It's magi-tech, buddy. Levitating railroads, and airships, and towers higher than anything physics should ever allow. This setting is about two steps shy of magically-enhanced mecha at this point. Flying sleds in Sharn as transports. Christ. I can't believe you even remotely suggested there's not "enough" magic in Eberron to simulate Futurama. That setting GAVE us the airships that are even remotely useful as "spaceship" material. They even have cultural changes that almost perfectly emulate those brought about by introducing more technology to an archaic society. THEY HAVE ROBOTS, AKA WARFORGED, AS A PC RACE TO PLAY BENDER. I'm truly dumbfounded that anyone would look at any other setting ever and not make the connection there.

The old Planescape setting (i.e. Sigil) is far less Futurama than high fantasy; sure you got to other planes, and largely you walk or ride there like it was land travel. They had a few flying ships on specific planes, but very few, and they generally did not leave those planes. If you feel like going off the rails, Spelljammer is all you really can say is true space travel that would be the closest thing... but now you're talking about 2E-to-3E conversions that were never made official.

So. It's either a bunch of third-party stuff, house-made, or Eberron. Nothing else is really sufficient.

[Graypairofsocks]

This is an idea that's been bouncing around in my head for a while now, and the couple of people IRL I've brought it up with had decently positive reactions. Would it be feasible/fun to run a Futurama style campaign (if not straight Futurama) in D&D? I recognize that other systems would probably do it better (I imagine D20 modern would do it), but 3.5 is the system I'm familiar with and I don't particularly feel like learning a new system right now :smallcool:.

I guess my question is this - how, both conceptually and mechanically, could a Futurama-style game be run using the D&D engine? I imagine the Tippyverse wouldn't really be THAT different - I can see power-mad wizards doing exactlythe same type of malevolent shenanigans that Mom/Farnsworth/WERNSTOMMMM! does.

D20 Modern and D&D are (almost?) 100% compatible.
You could import some stuff from D20 future into your game to give it a Sci-fi feel if you want.

Here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/article/msrd) is the d20 modern SRD.

Here (https://web.archive.org/web/20130401114319/http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20modern) is an archive of the d20 modern material from the WotC website.

[Cosi]

Sigil is the least likely city you can just zip in and out of; if there was anything big enough to move an airship, then the city could be invaded,

WTF? Why has no one invaded New York? It's full of places you can land troops.


Lady of Pain says no, and since she keeps gods at bay, this one ain't happening.

That's why I suggested removing the Lady of Pain. Because omnipotent characters that exist only to maintain the status quo are terrible.


Eberron, on the other hand, has practically no limitations: there are rules about difficulty crossing planes based on their current "orbits", but that's pretty much it.

So it's better because it has no DMPC to smack people with, but does have actual rules that make stories harder to tell?


And seriously, did you just actually say Eberron is low magic?! Do you have even the faintest, foggiest clue what Eberron is? It's magi-tech, buddy.

Sure. But where are the people using fabricate to replicate industry? Where are the undead being used as perpetual motion machines? Where are the people using planar binding to bring in extra-dimensional workers? Right, they don't exist. Because Eberron may have a lot of magic, but it is not high level magic. The tech isn't even where we are today, let alone where people are in Futurama.


THEY HAVE ROBOTS, AKA WARFORGED, AS A PC RACE TO PLAY BENDER.

So does everyone. Remember the MM3?

[Graypairofsocks]

If you feel like going off the rails, Spelljammer is all you really can say is true space travel that would be the closest thing... but now you're talking about 2E-to-3E conversions that were never made official.
There is sort-of update of Spelljammer in Dungeon Magazine 92 in the Polyhedron magazine section of it.

[Bobby Baratheon]

How hard would it really be just to come up with some interplanetary stuff (by which I mean specific rules for space travel and ships)? I could probably even just steal it wholesale from the old Star Wars d20 game. I am kind of liking the idea of Tippyverse on a planetary scale, though. I might have to shake up the power structure somewhat, but then again the real power in Futurama was always really Mom (and other megacorps) more than DOOP. Privatized control of the food traps and other methods of production by evil corporations straight out of a communist's fever dreams should create a similar vibe to Futurama.

This is probably heresy for a lifelong D&D fan, but I'm really not too familiar with Sigil. I've been meaning to play Planescape for years, but I keep putting it off.

Also, would interplanar travel be an adequate substitute for interplanetary travel? I could just refluff the planes and have the PC's (initially) deliver stuff between different planes. "Welcome to Ebola 9, the virus plane!" instead of "Welcome to Ebola 9, the virus planet!" isn't really that different.

[Cosi]

How hard would it really be just to come up with some interplanetary stuff (by which I mean specific rules for space travel and ships)? I could probably even just steal it wholesale from the old Star Wars d20 game.

I assume the 3e update for Spelljammer has them. If not, you could try to hack the rules for boats in Stormwrack (IDK if those are good though).


This is probably heresy for a lifelong D&D fan, but I'm really not too familiar with Sigil. I've been meaning to play Planescape for years, but I keep putting it off.

Sigil is a city with a bunch of portals to various planes. That's the part that's important. There is also a bunch of deeply stupid Planescape metaplot that happens there involving the invincible omnipotent NPC who exists to maintain the status quo and rule the city, and various poltical factions competing to do ... something. I'm not sure what, because it clearly can't involve political power. I would, as I have suggested, ditch that because it is stupid and keep the portals because they are cool and contribute to a New New York-esque metropolitan feel.


Also, would interplanar travel be an adequate substitute for interplanetary travel? I could just refluff the planes and have the PC's (initially) deliver stuff between different planes. "Welcome to Ebola 9, the virus plane!" instead of "Welcome to Ebola 9, the virus planet!" isn't really that different.

I think you absolutely want inter-planar instead of inter-planetary travel if you're doing Fantasy Futurama (rather than Futurama with 3.5's ruleset). Shoehorning planets in seems unnecessary to me when D&D has so many planes. You can deliver doomsday devices to Demon generals in the Blood War, sell decanters of endless water to Athas (Dark Sun), do something involving emo vampires in Ravenloft, laugh at the uncultured heathens of Generic Fantasy Setting, visit planes made of <arbitrary substance> and aligned with <arbitrary philosophy>, or trade in cities filled with whatever crazy magic you can imagine. There's even the Astral Plane for a space analogue.

[Bohandas]

Sigil is a city with a bunch of portals to various planes. That's the part that's important. There is also a bunch of deeply stupid Planescape metaplot that happens there involving the invincible omnipotent NPC who exists to maintain the status quo and rule the city, and various poltical factions competing to do ... something. I'm not sure what, because it clearly can't involve political power. I would, as I have suggested, ditch that because it is stupid and keep the portals because they are cool and contribute to a New New York-esque metropolitan feel.

To me, the fact that everyone considers it more significant than it actually is contributes more to it's New York-esque feel than anything else.

[Bobby Baratheon]

Which plane (if any) is Sigil in? I might not incorporate that wholesale, but I like the idea of an interplanar travel hub . I could even just say that they have to travel through the Astral plane as an intermediary for interplanar travel rather than just use the spells. That would contribute to the delivery boy vibe.

[Cosi]

Which plane (if any) is Sigil in? I might not incorporate that wholesale, but I like the idea of an interplanar travel hub . I could even just say that they have to travel through the Astral plane as an intermediary for interplanar travel rather than just use the spells. That would contribute to the delivery boy vibe.

The Outlands, it's in the 3.5 DMG, IIRC.

[Graypairofsocks]

How hard would it really be just to come up with some interplanetary stuff (by which I mean specific rules for space travel and ships)? I could probably even just steal it wholesale from the old Star Wars d20 game.

D20future has rules for them if you want.

[Eisfalken]

WTF? Why has no one invaded New York? It's full of places you can land troops.

First, this is a strawman argument that has nothing to do with the fact that Sigil literally restricts all forms of travel, end of discussion.

Second, New York is the least tactically useful city to waste effort on. Explain even ONE tactical advantage to invading it. It has little to no useful manufacturing, the port is only for commercial traffic which can be stopped via blockade, and taking over any of the nearby military assets not actually in New York (or just hitting D.C. itself) nullifies whatever... threat you seem to think New York would ever actually pose to an invading army.

Your logic is bad, and you should feel bad.


That's why I suggested removing the Lady of Pain. Because omnipotent characters that exist only to maintain the status quo are terrible.

Except again, you fail at logic. You can't merely remove the Lady of Pain; you have to account for why any of the planar creature factions (devil, demons, angels, etc.) wouldn't invade, conquer, and fortify that city as their private domain.

This isn't like invading New York, which has no real value strategically. If Sigil has access to planes normally closed to various players in the cosmology, then it becomes Bastogne, not New York. If you knew why the Battle of the Bulge had been fought in the first place, or that that town was attacked in almost every major European conflict in history, you'd realize how foolish it is to permit open access to a crossroad area. Sadly, much like you, the residents of Bastogne failed to realize that... for multiple generations.


So it's better because it has no DMPC to smack people with, but does have actual rules that make stories harder to tell?

No, Eberron is better because the difficulty of travel is comparable to the difficulty of, say, going from one end of the universe to the other: time and effort.

As opposed to a place where you either have to jury-rig the entire rest of the cosmology of the Great Wheel, unless you are truly running a farce in which 99% of the entire cosmology is too stupid to know to invade and take over.


Sure. But where are the people using fabricate to replicate industry? Where are the undead being used as perpetual motion machines? Where are the people using planar binding to bring in extra-dimensional workers? Right, they don't exist. Because Eberron may have a lot of magic, but it is not high level magic. The tech isn't even where we are today, let alone where people are in Futurama.

Wrong again. House Cannith is documented right there in the books as having factories and production facilities, and oh look, some of them are in the bowels of Sharn. You don't need undead for perpetual motion machines, you literally have bound elementals for that which move vehicles without fuel or anything. They don't NEED planar binding for workers; they have/had constructs, which is why the warforged actually even exist: a form of cheap labor and/or soldiers.

Secondly, as far as the lack of high magic, Eberron was set up so that PCs would be the first ones to get back to that level. You're trying to say that because there are no high level NPCs listed, there can't be any, or that PCs aren't permitted to get there themselves. Just... stop. The game in no way restricts the acquisition or use of high-level magic, and only a total moron would even suggest such magic never existed, in Khorvaire anyway (you can't even play at that bad logic with any of the other continents, where big stuff is or has happened).

You know nothing about the fact they have elemental-powered vehicles and other machines, or that there are "regular" people capable of crafting/profession magic from birth or training. It is almost as if you don't know anything about Eberron.


So does everyone. Remember the MM3?

Tell me specifically which entry in that book is at all better than an LA 0 player race that requires no alterations to use. I can tell you exactly why warforged will be better than any example you can give me.


You're still wrong in several specific ways. Like, you literally do not know what it is you are talking about when you talk about Eberron.

[Bohandas]

I think the warforged were reprinted in mm3

[Bohandas]

Have you considered just setting it in Cornwood (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurama:_Bender%27s_Game)

[Cosi]

Second, New York is the least tactically useful city to waste effort on. Explain even ONE tactical advantage to invading it. It has little to no useful manufacturing, the port is only for commercial traffic which can be stopped via blockade, and taking over any of the nearby military assets not actually in New York (or just hitting D.C. itself) nullifies whatever... threat you seem to think New York would ever actually pose to an invading army.

Maybe that was the point? You don't invade centers of trade, because that is stupid.


Except again, you fail at logic. You can't merely remove the Lady of Pain; you have to account for why any of the planar creature factions (devil, demons, angels, etc.) wouldn't invade, conquer, and fortify that city as their private domain.

Why don't they invade the Prime? Could it be because they all want it and as such take efforts to ensure the others don't get it?


Wrong again. House Cannith is documented right there in the books as having factories and production facilities, and oh look, some of them are in the bowels of Sharn.

It's like you didn't read the word fabricate.


You don't need undead for perpetual motion machines, you literally have bound elementals for that which move vehicles without fuel or anything.

Because that is super different from trains. Wait, the opposite of that.


Secondly, as far as the lack of high magic, Eberron was set up so that PCs would be the first ones to get back to that level. You're trying to say that because there are no high level NPCs listed, there can't be any, or that PCs aren't permitted to get there themselves.

I'm saying the setting is set up without those things and collapses with them. Which is apparently exactly what you're saying, so...


Tell me specifically which entry in that book is at all better than an LA 0 player race that requires no alterations to use. I can tell you exactly why warforged will be better than any example you can give me.

The one for Warforged? Because I imagine that might be fairly good for Warforged.

[Bobby Baratheon]

@Bohandas

I thought about it, but honestly the "setting" of Cornwood just isn't that filled out. There's only two population centers that I can think of, and that's not really enough to base a campaign on. I would have to end up having to fill in the gaps with my own stuff, and if I'm going to do that I might as well just make my own campaign world.

[tsj]

You have three main options:

Just power everything with magi-tech instead of future-tech. Robots become Warforged, blasters become crossbows, televisions become crystal balls, spaceships are powered by bound elementals rather than rockets, etc. You keep the tone and narrative structure of Futurama, but re-skin it as fantasy instead of sci-fi. (See also: Eberron)
Magic is now tech. You use all the same rules and stuff, except you hand-wave everything to be powered by science instead of magic. Robots are robots, not Warforged, but they use Warforged stats. Blasters are blasters, not longbows, but they use longbow stats. Basically just take D&D and describe everything as if it were sci-fi instead of fantasy.
Throw out most of the existing D&D material and build brand-new homebrew options to replace it.

Personally, I would go with option 1, but option 2 has its merits. I would not use option 3, since it's clearly way too much work for everyone involved.

There is also steam punk, as I understand steam punk then it is not always powered by magi tech

[Bobby Baratheon]

Probably wouldn't be too hard to just combine magitek and steampunk, with steampunk being the mundane's answer to magitek. I already sort of do that in my current campaign, with steampunk power armor (although, to be fair, it's usually enchanted).

[Cosi]

@Bohandas

I thought about it, but honestly the "setting" of Cornwood just isn't that filled out. There's only two population centers that I can think of, and that's not really enough to base a campaign on. I would have to end up having to fill in the gaps with my own stuff, and if I'm going to do that I might as well just make my own campaign world.

Cornwood also has a very different feeling from the "normal" setting of Futurama. The style of humor is similar (obviously) but the setting is pretty much typical fantasy.

[Bobby Baratheon]

Yeah, it did get the dark humor down pretty well. The "Shank of dwarf?" scene was both hilarious and almost nightmarish, in the best traditions of Futurama.

[Cosi]

Yeah, it did get the dark humor down pretty well. The "Shank of dwarf?" scene was both hilarious and almost nightmarish, in the best traditions of Futurama.

My personal favorite is this exchange:

"Is that a hobbit?"
"No, that's a hobo and a rabbit. But they're making a hobbit."

[Bobby Baratheon]

That one had me laughing for a long time. It sucks that Futurama is over, although I recall hearing that Groening was looking for another network to pick it up. Hopefully that happens - another two or three seasons of Futurama would be amazing.

Back on topic (sort of), the Eviscerator commercial was pretty funny too.

[Coidzor]

Why hasn't New York City been invaded? :smallconfused:

It has been. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_and_New_Jersey_campaign) At least three times. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Amsterdam#English_capture)

During the course of Futurama, it's also been destroyed several times(hence the New New York part) and was conquered, along with Earth, by both the Decapodians and the Omnicronians.

@Bohandas: Yes, Shifters and Warforged were reprinted to be applicable beyond Eberron.

At any rate, I must confess I'm rather interested in if anyone has encountered any writeups for Decapodians as a race or has any ideas in mind for refluffing a race to use in their place.

[ganondorf50]

Sure. It would be pretty easy. You have a spaceship that you use to travel to other planets to make deliveries. Each delivery is a self-contained adventure.

you could easily use the converted spell jammer rules for 3.5 for this http://www.spelljammer.org/sj3e/