Worldbuilding: 1950s setting

[Morrison]

I'm developing a setting based on the 1950s and '60s, and I'm looking to brainstorm and kick around ideas for it.

What I have so far is that after the nuclear test at White Sands, the whole world started to get just a little weirder. Some people have been mutated into strange new creatures, lost worlds full of dinosaurs have been discovered in remote locations, extradimensional and alien entities have appeared, science has gone in a truly mad direction, and some people can just do magic now. Basically, everything that happens in scifi movies of that era is happening now. The tone is mostly pretty light and comedic.

It's mostly set in North America.

A few major power players:
-The US government, still the most powerful thing around, but its hold is weakening, and it's been forced to tolerate smaller regional powers as long as they pay the proper tribute
-The Decency League, the go-to Lawful Evil organization. A McCarthy-ite organization of moral crusaders and racists, with links to police unions and prisons, determined to restore America to what they think it's supposed to be. Despite their moralistic posturing, they have no problem getting devils to enforce their will
-The Fan-Addicts Club, a much-feared and little-understood secret society of monster hunters, good-aligned monsters, and those who use sinister powers for good ends
-The Buffalo Alliance, a league of Native American and Canadian tribes and reservations, who got really good at magic and banded together to become a major player
-The Wild Ones, a barbarian biker khanate who control much of the south west. Most of them dress like Marlon Brando, whom they venerate as a god
-The Beechwood Colony, a hive mind under the control of the alien from It Conquered The World, based in the small town of Beechwood, California
-The Seekers of the Deep, an Innsmouth-style Deep One cult in Palatka, Florida, based around the Creature from the Black Lagoon
-The Carandinian Bloodline, a cabal of vampires based in a remote castle in rural P E N N S Y L V A N I A
-Soviet spies trying to overthrow democracy, naturally

Also Japan is still recovering from an attack by the Tarrasque.

EDIT: Oh, and guns no longer work, so everyone has gone back to using swords and things.

Anyone have any other cool ideas for this world?

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

The Jetsons first aired in 1962, so maybe include the hyper-advanced consumer culture of Orbit City. Or maybe it's still being built during the campaign?

[Morrison]

The Jetsons first aired in 1962, so maybe include the hyper-advanced consumer culture of Orbit City. Or maybe it's still being built during the campaign?

I think once you introduce technology of that level, the whole campaign setting kinda changes. I would love to play a game set in a Jetsons-esque future, but I think it would need to be seperate from this world.

[Catullus64]

Are the vampires Quakers? Otherwise I don't get the heavy emphasis on Pennsylvania.

I would suggest adding high-magic elements that mirror the technological developments of the era. Sounds like you've already got considerations for magical elements springing from atomic tests.

Some ideas in that vein:

Household scrying vessels that serve like television, except people sometimes figure out how to Scry for real, and not just on the approved programs.

Advances in elemental conjuration make commercial automobiles more widely available.

Disease-curing magics as an analogue to the Polio vaccine.

[Morrison]

Are the vampires Quakers? Otherwise I don't get the heavy emphasis on Pennsylvania.

I would suggest adding high-magic elements that mirror the technological developments of the era. Sounds like you've already got considerations for magical elements springing from atomic tests.

Some ideas in that vein:

Household scrying vessels that serve like television, except people sometimes figure out how to Scry for real, and not just on the approved programs.

Advances in elemental conjuration make commercial automobiles more widely available.

Disease-curing magics as an analogue to the Polio vaccine.

I think a lot of these technologies just exist, unaltered. It's sort of an alternate history, rather than a whole other world.

The vampires are from Pennsylvania because it sounds like Transylvania.

[Catullus64]

Most important thing: Walt Disney masters dark sorcery to bring an army of his animated creations to life, and conquers all of Southern California. He turns it into a feudal kingdom, which he rules over as monarch. No points for guessing what this kingdom is called.

If you can't make a good dungeon or two out of that, I can't help you.

[Morrison]

Most important thing: Walt Disney masters dark sorcery to bring an army of his animated creations to life, and conquers all of Southern California. He turns it into a feudal kingdom, which he rules over as monarch. No points for guessing what this kingdom is called.

If you can't make a good dungeon or two out of that, I can't help you.

I've definitely got to do SOMEthing with Disneyland, yeah. The one concern is I did already did a Pathfinder game with a super-dark, Bioshock-influenced take on Epcot so I'd worry about rehashing that a little bit, but I guess Disneyland has a very different vibe than Epcot.

Maybe, as Ian Malcolm warned us, the Pirates are eating the tourists.

[Catullus64]

I've definitely got to do SOMEthing with Disneyland, yeah. The one concern is I did already did a Pathfinder game with a super-dark, Bioshock-influenced take on Epcot so I'd worry about rehashing that a little bit, but I guess Disneyland has a very different vibe than Epcot.

Maybe, as Ian Malcolm warned us, the Pirates are eating the tourists.

A lot of your work is practically done for you. Disneyland is basically already designed like an adventure module, with corridors that loop around and funnel you through themed areas with distinct set-pieces. Except now those set pieces are traps and monsters instead of food vendors and rides. Check out a map of the park's layout circa 1955. It really is a masterpiece, and contains a surprising number of good lessons for any dungeon master.

For other parts of your setting, maybe the USSR is run by mindflayers? Just a thought.

[Morrison]

A lot of your work is practically done for you. Disneyland is basically already designed like an adventure module, with corridors that loop around and funnel you through themed areas with distinct set-pieces. Except now those set pieces are traps and monsters instead of food vendors and rides. Check out a map of the park's layout circa 1955. It really is a masterpiece, and contains a surprising number of good lessons for any dungeon master.

For other parts of your setting, maybe the USSR is run by mindflayers? Just a thought.


The problem is that I really like Disneyland, and turning the park into an Evil Lair feels wrong to me. Also making Walt Disney himself a villain feels a little obvious, while making him a good guy would feel weirdly sycophantic.
Also I feel like having a place with literal Disney characters walking around would basically turn this into a Kingdom Hearts game, or like I was having the characters show up simply for the sake of having them show up, like a crossover for the sake of a crossover. Not sure if that makes sense.

I can probably figure out something with mind flayers, though. They definitely belong in this world.

[No brains]

Maybe instead of guns not working for whatever reason, you might benefit from having guns, but they have somehow become very rare. This would give some PCs some neat treasure to find and certain bad guys ways to compete against the PCs and other factions of NPCs.

Also consider that maybe everyone was subtly changed by whatever incident started the setting. If you switch to regular hp rules, having guns won't be too much of an advantage for the groups that can have them anyway. The same way that a commoner just sleeps off a longsword hit half the time, maybe guns lost favor because they suddenly became less effective.

How much of the rest of the 50's infrastructure will still be around? Will there be electricity and water? Telephone, radio, and television? Cars and roads? Diners?

I think this sounds like it could be a fun setting.

[Morrison]

Maybe instead of guns not working for whatever reason, you might benefit from having guns, but they have somehow become very rare. This would give some PCs some neat treasure to find and certain bad guys ways to compete against the PCs and other factions of NPCs.

Also consider that maybe everyone was subtly changed by whatever incident started the setting. If you switch to regular hp rules, having guns won't be too much of an advantage for the groups that can have them anyway. The same way that a commoner just sleeps off a longsword hit half the time, maybe guns lost favor because they suddenly became less effective.

How much of the rest of the 50's infrastructure will still be around? Will there be electricity and water? Telephone, radio, and television? Cars and roads? Diners?

I think this sounds like it could be a fun setting.

I think it's definitely the case that most guns don't work anymore. A gun that, mysteriously, still does might be a solid plot point later on, yeah.
I'm playing in a game with guns right now, however, and they are very effective. Once you introduce guns as a regular part of a campaign world, all but the most incredibly-powerful melee weapons become redundant.

I think all the infrastructure is mostly still there for most of the setting. Diners are probably the equivalent to the ubiquitous inns in other settings.