How Would The 4E Races Fit in A Modern Setting?

[Leliel]

Well, more like a near-future (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture) setting, really, but...

Basically, I want one of my 4E campaigns to take place in a world that has advanced in technology as well as magic, so it isn't that uncommon to see, say, Dragonborn-manned hot dog stands, or Tiefling warlocks driving trucks.

Anyway, I've already thought of how some races would fit in this new world, but I don't trust my homebrews unless someone else likes them (I want to know if my players might actually enjoy what I do before I go into a campaign), and I want to see other people's ideas, in case I like them better than my own.

My ideas:

Humans: "Calling John Q. Somebody! Is there a John Q. Somebody in the house. Besides you. And you. And you and you and you...

Eldarin: "Yo G, check out those annoying rich guys. Let's mug them!"

Dragonborn: "Does anyone want to join the Teamsters? We need someone to help us bury Jimmy Torin-er, protest low pay and working conditions!"

[loopy]

or Tiefling warlocks driving trucks.

Man, wouldn't that suck, making a pact with the Dark One for power and glory and STILL getting stuck in a crappy dead-end job driving a U-haul.

[hamishspence]

d20 modern might be a good baseline, maybe Urban Arcana. It provides an explanation for the creatures getting into the "modern world" and a reason they aren't spotted easily "the shadow" which basically means all supernatural creatures get disguised slightly. A dragonborn, for example, would look like a really ugly human.

[Klaz Eidron]

The CRPG Arcanum had some good ideas about this (Although that was more like the Victorian era rather than modern setting) were gnomes were rich bussinessmen, orcs and half-orcs were inmigrants discriminated by most of the population, and elves were mostly artists.

[disorder]

Man, wouldn't that suck, making a pact with the Dark One for power and glory and STILL getting stuck in a crappy dead-end job driving a U-haul.
Naw, these are demon trucks. Gouts of flame from the tires, leering devil faces in the grille, choking sulfurous exhaust, and when the engine revs you can faintly hear the screams of the damned.

Half the tieflings you see in those things aren't even hauling any cargo; they just like to drive 'em around...

[Leliel]

Naw, these are demon trucks. Gouts of flame from the tires, leering devil faces in the grille, choking sulfurous exhaust, and when the engine revs you can faintly hear the screams of the damned.

Half the tieflings you see in those things aren't even hauling any cargo; they just like to drive 'em around...

You sir, win the thread.

Now, any original ideas? I like the Arcanum and Urban Arcana baselines, but I want to here your own thoughts as well.

[Tengu]

Dragonborn-manned hot dog stands

The occupation of the dragonborn would depend on their type of breath, of course.

"Don't lightning breath me, bro!"

[Oracle_Hunter]

So, Shadowrun is your best baseline. Racism, tribalism, the whole nine yards. It depends a lot in whether you want this to be a "4e progressed to the future" or "current world with sudden emergence of fantasy elements."

Now, if you're doing the "progressed to now" I'm going with this:
- Eladrin rule the world with soft power. They are the CEOs of megacorps, living in heavily defended enclaves and making a mint off of their Magitek Cyberware. Down-and-out Eladrin are universally reviled by the lower-classes and as such are involved in the darkest and most sinister crime rings.

- Elves remain outsiders in the increasingly urbanized world. The Eladrin see them as their "savage cousins" and don't understand why they don't want to help themselves. They are the unassimilated of the metropolitan future, and the keepers of the old ways.

- Dwarves are often explorers and freetraders. With their natural resilience and their canny insight, they work best in the black markets, serving as go-betweens. Often, they ally with Halflings who are still outsiders in a medium-sized world.

- Tieflings are the main rivals to the Eladrin. They have the intelligence and the influence to do great things, but their human cousins have never accepted them and so they cannot rise to political high office. They run the #2 Megacorps and often try risky and unethical gambles to get ahead of the Eladrin. Down-and-out Tieflings are off as bad as the Eladrin, and often fight in similar circles.

- Half-Elves are often found at the top of politics. Though dominated by humanity, their natural charm and pleasing appearance has put them at the head of various human governments. They are the favored sons of humanity, which breeds an ugly underground of racism against them and the Eladrin.

- Dragonborn are strangers in a strange land. They're tough but scary looking, and their natural honesty has caused them to accept their lots as second-class citizens within human society. They take the violent jobs and serve as loyal minions for any variety of bosses.

Clearly, you can't use 4e mechanics for a modern setting, yet - it is far too melee focused. Homebrew something with D20 Modern, and run a Shadowrun-style game of dystopian "heroes" caught between the Tiefling and Eladrin megacorps.

[Leliel]

For those of you wondering (ie Oracle Hunter), this is a setting that began as a fantasy world, but advanced to a modern level of technology.

Also, nice ideas, OH.

[Oracle_Hunter]

For those of you wondering (ie Oracle Hunter), this is a setting that began as a fantasy world, but advanced to a modern level of technology.

Also, nice ideas, OH.

Hmm... well, another nice conflict will be Magitek v. Cybertech. I bet you could argue that Tiefling Astral Warlocks are able to use their Sacrificial Lamb Pact Power to advance technology tremendously. Meanwhile, the Eladrin just advanced their magical understanding until they could make and sell magitek to humanity. Make it a Ritual and boom, you have Wage Mages.

Dwarves are natural preachers (+WIS) so I'd argue that they are the only real "priests" still wandering around, since everyone else has taken up worshiping the Chrome God.

The real problem here is: why technology? Now, at least, you can make an argument that technology may have some advantage over magic - in 3e, not even a chance. Go with the Tieflings = Technology, Eladrin = Magitek and while Technology can be mass produced, people suspect that all this technological progress may have come at a sinister price.

Yeah... this could work. What exactly do you want to get out of this setting? Is it just "Dragonborn with Assault Rifles" or are there some themes you want to pursue?

[Beleriphon]

The real problem here is: why technology? Now, at least, you can make an argument that technology may have some advantage over magic - in 3e, not even a chance. Go with the Tieflings = Technology, Eladrin = Magitek and while Technology can be mass produced, people suspect that all this technological progress may have come at a sinister price.

Technology over magic is pretty clear cut in most cases. Build the thing once and it works damn near forever. A high rise construction crane may not be as fancy as some magical ritual, but it works, requires little training (meaning that some leveless NPC can run the thing) and can be move around at a fraction of the cost of using a building construction ritual. Does it take longer, it sure does, but then that is exactly why the unions don't want any magical building construction rituals going on downtown.

[Mewtarthio]

The main advantage of technology over magic is that everyone advances when you use technology. If you've got an epic archmage who can clean entire cities by twitching his eye a little, that's all well and good, but he's the only one who can do that, and nobody else will be able to carry on after he dies/ascends/what-have-you. If an engineer develops an improved sanitation system, anyone else can duplicate his work (provided they have the money, of course), and later generations will be able to improve on his design.

-----

I suppose we can't really think about the Dragonborn until we know what the role of Dragons will be. Are they all extinct or so rare that they might as well be? Are they CEOs and bankers? Did they never exist in the first place?

[Leliel]

Well, the idea was that this world began as a fairly normal fantasy world, until a practically-minded wizard by the name of Chaebol discovered electricity was not a magical phenomena while playing with an orb and a bunch of alchemy equipment. After using his new discovery to more efficiently power his experiments, he figured out that if magic has rules, they can be exploited in tandem with the laws of physics in order to combine the qualities of both for massive dama-er benefits.

In any case, he used his powers to invent the first generators, selling them to his kingdom to improve the living conditions of commoners, who with their new tools were able to overthrow the hated monarchy of Chaebol's homeland, with the man himself stepping in to form a new, hyper-capitalistic government. Under the direction of his company, the new state began a war of economic and national expansion, quickly overcoming any nation that opposed them with their superior technology, and trading the secrets of such science to countries that did the smart thing and allied with them. Before long, the nation had become the world's sole superpower, and Chaebol Electrics was at the head.

The game takes place about a thousand years after these events. The world has covered in cities, which themselves have merged into a spider-like web stretching across the face of the earth, called "Gomorrah" by it's inhabitants. The Chaebol Group controls this so-called world city, and is befitting of a group of megacorporations, have become slightly less corrupt then the government of Boris Yeltsin. Still, they do a fairly good job of running Gomorrah, and the city isn't a dystopia by any means. Still, crime runs rampant in the ecumpolis, and it is regularly attacked by monsters which, despite the best efforts of Chaebol, still roam the the wilderness in large numbers.

The PCs are members of the Society for The Universal Protection of Gomorrah (known in slang as the Ronin), a modern adventurers guild founded by the Sons of Mercy (who you Planescape fans may know as one of the component factions of the Mercykillers, now having split back into their own orginization). The official description of the Society is "modern-day mythic heros, now well-funded and cared for by a non-profit aid group", although a more apt description would be "humanitarian bounty hunters." Despite rather vocal criticism by Chaebol for being all too ready to accept actions that grossly violate company protocols, and allowed enlistment of known criminals (the Sons believe that everyone has a fragment of good that allows redemption in them, and that philosophy has translated into the ethos of the society), the Society is frequently the go-to guy for things that people don't trust Chaebol to accomplish (which is many of them), and a light in the sea of darkness that is Gommorah...Even if that light is overzealous, mercenary, and a bit shady.

So, do you like it?

[Oracle_Hunter]

Ah, Shadowrun, but with a simpler power structure.

Sure, go with it.

[Ceiling009]

i really like that setting idea... I've been working on modern and future conversions... but I think they're a bit wonky. Well the future stuff anyway. Like the thing about modern equipment versus fantasy equipment, which is the biggest difference over all, is that modern equipment doesn't at all follow the same rules as fantasy. Like heavy armor? the US' military heavy armor they fit the infantry with it weighs like 16 lbs. that's not even the same weight as hide armor; and it provides much better protection. To me the best way I think is to make that technological things, like guns, complicated pieces of equipment can't be enchanted, but do have the same masterwork bonuses as magic. I think it keeps tech and magic different enough.

[Bagera]

I see Teiflings as running the underworld, and having promonent places in the realms of politics, and law.

Eladrin would be working in academia and research, forming the best schools for both technology and magic.

Elves I see as basically running all the farming opperations and largely populated in the areas where civilization meets the wilderness.

The Dragon Born would be forming the core of the Military, Police and Firefighters.

Dwarves would be all about manufacuring, mining, and liquor just as their pappies were.

Halflings would be involved in the Shady areas of the law enforcement and the less shady areas of the lawbreaking.

Humans would be found in all the areas but not too concentrated in any one.

[kjones]

How do you plan to deal with equipment? Homebrew everything? Or just leave it as-is with a healthy dose of handwavium (gunpowder was never discovered/does not exist)?