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    PaladinGuy

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    Default 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    This is one approach to doing a movie, but I want to get more specific, this idea is what if we picked one person from our World and dropped him or her into the Forgotten Realms. Now I don't want to make this person a Mary Sue, but what sort of person would you want to send? Let's imagine he arrives on the Sword Coast just outside the walls of Waterdeep, perhaps he is washed up on the beach, perhaps he fell overboard from whatever boat he was on, and he expects to be somewhere in California, but instead he sees the City of Waterdeep, assume whatever transport him there takes care of the communications barrier and he can speak Common.

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    Default Re: 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Kalbfus View Post
    ... but what sort of person would you want to send?
    Someone I hated would be ideal - if I can only pick a type of person I likely list criteria to ensure it was someone I felt our world was better off without.

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    Default Re: 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    Ed Greenwood, since Elminster will recognise him and send him back.

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    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re: 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Kalbfus View Post
    Okay I'll start.
    ... his name is Fred Morgan,
    And what did Fred ever do to you? Chances are those people he meets on the beach kill him either because he is acting crazy, or he freaks out or he acts entitled and knowingly or unknowing insults them.

    Maybe the question that you might want to answer for the topic is what our goal in sending them there is?
    Do we want someone who will survive their first week?
    Someone who will be able to trive?
    Someone who will learn a valuable life lesson?

    If I am going to transport someone who is effectively powerless to a dangerous land filled with monsters and where rights are effectively defined by power (and I have no goal in sending them or stake in the outcome) - then I am going to pick someone who wronged me personally, if I can't narrow it down like that I will pick traits that I find unpleasant and banish a random person who meets those traits.

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    PaladinGuy

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    Default Re: 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    Just an exercise in your imagination, and I'm not talking about real people here. Learning a life's lesson is a good basis for a story. As for thriving, well that is part of the challenge, he is going to need to find food and shelter, the money in his wallet isn't worth much, the city watch intercepts him as he climbs out onto the beach, they ask him questions, and then leave him alone.
    Last edited by Tom Kalbfus; 2020-06-12 at 08:29 PM.

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    Default Re: 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    Teenager might be best, someone like a Hank, brave, honest and determined with the qualities of a good fighter.
    His best friend, say Sheila could be more shy and withdrawn, filling the thief role.
    His other friend Eric would be the counterpoint, another fighter, but more of a spoiled, snotty, cowardly type who's always hiding behind something. Good comic relief potential.
    Along for the ride could be a smarter, bookish sort. He's got a natural inclination for magic, but with his head more firmly planted in science, he's always messing his spells up. Let's call him Albert.
    Hmm, for more plausibility for physical acumen, let's add an olympic gymnast. Call her Diana.
    For a final character? Maybe a younger sibling? Headstrong, impulsive, doesn't realize the gravity of the situation they're in? Let's call him Bobby. Maybe give him an animal companion, they're all the rage.

    So what you think?

    It's been done? Really?

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    Default Re: 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    Quote Originally Posted by Dire_Flumph View Post
    Teenager might be best, someone like a Hank, brave, honest and determined with the qualities of a good fighter.
    His best friend, say Sheila could be more shy and withdrawn, filling the thief role.
    His other friend Eric would be the counterpoint, another fighter, but more of a spoiled, snotty, cowardly type who's always hiding behind something. Good comic relief potential.
    Along for the ride could be a smarter, bookish sort. He's got a natural inclination for magic, but with his head more firmly planted in science, he's always messing his spells up. Let's call him Albert.
    Hmm, for more plausibility for physical acumen, let's add an olympic gymnast. Call her Diana.
    For a final character? Maybe a younger sibling? Headstrong, impulsive, doesn't realize the gravity of the situation they're in? Let's call him Bobby. Maybe give him an animal companion, they're all the rage.

    So what you think?

    It's been done? Really?
    That's probably work, but the first time they met an epic level sorcerer or something it'll be a TPK. unless you have a Dungeon Master who just massively cheeses everything up constantly.
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    PaladinGuy

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    Default Re: 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    I was thinking a more mature themed movie, not made for young kids especially, not shying away from showing the effects of violence done with medieval weapons, not abstract hit points and all that. It would be interesting to have a teenager from our World as the protagonist, perhaps have him start out thinking it's a game, and then showing him the the real life consequences of what those die rolls represent.

    It would be a coming of age story, the character basically learns to grow up and deal with it, he could fall in love with one of the native characters that he meets while there, he makes some friends as well, a very diverse lot, but they think he is rather strange for being so sheltered from the realities of existance.

    The main protagonist learns to be a fighter, he has an expert teach him how to use a sword. There is a reason why he was transported here, it was no accident.

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    Default Re: 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Kalbfus View Post
    I was thinking a more mature themed movie, not made for young kids especially, not shying away from showing the effects of violence done with medieval weapons, not abstract hit points and all that. It would be interesting to have a teenager from our World as the protagonist, perhaps have him start out thinking it's a game, and then showing him the the real life consequences of what those die rolls represent.
    Probably best not to make it too realistic as otherwise all you'd do is be demonstrating what failed Fortitude saves against a proper 'all nasty' disease looks like and the story would be over in a couple days.

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    Default Re: 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Kalbfus View Post
    I was thinking a more mature themed movie, not made for young kids especially, not shying away from showing the effects of violence done with medieval weapons, not abstract hit points and all that.
    Do you want a movie that shows the effects of violence done with medieval weapons, or do you want a movie in the Forgotten Realms? D&D is very explicitly not realistic; characters can be outright gored and still be relatively healthy.
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    PaladinGuy

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    Default Re: 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    Quote Originally Posted by Peelee View Post
    Do you want a movie that shows the effects of violence done with medieval weapons, or do you want a movie in the Forgotten Realms? D&D is very explicitly not realistic; characters can be outright gored and still be relatively healthy.
    A spell can put that right, it can heal organ damage, so that can happen quite often in a D&D movie, a character spills his guts all over the floor, the cleric comes over and heals him, then the guy picks up his sword again and resumes fighting, maybe stepping into his spilled guts as he does so.
    Last edited by Tom Kalbfus; 2020-06-13 at 12:15 PM.

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    Default Re: 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Kalbfus View Post
    A spell can put that right, it can heal organ damage, so that can happen quite often in a D&D movie, a character spills his guts all over the floor, the cleric comes over and heals him, then the guy picks up his sword again and resumes fighting, maybe stepping into his spilled guts as he does so.
    I believe that the point was more that the gored character would not actually need to be healed to continue fighting as is nothing had really happened.

    To make it more explicit: standing over the sleeping body of a foe a young killer brings their dagger across the neck of their enemy - as they have done many times before, this was the best way to end fights with stronger foes quickly.
    Unfortunately for them they were an level 1 rogue who had previously been attacking level 1-3 commoners who tended to die when you did (((1d4+1)*2)+1d6) damage to them resulting in a fortitude save of ~20 to stay alive this time they were up against a level 20 fighter who would not only effectively ignore the ~10 damage easilly they would pass that save with confidence - and so our level 1 rogue gets murdered by an unarmed fighter despite the cut they delivered.
    The fighter then goes back to sleep all healed up by the morning.

    High level characters can take more damage then low level ones - not on account of them dodging, or being prepared or anything like that, but because they have more hit points.

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    PaladinGuy

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    Default Re: 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    Quote Originally Posted by dancrilis View Post
    I believe that the point was more that the gored character would not actually need to be healed to continue fighting as is nothing had really happened.

    To make it more explicit: standing over the sleeping body of a foe a young killer brings their dagger across the neck of their enemy - as they have done many times before, this was the best way to end fights with stronger foes quickly.
    Unfortunately for them they were an level 1 rogue who had previously been attacking level 1-3 commoners who tended to die when you did (((1d4+1)*2)+1d6) damage to them resulting in a fortitude save of ~20 to stay alive this time they were up against a level 20 fighter who would not only effectively ignore the ~10 damage easilly they would pass that save with confidence - and so our level 1 rogue gets murdered by an unarmed fighter despite the cut they delivered.
    The fighter then goes back to sleep all healed up by the morning.

    High level characters can take more damage then low level ones - not on account of them dodging, or being prepared or anything like that, but because they have more hit points.
    That's what you get when you have levels and hit points, there is a rule for massive damage though, if the rogue inflicts what is considered massive damage but not exceeding the total hit points of the opponent, then that opponent needs to make a Fortitude save in order to avoid death, if he doesn't make that save, thenmhe dies, but if he does then he kills the rogue and goes back to sleep.

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    Default Re: 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    A person in their 30s, who has undergone basic military training in some real world army, practiced some real martial art for 10+ years, done scouting, hunting and historical re-enacment/live-action roleplaying/paintball/etc. as a hobby, and played enough D&D or some videogame adaptation of it to have a clue of what Forgotten Realms and Waterdeep are.

    Or, in other words, an adult D&D player who has some actual merits and life experience, who isn't an academic nerd stereotype.

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    Default Re: 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    Quote Originally Posted by Vahnavoi View Post
    A person in their 30s, who has undergone basic military training in some real world army, practiced some real martial art for 10+ years, done scouting, hunting and historical re-enacment/live-action roleplaying/paintball/etc. as a hobby, and played enough D&D or some videogame adaptation of it to have a clue of what Forgotten Realms and Waterdeep are.

    Or, in other words, an adult D&D player who has some actual merits and life experience, who isn't an academic nerd stereotype.
    Assuming there is a D&D game in the setting where the character came from, and rolling dice doesn't prepare you for actual combat. Knowing karate doesn't help you when your opponent has a sword. Anyway you don't start out fighting the biggest bad guys around, your problems start out small. The new guy is not going to save the kingdom until he has spent time in this world. The real world army doesn't teach you how to sword fight.

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    Default Re: 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    Quote Originally Posted by Vahnavoi View Post
    A person in their 30s, who has undergone basic military training in some real world army, practiced some real martial art for 10+ years, done scouting, hunting and historical re-enacment/live-action roleplaying/paintball/etc. as a hobby, and played enough D&D or some videogame adaptation of it to have a clue of what Forgotten Realms and Waterdeep are.
    At that point though: why even have a movie about a person from our world going there? Why not skip the middle man, have a main character who not just mentally but also physically has lived there their entire lives.
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    Default Re: 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Kalbfus View Post
    Assuming there is a D&D game in the setting where the character came from...
    That's a low bar to pass for an actual 21st century person.

    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Kalfbus
    ... and rolling dice doesn't prepare you for actual combat.
    No-one fitting my criteria would think it does. That's not the point. The point is that knowing what things like "Waterdeep" and "Forgotten Realms" are prepare a person to act in those places just like a tourist guide would.

    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Kalfbus
    Knowing karate doesn't help you when your opponent has a sword. [...] The real world army doesn't teach you how to sword fight.
    You'd be surprised. There is no "the" real world army. There are real life armies, plural, with varying curriculums for training. Ditto for martial arts. Many of which would be applicable in parts to self-defense and military life in an archaic setting.

    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Kalfbus
    Anyway you don't start out fighting the biggest bad guys around, your problems start out small. The new guy is not going to save the kingdom until he has spent time in this world.
    And? No-one fitting the given criteria would jump to the conclusion that they have to fight the biggest baddest guys around or save a kingdom.

    ---

    Quote Originally Posted by Lvl 2 Expert View Post
    At that point though: why even have a movie about a person from our world going there? Why not skip the middle man, have a main character who not just mentally but also physically has lived there their entire lives.
    Because a modern person who has a clue is not equivalent to someone who has lived their whole life in a fantasy world. You could build an entire story around, say, contrasting real world military experience with how militaries work in the Realms - just like you could build a story around contrasting one real military's culture with another's.

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    Eldritch Horror in the Playground Moderator
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    Default Re: 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    Is this just an excuse to go Connecticut Yankee on the Forgotten Realms?

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    Default Re: 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    Well you could ape that plot, but it's not what I was thinking of.

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    Default Re: 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Kalbfus View Post
    Knowing karate doesn't help you when your opponent has a sword.
    In the real world? No, it doesn't. In Dungeons and Dragons? Yes, it does.

    It kind of sounds like you'd rather a D&D character come into real world medieval times, really.
    Last edited by Peelee; 2020-06-14 at 10:38 PM.
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    Default Re: 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    Quote Originally Posted by Vahnavoi View Post
    Well you could ape that plot, but it's not what I was thinking of.
    The world of Connecticut Yankee had no real magic except Hank's time travel to that period, once there, he had the advantage of future knowledge, and he was able to amaze the locals with his futuristic 19th century knowledge of engineering. The Forgotten Realms will not be so amazed by a 21st century man, as they have real magic, a modern man will have to adapt to this setting, and he will know stuff that the locals don't but they will know stuff that he doesn't. The main function of the 21st century protagonist would be to introduce a set of modern eyes to the setting to be a standin for the audience watching the show. The Realms would barely be affected by a modern person simply showing up, and there are characters in the Realms who may already know about our world, such as Elminster for example.

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    Default Re: 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    Quote Originally Posted by Vahnavoi View Post
    A person in their 30s, who has undergone basic military training in some real world army, practiced some real martial art for 10+ years, done scouting, hunting and historical re-enacment/live-action roleplaying/paintball/etc. as a hobby, and played enough D&D or some videogame adaptation of it to have a clue of what Forgotten Realms and Waterdeep are.

    Or, in other words, an adult D&D player who has some actual merits and life experience, who isn't an academic nerd stereotype.
    I’d just throw in Vin Diesel. The movie would be this action movie star who loves D&D gets sucked into a D&D world where he gets to be alternate between being cool and then fanboy over everything he sees.

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    Default Re: 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    Quote Originally Posted by Peelee View Post
    In the real world? No, it doesn't. In Dungeons and Dragons? Yes, it does.

    It kind of sounds like you'd rather a D&D character come into real world medieval times, really.
    If my character pulled out his cellphone in Waterdeep, he would express his frustration at getting no bars, a local noticing the glowing screen would just dismiss it as magic and pay it no more mind than it's due, a real medieval person would suspect sorcery and may accuse the fellow of witchcraft, may call out the Inquisition and have him burned at the stake, but there is no danger of that in the Realms, the main purpose of the character is to present the audience's perspective in the movie, he wouldn't be so special there simply for being from our World. There has to be something else that is special about him, that perhaps even he doesn't know about, maybe something having to do with his ancestry. Some agency was responsible for transporting him to the Realms, perhaps one of the gods, but don't make it too obvious!

    The guy makes some quick friends once he arrives, Waterdeep is not a hostile location for him, there are plenty of people there that would sympathize with his situation and would befriend him, but there are other powers in the world that have other plans, and they start to get involved in driving the plot. The visitor is going to need whatever friends he has to get through this and eventually return to his own world if that is what he wants.

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    Default Re: 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    Quote Originally Posted by Dienekes View Post
    I’d just throw in Vin Diesel. The movie would be this action movie star who loves D&D gets sucked into a D&D world where he gets to be alternate between being cool and then fanboy over everything he sees.
    I actually thought of that too, but didn't want to name a specific actor. But yes, Vin Diesel being Vin Diesel in Forgotten Realms would be pretty hilarious.

    ---

    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Kalbfus
    Knowing karate doesn't help you when your opponent has a sword.
    Quote Originally Posted by Peelee View Post
    In the real world? No, it doesn't.
    I'm getting kinda curious of what you base these kinds of assertions on. Yes, if a person's only trained in limited contact kickboxing under modern sports rules, that's gonna be of limited use. If they've instead trained in some traditional school, their training includes stickfighting (bo) , and even period swordsmen agreed that hitting people with a long stick is perfectly good response to a swordwielding opponent.

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    Default Re: 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    Quote Originally Posted by Dienekes View Post
    I’d just throw in Vin Diesel. The movie would be this action movie star who loves D&D gets sucked into a D&D world where he gets to be alternate between being cool and then fanboy over everything he sees.
    That would be pretty cool. One moment he's sitting in front of his cabinet of prizes full of best selling DVD's, pictures of public appearances and Street Sharks toys wishing that just for ones he could really be a hero instead of pretending to be one, the next moment he gets his wish, courtesy of some trickster god who looks a lot like Gygax.

    I'm not quite sure Vin could and would do it though. (He would definitely do a d&d movie, just not sure if he'd do this one.) Vin's unique quality is that he is always super serious about his role yet in on the joke at the same time. This would definitely require him not be the great action hero and only be in on the joke in some scenes. It could for instance be hilarious to have him boastfully walk into a monster's lair only to come running out screaming like a little kid. Schwarzenegger or The Rock or Eddie Murphy or a bunch of other people have done lots of stuff like that. For Vin it might be a bit of a new thing.

    He's an actor though, I'm sure he has more than one mode if he really tries.
    Last edited by Lvl 2 Expert; 2020-06-15 at 01:43 AM.
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    Default Re: 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Kalbfus View Post
    This is one approach to doing a movie, but I want to get more specific, this idea is what if we picked one person from our World and dropped him or her into the Forgotten Realms.
    Didn't A Conneticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court already spawn dozens of copycats?
    Didn't Martin Lawrence already star in this movie?
    Something, something...Evil Dead III; Army of Darkness.

    Let's imagine he arrives on the Sword Coast just outside the walls of Waterdeep, perhaps he is washed up on the beach, perhaps he fell overboard from whatever boat he was on, and he expects to be somewhere in California, but instead he sees the City of Waterdeep, assume whatever transport him there takes care of the communications barrier and he can speak Common.
    You've just described every Commoner in Waterdeep.
    But, he wasn't born there, has no frames of reference for anything he sees, and has no money.
    He's dead in a week.

    Quote Originally Posted by Lvl 2 Expert View Post
    I'm not quite sure Vin could and would do it though.
    Joe Manganiello absolutely would do it in a hearbeat.
    Henry Cavill would do it for the nerd cred, to say that he did.
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    Default Re: 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    First the question is what caused them to arrive there?
    Maybe a couple of them aren't actually human so appear in the Realms as an elf, dwarf, etc they're just unaware since we see them as human instead of dwarves, elves, etc.
    What if they're unaware what they can do and their past is what defines them when they first arrive but not afterwards as they try to figure what happened and how to survive...
    Last edited by Hopeless; 2020-06-15 at 07:09 AM.

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    Default Re: 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    Why would a modern person be getting involved with the Big Bad of the setting? Or becoming an adventurer at all?

    A modern person would be at an inherent disadvantage to literally everyone else in the setting. They would need even basic concepts explained to them. They aren't used to the heavy labor of living in a Medieval-esque setting. They want to train as a fighter? Too bad, they're in line behind the guys who got trained in sword fighting by their father, who is a guard in the city watch. They're in line behind the farm hands who want a better life, because the farm hands have been doing the physical exercise required to become a fighter and have saved up money from when they were young to pay guild dues. What incentive does the Fighter's Guild have to pick this person, other than "they are the protagonist"?

    Even if the person is an engineer or a scientist they're in trouble. How many engineers and scientists know how to get their materials from the natural world? How many could do so in a D&D world where the saltpeter is in the mountains surrounded by Orcs?

    A normal person would have trouble just surviving. Yes, even a teenaged isekai protagonist. Their best chance of survival would be to get a job as a day laborer and then try to work their way up from there. At no point would they become a renowned sword fighter or wise wizard. This is because they would not be able to in the real world.

    Things change a little bit if you get very specific on who you drop in. A swordmaster in the real world would have an inherent advantage if dropped into a fantasy world, because they have had the opportunity to study techniques from all around the world which may not have been invented at the time of the setting. Drop a guy who does blacksmithing at the Renaissance Festival and he could easily make a successful business.

    I'm reminded of the Harry Turtledove novel "Guns of the South", where time travelers go back and interfere with the American Civil War. One of the time travelers is asked under threat of execution to teach the locals how to make a computer. He tells them they may as well shoot him now, because they don't have the tools to make the tools he would need to even begin making a computer. Modern knowledge is only so useful without the infrastructure to back it up.

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    Default Re: 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    Quote Originally Posted by Hopeless View Post
    First the question is what caused them to arrive there?
    Maybe a couple of them aren't actually human so appear in the Realms as an elf, dwarf, etc they're just unaware since we see them as human instead of dwarves, elves, etc.
    What if they're unaware what they can do and their past is what defines them when they first arrive but not afterwards as they try to figure what happened and how to survive...
    Instead of a Connecticut Yankee, think of the Wizard of Oz, you have a character named Dorothy Gail and one of the first questions she is asked is what kind of witch is she. I haven't read those books, I mostly know about the movie, but this does bring to mind a particular character class, the sorcerer. The character could be from our World, but maybe one of his parents is not. Which brings me back to the Wizard of Oz. Who were Dorothy's parents, why is she being raised by her Aunt Emily and Uncle Henry? The movie doesn't exactly say what happened to Dorothy's parents and why they are no longer around. So maybe someone from the Realms in this story ended up in our World for a time, got married and had children, and the child in question has no idea. It would have to be for a good reason, his parent is perhaps a refugee from something that was going on in the Realms from which she had to escape. In our World, let's say, magic does not work except when stored in certain prepared magic items. Our protagonist comes in contact with one of those magic items and through it he is sent to the Realms.

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    Default Re: 21st century man or woman suddenly dropped in the Forgotten Realms

    Quote Originally Posted by Vahnavoi View Post
    I'm getting kinda curious of what you base these kinds of assertions on. Yes, if a person's only trained in limited contact kickboxing under modern sports rules, that's gonna be of limited use. If they've instead trained in some traditional school, their training includes stickfighting (bo) , and even period swordsmen agreed that hitting people with a long stick is perfectly good response to a swordwielding opponent.
    I assume the martial artist is otherwise unarmed. In which case, there's little difference between a sword and a knife.
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