Modern elements in fantasy game.
Author
Imagine a game of Dragons and Giants, Sorcery and Swordery, Might and Magic. As you explore a land filled with exciting (albeit generic) fantasy elements and eventually you come across gritty soldiers wielding heavy machine guns?
What if the land those soldiers protect is reminscient of todays industrial zones? Particulalry industrial 'wastelands'. Naturally there's more to it then just the environment, but thinking fundamentally would this make the game less immersive, more immersive, or would you think it lame to combine two opposing atmospheres?
Quote:Original post by Timus
but thinking fundamentally would this make the game less immersive, more immersive, or would you think it lame to combine two opposing atmospheres?
It all depends on your implimentation. If you can weave them into the story in a decent manor (explain why they have all this tech while other are still useing swords, yet they haven't concoured the world?) then it would be fine. Alot of games get around this by useing so called "steam-tech". I personally really like that stuff as it does mean you can have robots and wizards side by side without it looking stupid. Having storm troopers next to gandalf would look ridiculious, but as long as you have some taste no reason you can't blend the two.
You just need to think up a good reason why the tech guys haven't completely destroyed the sword guys. Be it lack of resources, or maybe a limited number of them (dieing race from the past perhaps?) but either way as long as you work it nicely it can work in my oppinion.
Such settings have already existed and been implemented. Take the PnP RPG Hawkmoon for instance. It happens roughly 1000 years after a nuclear total war. It has a fantasy settings, magic exists but relies on old technological devices or materials.
It can be very interesting if well implemented.
It can be very interesting if well implemented.
Intesting idea there, here is a story idea I thought up that could fit into your world.
The world is destroyed in a devastating event, most of the world's population is killed and most of the tech and infrastructure destroyed. The surviving humans gradually aligned into two factions, techs who depended on technology to help them survive in the wasteland and the anti-techs who believe the world is destroyed by technology and all out to purge the world of advance technology.
Because the destruction is so total only small pockets of the world is able to sustain a high tech civilization (rebuilt factories, power plants etc). It take alot of effort to rebuild, as resources are hard to come by, attacks and sabotage by anti-techs also causes more problem.
The techs are heavily outnumbered by the anti-tech faction, being forced to live in a small area while the rest of the world are dominated by anti-tech thinking people. This along with the difficulty of reproducing anything that is technologically advance causes the tech faction to be in a de facto siege.
Now with this background, here are some story ideas for a RPG.
- The tech faction has discover a way to "heal" the world, to do so they will need accomplish several difficult tasks. Player will be one of many dispatched to accomplish it.
- Player is part of the anti-tech elites dispatched to spy and sabotage the tech faction from within. Player can choose to accomplish his mission helping in the defeat of tech faction or join the tech faction and help them in their survival.
- Player can be either tech or anti-tech faction and started off as a new recruit in one of the army, player got disgusted with the war after participating in it. Player realise that both factions are fighting over something both are not even clear on (the cause of the world's destruction). Player sets off to discover the truth and show it to the world, along the way characters from both factions join in to help player.
The anti-tech faction characters tend to be zealous, fervent and have a strong belief in their righteousness. The tech faction characters tend to be calculative, ruthless and cold, a result from the need to outthink, outfight and able to kill hundreds without batting an eye.
I do agree that it will be damn hard to balance a game in this kind of setting. But it will be interesting if done correctly.
The world is destroyed in a devastating event, most of the world's population is killed and most of the tech and infrastructure destroyed. The surviving humans gradually aligned into two factions, techs who depended on technology to help them survive in the wasteland and the anti-techs who believe the world is destroyed by technology and all out to purge the world of advance technology.
Because the destruction is so total only small pockets of the world is able to sustain a high tech civilization (rebuilt factories, power plants etc). It take alot of effort to rebuild, as resources are hard to come by, attacks and sabotage by anti-techs also causes more problem.
The techs are heavily outnumbered by the anti-tech faction, being forced to live in a small area while the rest of the world are dominated by anti-tech thinking people. This along with the difficulty of reproducing anything that is technologically advance causes the tech faction to be in a de facto siege.
Now with this background, here are some story ideas for a RPG.
- The tech faction has discover a way to "heal" the world, to do so they will need accomplish several difficult tasks. Player will be one of many dispatched to accomplish it.
- Player is part of the anti-tech elites dispatched to spy and sabotage the tech faction from within. Player can choose to accomplish his mission helping in the defeat of tech faction or join the tech faction and help them in their survival.
- Player can be either tech or anti-tech faction and started off as a new recruit in one of the army, player got disgusted with the war after participating in it. Player realise that both factions are fighting over something both are not even clear on (the cause of the world's destruction). Player sets off to discover the truth and show it to the world, along the way characters from both factions join in to help player.
The anti-tech faction characters tend to be zealous, fervent and have a strong belief in their righteousness. The tech faction characters tend to be calculative, ruthless and cold, a result from the need to outthink, outfight and able to kill hundreds without batting an eye.
I do agree that it will be damn hard to balance a game in this kind of setting. But it will be interesting if done correctly.
Author
So no one would mind if a fantasy game included modern so long as it were well explained?
It's just personally (as a warhammer 40k player) whenever I see a thousand point orc army I cringe... it's as if... orcs aren't meant to be wielding machine guns. But I'm one person, and if modern elements wont drive away potential players I'll include it.
It's just personally (as a warhammer 40k player) whenever I see a thousand point orc army I cringe... it's as if... orcs aren't meant to be wielding machine guns. But I'm one person, and if modern elements wont drive away potential players I'll include it.
a good cartoon for this was "Thundar the barbarian" the world in 1995 (aw its soo old) was recked when a comet pasted between earth and the moon, the atmostphere of earth was effected adn the moon cracked. the cartoon was set kinda post apocolips so men had gona back to caveman/medvil period and people had found new powers that were magic.
Some of the bad guys were mages others were just people who still used technology
Some of the bad guys were mages others were just people who still used technology
The Final Fantasys have been merging fantasy and sci fi elements for a while now, and they do pretty well. A bunch of other games have used it to good effect as well. I would avoid any plots where the main focus for the plot is tech against magic though. It's been done a fair few times now.
Whoops, wasn't trying to argue with you Si Hao, I wrote the above before I read your post.
Whoops, wasn't trying to argue with you Si Hao, I wrote the above before I read your post.
I can easily imagine a RTS in a pseudomedieval fantasy setting with a three side war (like in Starcraft) between:
1) Warlike commoners relying only on sheer numbers, valour and training, and organization and leadership (in flexible proportion). They would have unimpressive but cost efficient units, used as expendable cannon fodder in mass assaults after a carefully scheduled production.
For example: goblin nomad hordes, a rising fascist nation, a rebel alliance, a threatened empire.
2) An elite of sorcerers and heroes with great supernatural powers (even in their weakest representatives) but few in numbers. They would have very strong (but of course not invulnerable) units with a very high cost, micromanaged and defended one by one.
For example: elves or another exotic superior race (rare but not necessarily dying), cultists of a generous god, visitors from a more magical place.
3) A minority of high-tech combatants who have superior weapons and want to use them; . They would have a wide variety and power range of units, all somewhat expensive and/or overspecialized, requiring careful selection and appropriate deployment to be useful.
For example: a small kingdom supporting a scientific genius, marooned or colonizing spacefarers, very civilized lands with exclusive technological achievements.
There is a choice between a narrow and very useful development (like explosives and guns and artillery and rockets or robots or steam engines or cheap steel) or a well rounded moderate superiority in many fields (faster and bigger ships, unreliable artillery vs arrows, light slow aircraft vs ground-only forces, etc.)
1) Warlike commoners relying only on sheer numbers, valour and training, and organization and leadership (in flexible proportion). They would have unimpressive but cost efficient units, used as expendable cannon fodder in mass assaults after a carefully scheduled production.
For example: goblin nomad hordes, a rising fascist nation, a rebel alliance, a threatened empire.
2) An elite of sorcerers and heroes with great supernatural powers (even in their weakest representatives) but few in numbers. They would have very strong (but of course not invulnerable) units with a very high cost, micromanaged and defended one by one.
For example: elves or another exotic superior race (rare but not necessarily dying), cultists of a generous god, visitors from a more magical place.
3) A minority of high-tech combatants who have superior weapons and want to use them; . They would have a wide variety and power range of units, all somewhat expensive and/or overspecialized, requiring careful selection and appropriate deployment to be useful.
For example: a small kingdom supporting a scientific genius, marooned or colonizing spacefarers, very civilized lands with exclusive technological achievements.
There is a choice between a narrow and very useful development (like explosives and guns and artillery and rockets or robots or steam engines or cheap steel) or a well rounded moderate superiority in many fields (faster and bigger ships, unreliable artillery vs arrows, light slow aircraft vs ground-only forces, etc.)
M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village" did this quite effectively.
<movie spoiler>
A small group of normal people, seemingly from late 1800's, survived and thrived in a small secluded village, out of which no travel was permitted to adjacent "towns", until events unfold which force one girl to make the journey. The audience later finds out that the people living in the village are actually herded in a small, protected wildlife reserve into which no *outside* access is permitted.
</movie spoiler>
It's a really great movie, if you are considering trying out this sort of genre-mixing, definitely give this movie a watch if you haven't already.
<movie spoiler>
A small group of normal people, seemingly from late 1800's, survived and thrived in a small secluded village, out of which no travel was permitted to adjacent "towns", until events unfold which force one girl to make the journey. The audience later finds out that the people living in the village are actually herded in a small, protected wildlife reserve into which no *outside* access is permitted.
</movie spoiler>
It's a really great movie, if you are considering trying out this sort of genre-mixing, definitely give this movie a watch if you haven't already.
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