Magic Returning to The Modern World (Idea Thread)

[Leliel]

During my lurking on the Wizards boards, I came across a campaign idea, itself inspired by a webcomic, which inspired me to come up with this:

Eons ago, 8 powerful wizards, each one skilled in the arts of magic, used their powers to raise an island off the coast of Japan called "Mu". This was to be a safe haven for other mages to avoid prosecution from less enlightened peoples, and to be a trading ground for magical artifacts and their creation, since Mu was abundant in mana and other wondrous raw materials. Within time, sorcerers from lands that did not hunt them arrived and settled, and soon, every inhabitant had magic surging through their blood, and Mu became host to the greatest colleges and scholars of the arcane arts. The 8 Great Sorcerer-Regents, as the wizards were then known, as well as their sucessors, ruled fairly and justly, and were all without much strife, as the original Regents had decided that their title would not pass by blood, but rather, would be contested in a grand tournament between only the most skilled magicians, their reasoning being that only the strongest and most keen would win, and would thus able to meet any challenge to his reign. And so it was, for a time.

However it was not to last. For it is the nature of man to be corrupted by power and so it was with the last wizards to bear the title "Sorcerer-Regent".
Using dishonorible and underhanded tatics to gain their titles, they lead a terrible war against the world, justifying their actions with the fact that many of them had once been horrible to the people of Mu. This was true, but the fate visited upon the world was far worse then what was visited upon Mu, nor did they make distinction between the guilty, the pentient, and the innocent. Using dark and evil sorceries, they made themselves immortal, and ruled for many years. Eventually, 4 great heros rose up from the oppresed lands against the Regents. After a great and long journey, they struck down the corrupt rulers, and freed Mu from their tyranny.

Alas, as they discovered, the dark power of the Regents had created the Oni. Powerful and numerous demon-samurai, they laid waste to the world with a fury only matched by their creators. Although some of them were indeed protectors of humanity and its cousins, as it is the nature of sapience to question the way of its masters people, these were few and far between. Desperate for a solution, the heroes sealed the material world from the spirit one, the source of all magic, transforming all the demihumans into forms resembling normal mortals, and sealing away most of the worlds magical creatures and spirits, including the Oni. Without the needed magic to sustain it Mu sank back into the sea, beacoming later known to the Greeks as Atlantis. And so, the heroes hid away the artifacts used to seal the spirit world, hoping that a future civilization would gain wisdom enough to know when they were ready to use the items to releash magic into the world once more.

Time passed, with only rumors of the remaining magical creatures, and with the remaining magic kept under careful lock and key by the societies the heroes created to guard it...

[Zincorium]

Um, do you want critiques and advice, or other ways of doing something similiar?

Either way, you should ask the mods about moving the thread to the homebrew section. You'll get a lot better advice and critiques there.

[Leliel]

In the year 2012, a group of scholars discovered the ancient secret of Mu, and that they, indeed, were its descendants. Learning the ancient arts of magic, they stole one of the artifacts and, without giving much thought to the reason the spirit world was sealed away, thinking that modern technology was more then powerful enough to combat the Oni, recklessly unsealed its power, partially opening up the spirit world once more. Although far less then what was needed to raise Mu from the depths, it was more then enough to return the descendants of the demihuman races to return to their natural forms, return the spirits to the world, and to awaken the inherent magical abilities in all of (demi)humanity. Thus the campaign, which takes place in the immediate aftermath and thereafter, with the PCs awakening to the abilities of a DnD base class and possibly race, and with the story being of how the Earth's governments, religions, organizations' and scientists (with the latter often becoming wizards and sorcerers) try to deal with this revelation that magic actually exists. Quite obviously, some will try to exploit it (the "reckless scholars" for one), some will be afraid of it (Imitates Xian-Christan fundie wacko who belongs in the Dark Ages- "BURN THE WITCH! BURN THE WITCH!"), and some will simply try to understand it (Most everyone else). And then of course, are the Oni, who have just gotten cranky after their millennial-long imprisonment. So my question is:

Is this idea-or a variation there of-viable as a campaign idea?
And if so, what would your, the responders ideas on how to do this?

A few guidelines:

This is NOT Shadowrun! Unlike Shadowrun, this game assumes humans are not bastards, and will not treat them as such.

This is NOT Urban Arcana! Given that everyone knows magic exists but didn't before, I suggest you do not assume thats what I'm asking, since in Urban Arcana, some people know magic exists, but not everyone.

This WILL use alignment! In this idea, alignment is a detection of how the spirit world reacts to your aura. This is also because this is more of high fantasy in a modern setting rather then contemporary.

Alignment WILL be flexible! Unlike in MEDIEVAL fantasy, there needs to be a grey area in a modern one. Besides, how otherwise would a bastard retain political power (Oh sure, your "Detect Evil" spell says I'm a son-of-a-bitch, but YOU have done some pretty bad stuff, Mr. Serial Killer Paladin!)?

So what do you guys think? Comments? Praises? Criticisms? Rotten tomatos?

[Leliel]

Um, do you want critiques and advice, or other ways of doing something similiar?

Either way, you should ask the mods about moving the thread to the homebrew section. You'll get a lot better advice and critiques there.

Ok, how do I move it?

[Stormcrow]

For what its worth to you "Magic returns to the modern world, chaos ensues" was/is the theme of Shadowrun. Orks, Dwarves, Goblins, Werewolves were all human, the return of magic mutated them and their races were re-born.

[Zincorium]

Ok, how do I move it?

Like I said, ask the mods. Send a private message to Roland St. Jude or possibly WampaX, asking them (politely, obviously) if they could move the thread for you.

[Mewtarthio]

There are three things that are absolutely imperative to pulling off this campaign:

A giant monster must attack Tokyo
Something nasty must menace New York in some way
Los Angeles must be completely destroyed. Nothing can be left standing, save for maybe a few palm trees


Now, on to the more flexible matters:

Alignment's an interesting idea for a modern setting. Bear in mind, however, that this has the potential to create a huge philosophical backlash, depending on how sensitive alignment is. If all Evil people are puppy-killing serial murderers, and all Good people subsist on rice cakes and spring water so they can donate everything else to the poor, there won't be much of an effect since you've basically got spirits who can detect select fringes of society. If, on the other hand, the overzealous journalist who harms others' reputations in the name of a good story detects the same as the guy who eats babies for kicks, and the guy who greets everyone with a smile and holds open doors detects the same as Mahatma Ghandi, people are going to notice.

You also have to consider the role demihumans played prior to the Main Event. Namely, how are their bloodlines still distinguishable? Did creatures of the same species have a subconscious attraction to each other? Would creatures of different species simply be unable to produce children? Why is it that everyone took the form of humans rather than, say, elves or kobolds? Were the individual species theoretically identifiable in any way (say, would dwarves have felt more comfortable in enclosed spaces, or would orcs have all had a proclivity towards nasty underbites)?

[Hawriel]

I second stormcows post.

I add that shadowrun does not assume humans are bastards.

I also would say that the guy on the ten dollar bill makes a good case for a bastard acheaving political power with out devine intervention.

[Leliel]

There are three things that are absolutely imperative to pulling off this campaign:

A giant monster must attack Tokyo

GODZILLA!!! Can't forget him.

Something nasty must menace New York in some way

Oh, a dire-ape. Let me get out my pad.

Los Angeles must be completely destroyed. Nothing can be left standing, save for maybe a few palm trees

Why LA?



And no, I know Shadowrun assumes all humans are not bastards, just the obscene majority of them. I was just exaggerating, though thanks for your ideas.

Oh, and Zincorum, thanks for telling me how to move threads. I'll try and do that.

[Mewtarthio]

And no, I know Shadowrun assumes all humans are not bastards, just the obscene majority of them. I was just exaggerating, though thanks for your ideas.

Well, most "dark 'n' gritty" fantasy settings assume that everyone's a bastard by default. Or, failing that, that everyone's an imbecile who can't handle The Truth. At least collectively: "The person is smart; people are dumb, stupid, panicky animals and you know it!"

Also, it's sort of an action movie cliche that LA gets destroyed. I think it might be the most commonly destroyed city in all movies. New York gets featured more, but it generally survives.

[Hawriel]

well dont destory LA in your story. go for Los Vagas, St Luis, Detroit....ok a city peaple would know the difference. Hmm Chicago SR did that though. Boston no one destroyed Boston or Philidelphia.


Shadowrun is a very cynical noir setting. Pritty mutch any character in that setting with a clue will have their guard up against getting screwed over.

[Ceiling009]

The thing about magic in the modern world, when you have it that over reaching, it's going to get all noir; it's the same with high tech levels. No one knows how anything quite reacts, in fact within the space of the revelation, entire lives, paradigms, and cultures just go "poof, you're completely and utterly wrong, and well worthless to boot." In fact, I don't think I can actually see it not being either like Urban Arcana or Shadowrun...Even Iron Kingdoms which is close to the modern setting, is still pretty gritty and the like.

The problem with DnD and the like with a modern setting is that it assume "little points of light" which isn't possible in the modern world. No one is alone in the modern world, you always have a way to call home. High Magic would be highly valued consumer chic; remember the world is basically ruled by the rule of economy, if this magic is too expensive to actually upkeep, research, or provide, it'll dwindle into crazies and research scientists using it. Your heroes, unless they're basically attached to a research scientist, or have the caveat that they get magic and magic item at no cost (or that the cost of doing so is negligible sooner or later), won't bother with it. Why use message, when you have a cell phone? Why bother going to somatic movements and chant words and generally look like a freak, when the guy you're trying target has a shotgun?

I'm pretty sure that NY will be molested; Tokyo Tower will be destroyed, along with greater parts of the bay and the city; and finally, LA will be destroyed.

[Mewtarthio]

Actually, I'd say magic would be quite useful in the modern world. Let's look at the first-level Sor/Wiz Abjuration spells--remember, these are spells that anyone who dabbles in arcane magic can potentially cast:

Alarm--Yeah, it's easy to duplicate with technology, but casting this spell is quicker and cheaper
Endure Elements--Immunity to frostbite and heat exhaustion. All you need is access to your spellbook. No technology duplicates that unfailingly
Hold Portal--Er... next...
Protection From X--With magic out there, the number one thing people will be paranoid about is going to be mind control
Sheild--It's a decent bonus at first level.


Also, remember that magic can be carried with you wherever you go. All you need is a spellbook, and not even that if you're a Sorceror (to say nothing of divine casters). You can't carry horses or vehicles through buildings, but you can cast mount once you get out. To say nothing of things like comprehend languages or charm person.

[Xenoti]

Actually, I'd say magic would be quite useful in the modern world. Let's look at the first-level Sor/Wiz Abjuration spells--remember, these are spells that anyone who dabbles in arcane magic can potentially cast:

Alarm--Yeah, it's easy to duplicate with technology, but casting this spell is quicker and cheaper
Endure Elements--Immunity to frostbite and heat exhaustion. All you need is access to your spellbook. No technology duplicates that unfailingly
Hold Portal--Er... next...
Protection From X--With magic out there, the number one thing people will be paranoid about is going to be mind control
Sheild--It's a decent bonus at first level.


Also, remember that magic can be carried with you wherever you go. All you need is a spellbook, and not even that if you're a Sorceror (to say nothing of divine casters). You can't carry horses or vehicles through buildings, but you can cast mount once you get out. To say nothing of things like comprehend languages or charm person.


With Magic returning to a world, as soon as people noticed wouldnt they impose some UN type Governing body to control magic, and it's moral obligations?

[Mewtarthio]

With Magic returning to a world, as soon as people noticed wouldnt they impose some UN type Governing body to control magic, and it's moral obligations?

Not initially. Remember, not only has magic just been introduced to the world, all the demihumans have been revealed as well (as I mentioned above, I'd like more details on the demihumans). That means that, up until The Event, everyone's been living a normal life. Suddenly, you wake up and everything's been changed. Your neighbors have been transformed into kobolds. Heck, you may have been transformed into a kobold. Also, that captain of the football team who's been struggling in school? He's got green skin and sharp teeth now. That petite woman you've been dating? She's a lot shorter now, and she can talk to badgers and perform a wide variety of miscellaneous magic tricks. Oh, and her Sorcerous powers just manifested, too, so she can shoot acid out of her hands for no discernable reason. We're talking madness, anarchy, chaos in the streets. Any sane person would believe themselves to be insane, and quite frankly they'd be right. No governing body could take control of that sort of mess. Particularly not since the President has to cover up his pointy Spock-like ears.

----

Of course, after the dust settles, magic is still impossible to regulate. Magical power is surprisingly easy to acquire. If you're charismatic, you can take up an instrument and get yourself control over the minds and perceptions of others (or just hope your latent sorcery comes to the forefront). If you're perceptive and religious, just pray for power (assuming that any real-world religion will suffice for clerical spells; bear in mind, this also opens up a can of worms, given that every religious leader can now perform what amounts to miracles). If you're intelligent, things are a little trickier: You have to find some way to study magic and get everything written down into a spellbook. I suspect the first true wizards would take a generation to show up (though you'll likely have a few multiclassers "inventing the wheel," so to speak), so those guys could be regulated, but only with strict limits. Everything else, though, is up for whoever wants it, and there's no way to prevent that.

How do you stop a bard from charming whoever he likes? You can't even tell he's a bard until he starts actively casting stuff, and even that gets stymied by the Disguise Spell feat. I imagine McCarthy-esque warning flyers being distributed about the arcane powers of bards ("Whenever you listen to an engaging artist, look at the people around you. Do they seem too engaged? Do they seem not to notice everything around them? Do these people later perform any actions that they can't quite justify?").

Sorcerors just get born into power, so there's not much you can do about them. Let me amend that, actually: Short of genocidal, paranoid witch-hunts, there's not much you can do about them, and even that rarely works. Let's not forget just how these witch-hunts would be directed: Sorcerors are always the charismatic people that everyone likes, and nobody likes to be told that charismatic people are unnatural threats to existence. Thus, actual sorcerors would be the last people targetted in witch-hunts, unless they publicly display their powers. Remember, these people have no metagame knowledge. They don't know that Cha is the primary casting stat. Thanks to the Internet, however, they do know that sorcerors tend to be people who once held positions of power and respect. Like I said before, you can't underestimate the human powers of self-deception, and nobody likes being told that those they respect should be hunted down. The solution? People who used to hold positions of power and respect, or who hold power and respect over other people. When you take out the old boss, you accuse him of sorcery (and conveniently let everyone who used to follow him off the hook). When you take out someone else, you accuse their boss of sorcery (and them of willingly aiding him).

Finally, we get to clerics. Thanks to separation of church and state, any attempts at government regulation of clerical spellcasting will be derided as despotic and overreaching. This is a time of great upheaval and turmoil. These are the ends of days, with the dead rising from their graves. Thankfully, God has seen fit to provide his servants with the power to perform miracles (and the Devil has followed suit, providing the heathens with unholy facsimiles of miracles that surely do not measure up to the true God's might). Why, then, should we allow you to interfere? You, oh secular fools, who have been blind all this time, and even now attempt to meddle with powers you cannot possibly comprehend? The day of reckoning is at hand--You must be blind not to see it!--and soon you will see the futility of your temporal endevours as God passes you buy and leaves you in the dust and the darkness that you have wrought for yourselves!

[Xenoti]

Not initially. Remember, not only has magic just been introduced to the world, all the demihumans have been revealed as well (as I mentioned above, I'd like more details on the demihumans). That means that, up until The Event, everyone's been living a normal life. Suddenly, you wake up and everything's been changed. Your neighbors have been transformed into kobolds. Heck, you may have been transformed into a kobold. Also, that captain of the football team who's been struggling in school? He's got green skin and sharp teeth now. That petite woman you've been dating? She's a lot shorter now, and she can talk to badgers and perform a wide variety of miscellaneous magic tricks. Oh, and her Sorcerous powers just manifested, too, so she can shoot acid out of her hands for no discernable reason. We're talking madness, anarchy, chaos in the streets. Any sane person would believe themselves to be insane, and quite frankly they'd be right. No governing body could take control of that sort of mess. Particularly not since the President has to cover up his pointy Spock-like ears.

----

Of course, after the dust settles, magic is still impossible to regulate. Magical power is surprisingly easy to acquire. If you're charismatic, you can take up an instrument and get yourself control over the minds and perceptions of others (or just hope your latent sorcery comes to the forefront). If you're perceptive and religious, just pray for power (assuming that any real-world religion will suffice for clerical spells; bear in mind, this also opens up a can of worms, given that every religious leader can now perform what amounts to miracles). If you're intelligent, things are a little trickier: You have to find some way to study magic and get everything written down into a spellbook. I suspect the first true wizards would take a generation to show up (though you'll likely have a few multiclassers "inventing the wheel," so to speak), so those guys could be regulated, but only with strict limits. Everything else, though, is up for whoever wants it, and there's no way to prevent that.

How do you stop a bard from charming whoever he likes? You can't even tell he's a bard until he starts actively casting stuff, and even that gets stymied by the Disguise Spell feat. I imagine McCarthy-esque warning flyers being distributed about the arcane powers of bards ("Whenever you listen to an engaging artist, look at the people around you. Do they seem too engaged? Do they seem not to notice everything around them? Do these people later perform any actions that they can't quite justify?").

Sorcerors just get born into power, so there's not much you can do about them. Let me amend that, actually: Short of genocidal, paranoid witch-hunts, there's not much you can do about them, and even that rarely works. Let's not forget just how these witch-hunts would be directed: Sorcerors are always the charismatic people that everyone likes, and nobody likes to be told that charismatic people are unnatural threats to existence. Thus, actual sorcerors would be the last people targetted in witch-hunts, unless they publicly display their powers. Remember, these people have no metagame knowledge. They don't know that Cha is the primary casting stat. Thanks to the Internet, however, they do know that sorcerors tend to be people who once held positions of power and respect. Like I said before, you can't underestimate the human powers of self-deception, and nobody likes being told that those they respect should be hunted down. The solution? People who used to hold positions of power and respect, or who hold power and respect over other people. When you take out the old boss, you accuse him of sorcery (and conveniently let everyone who used to follow him off the hook). When you take out someone else, you accuse their boss of sorcery (and them of willingly aiding him).

Finally, we get to clerics. Thanks to separation of church and state, any attempts at government regulation of clerical spellcasting will be derided as despotic and overreaching. This is a time of great upheaval and turmoil. These are the ends of days, with the dead rising from their graves. Thankfully, God has seen fit to provide his servants with the power to perform miracles (and the Devil has followed suit, providing the heathens with unholy facsimiles of miracles that surely do not measure up to the true God's might). Why, then, should we allow you to interfere? You, oh secular fools, who have been blind all this time, and even now attempt to meddle with powers you cannot possibly comprehend? The day of reckoning is at hand--You must be blind not to see it!--and soon you will see the futility of your temporal endevours as God passes you buy and leaves you in the dust and the darkness that you have wrought for yourselves!

I'd take a few years but the people coming to The Bulk of magical power tend to make a governing body of mages of all sorts, and the church (which one?) I mean just cause he's the pope doesnt mean he'd be a cleric :P (doesnt make me want to steal his hat any less) Besides the Un would mostlike start to pass world laws, about demihumans and Ethical magic use and such. Just cause it's new doesnt mean people in power will be slow to act

[Mewtarthio]

I'd take a few years but the people coming to The Bulk of magical power tend to make a governing body of mages of all sorts, and the church (which one?) I mean just cause he's the pope doesnt mean he'd be a cleric :P (doesnt make me want to steal his hat any less) Besides the Un would mostlike start to pass world laws, about demihumans and Ethical magic use and such. Just cause it's new doesnt mean people in power will be slow to act

I'm not saying that it'll be hard to enact new laws because it's new; I'm saying that it'll be hard to enact new laws because, overnight, the world was drastically and irrevocably changed in a way that nobody ever would have suspected. The first governments that manage to act properly will have to declare martial law just to keep the order, and that'll be difficult when you realize that their soldiers are not immune to what's just happened (though I suspect the military would recover faster than a civilian organization of comparable size). Yes, things will gradually start to calm down over the years, but the world will never return to any sembelance of normalcy. All we'll get as far as international law is concerned will be some hastily patched-together treaties that nobody has the power to enforce. Things like governing bodies of mages will have to wait for the unborn generation, those who've known nothing but the new world.

[Leliel]

About demihumans, yes some personality traits will correspond to the race that they are. And yes, they would be able to interbreed: I just thought that the amount of genes from one race would determine what they were.

And as for LA, I just thought that the City of Angels(some of whom may actually move to LA in this setting) has been through enough already.

[ssmage]

good work!

what about the fusion of Magic and technoligy?
i.e bullets that never miss (magic missile enhanced bullet) or freezing the cells of a person forming ice cristals that pirce the cell wall and [try freezing lettice] (ice magic enhanced bullet)

ps. "Osama Bin Laden using a spell to make weapons to make more attacks on the USA" is an instant classic

pps. wouldn't D&D players have a slite advantige?

[Hawriel]

Oh man I just got shot with a 44 magnum oh man well it could be worse the wizard could have made the bullets really cold :smallamused:


I have two sayings about magic and modern tech merging together.

God made man, but same cold made them equal.

Here is somthing moma didnt teach you

I hope im not to far of the origionals.

then one last example. Big bad mage walking down the streat. 1000 yards Springfield rifle 7.62 round to the head. Nothing but red mist. Ok so you have bullet barrier. Command detonated claymore.