Near-future London Campaign - D20 Modern

[deadlight]

I've DM'd and played a PC in several D&D (4th Ed.) games of late and our group is having a great time walloping undead and other beasties but I feel that we could do with an excursion into the age of computers, reality TV and firearms.

Around this kernel of an idea, I've decided to set my next campaign in a near-future London. My plan is to use a modified version of the tube map as the main campaign map and I'll try to draw in as many real-world landmarks as possible to give my players a sense of a real locale.

To create a suitable game world, I'm making the next few years less than fun for us Brits...

With the growing number of foreign wars, the increased instability of the oil industry and a series of liberty infringing laws in the name of "national security" the people lost all confidence in the government paving way for a coalition of ultra-nationalist parties to gain majority political power throughout the UK. The nationalist coalition had high ranking supporters within the armed forces which was put to use when troops were deployed within the UK's borders to put down unrest, riots and organised uprising as the opposition to the nationalist agenda.

A second interesting facet of the game universe is the existence of "magic"; this is explained in terms of a quasi-scientific multiple-universe theory whereby the rules of our universe can be substituted to those of a universe a jump over in the multiverse. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle the magic in the game but it's not going to be overt - I'm more interested in government-funded experimentation and Indiana Jones /  Lara Croft style  archaeology.

I've just received a copy of the D20 modern core rules and I've been reading several supplements so I'll keep you posted with regard to which particular rulesets we end up using.

I'm also going to make a point of talking to everyone in the group and finding out what they would like to see in a more modern setting and try and use this feedback to create an engaging and interesting world and series of plotlines.

It's late and I hope that I'm making some sense. I'll post as things develop.

- D

[Billiam Babble]

This sounds ace.

This is reminding me a bit of V for Vendetta (mainly the Graphic Novel) - re. Facist control.  No wait, magic plus facism = New Inquisition!

Your campaign idea sounds rich in intrigue.  Some systems come to mind especially with regards to the convergence of modernity and the mystically arcane, some more classier than others and I'm mentioning them here purely for settings ideas.  Have you ever seen or read Cthullhu Now? -I think the d20 Modern rules, owe a little to them.  The book I remember seemed a little too focused on different types of machine guns.  Wizards d20 Cthullhu may be a good resource for d20 Modern.   I was going to mention Shadowrun, but I really don't know enough about it ... Orcs with cyberimplants, but some nice twists of Inca magic (at least tribal Celtic-Maori tattoo in the logo, I think).  I'm not sure how deep RIFTs (excuse the pun) went into urban settings.
When I was much younger I wanted to run a cyberpunk campaign in a flooded/ canals of London, but that sort of screws up you plans to use The Underground.  Masonic Institutions in the cellars and lost buried Roman Temples (now I see why you mentioned Croft and Indy - Illumanti forever!).
I found a strange card game a few years back which seemed to draw settings from Burroughs and Lovecraft, it was a spin off from the "Over the Edge" RPG.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over_the_Edge_(game)
What made me think of it, again was the mix of contemporary conspiracy plus cultic magic.

Google Maps and FlashEarth could serve you very well for maps and locations. *grins*

So, will it be guns and trans-dimensional beasties, or something more subtle?

[deadlight]

You're right in thinking V for Vendetta :D. I watched Children of Men again last night, I like some of the style from that movie too so I'll be stealing from there too (especially the tone of the oppressed London, the subtle march of technology and the way that the underground "fishes" operate).

I've got a copy of D20 CoC and I'm thinking about stealing and mix-and-matching some stuff from there.

I don't want to go too OTT with the weapons and magic, pulling a pistol or using your powers to push over a car are still more than likely to get you shot by the Met'. Most of the exciting stuff will be in abandoned warehouses at night or in abandoned underground tunnels. The party may have to, for example, grapple someone and pull them into an alley before pulling their weapons and "asking nicely" for information.

Magic using enemies are going to mainly be government agents and Mafia-like criminal organisations, I don't want to go too far here. The walls have ears (and the internet has people from my gaming group).

I do look forward to the PCs being a rag-tag bunch of revolutionaries, freaks and criminals; the dynamic is going to be interesting and the RP is going to flow easier with a modern-day setting, I think.

As for locations, I find myself thinking "this tube station/bridge/tower would be a great location for a shoot out" as I walk to work most days, so I don't think that I'll be stuck for inspiration. G-maps might be handy for some source material - "The building is somewhere in this area" *hands the party a grainy aerial photo*.

I've just had an idea about a heavily policed "East London Demarcation Zone" witch checkpoints and APCs... *jots down notes*

[BobbieTheDamned]

Quite a nice idea, if you've not considered them already the Twilight: 2013 (third edition twilight 2000 rules) that were released recently. I managed to get a look at a PDF version a friend had and they're pretty damn detailed and comprehensive for doing a post-apocalypitic type game, with plenty of 'between action' rules if you need them. The weapon rules seemed pretty good too but your whole group would have to stay on their toes to keep track of what's happening.

Something else you might want to note is that the underground map is horribly distorted compared to where the stations actually are, probabaly not that important though.

[deadlight]

I was thinking of using the tube map to separate areas of the campaign to make them more atomic; a bit of a DM cop-out but it keeps things simple and it's a good reference point.

Also the tube map is iconic and I like the idea of making changes to it to represent the political climate; closed stations, "Westminster: Security clearance 'B' or higher only", that sort of thing.

I'm looking at some revolutionary graffiti now; I might even mock up some 'shopped photos of cryptic clues in graffiti.

[Billiam Babble]

This is all sounding really gritty, grafitti, demarkation zones. In fact it reminds me of why I shied away from Twilight:2000 because it was almost too close to home (I was a sensitive soul, a psychological victim of the When the Wind Blows cold war ;) )  
Could there be an atomic twist which links with the magic?  Quantum reality schisms x-gene wakenings ?   Or has magic always been here - the last increase came during the witch trials, etc.?

[mr0andyroo]

I was wondering, How near Future? What progerss Level is it? I am currently running a Post Apocalyptic campaign based in America but for my game mechanics to work it need to be set in a PL6 era (I am using Mechs).