Draconia '95

PREMISE

Draconia '95 is all at once a low-fantasy/urban fantasy, sci-fi, horror setting in a generic city of Draconia around the year 1995 on our real-world Earth where ordinary people band together to fight against the supernatural. In Draconia, the supernatural is a very real yet invisible presence.

Player characters begin as ordinary humans who are oblivious of the supernatural things right under their own streets. Then they have an encounter with the supernatural which intrudes on their ordinary lives and inserts them into a life-or-death situation. They must survive and escape, but their perspectives are changed forever. They are left disturbed by their experience and can never go back to living a normal life. Upon their escape from the supernatural, they dedicate themselves to fighting back.

BACKGROUND

The 1990s was a time when technology was advancing, but not ubiquitous. You could still have a low-information populous who could still plausibly believe in urban superstitions. Communication was still limited and unreliable. Sci-fi and fantasy was still a novelty, and people could still be taken by surprise by a futuristic or fantastic idea. People were still proudly old-fashioned and were not as open to new ideas.

THE CITY

The setting of Draconia is intended to be fluid. The key word is generic; Whatever you think belongs in a generic city can fit into Draconia. Whatever sort of low fantasy, sci-fi, and/or horror you think belongs in the 1990s Earth can fit into Draconia. What theme or themes distinguish your version of Draconia? Is it like New York or Paris or Tokyo? Let the imaginations of the players fill the void. Improvise the features and the locations of Draconia as needed. Is there a secret bio-weapons lab that makes monsters? A massive old library that guards a secret portal to another world? Are there grimdark vigilantes fighting mafia thugs? Maybe the city is governed by officials who are secretly monsters and their corrupt subordinates, and maybe the crime lords are also hunters of the paranormal? Draconia is moldable and adaptable, and every time your group finishes a campaign and start anew, Draconia reverts to a blank slate. That's one of the strange things about Draconia.

THE UNDERCITY

There is one thing that Draconia always has, and that is a forgotten about, sealed off, and decommissioned underground network of tunnels that officially does not exist. These tunnels used to connect hundreds of buildings in the city, and portions of them are still used by criminals, government spooks, homeless madmen, and things that go bump in the night. This undercity serves as the wilderness between "dungeons" within Draconia, and can serve as its own mega dungeon. Who built these tunnels is a mystery. Maybe they're a relic from the war or prohibition. Maybe their origins predate the founding of the country. Maybe they were created by a cult, or maybe they were created by aliens. The tunnels are a mystery your characters may never solve.

GAME SYSTEM

To do horror justice, the player characters need to by sufficiently low-powered enough to feel like survivors or victims rather than heroes. To do low-fantasy and sci-fi justice, a limited catalog of races, classes, equipment, and magic is necessary. For these reasons, I do not suggest using a game based on heroic or superheroic play. Use something simpler and more generic. I suggest using this setting with any retroclone based on D&D Basic such as Basic Fantasy RPG, Lamentations of the Flame Princes, or Olde Swords Reign. D&D Basic is a quintessential RPG, and so these retroclones are simple, fast, easy, free, and they don't have decades worth of bloat. Other free game suggestions are Cogent Roleply, Open-Legend RPG, Cairn, OSRIC, and The Black Hack.

Forget everything you know about D&D or Call of Cthulhu. Think more about gritty or pulpy comic books like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Think about the X-Files or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Think about Resident Evil or Parasite Eve or Silent Hill. The typical fantasy class options must be recontextualized for a modern setting. A fighter is just someone very athletic. A thief is somone skilled at something unscrupulous. A cleric is someone faithful who receives miraculous powers from their faith in a higher authority (God). A magic-user is someone who can use powers from another source that we merely describe as magic for lack of a better word.

Consider that player characters are probably wearing improvised or modern body armor, if any, and are using tools from the hardware store or sporting goods store as improvised weapons. Firearms are as available or unavailable as it suits your interpretation of the setting. Sci-fi or magic weapons and armor are rare, but can exist simultaneously, as in the olde powers with an e versus found alien tech. You'll need a lot of DIY.

WHEN STARTING AT THE BEGINNING

Level 0 characters are ordinary humans. They roll 3d6 for each ability: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma, and they begin with max HP equal to their Constitution score. After completing their introductory adventure, they advance to first level in one class of their choice. As they level up, they add 1 max HP per each level.

d20 TABLE OF CONFLICTS

1  Serial Killer at large, but actually...

2  New Disease spreading

3  UFO / Alien Sighting

4  Missing Journalist (s)

5  Mysterious disappearing / reappearing location

6  Monster sighting

7  Missing person found, and an amnesiac, and in danger

8  Time traveling criminal

9  People attacked, blood loss through punctures in neck

10 Rogue vigilante, brutal, causing collateral damage

11 Ghost or Haunting

12 Psychic phenomenon,

13 Time space distortion; people and places warped

14 Criminals having a turf war, but actually...

15 Paranormal Investigators

16 Impossible Theft

17 "Miracle" incident

18 Men-in-Black cover-up

19 Undead rising

20 Cursed artifacts or relics being sold from a novelty shop

21 rumored Portal to another world

22 Lights in the sky

23 Disturbing call for help over radio signals; dismissed as a prank

d20 Villains List

1  Vampire, werewolf, other

2  Criminal time traveler

3  Alien human hunter

4  ESPer, PKer, or Mage out of control

5  Government Agent sabotaging independent investigators

6  Mad Scientist creating a monster

7  Clan of Shadows (ninjas) resurrecting ancient mummy warlord

8  Cult of the Dragon King

9  Madman Escapee on run from a black budget government facility

10 Patient Zero spreading a disease

11 Crime Lord or Gang Leader

12 Government spy posing as a city official sabotaging the city

13 Undead or Ghost

14 Mutant on the run

15 Cryptid

16 Rebel Priest with a dark secret about the church

17 Evil vigilante

18 AI, Robot, or Cyborg

19 Warrior from Dimension X

20 Govn't scientist cover up of a leak or incident

d20 ORGANIZATIONS

1  Men in Black (MIB)

2  ESPER Society (a secret society)

3  NWO (New World Order)

4  Cult of the Dragon. Apocalypse cult; bring back the dragon king.

5  Serpentarius (Gang)

6  Time Police - hunt criminal time travelers

7  The Org (The Organization) - 

8  Head Hunters - (Gang)

9  Secret Keepers: Secret sect of the church who know demons are real

10 

11 Clan of Shadows; apocalypse cult of ninjas

12 Lizard People

13 The Mer AKA The Wet Men; Murderous supremacists from Atlantis

14 Paraworld Investigations Inc. Private amateur investigators

15 Parasol Pharmaceuticals. secretly creates biological weapons.

16 

17 

18 

19 

20 

d66 Draconia Districts

Seaside (Commercial District)

1-1 Ports and Harbor

1-2 Draconia Fairgrounds

1-3 Light House

1-4 Bars and Hotels

1-5 Shopping Center

1-6 Sports Arena

Old Draconia (Historical District)

2-1 Musuem

2-2 Fort Lone Caster (Monument)

2-3 Bell Tower

2-4 Cemetary

2-5 Library

2-6 Capital Forum Press (Newspaper)

The Roots (Industrial District)

3-1 Little Asia, Psychic Emporium, Novelty Shops

3-2 Factories, Producti

on Plants

3-3 Water Treatment Plant, Landfill

3-4 Research Lab

3-5 State Prison

3-6 Train Yard

Outskits & Recreational District

4-1 Radio Station

4-2 Clubhouse, Mansion

4-3 Zoo, Park

4-4 Observatory

4-5 Hospital

4-6 Airport

The Grid (Downtown)

5-1 City Hall, Governor's Mansion, Courthouse

5-2 St. Catherine's Cathedral

5-3 Orion Tower (skyscraper)

5-4 Concert Hall

5-5 Fire Station, Post Office

5-6 Tenements, Parking Garage

Clark Hills (Uptown)

6-1 Upper Class Residential

6-2 Draconia University, Book Store

6-3 Green Gardens (Plant Nursery)

6-4 Mall, Cinema, Arcade, Gymnaasium, Antiques

6-5 Convention Center

6-6 Police Station

CHARACTERS

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