Human-Centric Settings (No Monster PCs)

Here's the real reason for wanting a human-centric setting. Personal taste. This article is not about convincing you to agree because I don't expect to be able to. Persuasion doesn't work like that. This article is about giving you the perspective of people who don't want monsters as player races, among other features of generic fantasy. It's not about the right or wrong way to have fun; it's about why I can't have fun the same way you can.

Let's start with the strongest point before I peter out at the end. Monsters are not people; they're monsters. When you humanize the monsters by making them a player-race or by making them equal or similar to humans in mind or spirit, they cease to feel like monsters. I want monsters to be the things that go bump in the night. They are the things that hunt us. They lurk off the edges of the map. If you can play a monster (i.e. kobolt or goblin or half-orc player character), then monsters aren't monstrous; They're just exotic people. It trivializes what it means to be a monster. I want my fantasy monsters to resemble the monsters of the horror genre. You can't have a setting where monsters can be both monsters like in a horror genre but also exotic people like in modern kitchen-sink high fantasy. The exception is if you want to reestablish what is considered a "normal" race, but for me, this exception still spoils monsters because there is this imaginary line that distinguishes humans from monsters, and every exception blurs that line and diminishes the certainty of the distinction.

Second, it's about tone. Modern D&D feels like playing A Very Muppet Fantasy. I've heard and read criticisms that refer to 5e D&D as kitchen-sink fantasy because, like the kitchen sink, there's a little bit of everything. It lacks cohesion and consistency, like macaroni and glue on the Mona Lisa. There isn't a regard of how things fit or consideration for whether it belongs there or not, and the audience has to adjust their suspension of disbelief to accommodate it. In the last 5e gaming group I was in, I felt like Eddie Valiant in the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but I would have rather felt like a character in Lord of the Rings or Berserk. In case you don't know, Eddie was the straight man in the sense of a straight-man silly-man dynamic, among a cast of silly-men. My experience with 5e is that the monsters as player races make the game feel cartoony. The cartoony-ness spoils the tone I would like. I didn't like it. It wasn't to my taste.

Speaking of tone, what is it? It's the mood or atmosphere. Think about the difference at a kid's birthday party vs a party for adults with depression. They have different moods. Some things don't mix. You shouldn't mix Lord of the Rings with Rick and Morty, for instance. The tone of Rick and Morty spoils the tone of Lord of the Rings. Tonally, they don't mix. Generic fantasy permits you to mix Peanut Butter and Pepperoni (I call it peanut-pepper butter-oni) and dip it in olive oil. One thing spoils the other thing.

Don't be insulted but kitchen-sink fantasy is plebeian fantasy because it is fantasy for everyone without discerning taste and people who don't know about the craft of acting or drama or of history. It tries to satisfy as many people as it can all at the same time. It's generic as opposed to specific. By generic, I mean it is "of the genre" in the broadest sense of the word genre, permitting everything under the fantasy category; but by specific fantasy I mean something curated and intended to create a more specific aesthetic, sensation, mood, theme, and style. Specific fantasy appeals to a narrower audience, not necessarily an audience with superior tastes but with specific tastes.

The definition of fantasy as a genre is "fiction plus magic or supernatural elements". That's it. Nothing about what kind of magic stuff or how much of it. So, imagine fantasy as a dial or slider. At the lowest setting of 1, you might get something like Liar, Liar with Jim Carry where a boy makes a wish on a birthday cake so that his dad can't lie. Crank it up to 2 and you might get Legend of King Arthur, where the quantity of magical elements is few and uncommon. There's one magic sword, one wizard, one lady of the lake, and one holy relic to find. There are no dragons and no potions of gaseous form. At the highest setting of 10, you might get Baldur's Gate 3 where you start off on an illithid spaceship and end up visiting hell, and one of your companions is a half-elf vampire. It's a mess and I don't like it.

Expectations are the hardest thing to establish for an TTRPG, and I think kitchen-sink fantasy makes this more challenging because not there's too many options. If I invite you to play in a game with me, I have no idea what your experience with fantasy is, and I have no idea what kind of fantasy you like. This is why D&D classically had an Appendix N which referred you to the works of fiction that inspired D&D.  If I tell you I'm running a low fantasy game, are you thinking that it's fantasy with the slider on a low setting, or are you thinking it's low fantasy as in the sub-genre low fantasy which has a more specific definition than fantasy. If I tell you I'm running a game using 5e D&D, then I think your expectations might immediately go to Baldur's Gate 3 even if I tell you "LOW, LOW fantasy". Are you thinking about a fantasy equivalent of the Marvel Avengers? Are you thinking about Adventure Time? Are you hoping for a western or a gangster movie? Appendix N may help you narrow people's expectations down.

Now let's break the fantasy elements down into their own sliders. Fantasy is a slider, magic is a slider, monsters is a slider. Lord of the Rings is high fantasy because it is set in its own fantastic, non-Earth setting with its own history and mythos, but on the magic slider it's low because only wizards can do magic and there's like five of them. Furthermore, on the monster slider, there might be a massive army of orcs, but the variety of monsters is limited; you can't put a 300-page monster manual together based on the monsters of Lord of the Rings, so, let's say it's in the middle. Lord of the Rings has epic stakes: the fate of Middle Earth. That's usually a feature of high fantasy. With low fantasy, the stakes tend to be more grounded. In Conan the Barbarian for example, the stakes are very local.

The last thing I want to give you is the concept of a hypothetical master checklist of all fantasy concepts. I'll call it the master fantasy checklist. It's got everything on there from magic wands that shoot jets of colored light to dragon shouts to magic gemstones made of condensed ether that let you cast spells to sticking bits of metal in your tummy and getting powers based on the type of metal. When you define your specific setting, you check off items include it in the setting. Let's say if you check off 75% or more of the boxes, that's kitchen sink territory. This is because the list is so massive. If you check off 10% or less, that's focused, specific, or niche. It likely qualifies as a dedicated subgenre. If you check off 30% - 49% (meaning you're excluding more than half of the list), that's a curated Variety Fantasy. I think you should aim for Variety Fantasy on any regular day. Less is more and keep it simple stupid are axiomatic; you might believe that getting rid of excess (bloat) leads to greater satisfaction, or you may believe that restrictions breed creativity. Maybe you agree?

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 be 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. I created Open Lite RPG for this purpose which you can find on this blogger.

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. Trixie's (Club)

1-5 Shopping Center

1-6 Sports Arena (Joe Ford Arena)

Old Draconia (Historical District)

2-1 The Mikolon Museum of Art

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, Production 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 Saint Vincent's Hospital

4-6 Airport

Other:

Big Mike's (old gas station)

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

Other:

Cottontails (retro family restaurant)

The Magic Emporium (novelty shop)

Chris P's Chicken

The Waters Building

Church of St. Jude

Royal Oaks Apartments

Fire Roads: 3rd Street was the main road that ran west to east and is like a major artery. F street ran north and south but forked at the intersection of third. The branch of F Street that ran west was called F West, and the branch of F Street that ran east was called F East. On a map, it looked a bit like an upside-down star

J&P Publishing Co

Clark Hills (Uptown)

6-1 Upper Class Residential

6-2 Draconia University, Book Store

6-3 Green Gardens (Plant Nursery)

6-4 Mall (named Draconia Town Square Mall), Cinema, Arcade, Gymnasium, Antiques

6-5 Convention Center

6-6 Police Station

CHARACTERS

• Draconia Police. Chief-of-Police Scott Matthews. Captain Nicole Miller, Detective David Anderson, Detective Christa "Chris" Daniels
• Richard "Dick" Chandler (63), Elizabeth Chandler (47). Millionaire realtors, owners of some of the largest buildings in Draconia. Secretly PKers. Children: Ophelia (27), Alexander (25), Sofia (5).
• Benjamin Knight, artist and owner of the local basketball team

"RACE" Options

Human (ordinary, default)

Human (Esper, rare)

Human (PKer, rare)

Ordinary humans are the default race option and they have no special power or ability. Anyone can have a chance to be exceptional.

An esper is a human with extra-sensory perception (ESP). ESP can express itself in different ways, such as a danger sense, ability to tell when people are lying, or an ability to perceive the presence of someone without seeing them. Espers have a disadvantage. The are often involuntarily loners because their heightened empathy makes it taxing to be around others. They tend to be fighters rather than rogues.

A PKer (human) is someone who can perform some measure of psychokinesis or PK. PKers are restricted to the Mage class, and are also the only ones who can be the Mage Class. The existence of PKers is a secret, and so PKs are obligated to adhere to a set of rules called the Magocracy. The first rule is secrecy. The second rule is punishment for violating to Magocracy.