A Modern Town in a Fantasy World


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This is a campaign/adventure that will be about a modern small city/large town that is magically transported to a D&D world. So far the background is that it is the result of an attempt at creating a massive gate that went wrong. (why I'll figure out later) It arrives in an area that fell to monstrous and magical invasion and thus has little human/demihuman population at all. Immediately upon arrival the dead begin to walk and it appears to the inhabitants to be like some kind of zombie/28 Days Later thing that creates chaos and panic.

That's just the background, but my main concern right now is some practicalities, such as:
1. What happens to water and power?

2. How long can a modern town/city go without shipments of food and fuel?

3. how much food/fuel/medecine/etc is stored in a modern town or city?

4. what kind of backup power and communications would exist?

5. How much ammunition would police/military base have access to?

Grand Lodge

If you have access to d20 Modern, I would say use that instead...

Basically, you'd be bringing D&D to your town, not the other way around...

Just have the town isolated ala "Silent Hill"...

Doing this would give you far less headaches IMO...

That said...

A small gas station would hold between 10,000-15,000 (total) gallons, while a larger station can hold up to 35,000 (total) gallons of gasoline within their underground tanks. Most stations have 2-3 tanks underground depending...

It would be a safe bet to assume that an average police station would have around 10,000 rounds of mixed ammo (9mm, .223, 12 GA, 40-45 Cal, etc.)...

That number is just a guess, however...

Backup power would come from diesel powered generators for big buildings (they make generators powerful enough to power skyscrapers)...

You would lose all communication (as that is all powered by satellite now)...

Citizen Band would probably still work (that would be CB radio in case you did not know) :-D

But land-line AND cell phone would be gone...

Hope that helps...

-That One Digitalelf Fellow-


humm we have 2 of this thread


reposted from other thread

OK not an expert but her goes

1..yes most city/towns run off electric pumps/ be a few reservoirs most outside the city. may be a pond or something.

2.well no electricity so you got word of mouth /hand signals flags..and so on

3. without outside food you'll run out in 2 to 3 weeks tops. some will be horded but 80% will be gone within 3 weeks. as for fuel well cars and such will cause it to run out fast, your looking 1 to 2 weeks without consureving it

no alot depends on the town size and population. I would recommend you read dies the fire by s.m striling . you'll find tones of useful info for most of what you are trying to do. also a few things.

does gunpoweder still work?
does stored electricity still function?

The Exchange

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Most towns get their natural gas and electricity from a larger gris system, so those would both be off, unless if the town had its own power plant, and even then, most power plants don't directly supply the area they are in, so it would still take a bit of work to redirect the transmission lines from the plant to the town. Natural gas lines, being severed at the towns boundary, would loose all pressure, and would become useless (except as a steel-coated tunnel network, ranging in size from an inch wide up to possibly 42-inches in diameter).
I believe water would have a similar problem (cut lines would bleed out all the pressure, unless if they were manually shut off near the ruptures).
Also, depending on the terrain it was transported to, all of those natural gas lines leading in and out of town would most likely exlode at those rupture points, causing several large explosions around the perimeter of the town (at least the high pressure transmission lines that bring the gas into the town would). Dirt or soil wouldn't do much to hold this back, and I don't know how much good stone would do either, might just make the explosion more violent (shards of rock flying about and what-not).
Hope this helps some.

Dark Archive Bella Sara Charter Superscriber

This link might be useful:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2165/when-the-zombies-take-over-ho w-long-till-the-electricity-fails

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Sebastian wrote:

This link might be useful:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2165/when-the-zombies-take-over-ho w-long-till-the-electricity-fails

Linkified

Liberty's Edge

You need the town's resident science genius to set up a windmill farm, and a crazy knight to show up and try to kill the windmills with his lance.


Nathan Nasif wrote:

Most towns get their natural gas and electricity from a larger gris system, so those would both be off, unless if the town had its own power plant, and even then, most power plants don't directly supply the area they are in, so it would still take a bit of work to redirect the transmission lines from the plant to the town. Natural gas lines, being severed at the towns boundary, would loose all pressure, and would become useless (except as a steel-coated tunnel network, ranging in size from an inch wide up to possibly 42-inches in diameter).

I believe water would have a similar problem (cut lines would bleed out all the pressure, unless if they were manually shut off near the ruptures).
Also, depending on the terrain it was transported to, all of those natural gas lines leading in and out of town would most likely exlode at those rupture points, causing several large explosions around the perimeter of the town (at least the high pressure transmission lines that bring the gas into the town would). Dirt or soil wouldn't do much to hold this back, and I don't know how much good stone would do either, might just make the explosion more violent (shards of rock flying about and what-not).
Hope this helps some.

While probably accurate, that is also very instantaneously dramatic. I don't know what the OP is going for. If he wants more of a mysterious "What is going on here?", all those explosions and things might hurt that kind of atmosphere. If the city just kind of fades/transitions from one world to another, I think it would be acceptable to overlook that.

But it swings both ways. If, on the other hand, the OP wants chaos and panic in the streets, playing up the explosions and the loss of facilities is the easiest way to go. The city would fall back into the Dark Ages very quickly from within, leaving basically the nonfunctional ruin of a modern city sitting in a fantasy world, and all the people left within the city (which may not be many after all the aforementioned chaos and panic) having to rapidly adapt to the new world they find themselves in.

Here's a question the OP might want to think about: what about religion?


Thanks very much for the posts, I appreciate the help. Sorry about the double post but my thread didn't appear for a bit and I was confused by that.

The zombie link is particularly helpful, I'll make good use of that.

I had decided that I would make gunpowder and modern tech work, the reason being that it won't be easy to replace it.

I don't mind a cataclysm or two, what I want actually is a sense that something awful and strange has happened. The sense of mystery will come from the bizarre creatures, the rising of the dead, the strange effects that take place. What I had in mind was the following:

1. general dumb but dangerous undead (zombies, ghouls) evoking 28 Days Later and George A. Romero. These rise from the dead who are in cemetaries, morgues, etc and quickly get others to join their numbers. This is due simply to the lack of necessary clerical magics to keep the dead bodies from being inhabited by evil spirits.

2. More dangerous undead: at least one highly intelligent one leading some other clever ones. (I was thinking of a wight sorceror perhaps with some ghast followers or lesser wights, who arrives and decides to try to take over)

3. Some evil fae or shapeshifters of some kind, typical scavengers in the wake of a larger movement.

4. Giant vermin take over some of the underground areas but begin burrowing up searching for prey. I thought of giant rats and various bugs.

In the other thread I think someone mentioned the idea of using D20 Modern to make this work. I may do that. It certainly would be easier to make up the modern characters with.


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber

While it's science fiction, not fantasy, you might want to check out Eric Flint's book '1632' and the various sequels. The premise is a smallish American town transported back in time to Germany in 1632, and what they do about the situation. While the plot's not what you're looking for, it does cover some of the issues of supplies, rebuilding, resources and so on.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Watch Jericho.

Also:

Island in the Sea of Time is the first out of the three novels of the Nantucket series by S. M. Stirling. The island of Nantucket is transported by an unknown phenomenon (called "The Event" in the series) back in time into the Bronze Age circa 1250s BC (corresponding to the late Heroic Age of the Trojan war).


It does change things if the city is Manhattan or a small town surrounded by countryside...
So for easy transition, pick a town which happens to host a power plant with fuel for, say, two weeks, food in stores, some gas in tanks...and also in other ways is not immediately dependent on surroundings. There will be hoarding and panic though, but at least it won't go to stone age in one day.


Also note that Hospitals have backup generators by default, so they stand out in that regard.

Consider what vehicles are in the town at the time of transport. If it happens during the day, you might get things like Semi-trucks, which could be transporting just about anything.

How bout this, I'm going to imagine if my hometown was the transported city, then I'll try the city I live in now, which is certainly not a Large City by any means, but were talking populations of barely 2000 and 75,000, respectively.

Hometown: A middle school (variety of potential supplies + large area for sheltering people), one grocery store, one gas station, one small car sales lot, one police station, one firehouse. Not much else of particular note, although there is some rafting equipment due to a river that runs through it.

Current City: 2 large high schools, multiple lower grade schools, 2 3 wholesale foodstores (Costco, WinCo, Food4Less) and multiple grocery stores and corner stores. Multiple gas stations, multiple police and fire stations, a massive library. Actual dense stone construction courthouse (large and durable and easily fortifiable). Several large car dealerships. 2 construction vehicle rental/sales companies (imagine the use you could get out of cranes and log loaders and bulldozers for fortification or even combat). 2 Shipping company yards (Semi-trucks with loads, keep in mind all Semi-trucks are equipped with CB raidios.) Finally, a shopping mall, which is actually a quite defensible structure, especially if the lower level was "abandoned" and guards posted at the escalators/stairs.

But now consider this. Panic is exponential. In the smaller town, the degree of panic would not be nearly as high due to the smaller population, and the smaller population could coordiante more effectively for the purposes of allocating resources and such. The larger city, while posessed of more potential resources, will also have a higher degree of panic and general insanity/chaos/failure to cooperate.

Hope some of this is usefull.


MrFish wrote:


2. How long can a modern town/city go without shipments of food and fuel?

Most cities are net importers of food. That's what makes them cities rather than farms. Consider that supermarkets get shipments of food every day... which means that they'll be out of fresh fruits and vegetables and meat relatively quickly. And then there's the fact that there will be a run on water and food... leading to even quicker shortages as people hoard.

Unless someone does something very good in imposing order, the city might self-destruct for a while.

In short, for mob-apocalypse scenario... I doubt you'll need undead.

Let the populace be the BBEG for the first act. THEN you bring in outside threats to unify the city against the common foe.


In a fantasy world the ground water is probably still drinkable after it is pumped up from the ground (or it should be magically polluted). Water from rivers and streams might be drinkable as well. This means creative players could solve the drinking water problem by digging wells etc.

Good luck with your campaign. Sounds like an interesting concept.


So what are some good size possibilities for a city then?

I've read S.M. Stirling's book, it's a good source of inspiration. It also makes a good point about population size having an effect--it depicts the population of Nantucket ultimately managing to gather resources and manpower and establishing control. Which brings up another point: this is why you still need monsters.

Thank you by the way for the encouragement, I'm enjoying working on this idea too.

What I'm shooting for is less therefore the SM. Stirling idea about a single community against the odds (at least at first) and more of a terrorized community that breaks into smaller ones that may or may not resolve themselves again into a larger one later.

Grand Lodge

MrFish wrote:
1. general dumb but dangerous undead (zombies, ghouls)...

I get the "feel" that you are looking for, but remember, ghouls (and ghasts) have an intelligence of 13. They are certainly NOT dumb or mindless...

-That One Digitalelf Fellow-

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Digitalelf wrote:
MrFish wrote:
1. general dumb but dangerous undead (zombies, ghouls)...

I get the "feel" that you are looking for, but remember, ghouls (and ghasts) have an intelligence of 13. They are certainly NOT dumb or mindless...

-That One Digitalelf Fellow-

I ran a level 1 dungeon once, and the big role-playing scenario was between the PCs and a ghoul. 13 Int, 14 Wis (?), 15 Cha (?). It was actually kind of interesting.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Paul Ryan wrote:
While it's science fiction, not fantasy, you might want to check out Eric Flint's book '1632' and the various sequels. The premise is a smallish American town transported back in time to Germany in 1632, and what they do about the situation. While the plot's not what you're looking for, it does cover some of the issues of supplies, rebuilding, resources and so on.

I was going to suggest this myself. Not exactly what you want but it does deal with a lot of the same issues.


Digitalelf wrote:

<other stuff>

You would lose all communication (as that is all powered by satellite now)...

Citizen Band would probably still work (that would be CB radio in case you did not know) :-D

But land-line AND cell phone would be gone...

Hope that helps...

-That One Digitalelf Fellow-

Let me start by saying that I'm no expert in phone systems.

That said, would the local landlines necessarily be out of action? Doesn't that depend on where trunk stations (or whatever they're called) are located, if the actual lines are ruptured by the shift, and if a clever local telephone company technician can jury-rig something that takes over for any possible remote computer-control of the system?

Maybe a short-term disruption of local service, if the afore-mentioned clever technician can get his/her hands on any necessary generators and computer?

Regarding electricity and landlines, if one has a non-electrical phone it will still work if one's own (home) electricity is off. (I speak from personal experience.) I don't know if this applies for a local landline network or not.

Just some thoughts, and certainly not an expert opinion!


Bellona wrote:
Maybe a short-term disruption of local service, if the afore-mentioned clever technician can get his/her hands on any necessary generators and computer?

Or perhaps the PCs have to escort him to ward off the undead and attacking monsters, or perhaps even go investigate his dissappearance. In the latter case, he's probably eaten and dead, but got a lot of the work done and the party could then make the final repairs and restore phones to the city, perhaps gaining influence through this action.

Grand Lodge

Bellona wrote:
Regarding electricity and landlines, if one has a non-electrical phone it will still work if one's own (home) electricity is off. (I speak from personal experience.) I don't know if this applies for a local landline network or not.

Personal experience for me and my area (So Cal), has been that when the electricity goes out, so too do the phones (and I even have an old school rotary phone hooked up in the bedroom)...

I remember a time (before cell phones became so wide-spread) that, when the electricity went out, the phones still worked (even the ones that had electrical components, like caller ID. Of course that did not work, but I still had a dial tone back then)...

I suppose that some computer geek-type person could re-establish local phone service if they had access to the box and a powerful generator (like these)...

-That One Digitalef Fellow-


Another thought is stuff like ammo, spare parts, things like that. I know that there would be even in a moderate sized town at least a few garages, warehouses, etc, but I'm wondering how many vehicles could be serviced in such an emergency?

Grand Lodge

People have mentioned looting (and sources of supplies in general)...

One often times overlooked source for water, would be fast-food restaurants...

They pretty much all serve bottled water now, and while everyone is out pillaging the local grocery store looking for water, hardly anyone will be picking Taco Bell and McDonalds clean of their supply of water...

Also most offices would have a case or more of bottled water...

Guns and ammo are commodities that would vanish the fastest (especially from places like Wal-Mart, or big chain Sporting Goods stores)...

Oh, and cigarettes would disappear extremely fast as well (I don't personally smoke, but I know that they would become better than gold to those that do)...

Just some more random thoughts...

-That One Digitalelf Fellow-


Saern's idea is a cool one for adventures, I like that idea. I'd also had in mind the possibility of some people being sent to acquire a cache of fuel or other goods of some kind. What would work best is something that requires pcs to go into the sewers or underground...

here's a thought--where? I'm divided as to where. I'm trying to think of a good location. I kind of like the Midwest/Prairies but I'm not sure...

Yeah I was thinking that about bottled water too--for example the warehouse I work in has a lot of them.

Grand Lodge

You could be really evil, and pull the town into Ravenloft...

But anyway...

The Midwest would be good, as there are a lot of "isolated" towns...

Oh yeah...

An isolated mid-western town, surrounded by corn fields, pulled into Ravenloft (or something else of the like)...

Going to have to use this idea myself at some point...

-That One Digitalelf Fellow-

Liberty's Edge

Digitalelf wrote:
Bellona wrote:
Regarding electricity and landlines, if one has a non-electrical phone it will still work if one's own (home) electricity is off. (I speak from personal experience.) I don't know if this applies for a local landline network or not.

Personal experience for me and my area (So Cal), has been that when the electricity goes out, so too do the phones (and I even have an old school rotary phone hooked up in the bedroom)...

I remember a time (before cell phones became so wide-spread) that, when the electricity went out, the phones still worked (even the ones that had electrical components, like caller ID. Of course that did not work, but I still had a dial tone back then)...

I suppose that some computer geek-type person could re-establish local phone service if they had access to the box and a powerful generator (like these)...

-That One Digitalef Fellow-

In regards to whether or not the phones would work, that's dependant on the phone company and the phones themselves. If the phone company felt the town was large enough to put a full office(doesn't require a large town, I live in a rural area and we have a full office and trunk), then the trunk is likely to have either its own generators or a direct line to the nearest power plant(with priority over private power consumption).

If the former, then the land lines will remain live. This is why land lines work when your lights is out. If the latter, then the lines will be dead, but can be more easily rigged to become than if the town has no office at all.

Any phone that requires more than just the RJ11(or similar jacks for multiple lines, I simply said RJ11 because its become a standard for single line phones) to opperate will not work. Most corded phones don't draw much power, and the meager amount of voltage carried by the two wires in the RJ11 is plenty. Cordless phones or those with extra features(such as answering machines, Caller ID, and the like) will either not work, or only the phone will function. Similarly, any phone that draws power from a regular outlet and not a telephone jack won't fully work, if at all.

As a final note, I've never heard of a non-electrical phone, is it powered by hopes and dreams? :P

Grand Lodge

Cato Novus wrote:
As a final note, I've never heard of a non-electrical phone, is it powered by hopes and dreams? :P

I just assumed he meant a phone that does not have to be plugged into a electrical jack in order to work...

Liberty's Edge

Digitalelf wrote:
Cato Novus wrote:
As a final note, I've never heard of a non-electrical phone, is it powered by hopes and dreams? :P
I just assumed he meant a phone that does not have to be plugged into a electrical jack in order to work...

What's the matter? Can't I tease you people? :P


Some ideas which occurred to me:
1) Dopplegangers start showing up, and maybe even one gets caught and killed. If you describe it right, and it happens early on, you have the PCs initially wondering if they are 'greys' and this is sci-fi rather than 'fantasy'; cities getting sucked into other places by scientific means happen occasionally in fiction, after all...
2) At some point (personally) as a DM I would be tempted to throw in something against which science & technology is useless. Something with immunity to non-magical weapons, like incorporeal undead... :D By this point it will be clear that sci-fi is almost certainly NOT what is going on.
3) Leading on from point 2) what happens with regard to faith groups in the city? Priests, etc, cannot usually work miracles in the real world; is there an assumption in game that whichever god/gods they worship on Earth actually exist, and once the town transits to a fantasy setting, suddenly the local guru is doing amazing things? Or do local deities 'adopt' these priests because they can sense their faith and belief in certain tenets?
4) At some point spies/scouts from other rulers in the area will start arriving, either openly or in magical disguise, to investigate the situation and to offer alliances/offer trading links/demand tribute, etc.
5) Oh, and if anything like a dragon is suddenly thrust upon the situation before what is going on has been fully realised and publicly disseminated, I imagine that the initial result would be disbelief, and then mass panic. Not everyone is open/flexible enough minded to deal with such a massive paradigm shift being required to their way of thinking without suffering acute mental trauma.

Grand Lodge

Charles Evans 25 wrote:
Not everyone is open/flexible enough minded to deal with such a massive paradigm shift being required to their way of thinking without suffering acute mental trauma.

Yes, I would definitely crack open the rules for sanity (either in d20 Cthulhu or Unearthed Arcana)...

-That One Digitalelf Fellow-


There are some interesting ideas floating around here. Here's some more from me:

I like the idea of a small Midwestern town getting sucked in (I live outside of one), but what if it wasn't just the town? Say a good-sized, nearby city was also transported? The people in the small town wouldn't know this immediately; they might send a few people out to get help. But those messengers wouldn't come back. After the "villagers" get everything taken care of locally, they might send their new heroes (the PCs) out to get help in the city and/or find out what's taking the messengers so long.

Now, if you want to stick with the Night of the Living Dead theme, it's all the other villages. They didn't make it, and their dead are now roaming the countryside and got the others who went to find the city. I would vote for the earlier suggestion, dropping a full-blown fantasy world on these poor shmucks, with wizards and clerics and dragons and all that good stuff (though the undead may be the first thing they encounter).

Anyway, the goal for several adventures would be just getting to the city. Imagine what happens when the party finally makes it there, perhaps on a misty morning, and sees the towers loom out of the fog. Think of their relief at finally finding aid (or, if the players aren't the sentimental type, have an NPC along to carry out the emotional reactions). But then as they get closer... fire, and smoke. Broken glass. Maybe even bodies in the street. The city hasn't been spared, either. There is no help, and now they have to adjust to this new world. The campaign could eventually transition from just survival into exploration of the surroundings and then building a new nation on the ruins of this transported town. There would be politics and betrayals and all that good stuff, plus having to help people adapt to the new "reality."

An interesting idea you've stumbled upon here, Mr. Fish!


When I was reading these posts, I was reminded of the TV show "Jericho". Not quite the same idea, but it was a show of a town having to live independently for a while. Perhaps you can get some ideas from the series.


Thanks for the ideas on the phone company, that's an important consideration. I'll have to weigh that one.

Charles Evans: With regard to how the monsters show up, I do like these ideas. Creatures like dopplegangers, undead and so on are just the ticket because I don't want out and out fantasy to be the obvious thing to start with. And yeah, a dragon would be cool except I'd probably make sure it was either an unusual type or that I described it so that it wasn't like "Oh, great, a dragon" in an obvious way. It would have to be almost LIKE something from Call of Cthulhu, where it seemed shocking and horrifying.

Saern: your idea is AWESOME. I never even thought of that--a region being transported instead of just a single location! That's just such a cool encounter on its own that I have to figure out how to make that work.

Luna: I've never watched Jericho, but I certainly might. I do enjoy the post apocalyptic genre and I have been exploring that in the way of books and movies for ideas.


Aviation? how much aviation?


MrFish wrote:
Aviation? how much aviation?

Airports, how many airports??? :D

Although irrespective of the existence of major airports, there might smaller airfields for lighter planes and so forth.
Some flash businessmen (or local news channels?) might have their own helicopters, but any kind of aviation transport is going to go through a lot of fuel very quickly, and I have a notion that aviation fuel is a different quality of petroleum product altogether from what you put in the fuel tank of a regular automobile.

Any aviation may well draw attention very quickly from locals, who are likely used to anything flying being a predator or perhaps a crazy wizard with an elaborate means of transport- either of which, depending on the local situation- could be viewed with extreme hostility, and met with an armed response.

With regard to the earlier comments on hi-tech communication, an airport/airfield will have its own radio broadcast facilities with a range of some miles, and might (depending on size/importance of the facility) have radar too.

As an interesting thought, perhaps the PCs could start off as guests on a plane, only the airport/airfield from which they took off was just outside the zone which was transported, and their first problem is coping with the somewhat bumpy landing. (Perhaps there's a fog at the time, to further obscure things, and to make it not quite obvious what's going on.)

If the PCs do have acess to aviation of some kind (even hot-air balloons, possibly, or zeppelins?) Then unless constant bad weather is a factor, some sort of reconnaissance/mapping expedition may well be one the cards at some point.

Edit:
A major airport probably comes with its own security staff these days, and certainly some sort of fire-trucks for crash situations.

Grand Lodge

A small town might have a small air port, with light prop-driven aircraft. Might also have a learjet, but nothing bigger...

In the area I live, these small private airports all have an air museum attached to them, with a lot of the old WWII ere planes (and older) being functional...

A farmer might have a crop dusting plane/helicopter as well...

*EDIT*

Here's a scary thought...

Not all of those missile silos in America's Heartland were decommissioned...

A few remain active (you know, for our protection)...

Here's a link to pictures of an abandoned silo complex: Here

-That One Digitalelf Fellow-

Silver Crusade

Charles Evans 25 wrote:


3) Leading on from point 2) what happens with regard to faith groups in the city? Priests, etc, cannot usually work miracles in the real world; is there an assumption in game that whichever god/gods they worship on Earth actually exist, and once the town transits to a fantasy setting, suddenly the local guru is doing amazing things? Or do local deities 'adopt' these priests because they can sense their faith and belief in certain tenets?

A lot of possibilities here, especially in how different people will react. Especially if divine influence kicks in around the town before any natives, particularly clerics and paladins, show up and explain how gods work in their world.

I remember an old comic book series that dealt with the D&D cartoon scenario a bit more seriously and one character's conversion to the worship of a non-Earth deity was a big plotpoint. Throw in a whole town of people, more than a few of whom might convert after dealing with the huge paradigm shift, and things get really complicated. I mean, imagine a traditional Catholic couple's reaction to their daughter converting to Buddhism or Wicca. Now imagine their reaction if she converted to the worship of Calistria or Cayden Cailean.

Hell, imagine the miniature schisms in the churches themselves. You could have some clergy taking a more deistic or patheist slant with their own beliefs, trying to overlay it over the cosmology of their current world(as in "Okay, these other gods exist, but they're just aspects of our God. Some of them at least"(which gods they believe fall under that distinction could vary from person to person as well)). Then you could have other clergy, or hell, just a section of the faithful saying "It's all some diabolical trick! Those strange people and their strange gods? Wicked!" a la the crazy lady from The Mist. And all other sorts of reactions, what with people being people. An unpredictable and varied lot. Any theologians in town are going to be busy, busy people.

There's always the possibility of having gods, benign or malicious, visitng their chosen in dreams and visions too.

Huh, makes me wonder about some people spontaneously becoming druids...

As for the initial creature encounters, I wholeheartedly recommend fey after the undead and during the dopplegangers.


Hey, if you write this up into a full module or campaign, I would be interested in seeing it.

Also, I used to work for a cell phone company in the 90's. I can verify that cell phones would continue to work, as long as the cell towers and cell phone batteries still had power. We used to set up CSOWs (Cell Sites On Wheels) in disaster and undeveloped areas to provide service.

Silver Crusade

What about having the transported town(and surrounding area) "overlay" some of what's already there?

The townspeople suddenly have these strange landmarks in the middle of town square or their park. Strange monolithic statues, a ruined temple outside town, a curiously arranged grove, etc.

There could be the odd "dungeon" here or there too, either having entrances near town or possibly merged with the newly arrived town(the sewer system connects to an old tomb network, etc.).

Grand Lodge

darth_borehd wrote:
Also, I used to work for a cell phone company in the 90's. I can verify that cell phones would continue to work, as long as the cell towers and cell phone batteries still had power. We used to set up CSOWs (Cell Sites On Wheels) in disaster and undeveloped areas to provide service.

Don't cell towers communicate via satellite?

*EDIT*

Okay, answered my own question...

Found this: Here

But that just brings up another question...

If your cell provider is gone, but at least one cell tower is still here (and functional), will the phone still function properly?

I mean, each cell tower has equipment that is owned by the cell provider(s) that they maintain, which I assume helps the cell provider make sure the call gets routed through to the correct phone (and to help determine who to charge for the call in the first place)...

-That One Digitalelf Fellow-


Digitalelf wrote:
darth_borehd wrote:
Also, I used to work for a cell phone company in the 90's. I can verify that cell phones would continue to work, as long as the cell towers and cell phone batteries still had power. We used to set up CSOWs (Cell Sites On Wheels) in disaster and undeveloped areas to provide service.
Don't cell towers communicate via satellite?

No. That's a common misconception. The cell towers are connected to the LEC (local exchange carrier or landline phone company) through regular cables where they are routed like all other telephone calls.

Grand Lodge

darth_borehd wrote:
No. That's a common misconception. The cell towers are connected to the LEC (local exchange carrier or landline phone company) through regular cables where they are routed like all other telephone calls.

Which seems to bring us full circle...

If the land-lines are down, then so too are the cell phones...

Both the Local Exchange, and the land-lines need power...

-That One Digitalelf Fellow-

Liberty's Edge

Charles Evans 25 wrote:
...I have a notion that aviation fuel is a different quality of petroleum product altogether from what you put in the fuel tank of a regular automobile.

Yes, Avgas(aviation gasoline) is different from Mogas(motor gasoline). Avgas is a high-octane petroleum product used in aircraft and racing cars. Avgas is most commonly used in aircraft that use piston or Wankel engines.

The gap between avgas and mogas is becoming shorter and shorter, with conversions becoming more common; allowing prop engine planes to run on mogas, with a certificate. There are occurrances of converted aircraft having problems when running on mogas. Due to the fact that mogas doesn't have the same quality control standards as avgas, it is still not considered a viable alternative for most aircraft.

Gas Turbines can use Avgas, but you normally won't find them running on it. Turbines are designed to run on a kerosene-based jet fuel.

My suggestion here is to rule that only prop-engine planes which are considered Mastercraft can reliably work running on mogas, and while working under these conditions, its Mastercraft quality is cancelled out. Non-Mastercraft should either not function, or become unreliable. This downgrade in status can be removed with two hours of maintainance and returning to avgas.

Of course, this is all if aviation is included.

Digitalelf wrote:
Not all of those missile silos in America's Heartland were decommissioned...

*hops up onto the missile, Strangelove style!*

darth_borehd wrote:
Digitalelf wrote:
darth_borehd wrote:
Also, I used to work for a cell phone company in the 90's. I can verify that cell phones would continue to work, as long as the cell towers and cell phone batteries still had power. We used to set up CSOWs (Cell Sites On Wheels) in disaster and undeveloped areas to provide service.
Don't cell towers communicate via satellite?
No. That's a common misconception. The cell towers are connected to the LEC (local exchange carrier or landline phone company) through regular cables where they are routed like all other telephone calls.

I'm glad someone knew something about Cells, I did my best to avoid any mention of them, talking only of conventional phones. :)

Still, one would wonder whether or not the energy spent on powering both the cell towers and land lines would be worth it in such a scenario when resources must be closely regulated.

Sovereign Court

Remember hover that Microlights usually run off something akin to a lawnmower engine and therefore can use Mogas

Grand Lodge

Cato Novus wrote:
*hops up onto the missile, Strangelove style!*

Whoa there cowboy, is that is missile, or are you just really glad to see us??

*Sigh*

I don't believe I just said that, and in a public forum no less...

That One Digitalelf Fellow goes and hides his head in shame


Cato Novus wrote:

Still, one would wonder whether or not the energy spent on powering both the cell towers and land lines would be worth it in such a scenario when resources must be closely regulated.

Especially if we are talking about relatively minor town. I would let this go, and it would feed to weirdness to have complete radio silence all of a sudden, no radio, no TV, no phones, you have to run to the neighbor's house/town square/wherever to find out WHAT IS HAPPENING...

Liberty's Edge

Digitalelf wrote:
Cato Novus wrote:
*hops up onto the missile, Strangelove style!*

Whoa there cowboy, is that is missile, or are you just really glad to see us??

*Sigh*

I don't believe I just said that, and in a public forum no less...

That One Digitalelf Fellow goes and hides his head in shame

Hey, I just wanted to feel the power between my legs.

By the way, what is this "shame" you speak of?

Grand Lodge

magdalena thiriet wrote:
Especially if we are talking about relatively minor town. I would let this go, and it would feed to weirdness to have complete radio silence all of a sudden, no radio, no TV, no phones, you have to run to the neighbor's house/town square/wherever to find out WHAT IS HAPPENING...

I would assume portable CB radios (and "walkie-talkies") would work, as they have their own transmitters (1-5 mile range)...

So too would HAM radio...

But they all require radio waves...

Does this strange new fantasy world even have radio waves (which would also answer the question of cell phones)?

-That One Digitalelf Fellow-

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