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Mythras Modern Action...


mal

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Hi All - I'm going to be running a version of Monster Island where Modern Day characters pass through a wormhole to get there...
I'm looking for a curated list of Cultures, Careers, Skills, Backgrounds, and Equipment for a modern action adventure. Think Skull Island.
Not sure if anyone has generated such a list, if so I'd a love a link! If not, I'd appreciate some help/suggestions for making such a list.

thanks

Malcolm

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Not as such, that I'm aware of, though several related titles touch on the topic:  Mythras Firearms, M-Space, Luther Arkwright, Rubble & Ruin, Destined.  Overall, it's not difficult to adapt the cultures and careers from Mythras to other eras, but, no, it's not curated.

I do know that a number of us have discussed running Monster Island in more contemporary genres, so I'll flag down @Raleel.  And @hkokko for good measure, in case there's some compiled list of genre alternatives that I've missed.

!i!

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thanks for the assist guys... 

I've already got all those resources named above, but I am lazy! 

I guess pulp Cthulhu character careers or archetypes might help...

Any other suggestions for char generation for modern action heroes/modern pulp heroes that would then interact with Monster Island...

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10 hours ago, mal said:

Hi All - I'm going to be running a version of Monster Island where Modern Day characters pass through a wormhole to get there...
I'm looking for a curated list of Cultures, Careers, Skills, Backgrounds, and Equipment for a modern action adventure. Think Skull Island.

Luther Arkwright, World United, After the Vampire Wars and Destined would all be helpful.

WU and AtVW have only one culture (Modern) but Destined has three that would work (Urban, Rural, Archaic). For LA, you could use Computer Age Level development plus an appropriate social type.

They all have suitable careers and skills just remove the weird ones (like Home Parallel) or skills that are too sci-fi (astrogation).

For Backgrounds, LA, AtVW and the Training or General backgrounds from Destined could all be used. Just adapt weird stuff. Or for fun, roll once and read the results on all 4 tables and have your player choose 1. 

For equipment, I would use Tools of the Trade in Destined, LA also has a good section, although again, there is more weird to ignore.

To stick only with one, Destined is the most easily adapted I believe.

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  • 4 months later...

There is a real dearth of modern/contemporary content out there right now. Hopefully that will change since gunfights in Mythras scream tactical fun. But I would take a look at the old CoC modern book-Delta Green for career ideas. Vampire Wars has a few.

Luther Arkwright is the best bang for your buck but since its multi-genre it may be a bit bland. But it has all the rules you would need.

Destined is amazing. It handles some rules differently since its geared towards superheros (less-lethal combat etc.). But it is all-inclusive and I consider it the greatest toolbox provided for Mythras. With the Powers mechanic and their 'slots' system, you can build anything for Mythras now. And its well laid-out, complete tables and coverage. Very good. 

On a personal note Raiders of R'lyeh is an incredible product that fuses BRP/Mythras pretty seamlessly. Its a hybrid of adventure-gaming/Cthulhu set in 1900-1910 era so not perfect for your purposes. But the careers in there could work for some modern stuff with a little tweaking. Its literally my favorite child right now.

Worlds United is a decent book that has a good presentation of incorporating tech.

I struggle with reading M-Space. There's good stuff in there but my eyes struggle to read it so probably a personal thing.

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One thing that occurs to me, is that your Connecticut Yankees will relatively-quickly run out of modern supplies (particularly ammo).

What then, when they're moderns (who have zero training/background with magic (an excellent Clarketech analogue)) trying to adventure (without the compensation of modern tech)...?  Even mundane skills like swordsmanship are sadly rare among moderns.

Hank Morgan relied upon his superior knowledge from the future to produce magic-seeming effects; your players will be competing against  actual functional magic .

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"Modern Man in the lost world" is a classic trope. I've thought of using the same idea with Monster Island. My plan was to tell the players that whatever else their character was or did, they had 50% in some weapon or martial arts style that included archaic weapons. I'd give them that skill free. So one player might have Aikido, with weapon styles included, another might be a medieval re-enactor, and so on. You always have to look out for the joker who has a hundred good logical reasons why Lithuanian Tongue-Wrestling is a legitimate martial art, and toilet paper roll is a legitimate weapon. I prefer to stop players like that before they make fools of themselves in the game. 

"Modern Man in the Lost World" tropes usually include individuals who are geniuses or physically superior - or both. 

 

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On 3/14/2023 at 4:02 PM, pachristian said:

"Modern Man in the lost world" is a classic trope. I've thought of using the same idea with Monster Island. My plan was to tell the players that whatever else their character was or did, they had 50% in some weapon or martial arts style that included archaic weapons. I'd give them that skill free. So one player might have Aikido, with weapon styles included, another might be a medieval re-enactor, and so on. You always have to look out for the joker who has a hundred good logical reasons why Lithuanian Tongue-Wrestling is a legitimate martial art, and toilet paper roll is a legitimate weapon. I prefer to stop players like that before they make fools of themselves in the game. 

"Modern Man in the Lost World" tropes usually include individuals who are geniuses or physically superior - or both. 

You're describing a specific niche of pulp fiction; and you're right, it's a classic.

I just wanted to point out to the OP that "a curated list of Cultures, Careers, Skills, Backgrounds, and Equipment for a modern action adventure" might miss some critical elements vs. a  Lost World Adventures  list.

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Your point is excellent. One solution might be to allow the character to take some of the skills they will need in the lost world as Career skills. Just Handwaviam them in. So our hypothetical computer programmer might also have been a volunteer mountain rescue, and be allowed to take Athletics, Endurance, Survival, and Tracking as part of their professional skills. Several of my friends have hobbies that they are very serious about - to the point of treating them as part-time jobs.

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