Using the old d20 Modern Core Rulebook as a guide, and tweaking the math for fifth edition, I created armour options for my 5e Modern campaign. Modern settings are a different animal in this regard.
There are no social penalties when characters are observed in full armour while going about their business.
In a typical fantasy setting, adventurers, guards, and other possible combatants are fully expected to wear armour. However, this left me in a quandary regarding character defenses. RULES OF ENGAGEMENT The Dungeon Master s Guide provides optional rules for firearms in D&D including modern and even futuristic weapons. When the fifth edition Dungeon Master s Guide was released last December, I knew without a doubt that my first homebrew setting using the new rules would be an updated take on Urban Arcana, adapting firearms and modern armour for use in an urban fantasy game. By that point, other games had clamoured for my attention, but I never forgot how interested I was in the marriage of D&D to urban fantasy. I ran my Urban Arcana campaign for six years. Only a small number of humans and friendly Shadowkind races can even perceive much less combat the threats that such an incursion brings. The vast majority of humankind remains largely ignorant of this development, thanks to our awesome capacity for denial. D&D monsters and magic (called Shadow within the setting) are finding their way into our world. The scenario was a familiar one, seemingly plucked from my own daydreams. Gnolls in crushed velvet! Ogres decked out in London Fog overcoats! Living dumpsters that ate people! I was crazy about the Urban Arcana campaign setting in particular. When Wizards of the Coast released the d20 Modern roleplaying game in 2002, I was in heaven. With the Dungeon Master s Guide and some tweaking, I ve begun to use the fifth edition rules to explore the possibilities of gunplay in a modern fantasy setting. 1 ARTICLE MY NEW D20 MODERN CAMPAIGN Behind the Screens By Dan Helmick - I m a long time D&D player, but I m also a sucker for urban fantasy.