(Without handing out the whole spacecraft.)

I hinted at some higher technology early in my worldbuilding efforts for Hex-A-Day 2025. The dungeon the group first entered was a set of ruins built atop a secret underground base. The Custodian and his little helpers are actually robots, not golems or magical constructs. They made tasty food using replicators which looked a lot like conjuring them out of thin air. The portal ran off the base’s internal reactor which fizzled out after the group went through. To anyone inside afterward, everything went dark, and the Custodian had to explain that he “forgot” the portal required so much power.

Throughout the rich history of tabletop roleplaying games there have been numerous brushes with higher levels of technology. The original Expedition to the Barrier Peaks for Basic D&D (Check it out HERE if you feel inclined to do so.) It’s a fun adventure and players really took to it. In fact Wizards of the Coast is making a version for 2024-5 D&D if I’m not mistaken. I like the original.

Dungeon Crawl Classics uses the same mechanics as the gonzo apocalyptic Mutant Crawl Classics game, making it possible to go from one to the other almost seamlessly. There was a DCC module that deals with a crashed UFO called Prisoners of the Secret Overlords. I believe much of the Purple Planet series is also based on old school science fantasy concepts if you want to go way out there.

Disclaimer: Statements expressed in this article are strictly my opinion. If you disagree or have a different opinion, that’s okay. I’m not an expert on everything. I’m not always right. I’m just writing from my experience as I know it. Your mileage may vary.

Is there a Sci Fi adventure for Drakar och Demoner?

Not that I have been able to find yet. Maybe I’m not asking the right questions. My Swedish is pretty rough. I’ll keep digging. The game has been around for 40+ years. I mean somebody has surely done a thing, right?

I can tell you I’m working on adding some sci-fi elements into my Dragonbane world. I wanted dungeons, settlements, and all sorts of strange/unusual beings running around. There are alien Grays, robots, possibly a rogue AI, an Alpha Complex situation (Paranoia,) and crashed ETs on my world. It’s gonna get wacky and weird while still maintaining that fantasy vibe.

Please do what works best for you as a Game Master and your group. What works for me at my table may not work for yours and vice versa. The main focus is to have fun. There is no right or wrong way to roleplay.

Reframing the “science” part.

My as yet unnamed world has multiple layers of past civilizations under the current one. The planet itself is huge. Nature, for whatever reason, reclaims tracts of uninhabited lands very quickly. Some just sink into the ground. Others are overgrown with plants and overrun with animals in a short amount of time. Some animists, druids, and shamans know ways to convince the world not to overrun where they live. Past cultures or planetary explorers may have not been so fortunate.

This leads us to that high tech civilizations that sprang up and then went down to an as-yet-unknown cataclysmic event. It leaves us to wonder how the Grays got there and managed to survive as well as replicate themselves. (Real world ET theory there. More on that some other time.) It leaves us to wonder how the Draconians and other Reptilians landed and manage to coexist. There are all kinds of tech based ruins to check out, many of which laden with loot waiting to be discovered.

ETs in suspended animation who might seem monstrous to the untrained eye. “Magical” force fields that bar entry or block a path. Now there are these neat thingamabobs and doohickeys that no one understands. Characters can find gold bars and coins that bear the mark of no kingdom anyone has heard of. Robots and self-activated laser cannons guard it all.

“What is all this insanity and where did it come from?” the peasants will cry.

I’m going to build on the principle that magic is just technology we don’t understand yet. Phlasers (don’t sue me, Paramount) have these dials and buttons. Depending on how you turn the dial it might shock the target in front of it or disintevaporate the poor thing completely. But it only has so many charges and when it runs out, it’s done. There could be all kinds of these “wands” and “rods” laying around for the characters to play with.

Weapons are the tip of the potential iceberg. No matter how well they roll, the characters are still never going to be able to reverse engineer things written in a language they don’t understand, using tools they don’t have, with parts that will seem completely incomprehensible. Everything cool runs on batteries except a few rare psionic items that will run on WP. Some things like robots might have micro fusion batteries or a nuclear core to keep them going for centuries. Popping one open might be a campaign ender.

The lower tech stuff like food, portable shelters, blankets, and maybe communication gear is cool for the party to find, though. I would probably say no to personal force fields, gunpowder weapons, explosives, teleporters, jet packs, and anything else that could make a major mess of the campaign if used. Space suits are just weird armor. AI is just a “metal spirit.”

It’s all a matter of how the players perceive the items. Is a Wand of Fire Bolts really any more deadly than the Wand of Shiny Light that they found in the strange wreckage? My goal is to present the item as it would appear naturally and let the group try to figure out what it does or how it works. Wait until they find a curling iron, a vending machine, or even something basic like a ball point click pen.

Will they ever get a ship working? No. Not enough parts, know how, labor, etc. Obviously it crashed for a reason. What crashed it? Is the cause of the crash still around? Are any of the crew still around? Robots?

It’s a little trial and error. I’m going to be super careful with what I offer up for them to find. I suggest holding back and really thinking about anything which could break the game. If the item in question is no better or worse than a magic item the characters could find naturally, let it go. Otherwise, they just don’t find it or it seems to be lost, perhaps taken by previous looters.

Thank you for being here with me today. I appreciate you. Keep it real, but please strive for positivity, too. Please embrace the things that bring you the most joy in your life.