Making D&D work outside of medieval fantasy settings
D&D is fundamentally built around the assumption of a medieval fantasy world. The Player’s Handbook provides rules for lodging at a tavern, overland travel on horseback, and equipment like swords, shields, and armor. The Dungeon Master’s Guide, contains guidelines about building pantheons, kingdoms, and city states. But what if we want to use the familiar rules of D&D in a modern setting? Can we run D&D in a modern fantasy world like the fantastical mirror of an present-day metropolis?
This article provides an example of how to reskin the classes and backgrounds from the Player’s Handbook to make them feel at home in a modern setting.
Why not play a different game?
Instead of reskinning the 5th edition D&D rules, we could just run a system with a more modern flavor. Call of Cthulhu or a setting-agnostic system like Fate are strong contenders. In previous articles (Fiasco, or Icarus) we already talked about what we can learn from playing other roleplaying games.
But not everyone is interested in learning a new game. Most RPG rulebooks are thick, and require a lot of time to study for both the DM and the players. Our group already knows D&D. And they might not be interested in learning a new system. In that case, we can reskin the existing rules of D&D. Then we can use the familiar mechanics in settings that are not medieval fantasy.
Reskinning Lite: Keep the mechanics, give it modern flavor
It is possible to completely rewrite the 5th edition D&D rules to cleanse them of every last remnant of medieval fantasy. For the game Esper Genesis the designers have rewritten all three core books. They turned the Player’s Handbook, the Dungeon Master’s Guide, and the Monster Manual into a 5th edition science fiction ruleset.
But for our home game this approach is not feasible. We want an easy way to reskin D&D to fit our modern fantasy setting. Let’s call this method “Reskinning Lite.” With this approach, we leave all of the wording of the mechanics untouched, and simply drape a modern costume over the classes and backgrounds.
Essentially, we only need a few examples of what a class or background represents in our present-day fantasy setting.
Turning Player’s Handbook classes into modern equivalents
In a modern urban fantasy game, classes might look something like this:
| Player’s Handbook Class | Modern Urban Fantasy “Class” |
|---|---|
| Barbarian | Raging Alcoholic, Party Animal, Street Brawler |
| Bard | Musician, Creative/Artist, Politician/Public Speaker |
| Cleric | Doctor, Nurse, Street Worker |
| Druid | Hippie, Climate Change Activist, Florist |
| Fighter | Bouncer, Weapon’s Trader/Instructor, Military Personnel |
| Monk | Athlete, Bodybuilder, Martial Artist |
| Paladin | Law Enforcement, Firefighter, Security |
| Ranger | Park Maintenance, Dog Walker, City Cleaner |
| Rogue | Gangster, Drug Dealer, Private Investigator |
| Sorcerer | Psychedelics User, Esoteric, Street Performer |
| Warlock | Corrupt Politician, Businessperson, Influencer |
| Wizard | Professor, Student, Journalist |
And that’s it for Reskinning Lite. We can hand a list such as this one to our players, and let them fill in the details of their character. We use all of the class mechanics as written, and improvise details of the reskinned class mechanics during play. The sword of the City Cleaner/Ranger might look like a trash picker instead of a sword. The Influencer/Warlock might shoot eldritch blasts from their phone camera’s flash.
We don’t have to write all of these reskinned aspects out beforehand. We let the atmosphere of the modern fantasy setting inspire us during the game to fill in the blanks. As a starting point, however, a table like the one above is more than enough.
Turning Player’s Handbook Backgrounds into modern professions
Backgrounds can be reskinned as professions in a modern urban fantasy setting:
| Player’s Handbook Background | Modern Urban Fantasy Profession |
|---|---|
| Acolyte | Social Worker, Yoga Teacher, Priest |
| Charlatan | Street Hustler, Dodgy Shopkeeper, Politician |
| Criminal | Pickpocket, Gangster, Drug Dealer |
| Entertainer | Musician/DJ, Actor, Street Performer |
| Folk hero | Firefighter, Law Enforcement, Youth Activist |
| Guild artisan | Plumber, Construction Worker, Freelancer |
| Hermit | Hacker, Homeless, Rich Eccentric |
| Noble | Rich Kid, Businessperson, Celebrity |
| Outlander | Park Ranger, Dog Walker, Public Transportation Worker |
| Sage | University Student/Professor, Technologist, Journalist |
| Soldier | Law Enforcement/Military, Gang Member, Bouncer |
| Urchin | Homeless, Street Worker, Party Animal |
The background’s ideals, bonds, and flaws require more reskinning, because they refer to medieval fantasy tropes like thieves’ guilds, untamed wilderness, and aristocracy. For our Reskinning Lite approach, we handle these during character creation. We can work with the players to rewrite some of the language from the Player’s Handbook backgrounds to fit the modern setting.
An example of the flexibility of D&D
No one forces us to play D&D in a medieval fantasy setting. As we have seen, the system is flexible enough to accommodate almost any fantasy setting. With just a list of classes and backgrounds and their modern equivalents, we can let our players build appropriate characters.
As for running a modern fantasy adventure, the three pillars of roleplaying, exploration, and combat work whether we’re slinging spells in the wilderness of the Forgotten Realms, or in the streets of a fantastical version of London, Berlin, or New York.
Related Illusory Script Articles
- Not Everything in D&D Needs a Mechanic
- Play Icarus to Learn to Love Failure in D&D
- Play Fiasco to Learn to Build D&D Worlds Together
Links and Resources
- Esper Genesis - https://espergenesis.alligatoralleyentertainment.com/
- Dimension20: “Unsleeping City” (an excellent example of a modern fantasy game using 5th edition D&D) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Kktwa0kqaU