d20 Modern: The Incursion

While I'm still resolute in my desire to not run anything for my Sunday night group (*grumble, grumble* rules lawyering *grumble, grumble*), the friend running Scion on Wednesday night is getting a lot of burnout from life in general, and might have to call a break sooner then expected. Luckily for all involved at that merry table, inspiration has struck me for a campaign to run. Now, I don't really feel a strait sword and sorcery at the moment. While I'd like to do an Urban Fantasy game, I don't really want to run Shadowrun right now. I've also wanted to run the Incursion Scenario from Dragon 309, and Dungeon 100 for a bit. Hence, I'm going to squish the two together and see what happens.

Here's the basic rule ideas for it. I'm going to include Urban Arcana. I'm not going to make it a double whammy of weird new race and magic. I'm also going to move the PL a little bit forward on a few types of tech. Mecha and Cybernetics will be at PL 6, but not readily available. Those are the armed force's newest toys, thankyouverymuch. They're there for parts of mid game and late game. Magic is out there, and I have to decide how well it's going to mix with tech. Not sure which way I'm going to go with that one yet.

Campaign scenario would be, roughly, as follows:
Start players at level 3 (cause level one for modern, in my most humble of opinions, blows).
Low Level (about 3-9): Weird Tidings. Over arching story elements will include the new race on the block (the Githyanki). Recruitment of locals to aid them/ally with them. Reports of odd happenings world wide, thefts of old art, and raids on archaeological dig sites. More weird in general. Spikes in violence and border scuffles are becoming more intense, fueled by terrorists and political dissidents. This part of campaign ends in the realization, that the world is at war with a Power from Beyond the Shadows.

Mid Level (10-14 or so): The Shadow War. The Githyanki have begun a serious campaign of aggression world wide. Several smaller nations have more or less folded in the Middle East and South America, now occupied by the Githyanki and their allies/minions. A marked increase in terrorist activities world wide, and border scuffles are now employee mecha on a regular basis. All of this can be, and will eventually, be traced back to Githyanki agents. Elite troops of the Githyanki encountered, as well as Githyanki mecha. More and more normal people are seeing Shadow all the time. This part ends with Githyanki air ships arriving over several major cities, and the real war begining and all the worlds sages and prophets having one last vision, and either going comatose, dying, or going mad.

High Level (15+) Ascent of the Lich Queen. Open war is on. From their strong holds all over the world, the Githyanki send forth their armies. Dragons fly the skies. Githyanki spell-mecha and bio-magic augmented warriors do battle against the nest the armies of the world have to offer. The world governments are having a hard time pulling it all together after the careful work of Vlaakith's minions in dissolving the shaky trust they might have once had in each other. More weird stuff is happening, and those seer's not struck dead by their vision, babble things madly in their sleep, or weep quietly in the corners of their padded cells, the horror of a new Dark God on the rise burning in their minds, and they can see nothing else beyond that potentially apocalyptic point. Secret peace accords try desperately to bring unite into one solid defense, even as the general public has to deal with the realization that humans have not been alone on earth for some time. A major assault on one of the Fortress States of the Incursion results in something like a Mournland (from Eberron) forming. Eventually, the elite agents of the Lich Queen must be stopped, before they bring their Queen what she needs to ascend to divinity.



Thoughts? Suggestions? Ideas? Any avenues of abuse I should look out for. I have some time to plan, so I want to start ASAP.