Whether in the form of artificers, magical powered trains, or adventures in space, sci-fi has always been involved in the occasional campaign ofDungeons & Dragons. Even if you don’t want to go all out into a technological future, incorporating minor elements can add a whole new dimension to your game.
Since D&D is heavily focused on the fantasy and magical aspects of the game, it can be hard to find places to easily slot in sci-fi tech without complicating the mechanics. Luckily, there are a handful of simple changes that can drastically improve your science fiction aesthetic.
8Use Rules From Spelljammer Or Eberron
Rather than make all new homebrew rules that reflect the advancement of tech in your campaign, you can adopt rules from other settings that already incorporate sci-fi. Eberron: Rising From The Last War includes modernized and futuristic character classes, backgrounds, and species options for players.
Spelljammer: Adventures in Spaceincludes rules for flying shipsand even the gravity and atmosphere of large objects. Just reading through these adventure modules can give you loads of inspiration for incorporating sci-fi elements into your campaign.
Spelljammer ships make perfect analogues for spaceships or jets.
7Use Magic As A Power Source
If you don’t want to make the full switch into sci-fi, you can blend magic and tech by replacing the power source with something magical. This can be replacing the battery of a laser weapon with a glowing crystal, or the fuel source of a flamethrower with gelatinous slime.
This is already similar to how an artificer’s function, using magic to operate complex contraptions rather than just focusing on a single enchantment or effect. you may also reverse this, using tech to power magical items, such as a Gatling gun using wands instead of barrels.
6Modernize Transportation
Similar to other popular settings, such as Eberron, replacing more mundane methods of travel, such as carts and horse,s with modernized versions can do most of the work of adding a strong sci-fi element. This can be a bullet train gliding along a rail, or flying machines propelled by engines or turbines.
This works best if you can adopt forms of public transportation, which not only makes it easier for your players to travel to new locations, but also makes this technology familiar to the average person. You can also turn teleportation circles into teleporters, using more tech than magic to operate
5Incorporate Time Travel
Either used in the future to send people back to the present of your campaign, or long-forgotten technology of a lost civilization,a time travel phenomenoncan radically change the tech level of your campaign. It can also add a unique element to gameplay, giving players a powerful tool to use against their enemies.
Using a looping time travel device could be a plot hook, keeping a town in a perpetual state for however many years or centuries, giving players a look into another time. Even if only powered by magic, messing with time can introduce sci-fi concepts and physics problems that can work out players' brains.
4Replace Mundane Items With High-Tech Versions
If you want a backdrop, sci-fi aesthetic to allow your campaign to feel more advanced than a typical fantasy game, making sure to replace items with modern or sci-fi tech is important. This can be replacing torches with powered lights, swapping maps with holographic tablets, or making cybernetics common.
If a door opens with a handprint instead of a traditional lock, then allow lockpicking to involve hacking a panel instead of physically moving tumblers and pins. You don’t have to describe the world as a cyberpunk, neon future, but just simple replacements for the occasional item go a long way.
3Reskin Magic Items
Without having to do the work of creating entirely new items to create sci-fi elements, you can take existing magic items and retool them with a new aesthetic. This doesn’t even have to change their mechanics, still allowing them to recharge or become nonfunctional instead of turning to ash on a critical failure.
This could be making the Animated Shield use a force field and jets instead of projecting a magical barrier and flying around, or the Broom of Flying, skinned as a hoverboard. Popular items from sci-fi media also provide great inspiration for homebrewed magic items, such as lightsabers and sonic screwdrivers.
Chapter three of the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide includes rules for futuristic ranged weapons such as laser pistols and antimatter rifles.
2Reflavor Spells
Much like how you’re able to change a magic item into something more sci-fi, you can also describe the effects of spells to reflect a sci-fi theme. This is also useful for players who want to play an artificer who is more than just a tool-handy spellcaster.
Common examples are chucking grenades to cast Fireball, using a laser sensor for Alarm, or projecting a hologram for Minor Illusion. This does require more suspension of disbelief in terms of resources and equipment, and doesn’t work for every spell, but it gives more storytelling power to everyone at the table.
1Include Robots And Automatons
One common piece of technology in most sci-fi media is the use of humanoid robots that act as servants, soldiers, or automated workers. Peppering these robots throughout the world can give you unique characters to roleplay while creating new challenges for your players.
This can also be an option for players, allowinga warforged characterto act more as a programmable android than a magical construct. Construct creatures also use stats that don’t need too much change to make robotic, such as specific condition immunities and unique senses.
Consider how spells like Animate Dead, Command, or Detect Thoughts would work against robotic constructs in your campaign, if at all.
