D&D General Tech in DnD; What should be included and how much is too much? (+)

[ProfessorDetective]

So here's the thing I've noticed. When you say "guns in D&D", most people immediately think of firearms that kill you dead with one shot and can penetrate any medieval armor. They think of how guns are portrayed in media. I've played in other games that have guns, and had players complain that guns are so pathetic in them, because surely they would be far more effective?

I presume many folks hear "guns in D&D" and start imagining SEAL Team Six packing M16s and frag grenades, breaching-and-clearing the Tomb of Horrors like they're playing Modern Warfare 2.

For my two cents: I'm either a dieselpunk, "interwar period with magic", guy (Eberron with more non-Magitech, Capenna and Ravnica from Magic: The Gathering) or a solarpunk, "nature and tech in harmony"/"ancient tech slowly reclaimed by nature", guy (Adventure Time, Castle in the Sky, Breath of the Wild, Kaladesh and Neo-Kamigawa from Magic: The Gathering).

 

[Jadeite]

Industrial Age had something Rome didn't. Finance. Romes collapse was a financial one they couldn't pay the legions, didn't understand inflation.

To be fair, many modern people and societies don't understand inflation, either.
I have no problems with firearms in fantasy, historically, they were used alongside melee weapons for centuries. The printing press was a far more disruptive technology, even though it used combined several earlier inventions. But I don't mind things like newspapers, either.

 

[Tonguez]

I presume many folks hear "guns in D&D" and start imagining SEAL Team Six packing M16s and frag grenades, breaching-and-clearing the Tomb of Horrors like they're playing Modern Warfare 2.

For my two cents: I'm either a dieselpunk, "interwar period with magic", guy (Eberron with more non-Magitech, Capenna and Ravnica from Magic: The Gathering) or a solarpunk, "nature and tech in harmony"/"ancient tech slowly reclaimed by nature", guy (Adventure Time, Castle in the Sky, Breath of the Wild, Kaladesh and Neo-Kamigawa from Magic: The Gathering).

Have you actually done Dieselpunk using a DnD rule set? I’m not sure its a mechanical fit, but I’m happy to be proven wrong (I suppose modern rules can be adapted)

 

[James Gasik]

I presume many folks hear "guns in D&D" and start imagining SEAL Team Six packing M16s and frag grenades, breaching-and-clearing the Tomb of Horrors like they're playing Modern Warfare 2.

For my two cents: I'm either a dieselpunk, "interwar period with magic", guy (Eberron with more non-Magitech, Capenna and Ravnica from Magic: The Gathering) or a solarpunk, "nature and tech in harmony"/"ancient tech slowly reclaimed by nature", guy (Adventure Time, Castle in the Sky, Breath of the Wild, Kaladesh and Neo-Kamigawa from Magic: The Gathering).

I remember reading Guardians of the Flame where the heroes, with their knowledge of 20th century engineering, made guns, and their enemies hired some wizards to create magic alchemical guns in response!

There's a lot of ways you can mix magic and technology in a setting to have awesome results. My personal favorite is the "shocking twist" when the medieval fantasy you've been playing around in turns out to be something otherwise. Final Fantasy I slowly introduces robots and you're like "huh, well, they have golems so..." and then you teleport to a space station!

Phantasy Star III has it's schizo elements like needle pistols and cyborgs, and "dungeons" suspended over vast machinery, but the revelation that you're not on a planet, but in a massive generation starship still hits.

Several of my campaigns are standard D&D worlds on the surface, but later you find out there was once a technologically advanced civilization that was destroyed in a great war. Most of the strange creatures you encounter are actually the products of ancient genetic tinkering, and dragons were created as biological superweapons! I will admit, some of my players are less excited about this sort of thing than others....

 

[Hriston]

Okay, i'm spinning this little tangent off from the Tolkien-worlds of design thread that i want to go into more depth with, for the people who would want technology in their DnD, what sorts of technologies do you think ought to be included in the game, how available do you think it should be? common through the land or a merest scattering in only the most advanced cities, should it be more or less or equally powerful and useful than their alternatives? would it be compatible with magic or should the two forces interfere with each other? and what are the gods opinions on it? do you tolerate explosives like grenades but guns are where you draw the line or do you go all the way to energy pistols before it becomes too much?

All these thoughts and more: let's discuss.

I think, because the combat rules of original D&D (1974) are contained in Chainmail, the game should have included everything in Chainmail including the arquebus and cannons, the idea being that it provides rules for adjudicating combat in all eras of the medieval period. The arquebus however (and I believe cannon as well) is notably absent from the D&D equipment lists. I think Arneson and Gygax made the decision to leave them out to bring the game closer in line with the Sword & Sorcery and High Fantasy fiction of the time. As a result, you have rules for shooting an arquebus, but you can't buy one.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

I think, because the combat rules of original D&D (1974) are contained in Chainmail, the game should have included everything in Chainmail including the arquebus and cannons, the idea being that it provides rules for adjudicating combat in all eras of the medieval period. The arquebus however (and I believe cannon as well) is notably absent from the D&D equipment lists. I think Arneson and Gygax made the decision to leave them out to bring the game closer in line with the Sword & Sorcery and High Fantasy fiction of the time. As a result, you have rules for shooting an arquebus, but you can't buy one.

Though it's also worth remembering that, even quite early, there was appetite for technology of some kind. Gygax himself wrote Expedition to the Barrier Peaks in 1980, only six years after the 1974 boxed set.

And this is quite in keeping with the pulpy, sword-and-sorcery style. Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom stories include technology. Helium's twin capital cities, Greater and Lesser Helium, are connected by an ultra-fast underground bullet train system, and their power is in part due to their fleet of highly advanced "fliers," which we would call airships. Like the fiction it draws on, D&D doesn't really cut a clean line with regard to tech.

 

[Zardnaar]

To be fair, many modern people and societies don't understand inflation, either.
I have no problems with firearms in fantasy, historically, they were used alongside melee weapons for centuries. The printing press was a far more disruptive technology, even though it used combined several earlier inventions. But I don't mind things like newspapers, either.

Generally I'm stone age to 19th century plus the odd anachronism.

If it's to far outside typical D&D it needs a good hook.

 

[RoughCoronet0]

I’m probably an outlier in that I greatly enjoy using all manner of tech and sci-fi tropes in my world in various ways.

Taking some inspiration from things like Horizon Zero Dawn, I have an entire continent where half of all life are these strange and intricate machines that mimic their living flora and fauna counterpart in such an precise way that the delicate ecosystem wouldn’t be able to function without them. Many Druidic sect on the continent have dedicated themselves to these living machines and mastered how to transform into them via their wildshape, and and actively communicate with and protect them as if they were organic life.

There are also moving cities on the same continent that exist on the backs of kaiju sized elemental and mechanical creatures that travel around the continent and can sometimes cross paths to engage in major festivals, trade and negotiations, or in the case of hostile parties, engage in warfare until one is destroyed or they are forced to retreat.

Then I have several alien species that live in remote corners of the planet, ancient species that either ended up stranded here or were escaping from some unknown threat from their own home worlds/galaxies. I have several alien races ripped from mass effect in my world, the big ones being the Krogan, Rachni, and the Collectors, that have integrated themselves into my world to various degrees. I also added the Thresher Maws as even more dangerous burrowing creatures then the purple worms.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

I presume many folks hear "guns in D&D" and start imagining SEAL Team Six packing M16s and frag grenades, breaching-and-clearing the Tomb of Horrors like they're playing Modern Warfare 2.

ok, i know it's absolutely not DND, but that actually sounds awesome lmao. in fact, that's kind of how i felt raiding dungeons in 4e (though obviously we didn't actually have M16s and frag grenades).

There's a lot of ways you can mix magic and technology in a setting to have awesome results. My personal favorite is the "shocking twist" when the medieval fantasy you've been playing around in turns out to be something otherwise. Final Fantasy I slowly introduces robots and you're like "huh, well, they have golems so..." and then you teleport to a space station!

this is honestly one of my least favourite tropes. "X fantastic thing was actually science all along!" just feels stale to me.

 

[James Gasik]

Who doesn't have fond memories of this classic cover?