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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 4977789" data-attributes="member: 4937">Some assumptions:a) I'm from some place magical.b) I'm from some place that thinks a crossbow is high tech.c) That place is otherwise Earth (Earth foilage, 24 hour days, inhabited by humans, 1g gravity, etc.)Some goals:a) Bring back something superior to what exists on my world.b) Bring back something that I can be understood by local craftsman and repaired when it inevitably breaks.c) Bring back something that will make me fabulously wealthy, and hense powerful.d) Bring back something that I'm sure will work even when copied and whose function won't be tied to 'magical' materials from the other world.#1) Modern timepeices, and in particular a couple brass wind-up ship's clocks (such as a Harrison timepeice).  This will allow calculation of longitude, which will be invaluable to sailors without powerful divination spells.  A couple extra ones will be invaluable because the basic clockwork technology shouldn't be beyond my world's best metalurgists, which means that by taking a couple apart I should be able to duplicate them and thus begin a very profitable venture.#2) Telescopes/Binoculars: These peices of invaluable military technology generally don't exist in fantasy worlds, but the basic glass grinding technology usually does exist in a sufficiently advanced state that once a few lens are shown to glass grinders in my employ they will be able to understand the basic principles involved in their manufacture.  While it's less certain that optics work in a magical world (light might pass through the native curved glass of different thicknesses without bending) than it is that clockwork functions, there is a good chance deflection and diffraction and the like all work in my fantasy universe.#3) A Jaquard Loom: Like my clockwork timepeice, there is nothing about this extraordinary invention that can't be duplicated by a sufficiently good fantasy world craftsman that is allowed to inspect and investigate it and likewise the device only depends on the sort of physics that I can be confident actually work in my world.  Possession of a Jaquard Loom will revolutionize textile production, allowing me to essentially take over the world wide market for cloth.  The insights that the object will provide in the manufacture of machines and clockwork calculating devices may well usher in a 'clockpunk' age on my world.#4) A 1924 Doble Model E Steam Car: This car can operate using pretty much any liquid fuel - 'flaming oil' is a pretty good candiate - and achieve speeds on flat ground in excess of 60mph (which is a base move of around 20 squares).  The construction of the vehical is simple compared to any modern automobile (no electronics, no transmission, no differential gears, etc.) and involves no technology that couldn't be understood and repaired after investigation by a decent blacksmith.  The compact steam engine and basic design could become the prototype from which various sorts of steam powered devices could be made.  Of course, it's entirely possible that the gas laws upon which the car's function depend don't work in my fantasy world (hot air might not exhert a particularly large pressure), but its a reasonable risk.#5) A modern mountain bicycle: The aluminum in this vehical probably couldn't be duplicated easily and the rubber might be tricky as well, but its possible that a suitable fantasy substitute for a lightweight strong metal could be found.  In any event, the basic design if it could be manufactured would revolutionize long distance communication in my world even if the mass produced version was slightly heavier and more cumbersome.  Provided you had a basic road, messages could be sent quickly without the need for a horse and large parties could travel great distances without the need for foraging for the horses.  I envision something like a Roman legion mounted on bicycles.  Instead of astounding the world by being able to move my troops 20 miles in a day, on roads of the quality of Roman ones I could move a large formation 100 miles - equaling the strategic mobility of Greek galleys but doing it overland.#6) A modern compound bow: A modern hunting bow would astound the archers of the ancient world with the ease it could be drawn and the accuracy even a relatively untrained archer could manage.  While the materials would be difficult or impossible to duplicate, it wouldn't be that hard for a skilled bowyer to come up with suitible substitudes in wood, horn, and  metal and incorporate the ideas (pulleys!) into a fantasy version that had all the accuracy and power of far more expensive magical weapons.</blockquote>

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