D&D Technology

[Clueless]

*headtilt* I don't hate em.... people hate those??

 

[Ilium]

*headtilt* I don't hate em.... people hate those??

Yes, some people do and I have much the same reaction as Andor. I guess it's because those are cultural "anachronisms"* rather than temporal ones. So if you imagine that a D&D world is the legendary past of a European culture, then you might expect the legends to get tech details wrong, but not import whole cultural complexes. I think it's a verisimilitude thing, but I have no problem with my fantasy world inventing the idea of the fighting monk in a pseudo-Roman empire.

*What would the word be for something appearing in an inappropriate place rather than an inappropriate time? Anageographic?

 

[hexgrid]

I'm not usually bothered by this sort of thing... but demonstrators picketing with signs in Freeport got my goat, as did the city's late 19th/early 20th century style journalism industry.

But these are more cultural anachronisms then technological ones.

 

[Huw]

Then we might all be speaking Latin, hm?

Like they do in half of Europe, most of the Americas and various parts of Africa and Asia?

Two other interesting technology quirks

1) Bronze age people had plenty of iron. They just didn't know how to make steel.
2) The wheel was invented as a way to make round pots. It wasn't used for transport until the axle was invented.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'm not usually bothered by this sort of thing... but demonstrators picketing with signs in Freeport got my goat, as did the city's late 19th/early 20th century style journalism industry.

But these are more cultural anachronisms then technological ones.

Given the extremely high degree of literacy posited in the core rules, it's kind of inevitable that both of those would arise (especially in the anarchic Freeport). I will agree that they both initially stopped me cold, though.

 

[Laman Stahros]

Wow... So nobodys bothered by the tech, but everyone still hates monks and dragon shamans?

I don't have a problem with unarmed fighters as such. I have a problem with the crappy wuxia monk in the PHB.

On topic, I use Eberron to represent one of the empires in my homebrew campaign. Magic is technology, if you think about it. Or is it the other way around?

 

[Stormborn]

My only problem with the level of technology available in the standard DnD world is the implication it has for nontechnological development. Occasionally we see things like the afforementioned Protestors and Journalism - which make perfect sense in a world where everyone (or almost) is literate, but not often. I guess what I mean is the kinds of tech + magic available in the standard DnD world should lead to a vastly different type of society, one more like the modern world than a fantasy Europe of the Middle Ages. Eberron hadles this to some degree (and I am currently playing in that setting), a Freeport seems to be adressing it in a small scale, but I think overall the implications of a literate underclass in a world where magic can be learned by any one with even a moderatly above average intelligence is missed in many DnD worlds.

 

[tzor]

Now that I think of it ... it is not technology that gets my goat ... it's fashion.

Medieval bras ... BURN THOSE ABOMINATIONS!
The "Anti-bra" ... common on a number of minis. Can't suspend disbelief! They can't work!
The bicini ... a 20th century fashion statement ...
The chain mail bicini ... Fredricks of Hollywood perhaps, but not on any real adventurer.

Technology is an interesting subject. There is a reason why we didn't see a 1st century space age. The Greeks thought, for the most part, that the practical sciences were beneath them. The Romans were too practical to do any advanced scientific research.

Consider that mechanical methods for determining time in Europe wasn't really advanced until Christian monks wanted a way to pray at precise intervals in the middle of the night. Technlogical advancement doesn't just happen for no reason, but because some group wants to do something odd and will work at it until they find a way to make it so.

Some things became mere novelties, but never got beyond that stage because there was no practical reason given other constraints. Wheels, for example can be found on Mayan pull toys, but since it was easier to run through the exceptionally hilly landscape, carts were not developed. Steam power is anothe example. It wasn't until someone did the math by observing how much heat water could absorb in the process of drilling canons that a major effort was made to really harness steam power. Until the 19th century most steam engines barely did the work of a horse or two.

 

[Someone]

interesting technology quirks

1) Bronze age people had plenty of iron. They just didn't know how to make steel.

Are you sure about that? IIRC reducing iron from ore takes a temperature much higher, and more advanced technology, than the the furnaces and temperature needed to melt copper and tin and make bronze. After that, regulating the carbon content is not so complex.

 

[sjmiller]

Almost none of them. We'er not dealing with a historical re-creation of 1300's Britain, we're dealing with totally different worlds.

Even if we were, the original two items mentioned would still be available and in use. Buttons, both decorative and functional, were in use in England in the 14th century. Because of tight fitting clothing style originating in the 13th century, they are required for period clothing.

Arabic numbering, and thereby the decimal point, were in use at the time as well. I would go into detail, but why belabor the point?