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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 5667579" data-attributes="member: 20323">If we just take agriculture, there is a huge impact that magic could have, but that are rarely seen in most D&D worlds.Let's assume that the good people of our fantasy world have been using bamboo to pipe methane since the equivalent of 900 BC. Hey, Chinese salt farmers were doing it to evaporate seawater around that time, so it's not unreasonable to assume that some entrepreneurial mage developed a way to control the methane flow and burn it for a stove or a lantern. However, that sort of technology is extremely rare and wouldn't see widespread use until the medieval era.It's important for what comes later though...Starting from the premise that magical transportation & portals are in the setting, that implies a broad exchange of goods, which, on a large enough scale, could be equivalent to the Columbian Exchange. On the mundane level this means trade goods like spices, potatos, steel, etc become widespread, but it can also be spread of disease, ideas, magic rituals, special components, plant-like monsters, etc. And the old demon of colonization.That's a good start, but where we really want to get our fantasy world is a kickstart into the industrial revolution with the tractor and the combine harvester. Can we do it? Does golem begin with G?So now that we've got mechanized ag and large-scale animal farms, we've got more people, and all of us together are making a lot of methane. And thanks to that good old mage centuries ago that methane stove/light idea has finally caught on. And there you have a late medieval setting with...Golem Tractors & HarvestersUPS (United Portal Service)International Exchange MarketsMethane BiodigestorsGas-Burning StovesStreet LightsFor a great discussion of this sort of thing, the best source I know of is Magical Medieval Society (<a href="http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=2018&it=1&filters=0_0_0&manufacturers_id=72" target="_blank">http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=2018&it=1&filters=0_0_0&manufacturers_id=72</a>).</blockquote>

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