Firearms: Yes or No

[Krieg]

Humanophile, as far as I understand the advantage of firearms was that it was much easier to train people to use them. I may be wrong, but I think that in order to use a longbow you had to start training when you were young. With firearms the most important thing you needed to be able to do was march in a line, which you could teach a peasant to do in a few months. I think firearms lead to much larger armies filled with conscripts who needed less training than earlier warriors.

Keep in mind, even an early gun that you would be lucky to hit a haystack with could be intimidating if fired by a thousand people standing shoulder to shoulder.

It should be noted that a large part of what made early firearms so easy to use lay in the fact that they were not aimed weapons. The early gunners were trained merely to point their weapon in the general vacinity of the enemy. Training mainly consisted of close order drill & teaching the gunners to reload within a set amount of time. Early massed fire was mainly suppressive in nature.

 

[Ron]

I've run games in settings with or without firearms. They are a nice addition as they definitely give a different edge to the game. They are not unbalancing, although I had to adapt the DMG weapons to make them more lethal. During game play they are used to discharge a shot, but players rarely reload them. Also, I implied they are not considered honorable weapons, so nobles minded people try to avoid them.

 

[Galethorn]

My 12th century game would be pretty silly with firearms...

However, I also don't allow armor heavier than a breastplate (unless dwarves make it, but that's another story), rapiers (unless it's elven, and is only like a rapier in function rather than form), or any of that other renaissance-era stuff. I suppose I might let an insane sorcerer make some kind of alchemical cannon, but it would be an [Evil] act to use the 'bad mojo' necessary to make black powder...and it would be quite likely to explode. Anyway...

If I ever DM a 'generic' game of D&D, I'll allow cannon-sized things, but no personal firearms. I like cannons, but there's something wrong with having matchlock longarms in the same setting where guys in chainmail go running around with battle axes and round shields. The bad guys using a huge, evil-looking siege cannon is kind of cool, though.

 

[Darklone]

I do have one big problem with firearms: Magic.

Ok, I'll probably die anyway if I'm in the area of effect of a fireball, but if I would somehow survive it, certainly my blackpowder would kill me. I would expect a wizard to be able to make a gun misfire with the snap of a finger... why would any sane person want to use it if any Int 10 boy could make me kill myself?

Any solutions I read for this problem so far in RPG books were silly and only there to justify "that I want firearms in my games cuz dey are kewl."

 

[Horoku]

A long time ago, a friend of mine ran a kind of cool campaign with magical firearms. They were normal ancient-type flintlock guns, but you could obtain bullets that were charged with magic. Each different type of bullet covered one of the magical schools, and you could use them kind of like a Wild-Magic wildcard, firing them from the gun to cast any spell of appropriate school and level (quality/size of the ammo) that you knew. So you could use a black-charge to cast Energy Drain, you could use a green-charge to cast Fireball, and the like. That was pretty fun.

I, myself, don't like to DM games with firearms unless they're modern. I have no problem being a player in a game with the firearms well-integrated like above, though.

 

[Carnifex]

I use firearms in my homebrew setting, in small numbers (they're pretty expensive, but scary in the hands of trained elites like a religious order called the Dawnguard). Since they're pretty expensive to start with, they often also end up with some sort of magical enhancements too.

 

[Tetsubo]

This actually raises a question I've been wondering for a while; according to the rules, firearms are a waste of effort. The only reason to use one is an anachronistic woody on the part of the player.

Yet, firearms developed in the real world. I'm sure that if firearms were in all ways inferior to the alternatives, nobody would waste the time and effort improving them to the point where they were a viable alternative; it's not like people back then knew where the technology could go or had anachronistic fantasies of their own.

So could someone tell me what benefits firearms had to overcome all their disadvantages? Fragile, expensive, inaccurate, unreliable, slow... what made anyone think these blasted things were worth improving to where they are now?

Training. You can train a person to use a firearm effectively in a matter of weeks. And once you get beyond the matchlock stage they are better than any other missile weapon. I've heard a saying regarding the training of archers, "If you want a good archer start with the grandfather."

 

[Tetsubo]

I do have one big problem with firearms: Magic.

Ok, I'll probably die anyway if I'm in the area of effect of a fireball, but if I would somehow survive it, certainly my blackpowder would kill me. I would expect a wizard to be able to make a gun misfire with the snap of a finger... why would any sane person want to use it if any Int 10 boy could make me kill myself?

Any solutions I read for this problem so far in RPG books were silly and only there to justify "that I want firearms in my games cuz dey are kewl."

Because the number of spellcasters is far smaller than the number of people that could use firearms? Example: There are far more infantry than fighter pilots in any army. You need the ground pounders to take that territory. I figure the ratio of pilots to infantry is roughly the same as spellcasters to infantry in a fantasy campaign. PC's tend to have a lot of spells handy, most commoners don't. I'm sure that commoners would love firearms...

 

[Nifft]

IMC, there are planes with magic and planes where science works -- they are mutually exclusive. Mass production fails on magic planes -- nothing is repeatable without investing will or personal power (casting a spell or spending XP). The sentient fabric of the universe must be delt with on its own terms.

In science planes, the fabric of the universe is not sentient, and responds reliably. Science is possible.

(Why the magic planes look vageuly normal -- lots of Fey actively keeping the magic universe looking & acting "natural".)

-- N

 

[Album Cover X]

I don't use firearms in my current game as they don't fit seeing the tech level is Bronze Age but I'm not against them per se.

Firearms and psionics, IME, have been the two biggest issues as to whether they belong in-game. Personally, I like firearms and dislike psionics but as with nearly everything it is 100% up to you and your group. If they fit and you like them and everyone has fun so be it. No one is gonna knock on your door and demand you stop using firearms at your next session... tho that would be cool on some level