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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6953016" data-attributes="member: 4937">I know what you mean, but first, it is something close to realistic.  That's how combat - especially small scale combat - in that period was typically fought.  Secondly, whether it is interesting for the players is a matter of what sort of stories they are connected to.  The period from the 15th century to the 17th century is one of the most obscure to modern persons, in that most stories and fantasies and even study of history focuses on the eras either immediately before or immediately after this period.   This 'early-modern' period is an era when most people couldn't name one battle that occurred, and when most people - even readers - probably haven't read one book set in that era.  So that sort of combat, while realistic and I would argue interesting, just isn't one that the players are going to naturally connect to.  (You might be slightly better off in France, as that was France's real Golden Age, but I'd wager not by much.)Remember, the 'Three Musketeers' were primarily swordsmen.  That's because after the first round or so, your musket is a club.I would argue that crossbows are typically used in a similar manner.  One of the worst invasions into the rules I think we've seen is the idea of 'weapon specialization'.  It's too engrained into the rules and culture to go away now, but it tends to make martial classes very one dimensional in that every character either wants to be wholly melee or wants to be wholly missile.  But it's not that unusual for a melee character to have a crossbow cocked and ready as a backup weapon, and to employ in the (sadly rare) occasions when the initial engagement is beyond charge range but not beyond the range of effective missile fire.  I think you'll see muskets and pistols used in the same manner.Ken Hood's firearm rules.  And no, firearms do not fire in a cone.  A typical 12 gauge shot gun firing shot only has a spread about 2' in diameter at 30 yards.  Even without a choke, it's not going to be much bigger than that - far to little spread to turn from a line into a cone in a D&D sense.A Flintlock is a relatively advanced '4th generation' weapon.  And by the time get to the Flintlock, you have long barreled rifles such as the famous 'Kentucky Rifle' with effective ranges that are basically modern - out to about 400 yards in the hands of an expert.  Flintlocks are right about the dividing line were firearms begin to rapidly overtake ancient weaponry in terms of effectiveness.  At right about the same time, you also get the first effective and highly mobile field artillery.  Welcome to the Napoleonic Era.As I said, firearms - and by that I mean firearms of all eras - tend to be more effective in the hands of NPCs than PCs.  It's the Sam Colt makes all men equal problem.  I mean, they managed to have a unit of expert longbowmen participate at Waterloo, and one particularly skilled warrior was still favoring the longbow and claymore during WWII... but the better the firearms are, the less easy it is to be heroic in the face of overwhelming odds.   To have an age of 'heroes' the technology has to favor defense over offense, so that a warrior caste individual (a Hoplite, a Knight, a Samurai) can defeat unarmored foes at 12:1 or better odds.  That's what creates the heroic image of a warrior.   Compare with Kurasawa's treatment of the musket in 'Seven Samurai'.If you don't go for 'slow loading', you'll tend to end up with firearms being either basically identical to other weapons, differing only in flavor, or else basically strictly superior versions of other weapons.  This actually is more likely to imbalance your game than any other approach, as I've long held the belief that the party jointly maximizing its ranged combat potential is just about the most effective approach in D&D, as range combat tends to negate opposing tactical advantages (such as favorable terrain), tends to be something most D&D monsters are bad at, and tends to have far more advantages in all editions (rate of fire, ect.) than disadvantages or else disadvantages which are easily negated.I guess it comes down to whether you are ok with firearms feeling 'firearmish' or just being another weapon that basically uses the same rules as any other weapon.  Player ignorance of firearms here helps, as they won't have any or will have little in the way of expectations to disappoint.np</blockquote>

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