Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, & Scorpion Bombs

[Skarp Hedin]

After posting a bit in that thread about giant bee honey, I got to wondering -- has anyone else read this book: Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, & Scorpion Bombs: Biological and Chemical Weapons in the Ancient World by Adrienne Mayor?

After reading it, I was thinking that it was a rather spiffy gold-mine of ideas for well, unpleasant weapons on an ancient-world level technology. (Ancient World, of course, means primarily the eastern Mediterranean, Middle East, and Mesopotamia).

The author talkes about a lot of fascinating stuff, such as storing diseases in sealed containers (even going so far as to suggest that perhaps the power contained in the Ark of the Covenant was a carefully stored disease, seeing as how every Philistine city that held the Ark after its seizure came down with a plague), Hannibal catapulting vipers onto the deck of an enemy ship, and the people of Megara in Greece using flaming hogs to repel the war elephants of Antigonus Gonatus.

So basically what I was wondering is: Has anyone else read it, and if so, did you get any D&D-related ideas?

 

[RSKennan]

No, but it's been on my short list for a few months. It seems like one of those indispensable gamer books. Got any more bits of info?

 

[Dark Jezter]

Alchemist's fire is already the D&D equivalent of greek fire.

As for vipers on the deck of an enemy ship, you could probably just have a druid cast Summon Nature's Ally.

 

[RSKennan]

Certainly magic can do these things, but looking at ancient ingenuity can help to create ideas that use these magical effects in unique ways, or even put magic poor npcs on equal footing with the pcs. It's definitely worth looking into, IMHO.

 

[Carnifex]

Read the book Shiva 3000 for some wonderful use of spices in combat They use large fans powered by pedalling people to drive great swathes of irritant spices at their foes, clogging eyes and noses with them.

 

[Tonguez]

Haven't read the book but in one Fantasy 'Kingdom' I was playing a plague swept through and killed the livestock.

I had my Shamans discover healing magics to cure my stock, isolate the plague and then seal the blood of infected and destroyed animals in barrels that were smuggle into enemy nations to spread over their livestock - ie a biological WMD!

and don't forget that blankets etc of smallpox and influenza victims were given to native populations around the globe during the era of Colonisation (ie 18th century)

and whats a Scorpion bomb? it sounds like something I might want to use...

 

[Buttercup]

This does indeed look like an interesting book. I just went to my library's website to check the catalog, and the main library has a copy. I've reserved it for myself.

 

[Steverooo]

Alchemist's fire is already the D&D equivalent of greek fire.

This is often said, and entirely untrue... Read the description of Alchemists' Fire in the PHB, and you will see that immersion in large quantities of water puts it out. Greek Fire was infamous in naval warfare, even unto the present day, preceisely because it burned even underwater!

The two are NOT the same thing!

 

[Khorod]

D&D Equivalence means not being able to destroy the kelp forests of underwater races.

I've long thought D&D needs a Greater Alchemist's Fire for the full Greek Fire effect.

 

[Angcuru]

I, for one, am of the (fairly recently formed) opinion that the deciding ingredient in greek fire was iron oxide/rust. Used in modern day thermite grenades(boiled down along with aluminum and ignited by a magnesium core that allows it to burn right through steel plating), rust contains significant amounts of oxygen, and would therefore supply fire with the fuel it would need to continue burning underwater. Though I could be completely wrong.