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<blockquote data-quote="Crazy Jerome" data-source="post: 5393843" data-attributes="member: 54877">Put me down as, &quot;No,&quot; mainly for flavor and system reasons.&nbsp; I usually prefer to play with 8th to 12th century technology + magic (roughly).&nbsp; I'm not ignorant of medieval history, but see the thing is I know I'm already bending to let in plate (and widespread scale over chain) and rapiers and so forth.&nbsp; I'd be really happy to leave those out, if it was just about what I want.&nbsp; But lots of players get a lot of fun out of those elements, it's already accounted for in the game, and players don't feel the need to push the implications.&nbsp; (Gee, got steel manufacturing capabilities sufficient that the entire paladin guard wears shiny plate?&nbsp; What does that say about possibilities?)&nbsp;But even early black powder is exactly a bridge too far.&nbsp; Something snaps, and I can't pretend this is early to mid-medieval anymore.&nbsp; Unless there is some highly interesting mechanical addition to play via gunpowder, nothing appreciably is added to the game.&nbsp; A tiny minority of players in my kind of games even cares.&nbsp; And that minority always wants to push the implications of gunpowder.&nbsp;I've thought a lot about this, and I think, like steam power, it is about the changing pace of technology.&nbsp; Roleplayers can accept plate as the pinnacle of hide-bound dwarven artisans in a relatively static society.&nbsp; But put gunpowder or steam into the setting, and minds are only a small leap from Moore's law (computer processers doubling in power every 18 months) and Star Trek tricorders.&nbsp; It's like throwing a subliminal flag into the system saying, &quot;this campaign is about the suddenly explosive pace of technology changing the world.&quot;&nbsp;Strangely enough, I don't think you get this effect if you go a bit farther.&nbsp; So if I want to do swashbuckling, then I want to go for the full Camus.&nbsp; You just need an era where &quot;swashbuckling&quot; is perfected, but sufficiently far from Napolean to avoid thinking about improved use of cannon. Likewise, if I'm going to go to 1800, I might as well jump to 1880 or modern times.&nbsp; Then if I still want fantasy, I can add magic to that, instead of adding all of that to D&amp;D.&nbsp; But D&amp;D probably isn't the system for that game.&nbsp; (I'd use Fantasy Hero.)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Crazy Jerome, post: 5393843, member: 54877"] Put me down as, "No," mainly for flavor and system reasons. I usually prefer to play with 8th to 12th century technology + magic (roughly). I'm not ignorant of medieval history, but see the thing is I know I'm [B]already[/B] bending to let in plate (and widespread scale over chain) and rapiers and so forth. I'd be really happy to leave those out, if it was just about what I want. But lots of players get a lot of fun out of those elements, it's already accounted for in the game, and players don't feel the need to push the implications. (Gee, got steel manufacturing capabilities sufficient that the entire paladin guard wears shiny plate? What does that say about possibilities?) But even early black powder is exactly a bridge too far. Something snaps, and [B]I[/B] can't pretend this is early to mid-medieval anymore. Unless there is some highly interesting mechanical addition to play via gunpowder, nothing appreciably is added to the game. A tiny minority of players in my kind of games even cares. And that minority [B]always[/B] wants to push the implications of gunpowder. I've thought a lot about this, and I think, like steam power, it is about the changing pace of technology. Roleplayers can accept plate as the pinnacle of hide-bound dwarven artisans in a relatively static society. But put gunpowder or steam into the setting, and minds are only a small leap from Moore's law (computer processers doubling in power every 18 months) and Star Trek tricorders. It's like throwing a subliminal flag into the system saying, "this campaign is about the suddenly explosive pace of technology changing the world." Strangely enough, I don't think you get this effect if you go a bit farther. So if I want to do swashbuckling, then I want to go for the full Camus. You just need an era where "swashbuckling" is perfected, but sufficiently far from Napolean to avoid thinking about improved use of cannon. Likewise, if I'm going to go to 1800, I might as well jump to 1880 or modern times. Then if I still want fantasy, I can add magic to that, instead of adding all of that to D&D. But D&D probably isn't the system for that game. (I'd use Fantasy Hero.) [/QUOTE]

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