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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Haltherrion" data-source="post: 5397006" data-attributes="member: 18253">Technologically, things did stagnate in the 1600s but they were also under a strong central government with no external threats. They began a rapid series of changes, societal and technological in the secnod half of the 1800s. During the 15th and 16th centuries, change was rapid and very much shaped by the introduction of firearms and other western and Chinese technology, strategy and other influences. The firearm influence was particularly strong as cited in, among others, Stephen Turnbull's excellent books on Samurais and Japanese warriors. He describes the Warring States period (the same period) as the time when "samurai warfare went through its biggest revolution in history under the influence of strategy and technology from both Europe and China" (in a context where he was also saying "it was also a time of nostalgia" as the samurai looked backwards for inspiration and traditions.) I'm less familiar with the CHinese periods but a quick web search seemed to find plenty of scholars refuting a slow adoption of gunpowder weapons (not just guns and rockets but bombs) in a similar period. It does seem that both societies had periods where military technological progress stalled or slowed but that happened after dramatic changes already occured, changes that would be dramatic in most D&D settings, for instance.</blockquote>