Hmmm...this is all making me feel like running a "Warlocks & Wheel Locks" game...
Guns in a fantasy setting
AdmundfortGeographer
Getting lost in fantasy maps
That is awesome!
This is somewhat outside the area of the OP's question but I think its somewhat relevent so bare with me.
One thing that I think gets overlooked all the time when dealing with guns in fantasy is the psychological impact such weapons had. (psychologocical stuff in anyform is usually overlooked, but thats not a topic for this thread...) Early guns, at least from what I've seen, were comparable to crossbows and probably even worse in lot of ways. But we have to remember that by the times gun appeared bows, spears, swords were all old technology with thousands of years of time spent perfecting them. Plus they used mechanics which were easy identify. In the case of a bow this would be man pulls back arrow, arrow flys through air, something dies. Guns however were man points stick, fire, thunder, smoke happens, something dies. This seeming disconect, at least for those without knowledge of chemistry/alchemy, tends to create fear. (look at how the south americans treated the conquistidors for a good example)
But in a land where there is magic any apprentice mage, at least by dnd standards, can achieve thisand greater effects. This more than likely would diminish the chances of guns reaching some stage beyond an novel trick using alcehmy.
One thing that I think gets overlooked all the time when dealing with guns in fantasy is the psychological impact such weapons had. (psychologocical stuff in anyform is usually overlooked, but thats not a topic for this thread...) Early guns, at least from what I've seen, were comparable to crossbows and probably even worse in lot of ways. But we have to remember that by the times gun appeared bows, spears, swords were all old technology with thousands of years of time spent perfecting them. Plus they used mechanics which were easy identify. In the case of a bow this would be man pulls back arrow, arrow flys through air, something dies. Guns however were man points stick, fire, thunder, smoke happens, something dies. This seeming disconect, at least for those without knowledge of chemistry/alchemy, tends to create fear. (look at how the south americans treated the conquistidors for a good example)
But in a land where there is magic any apprentice mage, at least by dnd standards, can achieve thisand greater effects. This more than likely would diminish the chances of guns reaching some stage beyond an novel trick using alcehmy.
Love the picture! I'd XP you for it, but I need to spread it around more first.
Good point - I've read in more than a few places that early guns often had more of a psychological impact than impact in terms of damage/lethality. The noise & smoke were frightening to many lesser trained types (peasant levies, militia, etc), as well as to horses (until a horse got used to the sound.)
That comic, by the way, illustrates a point I've been making. Against a 51-hp character, 4d10+10 damage is serious, serious damage -- so serious that it has zero chance of taking the character out. Yet a second hit has a 95-percent chance of taking that character out.
AWizardInDallas
First Post
prosfilaes
Adventurer
Again, HP, not guns. And it's a feature, even if it's one you don't like. I've heard from Rolemaster players cases where epic characters were brought down by random weak no-name thugs. I've seen the much less dramatic critical hits in D&D kill characters in battles the DM didn't intend to be lethal. Lower randomness usually helps the PCs, and both the PCs and the DM like knowing that most attacks on PCs have no chance of being lethal, no matter how the dice roll.
Brother MacLaren
Explorer
I have no problem with the players knowing that most attacks have no chance of being lethal, but I would prefer that in most cases they keep that knowledge from their characters.
That is, to the degree that HP are partly luck and plot protection, I don't want the characters acting like they know they have a truckload of HP. It just grates when PCs rub in the NPCs' faces the wildly superhuman durability that HP give them, when that isn't what their HP are supposed to reflect. I'm much happier if there is willing suspension of disbelief, where the characters act as if a gun (or the city guard's crossbows at point-blank range) is potentially lethal, even though the players know this not to be the case.
