Legends and Lore - Maintaining the Machine

[Glade Riven]

Except that within Eberron's dragonmarked houses there *IS* competition... within the houses themselves. House Cannith especially has three separate factions each trying to gain the utmost control of the House... and those three house leaders keep progressing their own research (as well as sending adventurers out to find new and ancient stuff for them) to do so.

So while potions exist in Eberron in the form they do because that's how the potion concept has been given rules in the base D&D game... in truth, in the Eberron world especially, House Jorasco would have streamlined the 'healing potion' concept to be much more efficient. Especially considering there was just a 100 year war, and goodness knows the 5 Nations would have spent money hand over fist to get faster, stronger and more healing for their combatants. The war machine drives business and technology in many new ways.

There already is a "streamlined" version - cure wands. Multiple uses and a bit more expensive, and it helps to know how to use a magical device. Potions are for poor people. Take a modern similarity: Batteries. We can make better batteries, but better batteries have higher price points - sometimes significantly higher price points. Monolythic Monopolies are typically terrible at internal innovation, internal competition or not. Internal competition usually takes the form of internal politics, not actual improvements in product design. Then there are those jerks stuck in middle management hell that don't care about better efficiency, quality, or customer care - they are just bitter husks whose only joy at work is crushing the dreams and aspirations of those under them.

 

[FireLance]

Then there are those jerks stuck in middle management hell that don't care about better efficiency, quality, or customer care - they are just bitter husks whose only joy at work is crushing the dreams and aspirations of those under them.

I should probably speak up for middle managers, but I can't think of a way to do so that would crush your dreams and aspirations. So, carry on.

 

[Mark CMG]

I should probably speak up for middle managers, but I can't think of a way to do so that would crush your dreams and aspirations. So, carry on.

At least you gave it the old corporate try!

 

[The Shaman]

I have turned a serious, interesting thread about the tension between DM judgement and the rules into an argument about drinking potions from beer hats.

So do you wreck trains professionally, or is it more of a hobby?

 

[Argyle King]

An idea that looks good on paper (or on an Enworld post) can turn out to be an absolute catastrophic failure in practice, and I'm confident a potion helmet falls into that category. The whole process of custom blacksmithing armor and testing that its battle ready is going to take a while and some money. One big problem is that rubber tubing and plastic tubing and reliable sealents were not invented yet -- is your adventurer going to invent those too? This isn't Star Trek ('oh if I just decouple the rubber tree from the dilethium I should be able to have a working prototype by the end of the day'). I can't even envision a clunky contraption that allows you to pop a cork out with your teeth. How do you think you'd feel in an oversized helmet working your lips around a cork in your face while a giant is trying to whack you with a giant baseball bat? What happens if you build the stupid thing and you don't find any more healing potions at the local dungeon treasure dispenser/vending machine?

So, in a world where it's possible to build sentient machines (Warforged) using magic, it's impossible to make rubber tubes? I would be more inclined to believe that the world of D&D (especially as presented by the most recent editions) would have a few technologies earlier than Earth's history had them -especially with the help of magic.

Aside from Beer Hats, I also feel it would be reasonable for D&D characters to come up with a lot of equipment which would be similar to US Army Infantry gear. In particular, backpacks which have quick release straps make sense so you could drop your gear more quickly to engage in an encounter without being encumbered. Another idea which makes sense would be what the military calls web gear. In a world where adventuring into dungeons is a career choice, it seems logical to me that items which cater to that career choice would be invented.

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[jimmifett]

So, in a world where it's possible to build sentient machines (Warforged) using magic, it's impossible to make rubber tubes? I would be more inclined to believe that the world of D&D (especially as presented by the most recent editions) would have a few technologies earlier than Earth's history had them -especially with the help of magic.

Aside from Beer Hats, I also feel it would be reasonable for D&D characters to come up with a lot of equipment which would be similar to US Army Infantry gear. In particular, backpacks which have quick release straps make sense so you could drop your gear more quickly to engage in an encounter without being encumbered. Another idea which makes sense would be what the military calls web gear. In a world where adventuring into dungeons is a career choice, it seems logical to me that items which cater to that career choice would be invented.

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The kind of things that breed inventions such as these in an Eberron setting are rare. 1-5 ppl on the continent may have the idea for the quick release straps after getting into a situation that would have been great to have them.

Now that the thing exists, it's concept, utility, and construct has to be communicated to others and demonstrated. In the real world, communication is near instantaneous and mostly reliable. In Eberron, even with sending stones and spells and such, you need to have access and money to use such services. This leads to very slow lines of communications to spread ideas and inventions. Factor in that you may be eaten by a monster before ever reaching a place from which to communicate your invention, and it can be lost and recreated by others several times before it makes it out into a wider world to be replicated.

It does no good to have a clever gear system on a battlefield that you invented, only to die the next morning in battle with 2 other bodies lying on top of you. The only ppl to notice might be ppl looters searching bodies for easy money, scouts looking for intel, or the poor schlub that buries all the bodies. The chances of noticing that "hey, this guy's backpack can detach via a magic word or squeezing two hooks together on this latch" are pretty slim.

Into the mass grave it goes, maybe lost forever.