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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rechan" data-source="post: 4654326" data-attributes="member: 54846">Take a look at <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/249866-non-gunpowder-explosives-fantasy.html#post4653604" target="_blank">Andre's post</a> and <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/249866-non-gunpowder-explosives-fantasy.html#post4653623" target="_blank">my response</a>. That is what I'm looking for.But, let me set aside talk of explosives, to give you an example from a different direction. In one of the "Traps and Treachery" books, there was a trap that used a special metal alloy developed by dwarves. When exposed to light, the metal would grow very soft. They would craft metal hooks and place the hooks on the ceiling of a cavern. Then they would place large, weighted nets on the hooks. When light-using intruders walked underneath with their light sources, the hooks would uncurl and drop the net on them. Meanwhile dark-vision using dwarves would pass under unhindered. That, to me, is cool. I was using Nitro as an introduction to the topic, and as a sample model: Explodive liquid/paste that can detonate from application of heat or pressure, is extremely volatile, but its volatile nature can be suppressed by being frozen. Substance state + Detonation circumstance - Force that can make it inert under certain circumstances = use in plot X, trap Y, or purpose Z.I also just felt that its volatile nature limited its campaign application. It couldn't just be carted around and used casually. Or it could be useful for a trap. The fact that it has limited practical use is a bonus because it can't be extensively exploited. If the PCs want to use it, they gotta be damn careful, and its use adds an element of tension.To use Nitro just for this paragraph alone, if the use of nitro in a game is impractical, then the only the impractical will use it. Goblins using the stuff because goblins are friggin stupid and/or crazy, or the goblins overlords think a few blown up goblins are worth a few blown up bridges, don't care. That way, the stuff is just "Over here in this corner of the campaign world, they have this stuff that does this, but because of that circumstance, it's not useful for the entire world. That's what makes this area unique."I used the example of Frost Giants sitting on a stockpile of the stuff, in its frozen state. To take it further: the giants use it to safeguard against fire-using enemies. They freeze it in a thin layer of ice, and if anyone uses a fire area affect, the ice melts, and the explosive thaws, suddenly becoming volatile. This knowledge is well known, so people are wary of invading the Frost Giants' frozen fortresses with fire magic, even if fire is effective against the giants. Where does it come from? Maybe it was mined from the earth, maybe it fell from a frozen meteor and they got as much as they could from the impact site. Or it could be harvested from some rare monster that survives in only the coldest places, a creature that uses the material like a bombader beetle.In the second post of the thread, I used the example of Solid Rot (a better name is necessary). A hard substance that is entropy and decay solidified. It activates when hit with necrotic/negative energy, it decays whatever it touches. To further flesh it out (pardon the pun), when activated the substance melts. Anything organic that it touches to intense decay, as if whatever it touched had been left to the elements for a hundred years after expiring (read: it's hit with ongoing necrotic damage or a massive amount of negative energy damage). The touch of undead also activate the material. However, exposing the material to sunlight turns it inert, and it must be re-treated with (Insert something here) to make it viable again. It's a "naturally" occurring substance in the Shadowfell/Negative Energy Plane, and mined from races that dwell there.There are elements in the real world that, when exposed to air or water, cause a violent reaction. Same could be said for fantasy elements. Like say, the center-most piece of a glacier (or a Frost Titan's heart), when exposed to room temperature air or water, results in an explosion of cold so intense it can freeze the air in a man's lungs. Another solution is gas. Not methane or other explosive gasses, but alchemical/magical/whathaveyou substance which is in a non-liquid/solid state that reacts to something. Maybe it's produced when Gorgon's Blood and is mixed with Raw Elemental Air, resulting in a petrifying gas (or the resulting gas could turn to stone that fills the same volume after a period of time).So, to an extent, the purpose is "Natural Sciences of a Fantasy World, and the applications of it for plot purposes and/or encounters", not "Real World History" or "Real World Chemistry/Physics". Brainstorming Fun Stuff. And especially with it going beyond the alchemist's lab, or the use for just a couple of adventurers plundering a dungeon - how can it be used to create interesting stories or interesting encounters. How does the Game World react to it/use it? How can it reinforce the feel of a fantasy world?</blockquote>

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