Progressing technology

[kolvar]

I did it and the first thing I found,I had to consider, was the presene of magic. Why would someone invent gunpowder, if it was possible to invent magically drive repeating crossbows.
Well, there are reasons (for example to get rid of magic), but wouldn't the creation of the gun/muskeete/arquebuse lead to an armsrace of sorts between technology and magic?
On the other hand, inventions are most plenty where the people got leisure and resources to invent , i.e. if there is magic, it will solve some of the daily problems (e.g. some epedimies can be avoided etc.) that this will spawn leisure and inventions.
take for example street lighting: it helps to prevent some crimes, make possible more work at later times and the the people will start to reate a nightlife. On Earth, it is/was rather difficult, to create street-illumination that was reliable, but with magi you just have to cast sveral continual light-spells and have a raher efficient system. At least richer parts of a city will go for something like this.
OK, the streetlights are rather old, but few consider the implications.

For mypart, the amount of magic, most campaigns seem to consider to be normal, should spark a life-style very different from medieval.

 

[Ibram]

The tech level in my homebrew advances through time, though not at a steady pace.

In the first game I ran blackpowder weapons were incredibly rare, so much so that the party never owned one. In a later game (taking place 100 years) technology had advanced to the point that blackpowder weapons were far more common, counting as exotic weapon and being available for player purchase in many locations. That game also featured a crude steam engine, and had one of the players become a published author (his book "To Worship an Institution" got him condemed to death by the Church of the Nine). Cannons were in use, and the players watched regiments training in "the new pike and gun formation". Kinghtly Orders were losing their power in that campaign, as new armies of professional soldiers began to take the field. Other advances encluded medical developments such as surgery and sanitation.

Games set after that one would feature such things as:
the breakup of the old Kightly Orders, some faiding completly others becoming the officer corps for the new armies.
civil war in the more advanced nations: between the emerging soldier caste and the old noble houses.
increased contact with distant lands: as advances in ship building and navigation lead to longer/safer trade missions.

 

[punkorange]

technology is advancing much much slower in my campaign world if at all. I mean if you think about it, magic is already there and can do 99% of what technology can do. Technology would make wizards less powerful and they realize it, so you could even have an adventure or two based around an evil wizards guild stoping the advancement of technology.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

I always think about it. In past worlds, I'd postulated an up and down technological pattern, with technologies being lost and found again over thousands of years, but still remaining within the AD500-AD1500 range.

In my current campaign, there is a steady progress. It's moving from ancient to modern, slowly. Gunpowder was discovered about 125 years ago, eventually there will be steampower, airships, etc.

 

[Arnwyn]

Has anyone else considered this? What was your solution?

I have indeed considered it - and then dismissed it.

My final decision was that my fantasy world works mostly like the 'real world', but not quite. Some things, like a certain level of physics and chemistry, just don't work. For example, gunpowder doesn't exist IMC, and the chemical reaction for the specific components of gunpowder just doesn't work.

 

[WayneLigon]

I've never really bothered with it. I'll set a tech level at the beginning of the campaign and make notes of what has and has not been invented. Even if we played through 20 years of game time, it wouldn't make a great deal of difference, since what few inventions might occur take generations to come into common use. I don't generally use 'mad scientist' gnomes.

In one campaign I use, dwarves have a lot of technology. They know about steam engines, something about electricity (though they haven't stumbled onto the incandescent filament, yet), assembly-line production, interchangable parts, and a few other things. They have provided one human kingdom with a lot of technology regarding stonework, architecture, sewers, running water, and a few other things but they've also been careful to cripple them in certain regards as to how certain things are done. They hand over some blackbox stuff and say 'use this' but make sure that they never figure out how to back-engineer it, so they have a ready market and an advantage over humans in case they get uppity.

 

[Shadrach_Storm]

The Second World Sourcebook from http://www.second-world-simulations.com/ has a short section and "flowchart" for technology advances that you might want to look at. It discusses prerequisite advances for other advances as well as game results of advances.