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General Tabletop Discussion
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Tech in DnD; What should be included and how much is too much? (+)
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<blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 9216497" data-attributes="member: 6877472"><p>I'm a big fan of James Burke's <em>Connections</em> series, and one thing it taught me is that achievements don't happen in a vacuum. Technological advancements lead to other advancements, sometimes even in unrelated fields. So the schizo tech of D&D has always been especially weird, defined more by what it's missing than what it has.</p><p></p><p>The Forgotten Realms in the 2e era was especially pushing towards early Renaissance technology in some areas. Then in 3e, it actually regressed a bit (the fact that some of it's firearms technology was literally brought by aliens is a whole different kettle of fish).</p><p></p><p>Of course, with how heavy-handed the Faerunian pantheon is, this is usually explained as "The Gods yelled at Gond in order to make him stop letting the mortals have cool toys", lol.</p><p></p><p>I watched a video recently that pointed out that Ancient Rome may have had everything it needed to start the Industrial Revolution, and most D&D worlds are farther along technology-wise than this.</p><p></p><p>In some campaigns, it's the Wizards who are keeping the common man down! After all, if you could make a machine that does what magic does, then who needs Wizards?</p><p></p><p>On the other hand, humans are their own worst enemy at times- there's an adventure in an old Dungeon magazine where someone invents a fountain pen, and the Scribes Guild, feeling threatened, hired an assassin to murder the inventor!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="James Gasik, post: 9216497, member: 6877472"] I'm a big fan of James Burke's [I]Connections[/I] series, and one thing it taught me is that achievements don't happen in a vacuum. Technological advancements lead to other advancements, sometimes even in unrelated fields. So the schizo tech of D&D has always been especially weird, defined more by what it's missing than what it has. The Forgotten Realms in the 2e era was especially pushing towards early Renaissance technology in some areas. Then in 3e, it actually regressed a bit (the fact that some of it's firearms technology was literally brought by aliens is a whole different kettle of fish). Of course, with how heavy-handed the Faerunian pantheon is, this is usually explained as "The Gods yelled at Gond in order to make him stop letting the mortals have cool toys", lol. I watched a video recently that pointed out that Ancient Rome may have had everything it needed to start the Industrial Revolution, and most D&D worlds are farther along technology-wise than this. In some campaigns, it's the Wizards who are keeping the common man down! After all, if you could make a machine that does what magic does, then who needs Wizards? On the other hand, humans are their own worst enemy at times- there's an adventure in an old Dungeon magazine where someone invents a fountain pen, and the Scribes Guild, feeling threatened, hired an assassin to murder the inventor! [/QUOTE]
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