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Message: <blockquote data-quote="HeavenShallBurn" data-source="post: 3372680" data-attributes="member: 39593">Yeah, even improvised modern stuff is a LOT more powerful than older pre-guncotton explosives.  It's not as effective, but it can work.  As far as the physics go it is possible just requires adjustments, a lot of them.  They would have been about the size of a shoebox and with the banded iron construction for significant parts weighted in at somewhere around ten to fifteen pounds each.  Hell they even drew the thing up and went to the effort of making sure it actually would work, when I was generous and gave its area of effect an 80 foot range they even suggested I should probably dial it back to about 60ft which was surprising since I expected them to wring every single advantage out of it.The shaped charge was invented in the nineteenth century and the first few were actually built using blackpowder.  Within short order he switched to guncotton once he realized how much more efficiently it would work, but the first ones were black powder and showed that they could generate enough power to cut armor plate used in ironclads which was the problem that spurred him to develop the thing.  So the precedent was there.  I did mention that it took a wagon to move the thing?  Essentially they built a pre-industrial truck bomb.  It weighted a ton and a half and took up most of the wagon with the copper plate right behind the bench and a probe that stuck out five feet in front of the wagon.  They used phantom steeds to pull it.  They were fighting orcs that had retreated into the old mines under a mountain and filled the main entrance with mine tailings.  I was expected a scry and teleport inside tactic, instead they decided they would blast through the obstructed entrance.  This was really the only ridiculous use of explosives but they were getting bored and I was getting desperate to get them to cross the area so I just let it happen.  Thing was I'd put what was essentially a small field of punji stakes out in one area to restrict movement and they assumed it couldn't JUST be a fraise it had to have some hidden trap or danger so they didn't want to cross it until they'd "cleared" it.  One of them mentioned what they needed was a bangalore and it snowballed from there.  I pretty much just let them do it to get them moving to the real fight further on.</blockquote>

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