jgsugden
Legend
Magic is made up. Technology is not. We can set rules for magic, but technology with limitations that don't make sense in the real world feels disingenuous in an RPG. Being told, you can only fire your gun once per combat because it is an encounter power, not at-will, gives a bad taste to most players. Ammo and time should be the limits on guns - not arbitrary rule settings ... but we allow ourselves to limit spells by spell slots.
Further, mixing magic and technology results in problems as well, even when the DM tries to keep them separate. Being able to use magic to craft technology and mass produce weapons that allow for massive destruction ... can be problematic. In general, each technological innovation is a new Pandora's box.
Yes, you can limit technology with lore. "The God of Technology will not allow new inventions to be made". However, as noted, that feels disingenuous. It gives the players the feeling that they can't do what seems reasonable because the DM wants to limit their options so that the players have to play his game ... which means they don't really control anything. Everything happens just because the DM allows it. The players are not so much playing the game as they are watching the DM tell it to them. They feel about as in control of it as people riding the Millennium Falcon ride at Disneyland.
