What significant technology advances are in your game?

[Crothian]

Threough human history there has been some significant technology breakthrough. Are there any that you've taken the campaign world through to show what the effect the advancement has on your world? Are there any advancements that have happened that have really offered a very interesting result in the game? And lastly are there any advancements that you believe would be really cool to see in a game?

 

[Cyrik Skylark]

Well, my late game (may it rest in peace) was modeled closely after pre-Europe China, so it had a number of the "major" advances - the printing press and gunpowder, for example. I wasn't able to keep the game going long enough to really get into the effect it had on the world, but in the time I did run it, I tried to emphasis that books and literature were widespread - the entire government bureaucracy and educational system depended rather heavily on printed materials.

I've also had some ideas for developing late Renaissance, early Enlightenment-based technologies in the rest of my campaign world, emphasizing that it's an old world, one where magic hasn't always been the prime moving force. One of the cultures has discovered that, indeed, hot air rises - they have balloons, and, when coupled with magic, airships. (Steam power, internal combustion engines, and jet engines haven't yet been invented). Sometime, I'd like to really get into a D&D game that focuses on the development and deployment of technology - what impact it would have on a fantasy world, that suddenly the common man could afford and do what only the most powerful of heroes and wizards could do before.

 

[Gellion]

I like Fantasy Steampunk 'nuff said.

 

[nopantsyet]

I've had a barbarian campaign where the PCs were barbarians, and only had early iron age weapons. They got caught up in a quest which took them to foreign cultures. They went out of their way to learn things they thought would be beneficial to their clan and brought them back. Some concepts, bows for example, were almost immediately accepted. Others, like trade, met with more resistance. It was amazing. One PC was the son of the clan chief. They got into a disagreement about trade, which led to a huge argument and the PC ended up working some serious magic on dear old dad, after which he essentially ran the show. Later on, when the quest took a turn to another plane, he put his father back in charge.

In my next campaign, I will be going the opposite direction. It will have elements of early renaissance culture and technology. There will be very rare availability of DaVincian technology like hot air balloons fired by magic and gliding machines that work to a limited degree, and a renaissance enlightenment intellectual movement. Politics will have very heavy socio-economic influences, but will be mostly golden age. Hopefully it works out to be as interesting.

Good luck.

 

[alsih2o]

good question!

i have the printing press.

also, a smallish clan of dwarves have been working gears and sprockets, and have come up with some pretty impressive doorways as a result (bank vaultish)

i have also added some revolutionary war era swamp clearing stuff, pulleys and buckets and such, but i am unsure i that is period rare or period non-existant.

compasses are available at not too high a cost.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Well, the general technological level of
Urbis is similar to that of the Industrial Age (19th century Europe), with magic taking the place of many technologies.

Especially noteworthy are the Nexus Towers, magical constructs that draw a small amount of life force from all who live nearby and convert it into magical energies - which can be used to enchant magic items or cast epic-level spells (even by non-epic spellcasters!). These towers are often vital for the defense or economy of a city-state...

 

[S'mon]

Over the 17 years realtime/370 years game time of my campaign world, technology has advanced significantly in the main campaign area - from roughly 1100 AD to 1500 AD equivalent, minus gunpowder. This is largely a function of the different rules sets I think - 1e AD&D had no full plate armour in its original version, for instance, while in 3e it's common. Likewise alchemical developments like tanglefoot bags and alchemist's fire.

 

[astralpwka]

I've been more on a technology decline with my gaming. In my current game setting (plug alert! Fringe Campaigns:Soul Harvest) if you want something, its well-used, and the owner doesn't want to part with it. While the PHB items are still available per se, they aren't being manufactured much anymore (basically due to the fall and decline of the setting from the conquest of demon armies).

 

[Cerubus Dark]

I think the only major advances that are currently known in my gaming world are:

Gunpowder (secret held by the dwarven clans)
A teleport network (major human cities avalible to the very rich)
A Golem factory (produces Dread Knights MM2; owned by a secret order)

Then again my players have yet to deal with any of the major players in my setting yet. Then again they are working at cheesing off the right gods (The two H's and Nerul)

 

[kigmatzomat]

Threough human history there has been some significant technology breakthrough. Are there any that you've taken the campaign world through to show what the effect the advancement has on your world? Are there any advancements that have happened that have really offered a very interesting result in the game? And lastly are there any advancements that you believe would be really cool to see in a game?

I'm running a heavily modified Krynn game set in the 5th Age time period but ignoring the 5th Age set.

I recently introduced the players to what happens when Tinker Gnomes & Paladins cohabitate for over a thousand years on the island of Sancrist: proper engineers.

The most dramatic product are powered military vessels. The Trident is a trimaran hulled vessel with alchemist fire-powered mithril & adamantite boilers in the outriggers acting as steam jets, providing 5 minutes of double speed. The outriggers are equipped with rams and can be detached from the main vessel to act as a torpedo or just to unentangle the Trident from a rammed pirate vessel. A prototype firecannon is mounted on one outrigger, although it rarely sees use because the captain doesn't trust it not to set his own vessel on fire. The chief engineer is working on a water cannon but the recoil makes it hard to control.

The sail plan is more clipper-ship than galleon (triangular instead of square sails), granting greater maneuverability. (BTW, I know very little of sailing theory, but these are supposed to be better for sailing close to the wind.) Combined with the fairly shallow draft and it is an excellent multipurpose attack vessel. It's only weakness is the limited cargo capacity cuts down the trip durations. Fairly useless as a cargo vessel; it is perfect for the Sea Swords (my oceanic paladins).

Water-wheel powered lathes, saws, and mills also exist on Sancrist, giving the Knights a production potential far in excess of their numbers. Gnomish mills have a tendency to explode from the improvements that the Solamnic Engineers decide to forego.

The engineers have also managed to utilize the huge gnomish steam engines in the mines. The engines work chains that pull the freight cars out of the mine or operate massive bellows to blast air in.

Printing presses are still very much the prototype. The mages, keepers of most of the libraries, scorn them because there's no way a printing press will be able to transcribe a spell book. With no "Bible" to create a universally sought product worth the effort, the few presses are used in the largest cities for public notices during fairs and the like.

While not historical, I"ve also introduced "Cold Dust", an alchemical powder that quickly goes from solid to vapor when exposed to heats greater than 200F. Basically it's a fire extinguisher and a favorite aboard highly flammable ships.