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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Andor" data-source="post: 2797471" data-attributes="member: 1879">Well it was a GM posting that he wants technological elements in his world, so it seems unlikely he's going to rule out the very elements he wants, eh?At any rate a telegraph is a very simple device as electronic devices go. The circuit closes, current flows through a wire and generates a magnetic field. A coil in the wire produces a stronger local field and drives a small iron bar to make a clacking noise. This is the same technology as a relay or a solenoid, just applied differently. All you need to make one is a lot of copper (or silver or gold) and a little iron, and a current source. A volatic stack would work for short distances, a generator for longer ones. Alternating current is vastly more efficient for long distance transmission that direct current. That's why we use it.Where things get interesting is how all this interacts with magic. Frex, can wizards create a vine that is conductive? (Shambling mounds seem like a good place to start.) Can druids coax this vine to grow from branch to branch along the trees sheltering the kings highway? Will spells intereact with it? Magic mouth for example? Perhaps current is generated by trapping lightning bolts in Leyden jars with enchanted stoppers to let it out slowly.The pace of modern change came from a great many things interacting, with modern chemistry and cheap steel driving the pack. You can control which of these things happen or are even possible. No bessemer furnaces means no steampunk. Also you might have sociological factors which slow the pace of change. For example perhaps the priests of the god of technology must approve all new devices before they are sold to the public and they have a long application process (Elves you know.)And let me second the recommedation of Connections. You might find them at your library?</blockquote>

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