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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7022831" data-attributes="member: 4937">As with many things, what most people think of when they imagine the distant past is actually some sort 19th century pastiche.  For example, with one exception, the costuming and technology for the Disney 'Princess' movies suggests that they are all post-medieval, and most of the fairy tales are actually set in the first half the 19th century.  'Cinderella' even suggests a mid to late 19th century setting.  Most D&D settings are basically early 19th century minus gunpowder, with towns being set in the universe of Dicken's 'Oliver Twist' and Victor Hugo's 'Les Miserables' more than 13th century London or Paris as it actually was.  Ship technology tends to feature things like crow's nests and multi-masted, multi-sailed vessels that are 16th to 18th century sans cannon.  Tolkien however was doing this deliberately, with the Hobbit's journey from what was to him the familiar cozy world of his childhood into the 'wilderlands' of medieval story.  That being said, since D&D is far more Tolkien pastiche than it is realistic medieval simulation, you'd be quite right to assume that the dwarves have mining technology that is far in advance of what was available in the medieval or ancient world.  Virtually none of 18th century technology was beyond the skills of medieval craftsmen, it's just hadn't been thought of yet.  So if you want to have coal mines in your world, or even dwarves pumping and distilling petroleum, go for it.  Once you get petroleum though, I think you are firmly in the world of steam punk or even diesel punk, and should just go with the tropes.</blockquote>

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