D&D General Why Do You Prefer a Medieval Milieu For D&D? +

[JohnSnow]

Fair enough, and I very much support that opinion. I would happily play or run a game under those assumptions. But I also think that, unless your game actually takes place over those 400 years, the inexorable advance of weapons technology may not make a huge difference to the fantasy.

True, but it can (does?) still affect the fantasy.

If guns exist, and have been invented recently, what use do I have for a magic sword lying in some musty old crypt? That changes the genre.

If the game is about exploration, the world can still be fun (as Eberron is), but now we probably need a fantasy version of the Age of Exploration. And to build that, I’d have to unpack colonialism.

“Medieval” is honestly just easier.

And yes, I’m aware many Asian countries had firearms for almost twice as long without modernizing past muskets, so the inevitability argument isn’t ironclad, but gunpowder fantasy tends to lean in certain directions.

 

[Micah Sweet]

True, but it can (does?) still affect the fantasy.

If guns exist, and have been invented recently, what use do I have for a magic sword lying in some musty old crypt? That changes the genre.

If the game is about exploration, the world can still be fun (as Eberron is), but now we probably need a fantasy version of the Age of Exploration. And to build that, I’d have to unpack colonialism.

“Medieval” is honestly just easier.

And yes, I’m aware many Asian countries had firearms for almost twice as long without modernizing part muskets, so the inevitability argument isn’t ironclad, but gunpowder fantasy tends to lean in certain directions.

I get you. I'm starting to think Late Antiquity is an ideal era to base your classic fantasy on. Technology feels right for old school D&D for the most part with a good combination of large-scale civilization and unexplored territory.

 

[schneeland]

Coming back to the OP's question: the aspects of swords (and sorcery) being cool and the reduced complexity of the faux medieval setting of D&D also play a role, but I think the most prominent reason for me is that I'm used to it in D&D. My first contact with D&D was AD&D2 and video games like Eye of the Beholder and Baldur's Gate, and there ranged combat means arrows/bolts or spells. And this also permeates fantasy books and movies from the time.
To the contrary, I'm fine with flintlock pistols and the like in Warhammer Fantasy. But this falls into a different bucket than classic fantasy for me.

 

[JohnSnow]

I get you. I'm starting to think Late Antiquity is an ideal era to base your classic fantasy on. Technology feels right for old school D&D for the most part with a good combination of large-scale civilization and unexplored territory.

Late Antiquity works great. There’s not as much heavy armor, but it generally fits the vibe. Most D&D settings are a hodgepodge of Medieval, Iron and Bronze Age cultures.

Looking at other technology, I once fell deeply down the rabbit hole that the lateen sail and a full keel hull both existed and could have come together as early as 700 or so. Which has rather mind-blowing implications for sailing vessels.

 

[Baron Opal II]

Pirates of the Caribbean is just as fantasy as the medieval variety though.

Yes it is!

Having someone with a cutlass and a brace of pistols is fine. Having a sharpshooter on a rooftop armed with a rapier for the inevitable rooftop chase is great. My concern is keeping to that balance point where everyone isn't getting firearms.

Having a reload time and making the chemistry non-combustion based has worked out for me.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Yes it is!

Having someone with a cutlass and a brace of pistols is fine. Having a sharpshooter on a rooftop armed with a rapier for the inevitable rooftop chase is great. My concern is keeping to that balance point where everyone isn't getting firearms.

Having a reload time and making the chemistry non-combustion based has worked out for me.

What wrong with making the chemistry combustion based?

 

[Baron Opal II]

What wrong with making the chemistry combustion based?

The more you have the bigger the boom. The reaction feeds on itself, the increasing heat setting off the next amount of powder. While you get into a situation where the explosion can be big enough that powder is flung out of the blast radius before it ignites, there are ways around that.

So, that's another thing that I didn't mention earlier. Gunpowder allows for arbitrarily large explosives. I don't mind grenades, or even cannon, to a point. I prefer there to be an upper cap on bombs.

 

[Quartz]

I've been on a Bronze Age kick recently but the European Medieval era is both comfortably familiar and comfortably different.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

And to build that, I’d have to unpack colonialism.

What do you call the Crusades, if not colonialism?

 

[Reynard]

What do you call the Crusades, if not colonialism?

Which Crusade?